Chapter Text
Atlantis was boring.
Okay, that wasn’t true. Atlantis was wonderful and magical and filled with mystery around every corner…
...but at the moment? It was boring.
Like, seriously. Nobody was even here. Triton was off doing ‘princely things’ or whatever while Rhode was doing some conservation project that he couldn't yet be trusted with. Kym just left because she wanted to destroy something, and since Percy technically couldn’t leave the castle, he couldn’t go with her. Amphitrite was… well, Percy wasn’t yet at the point where he was going to his goddess stepmother for entertainment quite yet. He wasn’t sure what his father was doing, and Percy didn’t want to try and find him. The last time Percy had accidentally stumbled upon his dad, he ended up being in some royal meeting, and there was some scandal and Percy’s sudden appearance.
Yeah. Not risking that again.
And, look, he had grown pretty fond of his godly seaside of the family. They were all great… for gods. However, things worked, uh, differently here. Gods didn’t operate the same as humans, and Percy couldn’t quite forget who he was. In New York, he could be Estelle’s brother who made funny faces, watched RomComs with his stepfather, and helped his mom bake cookies. Here? Well, he was supposed to be a poised hero who had been hardened through war and had the power of mass destruction.
So… yeah. He was a little bored.
He could always make friends with the Atlanteans. The problem was that everyone knew who he was and treated him like a royal. Percy had tried to explain that he was technically a bastard. Thus none of that applied to him, but that just seemed to scandalize people. It wasn’t like he could disguise himself either. What was he going to do? Magic himself a tail? Give himself glowing eyes?
Kicking the ground in the garden, he gave a dramatic sigh before collapsing to the ground.
“...you seem upset, Lord Perseus.”
Percy jumped. A boy was leaning on a pillar towards the outskirts of the garden, shielded by some seaweed that drifted back and forth like a curtain. He looked kind of like Triton with the longer hair and green tail. Only this guy had one tail as opposed to Triton’s two, and his hair was a flaming red. Percy sat up.
“I will pay you a thousand drachmas to call me Percy,” he greeted - a little desperately. The boy snorted and swam over.
“Yeah, that might be enough to pay for my funeral once your father beheads me for disrespecting his son,” he said. Percy narrowed his eyes.
“He wouldn’t do that.”
“Hm.”
“He wouldn’t,” Percy insisted. “What’s your name?” he asked. Please. Gods, please. Let him just make one friend here. The boy’s lips twitched as he bowed his head. Percy wanted to throttle him for the movement but resisted.
“Ridley, my lord,” he said. Apparently, Percy couldn’t escape the lord title. “I am visiting from the Arctic,” he said. Percy perked up.
“There are merpeople outside of Atlantis?!” he asked. Nobody told him this. Ridley nodded. “Where do you live? Do humans see you? Is there a castle like this or-?” he asked, leaning forward. Ridley hesitated. “If you insist on acting like I’m important, then I’m going to take advantage and order you to talk to me,” he warned.
“I suppose I can’t argue with that logic,” Ridley snorted and sat down. “Alright, what do you want to know?”
Given Percy’s current state… everything. Absolutely everything. It was an hour of Ridley being unnaturally patient with him as Percy went about asking endless questions up until they were rudely interrupted by Triton.
“Oh, gods,” he said as he saw Percy on the ground. “I… am so sorry,” he choked out. “Lord Ridley, I deeply apologize for Perseus-” he said as he practically zoomed over. Percy frowned. Lord… Ridley? He looked over at his newly assigned friend.
“No, no,” Ridley said, standing up. “I enjoyed our conversation,” he said, grinning down at Percy. “Your brother is quite the conversationalist,” he added lightly. Percy wrinkled his nose.
“You’re a lord?” he asked, and the realization clicked. “You’re an ambassador!” he spluttered. Triton sighed and looked up at the sky.
“Indeed I am,” Ridley agreed and turned to Triton. “And since when do you call me lord?” he tacked on to him curiously. Triton rolled his eyes and gave a pointed look at Percy. “Oh, I see,” he said and then turned back to Percy. “He doesn’t want you to know we’re friends,” he explained. Percy’s eyes widened. No way.
“You’re friends… with Triton?” he asked. Ridley nodded stoically as Triton himself looked as if he wanted to figure out how to drown. A feral grin touched Percy’s lips. Triton never let him near his friends… or even know their names. For a while, Percy was convinced he just didn’t have any. That certainly made more sense than him being friends with someone as nice as Ridley. “Why?” he asked, and Triton’s eyes narrowed.
“King Poseidon paid me to,” Ridley told him. Ah. Percy figured he was joking but gave an understanding nod anyway. Triton pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m guessing I’m needed at the banquet?” he asked him, and Triton gave a slight nod. “Very well, Lord Perseus,” he nodded. Oh. There was a banquet? That at least explained why nobody was back from their duties yet… Did this mean he had to be bored another three hours? Not that he would have enjoyed the banquet. Rhode had forced him to attend exactly one formal event, and he accidentally blew something up.
“Nice to meet you,” he said, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice. Ridley looked him over. There was a hint of pity that normally Percy would hate, but he was so goddamn bored that he almost accepted it.
“Would you like to join us?” he asked, and Percy frowned. “Our other friends will be there,” he added lowly. Percy straightened up. Oh? He glanced at where Triton was shaking his head. Then back to Ridley. Then to Triton again.
Well… he would be careful not to blow anything up this time. How bad could it be?
“Sure,” he said and dusted himself off. “Are they really his friends, or do they just say they are because he’s the prince?” he asked, ducking when Triton reached over to either throttle him or lock him in a closet. Ridley’s lips twitched.
“You’ll have to ask them yourself-”
“Ridley!” Triton managed through gritted teeth. “I - Perseus, you’re not going,” he said firmly. Ha. He thought he could stop him. How sweet. He turned, fixing Triton with an innocent look.
“Why not? I’m just going to learn more about my father’s domain. Isn’t that one of the reasons I was brought here?” he asked. Triton scowled back.
“You were brought here because you’re an overpowered brat who needs to be watched to keep from ending the world,” he said. Percy’s face hardened. Oh, was that how it was? Hm. Okay, then. He turned back to Ridley.
“Where is the banquet?”
“I - seriously, Percy,” Triton groaned as Percy practically skipped after Ridley. “My friends are boring. You wouldn’t like them-”
“I disagree. I think he’d get along great with Cari, don’t you?” Ridley asked conversationally. It was hard to really read Atlantean’s eyes, given they were essentially like glowsticks, but Percy was pretty sure Triton’s widened drastically. “Triton and Cari used to-”
“Dad hasn’t officially invited you,” Triton cut in. “You can’t just go - especially dressed like that,” he said, and Percy looked down. Oh. Then he glanced up at Triton, who looked somewhat relieved he had found a way to stall him.
Luckily, Ridley (who was rapidly becoming Percy’s favorite person in Atlantis) had a solution.
“Why doesn’t he just wear something of yours?”
Triton blinked.
“Excuse me?”
“Yeah! You have lots of clothes!” Percy nodded. Most of them, Percy had made fun of at some point, but he was willing to look stupid for the sake of meeting this Cari person and other delightful friends of his brother.
“They wouldn’t fit. I have a tail. You have legs.”
“You’re literally wearing a robe,” Percy pointed out. Triton looked like he wanted to scream. “I mean, maybe I can get Rhode and-”
“For the love of - fine,” Triton hissed and threw Ridley a dark look. “I will not be supporting whatever foolish proposals you have this year,” he added darkly to him. Percy looked at Ridley - a little worried he might have accidentally trampled over serious politics - but Ridley only winked.
In the end, Percy was vaguely uncomfortable in the chiton mainly because he wasn’t used to anything other than jeans or shorts, but whatever. It was silky and green and had seashells on it, which was kind of cool. Triton snorted when he saw him, which was not appreciated.
“Kym and Rhode would lose their minds,” he said, and Percy narrowed his eyes. “I hope Rhode does stop by. She would probably send you to the next diplomacy meeting we had,” he told him, and to his horror, Ridley nodded.
“...is it that bad?”
“You don’t have to go,” Triton told him, and Ridley rolled his eyes.
“You look like a member of the royal court.”
“That isn’t reassuring me.”
“Well, it should,” he said and gestured behind him. “Do you want to meet Triton’s ex-girlfriend or not?”
Ah, so she was an ex. Fantastic. Triton gave Ridley a dark look.
So Percy went. Triton still argued that their father hadn’t given him permission, but in the end, he couldn’t really justify Percy interrupting whatever important thing he was doing for something they both knew he would agree to. After all, Poseidon had maybe gently (once or twice) tried to nudge Percy into attending one of these banquets. Percy had politely declined after the blowing-something-up-incident and on the grounds that (and he didn't say this) they sounded absolutely terrible.
But, hey, maybe he would have come sooner if anyone bothered to tell him who was on the guest list.
“How long have you known Triton?” Percy asked Ridley - ignoring Triton himself as they swam down the aisles of the castle. Ridley wrinkled his nose.
“Oh, not too long. About… four hundred years?” he said, counting on his fingers. Percy blinked. Huh. Well, that should have been expected. “I met him while he was trying to convince Kymopoleia to stop sinking all the ships explorers were sending out. I was on her side, quite honestly,” he said, and Triton grimaced.
Fascinating.
“And what about you?” Ridley asked, reminding Percy to shape up. Right. He didn’t get to just annoy Triton for free. “You met Triton during the Titan War?” he asked, and Percy gave a calm nod. Triton tensed a little - anything about the wars was usually an off-limit topic in fear it could rile Percy up… which was annoying and riled him up when they censored things, but whatever.
“I did. We had just… finished a mission and exploded the Princess Andromeda,” he said dutifully, trying to keep his mind safely off of Beckendorf. He failed. “I was brought down to Atlantis to heal, and Triton so very kindly asked me if I was ready to pitch in and do my share of the fighting,” he said and gave his brother a cool look. Triton pursed his lips. “Then I got to go back home to attend a funeral.”
Ridley fixed him with a long look and then nodded.
“Considering you won the war, I think you pitched in quite a bit.”
Percy had won two. He didn’t say that, though. The thought made him tired.
“Yeah, a bit,” he mumbled instead and then put his hands in the pockets he was delighted to find by his side. “And then I met Triton again when I decided to go to Alaska, and he punched me in the face,” he continued merrily.
“He... punched you?”
“I’m the better mannered of the two,” Percy said - which was absolutely a lie - but given how Triton actually looked kind of guilty, he knew he could get away with it. Ridley nodded slightly with an air of concern. “But I’m sure part of it was the jarring experience of being turned mortal - you heard he turned mortal, right?” he asked.
“It’s been mentioned, yes.”
“Yes, well, he made a fool of himself - ow,” Percy complained. Apparently, Triton was no longer feeling guilty since he decided to whack Percy on the back of the head. “And who is the ex-girlfriend again?” he tacked on as he hit Triton’s arm in return.
“Well, you can say hi to her yourself… one day. Maybe,” Ridley told him as he opened the doors to the banquet room. Wait. Percy frowned. One day? What? Weren’t they going to see her now? Why was-?
“Perseus!”
He had been betrayed.
As someone who has been betrayed before, he knew the signs. The doors opened to the banquet hall, yes, but one a bit smaller than what he had been expecting - suggesting it wasn’t one of the public ones but ones specifically for foreign diplomats. Sure enough, there were a few younger faces, but mostly it was older merpeople alongside (much to his horror) Kym and Rhode. Triton had pretty heavily implied they were not attending. Liar. Poseidon and Amphitrite were both at the end of the table - initially looking very peeved by the interruption, but surprise seemed to take over their faces when they realized who it was.
“My king,” Ridley said and bowed his head. “I am so sorry for the late arrival. Prince Triton and I collected a guest,” he said with a nod towards where Percy was frozen near the entrance. Late arrival? Oh, gods. This just kept getting worse.
...maybe he could still run. And perhaps he would have, but the second he looked over his shoulder, Triton closed the door.
“Sorry,” he whispered, putting his hands on Percy’s shoulders to steer him towards the table. “I won a good hundred sand dollars bringing you here,” he whispered, and Percy turned to him with a hiss through his teeth.
“You planned this?!”
“Well, you would have been suspicious if you thought I wanted you to go!” Triton said and practically shoved Percy in a chair. “By the way, I get extra for bringing you in nice clothes,” he added, and Percy was going to cut his stupid hair at first given opportunity. He turned his gaze instead to where Ridley had taken his seat and stared him down.
Sorry, he mouthed. Percy had no plans of forgiving him anytime soon. They had brought him into a small room of mostly strangers for a formal affair late while the two most important people in the ocean and their kids were present. If he survived this... well. It was bold of him to think surviving was likely. Kronos and Gaea were one thing. This was something else entirely.
“Perseus,” Poseidon greeted curiously, and Percy almost jumped at being addressed. “What an unexpected surprise,” he said and looked at where Triton was taking something from a bitter Kym (since when did Kym attend these?). “What persuaded you to join us?”
...would telling the truth be considered rude? Probably. Immature? Definitely.
“Oh,” he said and gave a nervous laugh. “Just… spur of the moment,” he smiled tightly. “I’m so sorry I’m late. I wouldn’t have-”
“Tardiness can be forgiven for such a rare honor,” Amphitrite drawled in a way that Percy wasn’t sure if he was being teased or ridiculed. He smiled weakly all the same. Perhaps she took some pity on him because she lightly shoved some ambrosia his way. “Not too much,” she reminded him. Percy nodded. Right. Immortals. No human food. This was the worst. Given he wasn’t injured, he could probably only have half a square without bursting into flames.
“Or you can give him something he can eat,” Rhode said lightly and waved her hand. Jellybeans and a tomato appeared on his plate. “That’s something humans like, right?” she asked him. A few diplomats were watching with fascination. Percy looked down and tried his best to stay as calm and collected as possible.
“Yes, thank you,” he said and risked a glance at Triton (who probably knew what an awful combination this was by this point). He did seem to have some pity because he bit his lip and waved his hand. The food shimmered into a muffin and bowl of fruit.
“Don’t spoil him, Rhode,” he told him. “He did arrive late, after all.”
“So did you,” Rhode objected, but Percy quickly took a bite before she could change it again. The food (like most things) always seemed perfectly dry to Percy. He had no idea if the magic was specific to him or if Poseidon had done something to make his stay more comfortable, but he was grateful his food didn’t taste soggy.
The rest of the banquet was probably as boring as he had feared - with merpeople calling him lord and bowing and everything Percy hated. Though, it was rather fascinating to see how serious they took him. He wasn’t sure if it was because they knew the extent of his powers, respect for Poseidon, or they genuinely thought his opinion was worth something but had mixed feelings on it.
“Fascinating,” Doris was saying after Percy spent a good thirty minutes explaining renewable resources. “So mortals do have an understanding of their effects on the ocean,” she said, pouring herself some nectar.
“Some do,” Percy said. “It just isn’t taken seriously. We have a harder time thinking more long-term, given that we don’t live as long. If it doesn’t become an issue in our lifetime, then we tend to shove it to the side,” he admitted. “But people are working on it,” he shrugged, and a murmur went around the table. Rhode beamed at him.
“You give immortals too much credit, Lord Perseus,” Fisk scoffed. “There are those who live moment to moment among even the oldest deities - your father being one example,” he said, and Percy felt his eyes widened as he glanced at where Poseidon was absently breaking off another piece of ambrosia. His eyes glimmered with amusement at the jab.
“You think me short-sighted, my lord?” he asked, though he didn’t seem too upset as he took a bite of his food. “When have I ever demonstrated a lack of foresight?” he asked innocently, and the table laughed. “Shame on all of you for disrespecting your king,” he sniffed, and Amphitrite smirked at her food. Oh. Good. At least nobody here was too high-strung for a joke.
“Tell me, Lord Perseus,” Doris asked dryly. “Do you share your father’s invaluable foresight?”
...this felt dangerous. Percy looked around, staring at the expectant eyes. Ridley smiled at him from his end of the table, and Percy decided he was going to cut his hair off when he was finished with Triton’s.
Oh, screw it.
“If I did, I think we may have lost both wars,” he said, and someone choked. Luckily, this was followed by laughter, so he probably wasn’t going to immediately die. He glanced at Rhode (she was a pretty good gauge on knowing the real mood of the room). She smiled at him, so that was reassuring. “But I do believe Lord Triton was bestowed with that gift,” he tacked on, eating a couple of berries as he met Triton’s eyes with a sarcastic smile. His brother glared back.
“Ha!” Alon said from a few seats over. “What an understatement. I remember when he was nothing but a fry,” he snorted. “Poor Poseidon and Amphitrite had their hands full.”
“Who says we still don’t?” Amphitrite asked dryly with a look at where Triton had paused - looking terrified by the change in topics. Huh… this seemed fun. Percy feigned innocence.
“What do you mean?” he asked, and Triton gave the smallest shake of his head.
“You haven’t heard the stories of your brother’s youth?” Alon snorted, and Percy fixed Triton with a feral grin. Yeah. Yep. This was fun now.
“Not many,” Percy said, ignoring the increasing look of panic on Triton’s face. “He just tells me the ones that make him look good.”
“Ha!” Doris scoffed. “Oh, how sweet. Though don’t be fooled. They are all tyrants. Even sweet little Rhode over there,” she said, and Rhode’s smile vanished. Wait.
“No way,” Percy said, putting his cup down. “Rhode?”
“You think she is so innocent? I beg your pardon, your majesty,” Doris added to Poseidon. At this, Poseidon seemed torn as to if he was going to let Rhode continue to be picked on as he looked over the table. He fixed her with an apologetic look.
“There was that time in Rome…”
“Father!” Rhode managed as Kym pointed at her with a snort. “I- don’t point at me, it’s rude!” she snapped furiously at Kym with a glare. Kym rolled her eyes but listened with a smirk. “Needless to say-”
“What happened in Rome?” Percy asked. Rhode opened her mouth for a moment and then took a long breath.
“You know, Triton once stole from our parents because he planned to run away and build a new kingdom after our mother said he couldn’t have another statue dedicated to him in the courtyard,” she said. Triton spluttered as he looked at Rhode in utter betrayal.
...alright. Maybe these banquets weren’t so bad.
Percy still had beef with Ridley, though.