AN: Shoutout to Acedeath22 for giving me the idea for this chapter. So, Piper and Rachel, as I've already declared, and Percy go camping.
Time: A Few Days Later
The dry leaves that lined the dusty ground crunched beneath Percy's tough combat boots as he followed Piper and Rachel up the trail, wondering from where they got all the energy.
Well, he might have strayed a little bit from his path just for the satisfaction of crunching leaves, but we're not here for that, are we?
Percy sighed, wiping the slight sweat from his forehead as he continued trudging on the path, insensitive to the world around him and with no means of entertainment. He had tuned out the ceaseless chatter of the two friends a long time ago, being left to his own devices, and his own thoughts to entertain him while he headed for their destination.
They were camping, right?
Right.
Percy sighed, taking a deep breath as he let himself zoom back into focus, as if it was something that he arbitrarily decided with the flick of an imaginary switch in his brain.
He tried his best not to let his attention be grabbed by the two juicy asses that were swaying in front of him, clad in tight skinny jeans that practically left nothing to the imagination, almost teasing him as bad as a hungry lion having a steak waved just out of his reach, but he resisted the urge to growl, or try anything in the open. He definitely did not think of their lips wrapped around his thick cock, or the way they would moan when he would take them. He did not think of the way their cute asses will look as he spanked them for boring the crap out of him all day, or the way their wide hips would feel beneath his hands.
Nah, it was too hot to even think of doing something like that, and his brain was already in power-saving mode.
He really enjoyed camping, but something had made Piper choose to come to this out-of-place wasteland, quite unlike the usual lush forests and mountains that Percy frequented during his hiking trips. Closing his eyes, he let out a deep breath, before focusing again, to look at his surroundings.
He stood on top of a little dirt mound as if it was the peak of Mount Everest, letting a small smile play across his lips as he breathed deeply, inhaling the fresh natural air that he so dearly missed whenever he went out in the mortal world, so similar to the tropical atmosphere of Ogygia that made him feel comfortable and right at home in the wild. Perhaps it had something to do with Artemis or Calypso's connection with nature, or Grover's love for nature that he grew up with, but he didn't particularly care.
Percy's dark hawk-like eyes scanned the entire world around them, feeling slightly surprised at how much the scenery had changed in the few hours. What had once been a slightly dusty desert track infested with hikers much like themselves and stupid TikTokers and Instagrammers, was now a beautiful deserted desert track with just the right amount of sand to make it beautiful. It was like his very own escape to a peaceful wasteland of his dreams, with the western horizon painted blood red by the setting sun, and the sky turning darker by the moment as night set in, the moon barely above the horizon and a few stars dotting the dark night sky.
A gentle breeze buffeted him, ruffling his clothes and making Percy close his eyes in bliss, listening to the soothing sounds of nature. The gentle caress of the sun on his face and the blistering heat of the day was beginning to subside, being replaced by a slight delicious chill that made goosebumps appear on his skin. A few birds called out in the darkness, random calls that Percy could never hope to distinguish from one another or track in this expanse of nowhere. Trees rustled, their leaves dry and the sound slightly rough, as compared to the smooth, lively sounds of the forest at Ogygia. A tumbleweed rolled out of nowhere, rolling in front of him like he was in one of those old-school cowboy movies.
The only visible signs of life were the two girls a little distance from him, their voices muffled and the glow from their mobile screens the only thing that distinguished them from the rest of the endless desert.
This place was silent and devoid of life, as opposed to the forests that Percy usually frequented, but it was no less beautiful. The moonlight that turned the sands silver, the dusty track that wound its way through the heart of the desert like a meandering river. The unobstructed view of the earth for miles around, the distant canyons and cliffs that appeared painted in blood in the setting sun, as life returned to the desert in the cool evening, now that the scorching sun was no more.
He felt his heart beat with a slight excitement that he could never hope to explain to those who hadn't experienced similar moments, when they just saw the world around them change so suddenly, from something so mundane that he had to tune them all out to something right out of a magical fantasy.
Percy smiled, before sprinting all the way to catch up to Rachel and Piper, not minding the dust that he kicked up in his wake.
He jumped on the two, his arms around their shoulders, and making them laugh at his sudden attack.
"What happened, Percy? After all day grumbling, why are you so happy so suddenly?" Piper asked him, a little smile on her face as she looked up at him, her kaleidoscopic eyes meeting his as he smiled down at her.
"Do I need a reason to be happy when I'm with you?" He asked rhetorically, making her blush and stutter.
Percy laughed again, hugging them tighter as he stopped, tilting his head to look up at the sky. "The sky is beautiful tonight. I've rarely seen something as beautiful as this."
Following his lead, the two girls looked up, twin gasps reaching his ears.
"I've never seen something so beautiful in real life. I thought such things existed only in pictures." Rachel whispered, the awe evident in her voice as she looked at the sky.
"Yeah, even Ogygia doesn't have something as beautiful as this. Maybe it's something about the desert, I dunno. Athena might be able to tell you." Percy observed quietly.
Beside him, there was a soft click as Piper captured the picture on her demigod phone. "The girls are going to feel so jealous when I show them this. This is exactly why I told you to come here, and you seemed so sceptical."
"Well, consider me properly chastised." He squeezed the two tighter, sighing softly in contentment after a few moments of silence. "Maybe we should pitch our tent here and have dinner before we have whatever fun we can have."
He didn't mean anything by the last bit, but he could almost feel the heat from their bright blushes.
"Come on, now! Chop chop!" Percy clapped his hands, before he moved away from the beaten track, searching for a suitable position to set up their tent, preferably somewhere where they wouldn't be hit by a car or stung by a scorpion.
The tent was set up easily enough, with the three of them working together, and sooner rather than later, the little tent was set up to the sound of their own music, as the three sang silly camp songs together. Percy directed Piper and Rachel, slightly surprised that they had never gone camping, something that only made him feel proud of himself for giving them this much-needed life experience.
Percy smiled, resting his hands on his hips as he looked at the finished tent, bright blue coloured canvas spread over the poles and secured firmly. The tent was comparatively small, a slightly larger than average mortal tent as compared to the full-room sizes tents that the Hunters had.
Percy just wanted to feel mortal for once, to remember the times he and his mother had gone camping when he had been a small kid and Gabe hadn't been a problem, and almost as if sensing his nostalgia, Piper and Rachel hadn't had any problem with it, seeing as neither of them had ever experienced camping, their rich families not allowing them to have any fun that the normal kids had. On Piper's part, it was more of her father's absence than anything else, which had never allowed her to have such fun, but she didn't blame her loneliness on him, poor guy.
All these things were sad tales of the past that bothered the three of them least. Tonight was their night, a quiet, peaceful night that the three of them would enjoy alone, out in this deserted wilderness where the only life was the three of them, and the moon in the starry sky.
Percy smiled again, watching Piper and Rachel pop their heads out of the flap and grin at him goofily, slightly cramped together in the small tent. Their bags were hung on one pole, the cooler full of drinks that Percy had summoned sitting in front of the tent.
Leaving the two girls to their own devices as they were lost in the satisfaction of the very first tent they had ever pitched, Percy went exploring the area, searching for any log they could use as a seat, feeling as if the cooler full of beer he had summoned was more than his self assigned quota of godly powers for the night.
He came back a few minutes later, a log on his shoulder for them to sit on. He let it crash in front of the tent, drawing out the two girls with the sound.
Percy dusted his hands on his cargo pants, before looking at them. "What's for dinner?"
He reached inside his cargo pants, before pulling out a beer, which he cracked open with a satisfying fizz.
Percy looked at the can, before looking at the red cooler sitting in front of the tent. Oh, that's why he had worn cargo pants, and why they were so heavy.
Oh well.
He sipped the drink.
It was fucking warm.
Percy sat on the log thirty minutes later, the cooler full of beer open at his feet as he popped another one, enjoying the satisfying fizz for a moment before he took a sip. His stomach was full and his eyes were beginning to get heavy, a few tired yawns escaping him every now and then from the exhaustion that took hold of his body, a good tiredness that seeped into his bones, reminding him of old times.
Piper and Rachel sat on either side of him, nibbling on the last bits of the sandwiches they had brought, each holding their own drink as they wrapped up a cheerful dinner beneath the stars.
Rachel leaned into Percy, smiling slightly as she looked up at the sky, her actions mirrored by Piper a few moments later, as she tossed her empty can of root beer back into the cooler in exchange for another one.
Percy sighed at their clinginess, a gentle smile on his features as he indulged them, wrapping his arms around their shoulders as they sat on the log, three people in the middle of nowhere, with their tent behind them, and a beautiful roof of the dark night sky studded with innumerable stars overhead. He could get used to this.
Ogygia was a wonderful place, and it was his fault for not appreciating its real beauty and spending his nights in the lap of nature on a tropical island. Well, he couldn't really fault himself much, it was very easy to get distracted from the beauty of Mother Nature when you were surrounded by the gang of very beautiful women who held the key to your heart.
Percy smiled, feeling the two women, two of his oldest friends who were now something more, shuffle even closer to him. He couldn't help it, he leaned his head on Piper's, feeling her soft hair against his cheek as he gazed at the sky.
"I wish I had my canvas now. This scene is too beautiful to miss." Rachel whispered, her voice almost reverent, as she sipped on her drink.
Piper hummed in agreement, her kaleidoscopic eyes trying their very best to copy the starry night sky, her smooth, flawless chocolate skin reflecting the silvery glow of the moon. Percy watched the sky with them, his dark sea green eyes following the innumerable constellations in the night sky that all merged together when there were so many, as compared to the few he was used to during his time at Camp or with his mother. The Milky Way was visible as a splash of bright colours that all merged together in the most pleasant way against the dark canvas of the sky, all the stars seeming to congregate together in a celestial dance.
He smiled.
Maybe they were all very great, and very beautiful. But he didn't care.
Earth was the most beautiful of all places, and despite its innumerable sins and faults, namely its inhabitants, it was home. Home, where he had his girls. His beautiful girls. His lovers. And the planet that would be home to his children.
Percy felt tears prick in his eyes for some odd reason that he couldn't pinpoint, and he buried his face in Piper's lush hair, sniffling slightly. Her floral scent filled his lungs, with a slight undertone of her natural, feminine scent that drew him in like a shark to blood.
"Percy? You okay?" Rachel's voice interrupted the pleasant silence that pervaded the night, making him blink abruptly. He sat up straight, conscious of Piper and Rachel looking at him in worry, making him blush slightly as he realised that he had zoned out.
"Yeah, I'm all good. Just felt a bit overwhelmed by it all." He admitted, staring deep into Rachel's green eyes as of daring her to refute him, almost challenging her.
She only smiled, a slight red tinge on her cheeks as she leaned up and kissed him, her soft lips lingering for a moment on his.
When she broke the kiss, leaving Percy shell-shocked by her sudden actions, she only smiled mischievously. "Trust me, I can correlate."
Her voice was soft, lingering on something that Percy couldn't identify.
He just stared at her, aware of his rapidly beating heart, staring at the way her creamy pale skin practically glowed in the moonlight, the bright smile curling her soft, pink lips. The way her emerald eyes sparkled brightly, like she held the stars in her very eyes.
She was only a clear-sighted mortal, but to Percy, Rachel felt like a lovely, generous goddess on par with Aphrodite. He felt lucky to have caught her eye, genuinely caught her eye, that she had loved him way before he became Percy fucking Jackson. Back when he had been just Percy, a troubled kid with dyslexia and ADHD, who skipped schools like it was routine. Even Annabeth had first teamed up with him because he provided her means to escape from Camp Half-Blood.
But not Rachel.
Percy's attention was cut short when he felt a jealous daughter of Aphrodite slide into his lap.
He watched Piper pout angrily as she looked at him, trying to deny that she was jealous outright, staring at him with mesmerising, swirling kaleidoscopic eyes that changed colours rapidly. His eyes flicked down to her succulent pink lips, making his mouth water. Unknowingly, his arms wrapped around her waist, drawing her closer till her body was pressed up against his quite intimately.
Ignorant of the jealous looks Rachel was throwing them, Percy continued to search her face, loving every single inch of her flawless, chocolate skin that looked so delicious that he wanted to sink his teeth into it, her beautiful eyes, her lush brown hair that was cut choppily to make it look messy, just the way he liked it, and the adorable little blush that adorned her cheeks at being checked out by him so brazenly.
At the moment, lost in his emotions, Percy was ignorant of the way her soft tits mashed up against his muscle-packed chest or the way she seductively bit her lip, or the way her hips were beginning to move on their own.
No, he was lost in the beauty of Piper McLean, the demigod daughter of Aphrodite who didn't look at him like he was Percy fucking Jackson, but rather, the scared boy that suffered daily from nightmares. This was Piper McLean, who treated him the same as anybody else, albeit a lot more affectionately, and didn't have sky-high expectations for him. Someone who was as good as Annabeth, different to be sure, but as good as her, nonetheless.
If he hadn't had Annabeth, and she hadn't had Jason, Percy wasn't sure if Piper wouldn't be his princess.
He remembered waking up abruptly one night to someone cradling his head in their lap and singing him soothing lullabies when he had been trapped in another nightmare, expecting it to be Annabeth, but being met with Piper instead.
Percy cupped her cheek, making Piper blush hard at the tender gesture, before he leaned in, softly kissing her. It was not the raw, aggressive kisses he felt comfortable with and enjoyed, but rather the slow, passionate kiss that made him feel naked and vulnerable.
When he separated, leaving behind a golden-cheeked, breathless daughter of Aphrodite melting in his lap, Percy smiled. "I love you, Pipes. I love you beyond anything you can imagine."
He then turned to his side, his arm drawing Rachel closer to him till their lips touched. Ignoring the daughter of Aphrodite melting and sighing in bliss on his chest, Percy kissed her softly. "I love you, too, Rachel. I hope you know that. I love you as much as I love anybody else, my beautiful little muse."
And the three of them spent the evening kissing softly and reminiscing about old times, unsure whether it was better or this was.
But in the end, they all agreed on one thing.
They wouldn't trade this life they had for anything else in the whole wide world.
AN: Bayern just spanked Bochum like damn, bitch! Mbappe just scored a goal against Lille, in eight fucking seconds. Perhaps he isn't so useless after all.
Also, I unlocked a new skill today. I ran a cafe! I'm now a professional barista, though I did nothing of the sort. I just sat behind the counter all day, watching Batman and handling the payments. I have never seen so much liquid money at once! Oooh!
Keep calm and headbang!