Olympian Challenge: Song Prompts
Pairings: Zeus/Percy
Songs: Angels by Within Temptation
"Perseus, please just talk to me."
"Is that an order?" Percy asked bitterly, avoiding looking at the King of the Gods.
"Don't be like that. Please," Zeus pleaded, touching the boy's shoulder lightly in regret.
"You should never have kissed me," Percy said hollowly, finally looking up with haunted eyes.
Zeus flinched, "I'm sorry."
"Is that all?"
"No."
Percy closed his eyes in pain, "What more do you want?"
"The kiss was accident, but I don't regret it," the god said firmly, placing both of his hands onto Percy's shoulders and squeezing desperately, trying to communicate his emotions through the action. "Perseus…we…we don't have to tell anyone. We could keep it a secret. We could keep us a secret…?" a question and wonder of a continuance.
Percy recoiled, "I won't tell anyone. But I'm not starting anything with you."
He turned on his heel and walked away from the god, keeping his head held high and his face blank. That was without the reluctant tears he couldn't help, but refused to acknowledge. In the comforts of his room, he sagged onto his bed and let the tears run more freely, clutching at his head.
"Stupid, stupid idiot. What were you thinking?" Percy muttered to himself.
He remembered all the stories about Zeus, remembered all the warnings he'd heard passed in gossip from other goddesses and nymphs. They all said the same thing. Don't fall for the god. Don't ever.
Besides which, if Hera didn't get you, in the end Zeus would grow tired of you like he had in the past with the others. Moving on and finding someone else to amuse himself with. That's what they'd all said.
Percy was so stupid to let the god kiss him like that. Now he can't get the kiss out of his head, a kiss that was haunting him and still left him breathless just thinking about it.
"Fates, I didn't think you'd be this torn up," Zeus' voice signaled the god had entered his room.
Percy drew into himself.
"Pers –Percy," Zeus gently called out and Percy could feel him kneel in front of him. "I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for it to be this way. I…I really want something more with you."
"Stop it!" Percy curled more into a ball, clutching his ears.
"Perseus, you look horrible. Zeus, what on earth have you done to the boy?" At Hera's voice, Percy stopped his rocking, freezing instantly. "You told me it was bad, but not how much," she murmured. "Poseidon's going to kill you."
Zeus cringed, "Yeah, I know. Percy, please look at me. At least look at Hera."
Gritting his teeth, Percy unfurled himself and tentatively looked at the Queen of Gods, flinching even though there was a gentle expression on her face.
"T-the kiss meant nothing, Lady Hera. I-it won't go anywhere, I swear," Gods, if his voice cracked one more time, Percy was just going to call it quits and hide under his covers and from the world, regardless of who was there and whatever came up. He couldn't take the humiliation on top of everything else.
She sighed, "I know what you mean, Perseus. Besides, this was stupidity on my husband's part, not yours. Regardless…it doesn't really bother me as much."
Percy frowned, watching her warily.
"Perseus, I'm an easily jealous person. I've taken it out on all of Zeus' other past lovers. But you're…" she glanced at her husband. "You're different. And for once, I feel I must give my blessings to share him, in a way I never thought I'd be willing to. I know my husband loves me, young man….but you're special. There's just something about you that pulls in others like an inescapable gravity. So on his behalf, I ask you to give him a chance."
Percy grimaced. Even Hera…what in the world…?
"Sleep on it, Percy," Zeus interjected soothingly. "I will not push you. I just wish you to know that being with you means more than anything to me. I want it to last."
Percy stayed quiet before he started scooting back on his bed and started to slip under his covers in exhaustion.
"Before I sleep, I want to make some things clear," he said tonelessly. "I hear what all the others say. I remember the stories. I know how you are, despite of what you say to me."
Zeus tensed, having a huge sense of what Percy was talking about. Hera just watched silently, slipping a little more into the background.
"If I even agree to this, you won't cheat on me. And that means you will treat Lady Hera with the same respect and stay faithful to the both of us. If you even slip just the slightest –" Fuck, his voice cracked again. He might as well finish this up. "I won't be like her. I swear on the River Styx, I refuse to stay with you and take that…if you cheated. No offense, Lady Hera, but if you ever cheat, I won't be like her. I will leave you," Percy pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at the god.
"Is that a threat?" Zeus asked quietly.
"No, that's a promise," Percy refrained from curling his lip unhappily. "I don't trust you, I don't trust your words, and I don't trust you when you say you want something lasting. I don't trust that I won't be like everyone else, and I'll be left behind and just another person and someone you loved once upon a time. But even if I don't trust you, I can't forget you."
Don't, Percy –Crap. Tears. Again.
In an effort to regain some dignity, Percy went back to the comforts of his bed and lay on his side, hiding under his covers. To help him adjust to the strange encounter, Hera placed him into a light sleep.
She snorted, "You are so lucky. You were this close to breaking Perseus, and then you'd be dealing with a wrathful Poseidon."
He grumbled to himself and glared reproachfully at her. Then he twitched.
"This is going to cause some problems though."
Hera sighed, "Mm. We'll be stepping on a lot of toes, won't we? Idiot, this is all your fault."
Zeus made a face, "That's Ares, Apollo, Hermes, and maybe even Dionysus after my blood when this all comes out."
"In addition to Poseidon, of course. And probably Hades."
Zeus groaned, "Really, both brothers?"
"Well…if the rumors are true," Hera shrugged. "Either as Hades' favorite nephew or something more. Don't know. Might have to speak with Persephone about it. I'll let you know. It doesn't look good either way though."
The King of Gods hmmed, "And then there's dubious Athena, Artemis, and Aphrodite."
Hera sneered, "Athena's always been a little too overboard with her dislike that it borders on suspicious, Artemis is actually a little obvious about her crush, and Aphrodite's a given."
"So…does that make me a dead man?"
"Yes."
They broke into quiet chuckles at that, breaking the tension a little bit more.
Hera rolled her eyes, "I've never lain with another man but you, and I never will…but at least share his kisses, hm?"
"No way."
She slapped his head.
"Greedy, selfish bastard. Why did I ever marry you?"
Pairings: Poseidon/Percy
Songs: Numb by Linkin Park or Sink or Swim by Tyrone Wells or Apologize by One Republic
He's done everything he could to please him. It's not his fault. Poseidon knows this, but doesn't know how to communicate this to Percy. So Percy continues to try and try to win his favor, when he didn't even need to. It was Poseidon at fault, not him. Percy does as he will, becoming one of the best demigods and becoming a legend in his own right. But it's not enough, it never seems to be.
No matter what he does, Poseidon doesn't say anything and never becomes more present in his life than a shadow. He doesn't even call him son any more.
"Why don't you ever seem proud of me anymore?" the bitterness is clear in his son's voice.
"I am proud of you. I will always be proud of you," he murmured, staying still.
"Then why don't you show your favor anymore? Wasn't I your favorite son? Wasn't I good enough? You don't even seem to see me as a son anymore…what have I done to displease you?" Percy trailed off unhappily.
Poseidon winced. "If I showed you favor, I fear I will show you too much. You will always be my favorite and you have been more than good enough. You have been more than I deserve. You have done nothing wrong; it is all me. The fact is, Percy, that I don't see you as a son."
Percy flinched but before he could say anything, Poseidon leaned over and plastered his mouth against Percy's, silencing him easily. And then he pulled back slightly, leaning his forehead onto his son's.
"You are not a son to me. I don't want you as a son," Poseidon confessed in a hoarse voice.
Percy stiffened before he jerked away from the sea god, turning and running away.
Poseidon smiled in resignation and a little bit as bitter as his son was –maybe still is.
3
Luke had been everything, he realized. After the last battle, his death had hit him hard and he had said nothing to no one. He kept it all inside, only crying to himself at night. What was he going to do? Admit that the man he hated from the moment Luke had betrayed them all, the very same man that he'd struggled to wrestle Annabeth's feelings from…was the very same man he was actually in love with? How could he admit to that?
So he kept silent and grieved to himself, letting no one know about the truth of his feelings. For a long time after Luke's death, he withdrew into himself and unknowingly began to push everyone away. He was slowly isolating himself, unknowing to his friends' concern and not noticing how he would just drift away and lose them all in his thoughts. And then one day…an odd thought entered his mind.
He didn't have to breathe underwater.
Of course, that would be obvious and stupid a thought. But he thought on it some more and another curious thought coincided with it.
Who said he wanted to anyway?
That's why he stared at the water intently, slowly moving into it until inch by inch his entire body was being engulfed by the water. The water, as a Son of Poseidon, was still not affecting him, but with his head the only thing above water he was ready to take the next plunge. So he ducked his head in and waded deeper into the water.
He floated a little, staring around him dispassionately and recognizing how easy it was for him to breathe and move around in the water. Then he started to consciously think of not being able to breathe underwater. After a few moments, he started having trouble. His limbs felt heavier, he was having trouble getting oxygen, and he started to get lightheaded. A morbid grin crossed his lips as he started to black out.
He might get to see Luke sooner after all.
But his dazed mind registered muscular arms wrapping themselves gently but firmly around his waist, and suddenly he was being swum to the surface at a fast pace. He burst through the surface hurriedly, and another pair of arms hauled him away from the water and to the shore. He vaguely saw his father emerging from the waters with a wild and desperate look to his eyes, before he was placed onto the ground and he could see Hermes above him, looking panicked as the god pounded on his chest. He started to choke out a huge amount of water, head clearing, and then Hermes dragged him up.
The messenger god glanced meaningfully at Poseidon, who only nodded tiredly and let him take Percy a little more away. Then Hermes rounded on him.
"What were you thinking?"
Percy blinked in exhaustion, "I dunno. I kinda thought I would get to see Luke though…"
Understanding flashed quickly through the god's face before he sighed and ran a weary hand down it.
"Percy. Luke…Luke really did care about you. But this…this is not what he would have wanted," Hermes murmured.
Percy opened his mouth and then shut it. What was he going to say? He wasn't exactly filled with words right now.
Hermes pulled him into a close hug, sighing in sorrow.
"Luke is…dead, Percy. He died because he wanted you to live. I know you miss him, Percy, but don't leave the rest of us behind. We're still here too, you know."
Percy grimaced and nodded, trying not to break down into tears that were suddenly full force behind his eyes. A couple of them escaped and he felt Hermes' lips against his forehead in comfort before he was handed off to his father, who held him tightly and murmured reassurances into his ear. Through his blurred sight, Hermes had disappeared and it was just him and his father.
"Percy, look at me, please," Poseidon murmured.
He looked up in resignation, wincing inwardly at the sadness heavily coating his father's face. Soft lips touched his and he blinked in surprise.
"Don't give up. I'm still here."
3
"You're never going to forgive me, are you."
It was a statement not a question.
Percy just looked at him blankly, not giving any other response.
Poseidon winced, hand briefly rising to touch his son's cheek tenderly, feeling him cold and unwelcoming –unlike the passionate heat not even ten minutes ago.
"You walked out on her and me a long time ago," Percy started hollowly. "I thought I reserved the right to do the same to you now."
Percy got up and walked out, the door closing behind him with a final click.
Poseidon just lay back tiredly, draping the sheets a little higher to futilely try to escape the now cold bed.
"Too late for apologies, huh?"
Pairings: Hephaestus/Percy
Songs: Outside by Staind
People were ugly. It was how he'd always seen them. It was why he'd always preferred his automatons to people. On the inside…everyone was just ugly.
His wife was the prime example of that. No matter how much beauty Aphrodite possessed, inside she was the most ugliest person alive.
He'd lived by that mantra his entire life, since he'd been born, since Hera had tossed him off the mountain. That is, until he met Perseus Jackson.
It was strange. He wasn't like most people, even at first glance. He had some petty vices of course, but they were hardly nothing more than the usual juvenile tendencies and normal reactions for most people. Most of the time, Perseus exhibited the best qualities of a person, even at the cost of himself.
He'd always known he was ugly. He contented himself with the fact that everyone matched his ugliness with their ugliness inside. But for the first time, he had found someone who stood outside that box. And for the first time, he wanted the company of another person. For the first time…he wanted to be judged worthy of being with someone like that.
He had always been on the outside looking in, looking through people and seeing their true colors and who they really were.
But for the first time, he wished he couldn't…because there was no way he would ever be able to be with someone like Perseus.
Pairings: Ares/Percy
Songs: Bad Romance by Lady Gaga
This was getting more irritating than it usually was. As usual, Ares went after Percy for a fight. They fight, Percy somehow evades, and the war god has trouble finding the puny demigod. But lately…fighting with Percy had become…unsatisfying. Not that he wanted to stop challenging the boy to a fight, but something in him was craving something else, something more…just something.
Like now. He was fighting the other again. After a very pleasing flip and toss that he'd executed perfectly, he found himself on top of Percy and pushing down on him unmercifully. He moved just slightly and…there! A jolt of electricity that surprised him at the contact of their groins, and he licked his lips in satisfaction.
"Let's fuck," he said crudely.
Percy stopped struggling from underneath him, eyes widening up at him in shock and disbelief. In the next moment, Ares was caught off guard when Percy suddenly had a burst of strength and tossed him off him, running blindly away in abandon. The god had trouble finding him for the rest of the day.
Now with different motivations in seeking Percy, he continued to pursue him, amused at the boy's plight and continued persistence in running away. Ares never even got more than a glimpse before Percy would squeak adorably and run away.
But today he was lucky. Percy was calmly running through the beach and he took that opportunity to pop up beside the demigod, easily taking a hold of the waistband of Percy's shorts and dragging the protesting boy behind him as he went towards a flat rock nearby to sit on. Sitting there comfortably, he sat Percy onto his lap and clasped his arms around the captive boy's waist, ensuring he couldn't leave and run away. Plus, it was actually kind of nice holding him like that. He'd never admit that aloud of course.
"So, you wanna go out?" Ares asked bluntly, heading straight to the point.
Percy stared at him, "No! What the hell? What's wrong with you?"
Ares rolled his fiery eyes, "I'm being very serious. 'Sides, after getting over how you were a scrawny brat, you're actually kinda hot. Wanna make out?"
"No!"
"Wanna mutually masturbate?"
"NO!" But Percy turned a very inviting red that fascinated Ares.
"Sure you don't wanna fuck?"
The demigod struck out at his shoulder in embarrassment and mortification.
"Let go of me! And stop acting weird!"
He sighed in exasperation, "Okay. Look. Calm down. I'm genuinely interested, alright?"
Percy stopped squirming (thank Zeus –Ares wasn't sure he could keep himself under control if that kept going on).
"Really? That's just…weird. I mean, you were all for beating me up and/or trying to kill me. That's a pretty big leap you're making all of a sudden…I don't get it. Why?"
Ares looked blankly at him, "Is it really that hard to believe?"
Percy gaped at him.
The war god shrugged, "What am I supposed to do? Offer you a sappy declaration? Pepper you with poems and love songs? Sorry, that's Apollo's and Aphrodite's department. I'm just being straight and honest with you. I don't think I even have a reason for this, other than the usual primal instinct and all that."
Percy nodded hesitantly, still not getting it completely.
"I. Honestly. Want. To be. In your. Company. Without antagonizing you," Ares finished sarcastically, having enunciated the whole thing as if he was talking to a child.
Percy turned red again, this time in indignation.
"Jerk."
"Mmhm," Ares waved it off. "Do –"
But Percy had taken his distraction to slip away and run from sight.
"I'm getting just the slightest sick of that."
This time he didn't give up, waiting patiently in the boy's cabin. When he finally appeared, Ares cleared his throat impatiently.
"I want you," the god declared straightforwardly.
Percy stopped and started to stare again, face frozen in confusion and a little disturbed. Then he sighed.
"You wanna make out?" Percy mocked in tired exasperation, resigned in slight irritation and a little intrigued.
Ares grinned, "Now that's more like it!"
Pairings: Apollo/Percy
Songs: Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen
Apollo idly watched him. The song playing in the background was definitely Percy's theme, most specifically when connected to the god. Really, with the glistening water trailing down his body, Apollo's favored sun shining down on the demigod and almost making him glittering…
He whistled at the other, "Hey, Percy! Edward Cullen's got nothing on you!"
The boy just turned and stared at him incredulously, scrunching up his eyebrows in confusion. Apollo just grinned back and went back to admiring the view silently.
'Course, kidnapping Percy Jackson for a nice outing in the sea was nothing short of a miracle (he's still surprised Uncle Poseidon hadn't tried to drown him yet), and the fact he'd transformed his ride from the usual Maserati to a yacht was different (he hadn't been sure it could do that), and he was having a grand old day. Percy finally relenting and wearing the clinging swimming trunks (and actually listening to Apollo about no powers that day) was the topping on his cake. Because Apollo really was eating and keeping his cake like the selfish bastard he was.
He chuckled to himself. This was the best day of his life. Everything was going along nearly perfectly…
"Shit!" his companion cursed, too much water soaked into the shorts and weighed them down too much, causing them to uselessly slide down toned legs and fall to Percy's feet.
A cute bum and young cock.
"Hallelujah~" the sun god sang happily, a Cheshire grin flitting onto his face.
He straightened up from his lazy viewing position, finally motivated to do something other than laze about (and watch Percy).
Now things were perfect.
Pairings: Hermes/Percy
Songs: She Will Be Loved by Maroon 5
Percy was eighteen now. He was older and more confident. Hermes even heard he had been Prom King. He was still as handsome as ever, and it was a wonder why Annabeth had decided to leave him.
But if you watched him closely or knew him as much as Hermes did, you would see that Percy was just as troubled as he was two years ago, when Kronos was once again defeated.
And Hermes…Hermes was always there to help him, always there to offer a hand, a shoulder, an ear…But in the end, Percy would never be his. Wouldn't be anyone's. The others could make the argument that he'd belonged to Annabeth once upon a time, but he knew differently. Percy had always belonged to Luke and always would be.
Hermes would travel miles upon miles around the world, around Olympus, and somehow always end up in front of Percy's door. He would watch as Percy sat on his bed, staring out the window longingly. He would then move to lie down next to the demigod quietly and nimble fingers would tentatively play with his hair. They spend hours just like that, and every once in awhile when it becomes really bad, in the cover of the night, underneath threadbare sheets and quiet air, they would slip and slide against each other, sweat clinging to two bodies clutching tightly to each other. Percy's breadth mingles with his, the fingers that play with his hair are digging into his back, and he ignores the unseeing eyes and the whispered name that doesn't belong to him.
He never showed that it bothers him and Percy never mentions it anyways.
They've been together so many times and the problems about it are never breached. But Hermes is tired of this relationship, even if he isn't tired of Percy. He'll never tire of him, he thinks.
But he wanted more than this. He wanted all of Percy.
He doesn't mind waiting forever for him, he supposed. He hated the broken smile sent his way and the fake one for everyone else, and that real smiles are reserved for a scarred blond boy in a picture frame with a huge crack running down the glass. And he always gets the urge to ask Percy if he wanted to stay with Hermes. He never specifies how long in his mind.
He doesn't know how he'd become the fall guy, the man Percy falls back on when things become too bad. He doesn't even know how Percy knows where he lives, desperately going to the Empire State building, waiting in an elevator, traveling through all of Olympus just to tap on his window. But now that Percy's taken up with that, that he's comfortable enough seeking Hermes out like that, made Hermes a lot happier. Percy wasn't just noticing him, he was noticing him.
Confident and cool Hermes had taken a backseat all these years in favor of Percy and making him feel better, and he'd become a little insecure because of it, but that didn't matter anymore –this was a turn. Things were subtly changing.
As things changed and time passed, Percy wasn't looking passed him anymore and Hermes wasn't just a figure in his life. Things weren't always alright with them, but things were better. A lot of compromises had to be made. Percy had to spend time with Hermes, just go out with him to places and stop holing himself up and losing himself in the past. Hermes had to give Percy space when he needed it, let him have those grieving moments for Luke when they came up and not push him.
And this, all this slow moving, this slow progress was worth it. His heart was waiting and he kept his door open just for him. And when Percy was finally ready, things would be a lot brighter and he could finally come out and say how much he loved him.
Pairings: Dionysus/Percy
Songs: Waking Up in Vegas by Katy Perry
His 21st birthday wasn't such a big deal. He didn't know why the gods insisted on celebrating it so thoroughly, but as it was they had a big bash on Olympus and then the three bachelor gods (plus Dionysus as the party god) dragged him out to Vegas to have what they'd called a real party, seeing as they had Olympus parties all the time and those got boring after awhile. At least, according to them.
Percy sighed and rolled his eyes.
After all the gambling, drinking, dancing, drinking, partying, and even more drinking, they were currently still trying to get him drunk. But a trick he'd learned from Triton let him be sober long after the other gods were out of it. Manipulating the proponents of liquor was very handy in making them diluted and not as potent…
"This is so not fair, you little brat," Ares grinned disturbingly, his lips pulled back across his teeth and looking more like a snarl.
"It's 'cause he's Barnacle Beard's brat," Dionysus said in a bored tone. And yet, he still made another drink appear, sliding it to the birthday man.
"Now, now, men. No taking the mickey out of Percy. It's his birthday; he gets privileges," but the mischievous glint in Hermes' eyes made Percy cautious.
"Been to England lately, eh?" Apollo sniggered, knocking over his drink.
Percy rolled his eyes again, "Remind me. Why are we in a strip club again?"
"Percy, Percy! You're a man now!" Apollo shouted, scrambling over the table and getting into Percy's face. "It's time to get laid. I know Annabeth was your one and only and all, but she's one woman! Time to move on, see the sights, fish for a new fisssshhh!"
"I'm gay," Percy deadpanned.
The others froze and blinked at him stupidly.
"What?" Apollo asked shocked.
"I like guys," Percy snorted. "After Annabeth, I decided I preferred the company of men."
It was silent for a moment before the others burst into laughter.
"Oh, wait until I tease Athena about this. Her kid turned Percy gay!" Apollo kept laughing, falling off his seat and onto the ground with a thud. He still kept laughing.
Hermes hmmed when he was done, eyes turning even more mischievous than they were, if that was even possible.
"You should've just said so," Hermes purred, suddenly very close to Percy.
Percy gulped.
The others stopped laughing as well, looking at him in growing interests as they all slowly started to smirk. Even Dionysus was looking at him speculatively.
He sweatdropped, "Uhhh…I'm not going to be spending the rest of my birthday running away from you all…am I?"
"Mwahaha, chasing hot looking folks like yourself is always a great pastime for us gods!" Apollo chortled.
Hermes smacked him upside the head, starting the 'we do not!' argument between the gods.
In the meantime, Percy had taken their distraction to run away and disappear into the city. After what he'd thought was a good enough distance, he slowed down and sighed.
"Perry Johnson."
He jumped and whirled to face Dionysus, who smirked at him from the bar door he was leaning against.
"Uh…Mr. D," he winced.
"Relax, I'm not going to drag you back. But I'm not done with you."
Percy blinked, "What?"
Dionysus' eyes glinted troublingly and the smirk was no less bothersome.
"I am the god of wine and all things lovingly liquor. You not getting drunk is an insult to my gifts. I will get you drunk, Perseus," by now, his smirk had turned shark-like. "I will not fail and I will not give up," the god stated stubbornly.
He opened the door he was leaning against and raised his eyebrows at Percy. Percy sighed and dragged his feet through it, Dionysus following him after.
The next morning, he woke up with a large headache and decisively very cold. Looking down, he blankly realized he was naked. Then he looked to his side and saw Dionysus lazily sipping on another alcoholic drink and watching him in amusement.
He gaped and the god raised his left hand, where a gold ring rested on a certain finger.
"Well…you got drunk finally…but we also got married," he said unfazed.
Percy twitched. If Ariadne started calling him sister-wife…
"And no divorce in Olympus, so it's final. Hera's kind of a bitch about it."
Percy never did care for celebrating his birthday.
Pairings: Hades/Percy
Songs: Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones
The soft strokes were deliberate and careful. His hand was steady, holding the brush above the boy. Black ink didn't drip onto marble skin, but the characters already painted onto the canvas of skin were stark and bold. Black on white masterpiece of linking spells that claimed Percy Jackson to him.
Percy was silent, breathing steadily and barely awake, but unable to move and be fully aware. The anesthetic he'd use was stolen from Apollo's own concoctions, so much more assessable to him as a god than getting a hold of a common one in a hospital full of humans. It was more potent as well, used for other gods, and as only a demigod Percy had no chance against it. Therefore, the boy was paralyzed under his care for the time being, until it wore off and not before Hades was done with his work.
He continued painting spells of love on the skin of Percy's entire body, marking every inch. Hecate was under his employ after all, part of the Dark Family and willing to help him now that she wasn't busy pitching a fit about not having a cabin and whatnot. And Percy was his for the taking, each stroke of the brush and each ink-splattered character painted with care telling the story of belonging and possession.
He wrote his name cautiously on the boy's back, as his claim on him. Then he began to paint the Ancient Greek of Percy's name onto the boy's front. Names had power, after all. Those were two of the most important steps.
His name to represent his claim on the boy and assert his ownership, and the boy's because when done correctly and used in such a way…when you know a person's true name, you can use it to bend them to your will.
Like making them love you back.
The last stroke done, he set down the brush and sat quietly –waiting for the glaring black ink to dry and be complete, eventually fading away into invisibility and known to be there by only he and Percy himself. He invoked Percy's name and soon he'll have power and dominion over him.
A finger vigilantly traced painted letters in amusement, black ink barely staining his finger but not smudging his work of art.
"Perseus," he purred.
Soon, he thought. Soon.
Pairings: Hera/Percy
Songs: Lips of Angel by Hinder
Hera didn't know how she got into the habit of calling on him in times like this, but whenever she argued or got angry with Zeus he just seemed to be the one she went to. He always listened and never offered advice or just stared at her. He heard her, heard about how she felt, and confirmed her feelings. He knew she didn't really want advice and she didn't want someone who looked like they were listening but she couldn't be sure they were. So he listened carefully and empathized about how she felt, knowing that she just wanted someone to know how she felt and to understand. To hear her feelings and offer no judgment, either in favor or against.
Just for her feelings to be heard.
She dreamt about him once and unthinkingly told him so. She was embarrassed, but he just laughed and said he dreamt about her too. Whether or not he was just saying so to make her feel better, she didn't ask and just accepted it.
And when he kissed her and teasingly asked her how her lips could be so angelic, she just looked away in embarrassment and had the fleeting thought that his were the ones that were angelic. She immediately banished those thoughts, even now refusing to stray from Zeus, and kept thoughts of how he was just teasing her like usual.
He was just trying to make her feel better, that's all.
Pairings: Demeter/Percy
Songs: Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's
The war has taken a lot out of him and after it he just wants peace. He finishes his schooling quietly, but he doesn't stay in the city and he doesn't go looking out for a job or adventure. She finds him living a quiet life and enjoying being free without worry. He's living a life no one would expect him to, working as a farmer in an isolated area in the countryside. It's small, but he is just one person working and it's enough for him. She keeps him company, silent in observation and letting him be, just as he'd wanted.
Just a quiet, quiet life.
Time passes and she keeps visiting, intrigued at the lifestyle he'd chosen for himself. His little farm is thriving and she plants a little garden for him. A smile twitches at his lips and she visits every day now. She's happy too, for some reason. She enjoys sharing in the little peace he's made for himself, the quiet life suiting her. She helps his crops grow, watches him milk cows in fascination, and soon she somehow has her own room in his small home now.
It's not like she's neglecting her duties, she tells herself and others. It's just that her duties don't require her to be in a certain place, so she can just perform them just fine at his home…their home…without any trouble. And if she uses her power to help him out especially, well she doesn't see a problem in it.
He bakes an apple pie from the apples she picked that day and flat bread from the wheat she helped cultivate into fruition that week.
She echoes the content smile on his face with her own and thinks she could be happy with this life.
Pairings: Athena/Percy
Songs: Please Don't Leave Me by Pink
He's sitting at the table at night as usual, quietly pushing around his food. She rolls her eyes and snorts.
"You know, you should actually try to make yourself useful or do something other than waste your time away," she scowls at him.
He just looks up and gives her a tired smile, obvious circles under his eyes.
"How was your day? Not too bad, I hope. Wanna eat dinner with me?"
She scoffs, "It's 'want to,' dimwit. And no, I'm not hungry. I'm going to be in my study."
She brushes by him without another glance or word, and she ignores how his smile drops and he hangs his head, shoulders slumping. She feels something uncomfortable shoot through her, but she ignores the feeling and she ignores how it's the twelfth night he's stayed up waiting for her.
She frequently calls him names, and Athena will admit that she goes too far with them. In fact, it's uncalled for, this treatment. She couldn't help it; she just tended to insult him instinctively.
"You're such a stupid Seaweed Brain!" she yells in frustration when he accidentally trips and one of her favorite vases breaks.
She calls him that a lot, but unlike her daughter it's not in fondness.
He just smiles enduringly, like always, and gets on his hands and knees as he starts picking up the broken pieces. The next day, she sees the broken vase has been put back together as best as it could be, although not completely whole but still nearly perfect. He must have spent all night, stayed up just to put it back together for her.
Athena throws it away.
She knows the other goddesses disapprove of how she treats him and how ungrateful she is. How they would have preferred to have him all to themselves. Even the other gods say the same thing, only they're less vocal about it and it just shows more in their eyes. How they all would have loved to have the Hero of Olympus with them instead. How they all want him for themselves.
And she knows how many of them have tried –and failed.
She doesn't know why she's this obnoxious to him, to the point of being nasty. She just innately treats him cruelly and horribly, and she just can't control herself. It's so disgusting, the way she is with him, that's it nearly unbearable to remember and look back on each and every time. She doesn't understand why she acts like this, but he just takes it without a word of complaint. And she doesn't understand that either.
Athena is terrified when she sees Aphrodite set her eyes on him, but it's not a surprise. Because the goddess of love has always set her eyes on him; Athena is just surprised and shocked that the other goddess is finally deciding to make a move.
"Better me than you, hm? At least I will not treat him as horribly as you do."
Athena is absolutely terrified.
She doesn't know why she treats him this way, she really doesn't. And she will admit in her mind that she does treat him horribly and that she shouldn't be so horrible to him. And in her mind, she will admit to the terror of losing him to the other goddess, or anyone else –even her own daughter.
She sees Aphrodite kissing him and runs away from the sight.
He's in her home when she finally comes back, waiting for her as usual, playing with his food unhappily at the table. He looks exhausted and miserable, and there are remnants of tear tracks that she didn't want to comment on.
She hesitantly walks over to him and he lifts his head up in surprise at her. Her mouth opens and her eyes tear up, but she doesn't know what to say. Her lips open and close for a couple times, but nothing comes out. She settles for kneeling in between his legs and leaning against him tentatively, closing her eyes as she places her forehead against his and reluctantly sheds a couple tears.
"You know…I don't tell you this enough…I forget to…but you are incredibly beautiful to me," she murmurs, lifting her hands up to grasp his head between them blindly. "I'm so, so sorry, Perseus. Please."
'I'm sorry. Please don't leave me.'
He's still quiet.
Pairings: Aphrodite/Percy
Songs: Mr. Brightside by The Killers
She'd always been free with her affection, especially with any and every man. It didn't bother her, and she didn't care if it bothered anyone else. She was the goddess of love and in her opinion she wasn't to be tied down to one person. She was wild and wouldn't be caged, and she liked being carefree. She was greedy with her true affections, never meaning more than toying amusements. They loved her, she didn't love them. Loving them would mean they were special and she would be tied down, just like what she hadn't wanted. She wanted it all, wanted them all.
And then she decided to kiss him.
It was just a kiss, one kiss that shouldn't have meant anything. It was only a kiss, she kept telling herself. So why was she feeling so differently about it?
She fell asleep, feeling troubled about it. What she had next was more like a nightmare than any dream of love she could conjure up. With how she was feeling now, she didn't want anything to do with the dream, much less see it.
Annabeth got out of the cab, starting her trek to camp. She quickly found Percy behind his cabin, whole body shaking as he lifted a cigarette to his mouth.
"Percy?" she tentatively called out.
"Annabeth," he grimaced, holding up a hand in greeting, mouth around the cigarette clenching as he took a drag.
"I hate it when you smoke," she sighed, but smiled sadly as she took the cigarette from him and took a drag of her own.
"Helps the attacks. You know I get them a lot after the war," he took it from her and threw it to the ground, stepping on it and putting it out.
"Let's go to bed," she murmured, touching his chest gently.
They were barely through the door when his hand was slowly slipping one of the straps of her dress off her shoulder.
Aphrodite felt sick to her stomach and she refused to watch this, so she forced herself out.
When she woke up, she was in an even more worse mood than she had been before she'd gone to sleep with the epiphany that she was in love with Percy Jackson. And that her nightmare wasn't real, just something her mind made up in the throes of her jealousy of a couple she had originally rooted for. In her jealousy, she had made up a scenario where the two could be together, imagining it was real and knowing it was all really just in her head.
Because the two never got together.
After the battle on Olympus, the two kept dancing around each other, but they never officially became a couple. And if Aphrodite had her way, they never would. She was so used to making other men jealous of each other over her, thrived on it actually, but now that she was the jealous one…She made patient men into animals in their jealousy, had a plethora of sweet nothings to whisper and entice, and a baggage of alibis that she used to placate animalistic Ares, soothe possessive Apollo, calm unpredictable Hermes, and all sorts of other men –pulled them to her and make them keep coming. Even as those three find someone else to amuse them, they always came back…
Funny how the very boy she wants, really wants, they want too. Love, love, love –why are you so complicated and fucked up?
But now her alibis and lies are coming back to haunt her, she knows it. This is all karma. All her meddling in love, and now she was in love with a boy who she was destined to watch get together with a girl in a relationship she had helped to slowly bring about. It was the price she had to pay, and now all she could do was keep watching in hope that sooner or later he would come to her like all the others.
But he was not like all the others, and for once she was stuck as the jealous one.
Pairings: Artemis/Percy
Songs: Make Me Bad by Korn
"Oh, you're so innocent, Artemis!" Aphrodite laughed. "Aren't you so adorable?"
Artemis stared at her blankly, her face without emotion. Apollo rolled his eyes at Aphrodite's antics, lying what was supposed to be a calming hand on his sister's shoulder.
"Forget her, Arty. She's just making fun of you as usual. Just ignore her."
But then Artemis started to smile slowly…and then laughed.
"Actually, it's okay, Apollo. I am a little amused," Artemis' lips twitched. She turned on her heel and began walking away, leaving the group she'd left behind confused and shocked. "Innocent, huh?" She spoke to herself. She laughed again, softer this time.
It was her little secret, and it'll stay that way.
"Percy, please!" she shouted, sweat dripping down her skin. Her legs wrapped around his waist a little tighter. His rhythm became faster and one particular thrust had her arching up into his lightly muscled body. "Percy!"
"Artemis," he breathed out, eyes glazed as his lips touched just under her ear and slid across the length of her jaw.
'Pleasepleasepleaseplease –!'
"I guess you just make me bad, don't you, Percy?" she murmured.
Innocent, indeed…
Pairings: Hestia/Percy
Songs: Uprising by the Muse
Little Hestia, the goddess no one notices. The one no one remembers. The one always out of sight, out of mind. Hestia, the goddess that everyone ignores.
Well, she's laughing now.
With strong hands sliding up her plaid short skirt, her slender legs on either side of his –oh, she's laughing. Her lips catches his, Pandora's box hidden as she takes off her tie, gets rid of the knee-high socks, sways around him and smiles seductively as she dances full of mirth towards him, on top of him, underneath him.
The little forgotten goddess isn't being forgotten now, is she? Especially not by the very boy the others seek the attention of, whose sole attention is on her.
She's got the last laugh now, hasn't she.
Pairings: Persephone/Percy
Songs: Stairway to Heaven by Led Zepplin
"What love can be, I don't know. I love Hades, but I find myself seeing Heaven in the eyes of a boy." Persephone sighed, her gaze drifting upwards. "If Hades is my darkness, then Perseus is my light. And if Hades my hill of descent, then Perseus is my stairway to heaven."
"Heaven and Hell in two men," Hestia murmured. "But would you choose to seek heaven or exist in the hell of your making?"
"Choose, dear Hestia?" Persephone's lips twitched in vague amusement. "To choose is to die in silent torment. They're a balance. And together we are harmony."
Pairings: BONUS: Any of the above pairings…
Songs: One Night Stand by Hinder
"What am I? The Olympian bicycle?" Percy complained to Annabeth. "Zeus, it's like they don't have anything better to do than to bother me."
The Daughter of Athena giggled, "Percy, you have to face it. They want you and they're never going to let you go."
"Fuck."
She outright laughed this time, patting his back. "Good luck, Seaweed Brain. Just don't actually go with any of them," she warned. "Gods are gods. Fickle and unfaithful. Infidelity runs rampart with them, and they tend to find new toys quickly. Just wait it out, and they'll stop obsessing over you."
Percy pouted in response, but agreed. He headed over to his cabin, trekking tiredly into it, only to find Hermes nonchalantly sitting on his bed and apparently waiting for him.
"Hermes, what are you doing here?" he asked bluntly.
"I have an important delivery to make," the god answered straightforwardly. But Hermes came closer and started tying a silky ribbon into a bow around his neck, and then all of a sudden he felt weird and closed his eyes instinctively. Next thing he knew, he opened his eyes to see the familiar sights of Olympus.
"Wha –hey! What am I doing on Olympus?"
"You're here because we thought it was harder to get to you down there than if you were here," Hermes answered him factually.
Percy's blood boiled and he clenched his jaw, feeling incredibly incensed and wronged just then. He tugged the ribbon violently off his neck and threw it at the surprised god.
"No thanks. I don't do one night stands," then he turned on his heel and stomped away, not even knowing where he was headed.
He thanked whoever he could that Hermes seemed like he chose not to follow him, and instead realized he'd ended up in the Olympian Fields.
"That wasn't nice, running off on me."
Percy hissed in irritation under his breath, and he looked up to see that not only was Hermes there, but Apollo and Athena. Apollo had a big, teasing grin on his face and Athena look unfazed as always, though there was an odd hint of worry in her eyes.
"And what one night stand do you speak of?" Hermes asked softly, continuing and bringing Percy's attention back to him.
The demigod barely refrained from full out sneering.
"Don't you guys have better things to do than harass me? Besides that, it's like I said. Never mind how everyone keeps warning me how fickle and unfaithful all of you are supposed to be, everywhere I turn I get propositioned by one of you –and I said no! I don't want to just sleep with you for a night! And if you don't mind, I'm going to go home. I'll wait this all out and all of you will stop obsessing over me, just like I was told!"
Percy tried to move around them, but all three stood firm in a line and refused to let him pass.
"Hey now, that's more Zeus' rep, if you ask me," Apollo winked. Percy just glared and his grin started to falter. Athena interfered, smacking Apollo's shoulder harshly.
"Perseus, I know you are aggrieved right now, but don't judge too harshly or too quickly. Your worries are sound, I give you that, but untrue towards you. We are fickle, yes. And the men have a history of disloyalty. And yes, we pass on easily to a new lover. But we. Don't. Want. A one night stand. With. You. That is not what we've been aiming to achieve with you."
Percy still looked wary, but confusion started to erode that. So Athena moved forward and grasped his head firmly in her hands, leaning forward and kissing him with a gentleness that he hadn't known she was capable of. Afterwards, she moved away and started to back up to line up with the others again, all three looking expectantly at him.
He groaned, "Damn it. I told Annabeth I wouldn't go with any one of you, that I wouldn't do this. I told her that I wasn't going to give in to any god and here I am –with three of them in front of me! And I'm going to look like such an idiot when you jerks dump me in a couple of days, and everyone's going to say I told you so!"
"No amount of waiting is going to work this time," Hermes smiled apologetically. "And don't be so quick to assume we're going to dump you, especially that quick. Don't listen to all of them. You're not just going to be discarded so easily, Percy. All twelve of us know that you're special and there's no way we can just let go."
"All twelve of you?" Percy asked weakly.
"Fourteen if you count Hades and Hestia," Apollo added helpfully.
He flinched.
Hermes moved to his right side, leaning on him as he draped himself around Percy's arm.
"You're not a one night stand," he murmured.
Apollo went to Percy's other side, draping himself around the other arm.
"We're not willing to let you go, nor are we going let you be like any other lover. You are promised to never be just thrown away so easily. You mean more than that," the sun god was brutally honest.
Athena slowly walked up to him, arms hesitantly wrapping around Percy's neck as she towered over the shorter male, and as she placed her forehead against his.
"And say what you will…but you can't wait out our 'obsession' with you. What we feel for you will not fade away, probably not ever. It is best if you just accepted it."
To what they said, Percy only twitched and exclaimed one thing.
"But being shared? By all of you?"
Hermes snickered. "Percy, you really are the Olympian bicycle."
Started 5/15/10 –Completed 10/26/10
A/n: Well, I really liked a lot of those long ass drabbles. I might turn some of them into one-shots or full fics one of these days. Anyways, I left the Athena one open-ended, just so you know. And I was thinking of Hestia in a schoolgirl outfit, like she'd cornered Percy at school or something. And the third Poseidon one was just short and sweet…in a cold way.
Sometime soon, I'm going to post up the next challenge I have in mind (after I get it typed up). The Olympian Challenge will still be open, so don't worry about that. The timed summaries I made for the Tagged! thing I was in will be there too. I'm currently working on the next Conquest of Paradise and The Light Before We Land, though I might work harder on 'Light' because it's been nominated for the Veritas Award, and like with The Day The Whole World Went Away, I want to at least finish LT arc so that there's something worth to read for consideration (shrugs).