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birdiesthings · 3 years ago

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hey, not sure if u do requests, but i would love to see sally and poseidon gaining up on percy over something. i can't imagine sally, being the incredible fictional mother she is, seriously taking poseidon's side on anything, really, unless it were something big, so it'd be really interesting to see your thoughts on it! if not, i completely understand, no pressure! i love ur writing and i hope u have a good day/night<3

Ooh. I’ve been thinking this one over for a bit. I agree that Sally would 100% take Percy’s side over Poseidon’s for pretty much everything except if it was something incredibly dark/angsty that compromises Percy’s safety in the worst possible way. BUT I think I found a loophole for a more lighthearted take.

You see, while Sally may not take Poseidon’s side for anything…. Poseidon would probably take hers. Enjoy 😂

btw happy belated mother’s day, Sally!

“Mom,” Percy said, leaning against the counter as he watched the kitchen burst to life with Paul frying up some sort concoction of vegetables and his mother defrosting the chicken. “You know I would do anything for you. My love is neverending. I would - and have - walk into the realm of death for you-”

“The answer is no.”

Damnit.

“I have a counter argument,” Percy tried. His mother turned, wiping her hands off on a towel as she raised an eyebrow.

“...continue,” she said suspiciously. Percy raised both hands.

“I have to go?”

His mother gave a soft scoff, tossing the towel to the side to place a hand on either side of his face. Smiling, she pulled him down slightly so she could kiss his forehead. This was a good sign, probably. His mother - gods bless her - had always been somewhat easy to win over.

“No.”

Seriously?

Percy groaned, ignoring Paul laughing at him as he grabbed some garlic.

“Why are you so against this?” Percy asked, a little pitifully. His mother has allowed him pretty much free reign in his life. She trusted his decisions and - as she once told Paul - ‘he saved the world for free, so we might as well let him do what he wants’.

It was a little bit of a joke. After all, Percy went out of his way to avoid doing literally anything that might upset his mother, but this... well, it was a bit of a surprise. She hadn’t been so firm about something since he was a kid.

What even was this?

“You know, I’m almost eighteen-” he began and immediately backtracked when his mother spun around - brows raised higher than he was safe being around. “Um, so. I am... mature. And... that holds no relevance,” he quickly rectified. She looked at him suspiciously for a moment and then went back to the chicken. “But, seriously. Mom,” he tried again.

“Percy, please. Let me cook dinner.”

“Here,” he tried and put his hands on her shoulders to move her away. “I can do that. Just hear me out as I do,” he said, turning on the hot water to speed up the defrosting process. His mother sighed and leaned against the fridge. “I’ll get in trouble if I don’t go.”

“I’ll talk to your father about it.”

“You’ll- mom,” Percy said, almost laughing. It seemed so silly. His mother ringing up his father - perhaps on something like a conch shell - to get him out of a camp activity. He couldn’t decide if it was hilarious or horrifyingly embarrassing. “Poseidon isn’t going to give me permission to skip the Winter Solstice. All the campers have to go.”

“Untrue. You don’t have to go. And you won’t,” his mother said firmly. Percy wiggled his fingers, perhaps cheating a bit to use his powers and defrost the chicken. He put it on the cutting board and bit his lip. It wasn’t that he was super thrilled to be hanging out with the gods again - he wasn’t. But he also couldn’t skip the event without offending the Olympians who anticipated his presence and made it a whole ordeal for them to mingle with the Romans. Percy supposed hanging out with Frank and Hazel was perfectly enjoyable, but forcing himself to look the part of a serious, stoic leader? Not so much.

“Mom. I don’t know what you want me to do. Tell Zeus that my mortal mother said I couldn’t go?”

“Because his wife kidnapped my son, wiped his memories, and then took my child away from me for a year? Yes, go ahead and tell him that,” his mother said with a nod. Percy picked up a knife and starting cutting.

“He will smite me where I stand.”

“He won’t,” she dismissed with far too much certainty.

“What do you mean he won’t?“ Percy asked her, looking over his shoulder. “Are you friends with the King of Olympus now?” he asked. Paul perked up at that, also looking over at Sally with veiled interest.

“...I thought we didn’t like him?” he asked her quietly. Percy threw a towel at him. “What? I forget which gods we like and don’t,” he complained. Then paused. “Do we like Aphrodite?”

“Sometimes.”

“Interesting. Hermes?”

“Mostly.”

“Artemis?”

“Yes.”

“Ares.”

“No.”

“I need to make a list,” Paul muttered and dumped the vegetables he was making into a bowl. “Sally, I’m going to wake up Estelle from her nap,” he added, patting Percy’s shoulder as he went by. A silent, you won’t win this, was given, but Percy ignored it.

“Mom-” he tried, for what had to be the hundredth time. A hand rose.

“Perseus,” she began. Ah. Shit. He was Perseus now. “I think it is perfectly understandable why you won’t be attending. Between Tartarus, two wars, and that woman being present, you have every reason not to be there. And-” she added with Percy opened his mouth, “I am sure your father will tell them as such. If Zeus tries to make a fuss, he should remember how Poseidon tends to react when his children are threatened.”

Percy ran a hand over his face. No offense to his father, but he just didn’t see this happening the way his mother pictured it. Taking a deep breath, he picked up the chicken and threw it in the pan Paul had abandoned, tossing in a little extra spice as he did so... Paul rarely could handle all that much, but Percy found it hilarious to haze him with culinary warfare.

“So I came all the way back to New York to not go?”

“You came to New York to visit your mother, sister, and stepfather.”

“But-”

“You’re not going. That’s the end of it,” she snapped. Percy bit his tongue, genuinely annoyed by this point. He understood her paranoia. Really. He did. But also, he didn’t think she truly understood just how temperamental the gods could be. Even if they didn’t like him, they expected him to act as though he did. Even worse - if they realized he wasn’t attending because of her? Well, he didn’t want to risk his mother being brought to the forefront of any godly matters.

He planned to pushback a little more but was interrupted by Estelle stumbling into the room - a cup of juice in one hand and a stuffed fish in the other. She looked around - eyes wide and wild - before spotting Percy and Sally by the stove.

“....cookies,” she greeted. Percy’s irritation washed away.

“Dinner,” he said, holding up the pan. Estelle wrinkled her nose.

“Cookies... for dinner?” she countered. Grinning, Percy took the chicken off the hob and turned around to scoop her up.

“Cookies for dinner?” he asked, poking at her so she burst into a screech of giggles. “Are you crazy? Who eats cookies for dinner?” he demanded, tickling her feet. “I’m calling the police-”

“No! I didn’t mean it!”

“It’s too late. You’re going to jail!”

“No!” Estelle wailed and Percy cackled maniacally as he placed her down to start chasing her through the living room. Paul didn’t seem fazed as he passed by, merely pausing to move a lamp out of the way as the chase continued.

The next morning, Percy decided to try and reason with his mother again. He had Iris Messaged his friends in hope for some helpful advice and instead was laughed at.

“Oh... my...gods....” Piper giggled, leaning heavily on Annabeth’s arm. They were both staying together in her father’s spare penthouse uptown. Percy made a note to stop by and steal something in retaliation to this betrayal. “I love your mom.”

“Sure. Laugh at me. I bet if I reminded her that you guys were going, she’d try to stop you as well.” Annabeth paused at that - looking a little worried. “Do you really want my mother to be giving any opinions on either of yours?” he asked. Piper also stopped laughing.

“...alright, fair,” Piper said. Then turned to look over her shoulder. “LEO, YOU WANT TO HEAR SOMETHING FUNNY-”

“Piper, go away,” Percy snapped and she rolled her eyes, patting Annabeth’s shoulder as she got up. Annabeth smiled a little before scooting closer to the message. The action lessened Percy’s stress slightly.

“Breathe, seaweed brain. There’s an obvious solution here.”

“Please spell it out for me.”

“If your father says you have to go, she won’t have any argument.”

Percy paused.

“Okay, but my dad isn’t going to pop up and tell her that I have to go to the Winter Solstice, Annabeth,” he reasoned. Annabeth’s eyes flicked upwards and she bit her lip.

“Well... I don’t know....”

“I do know! He doesn’t show up for things like this-”

“Percy.”

“And even if he did, is he really going to take her side? He probably wants me there too! To make him look good or whatever-”

“Percy-”

“And-”

“Percy!” Annabeth snapped and he quickly closed his mouth. “Behind you.”

….why?

Slowly, he turned and sure enough. The God of the Seas was very casually seated on his bed, watching him with that patented expression that not even Athena could decipher. He turned back to Annabeth.

“I’ll call you back,” he said. Annabeth gave a wry grin before swiping away the message. This ought to be good. He turned back around, jamming his hands into his pockets and giving a slight bow. “Father. I wasn’t anticipating a visit.”

Poseidon curiously reached up and picked up one of Estelle’s broken toys that had somehow made its way into Percy’s room.

“Your mother has been praying to me about the Winter Solstice.”

….huh. Well, he’d be damned. She actually managed to get him here.

“Can you tell her in-person I have to go? If I play messenger, she’ll argue,” he said warily. Poseidon flicked his wrist and the toy fixed itself.

“She’s right. You will not be attending.”

....oh. Percy paused. He hadn’t anticipated this. The surprise was mixed with a bit of indignance, though. Poseidon’s tone was way too... godly. Yeah, yeah, he was a god, but Percy had never liked being bossed around. His mother was one thing - even Paul on the rare occasion - but Poseidon didn’t need to relay this information like an order.

“I don’t have to go?” he asked, pushing the annoyance to the side. Poseidon placed Estelle’s toy down.

“You will not be, no.”

Why did he have to make it sound like Percy had no choice? He pursed his lips - telling himself he hadn’t wanted to attend anyways.

“Won’t Zeus be upset?”

“Leave my brother to me,” Poseidon said. Right. “If possible, I’d like to avoid you attending anymore solstice events.”

“Really?” Percy asked skeptically. Poseidon fixed him with another look that he had trouble with - but something about it seemed exasperated, which exasperated him right back. Before he could answer, the door opened and Estelle waddled into the room. She made it about two steps in before freezing. Her eyes moved from Percy to Poseidon... then back to Percy. Then Poseidon once more.

Then she screamed.

Predictably, Paul and his mother appeared seconds later. Both paused when they saw Poseidon. Estelle had run to Percy, grasping at his leg with shouts of ‘stranger danger’ that would have been a little funny if she wasn’t so upset.

“Estelle, it’s okay. He’s... I know him,” Percy said, picking her up. She sniffed, throwing her arms around his neck.

“....no.”

“Yes, I do.”

“No.”

“You make a compelling argument,” he told her, handing her off to Paul. “It’s okay. We’re just going to talk, alright?” he said. Poseidon waved at her and Estelle gave a watery look of suspicion. Wordlessly, Poseidon handed her the toy had fixed. Estelle froze.

“Okay!” she said, much brighter. Paul gave a snort as he awkwardly tried to bow with a handful of toddler before slipping out. His mother remained, looking oddly smug.

“Were you talking about the Winter Solstice?” she asked. Come on. Percy wasn’t exactly sure how to handle this. He looked between them - trying to reason with himself. This was good news. He hadn’t wanted to go...

...so why was he annoyed?

“Yes,” his father said, standing up. “We’ve reached an understanding-”

“Wait a minute,” Percy interjected before he could zip on out of here. “No, we have not. You just said I wasn’t going,” he argued. Sally and Poseidon both turned to him.

Wow. That was weird.

“Your mother doesn’t want you to,” Poseidon pointed out. Then frowned. “Do you want to?”

“Well, no, but-”

“Then it is decided.”

“Well, what if I did?”

“You do?” his mom asked. Percy threw up his hands.

“No! But if I did-”

“But you don’t.”

“Oh my gods,” he said, which was not the right thing to say at all given the two identical looks of outraged that were just directed at him. One was probably warranted. The other (hi, dad) was most certainly not. “I’m just saying,” he began, softening his tone. “It feels....” he began and trailed off.

It felt what? He didn’t even know. This was just... off. And strange. And he wasn’t sure he liked both of them both standing there definitively agreeing on something while his opinion sounded very much dismissed.

“You could have done this the whole time?” he finally asked. Poseidon looked at him, clearly confused. “Just gotten me out of stuff?” he asked. The expression cleared.

“Not everything. But this? Yes.”

“Why? Because mom prayed to you?” he asked skeptically.

“That certainly helped.”

Oh, well. Okay then.

“....really?” he asked dryly. His mother crossed her arms over her chest, looking a little annoyed, which was also something new. When was she annoyed at him? Never. The answer was never, but now Poseidon was here and suddenly she was annoyed.

“What’s with the tone?”

Holy shit. Percy was going to throw himself out this window.

“There is no tone-”

Poseidon frowned.

“No, she’s right. I hear it too.” Wow.

“Well, that’s very nice that you two are getting along,” he muttered. His father gave a soft laugh at that.

“Of course we get along. How else do you think you came to be?”

Nope. No. Not today. Percy stared at them for a few seconds. His mother at least had the decency to wince a little at that last part, hitting him with an apologetic look as Percy tried to figure out if it was worth going to the Winter Solstice just to ask Hera to wipe his memory again.

“This has been a good talk,” he decided. “I’m going to leave the room now.”

“But we’re all in agreement you’re not going to the Winter Solstice?” his mom called. Gods. Percy gave a wave of acknowledgement.

“A vocal response would be nice,” his father called and Percy spun around - utterly indignant only to catch his father smirking at him.

....he was doing this on purpose. That ass. Percy bit his tongue for a second. Were they both purposely doing this to annoy him? He had no doubt his mother’s previous attempts of him not going to the Winter Solstice had been legitimate, but once his parents realized they were on the same side, it felt like they were just trying to torture him.

“Yes,” he said evenly. “We are all in agreement.”

Poseidon’s smiled widened.

“Excellent! Sally, feel free to call anytime you need me,” he added, kissing her cheek. This was seriously just happening, huh? A rush of wind went through the room and Poseidon was gone, leaving him to stare at his mother solemnly.

“Yes?” she finally asked. Percy glared.

“I can’t believe you did that to me.”

“Well, perhaps if you didn’t argue about it...” she shrugged, brushing by with a condescending pat. “I wouldn’t need to call him for backup.”

“For backup?” he repeated, following her out the door. “I wasn’t trying to argue with you because I felt like it, mom. I had concerns!”

“And now all of those concerns are taken care of,” she agreed. Percy threw himself on the couch, blowing a kiss when Estelle shakily got up to come climb all over him. “And it’s good to know he’s available to reason with you in the future.”

“Reason with me? Seriously?”

“Not that you don’t make good decisions,” she added. Percy rolled his eyes. “But it’s nice to know. Sometimes demigods can act a bit irrationally. Have you heard about Nico trying to get into Tartarus?” she asked. Percy frowned.

Wait. What? He sat up.

“He’s trying to get in where?”

“Hm. Yes, I had to pray to Hades and warn him.”

What?

“You prayed to Hades that Nico was trying to get into Tartarus?” Percy repeated, a little faintly. “Wait. You told on Nico to his dad?” he asked, uncertain if that was hilarious of horrifying. His mother shrugged but before she could answer, a mist swirled around the room. Oh, no. Percy sat up - fully expecting an angry Zeus - but instead was met with a very pissed Nico di Angelo.

“....do you have a second?” he asked. Percy looked over his shoulder at where his mother waved. Right. Sighing, he turned back.

“Yeah,” he said and ran a hand over his face. “Let’s hear it.”

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