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It was a slow, boring day in Atlantis, and Poseidon had little to do but think. There was just enough activity that needed his attention that he could not leave his palace entirely, but too little to let the time pass at any pace slower than a crawl. He sighed, resting his head on one hand as he sat upon his throne and letting his mind wander as he waited. Percy would be asleep right now, tucked into bed in his room in Sally’s apartment. There were no prophecies for him to worry about, no quests to cause him stress, no monsters to sink their teeth into him, to rip him to shreds-
No. No, Percy was safe, his son was fine.
Unless, some voice in the back of his mind whispered, one of his enemies caught his scent on the wind.
Percy was okay, Percy was fine.
How can you be sure? Whispered the doubt in the back of his mind.
A bitter feeling built in his chest, strangling his lungs and leaving his stomach feeling empty, drowning out all reason until, at last, he caved.
A part of him split off from the body sitting upon his throne, materializing in his son’s room with the sound of a wave sweeping ashore. His son, his precious Percy, laid in his bed, snoring softly as he slept, and Poseidon brushed the hair from his face, a soft smile on his lips.
He picked him up, cradling his boy in his arms, and placed his lower legs inside his mouth, a soft, gentle gulp pulling him deeper into the glowing cavern.
——
The creak of floorboards was the first sign that something was wrong. Sally sat up in her bed, giving up on trying to sleep, and grabbed the knife from her bedside table as she went to check on her son.
As she neared Percy’s room, she heard a strange sound. It took her a moment to realize that it was a swallow, and she froze, the thought of her son being eaten by some monster paralyzing her. But then the anger set in. Who dared try and hurt her son? She clenched her fist tighter around the knife in her hand, ready to rip whoever it was apart, to carve them open and free her son.
The door to his room swung open without even a creak, and there he was, her baby, still asleep even as his head disappeared into the gaping maw surrounding him.
And the person whose gullet bulged around the form stuffed inside-
The person who was eating him-
It was-
“POSEIDON!” She shrieked, cold fury overtaking her as she lunged for him.
—
Poseidon flinched back as he heard his name yelled like a battle cry, barely avoiding the knife as it swung toward his throat. He whipped around to face his attacker, readying a burst of energy that would vaporize almost any monster.
But it was not a monster that he turned to see. Instead, the energy that had built up in his hands flickered and died as he saw Sally, her teeth bared in a snarl, the knife he had gotten her to defend herself held in a white-knuckled grip. She raced toward him again, slashing wildly at the god of the seas as he ducked and dodged, his body warping and twisting to avoid the blade. “Sally, wait, I can explain!” Poseidon curled his arms around his swollen belly in an attempt to keep his son from getting cut by an ill-timed attack.
“What is there to explain? I trusted you, and you turned out to be no better than your father!”
Poseidon flinched back as if he had been struck, his mind flooded with memories of hot and wet and cramped and dark-dark- dark , he couldn’t be like his father, he wouldn’t, he refused to trap his son in a lightless prison! The glow of his mouth intensified, brighter and brighter, he couldn’t leave his son in that suffocating darkness, he refused to, he-
“OW! What the FUCK, why is it so damn bright?”
Both Poseidon and Sally froze, their eyes fixed on his stomach as he realized that he may have made it a bit too bright. Poseidon winced, dimming the glaring light inside of himself before speaking to his son. “I’m sorry, Percy, I didn’t mean to do that, I just- I panicked,” Sally cut him off, her surprise starting to return to burning rage. “What do you mean you ‘didn’t mean to’? You ATE him, you ate our SON, and now you’re sorry for something?”
“He’s safe. I promise you, I would never hurt Percy. He’s safe, I swear on the river Styx that our child is safe.” The anger drained from Sally’s body at the crack of thunder that followed his oath, slowly replaced by confusion and fatigue. Her body sagged with relief, and she almost collapsed onto Percy’s empty bed. “Why?” Poseidon raised an eyebrow at the vague question. “Why did you… eat him? I don’t understand.” Poseidon shrank in on himself, seeming so much smaller than the eight-foot form he had taken.
“Uh, I’m kind of right here? Like, I can hear you two and everything, do I get to be part of the conversation or…?” Percy’s slightly muffled voice came from Poseidon’s middle, making both adults startle a bit as they looked back toward him. “Oh, I… thought you had gone back to sleep for a moment there.” Poseidon mumbled, a bit embarrassed by the whole situation.
“Dad, you just blasted my eyes with the full concentrated power of the sun. I don’t think I can go back to sleep right now. And um, Mom? I’m okay, I promise, Dad’s just keeping me safe.” Poseidon nodded in agreement, glancing over at Sally for a moment before returning his gaze to the form of his precious child, tucked safely within his belly where he could be warm and happy. His hand brushed against his bulging gut, a fond smile on his face. “You didn’t answer my question.” Sally said, looking up at him with confusion. “Why did you eat him?”
“It’s safe.” He tried to explain, not knowing exactly how to convey all the things he wanted to. Sally tilted her head, waiting for him to elaborate. “It’s safe, and he’s with me, warm and comfortable inside my body. Nobody can hurt him without going through me. And I… needed to reassure myself that he was alright.” Poseidon’s eyes avoided hers as he spoke, his body bunching up like some frightened animal trying to brace for a blow.
“Yeah, Dad worries a lot, so this happens pretty often. I sleep much better like this too, there’s less nightmares, I guess because it feels safe? So there’s nothing to worry about, I promise. I’ll be okay, Mom, Dad’s just keeping me safe.”
For a long moment, Sally sat there in silence, as if the whole world had stopped in its tracks. Poseidon fidgeted in place a bit as he watched her, a knot of anxiety bunching up in his chest as he waited for her to move, to react, to say something, anything.
She reached out to place a shaky hand on his belly, resting it atop Percy’s head as if reassuring herself that he was still there. “I… I don’t fully understand it, but if you both are okay, then… then I don’t have to understand.” She looked back to Poseidon again, her face pinched with guilt. “I’m sorry for comparing you to your father, I… I shouldn’t have done that. I know you care, and this… this clearly isn’t like what he did, not really. I just… I think I need a bit to process.”
And with that, she stood and left the room, her hands still shaking slightly as she did.
Poseidon let his focus shift back to his son, still bundled up inside his stomach, seeming to have relaxed a bit since he had woken up. “She… she’s not upset with me, is she?” He asked, his heart still pounding.
“No, Dad, I think she just needs some time to get used to this.” Percy chuckled, reaching out to knead at the soft walls around him in hopes of alleviating some of the tension that had left the whole stomach feeling stiff around him.
A small smile softened the worried pinch of Poseidon’s face as he realized what his son was doing, and he let himself curl up on the bed, his muscles beginning to relax as he let his eyes slip shut. His son was with him, safe and warm and happy, and with that knowledge, he allowed himself to bask in the feeling of content that came with having a bellyful of his precious child. In only a few minutes, he had started to snore, his arms curled loosely around his stuffed gut as he and Percy slept.