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Elena’s phone vibrated for the 8th time that lunch period (Percy was counting) every time she heard the buzz she’d drop everything to check her phone and answer, sometimes she’d laugh at something but most of the time she just responded and put the phone face-down on the desk again with a big smile on her face.
“Who are you texting?” Percy asked.
He had an idea of who it was: Hyacinth Laconia, a Daughter of Demeter Elena’s age. She’d attended camp all throughout her teenage years and fought at Manhattan, leaving shortly after. She and Elena had a budding relationship while at camp that took a bit of a pause for years after one of Elena’s arrows accidentally got Hyacinth and Elena had avoided her, eaten up by the guilt, until Hyacinth had left camp. Now the daughter of Demeter had moved to New York and began work as a preschool teacher at the daycare of Percy’s (for now) youngest child, Nori, which lent perfectly to the demigods in town reconnecting after years without contact.
“None of your business!” Elena snapped.
Percy considered how far he could push this before he got stabbed, “Does it start with an H and end with an -Yacinth?” He remembered he had ambrosia in his classroom so he could push it pretty far.
Elena’s eyes widened, “N-No? No! Why would you think it’s Hyacinth?” she stammered, for the daughter of the god of truth she was really bad at lying.
Percy raised an eyebrow, unimpressed by the lie, “You’re down bad!”
Elena gasped, a little too dramatically even for a child of Apollo Percy thought, “I am not down bad! First of all, you are not one to talk Mr. She-put-her-fingers-in-my-hair-and-my-brain-stopped-working! Second, Hyacinth and I are just friends, it’s not like that.”
“Annabeth and I are married! You should know that! You were there! We’ve also been dating since we were 16! You should also know that! You were also there!” Percy defended.
“Uh huh, and what about the four years before that?” Elena fired back.
Percy knew better than to continue arguing on that front so he decided to change the subject, “Got anything exciting this week?”
Elena hesitated, “...Well I’m going to dinner with a…friend…tomorrow night. I think we’re going to that place Roast? I think it's like a block or two away from your place, I don’t know my…friend…is new to town and she picked it out.”
“Yeah Annabeth and I have gone there before for a date night or two. Nice place, a bit fancy, decent price range and really good food. Annabeth likes the Mediterranean beef with olives and feta, my favorite is the braised short ribs.” Percy responded while making that a mental note for later. “Well? Lunch is pretty much over so I better be getting my room now” and he walked away texting Annabeth asking if she’d like a date night tomorrow.
—
Annabeth sat at the kitchen counter as the kids played in the living room and Percy prepped the mini chicken pot pies they were having for dinner, “not that I’m against a weekday date night at Roast, but I’m just a little curious as to why so spontaneous?”
Percy chuckled, “what if I told you I have reason to believe that Elena and Hyacinth are actually going on a date tomorrow night as well, and I maybe thought it’d be fun to spy on them.”
Annabeth raised an eyebrow, “you wanna spy on our friends’ first date together?” Percy made an awkward smile and nodded. “You could’ve just opened with that!” She laughed
“You don’t mind that we’re technically invading their privacy?” Percy questioned.
Annabeth fixed him with a deadpan stare and pulled out her invisibility cap, “when have I ever cared about privacy?”
Percy turned around and met her eyes, a shiver went down his spine before he smiled, “gods have I told you how much I love you?”
Annabeth smirked, “I don’t know, I think you need to show me.”
Just as Percy leaned over the counter and kissed Annabeth, Eugene, their eldest, walked in. “Blegh! I was just gonna ask when dinner was gonna be ready!”
Percy laughed and ruffled his son’s hair, “I just need to pop these in the oven for 20 minutes and then they’ll be ready. If you’re hungry I have applesauces, oranges, smoothie puffs, and other snacks in the pantry, you can grab one to hold yourself over, I don’t want you to ruin your appetite with a bunch of snacks so close to dinner.”
Annabeth scrunched her nose, “you sound like your mom.”
Percy spread his arms, “Well who doesn’t love Sally Jackson?”-
“I think I prefer Percy Jackson.” she responded
Eugene rolled his eyes and left the kitchen, “Liese-y! Dinner’s ready soon but stay out of the kitchen! Mom and dad are being gross again!”
—
The next day Elena had spent organizing new book displays for the students based on genres, authors, etc. She took a lot of pride in how many students she saw reading and checking out books because they found something interesting on her displays.
As Elena and Percy were eating lunch in Elena’s office, Estelle ran in with Cassie and Margot behind her. Percy could see disaster coming from a mile away, “Estelle! Be careful! If you want to run you need to go to the gym, not the library!”
“Sorry! I’ll be more careful!” Estelle called carelessly.
She weaved her way around the displays looking at books until she found a mystery that peaked her interest at the top of a display.
“Let me get a step stool!” Cassie suggested.
“No need! I can just climb up the display and grab it! It’s not that high!” Estelle claimed as she began to step up the shelves. Knowing what would happen Elena and Percy began bolting to the girls to stop Estelle but with desks and other furniture in their way they simply weren’t fast enough. As Estelle continued to climb the display began to tip over, her two demigod best friends tried holding it up but with Estelle still on it they simply weren’t strong enough to hold it up and they had to let it fall, cracking a few shelves, denting a few books and leaving others sprawled all over the floor all on top of a very frightened-looking Estelle.
When Percy and Elena finally got to the girls, Percy immediately got to lifting the display unit off of Estelle while Elena checked the girl for any injuries and was relieved to find only a few bruises on the girl.
Estelle immediately muttered a quiet apology to the school librarian, “S-sorry ‘Lena…I–i’ll pick up the books. But…I wasn’t hurt! And you can just redo it…”
“Estelle Joseph–” Percy was about to scold when Elena interrupted him.
“Ms Jackson-Blofis,” she said in a frighteningly calm voice, “you will be helping me put this display back together, better than it was before, and you will be serving after school detention in my library for the rest of the week.”
Estelle looked prepared to argue against her consequence when Percy gave her the Tried and True Sally Jackson Disappointed Mom Look™ he knew they’d both been on the receiving end of multiple times…she decided to keep her mouth shut and just nod her head after that.
“I will be calling your father to let him know,” Elena added, “and I will be expecting to see you in this library after school today. Now go to your next class while I pick up these books.”
The girl hastily grabbed her backpack and made an incredibly awkward exit from the library with her friends.
Percy finished setting the shelf back up as Elena picked up the books. “SHIT!” the librarian exclaimed.
Percy looked at her confused, “What’s wrong now?”
“I have a da- dinner tonight! I can’t be late!” Elena thought for a moment before looking back to her colleague, “would you be willing to cover for my detention this afternoon?”
Percy grimaced, “I…already have plans with the Wise Girl but I’ll tell you what, instead of library detention she can come babysit the kiddos for free and I’ll have Matt, who’s in town this week, babysit her. He’s gotten really good at the disappointed uncle thing when he needs it.”
“...I mean it’s unconventional but who’s gonna say no, Principal Blofis? Her dad? Your stepdad?” Percy chimed in some sarcastic comment about Paul being “the dad that stepped up” before Elena continued, “Plus the embarrassment of having Fratty Matty disappointed in you? That damage would be irreparable, I don’t think anyone could come up with a better consequence if they tried. She’d definitely learn her lesson from that.” The librarian laughed.
“She loves babysitting so hopefully getting to play with the kids will offset the trauma of getting the disappointed uncle look from Fratty Matty.” Percy added. “Now I better get to class, but I’ll text Paul and let him know that she’ll be coming home with me tonight.”
—
Percy had just finished his last class of the day, “Ms Jackson-Blofis if you would please stay back a minute, I need to talk to you.”
Estelle hung her head and sat back down at her desk, Margot and Cassie shot her sympathetic looks while everyone else left the room to get to their buses or parent’s cars.
“Elena doesn’t have time to supervise your detention and neither do I so we’re doing an informal consequence, if you will, for this evening.” Percy started, “I’ll tell you more in the car because I can’t have any snitches if my plans are going to work tonight.”
Estelle raised an eyebrow, “And what are these plans exactly? You know I’m usually the first one to snitch to Annabeth.”
“She already knows!” Percy sassed, “She’s in on the plans, now we’re gonna go grab your stuff and you’re going to come home with me and watch the kids while Annabeth and I go on a date.”
“...what’s the catch?” Estelle asked hesitantly, “babysitting doesn’t really sound like a punishment to me, you know I like it and you always pay me.”
Percy rubbed his brow, “Well if you must know, you won’t be getting paid tonight and while you babysit the kids I’m going to have Matt babysit you.”
“NO!” Estelle gasped, “I have to get babysat by Fratty Matty?! This is cruel and unusual.”
Percy gave her a look, “Okay! Would you rather I have mom supervise you writing an entire apology essay to Elena in Ancient Greek with no notes? See how much you’ve learned in your 12 years of being tangentially related to the Greek pantheon?”
“I think I’ll take Fratty Matty” Estelle conceded.
After they retrieve Estelle’s books and homework for the day the pair make their way to Percy’s car, Estelle sitting in her usual after-school spot of the passenger seat. After spending the past 15 minutes dying of curiosity she asks, “Okay so tell me Perseus what the…heck are you plotting.”
Percy bursts into laughter, “First of all, never EVER call me Perseus again the only ones allowed to call me that are monsters, gods, and Annabeth and Mom when I’m in trouble and the first two of those will still be fought on sight 9 times out of 10 after calling me that. SECOND, Elena has a date tonight, I think it’s with this girl Hyacinth she used to have a thing with back at camp, you probably saw her at the party, brown hair and red bangs she had on a long-ish green dress, basically spent the whole time with Elena. Anyway, they’re going to Roast so Annabeth and I may or may not coincidentally have our own date there tonight.”
Estelle made a face, “So you’re literally just going to do a whole Disney Channel cliche? Over a camp couple?”
Percy looked at her incredulously, “...Thats a thing? Whatever, it doesn’t matter, I was asked personally by Aphrodite to set them back up and now I’m invested, I need to see how this ends!”
Estelle giggled, “I forget how much mom raised you under a rock.”
Percy sputtered defensively, “well excuuuuuuuse me! She had to worry about monsters finding me and eating me! That means no technology, not even TV really! You got to grow up with the privilege of being a third generation legacy AND the little sister of Percy Jackson who most monsters know has and WILL kill them if they get too close.”
“Oh my gods calm down! It was just a joke!” Estelle laughed harder.
Percy just huffed and kept driving until they arrived in his garage. The two went upstairs into the home where Annabeth had just brought the kids in from school and was getting ready for their date night.
Estelle plopped on the couch while Percy gave Matthew the details on their babysitting arrangement for the night. Fratty Matty, as they had dubbed him during his short-lived party phase in his freshman year of college, kept giving her surprised and disappointed looks which made the girl shrink more and more into the couch. Eventually Percy left to order a pizza for the kids and babysitters and get dressed himself for his date night.
“Estelle, I’m so disappointed to hear about what happened in the library today!” Matthew started in on the lecture Percy had given him the green light to give, “you know more than most that teachers and staff like Elena and Percy don’t get paid enough for all that they do to give students the best education and learning environment they possibly can. I hope you apologized profusely to Ms Beausoleil, honestly detention is the gentlest punishment you could’ve gotten, they could’ve made you replace all the books and the shelf you knocked ov…”
Annabeth stepped out of the master bedroom in an airy baby blue satin halter top and white wide-leg pants, half of her hair held up with a gold hair clip that matched the cuff bracelet on her wrist, she had a dagger necklace around her neck and small gold hoops in her ears, her antique emerald wedding ring sparkled on her left hand like it did nearly a decade ago when she and Percy got engaged. “Matt!” she laughed, “I think you might be overdoing this whole lecture thing, just look at Estelle! She looks about 5 seconds away from burrowing into the couch and trying to find the labyrinth in there.”
Matt took a look at Estelle who had in fact sunk nearly half-way into the couch by this point, “Oops! Sorry! Must’ve gotten carried away there! Did I do okay? I’ve been taking notes from old TV dads on the I’m-not-mad-I’m-just-disappointed talk. What’d you think?”
“Good delivery, good messaging, I just think it was a little long-winded. You wanna get the stern part over quickly so you can get to the emotional reconciliation, that’s where the real lesson is.” Percy had now exited the bedroom as well in a matching blue and white striped dress shirt, the top 3 buttons were undone showing off his gold trident necklace he’d gotten from Posiedon 8 years ago for his 20th birthday, and black slacks, his hair was also somewhat combed through and Annabeth looked like she was ready to melt on the spot.
He looked Annabeth up and down, weighing the pros and cons of swooping her into a dramatic kiss before Estelle coughed to get their attention, “Could you save the icky stuff for when we don’t all have to witness it?”
Percy grabbed Annabeth and gently pulled her to him, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and then glared at Estelle who just stared back at him innocently until he eventually sighed, “Fine! I guess I’ll just give you the usual rundown and then we’ll head to the restaurant to grab our usual table. So the pizza is on the way, already paid for over the phone, make sure you cut it up for Nori. You know the drill on food and drink, you can have anything within reason, though I ask if you have the last of something that you please restock it especially since you both know quite well at this point where the pantry is. Bedtime is their typical weeknight vibe, Nori will try to scam more stories out of you, the limit we tell her is 3 however the official limit is 5 so you can read two ‘extra’ stories and make her think she’s won so she’ll go to sleep easier. Annabeth set out pajamas for Nori before we got home, the older two will choose their own and probably just dress themselves. They know where their toys go so do not fall for it if they act like they don’t know how to clean up, they’ve been especially that way with the new magnet tiles.”
A soft smile grew on Annabeth’s face as he went, “Have I ever told you how much I love watching you be a parent?”
Percy gave her an adoring look, “Why don’t you tell me on the walk to the restaurant?”
“Eeugh! Gods!” Matthew turned to Estelle, “I think they’re getting to me now!” Estelle giggled.
“They’re ganging up on us, I think you’re right, we should head out!” Annabeth laughed as they began walking towards the door.
“Be responsible you two! I love my nieces and nephew but I don’t need another coming in 9 months!” The college student called. Estelle cackled at that.
Percy and Annabeth gave one another a knowing look and scurried out, they weren’t keeping it a secret however they hadn’t really told anyone of the new pregnancy yet and were going to wait a while to do a big announcement.
“They’re so going to make fun of us when we announce this next one.” Annabeth sighed the minute they got out onto the street.
“I don’t even want to know where they’re going to start” Percy agreed and they began their short walk to the restaurant.
—
As soon as they walked into the restaurant the host greeted them both by name and had them seated in their usual booth near the entrance, not far behind the host stand on an interior wall so they could drop cash and run out if necessary due to kid or monster related emergencies by now the hosts all knew them well enough to just to call someone to close the table and process the cash which always roughly amounted to their usual orders plus a 20% tip. When they sat down they noticed none other than Elena and Hyacinth sitting a few tables down from their usual booth, the two definitely looked like they were something a bit more than a couple old friends catching up over dinner. Elena was in a white sleeveless button up top and yellow slacks with her sun necklace, across from her was Hyacinth in a two-tone green asymmetrical wrap skirt with a red vest top and a strawberry statement necklace with matching earrings. Hyacinth laughed and Elena’s face looked as red as the other woman’s bangs yet she smiled proudly to herself.
“Looks like things are going well over there.” Annabeth noted.
Percy agreed, “Elena looks way more comfortable with her now that she did last weekend.”
Their server came asking Percy and Annabeth if they wanted their usuals which the couple readily agreed to. It wasn’t unusual for Annabeth to order a glass of wine with her dinner, especially given they never kept any alcohol in the house, when the server offered Annabeth declined instead cupping her stomach and saying that they’ll be cutting out the wine for a while. The server’s eyes went wide and she gasped before excitedly congratulating the couple on the new addition. They thanked her as she scurried off to the kitchen to put in their orders.
As they waited for their food Percy and Annabeth got on with their initial mission of spying on their friends’ first date. Both women had matching glasses of wine in front of them along with a seemingly long forgotten basket of bread, they conversed so easily you would’ve never known just a week ago they had just gotten reacquainted with one another after nearly 13 years of zero contact. They were so deep in conversation they ignored the server coming out with their food until he was standing right in front of them, even then it appeared little eating was happening.
By the time they paid their checks they both filled small to-go boxes with about two-thirds of their respective meals and Elena and Hyacinth’s faces were both very red. At this point Percy and Annabeth had also received their food and begun eating, however, luckily, after years of meals in the Camp-Halfblood dining pavilion they’d honed the skill of listening and looking around carefully for all the good gossip fodder as they ate. This meant they were able to catch the moment when their friends stood up from the table and exchanged a sweet kiss before they began walking out. Percy and Annabeth tried to keep their heads low to their food so as to not be seen when suddenly, “Percy! Annabeth! How funny is it to run into y’all here?”
Hyacinth had spotted them…
Elena smiled like she was about to start cackling any minute.
“Hey Hyacinth! …Hey Elenaaa… I forgot you told me you were meeting a friend here tonight! You didn’t tell me you were hanging with Hyacinth! What are you doing here?” Elena’s grin began to falter, “We were just having a date night ourselves, we’re here pretty regularly…an..y..wayyyy…how did you guys like it? We just love the food here.”
Hyacinth smiled, “Well it was just so nice talking at Nori’s birthday I asked her to join me here to catch up more and one of my coworkers from Rainbow Grove recommended the place. The food was great though it’s definitely a different atmosphere than I’m used to.”
This was when Elena finally found her words again, “It’s the meat carving aesthetic,” she interjected.
“Used to a more natural botanical vibe?” Annabeth asked.
“Kinda, y’know, daughter of the goddess of agriculture and all that” Hyacinth admitted.
Annabeth just nodded, “I get you. I just hope you enjoyed it!”
“We loved the food, I know I will definitely be visiting again sometime, anyway we better get going.” Elena rushed her and the other girl out the doors before Percy or Annabeth could get in another word.
Percy and Annabeth just stared at each other before laughing. “We should just get back to our food, we’ll see what Elena will tell me tomorrow.” Percy added, and with that they both resumed eating their meals.
—
The next day Percy and Elena had their lunches in the library as usual, Elena with most of her meal from the previous night and Percy with some blue-dyed fried chicken and blue mashed potatoes he’d prepped for the week.
“So how was your time with Hyacinth last night?” Percy asked innocently.
Elena glared at him with no real heat, “It was great, thank you for asking, how was your date with Annabeth?”
Percy smiled, “Amazing as always.”
“I’m glad. I’m sure it was so nice to get dinner and a show for once.” Elena said amusedly.
Percy’s face fell momentarily, “I don’t know what you mean…”
Elena stared at him again, “You didn’t think I’d spot the whole Disney Channel cliche you enacted spying on my date?”
“So it WAS a date!” Percy exclaimed.
“Don’t act like you didn’t know it was, Mr Aphrodite Legacy.” The librarian scowled.
Percy shifted uncomfortably for a moment creating a small stretch of silence, “...anyway, I’ve been thinking of getting a new tattoo for Annabeth and I’s anniversary coming up but I don’t know what to get.”
Elena took a bite of her food, “Hyacinth has a sun and vine tattoo” she said absentmindedly.
Percy raised an eyebrow, “really? I see she has a lot of tattoos but I didn’t notice one like that.”
Elena’s eyes widened, “That’s…uh…because…it’s kinda in a spot where you wouldn’t have seen it…”
Percy looked confused for a second, then his eyes widened, “oooooooooh,” he scrunched his nose, “ewwwwww. I did not need to know that about you two Elena.”
“You have three kids! Two that I watched your wife give birth to! Don’t think I don’t know how those happen!” Elena cried.
Percy turned red, “yeah well about that…” he trailed off.
“I swear to the gods Perseus, are you trying to tell me what I think you’re trying to tell me?” Elena whined.
Percy smiled, “probably?”
Elena sighed, “You’re having a fourth I presume?”
“Maybeeee…Yes, but don’t tell anybody, I haven’t even told mom and Paul yet! It’s still really early, we only found out after the party last weekend.” Percy rushed.
“You haven’t told me and your mom what?” Paul walked in. Elena burst out laughing.
“Annabeth will kill me that you’re finding out this way so you BETTER act surprised when we do a real announcement and do NOT tell mom or Estelle until we do the real announcement, but..uhhh…you’re going to be a grandpa again?” Percy gently slammed his face on the desk in front of him.