Daddy Issues

Parenting

Percy's POV) 

Hanging out at Jason's house after school was surprisingly fun. Especially when Piper had called us there for some gossip. As already established, I'm one nosy fucker, so I just had to get in on it. And I dragged Nico along too, he needs to get out. 

"Ok, so." She started, sitting on Jason's couch and pulling something up on your phone. "I follow this nature-slash-conservationist-slash-art blog. And the girl running the blog, R.E.D, she said she was gonna be staying in San Francisco. The very next blog post was about this girl she did the deed with, and her description perfectly matches Thalia's! At least, from what you told me." She shoved her phone towards Jason. "Here, just in case you think this is an early April fool's prank." 

Jason skimmed the post and groaned. "Great, now I have an idea of how my sister is in bed." He gagged. 

"Wait... That was your sister?" I asked. "I... I think I knew her." 

He turned to me. "Really?" 

"Yeah, she was friends with Annabeth back when we first met. Ran off with this weird biker gang after Luke got shitty, though." 

"Luke?" 

"Yeah, this... Guy. He was cool at first, and then shit happened, and..." I shrugged. "Not who we're talking about." 

Nico, who had been pretty quiet through all of this, finally commented. "How'd you know her?" 

"Um... Same way I knew Annabeth." Was all I said. I didn't wanna get all... Into it. Not in front of everyone. 

I could tell he was curious, but he dropped the subject, and I appreciated that. We hung out a bit more, mostly talking about Thalia, trying to find ways to reach out to her. Piper and R.E.D actually knew each other somehow, so we decided she should get a hold of her. Eventually, I had to pick up my things and leave. 

One of those things included a sack of flour. Yeah, Ms. Hestia had us do the classic flour baby thing that you see in all those 90's teenage sitcoms. Next thing you know, I'll have to dissect a frog in bio! 

... On second thought, let's hope not, because my classroom has this display case of dead animals preserved in jars of formaldehyde, and they really freak me out. I swear, they're all staring at me. Those that have eyes, that is. Man, deep sea creatures really freak me out. They're cool, though. Like... Cronenberg monsters. They're super gross and I love them for that. I'd prefer to stick with the cute ones though, like baby sharks. Fuck, now I have that song stuck in my head all over again. Man, if they had Ipads back then, and my mom could've afforded one, my ADHD would probably be like... 12 times worse. 

Nico elbowed me. "Babe, it's my turn." He held his arms out. I huffed and handed it to him. 

So, since Nico and I are partners on this assignment, and we don't live together, we have to work out a custody arrangement. He'd keep the flour sack today, then I'd take it for tomorrow, and we'd back-and-forth like that . Honestly, it's kind of depressing when you think about it, because since most of the people she partnered up don't live together, she's basically making us roleplay divorced parents. And I don't want us to get divorced. 

He smiled down at it, holding it in his arms like it's a real baby, and I snorted out a laugh. "You're taking this really seriously, aren't you?" 

He pouted. "Y'know what? I may not let you have her tomorrow." 

"Her?" 

He nodded. "I've named her Daisy." 

I laughed again. "Because it's a flour sack."