Work Text:
“You don’t have to go,” Poseidon says cupping the back of Percy’s neck with a strong hand, gentle and grounding. “You could stay.”
The offer gets repeated every time Percy is due to leave Atlantis, but he’d be a liar to say it isn’t at least somewhat tempting. It would be easier, certainly; To stay beneath the sea, adrift in the currents.
“I can’t.” He replies instead, smiling wanly. “You know I can’t.”
Triton huffs from where he’s lazily swishing his tails to stay in place. “I do not understand your desire to return to a place that has, and will only continue, to hurt you.”
“My mom-“
“You can visit.” His elder brother interrupts, steely-eyed. Percy isn’t suicidal enough to call the look on his face desperation.
Poseidon shoots Triton a warning glance, but the grip he has on Percy’s neck tightens ever so slightly. “I know your opinion on this… yet still, it is important you understand, son. It is not a one-time offer.”
In his mind’s eye, Percy can feel the weight of the oceans brush against him, whispering and pleading, welcoming, but not pushing.
The next smile he offers his father and Triton is more genuine than the last. “I’ll visit soon.”
Nico scowls at him, brandishing his sword like one would their index finger at a naughty child.
Percy counts down the seconds before the younger boy’s tirade starts and contemplates the merits of praying to Triton in an appeal to god-travel him to Atlantis.
“You’re doing it on purpose!“ the son of Hades accuses, whisps of darkness shuddering out of the shade of the surrounding trees like flameless smoke. “How are we supposed to get better if you just let go of Riptide mid-fight!?”
To be fair, Percy had only done it because Nico would have stumbled straight into his blade, and he’d rather not be responsible for the death of another of Hades’ children.
Will snorts from where he’s kneeling beside him, meticulously wrapping up the long gash on Percy’s shoulder.
“My hand slipped,” Percy says cheerfully, testing the tightness of the bandage with a careful roll of his shoulders once Will motions at him to do so. It aches something fierce, but Percy is sure a dip in the ocean later on, will heal it right up.
“Your hand sl- Your hand slipped!?” Nico asks incredulously.
“I was sweaty,” Percy responds, sending the other boy into a fit.
Nico throws up his arms. “I swear to dad, Percy, one day I’m going to chop you to pieces and send you back to Atlantis, gift-wrapped-“ Just at that moment, a particularly hard wave crashes against the rocks, effectively cutting him off. The smell of brine becomes stronger along with the surging awareness of several gods’ eyes zeroing in on them.
Nico’s mouth snaps shut, his perpetual scowl turning towards the sea.
Will sighs. “Guys, honestly.”
“Sure, go ahead,” Nico grumbles to no one in particular, sheathing his sword before approaching both Percy and Will. “Dad’s not gonna like it.”
Another splash of waves against the rocks.
“Stop picking fights with my family,” Percy says happily, lifting himself off the ground with a small wince.
“Stop-“ Nico’s face does something funny and painful-looking, “godsdammit, Percy.”
“Hey, I’m not the one who just went full Big-Three-with-Chronos here.”
“I hate you,” the son of Hades declares, falling into step beside Percy nonetheless as they make their way back to the cabins, Will fretting at Percy’s side with the natural authority of a healer.
“No sparring until you’re fully healed.”
“So this evening, after we dump him in the ocean.”
Will throws Nico a look. “We’re not dumping anybody into anything, Nico. We’ve had this conversation.”
To Percy’s eternal amusement, Nico actually looks chastened by the blond’s disapproving tone. “That was one time…”
“It was the Acheron!”
“Well he survived, didn’t he?”
Will scoffs. “Because you panicked and got Thanatos to fish him out for you.”
“That’s a lie!”
“Not according to lady Persephone.”
“… snitch.”
“To be fair, I think she was rather annoyed to have to stop several ocean deities from blasting straight through Hades’ front door.”
“Oi, it wasn’t that bad.”
“Percy, Triton nearly flooded the Styx.”
“But-“
“And your dad was cheering him on.”
Percy wisely decides to shut up.
“Nico, stop grinning. You were the one to start this mess!”
Yeah, doctor-Will is scary.
“And Percy, don’t think you’re off the hook, either.“
Darn.
In retrospect Nico should have known his plan would backfire as soon as he’d nodded to himself and thought, “Hey, let’s take Percy out on a quest. He’s been kind of downtrodden lately— an alien look on that usually cheerful face— and nothing better to cheer you up than a good hack and slash at some monsters. What could possibly go wrong.”
Everything, it turns out. Even though it hadn’t even been an oracle issued quest. Just some report on a monster sighting way too close to a settlement.
A tiny thing, hardly more than a quick “slay this beast, o hero, and save the world” yada yada. Nothing like a bloody war with Mother Earth herself, certainly.
So he’d veritably dragged Percy out of cabin three, gushing something about needing help because “It’s a scary monster, Percy!” that Percy hadn’t bought a lick of, judging by the indulgent roll of his eyes.
Nico had had exactly two minutes to mentally pat himself on the back for his genius before things went to shit faster than Medusa turning someone to stone.
The monster, the Minotaur, had struck forward, hard. Nico had seen it coming, fully prepared to parry the blow and phase through the aftershock with little more than a fractured wrist, but then Percy, the absolute godsdamned fool, had thrown himself in front of Nico.
It‘s a bitter memory, and Nico can still taste the coppery tang of blood in the air, can still see Percy‘s crumpling form and hear the Minotaur‘s triumphant roar.
Percy‘s blood had been sticky and warm, staining Nico‘s pale skin an ugly shade of red and gold, and the world had fallen away into a terrible darkness then, howling through and around them like a live thing until it spat them out at Will‘s feet.
Percy had survived, of course. To the utmost relief of quite possibly every single demigod in existence.
“Gods above, you guys are killing me,” Will groans, mere moments after assuring a stony-faced Triton of Percy’s well-being. “That was the fifth ocean deity to threaten me today. The fifth, Nico!”
“Don’t say that like I asked him to jump between-“
“I didn’t,” Will cuts him off sharply, sorting through an array of disinfectants and sterilized liquids with aggressive precision. “I’m just saying that I’m not eager to have Poseidon knocking down the door to the infirmary every other day because Percy decided to do something reckless again.”
Nico snorts softly, fishing a bottle of intravenous fluids out of the air before it can hit the ground. “Like Apollo wouldn’t go face to face with him for you.”
“That’s not the point. I don’t want to have to worry about being turned into a bloody sea slug for however short a time and worry my ass off about Percy on top of that. And, not to be dramatic or anything, but I’m more worried about Annabeth than any of the gods.”
It does sound dramatic, but entirely understandable.
“And it certainly doesn’t help that none of the mortal medications seem to work for him anymore. I just have to shove some ambrosia and nectar into him and pray to dad I’m not killing him on accident.”
Nico looks down at his hands, rubbed pink and raw from the force he’d used while scrubbing them clean of Percy’s blood. That confusing shade of red and gold, like light hitting oil, the smell of copper and something sweet, burnt.
“He’s going to be ok, though?”
Will stops his stress-sorting, looking up at Nico for a few seconds before his face gentles, “Yeah, he’s ok now. I promise.”
Idly, Nico wonders if Percy would even thank them for saving him, and then immediately banishes that train of thought, wary of the answer.
“Just, warn me next time before you take our camp mom out on another harebrained quest, please. I swear I nearly had a stroke when you guys popped in earlier.”
“Yeah, ok.”
“Also, have fun explaining to the others what happened.”
“But-“
“No. If I’m ever subjected to Annabeth’s death glare and Jason’s sad puppy eyes again it will be too soon.”
“At least they like you. It’s not like Annabeth would knife you in your sleep.”
“Dude, my bruises still got bruises from the last Capture the Flag incident.”
“It wasn’t that bad-“
“She had it out for me, Nico. We were on the same team!”
“But-“
“No buts, man. It’s your funeral this time.”
“…I hate you. All of you.”
“Yeah yeah, Mister big-bad-Ghost-King, now shoo and tell the others that mom is fine. I got stuff to do here.”
Everyone is glad Percy isn’t seriously harmed. Sure, the Minotaur had done a number on him, and yes, all of Atlantis had basically threatened to flood the continent if he died, but…. Jason thinks that everyone else is conveniently forgetting about what would have happened if Nico had gotten hurt right in front of Percy.
Nothing good, that’s for damn sure.
Jason doesn’t know how or why exactly, but ever since Tartarus Percy‘s tendencies to become viciously protective had mutated into a profound bloodlust whenever one of them got hurt.
More so after Annabeth and Percy had broken things off and gone back to being best friends.
Jason‘s running theory is that all of Percy‘s possessive protectiveness he’d previously been focusing on Athena‘s daughter had somehow… transferred. To them. Nico, mainly. Will, by extension. And Jason, for whatever reason.
Piper thinks it’s because Nico is the youngest. Annabeth argues that it must be some perverted plan of the fates to… reenact? The relationship of the Big Three. Although the reenactment part is fishy at best because all their fathers would rather gouge out their own eyes than admit to there being any sort of affection between them.
Either way, Percy isn’t someone to keep his feelings to himself, so the first time he’d plastered himself to Nico‘s back when an Ares‘ kid decided to try and badmouth the son of Hades, Jason thought he’d need to prevent a murder.
“He does tend to… fixate,” Annabeth admits. “You need to teach him— show him— that you’re capable of taking care of yourself.”
Nico’s eye twitches. “What, summoning an army of the dead doesn’t count?”
“Not for Percy, obviously.” Will mutters.
“Stop thinking in straight lines-“
“Well there has to be at least one thing straight-“
“Leo!”
“What I’m trying to say!” Annabeth interjects, expertly silencing the others, “is that you need to tell him to stop if he gets too overbearing.”
“I’d rather go kick a puppy, thanks.”
Will nods emphatically. “Yeah, I mean, have you seen his sad face?”
Jason grimaces. Percy and sad in one sentence usually entails a group of overprotective ocean gods out for blood. Jason’s, more often than not. Just on principle. Closest thing to Jupiter one can get around here.
“Ok, so basically you have an overpowered demigod,” Piper lifts her hand, ticking off one finger for every point, “and said demigod has become freakishly protective of… well, all the other demigods. Especially Nico. And Jason, after his harebrained stunt-“
“Hey-“
“Do NOT interrupt me if you value your sensitive bits, Jason.”
“She’s still mad, isn’t she?”
“Wow, what gave you that impression, Will?”
“As I was saying,” Piper continues loftily, “protective, overpowered son of Poseidon. Backed by what appears like every ocean deity in existence-“
“And my father,” Will adds, aggrieved.
“And Apollo. Probably half of Olympus, at this point.”
“Might as well build him a temple and start his worship or something…”
“Yeah, about that, do you think-“
“No.” Annabeth cuts in, tipping back her cup of questionable origin. “We talked about this.”
“Fine. Still. There’s only one viable solution to this problem anyway.”
Nico perks up. “Which is?”
“Give up.” Piper tells him bluntly, reclining against a log. “Unless you want to break his little godling heart.”
The constipated look on Nico’s face tells Jason what exactly the younger demigod thinks of the latter option.
He pats him on the back consolingly. “Hey, better than him trying to kill you, man.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that, Grace.”
“By the way, is somebody sitting with Percy right now?”
“Yeah, Triton showed up earlier. Do you honestly think I’d leave him alone?”
Annabeth shrugs, biting off a piece of sausage she’d been roasting over the fire. “I just thought that nobody wants a panicking Percy after last time.”
They all wince in tandem.
“Do you not think this is quite enough?”
Percy resists the temptation to roll his eyes and stuffs another piece of ambrosia in his mouth, savoring the taste of warm chocolate cookies.
Triton’s lips thin into a line. “You are yet mortal, brother. This was stupidly reckless, even for you.”
Percy swallows, relishing the heat settling in his stomach and reaches for another piece on the bedside table. “That hit would have killed Nico. I knew it wouldn’t kill me.”
“I do not care for the cthonic child,” the god retorts, earning himself a warning glance. “I care about you. So does the rest of Atlantis. Your death would have spelled everyone’s demise on this dry piece of rock, brother.”
“Stop it,” Percy sighs, thumping his head lightly against the headboard. They’d had this argument so many times now all it does is tire him out. “They’re important to me.”
“I am aware,” Triton replies brusquely, “otherwise we would have attempted to drown them already.”
“And I would have haunted the shit out of you all for it.”
“Mother said much the same thing.”
“Yeah, maybe because she’s the sole owner of every single brain cell in Atlantis.”
“I could smite you, brother.”
“Oh yes, that’s gonna be fun to explain to dad.”
Triton snorts, his expression loosening somewhat. Percy is glad for it. When he woke up in the infirmary his brother had seemed one breath away from flooding the entire camp. Not to mention the sheer strangeness of seeing him on land, in human form.
It’s heartwarming, however, that the god would deliberately walk onto dry land just to assure himself of Percy’s well-being. With the bumpy start in their relationship Percy had scarcely hoped for anything more than that Triton wouldn’t attempt to murder him on sight, but now… It feels… nice, to have something like a real older brother.
Even if that brother could (and totally would) drown all your friends in a fit of rage. But, hey, no family is perfect.
“Is Nico ok?” Percy ventures carefully, loathe as he is to remind Triton of the reason for his impromptu trip to camp.
“The cthonic child is well, albeit furious at your actions. In that, we are in agreement.”
Oh gods, an agitated Nico…
“You should return with me to Atlantis. Lest Your inadequate sense of self preservation causes him to become just as mad as his predecessors.“
“Now hold on just a moment-“
“Or our o so gracious bastard of the king of gods. Perhaps he will notice your plight and attempt to end it.“
“How is it Jason’s fault?”
“Somehow,” Triton says drily, “I have learned that no matter the situation, it is always one of the king‘s offsprings that is the cause for all my grief.”
“In my experience it’s just Zeus who’s being an absolute ass, not his children.”
Thunder cracks somewhere in the distance, and Triton sneers menacingly at the ceiling.
Another roll of thunder, low and and threatening, and Percy’s hairs stand on edge when he feels the piercing gaze of something decidedly not-human turning on him.
“Yes,” Triton growls. “Try it. Please. Give father a reason to start a war.”
Another pair of eyes, watchful and shielding like the oceans, invoked by Triton’s words, and Percy exhales a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding.
Zeus’ presence vanishes like smoke into the night, leaving behind the cool sweep of Poseidon’s regard passing over them like a caress.
“Thought so,” his brother huffs, settling back into the chair with an air of smugness.
“Still can’t take any form of criticism, I see.”
“Come back to Atlantis with me.”
The floorboards creak as Percy sits up, carefully testing his balance and pleased to find it intact.
“The others outside?”
“Father wants you there. So does mother. Me, too.”
There’s a distant flicker of fire visible through the window, and Percy feels the ache for it like a living thing deep in his lungs, stretching him thin over a distance and drawing him to the people he keeps close to his heart.
He can almost see them, gathered around the fire. Nico, Will, Annabeth, Piper, Jason… they’re laughing. Half serious conversations that Leo keeps intercepting with a joke. Nico, exasperated yet secretly basking in the warmth of familiar banter, their voices drifting into the night, into the sea, invoking—
A brush of cool water in his mind, and Percy snaps back into the present with a jolt.
He’s by the window, hands pressed to the glass, still staring at the flickers, but now there’s a large hand spanning his shoulder blade and Percy gasps, his insides simmering with cold heat.
“Stay, Perseus.”
With a violent shudder Percy wrenches his hands from the glass, stumbling backwards and right into Poseidon’s steady grasp. Poseidon catches him with rare tenderness, turning him around as gently as one would a wounded butterfly.
“What- what was that? What just happened?”
He’s still in the infirmary— knows he’s still in the infirmary— but also not. It’s like images are overlapping, of bonfires and laughter and gods cradling him like a child. It’s too much. It’s not enough.
“Father-“
“I know.”
Oceans seep into Percy, chasing out the the maddening twist of images until all that’s left is the low hum of unfathomable depths and shipwrecks.
Percy groans, curling into Poseidon’s hold while simultaneously grabbing for Triton in blind search for contact.
Another cool hand, a rush of the currents, and the phantom flickers disappear entirely, cleansing his head and drawing it into the lull of familiarity.
“This was inevitable.” Triton says, certain but not unkind. “Come to Atlantis with us, brother. You need it.”
“No,” Percy grits out, counting the number of spots on the floor with a single minded focus. He just needs practice focusing on the present and this will stop, “I can’t. I won’t.”
“You are unmaking yourself, Percy.”
“They need me,” it feels like begging, “I have to keep them safe. They’re-“
The shadows in the corner of the room ripple, distorting and condensing into a black mass from which the son of Hades emerges like a vengeful wraith.
Nico visibly startles when he catches sight of the two gods holding Percy in their midst, taking an instinctive step backwards, hand twitching as if to reach for a weapon, face slipping from relaxed to wary to apprehension in the span of a second.
Percy’s mind snaps back into glaring focus, zeroing in on the way Nico’s eyes flit nervously between Triton’s hostile scowl and Poseidon’s suspiciously blank expression.
The shadows twist out of the walls, curling anxiously around Nico‘s feet like a cat’s tail.
Percy moves then, pushing away from the two gods to move himself not so subtly between them and Nico.
“Thanks for dropping by.” He says, pulling his lips back into a smile that‘s just on this side of too many teeth. “Tell Amphitrite I’ll visit soon.“
With that he turns on his heel, steering Nico and himself out of the infirmary with his back resolutely to both ocean deities. “So, I heard you were having a party without me? Nico, I thought we were buddies, mates, the absolute-“
“Percy-“
“Bestest of besties-“
“Annabeth-“
“The pain of being forgotten-“
“Did you really just walk out on two gods-“
“I was looking forward to making the dough blue-“
“Dammit, Percy-“
Percy never lets Nico finish any of his sentences, keeping up his inane chatter as he guides them through the quieting camp and blindly towards where he thinks the bonfire is.
The other campers greet them as they walk past, standing straighter, and Percy makes sure to smile brightly at them all, pleased by the way they greet Nico in a similar fashion. He tries very hard not to feel like a proud mother hen parading her chicks about.
Nico, meanwhile, looks like he’s about to vibrate out of his own skin in annoyance, but the anxious slump is gone from his posture and he’s leaning into the touch of Percy’s palm on his shoulder ever so slightly, so Percy counts it as a win. With the pleasant side effect of not feeling as on edge himself anymore.
When they break the tree line it’s Will who notices them first, blinking in bewilderment. “What happened to just checking up on him?”
“You said Triton,” Nico mutters, plopping down beside Will with a grimace. “You didn’t say anything about Poseidon.”
Leo whistles. “Your dad actually came to check up on you? Favorite kid privileges, man. How you do it?”
“Puppy seal eyes.”
“Dude, they have actual baby seals in Atlantis, Percy doesn’t have shit on- wait, Percy, do they have baby seals in Atlantis!?”
Percy laughs, dropping down to Nico’s right with a content grin, the stress and anxiety of earlier melting away into the night. Jason shifts a little closer until their knees bump, Annabeth shoots him a look full of fond exasperation, Piper and Leo bicker over everything and nothing and Percy thinks this-
This, right here, this is where he belongs.
Cole is appraising a neatly woven robe with intricate patterns of vines and flowers, mentally going through the numbers on his bank account, when the entire street just sort of… freezes.
It’s a subtle thing, not much more than a hitch in someone’s breath or startled flinch, but it’s there all the same and the air becomes thick with a foreboding sort of apprehension.
The demigods all snap to attention, including Rica, who is usually as prone to conform to rules as Cole himself, which is really all the incentive he needs to turn his head and see what caused the commotion.
New Rome is an impressive city. Cole’s eyes had nearly popped out of their sockets when he’d first come here, the otherworldliness closer to divinity than anything he’d witnessed until that day. As a legacy of Venus he’d never felt the need to connect any more with his ancestry than was strictly necessary, given their whole… fightiness, but it was still nice to be around others like him.
Point is, Cole had learned pretty quickly how to reconnect with his ancestry. Being around part-gods day in and day out is different to living with, well, regular humans. For one, you learn to trust your instincts. Or at least listen to them. Gods know it has saved Cole from accidentally being skewered by a wayward spear more than once, now.
And those same instincts are currently screaming at him to bow the fuck down as he sets eyes on one Perseus Jackson walking down the streets of New Rome, parading the son of Pluto in front of him like a recently acquired sacrifice he wants to show off.
“Godsdammit,” Rica hisses, grabbing Cole by the arm to draw him back a few steps. “I thought he wasn’t due back here for another two weeks at least.”
“Isn’t he the Hero of Olympus or something?” Perseus smiles blindingly at a young legacy, accepting the flower she offers him by letting her put it behind his ear. It looks absolutely silly. Cole kind of wants to kiss him.
Rica’s disgust is an almost palpable thing. “Oh, no, nonono, fuck you, don’t even think about it—“
“I didn’t even say any-“
“I know that look! Cole, even I can’t help you if you piss off a go-“ she cuts herself off, frowning, but Cole heard the implication anyway. It’s hardly a secret that Perseus is a god in everything but name, but Cole had always thought the people were exaggerating. “Look, just, don’t.”
“Hm,” Cole’s gaze follows Perseus and Pluto’s son, analyzing how the former is never more than a step behind his younger… charge? Friend? …. Lover? Leaning forward to whisper quietly into his ear every once in a while, how Pluto’s son nods and a smirk teases his lips, and… well, damn. Cole kind of wants to kiss them both. They’re beautiful. Rica can bloody sue him.
“I can do this on my own, Percy.”
“But you don’t have to.”
The adorable-Son-of-Pluto-whose-name-Cole-forgot snorts, rolling his eyes skyward, but even if he wasn’t a legacy of Venus he’d know it’s halfhearted at best.
Perseus grins, victorious, and slings an arm around the younger demigod’s shoulder, practically dwarfing him.
And, ok, maybe Rica isn’t wrong to worry. If Perseus is anything like his father then hitting on his… uh… lover? Sure as all hells isn’t going to fly for him. Because, really, all that Pluto’s son is missing to mark him as Perseus’s is some ocean themed jewelry. Or a name tag. Or both.
Fact is, you don’t mess with people who’ve been claimed like that if you value your skeletal integrity. That’s lesson one-point-oh of both Greek and Roman mythology. Amen.
“You win this one, Ri.”
“Oh thank fuck.”
They’re only a few feet away from where Rica and him are standing, waiting to pay their respects as if it were Jupiter walking the streets, when someone makes the mistake to hiss a snide comment in the younger demigod’s general direction.
“Well, shit.“
Cole has never seen someone switch from kind and warm to cold and cruel as quickly as Perseus does.
His previously relaxed posture becomes stiff, his eyes narrow— Cole swears they glow— and then he draws himself up to his full height, the smell of salt and water wafting through the streets. “Care to repeat that?”
The man— “Son of Mars,” Rica provides quietly— pales, stuttering something that sounds an awful lot like a half assed apology. One that he’s pointedly not directing at the one who deserves it.
Perseus’ expression becomes colder with every uttered word, the telltale twitch of his fingers obviously itching to draw a weapon, and the toneless apprehension rippling through the people present reminds Cole of the more unsavory rumors about him.
“Find out, then.” Perseus says, and his voice is the grind of ships against rocks; the sinking. “If you’re brave enough.”
God of Blood, they call him, and Cole isn’t particularly eager to find out what it feels like to have his own circulate the wrong way ‘round, thank you very much, but this Son of Mars seems to have the survival instincts of a wet paper towel, because he actually raises his nose at Perseus and says, “Fine.“
Pluto‘s son— Nick? Nico? — sighs audibly, grabbing Perseus’ sleeve from where the god had moved in front of him. “Percy, it’s fine—“
“Meet us in the coliseum.”
“Percy-“
“As you wish,” Cole knows it’s coming even before he sees the twinkle in his eyes, “my lord.”
Perseus’ expression becomes thunderous and when he next opens his mouth a tremor runs through the ground beneath their every feet. “You-“
“Percy!” The son of Pluto— Cole’s pretty sure his name is Nico— snaps, and Cole half expects Perseus to incinerate him on the spot for the insolence of it, but instead the (half?)god blinks owlishly. “He insulted you!”
“I can fight for myself.”
“But- I’m here.”
Nico glares, gesturing pointedly at the ensemble of people around them. “And you know I hate making a scene. I would have kicked his ass either way.”
Perseus pouts. “But- he was rude, Neeks!”
Nico’s face turns an alarming shade of red. “You- don’t call me that!” Then he turns on his heel, marching resolutely into the shade of a stand selling fruit and even as Perseus scrambles to follow him the shadows seem to elongate and twist and suddenly the Son of Pluto is just… gone.
Perseus is left standing in the streets of New Rome looking for all the world like a kicked puppy and not the overpowered demigod-slash-maybe-god he actually is.
At least for a second, because then he seems to remember that the absolute dumbass Mars kid is also still standing there, and that his impulse control conveniently decided to nope out.
“Oh boy,” Rica mutters, tugging insistently on Cole’s sleeve in a universal sign of let’s-get-the-fuck-out-of-here. “Where is Grace when you need him?”
“If he’s got a single working brain cell, then he’s about as far from here as he possibly can be.”
“Percy, what the fuck did you do?”
“What? Why would you assume I did anything?”
“The asshole from earlier just came up and begged for forgiveness.”
“Well that’s good-“
“On his knees.”
“Isn’t that even bette-“
“Soaked.”
“… he deserved it.”
“I’m telling Annabeth.”
“No, wait. Stop. Nico!“
Jason did not realize that Piper and Leo had played him until the water on the table begins to shake and Jason has to leap forward to keep it… well, inside the glass.
“Uh- I-“ Jason would think it’s comical how Nico splutters, flustered and well on the way to becoming a tomato, but Percy looks like he’s about to drown the poor waiter with the coffee he’s holding so that’s decidedly the more pressing concern. “I-I… don’t…”
“No need to rush. I’ll be back with some extra biscuits right away, cutie.”
Yeah, Jason is not imagining the eerie glow in Percy’s eyes.
Thankfully the waiter turns away from their table and makes a beeline back to the kitchen, presumably to fix up those extra goodies for Nico, which leaves Jason free reign to not so subtly kick Percy under the table.
“Bro, what the fuck?”
Percy’s steely eyes turn to him, and it’s only Lupa’s training that enables Jason to meet the murderous intent in them head on. “He was hitting on Nico!”
Nico splutters, still looking a little star struck by the entire experience and too high on dopamine to get mad at Percy for his irrational behavior.
Which, go Nico! That boy is in desperate need of a self confidence booster.
“Wasn’t that kind of your intention?”
This morning Percy had dressed Nico up like he’d seen old ladies do their handbag-dogs, very nearly wrestling him into a new shirt, matching denims and several pieces of jewelry he’d gotten from gods know where.
Nico had clawed at Percy like a feral kitten the entire time. Jason is impressed that Percy is still in possession of both his eyes.
“No!” Percy seethes, shooting a dark glance towards the kitchen before he adds, “For all we know that guy could be a monster.”
Hardly.
“Look, bro, I think Nico can take care of-“
“He could be dangerous!”
“Dude, seriously, just-“
“He hasn’t even asked if Nico is alright with this kind of attention! Nico is probably too scared to say anything!”
That seems to snap Nico out of his stupor, “What-? No, I’m actually-“
“See? He’s stuttering! This guy needs to back off! I will-“
“Percy, shut up!”
Percy shuts up, not without a betrayed look towards Nico, however.
“I told you before, I can take care of myself! And… he’s kind of alright looking, I guess…“
Jason grins, wiggling his eyebrows. “‘Alright looking’, huh?”
The blush spreads all the way up Nico’s ears. “Piss off, Grace.”
Percy frowns, huffing skeptically as he leans back in his seat. The water in their glasses stops sloshing uncontrollably.
“Fine. But we should agree on some kind of code word in case you do need our help.”
“Bro-“
“And I’ll dump the Red Sea on him. No questions asked.”
“-you can’t just casually talk about murdering mortals-“
“Fine, I’ll ask Triton.”
“Percy!”
Nico feels almost guilty about cornering Annabeth the way he does, appearing from the shadows in the corner of her room.
The daughter of Athena is sketching at her table, measuring tape slung haphazardly around her neck, classical music quietly playing in the background. There are numerous crumpled pieces of paper strewn about the room, piling into a veritable mountain in close vicinity to her chair.
It looks a mess.
Annabeth doesn’t notice him standing right behind her, too absorbed in her work and the sheet of calculations to her left, and Nico uses the opportunity take a closer look, curious despite himself.
Many of the lines are faint, only some of them inked in, and the geometric shapes amalgamate into a mess of three dimensional objects that take Nico several seconds to decipher as columns. Next he recognizes the looping inscriptions and hastily scribbled notes as ancient hymns, closely followed by the mess of lines and curls that are marking the attempts at sketched statues.
Annabeth is sketching a temple.
And judging by the amount of crumpled paper she wants it to be even better than her previous designs.
Nico has a feeling he knows who this temple is going to be for.
“He ascended, didn’t he.”
Annabeth jumps, her pencil breaking with a snap as she turns, fists flying.
It’s dumb luck that Nico manages to dodge, but he also makes the smart move to get out of her range right after.
“What the fuck!?”
“I’m sorry,” Nico says, not at all apologetic. “I thought you heard me.”
Her glare tells him that she saw right through both of those lies.
“Do that again and I will stab you.” She says, and Nico is absolutely sure she’s not joking.
Not that that’s going to stop him, and they both know it. So instead he repeats his earlier not-question, “Percy. He ascended.”
Annabeth’s mouth curls like she just swallowed something sour, her proverbial hackles rising as she resolutely turns back to her work, shuffling the papers around. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. He turned down immortality.”
Nico puts his hand on the papers, forcing Annabeth to stop her shuffling or risk ripping her current attempt at the perfect temple.
“He ascended.” Nico presses, “There, with you. Back in Tartarus.”
Annabeth flinches imperceptibly before forcibly removing Nico’s hand from her stack of papers and sorting them into a neat stack at the edge of the table. She stands then, pushing her chair further out to lean against the table and fully face Nico with a hard, steely look in her eyes.
“So what if he did?”
“So nothing,” he responds truthfully, backing away a step to give the demigoddess some room. “I’m just trying to make sense of some stuff.”
Annabeth sighs softly, her grey eyes losing some of their previous distrust as she turns to gaze out the window to watch a flock of doves passing by. “The answer to you question is no, then. He didn’t ascend, but the… transition, that’s when it started.”
Nico thinks of blood shot through with shimmers of gold, of the taste of divinity clinging to the roof of his mouth, his hands and teeth stained with more ich or then ever before.
“With Akhlys,” he guesses, “because she threatened you.”
Annabeth blinks, truly looking at Nico for the first time today. But the look she gives him is incredulous, unnerving, sad—close to pity— and Nico finds himself wishing she’d look away again.
“No,” she says, like he’s an idiot for even suggesting it. “Because she said she’d go after you.”
“I’m not some toy, Percy. I’m not a plaything. I’m a living, breathing being.”
“I know. I swear, I know.”
“Then why- I’m pretty sure you didn’t even like me back then.”
“That’s not true!” Percy blurts, flinching when slightly when the bottle of water on the nightstand begins to rattle ominously.
“That’s not true,” he repeats, more quietly this time. “I’ve always cared for you. I wasn’t going to let her hurt you.”
Nico frowns, “Why, because you think I’m weak? Because you think you owe me for what happened to Bianca?”
“No! I- yes, a little, but also because-“ Percy groans, tearing at his hair in frustration. “I don’t know, ok? I don’t know. I just- I got so angry when she said she’d go after you. When she talked about the things she’d do to you, that she’d make me watch do to you, I just- I don’t know. She knew she’d hit a nerve, and I just lost it, just imagining it felt like-“
The water bottle bursts, a spray of chilled water drenching Nico for a bare second before the droplets get pulled from him, gravitating back to Percy and his guiltily outstretched hand.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbles, looking almost fearful “I didn’t mean to.”
“I know.”
“I just- watching out for you, for Jason, for everyone, it makes me feel normal. It keeps me here. Keeps me human.”
“But you’re not,” Nico says, as gently as he knows how. “Not anymore.”
Percy grimaces, his shoulders slumping. “… no, I’m not.”
“I’m going to die, Percy. And so is Jason, eventually.”
A shudder goes through Percy’s body, his eyes flashing a bright green before they dim into a disconcerting dullness that has Nico fight the urge to grab onto Percy’s sleeve.
“I know,” Percy says, hollow, like what Nico imagines an echo in an underwater shipwreck must sound like; desolate. “I know.”
It’s nigh impossible to fight the urge to cry, but Nico manages. Somehow.
He’s suspicious and on guard when Poseidon calls for him, watching with furrowed eyebrows as Grace very nearly leaves the sea god’s temple in a dead sprint and takes off into the air as soon as can be considered polite.
The son of Jupiter is hard to rattle, and Nico is wary of whatever Poseidon might ask of him if elicited such a strong reaction from his fellow demigod.
Nevertheless Nico climbs the steps to the temple, his desire to know about Percy’s well-being winning out over his caution.
None of them had heard a word from Percy since he’d left for Atlantis months ago, never resurfacing after his customary two week visit. Only Annabeth’s recurrent affirmations that, “yes, Percy is perfectly fine” kept them from storming the City beneath the Sea.
Poseidon waits for him in front of his altar, clad in flip flops, Hawaii shirt and beach shorts. A casual attire that belies the war styled trident in his right hand and the stormy expression on his handsome face.
“Hades Child.” he booms, voice echoing in the cavernous hall.
Nico nods respectfully, “My lord. You wished to speak to me?”
“I did. Please, walk with me.”
Nico does, although he’s sure he has less of a choice in it than Poseidon made it seem. He sends a quick prayer to Hades when he feels a familiar gaze zeroing in on him, letting his father know that all is well before he follows Poseidon out the temple and down on the forking paths leading to and from New Rome.
“Is Percy ok?”
Poseidon hums, eyes distant. “As ok as I expected him to be.”
And what did you expect, Nico wants to ask and barely manages to bite his tongue. It wouldn’t do to anger Poseidon so early into their conversation.
“He misses his friends. You.”
“Then why does he not come back?”
“Because my foolish son thinks it will hurt less this way,” the sea god replies, voice equal parts fond and sad. “But all it does his make him fade faster.”
Nico stops, the blood in his veins turning to ice. “What do you mean, fade? That’s not possible. He’s- he’s new.”
Poseidon doesn’t react for a long moment, just continues to stare out towards the lake, lost in thought, “Your father would grant you immortality in a heartbeat, nephew.” he says eventually, then adds thoughtfully, “So would I.”
Nico blinks, reeling from the change in topic with the beginning dregs of anger and irritation gnawing at him— if Percy is truly fading then this is not the time to debate semantics— before it clicks suddenly, just as a seagull emits a shrill scream somewhere above their heads.
“For Percy,” Nico breathes, a horrible suspicion taking hold in his mind.
Poseidon nods gravely. “For Percy.”
“Are we-“ it feels wrong to say out loud, wrong to think. But if Jason’s earlier behavior is any indication that he’d come to the same conclusion. “You offered it to Jason, too.”
Another nod, more grudging this time. “I feel little fondness for my brother’s offspring, but he is important to Perseus. For that, I would gladly tolerate him for eternity.”
Nico swallows down the indignity he feels on Jason’s behalf. “Why?” He asks instead, “Why us?”
“I do not know.” The admission seems to pain him, “I do not think my son does, either. All that I do know is that immortality will break him— is breaking him— and I wish to prevent that. I do not want to lose him.”
Nico thinks of forever, of the stipulations of it, of seeing the rise and fall of ages and empires, watching loved one grow old and wither back into the stream of time… He knows Hades would love nothing more than to keep Nico, would have raised him to godhood long ago if he didn’t also respect Nico‘s independence. He thinks Hades would have gone to the same lengths as Poseidon is going now.
“Hades would wage war if I went against your wishes,” the god says idly, his piercing eyes— much colder, much more ancient than Percy’s— boring into him. “So would Zeus, if for nothing else but the perceived slight to his honor. So I’m telling you the same thing I told Lupa’s child soldier: think about it. I will answer your prayer should you decide to save my beloved child.”
And then Poseidon is gone with a gust of sea and salt; vapor in the late afternoon sun.
For a long time Nico stands there, watching the shadows lengthen and stretch their limbs across the ground towards him, torn between the desire to sink into or step away from them.
In the distance, high up in the sky, a storm is brewing. Tendrils of lightning flashing like snakes amongst a dark cover of clouds. Nico knows what Jason will choose, because there’d never truly been a choice.
For once, they’re not so different.
“You’ll do it, then?”
“Won’t you?”
“… I’m not going to just let him.. die.”
“Well there’s your answer. Neither will I.”
Percy looks tired— sick— when he appears before them on Temple Hill, and Nico has to bite back the instinctive urge to grab his sleeve and plaster himself to his side after months of separation. A habit he’d developed gods know when.
“Hi, guys.” Percy says, and Nico is disturbed to hear his voice raw and scratchy.
Beside him Jason’s frowns, worry emanating in nearly imperceptible waves of static off him.
Not that Nico blames him. Percy had always been a paragon of health, but now his skin seems almost waxen, translucent in the light of Apollo’s setting sun. His veins are a labyrinth of greens and blues, winding over and around themselves with disturbing visibility. Even Nico’s own had never been so prominent, and out of the two of them he’s not the one usually seen lounging on the beach.
But it’s not just Percy’s skin. His hair looks strangely matted, brittle, and his eyes are so bruised that it looks like someone got two good hits in.
The only thing that looks remotely good about him is his Atlantis issued chiton that looks like it got woven from the rippling tides of the ocean itself. For all Nico knows, it probably was.
“Bro, you look like crap.”
Percy snorts, his lips twitching into what Nico assumes is supposed to be a smile but looks more like something you’d carve into Halloween pumpkin.
“Thanks, bro. Totally didn’t realize.”
With a sinking stomach Nico realizes that Poseidon hadn’t been exaggerating; Percy is fading.
Dying.
Immortality— divinity— is eating him like a parasite from the inside out.
“You… called.”
Pray, he doesn’t say.
Jason, ever the pacifist, leans forward to bump his shoulder into Percy‘s. “Yeah, we got something for you. Come on.”
Nico doesn’t miss the way Percy leans into the touch, a raw and terrible emotion flitting over his face that sends a pang of sympathy through him.
Bottomless loneliness.
He’d seen some of it before in Percy’s eyes but it’s worse now, and Nico aches with the knowledge that this abject misery stems from the same terrible loneliness Nico had once been so prone to subject himself to.
The difference being that back then Nico had chosen solitude.
But Percy is a creature of touch. In whatever form or way he craves a sort of closeness and affection that Nico had shied away from like a feral cat in the beginning. Which hadn’t been a problem, because then Nico was only that weird demigod kid, and Percy’s main source of comfort came from resting his head on Annabeth’s lap or pressing his side into Grover.
Isolation isn’t in Percy’s nature.
“Oh?” a hint of confused curiosity tints Percy’s voice, but when he makes to follow Jason he still casts a glance back at Nico to make sure he’s coming, too.
“Yeah,” Nico drawls, dragging his feet. He brushes up against Percy’s arm in passing. “It’s super.”
Jason leads them up the steps of the newest temple and Percy’s head cranes this way and that as he takes in the white marble columns and torches lighting up the entrance. The walls are covered in carvings of fish and other sea life, painted in with a shimmering blue and adorned with shiny pearls. Annabeth had been especially proud of the depiction of Bessie above the silver altar, the Ophiotaurus’ tail spanning the width of the temple in intricate loops and swirls. Annabeth spent two days up on Olympus photographing Bessie to capture his likeness.
“Wow,” Percy says when they step foot inside the cavernous room already halfway filled with offerings of fruit of and honeyed wine and the stray stuffed animal. “This is really cool. Who’s it for? Kym?”
Jason looks back at Percy, incredulous. “Kymopoleia’s temple is right next to this one, Perce.”
“Oh, right. But you really went all out with this one. It’s classy. I like the colors.”
“I’m glad. It’s for you.”
Percy freezes, missing a step, and Nico would find the thought of a literal god stumbling hysterical if it weren’t for the look of sheer devastation on Percy’s face.
“For me? But I- Jason, I’m just-“
“Percy, the majority of both camps is already praying to you and offering sacrifices.”
A flinch.
“This… I’m sorry, bro. It was a long time coming.”
Whatever color had been left in Percy’s skin drains away, his entire form collapsing in on itself. “I’m not- I didn’t want this. I don’t want to be a god. I don’t want to watch you-“ He cuts himself off, but judging by the look on Jason’s face they both know what he’d been about to say.
I don’t want to watch you all die and leave me.
So Nico does the only thing he can.
He takes a breath and steps forward to grab the soft fabric of Percy’s chiton, bunching his fist in the fabric before he drops his head against Percy‘s shoulder.
The skin there is cold, almost startlingly so, and the way Percy freezes and emits a choked noise has Nico draw back slightly, but then there’s a hand at his elbow and another on his back and Percy almost brings them crashing down with how fast he pulls Nico back forward.
“Oh, Percy.” Jason sighs softly, joining the embrace delicately by wrapping his much larger arms around them both, smushing the three of them together into a tangle of bodies while Percy’s tears seep through their cloths. “Bro, we’re not leaving you.”
“You are and- and that’s good. It’s fine, I-“
“No, bro, for real. We’re not leaving.”
“Jason,” a wet laugh, “I’m not a fucking idiot. I could literally smite you for lying to me now.”
“That might be harder than you’d expect,” Nico says, smirking into Percy’s collarbone. “Gods are pretty hard to kill.”
For the second time Percy goes rigid against them before he pulls back, eyes shining with yet unshed tears. “What are you saying?”
“You’re not getting rid of us any time soon, bro. We’re kind of your ascension present, gift wrapped in brand new immortality!”
“You’re not-“ The sea deity gapes at them, his face going through a myriad of expressions ranging from disbelief to anger and finally settling on tentative joy. “Shit, you didn’t.”
“We kind of did,” Nico deadpans, snapping his fingers to prick the back of his hand with a shadow tendril, making Percy watch as a droplet of ichor wells up before the wound fuses itself back shut. “So you better make this worth our while.”
The temple shudders, tiny tremors running through the ground as Percy pulls them all to their knees, laughing and crying and clinging to Jason and Nico alike, blubbering promises on Styx and Tiber as the color returns to his skin and grows warmer beneath their touch, the walls lighting up with the presence of a new deity accepting the place as their own.
“I promise!” Percy vows again, “I promise.”
And Nico believes him.
“… I still don’t like them.”
“We’re doing this for Percy.”
“…I’m keeping the room next to his.”
“Triton..”
“I was there first!”