#sorry the bad annabeth takes online got to me | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

phykios · 3 years

Text

Five Times Percy Jackson Cheated At School (And One Time Someone Cheated Him) [read on ao3]

thank you as always to @darkmagyk for inspo and beta-ing 💙💙💙 and thank you to @arosnowflake for the homer idea!

Percy squints at the paper prompt again, tilting his head, as if the new angle will extract some hidden information. It doesn’t change. The font is the special dyslexia-friendly one used by most departments at NRU, so he isn’t misreading it, either.

Your final will be an 8-10pp (TNR, 12pt, double-spaced) research paper expanding on one of the topics discussed in our class so far, or an alternate idea of your choosing, to be submitted in writing by May 7 with footnotes and bibliography. By 10am on the Wednesday before the Thursday class you will submit online a 750-word essay (word count does not include footnotes) on the research thread you have pursued that week (no written assignments due Week 6 or Week 12).

Percy might hate college.

“Your neck bothering you again?” Annabeth asks, coming up behind him, her hands already on his shoulders. She’s sweaty, dressed in workout clothes, having just come back in from a jog.

“My neck is fine,” he says. “Just preemptively freaking out over my Roman history final.”

He tilts his head back over the top of his chair, staring into the upside down, prettily frowning face of his girlfriend, and it does nothing to improve his mood.

“How bad is it?”

“Eight to ten pages,” Percy says, “not including footnotes.”

“Ouch.”

“And,” he grimaces, “it’s a topic of our choosing.”

Her mouth twists in sympathy. “Sucks.”

“Yep.”

“Anything I can do to help?” She squeezes his shoulders lightly, an open invitation.

He shakes his head, stretching his arms back to grab her waist. “Promise not to break up with me when you catch me crying at 4AM over it.”

“Promise.” And she seals it with a kiss, bending down to reach him. “Dad wants to know if you’re free on the 16th.”

“The 16th?” He wracks his brain. He’s pretty sure it doesn’t conflict with sailing, or Greek Club, or the monthly intra-pantheon relations council meeting that Chiron and Clarisse both guilted him into joining. “Pretty sure. Why?”

“Dinner--Charlotte’s out of town that weekend.”

“Sounds good.”

“Great, I’ll let him know. Now,” and she grins, “are you going to stare at that computer all day, or do you want to come and take a shower with me?”

Percy slams the computer shut.

He doesn’t think about his paper topic for a while after that.

***

To his great dismay, Percy gets to her dad’s house first on the 16th. Drama in writing group 🙄 she texts him as he gets to the door, be there asap.

Great. Alone in the house with his girlfriend’s dad. Taking a deep breath, he knocks on the door.

Not a minute later, Dr. Chase opens it. Last time they went to visit, Percy and Annabeth had ended up waiting outside for almost a quarter of an hour. “Oh, Percy,” he says, fumbling his flight helmet off his head. “Goodness, I thought I’d lost track of time again. Come in, come in.”

“Thanks,” Percy says, stepping inside and shedding his jacket. “Annabeth’s running late, but she said she’d be here soon.”

He frowns, looking so much like Annabeth that it throws Percy for several loops. “Well, that’s alright,” he says. “I’m sure we can entertain ourselves well enough until she gets here.”

“Yeah,” Percy chuckles, uneasy.

Several seconds pass.

“Oh!” starts Dr. Chase. “Right, yes. Come in. Would you like something to drink?”

Spoiler alert: it doesn’t get much better.

A few minutes of staggered conversation later, it becomes eminently clear why they need Annabeth between them. It’s not the awkward small talk that doesn’t go anywhere (“How’s school going for you?” “It’s okay.” “Good, that’s good to hear.”) or the fact that Dr. Chase doesn’t really grasp how to relate to younger kids (“Have you heard of this website called ‘Vine’?”), but more that it’s just painfully obvious that the two of them don’t really know where they stand with each other.

Now, he knows that Frederick Chase doesn’t hate him. Objectively, he’s aware of the fact that, if it weren’t for him, Annabeth never would have reconnected with her father in the first place, and he kind of owes him for that. Also, Percy knows that he’s a pretty chill guy--a little scatterbrained, but chill.

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t want to make a good impression, though. Or that Dr. Chase thinks that Percy is smart enough for his daughter. Because, like, Percy isn’t smart enough for Annabeth--that much is obvious. Dr. Chase was courted by Athena. Percy barely made it out of high school calculus.

“Would you…” Dr. Chase hedges, plucking off his glasses and giving them a quick wipe with his shirtsleeve. “Would you like to see some of my current research?”

“Uh… sure. I’d love to.”

At the very least, hopefully Dr. Chase will talk enough for the both of them, eating up time until Annabeth gets here.

A new spring in his step, Dr. Chase leads Percy to his study, where he’s got a setup worthy of Cabin Six: on his desk is a massive map of the Mediterranean, littered with miniatures of tanks, planes, and ships. Ringing the room are wall-hangings, depicting different types of planes, half of their structure in x-rays like people in an anatomy textbook, sandwiching the giant viking sword which hangs directly behind his chair. Every inch of floor space is occupied with a pile of books, some serving as additional desk space for mugs, notepads, spare toy soldiers, and, in one case, what looks like the leftovers of a handful of celestial bronze spearheads, melted down into shiny, useless nuggets.

“You know I primarily study aviation,” Dr. Chase is saying, tidying up as he walks around the room, “but my colleagues and I are collaborating on an interdisciplinary re-evaluation of the entire North African theatre in World War II. It’s fascinating stuff; until very recently, they used to call it the ‘war without hate,’ given the lack of partisan roundups and, ah, ethnic clashes that you see in Europe--absolute garbage, of course. As if there weren’t civilians caught up in the fighting, too!” He chuckles, pleased at his own joke. Percy forces a laugh out of himself. “Anyway, with my prior experience studying the invasion of Sicily, I was brought on to assist in piecing the timeline together, working backwards from 1943.”

“Cool,” says Percy, filling the natural gap of conversation.

“Extremely! Operation Husky was a terrific endeavor of airborne, amphibious, and land-based combat.”

Percy nods. Amphibious? “Uh-huh.”

“Though, I must admit, I am having a little trouble retracing some of the ships.” Peering over his map, he leans down, fiddling with one of the ships. “You see this one here? The Palmer?”

Stepping up to the desk, Percy crouches down so the little toy ship is at eye level.

“Well, based on official records, the Palmer was supposed to have arrived at the rendezvous point at the same time as all the other ships, but ended up delayed by two days, and I can’t… quite…” He moves the ship again, frowning. “Figure out… why…”

“Where were they sailing through?” Percy asks.

Dr. Chase points to the map. “From Alexandria to Malta.”

“They probably just hit a bad couple of currents,” Percy says, standing up.

Tilting his head, Dr. Chase peers at him. “How do you mean?”

“If you’re going through the Cretan Passage, you’re going to hit all kinds of West-East currents which will push you backwards.” Snatching up a pencil from a nearby book stack, Percy lightly sketches on top of the map, tracing along the North African coast. “There are tons of overlapping currents in this area that push boats around in circles, especially around Sicily. That’s one of the reasons why so many historians figure that Homer was referring to the Strait of Messina when Odysseus goes through Scylla and Charybdis, here.” And he circles the strait, with a confident flourish.

When he pulls back, Dr. Chase is staring at him.

Percy blinks. “Um… sorry I drew on your map.”

“You--I have been trying to figure that out for weeks.”

He coughs, shrugging his shoulders. “Sorry.”

But Dr. Chase just laughs. “You can make it up to me by helping me with these next.” Clearing crumbs off of southern France, he bends over, pencil in hand. “So, say you were trying to get from Marseilles to Tunis…”

Forty-five minutes later, still embroiled in battle recreations of the Mediterranean theatre, they don’t hear Annabeth letting herself in with her key, not even registering her presence until Dr. Chase, grasping for a notebook, spots her leaning against the doorway. “Don’t stop on my account.”

“Oh, Annabeth, dear! I’m sorry,” says Dr. Chase, going over to give her a hug. “We didn’t hear you come in.”

“I can see that,” she says. “What are you guys doing?”

“Percy here has been assisting me with naval movements,” he says, proudly.

Lacing her fingers with his, Annabeth steps over to Percy, studying their battle map. “Really?”

“Oh yes, he’s been phenomenally helpful.”

She kisses his cheek, pleased. “Look at you, Mr. ‘Phenomenally Helpful.’”

“It was pretty fun,” he admits, warm all over.

“I’d bet. Although, I guess this means we should probably order in for dinner…?”

Rubbing at the back of his neck, Dr. Chase smiles. “Yes, I suppose we should. Does pizza sound all right to you two?”

“Let me take care of it,” she says, slipping from Percy’s side. “You guys looked like you were in the middle of something. Extra olives, dad?”

“Don’t forget--”

“And anchovies, Percy, I know.” She rolls her eyes, taking out her phone.

Rather than the three of them move into the kitchen, Annabeth ends up bringing the pizza in with her, because of course she has opinions she’d like to share about the Allies’ naval movements.

“You know, Percy,” says Dr. Chase, “I must say, you have a real knack for this kind of thing. Have you thought about what you might major in yet?”

Ah, the million drachmae question. “Not yet,” he says, fiddling with a pencil. “I figured I’d get through my gen eds first and then see which one I hated the least.”

“I think you should consider majoring in history.”

Percy’s head snaps up. “History?”

“Specifically maritime history, I suppose. Your predisposition to sailing and ocean currents would be a huge asset to your research.”

“But--wouldn’t history have, like, a metric ton of required reading? I’m not really sure that’s my area.” He has a daughter with dyslexia and ADHD; surely he’d understand Percy’s hesitation.

But he just shakes his head. “Graduate programs these days are very favorable towards interdisciplinary methodology, I sincerely doubt you’d have to barricade yourself in the library. And recently there’s been a significant push to make the field more accessible to students with disabilities, including things like digitization, screen reading for people with vision impairments, and even restructuring programs all together so that students no longer have to memorize the Encyclopedia Britannica in order to pass their general exams.”

“That’s really nice of you to say, Dr. Chase,” Percy says, “But history class isn’t like talking over naval movements with you.” He thought back to the paper that had lowkey been haunting his dreams. “Like, in my classical history survey, I can’t just… talk about currents and battle plans. I have to come up with a topic on my own, and then write about that.”

“Surely something involving Roman naval movements would be well within your skill set. You have a second sense about these things,” he chuckles, “clearly.”

Percy glances towards Annabeth, hoping she’ll back him up, but she looks thoughtful. Considering. Like she’s actually thinking about her dad’s proposal. “I can’t just choose something in naval history.”

“Why not?”

“Because… it's too easy?”

If it was anything like his afternoon with Dr. Chase, it might even be fun. And school isn’t supposed to be fun.

He repeats that thought to Annabeth as they drive home. “School isn’t supposed to be fun.”

“No,” Annabeth agrees, “but I don’t know… I like my intro art history class way better than anything we ever did in high school because I actually care about it. Maybe if you write about stuff you’re good at, like my dad suggested, you’ll like it more.”

The idea follows him all the way to bed, where he’s still mulling it over at 2 in the morning. Before he can chicken out, he grabs his phone, shooting off a quick email to his professor with his potential paper topic, then rolls over, eventually falling asleep.

By morning, he has a response.

Sounds good! Looking forward to it.

***

With shaking hands, Percy calls his mom. “Yes?”

“Hey mom.”

“Percy?” He hears her perk up, almost visualizing her sitting up in her chair. “What’s wrong, sweetie?”

Mom instincts. They can always tell when something is different. His heart throbs in his chest. “Nothing’s wrong,” he says, smiling stretching across his face. “It’s just--I got my paper back.”

Percy had ended up writing his paper about the Roman navy movements in the Battle of the Aegates in 241 BC. It was probably the most fun he’s ever had on a school assignment, or at least the most fun he’d ever had writing a paper.

“And?” She sounds expectant, hopeful. His mom has always had such faith in him, even with thirteen years of schooling to prove her otherwise.

He looks back at his email, just to make sure he’s reading it right. “I got an A.”

She gasps. He can hear the scrape of the chair as she stands up. “Percy, that’s wonderful!”

“Thank you.”

“An A!”

He smiles into his fist, inordinately pleased. “Thank you.”

“Oh, sweetheart, I am so happy for you!”

“Thanks, mom.”

“I’m so proud of you, Percy.” Her voice is soft now, like twilights on the beach with blue marshmallows. “I know how hard you’ve worked for this. You should be very proud, too.”

“I am.” And he is, weirdly enough. “I just can’t believe it.”

“I can.” His mom must be grinning, her eyes sparkling. “I always knew you could do it.”

“Sally?” He hears in the background, muffled. “Is that Percy?”

“Paul, Percy got an A on his Roman history paper!”

A second voice crowds its way in, equally excited. “An A? That’s great, kiddo! Congratulations.”

Why can’t he stop smiling? “Thanks.”

“I bet that feels pretty good, doesn’t it?”

“It does.”

“Well, it is very well-deserved,” says Paul. “That was some great work you did. I could tell how passionate you were about your topic just from your first sentence.”

“Thank you.” Maybe he should be worried about all this praise going to his head, but damn, is it nice. “Listen, I have to go get started on dinner, but I just wanted to give you a call.”

“Of course,” says his mom. “I want to hear from you more, okay? Tell me more good news! Like when are you and Annabeth going to--”

“I’m working on it, okay?” says Percy, smiling even more broadly. “I’ll keep you posted, promise.”

She laughs, tinny and happy. “You’d better. Congratulations again, sweetheart.”

“Thanks mom. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

And he hangs up, puts his phone down on the table, tilts his head back, and sighs, full, happy, a release.

Maybe college won’t be so bad after all.

“You don’t have to do this,” Frank says, hushed. “All you have to do is walk away.”

Five Greek Fire bombs, cloudy yellow, are lined up on the table in front of him, neatly laid out in front of five twenties. From the side, Frank stares him down, surrounded by an army of morbidly curious Romans. Someone turned off the music and turned on the lights a while ago, stopping the party in its tracks, every eye on Percy and his opponent. Figures, his first college party all year and he causes a scene.

Percy grips the edge of the table. “He insulted the Mets,” he says for the millionth time. “I can’t let that shit stand.”

Frank sighs. “Annabeth?” he asks, hoping to stop this nonsense.

Turning to his side, Percy sees his girlfriend, two drinks in, her cheeks lightly flushed, but solid as she stands beside him, supporting him. Her eyes are hard, fierce, the warrior gaze of Athena all but leaping out of her. “Do it,” she says.

William, the sour-faced Roman legacy of Juventus, scowls. “A hundred bucks on the table. Sixty seconds. No throwing them back up.”

“Deal.”

“Frank,” Annabeth calls. “Start the clock.”

He sighs. “You guys are idiots.”

“Frank!”

“Okay, okay.” He holds out his phone, thumb primed, hovering over the screen. “On your marks, in three… two… one…”

He hits zero, and Percy grabs a shot glass. Squeezing his eyes shut, he brings it to his lips, and throws it back.

It’s… not what he expected.

The tequila is awful--no getting around that. Even to Percy’s untrained taste buds, having really only ever had some of Gabe’s sour beer (under duress) and some of the Demeter cabin’s strawberry wine (on his eighteenth birthday, a celebration for actually getting to graduate high school), he can tell it’s cheap, rank, unrefined shit, like he’s drinking straight toilet cleaner. But the garum, the weird Roman condiment that the shot is mixed with, the one that Percy had never heard of before, it’s… it almost tastes like the fish sauce that comes with the pork and rice noodles from the Vietnamese place down the corner of his mom’s apartment, only less… fishy? Yeah. Less fishy.

It’s a weird taste. It’s not bad, by any means, it just--straight up, it just tastes like saltwater. Like the sea.

And, well. Percy can handle the sea.

He looks at William, and grins. “You are so fucked.”

The assembled Romans cheer, spectators at a gladiator show, as Percy knocks back the rest of the Greek Fire bombs, one after another, clearing them all in under thirty seconds. Annabeth swipes up the cash, shrieking as she throws her arms around Percy. William wanders off, red-faced and glaring, as whoever turned the music off before flips it back on, the night, and the party, saved.

Silly Percy. He should have known what was coming next.

Thirty minutes later, he is well and truly wasted.

“You’re, like, really pretty,” he shouts at Annabeth over the loud music.

She snorts, grinning at him. “Thanks.”

“Seriously,” he slurs, tipping forward on his feet. “You could be a model.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Remember when we were fourteen,” he yells, bracing himself against the wall, “and you got kidnapped by that monster?” Slightly soberer but still a little flushed, she bites her lip, nodding. “Well, I followed the rescue party--I told you that, that I snuck out of camp to follow the rescue party? Right?”

“You did.”

He takes a sip of water, running his tongue around the inside of his mouth. Feels goofy as fuck. “We got hijacked by Aphrodite halfway through, and when I saw her, I thought--I thought, ‘Holy shit, she looks a little like Annabeth.’”

Her brows shoot up, smile pulling at her lips. “Really?”

He nods. “Totally! But you’re way, way p--”

Still smiling, she silences him with a kiss, the lingering taste of hard cider on her tongue. “I appreciate it,” she murmurs, grinning, “but you probably shouldn’t say that out loud.”

“Gross.”

From out of nowhere, like he always does, the weasley little shit, Nico di Angelo is suddenly in their space, looking surly and emo as ever, red solo cup in his left hand. “Nico!” Percy crows, grabbing for him and missing. “How’s my favorite cousin?!”

Ducking his wildly swinging limbs, Nico grimaces in the way that Percy has to come to recognize as his attempt at a smile. “Better’n you,” he says, a little wobbly. “What’s up with him?” he directs towards Annabeth.

“Greek Fire bombs. Five.”

“You’re a psychopath.”

“What!” Percy pouts. “He insulted the Mets.”

“Aren’t you s’posed to be, like…” Nico snaps his fingers, words momentarily escaping him. “A--representation… person? For the Greeks?”

Percy waves his hand, hitting the wall. “Fuck that. The Greeks can handle themselves. The Mets are sacred!”

“Are you with anyone?” Annabeth asks, momentarily taking up Percy’s usual role of concerned parent friend while he is drunk off his ass. Theoi, he loves this girl so much.

Nico shakes his head. “No, but Will and I are staying with--”

A thought suddenly blooms in Percy’s tequila-soaked brain. “Nico!” He shouts.

“What?” he hisses, glaring.

Percy pushes himself off of the wall, outstretched arms managing to box Nico in, falling on his shoulders and trapping him. He’s still a short, skinny little shit, the fuck, when are his Big Three genes going to kick in? “I need to talk to you about the thing.”

“The what?”

“The thing! The--the,” then he leans in, scream-whispering over the pounding bassline. “The thing.”

“That doesn’t help.”

“You know, it’s…” Percy licks his lips, language escaping him for a hot second. “Round. Metal. Jewelry thing.”

A beat, then Nico’s eyes widen. “Oh, that thing.”

“Yes, that thing!” Pulling back, he pulls Nico towards him, slinging an arm over his shoulders in a half-headlock. Annabeth watches, bemused, lips pursed as she tries not to smile. “I need to borrow Nico for a sec,” he says, words spilling out of him. “Back soon. Later. Soon.”

Her eyes crinkle, grey sparkling. She’s so fucking pretty. “Drink your water.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Then together, like some three-legged beast, the two boys lurch away deeper into the party, Nico leading them towards the kitchen. “Where’re you taking me?” Percy slurs. “‘M I being kidnapped again?”

“If I’m helping you plan out this stupid proposal,” he grumbles, pouring himself more vodka, “then I need to be less sober.”

***

Some mistakes may have been made.

“Where’s Annabeth?” Percy mumbles, looking back towards the house. The party is still raging, someone’s muffled Spotify playlist making a real racket, the greatest hits of ABBA still bouncing around his skull.

“Simp.” Nico, swaying a little, tries to stand up from his kneeling position, only to fall heavily back down on his knees. “She’s right where you left her.”

Discussing Percy's proposal plan had led to more drinking. More drinking had led to the two of them discussing their shared preference for blondes. (“Malcolm is pretty cute,” Nico admitted, flushing, and Percy almost screamed, “Isn’t he?! Sometimes I think about Annabeth with short hair looking like Malcolm and I almost start crying because she’d be so cute!”) Which then led to even more drinking. Which then led to general bitching about their lives, about Percy's hard-ass classics professor Dr. Bauer who he actually really liked but just pushed him so hard and expected so much of him, and Nico's half-brother Zagreus who was causing some family drama by picking fights with Hades all the time and also hooking up with both Thanatos AND the fury Megaera, which, ew, which then led to Percy inhaling his drink, nearly choking to death on unspecified college punch, Nico laughing at him all the while, as he had the most incredible idea.

"Nico!" He shouted, crushing the red solo cup. "Can you resurrect Homer for me?"

Nico gaped, staring. "What."

"Seriously! I need to ask him something for my paper."

"Percy." Nico gazed at him, all the power of the Ghost King boring into his soul, deep and haunting. Percy stifled a burp. "You're a fucking genius."

Which is how they found themselves around a shallow hole they had dug in the backyard, a large bottle of Pepsi originally intended as a mixer pilfered from the kitchen along with two slices of pepperoni pizza dumped on the grass beside them.

"Maybe we shouldn't do this," he says, uneasy even through his drunken haze.

"It was your idea!"

"I don't have good ideas."

“Fuck you, I’m doing it.” With all the force of a tiny, angry kitten, he snatches up the Pepsi bottle, wrestling with the twist cap for a good ten seconds. “I wanna give that bitch a piece of my mind for making me cry in school.”

Percy looks at him sideways. “Hector killing Patroclus got you, too?”

He snorts. “Fuck no. Achilles didn’t pay his dues to the dead.”

“Seriously?”

The cap pops off, and Nico tips the bottle over, dumping flat, lukewarm soda into the shallow hole. “It’s the ultimate dishonor!”

Freak. Percy would die for the kid.

“Let the dead taste again,” Nico mutters. “Let them rise and take this offering. Let them remember.”

“You’re so weird.”

“Says the guy who’s related to both horses and water.”

“I’m not related to water, I just control it.”

The dirt turns black, dead soil mixed with sticky sugar water. Nico drops in the pizza, and begins to chant, that same ancient Greek that Percy heard in a dream once, talking of death and memories and returning from the grave or whatever. It’s still creepy as shit.

Despite the warm California night, the air thickens with chilly fog. Silence, impenetrable, surrounds them, blocking out the noises of the party. From the earth, blueish, vaguely person-shaped figures begin to form, like thunderous clouds before a storm. “Which one is Homer?” he asks, hushed.

“Shh!” Nico hisses.

Like little wells of gravity, the fog begins to coalesce. On one of them, Percy can almost make out, like, fingers. “Um, Mr. Homer? Sir?”

The figure doesn’t say anything. It lowers its mouth, drinking the soda out of the dirt. When it raises its head, Percy can see it more clearly, curly hair and milky white eyes and a straight nose. It--he?--seems a little more solid than your average run-of-the-mill ghost.

Nico frowns, eyes closed, concentrating. “What’s your name?” he mumbles.

That mouth opens, soundlessly, jaw working on nothing.

“Speak.”

It--there’s a sound, like hissing, only it’s not coming from the mouth, Percy thinks. It sounds like it’s coming from the earth. “Nico?” he asks. “You good?”

The ghost opens its mouth again, moaning, raising its hands. Weakly, unsteadily, it stumbles forward on feeble legs, tripping over the shallow hole in the dirt.

“Nico?” he asks again, a little more forcefully. “What’s going on, dude?”

Nico blinks, slowly, mouth hanging open a little. “Uh.”

The… thing… raises itself up on its hands? He guesses, and knees, crawling its way over towards them.

Now, Percy may be drunk off his ass, but he has seen enough movies to know exactly what the fuck is up.

Moving with a speed he didn’t quite think was possible right about now, he grabs Nico’s wrist, and pulls him up, dragging him along as he lurches towards the house. “Percy…” Nico moans, stumbling over a rock. “I think I fucked up.”

“You think?” Percy wrenches the door open, tossing Nico inside, before following in after, throwing himself against the door.

Nico groans, throwing his arms over his face. “Dio santo, my head.”

“Forget your head,” he says, “did we just raise a Homer zombie?!”

Panting, Nico stares up at him, sprawled on the floor of the house. “Oops.”

Percy thunks his head against the door. He does not have nearly enough mental capacity to deal with this right now.

But, he thinks ruefully, at least it’s just one. Even drunk, he’s pretty sure he can handle one zombie.

Nico’s eyes widen.

Percy stares. “What.”

“I didn’t stop the ritual.”

His stomach goes cold.

Turning around slowly, he pulls aside the little curtain on the window. “What?” Nico asks. “What do you see?”

Percy can’t speak, mouth dry.

Slithering up behind, Nico peers over his shoulder. “That’s… not great.”

“Nico,” Percy says, eyeing the horde which slowly shambles closer, half-decayed bodies in togas bumping into each other, almost identical to the drunk college students inside, as the song changes, once again, to ‘Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight).’ “Please go get Frank and Annabeth.”

The following Monday, an announcement is sent out to the entire campus: Per new department guidelines, students may not utilize the ambassador of Pluto to interview the dead for academic purposes.

Percy attempts to flatten his hair. He readjusts his shirt. He almost wipes his sweaty palms on his pants, before he realizes what he’s doing, and clenches them instead, nails digging into his palms. He turns to Annabeth. “Do I look okay?”

“Ooh, ‘Mapping Funerary Monuments in the Periphery of Imperial Rome.’”

“Annabeth.”

She looks up from her brochure. “Relax, seaweed brain, you look fine. You look better than most people here.”

“That’s because I bring down the average age of presenters by about thirty years,” he hisses, eyes darting about at the milling mass of attendees, all packed into the hotel ballroom.

Dr. Bauer had alternately convinced/pressured/guilttripped him into attending this year’s annual conference for the Society of Classical Studies to talk about the research he’d been doing with her. This year, the conference was held in San Francisco, so at the very least Percy didn’t have to spend five hours stressing about his poster presentation while simultaneously up in the air. But now that he’s here, in the ballroom, surrounded by strangers who know way more about this subject than he does, who are actually smart and probably never nearly flunked out of school or got kicked out or--

“Hey.” Annabeth takes his hand. “I know that look. You deserve to be here just as much as any of them.”

“Do I? I feel like any moment someone is going to come over and throw me out for trespassing.” He vaguely recalls something similar happening to him as a kid after he had ducked into the lobby of a semi-nice hotel to dodge what he had thought, at the time, was just a weird stalker, but had later realized had only had one eye. In any case, the hotel security guard had practically picked him up by the scruff of his neck, tossing him back out into the street.

“That’s just your imposter syndrome talking,” she reassures him. “No one is going to throw you out.”

He sure as shit hopes so. It would be a shame to have done all this work for nothing.

Glancing back at his poster, Percy can’t help but feel… good. Accomplished. Proud. About a school assignment, of all things.

His poster traces the development of the prow from the Greek penteconter, to the Roman liburna, and finally to the Byzantine dromon, looking at artistic depictions in history. Percy had picked the topic himself, spending hours in the library reading, writing, and hand-drawing cross-sections of the ships on the poster board when the images he had gotten from the Cambridge University library had been too small. It had been grueling, frustrating work, but fun, too. And not nearly as much reading as he had feared.

Dr. Chase proofread it for him. Dr. Bauer signed off on it. And Annabeth had taken one look at it, smiled, then kissed his cheek.

That was the best compliment he had gotten.

Though now he’s kind of torn between showing it off and hiding it away before one of these attendees figures out that he doesn’t belong.

He rocks back and forth and his feet, pursing his lips, randomly clicking his tongue. Annabeth nudges him. “Your ADHD is showing.”

That’s when, finally, one of the attendees steps up to his poster. He certainly has the look of a professor, in a black cable knit sweater with grey, curly hair and a receding hairline, thin, rimless glasses perched on his nose. He squints at Percy’s poster, rubbing his chin with one hand. “Interesting,” he murmurs, in a thick German accent. “Very interesting. This is yours?”

“Um.” He glances at Annabeth, who is frowning at the brochure, silently sounding out words that she can’t read. “Yep. All mine.”

“Very interesting.” He leans in closer, tilting his head. “So you agree with Pryor and Jeffreys about the skeleton-first construction, then?”

Percy blinks. Pryor and Jeffreys had written The Age of the Dromon, arguing that the ram, which had been a key feature of Roman liburnians, had gone away in ancient ship construction because of developments in how they built the hull. Right. “Yes,” he says. “The skeleton-first construction is a lot stronger than the, um,” shit, what was the name for this, Leo had only told him about a million times--oh! “Mortise-and-tenon!” He nearly shrieks. “The mortise-and-tenon method. It, um, it wears out a lot more quickly than the frame, so… yeah.” He clears his throat.

He nods. “Very interesting.”

Percy stares. Can this guy say anything else?

“This is very well done, young man.”

Oh. “Thank you,” he says.

“Who are you working with?”

“Um, June Bauer?” He winces at the accidental question.

He frowns. “I’m not familiar with her work. Where does she teach?”

What a loaded question. “Uh… New Rome University.”

“I’m sorry?”

“It’s--she used to teach at Northwestern, if that helps. Um, retired,” Percy says.

The frown stays, but at least he doesn’t ask any more questions. “Hmm. Well, this is excellent research, nonetheless. I look forward to reading your dissertation.” Then, distracted by something else, he wanders off, chin still attached to his hand.

“Who was that?” Annabeth asks.

Percy shrugs. “Beats me. Also, what’s a dissertation?”

“It’s like a senior thesis, but, like, five hundred pages long.”

Five hundred?! “Fuck me.”

“Maybe later,” Annabeth smirks. “It looks like you’ve got company.”

Sure enough, a smallish group of four people are approaching, led by Dr. Chase, making a beeline straight for them. “Here we are,” Dr. Chase says, gesturing. “This is the project I was telling you about. Percy, would you mind going over your poster for us?”

“No problem, Dr. C,” says Percy, smiling his least-grimace-y smile.

As one, the adults all turn to look at him, faces politely blank, expectant.

Percy swallows. “So,” he begins, “um, this research is about the development of ship construction in the Roman empire…”

He trips up on some of the words, and at one point, he sees Dr. Chase squint in the way that usually means that Percy is speaking too fast, but all in all, he doesn’t totally fall flat on his face. His audience looks engaged, nodding along as Percy moves from point to point, and no one accuses him of being a giant fraud, which is pretty nice.

At one point, Percy turns to the poster to indicate a specific point on his ship diagrams. When he turns back, his audience has suddenly multiplied, four people turning into a whole goddamn crowd. Each person gives him their undivided attention almost unblinking.

His mouth goes dry. “Um…”

Dr. Chase, bless him, saves his ass once again. “Would mind starting again from the beginning, Percy?” he asks, a little bemused himself at the amount of people that had suddenly appeared.

Silence stretches on for a moment, the muffled noise of the rest of the conference like a dull roar in his ear.

Annabeth, behind him, coughs.

“S-sure. No problem.”

Swallowing, he closes his eyes, breathing in through his nose. Why, oh why did he let Dr. Bauer talk him into doing this again?

He pictures the tides of Long Island Sound, gentle and rocking, unhurried and unbothered, tries to match his breathing to them. When he opens his eyes, unfortunately, the crowd hasn’t disappeared. Everyone is still staring at him.

But Annabeth stands next to her dad, flashing him a big smile and two huge thumbs up.

Percy relaxes. He’s got this.

“Okay,” he says. “So, about the middle of the first millennium CE, ship construction went through a couple of major developments…”

This time goes much, much more smoothly. He’s not sure what it is--though it’s probably Annabeth, her face fixed in a gentle smile as she watches him speak. Gods, what did he do in a past life to deserve someone as amazing as his girlfriend?

That’s the only reason he can do this. Hell, that’s the only reason he even thought to do this. If he didn’t have Annabeth there, encouraging him, cheering him on, he never would have had the confidence to put himself out there like this. She’s there to pick him up when he doubts himself, there to listen when he can’t explain himself, there to give him feedback when he needs to practice.

She makes him feel so strong. She makes him feel like he can take on the world--or at the very least, that he can impress a handful of academics.

And they certainly seem impressed with his talk so far.

“Excuse me,” says a nasally, pinched looking older British guy, face lined as though he lived his life in a state of perpetual squinting. “I find your conclusions to be suspect--wouldn’t the frame method be more susceptible to breaking than the mortise-and-tenon?”

Well, most of them, anyway.

Percy shakes his head. “You’d think, but no. If you look at the study by Steffy, you’ll see that the three-finned ram from the Athlit wreck was designed specifically to break the mortise-and-tenon hull by causing the planks to flex, so that they’d dislodge the joinerys right next to them. A blow like that can cause the wood to split right down the middle.” A blow like that had sunk Sherman Yang’s ship when they tested it out on the lake at camp last summer, the naiads practically hurling him out of the water so quickly Percy didn’t even have to dive in to save him.

“How were you able to do these strength tests?” asks another listener, an older woman with a thick Hungarian accent.

“Hands-on battle simulations,” Percy replies, easily. “We took our models and tested them in as accurate a simulation as we could make.”

“And how big were these models?”

Percy holds his hands apart, a vague, entirely inaccurate estimate. “About thirty meters, give or take.”

Her eyes widen. “How on earth did you get your hands on such a large ship?”

Percy freezes. “Uh.”

Oh, shit.

He had forgotten--most people didn’t have dads who could summon shipwrecks from the bottom of the sea, dropping them off at Camp Half-Blood with nothing but a sand dollar and one or two exhausted, pissed off hippocampi who had had to drag them all the way there.

“Um,” he stammers, licking his lips, thinking fast--c’mon, Percy, think! “I…” He swallows, panicking. “I… b… built one.”

In the corner of his eye, Annabeth facepalms.

Simultaneously, every mouth in the crowd drops--in shock, outrage, and even excitement. “You built one?!” the woman yelps.

Oops. “I had help,” Percy says, quickly.

Annabeth adds a second hand to her facepalm.

“Where?” The first man asks, his bushy brows flying above the rim of his glasses.

“At my… summer camp…”

Dr. Chase sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“I mean,” Percy chuckles, shrugging his shoulders, trying not to sweat too obviously, “it was either that or lanyards, am I right?”

Dr. Chase, thank Athena, raises his hand, ready to step in. “What Percy means to say, I believe,” he says, attempting to draw their attention, “is that--”

“That’s amazing!” says another woman, probably a grad student attendee based on the fact that she’s wearing jeans. “Do you have pictures?”

Oh this is not good. “Um, not--not on me, but--”

“I do.” Annabeth takes out her phone, holding it up to the person next to her.

Percy blinks. “You do?” He doesn’t remember her taking any pictures.

She shoots him a look, two parts exasperated and one part “shut up and let me handle this,” with just a dash of fondness in the mix. Pointedly, she looks at him, eyebrows raised, indicating that he should continue.

Oh. She’s using Mist. And he needs to keep their attention on him so that they buy it. “Right,” he says, clearing his throat. “Any more questions?”

His audience placated for now, passing around Annabeth’s phone, he manages to finish up his presentation. After fielding a few more questions, people start to peel off, distracted by other posters and presenters in the ballroom. When everyone has finally wandered away, Dr. Chase comes up and pats Percy’s shoulder awkwardly. “Nice work,” he says, and he seems like he means it. “A little touch-and-go there for a while, hm?”

“A little.”

He chuckles. “Still, you should be proud. I don’t know how many undergraduates would be able to handle that kind of pressure.”

“I mean,” Percy says, shrugging a shoulder, “it’s about on par with leading an army. Maybe a little less.” Honestly, maybe even a little more stressful. If a monster had decided to attack the convention center and interrupt his presentation, he probably would have been relieved.

He’d been worried for a moment that he’d undone all those years of work in making Annabeth’s dad like him. And that he’d be charged with some sort of academic fraud, for the whole “I have a boat” thing without proof. Thank the gods for Annabeth, as always.

She’s looking at him now through narrowed eyes. She at least can’t be surprised--that was far from the dumbest thing she’s ever seen him do. At least his “I spent most of my time at magic greek mythology summer camp” covers are normally better than hers. As someone who spent his formative years in the real world, he’s usually pretty good at keeping the demigod thing under wraps.

“Come on,” she says, grabbing his hand. She pulls him off, through the dispersing crowd, lacing their fingers together, sweet and intimate, out of the hall and then down another one, and through a smaller corridor. Bringing them up to a little door, with a shake of her wrist, she pulls out her Estruscan keyring bracelet. About several of the keys have found themselves used in various misadventures, vanishing once their purpose is fulfilled, but her favorite key is still there. And, just like a clever child of Hermes, it can pick just about any lock.

Inside is just an empty room, a little staging area surrounded by tiered desks going up, no more or less remarkable than any of the other conference rooms they’d visited before.

“What--?” His question is cut off by Annabeth’s mouth on his.

Surprising, but definitely not unwelcome.

It's a while before they separate again. “You’re so good at this,” she tells him, unbuttoning his shirt.

He runs his hands along the lines of her flanks. “I’ve had a lot of practice,” he grins. He’d practice kissing her all day long if he could.

She smiles, shaking her head. “No, not this,” though she does lean in for another kiss, pulling at his lower lip with her teeth. “I know you’re good at this.” They break away, Percy pulling her shirt over her head, Annabeth shucking off his. “But history. Presenting.” She runs a finger over his chest, kissing his cheek, headed towards the sensitive spot on his jaw. “Gods, you’re so smart.”

Something about the praise vibrates through his chest. She doesn’t sound surprised, or anything, just--turned on.

“You had all those crusty academics eating out of your hand. Just, so impressed by you, knowing you know way more than they do about naval history. When you were explaining the--” Her compliment is cut off with a moan, as he leans down and starts sucking on her throat. Her blouse has a high neck, so he feels no guilt for using his teeth.

“Watching you today, gods.” Her breath is labored as his fingers play at the waistline of her skirt. “And then thinking of you defending your dissertation.” He bites at her jugular, and she lets out a long, deep moan.

“I don’t know what that means.” Do academics fight each other? Like, with weapons? He’s pretty sure he can take most of the people he met today.

“It means you get to show off how smart you are,” Annabeth says, grasping his shoulders, pulling him in for another kiss. “I was born the day my dad defended his. Gods, it's going to be amazing to watch you go.” She yanks his belt out of his pants, tossing it to the floor.

They miss the panel on recent translation efforts. But Percy can’t say he minds one bit.

And when Annabeth presents him with a positive pregnancy test two months later, Percy definitely knows he made the right decision.

He almost doesn’t realize he’s having a dream-vision at first.

It has been literal years since he’s had a demigod dream. Hell, it’s been a long while since he’s had a dream, period--being a new dad to a one-and-a-half-year-old saps too much of his energy to even think about dreaming. Once Junie is put to bed, when he’s out, he is fucking out, and he does not have the brainpower to spare to manifest any messed up subconscious fears.

Which is why when he blinks open his eyes, taking in the too-bright colors of the Parthenon and the gleaming shine of the bronze statues which are somehow all looking at him--also, you know, how the Parthenon is complete, standing as it did thousands of years ago, and not crumbled into ruins--he knows, immediately, he is being contacted by a god.

And only one god in particular would bring him to Athens.

Without even checking, he heaves himself up off the ground, folding into a kneel. “My lady Athena,” he says, “can I ask for what quest you’ve brought me here?”

“Impertinent as ever, Percy Jackson,” rumbles the goddess, but Percy doesn’t think he can sense any ill will towards him. He hopes, anyway. “Perhaps I have summoned you here for a social visit.”

“Perhaps,” he says, choosing his next words as carefully as possible. “But I assume you have too much to worry about to randomly check up on your daughter’s boyfriend.”

He lifts his head, catching her expression--stoic as always, but maybe with just the barest hint of a smile. “You assume correctly. You have become, contrary to my initial expectations, very wise in the time that I have known you.”

“Thank you.” He knows better than to do anything but accept the compliment for what it is.

“I have observed your work as a scholar in recent years, and I must say that I am surprised, yet pleased, that you have chosen to pursue such a path. I had not thought you to be suited for a world of old men and dusty papers.”

He grits his teeth. Don’t rise to the bait, don’t rise to the bait, don’t rise to the bait--

“I understand, as well, that though you and my daughter have,” and here her careful composition cracks, just the slightest, the tiny lift of her lips falling, “made a child together.”

Percy swallows. He figured, you know, in the abstract, that Athena would know about Junie, but hearing her say it out loud is… well, he’s just glad that Dr. Chase has always liked him. “Yes, my lady.”

“It is customary in your time to marry prior to childbirth, is it not?”

“It is.” Oh, fuck, is she going to smite him for that? “I--that is to say, we, Annabeth and I, we, um, we definitely want to get married, but, Annabeth kind of…”

He trails off. He can’t tell Athena, goddess of war, that his daughter pissed off the queen of heaven! And if he does, he definitely can’t imply that it was because she was being too stubborn!

“I know well of my daughter’s history with my father’s wife,” Athena says, smoothly. “I come to you now with an offer of peace.”

Percy straightens his back. Peace?

Raising one graceful arm, Athena turns, indicating the structure behind her. “Look upon my temple,” she intones. The white marble shines even more powerfully against the blue and red paint, intricate scenes and figures ringing the top of the columns. “In the time of Pericles, it was built to commemorate the victory of Hellas over the armies of Xerxes the Great. It was to be the shining beacon of our world, a triumph of our power and influence over the race of men.”

The race of men might have had something to say about that, he thinks to himself.

“But it was not to be,” Athena says, mournfully. “As our influence waned, so too did our temple, until its might was all but forgotten.”

Before his eyes, the paint fades away, ceilings and columns collapsing, the destruction of the Parthenon playing out in front of him.

“Some two hundred years ago,” she says, her voice taking on a darker, more dangerous tone, “a grave insult was paid to the ruins of my ancient sanctuary.” Like curtains falling on a stage, darkness swallowed up the structure, swift and impenetrable. “Many treasures were taken from my temple, stolen, by foolish, greedy men, spirited away far to the north, where they have languished in unworthy hands.”

He narrows his eyes. She can’t possibly be talking about--

Athena turns back to him, her eyes blazing, somehow twice as tall. “Retrieve my treasures,” she commands, war personified, “return the prizes of Athens to their rightful place, and I shall give you my support against my father’s wife.”

“You…” Percy leans back on his haunches, staring dumbfounded up at the goddess. “You don’t happen to mean the Parthenon Marbles, do you?”

“Yes.”

“The ones in the British Museum.”

“The same,” she says, imperious as ever.

Fantastic. “Welp,” Percy says, slapping his thighs, scrambling up. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll have to decline. Nice seeing you, by the way. I’ll tell Annabeth you stopped by.”

Her sharp gazes pierces him, full of fury. “You dare to refuse my support?”

He snorts. “When it means trying to get the UK to give the marbles back, absolutely. Do you know how stubborn they are about this?”

Lightning flashes behind her, nearly blinding him. “You will regret this,” Athena says, dark and foreboding. “You may have your father’s goodwill, but the queen of Olympus is clever and cunning, her displeasure swift and merciless.”

But Percy still shakes his head. “When Annabeth and I get married,” and it’s definitely a ‘when,’ it’s just a matter of when precisely, like after Junie can sleep through the night maybe, “I’d rather take my chances with Hera than try and untangle that particular can of olives.”

A growl, and a snap of her fingers, and Athena disappears.

With a start, Percy wakes up. Junie had gotten her chubby little hands around his nose, and had decided to pull.

“Ow, ow, Junie, hey,” he squawks, attempting to dislodge her grip from his face. “Hey, I’m awake, it’s okay.”

She laughs, illegally adorable, her grey eyes sparkling, squeezing harder.

“Okay, okay,” he laughs along with her. “You got my nose, you win.”

As if she were waiting for him to admit defeat, she lets go, clapping her pudgy toddler hands together.

“That’s right,” he picks her up, raising her above his head. “Barely sixteen months old and you already know how to take me down, don’t you? Just like your mommy.”

She smiles, waving her little fists.

Gods he loves this little monster.

Junie really is the best parts of both of them. She’s got her daddy’s hair but her mommy’s brain, quick and sharp and painfully adorable. She’s already learning to read Greek, Annabeth sitting her in her lap and sounding out vowels together, Annabeth taking her finger and tracing it over the letter shapes. This kid absorbs information like a sponge, which Percy can only assume is the natural conclusion of taking a son of Poseidon and a daughter of Athena and mixing their DNA together.

Thinking about his dream, he frowns. “What do you think, Junie,” he asks his toddler. “Should I take her up on her offer?”

The baby says nothing.

“I mean,” he tilts his head, “Greece has been trying to get the marbles back for two hundred years. UNESCO has top lawyers on this. What does Athena think I can do?”

Junie blinks at him.

“On the other hand, I do really love your mom,” he admits, “and I really want to marry her. You’d like that, right? To have your parents be married?”

There’s no way she can understand what he’s saying, but she moves her head like she’s nodding. Or maybe she does understand. She is Annabeth’s daughter after all.

Percy sighs. Dammit.

Time for a new project, he guesses.

***

Several months, a college graduation, and one relocation to Boston later, Percy growls, hurling his pencil at the wall. Mother fucker. Fuck the British Museum, fuck his tiny laptop screen, and fuck the Italian prick who decided to have the least ADHD-friendly handwriting of all time.

Why the hell is he doing this again? Like, seriously. Why in all of Hades is he, an inexperienced, snot-nosed, first year master’s student deciding to tackle the return of the fucking Parthenon marbles of all things. Like, what is wrong with him?

Roughly scrubbing his fingers through his hair, Percy stands up. He has to go for a walk, clear his head, or he might actually explode.

Then he catches a glimpse of the photo pinned to the fridge.

Percy’s mom had taken it, a candid of Percy and Annabeth and Junie on a sunny day in Central Park. There, in perfect 1080p, Junie is laughing, at what he can’t even remember, her pudgy fists yanking on Percy’s hair, while her mother and the love of his life does nothing to extricate Percy from her grip, her face screwed up so hard she had tears in her eyes.

Percy had talked a lot of shit to the goddess of war’s face, but truth be told… Hera still terrifies him a little. Which, he assumes, was her goal all along, but it would be nice to marry Annabeth without fear of something going terribly wrong--or, gods forbid, something happening to Junie. That simply was not a risk he was willing to take. Percy is content to spend the rest of his days as Annabeth’s life-partner and roommate, if it means that the queen of the heavens won’t have a reason to take out her issues on his children.

Even if the engagement ring in the back of the pantry is gathering dust.

Sunlight, wan but warm, falls in from the window, landing perfectly on his pile of open books. “I know, I know,” he growls, speaking to the air, rubbing his face so it doesn’t get stuck in a permanent glare. “I just--I just need a few minutes, okay? Let me go down the block and get a coffee or something. Two minutes, Lady Athena.”

The light fades. Percy takes that as an acquiescence, angrily scribbling a note. He’s not sure when Annabeth and Junie will be back, but even angry as he is, he doesn’t want to worry them.

Snatching up his jacket, he slams the door shut, stomping out of his apartment building and down the streets of Boston. He must be accidentally doing his wolf stare, because people are practically flinging themselves out of his path as he hurtles down the sidewalk. Literally--some girl is walking her husky, and the poor dog actually whimpers, cowering as Percy rounds the corner.

Coming to a stop, Percy slaps his hands over his face, drawing in a deep, shuddering breath.

He might be in over his head a little.

Sighing, he looks to his right. He’s standing outside of a Starbucks.

Percy doesn’t drink coffee, Annabeth does. And he knows exactly how much of a coffee snob his girlfriend is. Starbucks? Overpriced, overrated, over-sweetened garbage.

He pushes the door open, sliding up to the counter. “I’ll take a… iced mocha, I guess,” he says. “Large.”

“No problem,” chirps the barista. “I’ll have that out for you in a minute.”

“Thanks,” he mumbles.

One thing Starbucks does have going for it, though, are really good napkins for doodling.

Slumping down in his uncomfortable metal chair, elbows resting on the hard, faux-wood table, Percy takes out his pen, and doodles aimlessly on the brown napkins. No, not that pen. Just because it can write doesn’t mean that Percy wants to risk slicing his face open every time he has a stray idea. Completely out of the blue, Annabeth had gotten him a nice set of pens, and ever since then, Percy always keeps one on him. Now, if he could just remember to use the little notebook she had gotten him, too.

Percy is not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. He doesn’t have an image in mind, just lets his pen move, drawing endless chains of triangles and stars, nebulous shapes which form themselves into Greek letters. After he catches himself writing γλαυκῶπις for the eighth time in a row, he sighs, dropping his pen, and picks up the cup, taking a sip.

Yuck. At least the chocolate outweighs the coffee taste a little.

Gods, and their cups are always, like, drenched from condensation--not that Percy can feel it, but there’s practically a whole other drink on the outside of the plastic, dripping all over Percy’s pile of doodle napkins. That must be why they give out so many.

Grumbling, he mops up the mess, ink smudged into a blue-brown slurry.

He stops.

He squints at one of his doodles.

Not that anyone else could tell, but Percy had apparently been trying to recreate the signature of Ottoman sultan Selim III, the guy who had supposedly authorized the Earl of Elgin to take the Parthenon Marbles. Percy had been staring at copies of his signature all damn day, trying to tell if it had been forged or copied, but classical Arabic was just so far beyond anything he could even begin to wrap his head around. It was gorgeous work, but even looking at it made Percy’s eyes swim.

This particular doodle is not his best attempt. It looks nothing like the signature. It’s smudged, blotchy, but in a way that’s… weirdly familiar.

Snatching the napkin up, Percy bolts from the Starbucks, leaving his mocha behind.

Taking the steps of his apartment building two at a time, he bursts into his kitchen. His set up is exactly how he left it, books spread out all over the table, laptop shut and laid askew, the dry, half-eaten remains of his morning muffin on a plate on top of his encyclopedia of illuminated manuscripts--except for one book, the one on Ottoman history of the nineteenth century. It’s been opened, its pages facing the door, in the exact opposite direction of all the other books.

“Hello?” he calls into the apartment. “Anyone home?”

No response.

Percy approaches the table.

From the pages, Selim III stares at him, his portrait rendered in black and white, sitting just above a figure of his signature, his tughra.

Percy picks up the book, squinting.

The signature is crisp, clean, a work of art all by itself.

He looks at his napkin drawing. Blurry and smudged.

Opening his laptop, he pulls up the scans of the documents in the British museum, zooms in on the letter’s seal.

Blurry and smudged.

Percy stares.

It… can’t be that simple, can it?

In a daze, he fires an email off to his new grad advisor. Hopefully he won’t mind Percy sticking his nose in where he doesn’t belong. Hey Dr. T--was looking at the Parthenon marbles docs in the BM (don’t ask) and I noticed this weird smudge on the tughra. Lazy scribe, maybe?

And he closes his computer.

Later that night, while he puts Junie to bed, he gets a response. not sure. sent it to a colleague for a closer look.

He can’t even be bothered to really think about it though, not with Junie looking up at him with Annabeth’s eyes, and asking for another book. “Alright, kiddo,” he acquiesces, settling in beside her. All her story books are in ancient Greek, and at age two, she’s starting to recognize the letters. “Which one are you thinking?”

“Daw-fins, daddy,” she says, smiling.

“Dolphins, eh? Getting Mr. D on your side early, I see. As smart as mommy.” He leans down and kisses her forehead before he starts to read her the story of the sailors and their sudden dolphin madness.

***

“Huh,” Percy says to himself a few weeks later, as he and Annabeth are chilling on the couch, watching some Netflix.

His advisor has forwarded him an article from the BBC (New evidence suggests Elgin documents to be forgeries) with an accompanying note: Amazing catch!

“What is it?” Annabeth asks, nudging him with her elbow--a feat, since she also has an armful of a squirmy Junie to deal with.

“Update in the Parthenon marbles thing.”

That gets her attention. Anything Parthenon-related does. “Really?”

He shows her his phone.

Her eyes go wide as saucers. “Damn.”

“Yep.” He doesn’t realize he’s smiling until he feels his lips pulling at the sides of his mouth.

“My mom is probably your biggest fan right now.”

He starts. “What did you say?”

Turning back to the TV, she still manages to cast him a weird look. “I said, my mom will probably love you for this.”

A beat, then Percy practically somersaults over the couch, darting into the kitchen. Wrenching open the pantry door, he shoves his hand behind their collection of flours, fingers grasping for--

“If you’re looking for any more sacrificial cookies,” Annabeth calls after him, “we burned them all when Junie got a cold.”

“Remind me to make some more,” says Percy, pulling out his prize. It’s a little dusty, streaks of flour clinging to the blue velvet. “I have a feeling we’ll need them.”

“Oh yeah?” She chuckles. “What, did Olympus put in a special order?”

Percy slides back down next to her, ring hidden in his closed fist. “Can I have the baby for a sec?”

Eyes fixed to the screen, Annabeth passes her over. Junie’s hands automatically reach for his nose, ready to grab, but Percy places the ring in her grasp instead, kissing her forehead. “Hey, babe?” he asks Annabeth, handing her back. “I think our daughter has something for you.”

Annabeth takes her without a second glance.

Then she does take a second glance.

Ring closed in her pudgy toddler fist, Junie holds it out to her.

Annabeth gapes.

“So,” Percy says, wrapping an arm around her shoulder, “quick confession: I wasn’t just working on the marbles for fun.”

Annabeth just stares. Junie babbles.

“Your mom told me that if I helped get the marbles back, she’d back us against Hera if we ever got married. So…” He trails off, waiting for her response. As close as he is, he can see the tears start to well up in her eyes--a good sign. “Shall we?” he prompts.

“Oh thank all the gods.” Annabeth is crying, because she's Annabeth. And because she's Annabeth, she also wastes no time in transferring Junie to her other side, and holding out her hand so Percy can slide the ring on her finger. “I was so worried I'd have to have Chase on my Masters’ diploma, too.”

Percy is making sauce when his phone lights up. He hits speaker. “Hey.”

“Hey man,” comes the tinny voice of Magnus. “Sorry I missed your call earlier.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Percy says, “I figured you were dying or something.”

Magnus’ eye roll is almost palpable. “Very funny. What’s up?”

Bringing the spoon to his lips, he blows on it, taking a taste, before reaching for the salt. Needs way more. “Do you happen to have any Varangian guards in Hotel Valhalla?”

“Varangian guards? Uh, maybe. Probably. Why?”

“I’m doing a thing on the attempted reconquest of Sicily,” he says, lowering the heat a little to a simmer, “and I’m having some trouble piecing together the Battle of Montemaggiore. Know anyone who was in it?”

Magnus hums. “I’ll ask around. Anyone in particular you’re looking for?”

Rifling through their little spice cabinet, he makes a mental note to get a new thing of hot sauce, tipping the rest of it into the pot. “If you have anyone who fought under Harald Hardrada, that would be great.”

“Hardrada? I’m pretty sure he lives on the fifth floor.”

Percy nearly drops the bottle. “No shit?”

“Big dude, long mustache, writes poetry?”

“Yes!” He picks up the phone, grinning from ear to ear. “Do you think I could come up and talk to him sometime?”

“Sure, but I thought you were doing something on Homer’s identity?”

He groans. “Backburnered for now until she stops driving me crazy.” No matter how many times Percy tells her, he can’t just drop the “Homer was actually an Egyptian woman” bomb without some serious evidence backing that up. And forgery is not one of his strong suits. Hence the need for a different topic for the time being.

“Has everyone ever told you your life is weird?”

“No, why do you ask?”

His phone suddenly vibrates, shocking him so badly he nearly drops it into the saucepan. Almost home, texts the love of his life, a shot of serotonin directly into his bloodstream. V hungry

“Sorry, Magnus, but I gotta run. Thanks for your help.”

“No problem. Say hi to my cousin for me.”

“Can do.”

“And make sure you pick a date soon! Sam needs to know so she can schedule her flight home.”

“Soon as I can.” You know, when his brain isn’t melting from grading undergrad papers. And making sure Annabeth and Junie are fed. And that Annabeth doesn’t lose herself in graduate school. And finding Junie a new preschool after she destroyed a classroom last month because of a monster. His toddler is a badass. But he’s a little worried she’s gonna follow Mommy and Daddy’s example as far as school goes.

Sometimes, he thinks that their wedding just won’t ever happen. With Athena on board, he figured it would happen sooner or later, but time just… keeps getting away from them. Which isn’t the end of the world. A lifetime at Annabeth’s side is all he really needs, Mrs. Jackson or no. But he’s seen the silver fabric she weaved for her wedding dress. It would be a shame for all that hard work to go to waste.

And, yeah, he wants to see his little Junie dancing down the aisle flinging seaweed before her mother. He wants his mom to cry a little and he wants all his friends to be there to celebrate with them. Is that so much to ask?

Speaking of his two favorite girls--”We’re home!” Annabeth calls from the hallway. “Junie, go say hi to daddy!”

Her bare feet slapping against the floor, his daughter comes toddling in, making a beeline for him. “Hey, kiddo,” Percy says, scooping her up. “How’s my best girl?”

“She’s just fine, thanks,” Annabeth says, setting her work bag down on the table. “Tell me I don’t have to wait for dinner--Margie kept me for the entirety of my lunch break, and I am starving.”

“Just gotta make a salad and we should be good to go.” But he makes no move to finish chopping vegetables, entirely too enraptured with the way Junie smiles when Percy sticks his tongue out at her. “Let me guess,” he says. “Does my best girl want some olives?”

“Peas,” Junie says.

“Oh, you want peas instead?”

She giggles, waving her arms. “Elaia, daddy!”

“Fine,” and he kisses her nose. “Extra olives for you.”

“Chip off the old block,” Annabeth says.

Handing her back to her mother, Percy sighs. “When am I going to get a kid who likes anchovies?”

“I’m doing my best here, okay?”

***

Hardrada is… not what he expected.

“Reputation isn’t that bad.” Hardrada is saying. “The production isn’t what it should be, but lots of her lyrics are still on point.”

“The production ruins it,” Percy insists. “And as a follow up to 1989? It's just bad.”

“And what about Lover?”

“What about Lover?”

“You can’t argue with the genius of that one.”

“It is terribly inconsistent,” Percy shoots back. “Yeah, ‘The Archer’ and ‘Daylight’ and ‘Miss Americana’ are sublime, but ‘ME!’? Come on!”

“Are you one of those people who thinks she peaked at Red?”

“Red is a bop from start to finish,” Percy fires back. “But she definitely peaked at folklore.”

“Thinking she peaked at folklore is just pedestrian when ‘tis the damn season’ exists!” Hardrada yells, drawing his axe, which is then promptly flung over Percy’s head.

As the only mortal in a room full of armed, excitable, undead Taylor Swift stans, Percy beats a hasty exit, Magnus and Jason covering him as he flees, because they’re just so thoughtful like that. Percy’s pretty sure he saw Magnus take an arrow to the knee, going down in a heap, before he shuts the door to the hotel, finding himself in a Forever 21.

Looking over his notes later as he gets back to his apartment in the North End, he frowns. They had spent… approximately twenty minutes talking about Sicily before getting solidly off track. Who knew an eleventh century viking would have such intense feelings about pop music?

And now he’s singing “seven” to himself as he unlocks the apartment door, because it's a good song, and because it made him think of Annabeth. And he always wants to think of Annabeth.

“Hey, babe,” he calls into the apartment, toeing off his shoes. “I’m back!”

He gets no response.

Percy looks up, confused. “Annabeth?”

“In the bathroom,” he hears, faintly.

“Everything okay?”

“Yep! Totally fine!” she says, unconvincingly.

“Alright,” he calls back. “Let me know if you need something.”

Moving Junie’s toys out of the way, he drops down onto the couch, grabbing his laptop. Hopefully he can make some sort of sense of the… notes… that he got from Hardrada. Though he’s probably going to have to trek out to Beacon Hill again, which, while not really out of his way, does mean he has to hike a bit from the Park Street station through the Commons, which makes him super sweaty and out of breath. It’s just embarrassing, walking into a hotel full of the greatest warriors of Valhalla, and Percy can barely handle a hill.

However, he’s not so out of practice that he can’t sense Annabeth coming up behind him. “You good?”

“What do you think about getting married by the end of the month?”

“Sure,” he says, pecking at his computer. Damn autocorrect ruining all the Norse names. He keeps forgetting to download the right language package he needs. “But I thought you wanted to wait until after you turned in your portfolio?”

“Well… I might not be able to fit in my dress if we wait much longer.”

That gets his attention.

Percy turns around, slowly. Annabeth is grinning, holding a thin little piece of plastic with a circle on the end. She wiggles it.

“Is that…?”

“Yep.”

“Oh.”

Her smile falls. “Are you mad?”

“What? No!” Percy slides his computer off his lap, twisting around to face her, up on his knees. “No, no, not at all. I’m not mad.” She slings her arms around his neck, pregnancy test warm against his skin. “I just…”

Eyes warm, she looks into his, unafraid. “What is it?”

“It’s…” It’s silly, is what it is. But this is Annabeth. If he can’t tell her, who can he tell? “I just feel bad that I’ve gotten you pregnant twice before getting married.”

“Well, at least I’m not nineteen this time,” she says, raising an eyebrow. “But maybe we wouldn’t have this problem if you weren’t such a horndog.”

Percy snorts. “Me? What about you, Annabeth ‘3 AM anal before my first lecture’ Chase.”

“Jackson,” she corrects.

“Huh?”

“It’s Annabeth ‘3 AM anal before your first lecture’ Jackson.”

Grinning, he presses his mouth to hers. After all this time, she still smells like lemons, her lips soft and warm. “Not yet it’s not.”

“Then let’s make it happen.”

And, well, Percy can’t think of a better plan.

Jamie hisses. “Fuuuuuck,” she whispers, the sound dropping like a stone in the dead lecture hall. “Goddamn shit fuck ass.”

And the worst part is, she’d actually spent a lot of time preparing for her Latin midterm. She’d made flashcards, she’d drilled noun endings, she’d even slept with the textbook under her pillow for fuck’s sake.

Typical--the moment she sits down to take the test, it all goes out the window.

“Legistne carmen longum de Troiano,” she reads under her breath, as though saying it out loud will unlock some hidden secrets of the cosmos.

Nope. Nothing. The multiple choices remain as inscrutable as ever.

“Psst.”

Jamie looks up.

There’s a four year old staring at her.

“Hi,” Jamie says.

“Hi,” says the four year old. Junie, her name is, she thinks.

Mr. Jackson, Jamie’s Latin TA, will bring his kids to class with him sometimes--his wife works full time, and Jamie guesses that they can’t afford a babysitter. She’s a cute kid, quiet, usually sitting in the corner of the lecture hall, drawing or even knitting, sometimes with her little sister playing with toy ships next to her.

Now, she’s still staring at her. “What’s up?” Jamie asks.

“Bello,” says Junie.

Jamie blinks. “Sorry?”

“Legistne carmen longum de bello Troiano.”

She squints down at her test sheet, attempting to visualize her flash cards. That’s… “Bello” is the right answer.

The fuck? The fucking four year old can speak Latin? “Thanks,” she whispers.

Junie beams at her.

Darting her eyes to the front of the lecture hall, Jamie spies her professor, Buck, completely conked out at his desk, his chest rising and falling with his snores. Percy is nowhere to be seen, his laptop open at his chair. “What’s the next one?” Jamie turns her paper so that Junie can see better.

“Pluto Proserpinam infelicem cepit,” she announces, perfectly accented.

Jamie points to the one after that.

“Rex qui pontem fecit erat Ancus Martius.”

“Awesome.”

The door to the lecture hall opens. Jamie whips around in her seat, startled, and sees her TA, walking down the steps. From the corner of her eye, Junie disappears, booking it to her dad, who scoops her up without missing a beat. “Hey kiddo,” he murmurs, smiling crookedly. “Were you bothering my students?” Then he glances at Jamie. “Sorry about that--hope she wasn’t too annoying.”

But Jamie shakes her head. “It’s fine.” Dammit.

Still smiling, Percy makes his way back down to his seat. Junie grins at her over his shoulder, her arms wrapped tightly around her dad’s neck.

At the beginning of the semester, Professor Buck had droned on and on about Mr. Jackson, about how he was one of the best up-and-coming classics scholars in the world, how he could have had his pick of PhD programs, and how NYU was lucky to have him. He got first pick of assistantships this semester, apparently, but had volunteered to teach Latin 1001, and they should all be grateful, because he had done some beautiful new translation of Virgil for his Master’s thesis, and they were all going to learn a lot from him.

Turning back to her exam, Jamie snorts. Of course a guy like that would have a kid who could speak perfect Latin.

She really should have just stuck with German instead.

#my fic #pjo #percabeth #the rivalry ends here #perseannabeth #darkmagyk #percy should be a classics major and here's why #the percy major for the stem hating author #also i feel like i have to say:#1) classics conferences are not like that #2) if only it were that easy to get the bm to return looted antiquities 🙄#pjo fic #percabeth fic #percy jackson

731 notes · View notes

stanning-reyna · 3 years

Text

Percabeth one-shot

AN: So a few months ago I made a post about an idea for a fic about percabeth seeing sights in New York City and Annabeth not knowing where she’s going but Percy knowing the city super well, etc. I finally wrote it! Disclaimer: I’ve only been to nyc once and had to look up maps online, so if I messed up the layout of the city please don’t attack me. Takes place between TTC and BOTL. Read below the cut

Percy’s pov:

“Percy! Did you do what I asked you to?” Sally yelled from down the hallway.

Percy froze in his tracks. What had she asked him to do? Something, he knew that much. She had asked him right when she got home from work. He had been doing math homework in his bedroom. It had to do with guests coming over.

Clean up the bathroom? No, he did that this morning. Take out the trash? It was as good a guess as any. Percy made his way over to the kitchen and opened the cabinet door. Sure enough, the trash was nearly overflowing under the sink.

“Percy?” Sally called again, this time just behind him. “Did you change your sheets like I asked?” Oh. His guess has been wrong.

“I was just about to do that,” Percy lied, plenty sure his mom saw through it.

“And didn’t I tell you to take out the trash yesterday? It’s starting to smell,” she added.

He just shrugged in response and heaved the plastic bag out of the bin.

“Thank you. And make sure to change your sheets!” Sally said as Percy began his trip out the door and down to the dumpster.

His brain had been scattered all over the place the past few days. Annabeth was coming to visit for spring break, something the two of them had been planning for over a year now. In less than an hour, they’d pick her up from the airport.

How did anyone ever feel safe flying in a plane? There were so many ways to die, most completely unpredictable. Annabeth was fearless though- brave enough to face any monster and even an airplane.

Percy returned to his apartment after dropping the trash in the dumpster, trying to quell the giddiness rising inside him. There was something he had to do before they left to get Annabeth. What was it again? He had just been thinking about it.

Sheets! Change the sheets on his bed. But where did his Mom keep their spare sheets?

After 10 minutes of sorting through drawer after drawer, new sheets were finally on Percy’s bed. His usual navy blue was replaced with a pastel green. Annabeth had been in a light green phase recently, so hopefully she’d appreciate these.

“You ready to head to the airport?” Sally called from the front door.

He looked around his room for anything he might have missed while cleaning up. Percy’s eyes found the photos of Annabeth pinned to the cork board above his desk. He should take those down. She might be a little weirded out by images of herself watching her as she sleeps.

After stashing the photos in a drawer that Annabeth hopefully wouldn’t look in, Percy pulled his shoes on and dashed to the front door.

. . .

Annabeth’s pov:

She probably should feel bad for the person sitting next to her on the plane. For the past however many hours in the air, she had been flipping through travel guide after travel guide, taking breaks only to play with her necklace or her hair.

Every time Annabeth played with her hair, her elbow flew straight out to her side, regardless of whatever might be there. Meaning she had bumped into the man next to her more than once already. Sorry dude.

The 6 different travel guides in front of her consisted of long lists of the best places to visit in New York City. Annabeth had been into the city plenty of times before, but she never had the opportunity to explore. Which was stupid considering Camp was less than 2 hours away.

Percy had offered to give her a tour while she was staying with him, but Annabeth had a very specific list of sights she wanted to see. Not that she didn’t trust him, but she would much rather be the one in control of where they went.

The plane rumbled slightly as it touched down onto the runway. Woah, that had been a short flight. It felt so much shorter than the usual 6 hours from California to New York. She was glad, of course. That meant she got to see Percy sooner.

The trip through the airport was easy, as usual. Annabeth loved airports. They made sense- everything had a direction and a purpose. If only the rest of the world could be like that.

“Annabeth!” a voice yelled from across the taxi lane as she walked out the building’s doors. It was Percy’s voice. She scurried across the street towards him, dodging taxis and other people along the way.

. . .

“Are you sure you want to take that train?” Percy asked as Annabeth strutted to the nearest subway entrance. They had just gotten off the Staten Island Ferry and were now on their way back to the Jackson’s apartment.

“Yes, I’m sure. The map says it’ll take us north,” she asserted.

“Sure it will,” Percy muttered, stopping in his tracks behind her.

Annabeth had to refrain from blowing smoke out her nostrils. He had been doing this for the past hour- critiquing her navigation choices and acting like he knew better. Which he did, but Annabeth wouldn’t admit that.

She knew she was right this time. The sign by the stairs said the train ended up in Brooklyn. Brooklyn was north of here. Right? Annabeth couldn’t quite remember, but if she had learned anything from her quests it was that sometimes you have to take a leap of faith and see where that gets you. And she wasn’t about to ask Percy for directions.

Annabeth began down the dirty concrete stairs. She reached the platform and the voices around her started to echo off the stone walls. Suddenly, someone yanked on her arm, pulling her back up the step she just left. She turned to look as Percy pulled her up the stairs, weaving in between the dozens of people crowding around them. A man muttered a curse word at her as she bumped into him.

“That train will take us out of Manhattan, in the opposite direction of my place,” Percy said as they reached street level.

Well that’s not where she wanted to go. Maybe Brooklyn wasn’t where she thought it was.

“You could have said something sooner,” Annabeth hissed. “Maybe before I got all the way underground.”

“But you so clearly knew where you were going! I didn’t want to interrupt,” Percy spoke, the sarcasm heavy in his voice.

Annabeth huffed. Sometimes he was insufferable.

After a minute they arrived at an intersection full of cars moving in all directions.

“So if you know the way so much better than me, what street do we take?” she asked sourly.

“This one.” He pointed to the left.

Annabeth was hesitant to trust his sense of direction at first, but by the time they made it back to the Jackson’s apartment with no more trouble she was reminded once again that Percy’s much smarter than he looks. And it doesn’t hurt that he’s spent his entire life in the city.

#Percy's pov is always so fun for me to write #percy jackson #annabeth chase #percabeth #percy jackson fanfic #percy jackson fanfiction #annabeth chase fanfic #annabeth chase fanfiction #percabeth fanfic #percabeth fanfiction #pjo #pjo fandom #pjo series #pjo fanfic #pjo fanfiction #The Battle of the Labyrinth #the titan's curse #new york city #sally jackson

90 notes · View notes

perseabethj · 3 years

Text

i don't really have an explanation (ii.)

One might argue that Percy was not a very bright student; he could only get As in Latin, about which, for some unknown reason, he was extremely passionate, telling his friends that he had chosen Latin over German or Spanish because it was a family thing. However, nobody could say that he didn’t try hard. Whenever he had a free period, he could be found in the library studying, and he always told his friends that he had readings to catch up with during the weekends when they tried to make plans (he couldn’t really tell them that, most of the time, he had to go to a magical camp that they wouldn’t be able to see because more claimed children were showing up everyday and he had to make sure everything was in order). Not only did he try hard with school, but with everything in his life. He knew his school record had to be good to get into New Rome University, and he also did not want to be kicked out of the swim club. He liked his new friends and his new school where no monsters were trying to kill him, but his favourite thing was having a place to swim and forget about his problems for a little bit. His friends knew how much he liked the swim club and how much he trained, which is why they were excited to attend his first meet.

Percy had told them to meet him at the door before the meet, since his coach was giving the team a few minutes to say hi to family and friends before the first meet of the season and, when they arrived, they found him with his face being held by his girlfriend.

"Remember, breathe and get wet," they heard Annabeth say. "Don’t be an asshole and show off or your dad will show up and nobody wants that."

His friends saw him laugh softly and remove Annabeth’s hands from his face before quickly pecking her lips. They hadn’t seen Annabeth since the homecoming game at the beginning of September, more than a month ago, and they were still trying to get used to to the idea of secretive Percy having an even more secretive girlfriend.

"Hey, man," Louis said before Percy had a chance to say something to Annabeth.

Percy’s eyes lighted up as he took in his friends, grinning widely.

"You made it!" Percy exclaimed. "My mum and my stepdad are already inside saving seats for all of you. Annabeth can take you."

"Hey," Annabeth greeted softly, one of her hands still holding Percy’s.

Just as Percy was about to say something else, his coach called him from behind the closed doors.

"Jackson, time to warm up!"

Percy kissed Annabeth’s forehead quickly and smiled at his friends before waving and running into the building, trying to take off his sweatshirt at the same time but not quite managing.

"Let’s go," Annabeth said, rolling her eyes fondly at the scene in front of her. ‘’Percy’s mum will be glad to know her son died because he didn’t know how to take off his clothes.’’

Even though Matthew, Kayla and Louis asked Annabeth all sorts of questions about her life, they could tell that she was only telling them what she wanted them to know -she hadn’t been to many schools, since she had been homeschooled most of her life, she met Percy when they were twelve, which his friends already knew, she was one of the kids that were kidnapped alongside Percy when he was twelve (they had looked up the story online and, when they saw a picture, had placed bets on whether that was Annabeth or somebody who really looked like her), and her family lived in San Francisco. By the time they reached Percy’s mum and stepdad, she was more of an enigma than she had been before.

"Hi, honey!" Percy’s mum said to Annabeth when she sat down next to her. She then leaned forward a little bit -as much as her pregnant stomach would allow-, and smiled at the others. "You must be Percy’s friends! He’s told me a lot about you. I’m Sally and this is Paul, my husband."

A man sitting next to her smiled and waved, and they waved back at him.

"Is everything alright?" he asked Annabeth. Percy’s friends then looked at her, noticing that she was sporting a serious expression and her grey eyes seemed stormy as she looked around the gym.

"Yes," she said softly. "Don’t worry."

"Are you sure?" Sally asked.

"I just have a bad feeling, but don’t worry about it," she told her. "Besides, you know about yesterday, so I doubt we’ll see any more of them in a few days."

Percy’s friends didn’t understand what she meant, but Percy’s mother seemed more alert after Annabeth finished speaking. Before they could ask, however, an almost naked Percy ran up to them and threw his jeans in Annabeth’s face.

"Hey!" she exclaimed.

"Sorry," he said sheepishly, but he didn’t look sorry at all. "Will you keep my jeans in handy? I have a bad feeling and I don’t want to leave them in the locker room."

Annabeth straightened up at this but, before she could say anything, Percy turned around and ran towards the pool, ignoring the glances some of the girls and boys were sending his way.

"I feel really weird about people ogling my son," Sally said.

"If it makes you feel any better," Annabeth told her, "he’s probably way too stupid to realise and let it get to his head."

Sally laughed at this and took Percy’s jeans from Annabeth’s hands, carefully folding them before placing them on her lap.

"Why does he have so many scars?" Kayla suddenly asked. She hadn’t meant to be so loud -she only wanted Louis and Matthew to hear, but Paul and Sally’s gaze moved to her and Annabeth ’s body visibly tensed before she turned around to look at her.

"Our summer camp is a little bit ruthless," she told her.

Kayla wanted to ask more, but knew better and simply looked back at the pool, where Percy was with the rest of his team. She knew she was probably not the only person to wonder; Percy did, undeniably, have a nice body, but scars plagued his chest and back. They were not very dark, which meant that they were probably old, but they also didn’t look like the kind of scars you got when you fell off your bike. Kayla also noted the way Annabeth crossed her arms and let herself be pulled into Sally’s side-hug, but she knew it would make the blonde uncomfortable if she asked. Louis and Matthew, however, looked at her questioningly; they also wanted to know, but they, too, knew better than to ask somebody who clearly didn’t want to talk about it. When they looked back at Percy again, he was talking to another guy. They appeared to be arguing, and Percy looked cross. His face was, for once, serious, and his eyes seemed to scream "danger".

"Who is that?" Annabeth asked them.

"John Robinson," Louis told her. "He was the star of the team until Percy showed up, and he is quite resentful. Since this is a friendly meet, it’s going to be relay races, so I’m guessing he’s trying to rile Percy up so Percy gets a worse time."

"That won’t work," Annabeth told them, her eyes scanning John. "Percy always works best under pressure, and even more so in the water."

As if hearing his name, Percy looked at Annabeth from afar, who smiled and waved at him. John saw this interaction, smirking before saying something to Percy that made his face go serious again. Before Kayla could let Annabeth know how much of an asshole John was, the water in the pool suddenly overflowed, wetting the ground all around the pool where the teams were standing. Annabeth quickly rose up and moved towards Percy, ignoring his friends’ questioning glances. While the cleaners took care of the water, Annabeth whispered something to Percy, who quickly answered with an annoyed look in his face. Although Annabeth’s back was the only thing they could see, Matthew, Louis and Kayla noticed her turning towards John and saying something that made the other boy lose his smirk, slowly walking away from the couple and making Percy grin in the process. He stopped grinning, however, when Annabeth turned towards him again, but he started smiling again the moment she turned around and started walking to her seat.

"He’s a seaweed brain," she softly mumbled when Sally looked at her. "Two months reminding him to be careful and he practically blows it today. If his dad shows up, it’s definitely going to be his fault."

"I truly doubt Poseidon will show up to his swim meet," Paul meekly said.

"With our luck, the whole family will show up, and then both of us will have to do something and leave another school year unfinished," Annabeth huffed.

"Enough is enough", Matthew thought, finally building up his courage to ask what the hell they were talking about. Just as he opened his mouth to speak, the meet started, taking away his chance to understand what Annabeth and Percy’s parents meant.

Percy’s friends had never seen him swim; they never went to see him during training, because they just didn’t care about swimming that much, so they were surprised when they saw him relay John and make a record time for his school with enough time to spare. He didn’t look human when he swam -his body moved fluidly, and the water seemed to move with him, gently pushing him forward but embracing him at the same time. If they didn’t know that it was impossible to cheat in swimming (excluding the use of drugs), they would have deemed him a cheater.

"He’s cheating," Annabeth told Sally, as if reading their thoughts.

"Is he?" Sally asked critically.

"I’ve timed him during regular training, and he’s definitely cheating. He just wants to make that John guy mad," she said.

His friends didn’t even bother questioning her; they had already accepted that, if they wanted to understand what the hell Annabeth was talking about, they would probably have to ask Percy. By the time the meet was over, however, they were told by Sally that it would be better if they waited for him outside. Annabeth seemed to be looking at somebody sitting on the other side of the gym, her hand resting on her bag.

"Sally, give me Percy’s jeans," she said. "We’ll meet you outside."

Sally nervously looked around, but nodded as Paul rested his hand on the small of her back and led her and the other teenagers outside. They didn’t really know why she’d need Percy’s jeans so urgently, but they, once again, let it go.

"He’s a great swimmer," Louis politely told Sally, trying to make small talk. "Does he get that from you?"

Sally laughed loudly and rested one hand on her stomach as she dried a few tears from her eyes with the other hand.

"Definitely not," she said. "It’s all his father."

"Poseidon, right?" Matthew asked.

"Yes," she said, surprised. "Has Percy told you about him?"

"No, not at all," Matthew told her. "I overheard you say his name before. Percy doesn’t really talk about him."

Sally nodded sadly and looked at Paul, who looked a little bit uncomfortable.

"They don’t see each other much, but Percy tries not to blame him. He knows it’s not his dad’s fault, but their relationship is difficult, to say the least."

"Why did Percy and Annabeth not want him to come to the meet?" Kayla asked, receiving a slight push from Louis. It was not her fault that she was curious, but Louis did not seem to appreciate it.

"I wouldn’t say they didn’t want him to come," Sally slowly said. "It’s just… Percy doesn’t see him often, so, when he does, he likes for it to be private. He’s not really comfortable introducing him to others, and Annabeth is a little bit protective over Percy. They’ve been through a lot together, and they always want to make sure the other is alright."

A silence followed this declaration, and Kayla, Louis and Matthew stood as they let Sally and Paul sit in a bench in front of the gym, waiting for Percy and Annabeth to get out. Once both teams were out, but there was no sign of neither of them, they started to worry.

"Should we go look for them?" Louis asked Sally.

"No!" Paul quickly said. "They’ll be out shortly, I’m sure. Percy has probably misplaced his shoes."

Sally seemed uneasy about this, but didn’t say anything. Louis didn’t want to pressure her, so he simply looked at his friends and shrugged, dropping the topic. A few minutes later, however, Annabeth and Percy finally exited the gym. Just as his friends were about to congratulate him, they noticed scratches on both their faces and a bleeding cut on Annabeth’s hand.

"Is everything alright?" Sally quickly asked.

"Yes, Sally, don’t worry," Annabeth told her, smiling softly.

"Dude, what happened?" Matthew asked Percy, looking at Annabeth’s bleeding hand.

Percy looked at him like a deer caught in headlights, and Matthew could tell he was not going to get an answer from him.

"We were kissing next to the pool, but it was slippery and we tripped. Turns out he’s only good with water when he’s inside the pool. Right, Seaweed Brain?"

Percy smiled at his girlfriend and wrapped an arm around her shoulders, not at all embarrassed about the fact that his mum had heard that explanation (he knew she knew that was not what happened, so he didn’t feel the need to blush), and kissed Annabeth’s hair.

"What can I say, Wise Girl," he told her. "You make me nervous."

#percabeth #percabeth fanfiction #percy jackson #percy #annabeth chase #annabeth #i don't really have an explanation #my writing

21 notes · View notes

timelesslords · 3 years

Note

Hey this random but can I tell you something strange. You’re the first Percy Jackson blog I’ve followed (you’re really cool). Recently I’ve fallen into a percabeth pit, and I’ve found a liking for dark Percy. I’ve even been through the dark Percy + percabeth tag on ao3 (was shocked by the amount of them had Annabeth dying, sorry I can’t do tragedy).

You see the reason all this is strange is because… I’ve never watched or read ANY Percy Jackson. I know I really love this couple, I found them through people reblogging Percy Jackson on my feed. I’ve gone through the percabeth tag on tumblr, I’ve manage to pick up some things and with my fixation on dark Percy I know more about what happened with the poison in Tartarus (sorry if I’m getting any of this wrong) - I actually read a fanfic which used the exact scene lifted from the books.

I’m thinking about reading the books or audiobooks, so I was wondering if you had any advice for a newbie. Like any misconceptions or fandom drama to avoid or if the reading order is right or basically what you wish you knew when you first read them (no pressure for this btw, you can ignore). I also wanted to say thanks, I’ve been teetering on the edge for awhile but your account pushed me over it. Even if I’m a bit lost. I’m a lil confused but I’ve got the spirit.

Honestly I’m honored haha and I love the confused enthusiasm 😂 I’ve been deep in this world since 2008 so I’d like to think I could do a decent job at a little beginners guide but who knows. I’m sure this is missing stuff but I have faith you’ll figure it out!! I’m gonna put this under a readmore so everyone doesn’t have to scroll for eternity to get past it lmao

the biggest thing is to read the books, and do not watch the movies if you can help it. You’re going to be struck by curiosity. You’re going to think to yourself, how bad could it really be? The answer is worse than you’re expecting. If you must, just look up the Lotus hotel scene and “don’t walk on my roof” because those are literally the only scenes worth watching out of the two movies.

As for reading order, it’s pretty straightforward. Percy Jackson and the Olympians is the first series, Heroes of Olympus is the second, and Trials of Apollo is the third. The first two series are basically required reading to engage in fan stuff, mostly because the characters for the second series are used in everything. Trials of Apollo is optional, though there are one or two big events from there that you should know that will probably be spoiled for you before you even get the chance to read it anyway lol. Personally I think they’re worth the read but people hardly reference them in fan works so you don’t need to read them to know what’s going on 98% of the time

There are also several short stories, both from the two collection books (Demigod Files and The Ultimate Guide) and from random other places. I bought physical copies of the collection books back in the day so that’s how I read them, though I’d imagine they wouldn’t be difficult to find online. I think the collection books came out sometime when the first series was still being published, so most of them take place in between books 4 & 5 of the original PJO. (You might want to double check that one to avoid spoilers lol)

In terms of Rick’s two other series, The Kane Chronicles and Magnus Chase, you don’t need to read them to know what’s going on, though there is some crossover and references which can be fun. I never finished the Magnus Chase books but the first Kane Chronicles book is super interesting, and there’s a few cute short stories with Percy/Annabeth and the characters from that series, so I think the first one is worth the read just for that. Magnus Chase has more direct involvement with Percy and Annabeth actually showing up as minor characters in the books, though you should read them after you finish HOO because I think there are some minor spoilers.

If I remember correctly the audiobooks for the original series are actually quite good, and most local libraries in the US partner with apps like Libby so you can probably listen to them for free on there! I haven’t listened to them for the second or third series so I can’t vouch for the quality of those.

Other than that, I would just say remember that the books aren’t perfect and be open to viewing them with a critical eye. It doesn’t have to ruin your reading experience to recognize problematic or even just poorly constructed elements that are in there.

That’s pretty much it!!! Sorry if that was long but I just tried to make it as detailed as possible without being totally overwhelming 😂 I’m sure it was anyway lol but honestly just have fun with it!!!

#asks

8 notes · View notes

winryofresembool · 3 years

Text

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 22

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: Leo Valdez can be sweet when he wants to.

A/N: Sorry for the long break! The holidays were a rather busy time for me so it did good to take some time off from writing. But now I'm back for my weekly updates (at least I hope I am)! And not just with any chapter but a long-ish chapter full of Caleo fluff :) I really hope you guys enjoy! Please let me know what you think because I 100% mean it when I say I love reading your comments!!

Words: 3200+

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort

Warnings: none

previous chapter / AO3

…

Once Calypso had made up with Leo and Annabeth, she had new issues to deal with. When she paid her rent for the month, she noticed that she only had enough money for one more month’s rent, not even including the other living costs such as food, other daily necessities and school supplies. She had pushed back the job hunting earlier partially because the friendship issues had made her feel too low to care about that kind of thing, partially because she had no idea what she could do, only having a high school level education and no special skills. She had only ever worked at her father’s company and that was not something she wanted to advertise in her applications. But now she was in a situation that unless she wanted to return to the very place she wanted to stay away from, she had to come up with something.

Annabeth and Piper had seen some of the clothes and other items she had sewed and made with her own hands and encouraged her to sell them but Calypso herself wasn’t entirely convinced they were good enough to be sold. She was also a decent enough artist but with a class full of artists just as good (some even better) than her, what would make her stand out in the public? Her people skills weren’t amazing either so she doubted that she would make a good retail worker. But she knew she would probably have to come out of her comfort zone in this case, so if anyone was willing to hire her, she’d accept it.

She was startled when she suddenly heard a familiar voice from the other room: “Sunshine, I’mma head out to buy some groceries and stuff for a new project. You need anything?”

In some other situation, Calypso would have been thankful for the offer, but she was still feeling like a nervous wreck because of her earlier discovery. That’s why the words escaped her before she could stop herself: “Huh? No, I don’t think so? And I can still buy my own groceries, thank you very much.”

“Sorry, I just thought I’d ask… I didn’t mean to…” Leo seemed a bit baffled by her outburst. He was already about to head out when Calypso came out of her room and stopped him.

“No, I’m sorry.” She sighed, looking regretful. “I was just on the edge because I just noticed my financial situation isn’t exactly the best… But that is something I need to figure out on my own, I don’t want charity.”

“Well, I wasn’t gonna buy you a car or anything,” Leo tried to crack a joke. “Just thought that if you’re running out of milk or something, I could have saved you the trouble… Since I’m going there anyway…”

“Oh… no, I don’t think I need anything,” she said, this time a lot softer. “But thank you for asking.”

“No prob, Sunshine,” Leo replied, looking relieved now that he knew she wasn’t actually angry at him. “But hey, if you do need help with, like, searching for a job, or something, I’m your man.”

Calypso tried to keep her face neutral even though she had a feeling her cheeks were probably red. “I’ll… keep that in my mind.”

“Well, see you soon,” Leo said after the two just kept staring at each other for a while. He seemed to be sizing her, possibly still a bit thrown off by her weird reaction before he put his coat on (Calypso noticed it was the same shade of red as a lot of his shirts seemed to be. And it was also rather snugly fit, definitely not a bad sight, she thought before she had time to stop herself) and took his bags, leaving her alone.

“See you,” she said quietly when the door was already closed.

Once sure that Leo was far enough and not coming back, Calypso leaned her back against the wall of her room, sliding down into a sitting position on the floor. Throwing her head back, she groaned at herself. She had thought that the small falling out they had had because of the Percy incident might have affected her feelings towards Leo, but it seemed to become clearer and clearer every day that wasn’t the case. Even if she had admitted to Hazel and Annabeth that those feelings were not quite flatmate like, it was a whole different thing to really come to terms with that fact. She was falling quite hard.

The more she thought about it, the more she freaked out. Her relationships before one faithful day during her teenage years had failed badly (and that was over 5 years ago anyway) and the online dating she had done afterwards… Well, now that Calypso thought about it, only the conversation with Percy had seemed to be going somewhere. All the people she had cared about had left her and never come back. That, along with the fact that she had spent a lot of time alone in the past, had left her scared of relationships and ruined her self esteem, making her think that she simply wasn’t good enough. If Leo left too… she wasn’t sure how she’d handle that. Not to even mention, her dad was still probably looking for her and getting Leo mixed into that would be very dangerous for him. No matter what Annabeth said about wanting to help.

Biting her lip, she decided there was only one option. No matter what she felt, she should try to treat Leo just like any of her friends and conceal her true feelings. Having Leo in her life just as a flatmate was way better than not having him in it at all. When she remembered her friends’ hints that perhaps Leo himself wasn’t as indifferent to her as he probably should be, she suddenly felt like crying. In different circumstances… maybe they could be happy together, go on dates, hold hands… Now she would inevitably have to let him go when someone else would realize that Leo was a great person worth dating.

Calypso didn’t know how long she had been sitting there, and she also hadn’t noticed that there were tears running down her cheeks. She didn’t snap out of her daze until she heard the front door clunking again, this time indicating that Leo had already returned.

“Please just ignore me…” Calypso ranted in her head, but no luck. She heard steps from outside her room, stopping right in front of it. Swiping her wet cheeks quickly into her hands, she stood up from the floor just in time for Leo to knock on her door. Calypso didn’t really want to open it when she was in that emotional state but she knew that not answering would raise even more questions. Her messy looks she could always try to shrug off as a ‘bad day’, she decided.

“Yeah?” she asked weakly, opening the door to reveal her flatmate with that stupid trademark grin of his on his face. He seemed pretty happy about something he had or was about to do. The late autumn wind had made his curly hair even messier than usual and his cheeks were red from the cold weather and the exercise but his eyes were sparkling excitedly, like he couldn’t wait to show her something. He started: “I went to the hardware store and…” He quickly stopped when he noticed Calypso’s expression and puffy eyes. His happiness immediately melted away. “Hey, what’s wrong? Have you been crying?”

“It’s been a rough day,” Calypso sighed, looking down. “Don’t worry, I was just being overwhelmed by the loads of uni work before the exam season. And like I told you before, I need a job… But… it’s nothing I can’t handle.”

“Alright, if you’re sure…” Leo narrowed his eyes slightly, probably sensing that she wasn’t telling him the entire truth. “But yeah, I was gonna give you something. Hope it cheers you up a bit. He handed her a tiny packet of what seemed like flower seeds but before Calypso had time to read the text on it, he started explaining.

“So, I was gonna tell you that I went to the hardware store to buy me some supplies, and you know how they sell all kinds of seeds there as well? Well, I just happened to notice these while waiting for my turn to pay for my stuff and I just randomly decided to buy them.”

“But… why?” Calypso asked, finally looking at Leo directly.

“Um…” He started rubbing the back of his neck. “Remember when Festus jumped on your desk and broke it? There was a plant on it too… and I never replaced it. When I saw those,” he nodded towards the packet Calypso was holding, “I remembered that the plant looked like that… At least I think it did… I’m no good with that kind of stuff… But I know you care about your plants… so I thought it’d be only fair if I got you those. I know it’s not gonna be the exact same one you had, but…”

Leo didn’t manage to finish his sentence because Calypso couldn’t contain her feelings anymore. She closed the space between them and hugged him even tighter than the time they had had a game night with Jason and Piper. No one had gotten anything for her in years, and even if the seed bags didn’t cost much, it was the thought that mattered way more to her. She had never expected him to remember such a detail from several months ago when they hadn’t even been friends, but apparently he did.

“Uh, Cal, some air would be nice,” Leo said jokingly when it started seeming she didn’t even want to let him go. He didn’t attempt to break the hug, though, instead gently stroking her back. “Wow, Sunshine,” he said in an attempt to lighten the mood, “You’d think I bought you a house based on your reaction.”

Calypso raised her head from his shoulder, giving him a half hearted glare as she broke the hug.

“I’m not allowed to be thankful for a gift? You don’t know… You don’t understand…”

“Understand what?” Leo raised his eyebrows.

Calypso took a deep breath before answering. “I haven’t gotten gifts from anyone since I turned 16. And even then it was just… uh, never mind. The point is that I’m not used to such nice gestures… And I didn’t think you’d remember… It was my favorite plant. So excuse me if I’m feeling a bit emotional because your gift was more thoughtful than you probably realized.”

“OK, sorry,” Leo apologized quickly. “If you’re not used to nice gestures, I’m not used to displays of affection so I got a bit surprised, that’s all… Well, either way, I’m glad I got you something you care about.”

Calypso’s expression softened again. “Yeah. Thank you. I’m sure they will look pretty.”

Suddenly Calypso realized she was feeling a little dizzy, not sure if from the crying or from the smell of the mechanic oil she had just smelled on Leo’s shirt as she had hugged him. Sitting down on her bed, she leaned her face into her hands.

“Um, are you really OK?” Leo asked. “I know it’s not any of my business, but… if I can help you somehow, let me know.”

After a while, Calypso looked up from her hands, having half expected Leo to leave already. “If you happen to know anyone who’d be willing to hire an inexperienced, uneducated young woman, sure, be my guest,” she muttered.

“Hey.” Leo sat down next to Calypso on her bed, nudging her arm slightly. “Where’s the Calypso who has told me to fight my fear? I’m sure there are plenty of people out there who’d be willing to hire you if they knew how talented you are.”

“Wait… what?” Calypso wasn’t sure if she had heard right. Even if they had been friendly towards each other for a while now, she didn’t remember Leo complimenting her like that before. “Why would you say that?”

“Because it’s true!” Leo exclaimed, his eyes gleaming fiercely the same way Calypso had seen a couple of times earlier. “You are a talented person and even I can see that. You can draw and paint – I bet you’d do way better blueprints for machines than I do. To be honest, I’d probably hire you to do that if I could. You create a lot of things with your own hands – like that one dress you wore the other day, right? Like, OK, I wear overalls all the time so you can take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I thought it looked neat.”

“But…”

“But there are other things as well,” Leo continued persistently. “You know a lot and you’re always working on something – if not something university related, you take care of your plants or bake or something like that – and I think under that hard cover of yours you’re actually a super caring person. I dunno, those are things that at least I value. But maybe I’m the weird one here.” He rolled his eyes as if everything he had just said had been very obvious.

“Leo…” Calypso just stared at him with wide eyes, not finding the right words. She hadn’t been emotionally prepared for Leo showering her with compliments. If her cheeks had felt warm earlier, they were definitely burning now, and her eyes felt weird too… like she was going to cry again. “I…”

“Shhh. Crying doesn’t suit you, Sunshine. Luckily Uncle Leo is good at bad jokes that make the ladies laugh. How about this: What do you give to a sick lemon? Or… why didn't the astronaut come home to his wife?”

“Leonidas,” Calypso repeated but this time she did it with an annoyed groan. That was apparently what Leo had wished, though, because he grinned at her in return.

“Alright, I won’t finish that one!” he raised his hands up. “But it did work because there’s still some spice left in you. That’s what I wanted to see.”

“You’re the only person I know who can literally go from 100 to 0 when trying to cheer someone up,” Calypso said, but her mouth twitched. “But thanks. As much as I hate to admit it, I think it might have worked. For your information,” she added unexpectedly, “you give lemon aid to a sick lemon and the astronaut needed his space.”

“I think my job here is done,” Leo said approvingly, taking one step closer to her. Calypso had seen his brown eyes sparkling when he was happy and burning when he was mad but now she thought they seemed soft and warm, unlike she had seen before. And her heart skipped a beat when she registered that the reason for the warmth might have been… she herself. He looked at her right in the eyes and brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear before his fingers moved to her face. He brushed some of the wetness off with his thumb and for one, short second Calypso thought that he also wanted to do something else… touch her jaw, her lips… But that moment ended fast when he cleared his throat and pulled his hand away. One, tiny part of Calypso’s brain yelled: “no!” while the rational part tried to be relieved.

“Um… You had something there…” Leo tried to brush his previous actions off. “Anyway. Like I said I have no doubt someone wouldn’t hire you. But now that I think of it, I remember hearing from my moms that one of their friends is looking for a holiday helper at her flower shop that is quite near Waystation. The holidays are always a busy time there and the owner’s daughter, who has usually been the one helping, has moved away, so they could really use an extra hand.”

“A flower shop?” Calypso asked, hope starting to flicker in her eyes. “Do you think they may have a lot of applicants?”

“Who knows.” Leo shrugged. “I think it might be a pretty popular place… but you can’t win if you don’t try, huh?”

“Yeah. You’re right,” Calypso agreed. “Do you know how I can contact the place?”

“Hold on for a moment. I can call Emmie and ask,” Leo said and left Calypso alone in her room, baffled by what had just happened but also a bit hopeful. Maybe at least something would turn out right even if her social life would probably continue to be a mess.

A few minutes later Leo returned with a piece of paper in his hands and a satisfied expression on his face. It told Calypso that he had managed to get the number.

“Here you go, Sunshine! Hope you’ll still remember me and how I helped you when you become rich and famous.” He winked.

“I know I’ve told you this before but you really are a weirdo,” Calypso shot back but took the piece of paper gratefully. She excused herself to make a phone call and managed to get a hold of the owner of the flower shop who suggested a meeting for the next day. After finishing the phone call, Calypso searched for Leo who had withdrawn into the living room to watch a movie.

“So… I’m going to have an interview with the owner tomorrow,” she told him. “Keep your thumbs up that it will go fine. I’m kind of nervous, to be honest.”

“I’d keep even my big toes up if needed but I think you’re gonna do great,” Leo noted. “For reals. Have some faith.”

“Easier said than done,” Calypso sighed. “You probably understand.”

“I… yeah,” Leo admitted, thinking about one moment only about a week earlier when he had felt like nothing would work out. “But for what it’s worth, there are people who do support you.”

“You too?” Calypso asked carefully even though she was a bit scared of his answer.

“Yeah, me included.” Leo nodded.

“Listen, Leo… Thanks… for everything you’ve done for me today. Not just the seeds and the phone number, the emotional support too. It really helped.”

She surprised even herself by leaning closer to Leo and giving him a quick peck on his cheek. He went completely speechless and just rubbed the spot on his cheek Calypso had kissed absentmindedly as Calypso waited for him to say something.

“Uhh… you… you’re welcome?” he finally stuttered when Calypso had already started thinking she had crossed some line with the cheek kiss and they were back on square one.

“I should probably go back to do some research…” she said. “I’ve had a hard time focusing on anything lately but I’m feeling better now so hopefully I will manage to make some progress with some assignments. Have fun with your movie!” She attempted to sound cheerful even though the two sides of her brain were having an intense battle in that moment. One said: ‘why don’t you just stay with him? The assignment can wait!” while the other side wanted to run from that situation before Calypso did something she would regret.

“Alright… Thanks. And good luck with that!” Leo said. Calypso was convinced that she just imagined it but to her he had seemed just a bit disappointed that she hadn’t joined him. When she was back in her room, she exhaled sharply. So much for that ‘being just friends’. She would really have to start working harder on that before someone got hurt.

#caleo #leo valdez #calypso #heroes of olympus #percy jackson and the olympians #trials of apollo #my fics #caleo uni au

8 notes · View notes

thejudgingtrash · 4 years

Note

Now hold up I would personally love to hear a full rant on this supposed adaptation I have never heard of until now. Like, legitimately, I wanna know what you have to say about this cause you seem to be one of the most valid PJO blogs

Uhhh what??? Me one of the most valid PJO blogs??? What kinda crack have you been smoking WHAT afahsgjskdh.

But still thank you 😊🥺🙈

Alright, you wanted a rant. You got a rant. Fuck the positives let’s just straight up jump into my aggression.

WARNING: Massive rant with a lot of swear words. If you can’t handle the heat, feel free to ignore this. I personally haven’t worked in Hollyweird, but I had some behind the scenes stuff here in Europe going on for a short period and also the trusty words of my college professors. So here will be a lot of prediction and speculation involved. Yes, I know that I’m a huge hypocrite for voicing my opinions based on stuff that hasn’t been pushed through in months and that I could be easily proven wrong in a few weeks/months. Still thank you should you actually take the time to read through this tomfuckery.

If things are wrong, please DO correct me!

Links to further reads will be included partially.

TL;DR: Keep your hopes to a low, stop harassing people online and mAnAgE yOuR eXpEcTaTiOnS!!111!!

Okay. First things first:

DISNEY

DOESN’T

GIVE

SINGLE

FUCK

ABOUT

YOU

Disney is a fucking multi-billion dollar corporation with many, many, many studios, stations, brands and franchises worldwide. The Percy Jackson franchise is a dime in a dozen. Disney doesn’t give a single fuck about the PJO fandom in general.

Disney doesn’t give a fuck about you 20-something year old with your 9 year old blog discussing which toilet paper brand Percy uses. And Disney also doesn’t give a fuck about you 16 year old, writing the worst fucking Solangelo fanfic I’ve read so far on this hellsite. Like goddamn.

Trust me, they know you are interested. They know they got you hooked. They see the numbers, they see the like/reblog ratio, they see the Twitter engagement. They see you with #disneyadaptpercyjackson. They see the petitions, they see how excited you were for the musical. You don’t get to be a gigantic conglomerate like Disney with playing stupid.

Also to you fuckfarts saying oH nO I wOn’T wAtCh It I dOn’T cArE aBoUt NeW sTuFf. Congrats dipshit. You are STILL alerting followers and people about what’s happening and creating more buzz, giving more awareness and adding to the transaction costs. You really cheated the system, you little edgelord. Again:

You are nothing but a number. You are a fucking walking dollar bill. You are a consumer waiting for a new shiny product to fill the void in your life for 45 minutes weekly or by two hours at some point.

The PJO movies 1. & 2 happened for a reason. Because Fox saw a popular book series á la Harry Potter, Twilight (and The Hunger Games) and wanted a piece of that action. They wanted your fucking money. Them entirely fucking up and ignoring Riordan’s advice is on them of course. But still. The movies happened. (And also saw people saying they were flops. Reception wise: hell yes. They are awful adaptations (not per se awful movies, there’s a difference). But money wise?? They made together over 245 million dollars in profit. Of course, that isn’t today’s Marvel level but it’s still fairly decent. Also don’t forget that the second movie still got greenlit. Interest was still there despite part one. You disliking something doesn’t turn it into a flop)).

Again, Disney doesn’t care about you. THIS is what Disney cares about:

1. MONEY

2. PROFIT

3. ENGAGEMENT

4. TOTAL GROSS

5. CONVERSION RATES

11. …. “Artistry“

So in terms of money, we gotta speak about the on-going woke culture. You know, lgbtqia+ stuff, poc representation and all the good shit we want and need in our life, right?

Well, I got bad news for ya. Disney being money hungry has its massive downsides. Because where is the money? In the east. Well and what happens if we include the woke stuff? Possible censorships (even retroactively! You know Gravity Falls went through that), bans, etc.

So all of you talking about representation and artistic vision and being bold and brave and blablabla… Throw that into the fucking trash. We can probably be glad if we get Grover back as the token black kid and a few other minorities sprinkled here and there. Open gay Nico? Doubt it. Your afro-latino Percy head canon? Definitely keep that but unlikely to be realized. And also, if you think that Annabeth wouldn’t get turned into the blandest whitest “I dOn’T nEeD nO mAn“ radfem, I got some bad news for ya…

The likelihood of everything being dumbed down, toned down with the exception of a few adult jokes or being even partially censored (depending on certain regions) is very, very high.

Also what makes you think we’re even getting close to the Heroes of Olympus and Trials of Apollo saga? I doubt you will see The Seven for a long time unless Riordan really says fuck it and throws his final ace card into Disney’s filthy greedy mouth.

So if Disney doesn’t have the fandom’s interest at heart, what are they interested in? Well… MONEY. Also NEW engagement. They know your funky ass is going to tune in. They know people will pirate the shit (Me waving like a maniac), they all KNOW that. Again, they aren’t stupid.

So: MORE engagement. MORE money. How do we get even more engagement? By luring new people into the fandom. Who is most likely going to get lured into a family friendly show/movie series because let’s not forget that we’re talking about Disney+? The targeted audience of the books. Who is the targeted audience of the books? MIDDLE SCHOOLERS. 11 to 14 year olds. Disney wants those kids’ (well their parents’ hard earned) money. They want to sell products, in that case books + Disney Plus subscriptions + possible merch. There you also have the likely future rating for the fucking show. Sorry to disappoint everyone that was hoping for gritty Game of Thrones filled with 12 year olds (like seriously wtf?).

Now that that’s settled, let’s talk about the outlook on the show/movie and Riordan’s influence that you people clearly overestimate.

How much power or say does Rick Riordan actually have?

ZERO. ABSOLUTELY NONE.

He’s in the worst fucking lose-lose-situation you could imagine.

Disney owns the books and Fox owns the movie rights. Wait. Fox got bought. By whom you ask? DISNEY, what a coincidence! In Rick Riordan’s own words:

Disney has him by his fucking balls and could crush them at any minute. And if you think, that Disney is letting go of that sweet sweet intellectual property you are fucking mistaken. Riordan isn’t a J.K. Rowling who OWNS the Wizarding World. You have no idea what Disney are capable of with massive lobbying that goes so far to influence copyright laws in the States (LINK)

So you can stop harassing him about a fucking Netflix adaptation as well! Or petitions that do nothing but annoy people.

These negotiations take up YEARS to get the simplest stuff done. No need to shit your pants whenever Riordan’s tweeting stuff.

Still: would Disney be fucking mad to do this without him? Absolutely!

Should Disney involve him to prevent a PJO movie 2.0 scenario?

Yes, they definitely should!

But CAN Disney do this without him?

OF COURSE THEY CAN! THEY OWN EVERYTHING.

In Riordan’s own words:

Read carefully what he has written. He doesn’t say he’s going to halter productions, he’s saying HE WON’T BE A PART OF IT. This also makes me curious about WHO approached WHO in the first place (my guess Disney tried to make some amendments because Fox ain’t shit and trying to alienate the author again would be a goddamn stupid move). Disney has the fucking film rights. Of course they can pump out shit without involving him. They could pull a Fantastic Four (the awful 2015 version) just to keep the rights and for the fuck of it.

There are the following possibilities with Riordan’s involvement:

1. Riordan as a producer: Dude’s gotta be loaded. We know that. But backing the production costs many, many, many millions and I don’t know if he’s THAT loaded. Also film producing isn’t his forte.

2. Riordan as a screenplay writer: Now we’re getting closer to something. Yes, many productions these days have authors directly involved which is great! But also can go the other way around (J.K. Rowling and her Grindelwald fiasco. Author’s do NEED to learn when to stop intermeddling with their franchises, just saying) Book writing and screenplay writing are two very DIFFERENT disciplines. You don’t have the liberties of book writing when it comes to film. The screenplay is the guide for the entire production, the visuals, the set design, the whole atmosphere of the product, the very first thing that needs to be done so that directors, designers and lastly the casted actors know what they have to do. Everything has to come to a point in a very short time and there are many, many, many versions of a screenplay before a final raw draft gets handed out. If that isn’t in Riordan’s interest (which I can completely understand) then that’s simply not happening

3. Riordan as a guide: Directors, screenplay writers, etc. sit down with Riordan on a regular basis to show him the written screenplay, which actors they have in mind, the whole vision and he has a mini veto right.

If you ask me, a mix of scenario 2 and 3 is the most likely to be the most successful. That means, that Riordan needs to have a good faithful team, that sticks closely to the source material. That isn’t guaranteed! Again: look at the PJO movies. But of course, we don’t know the internals of these meetings.

So… now the final part. The whole fucking “Animation vs. Live action“ debate. Well, both sides have their pro’s and con’s. And both sides are filled with a bunch of fucking morons. I won’t try to get you to either side.

But to those that want are begging for a live action version with age-appropriate actors I have the following to say:

FUCK

YOU

PARTICULAR!

WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU WANT CHILDREN TO GO THROUGH THE HELL THAT IS DISNEY AND THE SHADY SHIT GOING ON THERE SO THAT YOU CAN BE ENTERTAINED FOR SOME MERE MINUTES?!

Oh my god…. You people REALLY really want a fourth wave Me Too movement in 15-20 years. Not every Hollyweird kid has a helicopter parent hovering around them on set and many do get abused/robbed by their parents. And the people involved in the production! Of course, animation has still a chance of this happening but the risk is somewhat lower when it just comes to voice acting.

Tbh, I actually wouldn’t mind an aged-up cast again just to prevent this as best as possible. Unfortunately, child actors will always be needed.

I have nothing much to add to this, I’ll just drop a link to an old small post from me about that right here (LINK)

Personally I lean more towards animation but in the big picture I won’t care. (Also the whole animation is for kids and dumbs down the whole narrative for PJO is fucking stupid, boo boo the fool. You being in your late teens/twenties and grown out of the targeted audience is the cause of nature. Animation can be mature or would you show Attack on Titan or South Park to your 8 year old cousin?)

I’ll be just tuning in to see if this is as messy as I’d expect it to be or to be pleasantly surprised.

Also again: this process is a long one. It’s going to be exhausting, depressing, demanding, pushing.

From the meetings now that will take a very long time, to a screenplay, which can take YEARS in finalizing, to hiring staff, location hunting and set design (should they go the live action route), to casting, to costume design, to rehearsing/production, to filming, to dispersing, to editing, to fx, to finishing, to marketing, to publishing, NOTHING IS SET IN STONE! This is a very, very, very, wanky process despite contracts and everything on paper. Let’s not forget, Disney can afford some good lawyers.

And even if everything goes as smoothly as possible. Higher up people could see the final edit of everything with editors having scenes close to the books in an a/b/c/d cut and some producer says NO! I want an c/a/b/d version that again fucks up the dynamics of the books. Or something terrible: everything is shot and done and THEN it get’s postponed. Or even fucking worse: SHELVED to be NEVER RELEASED. Aka Henry Selick’s career after Coraline (Coraline from 2009 is STILL his latest release because of his fucked up Disney contract and them cancelling his shit). Millions of dollars wasted and we won’t get to see ANYTHING. This is all very possible and happens constantly in the film business AND at Disney. This is nothing new.

And there’s nothing we can do about it. No one cares about Riordan, no one cares about the books, no one cares about the fandom.

DISNEY holds the cards. DISNEY gets to decide. Neither Riordan, nor you nor me hold ANY power in this.

So kids… what have we learned today? In conclusion:

Keep your hopes to a low, stop harassing people online and mAnAgE yOuR eXpEcTaTiOnS!!111!!

That’s it. That’s all I wanted to say.

WHEW.

#percy jackson and the olympians #pjo #percy jackson movie #percy jackson #percy jackson adaptation #disney #disney adapt percy jackson #annabeth chase #grover underwood #nico di angelo #rick riordan #riordanverse #my rants

74 notes · View notes

thesibyllinebooks · 4 years

Text

The New Yorkers (Part 23)

Percy and Annabeth held hands the entire taxi ride to the Empire State Building. Percy couldn’t tell whose palms were sweatier. He kept casting sideways glances at his girlfriend. Annabeth wore her curly hair in a long braid, showing off some gold earrings he’d bought her for her eighteenth birthday. Or nineteenth, he couldn’t remember. Her peasant top made her look like any normal cute college girl. But she wasn’t. She was an angry demigod possibly encouraging him to be escorted to his death in the back of a beat up taxi.

He hadn’t heard more of Annabeth’s plan. She assured him that she had one, but wanted to see how things went on Olympus first. Percy hoped Annabeth wasn’t hoping for a good outcome because he didn’t think she’d get one.

“Right here’s fine,” Annabeth said suddenly. The taxi stopped.

“Hey,” Percy said gently, turning Annabeth to look at him. “Things are going to be okay.” He kissed her. Who knows, this could have been their last kiss before the gods obliterated them.

“Things aren’t okay,” Annabeth reminded him.

Percy got out of the taxi. Annabeth slid over the seats and got out on his side. She shut the door and a second later her hand was back in Percy’s, squeezing the life out of him. The Empire Sate Building loomed over them. Though they knew no one else could see it, Annabeth and Percy craned their necks to look at the large, expanding mass of land and clouds above the building. Olympus.

Percy held the door for Annabeth. As soon as they entered, a security guard gestured for them to walk through the metal detectors.

“What brings you two here today?” he asked. For just a second, his eyes glowed gold. “Appointment?”

“No, we’re dropping in,” Annabeth said stiffly.

“Right this way.” He led them to a golden elevator. The doors slid open. Annabeth pushed the button for the 600th floor.

“I know this goes without saying, but don’t say anything rash,” Percy cautioned her. “I know you’re upset but we don’t want to make things worse.” Annabeth nodded stiffly. Her neck was bright red with nerves and anger.

“I love you,” Percy said. If the gods blew them to bits in the next couple minutes, he decided those would be good enough last words.

“I love you too, Percy,” Annabeth said quietly. The elevator doors closed. The elevator shot up at an alarming speed, giving Percy a serious case of vertigo. In seconds, they shot out of the building, and Percy could see the entire city below. They ascended through the ground and the elevator stopped. When it opened. they were smacked in the face with sweet-smelling air. The sky was powder blue and the spots of grass were a lush, glowing green. Instead of dirt roads, white sidewalks gleamed, leading the way to buildings that were a perfect mix of modern and classical. Mythical creatures grazed the nearby fields.

“I know I’ve said it before but you did amazing,” Percy said, bumping his girlfriend’s shoulder.

“Thanks,” Annabeth said. “I wonder how long it’ll be before it’s all destroyed.”

“Don’t think like that.” Percy and Annabeth walked on one of the sidewalks, making their way to the throne room. Nymphs and other wind spirits flew above. Satyrs and minor deities rode chariots, directed by stoplights.

Percy hadn’t been to Olympus as many times as Annabeth. Every time he came, he was awestricken. It looked better than Elysium, and was definitely a poor reflection of the war and destruction about to take place. He had half a mind to say screw the gods and picnic with Annabeth on the lush fields of lowers. That would definitely be way less stressful.

Annabeth stopped in front of the large, golden doors. They were maybe three or four times their height. Her posture tensed and her face turned red. She clenched her jaw.

“Should we knock, or...?” Percy said.

Annabeth shook her head. She raised her hand. Wind spirits pushed the doors open. The entire room was made of glittering white marble, save for the decorated thrones surrounding the hearth. Smaller thrones for the minor gods were situated closer to the fire.

The gods were arguing- no, debating, Annabeth decided. Were they planning? They all spoke over each other, each twenty feet tall. Only half the gods were there, the ones still loyal to Zeus, Annabeth quickly realized. Zeus was nowhere to be found. Neither was Hera, which was especially good for Annabeth’s sake.

The doors slammed shut. Hestia was the first to look up. Her flame-red eyes connected with Percy and Annabeth. She raised her hand for silence. At once, all the gods stopped speaking and turned to face them.

Percy wanted to melt on the spot. He hated having so many eyes on him, like he’d done something wrong. Whatever betrayal his father was planning, he wanted no parts in it. He felt childish for thinking his dad would be there. What reason would Poseidon have to be in the throne room?

“Annabeth.” Athena was the first to speak. She resembled her statue, the Athena Parthenos, except her dress and battle gear was replaced with a white suit. She glared at Percy, which only made Annabeth tighten her grip on him, showing she had no intentions of letting him go.

“Athena,” Annabeth spat back. Gods, here we go, Percy thought.

“Someone doesn’t look too happy,” Apollo muttered. He had his usual surfer look, his blond hair falling into his eyes. His twin sister, Artemis, elbowed him. Percy wondered why she’d decided to be twenty feet tall and still look like a preteen at the same time.

“They look lovely. Athena, I told you your plan would never work. Love is much stronger than The Mist,” Aphrodite chastised Athena. Looking at her made Percy’s head hurt. Her eyes shifted from blue to green, to brown. Her hair changed color and texture by the second. One moment, her skin was porcelain and by the time he blinked, it was dark.

“So sorry to hear about Poseidon,” Apollo offered. “He’s still my favorite uncle. Though he is a shifty little traitor.” Percy shrugged. He was more interested in the god’s sweet Nike tracksuit. He wanted to ask if he’d bought it at the outlet or online, but decided that wasn’t the task at hand.

Athena frowned. “Why have you come?” she asked.

Annabeth stepped forward, dragging Percy along. The closer she got to the gods, the more of them shrank to their height. Athena remained giant.

“You can war, you can fight, you can do what you want, but you can’t make us fight your battles. You can’t make other demigods fight your battles,” Annabeth said fiercely.

Athena raised a dark eyebrow. Percy cringed. Annabeth gave him that expression whenever he said something particularly stupid. “You know we are forbidden from direct war without exhausting all other options,” Athena reminded her daughter slowly.

“So you’re going to let kids die?” Percy asked, raising his voice. Athena looked like she wanted to say, well duh. “Zeus poisoned the lake at Camp Half-Blood. Friends are going to turn against each other all because you-”

“Because of your father,” Athena corrected him rudely.

“So what? Banish him or something,” Percy said.

Demeter stepped up. Her long, thin braids were intertwined with sprigs of grain. “Poseidon has been wayward since we were children. He’s always fought with Zeus. I don’t believe banishment would stop him. And now that he is in open rebellion, he’s already banished from Olympus.”

Percy wanted to ask how many wars Zeus had started, but he didn’t think even immortal gods had time to hash all that out. “Why is all this happening anyway?”

“Poseidon wishes to rebuild the pantheon in his image,” Hestia explained. “No king or queen of the gods, all of us equal. He views Zeus as a tyrant.” Well, Poseidon wasn’t exactly wrong.

“Well, that’s not so bad is it?” Percy asked. “You guys invented democracy, right?” Annabeth looked proud at his reasoning.

Athena shook her head and her eyes flashed. “Democracy is a mortal invention. We will not upset thousands of years of tradition all because Poseidon is jealous of his younger brother. We are gods. Power hierarchy comes with the territory.”

“So you won’t change your mind? For power?” Annabeth questioned. Her tone sounded like she was giving Athena one last chance to rethink her actions.

“For tradition. For Greece. I refuse to unravel our history. I warned you of what was to come, Annabeth. I warned you not to involve yourself.”

“After you took my memories!” Annabeth snapped. She let go of Percy and marched closer to her mother. Annabeth hoped Athena wouldn’t move forward and crush Annabeth under her humongous high-heeled shoe. “You can’t call on me to fight for you for years, then all of a sudden take my whole life away from me!”

“I didn’t take your entire life,” Athena said exasperatedly.

“You took Percy!”

Percy had to admit, even though he didn’t think it was wise for Annabeth to be screaming at her mother in front of the other gods, her open display of loyalty and love for him made him feel great. He’d have done the same for her.

“Because I knew you were likely to do something irrational for him, or because of him. And here you are,” Athena said smugly.

“I didn’t do this because of Percy! I’m here because what you did- what all of you are doing is wrong!” Annabeth shouted.

Percy and the gods watched uncomfortably as Athena and Annabeth argued. Hestia retreated, taking her seat back at her hearth.

Athena sighed. Finally, she shrunk down to Annabeth’s height. Despite her youthful looks, her stern expression reflected her aura of being thousands of years old. “I wanted to protect you. The thought of any of the gods harming you- Annabeth, you’re my most prized child. I love you too much.” Aphrodite ‘awed’.

Annabeth laughed in disbelief. Percy knew immediately she was about to say something out of pocket. “Percy has nothing to do with this, I repeat. The gods all know I’m your favorite. They could kill me whether or not I’m with Percy. And because I’m your favorite, you want to protect me? What about my other siblings, who might die fighting for you? You don’t love me. You never have. I’m just the most useful to you.”

Annabeth’s fists were clenched. She shook with anger. Percy stepped forward to put an arm on her shoulder. He knew her relationship with her mother was complicated, but he didn’t think it would come to blows on Olympus. He didn’t think Annabeth would accuse her mother of not loving her right to her face.

“How can you say I don’t love you?” Athena questioned.

“I mean, you’re not the best at showing affection,” Aphrodite said.

“If you loved me or cared about me, you wouldn’t have made me,” Annabeth ground out. The words hit Percy in the chest. “My dad didn’t want kids. He didn’t want me. I ran away because no one loved me. You never showed yourself. You never check on me, or wish me happy birthday. When I finally found someone who wanted to be in my life, you took him from me. You won’t even listen to what I’m saying to you now. You can’t love me. Because wisdom, and logic, and tradition won’t allow you to do what actually loving me requires.”

“Oh, snap,” Apollo said under his breath.

Percy was just as caught off-guard. Nothing Annabeth said was a lie, though. She’d pretty much grown up an orphan, unless either of her parents needed something whether it was babysitting her twin brothers or sailing to Greece to recover a statue. As bad as he felt for Annabeth, and as afraid he was for Athena’s reaction, he was proud of Annabeth for standing up to her mother. He’d never loved her more than he had in this moment.

“Annabeth...” Athena started. She then shook her head. “I’m a goddess. I have a duty.”

“You’re also a mother,” Annabeth reminded her. She unclenched her fists and sighed. “You know what? I knew this was how this conversation was going to go. Percy and I aren’t going to let you go to war. Even if it kills us.”

Percy wanted to protest. He’d never said all that. But for the sake of defending Annabeth, he gave all the gods a stern look.

“Please, don’t do anything foolish,” Athena pleaded. For just a second, a softness was apparent in her eyes.

Annabeth didn’t respond. She turned her back on the gods and slipped her hand back into Percy’s. Without another word, they exited the throne room.

“You’re amazing,”Percy reminded her. “And you’re right. Athena’s a pretty crappy, distant mother, but I think she does care about you.”

Annabeth shook her head like she was refusing to hear it. She marched Percy through Olympus until they were back at the golden elevator. The entire ride down was silent.

“Have a nice day,” the security guard said to them on their way out.

It wasn’t until they were on the busy street that Annabeth spoke again. “Percy, do you know why the gods are so powerful?” Annabeth asked matter-of-factly.

Percy wondered if that was a trick question. “Uh, because they’re gods?”

“Because we give them power. We worship them. And what happens to gods no one worships?”

Percy suddenly realized what Annabeth was getting at. Something all gods feared. “They lose their power. And if they’re forgotten entirely, their essence dissolves.”

Annabeth nodded. “Right, and how can gods start a war if they don’t exist?” she asked.

“They can’t.” Percy suddenly realized what Annabeth’s plan was. It was a large plan, a crazy one, maybe even impossible. But it was all they had.

“Exactly,” Annabeth said. “We shouldn’t care about gods that don’t care about us. So we won’t. We’ll have to get the other demigods on board. Honestly, taking out Zeus and Athena would be enough. No more rituals, no more offerings, none of it.” Annabeth was nothing if not ambitious. Only she would think she could get the demigods to dishonor and ignore the king of the gods into oblivion.

“But she’s your-”

��I don’t care,” Annabeth said fiercely. “It’s not like I’m killing her. She’ll reform in a couple hundred years. Which means she’ll be out of my life for good.”

Percy knew arguing about it wouldn’t do them any more good. He put his arm around Annabeth. He kissed the side of her head. He wasn’t sure at all what the future held but then again, when had he ever been? “Well, at least let me take you lunch, my little traitor.”

14 notes · View notes

pjoheadcannonsandaus · 5 years

Text

Thank you anon! This is more of a diary of her figuring everything out.

**If I get something wrong, please please please let me know so I can fix it!!**

January 1

Today I decided I was going to start the new year right by starting it right. I know last year I thought about how something wasn’t right with me and it took me a long time last year to figure it out. But I finally put a word to it, transgender. I never felt like a girl. I only told one person this secret and she is the only one who has been calling me “Drew” and “he” for the past four months. Piper helped me figure out that calling me Drew and using the he pronoun made me feel like, well me.

So today, I decided to do something I’ve been dying to do for a while now to make me feel more comfortable, I cut my hair off. My gold locks have fallen off to a nice guy cut; short sides with some medium hair on top. I think it looks amazing! I am so in love with it! Piper and I went through multiple pictures the other day until we found the right cut that we both think would work. In all honesty, I wasn’t nervous at all but excited to take the first step.

January 20

I started telling more of my friends. Only the super close ones. But it’s weird when you’re not fully out and you still have a body of a girl. Teachers and acquaintances call me Annabeth but my close friends call me Drew. Annabeth sounds foreign to me now and it makes me feel weird. I can’t tell people in the middle of the school year that I changed my name and outed myself when I’m not even 100% ready to tell my dad.

My friends on the other hand are really supportive. There has been a few slip ups but they automatically corrected themselves. I let it slide for now since they have been correcting themselves until they get use to it. Calling someone by the same name for 15 years then suddenly changing it gets some getting use to.

February 3

Something never feels right. My body doesn’t feel mine anymore. I guess I’ve had this feeling for a long time but it’s never been this bad. I looked up what it’s called, gender dysphoria. Piper and I have tried to figure out how to make me feel better, but so far no luck. I started to wear sport bras a lot to make me look flatter. It works a bit but my breasts and back hurt at the end of day. I thought about wrapping but every site and person online says not to do that because it causes a lot more harm. I guess sport bras will do for now, but it’s still not right.

March 14

Happy Pi Day! That was the only bright side of the day. My step mom is getting on my case about the way I’m starting to dress. She says I look more like a guy and no guy is going to want to date me if I keep this up. She’s the reason why I don’t want to come out to her or my dad.

I went shopping last weekend with Jason, Percy, and Piper to get some new clothes. At first, Percy was letting me borrow some of his old ones that he outgrown but they were too big on me. I was so excited to get these new clothes. I only got $100 worth for now. I still have some shirt I can wear like my school shirt and my camp shirt and other t-shirts that are unisex. I was just excited to start feeling like myself for the first time in a month until now.

April 2

I told my dad. He could tell that something was wrong with me and something was changing. We went on a car ride to my favorite ice cream place. At first we started talking about school and my friends. He told me how he started to see changes in me and wanted to ask me what was going on.

So, I told him about how I was feeling about myself last year and how Piper and I figured out last September that I was transgender. Just by having a name to it at that point felt great. I kept going on with my story and by the end of it I was shaking with tears in my eyes. I wasn’t sure how he was going to react. The car ride home was silent and at this point, I’m not even sure how he’s feeling about what I told him. He still hasn’t told me anything since we got home...

April 3

My dad talked to me after school while my step mom was out. He told me he was sorry it took him so long to talk but he had a lot to process and didn’t want to say anything before he came to terms with his feelings. It was an emotional afternoon. My dad said that he just wanted me to be happy. The memories he had of us would be the same but it would just take a while for him to be 100% on board. He told me this: “I still love you and really glad you told me and trust me enough to come out to me. As a parent, it’s hard to see you as one gender for most of your life and then as a different one. It’s not that you aren’t the same person, but it feels like you’re slightly different that what I’m use to. There’s no parenting book on what to do when your child is transgender. I know you’re the same person I raised with the same morals and I need to get over the fact that I lost a daughter but gained a son.”

I cried after that. I’m really glad that he called me his son and still loves me. He promised not to tell my step mom or brothers until I’m ready to come out to them. We looked up binders once I calmed down since he did research on his day off. He ordered me two and now we’re just waiting for them in the mail.

May 30

For the first time, I started to feel like myself. The binders my dad and I ordered work really well. I always feel more confident about myself everyday. Even my friends are starting to see it. My dad keeps my step mom off of my back about the way I dress. I’m not sure what he says but her mouth has been shut and she still calls me Annabeth which half the time I forget to respond to. My teachers noticed I don’t answer to Annabeth either sometimes and I told them that I wanted to be called Drew and they pretty much figured out the rest. They didn’t call on me that much since I also told them that I wasn’t fully out to everyone in school. But it’s super nice to see the word Drew written on the top of my paper.

I also have developed a crush on my friend Percy. I don’t know if he would want to date me after all I’ve been through this school year. Also, I don’t know if he would be into me since I’m a guy. But I feel like Percy wouldn’t care.

Again, if I got something wrong, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me.

#ask #Annabeth Chase #Female to Male #ftm #Transgender Annabeth #Percy Jackson au #Percy Jackson fanfiction #Percy Jackson and the Olympians #Heroes of Olympus #PJO #HOO

27 notes · View notes

dyde21 · 6 years

Text

Seventeen Going on Seven

This is partially dedicated to @solbabydraws who I promised to post this story for a few days ago. Also cause they’re a wonderful, beautiful, supportive person. Enjoy! Fair warning, it’s pretty long.

XxXxXxXxX

Percy ducked as deadly credit cards sped through the air just above his head, sticking out of the concrete like tiny daggers.

“Where are you going? Our sales are to die for!” The womanly snarl came out.

Rolling his eyes, Percy rolled to the left as another set of cards whizzed past him. The jokes had stopped being funny about five minutes into running for his life. “A little help here!” He called out, though he knew the rest of their gang were busy with their own saleswomen.

“A little busy!” Jason called out, deflecting a bronze umbrella, that opened to a fan of knives.

“Next time, we're just ordering online! I'm done shopping!” Leo called out as he ducked behind a trashcan as the woman ran past him.

Spinning in place, Percy swiped another set of cards out of the air. They couldn't keep running, eventually the monsters would catch up. He dashed forward, ducking a swing from her claws as he cut off one of her legs. The monster flailed, but Percy stabbed downwards and finished off the beast. Looking for who else could use help, he spotted a cloud of dust around an invisible figure running away, being chased by another saleswoman holding multiple vials in their hands. Percy figured Annabeth had been hit by something, so even her cap wasn't letting her hide to find an opportunity.

Ripping a trashcan lid off a nearby bin, he hurled it towards the saleswoman.

Before he could celebrate however, the woman just reached up and caught it. “I'm with a customer right now, please wait your turn.” She said in a sickeningly sweet tone, before she flexed her hand and bent the metal like it was paper.

That had been the distraction Annabeth had needed, as she had turned and stabbed the woman in the gut before jumping backwards as the saleswoman flailed with her claws. Quickly making her way to Percy, Annabeth just grinned, removing her hat. “Thanks for the help, Seaweed Brain.”

Smirking, Percy was about to reply when he saw the lady raise her hands with the vials. Throwing one, Percy barely had time to shove Annabeth out of the way as it collided with the pavement, a sickly green ooze appearing and beginning it melt through the ground.

Annabeth staggered, off balance from the sudden shove, but before she could regain her balance she saw another one heading straight towards her. Desperate, she raised her hands but it would be too late. At least until she saw Percy dive in front of her, arms wide, as the vial of liquid exploded across his back.

Annabeth shrieked, expecting to see her boyfriend melting, but nothing was happening.

Even the saleswoman looked stunned. “Oh, wrong vial! Dammit! Now this time I'll...” She never got to finish her sentence as Jason's sword lopped off her head, leaving her dissolving into dust.

The rest of the crew ran over as Percy dropped to his knees.

Kneeling in front of him, Annabeth held his face in her hands gently. “Percy, look at me. Is everything okay? What are you feeling?”

Percy just stared at her, confused. “I don't know. I feel strange... I... I feel fine mostly though. Nothing hurts.”

Hazel frowned. “There's no way that vial was just water. Something... something is on you. Probably a potion, but we have no way of knowing what it could have been.”

Annabeth frowned, her mind racing a million miles a minute. What could it be? Judging by Percy's expression, he felt normal. Which was bad, that meant whatever it was would be subtle. “Take off your shirt Percy.” She ordered.

Percy raised an eyebrow as Hazel flushed, looking away. “Excuse me?” The son of poseidon said after a moment.

Annabeth however was already lifting his hoodie off of him, tugging at his shirt. She ignored the red creeping in her cheeks. “We don't know what potion hit you, but it's still on your shirt and hoodie. You can't leave those on in case it's dangerous. It could be explosive for all we know.”

That did the trick as Percy quickly stripped off his shirt, throwing it in a nearby trash can.

Piper snickered as she saw Annabeth eyeing Percy's chest with a look she was probably unaware she had on. Nudging her boyfriend, she convinced Jason to give Percy his jacket for the trip home. She figured Hazel would be less uncomfortable that way, and Annabeth wouldn't be as distracted.

Annabeth held Percy's hand as they walked back, cautiously studying him, looking for any idea of what effect the potion could have had. “I'm sorry.” She muttered softly to him.

Shaking his head, Percy smiled. “It's not your fault. It's a good thing we stopped them.”

The crew of the Argo II had decided to meet up to get some lunch. Even Reyna had joined them, since the leaders of both the Greek and roman camps had decided to meet up regularly in order to stay in contact, and maintain relationships to avoid future conflict the best they could. On the way, Annabeth had happened to notice some monsters sneaking off down an alley. Annabeth had said they should follow them, since gathering monsters usually meant some sort of problem that would try to kill them eventually. Reyna had agreed, and their course had been decided.

There they had found a backstreet market for monsters. All sorts of knick-knacks, potions, and spare weapons were sold there, along with fresh hot dogs. Everything a monster could need to slay some demi-gods. Figuring they couldn't leave it alone, they had launched a surprise attack on the small stand, destroying it. It turned out the owners weren't too happy with having their shop destroyed, so they had struck back.

Annabeth just stayed quiet, still studying him. “When we get back to camp, you're going straight to Chiron. We need to figure out what hit you. Maybe a hectate kid can help you too.”

Nodding his head, Percy smiled weakly. “Okay, mom.” He said with a small laugh.

Pouting, Annabeth wanted to call him out but she figured that having her boyfriend not freaking out about being splashed with some dangerous liquid was probably better than the alternative.

By the time the crew had managed to make it back to the camp, night was already falling. Percy had gone to Chiron to be checked out, by they hadn't been able to make heads or tails of what had hit Percy. Will had also confirmed that Percy still seemed to be in perfect health. That meant one of two things. Either the potion was harmless, it could have been a dud or just not affected him for some reason. Or that whatever it was had a specific trigger or a time delay.

Annabeth was terrified of the later, and refused to let Percy fall asleep. It had taken him convincing her for an hour that it was safe for him to sleep, that she could check on him in the morning. He had explained that he had absolute faith that Annabeth would have been able to handle any problems that could arise. He trusted her with his life.

They had kissed goodnight, with Annabeth threatening him that if anything happened to him while she slept she would never forgive her boyfriend.

After setting an early alarm, Annabeth finally headed to bed. She would wake up early and check on him. She wanted to stay up, but she knew that she had to get some sleep herself. She was exhausted, and if she didn't properly sleep she could miss something tomorrow if a problem did show itself.

XxXxXxXxX

In the cold morning, Annabeth hugged her arms close to herself as she padded across the camp softly. Her nerves were racing, but she needed to stay calm. She knew not to worry, Percy would be sleeping in his mess of a bed as usual, no big deal. As she crossed the camp, there were only a few campers up by this time. Some getting in some morning training, others looking for an early breakfast.

Annabeth side stepped a little boy who seemed lost. He was wearing a large camp half blood T-shirt a few sizes too big for him, and his shorts drooped past his knees. Annabeth figured he must have been a new camper, someone found young. It reminded her of herself when she first got here. Shaking her head, she pushed those memories from her mind. She could check on the kid later, she had to make sure her boyfriend was okay first.

Approaching his cabin, she knocked on the door but was surprise when it had swung open. His bed was empty, the seats thrown aside like he had gotten up normally. But his cabin was empty. Immediately Annabeth's heart kicked into overdrive. He could NOT be missing again. She would tear down Olympus herself if her boyfriend was missing. She was not going through that ordeal ever again. She began sprinting around the camp, looking for any sign of him. As she crossed back across the cabins, she saw the little boy from earlier crying on the ground. He sat on the ground, wiping away tears as he wailed.

Annabeth paused. She wanted to keep searching for her boyfriend, but the little boy was tugging at her maternal heartstrings. She couldn't just ignore a child's tears, especially if Percy just happened to be safe somewhere else in camp. There was plenty of places she hadn't checked yet.

With a sigh, she plastered on a smile as she stopped and knelt down, getting eye level with the little kid.

“Hey, is everything all right?” She asked gently. “What cabin are you from?” She asked, looking him over to try and find any sign of his parentage. Once she found his cabin, others could take care of him while she looked for her boyfriend.

He just sniffled. “I don't know. I want my mommy.”

Annabeth frowned, but she noticed his necklace and her blood turned to ice. There were far too many beads for a child his age. What was worse was she noticed a charm that only one camper had. A gift she had made herself.

“What's your name?” She asked, dreading the answer.

“P-Percy Jackson.” The boy answered, still wiping away tears.

Annabeth's stomach knotted. This wasn't good. This was not good at all. Her boyfriend was a child. A kid. Her blood had already turned to ice, but another, almost scarier thought crept into her mind.

“D... do you know who I am?” She asked gently.

The boy looked at her , frowning. “I... I don't...” He paused. “Annie?”

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. Normally she hated people calling her that, but considering his state she could give him a pass. “Annabeth.” Her heart was soaring at the fact he remembered her. That meant not everything was gone. Whatever had changed him hadn't completely removed who he was.

“Here, let's go see Mr. Chiron, okay?” She said gently, offering a hand. Her hero of a boyfriend was currently a little child. She was in way over her head.

Percy stepped back, pouting and shaking his head. “No! I wanna see my mom!”

“Percy...” Annabeth felt her heart breaking. He looked just like a lost little kid looking for his mom. He was a lost little kid looking for his mom.

“I want my mom!” He said, backing up a little more, looking like he was about to take off into a sprint. “I'm not supposed to talk to strangers... but I know you.” He said, looking confused if he couldn't decide if he remembered her or not.

Annabeth frowned, unsure of how to deal with this. She was never the best with kids, though she had decent practice from her years at the camp. “Okay, let's go see your mom, okay?” She said after a moment, a plan forming in her mind.

Percy nodded, taking the hand Annabeth had offered him.

Gently leading him along, she lead him to one of the fountains. Tossing in a Drachma, she spoke quickly. “Sally Jackson.” She said after her prayer to Iris.

The mist shimmered, before the image of Sally flickered into existence. Luckily she was already up, and was doing some dishes in the morning.

Looking up, Sally smiled at seeing Annabeth. “Well hello there dear. Is everything okay?” She asked, turning off the faucet and drying her hands.

“Hello Sally. Uh... I need you to not freak out. Everything is fine, mostly. But I'm going to need your help here...”

Before she could explain further, Percy had stepped forward, reaching towards the mist. “Mom!” He called out.

Sally's expression turned to surprise, a look of fear crossing her face for just a moment, before Annabeth saw her put on a sweet smile. “Hello Percy, is everything okay?”

Percy just shook his head, balling up his fists. “I want to go home. I don't like it here. I miss you! I want food!” He began to complain, shaking as if he was going to start crying again.

Sally looked like she wanted to take him into her arms. “Shh... honey. It's okay.” Her voice caught in her throat a bit, as she cast a worry glance over to Annabeth. “Percy, mommy is a little far away right now, okay? Now I need you to be a good boy, and listen to Annabeth. She's going to take care of you today. If you behave, I'll even let her give you some cookies, okay?” Sally reasoned.

Percy's eyes widened as a toothy grin formed on his face. “Okay! But they have to be blue!”

Sally smiled, tears threatening the corners of her eyes. “Of course.”

Annabeth stepped forward. “Thank you Sally, I swear to you on the river Styx, we will get him back to normal.”

Sally just nodded her head. “I know you will. Just... keep him safe will you? I know he can be a bit of a handful at that age, but he's a good kid. I promise you.” She said, trying to stay strong after seeing her child forced to such a young age again.

Annabeth smiled softly. “Don't worry, I'm used to dealing with him.”

Sally just laughed. “I know. Keep me updated, okay? Tell him to call me when he is back to normal so I can see it with my own eyes.” Annabeth nodded. “Oh and... take some pictures? I didn't get to take too many while Gabe was around. It's not the same but...” She trailed off, a playful smile on her face.

Laughing, Annabeth nodded. “Okay.”

Sally thought for a moment, noticing the image starting to fade. “If nothing is working try singing!” She called out at the end, just before the image cut out.

Annabeth froze, she wasn't exactly the best singer. Hopefully that wouldn't come up.

“Come on Percy, let's go see Chiron then we can get you some breakfast, okay?” She said, holding out her hand.

Percy stared at her a moment, debating, before he nodded and took her hand, letting her lead him across the camp.

A few minutes later and Chiron was kneeling down on his front legs, looking at Percy who seemed to think Chiron was the coolest thing. He glanced over at Annabeth. “So it seems we found out the effects of the potion.” He said wryly.

Annabeth had her heads in her hands. “Not the worst thing that could have happened, but we need to fix him. I can't be dating a 7 year old.” She said, her tone dripping with concern for Percy. She wanted nothing more than to find a way to cure him.

Chiron offered a small smile. “Certainly not the worst outcome. It seems it was a potion that regressed his age, but his health seems to be perfectly fine. Though his memories seem shaky. He remembered you, but not I nor most of the camp. I fear if we leave him like this for too long he may not regain them all. I'll consult my texts and see what I can come up with to reverse it. For now... supervise him today, will you? You're free from your duties, so just babysit him please. While we have plenty of young campers, I don't feel comfortable treating him like others. Both due to his popularity, and his habit of finding trouble.”

Annabeth nodded. “I'm on it.” She glanced over at Percy, who was currently wandering over towards one of the ornamental spears in the house. Her eyes widened as she rushed over, scooping him up into her arms. Today was going to be a long day, she just knew it.

Chiron just shook his head. “Good luck.”

Percy just looked up at Annabeth, flashing her a spotted grin.

Annabeth nearly squealed with how cute he looked. “Let's go get some food, okay?”

Percy threw his arms up in a cheer. “Yay! I want pancakes!”

Annabeth just laughed, walking out with him in her arms.

About half an hour later, Percy sat happily in Annabeth's lap. The benches were a little low, so he sat on her lap so he could eat comfortably. She just gently played with his hair, watching him with an amused smirk as he made a mess with his blueberry blue pancakes. He also had blue milk to wash it down with. He seemed to be in heaven.

Originally Annabeth had considered trying to hide Percy's... change, but she knew that she wouldn't have been able to keep up the con for long. Too many people knew him and would look for him if he just vanished suddenly. Especially if Annabeth was gone as well. So instead, she decided to weather the storm, though she put up with zero crap from anyone about it. If her boyfriend was stuck as a child, she was going to spoil him until they could fix it.

They had only ate at his table for a little while before the rest of the crew had shown up. Piper had been first, curious as to who the child Annabeth had been eating with was. Her jaw had dropped when she had seen Percy, beginning to freak out before Annabeth could explain. Soon Piper had calmed down as well. She was instantly on board with the idea of spoiling him. At least after being reassured that Percy was in fact okay, and they were working on a way to reverse it. She had taken her seat across from Annabeth, watching Percy with an amused smile.

Jason had been the next to show up, following his girlfriend. Any amusement that may have come with seeing Percy as a kid was drowned out by concern for him at first. Annabeth had assured him as soon Jason was also mildly amused by Percy, at least until Piper started commenting that she wish she could see Jason as a kid.

Not long after, Frank and Hazel had shown up. Frank had been too shocked to properly speak, while Hazel had reacted similarly to Jason. Soon though, she had moved over with a napkin and cleaned up the mess Percy was making with a gentle smile.

Leo had been the last to show up, having slept in late. He took it in stride the best, already getting a dangerous glint in his eyes. “Oh man, I have the best toys for him back in my cabin.” Before Annabeth could protest, Leo had already run off, cackling, leaving Calypso who pretty much reacted like Hazel, beginning to mother Percy.

Piper had taken Percy into her lap so Annabeth could get her own breakfast.

They had all tried to gauge how much of each of them Percy remembered, and were amused by the results.

He called Piper “the pretty lady”, and was rather attached to her. Jason he had quickly announced that he didn't like and called him “Stupid.” This caused Jason to gasp in shock as Piper burst out into uncontrolled laughter.

He called Hazel “Hazy”, and just kept calling Frank cool. He liked them a lot.

When Leo had returned, Percy had remembered his name, but was much more fascinated by the fact he had two new actions figures to play with, ones that would actually beat up each other on their own.

He referred to Calypso as Cally the entire time, and just said she smelled nice and reminded him of his mom.

Eventually Annabeth had finished her breakfast, pouting slightly with all the attention Percy was giving the others while he didn't seem to remember her. “You still remember me, right?” She asked, attempting to hide the hurt in her voice.

Percy had just climbed in her lap, giving her that toothy grin. “You're annabee... annabe... Annabeth! I remember that you're the best of them all.” He said with a snicker.

Annabeth just grinned. “Good answer. Now let's go play.” She said, helping him up as she took his hand and began to lead him towards the beach. She figured she needed to keep him as far away as she could front the archery range, lava wall, and the arena. With his luck, too much could go wrong.

They had decided to take shifts in baby sitting him, letting the others either try to help Chiron come up with a cure, or attend to their various duties throughout the day.

Piper and Jason had decided to take the first shift. Piper was chatting with him in the nearby field, teaching him to make flower crowns while Jason helped. Itching to get some practice in, Jason had moved off to the side to practice his sword play. This of course immediately drew Percy's attention.

Piper glared at her boyfriend as she held Percy's shoulders. They couldn't let him use a real sword, and they were just glad he hadn't realized he had one in his pocket. Eventually after a few tears from Percy, and some quick thinking, Jason had managed to find two wooden practice swords.

Of course Jason just blocked Percy's attack, but apparently losing ten years hadn't done much to curb his enthusiasm. The little boy had been swinging with all his strength, and had no qualms about bruising the hell out of Jason's legs. Eventually Jason had taken the dive and let Percy “defeat” him. Percy stood with one foot on Jason's chest, holding his wooden sword up. Piper of course had taken a picture and clapped her hands. She had made sure to get a camera from Leo right away, there was no way this was going to pass without evidence.

Eventually though their shift ended, and Frank and Hazel had tagged in. Frank had shown him his ability to change into animals, which instantly made him Percy's new favorite boy. Hazel had just laughed, before she had an idea. She quickly made her way across the camp, leaving Percy to continue his piggy back ride on a bear. Normally a poor choice for someone in charge a kid to make, but Frank was responsible.

A few minutes she had returned, a redhead in tow.

“Oh my gods. It's true.” Rachel had said suddenly. Without hesitation she ran over, lifting up Percy and swinging him in a circle. Percy just giggled and cheered, happy.

Setting him down, she giggled as he wandered around dizzy.

Meanwhile Hazel had finished setting up what she had brought. She had gotten some large pads of paper, and a punch of paint from Rachel. Immediately Percy's eyes widened and ran over, eager to start painting. He was about to start, when he paused and set down the brush. He stood up, holding his hands together as he looked up at Rachel and Hazel with large pleading eyes. “Is it okay if I use your colors and paint?” He asked politely. “My mom says I'm supposed to ask first.”

Rachel and Hazel just melted into maternal jellies. “Of course.” Rachel managed to say, laughing as she saw Percy's eyes light up like it was Christmas. He quickly gave both her and Hazel a hug before he settled down and started painting. He was chaotic, but having a blast. He even had Frank change into a few animals for him to paint a portrait of, which Frank was willing to oblige.

Rachel and Hazel settled down, chatting happily about how cute Percy was being while they worked on their own art.

A little while passed, and Leo showed up, dragging a rather large bag behind him. Percy had made an absolute mess, and had spots of paint all over his clothes and cheeks.

At the sight of the bag, Frank had stood up and moved in front of Percy, just to be safe.

Leo waved him off. “Relax, these are safe. I'm dealing with a kid after all.”

Squatting down, he grinned at Percy. “Do you wanna see the coolest toys?”

Once again Percy's eyes widened, nodding eagerly.

Leo just grinned and let out a whistle. The bag opened up and a small army of toys began marching out in a line, one at a time. Percy gasped with each one. “Those are so cool!”

Leo grinned. “I know right?”

Hazel paused. “Did you make all those today? You only found out about Percy being a kid a few hours ago...”

Leo rubbed the back of his neck. “Uhh... I may have been working on these for a while.” Hazel just shook her head with a small smile. Percy knelt down, looking at them. “Can I play with them?” He asked.

Calypso just walked up, smiling. “He's surprisingly well behaved.”

Leo nodded. “Go wild! But check this out. Number 1, kick number 2!” The small figures hummed with life as one of them walked over and planted a kick in the chest of another, knocking it onto the ground.

Percy practically exploded with happiness. Immediately Percy had divide out the figurines between Leo and himself as they started shouting commands, getting the two sets of robots to fight each other.

Joining Hazel and Rachel, Calypso sat down with a smile watching Percy.

“It seemed he was much better behaved back when he still listened to his mom.” Piper remarked with a laugh. Calypso and Hazel both laughed as they watched the boys play. Before long, even Frank had gotten involved, being drawn in at the idea of commanding an army.

They continued to fight, calling out commands. Eventually though, one figure took two many hits and when it was punched, exploded into smaller gears and sprayed some oil around.

Immediately Percy burst out into tears, wailing. In a heart beat, Piper had closed the distance and wrapped him up in a tight hug. “Shh it's okay honey.”

Percy just continued to cry, before looking at Leo. “I-I-I'm S-Sorry!” He choked out between sobs.

Leo was just staring wide eyed. He wasn't the best at dealing with crying kids. “It's fine! I can fix it. They were made to get broken after a while.”

Percy slowly stopped crying, sniffling. “R-Really? You aren't mad?”

Leo nodded, grinning. “This is a battle right? The robots are going to break, don't worry about it. I'll fix them up tonight and they'll be just like new!”

Percy wiped away some tears. He was quiet for a moment, making them all pause. “3! Kick 5 in the face!” Soon the battle had started up again, every once in a while a figurine breaking.

Piper had moved back to Rachel and Calypso. The girls were giggling at Percy's joyous expression once again.

After a few moments though, Piper's smile faded. “They can fix him, right? Like, don't get me wrong. Percy is super cute as a kid, but I miss his normal laugh. Plus I don't think I can handle baby sitting duty for years.”

Rachel and Hazel's faces both turned more somber. “Chiron will find a way. Magic made him younger, that means there's a way to reverse it.” Hazel explained.

Just then Annabeth had walked up. “It's lunch time.” She told everyone, looking over Percy carefully. He still seemed fine, which caused her to let out a sigh of relief. In truth, she didn't want to leave his side at all, but she knew the best thing she could do was to help Chiron with research.

Percy stood up and rushed over. “Annabeth! You missed it! Pipes made me a crown! Then I beat up Jason!” This caused a smirk to play at her lips. Even as a kid, it seemed Percy didn't change much. “Then Frank turned into a massive dog!”

“Bear.” Hazel chimed in helpfully.

“Then Hazy brought back Ra... raa...Red! She brought over Red who let me paint! Then Leo showed his toys! They are SO COOL! They can kick and everything!” He continued to rattle off.

Annabeth just patted his hair. “That sounds like you had fun.”

Percy nodded. “But I missed you.”

Annabeth looked away, blushing slightly as Piper and Calypso burst out into giggles at her expression.

Finally noticing his state, she frowned. “You're all messy.” She said, shooting an accusing look at Rachel and Leo, who both shrunk away slightly.

This time Calypso stood up, walking over and grabbing Percy's hand. “Come on, let's go get cleaned up then we can some lunch, okay?”

“Okay!” He said happily as he followed Calypso back towards camp.

“Any progress?” Piper asked Annabeth carefully, noticing the blonde's worried gaze at Percy's retreating form.

Annabeth nodded. “We found a promising lead. It's out of my understanding so Chiron is trying to follow it. Thanks for watching him, he can't sit still as a teen, I doubt he could sit in a library as a kid.”

She paused, before snapping. “That reminds me.” She quickly made her way over towards Percy's cabin, pulling out a coin. Tossing it into the fountain she offered a prayer to Iris.

“Thalia Grace please.”

After a moment the mist shimmered and revealed a raven haired girl packing up a tent.

Thalia noticed Annabeth and grinned. “Hey Annabeth, what's up?”

Annabeth's shoulders drooped as her gaze fell. A heavy sigh escaped her as she felt the tough facade she had been keeping up starting to crack.

Immediately Thalia's grin shifted to a look of concern as she dropped her pack, focusing solely on Annabeth. “What's wrong? Did you have a fight with Percy? Did he-”

Quickly shaking her head, Annabeth took another breath.

“We didn't have a fight... but it is Percy.” She said. She paused for a moment. “I need your help.”

Thalia nodded. “Of course. Now will you tell me what's going on?”

Annabeth nodded. “Well, you see we kinda ran into these monsters. They were having a garage sale or something...”

Thalia quirked an eyebrow.

“Anyway, one of them threw a potion at me, but Percy just had to be a hero and jumped in front.”

Immediately Thalia tensed. “Is he okay?” She asked quickly. She turned her head, barking an order at some other hunters.

Annabeth's gaze dropped. “Physically... mostly. He's... he's turned into a kid.” She spit out.

Thalia staggered, clearly not expecting that sentence. Her gaze rapidly shifted between amused and concerned, before settling on some mix of the two. “He's a kid?”

Annabeth nodded. “Like 7 years old.”

“So not much changed?” Thalia said with a grin.

Annabeth's eyes snapped to her adoptive sister's, glaring at her. “This isn't funny! I'm so worried. What if we can't fix it? What if he's stuck? All because I was too slow to rea-”

“Annabeth!” Thalia interrupted loudly, snapping her out of her spiral. “I'm sorry, I know this isn't a joke. Trust me, I want to help him too. However I can. What can I do, I know you called for a reason.”

Annabeth nodded, running a hand through her hair. “Chiron has an idea of something that might work. But he needs a certain ingredient, a rare rabbit that is in the area... I remember hearing you guys were close. You are hunters after all... I was hoping maybe...”

Thalia just grinned. “No worries, we got this. Artemis just left off for some important meeting, leaving us on break for a little. I was actually thinking about swinging by so I'm in the area. Now describe this rabbit to me again?”

Annabeth quickly went through the description Chiron had given her.

Thalia nodded. “That's what I thought. I know exactly what you are talking about. I'll snag one over and be there in a few hours.”

Annabeth let out a shaky breath of relief. “Thank you Thalia... seriously. I just...”

Grinning, the punk hunter just offered the blonde a warm smile. “Hey, it's okay. We'll fix this. I'll bring you this rabbit and we'll get whatever else Chiron needs. Now I need to go, have fun baby sitting!” Thalia called out before moving a hand through the message, ending it.

Feeling a new surge of confidence, Annabeth moved back towards the dining hall.

This time she saw Percy sitting on Calypso's lap while chewing on a sandwich. When Annabeth showed up his eyes lit up and he quickly hopped down, running over and giving her a bit hug.

Smirking, Annabeth pat his head gently, unable to return the hug since he was wrapped around her legs. “I missed you too. Now finish your lunch, okay?”

Percy nodded, quickly running back and clambering onto Calypso to eat again.

Annabeth sat down next to him, dropping her head into her arms with a small sigh. She found Percy absolutely adorable as a kid, but the more time that passed, the more she missed his more mature goofy smirk. She just wanted her seaweed brain back.

Gently moving over, Piper rubbed Annabeth's back reassuringly.

Lunch came and went, and soon Percy was running through the camp again, fascinated by all the cool “toys.” Leo had to personally steer him away from the rock wall, explaining that Annabeth would throw him into the lava if he so much as let Percy break a sweat from the heat of it.

Not watching where he was going, a few minutes later the boy crashed into the legs of someone, bouncing off and landing on his butt. He sniffled once, holding up his scratched hands. It was clear he was trying not to cry.

In a moment Annabeth had swooped to his side, gently brushing dirt off his hands.

“Watch it ki- Oh, Percy? I heard what had happened.” Clarisse's voice rang out, a teasing lilt in it.

“Not today, La Rue.” Annabeth warned.

Clarisse just laughed. “What? I heard he's fine. He's just finally acting more like his age. It seems appropriate.”

Annabeth stood up, her fists clenching as her hand inched towards the dagger she had on her belt.

Clarisse stared at him for a moment longer, before sighing. “Just... let me know if I can help, okay? It... wouldn't be fun pulverizing him as a kid.”

This disarmed Annabeth. She nodded, surprised. “Okay.”

Just huffing, the daughter of Ares walked back towards her cabin.

Annabeth watched her, tilting her head. Had she actually come to check on Percy?

“So It's true.” Another voice rang out, causing Annabeth to turn around. “Percy really is a child again.” Reyna said, a curious brow raised.

Annabeth ran a hand through her hair again. “Yeah. We're trying to fix that.”

Reyna frowned, crossing her arms as she looked at Percy. “You shouldn't run around camp, you could get hurt, you know? You should behave yourself and stay quiet so they can help you.”

Percy ducked his head, stepping behind Annabeth and hiding behind her, peaking around her legs.

Annabeth rested a hand on his head, gently playing with his hair. She shot a mild glare at Reyna. “You're scaring him, you don't need to be so strict with him. He doesn't know better.” She defended him.

Reyna raised an eyebrow. “And you're babying him. He should be better behaved than that at least. I saw him running all across camp. There are too many dangers here for a kid to be running around. Even campers his age are better behaved.”

Annabeth's eyes narrowed slightly. “They also have had the opportunity to learn what it's like at this camp. From what I can tell, he's still used to living at home with his mom. This is probably like a normal summer camp to him.”

Reyna just rolled her eyes. “You're too soft with him.” She paused for a moment, glancing down at the boy staring at her terrified behind the blonde. Realizing he was making eye contact with Reyna, he quickly let out a small eek before hiding behind Annabeth again. Reyna frowned, before squatting down.

“Hey, I'm sorry for scaring you. Would you like a lollipop?” She said, producing a sucker she had grabbed from the camp store. Strict or not, Percy was still her friend and she was worried about him in such a state. She did want to help him after all. He had done so much for the world, he didn't deserve this.

Percy paused, looking up at Annabeth confused. Seeing her nod with a smile, Percy quickly stepped out from behind her and walked over to Reyna slowly reaching out and grabbing it. He grinned at the blue color as he took off the wrapper. After a moment he had paused, just before it was in his mouth.

“Thank you Reyna.” He said politely before popping it in his mouth. Reyna grinned, messing up his hair a little before standing up.

Annabeth grinned at her approvingly, before placing her hand on Percy's back and leading him back towards the beach. Looking over her shoulder at Reyna, she grinned. “We're having a picnic on the beach. Join us.” She said, not really leaving room for discussion.

Reyna opened her mouth to protest but found Annabeth already walking away, leading Percy along. Letting out a sigh, she adjusted her hair before following behind Annabeth.

When Reyna caught up with Annabeth after changing, she saw Percy already playing in the surf near the water's edge. Hazel had laid out a large blanket while Frank, Jason, and Piper were all setting out food they had gotten from the pavilion. Annabeth stood on the edge of the surf, fidgeting nervously with the hem of her shirt she wore over her swimsuit. Idly, some part of Reyna's mind registered the fact that shirt was too large to be hers and was probably one of Percy's.

Leo was off to the side, assembling something that was looking suspiciously like an ice cream machine, and she even saw Will and Nico off to the side, resting in the shade of the nearby trees. They were chatting happily, bringing a small smile to Reyna's face. She had come to appreciate any time she could see a smile on the boy's face after all they went through. Opting to take a seat near Frank and Hazel, she watched Piper stand up, an amused smirk shot towards Annabeth.

Piper quickly made her way over to Annabeth with a wry smile. “Indecisive?”

Annabeth jumped slightly, having been too lost in her own thoughts to properly register Piper's approach. “Piper!” She squeaked out, before shaking her head. “I'm just not sure how safe I need to be with him. He has no idea he can control water, but I doubt his father would let him drown. He wants to play in the water, but I'm scared if I let him out of my sight he's going to end up playing at the bottom of the sea and we'd never be able to get him back.” She explained with a frustrated sigh. The only thing that could make her worry about her seaweed brain more, would be if he lost control of his powers. Normally she knew he was powerful enough to find a way out of any situation, but she couldn't even count on that anymore.

Shaking her head, Piper threw an arm over Annabeth's shoulder. “Relax. It's just a kid playing on the beach. I'm sure the water will still behave for him, and the Naiads wouldn't let anything happen to him.”

Annabeth looked at Piper, before slowly nodding. “You're probably right.”

“Of course I am.” Piper said with a snicker. It was amusing that the one thing that could cause the level-headed, always prepared Annabeth to get flustered was her boyfriend. Love truly was a scary thing. “See? They're looking out for hi-” Piper started out gesturing towards the Naiads who were approaching the little Percy with a smile. She was cut off as one of them quickly grabbed Percy, before yanking him deep into the water. Both Piper and Annabeth stood next to each other, jaws dropped.

“Surely they're just playing, right?” Piper asked with a nervous chuckle.

There was the sound of scrambling as Jason stumbled up to them. “Was that Percy? Did he just get pulled to the bottom of the sea? Can he even breathe underwater right now?”

Annabeth's hand fluttered around her body, looking for any sort of knife. “That's it. I'm killing them. I'm killing every Naiad in this entire lake.”

Piper was suddenly grateful bikini's were devoid of many opportunities to stash weapons, as she wasn't sure Annabeth needed a weapon on her until they figured out what was happening with Percy.

“Fra-” Annabeth started, pausing as she saw the large boy sprinting down the beach. Getting as far as he could on two feet, she saw him jump before changing mid air into a dolphin. Just as he was about to dive under, the water in the lake exploded upwards.

Annabeth nearly collapsed in relief as she saw Percy laughing and smiling, holding onto a harness as he rode a sea creature. It was fine. The Naiads had just given him a ride on... a...

“Is he on a shark?” Leo asked, raising his goggles and looking up.

Annabeth felt her blood turn to ice again. “They put a child on a shark.” She stormed over to Leo, holding out her hand. “Give me the sharpest thing you have on you. We're having seafood tonight.” She muttered, expectantly.

Leo backed up, raising his hands. “I'm not sure you should be around anything sharp, and that's coming from me.”

Piper quickly made her way over to Annabeth, resting a hand on her friends shoulder as she let a little charm speak slip into her words. “Relax, Annabeth. They're just playing. Percy is having fun and they aren't putting him in any serious danger.” Piper felt a tad guilty on using her powers on Annabeth, but she knew that Annabeth wasn't thinking clearly due to the day she's been having, and she was also pretty sure Chiron wouldn't appreciate a war between demigods and Naiads. Nor would Percy's father for that matter.

Annabeth glared at Piper for a moment. “It's a shark! And don't charm speak me.” She snapped, before she sighed and dropped her shoulders. “Fine. But we're getting him off a shark. I'm not dealing with that today.”

Piper nodded, turning back to see Frank already letting Percy climb on his back as a dolphin, squeaking happily as he began to drag Percy around the lake.

Placing both her hands on Annabeth's shoulders, Piper shoved her back towards the blanket. “Now you need to sit down, have a sandwich, and just relax.”

Annabeth grumbled a bit, but listened to her friend, finally taking a seat. Percy was in Frank's hands, and he was responsible. The blonde had barely sat for a few seconds before she found a plate with sandwiches and chips being placed with her hands, a reassuring smile from Hazel helping ease her nerves.

Annabeth let herself be distracted by the ebb and flow of the conversation, her eyes still practically scanning Percy every few seconds. She still didn't trust the naiads, but Frank was on duty and Annabeth trusted him. He was too big of a softie to put him in any danger. Plus, he had that whole descendant of the sea god thing going on for him too. The water was his terrain.

Eventually Hazel flagged down Frank, telling him to get some food himself too.

Frank swam one last lap before leading Percy back to the beach. Setting him down, Frank changed back and gratefully took the towel from his girlfriend as he began to dry off.

Annabeth quickly walked over, squatting down and toweling off Percy. It seemed he didn't have perfect control of his powers, considering he was still wet after swimming. Percy just giggled and squirmed as he tried to free himself but Annabeth just laughed and kept up her assault with the fluffy towel.

Eventually satisfied that Percy was dry enough to not soak everything on their blanket, she led him over to the food.

Without hesitation, Percy began to pile food onto his plate, with a little help from the others, before he wandered over and sat in Annabeth's lap and began to happily eat it. Letting her eyes shut, feeling him safe within her grasp, Annabeth tried to relax. This day had been taxing in so many ways, she was ready for it to be over. Last she heard, they were just waiting on the delivery from Thalia for the final ingredient before they could hopefully fix Percy.

Percy would be safe. He would be back to normal soon. She would have her normal seaweed brain back. She missed him so much. It just wasn't the same.

Eventually it was getting darker, so everyone began to pack up their stuff. They would have a bonfire tonight, so they had to get ready for it. Frank had been watching Percy while the rest packed up, until Leo had gotten his help dismantling the ice cream machine he had made for a desert for them all.

Percy was standing in place, obediently. His mom had told him to listen to Annabeth, so he would! He would stay put while they finished putting away their toys. Then Annabeth had promised him something yummy. But that was when he saw it.

He wasn't quite sure what it was, but it was small and furry. Biting his lip, Percy felt a conflict inside him. He knew he should behave and listen to Annabeth, but he was so curious. He couldn't get the little creature out of his mind.

The creature squeaked at him, before turning and running towards the woods.

He HAD to know what that creature was. Turning to Annabeth, who was busy helping out Hazy anyway, he muttered a “I'll be right back.” He told her he would be gone, so it was okay, right? His mom always said she just wanted to know where he was.

Turning, he ran off into the forest, chasing the squeaking creature.

XxXxXxXxX

“Thanks for waiting!” Frank said politely to Percy, turning back around. He dropped the wrench he had been holding, feeling his heart stop. “Percy?” He called quietly, looking around. The kid was gone.

Annabeth was going to be furious. He was dead. This was the end of his life. Not that stupid stick, no, it was losing her child-boyfriend.

“Annabeth?”

“Hmm?” She asked, a smile on her face from Piper's joke.

“I can't find Percy.” Frank admitted.

Instantly the group froze in place. They all looked to Annabeth after a moment.

“What?” Annabeth tried to keep her voice calm and level.

“I turned around for a moment, and he said he was going to stay still, but he's gone...”

Annabeth just dropped her head into her hands. Why couldn't today have gone easy, just for once?

“Percy's in the woods!” Juniper said, suddenly emerging from the forest. She looked a bit out of breath.

“I heard what happened, and I just saw him roaming through there, and I don't think he should be alo-” She trailed off as Annabeth sprinted past her, calling out a combination of thanks, and Greek curses to just about everything.

Annabeth stumbled through the trees. He couldn't have gotten far. He was just a kid, and it wasn't like he was trying to run away. She figured he must have found something that sparked his interest. But why today of all days. They had stocked the woods with creatures for practicing hunting just the other day. The woods were far too dangerous for a kid to be wandering in a lone.

Feeling her heart rate kick into over drive, Annabeth was torn between shouting Percy's name for his attention, and staying quiet to avoid stirring any threats that could be nearby. That was when she heard a loud wail.

XxXxXxXxX

Percy scrambled backwards, staring at the large doggie growling at him. It was utterly massive. It had a muzzle on it, but it's sharp claws were still free.

“Mommy! Annabeth!” He cried out desperately, stumbling over branches away from it.

The beast let out a muffled roar as it lunged, swiping a claw at Percy.

Just before it could have struck him, he felt something wrap him up and tackle him away. He let out a short wail as the forest floor scratched him up, but he was suddenly held tightly against someone. All he could see was a mess of blonde hair in his face.

Clutching Percy close, Annabeth was a bit wide-eyed and frantic. She had just barely made it in time, if she hadn't gotten to Percy...

Shaking her head, she didn't have time to dwell on that. They had nearly died countless times before now. She needed to deal with this beast first. Thankfully it was muzzled, but she was still unarmed.

Another muffled roar, and the beast lunged again.

Riptide sprang to her mind, realizing Percy must still have it on him, but it was too late. She didn't have time to find it as the beast lunged. Turning around, she huddled over Percy to protect him and braced for the impact.

But it never came.

Peaking over her shoulder, she saw 3 silvery arrows sticking out of the neck of the hound. It stumbled around in protest, snarling the best it could.

It raised it claws over Annabeth for one last attack when Annabeth smelt the familiar smell of ozone. A second later and the beast erupted into a flash of electricity, before it crumpled to dust on the ground.

Thalia emerged, looking pissed off. For good measure, she shot one last arrow into the beast.

She immediately ran over to Annabeth, carefully examining her, and the boy for cuts.

“Are you two all right?” She asked, a desperate panic in her voice.

Annabeth nodded. “Don't worry, I'm fine.” Stepping back, she was about to check Percy over when she felt Thalia pull her into her arms for a very tight hug.

“That was too close.” Thalia mumbled softly, running her hand through Annabeth's hair for a moment. Getting her fill of assurance that Annabeth was in fact fine, Thalia pulled back and shifted her gaze to the little boy.

Little Percy was just standing there, sniffling as he cried and wiped away tears with balled up fists. “I just want to go home. I don't like this anymore.”

Thalia felt her heartstrings tug at the scene. The boy she usually found both infuriating and admirable was reduced to a terrified kid. She may have sworn of romantic love, but that didn't mean that her maternal instincts were gone. It reminded her of when she had just found Annabeth with Luke.

The sound of a branch breaking somewhere near by, had all of three of them jump. In a moment, Annabeth had Percy in her arms again, as she fished around his pocket for riptide. Thalia summoned her bow again, spinning around. “Now is not the time.” She snarled, not in the mood for any more monsters.

“Peace.” A girl said, stepping out with her hands raised. It was a young girl, dressed in similar hunting gear to Thalia.

Recognizing one of the other huntresses, Thalia stowed her bow. “Tell them to go set up camp. We'll be staying for a few days. I'll let Artemis know of our plans.” She ordered. Thalia watched the girl nod before she turned and vanished back into the woods.

Turning back, Thalia saw Annabeth had managed to stop Percy from crying. At the moment she held him in her arms, his legs around her waist as he wrapped his arms around her neck and buried his head into her neck.

“I've got the rabbit. Let's go back.” Thalia offered gently, carefully watching Annabeth's expression. It was pretty obvious how stressed and emotionally drained Annabeth was. Thalia was extremely worried about Percy, and she could hardly imagine how Annabeth must be feeling after seeing her boyfriend in that state, then almost losing him moments ago.

Annabeth just nodded meekly before she began to walk back. She held Percy just a little bit closer to her, whispering soft reassurances in his ear. “You're so brave. You can go home soon.” She said quietly.

Before long, Annabeth emerged out of the woods, seeing the rest of their little crew. Immediately they rushed towards her, looking both at her and Percy.

“We were looking for you, then the hunters told us you were safe and leaving. Are both of you okay?” Hazel asked worriedly.

Annabeth nodded. “We're fine. We just... need to fix him soon.” She said gently, hoping no one noticed her voice cracking. Judging by their expressions, they did.

An hour later, and Chiron was preparing the potion while Annabeth sat with Percy around the campfire. She had wanted him to get some sleep, but Chiron insisted that he have the potion before he slept for the night, citing that he didn't know if the spell could be worse if Percy went to sleep again. He doubted it was the case, but Annabeth figured better safe than sorry. She wouldn't gamble with Percy's life.

Plus, the boy had been uncharacteristically quiet since the incident, so she had hoped to raise his spirits. It seemed the campfire had done just that, luckily. Percy was happily dancing in front of her as they all worked through their sing-alongs. His shirt was stained with the remains of the smores he had consumed, and a stain from when he had gotten a bit too eager drinking his blue coke.

Aside from having to herd him away from the fire he kept wandering too close to, Annabeth was glad to see him laughing again. She just desperately wished to hear his normal deeper laugh that she had come to adore.

Piper had an arm around her shoulder, reassuringly rubbing it as she also laughed at the young Percy cheering as he waved his arms, currently getting a piggyback ride from Thalia.

Thankfully, Chiron had approached them with a small cup half way through one of their songs.

“It's done. I've had all the best brewers at the camp double check, this should fix him up swiftly.” She handed Annabeth the cup. “Make sure he drinks all of it, to be safe.”

Annabeth could hardly contain her excitement. She had almost started crying at just finally hearing the good news.

“Percy!” She called out, grabbing the boy's attention as he ran over quickly, stumbling a bit.

“What's up Annabeth?” He asked eagerly, before a yawn escaped him. He rubbed his eyes, swaying slightly.

She had noticed his dancing had slowed down recently, she figured his busy day was finally wearing down even his stamina.

“I need you to do me a favor.” She said gently, kneeling down to be eye level with him.

Yawning again, Percy nodded. “Okay. Mommy told me to listen to you anyway.” He muttered, still rubbing his eyes.

Biting her lip, Annabeth put aside how utterly adorable he looked at the moment. Though, judging by the camera flash that happen to her right, Piper had managed to grab a picture to remember.

“I need you to drink this for me. This will help you feel better.”

Percy nodded, reaching for the cup. He smelled it, before he scrunched up his face and shoved the cup back into Annabeth's hands. “That smells bad! I don't want to!” He muttered defiantly.

Suppressing the frustration, Annabeth tried to stay calm. Screaming at the child that he desperately needed to drink it to get back to normal and give her her seaweed brain back wouldn't help the situation. Desperation called for desperate measures. “If you drink it all, you can have another smore, and on our way back to bed I promise to grab you some blue candy. I won't even tell Sally!” She promised.

His eyes widened. “Do you promise? I don't want to get in trouble.” He said, his eyes slightly more awake, and skeptical now.

Annabeth nodded, holding out her pinky. “I pinky promise.”

Percy stared at her for a moment, before hooking his pinky with hers for the promise. “You promised.” He said, before taking the cup.

Annabeth just let out a sigh of relief. So yeah, she bribed a child with a bunch of sweets right before bed to make her life easier. So sue her.

Percy sniffed it once before grimacing again. But he looked at Annabeth, and then managed to quickly drink all of it. He blanched, very clearly unhappy with the taste.

Annabeth quickly messed with his hair, giving him a kiss on the forehead. “Good job! I'm proud of you.”

Percy just grinned. “You promised!” Nodding, Annabeth turned to make another smore when she found Piper handing her a freshly prepared one already. Flashing her a grateful smile, she gave it to the eager child who immediately began making a mess as he tried to eat it too quickly.

Laughing, Annabeth just leaned back and tried to hold back the tears of relief. Percy had drank the potion. He would be fine. He would finally be okay.

A little while later and it was getting late. Normally they would all be up a little longer, but Percy was yawning constantly and sitting patiently at her side.

Turning to her friends, she patted Percy's head. “It's probably well past his bedtime. I'm going to get him in to bed. I'll see you all tomorrow with Percy as good as new hopefully.” They all said goodbye, many of them giving Percy a hug.

Walking back, she was surprised to feel Percy stop walking. “You promised me candy.” He muttered, holding his ground with his tired eyes surprisingly defiant.

Annabeth paused, she had forgotten about that. The camp store would be closed by now. Chewing her lip for a moment, she quickly considered her options.

Scooping up Percy into her arms to save time, she quickly made her way over and found the pair of twins she was looking for. “Connor!” She called out quickly, getting his attention. “I need a favor. I need you to get me some blue candy. I made a promise.” She explained, glancing at Percy who had perked up at the mention of candy.

Connor had a grin on. “You'll owe me.” He said.

Annabeth shivered at the thought. Being in debt to the stolls was usually a bad thing, one that almost always lead to getting in trouble. “Fine.”

Connor saluted, before quickly disappearing into the night. A few minutes later, Connor returned with a bag of candy, amazingly all of it was blue.

Raising it to Annabeth, he smirked. “Your order madam”

Annabeth shifted Percy to rest in one arm as her other one fell to the handle of her dagger. “I swear if there is even one piece of candy that's slightly off in that bag, you will wish you were lucky enough to be forced back into being a kid instead. Do not try me tonight.”

Connor raised his hands in a peace offering. “Hey! This is legit. Didn't even steal it. Tonight, at least. Just trying to get a kid some candy, a noble cause if I've ever heard of one.” He paused, before his smile shifted from mischievous to genuine. “Besides, I do want to see Percy back to normal too. Come on, I'm not heartless.” He offered.

Taken back a bit by his honestly, Annabeth nodded. “Thank you, for real.”

Connor just waved as he went back to join his brother.

Annabeth handed a few pieces to Percy as they made the long trek back to his cabin.

“What now?” Percy asked, as well as he could with his mouth on a lollipop.

“It's past your bedtime. I let you stay up, but you need to sleep.”

Percy's eyes widened as he began to squirm in her arms. She was forced to set him down to avoid dropping him.

“No! I'm having too much fun! I want to go back with Thals and Pipes and all of them! We're having too much fun!” He exclaimed, though his point was weakened by the big yawn he broke into.

“Percy...” Annabeth tried gently, at her wits end.

“No!” He said, stomping his foot.

Annabeth was about to scream. That's when Sally's words popped in her mind. Looking around, she was glad she was alone. “Come on Percy.” Scooping him up, she began to sing softly. She wasn't exactly a good singer, but she hoped it would be enough.

“The seaweed is always greener, in somebody else's lake...” She started to sing softly, swaying him slightly as they walked. Sure the little mermaid wasn't exactly a lullaby, but she knew he knew the song, and it was one of the few songs she knew all the words to from the number of times they cuddled watching the movie while relaxing in his apartment.

Percy's protests gradually grew weaker and weaker, until he was dozing off on her shoulder.

Managing to get him into the cabin, she set him down on the bed and pulled off his shoes and socks to try and get him a little comfier. Tucking him in, she leaned down to kiss his head.

“I love you Percy. Please go back to normal. I miss you, and I need you.” She whispered gently.

Turning back, she moved to go back to her own cabin when she heard his tired, and slightly scared voice. “Annabeth?”

“Yes honey?” She asked, turning around and kneeling next to the bed.

“Can you stay please? I'm... scared. I don't like this cabin. It's too big and dark.” He muttered.

Annabeth paused, looking at his exhausted, yet scared face. Nodding she quickly kicked off her own shoes and rummaged around his cabin for a spare pair of sweatpants. Quickly changing in his bathroom, he climbed into the bed with him.

Percy nestled up against her, and within moments he was fast asleep.

Kissing his forehead one last time, she watched him for a moments, running a hand through his hair. Before long she found herself drifting off to sleep to, praying with all she had that he would be back to normal soon.

Annabeth was more than thrilled to find herself waking up in her favorite pair of strong arms, with a deeper voice gently saying her name.

“Morning Annabeth.” He muttered, a little confused but hardly complaining.

Annabeth just threw her arms around his neck, quickly kissing him.

“Welcome back, Percy.”

XxXxXxXxX

I hope you enjoyed it! I’ve wanted to post this for quite a while, I just never really got around to finishing it. I know the ages in the title aren’t accurate, that Percy would be a little older but I just found it catchy. Also, I’m accepting Percabeth Fluff prompts/suggestions so please send me any ideas, or words, or songs etc if you have any! I’d love to consider your idea and hopefully write something for it!

#percabeth #pjo #percy jackson #annabeth chase #HoO #I love writing stories like this #It was really fun

163 notes · View notes

spinningsidetable · 5 years

Text

Gentleman: 1/3

Pairing: Octavian/Leo Valdez (leotavian)

Warning/Genre: Genre/Warning: AU, No Godly Parents, Spy Shit, Action Movie Parody, Non-Linear Story Telling, Admittedly Unhealthy Relationship, Descriptions of Violence, Dubious Consent Smooching, Sexual Situations,"Humor"

Rating: Mature

Summary: Leo has worked for the Agency for awhile now, the guy in the chair helping Agents save the world and all that, but now it seems like an actual supervillain is enamored with him.

(Notes: I'm condensing this, so long story short and all that, this isn't meant to be a healthy ideal relationship, it was born entirely out of American action movie tropes. I'm going to trust those reading this are adults and able to tell reality from fiction.)

“It’s the perfect plan!” Leo exclaimed, slamming his hand down on the blueprints in front of the group. “I know it’ll work. Because, I mean, I came up with it. When have my plans ever gone bad?”

Jason and Piper exchanged a look, as did virtually everyone else in the room, including grunts in the background working on machinery.

“I…well, let’s spitball some other thoughts, maybe?” Jason spoke slowly, as though he didn’t want to spook a small animal. Or, small Leo that was.

“Right! Let’s maybe revisit that miniature drone idea?” Piper offered, looking to some other people behind her who seemed to catch on and began nodding animatedly.

“Oh- oh, yeah! The drones!”

“That’s a good idea!”

“Great job, Leo!”

Leo’s eyes narrowed in suspicion. “I thought we already established that he had EMP devices set up around the perimeter of the base, so we can’t get in any drones, micro or otherwise.”

“Oh,” Piper’s face fell. “Well. Maybe underwater drones? I’m sure Percy could-“

Percy was sitting up on a desk behind Leo and shook his head very animatedly, throwing up a big NO with hand signs.

“Right, so, my plan is the best.” Leo said slowly, looking around the room. “Right?”

Piper bit her lip and looked pleadingly up at Jason. Hero Jason. Crime fighting, evil syndicate breaking up Hero. Leo’s best friend since freshman year of high school, Jason.

“It’s just…we’re worried about you, Leo.” Horrible liar, Jason.

“It could go wrong, really quickly.”

Leo rolled his eyes, tapping the laser pointer in his left hand against the desk. The whole presentation with slides had taken 25 minutes.

“He’s never hurt me before, Jason, come on. You know this is our best chance to get in the compound and plant the virus. This is the only way we can save those congressmen!...Or was it senators this time?”

Leo hadn't really cared one way or the other, only skimming through the documents. All he knew was he hadn’t, and wouldn't, vote for the guys.

“Is it though? Is seducing a supervillain really the best way?” Grover asked, slightly nervous. Then again, a lot of secret agents tended to have a nervous or paranoid disposition.

Leo threw his hands up, exasperated. “In this specific situation?! YES! Look, like I said, he’s never hurt me. Come on guys, I’ve always just been…the repair guy, the guy in the chair. But, this one crazy asshole seems to be in love with me, so let me do the super-secret spy shit for once! Instead of Jason, or Reyna, or Percy!”

“…But he’s not in love with you.” Annabeth said, frowning, before being shushed and chided by about five people. “What? He’s not.”

“Uhhh,” Leo paused, before he laughed incredulously. Were they all crazy? Had they met the guy?

“Yes, he is? He’s tried to capture me like…fifteen times now? He calls me all sorts of pet names in like…so many different languages? He poured me a glass of wine from the 1700’s for fucks sake!”

There was complete silence, besides a nervous cough by a soldier in the back.

“…What?”

“Don’t…you think, maybe…that’s a little suspicious?” Piper asked, her voice going down to calm soothing mode. “That the bad guy would target…you?”

Leo frowned, glancing down at himself and back up. Rude. “Why?”

“Because you’re a weak link,” Reyna huffed finally having had enough. Jason hissed something at the female captain, looking more like an upset bird more than a 6’2 blond superman.

“Shush, Grace. Look, you’re Jason’s friend. Which means you have more information on him than anyone else besides Piper. You’re also in charge of our engineering and online resources, which means taking you out of the equation is important. Plus, you probably have connections to virtually every world leader, through your contacts at the Agency. He’s not going to chance taking Piper again, not after the first time he tried to kidnap her, Jason nearly brought down half a mountain.”

The first time Jason had met Piper, the girl had discovered for herself a secretive plot to kidnap and use major film and media stars. She had broken into a closed off building she suspected was involved, high up in the alps and ended up captured. Jason (and a whole team, but mostly Jason) had been sent in to extract her. The lovestruck blond idiot fell head over heels, nearly cost them the mission, if it hadn’t been for Piper’s quick thinking. She had been part of the group ever since.

Reyna looked Leo up and down, unimpressed. She’d led a black Ops group for over half a decade now, and Leo never seemed to give proper distance and caution to herself and her team. The engineer had gotten himself high clearance just from being associated with Jason Grace. It wasn’t like he underestimated her, or treated her poorly, but the kid lived in a bubble of his own creation. Everything was at least partly a game to him. Leo was either often dangerously flippant or damn near suicidal. Or, that’s what it seemed like. If he wanted to be an Agent, he’d have to learn now. He couldn't continue to assume he and Jason could buddy cop their way through things like a bad B movie.

“You, Valdez? You’re the easy target. You have no romantic affiliation. You’re not physically strong enough to stop him; and you’re apparently extremely gullible for a smart person.”

Jason was pinching his nasal bridge by the time Reyna had finished speaking, while Piper was looking resolutely anywhere besides Leo.

Leo blinked, and opened his mouth, before closing it. “That…That’s not. No, he’s…he tells me he’s-”

“Attracted to you? No offense, but you’re far from the most attractive man on this vessel. You’re not even the most attractive gay short man in this room.”

Nico, behind Reyna seemed to connect the dots, and frowned. “Was that a compliment or-“

“Look, Leo, we appreciate the offer, really.” Piper pushed Reyna to the side slightly, shooting her a look. “But, we…should probably look for …other options, okay.?

“I’m bi,” Leo said hollowly. “I’m not gay.”

“Leo, don’t make this into something it isn’t.” Jason exhaled sharply out of his nose. “You really don’t want to have a supervillain attracted to you. I get it, the guys weird, it's confusing…look, come on, let's brainstorm something else. I'm sure you still have half a dozen other ideas.”

“You…all agree with her?” Leo shook his head, as something in his chest clenched. Did they think so little of him? “You think he’s just…trying to get information out of me? Because I’m some…naïve, weak, loveless idiot?”

No one said anything more, so Leo laughed to himself. This was like all highschool and college all over again. “Okay, wow. Fine. Whatever.”

“Leo-“ Jason started, but Leo turned to leave the ready room.

“No, it’s fine. I’ll just go back to engineering. You’re right, obviously, you’re always right, aren’t you?” The door slammed behind him.

“Fuck that,” Leo hissed, stomping down the small metal corridors on the aircraft carrier. He muttered to himself the entire way, ignoring the looks he got from seamen.

“So what if I’m not…Nico, or Jason, or Percy. Maybe I’m his type?” Leo had, as far as Leo knew, never been anyone’s type, but that didn’t matter. One girl in 9th grade described him as an over eager gerbil.

"Okay, so maybe Reyna has a point, I’d be useful to his evil schemes – but that just means I’m smart! Smart is sexy, right? That’s probably a kink right, like bibliosexual or something? He probably just appreciates my abilities on multiple levels! It’s not like he only became interested in me when he found out who I was in relation to Jason!” Wait, that’s exactly what had happened, wasn’t it? Leo stopped dead in the middle of a hallway.

“Oh god, she’s right, isn’t she?” Leo stewed in his own angst for a minute, before deciding to say fuck it and just return to his room. He continued to grumble, passing by some of the same soldiers who sent him increasingly odd looks until he reached his room.

“Of course, who would be attracted to Leo Valdez? I can’t even have a singular supervillain?” He slammed that door for emphasis too.

“Well, I may know of one. Hello, passerotto mio.”

Leo froze, he unfortunately knew that voice quite well, before turning cautiously. Sure enough, a young man sat on his bed, legs crossed in a very nice black suit. He was taller than Jason, but slimmer in figure, with a head of immaculate pale blonde hair. His tone was soft and casual, but his pale blue eyes were always intense.

“Octavian,” Leo said slowly. “How the fuck did you get in here?”

Octavian stood up, nearly having to crouch in the small rooms within the aircraft carrier. He held a hand over his heart, and sighed. “I searched for you in my soul, amore, and found you here.”

“Haha. Don't make fun of me. Okay, that’s bullshit.” Leo held up a finger and pointed at the ground. “I mean, here, in my room? In the exceptionally well defended aircraft military carrier in the middle of the fucking nowhere Pacific Ocean, without anyone noticing?”

Octavian smiled, which was always a bit disturbing, because he looked slightly (understatement) manic at times.

“Maybe I’m from an underwater civilization, like Atlantis; or, maybe I have private submarine, radar shielding… and I’m sorry to tell you this, but not everyone on this ship is so…sympathetic to your friends causes.”

Bad, that was very bad, really very bad news. They had turncoats, spies. Everyone on board was in danger. Leo needed to stall the man, as best as possible. Jason or Piper would likely come to check on him after a bit.

“That’s…got to be some really good radar shielding, to hide from this ship.” Leo said slowly, leaning up against the door.

Octavian walked closer. This man had toppled small governments, created rebellions, killed politicians and businessmen. “…Want to tell me how it works?”

“Oh, I’d love to, but I’m afraid my tech knowledge isn’t anywhere near as advanced as yours, lux vitae meae.” Octavian was close enough to smell his cologne. He smelled good, he always smelled good; Leo smelled like engine grease usually. Leo didn't know anything about cologne, but Octavian’s was never overpowering, it was the kind you wanted to lean in closer to sniff, next to their body.

“I can always ask my people for the tech details. If you’d stay with me until morning, I’d love to tell you over breakfast.”

“Latin this time?” Leo’s ears were heating up, and he fanned himself. “Boy, just jumping right to it, huh?”

A small smirk tipped up the corner of Octavian’s lips, “I’d be a perfect gentleman.”

Nervous laughter bubbled up in Leo’s throat. A gentleman supervillain. Ridiculous.

“That’s…great and all,” Leo stuttered over a few words. “But…the jig is up, you know. I’m…wise to you. If you think I’m some…weak link, you’re wrong.”

Octavian’s brows furrowed just ever so slightly.

“Yeah,” Leo nodded to himself, feeling mildly emboldened in the face of death. “I’m never going to tell you anything about Jason, or any codes, or anything about my machines! You can sweet talk all you want, but I’m not that naïve!” Yes, he was. Apparently. “You can drop the act, you’re not tricking anyone.”

“Tricking you?” Octavian repeated slowly. “With….sweet talk?”

“Yup,” Leo popped the p, taking a step forward away from the door. He shoved a finger into Octavian’s chest, who looked down at it, amusement clearly growing on his face. It was a familiar look, like the first time they met.

“We both know you don’t have the hots for me. Look at me. I’m…not even the hottest short gay guy on the boat.” Leo faltered slightly, trying to repeat Reyna’s words. Would Octavian go after Nico next? Mitchell? Mitchell was kind of an asshole, so Leo hoped not. Octavian could do better- wait, he was a mass murderer.

“I see.” Octavian grabbed up Leo’s hand and kissed his knuckles. “Says who?”

Leo’s brain stopped functioning. “Buh, what wait? I-…everyone apparently?”

Octavian peppered kisses down his hand, to his fingers. “Ah, and who is everyone? When did this happen? You used to be so fiery, telling me you could never be with a man like me…Now, you believe I’m lying?”

“I-..I…” Leo’s eyes were focused on the pale hand around his own tan one. He still had dirt and grime on his hands, but that didn’t seem to matter. It never seemed to matter. In fact the more filthy Leo was, the more interested Octavian acted.

“They…told me my plan was bad…”

Octavian paused, looking Leo in the eyes. “Plan?”

“I…was going to offer myself up to you, seduce you, and then plant a virus?” Leo laughed, awkwardly trying to pull his hand back. “I’m guessing you would have just tortured and killed me, huh?”

Octavian’s eyes had dilated, and his head tilted just slightly to the side. “Seduced me? How so?”

Leo flushed. “Man, I don’t know. You know, I only have spy movies to go off of? I guess… wear something skimpy, get all up close and personal, but put off sex until I can drug you asleep? Something like that? Do they make poison lipstick, or is that just a TV comic book thing?”

Teeth nipped at Leo’s finger tip, just slightly, before Octavian answered in a rough voice. “If you think I would kill you for that, you’re very mistaken. And, while I can’t possibly object to you in less clothing, I find you quite seductive as you are.”

Leo looked down at his grungy white tank top and brown oil stained jogger type shorts. “Okay, now I’m really starting to realize how full of shit you are. Drop the act-”

He was cut off, by getting pushed against the door. Lips met his in a demanding kiss, while hips pressed against Leo’s stomach gave away the fact maybe he wasn’t so full of bullshit. Octavian was hard, not fully, but enough that butterflies in Leo’s stomach began to flutter. Leo’d never been with a man before, he’d barely been with a woman. He’d spent ages 16-23 essentially as Jason’s weird sidekick. They’d been trying to save the world for the last 3 years, and before that it was just crunch week, except if crunch week was 4 solid years. Any guy or girl around was attracted to Jason, or Piper, or Nico, or Percy, the list grew and grew as they met more and more agents.

Leo whined slightly, clenching his hands into the suit in front of him. Octavian was always such a good kisser. Leo found that out kidnapping 6#. Leo was properly distracted, playing tonsil hockey until something blasted him out of the moment.

An actual blast, that rocked the ship. The metal groaned, and creaked in a way that told Leo the ship was likely taking on water, a lot of it.

Octavian pulled back, lips flushed a lovely red, smiling like the cat that got the Canary. “Ah, well, that’s my que. You know what you said about drugging someone asleep?”

Leo paused, and frowned, and then realized. “Oh.” Ya valió madre.

In one of Octavian’s hands was a very small patch, that he had affixed to the back of Leo’s neck as he kissed him. Leo’s vision began to blur, and he felt the familiar sensation of blacking out. This was not the first time Octavian had used such a thing on him. Afterall, this was kidnapping number 16. Knock out patch was roughly kidnapping #9 which Leo didn't remember very well, besides laying in bed with a headache and Octavian massaging his temples. Leo had built up more of a tolerance since then.

“Sleep, petit souris.” Octavian’s voice became a garbled mush of noises. Leo mumbled something that sounded like 'you're French now?' before he stumbled and collapsed into open arms.

“Computers, computers,” Leo sang to himself, as he pulled out hard drives and wires. “Only an idiot doesn’t protect their computers!”

It wasn’t like it was Leo’s first time out or anything, him and Jason had already taken on some serious nasty pieces of work, but this was their first real mission together. Jason had been roped into the Agency a year and a half ago, but Leo was left sitting in an office. Of course, the Agency had excellent offices. Nice chairs, some nice pieces of tech, coffee stations. But, it was getting boring, just surveying cameras, talking to Jason and other Agents over comms. Leo had wanted action, so when some freak that called himself Octavian (real name unknown) captured a good sized law firm in the heart of New York city, he jumped at the chance.

Most of the bad guys and Agents fighting were in another part of the building; Leo wasn’t trained for any of that really, but he was trained to take down any computers, networks, and surveillance the dastardly bastard had set up. A couple Agents were at the look out, keeping Leo covered as he went to work. They were the strong silent type, probably, didn’t want to talk to Leo much. Because of duty, and honor. Definitely not because they thought he was annoying.

“You know,” Leo pulled out a screwdriver from his toolbelt, “you should really let me make some customizations to your weapons. Sure, they’re good, but they could be so much better.”

“I’m sure they’d appreciate the thought,” a voice said behind Leo. That was not Hank or Sam, Leo realized, and scrambled to his feet.

A blond man stood at the doorway, his body posture was relaxed, but his expression was anything but. Hank, one of the Agents, slid down the wall, throat bloody and flowing down his chest at an alarming rate.

Leo’s hands went cold, as he watched the man of the hour, Octavian, casually wipe arterial blood splatter off his cheek like it was jam.

Sam wasn’t as far gone as Hank had been, and he struggled to stand up to fight back. Octavian let out a gleeful laugh, before grabbing Hank’s gun and blasting Sam through the bottom of his chin and out the top of his skull.

“Oh, my god.” Leo whispered, stomach turning over. It wasn’t the first death he had seen, not the first dead body, but this was a small closet; Leo was right up close and personal. A piece of Sam landed on Leo’s boots.

“You…came! Octavian, sir, I was captured!” Leo gasped out, coming to his senses. “I’m so glad to see you! I thought those…Agency bastards would kill me!”

Octavian had taken a moment to grab up personnel information from the fallen Agents, but at Leo’s voice, he zeroed in on the shorter man. The same expression that had been on Octavian’s face when he killed Sam came back full force.

“Try again.”

Leo gulped, holding up his hands. “I’m the computers guy! I swear! They trapped me in here when I came to check on the servers they had already started to destroy!”

Octavian held up Hank’s gun and cocked it. “Last chance, pieni rotta.”

Leo momentarily forgot his fear as he full grimaced. “Yo, man, did you just call me a rotten penis? What even language was that?”

Octavian looked more amused, shrugging a shoulder, but tilted the gun back and forth in a lazy manner. “Tic toc, tic toc.”

Leo’s shoulders dropped, “what answer would keep you from blasting my brains out?”

Octavian actually seemed to think about it. “Well, you’re obviously tech savy, otherwise you wouldn’t be here - that could always be useful, however if you’re too high ranking you become a target – too low, I have no use for you.”

Leo grinned, clapping his hands together. “That’s like, so convenient, you have no idea! Because, I am, in reality, a moderately high level engineer! Like, perfect level of useful enough not to kill immediately! I’m so glad we sorted this out. In fact, you don’t even have to torture me!”

Octavian holstered the gun with a nod. Holy shit, had that actually worked?

“Good try. Now, who are you actually? We can have this conversation civilly.”

No, of course not. Leo snorted. “Well, aren’t you the gentleman.”

A crackle from Leo’s comms kicked in, as Jason’s voice came through. “Leo! You need to evacuate immediately! I repeat. Evacuate immediately!”

“Leo,” Octavian pronounced slowly, deeply, to the point it felt nearly invasive. “You’re Leo Valdez? I’d heard of you, of course, but I had no idea…”

Leo, tight lipped and clench jawed, lifted the comm to his mouth. “NOT A GREAT TIME, JASON. OVER.”

Then he turned back to Octavian. “Yeah, well, I’ve made a point to remove myself from anything trackable. Plus, the Agency didn’t want to let me off leash until today. Obviously, I'm just too dangerous. Five foot two inches of Rambo.”

“How is your first experience in the field?” Octavian asked casually, seemingly playing along.

“Oh,” Leo shrugged a shoulder. “You know. Started off okay, tons of bacon at the buffet, then we broke into this building to save a bunch of rich white guys in suits. Now, an even whiter guy slash possible supervillain is holding me hostage. Also, I’ve got brains from a guy on my shoes. It is what it is.”

Octavian’s expression, inexplicably, softened slightly from a 13 on the Murdery scale, to…maybe a 4?

“You amuse me, schattig mechanic. If we were under better circumstances, I’d love to take you out. Do you like Italian?”

“Why? Are you Italian?”

“Very possibly, or maybe not.”

“Well, you know, you’re kind of hot in a scary way, so I’d probably take you up on that. I get out like…never.” Leo questioned if he should be flattered or not, or what the fuck a schattig was. Didn't sound Italian. Something Nordic maybe?

“But, again, guys brains on my shoe.”

“You really seem stuck on the shoe thing.”

“Much like the grey matter on my shoe.”

“I’ll get you a new pair,” Octavian, stepped aside from the doorway as more men showed up. Not Leo’s men.

“But, first, I’m afraid little kiniun…you’ll be coming with me.”

#fanfiction #mypjofanfiction #pjo fanfic #Leo Valdez #pjo Octavian #octavian #hoo octavian #leotavian #repost from ao3 #excessive use of translate apps

0 notes