I saw a post that got me thinking about Percy being a more constant figure in camp once he’s semi retired from all the prophecy nonsense/world saving drama and like. He’s definitely a big fan of younger kids, he loves helping newcomers get over all the confusion of finding out the gods exist and the often traumatic experience of being brought to camp and missing their family/friends, making them feel at home, basically being what Luke was to him in TLT but without the betrayal. He’s experienced enough not to need any of the basic skills classes newer campers spend all day in and old enough to be trusted to fill his own time and not need constant supervision, so he spends a lot of time hanging out with the newbies to answer their questions & tell really toned down stories about his past experiences (ex: talking about That Time He Was A Literal Guinea Pig but making it sound less scary and more hilarious). (They’re always super shocked when they end up hearing about all the world saving he did and realizing that those little stories were actually dangerous parts of such Deadly & Important quests.)
Also, all the older teens probably trade off watching over the younger kids &leading activities/lessons, but he really enjoys it and so probably spends a lot more time on it than the others. I know it is (or used to be) common fanon that he taught sword fighting, and while I’m sure he sometimes makes guest-lecturer style appearances, I feel like he’d like leading less necessary-for-survival activities; he’s definitely got some lasting trauma from Tartarus and all the other shit he went through as a Literal Child, he probably doesn’t really like the thought that he’s helping prepare other kids that age to go through the same stuff. So, what does he teach instead? Horse/Pegasus riding! Especially for the really young kids, he’s able to talk to the horses so he can explain “hey this kid’s never seen a horse before so they might be a bit rough, no need to panic just let me know if they’re holding the reins too tight or anything and I can get them to fix it”, which I feel like would make the whole thing a lot easier and less stressful for everyone involved. If there’s a kid in class who’s really upset about something, he’ll put them on Blackjack or another horse/Pegasi he has a particularly good relationship with and ask them to take the kid flying/running around camp to help distract him. He’s definitely 100% willing to supervise and play translator for any kid that particularly enjoys riding and wants to build a relationship with their horse, so he spends several hours a week hanging out with little 10 year olds translating anything from questions about ribbon color preference to angsty tween monologues to “oooh the new brush feels nice, wait, my shoulder itches, a little to the left...” and becomes a confident for half of the camp because they can pretend they’re just talking to the horse but sometimes he’ll cut in with his own advice or commentary on the horse’s, and everyone knows he’ll never gossip about it; it also helps that he’s easy going and funny and never afraid to offer an embarrassing story about himself to distract a kid from something or offer solidarity (yeah, I might be good at the lava wall now, but I too was terrible at it at first, here’s this hilarious story of the time I accidentally got my shirt burned off while trying to show off for my crush, etc.) and just. Everyone loves him. He doesn’t have a cabin full of siblings like most campers so he adopted ALL the campers and now he’s everyone’s big brother.
Naturally, he also supervises recreational swim time (he’s the best lifeguard and he can make sure the ocean stays calm and dangerous/painful creatures stay away) and leads pretty much all of the water-based activities like sailing and canoeing and anything like that. He teaches swim lessons for anyone who comes to camp not knowing how, and pretends not to notice the small group of campers in the class who pretend not to be capable swimmers to spend more time around him in a swimsuit (listen, they know he’s taken, but he’s also extremely hot and they know how to appreciate art when they see it, okay?). Sometimes he’ll take some of the youngest campers to the lake when they have free time and spend a few hours ‘practicing his powers’ by taking them all down in bubbles, letting them walk on water or lifting them into the air, and basically going along with any game or trick they can think of. (One time they got him to make a literal waterslide that was so y’all they could see all of camp and beyond it in several directions. It took a lot of his energy to hold it but he managed for long enough that practically every camper got a turn.)
I also imagine that he’d be totally down to help any camper get over any kind of ocean/water related phobia. No need to fear drowning when you’re swimming with a guy who can literally control the water and let you breathe under it! Scared of sharks? He’ll let you hang out with him in the water with a promise that he’ll keep all the sharks away, let you know if anything bigger than a sardine is nearby, tell them they’re not allowed to bite you, and/or he can even introduce you to one if you want! He notices a kid sitting on the sand while the rest of their cabin/friends are splashing around in the waves and learns that they’re afraid of riptides? Don’t worry, he’ll make sure the only riptide at this beach is his pen-sword!
Basically Percy was made to be the perfect cross between Chill Counselor and Protective Older Brother and also never do anything stressful ever again because he’s Done Enough and he deserves better, godsdammit.
