Chapter Text
“Hey Percy? How come no one ever sees you during the summer?” Cj asks.
Crap, he blanks. The guys on his swim team turned to look at him, and the silence stretched on as Percy searched his empty mind for an excuse. He couldn’t exactly tell them he went to a summer camp meant for the children of the gods.
”Uh, Percy?” Tanner questioned.
Say something, he begged himself. So he did, the first thing that came to mind.
”Uh, I stay with my dads.”
Well, it’s not exactly a lie. Although it does imply something that isn’t totally true. His mother wouldn’t approve. Actually, knowing her, she’d probably think it was funny.
“What are you all standing around for!” Coach Thompson yelled as he walked into the pool room. “Let’s go, starts your warm ups.”
”Sorry dad, we were just asking Percy what he does during the summer.” Cj replied as he hopped into the pool.
”Well?” Coach turned towards Percy. “What do you do? You never show up to summer practices. I’d typically kick someone off the team for that, but you clearly practice over the summer.”
”He stays with his dads.” Tanner called out as he led the stretches for the JV team.
Coach Thompson turned towards Percy. “Oh, will your dads be going to our next meet? I’m sure they’re very proud of you.”
Percy shrugged noncommittally, “I’m not sure, they’re pretty busy and they live several hours away.”
Miles clapped Percy on the shoulder as he walked past him. “Nonsense, I’m sure they’ll show up.”
He nodded and quickly finished his stretches and joined the rest of varsity in the pool to do warm ups in the water.
Practice went well and Percy enjoyed the soreness in his muscles as he pulled himself out of the water after his final drill.
Thankfully, none of the guys in the changing room mentioned his comment about his dads. He knew none of them were homophobic, they had all proved that when Miles’s little brother came out as trans last year.
Still, he had been a little worried. Which was weird, because even if Dionysus and Poseidon were gay, they weren’t dating each other.
Dionysus hardly got along with Poseidon, the two were constantly fighting over who got to have Percy visit them on Christmas Eve(Sally always got Christmas Day), or who he would visit during three-day-weekends when his mom still had to work.
Poseidon was still a little jealous over Dionysus taking his only demigod child. They’ve gotten to where they can talk civilly, but not to the point where they were anything close to a loving couple.
Not that it mattered anyways, Poseidon and Dionysus wouldn’t show up to his meets. Even if Percy might want them to, it was for the best.
They would cause too much of a scene, Dionysus could be very dramatic. Plus, with Poseidon’s temper, being around a ton of water wasn’t a good idea.
Percy grabbed his bag and waved to the coach on his way out of the locker. He had to catch a bus home and finish up some homework. Annabeth was coming over for dinner and his mom said they could watch a movie if he finished it.
Coach Thompson waved distractedly and stepped outside talking in a serious tone to someone on the phone.
Tanner jogged up to him after he left the locker room. “Hey dude, sorry if we bothered you earlier. About your dads and all. I get it, my parents are divorced and my mom can’t show up to meets because of the distance.”
Percy smiled, despite not having been offended, it was nice to finally have some friends at school who cared about him. Grover didn’t really count, since he was just there to be his protector.
Although Grover is his best friend, he doesn’t exactly count as a school friend if he was never supposed to be a student anyways.
He waved goodbye to his other teammates as they trickled through the door and into the cool weather outside. His bus would be here soon, and he couldn’t miss it if he wanted to finish his homework before dinner.
Percy hopped onto the bus, and then wondered what Paul was cooking for dinner, before scrolling on his phone, waiting for his stop.
The ride was short and soon he was walking down the hall to his apartment. He could hear his mom talking to someone as he unlocked the door.
“It’s Percy!” He called out and shut the door behind him.
He turned to see his mom standing in the middle of the empty living room looking harried.
“You alright mom?” He asked.
She smiled and brushed her hair out of her face. “Fine dear. Now don’t you have homework to finish before a certain guest arrives?” She teased.
He laughed and headed to his room. Time for math homework. Yay.