_________________________________________
CHAPTER FIVE : MY GRANDPARENTS MEDDLE IN MY LOVE LIFE!

So, she liked Percy. She liked Percy Jackson. It was weird to think about, even weirder to look herself in the mirror, stare at her eyes past the mist, to the dual coloured irises staring back at her and say it out loud. She almost forgot about them, her eyes. While the right side was her usual colour, the amber brown that everyone saw reflected in both eyes, though the mist, her left was a crimson red. It was covered so well, Easton herself forgot about it half the time. Rachel hasn't seen it, or at least, hasn't commented on it.

However, as skeptical as Easton was when Percy and Rachel had said the redhead could see through the mist, she believed it now. They had been out together, Easton trying not to be awkward, when Rachel leaned over to Percy, pointed something out, and with the flash of the bronze of Riptide, there was a monster disintegrating before the three of them. Rachel didn't even react to the sword being pulled out, and the three of them had just continued heading to where they were going.

"Easton!" Easton turned to her bedroom door, waiting patiently as she heard her mother's footsteps approaching. Her door swung open, revealing her mother, who was staring at her phone, doing something as she squinted at the screen. "I just got a call from the hospital, I'm heading in, you'll have to figure something out for yourself for supper."

"Okay, mom," Easton said, watching her mom's retreating back. She hadn't even waited for a response, just knew that Easton would have to deal with it. There was a standard in the house, too, and Easton knew she would get in shit if there was a mess anywhere in the apartment, her mom telling her that she worked long hours, and even longer when she was on call, so she expected it to be clean.

She plopped herself on her study desk's chair, spinning slowly as she stared at the ceiling, wondering what she could make for herself, when she heard the door open and close. Her mom was officially gone, and Easton had half a mind to make herself something junk-food like for supper, like a pan cookie or something.

"Kid, grab your jacket, we're going out," Easton was up, grabbing her bow and nocking an arrow as soon as the first word had escaped the person's mouth, aiming it at the speaker. She relaxed when she saw Ares, the sunglasses he wore perched on his nose, hiding the flames that danced in his eyes. Aphrodite was on his arm, smiling gently at the girl, in that maternal way that made Easton sometimes want to cry.

She did as told, hiding her bow in its spot, grabbing her jacket, her apartment keys, and then following the two gods out of the apartment. Aphrodite's car was outside the building, the three of them climbing in, and Easton stared at the two of them as the driver pulled into New York traffic.

"Why are you here?" She asked, knowing her voice sounded suspicious. "Shouldn't Olympus be preparing for the war to come?" It was directed at Ares, and she watched as he turned his head to look out the car window, his jaw clenching. Aphrodite leaned against him, smiling mischievously up at the War God's jaw.

"Ares needed a break and what better way than to see our favourite grandchild," Aphrodite said, giggling sweetly, and Easton watched Ares' face soften.

Easton leaned back in the leather seat, crossing her arms over her chest, staring at the lights passing by, "It's never just that with you gods, you know that right?"

Aphrodite laughed, not denying it. Easton scoffed, but didn't feel like arguing about it. Her mom was at work, and she hadn't had an idea for her dinner anyway. Even though she was going to have to pay, as the gods really had no concept of modern currency, it was still better than eating alone in that huge apartment. She was expecting the usual type of restaurant Aphrodite enjoyed. Something on the more expensive side, Easton probably underdressed for it in some way, and the bill being more than a hundred dollars, which Easton's sure the two gods have her mom overlook.

Instead, they're pulling up to a small, family-owned looking diner. It looks actually quite nice and well kept, but also very well visited. They get a table for three, and Easton can tell Aphrodite is trying not to make a face at the cracking vinyl of the seat the booth they got has. Ares almost looked at home. Easton was sure that he looked way more so in a truck stop, on the side of a highway, where all the bikers stopped, but he leaned back in the seat, with his arm on the back of the booth around Aphrodite's shoulders.

There had been menus pre-set on the table, and Easton found herself looking at the milkshakes to see if there were any good flavours. She stared at them, then decided on a chocolate shake, nodding to herself. She's onto the food, wondering if they have onion rings, when the waitress stops by for their drink orders. Easton orders her milkshakes, and listens to both Aphrodite and Ares list off their own, not paying attention to what they order. There's still this glint in Aphrodite's eye that Easton doesn't trust, but she can't call it out without the chance of facing the Goddess' wrath. Not after she'd already accused her of ulterior motives.

Easton's about to ask for some opinions, can't decide between the chicken fingers or the buffalo chicken wrap, when she feels her eyes drawn to the window they are fortunate enough to sit beside. And, she feels her cheeks get hot because what a fucking coincidence that Percy Jackson is skating by and their eyes meet through the glass. She watches as his face spreads into a grin and he's stopping his skateboard, grabbing it from the ground, before mouthing something along the lines of I'm coming in!

Easton, blushing, furious because this is why they came to this diner, turns to her grandparents only to see them gone, only the faint feeling of celestial power left in their wake. She wants to curse at them, but can't because Percy is plopping into the seat in front of her, hand running through his wind-blown hair as he slots the skateboard beneath the table.

"Why are you here alone?" Percy asks, picking up the menu in front of him and starting to scan the pages. Easton can't tell him that she initially wasn't. There's something about admitting that she has an okay relationship with two gods when everyone else's is tense at best feels wrong. Especially because neither of them are her parent but, in fact, her grandparents.

"I'm not," Easton said, smiling awkwardly, "you're here now." She watched, in real time, as his face turned a shade of pink and he got a big, goofy smile on his face. Just then, her milkshake came, along with the two waters that Ares and Aphrodite, apparently, ordered. She realized, embarrassed, that it now looked like Easton was really thirsty. Who ordered two glasses of water and a milkshake?

Percy looked at the drinks set on the table, blinked at the server, then turned to Easton, "Were you meeting anyone else?"

Easton felt suddenly helpless and would now have to lie about being thirsty. She cursed her grandparents and she took hold of the two glasses of water, slid them closer to her, and then moved her milkshake the closest. "No, I'm just really thirsty."

Percy didn't even flinch at the statement, just turned to the server waiting for the two of them and ordered a cola and a burger with fries. Easton blinked at him for a second, wondering if he had planned to get food here anyway, and then ordered the buffalo wrap and onion rings with only a small stutter. Then looked at the waters she now was going to have to drink or else Percy would think she was a liar. So, she picked up one of the glasses and chugged half of it, glad the water didn't taste bad.

Percy smiled at her as she placed the glass back on the table, and they stared at each other awkwardly for a second. Or, Easton thought it was awkward, and she could feel herself blushing as she stared at Percy. He was good looking, even with the zit forming on his chin, and she didn't know how to handle the thoughts. It was Percy, the guy she has been getting to know for the past couple of months, who was smarter in battle than in school, and he was awkward and passionate and lovely and she feels like a broken record thinking this again and again, but she can't help it.

It just smacked her in the face how much she liked Percy. It was way more than she had originally thought. She wanted to let her head fall onto the table a couple times, wondering if it would knock the thoughts loose from her head.

Percy let the silence drag on for a second more, before stating, proudly, "I got on the swim team."

Easton was glad for the reprieve from her thoughts, "Really! I knew you could, Jackson!" Then she felt herself laugh, "You are the son of the sea god, I think it'd be ironic if you didn't get on the team."

Percy looked sheepish for a second, before clearing his throat, "I- uh-" he laughed to himself, "I almost messed up on purpose." Easton gave him a confused look and watched him slide down the seat a little so he was slouching. "I knew there would be a lot of pressure on me to make the team from everyone who knows," Percy admitted, "and I don't wanna feel like I'm drowning with all that pressure."

Easton processed his words, and felt guilty with them. She was one of the people who had pressured Percy into joining the swim team, along with Rachel. The two of them had been Percy's loudest cheerleaders, telling him how great he'll do and what an asset he would be to the team. She hadn't thought that her support would be causing him even more stress.

She found herself looking down at her milkshake and two waters, grimacing at them. "I kinda get it," she admitted, looking into Percy's blue-green eyes for a second before looking back at her drinks. "I'm not divinely blessed to be smart, but my mom does want me to do good and follow in her footsteps. 'You won't get into an Ivy League School with marks like that.'" It was a poor imitation of her mom, and Easton laughed to herself about it. "Wait till she finds out I want to study Classics."

She looked up then, to see Percy looking slightly guilty and sad. They stared at each other, for a moment, some sort of understanding about their predicaments. Easton could see the realisation in Percy that Easton had a shit stick of a family, with a distant mom and a vacant dad. Just then, Percy's cola and their food was dropped off, and Easton made sure to thank the server as she gave them both the customary 'enjoy' that came in the service. However, neither of them reached for their food.

"Classics, eh?" Percy asked, an amused grin tugging on the corner of his lips. Easton was lying to herself that it didn't distract her a little bit. So, she picked up one of her onion rings, smiling as she took a bite of it.

"I could give less of a shit about our parents," she told him through the crunch, glad she had given into her craving. "I wanna learn about the heroes. Achilles and his rage, Pandora and hope, Heracles and his grief and madness. It's all so fascinating." Easton thought for a second. "And maybe knowing their stories and how they came to be, I can stop my own tragic ending."

Percy was digging into his fries, "This is going to make an ass of me-"

"It's not hard," Easton interrupted, and got a half-eaten fry chucked at her for her trouble. She couldn't help but giggle as she picked it up from the table and ate the rest of it. The fries were just as good as the onion rings.

"This is going to make an ass of me," Percy repeated, "But most of those demigods knew who their parents were."

"True," Easton picked up her wrap. "Still, it's not hard to bring the wrath of the gods upon us nowadays."

Percy thought about that as he chewed on his burger. Easton wasn't wrong, they both knew, not with the impending war. It was just as easy to win their blessing as it was to strike their ire. Easton was one to stay away from all that, usually. Except, with said war coming, she couldn't stay out of it anymore.

"That's depressing," Percy told her, mouth full of burger. Easton grimaced and kicked at his ankle to tell him it as gross. His ankle hooked with her's under the table as her foot came back, and neither of them moved to unlock it now that Percy did it. It was weird. There was clear affection there, Easton could realise it, and she would usually want to run away from it. Her mind was screaming at her to call over the server to pay for everything and then get the heck out of there. She almost did, until Percy looked up at her, a little bit of mayo on the corner of his mouth and his eyes shining and she found herself forcing the relaxation that made her sink into the vinyl as she picked up another onion ring.

"You know what's more depressing?" Easton commented, keeping her dual eyes on Percy. "The five page essay Mr. Worthington is gonna make us write in social." The groan it elicited from Percy was worth it. It was way too loud and Easton looked around to see if it drew any attention as she tried to hold in a laugh. Nobody was paying attention to two teenagers eating junk food and, Easton realized, looked like they were on a date. However, oddly, despite the fact that she hated her grandparents for scheming to do this (it had Aphrodite written all over it), Easton wasn't mad about it. She liked Percy, she liked hanging out with him, and she needed to stop running away from situations that made her uncomfortable. So, she let her laughter out, "Shut up, we're in public, you weirdo."

Percy stopped his prolonged groan, blinking, then smirked like a little shit, "Oh, so you want to hear my groans in private, eh, Easton."

Easton wasn't a blusher. She rarely felt her cheeks heat up a rosy flush because she never had a reason to, usually. However, she felt it flood her cheeks as she felt her eyes widen, moving her gaze from Percy's face to her wrap, picking it up and taking a too big bite from it, her cheeks chipmunked. She hoped it hid the flush on her cheeks, as she focused on chewing through the amount of food.

As Percy shook their intertwined ankles, he mumbled a very clear, "You're pretty," drawing Easton's attention from her food. Her eyes flicked up to his, and the two of them stared at each other, faces red, and she watched as Percy realized what he said. His face flushed and Easton and him stared at each other, not speaking, as they processed what was just said. Easton swallowed, keeping her eyes on him, before she shook their ankles back gently, a small, shy smile spreading across her still pink cheeks. Something blossomed in the space between them, a little bud of a flower that Easton was sure if they nurtured, would grow into a flourishing flower. Easton didn't want to put a name to anything out of what the two of them were feeling in this moment, but the part of her that was locked deep inside, pushed away to be able to focus on school and training, was screeching into a pillow and kicking her feet in the air with giggles.

The part of her that had a crush on Percy was ecstatic. She was ecstatic. A little confused, because she had always assumed it would be Annabeth, and who knows if this thing would last, but she was warm all over with the fact that there was a very big chance Percy had a crush on her too. She couldn't feel it in that all knowing affection sense she had, she just felt Percy, but she felt herself soften when Percy didn't look away, still red but not backing down.

In the space between them, Easton whispered back, "You're pretty too."

Seeing Percy Jackson light up with the biggest smile that Easton had ever seen was something she thinks she would remember for the rest of her life, however long or short it was. And, despite how much she needed to get on Aphrodite's ass for meddling, Easton wasn't that mad about it. This time, at least.

____________

for coure <3