Chapter Text
Luke kind of wants to cheer, but it might look weird with coke cans. Sugar free coke cans, which apparently exist (he is not giving his babysitting charges access to sugar, not again). But that's not what today is about. No, it's about his freedom.
After years, some illegal documents, and more babysitting, Luke Castellan is finally going to university. Rhea has been wiggling her eyebrows suspiciously at random times ever since it's been mentioned that Lee is also going to the same university, and that they're very likely to be roommates.
He has tried his best to remove the imagery of Annabeth standing on the pavilion table, screaming "AND THEY WERE ROOMMATES!" because frankly, he doesn't know what that implies. Officially.
Big Rhea had cheered Annabeth on very enthusiastically. Then she and Small Rhea had begun hollering a song that the entire Apollo cabin joined in on.
But no. Today is about his peace. Luke smiles and sips his sugar free coke.
Someone begins screaming.
"She has a gun! Who the fuck gave her a gun?! Why is she running–"
"MOM COME PICK ME UP, I'M SCARED–"
Luke continues drinking his coke peacefully. Ethan looks at him reproachfully, but stands by him nonetheless.
"Aren't you going to do something?" Silena asks.
"No longer my circus," he repeats his new mantra, "No longer my monkeys."
Lee raises an eyebrow. "I think those five will always be your monkeys."
"Fuck you."
"On the porch?" Lee asks, "I won't judge but–"
Ethan makes a face. "Can you both not?" A pause. "Stupid question, forget I asked. Anyway, Silena's guy can handle it."
"Charlie has a name–" Silena is stressing, when Beckendorf runs towards them at full speed. He immediately beelines to his girlfriend.
"You promised to protect me from the big, bad world right?"
"Now that I think about it, yes."
"Great!" Beckendorf answers with strained cheerfulness. "I'll do great with some protection right now."
And then he quickly hides under her chair. A gunshot rings in the air. Two more people scream. Luke closes his eyes and downs the can of coke in one last go.
Big Rhea sits down next to them.
"It's almost like looking at my own childhood," the titaness remarks, "Wrestling my brothers… Throwing Kronos off of cliffs… Playing with sister Tethys…"
"You threw your husband off of cliffs?" Lee asks, thoroughly confused.
Frowning, Big Rhea takes off her sunglasses and tsks. "We weren't married then, just siblings," right, age old incest, nothing new to see here! "And I just did it seven times, give or take. He turned out fine."
"Maybe it had long term effects?" Lee offers. Why he's continuing this conversation is beyond Luke, but then, it's Lee. "The man did eat your children."
Big Rhea gains a thoughtful expression. "Well, that's very true. I always chalked it up to his rampant daddy issues and inferiority complex."
"Things like this can be caused by a number of factors," Silena puts in her two cents. From beneath her chair, Beckendorf sends his agreement.
Luke does not participate in this conversation. He and Big Rhea don't talk much, other than formalities and pleasantries, but that's mostly because Luke's words keep getting stuck in his throat. Sometimes, she looks at him with some bittersweet sort of expression, and he did once hear her say that she's happy that this world was kinder to him or something, but at this point he has stopped trying to understand prophetic deities.
Also, every time he looks at her, he sees Small Rhea's future. And he really doesn't want to. Sure, the woman is doing great now, but there was a big in-between when it was not so great. Personally, Luke does harbor a weird sort of semi-older sibling sort of affection for Small Rhea (he will not admit it even on pain of death), and the idea of her marrying some inferiority-complex-riddled child devourer with unresolved daddy issues and then having to deal with disappointments like Zeus as a son is the last thing he wants for her.
Dear Lord Triton, he inevitably ends up praying often, please pass down good standards to her.
Once, he even heard a voice responding, been working on it for years, but that might just be Luke's own fatigue-addled brain's hallucination.
"Rhea, that's your dad?" some mortal boy asks. So far, Triton has seen him smile charmingly at his daughter enough times that the intentions are staring him in the face.
Rhea can certainly do better. He hopes she knows that. Or he might have to drag that son of Hermes to watch over her, he did a rather good job (along with the son of Apollo as an incentive since those two seem attached).
"You've seen that kid five minutes ago, don't even know him and already hate his guts," Hermes whispers in his ear. "That's got to be a record, babe."
"Please refrain from calling me babe. You can do better."
"Just for that, I'll call you nothing but babe for the entire day."
"Don't test me."
"What I'm doing is very intentional, actually."
Triton is saved from having to continue that particular conversation when his daughter rushes towards them. She looks so overjoyed at seeing them that he mentally pats himself on the back for that idea.
"Dad!" she says. "I didn't know you were coming today."
"Spur of the moment," Triton shrugs, "We're hosting a family game night, Rhode decided an hour ago." Rhea looks at Triton, and then at Hermes. Triton sighs. "Mother wore me down into bringing my boyfriend home."
Hermes makes a flourishing gesture with his hands and cradles his own face. "Wish me luck, kiddo!"
Rhea thinks about it for a minute. Then, "You'll do fine. You're wearing the bracelet I made you!"
"Of course I am," Hermes answers, "I never take it off."
"He really doesn't," Triton agrees, before gesturing to the shiny blue Maserati that officially belongs to Father, but nobody has any qualms taking out on a ride, "Game night awaits."
"I think I'll do great at Monopoly!" Rhea declares.
She does do great at Monopoly. Hermes goes bankrupt in twenty minutes and Poseidon cries at least thrice.
(Somewhere, in the recesses of his dormitory while working on an assignment, Luke Castellan shudders. Upon Lee's questioning glance, he says: "No longer my circus, no longer my monkeys."
That is enough for Lee to understand.)
But on the whole, game night goes well. So well, in fact, that Triton is in a mood that cannot be ruined. At all. This, of course, leads him to take his father aside in the high of the moment, and have a… father-son heart to heart, shall we say?
"Rhea is great, isn't she?" Triton begins conversationally.
"Yes, a joy, she is! Any parent would be proud to have her," Poseidon agrees.
"I am," he continues, "Very proud to be her father in every way that matters. I love her dearly. But do you want to know a secret, Father?"
Poseidon – because he knew the man's weaknesses from the first go – leans forward, "Go on, son."
"I didn't sire her," he crows, "You did."
He watches with vindictive glee as the dots connect in his father's head; he can see it all over the god's face. "Why would you tell me this now?"
"Because no one," Triton whispers, "Will ever. Believe you."
Poseidon stares at him. "You cruel, cruel god."
Triton only smiles and raises his glass of algae syrup. "I win."
omake
[The scene opens with a room that has four people in it. Upon further glance, we can see Rhea sitting directly in front of the camera, waving. Behind her, there is a blonde, blue-eyed boy with a scar on his lip, a scrawny boy with curly brown hair sitting on the blonde's lap, and a girl with pink streaks in her choppy hair.]
RHEA: Hey, dad! If you're watching this, I've officially moved into the uni dorm. Yes, it's co-ed, four to a dorm, we get two rooms. As you can see (here, she points to the two boys) you don't need to murder anyone.
BROWN HAIR: Your dad murders people?
RHEA: No, my aunts do it, usually. But you can never be too sure. Anyway, the one who just spoke is Leo, the blonde one is Jason, and the other girl is Piper.
[Piper makes a peace sign gesture towards the camera.]
JASON: You're one hundred percent sure your father doesn't run the mafia, correct?
[Rhea nods.]
LEO: Those bodyguards could have fooled me.
PIPER: Ignore them, they're just scared. I know we are going to get along great.
RHEA: I think we all will get along. Anyway, those weren't my bodyguards, think of them as… surrogate big brother and his boyfriend. They were just helping me move in.
JASON: Whatever you say.
[Rhea turns back to the camera.]
RHEA: It's getting a bit late though, so I'll just end this recording and send it to you. Love you, bye!
[Recording cuts off.]
TO BE CONTINUED… EVENTUALLY.