"It's five. Maybe we could break off early. I have something in mind." Percy said
Dionysus tried to not let his brighten and the thought of not reading just then.
"All of come here at 7:30." Percy said. Everybody raised their eyebrows but nodded.
"You six, wear something good." Aphrodite said, gesturing the Hades and Persephone, Poseidon and Amphitrite, Zeus and Hera who looked confused.
"Aphrodite I swear-" Nico started
"It's not that." Aphrodite said quickly. Nico looked visibly relieved.
"Percy, I want a word. 6:30." She said. Percy looked confused but nodded.
"I'm going to read." Athena said
"Can I join?" Annabeth asked. Athena looked a little surprised but nodded with a small smile. The demigods smiled and grinned at Annabeth.
"Come on now brother. Lets make you taste some shakes. Mom, dad, Tyson, Thalia, Nico, Jason and Hazel. You too." Triton said. They all nodded.
"These are called kelp shakes. Sea kelp shakes." Triton said. Thalia snorted in laughter.
"Very tasty." Amphitrite nodded. Tyson nodded too.
"Uh okay." Percy said. Triton grinned and gave him a glass. As soon as Percy took a huge sip of the shake, his eyes widened. He seemed to have difficulty swallowing.
"Uh Percy?" Poseidon asked. Percy held up a hand and a finger indicating to wait one second. Percy stood there for two seconds before racing off to the nearest bathroom. He came back two seconds later taking deep breaths.
"Are you sure that was edible?" He choked out, looking pale and green.
"Yeah." Triton shrugged.
"You like them?" Percy asked. Triton nodded. Percy's cousins chuckled at Percy's face.
"Shut up guys. I'm going to make you taste it otherwise." Percy said. They snickered a bit more but shut up. Percy looked around for some drink. He grabbed the nearest bottle without seeing the title and drank it.
"Percy wait-!" Nico tried stopping him but it was too late. He grimaced as Percy spat it out.
"Okay what was that?" he asked
"That was tequila." Poseidon said amusedly.
"How can you drink that?" Percy groaned
"Oh the misery." Thalia said. Percy whined. Everybody chuckled.
"You tasted peanut butter and banana shakes?" Percy asked Triton finally
"Peanut butter and banana in one?" Triton asked with a horrified expression. Percy smirked. The demigods looked mock hurt.
"You wound me." Nico said
"Even I haven't." Amphitrite said. Even Tyson looked surprised this time.
"I haven't either." Poseidon admitted. Percy mock fainted. Everybody laughed at that.
Percy prepared the shake and gave it to Triton, Amphitrite and Poseidon.
"This is actually pretty amazing." Poseidon said. Amphitrite and Tyson nodded in agreement. The demigods smirked.
"This is just shakes. Tell me you have eaten blue cookies." Percy said. The demigods and Tyson looked physically pained when they saw the three members of the sea gang shake their heads.
"Prepare it tonight, Percy. You and Aunt Sally are practically the only ones who can pull them off." Hazel said. Percy nodded.
"Yeah, I'm actually physically wounded that dad hasn't tasted them." Percy said. Poseidon looked sheepish.
"Hey, you have any idea why Aphrodite called you?" Nico asked
"I honestly have no idea. I don't need love therapy." Percy said
"Weird." Nico shrugged.
"Yeah, I need you guys, whoever is free, to help me out with food in the kitchen." Percy said. The demigods nodded.
"Sea ya guys." Percy grinned. The sea gang grinned and Percy and his cousins took off.
The Greek demigods stood in the kitchen and each had a food item assigned to them. Leo was doing tacos which was his specialty. Percy was obviously doing blue cookies.
They all worked for an hour with a lot of chatter. When they came to ice cream cones, they decided to have some fun. One of the demigods would toss an ice cream scoop from on cone and the other would catch it with their cone. They'd done this before and were quite skilled with it.
So first Nico tossed the chocolate flavor ice cream and Will caught it in his ice cream cone. He put another scoop of vanilla on top and tossed the vanilla part to Percy who caught it in his cone. Then he put some blueberry on top and tossed it to Annabeth. Nico tossed a cookie and cream to Percy which he caught on his vanilla. The cycle continued.
The gods walked in and their jaws hit the ground. Every single one. The demigods did not have even the slightest bit of ice cream on them and they were all upto three scoops of ice cream and were tossing around the fourth one and then picked fresh cones and increased their speed. The demigods had no idea that the gods had walked in. Hermes recorded the event in awe.
"Skills!" Apollo said finally, grinning. Leo was the first one to look and the scoop of vanilla ice cream that was tossed by Piper hit him right on the cheek. The Greek demigods paused and burst out laughing. Leo grinned as he tried to lick the ice cream. Then he took a scoop of pistachio ice cream and tossed it at Piper which hit her right on the face. The laughter increased. The gods raised their eyebrows and laughed.
Soon all the demigods were being chaotic and throwing ice cream scoops at each other without touching the cones that they had already made.
"FOOD FIGHT!" Apollo squealed. The demigods grinned at the gods.
"You're a part of this now too. Too late to run." Jason smirked. The gods smirked. Soon the demigods were hiding behind the gods occasionally to get them hit with the ketchup and ice cream and maple syrup and what not.
Apollo and Ares sprayed entire bottles of ketchup at each other. Dionysus and Hermes were throwing Gatorade at each other. The demigods paused in the middle to see Dionysus in his young form. Castor, Pollux and Dakota smiles were huge and the campers were smiling. Then Poseidon tossed a pastry slice at Percy which hit in the hair. Percy grinned and sprayed a peanut butter shake at his dad.
Hades sprayed some whipped cream on Poseidon and he tossed a cake slice at Hades. Then the two of them sprayed cream cheese on Zeus who sprayed them with ketchup. The demigods stopped the food fight for some minutes to just look at their parents having a food fight actually being casual. Like every single one of them.
By the end of the food fight, everybody was covered in all sorts of food items and drinks.
"My mom would freak." Percy muttered.
"Selfie time." Nico grinned.
Nico and Hades clicked a selfie together with the peace sign. Percy and Poseidon clicked a selfie with all the weirdest identical facial expressions. Apollo, Lee, Michael, Will and Rachel clicked a selfie with musical poses. Hermes, Travis, Connor and Chris clicked a photo with Travis piggy backing on Connor and Hermes laughing. Clarisse, Ares and Frank clicked a selfie with finger guns. Even Zeus, Thalia and Jason clicked a selfie.
When they looked at the pictures, they couldn't even make out who was the god and who the demigod based on their looks. They looked so identical. They could make out Rachel because of her red hair but the others were looking identical to the gods which actually made everybody happy. Then they all clicked a group photograph.
"I'm sending this to mom." Percy said, sending a WhatsApp message with the photo.
"Does the message travel in the time or like in our present?" Nico asked
"Our present. The Iris messages too." Chris said, reading the note.
"Awesome." Percy said and clicked sent.
"Lets send an iris message too." Percy said.
"I'd reconsider that. You don't know what she might be doing." Nico said. Percy turned a little red but nodded. He gave a normal call to his mom. She must have picked up because Percy grinned.
"Hey mom. Yeah, it's Percy. I'm putting you on speaker." Percy said.
"Hello Percy? How are you doing? The fates said you were reading books in the past and that you're turning into gods after you finish the reading?!" Sally exclaimed.
"Hey aunt Sally, it's Nico. Yeah, that's right." He said
"Oh Nico dear, how are you doing? Eating well? Though I'm sure Will wouldn't spare you if you didn't." Sally chuckled. Everybody chuckled behind. Nico and Will grinned sheepishly.
"Yep. I find him well all right." Will said
"Hey mom, I've sent you a pic. Identify who's who." Percy said.
"Give me a sec." Sally said.
"This is quite-" Sally's voice broke off for a few seconds. She was quiet for a few seconds.
"Percy-" Sally started
"Mom, you're on speaker." Percy reminded her.
"Yeah. Percy is that your father?" sally asked
"Hey Sally, how are you doing?" Poseidon asked.
"I'm doing good, how about you?" Sally asked.
"Pretty well." Poseidon smiled.
"Great. Now Percy who is who. You both looks so identical." Sally said softly. Percy and Poseidon grinned.
"I'm the one on the right." Percy said
"I thought that was your father." Sally sighed over the phone. Everybody chuckled.
"Hey, Aunt S." Thalia said
"Thalia! How are you doing?" Sally asked
"We had a food fight." Thalia said
"Wait, all the gods had a food fight?" Sally asked
"Yeah, they're all covered in food right now. So are we." Thalia said
"That's oddly… mortal." Sally said
"They changed. A lot of them. It's amazing. Way more fun." Percy said.
"That's great. I guess that's why they're changing you into gods?" Sally asked
"The fates are actually. They think that they might be good for the changes in the world." Hermes said.
"Uh let me guess who you are. Your voice sounds young but it sounds mischievous. Lord Hermes?" Sally asked. Hermes grinned widely and the others whoa'ed and Percy grinned.
"Yep. You're very intelligent. Uncle P got lucky. And you can call me Hermes." Hermes said. Poseidon smacked him on the arm and Hermes pouted.
"Stop flirting with my mom, Hermes." Percy grumbled.
"Sorry, Perce." Hermes chuckled.
"Perce?" Sally asked
"Yeah, they're all changing. We're all quite enjoying it now. We all have selfies with our parents now." Nico said
"I want all the pics." Sally said eagerly. Everybody grinned.
"Aunt sally, you won't believe it." Jason said
"Jason?! Jason, honey how are you. Oh gods." Sally said. Jason smiled.
"They brought the dead ones back to life." Annabeth said. "All the people who died after the rescue of Artemis have been brought back to life.
"That's great! After rescue of Artemis?" Sally asked
"Yeah." Nico said
"Right." Sally said
"But you won't believe it. Even Ares and dad played food fight." Jason said. Sally actually choked on air on the other side.
"You okay mom?" Percy asked a little worriedly.
"Yes. But those were some surprising names." Sally said
"Yeah. Even they're changing. Ares is a friend now." Percy said
"Wow." Sally said, disbelief in her voice.
"I changed all right." Ares said.
"Lord Ares." Sally said
"Just Ares is fine." Ares said.
"Okay guys. I'm going to remind you. Sally Jackson's married." Apollo said "And she has a kid with Uncle P." he chuckled.
"Hello Apollo. How are you doing?" Sally smiled
"I'm doing great. Missing you seven layer dip." Apollo said, smiling.
"Ask Percy and Leo to make it. I taught them." Sally said. Percy and Leo grinned.
"I hate you, Perce and Leo. You never told me." Apollo said
"Who said we weren't making it?" Leo grinned. Apollo's face brightened.
"And you love us." Percy said.
"Yeah. I love you guys." Apollo said
Percy took the phone and talked to his mom for some time. He even dragged Poseidon off to talk for some time. Then you got Tyson and Triton to talk for some time as well. Even Amphitrite wanted to talk to Sally. Percy finally cut the call after 10 minutes.
"Why are you covered in food?" Amphitrite asked
"Food fight." Percy grinned.
"Should've called me." Triton said
"Sorry bud." Percy said
The demigods and gods went off to clean themselves and Percy went to Aphrodite.
"Yes Aphrodite?" Percy asked
"What are you planning for tonight?" Aphrodite asked
"Just some fun and dance and all." Percy shrugged.
"I was thinking a renewal of vows for the elder couples." Aphrodite said
"Zeus and Hera too?" Percy asked
"Yes but they need to bond a bit more." Aphrodite said
"You are not putting them through therapy." Percy said angrily.
"Wasn't planning on." Aphrodite said
"Okay, then?" Percy asked
"Plan some slow dances today." Aphrodite said. Percy sighed and nodded.
"What about the other two?" Percy asked
"Ask them." Aphrodite said
"And when do you plan on this event taking place?" Percy asked
"After you turn into gods and we're done with the changes." Aphrodite said
"Right okay." Percy said. He left the room. He went and told Nico who nodded. The two of them gathered their parents, step parents, Hazel, Triton and Tyson.
"What's up?" Poseidon asked
"Aphrodite thinks that you could renew your vows." Percy said. Everybody's eyebrows shot up.
"Both of you." Nico said
"Actually even Zeus and Hera but like they need more bonding." Percy said.
"When?" Persephone asked
"When we turn into gods and finish the changes." Nico said.
"Sounds good to me." Poseidon said
The gods nodded.
"Right. So yeah. That's that." Percy said.
"Okay so we should go and change." Nico said.
"Hey Leo. Get the dip!" Will called out, as everybody was arranging the food and drinks and speakers. Some of them were setting up the lights.
Everybody came around 7:30 itself.
"So what are we doing?" Ares asked
"Some fun. Like dance and all and eat." Percy said
"Nicee." Hermes grinned.
Will started his playlist. It had about 1K songs. Nobody understood how he found so many of them. The first song was Reflex by SAINt JHN
Some of the demigods sat in duos by the beach and talked. The gods and some of the demigods danced.
The next song got everybody on their feet. It was Down by Jay Sean and Lil Wayne.
"Baby are down down down down down!" The demigods and some gods shouted and danced.
"Down like she 'posed to be
She gets down low for me
Down like her temperature, 'cause to me she zero degrees
She cold, over freeze." Jason sang, gesturing at his father with his thumb. The demigods snickered and the gods chuckled
"I got that girl from overseas." Percy sang, giving a goofy smile as he gestured to Poseidon and Amphitrite who grinned
"Now she my Miss America." Nico said, shrugging, grinning and gesturing to Hades and Persephone who chuckled.
"Now can I be her soldier please?
I'm fighting for this girl.
On a battlefield of love" Frank and Clarisse grinned with raised eyebrows, gesturing to Ares and Aphrodite
"Don't it look like baby cupid sendin' arrows from above
Don't you ever leave the side of me." Piper and Silena sang, pointing with both their thumbs at Ares and Aphrodite.
"Indefinitely, not probably
And honestly, I'm down like the economy (yeah)." Frank grinned.
"BABY DON'T WORRY, YOU ARE MY ONLY. YOU WON'T BE LONELY EVEN IF THE SKY IS FALLING DOWN. NO NEED TO WORRY. BABY ARE YOU DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, DOWN, DOWN!" The demigods shouted and the gods jumped in as well. Everybody grinned and cheered
After a few more songs, Percy played 'This town' by Niall Horan. The couples went over to the dance floor.
"All the couples have to dance!" Aphrodite said. The demigods looked more than happy and so did most of the gods. Some of them sighed and got up (cough Hera and Zeus cough) but eventually everybody began to enjoy. Aphrodite nodded at Percy who gave a small smile.
Percy thought about what Aphrodite was planning to do and he knew it was a good idea but he also knew that it wouldn't be as easy. Now he knew that the therapy method that Aphrodite had chosen was beyond awful but he couldn't deny that some other therapy might be good. He knew that they would need to go through some normal counseling before they could get married again and if not 'need' then 'should' so that everything goes smooth. It was going to be quite interesting once they all turned into gods. Even more interesting than things already were.
Somewhere inside, Percy found himself looking forward to it. To help changing things for demigods. He and his friends knew the hardships all too well. He and his friends would make sure that they made things way easier for the demigods so that they could do things that the campers wished that they could. They would do their best to make sure that the demigods knew they were loved and cared about.
Now Percy was also looking forward to the different events that were going to take place after the change like the weddings. Though he wanted himself to stay just the way he was. His denial of immortality in the first place was that he would have to leave Annabeth which wasn't a problem this time around and the second was because he wanted demigods to be claimed. Now he and his friends would be able to make think of more ways to make it all easier. He was glad that the gods were changing as well.
Maybe it was taking time for some opinions to change or some gods to change but now he knew that at least they were trying. He still wanted to live his life as a young man which he would be able to as the fates had come with a solution to that too. He didn't want to leave his mother, sister and Paul but he could visit them too. He saw it as a win win for everybody this time.
He smiled as he saw all the gods and demigods dance or talk and basically just enjoy themselves. He smiled as Annabeth rested her head against his chest. He admitted that he had felt hurt when they read about Luke and the way that they used to fight because of him before. He knew that some things might even come up later but he did not focus on those. He focused on the present and would focus on that. He knew that he loved her and that she loved him. That was all that mattered. If any problems ever occurred then they would always banter it out and solve it just like they always did.