Archive of Our Own ^beta

When Percy woke up, the first thing he saw was Apollo leaning on the wall and reading a book, looking deep in thought.

He almost thought it was another dream, until the god's head snapped up at him.

"...Apollo?" He called a little hesitantly, head swarming with thoughts and emotions that threatened to burst.

"Perseus," Apollo placed the book down, rushing towards where Percy sat and wrapping his arms around the demigod tightly.

"You're here," Percy whispered, and he'll admit, he even got a little teary eyed. Gods, how long had it been since he'd seen Apollo in person?

Too long, way too long.

Neither of them wanted to let go, both fully comfortable with the idea of melting in each other's arms until something physically pulled them apart.

"I missed you," The sun god muttered, placing chaste kisses on his forehead.

The door (to what Percy assumed must be the infirmary) opened, and they both looked up.

Poseidon stood at the doorframe, eyes narrowed down on Apollo. Percy began to push away from Apollo to greet his father, but to no avail. He kept his grip on him just as tight.

And maybe that wasn't such a bad thing, as Percy suddenly remembered why he hadn't seen his lover in so long.

"So... why was I unconscious, exactly? Last thing I remembered was being out with Triton." Percy asked, staring at the two gods in front of him with determination.

He didn't care what he had to do, he was going to get his damn answers.

"Poisoned; it was the waitress who served you both," Poseidon explained shortly, sharp eyes not leaving Apollo.

"Great," Percy reluctantly pulled away from Apollo. "Now tell me what's been going on."

Poseidon grimaced, finally looking down at him. "Percy-"

"He deserves to know, especially after... this. " Apollo bravely cut in.

Poseidon glared at him. "He doesn't need to. I can fix this without any-"

"Dad, with all due respect, I was almost assassinated twice. Not only that, but I'm pretty sure I'm the one who released this thing to begin with. Also, I think I met it in my sleep."

"You what?" A new voice asked sharply. Zeus and Hermes had stepped into the room, and Zeus stared all of them down.

"What did it look like?" Hermes asked, looking slightly guilty. Poseidon gave him a look when he spoke.

"Uh, child-like, concerningly pale, pitch black eyes...?" He trailed off, watching as everyones eyes widened at him. "So you know what it is. Now, does anyone want to explain what's happening?"

"No."

Percy glared at his father. "You literally kidnapped me. I don't think you get much a say in this right now."

The gods in the room all gave each other glances, before Zeus decided to speak up. "The boy has a right to know, Poseidon."

"I don't want to speak of this. I can... it's still fixable . It must be." But the confidence in Poseidon's voice wavered, as if he wasn't completely convinced of his own words.

"How about we start with the box?" Percy suggested. "That's an important part to all of this, right?"

"Yes," Apollo answered. "The box was keeping that... well. I don't think there's actually a name for what it is. Either way, the box acted as an imprisonment, of the sort. In your dream, did you happen to see where you were?"

Percy tapped his finger on the blanket. "The area was distorted, to say the least. But I do remember a really tall tower. Looked kinda gothic too, had a fuck ton of stairs."

Apollo sighed. "Yup, that's the one. When you broke the box due to the lack of proper instructions from a certain god of thievery," Apollo glared at Hermes as he said the words. "It's cage was broken, and it found a way to completely break free from that jar that appeared earlier." Apollo aimed that last part at Zeus, who nodded in understanding

"Wait, so it wasn't completely out before?" Percy questioned. Apollo shook his head. "So... what does that mean? Is it more powerful now or something?"

"Yes," Poseidon said stiffly. "It'll be much more difficult to track it down now."

Zeus nodded. "We might need to– what happened to your shoulder?"

Percy frowned in confusion. "What?"

Except, the god of lightning wasn't looking at him, he was looking at Apollo.

Apollo reached a hand to his shoulder, and sure enough, when he pulled back it was covered in ichor.

Zeus moved forwards. "Is this from earlier?" Before Apollo could answer, he moved his hand under the cloth that covered his shoulder to try and inspect the wound.

"I think so. I didn't notice it was still bleeding, though,"The god said thoughtfully. Percy was tempted to ask what he meant, but the look on Zeus's face stopped him.

"Apollo, move your shirt off your shoulder." Zeus commanded, although something about his tone was off putting. Poseidon and Hermes glanced at each other, shoulders tensing.

Apollo gave the king a strange look. "Why do I-?"

"Son. Just move it down for a moment."

Percy decided he didn't like Zeus's tone, especially when he watched Apollo stiffen within seconds. Slowly, he moved his shoulder sleeve down.

The sight made bile start to rise in Percy's throat.

There was a wound there, alright. But from right where his skin was sliced open, gentle dark green petals sprouted. They seemingly crawled out from under his skin, blooming from the same ichor that dripped down his chest.

"That..." Apollo was at a lost for words, staring at it with wide eyes that were full of wonder.

Sometimes, it was easy to forget his boyfriend was the god of knowledge. He craved to know more, it was in his nature. But watching his lover look at such a horrifically looking wound like he wanted to dissect it made Percy shutter.

Zeus held a tight grip on Apollo's arms, before turning to Hermes with a stoney look on his face. "Go retrieve Asclepius, I believe we are going to need him to get rid of... this." He looked up at Percy. "We'll continue this conversation after we sort this out."

Zeus guided Apollo out of the room, who obliviously followed along, eyes not leaving his mess of a shoulder.

Percy and Poseidon were the only ones left in the room, heads filled with thoughts they couldn't even begin to word.

Not yet, at least. And not to each other.