PJatO || Lukess || PJatO || Lukess || Frozen Ocean || Lukess || PJatO || Lukess || PJatO
Title: Frozen Ocean Part I – And the Sea's Beauty
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus; post both series
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan for he created the awesomeness that is Nico di Angelo. And everything else related to Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus. Aside from the Gods, they belong to the old Greeks. This fanfiction and its OCs on the other hand are entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.
Warnings: shounen-ai, fluff, mpreg, explicit intercourse, anal, shoujo-ai, hetero
Main Pairing: Luke/Thess
Side Pairings: Nico/Percy, Piper/Annabeth, PercyJr/Kitty, Loki/Blance
Percy Jackson Characters: Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Annabeth Chase, Piper McLean
Own Characters of the Next Generation: Lucas Thomas Chase, Theseus Paul di Angelo, Sally Persephone di Angelo, Kathryn Ellen, Elizabeth Mason, Loki Murdock, Blance Lamour
Own Characters of the Third Generation: Niccoló Perseus Chase, Annabeth Piper Chase, Lilibeth Chase, Maribeth Chase, Jolibeth Chase, Yukiko Murdock
Summary: The story of Luke and Thess, post Chasing Fireflies. How the couple moved to Italy together to study and how they became a family, as told in snapshots of their life.
Frozen Ocean Part I
And the Sea's Beauty
/June 2035, Thess' High School Graduation\
"I. Am. So. Proud. Of. You."
Thess giggled and squirmed as every single word from his mother was punctuated by a kiss either on his cheeks or his forehead. His cheeks were flushed with pride while Percy showered him with praise. After a while, Percy reluctantly let go of him to move on to his twin-sister. Percy Junior groaned and tried to dodge their mom; though she didn't try properly, Thess knew exactly that she enjoyed this. She was so proud of herself too, after all. The way she had acted in middle school, most had doubted that she would manage to graduate from high school – but here she was, Sally Persephone di Angelo, holding her diploma and standing next to her twin-brother.
"And you are sure about your plans?", asked Nico seriously as he pulled his son into a hug.
Thess nodded where he was being squished by his dad. "Yeah. Really, papà. We'll manage, I promise. I'll watch out for Percy, alright?"
Nico heaved a long-suffering sigh as he kissed Thess' cheeks. "I trust you, both of you. Yet me and your mother would feel far better if you'd change your mind and stay in New Athens, si?"
Thess grinned amused, though before he had a chance to argue any more, his boyfriend was pushing in and stealing Thess for a deep, praising kiss. Luke must be really thrilled, because there was no way he'd otherwise just kiss Thess like that in front of Nico and Percy. Upon Nico's annoyed clearing of his throat, Luke bolted off and offered the cutest sheepish look possible.
"Sorry, sir", grinned Luke. "Just really happy for my Thess."
Nico glowered at him dangerously, in that special way only dads could. When Percy finally stopped smothering his daughter, they regrouped. There was still a proud sparkle in Percy's sea-green eyes.
"I still can't believe our little twins are going to move out, Nick", sighed Percy.
"Our little twins aren't moving out. The big ones are, love", chuckled Nico fondly, kissing his husband's temple. "Thess and Percy are grown up now. And it's not like they won't visit us all the time, right, children? If you miss a single holiday or birthday, you're in trouble."
"Of course, papà", smiled Thess, leaning back against Luke. "But now it's time for us to... find our own path. And Percy and I, we know exactly where it's gonna lead us."
"But that you kids have to abduct our son to Italy too", complained Annabeth.
She and Piper stepped up to them, Annabeth glaring at Thess in an accusing manner. Thess grinned and ducked his head, trying to hide in Luke's arms. It had been Thess' and Percy's plans for so many years now to go and study in their father's home country. That both their partners were actually ready and willing to follow them to Italy was more than amazing. Thess had been really nervous and afraid to lose Luke, if he was being honest. He loved his boyfriend so much, he couldn't imagine leaving him behind in New Athens and breaking up with him. It was an awful thought.
"Annie, our son learned a language for that boy. Let him move to Italy so he didn't learn the language for nothing", chuckled Piper fondly, one arm around her wife's waist.
"I still can't believe how much our children have grown up, Annie", sighed Percy dramatically.
"At least you're not yet a grandma", muttered Annabeth pointedly.
"Tommy is adorable. But yes, so glad Donny and Sander have not yet made a grandchild for me", chuckled Percy amused. "Still. A married man, that boy. Married and living in New York. I will ban all my other off-springs from moving out of the city, that's it."
Thess winced just slightly. He knew Percy hadn't taken it too well when Donny had gotten married and moved out to live with Sander, Derek, Trend and Sam in New York. Still, Thess knew that his newest little sibling, two year old Hazel Pandora, was pretty good at compensating for the empty-nest-syndrome Percy was displaying. And Thess also knew that Percy was proud of his children – he never missed an opportunity to point it out to them all.
"Mom. I can shadowtravel. We'll visit all the time. You won't even have the chance to miss us", promised Percy Junior, pulling their mother into another tight hug. "We'll miss you."
"I'm not gonna cry, I promised myself I'd not cry", chanted Percy as he clung onto his daughter. "Ah, too late. I'm so proud of you kids. Graduating, college, moving in with your partners, exploring another country. You're... You're making me really proud, you know that, right? I want you to be happy and I'll always support you."
"We know that, mamma", promised Thess with a soft smile, leaning back against Luke.
/break\
Thess smiled softly as he looked around their new house. Well. Old house. The old di Angelo family home where Nico, his mamma and his grandparents had grown up. It had been the family's vacation home for so long and now it would finally be lived in by di Angelos again, permanently.
"It's beautiful", whispered Luke gently as he wrapped his arms around Thess from behind.
"Mh. Our home", agreed Thess with a small smile.
He turned around in Luke's arms to kiss his lover slowly and softly. Luke hummed pleased into the kiss as he was being pushed backward until the backside of his knees hit their new bed. They had spent the past two months moving their stuff and their new furniture over here – the up-side of the time between final exams and the actual graduation ceremony. They had used it wisely so that everything would actually be ready for them once they graduated.
"Thess?", laughed Luke softly, his pale-blue eyes sparkling amused.
"I", started Thess, gently kissing down Luke's throat. "Want. You. Now."
"Have I ever mentioned how much I love your bluntness?", asked Luke with a grin.
"Mh... Once or twice", grinned Thess teasingly while tugging on Luke's shirt. "Come on, we have to christen our new bedroom, mi amore. And our annoying roommates are out groceries shopping."
"Babe, when have you ever needed to convince me to have sex?", laughed Luke fondly.
Thess pushed Luke down onto the bed and climbed up to straddle his boyfriend of three years. He wouldn't be able to express just how much he adored Luke Chase. The blonde had never pushed Thess about anything, even though it took them over a year of dating before they actually had sex, because at age 14, Thess just really didn't feel ready. He was nearly sixteen by the time the two of them had sex for the first time. And since then, Thess just really couldn't get enough of his gorgeous, handsome stud of a boyfriend. Pulling Luke's shirt off, Thess hummed in appreciation of that nice sixpack. He hungrily kissed down those well-defined abs.
"I love you for coming to Italy with me", whispered Thess gently while fidgeting with Luke's fly.
"I know moving here means a lot to you, Thess. And I'm not ready to lose this relationship. I don't really care where I go to college, though Europe does have the plus-side of no ridiculously high fees that will leave my grandchildren in debt for me attending college", snorted Luke.
"Aw. You're already planning our grandchildren?", teased Thess with the smallest smile.
"Uh, I meant-", started Luke, cheeks tinted pink.
Thess leaned up to kiss Luke, a kiss filled with all the love he had. "I know what you meant, dork."
Luke huffed offended and started undressing his lover. "Ungrateful. Cheeky. Whatever did I do to deserve this? You're so... oh, who am I kidding? I love everything about you."
"Sappy legacy of Aphrodite", grinned Thess pleased.
When they were both naked, Thess ran his eyes all over his gorgeous boyfriend. Luke was lean and athletic, but had never over-trained. He was simply perfect, at least to Thess. Trailing kisses along Luke's sixpack, Thess held onto Luke's delicious upper arms.
"I so love that you joined the baseball-team in high school", sighed Thess pleased.
Luke snorted fondly as he grabbed Thess by the neck and pulled him down into a siring kiss. Thess practically melted against his boyfriend, his fingers entangled in the sunny-blonde curls. Luke's far too cunning fingers sneaked around Thess' butt to cup both cheeks with full hands.
"I adore everything about you", whispered Luke, voice low and dark.
"I know you do, mi amore", replied Thess. "And I adore you."
Humming pleased, Luke slipped his fingers between his boyfriend's cheeks. He very carefully and slowly started fingering his boyfriend, fingers far too cunning to be legal. Not to mention, Thess had no idea when exactly Luke had lubed his fingers up. Sometimes, Thess really loved dating a legacy of Aphrodite, because that legacy really showed in the bedroom. Moaning sweetly, Thess leaned in to capture Luke's lips while his blonde was prepping him. With a firm grip, Thess choked Luke's cock and started jerking him into full hardness.
"Ready for more?", asked Luke with a cheeky grin, nipping Thess' earlobe.
"Definitely", agreed Thess, pushing Luke back flat onto the bed.
Luke laughed softly and relaxed, sprawling out on the bed like a sacrifice. Thess was more than happy to accept that sacrifice. Adjusting himself, he carefully lowered himself onto his boyfriend's cock. He took it slow and thoroughly relished in the feeling of his boyfriend inside of him. Closing his eyes, he let his head loll back and just took in his lover. Luke's hands found their places on Thess' hips, clinging onto him, holding him securely as they waited for Thess to adjust to the feeling. With his fingers sprawled out on Luke's chest, Thess watched his lover intensely. He loved this view, if he was being honest. Having Luke beneath him, staring up at Thess with so much adoration that it made Thess feel nearly dizzy. Smiling, Thess lifted himself off a little to bring himself back down again, making Luke groan and tighten his grip on Thess' hips.
"You feel so good, you're so beautiful like that", gasped Luke, voice rough.
"I know", grinned Thess cheekily.
With practiced ease, Thess started rolling his hips. Over the past year, they have had so much sex that they knew exactly how each other's bodies worked. What the other loved the most. Thess moaned softly when Luke's dick hit his prostate dead-on. Luke beneath him hissed because Thess dragged his nails over his chest. Grinning apologetically, Thess bent down to kiss the scratches. Not that Luke wasn't used to his boyfriend scratching him during sex.
"My little wild cat", teased Luke amused.
"Meow", offered Thess jokingly, picking up the pace.
Luke's fingers were digging into pale skin in a way that was going to leave bruises tomorrow. The thought made Thess moan softly. Reluctantly, he let go of Luke's chest to jerk himself off. He rode Luke hard, the bed beneath them squeaking, not used to this kind of treatment. With a drawn-out moan of his lover's name did Thess come all over Luke's chest. The blonde groaned darkly, bucking up into his lover to meet him and within a couple more rolls of Thess' hips did Luke come deep inside of his boyfriend. Thess was panting hard as he collapsed on top of Luke, pressing his lips against Luke's collarbone. Luke wrapped his arms tightly around Thess' waist.
"I wonder what Italy holds for us", whispered Thess thoughtfully.
/December 2035, New Rome\
Thess was sitting thin-lipped at the doctor's office. His best friend Elisabeth Mason sat next to him, holding his hand and squeezing it tightly. This wasn't what he had expected. Or planned.
"I moved to Venice to start college. A new life. Not like this", whispered Thess.
"Thess...", started Lizzy, unsure what to say. "This... It can happen. Even if you use protection."
"I know", grumbled Thess frustrated. "But... But I'm the responsible one in our family. How... How do I end up being a teen pregnancy?! I'm seventeen, Lizzy. I worked so hard for this."
He glared and rested a hand on his stomach. He had been feeling weird for a few weeks and when he had last visited Donny – who had invited him to very excitedly share the news of his own pregnancy – Thess had slowly put one and one together as he compared Donny's symptoms to how he was feeling. But this was really very impossible. Thess couldn't just be unplanned pregnant. Donny was nineteen and married. Donny and Sander had made the conscious decision to have a baby, because Trend, Derek and Sam had accidentally made a baby last year – powers of Athena, thinking up a child and making it 'spring from a thought' was really something where even contraception was useless. But not Thess. Thess had moved to Venice to start college, make a career. He had a ten year plan for his life. Every step was perfectly planned out, including engagement, firstborn child and moving back to New Athens for their kids' safety. Everything.
"How... do I tell Luke?", asked Thess with a frown.
"What?", asked Lizzy confused. "You're... blunt. Like always. Just tell him. He is not going to take this badly. He loves you, with all of his heart. He moved to Italy for you. He's not going to abandon you over an unplanned pregnancy, Theseus."
"I know that. I know all of that", muttered Thess with gritted teeth. "But..."
Lizzy sighed and pulled her best friend into a tight hug, allowing him to hide his face in her neck and just sob for a while. Thess was a very responsible boy, he had always been the organized one with a plan. To have those plans shattered like that, it was hard to take in.
/break\
Percy instantly knew that something was wrong when she and Kitty got home that evening. Thess was curled together in the chair in the corner of their living room. With the lights out.
"Babe?", whispered Kitty worried, tugging on her girlfriend's hand.
Gently, Percy let go of Kitty's fingers. "Go upstairs without me. I'll talk to my gemello."
Slowly, she walked over to Thess. She had changed in the past years of high school. She was still a bit of a punk, but she had learned to balance her responsibilities. And one thing had never changed and would never change. She would always be there for her twin-brother.
"Thess?", whispered Percy softly as she squeezed in next to him on the broad armchair.
"I'm pregnant", replied Thess, his voice a whisper.
"...What?", asked Percy stunned, her sea-green eyes large in surprise.
"Pregnant. Unplanned. I—I just got used to my college schedule! A—And working. I finally have moved on from being a kid, I entered the next step on my ten-year-plan a—and now... now everything is ruined. Because I forgot my stupid tea when I was all stressed about work and college and... and now I'm... pregnant", hissed Thess frustrated.
"I love you, brother", whispered Percy very gently as she hugged him. "I love you and we'll figure this out together. You got Luke and me and Kitty and you'll totally be able to stay in college because we're gonna do this together and you will stay right on track with your life-plan and in 2040, well, you'll have your second kid instead of the first, but it'll be totally fine because you got us."
"I love you, I dunno what I'd do without you", mumbled Thess into her shoulder.
"I know. You'd be totally lost without your awesome twin", grinned Percy.
"...Everything alright in here, guys?", asked Luke cautiously as he entered the room.
He was still wearing his jacket, frowning concerned when he saw the twins curled together on the armchair. Percy searched Thess' face and when he nodded in confirmation, she slowly got up. Kissing his forehead one last time, she left the room to join her girlfriend upstairs and give Thess the chance to talk to his boyfriend in peace. Luke's frown deepened as he approached his boyfriend.
"Thess?", asked Luke gently.
He grasped his boyfriend's chin and made Thess look up at him. Thess instantly wrapped his arms around Luke and pulled him down into a hug. Luke practically stumbled into Thess' lap.
"I'm pregnant. I must have forgotten my tea because of all the stress and now I'm pregnant and it's screwing up my entire life-plan and I don't know if I can do that", said Thess rushed.
"Oh... Okay", nodded Luke, slowly sitting down. "Okay. Pregnant. Okay. We... Okay. We can totally do this, we're a great team. We'll readjust your life-plan, we'll readjust our life and we'll work this out. I'm right here beside you, my love, everything's gonna be fine."
"Gods, I love you so much", whispered Thess with a wet-eyed half-smile.
"And I love you so much, which is exactly why we'll figure this out together", smiled Luke.
/June 2036, New Rome\
Obviously, their parents reacted just like Luke and their friends had. Supportive. Percy and Nico had offered Thess to move back in at home so that his parents could help him, once the baby was born. But Thess liked the idea of his twin, he wanted to at the very least try first. Try with his boyfriend and sister and her girlfriend. He wanted this baby, yes, but he also wanted college.
Only that 'this baby' turned out to be twins. Obviously, his own twin-sister had cackled at that.
And now here he was, five months later, exhausted and tired in a hospital bed. He watched with half-lid eyes how his parents were holding one of the babies, while Piper and Annabeth were holding the other baby. Luke was half-curled around him on the bed, kissing his temple.
"You did great, my love", whispered Luke gently.
"Babies?", asked Thess tired.
"A healthy boy", declared Annabeth with a proud and gentle smile on her lips, tickling the belly of the baby in Piper's arms. "A very adorable healthy boy."
"And a healthy, sweet little girl", added Percy, cooing at the baby in Nico's arms.
"They're so... squishy", whispered Piper in awe. "I don't remember ours ever having been this squishy. Tommy was this squishy too. Is it just a grandchildren-thing?"
"Maybe", mused Annabeth fondly. "Oh, I feel so old, Pipes."
"You are old, Wise Girl", commented Percy off-handedly. "We all are. We're grandparents now."
"Did you already decide on names?", inquired Nico before Percy and Annabeth could fight.
Luke grinned as he looked at his boyfriend, waiting for Thess' permission to announce it. "Actually, we wanted to name our daughter Annabeth Piper and our son Niccoló Perseus."
"In the great tradition of Percy's awful naming", drawled Annabeth a bit amused. "Because that's not going to be the least bit confusing at all, boys."
"What your mom means is that we're honored", corrected Piper with a chiding glare.
"We thought about the confusion thing beforehand, mothers", huffed Luke and rolled his eyes. "Which is why we'll call our daughter Anna and our son Nick. No confusion with Annabeth and Nico there, right? You've just been so great in the past months in preparing us for parenthood and we know that you'll help us with the babies too, so..."
"Aw, I'm the namesake of my firstborn grandson", cooed Percy proudly. "Nico!"
"Yes, yes. Amazing", chuckled Nico, still getting lost in his granddaughter's eyes. "Look at the princess. She has my eyes. Well, Thess' eyes, but Thess has his eyes from me, so they're mine."
Luke smiled amused as he buried his nose in Thess' hair. "Do you... mind handing our children over so they get to meet their mother too? Or will we have to pry them off their grandparents?"
"...Yeah, you'll have to pry", confirmed Percy solemnly. "They are now ours."
"Mamma", sighed Thess with soft, slightly amused eyes.
"Okay, okay, okay", chuckled Percy, taking Anna from Nico to hand her over to Thess.
"Hello, Anna", whispered Thess with the softest smile.
Piper handed Nick over to Luke, who instantly pulled his son close. "Hey there, kiddo. I'm your dad. I know we're still pretty young and we know nothing about babies. But we'll do our best. And those four over there, they're your grandparents and they're going to help us."
"We're going to love you and care for you and give you our everything", promised Thess softly.
"That's really all a parent can do, sweetie", assured Percy gently. "And you'll do just fine."
/Mai 2038, New Athens\
The white tux looked absolutely stunning on Thess, was the first thing that popped into Luke's head as he saw his boyfriend walking down the isle. Nico di Angelo looked all the proud dad he was as he led Thess down toward Luke. Kitty – Luke's best maid – elbowed him hard. She rocked the suit nearly better than Luke did, really. He glared at her before returning his attention to his soon-to-be husband. They hadn't wanted to get married just because of the babies.
No. That wasn't on Thess' plan. Thess' plan had put their engagement in 2037 and their wedding into the spring of the following year and Thess would have been damned if he became a teen bride. By May 2038, he had just freshly turned twenty and that was the age he wanted to get married in. Just because he became a mom at eighteen didn't mean he wanted to get married just for the babies.
"You better be good to my son", warned Nico as he handed over the 'bride'.
"Have been for the past six years, sir", chuckled Luke. "Plan on doing so for the rest of our life."
Thess smiled and ducked his head. For most of the ceremony, the two of them got really lost in each other's eyes. Only when Kitty elbowed them again did they realize that it was time for the kiss. Both boys blushed and leaned in under the cheerful clapping of everyone.
"Mister Chase", whispered Luke with a smile, arms around his husband's waist.
"Mister Chase", grinned Thess back as he stole a second kiss.
/February 2040, Venice, Italy\
Thess smiled gently as he leaned against the doorway to the twins' bedroom. They had a bunk-bed. Their bedroom was a strange clash of pink and blue that led to quite the pretty magenta.
Honestly, parenthood was hard. Being the parent of twins was twice as hard and Thess had come to appreciate his own mom in a whole new way. But thanks to Luke, Kitty and Percy pitching in and the four of them adjusting their schedules to work around college and babies, they actually all managed to stay in school. Thankfully, the college did have a great daycare system too.
Yes, Thess had to adjust his life-plan and his college-plan, but he loved Nick and Anna in a way he had never before loved anyone. He wouldn't want to trade them for the world, not even if his life had kept 'on track'. The new track was so much better. The new plan was so much better.
"Momma, play?", asked Nick with his large, soft-blue eyes.
His black curls were so unruly, they reminded Thess a lot of his own twin when she had been small. Anna however had inherited Luke's golden-blonde curls. The twins were in the middle of building a castle with Luke and Kitty. Luke turned to smile at his husband of two years.
"Momma would love to help you out", grinned Thess as he joined his family.
"Wo—onderful. Because I kind of do have a date to get to", grinned Kitty. "Be good, Chases."
"Always, Ellen", called Luke after her.
As soon as Thess sat down next to his husband, Luke kissed his cheek and Nick, the little mommy's boy, crawled into Thess' lap. Wrapping one arm around his son, Thess leaned in to help them build their super-awesome princess castle. Anna contently picked the blocks and handed them to Thess.
"So...", drawled Thess, slowly wetting his lips. "You know, graduation is coming up. We'll bag our bachelor degrees. And... the next step in my life-plan is coming up too."
"Right. Remind me which one that was", nodded Luke absentminded.
"The firstborn baby that was pushed back to become the second-born and is now being pushed back to be our third-born", replied Thess, as blunt as ever.
Luke choked on air. "Ah. Yes. That. Uhm. Okay."
"I'm not saying that we have to make one right now", grunted Thess and rolled his eyes at Luke. "I'm just... proposing the idea. So you can think about it and then tell me. We don't have to. I already learned that my plan isn't set in stone and can be adjusted. And sometimes... adjustments are even greater than the plans we could make beforehand."
He smiled gently as he leaned down to kiss the top of Nick's head. Anna made a protesting sound, prompting Luke to follow suit and kiss the top of their daughter. Pleased by her father's attention, Anna snuggled up to Luke. Luke looked at their twins and how cute they were. They were four now. Luke had been four when Fred had been born and he remembered how important he had felt back then, becoming a big brother for the first time. Four was a good age-difference.
"Yeah. Let's have another one of those little mischief makers", whispered Luke fondly.
"Good", smiled Thess and leaned in to kiss Luke's cheek.
/April First 2040, Venice, Italy\
"And... we're sure that Doctor Mason didn't pull an April's Fool on us?", asked Luke lowly.
"Will wouldn't do that", muttered Thess doe-eyed, grasping Luke's hand.
Both of them sat on their bed with traumatized looks on their faces. It was Thess' birthday and they had decided to get a magical sonogram to check on their baby. First baby-picture as Thess' birthday-present. It was now framed and in Luke's hand. The picture of their three babies.
"You and your super-strong magic sperm will never knock me up again. Those plans for the third pregnancy in five years? Canceled. You made me twins and now you made me triplets."
Thess turned to glare at his husband in an accusative manner. Luke just nodded solemnly.
"Yeah, no, five kids to totally reach my limits too, babe", agreed Luke and gulped. "Five... Five are kind of... a lot. Three babies at once. We struggled with two babies already. But three..."
Thess was biting his lips very hard, one hand resting on his stomach. "Gimme my laptop. It's... definitely time to adjust our plans. Again. Not what I had planned for tonight either."
Luke kissed his husband and went to fetch the laptop with the twenty-year-plan. They were supposed to have one baby. Both of them stared at the plan, chewing on their lower-lips.
"If... If we move back to New Athens?", whispered Thess softly. "So our parents can help us out? I thought, one baby, the four of us could totally handle that while making our masters. But three babies... Maybe... we will need more help."
"I could take a year off after they're born", suggested Luke gently. "I'll just wait a year before signing up for my masters classes. I know how important your career is for you. You're going to be such a kick-ass teacher, babe. I don't want for you to lose that."
"And you're going to be a kick-ass lawyer. But I know you only persuaded that course of studies because you want to be a DPS agent", chuckled Thess lowly. "And we both know that you can only really study that in New Athens anyway. So... So let's move back to New Athens."
"You love Italy", argued Luke with a frown.
"Yes, I do. But I also love you", stated Thess firmly, kissing his husband. "And I love you more than Italy. Five years ago, you moved to Italy because of me, because it was my dream. The job at the DPS is your dream and this family is our dream. I'll miss Venezia dearly, yes, but I wouldn't want to miss our family. And our parents will be able to help us."
Luke nodded, face buried in Thess' neck. "Well, happy birthday, love."
Thess chuckled as he clung onto his husband. If there was one thing that Thess knew it was that the two of them would figure everything out. Together, as they always did.
/November 2040, New Athens\
Thess was sitting in the nursery, still exhausted from the birth. Triplets were a pain. Literally. His triplets were asleep in their cribs. They had worked hard this summer on moving and decorating their new place. Thess missed Venice every single day and what he missed even more than Venice was his twin-sister. But Percy had fallen even harder in love with Venice than Thess. She had truly blossomed in Italy, she had finally found her place in the world. Her and Kitty had made so many friends at college, she loved the house and the city and Thess couldn't selfishly tear her away from that. Yes, they were twins, but they weren't tied together by the waist. Thess wanted her to be happy too and if their happiness would separate them, then that was just what was meant to happen. Besides, they weren't permanently out of each other's lives. They still visited one another very regularly – the fact that Percy could shadow-travel meant that she visited as often as possible, sometimes when she was bored even multiple times a day.
"Why are they so tiny, mommy?", asked Anna curiously while peeking through the bars.
"Why is there three of them, mommy?", asked Nick, looking at another.
"Babies are always tiny. You two were this tiny too once", smiled Thess fondly. "And there's three of them... Well... That's something that happens sometimes. Some babies aren't meant to be born alone, just like the two of you. Those little angels just decided to be born together too."
"Lily, Mary, Joly", stated Anna as she pointed from one to the other.
"...Lilibeth, Maribeth and Jolibeth, princess", corrected Thess amused.
"Yes. Lily, Mary, Joly", nodded Anna, blinking up at her mommy. "I'm Annabeth too and no one e—ever calls me Annabeth. So them is Lily, Mary, Joly. No Beths. Beth is silent, right?"
Thess laughed at that and ruffled his daughter's hair. "Yes, the 'beth' is silent, I suppose."
Anna nodded pleased as she stared at her three younger sisters.
/January 2044, New Rome\
Thess was so tired. So, so tired. Four-year-old triplets were exhausting. Not that he didn't love his daughters, but Mary, Lily and Joly were intense. All three were legacies of both Poseidon and Aphrodite. They had the shapeshifting and charmspeak abilities of Aphrodite and the more passive powers of Poseidon; breathing under the water and understanding water-creatures. They couldn't control water – thankfully for their parents – but their powers as they stood were already enough. Sadly, Thess was weak to their charmspeak, as they had discovered only a few months ago when the girls, unaware of what they were doing, were charmspeaking their mom into dinner entirely made up of candy. Only Luke had been able to snap him out of it when he got home.
"You look dead on your feet, Chase", stated Loki Murdock amused as he opened the door.
Thess grunted in agreement and walked past the son of Mercury. Loki raised one curious eyebrow as he followed his guest into the room. Lizzy smiled sheepishly at Loki.
"Sorry. He's not been sleeping a lot", apologized Lizzy.
The two of them had been out for coffee, using every opportunity of Thess visiting New Rome to hang out. Thess yawned when they reached the living room and just collapsed on the couch.
"It's not just the triplets", sighed Thess, rubbing his face. "Jack's been freaking out a lot lately. Next month is the birth date for the twins and a first-time pregnancy with twins is... murderous."
"You're a good brother, Thess", praised Loki's wife Blance with a smile.
She entered the living room with a tray of cookies and coffee. The white-haired daughter of Chione put the tray down in front of Thess and Thess gladly grabbed a coffee to down it in one go.
"Thanks for babysitting the twins", sighed Thess. "You really are a gods-send."
"That's the upside of your children having friends; you get to dump them at their friends' houses", stated Loki with a smirk as he handed his own coffee to Thess. "You need it more than me. Which is a surprising statement, considering we literally just had our second-born a month ago and have a crying baby currently sleeping upstairs. But you really need it more."
"My children can literally make me do whatever they want", yawned Thess.
"Yeah, what are you doing about that charmspeak problem?", inquired Blance concerned.
"Luke took the triplets to visit their grandma Piper. She's the strongest charmspeaker alive. If anyone can teach them control, it'll be her", sighed Thess. "...We hope."
Lizzy chuckled fondly as she nibbled a cookie. "That's why Eddie and I are never going to have children. At all. We're just... happily dating without any crying consequences."
"Su—ure. Get back to me in a couple years", snorted Thess in disbelief. "Okay. It is seriously too quiet here considering there should be five children here. Someone explain."
"Oh, we're playing hide and seek and it's my turn to seek and theirs to hide", replied Loki.
"...How long have you not been looking for them?", asked Thess, one eyebrow raised.
"Ten minutes", shrugged Loki mischievously.
Sighing, Thess shook his head at the older man. Sure, Loki was right – their kids being friends was amazing, because the parents rotated in hosting weekend sleepovers so the other parents could catch a break. Though the circle of friends that Thess' twins had made had been a little bit of a surprise.
Nick's best friend was Calogero di Angelo; his cousin. Donny's firstborn. Which did suit Thess just fine, he kind of enjoyed to see how well the two cousins got along. They were practically inseparable and it was just so cute. They kind of reminded Thess of Donny and Sam as kids.
Which brought him to Anna's best friend; Sam Raser's firstborn Cornelia. Those two girls were fierce and even as first-graders, Thess could see their potential. One day, they were going to be really strong badasses at Camp Half-Blood and they were so going to break a lot of hearts.
Now, the thing was that while Nick and Cal were inseparable best friends, but Cal was also inseparable with Eli Raser and Tom Grace. And since Eli's very best friend was the daughter of Blance and Loki, the kids regularly found their way to New Rome to stay with the Murdocks.
"Mommy, mommy, mommy!", called Nick out, crying.
The four adults in the living room froze before running outside. And 'freezing' was exactly the theme outside. Nick sat frozen in a puddle, frozen into the puddle. Yukiko Murdock stood in front of him with a glare, arms crossed over her chest. It was pretty obvious that the legacy of Chione had frozen Nick into the puddle. But it was also pretty obvious that Nick had provoked Yukiko, because the frozen puddle looked like it had been reaching out for Yukiko before it got frozen.
"You two", sighed Blance as she grabbed Yukiko by the arm. "Are a bad combination."
Which, admittedly, Thess had to agree to. Nick was the ocean, controlling water and rain. Yukiko was winter, controlling ice and snow. The two of them clashed at every opportunity. Blance heaved a sigh as she unfroze Nick, while Loki went on to start seeking the other hiding kids.
"He started it!", exclaimed Yukiko with a pout. "He told Cal to go to the beach for summer vacation and Cal used the puppy-eyes on Eli, so because of stupid stupid-head over there, my bestest friend decided to go to the beach for vacation! But I already had him convinced we go skiing!"
"Okay. I think it's time to go home", sighed Thess and shook his head. "Come on, Nick."
"I'm sorry, Thess", sighed Blance and shook her head. "I wonder if those two will ever get along."
"Don't worry about it, Blance", chuckled Thess. "It's fine. They're kids, they'll figure it out."
"One day, they might even be inseparable too", teased Lizzy fondly.
"Ew! Never!", exclaimed both Nick and Yukiko at the same moment.
/break\
When Luke got home with the sleepy triplets, he found his husband and the twins were curled together on the bed in their bedroom. Thess offered him a gentle smile, Nick tucked under one arm and Anna tucked under the other. Luke gladly went to kiss his husband while the triplets crawled into bed and snuggled up to their older siblings by climbing into their mom's lap.
"How was your day, love of my life?", asked Luke, stifling a yawn.
Anna gladly got up and allowed Luke to sit down next to Thess, because that way Anna could climb up to sit on her dad's lap. He got the cue and started braiding her long curls. She really had her dad well-trained. Thess smiled and rested his head against Luke's shoulder, enjoying his husband's warmth and proximity. He wrapped one arm around Nick and pulled his only son closer.
"Our son got himself frozen in a puddle by Yuki Murdock", stated Thess casually. "Lizzy says hi, it was very nice to get to spend a free afternoon with my best friend again."
"That's very nice. She still dating Eddie?", smiled Luke. "Wait. Frozen in a puddle...?"
"Yeah, she's still going steady with Eddie", nodded Thess with a smile. "Heh, that rhymed. And yes, frozen in a puddle. You know how Yuki and Nick can get. They're like... well, ice and the ocean."
"Ice and ocean get along great at the North and South poles", argued Anna softly.
"She's been spending time with grandma Annabeth again", explained Luke amused. "But she's right. Just because most of the ocean is hot and the opposite of ice doesn't mean they always clash."
"Well, Yukiko and I will never-ever-ever get along", huffed Nick with a pout.
"Do... we want to watch a movie?", suggested Thess fondly. "The new Little Mermaid remake?"
"Ye—es", exclaimed the triplets at once.
The three of them were scarily in-tune. Even though Thess and Percy had always been very in-tune, those three could even speak as one and sometimes even for each other. Three identical sets of pleading, pale-blue eyes turned to stare up at Thess until he turned on the TV. Thess heaved a content sigh as he got to use Luke as his pillow while Joly, Mary and Lily were cuddled up on his lap and Nick was leaning against Thess' side, with Anna happily sitting in her dad's lap and having Luke braid her hair. This was the perfect life, regardless of how exhausting it might be.
~*~ The End ~*~
Author's note: Oh dear, it's been so long since I last wrote for the Chasingverse. I do hope this turned out well ;)
But I got poked about it over on tumblr and thought "Maybe I really should. Yeah. I really-really should", which, by the way, if you're into my Chasingverse then my tumblr is reeeaaally the place to be. I ended up answering so many character and ship asks and writing drabbles over there... So, check it out - takaraphoenix