Hi all, thank you for the positive reception, it does a lot to keep me writing. Also it's really nice to see that this fanbase is still alive, especially with the new Disney+ project coming in. Hope you enjoy the chapter!

Chapter 3

His dad was going to kill him. Percy was sure of it. He hadn't meant to get in the water. But one of the catfish was swimming upside down. A sure sign of swim bladder disease. Or it was just stupid. But he preferred not to take the risk.

As soon as he was in the water, he could feel the difference in temperature. A few degrees too cold. Probable cause. Colder temperature would slow down the digestive system. Better to thoroughly check the fish first though.

The water was slightly murky, an attempt to mimic the river habitat, and Percy nearly didn't see the Arapaima. They were usually harmless, no sharp teeth, and no aggressive behaviour. But when startled or on a line they could pack a hell of a punch.

He skirted the passive fish and made his way to the catfish, running a hand along it to check for curvature in the spine or an enlarged stomach. Good. No surgery or drastic measures needed. Just a temperature change and a little less food for a couple of days. He shot a hand signal at the viewing window, where Grover stood. His friend replied in kind, before freezing and gesturing for Percy to look up. An Arapaima was lazily floating just above him, and his lungs were starting to demand fresh air. Gods, he used to be able to hold his breath for nearly three minutes. Maybe he should take up swimming again.

Knowing he had little air left, he tried to skirt to the left, rising quickly and narrowly avoiding the tail end of the enormous fish. It was one of the bigger ones in the tank, just under eight feet. They hoped he would grow more, as Arapaima could reach nearly ten feet in the wild.

He passed it no problem, breaking the surface and taking a huge gulp of air. And then his kicking feet hit something. And that something exploded.

Another Arapaima had drifted below him, and it shot up, flailing and throwing itself around with almost bone-breaking force. It landed a glancing blow on Percy's chest, knocking all the air out of him as the water continued to erupt. It was all he could do to stay afloat. He was lucky it was one of the smaller ones in the tank. The eight-footer from earlier could have caved in his ribs. Even so, the pain was excruciating, and he dug deep, managing to half swim, half float away from the thrashing fish.

The water calmed as he neared the platform, and all of a sudden, hands were grabbing him, hauling him out of the water.

"Percy! You ok, man?" Grover's frantic voice invaded his ears. He could only nod, coughing and gasping as they laid him out and stripped his surf-shirt off.

"Percy? Can you hear me?" Was that Piper? Oh yeah, they'd been on their way back from checking on the dolphins. He nodded weakly; the pain still very much present in his chest.

He dimly heard Grover on the phone. Gods, don't call an ambulance. Or dad.

"I'm good." He wheezed. "It was only a small one."

"And how exactly do you know that, you idiot?" Piper asked, sitting back on her heels.

"Because I can still breath. Must have been that three-footer that we put in a couple of weeks ago."

"Well, regardless, we need to get you checked over. Let's go." She helped him up just as Grover finished on the phone.

"Fine, I'll see Will." He grumbled. "But it's only bruising. It'll just hurt for a week or so. It didn't hit me full on."

"Well, if that's all, then you'll have no problem letting Will look at it." Grover said, joining the conversation.

"Who were you calling, traitor?"

"Your dad. Who's with the documentary crew. Right now. On their way to the hotel. Where you're supposed to be. I said we shouldn't have been in here for so long."

"It's fine dude. Just give me a minute to catch my breath."

They stopped, letting Percy lean on the wall as he stared down into the tank. The surface rippled slightly, the only indication of the previous incident.

"At least the catfish is ok." He said, straightening back up.

"Oh yeah, at least the damn fish is fine." Grover said sarcastically. Percy ignored him.

"I'll message Katie about feeding when we get back. Can someone up the temperature? I think it's too low. Probably the cause of the swim bladder."

There was a pause as he waited for someone to adjust the dial next to the tank.

"Ok, guess I'll do it."

"Hey, I don't wanna mess anything up. I'm a dolphin gal. I'm not risking my job screwing with other people's fish." Piper said, holding her hands up. Grover just huffed and carried on walking as Percy adjusted the dial.

"I'm sorry, Grover. Seriously. I didn't even see the thing."

"Neither did I, Perce. It's just it had to happen today, didn't it? You know I get blamed for this right? When I report back to your dad it's all just 'Why did you let him, Grover?'. Like does he know how hard it is to stop you doing anything?" Despite Grover's complaints, Percy could hear in his friend's voice that he wasn't truly angry.

"I'll tell him to take it easy on you next time you guys go for afternoon tea." He said, snorting, then wincing at the pain it caused.

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

"You guys are weird." Piper said, shaking her head.

"And you love us anyway."

"True."

(Line Break)

"Well, you're lucky it was one of the smaller fish, Percy." Will said, showing him the results of the x-ray that he'd been man-handled into. No broken bones. As predicted. "You'll just bruise for a while, maybe have some trouble breathing from time to time after doing anything too stressful for your body. But it looks like you knew that." The doctor added, seeing the smug look on Percy's face.

"Thanks, Will, I appreciate it." Percy conceded, shaking the blond boy's hand as he eased off the table he'd perched on.

"Don't mention it, you literally pay my wages. Or well, your dad does. I'm just glad you're not hurt too badly."

"No no no, not hurt at all, Will. At all. We clear on that?" Percy asked, glancing around at Piper and Grover as well, who both began whistling the same tune in what could only be described as perfect sync. It was like they both knew it was coming.

"Ok, fine. You're not hurt. Can't wait for Poseidon to slap you on the back so I can watch you crumble in front of the film crew." Grover said, smirking.

"Ooooh, can you get video of that one please? I wanna play it alongside the security footage at the next staff meeting." Piper said, a gleam in her eye.

"I will fire both of you right here and now." Percy warned.

"Can't, I don't work for you." Grover said, smirk widening. "I take orders from your dad."

Shit. That was true. Percy had never figured out what Grover's job description was. He assumed it was the Percy-sitter. But that still left Piper.

"Not a chance. I'm one of the only people that can work with every dolphin in that aquarium. Good luck replacing me." Piper said, sticking her tongue out.

Damn. Good point. They were both irreplaceable.

"Wow, looks like you've got me." Percy said, grinning. Instantly, both Grover and Piper looked alert. "Looks like I have no other option. You've forced my hand. It's time for the video to see the light of day."

Both of them panicked. Just as Percy knew they would. The video happened to be an incredibly funny college moment in which Grover and Piper had turned up in matching Halloween costumes completely unplanned, then been cable-tied together after falling asleep briefly before the party had even started, and been forced to shamelessly flirt with each other in order to be cut free. Percy had been saving it for years.

"What injury, Perce? You look great! Right Piper?" Grover said, eyes wide.

"Yep! Epitome of health, right there. Wow, look at the time, gotta go, things to see, places to do. See ya." Piper very quickly made her exit, the door slamming shut behind her.

"You guys are weird, you know that, right?"

"Yes, Will, we are perfectly aware."

"Good, now get out, I'm off duty in five."

"Love you Will!"

"Love you too, Perce."

(Line Break)

Contrary to popular belief, Poseidon Jackson didn't live in the penthouse of the main hotel building. Neither did his eldest son Triton. And neither did Percy. It had been tempting to say yes when his father had offered him the penthouse as a permanent residence, but then Triton had argued that it was best to make it available to the richer guests, who would fork out a stupid amount of money just to say that they had the penthouse. Percy didn't much care. He wasn't so good with heights anyway. The villa that he and Grover shared was more than enough.

Like everything at Poseidon's Palace, the villa was sleek, modern, and huge. Way too big for the two of them, so they often had their friends among the employees over. Had they been on their own and not working together, Percy fully believed that he and Grover could go for full days without seeing each other just from the sheer size of the villa. Of course, Poseidon had made his son's bigger and better than the others to compensate for the penthouse, but still.

It was weird, living on the resort, especially when it was empty, but it beat having to make the hour's drive in from anywhere else. And it certainly helped with the paparazzi problem. Here, he could live as he liked without having to think about the headlines that would appear on magazines if he wore a certain style of shirt or something, or if he was seen interacting with a female co-worker. Rumour mills. Gotta love 'em.

Percy shrugged on a fresh shirt; it was good to look at least somewhat professional, and he'd always liked the deep blue of this one. It matched the ocean. He winced slightly as he buttoned it, the bruising on his body already blossoming across his chest. He opted to forego a tie. There was such a thing as too much. Smart casual was definitely the vibe. Fully dressed, he wandered towards the front door, where Grover was already waiting for him.

"Not bad. You clean up nice for a guy that was just throwing himself into aquarium tanks."

"Tank. Singular. And what were you expecting? My Sebastian onesie?"

"No, but I thought you might have the Flounder hat on."

"Screw you. I'm driving."

"Of course you are."

Percy grabbed the keys from the bowl next to the door, before exiting and locking the villa behind him. Not that there was anyone around to break in, but it never hurt.

The two of them bundled into the souped-up golf cart they'd appropriated and set off for the hotel. They may or may not have had Beckendorf and his guys tinker with the speed limiter, and they may or may not have forgotten to tell Poseidon that they had it, but it was way easier than trying to take a normal car around the resort.

"Oh, I love this song." Percy cackled as he boosted the radio volume. Miley Cyrus. Party in the USA. A classic. Even Grover couldn't complain, his friend just rolling his eyes before joining in the horrendously bad karaoke session.

Times like this made Percy incredibly aware of how privileged a life he led, cruising around his dad's empty resort in a golf cart with the radio all the way up. Sometimes he felt a little ill at the way he acted. A typical trust-fund jock. Gross. At least he had the aquarium, and the conservation effort. He liked to think that he'd be doing this even without his father's money. Working with animals, that is. Not the golf cart thing.

"Hey, isn't that…" Grover trailed off, pointing ahead of them as they pulled onto the main road toward the hotel. A black shuttlebus was ambling down the road, likely going leisurely so that his father could entertain the guests while Percy caught up.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That I'm about to die of embarrassment?"

"Or, we're about to have some fun with the people we're gonna be stuck with for the next few weeks?"

"I like your optimism, but my bet is safer."

"Suit yourself."

They pulled up alongside the bus, music still blaring, and Percy honked the horn, waving at the faces staring back at him. He'd even put his shades on in the late afternoon sun. Might as well live up to the stereotype every so often.

Inside the bus, Poseidon's eyes widened, and he forced a smile and a wave, gesturing at Percy and no doubt explaining that the idiot outside was his son. Some of the expressions on the bus changed. Most incredulous. Percy laughed, throwing his head back as Grover shrank in the seat next to him.

He put his foot down, and the golf cart overtook the bus, flooring it towards the hotel. Worth it. He'd get yelled at later, but at least he'd had fun before all the serious stuff began. A brief hotel tour and then dinner. Yippee.

(Line Break)

"You have got to be kidding." Annabeth muttered as the sound of Miley Cyrus faded away. "That's what I'm working with."

"I apologise for my son's antics. He's often… full of life after he's been in the aquarium. Something particularly good must have happened today." Credit to Poseidon, he lied very well. She almost couldn't tell that he was ready to strangle his son. Maybe she only noticed because she wanted to do the same.

She could hear Leo and the Stolls laughing further back, and groaned at the thought of the chaos those three would create if egged on by Perseus Jackson. At least the friend with him had had the decency to look abashed.

"Well, he'll have plenty of enthusiasm on camera." Silena was an angel. Now Annabeth didn't have to respond.

"I like your outlook, Miss Beauregard. But I fear he'll be much less willing at certain stages of the tour."

That was interesting.

"Oh really? Which parts?" If Annabeth could nail down the problem areas, they could push those through first. Poseidon looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Percy isn't fond of the idea of the resort." As if. The kid joyriding a golf cart toward his daddy's hotel didn't like it? "His focus was always the aquarium and the conservation awareness programme. It was a struggle to win him around to think about the whole thing as a business rather than something I was going to endlessly pump money into with no conceivable way of staying afloat."

That was… unexpected. And very intriguing.

"Really? No desire to follow in your footsteps?"

"Are you sure you're a director, Miss Chase? You could be a reporter with questions like that." But Poseidon didn't sound reproachful. "No, Percy has always assumed that Triton will run the family business. And in many ways, he's right. Percy isn't ruthless enough for the business world. He's a free spirit, much like I was at his age. Just as part of me wants him to grow up a little, the other part wants him to remain as he is."

Now Annabeth felt bad. She'd just coerced Poseidon to reveal more about his family than he had to any journalist in several years. Not that it mattered. The Jackson's home life wasn't the focus of her documentary. And she was a professional.

"Well, at any rate it doesn't appear that we'll have to wait around for him. We'll be able to get right on with the initial tour while our staff take your things to your rooms. I hope it will be alright if we leave everything in one of them for you to sort out amongst yourselves? The manager was unsure how you'd be splitting the rooms, otherwise we'd sort it all for you."

"That's absolutely fine, I'm still not sure how we're doing that yet myself."

"Not a problem, my dear, not a problem at all."

(End of Chapter)

Well, I hope you all enjoyed! Shorter this time around but we'll be getting into the meat of the project after the next chapter or two, so I hope you all don't mind the slightly slower pace. I've seen too many fics ruined by bad pacing and I'd rather this be steady and slower than rushed and forced. Feel free to review or comment on anything, I always appreciate feedback.