Chapter Text
Half a year passed by and Liam had turned six at this point. He didn't have a big birthday party, but his mom did take him to go putt putt golf that day. Percy was allowed to come also and he looked so excited to be there. He sadly wasn't the best at it though. Whether that was from the fact that he was six or because he just wasn't naturally talented at it had yet to be determined.
Afterwards his mom brought out a small birthday cake and his mom, Percy, and Sally all sang him happy birthday. It wasn't anything too out of the ordinary for his birthday, but getting to celebrate with somebody other than his mom was nice.
Turning six also marked a huge point in the lives of any child. It would show them their most daunting challenge yet, kindergarten. At least for most children, Liam wasn't most children so he wasn't all too concerned about it. The most worrying thing was whether or not Liam would be going to school with Percy or not. It would be a pain in the ass to make friends with other kids and he had gotten rather close to Percy at this point.
That was until the day came for his first day of kindergarten and some of the nerves returned. His mom walked him there in her normal red, white, and blue uniform. Liam had on black athletic shorts, a t-shirt with a t-rex on it, and finally some solid black Skechers. He also wore a green and black backpack that had a couple of small pouches. He was holding her hand while eating a small piece of toast with peanut butter. They eventually ended up at the front of the school.
It looked like your everyday public school. Had a gate in the front with a sign over the top part of it with the school's name. The walls of the building were made in brick and the school looked to be about two storys tall. It was a simple building with nothing special about it.
His mom stopped and crouched down towards him and put her hands on her knees.
"Do you have everything? All your folders, pens, and pencils in your backpack." she asked while fretting over him. She licked her finger and started rubbing off some peanut butter that was on his cheek.
"Yeah." he said ,while rubbing his hands together.
She sighed and looked at him while gently holding his hands. "Look, you are going to do amazing here, there isn't anything to be worried about. Sally enrolled Percy here too so you will have a friend here already." She gave him a small reassuring smile.
"Thanks mom." Liam said. He meant it, the cold mother he had for years was slowly, but surely breaking down into a mother that cared for him. Sure she still hadn't said I love you yet, but right now baby steps were good. Right now the fact that she cared was good enough.
"Now remember I won't be able to pick you up till 4 so don't get on the school buses that are outside. Your teacher should mention something about after school care. That is where you should go to alright?" she said getting up from crouching on the ground.
"I know mom, I remembered after you told me the 100th time." Liam grumbled out. She had actually told him about this five times, but exaggerating never hurt anybody. She seemed overly worried he would forget it even though he hasn't forgotten much in his young age.
She smacked his backpack lightly. "Don't give me that sass kid. You don't want to test me on whether or not I would put a bar of soap in your mouth in front of everybody." she said with no real heat. That wasn't to say she wouldn't put soap in his mouth, she had already done that before. He still remembered the gross taste of floral and unnatural perfume flavors from the last time she did it.
His mom looked at her watch and cursed a little. "Alright I have to be heading to work. You head on in there and have a good first day at school." She hurried off after that out the gate and on her way to her job.
Liam looked back at the school and felt a little of the dread he thought he lost return. It didn't matter that he had been a teenager before he died, going to a new school would always be a little nerve wracking. He took a deep breath in and took a long breath out. He took a step towards the doors and prepared for class.
He went through the winding halls and saw other kids who looked a little nervous, but mostly he could see excitement on their faces. He eventually noticed a familiar mop of black hair ahead with a backpack of some sharks. Liam hustled a little to catch up to him.
"Percy!" Liam greeted excitedly and waved at him.
Percy looked in his direction and his previously blank face lit up with a smile.
"Liam!" Percy greeted back and waved back at him. "Are you excited for kindergarten?"
Percy's enthusiasm was infectious and Liam couldn't help but smile back at him. "Yeah I am, are you excited too?"
Percy nodded at him "Yeah, I'm excited to be here and hopefully make some friends."
Liam hoped they would too, but knowing that both of them were demigods Liam thinks that that would somehow prevent them from doing that. Returning to look at Percy rambling about what his mom packed him for lunch though. Liam knew everything would be okay as long Percy was there with him.
~AFTER SCHOOL~
"Bye Percy." Liam waved his chubby little hand at him while holding his mom's hand in another.
"Bye Liam." Percy yelled back while waving his arm at him. His mom was still signing him out from the after school care program.
Liam and his mom started walking away from the school while it slowly grew smaller as the further they got away from it till it wasn't visible. They came up on a crosswalk and stood there waiting to go.
Except the weird part was that Liam knew they were supposed to turn left here not go straight across the road.
Liam tugged his mom's uniform to get her attention. She looked away from the little notepad she had in her hand and gave him her attention.
"Where are we going?" Liam asked.
"Well since you are getting to be a big boy now, I thought you could help me with groceries."
He wasn't sure how to feel about this. On one hand it was something different and his mom had never taken him grocery shopping with her. On the other hand it was grocery shopping and Liam knew he would probably end up having to carry something back to the apartment and besides he would have to look at a bunch of food and toys that he would want, but knew that he couldn't get.
The crosswalk turned to a person and his mother gave him her hand and they started walking across.
"Hey Mom?" Liam asked
His mom looked down at him again.
"Yes?"
"Can we get some food? I'm hungry." Liam asked. His body luckily wanted to back him up and decided to have his stomach grumble at this point. His mom's face seems to scrunch up at the comment.
"Did they not feed you at the after school program?" she asked, her voice full of concern and anger.
"They gave us some gummies and some water, but that was it." he answered honestly.
She sighed in annoyance. "I guess I'll have to add some additional snacks for after school to the shopping list. I'll have to let Sally know too."
With that comment Liam and his mother continued walking down the road passing pedestrains on the way to their destination. Eventually they came upon a blue and gray building with large white letters on the outside. It was a Walmart. They walked across the cracked pavement of the parking lot to the sliding doors upfront.
They entered the store and his mom grabbed a shopping cart from the line of carts off the side. They started walking through the second of doors before his mom paused to take off the coat around her waist and put it on. Which struck Liam as strange because it wasn't particularly cold in the Walmart nor was it cold outside, but it wasn't any of his business what his mom did so he didn't ask her.
They walked over to the produce section and his mom was looking at some oranges. Liam was looking around and noticed the small deli section in the Walmart. His mouth started to water a little at the sight and smell of it. Some potato wedges from it were starting to sound really good and it didn't help that his stomach also agreed with him.
"Mom, can we get some potato wedges from the deli over there?" Liam pointed over to the small deli where a worker in a hair net was currently getting some chicken chunks for a customer.
" I don't know Liam, that is some extra money to spend and I already am going to have to spend some extra money on snacks for you. I can't really buy it .. unless" she stopped looking at the oranges. She was clearly lost in thought until she looked back at Liam. "Okay so Mommy would be willing to buy the potato wedges for you, but you would have to do something for mommy in return. Does that sound fair?"
Liam nodded his head. He wasn't too worried about whatever he would have to do for his mom. More than likely he would just have to hand dry the dishes for his mom or he would clean the mirrors in the bathroom. Nothing that would be too big of a deal.
Taking the nod at his answer his mother started wheeling the cart over to the deli and Liam followed after her like a little duckling follows the mother hen. A short while later his mother had a small container of potato wedges in her hand. She cracked the lid open and grabbed one for herself before handing the rest to Liam. Liam pouted at that.
"You took one of my potato wedges." he whined a little, giving his mother the most betrayed look he could muster.
She raised her eyebrow at this. "I wasn't aware you paid for the potato wedges. Since the person who buys them owns them." To prove her point even further she grabbed another one and ate it in his face.
Liam pouted even harder at this. "You're so mean."
His mom rolled her eyes at him while giving a fond smile. She ruffled his hair a little, putting it out of place. "Whatever you say kid."
His mom continued shopping, grabbing different items that they needed. Some shredded cheese here and a single quart milk carton. They had already gotten some fruits before they went to the deli so they already had those. They eventually made it to the snack aisle before his mom talked to him again.
She looked over her shoulder at him. "What type of snack do you want?"
Liam looked around before he pointed at a container with bread sticks that could be dipped in cheese. Those were always some of his favorite snacks even from before he had died in his previous life.
His mother nodded before reaching for the snacks.
"Liam, do you still have your coat in your bag?"
"Yeah." Liam reached into his bag to take it out.
"Would you mind putting it on?" his mother asked.
"Why?" Liam didn't understand why she would want him to have it on. The temperature still hadn't changed inside the store and it was still warm outside. His mother didn't answer his question.
"Just do it." his mother replied. Liam wasn't going to disobey her and quickly threw on his camouflage coat. It made it rather hot in the store, but nothing that he couldn't handle.
They continued on their way and eventually started walking to the self care section. This wouldn't have been a big deal if Liam didn't start to notice his mother acting strange.
She was constantly looking around the aisles and up at the ceiling. It was like she was looking for signs of danger or some sort of monster, but Liam hadn't seen anything at all. The only thing Liam had seen was some old man who was looking at some shampoo in the aisle over and the ceiling had nothing on it beside some sprinklers and a balloon which had gotten loose at some point.
His mother finally came to stop in the toiletries aisle. It had a bunch of travel sized items such as toothpaste, toothbrushes, and deodorant. She started to crouch down to get on the same level as Liam.
"Remember when Mommy said you would need to do something for her for the potato wedges?" Liam nodded. It had just been about 10 minutes ago so of course he would remember.
"Good." His mother looked around before grabbing some toothpaste and deodorant and sticking it in his coat pockets.
"What I need you to do is keep these in your pockets and not tell anyone okay? Can you do that for me?" His mother asked in a sweet voice.
It took Liam a second before he nodded his head again. He thought he would be more opposed to outright shoplifting, but he actually didn't care. In fact the thought of shoplifting actually sounded quite fun. Which was weird because in his past life he wouldn't have even imagined wanting to shoplift at all.
His mother, satisfied with his nod continued shopping in the aisle as if she hadn't just committed a crime and made her son an accessory to it.
Eventually they headed to the checkout line and his mother started putting some of the items they were actually paying for on the conveyor belt. His mother started making small talk with the cashier who was a teen girl that looked like she couldn't care less about the job.
Liam was standing behind his mother and next to the candy bars. Liam saw a normal sized hershey bar and the thought of chocolate sounded quite good. He looked around and saw nobody paying attention. His mother was looking at the cashier making small talk while the cashier scanned items. Nobody was behind them. There were no cameras, no other people, nothing. Not a single person was paying attention to him.
Liam's heart started pounding. He started reaching for the candy bar slowly, not making any sudden movements. He felt at any moment someone would look at him and say something and start yelling at him, but no voices did and nobody was looking.
His fingers grabbed the candy bar and his heart somehow started pounding even more. His heart felt like it would burst out of his chest at any moment. He felt fearful, yet even more he felt excitement. He was enjoying the thrill from stealing and pocketing a candybar. He didn't know why he felt joy and excitement from it, but he just did.
Liam put the candybar in his coat pocket. He waited for somebody or something to yell at him to put it back or somebody to say something, but nothing happened.
His mother finished paying for the groceries and they started walking out of the store. He still felt like somebody would catch him, but nobody did. His mother and him walked out of the store with groceries in his mother's hands and stolen goods in his pockets.
They walked across the parking lot to the streets again heading back the way they came. A million thoughts were running through his head at the moment.
Thoughts of why did his mother steal or why did Liam himself enjoy stealing so much? Thinking about it, all the clues pointed towards one single answer. Liam's father was Hermes. Naturally Liam would enjoy stealing if his father was the god of thieves. It was literally in his blood to want to pickpocket and rob. It would also explain how his mother had attracted Hermes being a thief and all. Liam wasn't angry about Hermes being his father. As far as parents went it was probably one of the better ones. At least it was one of the Olympians and not some minor god.
His mother and him walked in silence until they eventually reached home. His mother put the groceries on the kitchen table and sighed in relief from not having to carry it all anymore. She started taking her shoes and Liam himself put his backpack down on the floor next to the counter..
"Liam, can you give me the toothpaste and deodorant in your pocket?" His mother asked while holding out her hand to him. Liam took out the items. The hershey bar in his pocket made a quiet rustling noise in his pocket, but his mother was able to pick up on it.
"What was that?" she questioned.
"Nothing." Liam replied quickly. A little too quickly because his mother narrowed his eyes at him.
"Don't go lying to me young man, there is clearly something in your pocket and I don't remember anything being in your pocket when I put the toothpaste and deodorant in there." She set the aforementioned items on the table and held out her hand again. "Whatever it is, hand it over."
Liam let out a little sigh and handed over the hershey bar. His mother's eyes widened at the item.
"Where did this come from?" she demanded.
"The store," he replied nervously.
"But I didn't buy this…" she trailed off. Her eyebrows furrowed and her eyes narrowed before they widened in understanding. Liam expected her to be angry, but she only smiled down at him. She opened the hershey bar, broke off a piece and handed the rest to Liam.
Liam grabbed it. "You didn't pay for this, why do you get to take a piece?" Throwing his mothers words back at her
His mother gave him a mischievous grin. "You're right, but I'm your mother and that means I get to steal a small piece of your candy anyway."
Liam pouted at her again before he took a bite of the chocolate and his happy mood returned. The chocolate melted on his tongue and tasted a lot better than he remembers. Maybe chocolate tastes better when it is stolen. Liam didn't, but regardless Liam wouldn't have thought stealing would have felt and tasted this good.