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Percy almost slammed the door in his face when he answered it. Almost. He didn’t quite have enough of a death-wish though, and he didn’t want to have done all that studying just to get evaporated before he could go to college.
“Z- My lord,” he said carefully. “Um.”
“You’re as cognizant as your father,” Zeus, the king of his gods, uncle, et cetera, said, rolling his eyes. “And just as erudite.”
Was it Percy’s imagination or did the air pressure just drop a little. Was that because of the lord of the sky or the god of storms? He wasn’t sure he wanted to find out, “You wanted to see me?”
“No, I’m here for a completely unrelated reason,” his lip curled. “Obviously, I’m here to see you.”
“Right,” he said, his fingers almost leaving an imprint on the wood of the door. “Right.”
An eyebrow was raised at him. Its twin joined it, “Well? I’m sure Chiron, if he’s keeping things up to scratch, has taught you about xenia by now.”
Percy vaguely recalled something Mr Brunner had taught him, way back when he had been naïeve to think the world was normal and occasionally even made sense, about how much Ancient Greeks had valued hospitality. He couldn’t quite recall why that had made it into his Latin class though. Maybe they had been doing Ovid?
“Would you like to come in?” He forced himself to open the door further and step back.
His uncle shouldered his way inside. This mortal appearance was a little bit too tall to be taken seriously. The air sparkled around Zeus. He could smell ozone. “Is your mother home?”
He tried not to make a face, “No, she’s out working. Do you want… tea?” He should probably have offered the nectar and ambrosia in his room, but he wasn’t feeling so kind.
“Tea is acceptable,” he said, the words seemed like they had been dragged out of him, pulled from his throat. “Then we must talk.”
Zeus took one sip of the tea and set it down. Percy clutched his own cup - peppermint - and tried to breathe in the steam. It was a little too hot to drink, and he didn’t need memories of the Phlegethon right now.
He almost started with how can I help? , the social script almost spilling out, but he held back just in time. He knew too well that Zeus would just take it as an excuse to assign him some quest. Maybe make it so he had to do three more quests for gods to go to college. Repay the debt he owed for being born. The gods were lucky he hadn’t packed up and fucked off to Alaska already.
Although… that was an idea. Maybe he could bring it up to Annabeth. For when they were done with college?
“What’s up?” he said instead.
“The sky,” Zeus ground his teeth. “I suppose you’re wondering why I have deigned to come, in my capacity as Zeus Xenios?”
He shrugged, “I mean, it’s not exactly the first time an Olympian has shown up here, so-” It wasn’t even the first one in the last seven days . He’d recovered from the cold the Nosoi had left him with, and even helped defend Camp Half-Blood from another invasion. Thanks, Apollo. “Are you here about Lester?”
He could hear the click in Zeus’ jaw like a far off rumble of thunder, “I am here about him, yes.”
“So like… what’s up with that? You exile him to mortality and leave him under the care of a twelve year old?” He had no doubt that Meg McCaffrey was terrifying and formidable, but every time he looked at her he couldn’t stop thinking about the things he had done at twelve. The things he had had to do, to survive.
Zeus smirked, “Not my first choice, but she will do to keep my son in check, and guide him where he needs to go.”
Percy bit his lip so hard he tasted blood. He needed to hold on a little longer. It was not in the budget to get the plumbing replaced for the fourth time in three months. “Who was your first choice then?”
He scowled, his face darkening as a storm cloud. Percy held his breath. “The triumvirs upset my plans. They drove him off course. He was never supposed to land in that alley. He was supposed to land here.”
He blinked, “Like at my house?”
“What do you think “here” means?”
“Right, yeah, right. It’s just… okay. So Meg is his master now. And that can’t be changed?”
“No,” Zeus said. “I accepted the vow.”
Because Zeus was such a great example of a god who could keep and maintain vows, yeah. Percy sucked in another breath. How much longer could this possibly last?
“You wanted me to take on quests from three gods?” he asked slowly. He could hear the grating in his voice. Fracture lines grew on the cup and he slammed it down, ignoring how the tea splashed out of it. “I’ve taken two.”
“Apollo would have counted for the purposes of your third. You are a legendary hero, one of the greatest of your age.” It didn’t hurt to see the pain it caused Zeus to say that. He wanted to revel in it, enjoy it a little, but his heart rate had sped up sometime in the last ten minutes and he couldn’t figure how to slow it back down again. “You would have made sure he could finish the job.”
“Apollo knows what he’s doing,” he said, only half-way lying. “Is this- are you done? Did you come to talk about anything else- sir?” He tacked the sir on deliberately, hoping that Zeus would notice. Take the hint, please.
“That is all,” he said, rising from his chair. “Send your mother my congratulations, please,” he nodded at the box of baby stuff sitting on the table. Percy didn’t like that the god knew his mom was pregnant now, but there wasn’t much he could do about it. He needed to hold on.
“Would you like me to show you out?” he asked, standing too, almost knocking his chair over.
“This is fine,” he said, lighting up in a way that meant Percy should avert his eyes.
When he opened them again, he was alone. In his apartment. With two cups of peppermint tea and a heart rate which would not go down.
His fingers found Riptide and his keys in his pocket, and he picked up the mugs to take them to the sink. Screw studying for today. He needed to talk to Annabeth.