29. Exhaustion
Triton noticed Percy's propensity to fall asleep in awkward and unusual places the first night Poseidon made him bring the demigod into their domain. He noticed . . . but he simply hadn't cared at the time. When three fortnights had passed and the damn mortal wormed his way into Triton's affections, he realized that he should probably do something about it.
The thought occurred to Triton as he frowned at the demigod in question, who was drooling lightly onto his own hand, which served as a sad excuse for a pillow. Three feet from his terribly fragile mortal head, Tyson beat a hammer against his newest creation, the clanging of metal on metal not rousing their brother from his slumber.
"How long has he slumbered?" Triton asked.
Tyson paused in his efforts, blinking his great eye at Triton before looking down at Percy. "Maybe ten minutes," he said thoughtfully, returning to his task. "Do not wake him."
"This is not safe nor can it be comfortable," Triton rationalized, frowning harder at the sleeping boy, annoyed that he cared.
Tyson shrugged. "No. But he sleeps. He does not sleep enough. We should let him sleep when he can."
"I noticed," Triton agreed. "He doesn't sleep at night and falls asleep in the most inappropriate of places."
"He sleeps in here while I work," Tyson said, brow furrowing in confusion as he stopped his work to look at the sea prince.
"Yes. Like I said, inappropriate." Triton frowned harder, further annoyed as he realized he needed to take action to correct this.
"There is no need—" Tyson began as a nearby cyclops pulled a work in progress from the forge, slamming his hammer down to even out the pliable metal.
"Watch it!" Triton cried as the hammer sparked against the metal, sparks flying dangerously close to the sleeping demigod's head, jumping forward to insert himself between the dangerous activity and the annoyingly fragile human.
"What in my father's name do you think you're doing?" he demanded fiercely, one arm thrown out to shield Percy from view as he loomed angrily over the careless cyclops.
"Oh, I, m-my lord, forgive me, I did not—"
"Leave 'm 'lone, Tri."
"No, I will not leave him alone," Triton repeated scornfully, glancing briefly over his shoulder as Percy stirred. The cheeky jerk didn't even open his eyes, adjusting his head into a more comfortable position.
"Triiiii," Percy whined, one sleep-dazed eye finally opening just enough to stare reproachfully at his brother. "Stop bein' mean and let me sleep."
"He could have killed you," Triton argued, refusing to be made the bad guy here. Triton didn't have to turn to know that the cyclops had frozen in fear, a frightened hiccup barely audible over Percy's snort.
"Drama queen," Percy muttered. "Maybe my hair would have caught on fire, at most."
"Has that happened before?" Triton demanded, to which he only got a half grunt in reply. Which was utterly unacceptable. "Perseus, has that happened before?" Triton gave his stupid brother a shake, his eyes flickering over the idiot's head to search for any singed strands.
"Stoooopp." Percy batted Triton away, eye closing. "Tri, I'm trying to sleep."
"Not here you're not, get up."
"No."
"That wasn't a request, Perseus. Get up."
"No."
"Do you want to test me?" Triton threatened. "I swear to our father I will pick you up and carry you to your bedroom if you do not comply willingly."
"Wouldn't," Percy denied but his eye had opened again and the sea-green slit didn't look too sure.
Triton raised an eyebrow, stepping meaningfully into his brother's personal space.
"No."
"Yes, up."
Percy's lips gave an unhappy twitch but he otherwise remained motionless. He was calling Triton's bluff. Alright, fine then, the sea prince thought, and he leaned down to grab Percy about the shoulders and hauled the demigod to his feet.
"Triiiiton," the boy whined, going dead weight in the god's hands. Triton grunted and let the boy fall to the ground. Percy proved as infuriating as ever, simpling curling into himself on the soot-covered floor. "I was sleeping."
"You're ridiculous and childish. It's not safe to sleep here, to bed with you."
"Make me."
Triton glared at his stubborn half-brother and, without further hesitation, he bodily picked the boy up off the ground as though he were a baby, making good on his earlier threat.
"No, no, no, no, stop that," Percy protested, coming out of his sleepy stupor to fight against Triton. He shoved the minor god against his chest just enough to force his brother to release him, feet returning safely to the ground.
"Then to your bed," Triton declared.
Percy glared at him but he seemed to realize that resistance was futile. He was going to leave the forge one way or another.
"Why can't I just stay here?" Percy protested, crossing his arms.
His sleep-mussed hair stood up all over the place, his eyes half-lidded and skin pink from sleep and the heat. He looked like a belligerent child fighting his bedtime. It wasn't adorable, Triton thought, not in the slightest bit.
"Come on," Triton said and ushered his unwilling companion towards the door. Percy twisted, around making a face at Tyson.
"Sorry bro," he called. "I'll catch you in a couple of hours. You can show me that totally cool new sword by then, yeah?"
"Yes," Tyson promised, his voice following them as Triton all but shoved Percy out the door. "Sleep well, brother."
"All right, I'm out of the forge you can let go now," Percy complained, trying to tug his arm back as Triton yanked him down the silent hallway.
Triton eyed the demigod. "Will you actually go to your room and sleep?" he asked.
"Yeah sure," Percy said vaguely which Triton knew actually meant no. He would just go and bother Amphitrite or hide in the corner of the court or do whatever it was he did when Triton wasn't around.
"You're going to bed," Triton said.
"What are you, my mother?" Percy scoffed. "I'm not five. I'll go to bed when I'm ready to go to bed."
"No, you won't."
That started a brief scuffle between the two: Percy yanked his arm out of Triton's grasp; Triton made a grab for him and managed to get Percy by the shoulder; Percy twisted out of that too, bringing his knee up to collide with Triton's elbow as he tried again.
"You little—"
"Stop being such an overbearing—"
Triton lunged at Percy. Percy managed to get out of the way in time, shoving the sea prince aside, but Triton was able to wrap his fingers around the demigod's wrist and—
"Oh, that's cheating," Percy complained as Triton magicked them into his room.
"Bed," Triton repeated firmly, pointing to the object in question.
Percy looked set to argue some more, advancing threateningly on the minor god. Triton plopped himself down on a chair next to the bed instead of meeting him halfway.
"What are you doing?" Percy asked in confusion, pausing with a frown.
"Sitting," Triton scoffed and, with a wave of his hand, his trident appeared.
He held the weapon across his lap, the pointed tip facing the door. He flicked his wrist again and magicked a polish stone to his hand. He went to work polishing the weapon, pretending to ignore Percy's flabbergasted expression. He could feel the demigod's eyes trailing over the trident.
"Why?" the boy asked slowly.
"Because it would be hard to clean," Triton waved the trident in his direction, "while standing."
Percy's brow furrowed. He raised a hand to his unruly hair as he watched Triton clean the weapon. His eyes flickered towards the bed, then back at his brother—who pretended to ignore the demigod's confusion and focused instead on cleaning the already pristine weapon. He wondered if he was being too overt as he angled the trident so there could be no mistake the deadly three-pronged tip stood between Percy and the door. He knew better than to coddle his brother or worse, imply weakness. But he knew of the horrors their father's world wrought and the discomfort the scrutiny and inescapable attention Poseidon's domain could bring, especially if one were unused to it as Percy was.
"Persues, sleep," Triton bid and Styx-near embarrassed himself with the gentleness in his tone.
"Are you just gonna—?"
"Stay here and make sure you don't escape like the little shit you are?" Triton suggested. "Yes."
He scraped along the side of the trident, not meeting the demigod's eyes.
"Alright."
"Alright?"
"Alright." A pause. "You gonna stay there the whole time, watching me like some weirdo?"
"As Demeter over Demophon."
"What?"
"You are a travesty," Triton lamented with a roll of his eyes. "Yes. Now shut up and go to sleep."
Percy almost smiled and the peculiar expression coupled with the shadows the dimly lit room cast across his face revealed a bone-deep tiredness. Triton had to look away, a weird lump in his throat as the demigod laid down on his bed, back to his brother, polishing the surface of his weapon to the rhythm of Percy's breathing.
A/n Is this similar to sleep deprivation? Yes, but I can get away with it because it's my collection and Percy wasn't 'deprived' per se, just falling asleep in weird places. That boy still has nightmares about Tartarus, and how uncomfortable would it be to know that you would wake up half the kingdom if you start screaming in the middle of the night? Uncomfortable and embarrassing, especially if one of them is your all-powerful father. So Percy only sleeps when he is sure someone was watching over him aka safe in a forge full of loud sounds and cyclops ready to protect him. And Tyson's soothing presence, of course. Sorry to be so MIA, grad school is kind of killing me. Last part should be out in a more timely fashion. Thank you all for sticking around!
Up next: Sensory Deprivation