“Yeah, I understand,” Percy was saying into the phone, his knuckles white against the granite counter of their newly purchased apartment. The Hephaestus cabin had reversed-engineered a cloaking device from monsters and had put it in the phone; one of their last few gifts to the couple as they left for their freshman year at University of New Rome.

“No, really, it’s fine. Mom. Mom. I’m perfectly…fine! Annabeth and the professors are keeping me busy, and everything’s awesome. You should the size of their Marine Biology program, it’s amazing.”

Annabeth was supposed to be reading a chapter on Ancient Etruscan architecture, but she had let her eyes go out of focus, diverting all of her attention to her ears. She was surprised at the level of fake sincerity that Percy had in his voice. He hated the Marine Biology professor.
A prolonged silence from both sides of the phone meant Sally was considering whether or not there was actually something wrong with her baby boy. Sally’s voice faintly spilled out of the phone, and Percy replied,

“Of course I’ll be home for Christmas, mom. I have never miss—yeah, well, Hera put me in a coma! I promise I’ll be at Camp Half-Blood on the seventeenth. Yeah. I…I miss you too, Mom.”

Annabeth picked her eyes up just in time to see Percy turn away from her, pinching his nose hard with the hand that had been fused to the counter, his eyes shut tight. His voice had hitched, and his shoulders were trembling as he tried to keep his breathing even.

“I love you, Mom. Tell Paul I said ‘hi’. Mm-hmm. Bye, Mom. Love you.”

Percy lifted the phone from his cheek and clicked the ‘Hang Up’ button, exhaling shakily.
At this, Annabeth closed her book and rose, walking over quickly to her boyfriend.

“You okay?” She asked. It was a probing question: she would know how bad the problem was once Percy answered her.

“I’m fine,” Percy tried, his eyes on his socks.

“No, you’re not,” Annabeth replied, her eyebrows scrunched in thought, and a little bit of confusion. “You’re homesick, Percy, nothing to be ashamed of. You should go take a weekend off, go see them.”

“No,” Percy answered flatly, looking up at her with watery eyes. “I can’t visit them, Wise Girl. We don’t have the money, and besides, I am way behind on my work. Finals are coming up and—”

“Percy,” Annabeth refuted in an assuring voice, “money is not a problem. You know Poseidon would move mountains just to see you happy, and I know for a fact that he could get Blackjack here in a heartbeat. You could be there tomorrow.”

Percy’s attempt at resistance seemed to deflate as Annabeth reasoned with him.

“And I know,” she continued, “that it isn’t the workload. Marine Bio 101 is the only class you’ve ever gotten a solid A in, and I can help you study for the other classes.”
Percy kept his eyes on the carpet, and Annabeth’s heart sank.

“Percy, what’s wrong? What’s stopping you from going home?”

“Annabeth!” Percy pleaded, almost whining. “Home is supposed to be wherever you are. We bought an apartment out here, we go to school here, our future seems like it’s going to be in California. I know how much you like it out here, being so close to your dad, and all.”

He didn’t look angry, just tired. Annabeth was starting to see what was wrong. She smiled, putting her finger under her boyfriend’s chin and getting him to look at her.

Sure, she loved him when he was creating hurricanes and fighting just to make sure she was safe, but Annabeth loved Percy even more when he wasn’t afraid to be weak in front of her. That almost made her trust him more than his battle cries did.

“Percy,” she said softly, putting one hand onto his arm and squeezing, “you’re just overreacting a little. I know it’s hard to be this far from home. I know you want to make your home somewhere else…with me. And don’t get me wrong,” she continued quickly as Percy’s eyes widened at her hesitation. “that is super sweet of you, but sometimes, isn’t it okay to not have to be grown up for a few days?”

Percy looked confused at her words, which confused Annabeth. Annabeth never said anything unclear. He started explaining something, as if Annabeth didn’t understand the situation,

“Annabeth, we’ve been dealing with grown-up schist our entire lives. I can barely remember life before Camp. Life before the Battle of Manhattan. Life before Tartarus. I can barely look into my mother’s eyes anymore. It’s like I don’t recognize her. Now, I’m sorry if you thought this was just homesickness, or me having some ‘being-an-adult-now’ complex, because it’s not. Now, I have to get work done.”

With that, he turned away and sighed as he walked back to their bedroom, which is where he had his own desk, leaving Annabeth puzzled as ever, alone in the kitchen, the phone still not plugged back into the receiver.

She looked at the number as she picked it up, her thumb hovering over the ‘redial’ button. She took a deep breath and sighed as well, placing the phone back into the receiver. Then, she got an idea. Quickly writing a note to herself on a pad of paper, she ripped a chunk off and stuck it in her textbook as she walked back to the couch, resuming her seemingly endless workload.

---

The next day, Percy had an early class, and after Annabeth spent almost an hour getting him out of bed and out the door, she found the note she had scribbled the night before. She walked over to the kitchen counter, sipping a cup of tea in her pajamas.

It was a bright Wednesday morning, and there was a light breeze coming from the ocean that snuck itself through an open window.

He definitely got one thing right, she mused, I do love it out here.

Thinking about Percy made her feel a little melancholy, and it reminded her of why she had scribbled the note. She picked up the phone and dialed her second mother’s number. It picked up on the second ring, and Sally’s concerned voice answered,

“Percy?”

Annabeth smiled somberly, picturing Sally in her head. “No, Sally. It’s me. But I want to talk about Percy.”

“Oh, okay. It seems like something’s wrong with him, Annabeth. What’s going on? Are you two fighting?”

“No!” Annabeth answered, a little too indignant and not as much soothing. “Of course we’re not. But I’m worried about him. He doesn’t want to visit you, and I think it’s because he feels bad about leaving you for so long. He kept talking about how he wants to start a new life with me, and while that’s amazing of him, it was like he didn’t want you to be part of it. I think he has forgotten what it feels like to take a break. His professors are pushing him hard, and, well, I don’t know how to get him to stop being so stressed.”

Sally sighed, and Annabeth’s throat closed up as she heard Sally holding back tears. “It was so hard, to have him gone for so long. You know how bad that was. But after the War with Gaea, I was worried something like this would happen. He gets so hung up on regret, and—”

“It seems like he’s living in a different world?” Annabeth offered. Sally hummed in solemn approval, and Annabeth’s thoughts turned to the last few months. Percy had been acting more and more distant, wrapped up in thoughts, constantly having nightmares.

“Sally?” Annabeth asked, “I think I know what might help.”

“Anything,” Sally said, “I’m all ears.”

“Okay,” Annabeth said, “here’s the plan….”

---

Two days later, things hadn’t gotten better. Percy had stayed up until three in the morning cramming in late assignments, and Annabeth had had to pick him up at the library. He was completely exhausted and dehydrated, and Annabeth was worried she would have to break out the emergency reserve of nectar and ambrosia.

She had laid him down on their bed and slowly fed him water and a sports drink, ladling a tablespoon at a time into his mouth. He had gotten better, but she refused to let him go to class the next day, especially because his only lecture was in Marine Bio.

“You are not getting out of my sight, Seaweed Brain,” she chided, and Percy couldn’t help but smirk.

“Hey, if I’m never out of your sight, that means I get to look at you all day. I can deal with that.”
Annabeth kissed his forehead, which felt warm and sweaty on her lips.

Perfect, she thought, almost annoyed, and yet almost pleased, a fever.

That’s when the doorbell rang. Her heart rate quickened as Percy asked,

“Jason and Piper? Did you tell them I was sick?”

Annabeth didn’t say anything as she quickly got up and headed to the door. Through the metal screen she saw two familiar faces, and she couldn’t help but break out into a huge grin. Sally Jackson, in a thin olive-colored sweater which picked up her blue-green eyes nicely. Paul was standing next to her in a slightly-rumpled brown jacket, a light blue collared shirt on underneath.

She barely had time to open the door when Sally gave Annabeth a bear hug, singing a greeting excitedly into her shoulder. Paul hugged Annabeth sweetly, and Annabeth couldn’t help but let a tear of joy out. Her smile was plastered on, but she maintained enough control to whisper,

“He’s a bit sick. Slight fever, dehydration.”

Sally smiled, and murmured eagerly, “Nothing a mother can’t fix. Where is he?”

Annabeth pointed to the bedroom door, and Paul smiled, cocking an eyebrow up as he asked softly, “You two sleep in the same bed?”

Annabeth felt her cheeks flush slightly, but after the many fitful nights Percy and she had slept, separated on the Argo II, it just felt right to sleep alongside Percy, passing out most nights to the sound of his breathing.

She nodded, and Paul’s smile grew. He gestured to the door, and they followed Sally as she opened it slowly.

“Percy?” She asked softly.

“Mom?” Percy asked in disbelief. He stood quickly, which wasn’t a good idea in his weakened state. Annabeth picked him up, and Sally wrapped him in a hug. Percy, to nobody’s surprise, started crying, and Sally smiled as tears rolled down her cheeks as well.

Soon enough, everyone’s tear ducts were unable to keep still, and Annabeth caught a glisten in Paul’s eyes as he placed his hand over her shoulder and brought her into his chest, kissing the top of her head.

“How did you get here?” Percy asked when Sally finally released him, smiling from ear to ear.
“Annabeth called,” Sally admitted. “Chiron got us enough gold drachmas for a plane ride, and—”

“You rode in a plane?” Percy asked, before he could stop himself.

“Old fears are nothing against a mother’s love,” Paul explained. “Besides, even Poseidon got in on the act. Chiron told us he got Zeus to calm down enough about Sally’s relationship with him to let us fly here and back.”

“That’s—that’s—” Percy tried, but he was speechless. Sally wrapped him in another quick hug, and kissed his forehead. She immediately recoiled, her face full of motherly concern.

“Percy, Annabeth is right. You are definitely too sick to be going to class. Let’s get you back in bed; you have a fever, young man.”

“Moooom!” Percy complained. But he was smiling.

Notes

So, going off the theme of fluff, I thought I'd write a homesick Percy getting a visit from his mom at college. I also haven't been on here in a while, so hopefully my writing isn't rusty.

Enjoy,
Grafon