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minty-mythos · 3 months ago

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Bull Horns and Webbed Hands (Ch.3)

Summary: Since Percy became an instructor at camp, he knew first hand how stressful is was to be in charge of the health and safety of over a hundred demigods. Which was why he offered to travel to Olympus in Chiron's place to give the Olympians the monthly camp status report. All he had wanted to do was give Chiron the day off.

He hadn't planned for anything exciting happening. He certainly hadn't planned on accidentally adopting the Ophiotaurus while he was there. As usual, nothing ever goes as planned for Percy Jackson.

(Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Read on AO3)

~~~

Percy woke to the sound of a camera shutter going off.

Normally, a sudden sound like that would’ve startled him awake, but his father’s ever-calming presence soothed him. He knew nothing could ever hurt him here; whoever was making that noise wouldn’t dare lay a finger on him in his own father’s temple. When no other sounds followed for several seconds, Percy was tempted to succumb to the call of sleep.

The sound of a shutter going off a second time dragged him far enough out of his doze for him to realize he should probably get up and catch whoever it was who was taking pictures of him.

Years of living in camp with the Hermes kids had taught him that blackmail was the best currency, and the last thing you wanted was slightly embarrassing pictures of yourself floating around. Percy fought against the feeling of warmth and comfort that tried to lull him back to sleep. Whatever he was lying on was cozy, and it took more mental effort to shake off the last of the sleep than it probably should.

When he finally pried his eyes open, he was given an immediate jumpscare by the sight of Hermes floating just feet above him. He only barely restrained from launching himself upwards in surprise, instead managing a much more reasonable reaction of using the water around him to gently push Hermes back another few feet, giving himself his personal space back.

The messenger god allowed himself to be pushed backward by the water. He was currently human-sized and dressed in casual ancient Greek clothing. He clearly wasn’t working, as he was neither in the more formal outfit he usually wore during council meetings, nor the FedEx uniform he wore when he was working in his role as a messenger.

Now he wore a white tunic covered loosely with a deep orange himation, both embroidered with golden decorations. His wide-brimmed petasos traveling hat and simple sandals were adorned with fluttering wings as usual, white feathers tipped with orange that matched his himation. George and Martha weren’t on his staff for once, instead draped comfortably around his shoulders and apparently asleep.

Both Hermes and his snakes looked untouched by the water, despite being completely submerged. The wings on his hat and sandals all fluttered like they were still holding him aloft in the air, not water. It was a strange sight, but Percy put it out of his mind. Gods were strange most of the time. If he wasted his days trying to puzzle everything about them out, he'd be an old man before he got very far.

Hermes’ caduceus was in its phone form, and he was chuckling to himself as he snapped another picture of Percy. Percy very nearly lunged for the phone instinctively in an attempt to delete the photos but stopped himself. Firstly because trying to take a god’s weapon of power right out of their hands would probably get him incinerated immediately, and secondly because there was a warm weight pressing down on his chest, stopping him from getting up.

Glancing down, the sight of a mop of curly black hair brought memories of the council meeting flooding back. Bessie was still sound asleep, the sounds of the camera apparently not bothering him. While they had slept, he’d migrated from his position against Percy’s side to curl up on Percy’s chest and use him as a mattress.

Percy groaned, relaxing and letting his head flop back down against the puff they lay on. Waking Bessie up just to get Hermes to stop taking pictures wasn’t worth it. He ignored the god’s cackle and the sound of the camera going off once again. Honestly, this wasn’t the worst blackmail anyone had gotten of him.

(A small part of him wanted to ask Hermes to send the pictures to him, but he ignored it.)

“This is going on Twitter for sure.”

That did make Percy sit up, sitting cross-legged on the puff. He adjusted Bessie as he did so, gently maneuvering the limp child into his lap, careful to not wake him. Remembering how Bessie had feared the gods during the council meeting, Percy wasn’t sure how Bessie would react to being so close to a god.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” If the gods wanted to keep Bessie’s new ability a secret from the wider mythological world, perhaps posting a picture of him on Twitter wasn’t the best idea.

In the years after the Second Giant War, the children of Hephaestus and Vulcan had made it a mission to figure out a way to make demigod-proof phones. There’d been a need for more consistent communication between Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter, and Iris Message and messenger eagles just hadn’t cut it.

That need had driven innovation.

It had taken time, a lot of collaboration (which Percy knew played a not-insignificant part in calming tensions between the camps,) and some divine help from their father, but they’d eventually managed it. Not only did the new technology not attract monsters to any demigod who so much as laid a finger on it, but it was also generally more advanced than what was available for the average person to buy.

Now, every new demigod that came to camp was provided with a modified phone, and any devices they already had received a mandatory free upgrade. Phone use was still restricted at camp out of an abundance of caution, but councilors, older campers, and instructors were allowed to carry theirs around instead of having to keep them locked away the whole summer, for use only during the off-season when it was only their own safety they’d be risking.

With more consistent access to technology, demigods had inevitably found the godly side of social media. Sections of apps, websites, and forums were cloaked so only those who could see through the mist could access them.

Demigods had swiftly taken advantage of this, making their own places to congregate online. Percy’s personal favorite invention was an app called Tracker, where anyone could report sightings of monsters, gods, and various other mythological creatures to alert other demigods in the area of potential danger. It had saved him on more than one occasion.

But besides the more practical applications, there was also an explosion of new users on the mythological sections of normal apps and websites, which before then had been exclusively used for gods, nature spirits, and some sentient monsters. This inevitably led to the demigods finding out that the gods themselves were also on social media.

The week that revelation had swept through the camps had been equal parts tragic and hilarious. In particular, watching the reactions from the Cabin 7 kids had been amusing. It was clear they didn’t know whether to be fascinated by Apollo’s highly curated spotify playlists and youtube channel- which was apparently a literal godsend for studying for medical school- or horrified by the thirst traps he posted on Twitter.

Inevitably, this also meant that most demigods were following the Olympians on Twitter, Hermes included. If the messenger god posted a picture of Percy with Bessie, his existence wouldn’t stay hidden for very long, and Percy would have a lot of questions to answer when he got back to camp.

“Um, isn’t this-” He gestured at Bessie with one hand- ”supposed to be a secret? Should you really be posting pictures of him on Twitter?”

Hermes continued to tap away at his phone, but looked up at him and raised a pointed eyebrow. He shrugged. “You kind of blew that, kid. A group of nymphs is telling everyone who’ll listen about the Hero of Olympus carrying around a child who looked just like him.”

Hermes snickered at Percy’s expression of exasperation, both at the use of that title and at the fact that, as he suspected, he was once again the center of the rumor mill.

“But you’re right- probably not the best idea to go around telling people exactly who this is,” Hermes said, gesturing at Bessie with his phone.

“However, it seems the collective has already decided that he’s your half-brother- the first demigod to be born of the sons of Kronos since they were released from the oath. No harm in letting them think what they want to.”

Hermes shrugged as if to say, “What can you do?” Then lifted his phone and snapped another picture, this time of Percy sitting up and cradling Bessie. Percy didn’t react because he was pretty sure Hermes was just doing it to get a reaction out of him now.

“So, you guys finished your debate then?”

“Sure did! Wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t!”

That was true enough.

“And?”

“He’s allowed to live.”

Relief flooded him. Bessie was safe.

Well- for a given value of safety, seeing as he would likely still be hunted down by those who wanted to overthrow the gods if the news about who he really was ever got out, but at least the gods themselves weren’t a threat to him.

Percy gave a jaw-cracking yawn as he relaxed, and then ran a hand through his hair, trying to flatten the wild bedhead he knew he must have. No daylight reached this far into the temple, so Percy had no idea if he’d slept for a few minutes or for hours. He felt refreshed, but that was to be expected from sleeping in his father’s temple, no matter how long.

“How long was I asleep?”

Hermes finished typing, and with a flick of his hand, his phone transformed back into a caduceus. It looked strangely bare without George and Martha on it. “I don’t know how long you’ve been asleep, but it’s early morning now. Almost time for breakfast at camp, in fact.”

Percy blinked. That meant that he’d been asleep for at least thirteen hours, which was definitely not normal. Both simply because it was a long time to sleep uninterrupted for anyone, let alone an adult, and also because it was rare for him to get a full night’s sleep without a nightmare.

It ultimately didn't matter since Percy didn’t have anything planned for last night, but he hoped someone had told Chiron why he hadn’t returned. It wouldn't be good for the old centaur's blood pressure if he thought Percy had gotten himself killed by the council somehow.

Hermes continued, ”The meeting itself only took a few hours, but your father demanded you be left alone until morning.”

Percy blinked in surprise. He’d honestly expected it to have been much longer than that for them to come to their decision. The gods rarely did anything quickly. It had even taken them a year and a half to agree to address the issue of Kronos gathering power.

“That was fast.”

Hermes shrugged, appearing unbothered. “We’d already agreed to let him live when we thought he was only a mindless creature. It’s not much of a stretch to let him continue to live now that we know he is..” Hermes trailed off, and Percy saw a flicker of regret in his eyes as his gaze flicked down to Bessie. “Sentient,” he finished lamely.

Percy thought about how Bessie had feared the gods yesterday, and wondered if Hermes had ever been the one to kill Bessie. Percy narrowed his eyes at the god and tightened his hold on the boy slightly, causing him to shift and grumble in his sleep.

Hermes was watching him with calculating eyes. His familiar crooked smile was nowhere to be seen now. The god moved further away, his wings propelling him effortlessly through the water as he put more distance between them.

He settled down onto one of the other chairs in the little seating area, a swing-like net strung between two nearby branches of giant coral. Despite the strange chair, Hermes managed to look dignified as he sat, avoiding swinging back and forth wildly like Percy had the first time he’d sat in a chair like that.

His expression had turned pondering, and he just looked at Percy for a while. One hand reached up absently to gently stroke the head of one of his still-sleeping snakes as he stared, the other holding his caduceus across his lap. Percy had to stop himself from squirming under his scrutinizing gaze.

Hermes was silent for so long Percy was about to ask him what was wrong when he finally spoke. “You know, we aren’t in the habit of killing people just because they might pose a threat to us.”

Percy just stared at the god, letting his face do all the talking he couldn’t let his mouth do without calling the god an absolute moron. He wondered if Hermes had forgotten who he was talking to.

Hermes' lips pursed as if he’d heard what Percy was thinking, though Percy doubted the god was actually reading his mind at the moment. He was sure Hermes didn’t need to- his face likely said everything he wanted to say.

The god suddenly leaned forward, forcing Percy to hold eye contact with him, like he wanted to be sure Percy understood what he was about to say. The quick movement jostled both George and Martha awake, who raised their heads to take in their surroundings. They started hissing quietly in Hermes’ ears, though Percy couldn't make out what they were saying. The god ignored them.

“Percy, what happened during the winter solstice of ’06…You need to understand it wasn’t typical behavior for us. The council isn’t in the habit of smiting our followers for any small slight or potential threat they might pose. You know this- you wouldn't still be alive if we were.”

Percy knew that was true. His habit of mouthing off to the gods hadn’t gotten any better over the years, and yet he had somehow avoided being sent on a permanent trip to Hades’ kingdom by an angry god.

“Years ago, you told me you believed gods are capable of change, and you were right,” Hermes looks a little bitter now, but the expression is quickly wiped off his face, and Percy decides not to comment on it.

”I didn’t want to admit it then, but times have changed, Percy, and so have we. We’re kinder now than we were in the old days, much more likely to forgive and forget.”

Hermes paused, considering. “That, and we can’t really afford to go around killing the few worshippers we have left. But even if we were still the same as we were in ancient times, what we did was still wrong. The council is the ruling body of the Greco-Roman pantheon and that includes the mortals and creatures aligned with us. Which includes Greek demigods and monsters.”

Hermes stopped there, but Percy shook his head when it was clear Hermes wasn’t going to continue, his thoughts spinning uncontrollably. He broke eye contact with Hermes, instead watching as George and Martha slowly slithered their way down the god’s arms to curl back around his caduceus.

“I don’t understand.”

“In other words,” Hermes explained slowly, as if he was choosing his words carefully, “both of you are our subjects. We have a certain duty of care towards you, and killing you when you’ve committed no real slight against us would go against what we’re meant to do as rulers. Of course, for the good of the many, sometimes the good of the few must be overlooked. That was the thought that prompted the debate on that solstice.”

Percy’s mouth twisted into a strange grimace. He understood that- Hades, he’d done it himself, sacrificing the good of the few to protect the many. But the memory of that council meeting had sat with him for a long time, turning into a twisted ugly ball of resentment that settled heavy in his gut.

Before then, he’d never seriously threatened the gods. At most, one might say that sending Medusa's head in a box to the gods could be a threat, but besides Zeus sending Echidna and the Chimera after him and Poseidon returning the package, no one had ever brought it up afterward, so it couldn’t have been that big of a deal. There was also the duel with Ares, but that had been for the good of the pantheon in the end, so no one could fault him for that, even though he’d won.

He had gone on three quests in a year and a half for them, with no reward for himself besides not being killed.

Then he came back from the third grueling quest, during which he had slept little and eaten even less. He and Thalia had been instrumental in freeing Artemis and delivering the Ophiotaurus safely to Olympus, and the only thanks they’d gotten was the threat of death for a crime they hadn’t even committed yet.

So, yes, he understood why the gods had needed to have a serious conversation about what to do with him and Thalia. They were a huge potential threat to the entire pantheon the gods couldn’t control, but the panic and fear he’d felt in that moment- fear that maybe no one would care enough to speak up in his defense, that he would be killed, that his mother might not ever find out what happened to him-

Percy knew he'd never really gotten the events of that solstice, but he’d tried his best to push that resentment away.

Hermes frowned as he studied Percy’s face. “Nonetheless, it was not a conversation that should’ve been had in front of you. That was foolish.” Hermes admitted. Percy looked down at the crown of Bessie’s head, where his face was smushed against Percy’s chest, not wanting to look at the god anymore. He absently ran a hand slowly through Bessie’s thick hair, causing him to let out a quiet noise and nestle into him further.

He knew it was rare for the gods to offer an apology to a mortal. In fact, this was the first acknowledgment any of the gods had given him that they knew what they did that solstice had been wrong.

Even then it wasn’t a true apology, no, but it was likely as close as Percy was ever going to get.

It did help, to at least know that one member of the council regretted what they’d done, and would even go so far as to call it foolish. Something was soothed inside of him by that. The resentment and lingering fear didn’t go away, but they eased slightly.

Percy sighed, deciding to not acknowledge Hermes’ words right away. He needed more time to think about this conversation before he offered any sort of forgiveness, if he ever did.

“What’s going to happen next, then?” Percy said, blatantly changing the subject. Thankfully, Hermes let him, settling back into the chair, suddenly looking absolutely relaxed, as if they hadn’t been having a very tense conversation.

“We decided that the child won’t be able to stay on Olympus. Seeing as you were so enthusiastic in your defense of him, it was suggested that he would stay under your supervision at camp.”

That made a small bit of anxiety inside Percy unravel. He’d been a little worried that Bessie would be kept locked up on Olympus. He wasn’t sure he trusted any of the gods with actually raising a child, and even if he did, he didn’t think constantly being around the gods would be good for Bessie, considering their shared history.

“Your father wanted to take him to Atlantis but The King refused.” Yeah, Percy had expected that. Zeus' reasoning for not allowing Poseidon to take Bessie to Atlantis the first time had been ridiculous, but Percy had long decided to not get involved in Olympian politics if he was at all able to stay out of it, so he wasn’t going to look into it any further.

“The compromise was to allow him to stay at Camp, with both someone from Olympus and someone from Atlantis coming by to check on him occasionally. When he’s older, we’ll likely reconsider. Even Father wouldn't be able to keep an adult sea creature from going to Atlantis. All creatures of the sea are your father’s subjects, and he would throw an absolute fit if The King even tried to do so. That includes you, know you. It’s why he was able to bring you to Atlantis once you’d grown.”

Hermes sounded equally amused and jealous at that fact, and Percy was reminded that though things had gotten much better between godly parents and their kids, most gods were still forced to keep their children at arm’s length. Hermes had once told him that it was the hardest part about being a god- not being able to help their mortal children. Percy was grateful there was a loophole he and his dad could exploit, but not everyone was that lucky.

Hermes continued on without further comment. “For now though, while he’s still small enough he needs a guardian, he’ll be staying above the surface.”

Percy nodded slowly, absorbing all that information. “Who’ll be the ones to check up on us? Not Dad, I’m guessing.” He doubted it, but a small part of him still hoped it would be Poseidon. He got to see a lot more of his dad nowadays than he did before, but it still honestly wasn’t as often as he wished.

Hermes shrugged, leaning forward in his swing chair again, the movement made him sway slightly. “The one from Atlantis will be someone of your father’s choosing. Likely one of the nymphs who already live there, or a Naiad who’ll visit occasionally. That’s where he is now, actually- off searching for a suitable mentor. He asked me to bring you two directly to Camp when you woke up.”

With that, he stood and took a few hovering steps toward where Percy sat. He stood over Percy and Bessie, and casually swung his caduceus over his shoulder, offering his other hand to Percy.

“Ready to go?”

Percy hesitated. He knew Hermes couldn’t hurt either of them here, but if he willingly left Poseidon’s temple, then he wouldn’t have those protections anymore. Hermes’s smile flickered slightly. It might have been Percy’s imagination, but the god looked a little hurt.

“Come on, cousin. Don’t you trust me?”

Percy just raised an eyebrow at him. Hermes sighed and fluttered down so he was standing on the bottom of the pool in front of Percy, the wings on his hat and shoes folding away once they weren’t in use.

“Look, your dad wouldn’t have let us harm the Ophiotaurus-”

“Bessie,” Percy automatically corrected him.

“What?”

“His name is Bessie.”

“Ah,” Hermes looked a little baffled, which was an expression Percy was used to seeing from the gods. “Right, I forgot you named him. Anyways, your father wouldn’t have allowed me into his temple if I had any foul intentions towards you or Bessie.” Hermes smirked in amusement, his tone taking on a humorous edge. “As you can see, he isn’t here to strike me down for entering uninvited.”

Percy had to admit Hermes was right. If Hermes tried anything at all untoward towards Percy or Bessie- Poseidon’s most favored son and a creature under his protection- Hermes would have no recourse here, even if it were something the god could technically get away with elsewhere.

Percy groaned, gathering a still-sleeping Bessie more securely in one of his arms. He accepted Hermes’ hand, using it to pull himself up to standing.

Hermes didn’t let go of Percy’s hand once he was standing. The next time Percy blinked, they were no longer in Poseidon’s temple. The loss of his father's presence was jarring, and he stumbled slightly as he opened his eyes to find himself standing in one of the living rooms in the Big House. Thankfully, Hermes steadied him before he could fall or drop Bessie.

“There, see? One hero and one Ophiotaurus, safely delivered to Camp Half-Blood, just as promised.”

Once Hermes was sure Percy had his feet under him again, he let go. “Well, little cousin, this is where I’ll leave you for now.”

“Oh, hold on,” Percy said, stopping the god before he could disappear, remembering that Hermes had left out a piece of information about the strange new custody arrangement. ”Who’s going to be the one coming to check on Bessie for Olympus? You?”

Percy wouldn’t mind that, honestly. Hermes was one of the gods he got along with the best.

At that question, Hermes gave him the most genuine smile Percy had seen from him in a while. “That,” he said cheerfully, “has yet to be decided." Percy didn’t know why Hermes seemed so truly happy about that. It wasn't even the slightly manic glee Percy typically saw from the god when he was planning a prank. It was genuine joy.

“See you later, cousin!” Hermes said brightly. His two snakes hissed a quiet farwell too.

Percy blinked, and the god was gone. Looking down at the sleeping child in his arms, Percy decided he wasn't going to worry about it. He’d find out sooner or later. He walked over to one of the nearby couches and sat down.

According to the clock on the wall, there were still twenty minutes until seven thirty and the start of breakfast, so he could let Bessie sleep a little longer.

Settling in, he pulled his phone out of his pocket. The first thing he saw when he opened it was a notification from Twitter telling him @/Hermes_Offical had mentioned him in a tweet.

Rolling his eyes, he clicked on the notification out of curiosity, and was greeted with several pictures of himself.

The first was him, clearly sound asleep and sprawled ungracefully on his back, with Bessie curled up on his chest. The second picture was him sitting up and cradling Bessie while glaring at the camera with a fierce look on his face. The expression was somewhat negated by his horrendous bedhead and mussed clothing. Thankfully, Bessie’s face was hidden in both pictures, tucked into Percy’s chest, but enough of him was visible to note that he looked pretty similar to Percy.

Hermes had simply captioned it: ‘Found my favorite family members having an unplanned sleepover in Uncle P’s temple @/seaweed_and_salt’

The post already had over two thousand likes, which was impressive for a post that was only visible to those who could see through the mist. Percy groaned and let his head fall against the back of the couch.

(If he saved both pictures to his phone, no one was around to notice.)

#Mint's fanfiction #percy jackson and the olympians #pjo #percy jackson #pjo hermes #pjo bessie #bessie the ophiotaurus #pjo hoo toa #rrverse #rr verse

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minty-mythos · 4 months ago

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Bull Horns and Webbed Hands (Ch. 2)

He hadn't planned for anything exciting happening. He certainly hadn't planned on accidentally adopting the Ophiotaurus while he was there. As usual, nothing ever goes as planned for Percy Jackson.

(Chapter 1 | Chapter 3 | Read on AO3)

~~~

The doors of the throne room swung shut firmly behind Percy, cutting off all sound from within. He was left with only the distant sounds of the city below and the excited sounds Bessie was making.

The throne room’s doors were placed at the tops of a wide step for marble stairs that led down to a wide road paved in gleaming white and gold. The road led to the main part of the main part of the city, where all the shops, parks, and homes for minor godlings and nature spirits were located, but the throne room of the Olympians was isolated, with only buildings near it being the Olympians’ main temples. The temples functioned as the Olympians’ main places of worship on the mountain, as well as their personal living quarters for when they were in Olympus. Each temple was as grand as the last, which always made Percy roll his eyes slightly at the grandeur.

The effect was stunning, if a bit dramatic. The throne room and temples shone like a beacon of light above the rest of the city. They loomed, ever-present, reminding all inhabitants who the rulers of this city truly were.

Percy had always thought it was a bit overkill, but Bessie was looking around in awe at the gigantic buildings. Percy realized that the kid must not have seen Olympus before, or had only gotten a very brief glimpse of it. The whole time the kid had been on the mountain, he’d been locked away in the throne room. If Percy had been the one in that situation, he knew he’d have gone stir-crazy within the first day.

His heart panged with sadness for the kid. Hephestus and Poseidon had collaborated to make him a large tank that sat off to the side of the throne room, which was nicely decorated with underwater plants and small structures for the Ophiotuarus to hide in, but It still must have been cramped.

A small part of Percy wanted to take Bessie to see everything Olympus had to offer. There were many lakes, rivers, and streams on the mountain that were beautifully maintained by the nymphs and naiads living in the city. Percy loved to explore them when he had spare time on the mountain, and he would bet Bessie would love them too. The gills on his neck told Percy he would be just as comfortable underwater as he was above, after all.

But Percy would never forgive himself if Bessie was harmed, even accidentally. (Also, the gods had made it clear they expected him to look after and protect Bessie until they called for the two of them to return to the throne room. If anything happened to the boy, he knew he would be blamed for it.)

The safest place for them to go now would be his father’s main temple. Even if the council decided to destroy Bessie, they would be unable to enter Poseidon’s temple without his permission. (It was a rare day when Percy was actually thankful for the ancient laws. This was one of them.) They’d be safest there.

Thankfully, his dad’s temple wasn’t very far from the throne room. Percy hurried past the looming white marble of Zeus’ and Hera’s grand temples, down to where his father’s was situated, facing Hestia’s across the way.

The building was just as grand as the king and queen’s, but something about it felt far more welcoming to Percy. From what he’d heard from other demigods, it was normal to feel that sort of draw to your godly parent’s shrines. The buildings were shrouded in an aura of sorts, radiating the god’s energy so strongly it drew their children in, not dissimilar to their respective cabins at camp did.

Poseidon’s temple was made of rough gray and black stone, perpetually wet as if it were sitting on the shoreline and being drenched in the sea’s spray. Colorful coral in greens and golds grew out of the stone, and little fish swam through the air, weaving through the towering pillars that lined the front of the building.

Bessie was still wiggling- Percy was getting the impression it would be hard to get the boy to ever stop moving- and it only seemed to intensify when he caught sight of the fish’s scales flashing in the sunlight.

“I wanna see!”

Percy tightened his grip just a little bit more to ensure Bessie couldn't escape his arms. “There’s more fish inside. A whole room with fish in it, it’s awesome.” He grinned at Bessie, because it was awesome. The fact that he was also trying to distract Bessie and avoid the pout that the kid was sending his way was irrelevant. His promises of more and better fish worked, and Bessie was now laser-focused on getting inside the building.

As they started up the steps to the temple, Percy felt his father’s presence. Poseidon’s attention was like an unrelenting wave as it swirled around them. It felt affectionate as it always was when aimed at Percy, but the god was also clearly distracted like he was focusing intently on something else. Most likely the debate no doubt raging inside the throne room. The presence was gone a split second later.

Even without his dad’s direct attention, the feeling of the ocean’s embrace made Percy relax as he stepped over the open threshold to the temple’s interior.

The main public room of the temple was grand, with towering marble pillars, statues of Poseidon and his godly family, and murals depicting his father’s myths. Fountains of both fresh and saltwater spouted from the walls, gathering in small pools set into the floor.

A ginormous waterfall covered the back wall of the room, appearing from nowhere as if spouting directly from the solid rock ceiling, and disappearing the second it hit the floor. The spray from the water filled the entire temple with a heavy mist of water and the pure scent of ocean brine.

The entire room was dim, with the only light coming from softly glowing pearls the size of basketballs mounted on the walls, and a large hearth directly in front of the temple’s entrance.

Any other mortal would’ve barely been able to see in the gloom, but Percy had never had any trouble seeing in the dark. It was a perk of being a child of the sea god. Percy was perfectly adapted to surviving in the depths of the ocean, and since no sunlight reached that far he had no difficulty seeing in the dark. Bessie didn’t seem concerned by the dark either, which also made sense as he had originally been a sea creature too.

This was where the citizens of the mountain came to worship Poseidon. It was probably the largest of his father’s temples that was still actively used. (Unless there was an even bigger one in Atlantis, which wouldn’t surprise Percy.)

Percy had been here before a few times, during solstice celebrations when demigods were officially welcomed onto the mountain, and then once after the battle of Manhattan. He’d never been here without his dad though, and anyone who’d been in the temple before Poseidon entered always fled before the pair got inside, so Percy had never seen anyone else there.

This time, Percy didn’t have the presence of one of the most powerful gods in the pantheon to scare off the worshippers.

Percy stopped in his tracks momentarily at the sight of a small group of nymphs who were all holding water jugs, with the last of them filing their jug at one of the freshwater fountains. His presence immediately drew the group’s attention. They giggled amongst themselves at the sight of him, gathering closer together to whisper.

The sound of the waterfall drowned out what they were saying, but it was clear they were talking about him. Percy sighed internally. He was used to drawing attention to Olympus by now. The very first time he’d visited the mountain, people had bowed to him in the streets in thanks for stopping a war. People’s reactions to him hadn’t gotten better after that.

He’d been hoping the temple would be empty, but wasn't surprised he wasn't that lucky. Thankfully, Percy knew he was allowed to enter his father’s private rooms which were tucked away at the back of the temple. That area was strictly off-limits to everyone except those Poseidon had personally invited. Though Percy had never been there without his father, the god had made it clear Percy would be welcome any time he wished to visit. They’d be able to find some privacy there.

“Hello!”

Percy twitched at Bessie’s greeting to the nymphs that rang through the temple, not having expected the child to speak. The sound broke the respectful quiet. The nature spirits looked equally shocked, all of them whipping around to stare at him, apparently only now noticing the small child he held in his arms.

There was a moment of silence as the nymphs took in the sight, until one of them set down her water jug and stepped forward to the front of the group.

She looked middle-aged by mortal standards, with smile lines creasing the corners of her eyes. It made her the oldest of the group based on appearance, though that meant very little for nature spirits. Her skin was tinted slightly green, and her moss-green hair was bound up in a delicate silver hairnet. Her long skirts rustled as she offered a bow in his direction.

She looked slightly familiar, and Percy was fairly sure he’d seen her around camp occasionally. What was her name? Otonia? That sounded right.

“Forgive us, our prince,” she said softly, head still bowed. Percy bit his tongue to hold back his objection to the title. He was, unfortunately, used to his father’s subjects calling him a prince after his time spent in Atlantis. He couldn’t get too upset, since they weren’t technically wrong. He was the son of a king, a bastard though he was.

“We did not know you were coming. We will leave you now.”

“It’s alright, Otonia, there’s no need for that,” Percy said. Her head shot up and she looked at him with wide eyes. One of the nymphs behind her covered her mouth to muffle a soft involuntary gasp, as if they were shocked he remembered her name.

At least that’s what he hoped. There was always the possibility he’d just confidently called her by the wrong name, but that fear was quickly assuaged, as Otonia relaxed and her wide-eyed look melted into a small smile. She straightened up and moved to pick up the jug she had set on the floor.

“It’s no trouble, my prince, we were just finishing up anyways.”

Percy didn’t protest that, since from what he could see they had nearly finished collecting the purifying water from the wells when he’d entered. The rest of the nymphs followed Otonia’s lead, scooping up their jugs and following her out of the temple.

Percy stepped out of their way as they drew near, and they inclined their heads respectfully as they passed. Bessie waved at them, still safely tucked into Percy’s arms, eliciting several coos of delight as the nymphs waved back. Soon they were out the door, leaving Percy and Bessie alone in the temple.

There was a moment of silence before the nymphs incorrectly decided they were far enough away to be out of Percy’s hearing range and broke out into excited chatter.

“Did you see-”

“-cute little thing-”

“He knew your name-!”

Then a single voice rose above the rest of them in an excited squeal. “Our lord has a new godling?”

That… wasn’t at all what was happening, but in retrospect, it was an understandable conclusion to draw if you didn’t know what was going on.

Honestly, if Percy hadn't been there when Bessie had first shifted, he might’ve also thought his father had sired another demigod. The confusion was understandable; Bessie looked a lot like Percy, which meant he looked a lot like Poseidon, and as a sea creature, his magic would also feel more similar to Poseidon's than any other god. And though it was rare, it wasn’t unheard of for demigods to have nonhuman traits, so Bessie's horns wouldn’t have raised any questions. (Nico was one such example, with his black ram horns. The Stoll brothers were another, with small white feathered wings that fluttered at their ankles.)

“But they look so much like Perseus! Are we sure the child isn’t his?”

There was a pause as the other nymphs considered this before he heard Otonia speak. Her tone wasn’t exactly sharp, but it was reproachful. “No, of course not, we would have heard about it before if the little prince had sired a child. This isn’t the place for this discussion, anyway.” The group erupted into more giggles which faded as they moved further away from the temple, until they were too far away to hear.

Percy heaved a sigh.

This was just great. Even more confirmation that even though it had been years since the wars, his life was still a hot topic of gossip on Olympus. He wondered how quickly news of this would sweep through the mountain and beyond.

“Where’s the fish?” Bessie’s curious inquiry split the quiet of the temple. Percy forcefully pushed the thought of the gossiping nymphs from his mind, and walked toward the waterfall in the back of the temple.

“Just over here.” Percy offered him a grin, nodding in the direction of the waterfall. Bessie gave the wall of water a suspicious look, clearly dubious when met with the sight of no fish.

Percy stepped right up to the falling water, unbothered by the saltwater spray. He reached his hand through the water, pressing it firmly against the stone wall hidden behind it. As soon as his hand touched the stone, his father’s presence returned. It was slightly more forceful than before, carrying a warning for those who shouldn’t be meddling where they weren’t welcome. Bessie whimpered slightly, pressing tighter against Percy’s chest. He could clearly feel the sea gods’ displeasure as well.

But as soon as Poseidon’s attention brushed over Percy and Bessie, recognition sparked, and the feeling gentled once again. Up at the top of the waterfall, the flow of water split. The gap in the water opened further, slowly revealing a pair of large double doors set into the dark stone of the back wall. Apparently distracted from his fear, Bessie let out a small awed noise, reaching out to touch the shifting water.

The hidden doors were god-sized, easily thirty feet tall. They were too large for any mortal to open, and Percy knew he wouldn’t be able to move them, no matter how hard he shoved them.

Thankfully, he didn’t need to open them. The doors swing open under his touch as easily as he would open any normal door.

“Thanks, Dad,” he murmured as he entered the god’s private rooms. There was a sensation like his hair was being ruffled by an invisible hand as Percy stepped through the doors. They swung shut behind him and then his father’s presence was gone once more.

The area they had entered was the most public-facing of Poseidon’s living quarters. It was a family room, so to speak, where Poseidon could entertain any guests he chose to allow entrance. There were several doorways leading off into separate rooms on each wall, some of which Percy knew led to the private chambers for Poseidon and his wife, and some of which led to guest rooms.

Percy himself had spent the night after the battle of Manhattan in one of them. After the mess with Rachel becoming the oracle had been sorted out, his father had rather forcefully insisted that Percy spend the night where Poseidon could keep an eye on him. Percy hadn’t complained, still being too exhausted from his fight against Luke and Kronos to protest too much at the time. In the end, he was glad he hadn’t refused, as the night spent sleeping in his father’s temple had ended up being one of the most peaceful nights of rest he’d ever had in his life. The knowledge that his father was looking over him had been a new feeling, but it had led to him getting a deeper sleep than he could have managed anywhere else that night.

Now though, Percy didn’t head toward any of those doorways. Instead, he headed towards the main focal point of the room, a large pool set into the floor of the room. It was probably larger than an Olympic-sized swimming pool and took up most of the floor space.

There was also a small seating area with lounges and chairs off to the side in case Poseidon needed to entertain anyone who wasn’t comfortable with being underwater, but it was clearly an afterthought. Percy knew from experience that the most comfortable seating area was in the pool.

Bessie pointed at the water, giving him a curious look. “Fish?”

“Yeah, buddy.” Percy grinned. “Fish!”

With confident strides, Percy walked straight over the surface of the pool. Once he was a few feet away from the ledge, he let himself drop down, submerging both of them in an instant.

Immediately, Percy’s senses expanded. He could feel every inch of the pool and every minute temperature change and tiny current that ran through it.

Because there were currents, even though there were no jets or anything that should have been needed to form a current in a stagnant pool like this, the water felt fresh and alive. It swirled around him as his senses reached out to meet it.

The pool was deep. So deep that they sank for a good minute before they finally stopped, touching down on the soft sand lining the bottom of the pool. It was even darker here, all ambient light from the upper room depleted before it could reach them. The only hint of light came from a nearby jellyfish, which was the size of a small horse and glowed a soft pink. The glow wasn’t even enough to light up the group a few feet below it, but still, neither of them had any difficulty seeing.

If Percy didn’t know any better, he would have thought he’d been transported to the sea floor. It looked like they were truly at the bottom of the ocean, with soft sand beneath their feet and rocky outcroppings popping up irregularly. Corals of all shades and shapes surrounded them, forming a beautiful riot of colors. A shoal of fish swam by, and a few crabs scuttled away from where they had landed, surprised by their sudden appearance.

Most of the animals ignored them, but a few came up to greet Percy, bumping into him happily.

Little snippets of their thoughts entered his mind. Fish as small as these didn’t have the same level of sentience as hippocampi, whales, dolphins, or other large animals did, so Percy couldn’t pick up any complete thoughts, but they still filled his mind with a small chorus of “little-lord-hello-prince-hello-hello!”

Bessie made a soft mooing noise in excitement- which tugged on Percy’s heartstrings way too effectively in his opinion, who gave him the right to sound so cute- and wiggled out of Percy's arms. Percy finally let the boy go, knowing he wouldn't come to any harm or get lost here.

Then, there came an unexpected flash of light, and Bessie was no more. Or rather, Bessie the human was no more, and in his place now swam a bull calf with a serpent's tail instead of hindlimbs.

Percy’s immediate reaction was panic. Was Bessie going to turn back into animal form every time he was in the water? Was he only able to stay human for a short amount of time? Had this been a one-off fluke, and Bessie was now forever going to be stuck in his creature form, unable to turn back again?

Percy’s noise of panic must have alerted Bessie something was wrong, because the small creature swam back around to his side, nudging against his shoulder with a soft black nose.

Percy sighed shakily, trying his best to push away his panic and all the horrible scenarios that had flooded his mind. Bessie didn’t seem in distress, so Percy tried to reel in his emotions before he scared the boy. Creature. Whatever Bessie was.

“Bessie-” his voice cracked, and he cleared his throat. “Bessie, can you turn back into a human?”

Bessie mooed, then in another golden flash, there was a human boy floating next to him, big brown eyes looking at him curiously from a thankfully human face.

“Why?” the boy asked, not noticing Percy’s relieved slump.

“Nothing!“ Percy said, trying his best to ignore the fading anxiety the scare had given him. ”It just startled me, that's all. Why did you change back?”

Bessie looked at Percy and cocked his head slightly with furrowed brows.

“It’s easier to swim with a tail.” Bessie finally answered, with an exasperated inflection, as if to ask ‘Are you stupid?’ It was a scarily familiar tone of voice, one Percy himself made semi-regularly.

Internally, Percy wasn’t sure if he should be proud that Bessie was mastering such sass so early, or feel a dawning horror at the fact that he was now in charge of a boy who seemed to mirror him in so many ways. He knew he wasn’t easy to deal with as a child for several reasons, not least because he was so sarcastic and blunt. He knew he was still a pain for anyone who claimed to hold authority over him, as he wasn’t afraid to point out when they were acting like idiots. (At this point in his life most of the people who claimed to hold any authority over him were mainly gods, but…)

“Oh.” Well, it made sense, Percy supposed. There was a reason the Merpeople of his father’s kingdom had tails instead of legs. “Is it difficult to hold on to your human shape at all?”

“Not really,” Bessie answered, but then paused and sheepishly admitted, “Maybe it does make me a little tired.”

”Alright, thank you for letting me know.” Percy said, which made Bessie perk up and beam at the praise.

“One more question, then you can go back to the fish, okay?” Bessie nodded seriously.

“Your human form, did you choose what you looked like, or was that… automatic? Because it looks a lot like me.” Percy blushed a bit at having finally asked the question that had been lurking quietly in the back of his mind since he’d first seen Bessie.

Bessie shrank back a little and started to play shyly with one of his curls, which were floating freely in the water.

“I’m not upset by it,” Percy assured him. “I’m just curious.”

“It’s mostly just what I looked like,” Bessie mumbled, not making eye contact. Percy raised an eyebrow at him, and Bessie continued after a pause, clearly reluctant. “But… I knew I already looked a lot like you. And I like you!” That part was said eagerly, as if to reassure him. “So… I decided to change it. Just a little bit so I would look even more like you.”

He was mumbling so quietly by the time he finished that Percy could only barely make out what he was saying. His small voice melted Percy’s heart even further, and he really wasn’t sure what to do with all the new emotions that were swirling through him.

After a moment, Bessie peeked out from behind his bangs to check Percy’s reaction to what he had just said. Percy, who could barely contain the swell of affection at the sight of Bessie’s shy expression, ruffled the boy’s curly hair until it was floating unruly in the water.

“Alright, kid, you can go back to playing with the fish now.“ he smiled as Bessie perked up, clearly forgetting his momentary shyness, and rushed off towards the nearby shoal of fish, which scattered at his approach.

Percy nodded wordlessly, letting Bessie swim off. As Percy half expected, there was another flash of light, and Bessie was once again back in his calf form.

The Ophiotaurus did a twirl in the water, flipping around as if to regain familiarity with his fins and hooves, before shooting off to explore.

Percy followed Bessie around the pool dutifully for at least an hour, watching as the boy explored every corner and crevasse, and examined every creature. He seemed to have a fondness for the giant bioluminescent jellyfish and kept herding the creatures over towards Percy as if to allow him to enjoy the glow too. It brought a smile to Percy’s face every time the calf did it, and he half suspected that was why Bessie kept doing it.

Eventually, the pair of them ended up in the center of the pool, where the main sitting area was. The chairs were a bit different from the ones on the surface, being made in common Atlantian styles. Bessie ended up landing on a large fluffy white sphere that slightly deflated under his weight, which honestly reminded Percy of mortal bean bag chairs. There was another flash of light, and Bessie reappeared as a human boy, lying face down in the puff.

Percy heard a yawn as the kid relaxed even further into puff before he stopped moving. He was clearly still awake, but his breathing was already starting to slow. Percy remembered what Bessie had said about holding his human form making him feel tired, and also that this was, for all intents and purposes, a four-year-old, and four-year-olds need naps.

The puff was large enough for a god to sit comfortably, so there was more than enough room for the human-sized Percy to lay down next to the kid with room in between them. Bessie looked up when he felt the movement of the puff.

“Tired?” Percy asked, suppressing a grin.

Bessie only blinked slowly at him, before wordlessly rolling over, ending up pressed against Percy’s side. Percy tucked Bessie closer to him on instinct, taking up a position all too familiar thanks to Estelle’s habit of making him her favorite napping spot every time he visited his mom’s apartment. The only difference he found was that Bessie was a good deal smaller than Estelle was now, and he had to be careful that Bessie’s horns didn't knock him in the chin for all that they were still small nubs.

Percy ran his hands through Bessie’s wild curl, eventually starting to mindlessly braid it back into a crown style to keep the curls from floating into his face thanks to the underwater currents.

It only took a few more minutes of snuggling before Bessie dropped off to sleep. Percy, a little tired from the day's events and not daring to move less he disturb Bessie, inevitably followed him into Hypnos’ realm.

#mint's fanfiction #pjo #percy jackson and the olympians #pjo hoo toa #percy jackson #rrverse #bessie the ophiotaurus #pjo bessie #pjo poseidon #pjo fanfic #fluff #accidental baby acquisition #cuddling #rr verse #good dad poseidon

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