Hello everyone! I hope you all liked the last one, I am starting this nearly right after posting the last one. Ao3 is currently down but as soon as it's back up I am going to be making some changes to the main body of the story. Nothing overly noticeable and it will not change any of the text of the chapters, just a formatting thing.

I am glad that a lot of you so far have liked the interactions between Amphitrite and Percy! I will be having a lot of family interactions in this fic and always love the interactions between the two of them so will hopefully be having a good amount of them in this. I feel like in underwater family fics, we do not get to see them interact that much as compared to Triton and Poseidon.

In this chapter, we will be seeing a bit more of the interaction and relationship between Triton and Percy. He is improving a good amount physically, but as we all know, this boy is stubborn and has no self-preservation.

Triton was concerned. Not about Percy, but for him.

His mom seemed to take to the demigod like a fish to water. It was great, really. That was not his concern. His concern was that his mother had off-handedly made reference to something that was already on his radar.

The other night before dinner, his mother had told Perseus that he was allowed to need help and that he was not an imposition. The way that he had responded to her saying as much had led Triton to believe that something that had conspired between the two of them had brought her to feel the need to say as much.

This was especially concerning to Triton because he knew of Percy's insecurities and poor self-worth, and despite all that had happened to prove them wrong, he must still be deadset in his worries.

He needed to know if he was right, so that morning, he set out to have a discussion with his mother, and he knew just where to find her.

Poseidon was confused. Not upset, just confused.

Amphitrite and Percy were getting along swimmingly. So much so, that the two had been spending so much time together to the extent that every time Poseidon sought the demigod out, he was either occupied with his wife or with his eldest son. Because of this Poseidon had not really gotten much of an opportunity to spend time with the demigod.

Okay, maybe he was upset. But he wasn't mad.

The other night, after Amphitrite had kicked Triton and himself out of Percy's room, the two of them had seemed to immediately latch onto each other. This wasn't what had confused him, he had known that they would get along when all was said and done.

What had confused him was that the entire time that Percy had been awake, he had been incredibly unresponsive to his attempts to connect, despite the two of them being what Poseidon considered close prior to the events leading up to Percy's arrival in Atlantis.

Instead, Percy had seemed to first connect with Triton, though with some degree of hesitation, and then to Amphitrite, and he had seemed to become considerably closer with the latter, which surprised the god greatly.

Not on Percy's behalf, he was a very kind person who often gave others the benefit of the doubt and numerous second chances, whether they deserved them or not; but on Amphitrite's behalf, as she had been incredibly avoidant whenever he had brought up getting to know him in the past.

He supposed that he should be more pleased, this is what he had wanted, was it not?

He was suddenly hit by a wall of irritation. Well, was it wrong that he wanted all of his son's attention? Could you blame him? The other two had despised him up until very recently and now, Percy had elected to practically ignore him entirely in favour of giving the others his undivided attention and energy rather than himself; the only one of the three to give him any amount of care in the past.

Yes, fine maybe he was a bit mad.

But he was not mad at anyone, but rather because he had become so wrapped up with his emotions that he in a way felt betrayed, even though he knew this was in no way close to that.

Poseidon liked to say that he was protective, though others told him that he very frequently drifted into the possessive territory.

Was it true? Maybe. Did that matter to the god? No.

He supposed that he could try to be a bit less possessive for Percy's sake, or at the very least less overbearing. He knew that his son was safe here, and if he had to be around anyone else over himself, the god would most want it to be his eldest son and wife.

It was something that he would work on, but if the other two gods were making Percy happy, he supposed that was alright and that he would have to deal with his jealousy.

Not that he would ever admit that that's what he was feeling at that moment.

Triton had gone to Percy's chambers early that morning in search of his mother, and he had been correct about where to find her.

She had moved the armchair where she currently sat closer to the bed and was watching Percy with a small smile while he spoke with energy that Triton has seldom seen since his arrival.

Once he got close his mother turned to him, smile still on her face, and nodded to him in acknowledgment. Percy had been talking about his mortal school and some ridiculous policy that they seemed to have over missed time. Triton came to rest on the arm of the armchair and greeted him with a wave and a smile.

"I mean, I'm all done now, but it really drove a wrench into things," he concluded and Triton smiled back and returned the greeting before placing a hand on his mother's shoulder. "Do you mind terribly if I steal her away for a moment?", his mother, in response looked at him confusedly but didn't say anything.

"Uh, yeah, of course not, I'll be fine," Percy answered with a nod, and with that Amphitrite rose and followed her son out of the room.

"Is everything alright?" she asked as soon as the door had closed behind them. Triton in turn took a deep breath before turning to face her. "I am not sure." at seeing his mother's lost expression, he continued, "When I had initially gone to retrieve Perseus, he had said something that had troubled me, and this had been before I had come to care for him, so saying so is considerable."

The goddess moved her hand in a 'go on' motion, "He had been quite clearly injured but was refusing to even admit it, let alone allow me to aid him, and when I had inquired about it he admitted to me certain… insecurities that he seems to hold, I am not even sure if he remembers doing so. Is this something that you are aware of?"

Amphitrite's lips drew into a thin line, "Yes, the other evening when I had gone to make myself better acquainted he had seemed to have convinced himself that he was uncared for and was being an imposition by being here." Triton frowned in response as she continued, "I, of course, attempted to quell the anxieties but I am unsure if I was successful."

"My interaction had been similar, but not quite the same. He told me that he was not allowed to be hurt or to be vulnerable at all because if he was, then it would mean that he is weak, and would not be useful anymore." He paused and one hand went to his hair. "He seems to believe that as soon as he is no longer 'useful', the Olympians will just do away with him." Amphitrite's hand came to cover her mouth.

Triton let out a small bitter scoff, shaking his head in disbelief, "He even somehow believes that father would just step aside to allow it to happen. Even that father also holds the very same sentiment, that Percy is only alive because he is useful, like some sort of pet or toy." The queen let out a sound of incredulity, turning her gaze back towards the bedroom.

"How could he possibly…" She trailed off and threw her hands up, confounded and Triton just sighed, "He loves that boy in there more than what is healthy for him, or even really safe. He avoided death extremely narrowly this time around, but he will not always be that lucky. He will die one day, and I do not know what he is going to do when he does."

As if knowing of their discussion, the aforementioned god came around the corner, just at that moment and looked at the pair with confusion. "Is everything alright?" he asked concerned and the two just looked at one another before turning back to Poseidon.

"Yes, everything is doing well, but there is something that we should discuss and it may be best to do so elsewhere," Amphitrite said with a tight smile. Her husband nodded in reply and the royals made their way to the study down the hall.

"He thinks what?!"

"I cannot say why I understand his feelings in relation to yourself. However, he has been relied upon very heavily for many years now, and from your frustrated rants after Council, it seems as though many of the others would rather that he be done away with." The queen began, on hand on her distressed husband's arm.

"Yes, but it isn't as if there aren't those who favour him as well. Many of the others value his help and what he has done and-" He stopped himself slight realization coming over his features. "And maybe that is all it really seems like. I know though, that many of them care for him as an individual, and not solely for his accomplishments."

Triton scoffed from where he leaned on a desk. "He clearly doesn't. He has been following orders for years, giving up his life for wars that he did not sign up for only for the group of you to continuously vote on whether he did good enough of a job to not be killed. Really, it's no wonder."

Poseidon turned to face him, anger on his features, "I do not want to be voting on such things, I have tried to stop it numerous times!" he protested in a near roar.

"He is just a child father, he should not have even had ever of been required in front of Council in the first place," Triton said flatly. "He should never have to had been involved in any of this violence and strife, especially at his age. Yet here he is still a child, having had just spent over a month literally fighting to even just keep breathing."

Poseidon's anger quieted, and a solemn look came over his face. "I know."

Amphitrite frowned "It's certainly been quite some time for him to have been here, especially being so injured. What does his mother think of all of this? It must be hard being away from him at a time- why are you both looking at me like that?"

Her son and husband's expressions mirrored each other: Panic, concern and on her husband's end, a little bit of fear. Oh, oh no. "She does know where he is right?"

Poseidon, in response, looked like he was trying to come up with the best excuse as he could to pass off as an explanation, while Triton was looking away, embarrassed.

"Um, well, you see-"

Amphitrite raised her hand to cut him off. "You two are unbelievable. At the very least, call the woman. She needs to know that he is alive, that he is safe. I am sure that she is not a stupid woman, she has surely seen the effects of your emotions reflected in the sea and otherwise." She gave him a stern look, "You do not need to tell her the extent of anything, just that he is alive."

Poseidon cleared his throat. "Yes, well, you are correct. I will do so now if you wanted to go check on-"

"No, I am sure that he is fine on his own for a few minutes more. I want to hear you do it and I wouldn't mind seeing where Perseus came from." the queen said cutting him off and leaving both him and Triton to gape at her. Poseidon nodded before rising and opening up the Iris message.

It shimmered to life showing a woman with sepia skin and curly, black hair pulled into a low bun sitting at a table, eating a sandwich. Her stomach extended to indicate that she was quite pregnant and must be due any day, something at which Amphitrite raised an eyebrow.

Poseidon cleared his throat and the woman turned to face them, dark eyes sparkling in worry and in an instant she fired several rapid-fire questions at him "What happened? Is he okay? Is he even alive? Oh gods, do you even have him with you? Is-"

"Sally," Poseidon said patiently but firmly calming her spiral and focusing her attention back on him. "He is alright, I assure you, he was injured during a quest and while he will improve, he needs time to recover and will do so the best down here." at that the woman on the other side of the message let out a deep breath before igniting.

"You have known where he was this entire time, and that he was okay and not kidnapped being tortured somewhere or something like that and you didn't tell me?! I was so scared, Poseidon, I could tell that something was wrong and the three-week-long extreme weather alert certainly didn't help. After everything that has happened to him at this point, I was convinced that something must truly and terribly be wrong to get that much of a reaction. You are unbelievable and-" Sally was cut short for the second time in the call by Amphitrite laughing.

"Oh, I like this one. I can understand your decision and I certainly see where he gets his infamous attitude from." She smiled at the mortal woman on the other side. "I have admittedly not heard all that much, but I typically do not, just by the nature of things."

Sally's eyes widened noticing the other two gods present for seemingly the first time. She opened her mouth to give some sort of greeting but the goddess continued, "It has been a great pleasure to get to know your son in his time here so far, rest assured that he is welcome to stay for as long as need be."

She looked back at her son and husband before continuing, gesturing to them both "We all quite enjoy his presence and I am sure that it will be good for him to get out of the questing spotlight and enjoy some time off."

Sally's eyes widened slightly, and she addressed Amphirtite, now having had aired her anxiety, significantly calmer "Well, I very much appreciate you looking after him so far, I know that things are a bit … interesting considering everything, but the fact that you have still taken him in means the world to me."

Amphitrite smiled, "Of course, I too am a mother and I have only done what I would hope that others would do for me, and truly for any child. If I had known that my foolish husband and son had neglected to reach out to you already, I surely would have,"

She turned to give a light glare at Poseidon, "However, it seems as though someone does not think it necessary to share his plans with anyone." Sally laughed in response.

"Sounds about right to me, only when it's convenient, of course." She teased, causing Amphtrite to laugh as well, both of them looking at Poseidon, annoyed.

The god in question to sputtered defensively as Triton covered up his own laughter at his father's expense with a cough. "Ah, excuse me, bit dry in here."

"We are underwater." Poseidon ground out. "Oh, are we? I hadn't rightly noticed." Triton replied innocently.

The women watched their antics amusedly and Sally carried on, "I was so taken off guard when my husband, Paul, did quite the opposite for the first time. He is remarkably open and it's astounding to me, I thought that this was an all men thing."

The queen smiled, "Now if only I could train this one to do the same thing," she said, ignoring her husband's small shout of protest, "I swear, getting him to open up sometimes can be harder than changing the currents of the world to suddenly flow the other direction."

Sally snickered, "The only downside is that sometimes I cannot get him to stop, when we found out I was pregnant he talked about different types of cribs for three hours. It was very sweet, but that was only the first thing on our list." The goddess shook her head with an amused smile.

"Do you know what you'll be having, and when?" She asked, and Sally nodded. "We are expecting a girl this time, in about two or three weeks." Amphitrite nodded, "Girls are so much nicer," This time Triton shouted in protest, leading Poseidon to make a vindicated face at him, "I have a few girls, and then this one," she said with a vague gesture at the annoyed god leaning on the desk.

"It's going to be a very different experience this time, for many reasons and I just hope that I can keep this one safe," Sally said with a sad smile.

Amphitrite matched her expression. "I am not sure if I only speak for myself, but I hope that I am not when I say that we will not allow anything to become of your child, either one."

Sally smiled and nodded at the goddess, "Thank you."

"I will keep you informed by keeping in contact if you wish, and will let you know when we are returning him to you." The queen offered.

"I'd really like that." Sally replied with a nod of thanks and the goddess swiped her hand through the mist as she turned away from it towards the door only to find an astounded looking set of gods.

"What seems to be the issue?"

Percy was getting frustrated with all the hovering that people were doing. He was literally fine. He was walking on his own, he was eating a normal amount, everything! What else did they want from him to prove it?

He was barely even in any pain, the most he felt was when he moved in a weird way and his stitched pulled, and his wound was doing fine.

This, however, did not seem to matter to Triton who was having him take four different pills twice a day for pain. He didn't need them, but the god would not listen to reason.

Even if the pain did get back to the point of being unbearable, maybe that would teach him to not get hit again. You'd think he'd had learned after all this time, but apparently not.

He wondered if he could trick Triton into thinking that he had taken them when he hadn't. With how kind everyone had been it was almost like he was getting rewarded for fucking up, and he needed to be reminded before he started expecting that kind of thing every time.

Yes, he decided. Somehow he was going to find a way to avoid the pain meds entirely, and it's not like they would find out. They were probably expecting him to be in pain anyways which is why they had him taking eight of them, so him grimacing or something wouldn't be too out of the ordinary.

Now he just needed a plan before Triton and Amphitrite got back.

"So sorry we took so long!" Amphitrite said cheerfully.

Shit, he would have to do it for next time.

The goddess entered his room, closely followed by a pouting Triton and Poseidon. Percy laughed. "What was it this time?" and the goddess hesitated for a moment before giving him an amused smile. "We just got off of an unexpected Iris message with your mother and your father is annoyed that we were, how did you say it dear? 'Ganging up on' him."

Happy that his earlier internal question on whether or not his mother knew was answered, and truly amused, Percy laughed, leaning forward while doing so, only to regret it a moment later when it pulled painfully at his sutures.

Seeing his pain Triton quickly moved from his father's side to the medical table still in the room. He opened four separate glass bottles and took one capsule from each before going to Percy's side and handing him a glass of fresh water to take the pills with, something he begrudgingly did, though he didn't let on to his desire to refuse them.

After he had swallowed them, the gods led him back to the dining hall taking the same seats as they had the night prior. A moment later the servants brought out the dishes and disappeared back into the doors they came from, not stopping for long enough for Percy to thank them, yet again.

The meal went fairly well, Percy eating what he could and trying a few new dishes, and exchanging pleasantries in the meanwhile. Percy had managed to eat a bit more than he had the night before and blushed under his stepmother's approval.

After the meal, he was led back to his room when he climbed into bed and said his goodnights. He wasn't too sure that the three of them all needed to escort him back and follow him into his room, but it tracked with what he had come to expect from them.

He was glad, at least that they left right after allowing him to 'sleep', which in all reality was him planning how he would pull this off. 'It's not like I really need to sleep all that much anyways' he reasoned to himself, 'One night won't hurt.'

After hours of brainstorming in bed, he had decided that he was going to have to be a little extra tricky.

In the morning when Triton gave him the first round of his meds with the water he would take them, but keep them surrounded by water. He decided it would be best to do them all individually if he could so it was less obvious that there was a ball of water and pills hanging out in his stomach.

Afterwards, when he was alone to change or whatever, he would creep them back up his throat and get rid of them somehow. They were gel capsules, so maybe he could dissolve them and release the medication outwards. It was going to work, and they would be none the wiser. After all,

How would they know?

He put his plan into motion the next morning and it worked perfectly! Triton did not expect a thing.

After Percy 'took' his meds and got dressed he went with his brother to the dining room for breakfast where they met Poseidon and Amphitrite. The group ate mostly in silence before the queen spoke up.

"Perseus, sweetheart, it seems as though you may be here recovering for some time. While your chambers are nice, they are a tad… impersonal. Why don't you and Triton take the day and go to the vendor's market and choose some nice things; furniture, decorations, clothing? Whatever it is that you need for your stay here."

"I, um, well…" Percy scrambled to find a valid reason why he couldn't accept something like that but before he could, his father spoke up. "I think that's a wonderful idea! Just think, Percy, you'll be able to get out of the palace and get a good breath of some less stagnant water."

Huh, Percy supposed he was right about that. He had really hated essentially being all locked up and really, really needed to get out there, somewhere, anywhere.

"Yeah, that sounds pretty nice actually." he said smiling warmly at his brother who smiled back with a nod

"Perfect, it's decided then!" Poseidon said, clapping his hands together and rising from his chair. "Just have everything sent back here and we can have things set up to your liking upon your return" the god took his wife's hand and together the pair left the room leaving the brothers behind.

"We can leave whenever you are ready," Triton told him and he nodded in reply before standing up and pushing in his chair.

After packing a small bag, the two of them set out for the day. The castle itself was surrounded by alot of outdoor space. Gardens with glowing plants were scattered around the property and there were numerous gardeners tending to the plants and to the rest of the property. In addition, there were several smaller buildings that remained unattached to the castle but were undoubtedly part of it. There was a tall, white wall that rose around the castle with a gleaming gate made of a shiny silver metal intricately shaped and holding several large gemstones.

Just outside the walls were streets paved with mosaics and shells. There were several small houses spanning both directions and further behind them Percy could see something like an underwater valley that had numerous buildings of various sizes and colours. It was not too far away and only took minutes to get there.

"You know, it would be easier for you to get around if you did not insist on walking everywhere," Triton said semi-impatiently, but overall teasingly. "Well maybe, but I don't exactly have another choice unless I just control the water around myself the whole time, and that would end up being tiring."

Triton in reply just raised an eyebrow, "Well you could very easily gain a mer-form, father would be just thrilled." Percy shrugged in reply. "I mean, no offence, but I kinda rather the normal me I don't know what it is really but having control over my physical self is really grounding and something about being changed into one that isn't like me - me, kinda freaks me out a bit."

Not sure what to say in reply, Triton just nodded and lead Percy into a nearby shop. Upon entering and looking around, it became evident that this was a clothing shop. Out of necessity at having literally nothing to wear and at Triton's insistence, Percy chose several peices of clothing ranging from tops made of a flowy material, to pants that were partially open on the sides, closing every few inches with a small shell clasp.

The clothes were very different from Percy's normal style but this is what people wore down here, so he supposed he would try something new. Not that he had much of an option anyway. Triton told him that most shops did not have pants as there wasn't much of a need for them, so they were lucky to find some that he liked and that fit, but had said that they could have had a tailor make some if it had been necessary.

The shopkeeper packaged up the clothing and Triton arranged for the packages to be deilvered to the palace.

After the clothing shop they went to a book and activities shop where Percy picked out a few books. This shop had a few languages to choose from, and Percy had opted for Ancient Greek. He also chose a puzzle cube and a few other small items to help keep him occupied.

After that, they went to a furniture shop where Triton managed to convince Percy to choose a bookshelf for his most recent purchase. The room had a dresser, but as the clothing would fill it, Triton had wanted him to have an organized place to put his belongings.

They visited a few more shops, picking up things like decorations and the like before stopping at a stall that was selling food.

While he would not admit it he was thankful to be able to stop just then and there. For the last few shops at least he had really been feeling the consequences of not taking his medication. Pain bloomed over his chest and he was getting a bit dizzy and nauseous.

He was happy to at least see the familiar seaweed rolls and elected to choose them over trying something new, especially on his uneasy stomach. The brothers sat down to eat and attempt small talk. It didn't end up panning out so they sat in silence.

The food seemed to settle his stomach, and after eating he felt much better. 'See, I knew I was fine, I'm just being dramatic' he justified to himself.

The brothers wrapped up their shopping day by stopping at a couple more shops and running a few errands before returning to the palace near dinner time.

"I had a really great time today, thank you for taking me," Percy told his brother as they made their way to the dining room. "Of course, it was my pleasure." He replied with a smile, one hand on his back.

"If you would like, we can do more together. I know you want to be more active, how about we do some training sometime. There are many differences between fighting on land and underwater and you should be able to defend youself well in each situation that presents itself."

Percy smiled, "Yeah that sounds great!." While he was super over quests, training basically amounted to blowing off steam and expelling restless energy, often while learning something, which was great in Percy's books.

They entered the room and sat at their usual places and were joined momentarily later by the king and queen. The four laughed and ate and felt like a normal family, everything seemed perfect.

After supper Percy retired to his room. The bookshelf stood tentatively next to his dresser. Upon inspection, the clothing had been placed inside the dresser and his books and other items were on the bookshelf.

Changing into a soft pair of pants and loose tank top, Percy climbed into bed, making a slight sound of distress as his movements pulled at the sutures in the wrong way. It felt good to lie down though. Halfway through supper, the pain had resumed. He had not said a word and Triton had even trusted him to take his meds on his own upon returning to his bedroom!

While he did not 'take' them, he took one of each out of the bottles and dissolved them, dispersing the medicine throughout the room.

His plan was working amazing, he had set it up perfectly so that there was no possible way that they could know.

Everything was going to be just great.

With a light heart from a fun day out and excitement for training with Triton, he fell asleep. His last thought was still on his mind as he did so. However, it was replaced the moment he woke up. Ignoring the searing flare of pain across his torso, he squeezed his eyes shut and flung an arm over his face.

"When the fuck did it get so bright in here?"

Hey all!

So I have a question for you. I have read fic where the whole royal family has tails, however, typically only Triton is. What would you all prefer for this?

Also, this was a bit of a weird chapter for me, it was originally two chapters, then combined into one, but I almost split before shopping to keep with my normal length. This has still been split, but further down.

Would you guys rather get a normal length chapter sooner and then another one like 5 days or just a longer one in like 5 days. The first option means that each chapter is probably a bit more detailed but the second one means more content faster and then moving forward in the plot.

I have also been told that lots of people like updating schedules, is this something you would prefer?

Let me know what you thought of the chapter!

Thank you for reading!