Over My Head // a Percy Jackson Fic

Chapter 4 // Such Great Heights

↠ Such Great Heights ↞

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Surprisingly, Percy was able to eat his breakfast in peace. No one bombarded him with questions about how he was feeling, what he was going to do now, or why he thought they left. Though, as he was walking back to his cabin, he was stopped by a 13-year-old boy. He had chocolate colored hair with amber eyes that held so much happiness and curiosity, it made Percy long for the innocence.

"Wait, you're Percy Jackson right?" The boy asked eagerly, walking beside the son of Poseidon.

"Uh, let me check," Percy looked at his hands sarcastically, then nodded with a grin, "Yep, looks like it,"

"Oh my God- gods!" He corrected himself, which clearly showed he was a new camper, "You're amazing!"

Percy smiled softly, "Well, thank you very much! I'm glad someone thinks so,"

The boy somehow seemed to notice something had changed in his tone. He frowned, "If you're thinking about your friends, just... forget them. They're just," He lowered his voice and looked around, "Assholes."

Percy tried not to grin at how he was so concerned that someone would hear him curse. He kind of reminded Percy of himself when he was younger.

"Hey, um, I gotta go," The boy said, pointing to a group of burly teens with his thumb. For some reason, the teens seemed to be glaring at Percy. "But it was nice talking to you!"

Percy raised an eyebrow at them, then nodded with a smile, "Yeah you too!" But just as the boy was walking away, Percy said, "Hey, wait, you never told me your name!"

The brown haired boy turned around to face the older boy, "Oh, I'm Sean. Son of...  Ares," He said, looking a little shameful and blushed. Then he smiled cheerfully and waved, "Bye!"

Percy was shocked. Sean was a son of Ares? In what universe? Maybe he brings out the best in people? After all, he'd gotten Drew to comfort him, and according to Piper, she's the definition of evil. Or, was, seeing as she's turned over a new leaf.

Gods, that's mildly concerning. Percy thought of how his half siblings were going to have to toughen him up. And that'd probably break his innocence, dammit.

But Sean didn't seem too happy about being a son of Ares. Maybe he wasn't corrupted by his siblings yet.

Whatever the reason is for Sean's friendliness, Percy was sure he was going to make a good friend.

🌊

The rest of the day went by fast, and soon enough, the sun was setting. Unknown to Percy, a certain sea god was pleading a certain sun god to hurry up. Just as Percy was getting in bed, a bright blue light flashed in his hands. When it died, a blue envelope was sitting in his palms.

Curiously, he opened it, pulling out the matching blue papyrus with one sentence written in Ancient Greek: I'm at the lake. :)

Percy immediately threw on a shirt and half walked and half ran to his destination. When he arrived, he was met with a hug (that rivaled Tyson's) from the one and only Poseidon.

"Dad," Percy gasped in his father's chest. "...can't breathe." He managed.

Poseidon immediately let go and chuckled sheepishly, "Heh, sorry, son. I'm just happy to see you're okay," He apologized, rubbing the back of his neck in a Percy-like way. Well, now we know where he got that from.

"Yeah," Percy responded weakly, not knowing what to say. Was he okay? Probably not. He cried, like, what, four times today?

Noticing his son's mood shift, Poseidon decided to change the subject, "So, I see you've made some friends with a child of Ares, Hephaestus, and Aphrodite."

Percy turned back to the god with the ghost of a smile, "Yeah, they're pretty friendly and nice. I really didn't expect a son of Ares to befriend me, let alone a daughter of Aphrodite with the reputation of a bully." By now, the faint smile on his face had waxed into a noticeable one.

"Frank and Piper were nice to you. Well, Frank was a son of Mars and Piper wasn't a bully," Poseidon added but soon realized his mistake when Percy's smile dissipated.

Percy nodded, and murmured a soft, "Yeah," He focused his attention on the sand and began kicking at it.

Poseidon sighed, "Percy, you can't change the past. You know this," His father said, grabbing Percy's attention. "But, you can shape the future. And do you know how?"

Percy took the bait, "How?" He asked curiously.

"By living in the present."

Percy was silence for roughly a minute, causing Poseidon to believe he was actually thinking about taking his advice. Then, Percy spoke up, "Wow," He whistled, grinning broadly. "That's some cheesy stuff right there, Dad."

The sea god chuckled, happy to see his son with a real smile, "I suppose that was a little cheesy." He admitted.

"But seriously," Percy started, his eyebrows furrowed, "I think I'll try it."

"You will?"

Percy replied with a slow nod that gradually turned into a confident one, "Yeah. I realize I haven't been choosing the... wisest decisions lately,"

Poseidon embraced his son once again. Percy returned the hug and vowed, "I won't let you down. I promise."

"Thank you, my boy," His father said, "Thank you."

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❝ And true,

it may seem like a stretch,

But it's thoughts like this that catch

My troubled head when you're away

When I am missing you to death. ❞

🌊

(edited 8/9/2017)