Little Big Three

Chapter 8

THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO COMMENTED ON THE LAST CHAPTER

Percy could always tell when something was up. Maybe it was a demigod thing, or maybe just a Percy thing, but he was good at being able to sense changes in his environment. And boy oh boy, had there been a big change. He wasn't quite sure what it was yet, and he trusted that his mom would tell him soon enough, but and he watched Paul help Nico navigate the television he couldn't help but grow curious. And he'd hadn't forgotten Paul name-dropping Hades either. There were definitely some suspicious things happening.

Thalia walked out of the bathroom and joined Percy in the living room entryway. She was wearing one of Sally's old t-shirts and christmas themed pajama pants. Percy held back a comment about how it was still autumn, as he didn't feel like being shocked. Thalia took in the scene in the living room before quietly asking Percy

"Is that Steve Irwin?"

When Percy nodded, Thalia loudly shouted,

"Oh my Gods! I love Steve Irwin!" She determinedly made her way over to Nico's armchair and plopped down on the floor next to it, purposefully jostling Nico in the process. Nico just rolled his eyes. After Thalia had loudly announced her presence, Sally noticed her son standing in the doorway, and stood up.

"Here Percy, take my seat. I'll go make the pancakes now that you're done in the kitchen."

"Awesome, thanks mom. I tried to clean up a bit of the mess 'cause I felt bad, but it's still kind of..." Percy trailed off, but his mom just smiled and reached up to ruffle his hair. After she disappeared into the kitchen, Percy tried to tidy his hair where his mom had messed with it, to no avail. He honestly wasn't that surprised though, his hair was perpetually messy. He sauntered over to the place on the couch that had been occupied by his mom moments ago, nodded at Paul, and sat down, curling his feet up underneath him. Quietly, the three demigods and Paul watched as Steve Irwin described the hunting process of one of the many venomous snakes in Australia. Paul was used to watching TV peacefully, but he knew it was unusual for the teens to be so still and calm. He correctly assumed they were all just very focused on the show.

It wasn't long before Sally had finished preparing breakfast. The smell of delicious pancakes had been permeating the air, so by the time everyone was called to breakfast, their mouths were already watering. Percy noticed that as they gathered at the table to eat, his mom kept sharing anxious but excited glances with Paul. He would have paused to wonder what that was about, but was quickly distracted by the stack of pancakes his mom had placed in front of him. He dug in wildly, and it seems like his cousins had the same idea, as they too scarfed down their meal like an animal. Hungry demigods we're definitely something. As the kids had their faces buried in their food, Paul and Sally had a silent conversation through their eyes.

It didn't necessarily work. Sally was trying to ask if Paul wanted to tell the trio about the adoption or if she should, and Paul was under the impression that Sally was trying to ask when they should share the news. Somehow it ended in both of them speaking at the same time.

"Hey kids, I have something—"

"We adopted you two."

Silence.

The little big three trio sat silently as they tried to make sense of what was just said. Specifically, focusing on Paul's bold statement of 'we adopted you two.' All of the words make sense individually but surely it couldn't mean what they thought it meant right? How would a mortal couple even go about adopting two demigods, much less two demigods who were children of brothers who had such a notorious love-hate relationship? It was Percy who broke the silence.

"Is that why my dad was at the bowling alley last night?"

Sally blinked,

"Oh I didn't realize he stopped to say hi, but yes. We had a bit of a family meeting last night, I guess. Zeus and Hades were here too. And Lady Artemis too."

When none of the kids reacted to that beyond a slight taken-aback look, Paul elaborated on Sally's sentence,

"It was a surprisingly easy and pleasant conversation, not as much fighting as the myths say there usually is. Oh hey, didn't Lady Persephone show up at the very end?"

Sally nodded, and the kids only became more speechless. Paul, sensing the growing confusion and worried it might evolve into discomfort, continued talking,

"Anyways, they just wanted to discuss what would be best for their children's happiness. And the conclusion was that, well..." he faded off, but was pretty sure the teens had gotten the point. Sure enough, after only a few seconds, Thalia said,

"The conclusion was, for you guys to adopt us?"

Sally and Paul both nodded, and watched as the cousins —now siblings— all glanced at each other. It was slightly uneasy at first, but slowly smiles appeared on each of their faces. Then, seemingly moving as one, they launched across the table and buried Sally and Paul in a bone-crushing hug, pancakes momentarily forgotten as the family celebrated.

This was going to be good.

woooooo a shorter chapter (910 words) but hey, a chapter nonetheless. is anyone surprised that this isn't completely abandoned? slow updates better than no updates, that's what i always say. (but seriously thanks for sticking with it :D)