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Percy should’ve noticed something was off when Eleanor went to bed the night before with no fussing or fighting. That was never normal for his normally very active toddler, always needing to be in on whatever is going on in the house even after her brother and sister are asleep and it’s just Percy and Annabeth are watching TV before they turn in for the night. But maybe…maybe she was just tired after a busy day at daycare! Sureeeee! Her teachers loved her but they always mentioned she was like a hurricane in the classroom (oh if only they knew) always moving with a path of destruction in her wake, Annabeth joked she was her father’s daughter that way. Then their normally very punctual very cheerful toddler woke up half an hour late and fussing like the world was against her in every way (excuse you that’s her father, she’s too young for that idea)...maybe she’s just having a grumpy morning, everyone has those right? Then she was burning up and she wouldn’t eat…yep she was sick. Annabeth grabbed the thermometer from the drawer, scanning Nori’s temple 101.8°F. A fever. She definitely can’t go to daycare today. They double checked Eugene and Annaliese to be safe, both had normal temps and were acting normally so they were safe to go to school and pre-k.
Percy immediately turned to Annabeth and asked “Okay…whose turn is it to stay home with the sick kid today?” Normally they alternated, 3 kids meant sometimes they had to take a lot of sick days.
Annabeth hesitated, “well you stayed with Liese when she got the stomach bug last time, but I have in-person client meetings and lunches all day. I can reschedule if necessary, I know it’s my turn and it’s hard to find a sub last minute for Latin in general let alone Latin for middle schoolers.”
“No no, I know you have some pretty…grumpy clients who pay a lot of money. I’m sure Paul or I can find a sub.” Percy dismissed, he hated to worry his wife and Annabeth thrived on having her meeting schedules as consistent as possible, it was one of the things her clients appreciated most about her.
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely” he reassured his nervous wife. Annabeth smiled, reminding Percy once again why he would do anything for his Wise Girl.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” Annabeth shouted as she rushed to finish getting herself dressed for a day full of meetings. Percy began cleaning up breakfast and checking his older kiddos backpacks for school ensuring Eugene had his homework and Liese hadn’t slipped any toys in her backpack to smuggle into pre-k, you’d think she was the child of Hermes instead of her brother with how many times she’d pulled that trick off. Annabeth rushed back in a white turtleneck under a blueberry-colored blazer and matching wide leg slacks, she’d also taken the liberty to dress Liese in her princess Belle sweater dress and yellow leggings and Eugene in jeans and the aquaman t-shirt uncle Connor and uncle Malcolm bought as a joke on their last vacation (Percy tried to get rid of it but Annabeth overruled him in favor of enabling her brother and his husband). Percy began to feel underdressed in his own kitchen in his green sweatpants and hoodie, then Annabeth gave him a kiss and he forgot his own name for a moment. “I’ll take care drop off and dinner tonight!” Percy raised an eyebrow at her, she was a Wise Girl of many talents but cooking was sadly not one, “take out Seaweed Brain! I’ll pick up take out! You know me better than to try cooking on a weeknight!” She laughed and by the gods he loved that sound. Percy kissed Annaliese and Eugene on the top of the heads as they started towards the door and Annabeth gave Percy a long kiss that made him forget his own name before she ushered the order kids towards the car.
“Thank you again Seaweed Brain! I’ll plan a weekend at the Montauk cabin, just us two as thanks! I’ll coordinate Sally and Paul to take the kids and everything. You won’t have to lift a finger! See you tonight!” She shouted from beside the car.
“You’re welcome! I love you Wife Girl!’ Percy yelled back. Annabeth chuckled and rolled her eyes at his stupid pun, sometimes it was a wonder how she loved him. She climbed into the car and drove off towards the kids’ schools and her architecture firm.
—
Percy made his way back to the living room couch with Nori. His normally hyperactive toddler snuggled next to him lethargically. He put a movie on, Barbie Mermaidia, one of his favorites from his own childhood and Nori’s namesake. As the opening music played he handed Nori her water bottle and pulled out his phone. He began to text Paul his apologies and tell him he’d need a sub for the day, feeling guilty for putting the task on him to find someone last minute when he remembered something. He’d gotten an offer from a former teacher of his. He told Percy he’d be happy to provide his services to substitute teach should Percy ever need one. With that in mind Percy called up his former teacher to make sure he’d be available before making any promises and as it turned out he was happy to step back into the classroom for a day or two to help.
Relieved, Percy called his stepfather and principal, “Hey Paul, I’ve got good news and bad news.”
Paul, knowing his stepson could only sigh and hope it wasn’t as bad as the conclusions his mind wanted to jump to “Hi Percy, what’s up? Do I need to do any damage control? Are you running late? Do I need to step into your room until you get here?”
Percy laughed “Paul! It’s not that bad! Nori’s just sick with a fever and Annabeth had a day full of meetings so she’s having a sick day with dad today. The good news is, I already have a sub lined up so you don’t have to worry there! He’s great! He’s been teaching Latin specifically for a long time and he’s used to working with middle schoolers. He was able to handle me as a kid so I have full faith that he will do fine.”
Paul was partially relieved but mostly he was curious as to why his stepson hadn’t given a name for this apparent miracle worker of a sub who could handle Percy of all kids, “Poor girl! Give her cuddles from Grandma Sally and Grandpa Paul! And does this miracle substitute who somehow had the magical ability to handle THE Percy Jackson have a name? I imagine he’d be in the district substitute teacher directory?”
Paul could hear the mischievous grin forming on the other side of the phone “Don’t worry!” Percy soothed “I’m not sure if he’s in the system as of yet but I’m sure he’ll be in by the time he gets there. You’ll know him when you see him and if you don’t Stella and Margot certainly will.” Paul was extra curious after hearing the amusement in his tone. He accepted that he clearly wasn’t getting clear answers from Percy and elected to just wait and see…this will certainly be interesting…
Percy hung up and settled in to keep watching the movie with his sleepy toddler. He decided to keep his phone near to watch for any texts from his family. This will be interesting…
—
“Hello, I’m here to sub for Mr Jackson’s class?” The man approached the front office secretary at Willow Creek Middle School, Elaine, as her nameplate read.
She looked at him quizzically for a moment before remembering, “ah yes, Mr Blofis did mention Mr Jackson having a sick kid today, mind if I get your name just to make sure I have you in our records for today to ensure you get paid for all your hours today?”
He smiled kindly from his wheelchair “Ron Brunner, apologies if I had to make you do more work so last minute today.”
“It’s no trouble at all Mr Brunner. You are all set, do you need help finding the classroom?”
“No, I think I should be okay finding—“
He was cut off by Principal Blofis, his daughter Estelle and her best friend Margot, a daughter of Tyche. Estelle immediately noticed “Mr Brunner” and began dragging a frozen Margot with her to greet him.
“Ahh, C- Ron! Ron Brunner! I take it you’re subbing for Latin today? Percy did say the girls here would recognize the sub today.” Paul chuckled to himself. “He also said whoever this sub was had been teaching a long time, however he neglected to mention just how long.”
Mr Brunner snorted, “ahh I see Perseus hasn’t lost his mischievous streak, I almost miss seeing it with how responsible he is when acting as an instructor and supervisor at camp. He and the now Mrs Jackson sure did keep me on my toes for many years.”
Estelle all but jumped on him “OHMYGODS CHI-“
“MR BRUNNER” Paul corrected before his daughter could loudly announce the man’s real name to the entire office.
Estelle luckily took the hint and mellowed a bit “Mr Brunnerrrrrr! Are you covering for Percy? Why are you covering for Percy? Is there secretly another demigod in our class? That you wanted to check on? I thought Percy handled that stuff himself. You didn’t make him leave right? You wouldn’t do that would you? WAIT! Did something happen to him? Is he okay? Dad where’s Percy? He’s okay right dad?D—” (A BIT still wasn’t much for Estelle).
“Stella!” Margot interrupted her “Mr Blofis can’t answer you when you’re in the middle of a spiral!”
“Sorry Maggie” Estelle realized she’d maybe gone a bit overboard at her usually quiet best friend’s admonishment “Well dad? Can you answer me? Please?” She was still Estelle after all.
Paul ran a hand over his face and sighed at his daughter’s antics “Estelle? Breathe for me?” She took two deep breaths at her father’s recommendation “Good, now Mr Brunner is just here for today because Nori is home sick with a fever and Annabeth had a busy schedule today, I trust you won’t give him as much run for his money as your brother did?”
Estelle gasped dramatically eliciting a giggle from Maggie. She grinned evilly reminding Paul that the mischief gene actually came from his wife and not his stepson’s biological father. “I would NEVER! I am a DE-LIGHT! Right Maggie?”
Maggie smiled “Of course! There’s no better behaved student out there than Stella!”
Paul sighed again, remembering why his hair was so much grayer than before “Oh I see how it is! Maggie, whatever Stella’s paying you to lie I’ll double it for the truth!” Both girls giggled. “Why don’t you two go show Mr Brunner to Percy’s classroom.”
“Okay!” Both girls chirped as they took off down the hall to the Latin room.
Mr Brunner chuckled and followed after them bidding Paul goodbye. “So will I be seeing your faces again at some point today? Or is this where we say our farewells until I see you both at camp next?” He asked as they entered the classroom.
“We’re both in Percy’s last period class so you’ll see us at the end of the day.” Maggie responded.
“Yeah we’re both in the front row, something about keeping an eye on us so we don’t scare off the other students with Percy’s secrets! AS IF we’d EVER do that! I mean it's us! We could NEVER! Right C- Mr Bunner?!” Estelle piped up. .
Let’s just say knowing Estelle’s brother Chiron didn’t exactly doubt the trouble she could get into during class.
Just then Ms Beausoliel the librarian walked past the classroom and noticed both girls and the teacher with whom she was very familiar with herself.
“Ahh Elena! I didn’t know you worked at the same school as Perseus!” Mr Brunner greeted.
Elena went in for a hug, “Father hasn’t bragged about it yet? You’d think the god of knowledge…and music…and medicine…and the sun would be proud that one of his children became an educator.”
Chiron laughed “Lord Apollo boasts plenty about his children. He simply neglected to mention at which school you happened to teach.”
“Glad to hear it. Now…” Elena gestured towards the pre-teens still in their presence, ”watch out for these two menaces, they keep even Percy on his toes.”
He glanced at the girls, “well, Perseus sure kept me busy…for many, many years. As well as hundreds of heroes before him, I don’t want to sound too self-confident but I believe I am more than equipped to handle a class of mortals and a fairly well-behaved demigod.” He assured. Who he was assuring was unclear.
“I know you’re essentially immortal but it’s your grave” Elena murmured mostly to herself, “I better get to the library before my morning crowd starts arriving, have a good day ‘Ron’ if I don’t see you at some point today hopefully I’ll see you before you head back to camp this afternoon!”
Chiron went to Percy’s desk to look for sub plans. Lucky for him Percy had it sitting underneath the Grumpy Bear mug. It appeared that Latin and Ancient Greek and Roman cultures was learning about the Kronides; he grimaced at the thought of his father. Then he went through the PowerPoints for the day Mr Jackson had sent him, all containing that classic Percy attitude charm. “Oh this day will certainly be interesting” Mr Brunner thought to himself.
—
Last period of the day arrived much quicker than Mr Brunner had anticipated it too. He found himself pleasantly surprised and even more proud of Perseus seeing nearly his classes so engaged in the topics they were learning and the activities Percy had laid out for them to do.
Estelle bounced into the classroom with Margot on her heels, “Mr Brunnerrrrrrrrr! Hiiiiiiii!” she screeched.
“Hello again Estelle. I see you’re excited for class. Why don’t you go take your seat?” Mr Brunner responded calmly.
Estelle and Margot sat down in their assigned front row seats, unpacking their notebooks and pens and textbooks. Mr Brunner could see a glance of their previous notes with Estelle’s in English and Margot’s in Greek, both in a variety of colors. Much neater than he had ever seen Percy’s, which is…a low bar if he’s being honest. He still struggled to see how such excited and organized girls could give Percy such trouble, especially when all his other classes had gone so well prior to this.
…He was incorrect in his assumptions.
He started off the class the same as he did with all the prior classes that day. He introduced himself as Mr Brunner, shared that he would be their substitute teacher for the day, and that he was, once upon a time, Mr Jackson’s teacher in middle school.
That’s when Estelle first interjected…”Percy says he was your favorite and that you had a sword! Do you still have the sword? Is it here? Can you show us? Can you cut something with it?”
…He began to understand what Elena was talking about…
“Of course Mr Jackson would say he was my favorite, I did enjoy mentoring both he and Mrs Jackson both but I have had many, many students over the years and I find qualities to appreciate in every student. As for the sword, yes, as someone with an interest in ancient history, especially of the military variety, I do own a sword and I do know how to use it. No, I do not have it with me, I don’t imagine your father or any other administrators would appreciate me bringing a sword into the school. They’re very different now from 16 years ago when Mr Jackson was 12.” Mr Brunner explained “Now, let's start on the lesson, today we will be learning about the Kronides, the children of the Titan King Kronos. Now to start, what do we all know about Kronos and/or his children?” he uncapped a marker to write their responses on the board next to the presentation that was being projected with notes.
“He ate his kids!” Cassandra pointed out.
Mr Brunner praised her, “very good, Cassandra, does anyone know why he ate his children?”
“Maybe he was hungry?” Hudson questioned.
Margot sighed, “there was a prophecy that his children would overthrow him, he believed if he ate them, then maybe he could avoid the prophecy coming to pass.”
The teacher nodded, “yes and did it work? Why or why not.”
“Obviously it didn’t!” Estelle piped up “Percy has told me time and time again:” she lowered her voice to mock him, “prophecies don’t work that way. You can’t just tell it no. If you try to prevent it it’ll only bite you in the…podex”
Mr Brunner chuckled, “that certainly sounds like your brother, but correct, prophecies cannot be avoided which is why Kronos’ idea of eating his kids didn’t succeed. Now does anyone remember the names of his children, bonus points if you can name them in the proper order.”
Margot raised her hand, “First it was the girls: Hestia, Demeter, and Hera and then it was the boys starting with Hades and Poseidon and Zeus as the youngest. Kronos swallowed all of them except for Zeus who Rhea swapped for a rock in a blanket. I’ve always had one question though, why did she choose Zeus?” she wrinkled her nose “I mean why let 5 of your kids be eaten and only come up with a trick at the 6th kid?”
Estelle joined in “and for it to be Zeus, like why not Demeter or Hera since she would’ve seen what would’ve happened to Hestia or even Hades as the first son or something or even Poseidon would’ve been better.”
Mr Brunner gave a long sigh “Rhea had a lot of grief for her children taken by Kronos, her hiding of Zeus was at the advice of her parents, the giants Ouranos and Gaia…” Estelle flinched, having grown up hearing the name Gaia and learning all that her brother and his friends went through in the fight with her. Margot gave her a glance but Estelle just stared at Mr Brunner, silently asking him to continue before they had to discuss the topic more. “...but as I’m sure Mr Jackson has taught you, fate is fate and unfortunately the person to which it applies cannot be changed regardless of who comes before them or after them. Zeus was fated to be the one to overthrow Kronos so unfortunately his 5 brothers and sisters before him had to suffer.”
“That sucks” a boy sitting a few rows back contributed.
“Thank you for that very intellectual addition, Trevor.” Margot snapped. Trevor looked to be preparing a comeback whilst Estelle was also opening up to make her own remark.
“Moving along…” Mr Brunner interrupted before the pre-teens could escalate into an argument, “Zeus was raised in secret from Kronos until he was ready to enter the court as Kronos’s cupbearer. He spiked his fathers wine with mustard seed, causing Kronos to vomit and expel his 5 older children…” he waited for the chorus of ewwwws and faces that always came at this part of the story. Once the reactions had all passed Mr Brunner decided to continue “We are running out of time so I’m just going to tell you the major points of the rest of the myth and Mr Jackson can go into more detail about them when he returns. After the rest of the Kronides were expelled from their father’s stomach, a war was begun between the Olympians and the Titans called the Titanomachy which ended with the Olympians cutting Kronos to pieces with his scythe and casting him into Tartarus.”
The bell finally rang, all the students filed out of the room with Estelle and Margot staying behind. Estelle ran up to him and gave him a hug, “you should sub in here again that was fun but also I miss Percy so don’t sub too much because I still like getting on Percy’s nerves it’s super fun it was good to see you I’m gonna miss you until we visit camp again–”
“Estelle!” Margot interrupted her word vomit. “It was good seeing you Chiron, I’ll probably be at camp next weekend if mom doesn’t need my help at the jewelry shop. Will Ms Clarisse be there? I wanna practice my skills with my new spear from mom.”
“Ooh Clarisse and Chris are having dinner with Percy and Annabeth that weekend! I get to babysit the kids! I can ask them when they come by if they can visit camp to help you train or you could come babysit with me…actually I dunno is Percy would allow that after we tried doing arts and crafts with Liese and accidentally bedazzled one of his minotaur horns. That reminds me, Percy was wanting to talk to your mom about getting a new jewelry set for Annabeth with matching accessories for him too, I guess Annabeth got invited to a fancy gala by one of her clients and Percy wanted to surprise her with some new sparkly stuff.” Estelle jumped in before Chiron could respond.
The intercom came on “Estelle Jackson-Blofis and Margot Diamant to the principal’s office, Estelle Jackson-Blofis and Margot Diamant to the principal’s office”
“It appears your father is anxious to leave Miss Jackson-Blofis, it was good seeing you. And you as well Margot, I will be waiting to see you at camp soon, your siblings in cabin 19 have been missing you. I’m sure if Ms La Rue cannot make it to train you with spears we will have someone just as capable there to help.” Chiron shooed the girls out.
—
Mr Brunner passed the library on his way to check out with the office.
Elena was still in her office so he decided to stop in. “Good to see you again Miss Beausoliel, how was your day?”
Elena looked up and smiled “Well hello again Chiron. My day was pretty typical: I had to shoo a few kids plotting at some tables, messaging some students about overdue books…OH! I did have to remind some kids to leave room for Astrea on the bean bags, nothing bad just cuddling but that’s not library appropriate behavior. Anyway, how was your day? I’m sure you had a lot of fun with Perce’s classes. Did the girls prove me wrong?” she smirked.
The immortal trainer just sighed “...They asked me why Rhea chose to protect Zeus and if I could pull out a sword and then they nearly started and argument with Trevor over a two word response to my explanation about prophecies being unavoidable even by birth order.”
“And what did Trevor so intellectually respond that got those girls going again?” Elena asked knowing that he had a knack for getting under Margot and Estelle’s skin.
“I explained that prophecies cannot change subjects regardless of who is born when and he replied with ‘that sucks’ which somehow provoked the typically mild-mannered Margot into getting heated. I don’t even think I’ve seen her roll her eyes that dramatically while arguing with Pierre from cabin 12!” Chiron exclaimed.
The daughter of Apollo just chuckled, “Yeah that’s Trevor for you, he and the girls don’t mesh well at all. He’s a bit on the distracting side, doesn’t pick up much in class but always has a comment to make. The girls have gotten stuck near him far too many times in other classes that his breathing too loudly could get them irate if you catch them on a bad day. Pierre is just like a Travis most days, he’s annoying and rambunctious but in a humorous way most days and his behavior isn’t burdened on the girls to curb. As for the questions, I’m sure I’ve heard that a dozen times at camp before, they usually don’t ask you because of your whole ‘respect the gods’ vibe, but I’m glad they weren’t too much trouble for you.”
“They certainly made the class interesting today, that’s for sure.” Chiron glanced at the clock, “I must be leaving if I am to get back to camp at a reasonable hour. It was very good to see you Elena, I am glad you are doing well and be sure to keep an eye on Perseus, that boy still worries me some days.”
“You got it Chiron, hopefully I’ll get back to camp soon. I’d love to get a chance to see some of the newer demigods and see if they need anything. Have a good one!” Elena replied as the trainer turned his wheelchair to leave.
—
As soon as she heard the door shut she decided to make a call, “Hey Guppy! You gotta hear how your sister and her little friend were able to tire even Chiron out today!”
Percy stifled a laugh as to not wake the sick toddler napping to Barbie in a Mermaid Tale on his lap, “Oh I’m sure they kept the day interesting…”