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"oh, why me" Percy whined dragging out the E.
Hades looked down at his nephew hopelessly trying to lift a very heavy box. The one Percy was holding had something heavy inside, Hades wasn't sure exactly what but Hermes had told him it was important "Do you need me to carry it for you Perseus?" Hades asked being met with a face of anger. "I can carry it myself" Percy told him right before dropping the box onto the floor. "Shit!!"
"Are you alright" Hades quickly looked to Percy as he squatted, defeated, on the floor. Percy told him that he was fine as he struggled to lift the box again "why am I so nice?" Percy asked no one in particular. It did strike Hades as quite odd when Percy had offered to help with the transport, it was rather kind of his nephew to do that even if it was accompanied by Percy remarking "old man's like two thousand years old" the underestimate of his age made the god laugh "you can't expect him to be able to lift shit, he could break something" that however didn't.
Hades began to walk forward after Percy had recovered from his fall and as they walked together Hades continued to get stopped. Whether there was something in his way or he was stopped by someone he knew Percy kept getting ahead. The amount of boxes and limit of transporters (him and Percy being the only two) meant they had to go back and forth and Percy very quickly got his section of boxes done. After making fun of Hades and asking if he needed help Percy waited by the rest of the boxes and watched as the god went back and forth.
At a certain point Hades noticed his nephew was beginning to get bored. About twelve minutes into finishing his part he looked as if he wouldn't last another minute. Hades decided to let the boy roam, anyone he encountered wouldn't be a danger anyway he was sure...
Hades had been speaking with Hecate and he had even began to forget about his initial goal. But he soon recovered himself and decided that he should hurry up. With only a few boxes left he searched for Percy in order to wrap up. He wondered where Percy might have gone. Nowhere near Asphodel (as that was where they had left the boxes), not the fields of punishment (he wasn't sure how or why he would be able to or want to get in there and not elysium (the boy wasn't too fond of alot of the past heroes for reasons unbeknownst to Hades). Hades hadn't been initially wandering to Cerberus he simply was near and got sidetracked. But what he saw worried him to his core. Perseus was stood at the foot of Cerberus and from the look of his guard dog, it wasn't going good. Cerberus had his teeths bared and Percy had a tight hold on riptide. Yet were the dog looked mad Percy looked (surprisingly) upset. Hades was mentally preparing for a couple thousand years of even more increased underworld traffic (all from natural disasters brought by a certain sea god) and then something weird and unexpected happend. Percy frowned at the dog with a soft expression on his face. The boy threw the sword to his right (not very affective since it would simply reappear in his pocket but the thought was nice) and took a step forward. He saw Percy shiver slightly looking scared but determined, he then lifted his head showing his neck to the dog. Hades keenly watched Cerberus's faces as they took in the sight. It hadn't even occurred to Hades to intervene as he was glued to the spot. Then one of Cerberus's heads leaned down and sniffed. Percy closed his eyes as the dog carried on sniffing the boy. And from the God's perspective he could see the dogs tail wagging. It was only a matter of time before the dog began to lick Percy almost knocking the poor boy over. Percy stroked the top of the middle head laughing "ah- you're adorable." Hades watched in disbelief as the heads began fighting eachother to be petted by Percy.
"Who's a good boy, who's a good boy! A terrifying monster, but a good boy!" Percy said with an awkward childish accent that people seems to only put on for baby's and dog's. Hades finally came to his senses and walked up to his nephew as he continued to joyfully pet the monsterus, scary gatekeeper of the underworld who had previously ate people alive.
"Perseus?" Hades exclaimed as he floated towards the son of Poseidon. "Hey, Hades, finally finished Halling those boxes or do you need my help" Percy continued to mock. "as a matter of fact I have almost, might want to finish up with him yknow"
Percy turned to his uncle looking completely and utterly betrayed "wait, you can't make me part with him" Hades stared blankly and the boy before stating "he was going to eat you less than a moment ago"
"... Still" His nephew whined pulling one of Cerberus's head close as the other to glared at their owner "why aren't you two on my side!?"
Hades hoped with all his being that the boy would be done by now but what did he expect. He saw Percy sat alone and was relived at first until he realised. "why do you have that red rubber ball in your hand" Percy laughed and responded "he searching for it you know" and as if on queue Cerberus returned looking up and down at Percy. Hades sighed and grabbed Percy assuming if he could get him out the underworld quick enough that there wouldn't be a scene.
Twenty minutes later Percy was still playing fetch with Cerberus on their conjoined 18th "last go".
The worst part of it all was probably explaining to the rest of the council why he was three hours late. He just had to have this happen on a winter solstice.
He confronted Percy later "why did you have the ball in the first place?" but Percy was silent. Hades quickly realised something else "did you plan that" Percy broke any eye-contact. "no wonder you were so nice"
Percy defended himself "it wasn't my idea kinda"
Hades rolled his eyes at his nephews antics.