A/N I couldn't resist putting this quote 🔝. Depictions of violence and possibly child abuse. Viewer discretion is advised.

Percy woke up shivering. Sometime during the night, he'd kicked off the covers and now he was cold. Checking the time Percy jumped out of bed and crept around his room quietly packing his bag and getting dressed for school. Finished with that task Percy snuck out of his room carefully avoiding the lump on the sofa that was his step-father Gabe. Forgoing breakfast in favour of not having a repeat of last night Percy closed the door to his apartment and sighed in relief.

Although Percy wasn't exactly a good student, and besides the fact that he didn't particularly enjoy the classes, Olympus High had become somewhat of a safe haven for him. It may have had bullies but they were nothing compared to what he experienced at home. Percy didn't have many friends, his older cousin Jason (I know I'm messing with the ages I'm sorry) went there but he was always off with his friends. Percy laughed in his head, he knew the reason Jason didn't want him hanging out with him and his friends was that they were part of WebOfWonders and he wasn't. Or so they thought. In reality, Percy was the driving force behind the creation of WOW. He'd spent months planning it out and hacking through every database and website he could find for people to help him. Nobody knew he was Poseidons_Hacker because he didn't want them to. He supposed if he told them he could have friends since all of the creators and most of the original members went to his school, but he didn't. His life was complicated enough and he found it easier without having to worry about friendships. He didn't need friends. t least that's what he told himself.

Percy's father had left his mother before he was born and with no money or way of life his mother had no choice but to marry Gabe Ugliano. Gabe was a fat walrus of  a man. If you could even call him one. He had tiny squinty pig eyes set into his large flabby face which was normally covered in pizza. He had an alcohol problem and was addicted to cigarettes and cigars and was probably on drugs too. He was fat. But make no mistake even though Gabe looked as though he couldn't push himself off the couch he was strong. And he had no problem reminding Percy of that. They had a deal, albeit not a very good one but it was a deal. Percy would take the hits and whatever else Gabe would throw at him (figuratively and literally) and in exchange Gabe would leave his mother alone. The apartment they lived in might once have been nice but years of Gabe's stink and the poker parties with beer and pizza and cigars made the place smell like nobody's business. The paint was peeling and if you looked very closely you could make out faint stains on the walls from when Percy didn't manage to clean his blood off of them. 

Long story short his life wasn't anywhere near perfect. But he had two saving graces; his mom and his laptop. His mom could lighten up any room she walked into, even their small dingy apartment. His laptop was where he did all of his hacking and where the only friends he had were. WOW was his brainchild and he had friends there, particularly  his fellow creators and the original members.

Percy arrived at school just before the bell rung. He slipped quickly through the halls to get to his locker. Grabbing his books he stuffed them in his bag and ran to class getting through the doorway just as the bell rung. The rest of the day dragged by until lunchtime where Percy sat with his best(and only)friend Grover. Grover wasn't apart of WoW, Percy was pretty sure he didn't know it existed. They talked, Grover about his new baby cousin and Percy about anything he could think of. He didn't have anyone else he could talk to, his mom worked multiple jobs and was never home and he didn't have any other friends. 

Lunch ended much too soon for Percy's liking,  and all too soone he was back in class. English to be precise. Plopping down at a desk at the back of the classroom, Percy opened his laptop and went straight to WoW. Minutes later a girl sat down at the desk next to him. It was Annabeth Chase his newest recruit, she pulled out a laptop carefully angling it so he couldn't see, not that it was a problem he could probably just hack it if he really wanted to know what was there. He didn't. Ignoring her Percy logged onto his computer and actively ignored everything his teacher said as he hacked the FBI for fun.

Too soon the school day was over and Percy was headed back 'home'. Back to his dingy little apartment with peeling paint and stains on the walls, where the air was thick with the scent of cigar smoke and beer and the faint irony tinge of old blood not quite gone. Back to his large abusive walrus of a stepfather. To a place that should've been safe but most definitely wasn't.