Work Text:
Percy’s mother was typically very indulgent with him.
He could count on his hands the number of times she had been truly, genuinely angry with him.
Which was why he was panicking so hard right now.
Don’t lose your fur, Percy, especially in the upperworld had been her constant mantra since childhood, and what had he gone and done? Exactly that.
People couldn’t tell he was a merman – upperworld people were pretty stupid – but once his fur came off they’d know what it was in an instant. Especially since he was stranded, unable to go back in the water and not wanting to go further in this wild place.
And he would owe whoever found it a debt so huge they could command him to do anything.
Gods, he wished he’d never even come up here in the first place. Dare be damned. He should have listened to Annabeth.
“Hello,” came a polite voice from behind him and he spun around, furious at being able to be surprised, even, especially in his current state. A blond around his height with a weird scar and bright blue eyes behind his glasses blinked at him. “Is this yours?”
Percy snatched his coat back, cradling it, growling at the asinine question. Is this yours, indeed. “What do you want?”
“I – what?”
“In return?” Percy asked impatiently. Dread filled his stomach. “Unless you’re planning on holding this over me?”
Oh, everyone was going to kill him.
“Holding what?” The mortal sounded absolutely baffled. “I don’t understand. I just thought you seemed like you were looking for something, and the fishermen over there were crowing over having stolen something. I made some assumptions and got it back.”
“How?” Percy asked now, relaxing a little. It seemed he’d managed to stumble onto one of the few humans who didn’t have any idea about them.
But how in the Ocean would he have managed to get his coat, which had probably been heavily guarded?
The blond cleared his throat, suddenly uncomfortable. “Oh. Just luck, I suppose.”
There was something suspicious about that, but Percy had to let it go. He did owe this man a life debt, after all. He had no doubt the fishermen would’ve made him do something to disrupt the balance and give them fortune.
Humans were always greedy like that.
“Do you. . . Come here often?” The blond asked, perhaps to distract him.
“Not really,” Percy replied. “You?”
He laughed a little. “Not at all. I’m not. . . My parents are protective.”
Ah. Percy nodded. “Mine too.”
He was the bastard prince, after all. He was the perfect target for people who wanted to hurt his father but not go as far as to hurt legitimate heirs.
“I wouldn’t come here again,” the blond told him. “Those fishermen will be very angry.”
Percy thought quickly. He needed to keep an eye on this person, repay his debt as soon as possible – hopefully without ending up having to marrying him or his siblings and parents find out. “What if I want to see you again?”
The blond looked hopeful. “You do?”
To his surprise, Percy found that he did. He loved Annabeth and Grover and Beckendorf, but none of them really understood what it was like to be him, or treated him entirely like one of them. Despite his mother being a lowly shopkeeper.
“Yes,” he decided.
“Somewhere else.” The mortal looked eager.
“How would you travel, though?” Didn’t mortals have restrictions and regulations on how far they could go?
“I – that isn’t a problem for me. What about you?”
Percy could go wherever there was an ocean – if he concentrated, even fresh water sources. He couldn’t exactly say this though.
“Not for me either. My father owns a creese ship,” he invented wildly. “And he lets me take it out whenever I want.”
Blondie nodded, chewing on his lip, which only drew attention to the small scar that became practically invisible at the motion. “My father. . . Is important. I can go wherever I want too.”
Hmm. He’d thought mortals had had different land masses and rules – but it wasn’t like he came up here often. He was wrong, probably.
They decided on another meeting place, and it was only after they had parted ways, Percy pretending he needed to go somewhere other than the water, that he realized they hadn’t exchanged names or talked about times.
“You’re moping,” came a clinical observation.
“Leave me alone, Wise Girl,” he groaned.
“Tell me.” She demanded.
Since Percy was pathetic, he gave in and told her all about the nice handsome man he’d met – leaving out that he’d lost his fur.
Annabeth studied him, concerned. “Percy. . . You know you’ve called him good-looking ten different ways in a five minute ramble?”
“So I have eyes,” he shrugged.
His best friend sighed. “Have you thought about leaving a message there?”
He hadn’t. “I don’t know how mortals would do that, though.”
Annabeth snorted. “If he’s as eager as you are, he won’t care.” Then she became solemn. “Just. . . Be careful, okay?”
“Always am,” he said cheerfully, ignoring her snort and racing away.
He left a message with seaweed and clams, popping in periodically to check on it. Eventually, he found a white, smoky substance spelling out a date and time.
Huh. Humans were far more creative than he’d thought, if they could do something like this.
The human was already there.
Percy groaned. He’d have to swim to the other side of the island now, so he could avoid being seen in his actual form.
But the way he brightened when he caught sight of Percy was worth it all. “Hi!”
“Hey,” he said, shaking water out of his hair. He looked at the golden circlet around the man’s head curiously. “Are you a prince?”
He only just avoided saying ‘too’ at the end.
The man clutched at the jewellery and let out a nervous laugh. “We humans don’t even have princes! It’s just, a, uh, party wear.”
Oh. Percy frowned. “If you were busy, you didn’t need to—”
“I’m not,” he replied quickly. “Especially not for this.” He fixed his glasses, avoiding his gaze.
“If we’re going to be missing events to meet up, we should know each other’s names, don’t you think?” He grinned. “I’m Percy.”
“I’m Jason of—” His mouth slammed shut.
“You’re. . . from a house?” Percy frowned. He’d thought family houses were a thing only for creatures like him.
Jason looked surprised too. “Um. Yes. Of. . . Grace.”
“Oh.” He should’ve realized. Percy did technically have a house, since his father had claimed him, but he didn’t like using it, since it always felt like he didn’t belong. He should’ve known Jason would be upper-class.
“What?” Jason asked warily.
“What?”
“That oh didn’t sound good,” he was informed.
“Can an oh sound good?” Percy asked inquisitively.
“Yes, and that didn’t.”
Percy licked his lips and considered how much he wanted to say. “My father’s house is mine, but not like it’s my siblings’.”
There. That shouldn’t have meant much to anyone not in the know, but to his surprise Jason nodded. “My father had my sister and me from an affair. My mother is actually my stepmother, so I’m not from her house at all, despite the marriage of alliance.”
Percy wasn’t unfamiliar with marriages of alliance – Kym had been bound to one with the Cyclops. He knew the conditions and intricate rules and rituals inherent to the practice.
“And they’re still married?”
Jason shrugged. “She loves him.”
He considered that. “I can’t imagine loving someone that much.”
“Nor I,” the human agreed. “The idea of it is as terrifying as falling.”
“Falling?” Percy asked curiously. “Are you scared of heights?”
Jason blinked. “Um – no, not really. Just. Falling.”
He nodded knowingly. “Me too. Drowning, not water or swimming.”
One time when he’d been on earth with his cousin Hazel, he’d recklessly stepped into a whirlpool of mud. He knew that he would never drown in water the way he had there, but that didn’t stop the fear from crawling all over him sometimes.
The human smiled. “I suppose it might also be that she doesn’t want war between our people.”
“Your people?” He questioned.
He looked panicked for an instant. “You know. Our – territories. Counties?”
Percy couldn’t reveal that he had no clue what places in the upperworld were called. “Right.”
Jason’s expression turned relieved. “Where’s your father’s ship, by the way?”
Tethys’ Pearls. What was he supposed to say to that?
He cobbled together something about his father dropping him off.
Jason looked concerned about him being stranded.
“How did you get here?” Percy asked to get off the topic.
There was no answer. Instead, Jason just grinned ruefully. Percy was taken aback by just how that expression took his breath away with surprise. “Point taken.”
“Are you courting someone?” Triton asked bluntly.
“What?” Percy stared at his brother incredulously.
“You spend a lot of time whereabouts unknown, and the time you do spend here is with wistful smiles and longing expressions,” his brother listed out dispassionately. Then he fixed eyes identical to Percy’s on him, frowning. “I don’t see why you can’t tell us about it.”
“I’m not courting anyone, dear gods,” he rolled his eyes. “A little preoccupation doesn’t mean anything.”
“If you say so,” Triton said, and it was doubtful enough that it rankled.
Annabeth just pursed her lips when he told her about it later.
“Percy, you carry the feather he gave you everywhere with you,” she reminded.
He sputtered indignantly. “That doesn’t – you wear the coral I got you all the time!”
She nodded. “It doesn’t necessarily mean anything, you’re right, but in combination with the other things Triton said? The human’s all you’ve been able to talk to me about. You’ve been seeing him so often. You might not be courting him, but it’s not a far cry to assume you want to.”
Percy was struck silent.
Did he want to court Jason?
He’d always thought the man was handsome, even with how awkward and foreign human bodies were. He liked seeing him smile, talking to him, resented that he had to keep it secret, trusted him with things he’d never told anyone, felt comfortable and understood in a way—
Ah.
The problem was that he had no idea how in the Ocean humans courted one another.
He got a seashell comb for Jason, a first courting gift from the royal family of Atlantis. He doubted the man would get much use for it – hoped, in fact, since he liked the fluffy natural look he sported too much – but tradition.
Might as well be of some use in Percy’s life rather than annoy him.
Jason seemed mostly baffled. They’d given one another things plenty of times, but never something like this.
“What do you do with this?” He asked.
He should’ve realized humans wouldn’t use combs – they were so primitive.
“You use it to keep control of your hair,” he explained. “And the other side to—”
He stopped himself forcefully, cursing internally. Humans didn’t have tails and didn’t have to treat their scales.
“Seems decorative,” Jason mused as Percy struggled.
He seized on that gratefully. “Yes. I think some people use it on their teeth or something,” he lied desperately.
“Humans are weird,” Jason declared, and Percy was too relieved by the acceptance to wonder about the detachment in the human’s voice, as though he weren’t talking about his own species.
Seven courting gifts before a wedding. That was the tradition in Atlantis.
Obviously, he and Jason would never be able to wed, not properly, but he could still do the rest.
He hunted and Jason reacted as though he’d never had seafood before. Maybe he hadn’t. Percy knew fishermen existed, but perhaps what they caught wasn’t widely available?
He had to deliberate on the third gift. Only the first, sixth and seventh gifts were fixed. A declaration comb, a betrothal piece and a piece of yourself. And one of the others had to be providing food, as an indication of willingness to do so for the rest of their lives.
Finally, he found pearls with the shine of the moon in them. Rare, even for the royal family. He’d gotten them after a lot of exploration. Jason had mentioned wanting to make his sister a coronet – for another fancy dress, or so he said, and gifts for the other’s family were an acceptable courting gift. Percy was beginning to suspect Jason was hiding something from him too, probably his status in the upperworld.
He would try to as well – was hiding his entire identity from him, as a matter of fact. So he doubted he had room to talk.
Neither of them picked places too close to upperworld civilization. Jason was the only human he’d ever talked to extendedly, and he knew he’d been very lucky in that.
Atlantis was full of horror stories about the upperworld. Triton and Kym had delighted in scaring Percy with them when they had been children.
The fond memories soon became guilty wonderings about how they would react to all this.
“Is something wrong?” Jason asked, sounding concerned.
Percy had learned to tell the difference between him being polite and asking questions that actually mattered to him. Jason had told him about having to get along with people, encouraging and appreciating them enough to get them on board with what they had to do.
More proof of his being somehow important.
But Percy didn’t know human hierarchy. Annabeth told him few places had actual royalty anymore – and fancy that! He didn’t know of a world without a king or queen and wondered how it would be governed – so Jason couldn’t be one of them.
Or maybe he was, and was just far from home?
Surely that was the reason he was able to get wherever he liked whenever he liked.
This time they were meandering on horses – Jason’s idea – and one Percy readily agreed to, since going on a swim together was a courting staple.
As they weren’t able to do that, this seemed a suitable replacement.
Besides, the horse reminded him of his little brother Tyson’s hippocampus, Rainbow.
As Percy wondered how to phrase an answer, a whoosh of wind from behind them made him tense.
Jason let out a strangled sound, and his gaze immediately went to him in concern, hand going to Riptide, so he missed how the stranger had appeared so suddenly and fast.
“Jase, we need to—” He started without preamble and then caught sight of Percy and began to gape. “By the Skies. This is what you’ve been doing?”
“You promised no questions!” Jason said defensively.
“When I helped you sneak out, I thought you were just having fun like a normal au – awesome person. Not cavorting around with—” He made a helpless gesture.
Not understanding what was going on, but still familiar with the scorn and dismissiveness in the stranger’s voice, Percy straightened. “With what?”
The curly-haired stranger hesitated, fingers tapping on his thigh. “Er, no offense—”
Jason understood, though. “He didn’t mean it like that, Percy,” he said earnestly, and despite himself, he felt himself soften. “I swear. Leo, go back, I’ll come soon.”
Leo hesitated, looking between them – more panicked than judgmental, Percy noticed – and nodded and turned away and left.
The questions of where he was going and how all died in his throat when he saw Jason’s face. “Jason?” He asked quietly.
“I knew this wasn’t going to last,” he said quietly in response, more to himself than anything.
“What do you mean?” Percy felt his anxiety rise.
“Now that one of the – my people – knows,” Jason shook his head. “It’ll be impossible to hide.”
“You seemed friendly – surely he’ll keep your secret?” He asked, now gripping the reins so tight the horse shifted.
“It doesn’t matter, I shouldn’t have started this anyway, I have duties and responsibilities, this was a—” Jason started to rant.
Percy recognized the defensive reaction it was to the pressure by his father and stepmother, but right now he didn’t care. “A mistake?” He gritted out.
Now Jason slammed his mouth shut. “In a way,” he hedged. “Not you, Perce, just—”
“Not me?” He laughed, feeling himself shake. “What then?”
He didn’t reply, just looked down, getting off the horse. “We shouldn’t see each other again.”
“And to think I was courting you.” The words slipped out in his anger and sorrow.
Jason froze. “Courting?” He whispered.
Percy blinked away tears. “It doesn’t matter. You’re right, this was a mistake.” What did he know about Jason anyway? Practically nothing. Not to mention it would’ve never worked between them, worlds of differences Jason didn’t even know about.
He’d been working on the next gift – something handmade, also traditional – with fabric he’d gotten from his stepmother’s stores and learning how to knit from Annabeth, who knew how to thanks to her mother despite disliking the activity.
He grabbed the half-done scarf – the closest mortal equivalent he could find of the garments they wore on special occasions over their furs – and threw it at Jason.
Then he turned and spurred the horse on in the opposite direction, obeying the call of water uncaring of where it was coming from, ignoring Jason’s calls behind him.
Percy didn’t know what he was doing here.
The place he and Jason had first met. Somewhere he knew better than to go to, both for threats against him and the memories.
If Annabeth knew he was doing this, she’d be furious. Especially since she’d been dealing with his heartbreak for days. His family had too, but they didn’t know what it was actually about.
Annabeth had gently tried to suggest this was for the best. He’d proceeded not to talk to her for ten hours – the longest they gone without talking when in the same place.
His fur was tucked carefully into a waist pouch Annabeth had gifted him once he’d started going to the upperworld often, out of sight, but he still tensed when a human approached him.
He ought to jump in the water immediately, especially in a place he was known as a Selkie and merman.
He stayed.
Not all humans were bad.
This one looked forthright and furious, carrying large bags in her hands. Not particularly dangerous to him, of course. “What are you standing around for?” She demanded. “Help!”
“With what?” Percy asked cluelessly.
She shook the bags at him. “Collecting the garbage, of course! Such a beautiful spot – ruined, and you don’t want to help?”
He softened. One of the key topics his father had to worry about as king was the growing amount of pollution in their waters and how it was affecting their people. A human actually concerned about that?
Percy took a bag without another word and discretely followed her as he picked things up. He wasn’t actually entirely sure of what belonged here and what did not, so he did as she did.
“So, what’s up with the pout?” She said conversationally.
“I – sorry?”
“Why are you brooding like a storm?” She elaborated.
“We don’t even know each other’s names and you’re asking for personal information like that?” Percy asked, unimpressed.
“Rachel,” she said with a smirk, flipping a strand of her red hair back. “You?”
“Percy,” he replied despite himself, because he liked her. Not in the instant, curious way with Jason, but in a warm way that reminded him of Grover or Beckendorf. “What house are you from?”
Rachel frowned at him, for the first time seeming completely out of sorts. “House? Are you a Harry Potter fanatic?”
“As in – your family?” He tried. Perhaps she was from a different place than Jason and couldn’t recognize the words.
“My last name,” she realized. “It’s Dare. Rachel Elizabeth Dare.” She seemed wary at giving the information – perhaps she was also well-known.
What a coincidence, the only humans Percy had ever met properly both being so.
“Why did you call it that?” She asked, when there was no response other than a nod. “House?”
He frowned, uncomprehending. “Because. . . That’s what it’s called? You’re Rachel Elizabeth of Dare?”
“Not around here,” she said with a raised eyebrow. “But then, you’re not from around here either, are you?”
He dropped the bag, stepping back, careful not to reach for his fur. The water at his back was a comforting promise.
“Question is, are you just a foreigner or not human entirely,” she continued thoughtfully. “Fairy?”
That was enough to make him snort. “You think I’m sly enough to be one of the Fair Folk?”
“Pretty enough, though,” she said with a grin, and he blushed.
“They wouldn’t feel heartbreak the way I do,” he said quietly, almost unwillingly and longingly. What would he give to not feel the way he did, having lost Jason forever. Knowing he would never see him again, that their lives were on such divergent paths so as to be on different planes altogether.
“Bad break-up, huh?” She sounded sympathetic.
“He said we were a mistake, if that’s what you mean,” he said, brows furrowing. Break-up? A word for the termination of courting, he assumed.
Rachel whistled. “Wow. Okay, that’s pretty bad.”
“Understatement,” he grumbled, rubbing at his eyes. Then he remembered the gold frames of Jason’s glasses, how the light had sparkled off of them and lit up his eyes. He sighed.
“Why, though?” Rachel mused. “That doesn’t seem like something someone would say for no reason. Other than if he’s an asshole, of course, in which case you should celebrate, not mope.”
“He definitely isn’t,” Percy muttered, depressed. “I guess. . . His family disapproves. And he didn’t even know I was courting him, I think.”
He saw Rachel mouth ‘courting’ and roll her eyes. Was that not the word in the upperworld?
“Then you can’t really blame him,” was all she said.
He sighed. “I suppose.” He tied the bag more aggressively than absolutely necessary. “But I don’t need to be sensible about it.”
She laughed. “Fair enough.”
He grinned back at her, feeling that same spark of affection he did with all his friends. Being with her eased the worst of his moroseness.
That was, until, he looked up at the wrong moment and caught sight of Jason, in the valley overlooking the beach, looking stricken.
He saw Percy gaping at him, open-mouthed, and instantly turned tail and ran.
Percy didn’t bother explaining anything to Rachel – he took off after him, uncaring of going past the water’s reach even.
“Jason!” He called. He wasn’t used to legs and as he climbed he stumbled a few times, the last badly enough that he almost fell—except Jason caught him. He blinked up at him. “How did you get here so fast?”
Jason was flushed, his glasses askew. “I couldn’t let you fall,” he murmured. For a moment they stayed like that, Percy almost on the ground and his saviour holding him by the wrist and waist.
Then Jason let go as though burned. “I have to go,” he said under his breath and turned away again.
“Wait!” He called, grabbing the mortal’s wrist. Unthinkingly, his thumb traced the line of the vein there, though it seemed the bone there was different from his – but then, he was a selkie whose body was made for swimming. “I thought you said we couldn’t see each other again.”
“Yes.” He sounded bitter. “And that’s why you were flirting with someone else just days after.”
“I – flirting?” Percy’s voice rose in bewilderment. “What are you talking about?”
Jason’s lips pursed, and Percy’s mouth went dry as he focused on the movement, before dragging himself back to the present. He hesitated. “Wasn’t that what you were doing?”
“I just met her, and anyway, she’s – wait, are you jealous?” The incredulity turned to annoyance. “What right do you have to that?”
Jason flinched back, pulling his wrist away. Percy let him go, feeling his stomach sink at the loss of contact. He drank in the sight of him, though, disturbed as he was, after having thought he’d never get to see him again.
“None,” Jason whispered. “I know that. I just. . .” He sounded lost.
“What?” Percy said harshly. “You’re the one who said this is a mistake. You can’t just take that back.”
Take it back, he willed the mortal.
“I – I have responsibilities, and duties to my people.” Jason straightened. “I’ve made promises. I can’t break them.”
Percy knew what Jason felt about promises, and rules and honour. “How would being with me do that?” His voice wavered.
“They wouldn’t approve.” Jason said in a small voice, looking down. “Despite how I feel—”
“How do you feel?” Percy blurted out.
He clenched his fist. “You know that.”
“No I don’t. I only know that you think it’s a mista—”
“And it is! Falling in love is a mistake for someone like me! Especially with someone—” He cut himself off, looking horrified.
But Percy was too distracted by the previous statement to be hurt by the second. Besides, he knew that Jason wouldn’t talk about him like that – especially being a product of infidelity himself – and that they really were different, more than he even knew.
“You’re in love with me?” The disbelief and delight mingling in him came out in his voice.
“Of course I am,” Jason said with devastating simplicity. “Didn’t you know that?”
“No! I thought – you said—”
“I was talking about me and my decisions and what they mean for my kin—family. Not you, Percy. Never.” He took a step forward, apparently forgetting his conviction to never come near Percy again.
Percy blinked rapidly. “Then why don’t you want to let me court you?”
“I want that more than anything.” This was said vehemently, before despair crossed Jason’s face. “But I can’t.”
He took a deep breath, settling himself. “Alright.” He certainly felt better knowing it wasn’t him, that Jason returned his feelings. He caught the startled look the human gave him, and laughed a little. “I’m not going to fight a losing battle, Jase. I don’t like it, but maybe I understand. A little.”
Maybe. Percy cared about duty, but not to the extent Jason did, and didn’t mind that he was dishonouring his ancestors or whatever by associating with a mortal. But he did understand that Jason minded, and somehow, that was important to him.
Important enough that what he wanted mattered less.
“I just want you to be happy,” he said finally.
Jason laughed too, now. “I don’t think that’s possible without you,” he said with a finality that made Percy’s heart skip a beat.
“Then—” He hesitated, remembering that he didn’t want to ask Jason to go against his conscience. “Why not try? Is ‘don’t be courted’ part of the rules your family has set you? Essential to your obligations?”
He bit his lip, considering. “No – my people, they’d just. . . disapprove. And that might affect it.”
“So we don’t let them find out,” Percy shrugged. “It’s not like we wanted to get married or anything.”
Although Percy definitely had, since he’d gone through the ancient customs while courting, but he wasn’t about to say that.
Jason gave a tremulous smile. “Right. Of course not.” He fixed his glasses. “You really. . . want to court me?”
“I have been courting you,” Percy corrected, before remembering. “I suppose my customs are a little different from yours.”
He hoped it wouldn’t seem too weird to Jason, but the human just nodded enthusiastically, stars in his eyes. “You have?”
Percy explained the gifts he’d given, omitting the fact that they were the lead-up to marriage. Jason reached under his blouse to remove the scarf Percy had made him, blushing when he met his surprised gaze, and held it back.
He stepped back, alarmed. “You want me to take it back?”
“No! I thought you might want to complete it—” Jason babbled.
“No,” Percy said firmly, and his face fell. Feeling daring, he reached out and took the blond’s cheeks in his hands, letting himself feel the thrill that came. “I didn’t give it to you properly, so I’ll have to make you something else. I’ll figure it out.”
Jason gave a dazzling smile in response.
Now that they were open about what they felt for one another, things were much easier.
Now that they were open about how this was temporary and could only be secret, things were much harder.
Percy was entranced by the small white things that were falling from the sky—a form of water! He let one of the crystals fall on his tongue by accident.
“Is that safe?” Jason asked concernedly.
“It’s just water,” he said confidently.
“Water that falls from the sky – that can be polluted. Humans are releasing all sorts of gases into the air that dirties it and therefore clouds and water—”
Percy watched him rant, smiling. He loved it when Jason got passionate about something. When he closed his mouth, looking embarrassed, he nudged him. “Go on, then.”
And he did.
“You say humans like you aren’t one,” Percy laughed.
Jason stiffened, then laughed. “I don’t feel like one when I talk about things like this, what they do to the sky and air.”
“Now you sound like Rachel.” Percy smiled at the thought of his friend. But Jason did not. “Come on, you know you don’t need to be jealous.”
He sighed, leaning against Percy’s shoulder. “I know.”
I just can’t believe it, he didn’t say, and Percy didn’t need him to. He stroked his hair, marvelling at how soft it was and that he could touch it so easily.
“I should probably go,” Jason sighed after a while. “But before that, I – I need to tell you something. The feather – I want – you are. . . .”
Jason rarely fidgeted, so he stared at him, wondering what he wanted to say.
Apparently losing his courage, he sighed and hung his head: “Never mind.”
“Okay.” Percy stood up and ran his fingers through his fur for comfort. “I’ll see you day after tomorrow?”
“On the island,” he promised, and then hesitated before ducking to kiss him and then hurriedly heading inland.
Percy touched his lips to make sure this was real, frozen for several moments.
Since he could be certain he wasn’t being watched once he came to his senses—since that took a while—he took his fur and put it on, diving into the freezing water, delighting in its presence all around him.
Although not as much as in the kiss Jason had given him.
He made his way to Atlantis – all currents led there, after all, so it was easy enough.
What wasn’t easy was dealing with Annabeth when she was in a mood.
“I had to lie to the Queen, Percy!” She hissed, swimming up to him to poke him in the chest. “Your stepmother!”
He winced. “What did you say?”
“She wanted to ask you about some function and I said you were exploring the caves so— Percy are you listening to me?”
“Yes, yes, Wise Girl, of course,” he said hurriedly.
“You don’t seem like it,” she observed critically, crossing her arms. “What happened?”
And now Percy was unable to keep it inside any longer. “He kissed me!” He exclaimed gleefully.
Annabeth shushed him, glancing around worriedly. She smiled, but he knew her well enough to be able to tell it was forced. “That’s nice. What--?”
“What’s wrong?” Percy demanded abruptly.
She sighed, ducking her head. “Oh, Seaweed Brain. I just. . . I told you to be careful.”
He remembered that. “What makes you think I’m not?”
“Being kissed by him is sending you into raptures. A human, Percy. What is your family going to think of that? Everyone else?”
These were questions Percy preferred not to think about. “It doesn’t matter—”
“Maybe not to you, but I think it will to him, from what you’ve told me. Does he even know you’re not human? What you are?”
Now he flinched.
As much as he loved being with Jason truly, properly, it did bring up the question of how long he could get away with the pretense that he was human.
And the guilt that accompanied it was pervasive, muddying every interaction.
And worst of all: what would his reaction be? At learning that someone he loved had been lying to him all along? His family already disapproved of any personal leanings not conducive to his responsibilities to them, Percy knew, and Jason was very much conscious of that. How would he feel when he realized they were more different than he’d thought, that his family’s approval was even less likely to be?
How could Percy ever bear telling him, ruining what they had in the process?
His mind shied away from even the idea.
So he scowled at his best friend, and swam off, fast enough that she wouldn’t be able to follow and tell him what he already knew – that Jason deserved better, the truth, that he would be angrier the more time passed.
That eventually his family would come to know as well.
And that was a whole new basket of sea lice.
One advantage of having parents who lived separately and rarely talked was that he could always tell one he was with the other.
So as guilty as he felt that Annabeth had had to lie to his stepmother, her queen, he didn’t worry too much about it. She was good at making excuses and knew Percy well enough to make them realistic enough.
When Jason sent him a message through the rainbow locket he’d given him – and such wonders humans had come up with! Managing to trap rainbows in containers and sending messages through the air – he didn’t think about that, just eagerly went up to the surface to see Jason’s friend Leo.
He knew this was one of Jason’s closest friends, but he couldn’t help the wariness he felt from the last time they’d met, or from the repeated warnings and worries Jason had expressed about his family finding out.
Leo likely felt the same way, because the smile he mustered was awkward. “Hello.”
“Percy, this is my friend Leo of Valdez,” Jason said, eyes flitting between them anxiously. “Leo, this is my beloved, Percy.”
He couldn’t help the thrill that went through him at being introduced as such. Yes, he would say courted rather than beloved, but he understood the sentiment and liked it.
Leo clearly did not. He looked worried, and that automatically elevated him in Percy’s estimation even as it made him defensive: anyone who cared about Jason had to be good.
“Hello,” Leo said, dipping his head.
Confused, he stepped back. Did Leo really want to fight?
“That’s how we greet one another,” Jason said quickly. “It means something else to you?”
“Yes,” he admitted after a moment of careful consideration, relieved. “You’re, uh, showing me the back of your head, kind of. That’s kind of challenging me to a fight.”
Leo gave both of them a wide-eyed look. “Where in the heavens did you find him?”
Even as Jason threw him a reprimanding look, Percy only laughed, though something about that phrase tickled his brain. Did mortals use it too? He’d heard it once in his diplomacy lessons, he was pretty sure. . . . .
“It’s nice to meet you,” he said simply when he couldn’t remember.
“You too.” Leo’s smile became more real. “I definitely had to see the person who’s so great Jason gave them a feather.”
Ignoring Jason’s panicked gestured, Percy asked: “Is that important?”
“Important?” Leo squawked. “That’s basically the highest commitment level! It says that someone is an extension of you, it’s even more than marriage!”
Percy stared incredulously at Jason. “And you gave it to me within a month of knowing me?”
“A month? Jason!”
“And here I thought I was the impulsive one in this relationship,” he shook his head, heart fluttering so much he thought it might fly right out of his chest.
Apparently Jason had decided what they were long before Percy had even had an inkling of an idea to court him.
And then he’d tried to run away from them.
What a sunfish.
“I never thought this possible from you, of all people!” Leo sounded both scandalized and delighted. “Giving a feather to a – someone who doesn’t even know what it means!”
Jason was blushing enough to dim even the Red Sea. “Thank you, Leo,” he muttered, crossing his arms and letting Percy admire the tan and definition. “I never should’ve let you two meet.”
“Nah, I think we’re going to get along.” He smiled at Leo, which seemed to put him at ease. Mom always did say his smiles were dangerous.
“You should,” Jason said dryly. “Since you’re both the most reckless people I know – so don’t worry, Perce, you’re still the impulsive one in our … relationship.” The shy way he said the last word was enough to distract from everything else.
Not to Leo, though. He gasped, putting a hand on his heart. “Are you saying Percy is worse than me? Slander!”
Percy turned to him, eyes glinting and smile becoming genuine. “Are you challenging me for the title?”
“No, he is not,” Jason cut in anxiously, prompting laughter and teasing.
After winding Jason up for a while, and making him loudly bemoan the decision of letting them meet, Leo left—warning Jason he wouldn’t be able to cover for him for much longer—to let the ‘lovebirds’ say their goodbyes.
Percy decided there was enough time for this though: “So, you kissed me and then ran away. Is that going to be a common theme?”
“I didn’t run away,” Jason replied indignantly. “I told you I had to go.”
“Then you shouldn’t have timed our first kiss like that,” he pointed out – and there, he was blushing again. “Gods, you’re adorable.”
“Shut up!” He flailed. “First? As in … you want more?”
“What, you thought it was a one and done?” Percy let himself reach out and touch Jason – whose red cheeks brightened even more.
“I’m not sure what that means, but in context. . . I hoped it was not, but with everything I thought you might—” He made an expansive gesture. “Not want it. Me. All this.”
“I can promise I want you and all this, whatever that means,” Percy said dryly.
It hadn’t been meant to inspire a visceral reaction – it was simply the truth, after all – but Jason grinned widely and kissed him again.
This time Percy held onto him, kissing him back until he felt like he was melting, breathless for the very first time in his life.
His glasses were crooked again. He straightened them, even though he preferred them that way, because he knew Jason liked an image to maintain.
His blue eyes were bright, pink lips very obviously kissed. “Whatever it means?” He echoed Percy’s words back to him. “You’re … you’re serious about that?”
“As sure as the riptide,” he nodded. It was the closest he could come to swearing on his sword in front of Jason.
“My father, and my – everything, they’re, it’s complicated—” Jason fumbled.
“I understand,” he promised. “It’s not easy on my end either, you know.”
“Of course, I didn’t mean—”
“I know, relax,” Percy rolled his eyes fondly. As though Jason would not realize that, ever the conscientious leader and companion. “I’m just saying. . . You don’t need to doubt my feelings for you, okay?”
Jason smiled his tentatively, disbelievingly happy smile and it was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. “Okay.”
Coming off of that high, he thought it understandable that he’d missed another of his stepmother’s summons.
Annabeth did not.
“Go apologize to her.” She hissed. “Now!”
Since Percy valued his life, he did as she told him to.
“Perseus,” Amphitrite said severely. “You have not been paying as much attention to your duties as you should be.”
Percy only just managed not to say that being illegitimate meant he was not an official prince. Amphitrite didn’t hate him. That was something to celebrate, not jeopardize.
“I apologize, stepmother,” he said instead, bowing. Jason would be proud. Annabeth would probably die of disbelief.
“Your father has decided you will be accompanying us to the summit this year,” she said, with only a little distaste.
“Pardon?” He was startled into politeness. “But I’m not – the summit is important—”
To his surprise, Amphitrite didn’t comment on his stuttering. Instead, in an almost gentle tone, she continued: “Since we are one of the main families, the strongest domain, it is likely that the other realms will seek an alliance marriage.”
Understanding flooded him immediately. “And you want me to sell me off?” He spat spitefully, beyond civility. Months ago, he might have understood, might have even been eager to serve his kingdom and explore others. Now, after Jason. . . “Do it to your blood children! Marry Triton or Rhode or Benny off, not me!”
Amphitrite had never been spoken to that way. She was surprised enough to uncouthly gape, silent long enough for Percy to storm off – literally. Currents whipped behind him, forming an underwater tornado.
After slamming the door to his chambers and throwing himself a pity party for a good long while, he realized he had a younger half-brother, who was a cyclops and therefore less valuable to the realm and easier to marry off if the other was desperate enough.
Panic filled him. He loved Jason, would not, could not betray him and wed someone else, but he couldn’t let Tyson suffer on is behalf.
The palace was in an uproar. He hadn’t realized he’d barred his chambers in addition to destroying a lot of property. He snuck out of a passageway he and his siblings had played in as children and went to his brother’s room – who was silently crying.
“Percy!” Tyson hugged him so hard he could almost feel his bones break, crying even harder in relief. “We were worried!”
“Did Amphitrite talk to you?” He asked anxiously. “Did she ask you to marry for an alliance?”
Tyson only frowned, confused. Percy prompted him aggressively, uncaring for his typical patience with him. “She – she said since Daddy is important, people might come to me at the summit. If I like anyone, or if anyone asks me anything, I’m supposed to tell them without answering anything definitive.”
He heaved a sigh of relief, closing his eyes. Thank the Fates. His brother wouldn’t end up child groom to a goblin.
Not that he had anything against goblins, or even Schwaurae – only when his little brother was involved.
“PERSEUS!” His father’s voice boomed, and he knew it was time to face the music. He kissed Tyson’s forehead and then made his way to the throne room.
People parted for him like they were terrified, and he was himself enough to feel ashamed of that in a recess of his mind. Most of it, however, was preoccupied.
“Explain yourself!” Dad demanded. “You were unconscionably rude to your mother—”
“Stepmother,” Percy corrected, out of patience with this nonsense. Gasps were emitted from the people surrounding them. Triton scowled, Rhode put a hand to her mouth and Benny took an aborted step forward.
“Stepmother,” Dad agreed with gritted teeth. “And then nearly destroyed the palace! What were you thinking?”
“Since the palace is still standing, that’s not true,” he snapped back. “And I was thinking that I am NOT going to be married off by you and Amphitrite according to your whims.”
“Married?” Triton raged. “I’m the heir, and Perseus is illegitimate so you’re going to use him for alliance?”
Percy blinked at him, stunned. He loved his older brother, but he hadn’t expected him to be on his side on this issue – he was too much a stickler for the rules and obeying authority and duty.
Something like Jason, in fact. Ugh. That comparison made his stomach lurch. Jason was much more bearable, anyway.
“We aren’t—” Dad took a deep breath. “Percy, it’s merely an option. We will certainly not force you into anything you don’t want. Your sister is widowed—”
Now he felt guilty for bringing up Rhode like that – she’d only recently lost Helios, even if she hadn’t loved him prior to their marriage.
“And we did ask Benthesikyme to consider this as well,” he finished.
“Oh,” Percy said lamely.
“Oh.” Dad agreed dryly.
He took a deep breath. “I can’t,” he declared. “I can’t marry for an alliance, or ever, even if you command me to.”
“And why not?” Dad’s eyes flashed.
“He’s courting someone,” Rhode blurted out. When people stared at her, Percy open-mouthed, she rolled her eyes. “Of course he is! How unobservant are all of you? He’s clearly in love!”
“Is this true?” Dad interrogated. When Percy reluctantly nodded, he continued: “Then you shall present them in front of the court.”
Someone gasped; it was Annabeth. He turned to look at her and she shook her head, looking scared.
Moment of truth.
He exhaled and then said it. “I can’t. He’s human.”
Pin-drop silence for a moment.
And then chaos erupted.
Percy had always been someone who required movement and stimulation. He didn’t understand it, no one, especially his tutors, did, but his attention span was close to nil.
So being imprisoned like this in his own godsdamned chambers was beyond annoying.
He wasn’t given even a moment outside – or alone. He was always guarded.
Currently, Triton was finishing up his shift, having glared at Percy throughout his allotted slot, either for the audacity of falling in love with someone unsuitable or for taking up precious time. He didn’t know. He was giving them all the silent treatment.
“Did he get your fur?” Was the first thing his mother said when she entered.
Percy was surprised enough to break his oath: “Mom?”
“Did he, Perseus?”
She was furious. She only used his full name when she was that.
“No,” he lied, feeling terrible. But if he told her the truth, she would assume things she oughtn’t. “I just. . . Fell for him.”
And that was the truth.
Surely, he didn’t have to describe it. The instant spark of attraction and connection, the interest that followed that led to the many meetings, the joy when he was with him and the wish to be so when he wasn’t, the feeling of being understood and cared for and knowing he was the one he wanted to spend his life with.
Mom had always understood him.
As she did now. Her eyes softened, but she looked troubled. “Percy, he’s a human. He won’t understand.”
“I love him,” he said stubbornly.
“Love isn’t always enough,” she said softly, and he knew she was thinking of herself and his father.
“And sometimes it is.” He held his jaw firm.
“Does he understand you?” She probed.
“Yes,” he said confidently.
“That you’re a Selkie, a merman? That you’ll live long after he dies, and will need to primarily be in the water?” She continued worriedly.
He couldn’t answer that. He fixed his gaze somewhere past her at the door.
A gasp of horror. “Percy! Does he. . . Does he not know?”
“He thinks I’m human,” he admitted.
Dad came in after that – Mom had obviously told him everything. “You will not see this mortal again,” he commanded.
“You can’t do that!” Percy lashed out.
“I am your father and king. If he does not already know what you are, we must not allow him to know.”
“Why not?” He asked brazenly.
“How do you think he will react, Perseus?” Dad sounded at his wit’s end. “Do you think you’ll merrily swim into the ever after? He will be either be scared of you, or forcibly take your fur.”
“He will not!”
“How certain are you of that?”
Percy’s reply died in his throat. While he knew Jason would never try to take his fur, he couldn’t say he was totally certain he wouldn’t be scared and run away. Fairly certain, yes. But entirely? No.
Dad nodded. “You will be constantly under guard until the summit. After that, we will reevaluate.”
And no matter how much Percy begged, he would not listen.
Luckily, Annabeth was part of the rotation.
“They don’t know I already knew,” she whispered to him. “If you get out unseen and come back within the limit. . .”
His eyes stung. “Thank you, Wise Girl. I owe you.”
“If we kept track of that. . .” She brushed it aside. “Be careful, Seaweed Brain. I’m sorry.”
Percy forced a smile at her, before heading out the passageway – only to bump into Triton.
“I thought I’d be seeing you,” he said with satisfaction. “There is no way you’d be able to keep something like this from the Chase girl.”
“I just want to say goodbye, Tri,” he said quietly, tired of all the fighting. “Please.”
Triton closed his eyes as though he were in pain, then gave a sharp nod. “Come back quickly. I didn’t see you.”
Astonished but too grateful to question it, he swam quickly, sending a message to Jason as soon as he was out of the palace.
Thankfully, Jason was available too, though his smile faded when he saw Percy’s expression. His hands fluttered to Percy’s face, thumb tracing his cheekbone.
Percy swallowed, unable to get the words out.
“What is it, beloved?” Jason asked anxiously, brushing a kiss on his forehead.
“I told my parents.” His voice sounded dead. “They’ve decreed I can’t see you anymore. And they’re probably going to marry me off in a bit.”
Jason’s mouth fell open. The urge to lick it was much, much overshadowed by the devastation writ across his face, echoing his own feelings.
“Are you okay?” Was still his first question, and Percy’s heart swelled. “Did they do anything to you?”
“I’m just under house arrest,” he promised, and watched the relief enter Jason’s eyes and hated the mortal’s parents for it. “But I don’t think I’ll ever – this isn’t possible anymore. Sneaking out to meet.”
If possible, he looked even more anguished. “But surely, eventually they’ll have to—”
“I can’t ask you to wait for that,” Percy shook his head.
“You’re not asking.” Jason’s voice was rough. “I’m offering. I’m saying. I won’t find anyone else.”
“I’m not saying you will,” he said gently, trying to pretend he wasn’t breaking his own heart. “But if you do meet someone – I want you not to feel guilty, to go for it. I can’t hold you back.”
“I won’t, Percy,” Jason said desperately, fingers tangling with his.
Percy couldn’t help it. He reached and kissed him, pouring all his fervour and feelings into it. “I love you.” He told him, breaking it and then joking: “Don’t forget me, yeah?”
“Impossible,” was the whispered reply.
“But be happy.” With that, he ran before Jason could formulate something to say; diving into the lagoon uncaring of if he was seen.
It was done.
Being outside the ocean again was weird.
To be honest, being outside his chambers again was weird.
The summit was held in a neutral place, which meant earth. Percy found this incredibly ironic considering the opinion most of them held about the place and its dwellers.
The welcome ball. Normally, he would be charming foreign dignitaries and royals. Actually, normally, he wouldn’t be here at all.
But no. He was here to be sold off against his will. He couldn’t even go and deliberately ruin any matches because that might put Atlantis and its treaties in peril.
His cousin Hazel appeared before him. She wasn’t blood-related to him, but their fathers were close allies and they had grown up together. He considered her something of a sister.
She hugged him, and he closed his eyes, soaking in the comfort. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I heard a little. Nico and I were – are both furious.”
He forced a smile, shaking his head. “It doesn’t matter anymore. How is the shapeshifter?”
The shifters were a colony that could trace its bloodline back to Atlantis. If Hazel actually married Frank of Zhang, she would really be family, and Percy was looking forward to it. He’d already vetted Frank anyway.
Hazel observed him concernedly, but rambled on about Frank anyway. His smile gradually became real. Whatever he was feeling, he was incredibly glad she was happy.
“Percy!” Dad called, and he sighed. Hazel squeezed his hand and offered to accompany him. He thanked her but refused.
“I can’t be seen as weak,” he explained as she bit her lip. “And … Erebus has enough problems without adding on to it.”
He didn’t need to explain – the disease plaguing Hazel and Nico’s kingdom was well-known. She sighed acceptingly. “But if you need either of us, just call.”
“Thank you,” he smiled at her. “You’re the best.”
His father called again, and now he sounded impatient so Percy sullenly made his way to his family. Seeing a blond head bent from behind sent his heart jerking but he pulled it together enough to smile at Crown Princess Thalia of Olympus.
Pretty much everyone hated Olympus and the Schwaurae. King Zeus of house Jupiter was a conqueror at heart and hated that everyone was currently at peace. An alliance with them would likely be the best for his family and kingdom, and he wondered if negotiations for him and Thalia had already started.
A choked sound interrupted his thoughts and he looked to Thalia’s left – only for his mind to leave his body immediately, for surely he was hallucinating, having delusions—
But no. Jason was standing there, wide-eyed, looking as gobsmacked as he was.
“My son, Prince Jason,” King Zeus gave a rough wave.
Percy bowed with the rest of his family automatically, though there was a buzzing in his head that could not be quieted.
All the oddities, everything he’d dismissed because he hadn’t honestly cared as long as he was with Jason. . . .
He barely remembered the heirs to the various kingdoms and factions and colonies. Spares were beyond him.
And certainly, King Zeus and Queen Hera fit what he’d heard from his former courted.
But had Jason known?
He’d lied about his house, for instance. Why would he have done that unless he’d thought he’d be recognized?
Finally, somehow, he tore his gaze off Jason to meet his sister’s suspicious eyes. At least Dad and Triton and Amphitrite were too occupied by the Schwaurae.
Thalia looked furious, he noted now. “Prince Perseus, may I have a dance?”
It wasn’t done for the lady to ask, but he accepted anyway. Rhode’s face morphed into one of surprised realization. Amphitrite sent him a warning glance.
Jason followed them quietly. Percy couldn’t resist glancing at his wings, pure white and brilliant as the feather Percy still had tucked in his tunic.
How had he been so stupid?
As soon as they were far enough, however, the princess turned to her brother. “He’s the one with ‘beautiful green eyes that are like crystals and the depths of the oceans at the same time’? Prince Perseus of Atlantis?!”
“Was that a quote?” He asked with measured amusement.
It worked, because her attention turned from a shrinking Jason to him. Now she practically vibrated with anger. “Yes,” she spat. “Because apparently you lied to my brother while courting him!”
“Keep your voice down,” Jason pleaded, and Percy ignored the pinprick of hurt that that was all he had to say.
“He lied to me as well,” he said placidly instead, but when Jason flinched, added: “Understandably.”
“You’ll need to actually dance, or it’ll be suspicious,” Jason reminded them quietly. He was chewing on his lip.
Both Percy and Thalia looked at him. “Are you jealous of your sister?” He asked, eyebrows shooting up. Dear gods. Jason really didn’t learn he had no competition anywhere ever, did he?
Jason blushed.
And Percy went a little mad.
“Forget the stupid dance. We need to talk,” he decided, gaining an approving look from Thalia and a terrified one from Jason.
He dragged him to a balcony. “So you can fly,” he observed wryly when Jason’s wings fluttered with nerves. “That’s how you got places so fast.”
“And you’re a Selkie.” He was talking almost to himself. “By the end, I kind of guessed a bit, but not that and definitely not a royal.”
The incredulity made him feel better. “So you really didn’t know.” Thalia’s reaction had soothed those doubts a bit, but this settled them once and for all.
“Of course I didn’t!” Jason’s head shot up, eyes blazing.
Percy wanted to kiss him so, so badly.
“When you said you loved me,” he said slowly. “Did you mean that only in secret or would that hold true if we could be open about our relationship?”
“You insult me with that question,” was the stiff answer.
“I figured directly asking if you’ll marry me was a bad idea,” Percy reasoned.
“Wh – What?” Jason’s throat bobbed, and he looked so achingly hopeful, Percy’s heart bruised in solidarity. “You want to—”
“I’m sure you know something about Atlantean courting.” Jason was too studious and focused not to. “At least that it leads to marriage.”
“The comb, the food, the gift for family, something handmade,” he listed out, dazed.
“The horse riding,” Percy added. “That wasn’t a gift, but it was an equivalent to swimming together.”
“You’ve wanted to marry me. . . All this time?” Jason sounded muddled, as though speaking through a dream.
Percy just shrugged, feeling his face burn. “When I know, I know,” he admitted quietly.
“And you think your parents will be willing?”
“They wanted me to marry for an alliance. With Olympus? They might be a bit reluctant, but that’s quite a coup.” And now they were discussing practicalities. Excitement and hope battled Percy’s cynicism.
“And my father won’t be ecstatic with your gender, but he won’t mind, not when he’d get an in with the Atlantis royal family.” Jason sounded excited too.
Percy flinched, this reminding him that the person he loved was actually a schwaurae – a species he’d always been taught to hate, had actually always loathed.
Jason spotted this and his smile dimmed. “Are you really sure?”
“We both lied, and I get why and I won’t hold it against you if you don’t against me.” Jason nodded, still looking morose. “But. . . You’re a sch – an Olympian. You must know your reputation.”
“Yes,” Jason said with a clenched jaw. “Particularly that nickname.”
“I just don’t know what to make of it,” Percy said helplessly. “Are you an exception to the rule or are we just entirely wrong about your people? I know I want to marry you – everything until now. . .” His breath caught thinking of all the meetings and conversations and kisses and the imprisonment and the sheer longing he’d felt. “Has told me that. But living on Olympus, away from my family, when all I’ve been told about you is that you’re warmongers? It’s—”
“Wait,” Jason said, alarmed. “Who said you’d live in Olympus?”
Percy frowned. “You’re the spare. I’m the bastard fifth child of six. It seemed—”
“I’m a bastard too, you know.”
“Is that the only salient point you found in my speech?” He asked, a little dryly.
Jason smiled that beautiful, tentatively loving smile Percy had fallen in love with. “All that told me was that we need to figure somethings out and talk a little more about what we found out today before getting married. Not that we shouldn’t get married.”
Disbelieving happiness rushed through Percy. “Really?” His voice was hoarse.
“Really.” He was beaming now. “If you want, we can go tell them now.”
It was probably the Fates conspiring against them that it was at that exact moment their fathers began shouting.
The argument had apparently started with trades, but had gone on to address childhood perceived wrongs. Percy couldn’t believe his father had grown up with this man.
Eventually, even with the screaming, someone noticed that Percy and Jason were holding hands.
“Perseus.” Dad’s voice was steel. “What is the meaning of this?”
He shrugged insolently. “You wanted to marry me off for an alliance. I’m willing – but only if it’s with Prince Jason.”
Even more gasps than when Percy had announced a mortal lover abounded.
Queen Hera’s gaze was piercing. “Son? You agree with this?”
Percy couldn’t imagine Amphitrite calling him son in a million years, but he remembered what Jason had told him about his stepmother accepting and loving him, but not Thalia, even if she pretended to so as to present a united front. How that had almost caused resentment between the two of them.
“Yes, Mother,” he said respectfully.
“What of the mortal you were so vehement about only hours ago, Perseus?” Dad asked.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Benny rolled her eyes.
“Prince Jason was the supposed human,” Rhode agreed.
This caused another flurry of realizations and yelling. “You were gallivanting about in the lowerworld, alone?” Zeus demanded from his son, and the low baritone was worse than the loudness.
He stepped in front of his courted, looking Zeus in the eye, switching Jason’s hand to his other one.
“Absolutely not,” Dad said firmly.
“Poseidon,” Amphitrite said lowly.
“The Schwaurae obviously lied to and took advantage of him. My son will not be married to an Olympian. I refuse.”
“Am I to understand you do not desire an alliance with us, Poseidon?” Zeus said silkily.
“Of course not, King Zeus,” Triton said quickly.
“Tell your father to mind his language then.”
“What exactly is so bad about my brother?” Thalia asked, and if anything, she seemed more dangerous than her father.
“It isn’t about him specifically, Princess,” Dad said. “Surely you understand – you’ve threatened to abdicate often enough.”
More horrified gasps. This was a well-known but unuttered fact among the inhumans.
Jason was squeezing Percy’s hand so hard it was going numb.
Zeus held out his hand and a shining lightning bolt appeared in it.
“Father!” Jason objected now.
Percy couldn’t let this continue.
“It isn’t up to you, Dad,” he said loudly over all the noise.
“Oh?” Everyone always said Dad’s eyes were identical to his, but right now he didn’t see it. “And how is that?”
He took a deep breath. “Jason found my fur. He returned it to me, but I owe him a debt, and we have decided to settle it with marriage.”
His hand spasmed in Percy’s. He was as surprised as anyone else, but as commotion erupted again, he fought to remain calm.
“The first time,” he explained quietly – not that he needed to lower his voice much, everyone else was too occupied to bother listening in.
Jason inhaled sharply. “That was your fur? And you were so careless with it? Percy!”
He grinned sheepishly. “Well, it led to us meeting.”
Rapid shaking of his head. “That was definitely not worth it.”
“It was to me,” he told him. “Wouldn’t you say anything was worth being able to meet me?”
He’d been joking, but Jason’s reply was entirely solemn: “Anything except a risk to your safety.”
Percy almost felt dizzy with the amount of love he had for the swan prince in front of him. “Marry me?”
“I think that’s what’s being decided now,” he teased.
“Marry me whatever they decide?” He tried. He would hate leaving his family – his mother and Tyson if no one else, but Jason. . . . He would visit them.
Jason didn’t hesitate. “I will.”
Jason looked very nervous as they stood on the beach. Since this was the first time he was going underwater without the official guest bubble Atlantis offered, Percy supposed this was warranted.
Still: “Was I this scared when you took me flying?”
“Yes,” Jason returned instantly. “More, in fact.”
Percy took in his betrothed’s white face and shaky limbs and made a doubtful noise.
In a surprising turn of events, Triton had given Percy a betrothal piece to present it to Jason while everyone argued.
So while dowries and living arrangements and treaties would be argued on later, he and Jason had been betrothed on the spot, the second Jason said yes and took the bracelet.
In hindsight, he should have just shown Zeus the feather Jason had given him. Although that might have caused him to have an apoplexy – no great loss there even if it had.
Later, Triton told him he would have let Percy marry Jason even if he had been a mortal as soon as he’d become king.
Percy didn’t think he’d ever felt more touched or loved by his brother before.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Jason said indignantly, dragging him back to the present. “You were.”
“Whatever you say, Superman.”
“I hate you.”
As they’d spent most of their courting period in the mortal world, they’d begged and persuaded their parents into being allowed to spend time there after as well. Annabeth or Beckendorf or Silena or Grover and Reyna or Leo or Piper had to accompany them at all times, but that had led to its own benefit.
Percy had never known Wise Girl with a crush this bad before. He delighted in making fun of her for it.
Especially on the ‘double date’ – mortal terminology for two courting couples going out together – where they watched Superman the movie.
“But I love you,” Percy pouted.
It worked a charm, as always. Jason softened. “I love you too.” Then forestalling his argument: “Not enough to get a cape.”
“The limits on your affection disturb me.” He shook his head.
He rolled his eyes. “Are we getting in the water or not?”
“So now you’re eager.”
Percy was practically trembling with eagerness too. He desperately wanted to show Jason his home, how beautiful the ocean could be, where they would be spending half of the rest of their lives together.
He held his hand out, gently tugging Jason into the softly breaking waves. Even though he could control them himself, he’d gotten Dad to promise there would be no surprises here today.
Although they’d practiced in human swimming pools before, he knew Jason was still scared. It was a foreign feeling to him, but he did his best to accommodate him.
“Ready?” He looked to his betrothed.
Jason took a deep breath, adjusting his grip on Percy’s hand and withdrawing his wings. “As long as we’re together, I’m ready for anything.”