Author's Note: Alright, so Jiang-Mei, I'm so sorry this took so long to write. Two years is a very long time, isn't it? I apologize. That's pretty bad. But it is complete! And very fluffy. But fluff is fun.

Ah, the inspiration you get in French class. I had lots of fun writing this! Hope you like it!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own PJO, nor do I own Spongebob Squarepants.

Enjoy!

Seahorses

Okay. By noon, I had officially decided that I was bored. Don't get me wrong—I was definitely enjoying the day off, and I was definitely enjoying the time I got to spend with Percy. But…I wanted to do something. I wanted to get out of the apartment and hang out somewhere. But the heavy rain would make that a little…difficult. And I really didn't want to drive out there. The only thing worse than Manhattan traffic was Manhattan traffic in the rain.

So there I was sitting on the couch, trying to write something. Anything. But total writer's block. I stared in frustration at the blank page in my notebook, my pen poised over the paper. But no words would come from my mind.

Part of it was that I was being distracted by my five-year-old. He was sitting on the floor in front of me watching Spongebob Squarepants, this kids' show on Nickelodeon about a yellow dish sponge that lives under the sea in a pineapple. His best friend is a pink starfish named Patrick, his boss is a crab, who has a whale for a daughter (don't ask; I don't have an answer), and his almost-girlfriend is a squirrel (again, don't ask why there's a squirrel living underwater, because I don't know). Percy loved it, obviously, because he loved all of the different kinds of sea creatures.

The episode was about Spongebob finding a stray seahorse. He names her Mystery and adopts her, but eventually after a bunch of shenanigans, he's forced to let her go back to the wild. Percy was a very…interactive audience. His laughter was mostly how he was distracting me, but not in a bad way. It was actually making me giggle a little bit. He was completely adorable when he laughed in that giggly five-year-old way of his. Okay, so I'm biased. I'm a mom. We're all biased, come on.

Anyway, at the end of the episode, Percy was practically rolling on the floor laughing (In the final scene, Patrick the starfish had nailed a two-by-four to his head and ran into a door…several times, which was actually kind of funny). When the episode ended, Percy turned to me with a huge grin on his face. "Can I have a seahorse?" he asked.

I raised an eyebrow. "Um," I started, "I don't know if I would be able to find you one. Remember, they like to be free, like Mystery." I gestured to the TV.

He pouted for a second. Then his eyes lit up again. "Can we go see seahorses?"

I thought about it. It seemed like a good idea. It gave Percy and me something to do for a few hours. We could go to the zoo in Staten Island. It had an aquarium, and aquariums were indoors, so no rain. And we could take the subway to Staten Island so I wouldn't have to drive. "Sure," I told him. "Why not? Have I ever taken you to Staten Island?"

His brows furrowed. "Where's that?"

I frowned. "I've never taken you to Staten Island before?"

He shook his head. "Nope," he answered, popping the P.

I raised an eyebrow, putting down my blank notebook. "Well, then," I started, "I'd better take you there, huh?"

We did end up going out in the rain, but only long enough to get to the subway. We took the long train ride to Staten Island. I had to keep Percy in my lap to keep him from running up and down the car. "Mommy, I can't help it!" he giggled. "I'm so excited to see the seahorses!"

I had to laugh, tickling his belly, eliciting his adorable five-year-old giggle. "Patience, Percy," I told him. "We're going to get there, and you'll see your seahorses, okay?"

There was a girl with dark hair sitting across from us with headphones on, and she looked about the age of a college student, maybe nineteen or twenty. She looked like a skater girl. I hadn't paid her much attention until she smiled at me and removed her headphones. "Cute kid you got there," she laughed. "He's your son, I'm guessing?"

I nodded. Percy was looking at the girl warily. I didn't find anything wrong with her. I could see through the Mist, so I knew when someone was a monster, or a god. But this girl seemed pretty normal. Percy was just being shy.

The skater girl smiled at him. "Hi," she greeted in a sweet voice.

Percy buried his face in the crook of my neck.

I tried to coax him out of hiding. "Percy, she said hi," I reminded him. "Don't be shy."

He finally gave the girl a small smile. "Hi," he answered quietly.

The girl giggled. "He's adorable."

"Thanks," I laughed.

The Staten Island zoo was pretty small, and there weren't a lot of people in it due to the rain outside.

"Well, it's a good thing we're hanging out inside, huh?" I laughed to Percy.

He grinned. "Yup. Can we see the seahorses now?"

"Of course. Let's get out of the rain."

I took him by the hand and led him inside. The room was dark, with a blue glow softly lighting the walls. I led Percy by the hand as we passed by all sorts of fish; I couldn't name them all if I tried. But Percy stared at them in total fascination, pressing his hands up to the glass. "Hi, fish!" he would greet them with a wave.

Finally, we found them: the seahorses. Percy gasped in excitement and ran over to them, mystified by their beauty. And they were beautiful animals. "Hi, seahorses!" he laughed.

I crouched down next to him. Suddenly, Percy turned to me, his eyes glittery green like the ocean in sunlight. "Mommy, they said hi back!" he exclaimed, giggling.

They said hi back? I gave my son a smile, but I was confused. Had they really said that, or was my five-year-old's mind imagining things? With Percy being the son of the sea god, it was hard to tell. Perhaps they really were talking to him.

Percy held back another laugh. "I know," he whispered.

"You know what?" I asked.

He kept his voice quiet, like it was our little secret, but he murmured, "The said you're pretty." Then he let out a few more giggles.

I blushed, but I couldn't help laughing. "Well," I whispered back, "tell them thank you for me."

He nodded and dutifully turned back to the seahorses. "My mommy says thank you," he told them. He smiled again. "They said you're welcome, Mommy," he told me.

My five-year-old son was having a telepathic conversation with seahorses, like it was an every-day thing. Every now and then he would laugh and nod vigorously, as if he were sharing a funny joke with the sea creatures. Percy seemed so…at home in that aquarium. He was in his element, literally. I hated to pull him away from it. But after an hour I whispered in his ear, "Come on, Percy. We have to go now."

He pouted. "Do we have to?"

I gave him an apologetic smile. "Yeah," I told him. "I have an idea. But we're running out of time to do it."

His eyes brightened. "Really? What kind of idea?"

I ran a hand through his hair. "It's a surprise," I whispered.

Percy turned back to the seahorses, and he seemed conflicted. "Aww," he complained. He reluctantly waved goodbye to his new friends. "Bye, seahorses," he murmured.

He looked back up at me. "They said bye to you, too. They want me to come see them again."

I smiled. "We'll come back," I promised. "Now how about that surprise?"

I knew the aquarium would be closing soon, so I didn't have much time to get to the gift shop. But I knew that if we hurried, we could make it.

There were a few people wandering around the shop, looking at all of the souvenirs. That's what I needed—a souvenir.

I smiled at my son. "You said you wanted a seahorse, right?"

His green eyes went wide. "Are you getting me one?" he asked with excitement.

I shrugged nonchalantly. "Sure," I said.

"Yay!" he cheered, letting out another one of his adorable giggles.

I walked over to the wall where huge plush seahorses hung. They were all sorts of different colors: yellow, green, pink, blue. I smiled down at Percy. "Which one do you want?" I asked him.

He stared in awe at all of the options, slowly turning his head from side to side, trying to decide. It was probably the best dilemma of his young life. He laughed, throwing his hands up in little-kid exasperation. "I don't know what to choose!" he exclaimed.

I raised an eyebrow. "You want me to choose for you?" I teased.

Percy shook his head vigorously. "No!" he laughed. "Um…can I have the green one?" He pointed to the neon green seahorse that very much resembled the one in the Spongebob episode he had been watching earlier.

I couldn't help but laugh as I got it off the wall. "Alright," I said. I wasn't surprised he had chosen that one. I let him hold it (or at least try to hold it; his arms seemed too small to wrap around the large toy) as I paid for it. Percy's face was literally lit up. And that's why it was completely worth it.

As we walked out of the gift shop, Percy happily struggling with his new toy, I noticed it had stopped raining. The asphalt was still wet and full of puddles, but the sunshine breaking through the clouds bounced off of the water and sparkled, the same way Percy's eyes did.

We didn't see the skater girl on the train ride back to Manhattan, but Percy got plenty of second glances from other people, along with some laughs and smiles. He sat relatively still, seeming very preoccupied with his new friend.

After we got back inside the apartment, he put down the toy long enough to wrap his arms around me. "Thanks, Mommy," he murmured.

I ruffled his hair and hugging him back. "You're very welcome, Percy. What are you going to name your seahorse?"

Percy laughed. "That's easy," he told me. "Her name's Mystery."

At that, I started cracking up. Well, I'm definitely not bored anymore, I pointed out to myself. Percy tends to fix that really easily. Awesome day off, I thought to myself with a smile as I tickled my son to death.

Percy's a very giggly kid, isn't he? Five-year-old Percy was inspired by a commercial for Care-dot-com (stupid website won't let me type URLs). There was a kid who looked just like I imagine Percy would've looked like as a five-year-old. And he giggles at the end of the commercial, and it always makes me giggle and go "Awwww he's sooooooo cute!" So, thank you, little kid, for being my adorable inspiration!

That Spongebob episode is one of my favorites; I just had to use it!

Jiang-Mei, I hope you liked it! And again, I'm sorry for the two-year wait!

Reviews are awesome! I got the best review ever on Cold as Ice; it literally made my year. They make me so darn happy! I love you all!

Thanks!

~Mandi2341