PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO || Percy and the Ghost King of Summers High || PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO
Title: Percy and the Ghost King of Summers High – The Little Merboy and the Vampire Lord
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus; supernatural high school AU
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, supernatural, magic, wolves/vampires, mates/bonding, heat, D/s, spanking, explicit intercourse, anal, oral, sex toys, domestic abuse, self-harm, shoujo-ai, hetero, threesomes
Main Pairing: Nico/Percy
Side Pairings: Thanatos/Triton, Octavian/Luke, Ethan/Alabaster, Jake/Will, Frank/Hazel/Leo, Chris/Clarisse/Piper, Thalia/Bianca, Reyna/Annabeth, Lou/Miranda, Charles/Silena, Jason/Calypso, Malcolm/Katie, Grover/Juniper, Dakota/Leila, Nathan/Gwen, Shane/Lacy, Bryce/Drew, Howard/Hecate, Chiron/Lupa, Hades/Persephone, Poseidon/Amphitrite, Paul/Sally, Gabe/Sally (to be past), Poseidon/Sally (past)
Percy Jackson Characters:
Water Nymphs/Sirens/Merpeople: Perseus Jackson, Tyson, Silena Beauregard, Gwendolyn Ryder, Drew Tanaka, Michael Kahale, Piper McLean, Mitchell Logan, Lacy Hunnigan
Vampires: Bianca di Angelo, Nico di Angelo, Hazel Levesque, Ethan Nakamura
Valkyries: Annabeth Chase, Malcolm Cage
Witches: Alabaster C. Torrington, Lou Ellen, Clovis Daver, Butch Walker, Bryce Lawrence
Seers: Octavian Simmons, Ella, Rachel Elizabeth Dare
Storm Spirits: Thalia Grace, Jason Grace
Nature Spirits/Nymphs: Katie Gardner, Miranda Gardner, Leila Fischer, Juniper, Grover Underwood, Dakota Elle, Castor Liber, Pollux Liber
Werewolves/Shapeshifters: Luke Castellan, Nathan McIntosh, Travis Stoll, Connor Stoll, Chris Rodriguez, Cecil Rogers, Frank Zhang (also a hunter)
Dragons: Charles Beckendorf, Jake Mason, Nyssa Black, Leo Valdez, Shane McNabb
Light Elves: Lee Fletcher, Michael Yew, Will Solace, Austin Barton, Kayla Hein
Dark Elves: Zoe Nightshade, Phoebe Burge, Naomi Walters, Celyn Richards, Kinzie Cohen
Hunters: Howard Claymore, Hylla Ramírez-Arellano, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Frank Zhang (also a shifter), Clarisse la Rue, Sherman Potter, Mark Meyer
Humans: Sally Jackson, Paul Blofis, Gabe Ugliano, Nancy Bobofit
Animals: Small Bob, Mrs. O'Leary, Argentum, Aurum, Blackjack, Arion, Tempest, Scipio, Guido
Godly Characters: Poseidon, Amphitrite, Proteus, Kymopoleia, Benthesikyme, Rhode, Triton, Hades, Persephone, Thanatos, Olethros, Makaria, Melinoe, Hecate, Demeter, Chiron, Lupa, Calypso
Summary: Percy is just a normal boy, living with his hard-working mother and abusive stepfather, keeping his head low at school. Normally, Percy only spend the obligatory one weekend a month with his dad. But that had been because of Poseidon's secret. Poseidon is a merman and he tried to shield his son from the supernatural world – until it becomes apparent that Percy shares his heritage.
Poseidon fights for custody, with the help of his vampire lord lawyer friend Hades, so Percy would move to them and join their supernatural community. Now Percy has to deal with only seeing his mom on weekends, adjusting to his stepmother and half-siblings and being a submissive merboy.
Percy and the Ghost King of Summers High
The Little Merboy and the Vampire Lord
Chapter 2: New Custody Arrangements
"I know about the abuse, Sally."
Percy was sitting in the back of the car, legs drawn up against his chest, arms wound around his legs. He hadn't said a word since he got loaded into the car, together with as many of his possessions as they could fit into the truck of the car. Triton next to him kept watching him in that unnerving way, like he expected Percy to either do something stupid or to break.
"You're in no condition to take care of a child, Missus Ugliano."
The drive felt longer than normal. Sure, they lived on basically the other side of New York, but this time it was longer than ever before. Poseidon and stepmother dearest were talking to each other in the front of the car, stupid, light conversation like they hadn't just destroyed Percy's life.
"I know you're trying your best, Sally, but... your best isn't enough anymore. Not if it ends up with Percy in the hospital. I can't leave him in your care anymore. I just... can't."
The car stopped and Poseidon, his wife and their son got out of the car. Percy stayed inside, staring at the house with a spiteful look. It was fancy and large, baby blue and seemingly out of two centuries ago. Percy hated the house. It was so pretty and perfect and Percy hated it for that. A three story building – what kind of family needed a three story building? And all of Percy's half siblings, aside from Tyson, were over twenty, but still living at home. The five oldest were sharing one floor with bedrooms and a bathroom, the parents, little Ty and Percy's guest-room were in the second floor, together with another bath and Poseidon's home-office. Then there was the first floor with the guest bathroom, the kitchen, living room and a store room. And there was a freaking pool in the basement. In a fancy hotel kind of way that always freaked Percy out.
"Come on in now, Percy", urged Poseidon on, offering his son a smile. "We're home."
Percy snorted and rolled his eyes as he got out of the car. "This will never be my home. My home is with my mom – and you just took me away from her, Poseidon."
His father flinched at that. Regardless of how distant they were, Percy had always called him dad. But Poseidon had wavered that right when getting between Percy and his mom. Getting his backpack with his most precious possessions from the back of the car, Percy made a beeline for the second floor and his room, closing the door with a more than loud 'thud'. Putting the bag down on the desk, Percy flopped down on his large waterbed, glaring up at the ceiling.
"I'm sorry, Missus Ugliano, but until you have sorted your life out, it would be the best for young Perseus to stay in a stable home. I gather that Mister and Missus Jackson can provide for the boy and have in fact a room for him in their house. It's for his own safety. Your priority right now has to be to get your life straightened, Missus Ugliano. There will only be supervised visits between you and the boy until further notice, no contact during the running investigation."
Investigation. Percy sneered at that. Like that judge or that stupid-ass Italian lawyer of his father's had any idea what was going on or what was good for Percy. His home was his mom. Whatever shit they both had to go through, they always had each other. They could endure everything, as long as they had each other. Now they didn't. Now everything was falling apart. His mom was all alone and he hadn't even been allowed to hold her when she was crying, when Poseidon had taken Percy away, because those idiots thought that his mom had something to do with the abuse. Like Sally would ever, ever hurt him. He growled at the thought, thrusting his fists down against the mattress. He hated feeling so weak, so helpless. He wasn't even his own master anymore. Those strangers had just decided about him, decided that he wasn't safe at home, decided that he should live with his father and stepmother and half-siblings. He didn't even get a say in the matter. And until his mom was cleared from all charges, he couldn't even see her at all. His face was screwed up as tears welled up in his eyes. This family didn't even like him. His father had never cared about him, had never fought for him before, he had been content with just seeing Percy every second weekend. When Percy had been a bit older and not a small child anymore, he had asked his mother why he didn't get to spend more time with his dad. But his mother had told him that she had offered it, that Percy could spend every weekend and every other week with Poseidon too, but Poseidon hadn't wanted it. The minimal amount of time to be spend with Percy. After that, Percy grew more sensitive to his surroundings, noticing how everyone acted more distant toward him than to each other. How often their conversations would just fall flat when Percy entered the room. How they never, not once in all those years, had thought about including Percy in one of the many family vacations. Percy was not a part of their family, because they didn't want him.
So why was he here now? Why did they pretend to give a damn now, now of all times?!
/break\
"So, that was a disaster", stated Triton and made a face as he sat down on the couch.
It had been a rough week of talking things out with their family and with Lord Hades and with the court. But now, finally, Percy was going to live with them. All of them were excited about it, they loved the little rebel brother who kept sassing everyone. Finally, they would be allowed to tell Percy about their secret, about their society. They could take him swimming, teach him everything a merboy his age needed to know. He'd finally be a real part of their family and Triton, mom and dad had just gone to pick Percy up and bring him back home with them. The rest of the family had been waiting in the living room with a large sign of Welcome home, Percy! hanging over the couch where Proteus, Benthesikyme, Kymopoleia and Rhode were lined up. Tyson sat snuggled up to Rhode's lap, looking confused as their parents entered, but without his Percy. Where was his Percy?
"Where's my Percy?", asked Tyson with a frown.
"I think he went right upstairs to his room", sighed Amphitrite and sat down on the other couch.
"He said this isn't his home. I think... he hates me", muttered Poseidon with a devastated look on his face as he collapsed next to his wife. "Of course he does. I mean, I took him away from his mother."
Tyson's frown deepened as he jumped off Rhode's lap and dashed upstairs. Percy's room was locked, but his and Tyson's rooms were next to each other and there was a connection-door between them that they had put in one summer after noticing how much Percy and Tyson got along, to allow the youngest to sneak into Percy's room when Percy was over. So Tyson went to his room and used the connection door to go to his brother. There he was, laying on his bed, staring at the ceiling. Tyson's whole face lit up. He hadn't seen Percy in three weeks because of this silly official stuff that the adults had to clear, but now he'd get to see his Percy very day, so that was okay.
"Big brother!", exclaimed Tyson excitedly and jumped onto the bed.
Percy grunted at the sudden impact of the small body. Blinking a couple of times, he looked down at his little brother. His eyes softened as he laid his arms around Tyson and hugged him. Tyson was probably the only member of this family who loved him and seemed to want him around. The only one who shared things with Percy too. It was another thing Percy had noticed over the years of observing the Jacksons closely. They never shared personal things with Percy. Percy didn't know a single name of one of their friends, or their lovers, or even if they were in relationships. He had noticed that when talking to Tyson one afternoon, when the little one had been all excited about Triton's new boyfriend and how he was a vampire. Percy had been very confused, but then he noticed the hickeys on Triton's neck and had to roll his eyes. Just because the guy seemed to be into kissing and marking Triton's neck, that didn't make him a vampire. But Tyson had more fantasy than was good for him at times, so Percy shrugged it off with a fond smile. Still, none of them shared such things with him. Triton had not once thought about introducing Thanatos to Percy, even though they must have been dating for years by now. They didn't care about him, about his opinions or keeping him in the loop. Wasn't that evidence enough that he was not wanted here?
"I missed you tons", declared Tyson, rubbing his nose against Percy's collarbone as he tried to hug Percy as close as humanly possible. "I hate, hate, hate when I can't see you! I'm so happy that you'll live with us now! That means you'll really, really, really be my brother now and not just on the weekends, right? You can walk me to school and help me with homework and we go to the cinema together – I wanna go and see the new Pixar movie, but our siblings don't wanna see it, so you have to go with me! And we can cook together and do Disney-marathons like every day now!"
Percy smiled softly as he kissed the top of Tyson's head. He had forgotten. There was one member of this family who truly loved him and truly wanted him around. At least one person to make him feel at home here. His smile widened as he started tickling Tyson until the boy was a giggling mess.
"Of course we will, little bro", grinned Percy. "Someone has to show me around, after all."
/break\
They decided to give Percy some space for now, because they understood why he was angry and upset at the moment. So no one said anything when Percy grabbed his plate and ate in his room, or when he stayed right there for the rest of the night. They also didn't comment when Tyson didn't show up for their movie night either, even though it was Tyson's favorite film on.
"What are we going to do with the boy, Poseidon?", sighed Amphitrite that evening.
They were getting ready for bed. The master bedroom had its own private bathroom only to be accessed by their bedroom. Poseidon stood in its doorway, brushing his teeth with a thoughtful expression on his face. Amphitrite sighed and put her earrings on the nightstand before taking the old-fashioned princess brush to comb her long, wild red hair.
"I have no idea", admitted Poseidon after a minute. "He hates me. And I... I understand why... But... how am I making him not-hate me? How do I explain everything so he understands?"
"Nothing you did was to hurt him, love", whispered Amphitrite softly and stood, walking over to stand in front of her husband. "He will understand. Once you explain it, he will understand."
"Yeah, but how do I explain it?", inquired Poseidon and made a face.
Amphitrite laughed softly and laid her arms around his neck, leaning against him. "You will."
"That's not helpful at all", complained Poseidon with a frown.
/break\
Percy had a hard time trying to sleep for the better part of the night, so when he was still rolling around on his way too big and too comfortable bed at four in the morning, he decided to go for a swim. What good was a pool in the basement if he couldn't use it on a sleepless night?
"Someone is an early bird. Well, fish."
Percy swallowed a mouth full of water out of surprise. Gasping for breath, he looked up to see Triton in swimming shorts and with a towel thrown over his shoulder. Frowning, Percy turned to look at the clock on the wall. Oh. It was already six in the morning. Time truly flew when he was in the water. Glaring at his older half-brother, he continued swimming.
"Still angry, okay", grunted Triton and threw the towel on one of the chairs.
"I'm not angry, I am destroyed", growled Percy and stopped. "You guys swooped into my life and literally destroyed it – and I still don't understand why you even did it."
"Because you're my brother, you're dad's son. We didn't do it to destroy anything, we did it to protect you. This man hurt you and we don't want you to be hurt", replied Triton calmly.
"Oh, really now?", snorted Percy with a rather nasty expression on his face. "You never cared before. So tell me, what changed? None of you ever cared about the bruises before. You were all so perfectly fine accepting that they came from training. You never even questioned it."
Triton frowned and nodded in agreement. "We... failed. Yes, we failed you, a lot. And we're sorry for it. We probably shouldn't have overlooked it, but... I think part of us didn't want to even think about someone intentionally hurting you. But that's... even more reason why you're here now. Because we're trying to make up for lost time. We love you and we want to protect you."
"Love?", whispered Percy, huffing to himself as he returned to his laps.
"Hey. Stop it. Look at me while we're talking", grunted Triton annoyed and dove into the pool.
He wanted to swim up to Percy to hold him in place, but Percy just sped up his pace. Triton blinked surprised, but he again tried to catch up. He could tell that Percy was trying to swim away from his problems, but when in a pool, there wasn't much room to swim away. So they swam lap for lap, both getting faster and faster. Triton had never seen someone swim that fast – not without a tail. If he continued pushing Percy even more, the boy would get to see what was going on himself. Percy wasn't ready for that yet. So Triton cheated, focusing on turning his own legs into a tail to speed up and swim past Percy from beneath. When he resurfaced in front of Percy, his legs were back.
"I said stop it, you insufferable brat!", growled Triton, grasping Percy by the shoulders.
The way Percy flinched in his hold made Triton stare wide-eyed. He hastily loosened his grip and took a deep breath. Percy was angry, Percy was hurt, Percy was scared. It may have been annoying to Triton, but Triton knew why they were lying. To Percy, everything was probably like one big conspiracy against him. Taking another breath, he started rubbing Percy's arms soothingly.
"Listen to me, Percy. Please", whispered Triton pleadingly. "I know we lied. We lied a lot. We kept so many secrets from you and we kept you at a distance – and I know you know that. But I promise you, all of this will stop now. You're here for good and we will never lie to you again, or keep anything from you. Here on out, truth only. Because we want you to trust us. And I know this trust won't come for free, I know we'll have to earn it. And we will. I promise, we will."
Percy had millions of questions running through his head, but out of whatever reasons, he asked something completely random and with low priority (considering the overall situation). "Why have I never met your boyfriend before? It's like... you're trying to keep him a secret from me."
"I... am", nodded Triton and ducked his head, cheeks flushed. "Because he's a vampire."
Percy snorted and shook his head. "That much for the truth, huh? Well, screw you very much."
"I'm serious, Percy", whispered Triton urgently. "That's the big secret we were trying to keep from you. Supernatural creatures are real. They're real and we're part of them. But humans aren't allowed to know about the existence of the supernatural, so we had to keep it a secret from you."
"Right", snorted Percy and shook Triton off. "Your boyfriend is a vampire and what are you? A werewolf? Is this some big Romeo and Juliet like love story? Twilight without Bella?"
"Don't... Don't mention Twilight, especially not when a vampire is in the room. They're very sensitive when it comes to... sparkling", muttered Triton and made a face. "And no, we're not werewolves. We're merpeople. Like... The Little Mermaid, just... with less singing."
"You're insane", whispered Percy astonished and climbed out of the pool. "Completely insane."
Triton cursed beneath his breath as Percy ran off to his room.
/break\
Percy was sitting on his bed with a paranoid look on his face. So his family was insane, that was what they were keeping from him, huh? Some mental disease. What if Percy had it too? Was it genetic? Groaning, he buried his face in his pillow.
"Perseus?", called his father out, knocking on the door. "Triton told me you had a very failed conversation with him. He's sorry, he didn't mean to scare you off. But what he said is true."
"Great, so it is the whole family that's insane!", exclaimed Percy and threw his pillow at the door in anger. "Forget it. I'm calling some charity-case-lawyer, telling him I'm stuck in a home with lunatics and then I'll get back to my mom! Seriously, you're all crazy!"
Turning away from the door, Percy curled together and faced the window. The garden was beautiful and there was a pond in it, with cute ducks and all. Percy preferred watching the ducks over listening to his father talking about mermaids and vampires and witches. Everything kept spiraling downward for Percy. First he gets removed from his mom to live with his lying, distant father and half-siblings, now it turned out they were lying because they were completely insane.
"Big brother?", asked Tyson softly as he sneaked into the room. "Are you alright?"
Percy sighed and peeked up at the little boy. The adults were insane and they were investing Tyson's mind with it too. That was why Ty had said that Triton's boyfriend was a vampire. How had he ended up in the looney bin? Opening his arms wide, he welcomed Tyson for cuddles.
"Our family is mad", whispered Percy with a panicked look.
"Like in Alice in Wonderland?", asked Tyson curiously, looking up at his brother.
"I'm... not sure", sighed Percy and shook his head.
/break\
Percy sneaked down at six in the morning on a Sunday to get breakfast before running into anyone else who wanted to share their fairy tales with him. He has had enough for now. There was enough shit happening at the moment without any weird stories about princesses and dragons.
"Good morning, Percy", greeted his stepmother him.
"Amy", grunted Percy and made a face and walked to the counter to get a plate. "Look, I just... want to grab a toast. I'll be out of your hair in a minute, okay?"
"You could also just wait and eat pancakes with the family", offered Amphitrite, looking the boy up and down with concerned eyes. "Are you alright? Poseidon said that Triton came clear with you yesterday. You... didn't take it well. Understandable. It must be quite the shock."
"That my family is insane? Yeah, pretty much", nodded Percy and grabbed the butter.
"We're not insane", chuckled Amphitrite, a little amused. "How about this. Have you never wondered about our names? Didn't you ever think they were a little... odd?"
"I figured my grandparents must have had a twisted sense of humor and Poseidon just went with it and kept the tradition up. Though... Tyson's name kinda confused me", replied Percy with a shrug.
"Do you know what Amy stands for? What it's short for?", continued Amphitrite softly.
"Amanda? Amber? Amabelle? Honestly, I don't really care", snorted Percy uninterested.
"Amphitrite", corrected his stepmother mildly amused. "Wife of Poseidon."
"Okay. So... your parents had as much of a bad choice in names. Yeah. And that's how you met, or what?", sighed Percy, growing a bit bored with the conversation and continuing his breakfast.
"We're not named after the gods. The gods are named after us", corrected Amphitrite, keeping her voice soft and tender, lulling Percy into staying calm and not running off with a subtle hint of charmspeak. "I'm a mermaid, your father is a merman. We're many millennia old. Merpeople are immortal, unless we're killed that is. We've been around, your father and I, back in the days when our kind and humans lived alongside each other in peace. When the supernatural weren't forced into hiding. Back in the day, your father and I used to rule the ocean, with our little princes and princesses Proteus, Triton, Benthesikyme, Kymopoleia and Rhode. There were other rulers over magical beings – Queen Demeter of the nature spirits, Queen Hecate of the witches, King Hades of the vampires. With time, the knowledge of our races was written off as myths and we, the rulers of our races, became those obscure creatures of legends – we became gods to the humans."
"So... you're not just a mermaid, you're a goddess too? This just keeps getting better..."
"I'm not a goddess", laughed Amphitrite amused, looking at Percy. "I'm a queen, the queen of mermaids, but the human legends turned our truth into those great myths of gods and goddesses and monsters. Those... tales you grew up with, about the Greek gods, they're not true. They're chopped up versions of the truth. We're not gods, we're just normal merpeople like millions others out in the seas and lakes. But we rulers, we survived the phase of denial from the mortals in the form of myths about gods. Your father, me and your older half-siblings, we have been around for a long time. Tyson however, he was born after that time, he was born after you. So we went with the time when naming him, yes. I just... I'm trying to help you understand all of this."
"Yeah, that's not working", grunted Percy disturbed and stared at her. "First you people tell me mermaids are real and that you are mermaids, then you tell me the Greek gods are real, but they aren't gods and that my father is the actual Poseidon, ruler of the ocean. Just not a god. Do you not hear just how insanely crazy all of this sounds, Amy? Sorry, Amphitrite!"
Grabbing his buttered toast, Percy stormed out of the room, muttering to himself. Amphitrite sighed and stared after him sadly. She understood why he denied the truth behind her words. It was all a lot to take in, but they couldn't coddle Percy right now. They wanted for him to understand why they lied to him, because that was the only way to make him trust them, and for that, he needed to hear the truth, the full truth. They wanted for Percy to feel at home here, for that he needed to trust them. They wanted for Percy to settle into living here, which would include school. He needed to attend Summers High, to learn everything about his own race and the other races. But throwing him into cold water seemed so harsh. Triton had failed, Poseidon had failed and now Amphitrite too had failed. So it looked as though throwing Percy into cold water was all that was left to do.
"Good morning, love", hummed Poseidon as he approached his wife from behind.
"I want you to call Hades and Persephone", stated Amphitrite. "Percy won't believe a thing we say until he sees it. School is going to be his trial by fire. He'll have to see Valkyries, witches and Elves himself to believe it. But it's going to be a shock for the boy. Ask Hades for his coven's protection."
"Ethan Nakamura would be in Percy's class, I believe", mused Poseidon thoughtful and nodded. "I will be right on it. I call Hades, you make pancakes, let's see how many of our kids are awake until then. Who knows, maybe the scent of pancakes will lure Percy out too..."
/break\
Nico was inhaling his third cup of coffee in the past fifteen minutes. The phone had woken him from his well-deserved sleep and once Hades would get off the blasted device, Nico would be tracking down whoever thought that seven in the morning on a Sunday was in any way or shape an appropriate time to call someone. Heads would roll, that much was for sure.
"I demand bacon if I have to be up at this unholy hour", groaned Hazel next to him exhausted.
"If you hadn't spend half the night chatting with that little mate of yours, you'd be fit now", chimed Calypso, one judgmental eyebrow raised as she made a second pot of coffee.
Hazel growled lowly but didn't say anything. When Hades entered, all five of them sat up straighter. Ethan and Bianca were reading the newspaper together while their coven-siblings were bickering.
"Who was it, father?", asked Bianca curiously, folding her half of the newspaper.
"Poseidon", replied Hades, causing Nico to straighten even more. "As you know, he and his wife brought young Perseus home with them last Friday. They already enrolled him at Summers High when all of this started to unfold so come Monday, he will start school with you. I expect all of you to watch over him. His own siblings are all too old or too young for school, he will know no one, so I want you to watch out for him. He's young, impressionable and most likely frightened. As of now, he does not believe a single word of what they tried to tell him. Protect him, guide him."
Nico chewed his lower lip as he hid his face behind his mug. This may be the first Monday he was looking forward to. The gorgeous merboy would be there and Nico was going to protect him.
Author's note: Next chapter will have Percy's first day at school, which means Percy meeting Nico and learning that his family is, in fact, NOT insane. Shocker there.
I'm currently - no promise how long it'll last - having an updating schedule. Which means I'm updating on Wednesdays and Saturdays. This Saturday is "Chasing Fireflies"s turn, since it'll be a Halloween special.
