Chapter Text
The Bat-colony has had many new additions to the family since Bruce first brought Dick home from the circus. Not all the additions have had easy entrances into the family, and not all were particularly welcome at first. But as the years went by, they settled, really came together as a family. By the time Duke Thomas came into the fold it was different. His addition was both smooth and welcome.
It seemed that Duke joining the family without the drama that often accompanied the Bats somehow tricked the family into thinking Duke himself was not dramatic. That he was less unhinged than the rest of them. Duke himself knew that this wasn’t true, but it worked in his favor most of the time, so sometimes he leaned into it.
If asked, the family would describe Duke Thomas as a warm, sweet, kind kid who (like many Gothamites) was a victim of tragedy. Unlike most Gothamites, in the face of tragedy, he continues to be sweet and caring. Even Damian was quick to warm up to him, going so far as to say the two were (gasp) friends.
His family would also say Duke Thomas was the only meta human in the family. Batman, early into finding out about Duke’s powers, promised that he actually didn’t have anything against metas, especially those who called Gotham home. That it was a lie used in the early days of the Justice League to keep them out of his city. Except Duke Thomas would say (only to himself and maybe Alfred) there were no meta humans in the family. However, there are two demigods.
Duke Thomas was born to Elaine Johnson, who, upon learning of her pregnancy, transferred to Gotham U and finished her degree there. There she met the love of her life, Doug Thomas, and quickly got married. It was his name they put on the birth certificate. Mostly because Elaine couldn’t put Apollo, God of the Sun, music, poetry, healing, archery, and prophecy on a birth certificate. It wouldn’t fit.
Due to his true parentage, and his summer activities, Duke never corrected Batman or his assumptions. It didn’t take much hanging around B to understand that he was A. a control freak B. deeply paranoid and C. unable to not adopt every competent, smart and violent orphan he could find. And Duke knew the exact place where B would find wayyyy to many kids like that.
Then Duke’s parents became jokerized. Permanently. Right before Camp Half-Blood was gearing up for another war. Not to mention his best friend was missing. It was a lot. Between monsters refusing to die and missing parents, he would run away to camp to help with war preparations and demigod extractions, and go back to Gotham to search for his parents. He bounce around from foster home to foster home, until his CPS officer warned him that they were running out of placements for him. And then Bruce offered to take him in.
So he talked to Bruce about Camp, desperately explaining to Chiron, Mr. D, Natalie, (child of Athena, Special interest: coding) and Onyx (Child of Hecate) what information needed to be online in order for it to be Batman approved. Not that they knew that part.
Whatever they did seemed to convince Bruce. So Duke moved into the manor. He set up his room, painting and decorating, but was only really there for less than two weeks before heading to camp.
The end of the summer seemed to fly by, before Gotham called him home. Steph found out his last day of camp was also Jason’s birthday, and she wanted to celebrate. So the day before everyone else, Duke said his goodbye’s. He got to the manor late, when most of the family was out on patrol and collapsed in his bed.
The next morning everyone was in the manor for Jason’s birthday. He didn’t really want to celebrate (Duke figures planning a 16th birthday party and then dying right before probably left a mark) so most of the house was pretending they were celebrating Duke coming back. (He wasn’t quite ready to say coming home) So the family was doing a late lunch and then patrol, where a good game of rooftop tag was guaranteed.
So all in all, Duke was expecting a nice lunch before a fun a chaotic patrol. After breakfast Damian insisted that Duke needed a proper tour of the grounds, and honestly, Duke agreed. The two weeks he spent here before camp were basically blur of decorating and finals (which Duke aced). Plus the manor had so many rooms that were basically the same but used for different purposes. They’re were like four different living rooms for crying out loud.
And it was in one of the living rooms, that Damian said was for “casual movie night” (which begs the question where non-casual movie night might take place) when Duke made the mistake of looking at a family portrait. It was easy to tell when a family portrait was for the family when Alfred was in it. And this one had Alfred and Bruce, and three boys with black hair. Duke’s eyes flicked over it quickly, before blinking and taking a closer look. Three boys, Dick, Jason, and the third kid, one that Duke first assumed was Tim. It wasn’t. Which begs a very important question. What was Percy fucking Jackson doing in a Wayne family portrait?
Five year ago…
Duke Thomas wasn’t expecting his life to be turned upside-down at the age of twelve. Kids that grow up in Gotham, especially the kids from the Narrows know, probably better than most adults, that your life can change real fast. Wrong place, wrong time, and you might find yourself in the middle of a Penguin scheme or a Riddler riddle.
That does not prepare Duke for when his mom packs him into the car on the first day of summer, saying that she signed him up for a summer camp out of state. Duke tries to argue, but his mom isn’t hearing any of it. Apparently a school counselor recommended it after Duke had a particularly hard year at school. The camp was designed to help kinds with adhd and dyslexia, and between that and the uptick of violence in the city, she agreed it would be good for him to get out of the city.
He showed up at Camp-Half Blood (weird name), got introduced to a man that seemed like he should not be around children, and told that one of his parents wasn’t actually his biological parent. These crazy people were trying to convince him that one of his parents was an actual Greek deity and this camp was the only safe place for him.
Duke did not fully understand, and definitely did not believe. Yes he could see the wings on that horse and yes that guy sure did have goat legs, but all the ‘relatable’ things that were brought up Duke could not relate to. The only monsters in Gotham were people. The girl that volunteered to show him around was definitely annoyed at the end of the tour, and stormed off after leaving him in the too crowded cabin 11.
There was an older teen there that introduced himself as Luke and showed him to an empty spot on the floor, with a sleeping bag. Duke explained his hesitance to Luke who nodded like he understood.
“Gotham is a strange place. It’s probably one of the safer cities for demi-gods actually. We give off a scent to monsters, but Gotham is too human. The city masks our scent and demi-gods blend in easier.” If Duke was convinced by this demi-god thing, that would have made sense. Gotham was kind of filthy.
“I get it kid, you’re skeptic.”
“I’m concerned my parents sent me off with some cult. One with strong hallucinogens.” Luke snorted and held his hands up in surrender.
“Totally fair. If it helps you relax, just think of this as a normal summer camp, just with some combat related activities.” When this was met with an incredulous look Luke continued, “You're from Gotham. self-defense is important in that city, and here you are expected to learn a lot of it.”
Honestly that advice did help Duke settle. And later he actually stroked of the Pegasus's wings and that also helped. Hallucinations weren’t tactile. They had talked about it in one of their units in health and safety (a required part of Gotham curriculum) this year.
He had been here a little over a week, and he was finally starting to accept his fate. Maybe the Greek gods were real. The other mythological creatures here seemed real enough.
Now Duke was in the Hermes cabin, contemplating the ceiling. If (and that was still a big if) the gods were real and if one was supposedly his parent, he certainly didn’t know which one.
Earlier in the week he saw an girl picking on a younger kid, and he had stepped between them. Growing up in Gotham meant self-defense units in school and self-defense to Duke meant standing up to bullies. he ended up decking the girl in the face, something that he had assumed would get him in trouble, but no one seemed to care. Even the girl, who looked kind of pissed, just stumbled back, before holding out her hand.
“Clarisse La Rue. Daughter of Ares,” Duke, now very confused, warily took her hand, “With a right hook like that, maybe you’re a sibling of mine.” and she walked off.
Duke didn’t feel much like an Ares kid, and he didn’t really see his mom going for a guy like that.
Which was the other big problem. The other unclaimed kids pretty much knew which parent was mortal. Keith, a boy a few years older, figured his godly parent was a goddess, and that there were only three cabins he might fit into. And he even kind of knew which one. with his affinity for nature, everyone was sure he was a Demeter kid, but without being claimed he was relegated to the floor of cabin 11, and he had been coming to camp for three years.
So here Duke was, contemplating his life, and his parentage, something that hadn’t even been a question two weeks ago. The sound of horse hooves approaching peaked his interest, but he didn’t look up. Not until a voice followed the footsteps.
“Attention campers, this is young Percy Jackson.”
“Regular or undetermined?”
Duke was pretty sure one of the Stoll brothers asked. (he couldn’t figure out how to tell them apart yet and every one refused to tell him which one was older.)
“Undetermined.” Some people groaned, but Duke sat up, intrigued. “Please make him feel welcomed.”
Right now Duke was the newest camper. It might be nice to compare notes. Duke studied the kid. The whole camp had been buzzing about some kid who had killed the Minotaur. This must be him. Honestly he didn’t look like much, about the size as Duke, maybe a little shorter, with dark wavy hair. There was something familiar about him, but Duke couldn’t place it.
Luke stepped up to talk to the new kid, and Duke was glad that he was so welcoming. He hadn’t pushed Duke to believe it all the way, like some of the other campers, and he seemed to be an older brother figure to a lot of the people in camp, not just ones in his cabin. He brought the new kid over to where Duke was laying.
“You can drop your stuff here. This is Duke. You guys are in the same boat so maybe you could show Percy around. Do some activities.” he squeezed Percy’s shoulders. “Good to have you, Percy.” and Luke walks back to the group he had been chatting with before.
Duke waved from the floor.
“Duke Thomas”
Percy waved back.
“Percy. Sooo magical summer camp?” Duke snorted and stood up.
“Dude I don’t even know. I got here a week ago and I’m still not sure I’m not hallucinating.” Percy smiles a little and opens what looks like an old shoe box. Inside was a large curved horn.
“Yeah that’s pretty much what I thought. Then Grover gave me this.”
“And that’s…?”
Percy’s face got a little red.
“A horn…from the Minotaur.”
“And if it’s tactile it’s not a hallucination.”
Percy nods seriously.
“Exactly.”
Honestly It didn’t take much for Duke to consider Percy a friend. Percy was funny. They were both twelve. Friendships have started over less. Percy seemed a little closed off at first, but Duke totally got it. He really hadn’t bonded with any of the kids here yet, and his skepticism wasn’t doing him any favors.
They took Luke’s advice and toured the camp. Percy kept asking questions that Duke didn’t have answers too. After the fifth or so question that stumped Duke they decide to go canoeing.
Percy did fine, getting in the boat with ease, and paddling around pretty fast. Duke tried three separate times, every time landing in the lake. The little spirit girls laughed at him and waved at Percy before disappearing.
“Remind me never to get in a boat with you.”
Duke just stuck out his tongue.
From there they headed to the forge. Duke watched Percy’s disastrous experience from afar (thank god). Duke had been kicked out last week, and although Beckendorf was nice about it, he wasn’t eager about letting him back in. Percy left sheepishly, and Beckendorf looked Duke in the eye.
“If you two become friends neither of you are allowed inside. It might be contagious.” Duke just grinned at the older boy.
From there Duke experienced the horror that was Percy with projectile weapons. (very much not from afar although he wish it had been). That boy should never be allowed near a bow, and everyone else agreed. Duke on the other hand was already improving rapidly from just last week.
Apparently doing so much better in fact that they Apollo kid running the lesson, Lee, came up to him. After confiscating Percy’s bow.
“You’ve improved a lot kid. If you want you should swing by cabin seven after capture the flag on Friday. We can see if healing is up your alley.” Duke appreciated it. He wasn’t good enough for the Apollo campers to immediately clock him as one of theirs, but it was nice to know they were watching him. At least Duke felt like he was moving in the right direction, even if said god didn’t seem to care much about him.
From the archery range, Duke was feeling a little better, and Percy was decidedly not. He shoved Duke good-naturally anyway.
“At lease one of us has a clue. Maybe you’ll get off the floor soon.”
Duke smiled, a little bashful.
“Yeah, well it doesn’t mean anything yet. Maybe I’m just naturally gifted.”
From there they went to arts and crafts. There was clay and painting supplies, but a few campers were making flower crowns and they decided to join in. Neither boy made any kind of master piece, but nothing caught on fire or almost got shot, so they counted it as a win. Duke decided to wear his proudly. Percy gifted his to a young Hephaestus kid, if the grease and soot was anything to go by, and she grinned up at them with several gaps in her teeth.
From there they ran into Annabeth Chase. She had hung around Duke for a few days, seemingly watching him, but after the dramatic entrance that Percy had, Duke hadn’t seen her. Not that he minded. She definitely scared him. And he had seen Batman once.
Percy and Annabeth talked. Duke chimed in here and there, but she was mostly giving non-answers to Percy and confusing him further. Then Clarisse entered the scene.
Now Duke definitely didn’t like Clarisse and really hoped that he wasn’t ending up in cabin 5. She was a bully, plain and simple. But Duke grew up in Gotham. People like her were a dime a dozen.
Duke tried to help Percy, he really did, but this time the other Ares kids weren’t underestimating him this time. Clarisse dragged Percy to the bathrooms. With the other Ares kids stopping Duke there was nothing he could do to help his friend. Not that he needed help apparently, if the noise of rushing water and Clarisse’s enraged screams were anything to go by.
Duke went into the bathroom to find a dazed looking Percy, water everywhere. As soon as Duke saw the state of the bathroom he began to laugh, hard. Water on the floor, dripping from the ceiling. Percy’s state seems more to do with, well, all the water rather than any injury.
“What…” Duke couldn’t even form an appropriate question. Instead he just swung around an arm around Percy’s shoulders and led him out of the bathroom.
“Next time you explode a bathroom, I want in.” That made Percy laugh as they made their way to the dining pavilion for dinner.
They met Luke there, who explained the whole ‘burning food’ thing to Percy and how the drinks worked. Percy requested a blue coke for some reason, and just smiled sadly when Duke asked about it.
The next day they went with Luke to a sword lesson. It was Percy’s first one, and he got good pretty fast. Duke had tried a few different swords, but he had found one that Luke had called a Kopis, that he really liked. The blade curved forward, and Luke promised that once he got better with it, he might be able to use a dagger or a shield with it.
Seeing that it was an activity that they were both pretty good at, that's where they spent most of their time in the next few days before capture the flag, and Duke was feeling pretty good about it.
The campers were buzzing with excitement, as Duke and Percy struggled with their armor.
“I’m pretty sure this is wrong.”
“Hey I’ve got a whole one week of experience over you.”
“I still think that this strap goes here.”
“I think you’re making it too complicated.”
“I think you don’t want to admit that you don’t know what you’re doing.”
Duke shot a half-hearted glare to the other boy.
“You’re both wrong.”
Both boys jumped at a disembodied voice from their left. Annabeth materialized next to them, a New York Yankees cap in hand, and started fixing Percy’s straps. Duke struggled to keep up with the changes she was making on his own armor.
She told them that they were on boarder patrol, before putting the hat back on and disappearing again.
The two boys 'patrolling’ entailed a game of tic-tac-toe drawn in the dirt with their swords, a makeshift game of soccer with a rock, and maybe a tiny bit of sparring.
“So you heading to the Apollo cabin later?” Percy asked as they wandered the woods.
“Yeah I figure, it can’t hurt, right?” he glances at Percy, who was currently finding something very interesting in the ground, frowning. Duke smiles at him and slings his arm around his shoulders.
“I’m not planning to abandon you anytime soon. Plus, even if the kids think I’m theirs, Luke said that doesn’t mean my parent will claim me.” This decidedly did not look like it cheered Percy up, and Duke flicked his helmet.
“Come on dude, we’ve bonded right? You think I make flower crowns with just anyone?” Percy finally looks up, a small crooked smile on his face.
“You looked like a Disney princess.”
“I would make a great Disney princess, thank you,” they walked in silence for a little before Percy spoke up again.
“I won’t abandon you either. Promise.”
Duke held out his pinky with a smile, which Percy returned and they linked pinkies, and firmly cemented their friendship.
Then Clarisse appeared, and Duke and Percy got to see how much a few days of sword practice did for them. And the answer was that it did significantly more for Percy than Duke. After getting knocked down a few times, Percy seemed to find his footing, and suddenly was fending off four of the Ares kids, while Duke got knocked down pretty easily by just one. Percy snapped the end off of Clarisse’s spear, and she let out a guttural scream.
Then Luke ran over the boundary, red flag held high. The campers seemed to converge on him, and lifted him in the air. Duke got to his feet, exhausted, and a little embarrassed. But their team won, and Percy had taken four Ares kids no problem, so that was good enough for Duke.
There was a deep (scary) growl from the shadows of the trees, and the cheers died instantly. Something huge and black lunged at Percy from the shadows. It jumps over Annabeth and knocks right into Percy. It was a dog, the size of a rhino. On instinct, Duke surges forward, sword ready, and the dog actually flinches, shrinking back from Percy. Then a cluster of arrows appeared in the dog's neck, and it exploded in gold shimmering dust and black fur.
Duke turns towards his friend and pales at the gashes on his chest.
“Oh my gods Percy.” but Percy is looking at Duke in wonder.
Duke’s confusion must have shown on his face because Percy just gestures to all of him. He looked down at himself and found that he was… he was glowing? Brightly? From his skin? Annabeth more helpfully gestures above his head, where there was a glowing Sun.
“It is determined. Apollo, Averter of evil, Bringer of sun, Chief of Muses. Hail, Duke Thomas, Child of the Sun God.”
Well healing is apparently in his domain, so he moves towards Percy, reaching for his chest.
Annabeth stops him.
“Wait.”
“Annabeth, his chest…” she shoots him a look.
“Percy, get in the water.” Both of them look at her incredulously.
“Just do it.”
He takes a step back, and to Duke’s shock, the gash on his chest begins to knit itself up. It wasn’t just that. Percy had been exhausted from his fight with Clarisse, but Duke could tell by how he stood a little taller, how the color came back to his face, that the exhaustion was ebbing away.
More importantly and more impressively was the giant glowing trident above his head, making the campers around them gasp. This time Duke gestured to Percy, to above his head.
“Poseidon, Earthshaker, Stormbringer, Lord of Horses. Hail Perseus Jackson, Son of the Sea God.”