"So what movie did you want to watch, baby?"
Percy asked his daughter this question patiently, unenthusiastic. It had been a long night. Usually both he and Annabeth were home by five, but tonight she'd been called up to Olympus for a meeting with her mother regarding Olympus plans. While most of the repairs and construction up on Olympus had been completed long ago, Annabeth continued to work on the construction of minor temples among other renovations. Long story short, he'd been alone with their daughter all afternoon, and even though he loved her, Percy was exhausted. Trying to get a two and a half year old to cooperate was difficult. Annabeth was better at the discipline thing than he was. Having fallen asleep briefly after dinner, of course his daughter refused to go to bed at her normal bedtime, eight, and so here Percy was, allowing her to pick out a movie to watch at eight-thirty. Annabeth was going to kill him.
The girl bounded over to him merrily. "I want to watch this one!" She thrust the plastic DVD box into his hands, looking up at him expectantly with those penetrating gray eyes. He took it, and with one look at the title his mind filled with dread.
Why had she had to have picked that movie?
She'd picked out Disney's Hercules, of course. Sometimes Percy wondered whose child she was.
Upon seeing it in the store, the girl had demanded Annabeth buy it, even though she'd never watched it before. Annabeth had appeased her and brought it home as a joke, waving the box in Percy's face as he rolled his eyes at her. Of course, the child then proceeded to watch it daily, though Percy never really paid it much attention. All he knew about it was that it portrayed the gods as glowing, unearthly creatures (which was partially true), contained various extravagant musical numbers- as was the norm with Disney movies- and glorified Hercules. For all of these reasons, he'd decided that he never wanted to watch it.
She must have sensed the confliction in his demeanor, because the girl tugged on the DVD in his hands. "Come on, daddy!" she insisted impatiently, her eyes boring into his. He knew he had no choice but to watch.
"Okay, okay!" he agreed in resignation, pressing open the DVD player and feeding the disc into its tray. He sat himself down on the couch, propping his socked feet up on an ottoman. His daughter tried to climb up onto the couch unsuccessfully and he lifted her up, plopping her down beside him. After fumbling with the controls for a few minutes, Percy managed to get the movie started, bracing himself for what was to come.
The opening credits played, and though Percy fought the urge to get up and leave after the first minute of the dancing muses, he stayed, mostly because he knew his daughter would either attack him or start crying crocodile tears and guilt him into staying if he tried to leave.
Basically, the girl knew how to work it. Percy blamed Annabeth. Annabeth blamed Percy.
A few minutes into the movie, she rolled on top of Percy, sitting in his lap and stretching her short, skinny legs out atop her father's. She leaned her head back against the soft fabric of his sweater so that her raven curls splayed across it and watched the movie intently, unmoving, with Percy's arms wrapped around her tiny waist. Occasionally she stopped to ask questions, particularly about the gods, a concept her two-year-old brain simply didn't understand. Percy brushed most of them off, much to her dismay.
Surprisingly enough, Percy got kind of into the movie, though the musical numbers made him cringe a little. It wasn't too bad, and this Hercules was nothing like the real hero/god. Once he got over the fact that the movie was about one of the gods he hated the most, he decided that the movie had a good story. Certain parts of it resonated with him more than others- Hercules' desire to live up to his father, his feeling of not truly fitting in with the mortals around him. Percy barely noticed when the girl in his arms shifted, her body going slack in his arms and her breaths becoming slower and more rhythmic.
Percy was jolted into reality when he heard the familiar turn of a key in the front door about an hour later. The doorknob turned and Annabeth entered the apartment, slipping off her coat and hanging it up on its hook. "Hey," she greeted, taking notice of the television and Percy and the little girl who had fallen asleep in his arms.
"Sh!" he hissed sheepishly, though Annabeth had already realized her mistake. Kicking off her shoes, Annabeth sat down on the couch besides Percy, leaning against him softly as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "How was work?" he asked her softly as she reached out to brush a strand of hair away from the sleeping girl's face.
"It was fine. Tiring," she murmured, though she was gazing at their daughter. "When did she fall asleep?" Annabeth didn't bother reprimanding him for keeping her awake past her bedtime; mostly because she knew it was no use.
"Maybe a half an hour ago? I don't know," he replied softly, turning his attention back to the movie for a second.
"Mommy?"
The toddler stirred in Percy's arms, her voice heavy with sleep. She shifted, turning onto her side to face her mother. Annabeth reached over, gently pulling the girl into her own lap and planting a kiss on her forehead.
"I'm here," Annabeth murmured, combing her fingers through the girl's tangled banana curls. "You want to go to bed?" she asked softly. That was probably a bad idea. She could have just put her to bed and been done with it, but once she asked the girl it opened up a whole new can of worms.
To her parents' surprise, she nodded, resting her head on Annabeth's shoulder. Percy moved. "Come on, kiddo," he coaxed her, and her arms loosened around her mother's neck. Annabeth planted a kiss on her cheek.
"'Night, Mommy," she murmured, voice heavy with sleep.
"Sleep tight," Annabeth responded with a grin.
"Don't let the bed bugs bite!" the girl chorused with a small smile of her own, earning a grimace from Annabeth. Percy'd taught her that line, forgetting the fact that Annabeth had had firsthand experience with real "bed bugs" in her childhood. She chuckled nonetheless and ruffled her daughter's hair before Percy grabbed her, carrying her through the hallway into her bedroom.
Annabeth watched the movie in Percy's absence, having never seen it before either. She found herself drawn into the plot as well, watching curiously as the story progressed. Some of the plotlines were cliché, like Hercules giving up his strength for Meg, but most of the story seemed genuinely good, though Annabeth hadn't seen the first part of the movie. Percy rejoined her on the couch, draping a blanket over the two of them and pulling her to his chest beneath it as they watched the rest of the movie in comfortable silence.
Upon Meg's death, Hercules dove into the River Styx to retrieve her soul and bring her back to life. This was awfully unrealistic, being that the River Styx didn't contain souls at all and if anybody swam in it they'd either bear a curse or die before they were to reach their goal, but Annabeth didn't really care. It was a Disney movie, after all. The fantasy of the movie brought her comfort. And then she saw the ending. Hercules saves Meg, bringing her back to life after having saved Greece from the Titans, and Zeus decides that he's earned his place up on Olympus with the gods. He brings Hercules and Meg up to Olympus on a cloud, offering his son the god-ship he'd been longing for the entire movie, but Hercules declines, opting to live a mortal life on earth because after all he's been through, he doesn't want to become immortal. He'd rather live a normal life... a life with Meg. Even though Percy and Annabeth's experiences were altogether different from Hercules and Meg's, Annabeth couldn't help but relate the scene to the one after the war with Kronos ended, when Percy'd been offered godhood and had declined for virtually the same reason. The ending music played, and the colorful pictures on the screen faded to white credits against a black screen.
Annabeth looked up at Percy, whose gaze was still locked on the screen, and it wasn't until he looked down at her and brushed his thumb across her cheek that Annabeth realized she'd started crying. His gaze locked with hers and she noticed that his eyes were teary as well.
"Uncanny, isn't it?" Annabeth murmured, looking back to the screen wistfully. The title screen had reappeared, one of the movie's ridiculous songs playing in its background.
"I know," Percy agreed, his expression softening. "I mean, we look exactly like them! I'm clearly as buff as Hercules, my golden tan skin glows in the sunlight, and I like to wear really short battle armor with knee-high sandals. You're frail-figured, have an unnaturally thin waist and pointy boobs, and you always wear a bump-it in your hair."
Annabeth nudged him, a poorly suppressed smile playing across the curve of her lips. "I'm being serious, Percy," she said.
"I know," he replied. "Gods, that night seems like so long ago," he murmured.
"It was, though," Annabeth replied, and he nodded. Neither of them spoke for a moment, though Annabeth moved closer to Percy. "I'm glad you made the decision to stay here," she murmured, twisting a strand of his dark, unkempt hair between her fingers.
Percy shrugged. "Becoming a god was hardly an option," he argued, and she grinned at him.
"I know," she replied. "But I'm still glad you decided to stay here."
"Me too, Wise Girl," he murmured, earning a laugh from Annabeth.
"You better be, Seaweed Brain," she teased. Percy laughed and kissed her softly, lingering for a few moments before pulling away to look at her. This was where he belonged, and here he had mortality, love, and family- all things he'd be lacking if he had made the wrong decision. He now knew for sure, with his daughter and Annabeth, his best friend and the girl of his dreams, that he'd never want to be a god and that he'd never regret his decision to stay mortal.
"Trust me, Annabeth Chase," he whispered. "I'm glad."
((A/N: Just something I whipped up after watching Hercules, my favorite Disney movie of all time. :3 Not my favorite of my stories, but I finished it and it contains Percabeth family fluff, so why not post it, right? :D Thanks so much for reading, and if you have any thoughts or constructive criticism please don't hesitate to drop me a review! They always make my day. Thanks again, and have a wonderful day/night/existence!))