PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO || Nicercy || A God Among Men || Nicercy || PJatO || Nicercy || PJatO

Title: A God Among Men – Life in the Kingdom of Demetria

Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus; ancient Greece AU

Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan for he created the awesomeness that is Nico di Angelo. And everything else related to Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus. Aside from the Gods, they belong to the old Greeks. This fanfiction and its OCs on the other hand are entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.

Warnings: shounen-ai, gods, magic, fluff, worship, explicit intercourse, anal, oral, bondage, shoujo-ai, hetero, threesome

Main Pairing: Nico/Percy

Side Pairings: Reyna/Annabeth, Luke/Octavian, Ethan/Alabaster, Jake/Will, Frank/Hazel/Leo, Grover/Juniper, Malcolm/Katie, Tyson/Ella, Chris/Clarisse, Charles/Silena, Jason/Calypso, Poseidon/Amphitrite | Poseidon/Sally, Zeus/Hera, Hades/Persephone, Hades/Maria (past), Nico/Drew (one-sided)

Percy Jackson Characters:

Thieves: Perseus Jackson, Luke Castellan, Cecil Rogers, Chris Rodriguez, Travis Stoll, Connor Stoll

Royals: Nico di Angelo, Bianca di Angelo, Hazel Levesque, Maria di Angelo, Drew Tanaka

Royal Advisers & Palace Servants: Jason Grace, Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Annabeth Chase, Malcolm Cage, Ethan Nakamura, Will Solace, Katie Gardner, Grover Underwood, Juniper

Palace Guards: Frank Zhang, Clarisse la Rue, Thalia Grace, Hylla Ramírez-Arellano, Kinzie Cohen, Zoe Nightshade, Phoebe Burge

Priests: Alabaster C. Torrington, Lou Ellen, Piper McLean, Silena Beauregard, Ella, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Octavian Simmons

Blacksmiths: Charles Beckendorf, Leo Valdez, Jake Mason, Nyssa Black, Tyson

Godly Characters: Triton, Amphitrite, Poseidon, Hera, Zeus, Demeter, Persephone, Hades, Hestia, Hermes, Apollo, Artemis, Calypso

Summary: Perseus is a minor Sea God, son of Neptune and prince of the sea. And utterly bored. Gods, is he bored. Instead of staying bored under the sea, he decides to pose as a mortal and walk the Earth. Throughout ancient Greece, one small island kingdom in particular took to worshiping him, the Demetria Isles. So that's where Percy goes, to see what kind of people worship him.

He runs into interesting people. Lives with thieves, learns from priests and falls for the prince...

A God Among Men

Life in the Kingdom of Demetria

Chapter 1: The King of Thieves

Percy was wobbling his way through the sand. He could still see the ocean behind him, but he was already exhausted. His legs were too new, the muscles unused so far. It took him forever to reach the even road leading away from the beach and toward the tall walls that most likely surrounded the biggest city of the Demetria Kingdom. Percy was genuinely exhausted by the time he reached the outskirts of the city. He looked back and was actually shocked to see that it hadn't been that much of a distance. When swimming, he would have managed that distance in two minutes flat. Hopefully, he would get used to his new legs fast. They already ached horribly. He needed rest.

There was a wagon, strapped onto a pretty horse. Percy smiled gently and patted the animal's head. It looked so funny, with the legs instead of the tail. Percy's baby-brother Tyson had a hippocampus named Rainbow. The thought made Percy pause, hand resting on the horse's cheek. Ty was going to be so worried. And so were their older siblings. And of course their parents. But he would be stuck in the palace forever if he wasn't going out to prove himself now. He had to make a mark for himself. But for now, he had to rest a little. And the hay on the cart behind the horse looked comfy. Not as comfy as algae or his giant sponge-bed in the palace, but better than the ground. Yawning widely, he crawled into the cart and curled together, closing his eyes to rest a little.

/break\

By the time Percy woke up, his legs felt like they were on fire, muscles aching. He was in some kind of stables, there were many pretty horses and piles of hay everywhere. He carefully crawled out of the heap of hay on the cart he was on and decided that it was time to keep exploring. Maybe find some place to recharge himself – there had to be water here somewhere.

"Wow...", whispered Percy in awe as he left the stables and saw the beauty outside.

A garden, unlike any he had ever seen. All green and filled with sunlight and colorful, fragile-looking flowers. Nothing like the corals Percy was used to. He gaped even more as he lifted his gaze and saw the palace rising behind the garden. Nothing like Neptune's palace under the sea, but sure gorgeous. And in front of the palace was a beautiful thing that was spitting water into the air to catch it again in a large bowl-thing. Percy had heard about those, but never seen one – considering that everything under the sea was filled with water. Smiling brightly, Percy paddled over to the fountain and climbed in. Closing his eyes, he tilted his head back to enjoy the water on his face.

"By the gods, what do you think you're doing there?!"

Percy blinked and turned to look at the scandalized young woman with the honey-brown hair. "I'm taking a bath. The water is very nice! And the fountain is fun."

"B—But not in the royal fountain!", exclaimed the woman. "Grover! Grover, go call the guards!"

A brunette man with a goatee turned his attention toward them, making a funny yelping sound when he saw Percy. "Juniper, what is going on?! I—Is this another one who sneaked out of the prince's chambers? Should we really cause a ruckus about this...?"

"Oh dear", gasped Juniper and turned toward Percy. "Did you sneak out of Prince Nicodemos' room? Are you one... of his...? Are you drunk, is that why you're naked?"

Percy tilted his head curiously. He had gotten drunk once before when his cousin Dionysus was throwing one of his famous parties that had then gotten him grounded by uncle Zeus. But he was not currently drunk. What a strange thing to randomly ask someone. But apparently, swimming in a fountain was not a thing humans did. Duly noted. The two humans were busy hissing and debating among themselves, so Percy just sneaked out of the fountain and made his way out of the large garden. Time to continue exploring anyway, if he wanted to stay all day in water, he could have stayed home to begin with. No, no, he wanted to see human things. Do human things.

/break\

After a little while of aimless wandering, he found himself at the entrance to something that could only be a marketplace. A human marketplace! Oh, how exciting! But there was one thing he instantly noticed. All the humans were covered. The two in the garden had been too, wrapped into clothes. Well, that was rather an optional thing on Olympus whenever he went there, and for merpeople it was completely unnecessary. Apparently, among humans, it was the norm.

Okay. Percy could totally work with that. Before someone could spot him from his half-hidden place behind the large gate. The first stand he saw was covered with beautiful cloths. Shawls. The fabric was pretty. Percy sneaked over to it and whirled around once, cunningly picking a blue large piece off the rack and wrapping it around himself once. Another elegant whirl and he took a dark-blue shawl off the upper balk, wrapping it around his midsection a couple of times and tying it tightly. Looking around, he noted that this would pass as clothed, apparently.

Good. Moving on. He felt like he was starving. He smiled when he found a stand selling apples. They weren't golden, but they looked good enough. He took one, just to have the stand-owner grab his hand very tightly. Startled, Percy looked up at the nasty man.

"You plan on paying?", barked the man suspiciously.

"...Paying?", echoed Percy a bit surprised.

"With money. For my goods. Or I can call the guards", warned the nasty man.

Those guards seemed to be very popular around here. Everyone seemed so set on Percy meeting them. But something told Percy that it wasn't the best idea. So paying, that was a thing. It required money. Percy had seen it before, on the market. Not that he had ever payed for a single thing in his life, considering he was the son of the king of the sea, as well as the brother of the king of merpeople. Everyone adored him. He had a feeling they weren't adoring him so much here.

"Of course I would pay, but I wanted to inspect the goods first", smiled Percy charmingly.

The man eyed him critically, but he let go nonetheless. Percy made a show of inspecting the apple for a very long moment with a very critical eye before he put it down again with a shake of his head. He had been eying a street dog that was headed his way and passed it up perfectly. With one sneaky kick did he knock one of the boxes leaning sideways against the stand over. The owner cursed the dog that he saw walking past and went to gather his goods. Percy slipped away with three apples on his arm. Grinning to himself, he threw one into the air and caught it again.

"You're good."

Percy startled, nearly dropping his apples. When he turned wide-eyed to the source of the voice, he came face to face with a mischievous looking blonde man with a scar running down his otherwise handsome face. So was Percy going to meet those guards after all?

"Oh, relax, kiddo", laughed the blonde and reached out to ruffle Percy's hair. "I'm not going to get you into trouble. Just admiring your talent. I saw how you practically danced through the stands to get your clothes together. Kinda curious why you didn't have clothes to begin with..."

Percy blushed brightly. Human clothes apparently really were a must. Percy carefully took his newly acquired apple and took a bite. It was surprisingly good for not being golden. Percy started eating with more gusto, walking along with the blonde man still beside him.

"You're hungry", observed the blonde curiously. "Like, very hungry. You didn't have clothes. You're a good thief. That does make me wonder. I'm Lukos, but everyone calls me Luke. Who are you?"

"I'm Perse... Persephonus, but everyone calls me Percy", replied Percy casually.

In the virtually only kingdom that worshiped him, he could not introduce himself as Perseus. Better not to draw any attention to himself. And cousin Phone surely wouldn't mind that he named himself after her; Perseus and Persephone got along really well whenever Percy went to visit her and uncle Hades in the underworld. She would probably coo at him and pat his cheek.

"Where did you learn to steal?", asked Luke, eyes intense as he searched Percy's face.

"From the best", replied Percy with a blinding smile.

Which was totally true; Hermes was one of his three favorite cousins – with Apollo and Persephone – and he had taught Percy how to steal before the young god could even talk. Poseidon had given Zeus such a preaching that Zeus had actually grounded Hermes, even though Zeus wasn't much into the whole parenting-thing. But Percy totally didn't mind, because he loved spending time with his awesome older cousins. Zeus may be a bag of dicks, but his kids were totally awesome.

"Around here, I am the best", stated Luke, one eyebrow raised. "Which only cements my suspicion that you're not from around here. So, where did you come from? And what brings you here?"

"I'm from... somewhere else", answered Percy very vaguely – the royal palace in Atlantis was hardly a befitting answer here. "But I came here because I was curious about... about a god this island seems to worship? A name I have never heard before..."

"Ah, you mean Lord Perseus", nodded Luke with a curious glint in his eyes. "Well, you wouldn't be the first one drawn here for the cult. You came to learn more about him?"

"I... yeah", nodded Percy, allowing the blonde to lead him wherever he was going.

"Well, Lord Perseus is a son of Lord Poseidon", started Luke casually to explain, waving an arm around. "Not much is known about him. A story says that he emerged from the sea when our queen was in danger. He saved her and the princesses and the prince. That's how we even know his name and parentage, apparently he introduced himself. But we don't really know much more. It's said he must be a sea god because of that. A guardian god, I guess."

Percy nodded slowly, eyebrows knitted. Okay, so technically he wasn't the son of Poseidon. Technically he was the son of Neptune. But since his dad was mainly in his Greek form – what with all of his siblings being the children of Poseidon – he was so used to referring to him as Poseidon and not Neptune. He was, however, very peculiar about his mom. Because he was not the son of Amphitrite – she was so much stricter and colder than her Roman form. He was the son of Sally – Salacia – who was far warmer and more loving. Not to mention that Percy was her 'only son', since all other children had been born between their Greek counterparts. It was, at times, a little confusing for Percy to tell apart the Greek and Roman aspects of gods, but Percy most definitely knew that there was a tangible difference between Greeks and Romans. One could say that Percy and his younger brother Tyson were the result of a new era, because very slowly there was a shift from Greek to Roman. But how was he supposed to explain that to a mortal...?

"So, where are you staying here?", asked Luke curiously.

"I...", started Percy before he faltered a little.

Okay, maybe he should have thought this whole thing through some more. He hadn't thought about human customs – like clothes and money – he hadn't thought about a cover-story – like a name or a place of origin or a reason for him to be here – and he sure hadn't thought about what to do here – where to live, what to eat, how to get around this place. He didn't have a plan, not even anything close to a plan. Cousin Athena would probably chide him and hit him upside the head for that...

"That's alright", assured Luke, voice rather gentle as he laid an arm around Percy's shoulders. "I know a lot of kids just like you. Stealing to get around. Not wanting to talk about their past and with no plans or ideas for the future. I think I have just the place for you."

"You... do?", asked Percy with wide, hopeful eyes.

"Absolutely. If that's what you're looking for", chuckled Luke, clearly amused by Percy.

Percy nodded so hastily, he was pretty sure his head should fall off. Luke laughed fondly and ruffled his hair. Luke was nice. He reminded Percy a lot of Hermes. Mischievous, but still very caring for any lost soul he might encounter. Percy decided that for the time being, he would stay with Luke and see this place and those other people. He was curious to meet humans without a past or future. The concept seemed so odd. Everyone came from somewhere and went somewhere, after all.

"Where are we going?", asked Percy curiously.

They had left the broad streets and entered a dark, narrow alleyway. The houses seemed more run-down and poorer, there were thin, sickly looking people sitting at the sides of the houses, watching them with narrowed eyes. No. Watching him with narrowed eyes. They all had a greeting for Luke though, so it seemed they were definitely in his territory. Percy grew a bit uncomfortable.

"What? A bunch of street rats don't live in the palace", chuckled Luke amused.

Percy frowned confused. Why was this place looking so much less... bright and homey than the market and the pretty palace? And what did street rats mean? It didn't sound nice.

"What did you bring home with you there?" - "He's definitely cute."

Percy startled a bit and jumped back as all of a sudden two nearly identical brunettes appeared right in front of him. Luke chuckled and urged Percy on. The two brunettes trailed after them. Through a hole in the wall did they crawl into an empty house, through its cellar and through another wall – and suddenly they were in a completely different place. It was flooded with warm candle-light, there were colorful cloths and curtains hanging from all the walls, covering what must be looking like the run-down houses outside but thanks to the decoration it was far nicer. Blankets and pillows covered basically the entire floor, aside from where there were tables or furniture standing. Multiple hammocks hung from the ceiling. It looked so amazing and comfy! Kind of like an oversized pillow-fort – he used to built those with Artemis and Enyo when they'd be playing against Ares, Apollo and Hermes in a strategic battle. There were three male humans in the comfortable-looking living space, all turning their attention toward the new arrivals.

"Guys! This is our newest stray. His name is Percy", declared Luke. "Percy, those are Connor, Travis, Chris, Cecil and Leo. Part of our crew. Well, the entire current crew, I guess."

"You guess?", echoed Percy curiously as he looked the newly introduced people up and down.

"When Luke started this little crew, it were only him and 'his girls'. But they both... moved on. Got, you know, serious jobs to earn money, got honest and all that", shrugged Chris amused.

Percy looked at Luke's face, catching an interesting expression on it. It was a mixture of pride and sadness. It was a curious mixture and Percy guessed that Luke cared very deeply about 'his girls', whoever they might be. He missed them dearly, but was also proud that they had moved on.

"Hey, I'm on my way to become honest too!", protested Leo with a pout.

Percy tilted his head curiously and directed his attention to the impish looking human. "How?"

"I started an apprenticeship with the local blacksmith!", declared Leo, puffing out his chest.

"And we are very proud of you, kiddo", stated Luke with a smile, ruffling the boy's hair.

Percy smiled a little as he watched them. Right then and there, the two reminded him of Triton and Tyson. Triton always worried and took care of the younger ones. Luke seemed like a caretaker. Percy had a hunch that he could be pretty happy right here. So he was still being favored by the Fates, that was indeed good to know. He had to remember bringing the three ladies pastry next time he went to visit the underworld. Percy carefully ventured deeper into the comfy looking living room space, looking around curiously and ducking underneath the colorful curtains.

"This place is very pretty", stated Percy as he looked around. "I like it."

"Thanks for the approval", snorted Cecil amused. "He's a weird one, Luke."

"Makes him fit right in", declared Leo with a broad grin. "Come on, Percy, I'll show you around!"

And suddenly, Percy found himself dragged along by the excited young human. There was an upstairs – a not entirely roofed upstairs – where there was a small kitchenette and a table with a bunch of mismatched chairs. Leo kept rambling on about the place and their crew and Percy tried very hard to listen to it all and take it all in.

This little band of thieves had started out with Luke and 'his girls' – his girls being Thalia and Annabeth. The three of them had been living on the streets together, somehow got onto a ship as stowaways and ended up on Demetria Island, the largest of the Demetria archipelago. The two smaller islands being Cerelia Island and Desponia Island.

Thalia had joined the all-female elite army of the queen and had made a name for herself.

Annabeth had started studying and was discovered by a loyal adviser of the queen and had been invited to become the prince's tutor due to her intelligence and was by now working as adviser to Prince Nicodemos himself. Which was quite the career, from the street rat to the royal adviser.

Then there were Travis and Connor, who were brothers and orphans. They were already beyond twenty, but they had been with Luke since they were little boys. The very first who Luke had 'adopted' after moving to the island of Demetria. Luke had become a father-figure and especially after Thalia and Annabeth had moved on, the brothers felt even more inclined to stay with Luke.

Chris used to be a solo-thief until he bumped into Luke's crew once too often, until Luke could finally persuade him into joining them. Though Chris had been reluctant about that at first.

Cecil and Leo were the youngest, they were both just sixteen and both of them had been orphans. And while Cecil totally loved life on the streets, he loved stealing and learning from his four big brothers, Leo had found his calling one day when he had been caught stealing by the blacksmith.

"And he did not call the guards? Everyone here seems very eager to call the guards", asked Percy.

Leo grinned sheepishly, arms crossed behind his head. "I thought so too. I was so panicking. It was two years ago, so I was only fourteen and I thought that was going to be the end of me. I pleaded and begged, but Mister Charles actually had... mercy. He told me I could work it off. I was supposed to come back, every day, and work for him. I asked him why he'd let me go – what made him think that I'd return and keep my end of the deal – and he said that he thought I wasn't a bad kid. He trusted me to do the right thing. I was kind of not used to... people trusting me. I only did minor manual labor at first, until he noticed that I'm actually pretty good with the crafts. So he offered me an apprenticeship. I'm learning from him, making honest money."

"...Then why are you still here?", asked Percy curiously. "I thought everyone here is... on the wrong side of the law. If you're making honest money, you wouldn't have to steal."

"I'm not. Well, I am, sometimes, because it's fun. But... I don't want to leave. They're my family, everyone here is my family", explained Leo with a shrug. "And family is important, you know?"

"...I do", whispered Percy softly and averted his eyes in guilt.

"What about you? I mean... What happened to your family?", asked Leo carefully.

"I ran away", admitted Percy as the two of them returned to the basement and sat down on the mass of pillows together with the others. "I... I shouldn't have."

"Then why did you?", wanted Luke to know, voice gentle. "I've met a lot of runaways in my days and never has anyone run away without some kind of reason."

"I didn't have a reason", muttered Percy, guilt written over his face as he stared at his hands. "My parents love me. They provided for me. I had a beautiful home, everything I could want. My siblings love me too. I'm... I'm worrying them... and... I'm being ungrateful..."

"Then why did you run away?", asked Chris skeptically, one eyebrow raised.

"Because I wanted to see the world", whispered Percy and looked up at them with such longing in his eyes. "I wanted to... see and explore, meet people and do things – alone. Without someone hovering, without being sheltered and put under constant surveillance by guards."

"Guards, huh? You royal?", asked Connor, both eyebrows raised.

"So the little birdie got tired of his golden cage", observed Travis curiously.

Percy flushed wide-eyed and panicked, until Luke chuckled and clapped him on the shoulder. "Kid, that was obvious from the moment I met you. The way you talk and carry yourself, your hands have never seen a day of manual work before. It's alright. No judgment, here you're just Percy."

Percy blinked a couple of times and stared at the thieves in awe. He liked being just Percy.

Author's note: Next chapter is going to introduce to us Prince Nicodemos of the Demetria Isles and how fucking bored he is with his life there! How much he wants something fresh and exciting. Like a pretty naked boy bathing in his fountain in the palace garden? One could say that Percy really left a memorable first impression with that stunt, huh...? ;)