𝐓𝐇𝐀𝐍𝐀𝐓𝐎𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐁𝐈𝐀; p jackson x d grayson ¹

𝚅𝙸.

The two storey brick house is a breath of fresh air between all the dark and drab of Gotham. Traditional red brick, covered in striving vines, and flowers lounge on the faded wooden steps up to the porch. It almost seems like Apollo made an exception for this patch of land, allowing the weathered house and flourishing greenery to soak up his sunlight while the rest of the city remains cold. 

Percy inserts his key into the white polished door, scanning around the small front garden. He can't see Gato, the cat that tended to make this residence his home, so Percy assumes he must already be inside. Before he can turn the key however, the door opens.

"Percy, right on time!"

Percy looks down at the older woman smiling at him. Despite being in her mid-thirties, she looks rather youthful and well-rested. Her short golden brown hair is pulled back into a short ponytail revealing whitened locks streaking up from her temple, with a few loose strands framing her face. Her light brown skin crinkles into a pretty little dimple at the corner of her lip. She fiddles with her purse in her lap with one hand, while rolling her wheelchair out of the doorway. 

"Hey, Coraline. Mariana's upstairs, right?"

The woman nods. "Oh, before I forget—" She speedily wheels herself into the kitchen, where she drops a little bag of treats into his hand. The shortbread cookies are carefully stacked on top of each other, each a perfect little circle of goodness. Stiff, sugary, and blue icing is lathered on top. Percy handles the bundle like a newborn lamb.

"Mari and I were making cookies yesterday. We made them blue, because she talked about how it's your favourite colour," she shrugs, as if this little act didn't instantly make Percy's whole week better.

Coraline Trenche must be the greatest boss on Earth. (Percy's sure Bruce is nice to the employees at Wayne Enterprises, but Coraline is too sweet and understanding to be beat.) She was actually his old English teacher during his two years at Gotham Academy — his favourite teacher of all time, through the way she taught him, believed in him, and taught him to believe in himself. She needed someone to babysit her twelve-year-old daughter while she attended physical therapy, and Percy was more than willing after calling in from the flyer. He had known their family of two for a week and is already prepared to lay his life down for either of them. They made him feel so welcome, not only in their house but in Gotham as a whole. Coraline had already coaxed him into eating dinner with them twice, as well as crashing out in the guest bedroom after it got too late once (Percy snuck out soon after they fell asleep, as per usual). 

The Trenche household had pretty much become his second home in Gotham. It's just like Camp Half-blood in his opinion — with a homey and playful atmosphere inside, protecting and preserving the occupants from the dangers that lurked beyond its borders. Every inch of space is heavily decorated, from framed photos on the walls and shelves to cute potted plants in the corners. Rows of books lined the shelves with their own bizarre bookends, like one bedazzled with jewels, or a really bad pottery Santa Claus, or one that was literally a brick. A set of sheathed swords and knives were mounted in an orderly fashion on the far wall — that's Percy's favourite decoration (or at least he hopes it's just decoration). It was disconcerting at first, but it adds nicely to the chaotic theme. 

"I should get going now." Coraline spins her keyring around her finger. She scoops up a book from the patchwork couch and hands it to Percy, who puts it back with its set. The bookend for that one is a painted clay sculpture of two anthropomorphic bears playing in the grass.

Coraline is at the door when she turns around. It may have been the stained glass in the door or the windchimes fixated at the window, but the light catches her eyes a bit more pointedly than usual.