PJO oneshots/ headcannons

13-- The Little Brown Book

Sally Jackson rummaged around in the deepest darkest corners of his son's room. Dirty clothes were lying aimlessly on the floor, on top old his bed, and hanging off of chairs. Muddy footprints led into the room from the wooden door, reaching a stop under the red canvas shoes.

His skate board was peeking out from under the bed and the helmet was no where to be seen. A pile of homework stacked up on the wooden table. The lamp was on, facing the papers.

A pile of drachmas were scattered onto his bed side table and his new panda pillow pet lay curled up on top of his pillow.

Percy himself was sitting on the chair trying in vain to do his school work. His black hair was a mess and his eyes were drooping with sleep. His grip on his pen was slack and when he tried to write an equation, the numbers were a jumbled mess on the paper. Sally could tell his dyslexia was acting up again because he was squinting at the pages trying to make the tiniest sense of what he was seeing.

She gave up on cleaning the room and walked over to her son. "Sweetie, how about you take a break now?"

"I can't." Percy muttered, sleepily. "I need to pass this test. So that-" he yawned. "So that Annabeth and I can be in the same class." It was already midnight and Percy was still up trying to figure out some algebraic questions.

He was sure he'd flunk the test that could bring him up a grade to Annabeth's level so he had pulled three all nighters in a row now, studying for it. Sally hoped Athena was watching from her golden throne on Olympus because this was obviously much, much harder than defeating some Minotaur and way more traumatising than falling into Tartarus for Annabeth.

Sally kissed his forehead. "I'm sure you'll pass just fine, Percy. But for now, you can stop. How about something to eat? Blue cookies?"

Percy smiled, "Okay."

So Sally went to get some cookies but when she came back, Percy was already sleeping.

Sally smiled at his sleeping figure. She was just about to leave the room again when something sticking out from underneath Percy's closet caught her eyes. It looked very much like an old book. A very familiar book too. Just out of curiosity, she walked over and pulled it out.

It was dusty, so she just brushed it off on her skirt, and walked out into the kitchen. She set the cookies on the table and opened the book. It was a phot album. The pictures were so old, they were now dusty and tattered around the edges. The first was of a baby boy sleeping peacefully in his cot. His black hair leaning over his eyes and his small fingers clutching a toy dolphin.

The next was his third birthday. He had a little party hat I top of his messy hair and was wearing a dark red T-shirt. His eyes were alight with happiness and he was smiling at the camera from the top of his cake goofily.

There were a lot more, all depicting precious moments in their lives.

Before Sally could explore any further, a knock on the door rang out.

Sally approached it cautiously, wondering who it could be at this late time.

She looked through the peep hole just for extra safety measures before opening the door wholly.

Standing there, outside on the corridor, was a young girl sopping wet from the storm that had been rating on inside. Her loose blonde hair was plastered down onto her cheeks and the dark orange shirt she was wearing was damp and soggy. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest in a small attempt to stay warm.

When she saw Sally, she gave the older woman a small smile. "Sorry to bother you Sally but-"

"Annabeth!" Sally exclaimed, bringing the child in through the threshold. "What happened? Are you alright?"