Chapter Text
After being discovered in the stables Percy just wanted to disappear. He had been caught in the stables and alone with his mate. Surely it could be worse. No one knew that Percy wasn't an alpha, and everyone knows Annabeth is an alpha. Everyone could have figured out he's not an alpha, but he was still wearing scent patches. He was still keeping up the facade of being exactly what everyone expects he is. This incident didn't tip anyone off. No one expects the great and powerful hero Perseus Jackson is an omega. Rather misogynistic, but it's fine. Everything works in his favor.
He could also always rely on the fact that most of the seven are younger. People usually present their secondary sex around fifteen to sixteen. Annabeth and Percy are the oldest, they're both almost seventeen and they've both presented their secondary sexes almost two years ago. Piper is the next oldest, having recently turned sixteen. She'll probably present soon, alongside Jason and Leo who aren't sixteen yet, but have to turn sixteen by the end of the summer since they're in the same grade as Piper. Then Frank recently turned fifteen in June, Percy didn't ask his exact birthday since it happened before Percy met him, and there's bigger things to worry about. Then Hazel is the youngest. She said she'll be fourteen in the winter.
Thinking about Hazel being only thirteen made Percy feel sick. She's so young. She's already been through so much. She's just a pup, she deserves to still be held in her mother's nest, not orphaned, placed in the wrong century, and needing to save the world. It must be a child of the underworld thing. Nico went through Hell too. He's been in Tartarus alone. He's only fourteen, and he presented his secondary sex early at thirteen, presumably due to the stress of everything. Is the same thing going to happen to Hazel?
"I can feel you freaking out, seaweed brain. You should go get some actual sleep." Annabeth's voice pulled Percy out of his spiral. Of course she knew how he felt. She's his mate. They're a bonded pair now.
"It's like you're reading my mind. I'm definitely not used to being a bonded pair yet." He muttered and put his hand over his mating mark it's hidden under a scent patch and also under a thin layer of waterproof makeup. They were both so young to be bonded mates, but after he was kidnapped by the gods, or more specifically Juno, they never wanted to be separated like that again. Now they're a bonded pair and not even the gods can break their connection.
"You'll get used to it." Annabeth smiled a bit, touching the mark that Percy gave her. She's been less strict with hiding it. Honestly it might be better since everyone would assume Percy must be an alpha to have marked his mate, who's an alpha herself. Especially since it doesn't look like she marked Percy. Though, that paints Annabeth as submissive to Percy, and she is most definitely not.
"We should probably both rest, it's late and no one's been sleeping well these past few nights." He started to head towards the stairs to head up to the staterooms when the ship suddenly lurched sideways. No time for rest, time for a fight.
On deck everyone was scrambling, trying to both fight off the giant ugly shrimp monster that attacked the ship and keep the ship in one piece. Once Percy was on deck he could help with both. He's well equipped to do both since the ocean is his domain. He was distracted though, he felt a tension in his gut. He looked around and the tension only released once he saw that Leo and Hazel are both still on board the ship, and able to fight. Then he could face the shrimp monster without any distractions.
It didn't really make sense to him why he felt so protective of those two suddenly. Leo is only a year younger than him. Or less. It'd make more sense for him to get weird and protective over just Hazel since she's the youngest. Even then, no one here is that much younger than Percy. Hazel is a little over three years younger. Frank is just less than two years younger, but still younger than Leo.
There was something about Leo and Hazel that made Percy keep looking over to be sure they're okay. Perhaps it's because of how close Leo and Hazel seemed, they had a strange relationship at first, but now they seem to have resolved it. Somehow. Maybe Leo being in proximity to their youngest crewmate made him seem younger and more vulnerable. Maybe it's because they're both like 5'0, and maybe that's why Percy didn't feel this weird compulsion to check on Frank since he's younger than Percy, but almost three inches taller than him. Either way, Percy kept trying to check on them.
Suddenly there was a brilliant blaze of Greek fire. The ship lurched sideways again, and Percy watched three of his shipmates fall into the burning sea. His chest tightened and he ran to the side of the ship. It's the middle of the night, the sea looked like oil with how dark it was despite the Greek fire burning on it's surface. He had to find his pack-mates. He couldn't let anyone drown. Despite his exhaustion he leapt down into the burning sea and began trying to find them.
The sea was dark and despite the fight that just happened it was quiet. He couldn't hear anything other than the sound of waves lapping on the hull of the Argo II. Even if his friends were right in front of him it wouldn't matter if he can't see anything that's further than two feet away from him. He can see underwater just fine, but he does not have night vision, or darkvision if you want to be a nerd about it.
After a couple hours he had to resurface. He hadn't seen them, and he hadn't been able to detect anything in the ocean that wasn't supposed to be there. He didn't even know if that was a power he was supposed to have. He can sometimes feel the presence of sea creatures, but he couldn't feel the presence of drowning victims. He didn't want to stop searching, but he could feel Annabeth's distress through their bond, and after all that searching he couldn't go on anymore. He needed to sleep, even if he doesn't want to.
"They're not gone." He told Annabeth as they walked to her room. He wasn't sure why he followed her to her room didn't head to his own room.
"Percy they've been out there for hours…" Annabeth bit her lip and brought Percy into her room. "I hope you're right…" she handed him a bag. It was heavier than it looked, and when he looked inside it was full of blankets and pillows and things that kind of smelled like his home, his family, and his close friends at Camp Half-Blood. Even in this situation it brought him comfort.
"Thanks…" for a brief moment he considered building a nest in here. He could be close to his mate, but they're still sixteen. It wouldn't be appropriate, and if he goes into heat then they'd probably both be tempted, and they do not want to be teen parents. Instead he brought the nesting materials to his own room, took off the scent patches, and started to build a basic nest. At some point he passed out because the next thing he knew he woke up and it was daytime. His head hurt, he was on the floor in a half made nest, and for a moment he forgot Frank, Hazel, and Leo had fallen overboard and possibly drowned, and he couldn't find them.
His mouth felt dry, he felt like he barely slept, but he still went up onto the deck. Maybe they could keep searching in the daylight. Even if they're gone maybe he could still find- he had to force himself not to start crying over this. He is a hero, heroes don't have time to cry. Even if the crew was cut in half they still needed to get to Rome and rescue Nico. Gods, I can't tell him I let both his sisters die.
He had to stop, think, compose himself, go back to his stateroom to put on scent patches, and then he could rejoin the group.
On deck everyone was gathered already, asking Frank, Hazel, and Leo what happened. Once Percy saw them he ran over. "Thank the gods you're okay." He couldn't help checking Hazel and Leo for injuries, he considered doing the same for Frank just because it'd be fair, but while Frank is almost two years younger than Percy he's also almost three inches taller as opposed to Hazel and Leo being at least eight inches shorter.
"Percy-" Leo tried to push him away, "Percy stop. I'm fine."
"Sit still, let me make sure you're okay." Percy tried to grab Leo's wrists and stop him from squirming. The thought of what exactly this looked like to everyone else did not cross his mind. He just needed to be sure Leo is okay. Trying to get him to stop moving around so much was a pain. "You're too old to be such a wiggly little pup. Now be still."
"Percy's just worried, sit still." Annabeth immediately backed Percy, scolding Leo and for a moment Leo did hesitate before he kept trying to stop his friend from checking him over.
"I'm not your pup, now stop it." Leo pushed Percy away, and he didn't fully comprehend what just happened. He knows that Percy stopped trying to tend to him after he said that. Instead Percy turned his attention to Hazel and Frank.
Despite the fact that Percy tried to act like he was paying equal attention to Frank and Hazel he still tried to check if Hazel was okay. He didn't smell fresh blood on her. He couldn't see any concerning wounds. Despite the fact that Hazel and Leo aren't his pups he had a strong desire to pull them into his nest and make sure that they're safe and close to him.
Percy got the story of how his friends were saved by fish centaurs. He nodded along as they told him everything, but something was bothering him. He called Leo a 'wiggly pup' and Leo basically accused Percy of trying to be a parent to him. Percy couldn't figure out if he was more distracted by the fact that he said that to Leo, that Leo accused Percy of trying to parent him, the fact that he let his instincts get the better of him, or the fact that Leo was right. He did try to treat Leo as if he is his pup, and he did the same to Hazel. He wanted to bring then into his nest and keep them safe there.
Even more interesting was that Annabeth immediately backed him up. She scolded Leo, and for a moment Leo responded, he obeyed. Maybe he listened because both Percy and Annabeth has told him to be still. Percy had to wonder if Leo reacted because Annabeth is an alpha, or if he had responded to the alpha and omega pair because they were acting like his parents and he's still a pup. Surely if Percy's instincts can get the better of him then so can Leo's. Would he have reacted like that to an alpha-alpha pair?
Something told him this is going to be a disaster, and he doesn't have any suppressants to stop himself from acting on instinct like this. He knows Annabeth only has alpha suppressants, and there's no telling what those would do to Percy, and even if there was another omega on board then he can't ask them to share their suppressants because then he'd be outing himself as an omega. He might have already done that by being such a broody hen over Leo and Hazel.
If anyone knew anything they didn't say so. The Argo II needed to keep sailing towards Europe. They needed to find Nico, Annabeth needed to follow the Mark of Athena, and they need to save the world. Again.
That night Percy couldn't sleep. Even though he knows he needs to sleep, he kept thinking about how he acted, and how he could have done literally anything else. If he's reacting this much to his younger crew mates then he might need to be worried his heat is going to start soon. He has no idea what he's going to do about that while he has no suppressants. If he could have packed before being kidnapped then maybe he would have some, though more likely he would have taken them already to stop his heats while he was on his own after leaving Lupa and her pack. Maybe he can discretely buy some once they arrive in Rome.
Annabeth walked up behind him and hugged him. "You can't sleep either?"
"No. I keep thinking about what I did… it was so stupid. I can't believe I'd…" he growled in frustration and clenched his fists.
"Don't be that hard on yourself. I basically did the same thing."
"Yes, but you're not hiding your secondary sex, and you're not the one who wanted to drag them into your nest." Percy looked out over the ocean. They should arrive at the Mediterranean Sea soon. The sooner the better.
"We're bonded, remember? I can feel what you feel. Even if only a little." She took his hand and led him back towards the rooms. "Why don't we sit together again? This time in the privacy of one of our rooms so we're not found in the stables again."
"Do you think anyone figured out why I was acting so weird?" Percy brought Annabeth to his room. Maybe she can help him fix his nest and then they can cuddle together until they both fall asleep. Forget about modesty, forget what's technically appropriate versus what's not. Forget Coach Hedge and Hazel acting like this was the most scandalous thing they've ever seen. Percy wants to feel better after this terrible and weird day, and he wants his alpha close to him tonight.
"I don't think so. No one mentioned anything all day. They probably assumed that you're just a protective alpha. They might not have even figured out you were explicitly trying to parent them." Annabeth let Percy bring her into his nest. It won't hurt to be so close to him for one night.
"What do you think it'll be like when we actually do have a pup of our own?" Percy leaned on Annabeth and took his scent patches off.
"They're going to be a menace and look just like you." Annabeth cuddled close to Percy and breathed in his scent. "You're probably going to go into heat soon… let's not actually have a pup any time soon."
"I hope they'll look like you. You're beautiful and perfect." He hugged Annabeth tightly and smiled. "But yeah, no pups any time soon."