I Gotta Pocket of Not So Happy Sunshine

*camera pans to DF drinking coffee minding their own goddamn business*

Wuh? *notices camera and does a spit take* Um uh, yeah so you know about writer's block right?

Well, I caught a goddamn writing bug aND YOU'RE ALL COMING ALONG FOR A RIDE *tosses you a helmet*

I don't really have much to say except HOLY HERA tiffanygunawan reviewed so fast that it nearly gave me whiplash lol you're amazing!

I do believe a disclaimer is in order: DearlyFictitious does not own the Percy Jackson series or anything related to it. This was written purely for entertainment and no money was made off this. It belongs to Uncle Rick Riordan!

On a personal note, writing for this fandom again...really brought some light back into my life. Before I got into anime, Greek Mythology was my first and only comfort since I was a toddler. My first love you could say.

I missed this so much *hugs you all virtually and respectfully waves at those who'd rather not be hugged *

See A/N at bottom for important news!

Percy swam through the sea grass and past schools of curious fish, waving and chatting with them every so often. He knew that sticking his arms out would create drag, but he always thought that swimming this way was so much fun, like he was a humpback!

And since Triton wasn't around to mock him for his childishness, he took full advantage of his alone time and did a few twirls and loop-de-loops just for the heck of it. He even went as far as to join a pod of dolphins racing alongside a speedboat and dove in-and-out with them.

He wondered what the mist made him look like, he mused humorously; those frat boys sure didn't seem to think he was a dolphin.

Well, whatever.

He flashed them one more smile before branching out of the pod and navigating his way back into large open waters.

Up ahead he could see some sailfish darting in and out of a thick shoal of anchovy, Percy studied their motions and after a minute of observation he felt his stomach rumble out the tell tale sounds of hunger.

Well, it had been a while since he ate breakfast, he considered, and shaking Finn off his tails had been a workout on its own (Prince Perseus at least let me accompany you up until the northeast Atlantic border!)

Could he have hydro drifted to camp? Yeah, but the scenic route was almost always better.

He eyed up the small bait fish and with practiced ease, he darted towards the shoal with his mouth wide open and his sharp teeth bared.

Whoosh!

He burst out the other end in a flurry of bubbles and excitement, the stunned anchovies were scattered about the waters twirling in dizzying circles, their scales peppered the surrounding area like tiny sliver clouds of confetti.

The sailfish chattered in glee and dove in and out of the mess he made.

His Highness hunted with us!

Yay free lunch!

The Sea Prince is so generous!

Thank you Prince Perseus!

Percy waved back at them with his shimmering tail fins since his mouth and hands were full of anchovies, he caught so many! This would definitely hold him down until he could get a proper meal at camp.

He dove down deep into the depths with his prizes and kept going further and further until he reached an empty clearing at the bottom of a trench. He stopped at a particularly soft looking patch of sand and swallowed his mouthful of fish, bones and all.

Percy exhaled out through the small frilly gill slits underneath ears and put his arms behind his head and lay back into the gentle current, he willed the sea to condense the rest of his snack into a much more manageable basketball sized bundle and chipped away at it in relative peace.

He was on his way to Camp Half-Blood to help oversee and help with some of the new additions they voted on during the last camp counselor meeting. As their 'plumbing expert', it was necessary that he be up there to supervise the construction taking place, and he was also way overdue with catching up with his fellow demigods. He ran a hand reassuringly against the satchel carrying some of his belongings; he was gonna be up there for a while this time.

As mentioned earlier, his servants weren't too happy to see him go, Finn was very vocal about his displeasure and Gina, his personal maid, had to hold him back from following him out.

Percy grinned, Gina was a maid gifted to him by his Mother Amphitrite, she had braided pastel purple hair and luminous coral pink eyes that complimented her grey toned skin and tiger striped shark tail. She was Percy's eyes and ears to everyday life in the castle with a pithos full of the latest gossip, an abundance of quips and good humor, and an absolute lifesaver during the most critical moments of unsavory situations; with her help he escaped no less than thirty accidental flashings when learning how to swim with a chiton. It was due to her diligence that Percy's dignity was still alive and thriving.

She was also a kind and gentle mermaid with a heart as big as the ocean itself...and an absurd amount of brute strength to match; manhandling Finn was a laughably easy feat for her.

As for the rest of his family, they all waved him goodbye and wished for his safe travels. Amphitrite had promised to have more chiton designs waiting for him upon his return. As for Triton...well, he had strongly worded opinions that even he was too polite to think or say aloud.

His Dad had swam with him to the outer borders of his kingdom and gave him a warm and tender hug goodbye.

Return to me soon Perseus, my lovely and fierce spring tide.

Percy felt a warm soft sensation travel up his ribcage and settle lightly on his cheeks, he blushed recollecting his Dad's parting words, that was just one of many endearments bestowed upon him as of late. The God of the Oceans took great pleasure in seeing his young demigod son flush in such a darling shade of bashful lavender; much to said son's exasperation.

Truthfully, Percy didn't mind them nearly as much as he let on, it only meant that he cared, and that was all the more reassuring.

His Dad loved him and wasn't afraid to show it.

After polishing off the last of his anchovies, he paused to look up at the dull light of the surface world. It looked so surreal from all the way down here, he thought. The warm and cool currents swirling above made for a very pretty light show in a spectrum of unperceivable colors to mortals and most demigods.

He gazed up at the twinkling lights in a sort of tranquil trance, the differences between the surface world and the ocean deep were as stark as day and night.

For starters, there wasn't exactly a so-called day or night underwater at all, it messed with his internal clock at first but the merfolk helped him become adjusted to the ever changing time tables that Atlantis ran on. A fine example was when he came out to help Jason learn how to swim, it was the middle of the night for him, but Percy's day had just barely even started. He supposed it helped that he was able to turn certain parts of his brain off in both of his merforms like most sea mammals, of course, it took some getting used to, he couldn't tell you how many times Finn and Squirt had to save him from his doom while sleep swimming.

Another difference was his senses, the most prominent being his hearing and sight, they worked in tandem in creating a scenery full of life and wonder under the sea. Atlantis was located in the darkest and deepest of the depths, but to him and the rest of the Atlanteans, it wasn't dark per say, the best way to explain it was the way the city sounded. He could see of course, but a sensitive organ in his head allowed him to use sound to finish painting the complete image of Atlantis.

There were some bioluminescent patches of algae and pearls that lit up the sections of the kingdom since not all sea folk had eyes as strong and reactive to light as his, but they did little for Percy, it might as well be considered a 'daytime' view for him in complete darkness.

Sound on the other hand, was something else entirely.

The delicate fins that replaced his ears played a big part in this role; like his hands, they had tiny electroreceptors he used to detect electric fields of the marine life around him, his ear fins also worked to transmit vibrations to the sensory organ in his brain when Percy used his echolocation.

Oh man, echolocation was a doozy.

Throughout the duration of his stay, he had no idea he was subconsciously emitting clicks and whistles almost every few seconds, it wasn't until Amphitrite commented how distinct his 'chirps' were that he even realized he was doing it. Him? Chirping?

•••

"Big brother please come out!"

"Perseus you're being ridiculous. Come out from under there at once!"

Triton and Tyson were currently in the younger Sea Prince's room trying to coax him out from his bed.

"No way!"

The term 'bed" was used lightly here, Perseus' sleeping quarters was a mix of both worlds, he had modern looking sea furniture, but everything else resembled a well furbished grotto.

As for where he slept, it was an interesting choice, not unfavorable, but interesting nonetheless.

In the farthest corner of the room was a deep cove that had a gorgeous coral reef situated on slabs of sea rock, and just underneath the lowest shelf was a depression big enough for a merman sized person to slip through and lay in it.

Which is exactly what Perseus did.

"Perseus, we all chirp and whistle, even our Father does it."

"Then how come I never noticed it before?" his muffled voice retorted back, "No one says anything when I talk to them through an IM either, so I'm still skeptical."

Triton ran a hand through his silky black locks, "The IM is made to translate languages to universal ones in order to prevent language barriers. Give Iris more credit than that."

They could hear some shuffling around, but he still had yet to emerge.

"Big brother," whined Tyson, "Don't be shy, you sound so pretty!"

"..."

"What he means to say is that, like your singing voice, it's very melodic." After another moment of silence Triton sighed and motioned Tyson to stay put, he then lowered himself onto his stomach and peered into his brother's benthic bedspace.

Perseus' abode was filled with soft black sand and lined with squishy sea sponges and gossamer sheets. It wasn't luxurious by any means, but it did have a sort of cozy charm that his brother was somehow capable of pulling off.

Triton looked towards the end of the space and saw Perseus in a fetal position with his ornate twin tail fins obscuring him from sight.

If Triton was being honest, his demigod brother looked absolutely adorable.

Dismissing that thought, he slid half his body through through the tight crevice and lay flush against the sands,

"Perseus. Quit thinking like a mortal, you're a merman, stop trying to imagine a human's voice coming from me and really listen to what I'm saying."

Percy turned his head slightly, and for once, stopped his mind from auto translating what he heard around him.

¸¸¸¬{(§)}≈»{oo}`oºo≈»¸¸(*)`oo(º)«≈

Percy whipped his head and stared at the Sea God in shock. Those sounds were...coming from his brother? He snorted into his palm, oh gods, if a certain someone ever caught wind of what he just said...

"Triton?"

¸¸¸^¸¸(O)∞{*}»≈«(*)¸¸{(§)}~ ¿

"What? But I thought that-¸¸¸¸¸¸¸¸(*)≈»oo¸¸{(∞)}~ ¸¸¿

Percy tilted his head and blinked, "Did that really just come from me?" Now that he was consciously aware of the vocalizations coming from his throat, it was like the merlanguage and human speech were playing over on top of one another in perfect sync.

Triton smiled back, "Do you feel better now?"

Percy mirrored his grin, "Yeah."

Tyson clapped his hands in joy, "Yay! Big brother knows how pretty he sounds!"

Percy stuck his head out from underneath his coral shelf next to Triton's chuckling face, "Seriously Big Guy?" he asked in amused exasperation.

•••

Percy smiled at the memory, Tyson had sounded like a mix between a foghorn and a babbling brook...if that made any sense, hades, he was still trying to make sense of it.

He raised his arms above his head and stretched his body sensuously until he saw a peculiar sight up above.

He squinted and could make out the distorted outline of someone flying around and waving?

Percy sat up at attention when the figure splashed the surface of the water with its palm and dropped something underneath the waves.

The Sea Prince watched as the slim object glided its way toward him in lazy motions, he grinned manically when he saw a familiar white wood caduceus.

Yeah baby I'm a sea snake now!

Quit showing off George you're making us veer off course!

You're no fun. Hey! I wonder if there's any rats down here?

Percy caught them in his hands and greeted them excitedly, "Hey guys how's it going?"

What? George curled the end of his tail near his head where his 'ear' would be, Kiddo I can't understand you!

I told you we should've asked Hermes to download that sea language file. Grumbled Martha.

A mischievous smile stretched across his face as he lay his dorsal and ear fins flush against his body, "Hang on tight guys!"

What? They said in unison.

Without another warning, Percy propelled himself and left thick clouds of sand in his wake and rocketed towards the surface until he burst out of the surf and was face to face with the Messenger God dressed in his traditional Greek clothing; winged sandals and all.

"Heya Hermes!" he said in regular mortal language now that he wasn't submerged.

"Hey Percy," he replied back just as enthusiastically, not minding how soaked he just became, "How's it going?"

Percy grinned and handed back the caduceus to Hermes, he posed on the surface of the water on his tails like a scythian dracaenae would on land, except without doing their weird version of manspreading they did with their tails.

His mom raised him with manners, thank you very much.

"Pretty good, just on my way to camp actually."

"Oh? Is it about the new camp additions? My boys Connor and Travis mentioned that the other day when they prayed to me."

"Yeah, I need to be there since there's some major renovations happening."

"Need? Don't you want to be there to see your friends?" asked Hermes, "To my understanding, it's been a while since you last saw them."

Percy arched an eyebrow, "Of course I do, it hasn't been that long has it? Besides, they can manage the camp without me most of the time."

"They are capable." Hermes agreed amicably, "However, there's always a peace of mind when the leader is around to reassure the group as a whole."

"I guess." Percy rubbed the back of his neck, "Though I'm usually the first person 'on call' when it comes to camp needing a leader present so it's whatever; I don't need anymore world ending quests or prophecies being piled in my inbox any time soon, if it's all the same to you guys."

"Very true," chuckled Hermes, "Anyways, you're pretty far out from Long Island Sound, I'd have thought you would've been there by now."

"I like swimming in open waters whenever I can, so I skipped out on the hydro drifting." Percy grinned back, "It can get a little crowded in the palace if you know what I mean."

"Of course," Hermes nodded sagely, "Triton's big fat ego probably takes up most of the space."

"Haha! Hey now, that's not very nice."

"Am I wrong?"

"...it's not that bad."

They made eye contact and burst out laughing.

Percy finished first and wiped a tear from his eye, "Seriously though, what's your beef with my brother? Is it that stupid Messenger God rivalry you guys have?"

Hermes sat cross legged in the air and pouted, "It's not stupid. He just needs to remember his place; I'm the best at delivering all sorts of things, and I'm top notch at it too."

"Really? Cause last time I saw, Yelp only listed your delivery services as a 3.5 star rating."

"What?!" he squawked and switched his caduceus to phone mode and stared at it in dismay, "We just had a 4.3 rating last week! Damn those maenads! It was their fault that their boxes were damaged in the first place, that's what happens when you mishandle fragile items! And if it wasn't for that tall horny lady with those big knockers then I- wait." paused the irate Messenger God, "How on earth did you access the internet? I thought you demigods normally stayed away from phones and such."

Percy shrugged, "Meh, Triton lets me use his sometimes. He likes to keep tabs on his competitors, and according to him, he rates higher than you on customer satisfaction."

"THAT SLEAZY GREEN-! Of course he would! He doesn't have nearly as many deliveries to make as I do." fumed Hermes. "Ahem- anyways! As I was saying earlier, you're pretty far from your destination so I wanted to catch you and ask for a favor."

"Oookay, what is it?"

Hermes gave a roguish grin, "Wanna piss my brother off?"

"...keep going."

"Well, he's due to pass by in another minute or two and seeing as he still has his restrictions on entering the ocean." he waggled his arched eyebrows, "I wanna rub it in his face."

"That's harsh man, what'd he do?"

"That jerk blamed me for scuffing the leather of my Father's throne; I demand vengeance, I demand it be served hot and fresh." he said darkly.

Percy shook his head in amusement, "You sir, are evil...let's do it."

•••

Apollo had a dark secret.

Okay, that was a little dramatic, but it was still a secret, and that meant nobody was supposed to know about it.

Emphasis on 'supposed to'

That bitch Aphrodite caught him in the act one day, and in the safety and comfort of his own home to boot! The wretched humiliation, he even got on his knees to beg her not to tell anyone, and surprisingly, she had agreed...but she never said she wouldn't try her best to make him out himself.

That had to have been some sort of violation to the Girl Code he wasn't privy to.

The only person allowed to know besides his mother Leto was Artemis, and that was because she was his baby sister. If there's anyone he can trust, it's her.

Her and all of his demigod children that is, because, oh lordy, they too were cursed with the same misfortune as their father. He knew all of them had it, he's seen them do it at least once in their lives and wow, they had it bad.

It must've been the universe's way of trying to counteract and balance out the awesomeness his progeny were blessed to inherit from him. What a tragedy! His beautiful children need not suffer like their father!

Anyways,

Apollo thought today was gonna be like any other day, same old sky, same old terrains; he was a little over halfway across the Atlantic when. He. Saw. IT.

He did a double take and rubbed his eyes, surely he didn't see what he thought he just saw…

He leant over the driver side door of his chariot for a better look.

He saw his brother Hermes, which wasn't too out of the ordinary when he went out and performed his godly duties, but it was who he was with and what they were doing that made him gape.

Hermes was racing above the waters while a gorgeous blue merman was jumping in and out of the surf alongside him.

The Sun God could feel a torrent of emotions welling up inside of him and he panicked, that secret, the dark secret he was so careful about all these years was about to be exposed.

No not here! He thought miserably. He tried reigning back his emotions but he was a man of passion and whimsy, and they increased tenfold with the disgustingly happy scene below him.

Just who was that darling creature with him? He thought wistfully. They were both laughing and looked like they were having a great time; he had to know! Maybe he could track him down and see if he felt like playing later.

Artemis always thought that referring his free time as 'playing' was immature, but hey, what else are they gonna call them 'goofing off' then? He called it what it was and nobody could convince him otherwise.

Apollo squinted his eyes and focused on the cyan colored merman, he had a lovely lean tightly muscled body, shiny fancy tail fins, and...huh, he kinda looked like-

Percy! He was the sexy cyan merman playing with Hermes!

His manly feels couldn't take it anymore, couldn't bear it, couldn't EVEN-

Gasp!

Hermes put his arms out in front of him and the MerPrince must've gotten a silent cue because his next leap was higher and Hermes was able to swoop down and catch him in his arms.

It was right there and then that he surrendered himself to his baser instincts and let loose his shameful secret to the world.

Phoebus Apollo...was an ugly crier.

A blotchy red faced, snot running down his nose, loud obnoxious sobbing, toddler talking, stank face wearing ugly crier.

As you can imagine, this ruined the cool guy image that he was known for.

"N-no faaaairrrrrr! Ooouuuhuhu *snorts* I wanna p-pway with the pwetty pwetty Sea Pwince t-toooooouuhuhuoou!"

He looked down with hazy tear filled eyes and saw them laughing away without a care in the world.

This whole scene was a load of minotaur shit. If he was on probation then Hermes should be too! They were supposed to be partners in crime, bros, amigos!

The AU-DA-CI-TY!

He leaned over as far as he could without falling face first from his own chariot, what was that sound? Oh Gods, Percy was making the prettiest of chirps too! Like little clicks and whistles! His heart squeezed at the cuteness!

He was about to call out to them when Percy leapt out of Hermes' arms and back into the water. He disappeared below and Apollo thought that their little play time was over and was about to let out a sigh of relief until he saw the Sea Prince take a mighty leap out of the water and tackle Hermes on the way down and take him with him.

What came next was even worse.

Percy had maneuvered Hermes onto his backside with his large dorsal fins folded down completely and leaped in and out of the water. He had his arms angled behind him slightly so that he could hold onto the back of Hermes thighs while the Messenger God leaned forward and held onto his triceps for additional support.

Yup, his day was officially ruined.

Apollo couldn't handle it anymore, he revved his engines and set a course straight home. He didn't have to take this! The mortals didn't need the last four hours of sunlight anyways, he thought bitterly. He wanted to take a wild ride on the Sea Prince too!

...At least he didn't voice that particular thought out loud; Poseidon would've maimed him on sight.

Speaking of Fathers, Zeus was going to be furious with him later and could already see the thick clouds coming in to cover for the sudden disappearance of the sun. Last time this happened, he confiscated his chariot keys for a year.

He had a feeling it was gonna be a lot longer this time around.

"Snnnngk! Ugh, just you w-wait *sobs* I'll get to pway with the pwetty Sea Pwince sooooouuhuhuuunn!"

And Cut!

Oh man, this one was a great transitional piece to write for the upcoming chapters. It was actually supposed to be taking place at CHB already, but the chapter had grown so much in size… and then Hermes decided to butt in and demand some spotlight. It worked out in the end I guess.

An added bonus was having Apollo in there as well, lol, one of my best friends is a HIDEOUS ugly crier and I couldn't resist giving that particular trait to the Sun God too. Aphrodite is always trying to catch him off guard with cute kitty pics on Instagram.

Alrighty, time for some important things:

-Should I crosspost on AO3? I already have an account as my username here DearlyFictitious, but I'm still uncertain.

-As some of you have probably noticed, I've made some changes here and there on this reboot that differ from the original story Dr. Paint and I wrote on her account. I hope y'all are good with that cause I found these adjustments necessary to the upcoming events, especially for this arc which I've fondly dubbed: CHB Renovations and Other Various Shenanigans.

Remember, my updates are very sporadic. I am a firm believer of writing not because of obligation, but because your heart wants to. I find that some of my best works are written because of that.

Oh yeah, if anyone can guess what Triton is saying to Percy correctly, they'll get a little something special from me. First come first served!

I just hope the FF net site can read the type script correctly, if not...well, I tried!

Hopefully this writing bug lasts, I've said it before, but I'm very thankful for having you all here. Your support is sincerely appreciated :)

See you next time, stay safe my sweet ducks!

~Loveandhugs from me! DF