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Percy knows that he should be relieved that it’s mid-June, most of his school is elated for a matter of fact. Since Goode High School is for rich kids, kids who were too messed up for public schools, or kids of the staff, it didn’t take that much for students to unionize with the PTA for a new policy that gives the option for students with an A in a class to skip the final exam. In all fairness, that’s the majority of the school— even the students like Percy who have a track record of having abysmal grades— and it meant less work for teachers. A win for everybody, right?
Unfortunately, it’s not a win for Percy. Ever since the whole volcano incident, his asthma that was relatively manageable most of his life had been sent into overdrive. So much, in fact, he got a new diagnosis after a particularly bad attack led to Chiron notifying his dad who then whisked him away to Apollo for a full examination.
Overreacting if you ask Percy, but perfectly appropriate according to literally everybody he has complained about it to. With a need for breathing treatments every four hours and certifiably shitty lungs that wouldn’t work for anything, Percy has spent a lot of classes in the bathroom or nurse’s office trying to catch his breath. Needless to say, he’s missed more classes than what any of his teachers were willing to accommodate for. And thanks to his godly ancestry, he can’t do the online school that the principal is practically begging him to do at this point.
Long story short: Percy has to do final exams in all six of his classes, even though it won't matter anyways when he dies in two months on his sixteenth birthday. But it's not like he can walk up to admin and say that, they'd stick him directly into the psych ward again. Percy swears, he’s a perfectly acceptable amount of depressed and anxious for somebody who has the literal weight of the world on his shoulders.
Nonetheless, today had been another royally shitty day. Percy couldn’t stop coughing all day because his school’s A/C was broken and the outside air kept messing with him, his chemistry teacher wouldn’t let him leave class to try to breathe better, he had a unit test in American Government where he couldn’t remember the court cases, he’s already behind on studying for his finals, the world might end if he doesn’t get his shit together, and Paul has a bunch of meetings after school so he has to walk home. Usually he likes being able to walk home, but with how humid it’s been and how shitty his lungs have been his endurance has been shot. Another reason why he needs to get ahold of Nico to follow through with the whole River Styx plan he’s been procrastinating.
Something that Percy tries to keep from his mom and Paul is that he doesn’t really have any friends at Goode besides his best friend Reid. There’s people that are friendly and talk to him, he has a group that he sits with at lunch, and he’s never the last one left when picking partners for projects. But, he doesn’t really get invited anywhere, nobody really tries to get ahold of him outside of school, and he never has anybody to walk home with.
And he can't blame them— nobody wants to be friends with the sick kid that’s barely at school and can't go out to most of the hangout spots because he can't be around smoke. So that’s how Percy ended up where he is now: ambling at a snail’s pace alone, trying to get home without his lungs completely giving out on him. Granted, he knows his mom would’ve picked him up if he asked, but he hates burdening her like that.
I should be able to last a thirty minute walk home if I’m supposed to beat Kronos in two months.
About halfway through his walk home, he decides to stop in a comic book store he’s always loved. The shop also sells some tabletop games, card games, and food. It’s run by his old neighbors, the Martinez family, so he likes to stop by to catch up. But today, Percy mainly stopped so he could sit down for a bit before continuing home. The door rings as he enters and the fresh feeling of the A/C hits him.
“Hey Percy! How are you mijo?” Erika calls out.
“Hi Erika! I'm good, how are y-” Percy is interrupted by his cough, “Sorry. How are you?”
“¡Dios mio! You sound like shit, kid. Sit down, let me get you something.”
Percy gratefully obliges and sits down at the nearest table, fumbling through his backpack for his spacer and rescue inhaler. Curse my ADHD for making this bag a constant disaster zone.
Erika sets down a cup of elote and a glass of water in front of Percy, “Humidity was also bad for my little niece's asthma, I swear our apartments had black mold and messed all of us up.”
“Yeah, something like that,” Percy mumbles, “I haven't been able to get it to calm down all year.”
Erika frowns, “That sucks, sorry Perce. You wanna see what new stock we have?”
“Sure,” Percy smiles.
Erika brings a large box over “Not even on the shelves yet! We got the normal Marvel and DC new editions, some zines from Tisch students, Unstable Unicorns, dice sets, the new series of Mythomagic cards, and ooh! I'm most excited for these, we got a bunch of versions of Fluxx.”
She fans out a bunch of different boxes in front of Percy. He can't read them with all the weird fonts, but can more or less figure out the themes from the pictures on the boxes. He's scanning over them when he sees one that looks like a caricature of Zeus and he almost bursts out laughing.
“What's this one?” Percy asks, pointing to the box.
“Olympus Fluxx, wanna play? I'll read the cards for you,” Erika offers.
“Doesn't that beat the purpose of the game? You being able to see my cards?” Percy asks. He doesn’t make it a habit to be too insecure about his dyslexia, but it’s times like these where it feels awkward.
Erika shrugs, “Eh, we're just playing for fun. I could also ask my husband if he wants to play, then we could team up.”
“Only if he wants to,” Percy nervously insists.
“Please, he always wants to get out of work,” Erika laughs, “Luis! Come over here and playtest a game with us!”
Luis eagerly joins the two as Erika reads the rules aloud. The game seems easy enough, and there's enough pictures that Percy can get the point without having to use too much energy trying to read the tiny text. Regardless, Erika whispers each card into his ear patiently. As Percy gets the hang of it, he likes the game more and more. The pictures of all the gods make it even funnier, he almost loses it when he sees Dionysus’ card. After a few rounds, they put down the game and start chatting.
“So Perce, how’s it been? Your mom good?” Luis asks.
“She’s good, she remarried recently. His name’s Paul, he’s a teacher at my high school. He’s a good guy, I like him,” Percy says.
“Good. She deserves better than that fuckin’ cabrón she was with all those years,” Luis replies, “But you didn’t answer, what’s up with you? You sound like a chain smoker with that cough, and I know you’re not so stupid to smoke.”
Percy sighs, “Some stuff happened last summer that made my asthma a lot worse, and the weather hasn’t been helping. The school’s not happy with it either, I think they wanna expel me ‘cause I’ve been missing so many classes.”
“That’s bullshit, and your step dad hasn’t done anything?” Luis asks pointedly.
“He’s the only reason they haven’t actually expelled me. I also have finals coming up, which basically everyone except me gets out of because my grades still suck. They give me extra time and an empty office to take them in though, mostly so I don’t bother anyone with my crappy lungs. But I’m going back to camp this summer, and it’ll be nice to see some of my friends,” Percy responds, trying to make his life not sound as depressing as it is.
“You should bring them by sometime, Sally and Paul, we gotta approve of the guy ourselves,” Erika jokes, “But seriously, we own the place above the shop too. Come by for dinner sometime, I'll make your favorite paella.”
Percy glances at the clock, “Shit! It’s almost dinnertime, I need to get going!” he exclaims as he rushes to get his things together.
“Slow down, mijo, don’t want you working yourself into another asthma attack. Why don’t we close up shop and then we’ll walk you home? I have a few things to give you both, anyways.” Erika offers, “I can text your mom that you’re coming back with us.”
He hesitantly sits back down, realizing that he’s still loudly wheezing despite the long break he took, “Yeah, that sounds good.”
Around him, Erika and Luis shut down the kitchen and put away any stray merchandise. After about fifteen minutes, they approach him holding a comic book box.
“Some of your favorite snacks and some things your mom asked us to hold for her over the years. Didn’t mean to keep them from you, we only just found them when we moved into this building,” explains Erika.
The three very slowly make their way towards the Jackson-Blofis apartment to keep Percy from getting too winded. Thankfully, they moved into a building with an elevator— unlike their last place that was a walk up. As they approach the unit, the smell of lemon chicken piccata grows stronger.
“Hi mom!” Percy pauses to cough, “Sorry I'm late, I brought Erika and Luis though.”
“Shit, Perce, you sound awful. Have you been wheezing like that all day? You should've had the school call me,” Sally dotes from the kitchen “Let me turn up the fan and air purifiers, it's getting too stuffy in here, probably not helping you any. Go start up your treatments a little early.”
Percy goes to the couch and starts setting up his nebulizer, he knows he needs it. “The A/C broke during 1st period at Goode today, so everybody had all the windows open and fans blasting all day.”
Sally frowns, “Paul didn't tell me about that, you could've left early.”
“Nah, I need to be there,” Percy shakes his head, “Tests and finals and all. Plus, my teachers and the admin already hate me enough.”
“It's so stupid. You have so many doctor's notes! It's literally COPD! It has to be against some law for them to be punishing you for missing classes for flares,” Sally complains, waving her spoon around in frustration.
Percy shrugs, then goes back to focusing on the hypertonic saline and albuterol mix that's making him cough up what's built up in his lungs throughout the day. He feels bad that Erika and Luis have to see it, knowing that it can't possibly be pleasant to see next to dinner. Nobody wants to see somebody sounding like a plague victim when they’re about to eat.
“COPD? That's serious. Percy didn't tell us about that, just the asthma,” Erika inquires.
“Yeah, it's partially from all those years around smoke and black mold. Then last year he got really sick, and his asthma got a lot worse. And boom, a new chronic illness. Luckily, Percy's father has very good insurance and connections with good doctors, we're in contact with him now by the way. Still just hard on my kiddo though, as you probably saw today,” Sally explains, “But please, sit down and stay for dinner! I made more than enough for us all! The sauce is just about done, we just gotta wait on the chicken.”
Percy laughs a bit at the mortal-friendly explanation about his father, the god of the sea, having good insurance and doctor connections. As if he's some kind of Wall Street businessman. And that he had gotten sick, not blown up by a volcano.
The two family friends join him on the couch and Percy shoots them a confused look, “Are you sure you wanna sit here? I'm kinda gross right now.”
“Mijo, we stood by you all this time. Through the thick and thin. This is nothing, you're family,” Erika replies, “Now Sally, take a break and let me show you what I brought!”
Sally joins them in the living room, sitting on the arm of the couch next to Percy and rubbing his back, “Sorry you feel so awful, sweetheart. Maybe we should talk to your doctor again?”
Percy brings his knees up to his chest and leans his head against his mom, “I don't know, maybe.”
“I know it's annoying, but we gotta figure out something before you leave for the summer.” Sally replies, “Anyways, whatcha got, Erika?”
“Well you know how we could finally buy the shop’s building and give our old apartment to my cousin who lived in an even shittier place? So while we were moving, we found a bunch of the things that we held for you over the years. Also, of course, we have some of the old neighborhood favorites. They're seriously missing out here,” Erika replies, handing Sally the box.
In the box, past all the snacks, are some statues, framed photographs, toys, a tea set, a film camera, and a photo album. Percy doesn't recognize any of it, but his mom looks absolutely elated.
“Percy! This is from when you were really little or from my parents. I think there's some pictures of your father here!” Sally exclaims, continuing to tell the story of each item and photo.
“You used to love this little blue dog so much, but the rattle was a lot sometimes. I just couldn't get rid of it, I hoped you could have it again one day.”
“This tea set was my grandparents’ passed down to my parents and then me. When you're older and have your own place, you can have it after me. They brought it here when they came through Ellis Island.”
“These statues are from my aunt and mom, they thought they were so ugly but kept getting each other them as gag gifts.”
“These photos are from when I met your father, you can see the cabin in the background. He took me to the fancy steakhouse in Montauk, you know the one we always talk about trying, I had never had food like that in my life! Definitely different from the diners in our tax bracket!”
“I used to love photography, maybe I'll get back into it. I got too busy to keep it up, and this camera was my dad's, so I wanted to keep it nice.”
“That was our only family photo for the longest time: you, me, and your father. You were so itty bitty, but you still looked so much like your dad. Your little green eyes and a full head of hair! I'll get a copy of this one for you to keep, sweetie.”
Sally kept telling stories, just barely dancing around the Gabe-sized elephant in the room. They all knew. Erika and Luis had heard it. She didn't need to say it— that she knew it was really bad and wanted to be able to keep some things pure in hopes for better days. Percy clings onto the stuffed blue dog as he rests against his mom. His nebulizer has long finished, but he still feels like he can't breathe and has been holding an oxygen mask up to his face.
Suddenly, the door opens and Paul walks in, looking slightly flustered from coming home so late and fumbling with a stack of binders in his arms.
“Hi darling, I'm home! Oh! I didn't know we had guests. Nice to meet you, I'm Paul Blofis,” he shouts from the doorway.
Erika and Luis wave and introduce themselves as Paul takes the chicken out of the oven. He takes one glance at Percy, who’s still audibly wheezing, and shoots him a sympathetic look before offering to bring dinner and iced tea to the living room.
Paul sets up some TV dinner tables and brings over some chairs from the dining room for the five of them. Percy sits up to eat and Sally switches out his mask for a cannula, despite Percy trying to downplay it.
Percy turns to Paul, “Sorry you had to bring it all the way over here, I could've made it to the table.”
“Nonsense, I like eating in the living room anyways. It's a good change of pace. You sound really miserable, bud. I'm sorry, I meant to take you home at lunch time, but all of the sudden the deans just happened to have a crisis that just needed me for some reason and took up the rest of my day. Then the meetings, ugh, what a waste of time,” Paul responds, “Sorry I didn't get a chance to call you about the A/C, darling. Couldn't get the admin off my back today.”
“It's okay, I should be able to make it through a full school day, anyways. My teachers are already so pissed at me,” Percy says.
“Don't get him started, Perce,” Sally sighs.
“Too bad, I'm already started! It's so ridiculous! Half of the meetings were just your teachers and the admin complaining about your coughing or missing school or leaving class or having to make and administer a final for you. And for something that's not your fault at all! Oh my god! We are a federally funded high school, a place of public accommodation, part of the job is knowing you might have to make fundamental changes to your courses!" Paul rambles, carefully controlling his mannerisms though.
"That's some fuckin' rich white bullshit," Luis comments.
"It's not even that hard to accommodate you, they're just all lazy and ableist. And I cannot, for the life of me, get them to understand that the coughing and wheezing is a hundred times more annoying to you to actually have to struggle through than it is to anybody else who has to hear it. And you're not even a bad student, you know your stuff. They're just marking you down for not being there at this point!” Paul continues ranting, then calms down slightly, “If I hear back good news from that NYU position, we should sue or something. I can't believe they try to market themselves as this accessible school for non-traditional students. They act like they've never had a disabled student.”
Percy rolls his eyes, “They're used to kids that are fucked in the head, not the head and body like me,”
“You're not fucked up, you're sick. And I've only heard a little and it sounds like your school is the fucked up ones. I got a buddy who works at the ACLU if you wanna talk to him,” Luis asserts.
Percy hums, “Maybe next year if it's still a problem, I'm hoping this summer I can see one of my dad's doctor friends again and get it under better control,”
“Paul, did you see what Erika and Luis brought over? Some things from when Percy was little! We should put the frames up on the wall,” Sally tries to turn the conversation.
“Lovely idea, I can do that after dinner. Percy, how was your day?” Paul asks, obviously still concerned.
Percy turns away to cough for a minute before answering, “A lot of that. Mrs. Frost wouldn't let me leave to get an extra treatment so I had an attack in class and everybody was staring. I felt foggy all day because I couldn't breathe, which didn't help with the test I had in U.S. Gov today. But, I stopped at the comic shop today and we played a really fun game called Olympus Fluxx. I think Nico would really like it.”
“Nico?” Erika asks.
“One of my friends from camp. Sometimes he comes to the city to visit, but his family moves around a lot. He used to be obsessed with Mythomagic and really likes card games like that,” Percy explains.
“Well you're in luck, it seems like the manufacturer got our order wrong. The box was missing a couple copies of Olympus Fluxx,” Erika says, pulling out the same game they had played earlier.
Percy’s eyes widen with excitement, “Really? For me? Why?”
“Yes really for you, and your friend Nico too. I'll drop off another tomorrow. And because you're a good kid and you deserve a goddamn break. I'm assuming you'll be home tomorrow?”
Percy groans, “I have school tomor-”
Paul cuts off Percy, “No you don't, you're staying home. First of all, you can barely breathe as is. Secondly, The HVAC people are coming tomorrow during lunchtime and there's gonna be tons of dust and probably asbestos because the building's so old. Plus, there'll be no A/C until they finish in the evening. You won’t be able to go to school for a week and we'll probably have to call your dad’s doctor if you force yourself to go tomorrow. I brought your classwork home tonight for you to work on.”
“Yeah sweetie, it doesn’t sound like it’s a good idea for you to go in tomorrow. We can have a nice day watching movies,” Sally adds.
“...Okay nevermind I'll be home,” Percy concedes.
“You can come hang out in the shop if you feel up to it. We have that lounge area with a couch, plus we just deep cleaned last weekend so no dust or anything. We'll help you bring over any meds you need too,” Erika offers, Luis nodding along.
Percy looks at his mom, pleading with his eyes, Sally nervously responds, “Are you two sure? Sometimes his flares can look pretty scary, and it looks like tomorrow will also be pretty bad. I can skip classes tomorrow, it's no problem.”
“Nothing we can't handle, Percy’s a great kid. Go get your education, girl! Plus the company will be nice, it gets boring with just the two of us,” Erika insists.
“Alright, alright, I don't see why not. I'll walk us over before my 9:30 class tomorrow. Percy, why don't you try to get some sleep? I'll pack up everything you'll need for tomorrow, you look exhausted. Oxygen tonight, okay?” Sally suggests, rubbing her son’s back.
Percy nods and slowly makes his way to his bedroom. When he shuts the door, the four adults can hear his coughing ramp up even more. He has been trying to hold it back when he was with everyone.
“¡Dios mio! The poor kid, he sounds horrible. I can drive him tomorrow,” Luis offers.
“No, he feels awful but not so awful that he would accept a ride for a handful of blocks. He hates letting people know how bad it is. That's why he was trying to hold it in out here,” explains Sally, “But I can always tell, he didn't fight us at all with missing school or going to bed.”
The adults continue chatting, eventually hearing Percy's coughing slow down as he falls asleep. Every once in awhile, they hear a particularly bad coughing fit that nearly sends Erika and Luis standing to go check on the teen, but Sally and Paul insist that he's okay and would call out if he needed help. A few hours and glasses of wine later, the old neighbors part ways with an eager agreement to visit the Martinez household for dinner soon.
That evening, Percy has peaceful dreams for the first time in weeks. In it, he's sitting on a bench in Central Park, the sky is blue and it's a warm summer day. There's some dogs playing in a field with their owners. The trees are standing tall and the summertime flowers are in full bloom.
Most importantly, he can breathe. For once, it doesn't feel like he's fighting for every breath through a clogged straw, it feels like something he can't remember the last time he felt. In the field, he realizes that it's a bunch of the campers, just having fun. Sitting next to him is Grover, munching on a can.
“Hey man, today felt hard for you. You good?” Grover says.
Percy smiles, “Yeah, I am now.”
“That's good, you'd tell me if you weren't, right?” Grover asks, his worry still shining through.
Percy nods, “Of course, could I ask a favor? Just something to do the next time I see you.”
“Anything, Perce,” Grover smiles.
“Could you translate a couple games to Ancient Greek for me?”