Breathe With Me (One, Two, Three)

Chapter 30: Doodle

Percy Jackson seemed content with simply sitting behind Seth on the floor out of sight of anyone. He had snatched a pen and paper from the high schooler's desk and proceeded to doodle for the next few minutes before group study sessions began.

Meanwhile, Seth had no idea what to say or do. Percy Jackson, Mr. Blofis' son that he hadn't seen in a long time, was just casually sitting behind him and Seth was trying to act more normal than he had ever been in his life.

"Relax." Percy said as everyone split off into their own groups, effectively leaving Seth alone in the back. "No one's even looking."

"I feel like everyone's looking." Seth hissed even though he knew the older man was right.

"They're not." He soothed, reaching up to awkwardly pet Seth's hoodie sleeve. "Come sit with me if it really bothers you."

Seth sighed and looked around before slowly sinking to the ground, hidden behind a group of people that were aggressively playing Kahoot. He settled once Percy scooted to make room for him by the corner and glanced at the man's doodle curiously. "What're you making?"

Percy glanced over at him before carefully ripping the paper, handing the teen the doodle while he drew on the rest of the paper.

The drawing was a little scribble of him in his too-big-hoodie beaming without a care in the world. It was adorable and tiny, and Seth wanted to keep it forever. He tugged his backpack closer to him and grabbed his binder to slip the drawing into the see-through sleeve on the front. "Are you hiding from your dad?"

"Kind of." Percy confessed as he fussed over his new doodle of a cat. "Um, I saw him earlier but it's... hard. I left for a long time..." He played with a loose thread in his jeans. "But I love my family, y'know? Sometimes it's hard to stay away."

"I wish I could say the same. No one really likes me." Seth confessed, tugging the paper so he could draw on it. "I'm just in everyone's way."

Percy looked at the seventeen-year-old, at the fluffy hair and big brown eyes, and remembered the stories Paul told him during dinner. It made him wonder how nobody could like someone as kind as him. "You're not in my way."

Seth shrugged. "I will be."

"You won't. Here," Percy grabbed another piece of paper and wrote down his phone number. "You can text any time 'cause we're friends now."

The boy's eyes widened, careful hope shining in them. "Really?"

Percy smiled gently and answered truthfully. "Really. Now, shouldn't you be studying?"

Seth shrugged, a small smile on his face. "Yeah, but we're just going over the chapter we were assigned to read last night." He gestured to the worn book on the floor next to his desk, the paper spine ripping a bit from overuse. "But I'm already almost done with it."

The older man nodded, now simply drawing a swirl in the corner of his paper as he thought. Seth didn't sound like he enjoyed the book, so Percy figured he must have done what he himself used to do in school. Seth read ahead and studied because no one seemed to like him enough to help him prepare for the exam. Percy had to study late into the night due to his dyslexia working against him and no one willing to teach him another way to learn.

"Do you know how to draw?" Percy asked instead, nudging the paper towards the younger.

"Kind of." Seth picked up the pen, tapping it on the ground for a second, before he doodled Percy in his T-shirt giving a peace sign with a mischievous grin on his face. "What do you think?"

"I love it." He carefully tucked the doodle in his wallet right in front of his ID picture with a satisfied smile. "Not to alarm you or anything," Percy began, immediately putting Seth on edge. "But my dad's looking at us."

Seth looked up slowly to see Mr. Blofis standing in front of them with his hands on his hips, a look of amusement on his face. "H-Hey, Teach..."

"Hey." Paul grinned, moving to sit in Seth's desk chair since it was currently unoccupied. "I see you met Percy."

"Hi, dad!" Percy chirped happily when it seemed like Seth wasn't going to be able to speak for a moment. "Nice lesson."

The teacher shrugged. "Thanks. Not my best but it's mandatory. When'd you get here?"

He made a hand-wavy gesture. "Ten minutes ago or something."

"He crawled through the window." Seth supplied after finding his voice, shrinking in on himself a bit like he thought Paul wouldn't, understandably, believe him.

Paul looked like he went through the five stages of grief all at once before he sighed. "...Why didn't you use the door?"

"'Cause everyone would stare at me. You know how I am when people do that."

Seth tilted his head, looking between the two. "What're you like?"

"He's like a feral cat." Paul supplied before glancing down at the paper the two were sharing to doodle on. "You finish the reading?"

"I'm almost done with the book." The student sheepishly admitted, tugging on his sleeves nervously. "I- um... It's... Good?"

Both father and son made a noise of disbelief at the same time. "The Scarlet Letter is good?" Paul asked incredulously. "I'll admit, it has its moments, but I wouldn't overall classify it as good."

"Can you say that as a teacher?" Percy tilted his head, pointing at his dad with the pen.

"Yes." Paul sounded vaguely offended. "Just because I'm a teacher doesn't mean I can't give my opinion on a piece of literature."

"Yeah, but you're teaching this one." Seth joined in, finally relaxing in the banter, turning to grin at Percy when he nudging his shoulder.

The teacher sputtered for a moment. "It's still boring and only 56% of people on Google liked it!"

"That's still more than half." Percy and Seth said in sync, high fiving each other without looking.

Paul cracked a grin at the display, something warm settling inside him at seeing his son and his favorite student getting along so well. Seth had told him before that he wanted to graduate early but he was waiting for the semester to be over because he liked the class. The kid was always alone, becoming so small in the largest of crowds, that it only made sense that he introduced him to Percy. It seemed he didn't even have to because the two had naturally gravitated towards one another.

"Class will be over soon." Paul stood up, stretching for a moment before waving at the two. "Seth, I know you have a free period next. You're more than welcome to spend it here."

Seth's face flushed, pleased with the knowledge that his favorite teacher would let him sit around in his classroom. "Actually..." He turned to Percy, who had gone back to doodling for the moment. "Are you staying long? I want to show you something."

Percy tilted his head and grinned. "I can stay!"

Paul watched them with a soft smile, his eyes sparkling, before he walked off to bother the Kahoot table, peering over the kids' shoulders. He purposely gave the wrong answers, quietly enjoying the way they all got worked up as they argued with him.

'Today couldn't have gone any better.' Paul thought as he laughed at one of his student's mortified face when they banged the table with their fist in frustration.

Xxxxxxxxxxx

words: 1,227

song: The Boy in the Bubble - Alec Benjamin (lyrics)