Chapter Text
Jason couldn’t decide if he hated his job. On the plus side, it paid well enough, and he didn’t have to directly interact with the public; the flip side was people tended to be shittier over the phone as they couldn’t see if the rep was crying or ready to throw punches. He worked in a call center for a local credit union in Southern California – and he couldn’t figure out how he’d ended up here.
He’d graduated from the University of New Rome almost two years ago – and then spent the next nine months trying to get a job with said degree. He hadn’t been able to get an internship and being young in a terrible economy meant no one wanted him despite his fancy piece of paper. He’d settled for a call center job because his savings had been dangerously depleted. Even living with two roommates didn’t leave him with much spending money.
The headset beeped in Jason’s ear as his recorded prompt played. Thank you for choosing Inspiring Credit Union. My name is Jason. How can I help you?
“Hey, what’s my account balance?”
“Do you know your account or member number?”
“Uh, no. I know my social though.”
Jason punched in the social security number that was offered. He went through his verification questions, staring at the screen, internally suffering from boredom. How had he been doing this for nearly two years?
“You’ve got $455.17 in your checking,” Jason told him.
“And savings?”
“$1,189.04 available.”
“Great, thanks.”
“Thank you for calling. Have a good rest of your day.”
“Yeah, you too.”
The line clicked. The box popped up in the center of his screen. Jason clicked the drop down and selected Balance or Deposit Inquiry and it went away. It was dead today, and once again, Jason wasn’t sure if that was good or not. When it was slow like this, he could play on his phone. He’d been super into Candy Crush the last couple weeks. Most days he could get through twenty levels or so.
His prompt went off in his ear again. He dropped his phone onto his desk, swung back to his computer, and started punching in the member number as it was rattled off. The woman didn’t need him. He transferred her over to mortgage servicing.
The morning dragged by. His cube was beige with a smattering of decorations. He’d hung up a small purple SPQR banner. There was a holder with brochures with most of the services they offered. There were two small Avengers toys he’d been given by a coworker that were off to the side, Thor and Loki. His office phone sat before him, tucked behind the left monitor. Next to that his headset stand, emptied coffee mug, his water cup, and a notepad he had been doodling in. His right screen had open their phone software, along with their Teams chat. His left screen had the internet open with their banking program, credit card software, and their online platform. It made it easier to keep everything open than doing it in the moment.
Jason was ready to switch to Not Ready for his status to go on his break. He needed to stretch his legs. He was just about to switch his status when his headset went off in his ear. He internally groaned, rubbing his temples. Of course he wasn’t fast enough.
“Well, hi again, Jason. I talked to you last week about an issue I was having in my account. Or at least I’m assuming we did. Your voice sounds the same, but maybe you’ve got more than one Jason working there. Dunno how big the call center is.”
“Nope, I’m the only Jason here, and the only guy,” Jason told him, smiling to himself as he brought up the account. He recognized the voice at once. He called in often enough that Jason had his member number memorized.
“What’s going on now, Percy?”
“I still can’t see my business account,” Percy told him.
“Have you tried logging out and logging back in?” Jason quipped.
“Wooow. You really went there.”
“You have enough problems with your online account that I can ask you that.”
“I should find a bank that doesn’t hire smartasses,” Percy shot back, a grin clearly in his voice.
“Firstly, we’re a credit union. Secondly, it takes one to know one.” Percy laughed at Jason’s sass. Jason tried hard not to laugh as he brought up Percy’s online account. “Are you okay that I don’t verify you, as I do recognize your voice?”
“I can’t decide if I should be delighted or exasperated that you’re asking me that.”
“It’s not my fault you have a lot of problems, and as a result, you call in frequently.”
“You’re just pulling all the punches today, aren’t ya, Jason?”
“Just answer the question, Jackson.”
“Yes, I’m fine if you don’t verify me.”
“So, what’s wrong with your online account now?”
“I’m gonna ignore that accusatory tone,” Percy started. “Talked to… shit, I think it was Alessandra? last week and she said once I got logged back in online, I’d be able to see my personal accounts and my business. We did the reset and everything, but I can only see my personal.”
“So you want cross account access?” Jason asked. “You want to be able to move money back and forth and pay your loans and whatnot?”
“Yeah! She said I’d be able to do that.”
“Did you have cross account set up before your troubles started?”
“Uh… no?”
Jason sighed. This guy… he’d only seen the scan of Percy’s driver’s license, and judging by the picture, he was an ex-frat guy who grew up skateboarding in busy streets, looking for trouble – and if he couldn’t find it, it found him. But he also had these brilliantly sea green eyes that he knew the little photo couldn’t do justice to. He wondered what the necklace was from. He couldn’t make out what was on the beads, but they all looked different.
“You’re in luck,” Jason told him as he started the paperwork to set up the cross-account access. “I’m one of the service center leads and I can do that for you. It sounds like Ale assumed you already had it set up.”
“So, you’ll… take care of me then?”
The tone of Percy’s voice made his insides squirm.
“Yes, I’ll get it set up. Just give me a minute.”
“No problem.”
The air between them went dead. Jason sighed softly. He knew his bosses didn’t like too much silence between reps and the member. All their calls were recorded, and he knew they regularly pulled everyone’s calls to make sure things were going well. With all that in mind, Jason glanced over the account before starting the dreaded small talk.
“How’s the aquarium doing?”
“Oh, it’s been awesome! The tiger shark we rescued a few months ago just had her babies on Tuesday. We’ve got seventeen baby tiger sharks and they are adorable. Their stripes are really popping! We’re hosting a trivia night fundraiser at the end of the month too with a silent auction. Whatever you don’t know about the ocean, you’ll learn. Prizes for the top three teams and door prizes!”
“And what are the door prizes?”
“A couple sets of free passes, gift certificates for the junk shop, as well as the best one in my opinion, a giant clam stuffed animal.”
“Who on earth would want that?”
“You sound jealous that you don’t have a giant clam stuffed animal.”
“Jealous is not the word I’d use.”
“Oh? Is there an animal you would want a giant stuffed animal of?”
Never having been asked that question, Jason genuinely had to stop and think about what his favorite animal was. His hands stilled against his keyboard, his eyes drifting down to stare at the Y key. He glanced over at the SPQR banner, then down to his inner forearm where his SPQR tattoo for the Roman Legion had been branded – fifteen lines for his years of service in the legion, and an eagle for his father. There was no way he would want to snuggle with an eagle – too weird.
“I… I don’t know,” he finally admitted.
“What? You don’t have a favorite animal?”
“Uh, no, Percy, I don’t.”
“You better figure that out for the next time I call in. Everyone has to have a favorite animal, Jason.”
“Oh yeah? What’s yours?”
“Easy,” scoffed Percy. “Pegasus.”
“That-that’s not even a real animal!”
“Or is it?”
This wasn’t the first time Jason had spoken to Percy and wondered – wondered if he was like him. Jason Grace was the demigod son of Jupiter, the Roman God of the Sky and King of the Gods. He had been elected Praetor of the Twelfth Legion after ascending Mt. Othrys and destroying Krios and Kronos’s black throne. He and Reyna served the legion together as Praetors until they each left for college. Reyna had settled on going home to San Juan for school, but Jason had chosen to stay in New Rome for university.
Percy had a habit of making comments like this, toeing the line between mortal and immortal. Jason remembered him making the comment that he got his password messed up frequently and locked out of his online account because he was dyslexic. Sometimes he talked about what the fish wanted at his work and how they were doing at the aquarium he owned like he knew what they felt. And once Percy had made an offhanded comment about how his credit card company was screwing him over like Ares had Hephaestus. But if Percy was like him, he’d have eventually ended up at Camp Jupiter. Nearly all demigods did, and Percy had to know if he was, and if he was, he would have come to camp years ago. This train of logic led Jason to conclude that Percy was mortal, and nothing more.
“I’ve never seen a horse with wings. Have you?” Jason was lying. They’d had one pegasus at Camp Jupiter, Scipio.
“I totally have.”
“The constellation doesn’t count.”
Percy laughed again. Jason couldn’t help but smile into his keyboard at the sound of his laugh.
“Okay, I’ll admit it. That was a good one.”
An alert popped up at the bottom of his screen. It was a request for a chat from one of his follow leads. He glanced up at the time. He’d been on the phone talking with Percy for nearly twenty minutes. He accepted the chat, and within seconds, Claire was typing.
Inspiring CU Agent has joined the chat.
Claire: you good?
Jason: Yeah. Online call. Needs some hand holding.
Claire: k lemme know if u need anything
Agent has left the chat.
The interruption made Jason hurry to finish setting up the cross account as Percy continued to talk about the new baby tiger sharks.
“Alright. All set up. Try logging in for me.”
“Okay. Gimme a sec.”
Jason heard some hard tapping on the other end. This wasn’t unusual for Percy. He usually threw Jason on speaker and tapped on his phone way too hard to make it do things.
“Awesome! It worked! I can see my personal and business accounts.”
“Perfect,” Jason said as he pulled up their note system to log the service he’d done. “Anything else I can help you with?”
“Nope. This’ll do for today. Thanks, man.”
“Of course. Have a good rest of the day.”
“You too.”
The call ended. Twenty-six minutes, forty-one seconds he’d been on the phone with Percy. While long calls happened, this had been the longest one with Percy. Typically, it was an older person struggling with the two-factor authentication for online banking. But there was something about the exchange that felt… deliberate. It felt like Percy had purposely had this problem.
That wasn’t a thing, Jason told himself as he finished up his note and clicked into a Not Ready status for his break. Jason locked his workstation before getting up and grabbing his water cup. He left it on the counter next to the coffee machine as he headed for the bathroom.
There were twenty-two people on staff who were regularly on phones. The system they used had smart targeting – which meant if a member called in from the same phone number in the same day, and that rep was available, they would get routed back to that rep. It tended to save a lot of time explaining what was happening and had already been done. Otherwise, it was random, like Bingo. There was no way Percy could have predicted he’d get Jason. He hadn’t called in today other than just now.
Jason refilled his cup with water and ice before heading back to his cube. He opened one of the drawers and pulled out a granola bar. He unlocked his station as he munched, Percy’s information still up on the transaction screen. Jason hovered over his driver’s license again, looking over the photo – until Jason realized he was being creepy and closed out of tab.
It didn’t stop him from picking up his phone and going to Facebook. He searched the aquarium he knew Percy owned and worked at – Poseidon’s Aquarium and Refuge. They not only had tanks on display but had facilities in back that helped injured wild sea creatures recover and get back out into the ocean. Jason went to the aquarium’s events page. Sure enough, at the end of the month was the fundraiser trivia night Percy had mentioned. Before Jason could stop himself, he marked himself interested in the event and promptly closed the app.
“Hey. 33997207.”
Jason hated it when members just rattled of their account numbers. He knew a few members who did the same, and some with their social. That was worse because if he just punched in the numbers and didn’t hear the normal pauses in between the three sets of numbers, he would mistake it for an account number. He’d then push enter and nothing would come up, as the social and the account number were not remotely the same.
“And your name?”
“Carter Dubineski.”
Jason walked through a different set of verification questions.
“And what’s going on?”
“I paid my credit card through your bill pay and they said they haven’t gotten it yet.”
“Okay. I can take a look. Let me get your online account brought up.” Jason pulled up their online platform, punched in his account number, and let it load. He pushed through the screens to get to his Bill Pay. “And where was it going to?” Jason saw there was only one payee set up.
“I just set up Bill Pay and it was for the company First Initiative, ‘cause I have bad credit.”
I wouldn’t doubt it, Jason thought, seeing the red in his account. He was behind on his loan.
“Whenever you add a new payee, the first payment always goes by check, to make sure the account info is correct. Once they receive and cash the check, if they’re able to accept electronic deposits, they’ll let us know and it’ll send an eCheck going forward.”
“But I sent two checks and they said they haven’t gotten them.”
“The mail has been a bit slow lately, so likely they’re still on its way. Once they’re cashed, you’ll be able to see it in the history. You can click on the hyperlinks and see the front and back of the check copy.”
“What address did they go to?”
“The address you put in for them.”
“I didn’t add an address.”
“Yes, you did. It would say ‘address on file’ if we regularly send payments to that institution and have a confirmed address on file. You added the address manually.”
“What address was put in there?”
Jason clicked back from the history to the account information. He started reading off the address to the member. When Carter spoke again, it took everything Jason had not to take the nearest pen and jam it into his throat. How could people be so unbelievably dumb?
Jason clocked out for lunch once the call had finally ended and he added his notes to the account. He was shaking his head to himself as he walked down the hall to the breakroom. With a shifting of condiments, he swung the fridge door open and snagged his lunch. Jason popped his leftovers into the microwave.
“Hey. How’s your day been?”
Turning to find the owner of the voice, Jason smiled lightly as Piper made her way to the fridge. Her hair was choppy, with little braids peaking between the locks. She had on a satin red dress shirt with dress pants and shoes. She never wore makeup, but always looked nice. Piper and Jason had become better friends since she'd started working here. Their slightly strained relationship had normalized, which Jason was thankful for. Whenever they had the same lunch break, they usually sat and ate together.
“You will not believe the idiot I just had,” Jason murmured. Piper’s kaleidoscope eyes brightened.
“Oh, do tell.”
“He was signing up for Bill Pay and the guy thought he was supposed to put his own address in for where to send the check – but get this, he didn’t even send it to himself. He sent it to an old address in Georgia that he didn’t live at anymore.”
“And this is when I start to wish natural selection worked faster.”
“Right? Ended up doing two Bill Pay Stop Pays for him, but that isn’t even the worst of it,” Jason told her as he pulled his Tupperware from the microwave and stirred it. “Even if the checks went to the right place, they wouldn’t have been able to cash them, as he spelled ‘first’ wrong.”
“Oh holy fuck. You didn’t waive the fees for those, did you?”
“Nope. Charged him sixty, per the procedure.”
“Our jobs suck.”
“Sometimes, yeah,” Jason agreed. “You could always go act. Your dad has connections.”
“Yeah,” Piper began, walking with Jason over to a table with their food, “but acting really isn’t my thing. I don’t know what I want to do. I haven’t even figured out if I want to go to college.”
“I want to say it’s never too late to go back –”
“But it definitely feels that way,” Piper agreed.
A comfortable silence fell between them as they ate, slowly moving onto other inter-office gossip. Hannah was pregnant again and Austin had been promoted to Card Services Supervisor, which meant there was an opening in that department. A guy from another office was out having surgery, so the usual ‘please donate to send him a get well soon gift’ had started circling. Jason rarely donated because money was tight enough as it was. He didn’t even participate in paid jeans days because five bucks had the potential to break the bank.
Jason spent the afternoon going through the information requests from the website and doing a Bommar on a member’s computer – a program that allowed them temporary access to their computer to help them with online problems. That took nearly forty minutes to get the cookies cleaned out and help her get her passwords in order.
After clocking out, Jason grabbed his things and headed for the bus stop. He put in his earbuds just as it arrived. The bus was full, so he stood, hand wrapped around the hanging grip. The bus jerkily moved through Los Angeles until it hit the city limits of Pasadena. Jason switched buses. As home loomed nearer, Jason happened to glance up. Outside was a billboard for Poseidon’s Aquarium, with a picture of a school of fish next to the logo.
Jason shook his head, looking back down at his phone. Thoughts of Percy kept interrupting the song he was listening to. He’d never even met the guy. Sure, he’d been calling into the Service Center for over a year, and he was a common name on the tongues of his coworkers but couldn’t help but wonder if Percy talked to them the same way he talked to Jason. He’d never asked.
The disaster that was their living room went unnoticed by Jason as he walked in the door. Between his best friend’s habit of bringing shit home to take apart and reuse, and their roommate’s general lack of consideration for the other people living there, led the apartment to be one step away from becoming an OSHA violation. Leo worked at a garage downtown and had a hobby of refurbishing and creating stuff they didn’t need. Usually, Jason could convince him to put in Facebook to sell. Colton, on the other hand, was a former rich kid who had no idea how to clean up after himself.
“Hey, man, how was work?”
“About the same. You?”
“Took a part an engine that was in a drag race boat, tuned it down so it wouldn’t twist my sweet baby into a pretzel,” Leo commented from the kitchen. Something smelled great.
“You makin’ tofu burgers?”
“Yeah! Piper turned me onto them. Super tasty, especially when I add the Valdez secret ingredient.”
“Cumin is not a secret ingredient.”
“It is if you don’t tell anyone, snitch.”
Jason laughed as headed into his and Leo's room to dump his work bag and change into comfier clothes. Business causal meant button-ups and dress pants.
“I always forget how long you and Piper have been friends,” Jason said loudly through the cracked door as he changed.
“Don’t let her hear your say that!” Leo shot back. “You might take a blow dart to the neck.”
Jason chuckled to himself, going to help Leo by getting out buns and condiments. They opened a couple beers as they worked on dinner. Jason set up their folding table after pushing junk out of his way with his foot in the living room. He popped open two lawn chairs before rummaging through Wal-Mart bags that had been left on the floor near the hall closet.
“Dude, did you buy more paper plates? I don’t see any here.”
“Aw, shit. No.”
“What are we going to eat on then?”
“Uhh…” Leo looked around the kitchen, opening mostly empty cupboards and cabinets. He pulled open the Lazy Susan, spinning it around before grinning. He pulled something put with a flourish, lifting them up for Jason to see. “We can use these.”
Jason shook his head, trying not to laugh. They were truly scrapping the bottom of the barrel tonight. Jason and Leo served themselves tofu burgers and French fries on cutting boards. They sat in the lawn chairs, which were just a little too low for the card table. Leo turned on a baseball game.
“Oh, hey, guess what Ivan gave me at work today,” Leo said as he added more hot sauce to his burger.
“What?”
“You know that really nice aquarium down in Santa Monica?”
Jason paused, the remaining half of his burger halfway to his mouth, uncertain of where Leo was going with this.
“Yeah?”
“He had a couple tickets he bought for his family a few months back and never got around to using them. They expire at the end of the month, so he asked if I could use ‘em. Didn’t want them to go to waste. We should totally go! And afterwards, hit up the beach, see some lovely senoritas. What do you say?”
Jason’s brain was screaming swear words at him so loudly he hardly heard Leo’s question. Just because he’d vaguely considered going didn’t mean he was actually going to do it. What if he saw Percy there? What if they had to talk and Percy recognized him? What if he made a total fool of himself?
“So? You wanna go? It’s free and I’ll drive. If it’s bad, we’ll just bail and go hang somewhere. Sound good?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll check my work schedule to see which weekend I have off.”
“Cool beans.”
Leo’s attention turned to the TV as the noise level flared. Someone must have scored. Jason couldn’t even consider focusing on the screen, his mind racing a thousand and one thoughts.
All he could do was pray he didn’t run into Percy when they went, because he didn’t want to back out on Leo, especially since he didn’t have a good excuse ready – not that Jason was a good liar anyway. Jason laid awake that night, hoping against hope that Percy didn’t call in tomorrow. He just couldn't handle that.