Paul wanted to make a good impression on Percy. He truly loved Sally, and he knew how important Percy was to her. He truly cared about his stepson. He was concerned for him. Sally had told him about the abuse she suffered at the hands of her ex-husband. Sally had tried her best to protect Percy from Gabe, and she believed Percy didn't know Gabe had hit her. She knew Percy could have had a better childhood, but she couldn't let herself believe Gabe had hurt Percy. The subjects of Gabe and Percy were both very sensitive for Sally. She didn't like to talk about Gabe's abuse, which Paul understood.
She also didn't like to talk about Percy. Well, she didn't like to talk about his troubles. She would often catch herself gushing on and on about her love for her son and all the good times the two had shared together. Paul swore she had once spent fifteen minutes describing all the fun memories she and Percy had at Montauk Beach. This was fine with Paul. One thing that attracted Paul to Sally was how caring she was, and she showed this off most when it came to Percy.
But she would always cut off the conversation when it came to Percy's troubles. It was no secret Percy had trouble in school. That was an understatement. He had been kicked out of several schools, including ones specifically for troubled youth. Paul didn't know the details, but as a teacher himself he knew that a kid had to do more than pull a prank or two to get kicked out of school. He knew Percy had dyslexia and ADHD, but many schools were well-equipped to handle kids with disabilities, especially schools like the ones Sally sent Percy to. He wanted to understand his stepson as well as he could. He wanted to help Percy, but Sally acted like Percy was fine. He knew getting Percy to trust him would take work. But he was willing to put in that work, both for Percy's sake and for Sally. Paul decided he and Percy would have a guys' night. He didn't expect anything major to change in one evening, but he wanted a good place to start.
"Thank you for the pizza, Mr. Blo- I mean Paul." Percy still wasn't used to Paul. He believed Paul was probably a good guy, but he was still scared.
"You don't have to thank me, Percy. When I married your mom I knew I was signing up for this." Paul smiled, hoping Percy would know it was a joke. He knew Percy had a good sense of humor, but he didn't want to scare Percy away. Thankfully, Percy smiled.
"So, Percy," Paul began.
"Great," Percy thought, "more forced get-to-know-you conversation. Maybe it will be exciting this time. Maybe he'll try to teach me how to throw a ball like every other adult male who meets me. They all think that because I don't live with my dad I've completely missed out on Manhood 101. Or, worse, he'll try to talk like a teenager again." He really was starting to like Paul. But he thought he tried too hard.
"Do you have any fun plans this summer?" Paul asked. He knew it was a boring question, but, hey, he had to start somewhere.
"Well, if I don't get attacked by monsters, I would consider that a pretty fantastic summer." Percy knew he couldn't say that, of course. That didn't help his relationship with Paul. He couldn't tell him everything. Paul probably wouldn't believe it even if he told him anyway.
"Not much," Percy replied. "I might see my friends Grover and Thalia, but we don't have anything planned."
"What about Annabeth?" Paul knew Percy liked a girl from his summer camp named Annabeth. Sally had told him that. He figured he should talk to Percy about "guy stuff" like girls. He knew Percy wouldn't like it. But having uncomfortable conversations about girls is something of a rite of passage for a boy.
"Oh great. Even Paul knows Annabeth drives me crazy. Mom is amazing, but she has a big mouth."
"Maybe. We don't have anything planned." Percy hoped Paul would catch the hint to change the subject.
"Your mother has told me all about that summer camp you go to." Paul sensed Percy wasn't ready to talk "guy stuff" with him just yet.
"I seriously doubt that." Percy didn't know what his mom had told Paul, but he was assuming she didn't tell him about the gods and monsters.
"Yeah. It's a pretty great camp. I've made some good friends there."
"What do you do at camp?"
"Fight monsters, go on quests to save the world from Titans, play capture the flag. Normal camp stuff." Percy decided to leave some of that out.
"We do a lot of activities. My favorite is capture the flag."
"That sounds like a really fun camp, Percy. What else do you like to do? Your mom says the two of you like to go to the beach. She really loves going to Montauk with you."
This actually hit Percy. He was happy to hear his mom talked about him like that. His mom really was good to him.
"Yeah. It's my favorite thing to do with her. It's a blast. We try to go as often as we can, but she can't always get off work."
"Did you ever go with your dad?" Paul knew he was about to talk about something sensitive. He hoped it wouldn't scare Percy.
"He's a little busy being the god of the sea." Another thing Percy couldn't tell Paul even if he wanted to.
"I never really knew my dad."
"Oh, how stupid of me. Forgive my mistake, Percy. I sometimes forget Gabe wasn't your dad. I meant did you ever go to Montauk with Gabe?"
Percy tensed up. He had never thought of Smelly Gabe as his dad. He hated that jerk. Even now that he was dead (once again, something he couldn't tell Paul) Percy still didn't like thinking about him.
"No. Montauk has always been between me and my mom."
"Did you ever do anything fun with Gabe? You two must have had some memories together."
"Nothing special. He tried to teach me how to play poker once, but I couldn't pay attention long enough."
"How did you two get along other than that?" "Did he beat you like he beat your mom?" Paul had enough experience with troubled kids to know he shouldn't ask that point-blank. But it's what he was hoping to get at. He didn't want to pry, but he thought that abuse might explain some of Percy's difficulties. Perhaps he could get Percy the help he needed.
"Here we go," Percy bitterly thought. Percy had dealt with a lot of teachers over the years. He knew their little tricks. They would never admit to it being a trick. They usually didn't mean it as a trick, but that's what it felt like to Percy. He didn't fault Paul for it. He had observed that it was almost instinct for a teacher to react that way. He considered getting it over with and just being honest with Paul. But he didn't feel like opening up to him just yet.
"We basically left each other alone."
This gave Paul a little hope. Perhaps Percy had been protected from Gabe's abusive hands. It would make explaining Percy a little more difficult, but he wouldn't wish abuse on anyone for any reason, even if it would make that person a little easier to explain.
"Come on, Percy. You lived with him for so long. You two must have had some kind of a relationship."
"Why don't they ever just get on with it?" Percy knew where this conversation was headed. He had this conversation with teachers in the past. They always wanted to know about his home situation. That was easier. With teachers, you can leave when the bell rings. But he was living with Paul now. He couldn't just ignore the questions and assume he'd get kicked out at the end of the school year anyway.
"I guess he wasn't the best stepdad."
Paul was getting a little frustrated now. He knew abuse was a sensitive subject. He didn't blame Percy for not opening up. But he so desperately wanted to know. On the one hand, he didn't want to know. He didn't want to think of the son of his beloved Sally going through so much pain. He didn't want to think of the pain Sally would face if she knew that her Percy had gone through that. He didn't want Sally to feel guilty for not protecting him. Paul knew Sally had done her best. But he knew Sally would only blame herself. But he had to know the truth. He had to get Percy to trust him.
"Your mother agrees with you there. She's told me things about him."
"Well, at least we're getting closer. Maybe we can skip it and move on to the him asking me what rap artists are 'fly' right now. That would at least be a little less awkward." Percy wanted this conversation to end. No teacher had succeeded before and he didn't plan on telling his whole miserable story to Paul just because he bought him pizza.
"Makes sense. You two are married. I was assuming he had come up at least once."
Percy knew he shouldn't have said that. He knew Paul was trying. He didn't want to start off on the wrong foot with Paul. But he couldn't contain his frustration. Controlling his frustration wasn't exactly Percy's strong suit.
"Percy. Your mom told me Gabe hit her. That's why she left him. He drank, he was lazy, and he beat her. Did you know he hit her? She says she hid it from you, but that's kind of a difficult thing to hide."
"'Left' is a funny way of saying 'killed him with Medusa's head'." Yet another thing Percy could never explain to Paul.
"Yeah. I knew."
"How did you know? Your mom says he never hit her in front of you."
"I saw her flinch when Gabe came near her once. I figured it out from there."
"That's very observant of you. Is that the only way you knew?"
Percy stared at his pizza. He really wanted this conversation to end. They had a great night up until Paul started talking about Gabe. Percy wanted to hide. He never liked talking about that part of his life. He hadn't even told Annabeth about Gabe. He was used to hiding by now. He couldn't tell his teachers about the bruises on his arms or his broken bones. He couldn't tell mortals about what really went on at Camp Half Blood. He couldn't tell people his real dad was Poseidon.
"Percy? I know this is not the conversation you want to be having right now. I know what you're thinking. But I want you to trust me."
"Oh, what you mean you know what I'm thinking?! You know nothing about this." Percy was used to no one really understanding him. It wasn't their fault. They couldn't know. But it really bothered him when people pretended they knew what his life was like without really knowing anything.
"Percy, I know what you're going through. My dad beat me. My mom left us when I was five which meant that I was my dad's only target. I know you don't want to talk about this. But there are people who care about you and want to help you. I'm one of those people."
Paul was hoping that his experience would help Percy trust him.
"Well, look at that. I guess both of us are miserable." But then Percy thought about it. He had to hide almost everything from Paul. He had to hide that he was a demigod. He had to hide the truth about Camp Half Blood. He was so tired of hiding everything from everyone.
"Percy, did Gabe ever hit you?"
"I guess telling Paul the truth for once wouldn't be the worst thing in the world."
"Yes. He hit me a lot. Almost every day when I was home. Just never in front of my mom."
Paul's heart sank. He expected that was the truth. But having it confirmed hurt. He could hear the pain in Percy's voice. He knew what that pain was like. He wouldn't wish that on his worst enemy, let alone a kid he cared about.
"I'm so sorry, Percy. I truly am. No one should have to suffer through that."
Percy usually hated this. He had only ever told Grover and Chiron. He hadn't even wanted to tell Chiron, but Chiron had been too smart to fall for Percy's lies. Percy usually hated the sympathy part. He knew that it was usually just a person's gut reaction to say "I'm sorry," like they knew that was the socially acceptable answer. But this was different. Percy knew Paul meant it. It helped that Paul was the first guy who had known what it was like. Percy was just happy he finally had something he could be honest about with Paul. Percy finally relaxed a little. There was a comfortable silence between the two.
"Hello? Where are my two best guys?" Sally came home at just the right moment. Paul was glad Percy had opened up, but he didn't want to push him too far.
"We're in the kitchen, Mom."
"That was my guess." Sally walked in. "You men and your pizza," Sally said with a smile. "Did you two have a good time?"
"We really did, Mom. Paul's cool."
"I told him explicitly that you can already throw a fastball. I expect that topic didn't come up?" Sally and Percy had joked about that tendency together, so she warned Paul to stay away from the subject.
"I know better than that, Sally."
"Well, whatever you two talked about, I hope you two got closer. My two guys should get along, after all."
"We really did, Mom. He might be the first teacher I've had that I've liked."
"Good to hear, gentlemen."
"It really was nice getting to know my stepson. My beautiful wife has raised quite the young man." Paul kissed Sally.
"You two are gross."
"Someday you and Annabeth will be this bad too."
"Paul! Be cool!"
"Is that what you two talked about? Girls?"
"Mom!"
"Let's leave the boy alone. I think he's been embarrassed enough for one night." Paul said. Percy appreciated that. He knew Paul meant more than just stuff about Annabeth.
"Ok. But just for tonight. I must get to bed. While you two were enjoying your pizza night, I was working so you could afford that pizza."
"Good night, Mom."
"Good night, Sally. I think I'll go to bed now too. I had a good time, Percy. Maybe Fridays can be our night?"
"When I'm not trying to save the world from Kronos, that is."
"Yeah. Fridays. Sounds great, Paul." Though Percy didn't like admitting it, he was looking forward to having someone in his life he could open up to. He was looking forward to truly having a dad.