PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO || Sonny || Chasing Fireflies || Sonny || PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO
Title: Chasing Fireflies – The Next Generation of Heroes
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus; post both series
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan for he created the awesomeness that is Nico di Angelo. And everything else related to Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus. Aside from the Gods, they belong to the old Greeks. This fanfiction and its OCs on the other hand are entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.
Warnings: shounen-ai, fluff, h/c, mpreg, explicit intercourse, anal, oral, D/s, bondage, masturbation, toys, spanking, rimming, handjobs, magic, knotting, collars, past rape/abuse, (temporary) character death, depression, threesomes, shoujo-ai, hetero
Main Pairing: Sander/Donny, Trend/Derek/Sam and Nico/Percy
Side Pairings: Chris/Clarisse, Piper/Annabeth, Frank/Hazel/Leo, Jason/Reyna, Travis/Connor, Malcolm/Katie, Lou/Miranda, Jake/Will, Kayla/Nyssa, Alabaster/Liam, Tyson/Ella, Paul/Sally, Hades/Persephone, Tempest/Blackjack
Side Pairings OCs: Trend/Sam, Herc/Thea, Joe/Nico, Marshall/Sara, Loki/Blance, Dash/Kara, Vic/Stella/Jonas, Chuck/Melissa, Luke/Thess, Kitty/Percy, Fred/Carry, JP/Milly
Percy Jackson Characters: Perseus Jackson, Nico di Angelo, Clarisse la Rue, Chris Rodriguez, Annabeth Chase, Piper McLean, Hazel Levesque, Leo Valdez, Frank Zhang, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Jason Grace, Will Solace, Jake Mason, Katie Gardner, Malcolm Cage, Miranda Gardner, Lou Ellen, Travis Stoll, Connor Stoll, Nyssa Black, Kayla Hein, Alabaster C. Torrington, Thalia Grace, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Octavian Simmons, Ella, Tyson, Grover Underwood, Sally Blofis, Paul Blofis, Chiron, Small Bob, Mrs. O'Leary, Blackjack, Tempest, Arion
Gods: Hades, Persephone, Demeter, Poseidon, Artemis
Own Animals: Shadowchaser (Donny's shadow-pegasus), Trickster (Sander's pegasus), Nightowl (Thea's pegasus), Fighter (Sam's pegasus), Rush (Trend's pegasus), Poker (Jack's pet-bunny)
Own Characters of the Next Generation:
Nicercy: Bianca Maria 'Bia' di Angelo, Hades Poseidon 'Donny' di Angelo, Sally Persephone 'Percy' di Angelo, Theseus Paul 'Thess' di Angelo, James Charles 'Jimmy' di Angelo, Laura Silena 'Silly' di Angelo, Jackson Tyson Jack' di Angelo
Chrisse: Calandra 'Cally' Rodriguez, Chrysander 'Sander' Rodriguez, Charisma 'Carry' Rodriguez
Pipabeth: Theadora Tiphane 'Thea' Chase, Lucas Thomas 'Luke' Chase, Tristan Frederick 'Fred' Chase, Matthew Robert 'Matt' Chase
Jayna: Hercules 'Herc' Grace, Thalia Hylla 'Thyl' Grace, Jupiter Perseus 'JP' Grace
Frazeleo: Esperanza Nicole 'Nico' Zhang, Sammy Marie Zhang, Emily Fey 'Milly' Zhang, Claryssa 'Claire' Zhang
Matie: Amarilla 'Amy' Cage, Anthismos 'Andy' Cage
Louranda: Kathryn 'Kitty' Ellen, Alabaster 'Basty' Ellen
Jakill: Elizabeth 'Lizzy' Mason (adopted; daughter of Apollo)
Stolls: Hunter 'Hunt' Hood, Hayden 'Heist' Hood (adopted; sons Hermes)
Own Demigods: Samuel Raser (Ares), Derek Rhys (Demeter), Trend Austin (Athena), Marshall Mikaelson (Enyo), Sara Mers (Mars), Joanna Foxx (Vulcan), Phylicia Rosenberg (Persephone), Bellatrix la Fey (Ares), Phineas DeVorut (Venus), Melissa Montgomery (Dionysus), Charles Smith (Apollo), Stella Ribeiro (Aphrodite), Jonas Meyer (Enyalios), Victor Kruger (Hephaestus), Erik Anderson (Enyo), Lila Lovegood (Hecate), Rainbow Jordan (Iris), Takara Thompson (Trivia), Sedanur Aykan (Apollo, augur), Loki Murdock (Mercury), Blance Lamour (Chione), Ulrika Schuster (Eris), Arielle Schneider (Triton), Liam O'Riley (Hecate)
Summary: Donny di Angelo never cared about fighting or becoming a hero. Quite the opposite of Sander Rodriguez, who was the greatest Greek hero of their generation. Together with his beloved cousin Nico Zhang and his best friend Thea Chase, Donny faces the hardest quest possible. The one for confidence and love. His biggest support though are his parents and siblings. Being a teenage demigod was hard, being the son of the greatest hero ever was even harder.
Chasing Fireflies
The Next Generation of Heroes
24. Lake Baths and Bacon Feasts
The scent of coconuts and milk with honey was the first thing Trend's mind registered as he woke up in the morning. Smiling lazily, he blinked his eyes open to look down at the son of Ares in his arms. Sam looked peaceful and content when he was sleeping. No sneer or frown on his face, no curses and insults on the tip of his tongue. Sighing softly, Trend started to caress Sam's side with the tips of his fingers, feeling the muscles beneath the sun-kissed skin. Sam was good like this, he was real. Trend knew that Sam was hiding, even from himself. Behind every sneer and insult and every picked fight, Trend could see that slight sliver of insecurity in those forest green eyes, the faintest tint of red on his sun-kissed cheeks, the hitch of his breath for the break of a second. The son of Ares was good at covering it up, but Trend saw through it. Whenever something got to Sam, when a situation became uncomfortable for him or embarrassing, he tried to act tough. Tried everything to make others and himself believe that he was stronger than that and invincible.
There was no point in chasing after someone who couldn't even admit to himself what he liked or wanted. That was a heartache that didn't need to happen. No, Trend rather took the easy ones. Not necessarily the sluts – though he didn't quite push them off the bed either – but those that knew what they wanted and who they were. The ones easily impressed by Trend's muscles and more than willing to spread their legs for Trend. And there were plenty of those, so Trend was fine. Really. He didn't need to wait for Sam to realize who he was, he didn't need to chase after him. So he didn't.
Burying his nose in the longish hair running along the middle of Sam's skull, he inhaled the fresh scent of coconuts deeply, his fingers tracing the rim of Sam's boxershorts. Trend wasn't hopelessly chasing after a closet case, he had sworn to himself to never be that guy. He just wished Sam wouldn't make this whole not-chasing so hard for him, because whenever Sam wasn't spurting insults at everybody's heads or picking unnecessary fights, the son of Ares was fantastic.
"Stop sniffing my hair, weirdo", muttered a tired voice next to him. "Why are you even doing it..."
"I like coconuts", huffed Trend annoyed as Sam untangled himself from him.
"Well, I guess this means getting up. If you decide to have conversations now", grunted Thea on his other side as she sat up and poked Donny awake. "Oi, wake up. You guys can go and get washed up in the lake while I'll set the table and make breakfast. I like you, but I'm not bathing with you."
All four boys gave her tired and somehow awkward-slash-embarrassed looks. Boys were so complicated. Rolling her eyes, she ushered them outside before straightening the makeshift bed.
/break\
Sander was not staring. Or at least he was trying very hard not to stare. But Donny was naked and so close and his behind was too alluringly perfect to be ignored. The grandson of Poseidon looked completely content and at ease as he was standing in the shallow water, barely reaching the middle of his thighs. A broad, happy grin was attached to his rosy, kissable lips as he was splashing water at Sam. The two friends were battling, a very unfair battle seeing as Donny could control the water, but both looked as though they were having the time of their lives. Sander tried to memorize every little detail of Donny's body, taking every shade of olive skin in. Donny was perfection, his lithe frame, the long, lean legs and perky, pink nipples. Biting his lips hard, he tried to keep himself from pushing Donny down onto the ground, going down on him and fingering him properly so he could finally take Donny and make him Sander's fully.
"Start thinking of your grandma's underwear before Donny gets a heart attack because of your boner", advised Trend nonchalantly as the two of them were standing a bit farther away from the two playing boys. "Then again, perhaps that would be the solution to your problem."
"Shut up", huffed Sander and turned to glare at Trend. "And stop staring at Donny so hungrily. He's mine. I don't want you to leer at him like that, you horny dick."
"Why?", smirked the son of Athena confidently. "Think he would chose me over you if he'd take a closer look and... compare, eh little one?"
Sander punched Trend's arm, sneaking a look at Trend's equipment. Damn. Sam really had taste when it came to size. He snickered slightly as he pictured how Sam would be limping around once he'd lose his virginity to that. That would be so much teasing material. He just wanted to open his mouth to say something to Trend as a wave of icy cold water hit him. Sander and Trend, both looking like wet dogs, stared over at the laughing duo of Sam and Donny. The son of Ares had one arm wrapped around Donny's shoulders in support as he doubled over in laughter.
"Good one, Disney Princess", grinned Sam cheekily.
"Thank you, my trustworthy sidekick", snickered Donny, high-fiving with Sam.
Handing Sam the coconut shampoo from the shore, Donny turned so he could subtly stare at Sander. It looked nice how the water was running down the muscular torso, caressing the sixpack and following the happy trail of dark brown hair to what looked like a very nice cock. By now, Donny knew such things. He had spend quite some hours watching porn with Sam and googling dicks, which really was a fun thing to do if he had a friend to share it with. Judging by what he had seen and what Sam had told him and explained to him, Sander was nicely sized. Donny really wanted to see it hard, to taste it on the tip of his tongue, to feel it within himself...
Gulping slightly, he grabbed his own rose-scented shampoo to get this over with. If he spend much more time naked and close to an equally naked Sander, he was going to jump the other boy.
Curiosity made him also sneak a look at Trend though. He turned back so hastily that he nearly fell over, his eyes wide in shock. He did not want that. Not the least bit. It probably wasn't even physically possible to fit that thing in! It was a monster. That thing would frighten him off.
"You're crazy, Sam", hissed Donny in a hushed voice. "Trend is- He's... gigantic!"
"So what?", grunted Sam back, blushing a little as the two friends turned their backs on Trend and Sander while getting cleaned. "I'm not a pussy. If I'd bottom, I'd only bottom for something worth bottoming for and not for something average or shit. Not saying that I ever would."
While the two of them were whispering, Sander and Trend were equally busy staring at their asses. Sander had his head tilted some as he watched the curve leading down to those two sweet, round cheeks, the olive-skin so tempting that Sander just wanted to reach out and touch. Shaking himself out of his Donny-induced stupor, Sander started to get soaped up himself, glaring over at Trend to chastise him once more, just to notice that Trend's storm-gray eyes weren't fixed on Donny's ass, but rather on Sam's. Trend next to him had his head tilted too, observing the flexing of Sam's back as the boy was shampooing his hair, the soap running down the muscular back to in the end caress the firm ass. The halfling blinked a couple of times stunned, absentmindedly shampooing his hair.
"Are... Are you staring at Sam's ass?", hissed Sander wide-eyed. "Fuck. You are staring at Sam's ass! But he isn't even your type! How are you staring at Sam's ass?!"
"Is it fun to repeat yourself?", grunted Trend with a glare, elbowing Sander hard in the ribs. "Let me appreciate a nice sight when it's that close, will you? Besides, a 'type' is a dumb thing, you know that, right? You like a person, not a hair color or body height."
"So you're not just appreciating a nice sight, you like Sam?", smirked Sander teasingly.
"Fuck off", huffed the blonde, turning to ignore Sander.
Once the four of them climbed out of the lake again, the boys looked around a little awkwardly, Sam being the first one to state the obvious. "Did any of you think of packing towels...?"
"I already brought the tent!", huffed Sander, ruffling his hair a little embarrassed.
"Mom always said that men suck at packing", grinned Donny amused. "But we don't need towels."
"Why wouldn't we? It's fucking freezing! I need to get dried up", frowned Sam displeased.
Donny grinned at him with a tilted head, laying his hand on Sam's neck and slowly running it down the brunette's shoulder to his elbow. "A little trick my mom taught me. Dry-willing."
Sam stared down himself as he was suddenly dry as though he had never even entered the lake. Grinning broadly, he grabbed the fresh set of clothes he had brought with him and started getting dressed while Donny busied himself with dry-willing the other two boys.
"Okay, now that that's taken care of...", drawled Sander, staring at Donny's hand still resting on his upper arm. "Does any of you know how to properly wash our clothes...? Because I have no idea. Dad takes care of that stuff at home, my dirty clothes always just disappear and reappear clean..."
"Mine do too", grinned Donny sheepishly. "Percy and Thess are responsible for washing and folding clothes at home. My chores are more in the kitchen department..."
"I'll take care of it", sighed Trend. "You, get back to Thea and tell her she can go and wash up too."
With Donny and Sander already thinking that they had no idea and couldn't do it, there was no way they would actually manage. And Sam? The son of Ares was way too macho to even admit he could take care of such a thing, though Trend suspected he had never done it anyway.
"I'll help you. We'll be faster if we do it together and then we can finally have breakfast."
Storm-gray eyes turned to stare very surprised over at Sam. The son of Ares was running his fingers through his mohawk as he walked over to Trend, scooping the heap of dirty clothes up in his arms. Donny and Sander took the chance to flee before they would have to help too. At first, Trend and Sam went to work in silence, using their body-washes and shampoos to clean the clothes.
"I... wouldn't have thought you'd offer your help", murmured Trend softly after a while.
He looked over at Sam, expecting the other boy to bolt away or punch him, but instead Sam just shrugged slowly. "Grandpa is not the youngest anymore and whenever I'm home, I do most chores around the house so he doesn't have to. It'd be shitty to let you do it on your own."
Home. Trend frowned a little at that. Even though he had been living in New Athens for years, even though he had been to plenty places in the US with his mother, he still saw Dublin as his home?
"Do you miss it? Ireland, I mean?", asked the son of Athena curiously.
"Sometimes, I guess", shrugged Sam, staring into the water beneath them. "When I'm stuck in New Athens, I miss Dublin. When I'm outside the city, I sometimes miss the Highlands... My uncle used to take me onto long rides where we would just camp somewhere and enjoy the landscape..."
The son of Athena nodded slowly, smiling a bit to himself. It was rare to unheard of that Sam would talk about personal stuff, normally he would get defensive and exclaim that he wasn't a girl and didn't need to talk about emotional shit like that. This was progress, big progress.
/break\
Donny had a slightly stupid grin attached to his lips as he was setting the table, well the blanket on the ground, for breakfast. Him and Sander were a great team, the way they worked with each other without words. They didn't need words, they each saw what was still missing and helped each other. It reminded Donny of how his mom and dad set the table on Sundays when the whole di Angelo family would come together to have a big breakfast and discuss everything important that had happened in the past week to each of them. A fleeting thought passed Donny's mind – would he have something like that with Sander one day? Could he? Because he really wanted it.
"Are you alright, Don?", asked Sander softly, worry laced into his voice.
"Mh? Sure. Why shouldn't I?", frowned Donny confused and cocked his head to the side.
"It's just... You've never even been on a quest before and now you're the leader of such an important quest", sighed Sander, giving Donny the puppy eyes. "I just don't want you to feel pressured or anything, okay? I need you to know that I'm here to help you. And so are the others, right?"
Smiling slightly, Donny leaned over to place a chaste kiss on Sander's cheek. "You're sweet, thanks. But I'm fine. Mom and dad are great heroes, it was going to happen eventually that I would have to go on a quest too. And so far, it actually has been fun, I'd say."
"Yeah", laughed Sander and sat down with Donny as they finished their work. "But normally quests don't consist of so much camping and fun, you know..."
"I know", sighed Donny, slowly leaning against Sander's shoulder. "But I still know it'll be fine. Because I have you with me. Together, we'll manage, right?"
"Right", nodded Sander with a dopey grin and a slight blush as he looked down at Donny.
/break\
Half an hour later had all five teens sitting together on the picknick blanket and having breakfast. The horn of Achelous was pretty handy for such quests. Enjoying his carrot sticks, Donny took a look around. The park was eerily silent. No animal could be heard. Most likely because Teardrop was gone. They were wary of strangers trespassing, even more so than normally.
"Okay, so... Do we have a plan? Anything at all?", asked Sam between bites of bacon.
"That's disgusting, Sam", huffed Donny, wiggling his nose. "If you have to eat animals, can't you at least close your mouth while chewing? Please? And yes, we do have a plan. Kind of."
"Please explain 'kind of'", grunted Trend, not liking the sound of that.
"Well, I already told you yesterday that we'll have to wait here until the animals accept us and notice that we're not a threat. We won't get much information from them otherwise", replied Donny. "And then it depends on what they're telling us and who is telling us what. Some don't like humans. Others just don't like demigods. Some will be inclined to tell us more, because they know I'm Persephone's champion. We can only hope to meet some of Persephone's followers who know me. And then we'll see. But you need to watch out."
"Watch out for what?", frowned Sander, nudging Donny slightly.
The two of them were still sitting shoulder on shoulder, their fingers brushing against each other. Thea rolled her eyes at them, instead focusing on Daedalus' laptop while chewing her bread. If Donny would enlighten them what kind of monsters would await them here, she wanted to check them right away. And since Donny and Sander were too busy making googly eyes at each other, it was probably up to her anyway. Especially with Trend being so busy staring at Sam thoughtful. There was another thing she needed to get checked, because she was pretty sure he had been sniffing Sam's hair repeatedly last night. Which was a very weird thing to do for friends. Even more so considering that Trend was eating coconut slices for breakfast now and drinking milk with honey, which was the combination of scents she had smelt last night coming off Sam too.
"The animals we are looking for are the fireflies", said Donny slowly.
"Fireflies? In the snowy mountains of Alaska? Am I the only one who thinks that's weird?", frowned Sam with one raised eyebrow. "And why fireflies anyway?"
"They are Teardrop's companions", replied Donny, rolling his eyes as though that had been completely obvious. "They light him the way through the dark night when he has to start spring and end summer. If someone knows what happened to Teardrop, it's them."
"So, basically, this quest means we're chasing fireflies, yeah?", huffed Sam a bit disappointed.
"They are not the only animals in this park", warned Donny with a slight glare. "Aside from the average monsters, there are creatures here you haven't met yet."
"Like...?", inquired Trend with one cocked eyebrow, stealing some of Sam's bacon.
"Fuck you, that's mine!", grunted Sam irritated, biting the half off that was hanging out of Trend's mouth. "Prick. Don't touch my bacon, you dick-head."
Trend blinked surprised, narrowing his eyes down at the bitten off end of the bacon between his lips. Sucking it in and chewing it, he continued to stare at Sam, noting the slight blush.
"Jackalopes", answered Donny, ignoring the two sons of war.
"What the fuck is that?", frowned Sam confused.
"A mix between a jackrabbit and an antelope, hence the name. Though, to be more precisely it's a rabbit with the horns of a deer and also with fangs and the wings of a summer bird. The epitome of spring. Persephone claimed them to be hers when Olympus had been in Germany", explained Donny. "They're tricksters and cunning thieves. They're not really dangerous, but they enjoy tricking people, mostly into their demise. You should stay away from them."
"Okay, bunnies bad", nodded Sam, arching one eyebrow. "Anything else?"
"Well, aside from the usual monsters?", chuckled Donny. "Try not to touch the dragonflies."
"Okay, now I start thinking that you're messing with us", snorted Trend skeptically. "We're here because a butterfly went missing and we need the help of... fireflies. But bunnies are evil and we're not supposed to touch dragonflies? Really?"
"They're... different", sighed Donny, a little annoyed by their skepticism. "They're not real dragonflies. Some people call them faeries. They're magical creatures. The Mist makes them look like dragonflies though. They are the last remains of Kronos. They control time and can send you back and forth between different points in time. So just don't touch them or follow them anywhere, I don't need you ending up in the wrong era."
"Time traveling dragonflies...", muttered Sam and shook his head. "Fuck this. Can't we just slay some evil monsters and conquer this quest like any regular quest before...? I'm also not the most patient person, so I really hate the idea of sitting here and waiting, by the way."
"I don't like that idea either", sighed Thea with a pout, typing away on her laptop with one hand.
"How are we going at this tomorrow anyway?", asked Trend, stealing more of Sam's bacon.
This time, the son of Ares attacked him, pinning the blonde to the ground and straddling Trend's hips, much to Trend's surprise. Glaring down at the son of Athena, holding the blonde's wrists down with his hands and taking the bacon back with his teeth, he pulled on it and growled slightly.
"Let go", muttered Sam between his mouth full of bacon.
"They kind of look like an aggressive version of the Lady and the Tramp...", hummed Donny thoughtful and cocked his head. "How am I the only one who gets called a Disney Princess while Thea literally looks like one of the Disney Princesses and everybody behaves like Disney characters from time to time. That's just mean."
"It's just for fun", smiled Sander softly, caressing Donny's hair tenderly. "We don't mean it as an insult or anything. Disney Princesses are clever, independent and pretty. Total compliment. And, well, they talk to animals and are compassionate, just like you too."
"You... just called me pretty...", mumbled Donny and blushed brightly, staring wide-eyed.
Sam groaned annoyed from where he was still half laying on top of Trend, turning to glare at the other two boys. "For fuck's sake, can't you two just shag it out already? Literally everybody knows that you have the hots for each other! I swear, you're driving me completely nuts!"
It came out a little muffled, because he was still having half of the bacon in his mouth. As he turned his head back to glare at Trend some more and demand his bacon back, he calculated the distance a little wrong and smashed his lips straight against Trend's, lingering there in shock for a second.
"Now it really looks like a violent version of the Lady and the Tramp", commented Donny.
"F—Fuck you", spat Sam wide-eyed as he jumped up and ran off.
Trend stayed right where he was, blinking a little surprised and licking his lips a couple of times. Sitting up, he stared after Sam, who was heading over into the general direction where the pegasi were resting. It would probably be better to let him cool off for now anyway.
"So... Are we talking about what Sam just said, or will we ignore it?", asked Donny slowly.
"Uhm... How... How about we go for a... walk and... talk... alone...?", mumbled Sander flustered.
Thea grinned as she watched the two leave. "I should have brought a camera for this quest."
Author's note: So, I edited the past chapters for spelling mistakes and some other stupid mistakes I noticed while re-reading the story, like Donny eating chicken wings which must have slipped me because Donny is a vegetarian...
I also added to the timeline! "A Very Half-Blood Halloween" is up!
Concerning this chapter; I had to bring the dragonflies in too, after all this is a sequel to "Chasing Dragonflies" and "Chasing Butterflies" and since the butterfly is already having a larger part in this story, I wanted to bring the time-traveling dragonflies in too. Now just tell me, would you want to read a chapter, or two, on one, or more, of the teens accidentally traveling through time?
Next chapter will have Sander and Donny getting together and Trend following Sam! (While Thea is stuck doing researches. Poor thing.)