Watching | Athena

1

After Percy had taken a month to get used to Olympus, and have new things of his own, such as clothes and related materials, Athena took him back to Manhattan and enrolled him in a boarding school called Park View Academy.

Percy was naturally averse to the thought, at first, but everything was well after the first week, and Athena came to take him to lunch every Saturday and Sunday.

A lot had changed in both of their lives. For instance, men stopped catcalling Athena the first time she took Percy on her walking route. He heard her sigh at the sound, then seconds later, the man fell off of the scaffold he was standing on and broke his leg.

Athena thought it was hilarious, but she still punished Percy by only buying him one book before he went back to school.

Six years had passed since then, and it was the summer before he started sixth grade. The last day of break, to be exact. This was the last thing he was doing on Olympus before going back to school that evening.

He and Athena were doing an aeronautical pentathlon for fun, with Nike acting as referee.

They did the shooting round with bows and guns, Percy very much enjoyed the fencing round, he was slightly better than Athena at orienteering and basketball (he was a son of Poseidon who literally had navigation and cartography as a power, and she just preferred more traditional sports), Athena did amazing at the obstacle course, then Percy obviously won swimming.

Athena won shooting, fencing, and the obstacle course.

Percy won orienteering, basketball, and swimming.

"We need a tiebreaker." They demanded simultaneously. Nike rolled her eyes.

"Of course you do. Alright, fine. First one back to the house wins the competition." She unfurled her wings to keep pace with them, then set their starting mark and blew her whistle.

It was obvious who was winning, Athena had longer legs and was a goddess. Eleven-year-old Percy began falling farther and farther behind.

Just before Athena could cross the property line, who put that rock there?! Definitely not Nike.

She tripped over, and tried to crawl to the door, but Percy ran past.

"Percy wins!" Nike cheered, then looked out the door as Athena walked through, giving her a look. Nike looked away innocently, and patted Percy on the back.

"Alright, kid. Go pack your things. You can pick where we go for lunch before me and Nike take you to school."

—

They ate at Avra on 48th Street, it reminded Percy of Hestia's family recipes, her kitchen was his first choice, but she wasn't home.

Once they finished, they took a taxi to Park View, where Athena embarrassed Percy out of habit, and Nike out of enjoyment.

Once they finished showering him with affections and promising they'd take him to lunch and the bookstore on the Weekend, he went inside, following the hallways as he usually did.

He came to his room and went through the open door, picking up one of the keys on the small table by the door. He went further into the room and put his trunk on his bed.

He started unpacking, and once he was nearly finished, his dorm advisor, Ms. Kay, walked in with a boy who was definitely not a mortal.

He was cute though. He had crutches that obviously disguised a goaty trot as a limp, and the tips of his small horns were hidden easily in his brown, curly hair.

He was pale, and freckly, and wore an extremely timid look.

"Good evening, Percy! How was your summer?" She asked. Ms. Kay was a young, smiley redhead that reminded Percy of a slightly annoying but extremely likable puppy.

"It was great, I spent a lot of time with my moms." He replied. For those that are confused, he always referred to Athena and Nike as his mothers, and badgered them commonly about when they would stop tiptoeing around each other and get married.

"That's great," she had a look that said, I suddenly remember why I'm here!

"Right, this is Grover Underwood! He'll be your new roommate, Mike transferred to a different school, upstate, and we wouldn't want you to be alone." She giggled a bit here. Percy smiled politely.

"Okey, okey, byee!" She left the room and shut the door behind her.

"Hello, Mr. Underwood." He said, smirking slightly. The boy smiled, then looked down and shuffled his shoes.

"Why don't you get comfortable, this is your room too. Take off your shoes, they must be so rough on your hooves." Percy said.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it!" Grover kicked off his shoes, revealing a pair of cloven hooves, then blushed, realizing what'd just happened.

"I mean...these are normal feet! I-I just have a...uhm—! The-these are just...weird socks!"Percy smiled and nodded.

"Yes, of course. Mother told me a satyr might be coming this year." Grover sighed and sat down on his bed.

"You know!?"