Halcyon [Leo Valdez x Reader]

Pandora

As it turned out, blue food was a Jackson thing. I found that out when we celebrated Percy's and my birthday. The whole cake was blue- the batter, the frosting, even the ice cream filling. We even had blue corn tortilla chips, blue candy, blue ballons, a fucking blue table cloth. 

I thought it was some sort of Poseidon/Neptune joke. Percy explained that it was actually an inside joke between him and his mom during her last marriage years ago. Something about proving her ex-husband Gabe wrong. 

“She thought it was a good idea to bring you into it,” Percy said, eating his slice of cake. His teeth were stained cyan. “You know, since you're family now.”

“Right,'' I said, sheepishly looking down to my plate. I didn't have much of an appetite, but since Sally had spent the whole day baking for us, I decided to eat my share anyway. 

After we ate, I raced Paul- Percy's step-dad- to the kitchen to help clean up. 

“Need help?” I asked Sally, even though I'd already grabbed a soapy sponge and started doing the dishes. 

“No, I'm fine,” Sally said, a soft smile on her face. “Please, enjoy yourself more. Percy told me you didn't celebrate your birthday a lot.”

I could feel my face redden with a blush. “I really don't mind,” I said softly. “And I mean, having a whole new person in the apartment is kinda a lot and you know, more dishes, so I at least want to do my part, so-”

Sally laughed and finished loading the dishwasher. “You are so sweet. Well, if you insist.”

She stood next to me, drying the dishes that I had scrubbed off as I handed them to her. I could hear Percy and Paul chatting more in the living room. “Mom, sis! It's time for presents!”

I finished the last bit of silverware and cleaned my hands off. “Presents?” I asked.

“Come on,” Sally said, touching my shoulder gently. “I have a feeling there will be some good ones.”

She led me back out to the living room and sat on the couch next to her husband. Percy pulled me down next to him. In front of us on the coffee table were a few boxes wrapped in- you guessed it- blue wrapping paper. Percy scouted them, presumably reading the names written on the wrap. He handed me my share and grabbed the rest for himself.

He tore into his while I gently unwrapped mine, wanting to make less of a mess. 

“Oh,” I said, holding up a large backpack. It was bigger and definately cooler than the old beat up one I had forever ago. When I unzipped it, there were plenty of notebooks, pens, pencils, and lead stocked up for me. “Wow. That's cool…”

Percy grinned and showed me that he had the same, except his backpack was green. “Sick!”

I smiled softly and set the backpack down in my lap. “Is this for school?”

Sally nodded. “Unfortunately, Percy got kicked out of his previous school due to his absences.”

“Not my fault.”

I elbowed Percy and laughed. “Right, ‘cause you wanted a vay-cay to Greece.”

We both snickered at each other.

“But now you two get to go to school together!” Sally said. “I also just didn't want to split you up… so, Alternative High School it is!”

“Is that like…” I cleared my throat and looked down. “Would they accommodate me? I mean, since…”