Chapter 11 - Progress
Percy woke to a weight on his chest and dark hair tickling his chin. He half-heartedly glowered at the encroaching sun and tightened his arms. Kronos stirred, eyelids fluttering slightly, so Percy froze and held his breath until the Titan slipped back into the half-sleeping state that immortals seemed to have instead of sleep.
The demigod sort of thought it sucked, not being able to sleep and smiled grimly as he realised he'd dodged a bullet in rejecting godhood from Zeus.
Poseidon had been interjecting every single time that Percy or Kronos had been a little too hands-on for his liking, throughout the entire night. Percy shifted slightly, realising that one of his legs was asleep since Kronos' weight was sort of blocking off all the blood flow. It would be nice to move, but that would involve disturbing his sleeping omega and that would never happen if they were to sleep together.
Percy realised that he was fortunate that Kronos wanted to sleep with him, so he wouldn't be messing up.
He breathed in, taking in a deep breath of Kronos' scent.
Somewhere outside, the conch horn blew. Percy tightened his grip, unwilling to let the omega go even if it meant he'd end up missing breakfast. And lunch – and then dinner after that. Unfortunately, Kronos didn't seem to have the same idea.
The omega smiled faintly as he tried to nuzzle further against Percy – which was a physical impossibility – before pried Percy's arms away. "I'm hungry," he defended upon seeing Percy's horrified expression.
Percy groaned, trying to grab his omega and pull him back to bed. He managed the first aim, but the latter not so much. Trying to move Kronos when he didn't want to move was like attempting to move a building – completely futile.
Percy huffed. "Please?"
"Food first," Kronos said firmly. "Don't take too long."
Percy's eyes widened as Kronos stepped towards the door – still naked. "Kronos! – Clothes!"
Kronos feigned surprise as he stared down at himself. "Oh," he said, "my apologies."
The alpha bared his teeth. "Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"
The omega turned to face Percy, whom valiantly fought to keep his eyes on Kronos' face. "It may be the only way I can kill you," Kronos said with a crooked smile. "I'll be in the pavilion. Take too long and I may start socialising."
From the look of horror that Percy directed towards him, it was a very effective threat. Percy rushed for the shower as his omega left – fortunately taking the time to snatch one of Percy's shirts out of his dresser, and summoning himself some shorts before opening the door so he wasn't naked as he walked through camp. Percy honestly wouldn't put it past him at this point. Of course, he loved his omega's aversion to clothes, but when going out in public he should probably make sure Kronos wore something acceptable. Or something at all.
Percy arrived only a few minutes after Kronos, and yet the omega had already managed to weasel his way onto the Hermes table right next to Luke. One of Luke's disgruntled brothers – Connor, Percy noted – was trying to lean away from the Titan and was almost in Travis' lap. Luke, on the other hand, seemed absolutely delighted to have the omega within touching distance and made no secret of it nor of his intentions.
Percy's jaw tightened as Luke flashed him a crooked grin and he started picking his way over, only to hear a drawl from the top table – Dionysus. "Perry Johnson, have you suddenly discovered the secret to swapping your parentage? If so, I'd imagine my father shall be rather interested in your discovery. If not, the Poseidon table is behind you."
Kronos shot a scathing glare at the god's obvious insult. "I'll have you know that there's nothing wrong with being a child of mine." He pointed his fork in the god's direction. "You, on the other hand…" His nose crinkled in distaste and Percy considered that it would unfortunately be inappropriate to inform the omega that he looked rather cute when he was mildly disturbed by something – he'd do it later. Kronos mockingly tutted, completely oblivious to his alpha's internal musings. "Those must be your mother's genes," he sighed. "Evidently, looking at how well I've done so far, I cannot possibly be in any way responsible for… that." At the wide gesture – and somehow Kronos managed to turn the innocent gesture into an almost threatening move with the fork – towards Dionysus, the god sneered at the Titan.
"Are you aware that there's a betting pool on Olympus?" Dionysus questioned mockingly, though his eyes burnt with his fury. Kronos straightened slightly, eyes narrowing suspiciously at the alpha. "Oh yes," Dionysus chuckled. "Everyone's betting on which of your children you gave birth to, and not Rhea." Kronos' jaw tightened. "Chiron's rather high up on that list. Ares figures that you're defective or something similar-"
He stopped abruptly at a sharp comment from Chiron beside him, too low for everyone to hear over the crack of thunder overhead. Percy, along with every other demigod looked up warily, but he was the only one whom looked to Kronos immediately after. Only to see Luke, his mouth next to Kronos' ear and a hand gently trying to force Kronos' own to open. Blazing lightning cut overhead before everything abruptly fell still.
There was an odd tightness in Percy's chest, a churning in his gut and his jaw tightened as he watched. Luke was trying to steal his omega. The alpha wanted to march over and rip Luke away and challenge him then and there, in front of everyone. His hands fisted at his side and there was a roaring in his ears. The earth cracked slightly right between Luke's and Kronos' feet.
Kronos jerked like he'd been caught doing something he shouldn't be doing, peering warily down into the crack before his gaze flicked up towards Percy, looking rather suspicious. He looked once more at the crack, before muttering a few words to Luke. The alpha looked exceedingly disappointed as Kronos snatched up his breakfast – a massive plate tiled high with protein – and picked his way over to the Poseidon table.
The omega settled next to Percy. "That was you, right?"
Percy blinked. "Yeah," he said. "Who else would it be?"
Kronos picked half-heartedly at his food. "No one," he muttered. The alpha shot his omega an odd look, before he grinned and snatched a bit of bacon from Kronos' plate, snickering as it caused an avalanche of sausages and a fried egg or two. The omega gasped in horror. "Oh no," he bemoaned, "my bacon – you – foul thief," he snapped as Percy grabbed a sausage, grabbing Percy's hand before he could withdraw it.
Percy grinned, returning to his own breakfast and letting his omega eat in peace. He did, however, nudge Kronos' leg under the table with a gentle smile. The Titan squinted at him, before rolling his eyes but obligingly nudged him back.
When the alpha saw Luke watching, he smiled smugly at him and pulled Kronos even closer. The omega sighed faintly, taking the opportunity to press his nose against Percy's neck and nuzzle up against his chin.
Percy smiled.
It took far too long to convince Kronos that yes, the taxi is safe and no, it won't explode on us or kill us.
But nothing could discourage the omega. Percy wasn't entirely what it was, but as soon as Kronos had stepped out of the boundaries of camp, he'd stood a little taller and his skin seemed to shine even more, which was honestly a little odd. Had the camp's boundaries been restricting the Titan? Probably, knowing the gods.
When they stepped out of the taxi, Kronos took a few moments to breathe, and then evidently decided he didn't like the smell of all the diesel from the cars – his nose crinkled yet again. Percy grinned. "You look cute when you're doing that," he said factually.
Kronos' expression smoothed out. "Thank you?"
Percy snorted. "Come on," he said, marching straight up to the front door. "So… I haven't really said anything to them yet," he admitted to the omega. "They… actually think that I'm coming back alone today."
Kronos nodded gravely. "That's fine," he said as he trailed after Percy. "I'll just go then – come back in a little-"
"Nope. Come on." Percy snatched him by the hand, ringing the doorbell with the hand encumbered by his bag. "What?" He questioned, noting that Kronos seemed rather uneasy.
"I… have had very few good experiences when it comes to parents," Kronos stated.
Percy squinted at him. "You're nervous? You? The mighty Titan Kronos-"
The door opened then, allowing Percy's mother to catch the tail end of Percy's mocking. Sally froze. "What? Perseus Jackson explain yourself now!"
Percy stared, completely stunned. "Ah, it's a long story, mom," he said. "Though I was going to break it to you slowly."
Kronos leant around him – pretty pointless considering he was a couple inches taller than Percy and could see over the demigod's head – to peer into the house. "May we come in?" He questioned.
Sally's eyes narrowed sharply at Kronos, hand clutching the front door and looking ready to slam it in his face.
"Mom?"
The mortal let out a heavy sigh. "Will this explanation take long?"
"Yes," Percy answered honestly.
Sally opened the door further. "Come in," she said reluctantly. Percy smiled, realising just how much his mother loved and trusted him to allow a Titan of all beings into her house. "I've just finished making some blue cookies," she said. "I'll bring them into the living room and we'll talk there." She turned to shoot a sharp glare at Kronos, not looking in the least bit cowed by the infamous immortal now standing in her hallway and looking around with interest. "You can explain what you're doing with him then when I thought he was trying to destroy the world."
"Not destroy," Kronos mildly corrected as Sally entered the kitchen. He raised his voice slightly. "I wasn't going to destroy it! It was a coup!"
"Shut up and come on," Percy muttered to him. "That's not helping matters." He glanced back at the omega as he stomped into the living room, flinging specks of dirt over the carpet. "You're going to clean that up."
marinamar4: That is very nice to know :). I hope my Kronercy stories are sort of believable. Yup, Luke's still around. And yes, Kronos will get blue cookies from Sally. Kronos... will go to school at first, but Percy will sort of realise that that's a bad idea.
: Ah. Yes. Kronos will not be happy with Percy's disappearance. Thanks!
Colts12broncos18: Thanks! Ah, as mentioned in this chapter, the camp's borders were sort of restricting Kronos a little, being 'enemy territory' so to speak, sort of like Roman/Greek camps. Oh, Kronos will definitely do something super bad. HoO will happen, that's all I'll say here. Eh, Kronos likes causing trouble and making Percy jealous so he'll let Luke get close to him - because, yes, he's somewhat comforted by him because Luke is an alpha who was willing to protect him from his own family (demigods, gods, etc.). There will definitely be more protective Poseidon in this, dw. Kronos just finds amusement in anything that embarrasses Percy or gets a reaction out of him. I love long reviews xD.
That Weirdo Writer: Yes. Yes it is.