Chapter Text
Percy and Annabeth had been among the most frequent dinner guests at the Solace-di Angelo table. Annabeth, although a bit of a disaster in the kitchen herself (Pot, don’t say anything about kettle, Will reminded himself), appreciated Nico’s culinary skills, and Percy admitted that the son of Hades’ cooking could even give Sally Jackson a run for her money.
Nico and Percy had long ago put aside the differences they’d had in their early days. Nico had even helped Percy pick out Christmas presents for Annabeth a few times, and by now, they were good friends who could tease each other good naturedly and admire each others’ good qualities without falling into the rivalry that people expected of children of the Big Three.
Still, there were times when Percy would do something that had the other three just shaking their heads, and after their guests had gone home, Will would say to Nico for the thousandth time that he wondered how Annabeth could put up with her “Seaweed Brain.” (Sometimes, the two boys would give each other a look and say in unison, “Well, he does have nice abs.” and then laugh.)
Tonight was one of those nights. When they showed up at the front door, Percy was sporting a black eye and some bruises. Of course, Will wanted to heal the minor contusions on the spot, but Annabeth stopped him.
“No, no, it’s his own fault. Let him learn to be less of a, a,” Words about the foolishness of her fiance escaped her.
“Seaweed brain?” Nico supplied, eager to help out whenever Annabeth wanted to trash talk her man.
“Seaweed brain doesn’t even begin to cover what he did this time!” Annabeth’s scowl was fiercer than usual. Percy must’ve done something spectacular. And sure enough…
“So I was doing some consulting up north,” she began. “You remember Pollux, Mr. D’s son?”
Both Nico and Will nodded. Will in particular remembered Pollux well, having nursed him through many bug juice hangovers (although how you could get a hangover from something non-alcoholic was a bit beyond even the son of Apollo’s medical expertise).
“Well,” Annabeth went on, “he’s now the newest partner in a vineyard in Canada, just over the border, and he wanted some advice on architecture that would repel Laestrygonians, since they’re a problem up there.”
Nico and Will were all too familiar with those particular monsters. They were big and loud, not very bright, and openly homophobic, a combination that meant they were some of the few monsters that even Will Solace, intrinsic pacifist, had no problem slaying.
“At any rate,” Percy broke in, “while we were there, I wanted to check out Niagara Falls, after all, I am…”
“Yes, we know, the son of the god of the sea, blah, blah,” Nico cut him off.
“Actually, we were both interested,” Annabeth put in. I get some of my best design ideas from natural beauty, after all, and the power station at the base of the falls is amazing.” She brightened for a moment, as if at the memory of the majesty of Niagara, but then her face returned to that combination of a scowl and the most violent of eye rolls that she wore far too frequently around Percy.
“So, we were walking along the path on Green Island, by the top of the falls, and suddenly we heard voices.”
“Yeah,” Percy said. “And none of the other tourists seemed to hear them, so we figured it was something, you know…”
Will and Nico both nodded. Clearly it was some mythological creatures.
“Percy, being Percy,” Annabeth said with just a touch of weariness in her voice, “ran over to the edge of the river to check it out, and then he heard his name.”
“Yeah,” Percy said. “They called out my name, and then they started giggling.”
“Water nymphs, obviously,” Nico said, rolling his eyes.
“They’re such fan-girls,” Will said with an eye roll of his own.
“So, there were these Canadian water nymphs,” Percy continued, “having an argument with the American water nymphs. And they wanted me to settle it, whatever it was, so they grabbed me by the arms and pulled me into the water.”
“And of course, some mortals saw it,” Annabeth broke in, “and started screaming about him falling into the water.”
“Like I would ever just fall into the water,” Percy said. Their hosts rolled their eyes again. Of course, Percy would fall into the water. If there was something stupid and dangerous for Percy to do, the question was never if, it was when.
“So,” Annabeth drawled, “I had to do some quick Mist manipulation, so they were sure they saw him get out of the water safely right where he’d been pulled in.”
“You’re getting good at Mist manipulation,” Will said.
“Thanks,” she said. “Thalia has been coaching me. But, of course I could see what was really happening. Percy was getting carried downstream by the current, and he’d go over the falls in about a minute.”
“Oh, Wise Girl,” Percy said placatingly. “You know that as long as I’m in the water, I’m fine.”
“Well,” she said sharply, “I know that the water couldn’t hurt you, but there are also a lot of rocks and a 167 foot drop, so I couldn’t be sure.”
“It was fine,” Percy insisted. “I’m here now, and I’m perfectly fine.”
Will eyed his bruises. “You don’t look perfectly fine. If the water protected you, how did one trip over Niagara Falls result in so many bruises.”
Annabeth sighed. “It wasn’t one trip. After the first time, he decided to do it again. Three more times.”
“Dudes, it was so awesome!” Percy exclaimed. “I had to do it again. It was like better than bungee jumping and skydiving combined. And because I was in the water the whole time, Uncle Thunderpants (they all glanced skyward briefly) couldn’t object.”
“But,” Will persisted, “if you were in the water the whole time, how did you get the bruises and the shiner?”
“That was from afterward. I guess Annabeth got a little pissed at me.”
The daughter of Athena heaved a long-suffering sigh. “It wasn’t that you kept doing it again. It was when you said you wanted to go on a trip to Yosemite to try it in Bridalveil Falls. I guess I kind of lost it and threw you over my shoulder a little too hard.”
Nico and Will looked at her in amazement. “Anna-be-eth!” they said in perfect unison.
Percy and Annabeth responded in equally perfect unison. “Wi-ill! Ni-co!”
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It was strange that they’d never had the Hedge family as dinner guests, given that Nico was Chuck’s godfather, and he took that duty seriously, as his mother had raised him to observe traditional Catholic ways. He did look in on them as often as he could, but somehow, it was only after Will and he had purchased their first house together that they managed to find a time that worked with both the Hedge and Di Angelo-Solace family schedules.
By now Chuck had just turned six and looked like a three-year old human, due to satyrs aging about as half as fast as humans (if you overlooked the goat hooves and tiny horns, barely visible through his thick, curly hair.) The satyr child was quite familiar with Nico, due to his frequent visits. Will, however, was another matter. Chuck was more than a little put off by this tall stranger and shied away from him at first. Maybe it was the way he towered over everyone else in the room; maybe it was his blond hair, so unlike everyone else’s. Mellie noticed and called out to her son.
“Chuck, what’s the matter? You don’t have to be afraid of Dr. Will.”
Coach Hedge was more direct. “My kid ain’t afraid of anybody, especially somebody who was there the day he was born.” He was aware of how Will had cared for his wife during childbirth. (Will didn’t really like to remember that event too clearly. Watching somebody give birth was not exactly his idea of a good time.) Nico looked on with amusement as his husband paled at the memory.
“That’s right,” Mellie said. “Dr. Will helped mommy when you were born.” The satyr child’s eyes grew big when he heard that.
“You helped mommy?” he bleated. All his shyness disappeared, and he grabbed at Will’s hands eagerly, chanting, “Mommy’s helper, mommy’s helper!”
For dinner, Nico had started with a salad dressed with morning dew (harvested just that day from their new garden) and a main course of vegetarian enchiladas (recipe courtesy of one Leo Valdez), a surefire hit with all satyrs. He made sure to include some shredded tin cans on a side plate for garnish, something both father and son appreciated. The rest of the table demurred.
Over dinner, they chatted about the progress Camp Jupiter had made in reforming their faun population and encouraging them to lead more productive lives. Coach Hedge had been leading that effort, forming the Don the Faun Memorial Society. Things were getting better slowly, although there had been resistance, not so much from the fauns themselves as from some of the older generation of Romans who seemed to be incapable of regarding fauns as more than panhandlers and lowlifes.
As he cleared the dishes (only fair, since Nico had done all of the cooking), Will asked if Gleeson or Mellie knew Herb, the satyr who had escorted him to camp over a decade ago. Coach Hedge laughed.
“I don’t know Herb personally, but he’s kind of a hero of mine,” he said. “He may not know his way around an arena, but the old guy’s got guts.”
Will was a bit surprised at this. He was fond of Herb, but he never thought of his old protector as particularly brave. Hedge saw his surprise and explained.
“Kid, Herb Forrester holds the record for most Apollo kids guided to camp. Now no offense to your old man, but among us satyrs, he’s got kind of a reputation.”
Will thought about the story of Marsyas and suddenly had a new-found respect for the quiet guy who posed as a veterinarian in his home town before bundling him off to Camp Half Blood over a decade ago.
“Speaking of which,” Hedge went on, calling out to Nico, “So, cupcake, who was your protector?” (Will had to admire the bravery of anybody who was willing to call Nico ‘cupcake.’)
Nico came back from the kitchen with a tray of biscotti. “Well, Grover was the one who came to my school.”
Both Coach Hedge and Mellie stared at Nico for a moment. Then Hedge said, “Well, it figures that someone so brave (Nico flushed. He was still not good at taking compliments) would have been mentored by the greatest satyr of our generation.”
Nico stared back, both embarrassed by the praise and surprised to hear Grover, goofy Percy’s best (and equally goofy) friend described as “the greatest satyr of our generation.”
But Hedge went on, reminding them of all that Grover had done, from facing down Polyphemus to finding Pan and leading the satyrs against Kronos. (“Of course, I taught the kid everything he knows about martial arts,” he’d put in.)
Then, Mellie chimed in, “And Juniper is such a lovely person, a credit to dryads everywhere.”
Everyone agreed to that. But then, Mellie went on, “Oh Will, did you know that she and Grover are expecting their first child?” The son of Apollo went pale, dreading what would come next.
“That’s right!” Coach Hedge said. “Say, cupcake,” looking directly at Will. “You did such a good job with our boy.” He put an arm around his son. “You should be the one to attend Juniper’s delivery.”
The dinner party ended abruptly, as one of the hosts suddenly had to lie down with a sick headache.
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Estelle Blofis was the first person who made Nico realize how wonderful small children could be. She was charming and as fearless as her big brother (although Will and Nico thought that even as a toddler, she had more sense than that big brother). She also had the most delightful giggle, which completely melted the cool, aloof Ghost King’s heart the first time he heard it.
She had also inherited her mother’s clearsightedness, even surpassing Sally’s ability to see through the Mist. As she grew up, Estelle was a definite favorite among Percy’s demigod friends.
Needless to say, she was invited for dinner at the Solace-di Angelo house whenever she was in town. The two demigods enjoyed her company, but they were a little concerned for her safety at first.
“You are the most clear sighted mortal we know,” Nico began.
“Except for Rachel, and she’s a special case,” Will added. “She’s under my dad’s protection, as his oracle.”
“That’s why we worry,” Nico said. “We all know that being able to see through the Mist can get the attention of the gods. That’s how most of our mortal parents wound up with us.”
Estelle just laughed. Her laugh was as delightful when she was twenty as it had been when she was two. “Yeah, your dad,” she nodded to Will, “warned me about that.” Apparently Apollo’s stint as the mortal Lester had cleaned up his act a bit.
“And…” Will prompted.
Estelle continued. “Actually a couple of minor gods have approached me. They’re always impressed that I can tell who they are right off the bat.” Annabeth had been teaching Estelle about the old stories her whole life.
“They start chatting me up,” Estelle said with a smirk, “you know, asking my name and stuff. Funny thing, though. I always ask them if they’ve met my brother, and they all back off really quickly.”