Full summary: Percy, having finally given up on love, decides to leave it all behind. He's too dangerous; too enticing for the monsters. He stays in his room for three days, determined to die quietly, until Aphrodite offers him the one thing he turned down and never thought he could have again; godhood. Once a god, Percy has to learn from his father, Zeus and Hades how to control his three domains: the Sea, Heroes and the Lost. It's a long and hard journey, one that Percy will not be able to face alone without slowly going insane from the responsibility of it all. But Aphrodite has a trick up her sleeve and will not let her favourite god go once she's made him the man he should always have been. She'll make him believe in love again, no matter how long it takes...

Pairings: (future) Triton/Sea!Percy, (future) Nico/Lost!Percy, (future) Jason/Hero!Percy.

Relationships: Aphrodite/Percy (creator/creation relationship)

A/N: So, this clearly isn't the SYOD story I should probably be focusing on, but at least it is a story. This is something that has been swarming around in my head for a while, so I will be focusing on this a lot more than anything else; I am absolutely determined to finish this as a rather long story. As a general idea, this is more of a complicated love story than anything else, so keep that in mind while reading it. Though there will be other things within the story, such as how Percy becomes a god and learns his role, there will be a heavy focus on love.

I do not know how often I will update this, but I hope to do so fairly frequently. Note that the second chapter is eight pages long, so you will know roughly how long it should take for me to write them. Not that I will stick to a routine; this story will be updated as soon as I finish a chapter, but the time it takes to write the chapter will vary.

One more thing: This chapter is in the 3rd person, but all chapters after it will be in the 1st. That was done on purpose for simplicity's sake.

Now that I've got that out of the way, I hope you enjoy the story!

Percy sighed, something that was small and sad, as he curled up on his bed just that little bit more, covering his face with his arms as best as the thin appendages would allow him. He knew that his mother was still outside the door; he could hear her soft breaths as she whispered to herself, could feel the motherly warmth she always exuded, and something cold panged in his heart. He was worrying her. Even when she had found a perfectly normal life with Paul - the man she loved so dearly, the man that would never just up and leave her after a few weeks of courtship - she still had to worry about her unnatural son sired by a father whom had left her in the dust as soon as she had given birth to the cretin. She didn't deserve it, not after all she had been through, after all she had done, but truthfully… he had nowhere else to go.

His relation with Annabeth had quickly failed. Their time apart while he was at the Roman camp was simply too damaging; she moved on, found herself a girlfriend in Piper McLean, and dropped him as soon as he had stepped foot on the Argo II. Of course, Percy being the demigod he was didn't mind when it all ended. As long as she was happy, he was happy. And she was so very happy. All she had to do was look at the daughter of Aphrodite and a smile would bloom across her face. Even a Seaweed Brain such as Percy had seen it, and he couldn't deny that she looked much more content in Piper's company than she did in his. So he did the only thing that could make his best friend the happiest girl to ever exist; he pulled back from their friendship, gave all of the time they would have spent together to Piper, and forgot all about her. It hurt, it really did, both then and now, but he knew had been the right thing to do. She was still happy with Piper, even more so now that he wasn't being selfish and hogging the Wise Girl all to himself. But it still hurt.

He left camp after that. People were so happy with their relationships, some old and others new, that he just couldn't stay. He'd already killed so many happy couples. The monsters loved him, loved his scent, and would always try to find him. If he left, they'd be that little bit safer and could easily live in New Rome, creating their own families and live to a ripe old age. He couldn't stay. He wasn't selfish anymore; he left as soon as he was able to, running back home to live with his beloved mother and step-dad.

Now, he had to leave home. His mother was pregnant with Paul's child. It was wonderful; something Percy was looking forward to, especially since he knew his little half-sibling was a girl, but it meant something so shocking to Percy that he just couldn't take it. His mother had started a totally new and normal life away from the gods, and the child was the final piece of evidence to prove it. Staying now would be selfish. He couldn't take away his mother's new life, not with the things that tried to kill him following all the time. He couldn't risk the life of his new sister, nor could he risk the love between his mother and Paul. He wasn't selfish anymore. He wasn't.

And thus was why he laid on his bed, his mother standing outside the door in worry for her messed up and dangerous child. He knew that he couldn't risk her, nor the family she had made or the life she had been returned to, but he just didn't have anywhere else to go. So he was determined to stay quietly on his bed, refusing any food or drink, curled up on himself in order to make his body smaller for the monsters in the hopes that they overlooked him, until a new opportunity came to him or until he eventually died of hunger or starvation, whichever came first.

Percy continued his Faust for another three days, ignoring his mother's calls to him and Paul's weak knocks on the door. He knew that, eventually, they would give up and leave him alone. They'd forget sooner or later, too busy with the new baby and their own lives to care about him. Even though it hurt to think that his mother could abandon him, he knew it had to be done. Once they'd left and forgotten, once he'd finally gone, they would be able to live normal, easy lives as mortals, far away from the painful and fatal world of the gods.

With a quiet sob, Percy rolled over on his bed, bringing his arms down from his face to touch his grumbling stomach. It hurt like hell, but he'd had worse. The emotional pain hurt more than the physical pain, anyway. Another sob tore from his lips, slightly louder this time, and he closed his eyes.

Suddenly, Percy felt calm. The pain in his heart subsided, his stomach stopped its aches and burns, his eyes stopped itching and every saddening thought left his mind in an instant, leaving him with something warm and complete. A weight pressed down on the bed and a loud creak sounded from the springs, followed by a soft sigh and a hand in his hair. The woman's fingers – they were manicured, so he assumed they were female, unless a random drag queen had found their way into his room – threaded through his once silky black locks, massaging his scalp gently and further easing the pain from his body. Slowly, as if afraid of what he'd see, Percy opened his eyes and faced the person in front of him.

Percy was shocked to find that the woman was astoundingly beautiful even though she had no makeup on, though it was not the woman's looks that shocked him so much as what the beauty meant. Only one woman on earth could be that undeniably gorgeous, and that was…

"Aphrodite."

The goddess smiled, something sad and painful, and continued to pet his hair. She slowly moved closer to him, curling an arm underneath his sickly frame and drawing him close to her warm body, fitting him snugly against her satisfying curves. He took in a deep breath, drawing in the scent of roses and strawberries, along with some fragrant perfume that surely couldn't exist. He carefully lifted an arm, placing it around her waist and squeezing lightly, trying to pull her as close to him as possible, all the while nuzzling into her long, slim neck. She let him press against her form, still threading her fingers through his curly locks, and gently pressed a kiss against the top of his head.

For several moments the two lay in silence, Percy longing for the warmth and liberation the goddess provided, and Aphrodite more than willing to give it. She eventually stopped the movement of her fingers, gently sliding them down the back of his neck and to the small of his back, her hand softly cupping his former mortal spot. He tensed lightly as she did so, but a soft shush calmed him down again, leaving him to melt into her embrace. Aphrodite lifted her head slightly, just enough so that she could comfortably reach his ear and whispered to him, unwilling to break the gentle mood that had finally settled over the tormented demigod.

"Perseus, you are my favourite demigod. It has hurt me to watch you suffer like this. I have wanted to give you something for all the things you have done for us, for all the heartbreak and pain you have struggled through…" she sighed once, nuzzling her nose against his bony cheek, "I'm not powerful. I can't give you super strength or enhanced powers, and I doubt you will want anything else I could offer, but what I can do for you is something even better."

He pulled back slightly from the embrace, taking note of the hopeful smile and shimmering eyes of the goddess. She gently brushed his fringe away from his eyes, leaning in to place a soft kiss to his nose as her smile grew wider.

"You were offered godhood once. The motion was passed, but you turned it down for the love of your friends and family. Now, you have sacrificed that love for the safety and happiness of those same people. So I can put forward the question once again, and you can stand before the gods and state your answer; will you join us, Perseus Jackson?"

She waited for his reply, eagerly watching the way his eyes slowly lit back up to their original sea green; the way his skin seemed to glow with health like it once had and the way his chapped lips carefully pulled back into a smile. She felt more than saw the nod against her chest, a gentle flicker of hope bubbling inside the put of her stomach. And then he said the words she had been waiting for, the two simple words that held so many meanings, but conveyed the same feelings each and every time she heard them.

"I do."