in search of a nonexistent storm
A PJO oneshot
by mew-tsubaki
Note: The Percy Jackson/Heroes of Olympus characters belong to Rick Riordan, not to me. Oh, and this pairing was discovered by my pal, BlueMango, so it'd be nice to give her a little mention if you write them! Thanks! Read, review, and enjoy!
- ^-^3
"My!" Fleecy gasped as Butch passed her the little bouquet. "This is quite unusual, and lovely." Her stormy eyes—gray and black and every steely shade between—glittered and were as wide as her smile. She beamed at him. "I recognize the little Lilies of the Valley…but what's the rest?"
Butch fought the rising heat of his cheeks as best as he could manage. "Cotton. Unusual, you're right. But it's fresh and smells nice. And the fluff reminds me of your hair."
The cloud nymph chuckled and pecked his cheek. Wisps of her cloud-like hair tickled his cheek. "Thank you, Butch." She held on to her flowers tightly and turned on her heel. "I wonder if the boss will let me put these on a windowsill…"
As his girlfriend walked away, his mother appeared in a rare sighting away from concocting some new organic recipe. Iris raised a teasing eyebrow at her son. "Everything's going well with Fleecy, I see…"
Butch pursed his lips. His mother, as lovely a person as she could be, was still his mother. She had been the first to name his crush not long after he'd first found his way to R.O.F.L. after being claimed by her. Spending time at R.O.F.L. before heading to Camp Half-Blood… Butch had always liked that. It set him apart from his friends and comrades at camp.
Not to mention that his crush had eventually become mutual and he could now say he was dating a nebula. Alas, details.
He met his mother's gaze. "How's the shop doing?"
"As fine as ever," Iris answered, slipping her arm through his and leaning on his shoulder. "It's a shame you can't come visit more often, though."
"Yeah, well, I'm still teaching a fair few how to better handle the pegasi. As it stands, camp's best equestrian is still me." He shrugged. "Lacy's shown a lot of promise, but it doesn't help when Clovis comes to visit her in the stables and the pegasi all nap." Butch scratched his head—ah, his hair was getting a bit long…time for another buzz soon—and looked down at his mother.
She grinned innocently as her brown eyes met his above the rim of her glasses. "Yes?"
He frowned. "Say it."
"Say what?"
He sighed. "I know you. And you have something to say. Your eyes are screaming it."
"I don't hear anything."
"Mom, your eyes are beginning to change color."
Iris huffed and stood up, keeping Butch's arm trapped between her own. "Sometimes it's a curse, being the rainbow goddess… But, yes, I suppose there's one comment I can't bear to keep inside." She peeked behind the store's register and into the backroom, to make sure no one would interrupt. Then she led Butch towards R.O.F.L.'s front door. "It's about you and Fleecy."
He was surprised. "What about us?"
"Well, don't you think it's a bit…strange?"
Butch shrugged. "A lot of people got together after the war with Gaea. Some of the older demigods even moved around," he added, thinking of Percy and Annabeth heading off to New Rome last year to start college, and Jason going to New York to stay with Piper and her dad, who'd moved for her dad's work. Others had switched places, too, since the Greeks and Romans got along now. It was a rather normal occurrence.
"That's not what I meant, Butch." She frowned. "It's just—it's unheard of, a demigod and a…well, a non-mortal non-demigod…"
The mother and son exchanged a glance, and Butch gave it some thought. Was it that strange? He hadn't really thought about it before. Sure, sometimes when Fleecy got really excited, she'd start to float out of his arms, but that made for some interesting kisses, not any trouble. And he couldn't think of any problems they might eventually encounter. After all, with the exception of her powers, Fleecy was all woman… He paused and blushed for decency's sake.
Iris sighed. "Well, I didn't mean to bother you or anything. You two are cute together," the goddess added in undertones when Fleecy returned.
"Thanks," Butch said, and Iris walked away so that Fleecy could give him a goodbye kiss.
"So you'll stop by next week, too, right?" the nymph asked as she walked him outside.
"I plan on it," he answered. "I have that interview with the mortal riding school in the middle of the week, so I'll let you know the results when I next see you."
She nodded eagerly. "Can't wait! And I think you'll do swell, Butch, honestly! I and the other nebulae never hear a single complaint from the Camp Half-Blood pegasi when they fly by."
Butch nodded and gave her a long look. It wasn't that nymphs could never age; they had a say in it and could choose to give themselves an older appearance. But, now that he thought about it, in the nearly five years he'd known her, she'd barely aged a single day.
Ah. Maybe that's what his mother meant.
He gave Fleecy a small smile and nodded. He hugged her, burying her face in his massive chest. "Later, Fleecy." And with that, he headed to his steed, got on, and headed back to camp.
- ^-^3
Back at camp, he didn't have a whole lot to distract him, so he was still lost in his thoughts as he led flying lessons.
"No… Dammit, Harley! Don't install a mechanical saddle on Porkpie!"
Some of the youngest demigods giggled or raised their eyebrows at him cursing, and Butch bit back another expletive. No doubt he'd hear about it from Chiron later, once word got back. It was kind of frustrating, all the demigods still coming out of the woodwork, especially considering how young some of them were.
But Harley…that brat. He wasn't one of the youngest, not anymore, and the son of Hephaestus knew better than to put any sort of contraption on a pegasus.
Butch groaned and signaled to Lacy to land with Guido. They landed smoothly, something which only Lacy or Butch could manage, since Guido had never healed properly after the Second Titan War. "End class early?" the daughter of Aphrodite suggested.
"Yeah. I'm done for the day."
He walked away from the stables and left things to Lacy. Butch headed for Cabin Fourteen and was glad for some peace and quiet when he realized his half-siblings were out.
He grabbed his backpack and began packing for his trip to Virginia tomorrow. Just as he was glad for the peace and quiet, he was also glad for the chance to interview at the Henley Equestrian Academy. He was one of the oldest demigods at camp now, and he disliked the thought that he might be there forever. That just…it couldn't work.
His conscience nagged him. You could always take over the family business.
Butch snorted. Yeah, right. With a face like "a pile of bricks," people would just love to come to me for customer service at Mom's shop.
Well, at least you'd get the chance to work alongside Fleecy.
He paused at the thought, but then he pushed it aside. He needed to do his own thing first, try to be an adult first, before he entertained his dark thoughts any further.
- ^-^3
The Henley riding school was a sizeable place that made Butch feel right at home. Its grounds were the size of Camp Half-Blood, nearly, except it was all stables and running space and grazing pastures.
His interview was informal. He talked and walked with the owner of the school, the elderly Mr. Henley (the third), as they perused the stables. Butch scared off some of the students and other stable hands with his demeanor, but the horses adored him. Each of them sniffed him like a dog, and he passed their scent test every time.
Mr. Henley was impressed. "I've never seen the horses take to anyone so quickly," he commented.
Butch rubbed and patted the neck of a freshly-washed Arabian. "I don't speak horse," Butch said, "but sometimes it feels as though I do."
"And what do you know of equine medicine?"
Butch bit his lower lip. "Not much," he confessed. Medicine-wise, he knew that a little bit of nectar dropped in the pegasi's water worked wonders, but he couldn't use that kind of thing here, amongst the mortals. "However, I know a lot of stretching techniques, and plenty about warming them up and cooling them down. I might not be able to diagnose much or perform surgery or anything, but I can take care of cuts and bruises, and I can set a broken wing."
"Hmm?"
"I mean, a broken leg."
Thankfully, as old as Mr. Henley was, he missed Butch's slip-up. "Wonderful," the old man said. He faced Butch. "Are you in town long, Butch?"
Butch furrowed his brow. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, I know we had simply arranged the interview, but you've got the job. And," he added when Butch went to grin, "I'd like you to start right away."
"Oh. I don't… I don't have many things with me."
"I can put you up in my mansion for the short term, but I'd like you to tend to my own horse, if you don't mind, before you return home to collect anything else that you'd like to bring. Chariot's been feeling under the weather, and I think she may have strained her leg…"
As the old man got to talking, anxiety swept over the son of Iris. He wondered how long he'd be here, because he didn't want to miss seeing Fleecy.
…on the other hand, he was still unsure about his feelings regarding his mother's statement. Maybe this was for the better. Maybe it was just better to put off an uncomfortable chat, because, frankly, he wasn't sure he was going to like how it turned out.
- ^-^3
Before he knew it, a week had passed. He originally had thought that he would only stay through the weekend, but after working with Henley's horse, Chariot, and fixing a muscle pull the horse had managed on her previous outing with her master, something else had come up, and another horse had had a fit. It turned out Trireme (named so because Henley had a thing for Greek weaponry, apparently) was a young stallion and prone to energetic, testosterone-fueled outbursts, and he damaged two stalls besides his own in one of his fits. Not only did Butch have to help the veterinarian calm Trireme down, but he also rebuilt the three stalls. One after another, other problems to solve reared their ugly heads, and Butch put everything else out of his mind.
But then he got an Iris message early in the morning, a little after the full week had passed. Luckily he was doing chores by himself and combing through the hay in Trireme's stall when the message connected.
It was Chiron. "Ah, Butch. I'm glad to see all is well," the centaur said with a sigh of relief.
"I'm doing great, Chiron," he stated. He wiped some sweat from his brow.
"Then perhaps the next time you're 'doing great,' you could contact someone at camp to let us know when you're staying late."
Butch blinked. It had slipped his mind. "I'm sorry, Chiron. It won't happen again."
The mentor sighed again. "No, it's all right, Butch. I think I'm a bit of a worrier with all of my demigods sometimes. Head home soon," he added, and then the rainbow in the early morning mist dissolved.
He explained to Mr. Henley about getting a phone call from home and realizing that he needed to head back. Once Henley seemed satisfied with the excuse, Butch high-tailed it back to New York, and he was back at camp the following day.
"Welcome back…," Clovis said drowsily as Lacy rolled her boyfriend out of the stall in which he'd been napping with Guido.
Butch didn't pay them any mind, though. He fought the exhaustion from the bus ride back and grabbed Porkpie.
"You just got back!" Lacy exclaimed.
"Yeah, but I've got something else to do, kiddo." He glanced back at his friends and gave her half a smile. "You'll understand in a year or two, Lace."
The daughter of Aphrodite cocked her head to one side as he took off.
Even though he was tired, Butch knew he had to go to R.O.F.L. The Iris message had reminded him not only of his life back home, but of his mother's statement, as well as of his sheepishness at not talking about it with Fleecy. But he knew it wasn't a heroic thing to ignore the topic any longer, and wasn't he a war hero?
R.O.F.L. was fairly quiet for once, which Butch thought odd. The shop was busy most of the time, so quiet was out of place…
That wasn't the only stunning thing, however. The sign in window said "CLOSED." It wasn't a permanent sign, just like what one would see in a mortal shop when business hours were up…which was extremely odd, since R.O.F.L. never closed.
Butch frowned, getting a bad feeling. He left Porkpie parked out front by the door and drew his sword just in case. Then he stepped into the shop and called out, "Mom? Fleecy?"
Something rustled in the back of the shop, and Butch's grip on the handle of his sword tightened. He sped back there, and someone darted in front of him—and yelped. It was Fleecy.
Luckily he had good impulse control and didn't slice his girlfriend. "Fleecy! What were you thinking?! I could've killed you!"
Fleecy warily eyed his sword and pushed the blade out of her face. "What are you doing here?"
"I…" He frowned and sheathed his weapon. "First, where's Mom? Actually, where is everyone? I've never seen the shop closed."
The cloud nymph's cheeks pinked. She groaned. "Dammit…"
He really would have to watch his mouth—he'd rubbed off on Fleecy, even.
"Well, it was going to be a surprise."
"A surprise?" Finally Butch took in the sight of Fleecy and realized she wasn't dressed in her R.O.F.L. uniform. In fact, she was dressed in a fitted Camp Half-Blood shirt and tie-dyed sweatshirt and skinny jeans with her hair pulled back. Only her hiker boots were the same as ever. She had a small R.O.F.L. satchel slung over her left shoulder. "Were you going somewhere?"
Fleecy nodded. "To see you, silly."
He gaped at her. "What?"
"The boss went on ahead of me, so I was left to close the shop. We were only going to close it for the day."
"But…why…?"
"Because I hadn't heard from you, and she got worried. She called Chiron and asked if he knew where you were."
Butch couldn't fight a small grin. "What, neither of you eavesdropped when Chiron Iris-messaged me?"
Fleecy shook her head. "Of course not! We only connect calls, meanie." She looked up at him. "Your mother went on ahead of me, though, thinking she had to clear up some misunderstanding for my sake… I don't know what she was talking about, but I did want to see you." Her eyes sparkled in the sunlight coming from the window behind the register.
Butch sighed. He'd been such an idiot… He caught her up on what had happened at the riding school, and then he braved it and told her his mother's thoughts on their relationship, and how it had bothered him enough that he had been afraid of bringing it up when he next talked to Fleecy.
When he was finished, Fleecy surprised him. "That's all?" she asked.
"What more do you want?"
"I was expecting something along the lines of, 'There are monsters where I am. I've been fighting them off in my free time while looking after the mortal's horses. I've also saved a fair maiden a time or two, and now I've fallen for one of them.'"
"You really have no idea what a demigod does besides fight monsters, do you?"
Fleecy sighed and Butch chuckled. "No, not really… But I was a bit worried. It makes some sense, what the boss said." The nymph stuck her hands in her pockets. "I mean, I'm not a mortal. I'm not a demigod." She shrugged but also looked ready to cry if Butch said the wrong thing.
"That doesn't matter to me."
She breathed a sigh of relief and swiped at her eyes. She laughed wetly. "Oh, good. I was beginning to worry…"
"Why?"
"Well, we're…unconventional. I thought you might have finally changed your mind about wanting some normalcy like your friends."
"Leo managed to break Calypso out of her prison and get the gods to grant her mortality so they could be together. My friends aren't normal."
There was a teasing twinkle in her eye. "Leo's your friend?"
"I mean, Valdez. Oh, shut up," he mumbled as he drew her, giggling, into his arms.
"You know, it's cute. When you fret, your eyes change color. Like mother, like son."
"See? Nothing wrong with being unconventional." Butch sighed happily, glad all his worries were for naught. Everything made sense when he, Fleecy, and his mother weren't stirring up trouble where there wasn't any. Everything made sense with Fleecy in his arms.
Fleecy pulled away then and looked around the shop. "Well, I guess there's no reason to close down since you're here with me and I don't have to go find you." She grinned at him. "Wanna run the shop with me?"
Funny how, with that one question, Butch could hear their future already… He blushed, hating the notion that he felt like a giddy Aphrodite kid right now. Man up, Butch, he scolded himself. "Ah, how about we take advantage of the closed shop and my mother's absence instead…?"
- ^-^3
;) Yeah, let your mind lead you there. Butch and Fleecy smexy times, *lol*. So, this was just mindless fluff for one of the cutest Aphrodite's Rejects (see my profile for more about AphRejects)… I really love them and need to write more of them, though at least I've finally drawn them! Fleecy's sooo cute…and Butch can be smokin'… ;D Honestly, I still adore the fic "Our life together in sweet, sweet dreams" by BlueMango. SUCH a cute Fleetchy fic! X3 Some details in my fic, though, are helping me to develop a head-canon for Butch…which includes more Fleetchy of course, so expect more Butch-centric/Fleetchy fics in the future! And check out the Aphrodite's Rejects forum, too! Come and join the fun! *Note: Lacy/Clovis (Clacy) is another AphReject, so credit to BlueMango if you write them, thanks!
Thanks for reading, and please review!
-mew-tsubaki -w-