lookin' up now ('cause i am royalty)

(3/6) three old ladies knit the socks of death

A/n: Rec #3: Percy could use a lawyer (https://archiveofourown.org/works/17391041/chapters/40931768)

Yeah I don't know why I was kidding myself, thinking I could split this into three parts 🤡 It might be four, might be five, I don't really know yet

Ages for reference (30):

10: Nico
13-14: Bianca
15: Jason, Piper, Leo
16: Percy, Grover, Rachel, Annabeth
18: Luke
21: Silena, Beckendorf
22: Thalia
24-26: Triton, Persephone, Mellie
37-38: Sally, Hera, Chiron
40-41: Athena, Pan
42-44: Zeus, Amphitrite, Paul, Frederick Chase
47-48: Poseidon
49-50: Hades, Gabe
52-56: Coach Hedge
☠️: Kronos

I paced the room, feeling like ants were crawling around inside my shirt.

"Ew," Percy groaned, shaking his shirt to try and get the invisible ants out from in it. Of course, it wouldn't really go away until the reading continued. So he would just have to deal with it for now.

That didn't mean he had to like it, though. The frustrated feeling from earlier had mostly worn off, but feeling someone else's emotions seriously was throwing him off. (Though it technically was still his own emotions... but that was a whole mess Percy didn't want to have to think about right now.)

"Ugh, ghost spiders and ants crawling all over you is the worst feeling," Jason shuddered, glad he wasn't the one experiencing it right now.

Thinking about Percy, made Jason think about when he might come into the story. Obviously, it was about Percy so there was no real guarantee he would be in it, but considering he was his cousin he thought he probably was going to be. How would his other version be? Would he even still be Percy's cousin? Thalia's brother?

It was weird to think about, in all honesty. Only time would tell the answers to those questions.

I remembered Mr. Brunner's serious expression, his thousand-year-old eyes. I will accept only the best from you, Percy Jackson.

Poseidon was getting angry again, these teachers would really be the death of him. If Percy didn't cause his end first, that is. Despite having only met his younger son a couple of weeks ago, he already knew Percy was going to be quite the handful.

He meant that in the best way, of course, he wouldn't trade his son for the world. Percy was exceedingly humble and loyal, in a way that Poseidon couldn't even say he was. Percy's upbringing made him who he is today, and Poseidon would regret every day that he didn't fight harder to actually raise Percy.

He could only imagine what things might have been like, had he brought Percy up in Olympia with the rest of his family as opposed to in New York with only his mother. He could have gotten better teachers, who would have done the right thing concerning his son's ADHD and Dyslexia.

And if they didn't, they would have to answer to him. The Olympian royal family were known for their fiery temper for a reason, after all.

But back then Poseidon couldn't- and truthfully probably still couldn't- deny Sally her son.

That was something Poseidon would never do, take a child away from their parent. Maybe Poseidon could even have actually visited Percy in America, but that would mean Percy would probably find out who he was before they told him.

In New York, there were few options for someone to teach and tutor Percy in the ways of the Royal family, and that would only make him stand out amongst his peers if he was much more formal than them. (Not that that was a bad thing, really.)