Disclaimer: I do not own PJO or HOO

αρχή

Percy tried, to open his eyes, but they wouldn't budge. It was as if a pair of ten pound weights were attached to his eye lids. His throat was as dry as the Sahara. His head was pounding, it felt as if there was some little man inside it, constantly bashing his hammer against Percy's skull. He reached his hand up to his forehead in an effort to dull the pain, letting out an involuntary moan in the process.

"Ah, good you're awake," a deep voice boomed.

Percy's eyes shot open; he went into alert mode. The son of the sea god shot out of bed, throwing off the sheets, his hand instinctively reaching into his pocket for Riptide only to find that his pants were lacking pockets. Percy felt instantly dizzy, to the point of almost falling over. He looked around the room, searching for the source of the voice, hands above his eyes to shield them from the extra intense sunlight seeping through the windows.

Percy realized that for some reason he was in his room, he hadn't slept in it since the first night he was here. Even when Percy got clothes to get changed, he would quickly grab them and then proceed to get changed in the bathroom. He didn't remember falling asleep in it last night, in fact he didn't even remember going to sleep at all.

His eyes landed on a figure sitting in front of a desk covered with various machines on top of it. He wore jumpsuit smeared with oil and grime. His leg creaked and clicked in its metal brace as he stood, and his left shoulder was lower than his right, so he seemed to be leaning even when he was standing up straight. His head was misshapen and bulging. He wore a permanent scowl. His black beard smoked and hissed. Occasionally, wildfire would erupt in his whiskers then die out. His hands were huge, the size of dinner plates.

Percy recognized him, even if he didn't only one man could be that ugly, "Hephaestus," he croaked. Percy then proceeded to blink a few times to adjust his eyes to the bright light.

"Percy," he responded curtly. The god seemed nervous, his hands twitching as the hung down his sides, itching to hold something in them. "Nice pyjamas," he added.

The demigod winced at the sound of his voice, it pierced his ears, making his headache throb even worse. He looked down to find himself wearing pink pyjamas with red hearts scattered across it. That was weird because whenever Percy went to sleep, he would always slip on a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. He never wore pyjamas, especially ones with hearts on them. Percy decided to ignore his comment. "What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice hoarse.

The god of forges seemed to perk up when he asked that, "You mean you don't remember?"

"Remember what?" Percy asked.

Hephaestus smiled, a toothy grin. It may have been charming if it wasn't for the fact that that he was missing teeth and the ones that he did have were yellow. Add that with the fact that one of his eyebrows suddenly caught fire and it made the smile feel kind of creepy. He patted it out, "Well you see yesterday there was an accident."

"What kind of accident?"

"I was getting to that boy." And then the forge god mumbled something to himself that sounded like, "Automatons never interrupt me." He then clapped his hands together, "Anyway," he continued, "I may have-I may have accidentally-accidentallyspikedyourdrinklastnight"."

"What was that?" Percy asked.

The god cleared his throat, "I said, I accidentally spiked your drink last night."

"You what!" Percy yelled, but quickly regretted it. Yelling only made his headache worse.

Hephaestus waved his hands in the air in front of him, "Hey, hey, hey, I said accidental."

"How can you accidentally do that?" Percy asked in a loud, hushed tone; not wanting to make his head hurt more.

"It wasn't meant for you. It was meant for my whore of a wife and my fuckup of a brother. I mean, she's only ever used that wine on her dates with Ares. How was I supposed to know she would give you a glass? Who gives a 16 year old kid alcohol?" He rambled on.

Percy held up his hand for the god to stop. "I had alcohol last night?" he asked.

The god nodded.

"Wow, that's why I feel like shit, " Percy said surprised.

Hephaestus grinned, "And look it."

"Thanks," Percy said sarcastically. "How is it that I always seem to get caught in your traps?"

"Probably because you're either very stupid or unlucky. Probably both." Hephaestus said bluntly.

"But it was meant for Ares?" Percy questioned.

The god put out another fire on his beard before answering, "I just said that didn't I?"

"And I'll be fine, it's not like I'll die or anything right?"

Hephaestus stayed silent.

"I'm not going to die right?" Percy asked again.

"Well, I put enough juice in that drink to fuel an-"

"I'm not going to die right!" Percy yelled, no longer caring about his pounding head.

"You should be fine, just a really bad hangover," Hephaestus finally said after another short pause.

The demigod breathed a sigh of relief, "Why didn't you just say that?"

"Well I was getting to that," the god huffed. "People say that I have no people skills," he grumbled.

"I'll say," Percy muttered. "Anyway, if I'm gonna be alright, I guess we're cool."

"What?" the forge god asked shocked.

"I mean, I hate Ares just as much as you and I'm gonna be okay, so no harm done," Percy stated with a small grin on his face.

Hephaestus let out a hearty laugh, "I like you kid, anyone who hates Ares is a friend of mine. It's a shame that you and Aphrodite weren't really together."

Percy looked at the god standing in front of him quizzically. "You mean you would actually want someone else to date her?" he asked.

The god of forges took a seat at the desk he was before and motion for Percy to do the same on the bed. "I may not be good with people, but I'm not foolish enough to think that she loves me. In fact, after Zeus forced Aphrodite to marry me, she started to resent me." He sighed, "That's why I don't get mad at her when she has affairs with mortals, I mean almost every god does it anyways. But when she started to see Ares, that made me mad. What kind of person would do that to their own brother?"

He stopped again to put out another flame that sprouted in his hair. "What I'm trying to say is that I would rather she be with anyone other than Ares, if it's with someone I like, all the better."

Percy didn't have much to think about what the god said before the door slammed open. In came a pissed off looking Aphrodite. She stormed over to were Hephaestus sat ad turned her back to Percy.

"I told you to tell me as soon as he woke up!" She yelled.

"I just wanted to-" he started.

"I don't care what you wanted to do, I told you to tell me when he woke up, and then to get out!"

"But-"

Aphrodite didn't let him finish. "Out!" She ordered.

Hephaestus sighed and stood up. Aphrodite started to shoo him out of the room. When he reached the door, the god looked over his shoulder. "Really am sorry Percy," he yelled before Aphrodite closed the door on him.

Aphrodite turned to face Percy and the demigod gasped in shock. When the goddess first stormed in, he hadn't been able to truly see her face, but now he could clearly. Aphrodite wasn't wearing any makeup on her face, not even a little.

Percy used to think that Calypso was the most beautiful girl he ever saw, but this Aphrodite now took that title. Not that Calypso wasn't pretty or anything, but now it was no contest. It seemed that before, all of the features on the goddess of love's face were hidden beneath a layer of makeup. But now, now she looked absolutely stunning. No one could question why she was the goddess of beauty.

"Is there something on my face?" Aphrodite asked, snapping Percy out of his thoughts.

"No it's not that something is on your face, it's that there's nothing on your face."

She seemed to get what he was saying, "Do you like it?"

Why was she asking him? The goddess never asked his opinion on her appearance, in fact she seemed to think whatever she wore was perfect. "Um, yeah," he said nervously.

Aphrodite smiled brightly at him, eyes shining with the same emotion he still cannot place.

"What made you decide not to put any on though?" Percy questioned her.

The goddess studied him for a second. "What do you remember from last night?" she asked.

He thought about this for a minute. "I remember going dancing and the last thing I remember was seeing someone who looked like Annabeth. I also remember this weird dream about Rachel." Then he added, "Hephaestus told me he did something in my drink."

Aphrodite smiled mischievously at him, "You don't have to tell me about your sex dreams Percy."

Percy went beat red. "What? No! That's not what I-"

She started to laugh, cutting him of. "Relax, Percy I was just kidding."

"Oh," was all Percy said.

She looked at him again, biting her lip as if deciding whether to tell him something or not. "Is that the last thing you remember?" Aphrodite asked.

"I didn't do anything crazy did I?" he questioned.

"Well. . ." She paused again, thinking about what to say. "You called me something along the lines of a glamorous barbie doll."

Percy's eyes widened. "Oh my gods, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it."

Aphrodite smiled, "Yes you did and it's okay. In fact, I agree with you. Put that much makeup on everyday made me feel like a clown. Besides, not wearing it saves me two hours in the morning." She shuddered, "Almost reminds me about the 70's when I went through my Afro-dite phase."

"Afro-dite?" Percy question. He looked at Aphrodite, trying to picture her with an afro on her head. He could barely contain his laughter.

She glared at him, "Not another word."

Aphrodite then looked down, seemingly no longer being able to meet his gaze.

"What's wrong?" Percy asked. "I didn't do anything else did I?"

She didn't respond.

The demigod ran a hand through his hair. "Oh gods what did I do? Was it bad? Whatever I did I'm sorry."

Aphrodite gave him a small, pained smile, "You uh. . .you uh. . . relax Percy all you did was throw up on yourself." She pointed to him, "That's why you're in those new pyjamas."

He looked down at his pink, heart covered PJ's, "I must have been drunk in order to pick these out."

"Oh no you didn't pick them out. In fact, you were unconscious when I got you back home. I didn't want you ruining the bed, so I changed you into them."

Percy felt his face get hot. "You what?" he choked out.

She grinned mischievously, this time a real smile. "Don't flatter yourself Percy, you're still in the same underwear you wore last night."

Before Percy could put enough words together for a response a loud beeping sound went off.

Aphrodite perked up and clapped, "Oh good they're finally done." She spun around and walked out the door, leaving Percy standing there red-faced.

In the minute it took her to make her way back to the room, Percy was sitting on the bed. The dizziness got the better of him, making it hard to stand for too long. She carried a tray of cookies, blue cookies.

"I remember you saying how the cookies here didn't taste as good as your mom's homemade ones, so I made these fore you," She said as she set them down on the bed beside him.

"You made those?" Percy asked surprised.

Aphrodite flashed him on of her signature smiles, "You would be amazed at all the things a few extra hours lets someone do."

"They look amazing," he said. They were big, with plenty of chocolate chips. She even remembered that they were blue. The cookies look just like his mom's minus the fact that they were heart shaped. He could feel the heat coming off of them from where he was city and their smell made his stomach rumble (Which was probably emptied when he threw up).

She laughed and gestured towards the platter, "Go ahead, try them."

Percy picked out the biggest one. When he picked it up it was hot to the touch, but Percy didn't care. This was how he liked cookies best, right out of the up. Before he brought it to his mouth, Percy asked, "Why'd you make these anyway?" He then proceeded to take a bite.

He almost choked.

"I can't help but feel guilty about this whole thing and you told me these were your favourite, so I thought it was the least I could do," the goddess explained.

The cookie sat in his mouth, Percy tried his hardest not to spit it out. It was awful, he could taste the flour. Clearly she didn't do the best job mixing the dough. And the chocolate chips, Aphrodite must have used those expensive chocolates for. Percy never saw what made them so expensive, to be honest they never appealed to his taste buds, he'd take a Hershey Bar over Godiva any day. To sum it up, the cookie was terrible.

He forced himself to swallow the bit that was already in his mouth.

"Are they not good?" Aphrodite asked. She must have noticed his internal struggle.

"No, it's just really hot," he lied.

She seemed relieved. "Good because I got a whole other tray in the kitchen."

Great, Percy thought sarcastically.

"Now that you're awake I must get going, today's a busy day. I want you to rest today, no training. If you need me for some reason just through a cookie in the fireplace and sacrifice it to me." She gave him a peck on the cheek like she always did and got off the bed. On her way to the door she turned around and said, "You won't have to worry about Hephaestus anymore."

"Why is that?"

She grinned, Percy swore it looked evil. "I just did what every kid is scared of, I told his parents on him. Let's just say that Zeus and Hera were less than pleased to find out that he almost killed you." Aphrodite then turned again and walked out of the room.

He shuddered at the thought of getting both Zeus and Hera pissed off at the same time, but then laughed when he pictured the godly couple yelling at Hephaestus and sending him to his room. He stopped when his head started to hurt too much again.

This is going to be a long day.

~ Αλλαγή γραμμής ~

As much as Percy wanted to get back in bed and sleep, he had to get out of that room. All it did was remind him of what he would be missing for the next five years.

He spent an hour or so in the hot spring by the lake, the water made him feel better. He saw Calypso gardening from where he was, but decided not to bother her. After awhile his ADHD kicked in, he got bored and decided to get out.

Percy was to tired to do any training he normally did by himself, so he found himself in front of the TV, no longer caring about his pounding headache. To him boredom was much worse.

It turned out to be a good day to be stuck in the house for, apparently it was shark week.

As he watched a few different show he couldn't help but find it funny at the efforts people went to find out about sharks. All he had to do was just ask them.

When Percy was about three hours into his shark week marathon, Calypso made her way into the room carrying a glass filled with some light brown liquid. "Hey," she said quietly.

"Hey," he replied.

She made her way over to him and took a seat next to him, setting the glass down on the table. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"I've felt better, but it definitely could be worse."

Calypso pushed the glass so it was located him front of Percy. "Here," she said. "Tea always helped me feel better, hopefully it does the same for you."

Percy had tea once before and didn't like it, but he wasn't about to turn down something that could make him feel better. "Thanks," he said reaching for it. He then laughed, "It seems like you're always taking care of me." He brought the glass to his lips and took a small sip. He found that the tea actually tasted good.

She smiled, "It's something I'd gladly do."

An awkward silence developed between them. Calypso was the one to break it.

"So, what are you watching?" she asked.

"A bunch of shows about sharks," he replied.

Calypso let out a small laugh, "Seems fitting. Mind if I watch it with you?"

"Of course not," the demigod answer.

~ Αλλαγή γραμμής ~

Percy was getting nervous. It must have been after midnight and Calypso was showing no signs of leaving. He was intending to sleep on the couch like he usually did, but that wouldn't be possible with Calypso next to him.

He let out an involuntary yawn.

Calypso noticed it. "Tired?" she asked.

"A little," he answered.

"Why don't you go to bed then?"

Crap.

"Um-" he struggled to find a response. "I want to spend more time with you," he finally replied.

She smiled, "As sweet as that is, I don't want to keep you up. We can spend more time together tomorrow if you wish."

"I uh-I really like this show."

Calypso sighed, "Percy I'm not stupid. I've noticed that you sleep here every night. I just wish you'd trust me enough to tell me what's bothering you."

"Nothing's bothering me, I just don't like the mattress," he lied.

"Percy."

Percy sighed. "Fine." He ran a hand through his hair, "It's just that there's these pictures in my room. Pictures of my mom, pictures of my friends, pictures of Annabeth. They just remind me I won't be seeing them for five whole years and when I see a picture of Annabeth, it brings me back to what happened on Olympus."

Calypso scooted closer to him and placed a hand gently on his knee. "That's why you sleep here?" she asked.

He nodded.

"You can't think about how you won't see any of your loved ones for five years. You have to remember all the special times you had together. Just know that you will see them again." She sighed, "When I was on Ogygia, I never thought I would see any of my old friends again, in fact I don't even know if any of them are still alive, but my memories of the time I spent with them helped me get over my loneliness. When you think of Annabeth, remember the friendship you two shared. If you dwell on the negatives you will only find sorrow."

Percy took that all in, Calypso really put that in perspective for him. At least he would get to see his friends and family again, Calypso spent her whole life thinking she never would. She'd also been heartbroken before, left alone on the island by heroes who could never stay. It made Percy's problem seem minuscule compared to hers.

He surprised himself and hugged her. She seemed surprised to, but returned it. "You're right," he said.

When they broke apart Percy got up. When he reached the hallway, a sentence popped into his head, don't let her slip through your fingers. Percy smiled and turned around. "Calypso?"

"Yes?"

"Thank you." He then turned again and went to his room, maybe he should give her a chance.

Ω Τέλος Ω

A/N: As promised – 3rd out of the 4 I'm posting today and the 7th out of the 11 original chapters.
Hope you enjoyed! Again, try and spot where I've added to hehe.

Cya in the next chapter!

-M