PJO oneshots/ headcannons

24-- Blinking Red Lights

"Is it rolling?"

A little boy looked up from where he'd been playing on the floor. His surprised face could be seen, pixelated in the screen of the camera. "Mommy? Why is the red light blinking?"

"What red light?"

"There!" The stuffed dolphin fell to the floor limply. "You're recording me!"

"I am not!"

He laughed, showing off the gap in his front teeth and his big, wide smile. "You are! I can see you!"

"Keep playing, sweetie. Who's this? Mr Dolphin?"

"No. That's Ralph. And this is Maddie the sea horse." He picked up his two toys and dragged them along the floor to each other. "See, they're best friends." His voice went up an octave when he said, "Hello, Ralph. It's me, Maddie."

He put on a deeper voice and continued. "And I'm Ralph."

"I found this underwater palace!"

"Let's go and explore!"

"Sally! Where's my double bean dip?"

"I'm coming!"

The little boy looked up from his made up friends. He looked at the camera and said to his mother, "Mommy, Smelly Gabe is mean. Don't go."

"Sally!"

"I'll be back in a minute, Percy. You keep playing with Ralph and Maddie, okay?"

"Okay."

The camera shook as the holder placed it down on the ground. Red light still blinking, it stared at the dirty walls of their apartment.

Then someone else came and picked it up. A nose zoomed into view and then it moved over to an eye.

The boy's voice came floating through.

"Mommy! The light's still blinking!"

He held it out at arms length and looked at it carefully, his face framed in the lens - the sea green eyes that were still too large and round for his head, the messy clump of black hair, eyebrows scrunched up and smile upside down, in a confused little frown, as if he was trying to figure out what made the red light blink like that.

And then after a while, he gave up and it switched off.

* * *

"Smile!"

He looked up for a minute from the couch where he was watching a movie, but immediately, he looked away again, trying to hide his face. "Mom!"

"Aw come on! Just one smile. You're off to Yancy and I'm not going to see you again for months."

"I'll be calling you."

"Calling isn't the same as seeing. You're going to be taller when you come back home. We can look back at this and laugh at how small you were."

"I won't be that tall." He mumbled.

"Come on, Percy. One smile."

The camera moved around the sofa to get a better look at him, and just for a moment, his face was clear and perfectly visible. For a stunned moment, he watched his mother, but then he took out a cushion and hid himself behind it. "Mom! Stop that!"

His mother laughed.

"Alright, alright."

* * *