Poseidon stood outside of Percy's room. It was late in the evening when he received an unexpected phone call from his eldest son.
"Did you discard the plastic in its proper place?" Poseidon asked on the phone.
"Yeah, I threw it away in the bin. It shouldn't get back out in the ocean."
"That's good. Was that the only question you had? I thought I already taught you how to safely cut the plastic away from the seal's neck before?"
"I must've forgot. You can never be too careful around cutting around a seals neck. Other than that, yeah, that was the only question."
Poseidon frowned, Triton isn't the one to forget. He didn't inherit his memory skills, he inherited his mother's memory, and that woman never forgets a thing.
Triton usually isn't the one to call if he had questions either, especially if it's at night. It's only seven here, it'll be ten at night on the east coast. The whole call seemed strange and out of place.
"You're correct about never being too careful. Is there anything else you want to tell me?" Poseidon asked feeling like Triton wanted to say something else.
There was a silent pause before Triton answered, "No...That's about it."
"Alright, call me if you have any more questions. Talk to later Triton".
"... Talk to you later. Bye".
Triton hung up. Poseidon lowered his phone from his ear. Poseidon physically shivered, trying to get rid of the of the gut feeling he had.
Percy lay in the hospital bed unimpressed, he was flipping through channels on the tv with a remote. His phone was completely shattered from the accident, he's limited with choices of entertainment.
It's been ten days since his accident and five days he's been awake, he's slowly approving throughout each day.
"Is there anything good on?" Poseidon asked stretching back in his chair.
Percy huffed out a no, continuing on his search of a channel to land on. Poseidon lazily watch him flip through the channels when he landed on the animal planet.
"Oooo, I think they're doing a marine life special tonight." Poseidon said excitedly.
"Of course that's what you want to watch." Percy grumbled with an eye roll, nevertheless he stayed on the channel.
Poseidon excused his behavior, Dr. Yew said that's an effect of his pain medication. Percy's has been especially moody these last five days.
Percy groaned and leaned all of the way back in his bed with his eyes clenched shut. Poseidon was about to ask if he needed any more medication when Percy open his eyes and asked, "What day even is it?"
Poseidon snorted, "That's a good question, let me check, It's Thursday, June..." He flipped his watch around to check the actual date "Oh shit."
Poseidon's stomach dropped at the date his watch portrayed on the screen. Percy just raised a brown in response.
"I don't think 'oh shit' is an actual date" Percy cheekily said.
Poseidon ignored him and stood up, grabbing his phone before exiting the room. He dialed Triton back in hopes he'll pick up.
It went straight to voicemail. Poseidon cursed silently knowing Triton is upset. Triton has a reason to be upset with his father this time, it's June fifth; Triton's birthday, and Poseidon totally forgot about it.
No wonder why Triton was being weird on the phone. Poseidon wanted to slap himself for not checking the date earlier.
Poseidon scrolled through his contacts to find his wife and pressed her number.
"Hello".
"Hey Love, is Triton home?" Poseidon asked preparing himself to get berated by Amphitrite once she finds out he forgot.
"Yes, he's been home all day."
"He's been home all day? Did he not go on a rescue call for a seal?" Poseidon asked, confused to why he'd asked about the seal if he's been home all day.
"What rescue call? The only rescue he helped with since you've been gone was on Monday for octopus who wandered too far inland from the ocean and gotten stuck. He just had to release it back into the ocean, which he's done multiple times before."
Poseidon put his hand over his eyes. Triton called about a question for a rescue they did a year ago that Poseidon instructed him on. Triton only called him and used that rescue as a excuse to see if he remembered his birthday since Poseidon didn't reach out to him earlier.
Poseidon felt like a total idiot and a failure as a father.
"Can you hand the phone to Triton? He's not answering my call."
"You forgot, didn't you?"
"I didn't check the date until now. If I would've checked my watch earlier I would've remembered."
"Unbelievable."
Poseidon let out a sigh, rolling his eyes to the ceiling, he's totally going to hear about this for years from her.
"Can you just give the phone to Triton?" Poseidon asked again exasperated.
She mumbled something that Poseidon couldn't quite pick up. He rocked back and forth on his heels hoping this call wouldn't be as terrible as he expected it to be.
"...Hello?"
Poseidon closed his eyes relieved, at least Triton's willing to speak with him.
"Happy Birthday Triton!" Poseidon said cheerfully. Maybe pretending that he didn't speak to his son less than fifteen minutes ago would be the best play.
"You're eighteen! You can now sign legal documents and vote." Poseidon continued his cheerful act.
"Since you're an adult, you can now work with the mechanical equipment at the rescue. You can lead some rescues calls without having Nerus, Delphin, or I present."
"You also get a pay raise now since you can take on more responsibility at the aquarium."
"Triton? Are you still there?" Poseidon asked dropping the cheerful facade.
"...Yeah. I'm still here".
"Look, I'm sorry. I didn't check what day it was until Percy asked. I would've called if I did check the date, but I didn't. I promise I'll make it up to you once we get home."
Triton continued to be silent.
"I'm scattered. The current circumstances has taken quite a toll on me, and there are certain things on my mind; Percy being one of them as he's my main priority at the moment-"
"Percy has always been your main priority! You never forgotten his birthday, you call him, you send him a card every year, we even celebrate it before he leaves. I never got a card for my birthday before, we only celebrate it, and you couldn't even remember to call me on my own birthday when you're not here! You know what? I shouldn't even be surprised, you've always loved Percy more than me".
"Triton you know that's not true"-
The call ended, Triton hung up on him. Poseidon ran his fingers down his face in agitation. The call ended up worse than what he imagined it would be.
It wasn't true. Poseidon loves both of his sons equally, and it upsets him that Triton would ever think that he didn't. Hell, Poseidon only sees Percy for three months every year, while he sees Triton all year round. Poseidon didn't understand where Triton came up with the idea he loved Percy more?
Poseidon looked around the hall, it was empty. He let a sigh of relief realizing that no one witnessed his side of the phone call.
Poseidon put his phone back in his pocket as he walked back towards Percy's room. He opened the door to find Percy knocked out while the marine life documentary played in the background.
Poseidon grabbed the remote to turn down the volume so it wouldn't wake Percy up. Poseidon fussed around with Percy's blankets, trying to make him more comfortable.
Poseidon sat down with a dejected sigh. He'll need to fix his relationship with Triton when he got back, but it wouldn't be easy as Percy will be along for the ride.
July
"Absolutely not".
Poseidon faced-palmed in exhaustion, "Percy, you don't really have a choice in this".
"Yes. I. Do! I will not be in a wheelchair. I refuse." Percy exclaimed crossing his arms to his chest.
Dr. Yew broke the news to Percy that he'll probably need to be in a wheel chair until he can get a prosthetic. To say Percy isn't taking it well would be an understatement.
"Well Percy, there are other alternatives, but I would highly recommend a wheel chair." Dr. Yew advised.
"What are the other alternatives?" Percy asked.
"There's a scooter. It's kinda of like the scooters you see in town, but it has a built in cushion that goes around knee height. Most individuals rest their knee on the cushion and use their other leg to push to get around, in your case you would rest your stump on the cushion. The problem is that your wound on your stump is still healing, and using the scooter will most likely irritate the wound that we so nicely fixed."
Percy still had his arms crossed, "Okay. What's the next alternative? You said alternatives with an 's', meaning there's more than one alternative. What is it?"
"The other alternative is crutches. I wouldn't recommend it, it will require a lot of strength to walk around with those without a leg. We're are looking to get you a prosthetic in October or November. That means you'll be walking around with these for a few months."
"I'll take the crutches." Percy demanded.
"Percy that isn't reasonable"-
"We'll get you a pair, Percy. He might change his opinion once he tries them after walking around for awhile." Dr. Yew interrupted Poseidon.
Percy looked like he defeated a major competitor, Poseidon rolled his eyes at his stubbornness. Percy is on less pain medication than what he was on, but his stubborn behavior continued strong.
If Percy wanted to struggle being mobile by choosing the hardest alternative, then so be it.
"Have you looked into getting a therapy dog Mr. Olympion?" Hazel asked Poseidon in the hallway after her session with Percy.
"My wife wouldn't allow it. She doesn't like pets." He answered back sipping on his Starbucks drink.
"Sometimes when a love one needs something that the other family member doesn't approve of, we ask ourselves 'who will benefit the most, or who will it disadvantage the most?' If the person who risks no benefit or loss, why are they denying the gift that will help someone else?"
Hazel walked off, her heels clicking on the tiled floor. Poseidon's mind was already made as the sound of her heels faded off to the distance. Hopefully it wouldn't end with him picking his own grave.