Chapter Text
Aaron did not care one bit about Percy’s weird ‘mysterious’ family or backstory. So his family was strange, who cared. They went to a weird school with a lot of weird people. One of the juniors had hacked into the times square jumbotron and displayed the bank details of New York’s richest, although if you asked anyone in the school they would be sure to tell you they had no idea who did it.
So yeah, Percy was weird, his mysterious background was weird, and his family was weird.
Who gave a damn?
Not Aaron.
Not until he discovered Percy’s friends.
Now Aaron didn’t know jack about fashion, but he had managed to secure a swanky sales job in some boutique on 5th avenue. The customers tended to spend more on one shoe than his mother had ever made in a year.
And he was hiding behind a gown laden mannequin because Percy Jackson was standing with a small group, looking at small, ribboned hats, elegant shoes and other fancy party goodies.
One of them was Annabeth, but he didn’t recognise the brunette girl or the short Latino kid. Petty Patty was already side eyeing them both like the judgy bitch she was. The blond guy looked familiar, Aaron was pretty sure that was Percy’s cousin or something.
He did recognise the girl standing to Percy’s right.
Rachel Elizabeth Dare.
His little sister had dragged him to some climate thing Dare Industries had held to promote some new green initiative they had for New York, something about urban improvements and heatwave management. He hadn’t been paying attention, mainly because he’d spent the whole week before working on an art project due in instead of sleeping. Miss Dare had been front and centre. He wasn’t sure if she was the heir to the company or not, but he’d invest if she was.
Dare had money, she made sense.
Percy's family had money, on his dad’s side, but Percy sure never acted like it. Percy had mentioned a few times that his dad hadn’t come into his life until he was 11, and not properly until he was around 16. Percy had money, but Aaron couldn’t imagine him coming to a place like this.
The blond guy was his cousin on dad’s side, which probably meant he had money too.
The rest of them were probably in the same boat, richer than they looked. Richer than Patty expected.
He wasn’t concerned about how much money they had; he was worried about having to be professional with Perce. One stray job and Patty would have his job, and he needed this job.
“Do you think I could suit that hat?”
“Leo, I love you, no.”
He peaked over and it was a sparkly pink fascinator with netting and a large bow.
Nice.
“Awe Jace, you’re no fun. What do you think, queen Mclean?”
“Never call me that again, Valdez.”
“Someone?”
“It’s not you, Leo, it’s not you.”
“I thought you would be on my side, Percy.”
He turned back to the weird flower display he’d been tasked with making match a photoshopped image that wasn’t realistically possible, and tried to ignore Patty approaching the group.
“Hi there,” her voice was simpering and sweet, the kind of thing their clients usually loved, “can I help you with anything today?”
Six teens in a high-end boutique, mostly dressed like they couldn’t afford to clean it's windows, he knew exactly what she was thinking.
This was going to be painful.
“Oh no, we’re just browsing right now.”
The brunette girl, McLean, responded with matching tone.
This girl had experience in this. This girl knew the game, and the players.
Looking closer, she had a few pieces of jewellery that were expensive but not gaudy, the snow jacket was stylish and her boots probably cost a pretty penny too. Subtle hints of wealth, but Percy’s approval of personality.
This was going to be wonderful.
Patty was forced to step back out of enforced manners, but her lip curled.
Patty reminded Aaron of a lot of characters in The Devil Wore Prada. He still wasn't sure why they’d been shown that in their English class, but the parallels sprung to his mind.
In the mirror he could see Percy was on edge now, they all were. Something about Patty had them very on edge, but they moved onto the dresses instead.
Annabeth was looking at a soft silvery A-line gown, miss Dare was looking at one with a tiered skirt in a rich emerald, and their friend whose name he still hadn’t managed to pick up was looking at a deep purple tea-length. The boys were somewhat unhelpfully trying to recommend matching accessories, and Percy still hadn’t noticed him.
Satisfied that Patty wasn’t going to start dragging the kids out of the shop by their hair, he nipped into the back to get another box of the stupid fake flowers.
Because the display wasn’t big and stupid and springtime enough already.
A crash had him running back onto the shop floor. The door was closing, but all six kids were still in the shop.
Patty was nowhere to be seen.
Damn, he’d missed it.
“Aaron?”
“Hey Perce. Can I help you today.”
“Could we try on a few dresses?”
“Absolutely. Did you see where Patty went, Margaritte is going to be mad if she ran out again. Keeps picking fights with customers she doesn’t think can afford our stuff then bailing.”
There was a small level of confusion on their faces that settled into understanding.
“Out the door. Just bolted, weird huh.”
“Great.” he clapped his hands together, full customer service mode, “Ok, let’s get those dresses sorted for you, and anything else you want today.”
They took their time, and he never quite worked out what they were getting these dresses for, but he did find out that Percy’s cousin’s name was Jason and the other two were Leo and Piper.
The same Piper McLean who vanished for a while last year, in the same time period that Percy was reported missing. Probably had something to do with the tattoo on Jason’s arm, the same style as Percy’s.
He still didn’t quite know how Percy knew the daughter of a famous actor, or Rachel Elizabeth Dare for that matter, but he could connect a few likely dots.
None of this was going on the swim team's mystery board, not with how much they paid for their items.
Not for how much they tipped.
