Beneath the Surface (A PJO Fanfic)

A Point of Contention

Percy is exhausted the next day, but satisfied. 

Of course, satisfaction means ignoring the worried look his father keeps sending him and soaking up all the attention from Hestia. He moves from room to room sluggishly and with a small smile on his face. 

And if a certain blond is one of his primary thoughts, well he's not going to admit it out loud. 

It's around dinnertime when he wanders into the kitchen where his father is helping his aunt prepare dinner. 

"What are we having?" he asks, coming in and plopping down in one of the island chairs. 

Hestia smiles. "Cheddar and broccoli soup with three different kinds of bread."

"So you're trying to poison me with vegetables? And here I thought you were on my side," Percy jokes crossing his arm. Hestia rolls her eyes. They both know he actually loves broccoli almost as much as he loves hamburgers. 

"So..." Percy starts, gaining their attention, though Hestia politely turns away when it's clear that Percy is really only looking at his father. "I was wondering ...." His mouth twists, looking like he's swallowed a lemon, even as worry heavily creases his brow. 

"What is, my boy?" Poseidon asks, placing a glass of water in front of Percy, who only takes a sip before sitting it back down. 

His fingers play worryingly at the rim before he drags his eyes up to meet Poseidon's. "Can I go back to school?"

The older man's head tilts slightly, reminiscent of a puppy, confusion pulling down his lips, even as Hestia turns with known concern written across her face. Poseidon finally asks, "But you're already in school? Athena comes four days a week."

Percy's hands tighten slightly on the glass, even as he looks down, away from those eyes. "No, I mean ... I want to go back to Goode." 

He still doesn't look up, even as silence stretches across the ridiculously fancy and well-equipped kitchen. 

Poseidon swallows as he stares at his son. Absolutely not, he wants to say and almost does, but already he's figured out that Percy's stubbornness outweighs the hesitance he often has when addressing things he knows Poseidon is ... passionate about. 

The old ocean guru swallows again, "I don't think that's a good idea, son." 

Percy's fists clinch and he looks up through his shaggy bangs. His stance is guarded, but there's a spark in his eyes that reminds Hestia eerily of a younger, moodier Poseidon.  That Poseidon used to get into a lot of trouble whenever he had that look does not escape her memory. 

"Why not? I went there before," the teen's voice is surprisingly level, perhaps because he knew that this would be an uphill battle before he even brought it up. He has called Poseidon an over-protective mother hen at least twice a day for the last month after all. 

Poseidon's mouth twists and he stares down at his only child. "It's far away, Percy, nearly an hour's drive when the traffic's good, and that place wasn't good for you. Plus there's your anemia! What are they going to do if you collapse?" 

Percy huffs, clearly annoyed. "Everything's far away. Besides Athena drives more than that every day. How's that fair?" Poseidon opens his mouth but Percy doesn't give him time to speak. "And they have a nurse, dad. I don't just collapse like I did at first because I've had transfusions and I'm fully healed, but even if I did, she'd be there to help."

Hestia smiles as she watches her brother's eyebrows crinkle as he searches for a counterargument. He could bring up that he sees that as a bad place for Percy because of his previous home life and the missing Gabe Ugliano, but they all avoid talking about that as much as possible.