Disclaimer: While I admit that would be awesome if I owned any of this enough to make money off of it, my life is not that cool. The only thing I really own in this situation is Cassie and the computer I'm using to write the story. That said, Cassie is mine and I would be upset if anyone borrowed her without asking. Everything else belongs to Marvel Comics and Rick Riordan. Neither of those people should sue me. It would not be worth the time.
The breakfast that follows the morning after Steve arrives home from his mission isn't the most awkward meal Cassie has ever eaten. No, the honor for that particular meal involves waking up after a night spent sleeping on a picnic bench and consisted of juice pouches and granola bars. Plus a poodle named Gladiola. That Cassie had been forced to greet formally. In exchange for reward money so that she and her friends could take a train to hell to track down a stolen lightning bolt.
So yeah that wins the award for most awkward ever breakfast in Cassie's memory. Unfortunately this breakfast probably wins the award for most tense and silent breakfast she's ever eaten. It also necessitates the consumption of more food in a single meal than she's seen in a very long time with Steve and Bucky both eating.
By the time they've plowed through all of their food in awkward mumbles, forced polite small talk, and semi-protracted silences Cassie has had enough. She clears her plate and indicates for Rachel to stand. Rachel follows her cue and pops up to her feet with a bounce that sends the red frizz of her hair out around her head like fire.
"Well alright then here's what's going to happen now," Cassie declares as Rachel crosses the kitchen to her. Bucky and Steve both look over at her. Steve is frowning in confusion and Bucky mostly just looks impassive. "I'm going to go grab coffee with Rachel and walk her back to her place. Then I'm going to walk back here very, very slowly and by the time I'm back you two will have started using verbal exchanges involving more than monosyllabic grunts. Rachel, back me up."
Rachel, gods bless her, jumps right in to the ring like a trained matador. "Right," she begins, laying her hands on her hips and leveling Bucky with a hard look. "You survived seventy years of HYDRA torture and ended up right back here in New York with the same best friend you left it with right before World War II. I'm an oracle which means that fate and prophecy? Yeah I support it. So that means something." Then she turns and fixes her eyes on Steve. "You once literally took on an army single handedly to save the guy sitting across the table from you and you just spent actual months trying to find him again. Now he's sitting across the table from you."
With that Rachel makes for the door, clearly deciding that that is as good a way to exit as any. Cassie happens to think that she has the right idea so she crosses the kitchen once more, drops a kiss on Steve's cheek, whispers "you'll thank me later" in to his ear, and hurries out the door Rachel's now holding open for her.
They follow the plan that Cassie had outlined in the kitchen and walk through the streets of the city together, talking as they go. The early morning is one of Cassie's favorite times to be in New York City. The sun is just starting to really shine and most people are just waking up and starting their days so the streets aren't crowded and busy yet.
The two of them stop for the required caffeine buzz for them both to survive their mornings and keep on walking back to Rachel's apartment so that she has time to get changed before the rest of her day has to really get started. As they part ways they make plans to meet up again at some point. Even if they don't see each other for a few weeks they're both invited to Percy's Birthday dinner in August.
Then Cassie takes her time wandering back home, making random looping patterns throughout the city in the hopes of giving Steve and Bucky the time they need to try to get started on talking things out. Or punching them out. To do whatever it is those two guys do to handle their issues. Hopefully it won't involve too much property damage. She's already been partially responsible for breaking one of Tony's probably very expensive windows this week. She says partially because it really can't be considered her fault that she and Rachel were attacked by a giant bat monster.
For once in recent memory Cassie actually has some time to kill and frankly she considers it a luxury. She wanders through one of the trails in Central Park and gives the nymphs she encounters a wave or a smile as she passes. At one point she actually passes the maple tree made out of the titan Hyperion and Cassie gives it a fond tap on the trunk. The spirit of the titan may have been reborn in Tartarus but the tree still brings up memories of fighting beside her friends and actually managing to win.
About six blocks from the Tower she encounters a farmers market and does some organic grocery shopping. It's all overpriced, but the warmth of the morning is starting to heat the freshly made bread and strawberries in their baskets at their stands and the smells are making Cassie think about summers at camp. The strawberries aren't quite as good without the extra magic and care provided by having the god of wine on site, but the one she tries is still delicious.
Basically Cassie stays out and just wonders through the city enjoying living in New York without anyone or anything trying to attack her until she feels like going home. When that feeling makes itself known Cassie turns her feet back towards the Tower and slips inside. The doorman just nods at her as she passes him and Cassie nods back before making her way across the lobby and in to the private elevator reserved for residential use.
When the ding of the elevator doors sliding open sounds Cassie steps out hesitantly and looks cautiously up and down the hallway. There are no obvious signs of destruction visible so it looks like everyone might be safe on the property damage front. Tony won't have any new reasons to hate any of them. Or evict them. Both of those options are bad and best avoided.
As though thinking of the man was a summons (something that is scarily very possible and has been previously experienced with certain beings Cassie has encountered over the course of her existence thus far) Tony Stark appears walking towards her. Quickly Cassie makes a mental note to herself to keep Stark from ever knowing that he's just accomplished something she normally only associates with gods. Cassie already has to deal with godly egos whenever she runs in to a family member, which is thankfully not very often. She doesn't need to have to deal with an ego any bigger than the one Stark already has from anyone she lives in the same building as.
"Doc," he mutters as he passes.
"Tony," Cassie returns evenly.
It's a surprise when Tony freezes and grips her elbow. Cassie's immediate impulse is to twist away and flip him on to the ground but she checks it down in favor of a potential wind change. Thus far they've been existing with an icy wall of silence between them so the fact that he's made the first gesture forwards is... interesting to say the least. She looks at him with raised eyebrows and waits for the words to form.
It takes approximately four seconds. "Do you want to explain why a window in this building got broken and the explanation I got was that a giant bat attacked you in the hallway?"
Cassie sighs and then calmly shakes off Tony's grip. "Fine. You have problems with old business associates of your dad's right? There are people out there in the business world that he pissed off that you have to deal with now because you're his kid?"
Tony's eyes narrow at her like he's wondering where she's going with this, but after a moment he seems to decide to roll with it and nods once. "Yeah. They're assholes. What's your point?" If he's nothing else, he's blunt.
"My point," Cassie enunciates. "Is that if your dad made enemies by being a businessman, what kind of enemies do you think my dad has as a god?" She lets that sink in for a moment before she continues. "But see, my dad is unkillable, and I'm not and those enemies know that. I inherited a full and complete species of enemies and over the last three thousand years all they've done is build up. And no matter what I do they can't ever actually die. I kill them and they come back and as far as I know they will keep on coming back again and again until I'm dead."
Tony Stark's expression doesn't change but his face seems paler than it was a moment ago. She gives him a moment but no words come so Cassie shrugs. "Sorry about the window. I'd offer to pay you back but you control my paycheck so there's really no point. If you have to you can deduct it." With that she turns to make her way back down the hall towards her apartment.
"When-" Tony asks from behind her and Cassie turns to look back at him. "When did all of this start," he gestures broadly to encompass everything he isn't sure he's referring to. Cassie's pretty sure he means attacks from killer demonic bats and other monsters.
She can't see any harm in answering the question so Cassie answers it. "The first time I can remember being attacked I was five. Something probably happened before that going by other stories I've heard but I don't know what. Attacks get worse as you get older when your a demigod because you get more powerful. They're worst during the teenaged years when our aura's are strongest. They've petered off over the last five years or so but having me and Rachel in one place must have been a pretty strong signature." She takes a step back the way she'd been going before she had turned as her explanation ends. "Like I said, sorry about the window."
This time Tony doesn't stop her or call her back and Cassie reaches the end of the hall and makes her way to her and Steve's apartment. She sticks her head through the door first when she reaches it and takes a look around to check for damages again. The apartment appears to be about as unscathed as the hallway so she slips the rest of the way inside and unloads the strawberries from the farmer's market in to the refrigerator and cuts a piece of bread to make some toast in place of lunch. It is in no way the healthiest option for food but she's had a basically good day so at the moment she really doesn't care.
Steve and Bucky come through the door ten minutes after she had. They're both wearing gym clothes and Cassie notes that Bucky's must have been borrowed from Steve because they don't quite fit him at the shoulders. He gives Cassie a single nod as he passes, probably heading for a shower. Steve walks up behind her where she's sitting at the kitchen island and presses a kiss against the naked skin of her shoulder. "Hi."
"Hey," Cassie returns, tipping her head up and back to give him an actual kiss in greeting. "Want some toast?" she offers, holding out one of the pieces. "I bought yummy overpriced bread while I was out today. It might be better for us or it might not but I'm choosing to believe it is because otherwise I really can't justify the dollar amount involved."
He smiles down at her. "You're amazing." It's stated simply, like it's a fact and nothing else.
Cassie grins back at him. "Well I try." Steve just leans down to kiss her again. His hand comes up to cradle her cheek and Cassie melts in to it for several moments before pulling back gently to look up at him. "So you two talked?" she asks, indicating her head towards the door Bucky went through.
With her words Steve's expression turns thoughtful and he gives her a slow nod. "We started to."
He moves away to make his own toes and Cassie swivels in her chair to watch him as he does. As he works Cassie tells him about her conversation with Tony in the hallway and they talk through some of the possible implications as he eats. Eventually he leaves to shower too and Bucky returns to the living room, picking up a thick book Cassie wouldn't try to read on a dare and vanishing behind it. Cassie gets her work done and goes about her day.
The days that follow involve a series of gradual changes that once put together actually start to look like development. At any rate they're moving forwards somehow, and forwards is always better than reverse. Unless you were talking literally instead of just using the metaphor Cassie's going for and forwards involved a literal brick wall or freakish beast from the heart of Tartarus. In that case reverse works best.
Cassie continues to live her life as she always has and makes sure she's keeps a close watch on how the rest of the world is taking shape around her. She goes to work as always and manages to translate most of the paper files in her office on to the computer and in to audio text reader files for quick review. Occasionally an agent or two comes in with basic injuries, but it's nothing she needs her magic for and she handles them with purely mortal medicine, the kind that's been around since the first weirdo cut in to someone to figure out how to fix them.
When she's not working Cassie fills her time with training using the super reinforced equipment the gym keeps stalked for Thor and Steve to use and every few nights she goes out and runs a patrol. She doesn't talk about where she's going or what happens on those nights and to her immense relief Steve doesn't ask for details apart from a sleepily asked "Are you okay?" each time she crawls back in to bed beside him during the small hours of the morning when the sky is half way between black and a slightly lightened grey. Each time she assures him that she is, plants a kiss on his cheek or forehead or nose or lips, and then curls in to his side and falls asleep with her head on his chest and one of his arms wrapped around her.
One of her highlights is managing to meet Jane Foster and Darcy Lewis. In part because the introduction is made by Thor who does it in such a booming voice she's pretty sure that people down in the lobby could have heard him. Darcy Lewis is a fast talker and relentless organizer who completely refuses to take anything from anyone and taks great pride in the fact that she once managed to taser the Norse god of thunder. In response Cassie tells a story involving a blue plastic hairbrush and a collision with the newly reborn titan Lord of Time. Further introductions to Rachel will need to be made.
Jane Foster is absolutely brilliant and will probably work out the exact mechanics of the universe before anyone else. She's already working on it one complex equation at a time and Cassie's fairly sure she might actually already be about half way there. She can't be sure though because approximately ten minutes in to any conversation they have together Cassie completely looses track of what Jane is actually saying. Cassie's a fairly smart girl having survived college and medical school, but Jane leaves her behind in a cloud of dust the same way Tony and even Annabeth do.
The three of them set up lunch dates every week or so and sometimes they're even joined by Natasha or Pepper. The former has been in and out of Cassie's life more and more often lately because she spars with Bucky and pokes at Steve for varying reactions. The ladder seems to relish in popping in on Cassie when she has the time with coffee or scones and does it especially when Tony is within hearing range. Cassie gets the feeling that the older woman is partly using these exchanges to make a point to her significant other and partly doing it to be nice.
Bucky himself is a work in progress and initially Cassie spends a lot of time trying to find a psychologist specializing in PTSD and mental trauma in soldiers who might manage to get an actual security clearance. Eventually she finds one after several separate and stressful conference calls with Maria Hill and Nick Fury. Fury holds things up more than Hill does and Cassie thinks getting him to employ anyone must take an actual eternity. SHIELD's H.R department must have been made up of saints. Or have been very well paid. Cassie is willing to believe either option.
In the end they find a highly qualified doctor known in intelligence circles only as Doctor Grey. He's an elderly man who reminds Cassie a bit of Chiron's human form as Mr. Brunner, but that impression is probably overly intensified by the fact that Cassie only ever sees the man while he's sitting down. Clint Barton breaks his self-imposed silence about personal experiences and throws in that this is the man he talked to after Loki got in to his head during the invasion. It's a good recommendation and Cassie takes it for the gold it's worth.
Slowly, through some combination of monumental effort Bucky seems to improve. He speaks a bit more and turns out to be able to do so in about seven different languages. Often Steve and Bucky go running and train together to work through things. Cassie joins them for a run once and vows never to do it again when they end up in the middle of nowhere Connecticut. Her facial expression when that happens actually makes Bucky laugh. It's a half broken, surprised, underused sound and he looks genuinely surprised to hear it come out of his mouth.
The beaming smile it brings to Steve's face is almost worth the long trip back home. To make things more fun for her and to add an element of challenge Cassie refuses to walk and instead makes Steve give her a piggy back ride as they jog back. Steve cooperates without comment and his smile doesn't shrink a single fraction. It's at that moment that Cassie starts wondering if she should have aimed higher with her requests. Voicing this thought out loud gets both of them to laugh together in what might be the first time for the last sixty years.
That's not to say that things are easy because they aren't. Bucky has nightmares each and every night and the seven languages he speaks are less impressive when he's babbling in them in broken fear and pain through the wall at two in the morning. He jumps at small noises and refuses to sit or stand anywhere that he can't see the door from. It takes a while for him to stop actively insuring that anyone in a room with him is armed in case he snaps. Cassie's sure he still checks, but he's learned to do it more subtly.
A few weeks after finding him, he moves in to an empty apartment across the hall. Steve worries that Bucky is retreating in to himself and pulling away from the rest of the world to stew in the past. Cassie is half way between thinking that that might be true and thinking that it might be good for Barnes to start establishing himself in his own space. What she tells Steve is that no matter what he's gone through, Bucky is still a fully grown adult with the mental capabilities to make his own choices. He's got access to the right kind of help and the best support system they can give him. If Barnes starts skipping meals, missing appointments with his psychiatrist, or refusing to leave his apartment then they can start worrying. She also reminds Steve that Bucky will never get back the capability to live his own life unless he starts for himself when he feels ready.
Privately Cassie just prays to all the gods she can think of and some of the ones she can't remember that she's telling the truth and not lying through her teeth for her boyfriend's comfort. Psychology really is so much more complicated than dealing with physical damage. If there's one thing Cassie is learning from this whole experience it's that she made a good choice when she picked her concentration back in medical school.
Anyway, through whatever combination of luck, hope, and blind prayer they make it to August without anything going majorly wrong. Cassie even manages to keep her schedule completely clear around the summer solstice and in a stroke of miraculousness Cassie hadn't thought the universe or the Fates would be capable of the world doesn't even threaten to end in anyway she has to try to handle. There's a weird gas explosion across the river, but a quick call to the Kane siblings assures her that it's an Egyptian thing not a Greco-Roman issue.
On the Friday evening two days before Percy's twenty-fifth birthday Cassie is making a pot of tea in the kitchen talking to Sally Jackson on the phone about weather she should bring anything to the birthday dinner when Steve walks in from a late day trip to the gym. "Hey," he greets as he comes through the door. Cassie greets him with a smile and gestures at the phone clenched between her cheek and her shoulder to indicate that she can't talk at the moment.
"Who was that?" Sally asks with a very particular tone in her voice. Even through the phone without being able to see her face Cassie can picture her exact expression. This moment will either be a start of something good or be painfully awkward.
"Oh that was my boyfriend Steve," Cassie says as casually as she can. "He just got home. I must have told you about him..." She lets the rest of her words trail off. Everything she needed to say has already been said.
The enthusiastic muffled shriek from the other end of the line tells Cassie that no in fact, the news of her relationship status has not actually reached Sally's ears. She supposes that even if Rachel or Reyna or one of her other friends who knows about Steve had told Percy, Percy probably wouldn't have said anything to his mom about it. That child wasn't the most socially aware bulb in the gossip chandelier.
Steve's head goes up as he looks over at her with one eyebrow quirked in concern. Apparently he heard the shriek through the phone speakers from feet away muffled or not. Cassie gives him an expression she hopes is reassuring and tries not to wince when she hears Sally's excited voice calling out the news to her husband Paul. "So anyway like I was saying should I bring a salad or some chips or something?"
Sally scoffs and the sound is a rush of static distortion in her ear. "Oh no young lady. There is no way that you are getting away with that hit and run of information that easily. I demand detailed explanations and the right to cast judgement as only someone with maternal instincts can."
Cassie fights back a groan and drops her head back, pinching the bridge of her nose as she pours her now ready cup of tea. She pours one for Steve too and holds it out as he approaches. "Soooooo..." Cassie says dragging out the vowel sound. "I should bring wine or-"
"Oh Sweetheart," Sally interrupts. "The only thing you're bringing to this party is your boyfriend. Maybe a small appetizer if you're feeling peckish."
With a sigh Cassie sees that this war is lost and mutters, "I'll ask him." She tucks her phone securely against her shoulder and turns to face Steve. "So my friend is turning twenty-five on Sunday and I've been planning on going to the dinner. His mom just invited you along with me."
Steve lowers the tea he's just taken a sip of and his eyebrows inch up a little towards his hairline. "And by 'invited' you mean that my attendance has now been made mandatory," he states.
This time Cassie doesn't hide her grimace. "Yeah basically." She watches his face carefully as she says it for any sign that he might be about to turn and dive out the window. Okay that might be an exaggeration but given the stories she's heard about his jumping through glass elevators and sky diving without parachutes it's not impossible. However, Steve seems to be completely calm. He shrugs and sips his tea again. "What kind of wine?"
So that's how Steve Rogers AKA Captain America ends up going with Cassie to Percy Jackson the one and only Son of Poseidon's twenty-fifth birthday party. Which is a sentence she never plans to say out loud. It makes little enough sense when confined to her own brain.
They take a cab to get to the Blowfish-Jackson apartment. The cabbie either doesn't speak English, doesn't recognize Steve, or doesn't care who he is. Either way they tip him a little extra when he drops them off for conducting the ride quickly and in relative silence.
Cassie's carrying a bag stuffed with blue tissue paper with Percy's present in it. She's never had much skill in the area of gist wrapping so decorative bags were infinitely safer. Steve is in charge of the bottle of wine they'd managed to purchase with a little bit of recommendation help from Natasha. Apparently the super assassin had noticed Steve acting jumpy and cornered him until he'd admitted not knowing what to bring. After explaining the situation Natasha had delivered a list of recommendations and dragged Steve to a nearby liquor store.
This story had been relayed to Cassie second hand by a subtly smirking Clint Barton who had gone along to bear witness to the whole episode. He had even managed to produce a picture taken with a button camera of Steve's look of utter confusion. Apparently he had thought that photographic proof was required if he ever wanted to share the story with Sam Wilson. Cassie had simply grinned and asked for a copy which Barton had emailed without delay.
Now as they stood in the street outside of the apartment Cassie simply takes Steve's free hand in hers and begins to lead him along the sidewalk to the door. He squeezes a little harder than he might normally and Cassie returns the pressure. Steve might have nerves of steel when it came to taking on HYDRA, but she gets the feeling the prospect of meeting a large group of her friends might be making him a little nervous.
She buzzes the intercom and there is an immediate beep signaling that she can come in. The apartment where Sally, Paul, and Percy's little sister Rosie live is on the third floor and as they climb Cassie gives Steve a further breakdown of the people he's about to meet. Maybe if he gets a bigger view of the tactical profile involved in the situation he'll feel a bit more comfortable.
"It's Percy who's birthday we're going to," she explains. "Sally and Paul are his mom and Stepdad. He's also got a little sister named Rosie. Annabeth is his girlfriend and I've known her since I was eight. She's one of my very best friends. Rachel will be there too, you've already met her. Jason, Thalia, Nico, and Hazel are- well I guess they're kind of Percy's cousins. Jason and Thalia are full siblings and I met Thalia when I met Annabeth. Nico and Hazel are half siblings and I think you'll get along with them but I'll let them say why."
She smiles at him over her shoulder as they climb. "Frank and Hazel are a couple and Frank is seriously clumsy but incredibly sweet. If you see any precious metals around Hazel do not pick them up. Nico dates my brother Will, but Will is doing a summer session at school so you won't meet him tonight."
Steve's lack of reaction to that statement besides a nod is another reason Cassie is dating this man. "There's another couple isn't there?" he checks. "I thought you mentioned one earlier."
Cassie nods. "There are two actually. Piper and Jason are a couple. They're only dating for now but I think there's probably an engagement coming soon. The other couple is Leo and Calypso. Calypso is a seriously awesome cook and if you have any gardening questions you should definitely ask her. Leo is hyperactive on a major scale and could probably invent anything you want, but if he says duck you should immediately hit the ground."
Steve nods again with a slight frown, apparently sorting and storing all of the information she's just dished out to him. They reach the door and Cassie looks at him with a barley raised eyebrow. "Ready to go in?"
"Of course," Steve raises a hand and knocks. He seems to be doing his best to knock very gently. After dating him for this long Cassie knows that when he doesn't think about it his strength can cause issues. Like occasionally damaging the dry wall or accidentally breaking down a door.
A voice from inside calls, "Come in! It should be open!" and with one last squeeze to Steve's hand Cassie pushes the door open and walks through it.
The apartment looks much the same as always, with the exception of the number of people already crowded inside. She can see Jason occupying a spot on the sofa crammed between Hazel, who is twisting her neck around to try to draw Nico in to conversation, and Thalia who leans over the side of the sofa to talk to Annabeth where she perches on Percy's lap in the next armchair over. Piper is sitting on the floor in front of the coffee table reclining against Jason's knees talking to Rachel who's seated on the ground across from her and happily sketching on a napkin.
Frank is seated in a rocking chair that looks much to small for him and seemed to be taking a turn to entertain Rosie who is forcing him to participate in a complicated stuffed animal tee party scenario. Leo was sprawled on the ground surrounded by what looks like the inner workings of the apartment sound system. By angling her head a little Cassie can see that the door out to the fire escape is open and Calypso is attending to the flower boxes with loving care and Sally is talking to her from where she is frosting a large blue cake. Paul is standing beside her checking periodically on a large dish of lasagna cooking in the oven.
"Hey everyone," Cassie calls as she steps in to the room. "We're here." In moments she's being greeted and people are moving at her in a wave. She just manages to pass the gift bag to Steve before Annabeth hits her, knocking all of the breath out of her with the strength of her hug. Moments later she's being passed over to Piper who hugs her tight as Jason calls a greeting and pats her on the shoulder. Thalia punches her on the arm which for her is a warm greeting and Hazel waves shyly from her spot on the sofa. Nico nods and seems to be trying to form his facial features in to a smile. Leo tries to jump to his feet and promptly trips. Rachel just makes a face at her.
Finally as everyone talks to her about everything they can think of Cassie turns around to find herself enveloped in Percy's hug. Percy is good at hugs and always has been. "Happy Birthday Percy," Cassie tells him happily as Percy sets her back. She looks around for the present she brought and finds Steve passing it to her over Piper's excitedly bouncing shoulder. "Thank you," she says, handing it over to Percy. "Your present."
Percy's expression brightened like a little kid's would have and took the bag eagerly. "Thanks! Come in and get comfy. And mom said you were brining..." At that moment he seemed to visually process Steve standing behind her. For all that Percy was sometimes a goofball, he was still a trained hero and he takes the time to look Steve over. For the moment though, Steve looks fairly harmless. Apart from being ridiculously good looking (in Cassie's opinion) he's dressed in jeans and a clean white tee shirt and looks like a normal guy.
This is apparently the same conclusion that Percy arrives at because he grins in a friendly way and holds his hand out to shake. "I'm Percy. Nice to meet you."
Steve takes the offered hand and smiles in a way that's formally polite and a little bit uncomfortable looking. Cassie crosses her fingers behind her back that they both manage to power through the awkwardness of the moment. "Steve," he introduces himself. "Happy Birthday."
"Thanks man," Percy says. He squints up at Steve who is a little taller than he is. "You know you look kind of familiar."
Cassie opens her mouth, ready to give the abbreviated version of the story of Steve being Captain America. She thought about it some on the way to the party and had decided that the best way to go about the job would be to quickly separate Steve the person from his job as Captain America. As it turns out she doesn't need to use this explanation just yet.
Annabeth pops up behind Percy and grabs his hand. "Come on Seaweed Brain," she says with the tone of affectionate exasperation she's had perfected for Percy's benefit only since age twelve. "Frank's run out of ideas to entertain Rosie. Come pick who gets to entertain the six year old next." Percy shrugs and turns away. Annabeth stuck around for a moment to introduce herself. "I'm Annabeth," she says introducing herself to Steve. Steve nods and introduces himself back.
Annabeth brushes a pile of her blonde hair back off her shoulder and sighs before turning to Cassie. "We're talking later," she declares. Then she wraps Cassie in one more quick hug and speaks to Steve over her head. "Don't hurt her," she orders over Cassie's exasperated sigh. "I mean it," Annabeth continued, letting her go. "I don't care who you work with. I'll make a plan and I'll win."
Steve gives a small smile and ducks his head a little. "Understood," he tells Annabeth, voice serious.
For a moment Annabeth holds his gaze appraisingly and then nods and spins on her heel to go after Percy. The other introductions go more smoothly after that, the group evidently taking Annabeth's seal of approval on Cassie's dating choices as good enough. The fact that Cassie's dating choice happens to be Captain America might help. This also happens to be a fact that no one in the room actually manages to miss. However, one of the nice things about having super-powered friends was that they didn't tend to react too much to your super-powered boyfriend and vice versa.
Thalia narrows her electrically blue eyes at him in assessment. "So Annabeth already not so subtly threatened you?" she verifies.
"She did," Steve agrees as Cassie drags Percy's desk chair out of his room so that they can sit. Steve tries to gesture that she should take the spot in some kind of bid at 1940s manners but Cassie rolls her eyes at him until he sits. Then Cassie perches unceremoniously on his lap. From her new position she can feel Steve sigh as the breath puffs out over the back of her neck. Then he seems to give up on whatever internal debate he was having and wraps an arm loosely around her waist. It's an arrangement that Cassie thinks would probably allow her to survive a high speed train crash.
Thalia watches the entire exchange and then nods. "Well good then." That's all she does on the subject verbally but Cassie notes that several very obvious sparks of blue electricity are being permitted to pop and flicker along her fingers and spiky punk rings. It's nice to know that some people never change. Given the blessing of Artemis, Cassie supposes that Thalia never will.
"That was Thalia," Cassie says quietly, leaning back so that she can murmur in to his ear.
Frank's introduction is a little more surprising given that it involves him being so shocked by Steve's presence that he turns in to a large hissing llama and needs five minutes to calm down and turn back in to a human being. Hazel manages to get Frank talked back around in to being himself and Steve apologetically lifts the desk chair, and then Cassie upright from where he'd dumped both on to the floor in the panic caused by the sudden appearance of a shocked looking llama where a tall Canadian-Asian guy used to be.
Leo's greeting literally heats up the proceedings when his hair catches fire when he recognizes who Steve is. Percy extinguishes the fire before anyone can get worked up in to a fully fledged freak out by lifting the contents of Sally Jackson's water glass from across the room and dumping it on Leo's head. Sally's only reaction is to sigh in a long suffering kind of way and requests that they dry the floor as Paul good naturally refills the glass at the sink.
Jason relies very calmly on the traditional handshake and calmly and politely draws him in to a discussion of military tactics during World War II. Gods bless Jason's diplomatic political senses. Actually as the child of Jupiter it was possible that that was what had literally happened. Whatever, Cassie appreciated it because out of any topic in the world, Steve is fully knowledgeable on this one. It's also a topic that Annabeth can get in on and Frank, red-faced but human again, contributes a little as well.
This gives Cassie time to talk with Calypso and Leo about the auto garage and cafe they've opened. The fact that the two of them are happy and have managed to make real a dream they hatched up together nearly ten years ago is something that makes Cassie infinitely happy and fills her with a renewed sense of optimism. Piper is taking a turn with Rosie and entertaining her by braiding what looks like bluejay feathers in to the little girl's hair, calmly matching the hairstyle she herself is sporting in deference to Percy's favorite color on his birthday. Rachel helps with the entertaining by sketching out a comic strip involving Rosie's stuffed animals.
Nico and Hazel hang back from the various conversations occurring for a little while, quietly assessing before they jump in. In that respect the two were very much siblings. Of course the inclination to hang back came from different places. Nico was suspicious and Hazel was simply shy, but either way they both tended to wait before speaking. "Hold on," Nico says, breaking his silence as Steve launches in to a story about a mission the Howling Commandos undertook shortly after being formed. "I remember that happening." Nico turns to Hazel. "Do you?"
Hazel nods, golden eyes wide with confusion. "I think so. It was in the newspapers. It was one of the only papers my Ma bought during the war. Everything else she said we could learn from people talking too loudly when they thought no one could hear. I remember because she used one of my coins to do it." With that her expression turns sad and Cassie knows why. If one of Hazel's magical treasures was given to the newspaper seller, chances were that that seller had shown up dead within the week.
Now its Steve's turn to look confused again. "How is that possible?" he asks, brow furrowed. Cassie stamps down hard on the urge to reach up and purposefully smooth the wrinkles away with her thumb. "You're what, twenty-one? How can you remember something from 1944?"
His words bring a crooked smile to Nico's face, and crooked is the best adjective for it. After all, Nico's father wasn't called 'the Crooked One' for no reason. "I had just turned eight in March of 1944. My sister Bianca was ten. My mother took us to see some of the newsreels. We were staying in New York at the time." Nico glances over to Hazel. "You would have been about twelve right?"
Hazel nods. "It was one of the last major news reports we got before my ma packed us up to move to Alaska."
It's then that Cassie decides to take pity on Steve. The poor guy is so confused by what he's just heard that he can't even seem to formulate the right kind of questions to ask to clear it up. "Nico and Hazel both got kind of pulled out of time for a while. Hazel died in early 1945 fighting Gaea the goddess of Earth and came back to fight that same goddess about eight years ago when Death got a little shaky. Nico was a little less dramatic. His dad dropped him off at a nice hotel in Vegas for sixty years."
"Lotus Hotel and Casino," Nico says in a sing song kind of voice. "My sister and I thought we were only in that place for a month. We came out sixty years later and couldn't tell how much time had passed. We were both young enough that we couldn't really tell that the rest of the world was different."
Steve blinks twice as he processes the fact that the two people sitting in the apartment talking to him had actually been born and originally grown up in a time period not so different from his own. Then he turns to Cassie with a look of dawning comprehension. "This is what you meant earlier wasn't it?" he asks quietly. "When you said I'd have something in common with them." Cassie nods in confirmation and gives Steve another moment to organize all of his thoughts. "How did all of this happen?" he asks.
At his question all of the demigods in the room exchange long looks.
"It's kind of a long story," Rachel starts. "I guess you could say it began with Cassie's dad."
Cassie takes up the story there because it seems like this moment applies to her. "Right. See, I think you already know that my dad is a god of prophecy. Well, my dad uses an oracle to relay those prophecies to mortals. The oracle is this old spirit that takes a human host."
It's then that Rachel gets to her feet and takes a dramatic bow. "Which for the last eight years or so has been yours truly. I took over the job from a hippy mummy from the sixties, but we'll get back to that later. Most of the time I'm normal except for being able to see through the mist, but sometimes the future kind of mugs me, or takes over my dreams and I spew out a prophecy. Sometimes in couplets which I could frankly live without."
"Anyway," Cassie says, taking over the telling of the story again as Rachel sits back down. "Back at the very end of World War II Rachel's predecessor made a prophecy about a child of one of the three eldest gods. Those gods being Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. While the mortal war was going on the children of those gods had been fighting a war all their own. Think of the children of Zeus as the Americans, Poseidon's kids as the British, and the children of Hades like the Germans. Anyway, the prophecy basically said that this kid would turn sixteen, and then make a choice that would either save or destroy Olympus."
Percy rolls his eyes at mention of the prophecy. "And that prophecy was a complete and total pain in the ass to deal with." He elaborates from there after glancing at Thalia and Nico who are both making faces like they'd just sucked on lemons. "The gods decided to try to avoid the prophecy instead of just dealing with it so they made this deal not to have any more kids which pissed Hades off so he hid Nico and his sister Bianca in the hotel of immortality after Zeus straight up tried to murder them. Then he cursed the oracle before Rachel which is why we were dealing with a zombie fortune teller for a while."
"Right," Thalia added in. "And that deal to not have more kids worked out super fantastically for like forty years until Zeus met my mom and they had me. Then when I was eight Zeus showed back up as Jupiter and they had Jason."
"Then I got sacrificed as a tribute to Juno so she wouldn't go smite happy," Jason remembered. "Yeah. Not fun." Then Jason clammed back up and sat back, rubbing at the legion tattoo burned in to the skin of his arm.
Thalia at that point took one of her little brother's hands and Piper took a break from braiding Rosie's hair to kiss her boyfriend on the cheek. "Somewhere in there you ate a stapler too," she reminds him. "It gave you that really cute scar on your lip. I love that story."
Thalia continued the story from there. "After Jason went missing I ran away from home," she relayed. "My mom was never really that stable and her letting Jason go was the last straw. I found Annabeth and Cassie while I was running," she swallows deeply. "Luke too. Our friend Grover found us while we were running and brought us to camp. But by the time we got there I was tired of running all the time. I was hurt and it was just too much. Hades had been chasing us the whole time because my existence was kind of a major pissing off factor for him. I staged a last stand to buy the others time to get safe. My father took pity on me right before I died and turned me in to a pine tree."
"Which Percy and I turned back in to Thalia six years later," Annabeth chipped in. "Only she'd been aging slower in between and was only fifteen when she came out of it."
"At which point I totally ditched the prophecy and became a badass ultimate feminist eternal huntress for Cassie's aunt the Lady Artemis goddess of the Hunt. I figured Percy could handle ending or saving the world and I tossed the prophecy over to him like a hot potato." Then she gives Rachel a high five and forces Frank to give her one too because the poor guy is close enough to do it.
Percy makes a face at all three of them from where he's sitting. "Yeah. Thanks so much for that. I really appreciate it. You still owe me a better sixteenth birthday present. That one sucked major Grace."
Thalia waved the words off. "The world didn't end did it? Besides, my present this year rocks." At that Percy perks up and cranes his neck to look at the accumulated pile of gifts to see the large box with the attached card covered in Thalia's spiky handwriting.
"Long story short," Hazel broke in. "Hades, or Pluto to me really since technically Pluto is my dad and Hades is Nico's, was the only one to actually keep his promise about not having any more children-"
"In a shocking twist," Nico muttered darkly.
Hazel glared at her brother before continuing. "- because Poseidon and Sally had Percy. But Hades decided to keep Nico and Bianca safe to see if they would be the hero in the prophecy. It didn't really work out that way since Nico was too young when the war happened. And Biana... wasn't there anymore. Then Pluto let me come back to life when the borders got fuzzy. But Nico and I were both born before the deal was made so technically we didn't break any promises."
"A promise which no longer exists," Annabeth points out. "Percy took care of that one when we won the titan war and he prophecy was over. Though no other kids of the Big Three have shown up having been born since then so maybe they're holding off anyway."
Percy quietly raised his hand. "I'm okay with that actually. Tyson and Rosie are all the siblings I need." Thalia and Jason, and Nico and Hazel each exchanged looks with their siblings and seemed to shudder or nod in agreement.
Annabeth just shrugs. "Hey, I've got seven siblings back in cabin six. It's not so bad. As long as you don't concentrate too hard on the fact that you all share a godly parent, and being close in age. Then there's my half-brothers in San Francisco with my dad and stepmom."
"You think you've got it bad," Piper said with a grimace. "My mom is freaking Aphrodite. I have thirteen siblings at camp. The oldest one is twenty four and the youngest is eight. Work that math and share in my horrified disgust for a few minutes."
Cassie isn't exactly short on godly half-siblings either and shudders to get rid of those considerations. Steve seems to feel the shake because he rubs an absent hand up and down her spine. He doesn't look quite as confused as before but his brow is still furrowed and his eyes seems to be focusing on something in the middle distance as he thinks through the tattered patchwork pieces of the story he has just been told. As she watches the furrows smooth as he stitches things together with he information she's given him already and he seems to relax in to a new sense of understanding.
As his face clears Steve comes back to the room as the others fall in to chatting again, going over various details of their quests and stories. When he notices Cassie watching him with only slightly concealed apprehension he gives her a smile that's so warm and gentle Cassie feels as comforted as if she had just slipped in to a warm bath, or stepped in to a pool of sunshine. Then he tips his head down to kiss her, quick and light before Percy's mother calls to them all that dinner is ready.
A/N: So there we have it guys. I wanted to try to get this out fairly close to the last post since school is picking back up again and I am preparing myself to be buried in an avalanche of homework and thus have no free time. It could have been longer but this seemed like a natural stopping point. What did you guys think of how I introduced everyone? I can always go back in and edit if anyone has helpful suggestions for improvements. I thought the best way to go would be to just throw Steve in headfirst and have the other characters do an information dump. I also wanted to start warming Tony back up again for AoU which I'll be working towards in the next chapter. Anyway, tell me what you thought! Review for me! oxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox