Percy Jackson

Speak of the devil, there was a knock on the door.

"Percy!" Jace and Tyler both exclaimed before giving me a hug.

"Hey, guys," I said as my dad and Tyler started to talk to my mom.

"You're here this time!" Jace exclaimed with a smile as I nodded my head. "We were here in May for my birthday and you were gone. Mom didn't say a lot about it, just that it was stuff to do with your dad and that she hadn't heard from you in a long time. Where..."

Jace motioned at my dad.

"Who's he?"

"My dad," I clarified for my little brother, who seemed surprised. "Yeah, Mom and Paul are like in the middle of a divorce after some stuff happened, so he's been around the last few days to help figure out bills and stuff with Estelle and yeah."

"Aw, I liked Paul."

"I did, too," I remarked. "Until he called me a freak and an unwanted accident, you know? I didn't appreciate that, and neither did Mom."

He stopped for a second, trying to even figure out a response to that.

"I'm... You alright?"

I shrugged.

"I've been better, I've been worse." I told him, sighing. "it is what it was. I haven't been back for long. Oh! How did things work out with Ann?"

He sighed.

"They didn't." He was honest. "I uh... I'm gay. It didn't take me long to figure it out after that so... Surprise. How about Annabeth? Is she still hopeless over you?"

"Yeah, but I also have a boyfriend so she doesn't get to be mine."

"You have a boyfriend!?" Jace asked, getting really excited, and I nodded my head. "Where is—"

He saw Nico, and assumed the wrong thing.

"Is that your boyfriend?"

"Uh, no," I insisted. "He's a friend who just stopped in. That's Nico, he's your age. Luke is uh... Working, I believe. It's Thursday. Does your dad know...?"

Clarifying that situation, Jace nodded his head.

"I think he knew before I did," Jace said with a little chuckle. "I was anxious to tell him but like, I was more worried that any of my friends would tell him so I told him. Does Mom know you have a boyfriend?"

"Yeah, he's over quite a bit. Sometimes to see me. Sometimes to see mom. Sometimes to see Estelle. Usually a combination."

"Aw, that's sweet," Jace remarked as Nico got roped into doing something or another with Mom as Tyler wandered back over towards us. "To have both your boyfriend be so interested in your family and that mom is open to him being here. I don't have a boyfriend but like... The guys all are either straight or just suck, so."

"Most do," I could agree to that. "well... At school, yeah. I met Luke through a summer camp a long time ago and we just got back into touch this last year. It's a long story."

"That sounds nice," Tyler commented, nudging his son. "did you tell him the news?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah!" Jace recalled, lighting up like the son. "we're moving back to New York! That's why we're here for the weekend, we move in on Tuesday! Dad said we'd be at the same school! It's like, a few complexes down from here!"

Oh, shit. They don't know about the gods.

"Really?" I asked, shocked.

"Yeah, it was coincidence," Tyler told me as I just about went into shock. "I got a job offer at the zoo and I was looking for Apartments and found one down the block. I didn't even realize how close we were until I was trying to coordinate with your mom when we'd be here for moving in and visiting. I asked for good schools and she told me that Paul works at one? Which sounds good enough. But where is Paul? I had a book to give back to him."

"I'm sure Jace can just give it to him at school," I assured Tyler. "He's not living here anymore. Some stuff happened and they're in the middle of getting divorced, which is why my Dad is here. And yes, that's my dad, it's another long story."

"So... Okay, got it."

•••

Sally Jackson

It was a bit chaotic with everyone over, but dinner actually went really well. Nico and Jace got along really well, and so did Poseidon and Tyler. It was nice.

The boys had been in Percy's room after the others left, Poseidon and Tyler helped me clean up before Poseidon had to leave, telling me that he's busy in meetings tomorrow, but his weekend is open. Which was nice to know.

I didn't really think about the fact that Tyler probably doesn't know Poseidon as Percy's actual dad. Which makes that seem....like an interesting interaction. Not suggestive, but also not normal.

It's been nice that Tyler and Jace come visit here a few times a year and we try to get out there once or twice. They lived in Massachusetts. So it's not too bad.

Sometimes I forget that we were together for so long because we never got married. Neither of us could afford a wedding with Percy. He was still in diapers. I met Tyler when Percy was a few months old. We were together for a few years, his lease ran out on his place so we decided to move in together being it had been a year and a half together and Percy had taken to calling him dad, which he doesn't do much anymore because he knows his dad, and like six months later we found out I was pregnant.

I don't regret the relationship. I love my boys, and it's not like we broke up because of something like what's going on with Paul or what happened with Gabe. Tyler got an offer from a university down in Boston to get his Master's payed for and work and he had a cousin down there willing to help him out and  he really wanted it and I wanted it for him, but I couldn't leave New York. Because if we went to Boston, who knows how long it would be until Percy went to camp. A year or six, and I was afraid of that distance.

So he took Jace, I kept Percy, and for the first year I think we met at every holiday and called for birthdays or just random days because it was long distance.

And then it just... It was too hard. For us, and for the kids. Monsters were finding Percy in school, and that terrified me.

So I married Gabe and visits became minimal. Once or twice a year, when he wasn't home for a week.

When Gabe died, it was a lot easier to have them around and to let Percy and Jace be brothers again. There was this disconnect, though, that I think Percy still feels when he hangs out with Jace or talks to Tyler, now knowing his dad and knowing that, even though this is his brother, he's not supposed to know. Because Tyler and I aren't together.

And I agree. Because it's hard. It was hard to not tell Tyler that I was worried that Percy might be dead if he doesn't pick up a call because a monster attacked him when he wasn't paying attention. That he might be gone because Hera doesn't believe in peace talks, apparently.

"So..." Tyler remarked, nudging me in a jokingly manner as Poseidon closed the door on his way out. "Is that a new boyfriend?"

"Hm? Poseidon?" I asked. "Oh, no. He's just Percy's dad. As sweet as he is, his life gives me a headache if I think about it for too long. He's just helping Percy get used to being back home and with the divorce making sure that we don't get screwed and I can still keep Estelle and not go under financially. Why? Do you have a girlfriend you need to tell me about?"

"And try long distance again? Hell no," my ex told me. "Dating with a teenager is hard as it is, Sally, I don't know how you do it."

I shrugged.

"I mean, Percy stays with Poseidon in the summer and the occasional other week," I figured. "also, I met a lot of people in classes. That's how I met Paul, at least. I think Gabe... The shop? I don't remember, but I also don't really care about that, so."

Did that sound bad? Probably.

But again, I didn't care. He was an abusive asshole, and I probably should have just moved down to Boston with Tyler and figured out the whole camp thing when Percy was older. I didn't have anything else here besides my job, which didn't pay perfect at the time. I had two jobs for a while after they moved. Which... Wasn't ideal.

"He was an asshole from what I remember," Tyler responded, leaning against the counter by the sink. "You've been doing alright, though? You sounded stressed when I called the other day, I never asked being you sounded like you were in a hurry."

"I mean... It's been better." I was honest with him, shrugging. "it's been worse, too. Percy got back almost a week ago. We knew where he was come the very last week of July, but he couldn't make it home until last week and we had a family day and it was really nice. And the next day I was at work and Percy and Paul were talking, Percy came out to him because he has a boyfriend and they were going to go out on a date the next day, and Paul completely lost it and freaked out on Percy and we found him in his room the next morning unconscious with dried blood on his arms and empty pill bottles that we didn't know how much were in before so he was in the hospital for a few days, which is when you called, and yeah. He's been out for three days now and he refused to come home and stay at home the first night because of Paul. He stayed with his boyfriend that night."

"Oh!" Tyler excclaimed, realizing a few different things. "So tree divorce is... Brand new news."

"Yeah, but that's what happens when you tell my son that he's an unwanted mistake who should've died when he was 16."

Tyler gasped.

"He did not."

"He did, and now he's getting divorced and charged with hate speech and potential manslaughter because Percy openly admitted to his nurse that he tried to kill himself because of what Paul said."

For a minute, Tyler just let that register. Soak in his brain.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, looking worried. "I mean, that's a lot, no matter what. I guess I wouldn't have noticed... He hasn't been as close with me these last four or five years, though. I'm sure it's a teenager thing, but we'll find out eventually."

"It happens."

Tyler walked over and pulled me into a hug, which was really need after these last few days.

It was a hug of security, not one of nervousness or pity. It was nice.

I forgot how nice his hugs were.

"Thank you."