Chapter Text
Percy knew that gods were laughing at him. Fighting in two wars only for his mom to die before the end of his senior year. Adding to the joke was a secret uncle that he was supposed to live with. But at least this Bruce guy was not trying to kill him.
The family he found himself living with was suspicious of him. Always watching as if he was about to attack. He had fun hearing them speculate about what he was hiding. They were never going to be right, but if it left him alone they could try.
He walked in Gotham Academy behind his cousin Damian, searching for anyway to survive the day at his latest school. They separated as they entered the building, each choosing to manage on their own.
People stared at him, judging him before he even set foot into the building. He ignored it all. He just had to survive, make it through the year before he could go to New Rome with Annabeth. The mortals of Gotham were hardly a concern.
He heard the whispers throughout the day. The theories were passed around about the latest child obtained by Bruce Wayne.
With his natural aura he scared off anyone who was going to approach him. He managed to go until lunch without talking to anyone.
Entering the lunch room he saw Damian sitting alone. He couldn't help it, he liked the kids. The kid was so intense, he could have been one of the campers. He could imagine them meeting playing capture the flag, or training the kid at the sword field.
When he sat down at the table, Damian froze to stare at him. Thinking his ne cousin wanted nothing to do with him, yet apparently he chose to engage socially.
"Hey!" Percy smiled, dropping the walls he built up to approach the kid as if he was with the campers.
"You want to sit here?" Damian knew that Percy knew the whole family was researching him. Yet the older boy gave him more chances for research?
"I've had enough meals alone, that I know it's not fun." He started to pick at his lunch, feeling the gaze of the child trying to figure him out.
"Perseus Jackson?" A voice called out from behind Percy. And every part of him tensed.
Slowly he turned around. Reaching for the pen he kept in his pocket.
Damien pushed himself off the table, ready to defend. Seeing for the first the apprehensive his cousin has to hearing his name.
Only Percy didn't jump in a fight. When he saw the girl standing there, he relaxed. smiling at his friend, and standing to greet her. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare. What are you doing here?"
"I go to school here." She said carefully doing her best to explain the concept to Percy.
"Why?" He walked over to her.
"My parents for some reason still let me pick where I can go to school, and I still make it their problem."
"So you chose to go to school in New Jersey, why?"
"It won't be news if I pass out and create a cloud of green smoke." She tried to laugh about it, but it was a true concern within their world.
"Has that happened?" Percy stood on edge, ready as if the prophecy was going to be summoned just by them talking about it.
"No haven't heard anything."
He wrapped the girl in a hug. A quick embrace, before pulling her to the table with him.
Damian watched the encounter. His cousin kept getting stranger. How did the random kid from New York, know the heir to the Dare fortune? What were they talking about the green mist? He had to report it to the family before those two could finish planning their Rogue attack.
"This is my cousin Damian." Percy introduced Rachel, as if he wasn't a celebrity of the city. "He's adorable, and I'm going to make sure nothing happens to him."
Rachel saw the words as a promise. She heard about the promise Percy made for Nico, that Percy going to be the prophecy kid so that Nico could be safe. She saw the loyalty that claimed Damian as one of his one.
Only Damian saw the condescension, as if simply because he was a child he could not protect himself. "Why would I need protection from you? You're an insufferable cretin that doesn't know how to fight."
"See just like Annabeth." He motioned to Rachel, as if the girl was there for the first summer when Annabeth would sacrifice him to win capture the flag. "So this is Damian."
"I think everyone knows who he is." She waved at the kid, playing nicely calling on the history of socialite functions. "It's good to see you again."
"How do you know her?" Damian asked. He had a mission, and it was going to be completed.
"We went to school together before." Percy was determined not to reveal anything about himself. He was only with these people for a year, they didn't have to know about who he was.
"But we meet when you stabbed me." She joked, hoping that detail would turn Damian to Percy's side.
"Why did you stab her?" Never was a mission this easy, some how he had gotten his cousin to trust him.
"I don't think it counts as stabbing if you didn't get hurt. And you got me kidnapped so I think we're even." There was no malice behind his words, finding a way to laugh about the events that led to the second war.
"But why did you stab her?" Damian knew his cousin was danger, he had to find out the extent.
"I was at the Hover Dam, there was a skeleton, and my sword went through her, so technically not a stab." He laid out the events as if they made sense out of context.
"You have a sword?" Damian couldn't help but be excited. He was right about his cousin being dangerous. But maybe he could have someone new to sword fight against. Have a proper challenge after so long, or at least train his cousin to eventually be a challenge.
"Yep right here," Percy pulled out his pen from his pocket, spinning it between his fingers.
"That's a pen." He tried not to get annoyed. It was still the beginning of the mission, there was still time to learn the truth.
"Sure it is," he went back to eating his lunch, laughing with Rachel.
"Be honest about something else, why did you get him kidnapped?" Damian demanded.
"I wrote a poem and some people really didn't like it." Rachel said without breaking eye contact, before she burst into another round of laughter.
"I thought you created the poem to get be taken so you could be reunited with your betrothed."
"My betrothed?" Rachel asked, not following the logic.
"Jason."
"When have I even been betrothed to Jason?"
Damian was rushing to write down everything they were saying. Drafting the messages to alter the family. Too much was being said for them not to know.
"Think about it, former famous actor Beryl Grace trying to be famous once more makes a deal with Dare Enterprie to have their children be engaged." Percy couldn't even finish his thought, laughing at the absurdity he created.
"Right since that totally happened." Rachel laughed along with him, forgetting for a moment that they had an audience.
Percy knew that Damian was watching. He knew that the kid was telling the family. He knew he was adding to the theories, it would only work in his favor, they would not have the ability to understand him.
"You expect me to believe that you got kidnapped because someone wrote a poem?" Damian asked.
"Believe what you want." Percy shrugged, not caring if his declaration was believed, they were technically true. "Since you go here, can you help me with homework?"
"So you do only want me for my money." She pretended to be in shock, gasping at the concept. "You can't expect me to buy your way out of everything."
"You're the only non-dyslexic person I know."
"So you're choosing me over Frank?" She was the prefect actor, putting on the show that was feeding the rumors of the people around them.
"I don't want to deal with the time difference for every English assignment." He was honest. If she was there before him, there was no need to use the Iris Messages to call across the country.
"Yeah I can help you."
"She can over to dinner tonight." Damian passed over the invitation. The family was not going to believe him about who Percy was without seeing it for themselves.