A/N: Four years ago, in November of 2016, an idea was born. I came up with the idea of this crossover for NaNoWriMo (trying to boost my wordcount via fanfiction) because I was thinking about monsters, and how the Winchesters would react to Greek legends. That spiraled a bit, until five months later I put up the first chapter of Greeks and Geeks. I've only ever had positive reviews come from that, and yet somehow, fifteen chapters and two years in, I dropped the ball.
One day about a month, month and a half ago, I saw a review posted, and I'm not gonna lie... I teared up a little. Someone had taken the time to congratulate my story despite it being dormant for all this time... and beyond that, they assured me that life goes on, and that even if I didn't finish it they appreciated it had existed. They bid me such a soft farewell.
I realized then that while maybe I never love my writing, many other people do. I put some value into somebody's life (even if it just takes them an hour to read and move on) and I present something that nobody else had before. It finally struck home to me that sometimes, people like what I have to offer. And as someone who struggled with anxiety, this meant so much to me.
Politely I responded, lol bitch u thought, and... I decided I could refine it. Do it again, but better, because I've grown as a writer over these years. This project is adding a lot back into my life, and I really am thankful for all the people reading this, old and new.
Anyways, I just really wanted to thank you (all of you!) for giving me the kick in my ass. And... this is dedicated to Mystic_Ender, for really turning me around. Thank you so much.
I owe all y'all a lot, so thanks 3
A/N REGARDING THE CHAPTER: THE WORST FUKCING PART IS THAT IT'S SET IN 2005 SO I CAN'T USE VINE REFERENCES AND THEY ALL HAVE FLIP PHONES. Twilight came out in early october that year, so unfortunately Percy decided to read it, and is therefore able to reference it. TIHI
Also to whoever answered my survey asking for this to be put on AO3… it already is! Same title, same author's username.
Whoever answered my survey with the single word, "smut," I like your audacity. We'll see.
October 31, 2005
"Listen, Sam, I don't know what you've got against arriving on time, but if we don't leave now, they'll be gone by the time that we finally get there." Percy folded his arms, leaning against the doorframe of their bedroom. "Besides, Halloween only happens once a year. If I don't get my fix in now, you're the one that's going to suffer for it."
Sam looked up at him from under his bangs, sitting on the bed as he was. "You're such a dork. I've never met anybody so excited for Halloween."
Percy took an affronted stance. "You haven't met many good people, then! Halloween is when you get to shed your sins for a night and hook up with catgirls and boys."
Sam raised an eyebrow. "Should I be worried, then? Get the lemon spray?"
Percy actually laughed at this, grabbing Sam by the hand and pulling him bodily up off the bed. "Nah, I've always been a dog person anyways."
Hands still linked together, they left the apartment and started walking to where Jess was waiting for them.
Percy's phone buzzed, and he pulled it out to see a text from Annabeth. Happy Halloween! Try not to explode something tonight, Seaweed Brain.
He showed it to Sam. "I guess I have a bit of a track record." He said, trying to look unamused. "In my defense, it's never intentional."
"Yeah, you don't really fit the bad boy trope." Sam said. "Maybe comedy relief?"
"Sam! My heart!" Percy clutched his chest. "I'd be offended, but….you think I'm funny?" He said.
Sam rolled his eyes. "If that's what you're taking out of this, then sure."
Percy preened. "Well, of course! Gods and monsters fear my snark."
Sam eyed him for a moment, then thankfully decided he was joking. Gods know what he'd have done if he thought Percy thought monsters were real. He might decide that either Percy was insane, or he would see through the mist, believe him, and get involved in something way above his pay grade.
Percy was trying to leave all that stuff behind, too. He kept in contact with Annabeth and the others (though he still didn't talk much with Calypso-what could he possibly say?) from both camps-how could he not? But he was done with Prophecies, done with monsters, and doing his best to live a normal, mortal life with his normal boyfriend.
"Did you wanna say hi?" Percy asked. Sam and Annabeth had met once, and hit it off, and it had been the hardest hour of Percy's life to keep up with. Sam called him a dork, sure, but in reality he was a massive fucking nerd.
"Sure." Sam said.
Instead of typing anything, though, Percy snapped a selfie with the two of them, and sent it, with the caption Innocent Child Gets Roasted by Two Geniuses.
Annabeth immediately responded, perfectly in character. Genii*
"I can't win." Percy complained. "Surrounded on all sides."
Sam looked smug.
They crossed the parking lot and entered the establishment (Percy was loath to call it anything as nice as "restaurant") where Jess was waiting for the two off them.
He didn't see her immediately, but apparently she did, because all of a sudden a sexy nurse was giving him a tight hug.
"Hey, Jess, hey." He said, peeling her off. "Sam's right here."
She gave him the same treatment, and Percy smirked at Sam over the top of her head.
"Do I even want to ask why you're so late?" She said, leading them over to a table. "I've already been approached by three of the staff here!"
"Sorry." Sam said.
"We walked here." Percy said. "I'll give it a five out of ten. As transportation methods go, there are faster, but the fresh air is nice."
Jess rolled her eyes. "Right. Well, before the fun begins, I just wanted to congratulate Sam on his LSAT. I heard you did really well."
"You need to stop bragging." Sam told Percy. "You're not the one who took the test."
"Guilty." Percy laughed. "But to be fair, you're awesome."
Sam tried not to look pleased with himself, but Percy could see it anyways. Personally, he thought Sam should have reason to look like that more often. Percy didn't know much about his childhood, but he knew that Sam didn't have a lot of achievements that he was proud of, and he deserved all the wins he could get.
"By the way, nice outfit." He told Jess. "I'm sure you're going to save so many lives."
She pursed her lips. "Percy, I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm not in the medical program."
Percy faked surprise. "I had no idea! Why didn't you say anything? You've kept this lie for how long?"
"Dork." Sam muttered under his breath.
"I heard that." Percy said. "And I want you to know that I completely agree."
Jess smiled at the two of them. "You're adorable."
Percy woke up some time in the middle of the night, after he and Sam had both made it back and were in bed. At first he couldn't pinpoint why, so he kept still and listened quietly. He was generally a heavy sleeper, but he'd spent months with Lupa and months with nightmares, so it wasn't as hard for him to wake up if something was wrong.
And something was definitely wrong; his "spidey-senses" were going off like a-well, he hesitated to say siren, but the thought was there.
Hopefully, he was just imagining things. And if not, hopefully he could take care of it before Sam woke up.
He slipped out of bed, freezing when Sam started to move. After a moment, though, he settled down, and Percy padded quietly out of the room, listening for the noise.
He heard it again, and realized there was an intruder in the living room, doing his damnedest to remain quiet. He had nothing on Percy, of course, but that was to be expected. He was a mortal, after all.
He hadn't even noticed Percy. He just kept going on obliviously, stumbling around the apartment. Percy was amazed he hadn't knocked something over already.
He slipped around behind the man, and addressed him somewhat imperiously. "I'll give you five seconds to rethink your choices."
Percy saw the figure straighten up, shocked but surprisingly good at suppressing his reaction. He imagined the man didn't have half the night vision Percy did, but he changed his location nevertheless.
"I'm here for someone." The man said.
"Well, you've got him." Percy responded. He swept his leg out, intending to trip the man, and catch him before he could hit the ground too hard and wake Sam. Then Percy could just take him outside and be done with it all.
What actually happened, though, was the man catching himself with decent skill and taking the opportunity to strike back at him. He swung at Percy, who dodged around him and pushed him forward. The man stumbled a little, and Percy took the opportunity to land an axe kick on his back in the area of his kidneys.
The man was good at stifling his cry of pain, but he still went down.
Percy pushed him flat on the ground and had his arms behind his back before he could get up. "I gave you time to think. Have you made your choice?"
"You are...surprisingly badass." The man coughed out. He sounded very begrudgingly impressed. "But I really am just looking for someone. Think I've got the wrong place."
"I'll say." Percy agreed. "Here's some advice: if you're looking for someone, don't break into random people's houses."
"It wasn't supposed to be random." The man muttered. "They told me this is where Sam Winchester lived. You know him?"
"Who is 'they?'" Percy asked, heart leaping. Was this a crony? Someone had a grudge out on Percy and they sent in someone to kidnap Sam? Use him as a hostage? Percy was stupid to think he could have escaped his godly side. Monsters messing with mortals, though… There had to be an intermediary.
In any case, Percy wasn't going to give them the chance.
Before the man he had pinned could speak up, though, the lights flicked on to reveal Sam standing in the doorway. "Percy?"
Percy winced, both from the sudden light and the fact that Sam had just caught him red-handed. Maybe he could just play it off as martial arts training or something…
"Dean?" Sam immediately followed up with, and Percy looked at the man beneath him. This was the brother? Percy felt a little sour. He scrambled off the man, who stood up and rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Damn, Sammy, your boyfriend's got some kick to him." He commented, not sounding nearly as put out as he should be. He looked smug, obviously waiting for Sam to claim his heterosexuality and get embarrassed by his brother's assertion.
Instead, all Sam asked him was "What the hell are you doing here?"
Dean's smile faltered a little bit, eyes widening as neither of them denied it.
"I was, uh… just looking for a beer." He said, the lie obvious as the nose on his face.
"No." Percy said. "You said you were looking for Sam."
Dean looked startled at the call-out, and Sam narrowed his eyes at him. "You never call. And you show up out of the blue, in the middle of the night, and expect me to want to see you?"
"Don't be like that." Dean said, clearly uncomfortable. "It's um… important." His eyes darted back and forth between Percy and Sam, and Percy figured out what he wasn't saying. It was something private to the two of them, and he wanted to say it without Percy in the room.
Percy figured that Sam could handle his brother well enough without him around, so he started to creep off. "You've got this covered, Sam. I won't get in the way."
Sam's fingers closed around his wrist. "You know I trust you, Perce. Whatever Dean has to say to me, he can say to me with you."
Dean sighed tiredly. "Okay, Sammy. Dad's...gone. He hasn't been home in a couple of days."
Sam shrugged. "So?" Percy knew he held some resentment towards his father-in a similar way that Luke had held towards the gods, but different. Just barely.
"He's probably just working overtime on a Miller time shift. He'll stumble back in sooner or later." Sam continued, unimpressed.
Percy watched Dean's body language. His eyes held a sense of urgency to them, and he was clearly uneasy. Their father was not just passed out drunk somewhere. This was something worse.
"Dad's on a hunting trip." Dean elaborated, stressing the hunting part. "And he hasn't been home in a couple days." Something about that comment seemed oddly familiar to Percy, but he just couldn't place it. It was on the tip of his tongue, but for all the gods the final puzzle piece kept eluding him.
Sam went still. Percy looked to him, and every part of his boyfriend had become tense. He looked… a mix of emotions, honestly, but Percy could clearly see the fear and anger there.
"Can you excuse us, Percy?" Sam ground out.
Percy was reluctant to go, considering that whatever Dean was referring to had knocked him extremely off-kilter, but he didn't want to cause a bigger issue.
"Alright." He whispered, kissing Sam on the cheek and slinking off, skulking to the direction of the bedroom. He didn't go far, though, wanting to eavesdrop on the conversation.
"Dean, you can't just drop in like this!" Sam was saying. There was a shuffling, as if they were walking to the door.
"Dad's missing. We need to find him." Dean said.
The apartment's front door swung open, and after a moment, closed. Percy could no longer hear them. He sighed, sliding down the wall. Sam's brother, who had never called or visited or given any indication of his existence, had just busted into his apartment, and whisked Sam away. Percy really didn't know how to feel about that, considering the feelings Sam had always expressed about the both of them (his father especially). From the little that Sam had shared, Percy felt he didn't owe either of them anything.
A thought struck Percy like lightning from an inconvenienced Zeus, and he suddenly realized why the emphasis on hunting had struck something within him.
The Hunters of Artemis. That was how they referred to what they did, right? Chasing monsters across the country, eternally hunting the creepy bastards and asshats. Hunting monsters.
That'd explain Dean's secrecy, but… it didn't make sense. The two of them were 100% mortal. Percy had checked, and re-checked once he and Sam had started dating, and unless Sam was adopted, then nobody in his family line had a drop of godly blood. They couldn't hunt monsters. They wouldn't be able to see them.
Sam was susceptible to the Mist. It had gotten Percy out of more than a couple scrapes, but he wasn't fond of using it. But it meant that Sam wouldn't be able to see monsters.
Their father must have been hunting dangerous game, then. Something that the mortals could actually see.
Percy crept out of the apartment. He wasn't supposed to eavesdrop, and normally he wouldn't, but he just needed to confirm to himself that he wasn't delusional, and that he hadn't made a mistake when checking Sam. He just needed to be sure.
He walked silently down the stairs, keeping to the shadows. He hid at a point where he could see and hear the brothers, but he'd remain undetectable.
The two of them were walking down the stairs, and they'd made it about halfway down when Percy was finally able to hear them.
"...Or the Devil's Gates in Clifton? He was missing then, too." Sam was saying. "He's always missing, and he's always fine."
"Not for this long. You gonna come with me or not?" Dean asked. He kept marching down the stairs, and Sam trailed after him.
"No, Dean. I'm done, for good."
"So, what're you gonna, live an apple pie life or something? Normal and boring?"
"Safe." Sam stressed.
"And that's why you ran away." Dean mocked him. He approached a sleek black car, leaning against it and folding his arms.
"It was Dad who said if I was going, I should stay gone. So that's what I did."
Percy saw Dean wince. Nevertheless, he still kept with his argument. "Yeah, well, Dad's in real trouble right now, I can feel it. If he's not dead already."
Sam didn't say anything for a long moment.
"I can't do this without you." Dean said.
"Yes, you can."
"Well, I don't want to."
Sam turned, his shoulders sinking. Percy could tell this was the moment he acquiesced. He was going to leave, to find his father. And since somehow, the situation was clearly dangerous, Percy was going to be left at home to bite his nails.
That's not going to happen. Percy snorted to himself. He turned and ran silently back up the stairs. He was going to pack a bag before Sam could even get upstairs, and he was going to convince Sam to let him join them, no matter how much pleading it took. After all, Percy had defeated a giant. He had tracking skills he'd learned from Lupa. He would be invaluable.
Making it to their room, he started gathering everything he'd need and packing it in one of the duffle bags he'd stolen from camp. It still had a couple drachmas and squares of ambrosia in it, as well as a basic first aid kit. At the bottom, there was a bright orange camp shirt that he hadn't seen in forever. It was slashed and looked like some monster had gotten at part of the hem, but it still reminded him of Long Island.
He missed it a lot. At times, he still wondered how Chiron was doing, and what the new campers were like. What new cabins there were, and new groups of kids.
Occasionally, Piper or Frank would text him updates on relations between the two camps, and it seemed like everything was going smoothly, even in their absence. The last time all seven of them had been in one room had been over a year ago, though, and as time went on, it seemed less and less likely that they would reunite.
Percy put the shirt back in the duffle bag, and turned to his drawers to see what clean clothes he still had available. He imagined the two of them (three, including Dean) were going to be gone for some time. In the end, he ended up chucking almost everything into his bag.
Once he had it entirely packed, he put it off to the side, and sat back on the bed, waiting for Sam to come back.
It didn't take too long, either. After Percy had finished packing, he only waited a couple of minutes before Sam reappeared in their bedroom.
He looked shocked to see Percy sitting up, as if he'd expected Percy had gone back to bed.
"Percy," he said, looking absolutely clueless as to how he was going to broach the subject. "I'm going away for… a couple of days."
Percy nodded reasonably. "And I'm going with you."
Sam was totally blindsided. His expression reminded Percy of a fish. And he would know. "What? No!"
"Yep!" He said perkily. "I gotta watch out for you."
"Percy, you can't. This is dangerous." Sam said, doing his best impression of Edward Cullen.
Screw that. Percy was not going to be Bella. "I'm not useless Sam. You're gonna need me." Fuck, though, he didn't want to reveal his past. This was going to require a careful touch.
Thankfully, Sam only seemed focused on making sure Percy wouldn't join him on his quest. "I don't want to watch you get hurt." He turned away from Percy like the conversation was over and started packing his own duffle bag.
Hah. Nice try. "If you think I'm gonna be sitting here twiddling my thumbs like a 1950s housewife while you go off to war, you're dead wrong."
"Percy, it's not that big of a deal, alright?" Sam said, packing his bag with somewhat less efficiency than Percy had.
"Your dad missing is not that big of a deal?" Percy said, putting skepticism into his tone. "Then why are you rushing off in the middle of the night?"
Sam gripped his hair in frustration. "Percy, listen-"
Percy listened, alright. Footsteps were coming down the hallway that Sam seemed oblivious to, and Percy was willing to bet his last dollar that it was Dean.
Sam looked like he was trying to put together a last-minute argument. Before he even started to speak, though, Dean cut in. Point for Percy.
"He can come, Sam."
Sam whirled on his brother, betrayed. "Are you nuts?"
"Dude, he had me down in less than a minute. He'll be fine." Dean seemed confident.
"Don't you dare fuck up my normal life. This is temporary." Sam hissed. "I'm not dragging Percy into this."
"You kind of already did." Dean said. "Anyways, he's good in close combat at least. Give him an iron poker and he'll be golden."
Percy had been trying to sweep that part under the rug in the hopes that Sam wouldn't ask him about it. He had been foolish to think it'd go ignored, though.
Sam looked back to Percy. "Where did you even learn to fight like that?"
Percy shifted under his scrutiny. "Summer camp." Technically not a lie, either, so bonus points.
"He's not coming." Sam said. "Percy, you're not. No way."
"I'm an excellent tracker." Percy said. "I'll be able to help."
Sam hung his head. "Sometimes, I really hate your stubborn streak."
"It's too late for regrets, Sam! Let's get this show on the road."
Dean held up a hand. "One thing, though. No...lovey shit in my car."
"Yeah," Sam said. "Since when has the Impala been yours?"