"I don't even understand how you even get hungry so fast." Nico shook his head as he grumbled.
"Hey, we're growing kids but like, you wouldn't know…because you know, you're not growing." Percy teased him.
"I'm going to get you for that, Jackson." Nico warned as he jumped on Percy, tackling him. Percy just stood up casually and walked with Nico just hanging onto his back.
"You forget that that's impossible." Percy smirked as Nico got off Percy.
"You both are children." Thalia snorted.
"Shut up, pinecone face." Percy grinned. Thalia just flipped him off.
"Now that that's done with, let's eat, yeah?" Hades asked the three in amusement
"That ain't ever gonna be a no from my side." Thalia grinned. Everybody chuckled.
Thalia, Percy, Nico and Jason sat down on the table with their fathers. Hazel was sitting with Ares and his kids. Persephone and Amphitrite weren't hungry so they went out to hang out.
Jason had started a conversation about this new series that he had started watching and it had turned into a conversation which made no sense. Even Poseidon had joined the conversation in the middle and Hades sat, holding his head in anguish at the conversation while Zeus just shook his head.
As they all started laughing at their expressions, the smile fell off Thalia's face as she saw Hera walk in. The others noticed her expression and their heads turned in the same direction as Thalia's. Zeus swallowed. The other gods noticed it and Apollo and Hermes helped usher everybody out of the dining hall to give the others some privacy.
Even Rhea had walked in, hoping to understand exactly what was happening with her kids.
"Hera." Zeus said thickly. Hera just stared at him. The silence persisted for a minute or so before Nico awkwardly cleared his throat.
"We need to talk." Hera said to nobody in particular.
"I think its you and Zeus who need to talk." Hades said.
"Does it look like I care about what you think?" Hera replied coolly. Nico glared at her and Percy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Look, I'm just saying. Just trust me when I say that." Hades replied calmly.
"Hades, neither me nor anybody else trusts you so tell me why I would trust you with this? You are quite literally the lord of the dead and there was a reason you were banished, you know? That's precisely that." Hera told him casually but with an indignant edge to her voice.
Hades looked at her as he was speechless. Her words brought up every single thing that he had ever thought of himself over and over again. His head spun.
"That's enough." Nico growled at Hera.
"Mind it." Percy told her angrily as well.
"You're going to tell me what's enough?" Hera snapped.
"When my family's concerned, I sure as hell do." Nico snapped at her
"You know what, Hera? It's not Hades who cannot be trusted. Its you but anyways if you're here to rant or vent about your issue which shouldn't have even affected you, do it at us. Not at these three." Thalia told Hera angrily
"Honey, why don't the two of us talk? Let's not drag Hades and the others in this." Zeus asked her, also not essentially liking what Hera said.
"Yeah, take their side again. You seem to excel at that anyways." Hera snapped at him
"He's not taking sides, daughter." Rhea frowned. Percy shot her a look that plainly said 'I told you so.'
Zeus winced at Hera's words and so did Hades and the others.
"That's enough of this." Jason said to Hera, hurt flashing across his face. Hera was too angry to feel guilty about that.
"You should go." Nico growled, controlling any shadows that wanted to pop out.
"Preferably right now." Percy added, idly staring at his fingertips which made him look more terrifying.
Hera got up and Rhea sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose and got up. Wow. Percy was right about her verifying her sources. She knew that her daughter was short tempered but even she didn't expect her to say all that to Hades.
The two of them walked off and everybody else walked back into the room.
Nico and Percy looked at Hades in concern and when the elder god noticed that, he gave them a small smile.
"Relax. I'm fine." He lied. The two younger gods frowned but didn't press it.
About half an hour passed as they all ate in silence while those around them were chatting and laughing.
Hades didn't want to eat what food was in his plate but he had to for the sake of everybody sitting there, though he was sure that nobody except Percy and Nico would even notice. All the thoughts and memories caused by Hera's words swirled in his mind and opened wounds that he thought he had pressed deep down. Shit. He should've just pushed them all away. They couldn't hurt him that way. He wanted to scream in frustration but he just couldn't.
"Excuse me for a while." Hades said, trying to keep all emotions out of his voice which he did succeed at and got up from the table.
Nico and Percy looked at each other in worry as they continued eating their food so it didn't appear suspicious. They both hoped that Hades wouldn't do anything worse than punching a mirror to himself which they were pretty sure used to happen. They were partially relieved when he didn't walk in the direction of his quarters.
Jason and Thalia shared a look over their plates and looked at Zeus whose eyes which usually looked like they were highly charged and showed that he was constantly thinking were blank. He picked at his food and Thalia and Jason caught Poseidon looking worriedly at his younger brother.
Percy and Nico finished their food and got up as well.
"I think I'm going to go and work out. It's been a while." Percy said with a sigh.
"I'll join seeing as I have nothing better to do either." Nico shrugged.
Percy and Nico nodded to everybody on the table. Percy shot Zeus a knowing look and Percy took a deep breath. Zeus understood the sign and took a deep breath as well. Percy nodded and he and Nico went to the gym.
When they reached, they found the one person who they least expected to.
They'd ended up walking in on a shirtless Hades who was beating the shit out of a punching bag but the main part was that he had no gloves on.
The two younger gods stared at him in shock and worry. Shock because they'd never expected Hades to be out here and looking so frustrated and pained especially since they'd never seen him like that. They'd seen him in pain and see him throw a glass but not like this.
Worry, mostly because of the same reasons and also because of the scars on his body as they didn't know if they wanted to know where, when and how he'd got them or not.
"Should we leave him alone?" Nico whispered to Percy
"I think so. He needs to let some of it out if not all." Percy said, his face filled with concern
"But we'll have to come back because he's not wearing gloves and knowing dad, he's not going to do anything about the ichor coming from his knuckles." Nico said, wanting to do something at that moment but he knew he couldn't because he agreed with Percy.
"We'll just wait outside." Percy sighed
The two of them walked out and leaned against the wall near the door. Percy pulled out his phone and dialed his mom's number.
"Hey mom, is Paul out of town?" he asked. Sally answered in affirmative and told him that Paul had gone to Boston for a lecture and had taken Estelle along with him to show her around.
"Is it possible for us to come over?" Percy asked
"Who's us?" Sally's voice came through
"Me, Nico, dad, uncle H and uncle Z." Percy said. Nico looked at Percy in surprise but shrugged nonetheless.
Sally must have agreed because Percy nodded and agreed to come in an hour.
"You think they'll go?" Nico asked Percy who nodded.
"Yeah. They need an escape. What better place." He said. Nico nodded in agreement. Percy checked his watch and the two of them went back inside the gym only to see Hades land a roundhouse kick and a punch that blasted the punching bag all the way across the room and glare at it in a way which was anger mixed with some of the most intense pain ever seen by the two younger gods.
"Is this just some of it?" Nico asked Percy painfully who looked just as pained when he nodded.
Hades did a double take when he saw the two younger gods and he backed up to lean against a wall.
Nico and Percy went to him and Nico conjured some of the bandages that Will had given him. Percy pulled out some antiseptic which he always carried for some reason.
"You don't have to." Hades said hoarsely
"We sure as hell have to seeing as you're not going to and we don't really want to see your hands dripping with ichor." Nico answered. Percy just looked at Hades in the X-ray way of his. His hands worked as he cleaned the ichor. Hades winced when he put the antiseptic but didn't protest.
Nico and Percy didn't press him for the details and focused on bandaging his knuckles. Once they were done, they exhaled and sat down on the bench-press.
"We're going to my mom's place in a while. She's making cookies." Percy informed Hades who raised an eyebrow.
"And?" he asked, still thinking about what happened during lunch.
"And we're going." Percy shrugged. Hades sighed, knowing there would be no point in arguing.
"Fine but I have to go somewhere right now." Hades told them and grabbed his shirt on the way outside.
Percy and Nico just let him leave and the two of them looked at each other once he did.
"Hopefully Aunt S' cookies are even better than usual." Nico sighed
Hades had walked all the way to the one place where only one other person knew about. He sat down on the tree root and took the guitar that he had grabbed on the way there.
He should have known that that one person would have found him anyways if he was looking for him. Poseidon walked on him in the middle of him playing and singing 'Behind Blue Eyes' by Limp Bizkit. Hades sighed as he saw Poseidon come there.
Poseidon looked at his elder brother and sighed deeply. It had been ages since he had seen Hades like that. Heck, he couldn't even remember the last time when only the two of them hung out let alone when Hades looked like that.
He sat down next to him and waited for him to finish his song and leaned his head against the tree bark.
There was one place that Nico found some peace in at Olympus. It was one of those places that he had come across when he wanted some quiet to think. He and Percy ended up going to the thick foliage which always had a cool breeze blowing through it.
When they entered it, they heard somebody singing and the vague sound of a guitar. The two of them looked at each other and frowned as they followed the voice.
They walked all the way to where Hades sat with the guitar and Poseidon sat next to him. Hades had just finished the song and Poseidon looked at him and then at Percy and Nico. There was silence for a while which also involved Percy and Nico looking at each other awkwardly.
"I'm just so done." Hades said as he leaned his head against the bark and closed his eyes. Poseidon kept his hand on his brother's shoulder. Nico and Percy looked like they wanted to do something but they just couldn't. Poseidon looked at them and Percy sighed.
"Come on, Nico. Let's give them some space." Percy told him
"Perce-" Nico started weakly
"I know. I want to do something as much as you do but we have to go." Percy told Nico in a low voice but it was still audible to Poseidon and Hades but it made Nico feel better.
Nico took one look at his dad. He looked like he wanted to say something but didn't at the end.
Percy and Nico went outside and Nico covered his face with his hands as Percy ran his hand through his hair.
"What's happening, man?" Nico's voice cracked.
"She had no right to say all that. Not before and not this time." Percy said, anger evident in his voice.
"Is there anything we can do about what she said?" Nico asked helplessly
"No." came the shaky reply.
Poseidon and Hades walked out of the foliage when it was time to go. Percy and Nico were still there and both of them had coffees in their hands.
"All good?" Percy asked as he stood up straighter. Poseidon nodded. Nico chugged his coffee and looked at Percy.
"Should we go?" he asked "I'm sure the cookies are done by now and if they're not then we can help." Nico said
Percy nodded. "I've told Thalia and Jason and called Zeus. Thalia and Jason have to think and talk to somebody so they can't come but yeah, our youngest uncle's coming." He informed the others.
Once everybody was there, they all flashed out to Sally's place. Percy rang the bell and Sally's face brightened.
"Well, Poseidon is not clean shaved so its definitely Percy." She grinned and wrapped her grinning son in a hug. The rest of them stepped into the apartment as well. Nico got a bear hug from Sally as well. She shook hands with Hades and Zeus and gave a side hug to Poseidon.
"Sit down guys. Relax." Percy told the three elder gods. Nico and Percy went and helped Sally take out the cookies. Gods bless her soul. She'd made wave sea salt cookies for Percy and Poseidon, skeleton chocolate cookies for Hades and Nico and cloud butter cookies for Zeus. Needless to say, Percy squealed when he saw them.
Everybody's eyes lit up like little kids when they saw the cookies and they all squealed when they tasted it as well.
"This is so good." Poseidon groaned
"You know, next time could you make little horse shaped ones for Percy." Nico teased
"Shut up. Don't even." Percy warned
"Hold up. Context." Sally said, putting her hands up.
"Arion." Hades said with a small smile. Sally snorted in amusement.
"I remember teasing you so much about that." Sally chuckled at Poseidon who snickered.
"#goddamnbenfits." Nico smirked.
"Di angelo, I swear to the gods.- Percy started, threateningly wagging a cookie at Nico.
"Ha!Ha!" Nico yelled and rolled on the couch in laughter. Sally and Poseidon chuckled. Percy got a wicked plan in his head and he smirked mischievously and raised his eyebrows when Nico was looking. Hades and Zeus looked at Percy and knew trouble was coming because they knew that expression on Poseidon way too well.
Percy went into the kitchen and started preparing some virgin mojitos. He very specifically added mint leaves into Nico's drink and made sure that they weren't visible and handed everybody their drinks.
Nico took one sip of it and grinned at Percy.
"Dude, what did you add in this. It tastes so much more refreshing." He said. Hades snorted when he realized what Percy did.
"Oh that's probably the mint leaves." Percy said nonchalantly. He grinned as the color left Nico's face.
"Jackson-" he started
"Ha!Ha!" Percy yelled and whooped. Poseidon and Hades chuckled.
"I'm going to get you for this." Nico threatened. Percy grinned at him and raised his glass as an acknowledgement.
"You should call Persephone and tell her the joyful news." He said
"Percy, don't bully your cousin." Sally chuckled. Percy pouted at her.
"Then where's the fun in life." He said. Nico stuck his tongue out at Percy.
"But seriously though, call Persephone." Percy grinned at Nico.
"Shut up." Nico pouted. Percy pulled out his phone.
"She probably won't pick my call but lets try." He said and gave a call to Persephone and put it on speaker and like he predicted, she didn't pick up.
"She'll pick mine up." Nico smirked.
"Bold assumption." Percy grinned. Nico sighed and pulled out his phone and dialed Persephone's number and put it on speaker. She did pick up but all she said was "Hey Nico, I'm kinda busy but I'll call later."
"Goddamnn!" Percy snickered.
"You think Amphitrite would respond more than that?" Nico challenged
"I know she would but right now we're talking about Perseph-" Percy started but stopped. He looked at Hades.
"Ahhh." He said. "She'll pick up your call and answer it properly." He said. Hades snorted and shook his head.
"He's not wrong." Sally chuckled.
"C'mon dad. Try." Nico said. Hades raised an eyebrow at him.
"You do know that this is for telling her about you eating mint." He said. Nico huffed but nodded.
"It has turned into something else now." He said dramatically. Hades chuckled and called Persephone and even he put it on speaker. She goddamn answered before the second ring.
"Yes, honey?" came the voice. Percy, Poseidon and Zeus muffled their laughs. Sally shook her head with a smile. Nico threw his hands up in the air. Hades wouldn't admit it but he turned red.
"How are you doing?" he asked
"All good. I'm out with Amphi." She answered
"Well, I called to tell you that Nico ate mint." Hades said and then shook his head. Persephone snorted with laughter on the other side.
"Who managed that?"
"Percy." Hades answered.
"I'm so proud." Amphitrite's voice came in the background. And then "say it" came as a whisper. Everybody who was sitting at Sally's place's eyebrows shot up.
"I picked up the phone to tell you that I just can't wait for you to get home today. There's a lot of things that I've planned." Persephone said, her voice sultry. Percy and Poseidon couldn't control the water that they were drinking coming through their noses. Nico looked traumatized. Hades turned bright red and switched off speaker and that was luckily before the sound of the water went through to the other side.
Nico muffled his scream for bleach or a memory serum especially when with every passing word through the phone, Hades raised is eyebrows and smirked.
"Well, this turned into something else." Zeus chuckled.
"This is the second version of the scene where one group is getting ready with drinks and are ready to squeal about whatever gossip happened and the other group is just chill about it. We're the first group." Percy snickered.
When Hades cut the call, Nico yelled for ear bleach, making Hades turn even redder.
"I cannot unhear it." Nico fake sobbed. Everybody snorted.
"I still have water in my nose." Poseidon shook his head.
They all messed around like that for another hour before they decided to leave Sally to her own business and got up. They all thanked or hugged her and left.
They were all talking when they entered an alley to take a shortcut and none of them noticed the guys with the knife and gun sneak up on them. Seeing as Hades was the one at the back, they found him to be easier to mug but when they stepped onto a twig, Percy and Hades turned around. One guy tried stabbing him in the shoulder and the other fired a bullet in the exact same spot but goddamn Percy. He'd raced and pushed Hades out of the way and taken both of them.
He fell back from the impact but was up in a few seconds. His eyes burned with anger. The others had turned around by now and watched on in horror and so did Hades. Percy tackled the two guys and broke one of their arms with his knee, grabbed the gun and pointed it at the two of them in one swift motion.
"You don't have the goddamn guts to shoot." One of them snorted. Percy tilted his head, making him look much scarier and pulled the trigger and shot the guy in his foot.
"You should've thought that before you tried to stab and shoot my uncle." He said coldly. He punched the other guy in the face and knocked him out. He threw some bandages in their faces. The others raced to Percy whose entire shirt was covered with blood.
Hades swallowed guiltily but he and Poseidon supported Percy while Zeus flashed all of the to Olympus. They raced to the infirmary but Will and Apollo weren't there. Nico went outside and dragged Michael to the infirmary. He swore when he saw Percy. The young god gave him a weak grin.
"Again?!" Michael shook his head. Percy shrugged but winced in pain.
"Will and dad have gone out. They won't be back for a couple of hours but I can help. We all get the same basic training ." Michael told everybody.
"Do whatever you can." Poseidon said, worry written over his face. Hades nodded in agreement.
"His healing should be better now." He said
"Yeah. Instead of the healing for this wound taking a month, its gonna take a week but its still going to be painful. Like, more painful because its happening faster." Michael said
"Well, that's only possible if we actually get started on it right?" Percy said weakly.
"Oh shit. Right." Michael said. He grabbed all the materials. He hesitated near the pain killers.
"Do you wanted to be medicated?" He asked
"Absolutely not." Percy shook his head. Michael nodded. He thought so.
"This is really going to hurt, Percy." Michael said. Percy nodded and closed his eyes. The other 4 stood and tried to watch without wincing or flinching. They all stood next to Percy so he'd know that they were there.
Michael pulled out the knife and Percy shook as he tried to hold in is scream especially when he also removed the bullet but a small scream did escape him.
"Hey. Deep breath." Hades instructed. Percy nodded and followed. Percy flinched when Michael put the antiseptic but said nothing. Michael bandaged him the traditional way as he didn't specialize in healing and only Apollo and Will could heal such a wound and gave Percy a shirt to put on.
Nico called up Annabeth who came in racing before Michael started to tell the precautions.
"Again?!" Annabeth shouted. Percy looked at her sheepishly.
"Exactly what I said." Michael chuckled.
"What happened?" Annabeth asked. Percy gave her a look that said 'later'.
"Okay. So listen." Michael started as Percy and the other five stood next to him looked at him.
"Keep your hand in motion or it will get jammed very badly. But when I say keep it in motion, I don't mean that you do any intense activities. So that means no boxing, no weightlifting, no training with your left arm and the likes." Michael said seriously. Percy nodded.
"Change your bandages after taking a bath. Do not take a bath without them because soap is involved and we don't want soap anywhere near your left shoulder." Michael said, holding up two fingers.
"Thirdly, don't sleep on your left side or on your stomach. And lastly, your shoulder's gonna be very jammed for the next two to three days. Worse than last time." He said. Percy nodded to show that he understood
"What about swimming? With or without bandages?" Percy asked. Michael hesitated.
"Uh…Percy, I would suggest that you don't swim for at least a week. Firstly, there's a lot of movement involved in the strokes and secondly, though the water helps you, the salt sure as hell won't." Michael told him. Percy took a deep breath and nodded.
"That's all right." He smiled and he meant it. "Thanks, Mike."
"So, once Apollo is back, can't Percy just get healed by him?" Nico asked. Michael shook his head.
"There's no point. I've already put all the antiseptic and bandages. Its not the healing that needs to be worried about. You just want to make sure that the cut doesn't reopen or start bleeding again." Michael said
"Right. Cool." Percy said and gave Michael a smile. "Lets go." He said to everybody.
Hades' mind whirled with guilt the whole way. Percy had jumped in front of the knife and bullet meant for him and now he wasn't going to be able to do the one thing that he loved so much for a week.
Everybody found out about the fact that Percy had got hurt very soon but nobody knew exactly how or why. Percy never complained about whether it hurt because he didn't regret it in the first place.
Hades would always feel guilt slam on him whenever he saw Percy, knowing that he was in pain from a wound that wasn't supposed to be his. Chiron and Hestia decided that everybody could use some rest and delayed the reading by a few days. A day passed after Percy got hurt and they were all relaxing in the garden, near the fountain when Sally came there.
"Mom?" Percy asked and then grinned when he saw that even Estelle was there. He hadn't told them about the wound and didn't plan on telling them either.
"She was upset that she missed you guys coming over yesterday." Sally smiled. Estelle grinned at her brother and asked for a piggyback ride. Percy knew that it would hurt his shoulder but he knew he couldn't say no without letting them know that something was wrong so he grinned and picked up Estelle and put her on his shoulders. He turned away from his mom and winced in pain but he still chuckled and ran around with Estelle screaming with delight.
He put her down after a few rounds and then she noticed Nico and ran towards him at full speed. Nico grinned widely and Estelle hugged his legs as Nico was standing up and Estelle only reached till there. He laughed and picked her up and kissed her forehead.
"Nicky." She said. She was the only one allowed to call him that.
"You look diffwent." She said and then looked at Hades.
"You look like him." She said. Nico chuckled.
"He's my dad." Nico smiled at her. Estelle went to him and looked at him and Hades smiled at her.
"He looks good." She said, turning slightly red. Hades chuckled and grinned at her. Somewhere in the background, Persephone turned red at that grin.
"Perce, looks like our kid sister has her first crush." Nico laughed. Percy chuckled and grinned.
"Can't blame her." Persephone said.
"BRUHH." Nico yelled.
"I mean she's setting good standards. That's gonna be good for her later in life." Sally shrugged with a chuckle.
Hades smiled at Estelle and felt couldn't help but grin when he saw her shy smile. It made him feel better at that moment. Eventually, Estelle fell asleep in his arms itself and he handed her to Sally as they were about to return. They all went for lunch once Sally and Estelle left.
Triton sighed as he sat down next to Percy.
"What's wrong?" Percy asked him as he ate.
"I'm just wondering about why you would take that knife and bullet." Triton told him. Percy put his fork down and wiped his mouth.
"I thought you knew why."
"I thought I did but apparently I don't. You winced when you held your sister, Perce. You can't even swim. Why would you jump in front of a knife and a bullet knowing what the consequences would be." Triton shook his head. Hades flinched as he thought about how true what Triton was saying was.
"You didn't have that much of a problem when I got hurt the last time." Percy raised an eyebrow.
"Well, that was for dad. But this time…its not…I don't know…its not the same right? You know what I'm talking about?" Triton sighed. Hades winced. Poseidon furrowed his eyebrows and Nico glared at Triton. Percy on the other hand, stared at his brother.
"No. I don't know what you mean." He said. Triton started to say something but Percy stopped him. "Don't say that to me ever again, Tri. I know exactly what I did, why I did and what the consequences would be. You don't need to tell me that. I did because the pain that I feel is nothing to what uncle H would. And secondly, its not different. I love dad but don't even think that I don't love uncle H. So no, Triton, there was no way I was going to let somebody I care about feel like they were being tortured for more than a week when I could prevent it." Percy said, his voice hard.
"But-" Triton started
"That's enough, Triton." Poseidon stopped him.
"Watch what you say, Triton. Just because you're my cousin, it doesn't mean that I'm going to let you get away with saying shit about someone I care about more than you." Nico warned.
"Shit, man. I didn't mean for it to come out that way." Triton apologized.
"Well, it did. Next time, frame it better." Nico told him. Hades looked at Percy and Nico in surprise. These two really did not stop surprising him. He also gave Poseidon a grateful look but what Triton said ate at him but Percy's justification made it a bit better.
It was evening in a while and Percy leaned against the glass edge with his hands hanging over the railing. He stared at the sky and had played a few songs on the speaker.
Hades saw his nephew and he knew he had to talk to him. He had spent the whole day thinking about what Triton and Hera had said to him or about him. He went and stood next to Percy and also leaned against the glass edge.
"What's on your mind?" Percy asked, knowing that his uncle had too much shit going on in his mind.
"You shouldn't have taken that knife and bullet for me." Hades said
"I didn't do it because I should or shouldn't. I did because I chose to because…well…it would hurt you beyond belief and I couldn't just stand there and do nothing. Fatal flaw, remember?" Percy chuckled dryly. The silence set in again.
"How can you even…why…why would you trust me?" Hades asked hoarsely
"Because you're a good person. You've done a lot for me, uncle. And you've not given me any chance to think that you can't be trusted. The question here is why you don't think you can be trusted." Percy said, looking at Hades. He had no doubt when it came to trusting him. He'd see how protective Hades was of those he cared about but he wanted to know why he didn't trust himself.
"I was banished because my own family was scared of me and couldn't trust me. I could never see anybody I cared about again and now that I can, they don't trust me and they don't think that I deserve anything and that I'm expendable." Hades said.
Percy had never heard Hades sound so heartbroken and filled with such pain.
"And so you pushed them away so they couldn't hurt you like that again." Percy sighed. Hades looked at Percy in surprise but he nodded.
"But it still hurt, didn't it?" Percy asked.
"It shouldn't have." Hades said. He slammed his hand against the railing. "It shouldn't have." He said again, his voice cracking. He put his head in his hands.
"Why is it always like that?" he said, his voice muffled. "Why does it hurt?" He said quietly
"Because you care about them." Percy answered, putting his hand reassuringly on Hades' shoulder.
"But nobody else cares about that or me. Most of the people want me out of their lives. Hera. My own goddamn sister. My own sister." He said, his voice growing quieter as he swallowed thickly.
"That is as far from the truth as I have ever heard." Percy said sternly.
"You deserve everything good the world has to offer because you're one of the best gods ever. You care about your loved ones and would do anything to take care of them but some people are just too goddamn blind to see that. You're far from being goddamn expendable." Percy told him
"And your family doesn't hate you and there's no way that we want you out of our lives. And people who don't see that they're lucky to have you in their lives are idiots. I'm not saying that just for the sake of it. For what it's worth, I would jump in front of you over and over again. You know why I don't even regret hurting those two guys even the slightest bit? Its because every time I think of what would have happened, I feel like beating the shit out of them again and again." Percy told him truthfully.
"Nico even told me that if anything would have happened to you, he would have been the one to remove the souls from their bodies, send them to punishment and torture them himself. I have also never seen dad interfere in a conversation between me and Triton but he did. He did because he knew that what Triton said was way out of bounds." Percy informed him
"And Zeus. He's hurting about Hera and to make up with her all he had to do was not say anything when she said all that shit to you but he did. Even he knew what she said was wrong. Honestly, she got lucky before one of us tackled her or something. And honestly, had Persephone been there, it would have been world war III." Percy said, shaking his head at the end.
Hades looked at Percy. A few months back, had somebody told him that he would be this close to Percy, he would have laughed but he was beyond grateful to Nico and Percy for everything they were doing for him.
"Just remember. If you ever think that you're expendable, for all those people who hate you, there are those who love you and for all those who don't want you in their lives, there are people who can't imagine theirs without you." Percy said as he squeezed Hades' shoulder.
Hades turned away from Percy as he stared into the setting sun as he took some shaky breaths. He looked at his fists which seemed to be healing now. He really had punched the bag too hard but he'd needed it.
Percy looked at his uncle who was shaking. He didn't ask anything or say anything before Percy couldn't help but pull him into a hug. Hades didn't pull back from the hug but instead returned it as well.
Percy had known that Hades needed it and he didn't care that his shirt was getting soaked. He'd stay there as long Hades needed it because he needed somebody.
"Hey, I got you." Percy said gently "I got you, buddy." He said and rubbed Hades' back comfortingly. Hades just tightened the hug. "I'm right here." Percy said gently and patted Hades' back.
Percy, being the water boy, gave Hades a water bottle once they pulled back. Hades' eyes were red and he took the water gratefully.
The two of them stayed there till night fell and went to join everybody else for dinner. None of them said a word about anything that occurred but it was clear that they were a better family than before.