Work Text:
Percy woke up suddenly. For a second, he felt extremely disoriented.
He had been having a nightmare about going to the Underworld with Nico di Angelo and the welcome he had received there. His heart was hammering in his chest and his breaths were coming in quickly. He was ready for battle and reaching for his sword in a matter of a single heartbeat.
Then, he realized where he was.
The darkness of his room that was only slightly lit by fairy lights installed around his door reminded him of Hades’ dungeons.
Second thing that confused him was his conviction that he had just heard Mrs. O’Leary bark. But the hellhound was staying at Camp Half-Blood or in the Underworld during the school year, how could she be in his room? Sure, she could shadow-travel, but even then, she would not fit into Percy’s small room.
The son of Poseidon was about to go back to sleep. It must have been the nightmare that roused him so unexpectedly. There was no monster he needed to fight off, he could relax. He started laying down.
He never finished his motion. Suddenly, he felt something wriggling around and touching his legs.
Immediately, he went back to full alertness. Was there a monster in his bedroom after all? His hand was reaching for the sword he had just let go of while he pressed the power switch with the other one. The light in the room came to life, effectively blinding his tired eyes.
Percy swore under his breath. He had his sword drawn now, but he could not see where the danger laid. His vision was blurry as his eyes were doing their best to adjust. This was perhaps not his brightest moment. Would he be killed by a monster while he was half blind?
Nothing happened in the following seconds and once again, Percy relaxed. He continued holding his sword at ready, but he could not see any imminent danger.
Slowly, his eyes focused on his legs. More precisely on the blue blanket that was covering them. That was when he saw them.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
At first, Percy thought it was a little animal that had somehow sneaked into his room. Perhaps a raccoon or a stray cat. Then the mass of black fur moved and he could see three small mouths yawning in perfect unison. That is when Percy realized what was curled up on his bed.
What in Hades–
It was a whole litter of black puppies.
They were small, he could have fit them in the palm of his hand if he wanted. Their eyes were not open yet and they kept sniffing at the blanket and wriggling around. It seemed like they were waking up from a nap. The chaos on his legs went from mild to substantial when the little creatures started yapping and happily gnawing at the blanket and each other.
Percy was at a complete loss about what to do. He had way more questions than he had answers.
How did the puppies appear in his room? Who brought them? They were so little, they could not have walked in here themselves. Not to mention that both the door and the window, the only two entrances and exists in the room, were properly closed the whole night. Charles Beckendorf had kindly installed an alarm system that went off waking the whole house in case of a monster attack, if someone had entered, Percy would have known.
So he was back to square one. How did the furry creatures appear on his bed? Was this some kind of joke perhaps? Was someone just having a time of their life laughing at him?
And were they even normal puppies? It did not occur to Percy before, but now that he was looking more closely at the squirming pile of black fur, something felt off. The realization hit him like a runaway train. There were way too many heads. At least for the number of little round bodies he could see.
He cautiously reached forward and touched one of the small muzzles. The puppy yipped happily and immediately started licking his finger and then going to sucking on it.
That is kind of cute. I bet they are not dangerous at all.
Gently, he picked the puppy up, making sure to support all his miniature legs. He had been right before, it actually fit smugly on his palm. The only problem was, they there were three pairs of eyes looking at him. It yawned again, all three little mouths working in unison.
Three heads– Are they like little Cerberuses?
Percy was looking at the creature in awe. He had never seen anything so cute and at the same time so potentially dangerous.
He would have marvelled at the puppy for way longer be it not for the alarm on the door of his room going off. All the furballs started yipping more insistently, but Percy did not have time to care about them at the moment. He looked towards the door, fully awake and battle ready for the third time since he woke.
“Percy, are you alright? We heard noise–“
It was Percy’s mother and his step-father who were standing between the doorframe. They were in their pyjamas, still bleary-eyed and with bedheads. Thought dishevelled, they looked like angels of salvation in Percy’s eyes.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
“Mum, the alarm.”
Percy called over the loud noise. He was doubting his mother would hear him through the alarm. But it was not like he could stand up and go turn it off himself. He would have to get his legs from under the blanket, dislodging the small puppies in the process. He could not do that to them, they looked so small and fragile.
Luckily, Percy’s mother understood. She tapped the correct code into a small box on the wall just beside the door. The noise stopped. Only the puppies continued yapping. Thought some of them seemed already asleep again, probably tired from all the drama and exertion. The one Percy was holding was also snoozing away, one of his heads still adorably nibbling at his little finger. The son of Poseidon put him down to snuggle with his siblings.
“Are those puppies? Why do you have puppies in your room?”
Paul quickly discovered the source of the noise which alerted him and Percy’s mother to come to his step-son’s room. Intrigued, he made his way to the bed and looked at the little creatures more closely. He seemed more curious than afraid.
Which, Percy thought, was probably normal. After all, it was nothing too strange to see a litter of puppies.
Ok, sure. It is a little strange to see a litter of puppies on your step-son’s bed in the middle of the night. But it is not the weirdest thing Paul has experiences since meeting my mum.
“Do they all have three heads? Is this one of those demigod things you were telling me about?”
Percy had to admire Paul’s calmness. His step-father has only learnt about the gods being real and demigods and monsters a little while back. This must have still been very strange for him.
“Is this dangerous?”
Paul asked after a second of silence. He seemed worried now.
And I cannot blame him. After everything we told him, of course he would be alarmed. We gave him just a quick run through after the battle of Manhattan. He mostly saw how dangerous the demigod world is.
“I think they are safe.” Percy assured with only partial confidence in the statement. “Perhaps if they were bigger–“
He stopped himself before he could start ranting. He did not want to scare his parents too much if he did not have to. It was true. Right now, the puppies seemed not dangerous at all. He felt a strong urge to explain the situation even if he himself did not know anything at all.
“I woke up and they were just here? I have no idea how they could have ended up on my blanket. I think they need their mum.”
In fact, they might need looking after, Percy realized. Without a mother around, puppies this small could not survive on their own for long.
“Poor darlings,” Percy’s mother cooed at the sleeping pile of furballs, “they must be only a few days old, a week at most. See, their eyes are still closed. And they are so little. We need to get them something to eat, we have no idea when they were last fed.”
She turned to Percy and asked: “They are little Cerberuses, right? Do you know what they eat? Is it alright to give them normal puppy formula for now?”
Percy looked back at her in exasperation. He had no idea what a Cerberus’ diet could look like. It is an Underworld creature after all. For what little they knew, food from mortal world could be poisonous for its offspring.
His mother must have understood his reply from his expression. He did not need to say anything and she was already pressing on with her questions.
“Do you perhaps have any friends from the Camp who could help? We could really use advise from a demigod vet or something similar right now.”
A vet. I do no know about any demigods specializing in monster medicine. But speaking of medicine, I know a doctor who could help.
Without delay, Percy gently extracted his legs from under the pile of Cerberus puppies and went to his moisturizer. He kept it ready for when he wanted to send an Iris message to Annabeth. Now it would come in handy in calling the best doctor of the Camp Half-Blood.
When Percy saw the image in the mist, he was not surprised to find Will Solace sitting at a desk in the Camp infirmary and filling out paperwork instead of sleeping. For once, Percy was glad for the fact that the son of Apollo often stayed up late in the night overworking himself. After the battle of Manhattan, the boy had singlehandedly taken over all the responsibilities of head medic and was still getting used to the job.
“Percy, what happened? Are you alright?”
Will asked worriedly as soon as the message got through. He put down his pen and looked directly at the three people in the Iris message. Leave it to a doctor in him to be immediately ready to help.
“I am fine. But we have a situation here.”
Percy did his best to explain what had happened in the last half an hour. When he got lost in his monologue, his mother helped him filling in the gaps. Soon, Will was nodding his understanding.
“Percy, I would love to help you. But I am a demigod doctor, you know, I treat human patients. I cannot help you with this right now. I will try to study on it, but it will take time. Sorry.”
When the blazing sun is gone,
When he nothing shines upon,
The son of Apollo looked very apologetic when he stopped talking. He was fiddling with his hands nervously. As if he was afraid Percy would be mad at him for not having the right answer ready.
“It is fine, I understand. You do not have to apologize,” Percy hurried to reassure him.
There was a short moment of silence. Everyone was wracking their brains, trying to find a solution to the problem at hand. If they did not hurry, the puppies could be in danger.
Then, just as Percy was about to end the Iris message, Will’s face lit up. He must have thought of something.
“Have you tried asking Nico di Angelo? He is like the resident expert on everything related to the Underworld, if I remember correctly.”
Of course, Nico! How could I have forgotten him?
“Thanks, man!”
Percy did not wait for anything else and he was already starting another Iris message.
For a second, he thought that the message got broken somehow (although it had never happened before). All he could see was darkness. It was only when he heard a low grumble and some shifting noises that he knew the message was successful. It was just that Nico was in his cabin at Camp Hal-Blood. Percy could never understand the kid, he would not last a single day in that dark eerie place.
He was not going to criticize the choice of décor today though. He had an emergency on his hands.
“Nico, wake up!”
He had to call several times before one portion of darkness stirred. Another grumpy grumble came through before Nico finally sat up and wiped sleep from his eyes. As if on cue, eerie green torches came on in the cabin, providing only enough light to distinguish rough outlines of furniture.
Nico slowly turned towards Percy. His face was still slack with sleep. The son of Poseidon had to hold himself back from laughing at the boy’s bed hair. It was wild.
“Hey Percy, what is up?”
Nico’s words were slurred with the remaining sleep. Percy felt a short pang of regret to have woken him up in the middle of the night. Gods knew that the son of Hades never looked like he slept well. He could use every opportunity to rest. At least he was now back at Camp Half-Blood, so there was that.
Then, the guilt was gone as Percy remembered the emergency at hand.
“Nico, I have a little Underworld problem on my hands. I could use your–“
Suddenly, Percy was not talking to Nico in his cabin anymore. The son of Hades emerged from the inside of Percy’s closet. Everyone in the room became speechless.
How in Hades did he–
“What can I help you with?”
Then you show your little light,
Twinkle, twinkle, all the night
When he got no reply, Nico’s eyebrows flew sky high. He looked at Percy pointedly, urging him to explain. The son of Poseidon was still not over the shock of Nico just casually shadow-travelling into his closet (and did he really sleep in his jeans and jacket?) so he only pointed to the pile of sleeping puppies.
“Oh gods, are those really–“ Percy was taken by surprise, it has been years since he had seen the son of Hades this enthusiastic about anything. “How did you get them? They are so cu– small. Where is their mom? Is it Mrs. O’Leary?”
Percy thought that Nico probably wanted to say something else, but corrected himself. Not that it mattered right now. At least he immediately got the gist of the situation.
It was Percy’s mother who got over the shock of Nico’s appearance first.
“Hi Nico. Good to see you again. You grew up a lot.”
“Hello Mrs. Jackson, hello–” Nico’s voice trailed off, he looked at Paul with a puzzled look.
Right, he does not know Paul. He was not yet living with us last time Nico was here.
“Paul, Percy’s step-dad-to-be, if he will have me.”
Paul winked in Percy’s direction.
Oh, so he is finally doing it? Or has he already proposed to mum? When will the wedding be?
Percy made a mental note to revisit this conversation later.
“We actually do not know. I woke up and they were just here. Do you perhaps know anything? Could they really be Mrs. O’Leary’s?”
Nico went closer to the puppies, looking at them intently. He reached out his hand but let it hover in the air as if he was afraid to touch the small creatures. He glanced towards Percy, his eyes uncertain but hopeful.
“Can I–“
“It is alright, honey. Go ahead, you can touch them.” Percy’s mother smiled warmly at the younger boy. “We were just discussing what we could feed them. Do you think they could get normal puppy formula? Or do they need something special? Seeing how they are clearly not from the mortal world.”
Nico slowly, almost reverently, petted one of the little heads. The puppy stirred but stayed asleep. Percy could have sworn he saw Nico breathe out a sigh. His shoulders relaxed. And was that a shadow of a smile bringing the corners of his lips up? It was only then that the son of Poseidon realized how stiff Nico had been. He could not tell why though.
Then the traveler in the dark,
Thanks you for your tiny spark,
“Yes, that seems like a good idea. At least until we find their mother. They would be best off with her. I could go look for her.”
Even while saying this, Nico seemed reluctant to leave. He was now petting each puppy in turn over all their numerous heads. Some of them were stirring and waking up, only to try sucking at his fingers. It was an adorable scene. Definitely not something Percy would have guessed for the Nico di Angelo. He knew that usually, animals used to avoid and fear him.
Ah, that must be it. He is good with Mrs. O’Leary too, must be because they are both connected to the Underworld. He probably reminds her of home.
“You could,” Percy replied slowly to Nico’s suggestion. “And I would be very grateful for that. But perhaps, you could help us feed them first? It would be easier and faster with more people. We do not want them to starve, right?”
Nico turned towards him at once, his hand still close to the pile of puppies. There was so much hope in his eyes that Percy felt uncomfortable for hesitating to speak up earlier. It seemed odd, he knew Nico’s physical age all along, but it was only now that the boy actually looked like it. All gone was his guarded and closed-off expression, he seemed almost happy.
“Can I really–“
“Sure.”
Percy smiled encouragingly. He was shocked when Nico mirrored it before turning back to the puppies and going back to petting them affectionately. He even crunched down on the ground so he would be at the same level with them, observing them closely. Who would have guessed he had such a soft spot for the small creatures? Did he perhaps like animals?
“Alright, I am going to prepare the formula. Can you look after them in the meantime?”
Percy’s mother left the room without waiting for their confirmation. Paul did not wait for anything either and went with her. Percy could hear them chat in hushed voices in the kitchen.
Silence fell upon the room again. It was not the uncomfortable kind, but something much softer and gentler. Percy decided he was not the one who was going to break it. He wanted Nico to enjoy his little moment of happiness in peace. Gods knew he deserved it perhaps more than most.
After what felt like only a few seconds, his mother came back with a bowl of white stuff (probably the puppy formula) and a handful of small syringes. Percy had to wonder wherever she got all the supplies from so quickly. He was sure that there was no ready-to-make puppy formula in the house, they did not have any dogs.
She explained the process and Nico was the one who nodded along the most. He even asked questions here and there, seemingly still nervous he would hurt the puppies. Gods bless Percy’s mother for patiently replying to all of them with a smile.
Someone sure is excited. I am now certain that Nico actually likes animals even though he always claimed he could not get closer to them because they feared him. Could it be, that it is the same with people for him? Could he be keeping himself at arm’s length, worried he would hurt someone?
No, impossible. Percy was getting ahead of himself here. Still, once the thought was there, everything started clicking together suspiciously well. He decided to file this as one more topic he would have to revisit after tonight. He should ask Annabeth what she thinks about his suspicion.
It would be so great if Nico could start interacting more with people. Perhaps he would not be so quick to run away from the Camp, it would be safer for him. And probably also more enjoyable. I cannot imagine life is any fun when you live completely isolated and alone.
Ok, there was the whole thing with being the son of Hades and all, but Percy had to admit he now saw a possibility of Nico’s social withdrawal not being fully his choice. Yes, he would revisit this later. Definitely.
He could not see which way to go,
If you did not twinkle so.
Feeding all the puppies proved to be quite a challenge in the end. They kept yapping and squirming if all their heads were not fed at the same time. Percy did not know how it worked, seeing they had a single stomach that could only get so full. Still, he did not complain, none of them did, and kept filling syringes with warm puppy formula and carefully squeezing one drop at a time into the hungry mouths. The little ones were endearing and soon had them all wrapped around their little paws.
They made also another curious discovery. Not all puppies were pure Cerberus breed. There were five of them with three heads, four that looked like normal puppies (one head) and even one with two heads. Paul mused that it must have been the play of genetics. Percy should have probably known the word, but it was as if he was hearing it for the first time ever.
Nico seemed more knowledgeable on the subject and he and Paul plunged into a pretty long discussion over it.
Percy was holding back an amused smile the whole time. The ever-anti-social son of Hades interacting with people so easily. The puppies seemed to have brought back the Nico from when Percy had met him, from the time before Bianca’s death. He had to gulp down guilt. It was not his fault she died, nor was it his fault that Nico had run away.
Could he had handled things differently back then? He wished he would have. But he had been nothing but a child then. He had done his best. This time, he knew better, he would not repeat the same mistakes.
And now I will try to help as much as I can, if my suspicion is right.
The Sun was just climbing to the horizon when Nico very reluctantly proposed to go look for the puppies’ mum again. Percy did not ask how he would go about finding her, the boy had his ways. He promised to look after the little ones until the son of Hades came back from his self-imposed quest. Luckily, it was Saturday morning so he had the whole free weekend in front of him, there would be three of them to help feeding the hungry mouths.
“Well, I will be off then.”
Nico said his goodbyes (this time, Percy was pretty sure they were not their last, the boy was coming back) and dissolved into shadows with one last look over his shoulder. One of the puppies yapped happily at that exact moment, seemingly replying. Nico’s smile widened as he stepped into the shadows.
The weekend was exhausting. Even when there were three of them rotating the duties of feeding, helping to defecate and cleaning. There were so many puppies it seemed like the work never ended, as soon as they were done with one round, they were starting the next one. The Jackson family members barely caught a few hours of sleep each.
Nico stopped by every few hours too. He claimed it was to give them news (‘I did not find their mother yet, but I am doing my best’). Percy thought it was for a different reason. The boy always insisted on helping with the caretaking duties and looked at the furry creatures with soft eyes. If he could, Percy was almost certain, he would have taken all of them under his wings.
In the dark blue sky you keep,
And often through my curtains peep,
It was Monday evening now. Percy was exhausted and his eyes were falling shut of their own accord. As soon as he had gotten back from school (yes, his mother was adamant about not missing a single period), the never-ending cycle of caring restarted. Percy took over for Paul who had taken a day off just so he could help Percy’s mother during the day.
Their home was becoming more and more chaotic. The puppies now had their eyes open and they were starting to crawl around. Percy had no idea how they were doing it when they were still so small and weak.
It took his tired mind a while to discover the reason. It had happened when he had been feeding one of the furballs and it suddenly disappeared right from his arms. Apparently, Underworldly puppies could shadow-travel just as their parents (whoever they actually were).
At first, it was only a few inches at best, but they were slowly getting the hang of it. Percy would not be surprised if within a few days, the puppies would be all over their apartment, perhaps even shadow-travelling outside for a stroll. It must have been sheer luck they did not lose any of them until now. Sometimes, one or more disappeared for minutes at a time, only to come back when they got hungry.
At least there is that. It will be terrible if someone saw them outside. It would immediately become the biggest sensation on the news.
It was right after either o’clock when Nico arrived. This time, he seemed outright ecstatic. Or perhaps it was just Percy’s exhausted brain playing a trick on him, he could not tell anymore.
“I have good news. I tracked their parents!”
Nico whisper-shouted so he would not wake the sleeping puppies. At his declaration, the whole Jackson family came to meet him.
It was official now, Paul finally mustered his courage and said that if they survived this ordeal in one piece, he would be the happiest if Percy’s mother accepted his proposal and took him for a husband. Of course, he had asked the son of Poseidon for his blessing first, which Percy had gladly given. He would be more than happy to be able to call Paul his step-father (that did not mean he was not considering Poseidon as his godly father, but there was just something different about having a complete family living together).
“Well, what did you find out?”
Percy was both curious and impatient for the news. While he loved the puppies, taking care of them without their real mother was hard and exhausting. There were simply too many mouths to feed continuously.
“I went to the Underworld and asked around. I had to actually talk to my father in the end to get the full picture.”
Nico paused for a second, probably for suspense effect. It was completely lost on Percy.
“And?”
“Turns out they really are Mrs. O’Leary’s pups with Cerberus. There were some complications during birth and now she cannot take care of them. So, apparently, my father wanted to send them to me to raise until Mrs. O’Leary bounces back to health, probably a few weeks or so from now.”
Percy gave Nico a confused look. Everything in his explanation added up except for one point.
“If your father send them to you, how did they end up on my bed in a middle of a night?”
“There was a mix up when my father shadow-travelled them to the mortal world. With everyone being in an uproar about Mrs. O’Leary, they had to act quickly. My father sends his apologies and thanks you for your help. I can take it over now.”
Percy blamed it on his exhaustion when he just waived his hand towards the puppies and let the matter go. There was no way he had enough energy to start an argument and complain about the ruler of the Underworld and how he managed things.
“Sure, no problem. Please take them. Mum can give you the recipe for the formula.”
Everything happened fast afterwards. Percy’s mother briefed Nico on all the aspects of caretaking he could have missed with him not being around all the time. She also wrote the recipe for her homemade formula on a piece of paper and handed it to him. Paul gathered all the puppies to a carton box for easy transport. And then, Nico was gone without even saying goodbye.
He must be really looking forward to taking care of them. Good for him, I guess.
Percy barely managed to stagger back to his room and change his clothes. It was still early in the evening, but he fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
For you never shut your eye,
Till the sun is in the sky.
Percy was woken up in the middle of the night several days later. This time, it was because of an angry voice coming through from an Iris message. He groaned but sat up, his eyes still tired with lingering sleep. What was it with night visits lately? There was Nico’s voice whisper-shouting at him now. What could the son of Hades want this late?
“Percy, why did you not tell me they could shadow-travel? I just came back from Brooklyn where I was chasing one of the runaways!”
“Oh–” was all Percy could say in reply.
He had already thought Nico knew about the shadow-travelling part. Did it really take him almost three days to realize? For some reason, Percy found it extremely funny. He chuckled.
“This is no laughing matter!”
Nico was now even more flustered. It made Percy laugh harder. Not because Nico looked childish when he was fuming. But because one of the puppies (they have grown almost twice as big since the last time Percy had seen them) just shadow-travelled to the top of Nico’s head and was balancing there precariously.
“Nico! Another one is gone!”
Percy’s sleepy brain took a little while to recognize the voice. Why was Will Solace in the Hades cabin so late at night? Must have been because Nico asked him for help with babysitting. Percy smiled to himself. The notorious lone-wolf son of Hades was not struggling alone anymore.
I wonder how that happened. Nico could use a few more friends. It can only be a good thing. Perhaps Hades have even planned this? I am probably overthinking.
“Ahh, not again! This is getting ridiculous!” groaned Nico from distance, his figure moving further away.
“Sorry. I am tired. I see you already got some help. Well, have fun with your babysitting quest.”
Percy mumbled and let himself fall back on his pillow. His eyes closed again and he knew nothing about the world not even a second later.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.
How I wonder what you are.