Work Text:
“Nope. I’m not buying it.” Piper threw up her hands in exasperation. “I refuse to believe this Perseus Jackson character managed to beat a fucking god and win.”
“But.. it’s true.” Daphne, a new camper, told her. Piper bit back the urge to scream. She had to remind herself that Daphne was new too and young at only 10 years old, of course she believed all the lies the older campers were telling.
“Daphne, you can’t believe everything you hear.” “But-”
“Alright beauty queen let’s say we get you your morning coffee before you ruin something?” Leo linked his arm together with Piper and physically dragged her away, leaving a confused Daphne behind.
“I am so sick of Percy fucking Jackson. It’s clearly obvious that half of his so-called accomplishments are bald-faced lies. Like I get he’s good and all but there’s no way he beat a god .” Piper continued ranting as they walked towards the dining pavilion.
Leo rolled his eyes. “It’s a camp wide prank I’m telling you. Either that or a coping mechanism where they’re trying to gaslight themselves into thinking he’s a god and not at the mercy of the scary romans.”
“What is this I am hearing about scary romans?” Jason said, trying to put on a disappointed face before he caved and joined the other two in laughing.
Piper finally collected herself and leaned against Jason. “Nothing much. Just hoping the scary romans are a match for the godkiller.”
Jason’s face immediately turned sympathetic. “More bullshit regarding Jackson’s life?”
“Who else? This camp is incapable of talking about someone else.”
“As much as I love this conversation, mamacitas, Annabeth’s coming to you at 10 o'clock.” Leo warned.
Piper stifled a groan. She wasn’t that much of an asshole to rant about her friend’s missing boyfriend to her face. “I need coffee to deal with this.”
~
“You know, now that we’re trapped on this boat for the next month in the ancient lands, I think we should try to get to know one another better.” Leo said to the group at large as they all sat down to eat.
“Yeah sure why not. Death defying quests are the best time to bond with others.” Percy added. Piper laughed. Despite coming in with the intention to hate the guy, she couldn’t help but warm up to him. He was no god but he was a pretty okay guy in the end.
“Alright, what do we have in mind then?” Jason asked.
“Never have I ever?” Piper suggested.
Hazel raised her hand and before she could even say anything, Frank started to softly explain the game to her.
When everyone was on board, Annabeth kicked off the game. “Never have I ever…been expelled from a school.”
There were groans all around as the rest put down their fingers. “Is there a prize for those who were expelled the most? I feel like I deserve a prize.” Leo said jokingly.
Percy laughed. “No way you’re beating me.”
“Do you really think you can beat 5 schools?”
“I’ve been expelled from six.” Percy said smugly. “Seven actually, pretty sure I’ve been expelled from my current school for ditching for like 6 months.” Percy tacked on.
Piper raised her eyebrow, intrigued. She had no idea that the star of camp half-blood was a troublemaker.
“Not something to be proud of seaweed brain.” Annabeth added dryly, causing everyone to laugh.
Next up was Piper’s turn. “Never have I ever…” She smiled as an idea hit her. Maybe they could all have a good laugh over it. “Beat a god in a fight and won.”
However, to Piper’s sheer disbelief, Percy groaned and put another finger down.
“Wait what? It’s true?!” Leo asked for her.
“No way dude when?” Frank asked while Hazel just shook her head disapprovingly.
Percy groaned louder and turned to Annabeth with his baby seal eyes. “Can you tell them for me, wise girl?”
Annabeth smirked. “Oh gladly. Imagine my surprise when my new scrawny friend, mind you who was like 4’10 at that time -”
“Annabeth -”
“What? You asked me to. If it isn’t the consequences of your own actions Percy.”
Percy continued pouting but let Annabeth carry on with her story. “As I was saying, baby Percy saw Ares at 6’5 and decided it was a bloody brilliant idea to challenge him. As expected, my 12 year old self was freaking out, as was grover obviously - “
“Hold on. Twelve?” Jason asked incredulously as Annabeth just shook her head in sympathy. “See Percy? This is the appropriate response to your insane ideas.”
Percy spluttered, “I didn’t see you come up with any ideas at the time! And we had less than a day to pass the bolt to Zeus.”
“Yeah but I didn’t challenge the fucking god of war at 12.”
“But it worked!”
“Yeah cause you’re lucky Ares is a self conceited brainless asshole.”
“Uh guys - can someone explain?” Frank asked.
Percy stuck his tongue out at Annabeth before explaining. “Basically, for our first quest, Zeus accused me of taking his bolt so I had to find the real thief, who was Ares. He also ended up taking Hades’ helm (long story) so in order to get both of them back I had to fight with Ares. And then to win I just pretended I was tired and then used the ocean to fly up and nick him.”
There was silence for a second as everyone stared at Percy.
“Just, he says .” Leo muttered slowly, still in disbelief.
Percy shrugged awkwardly. “It wasn’t a big deal. I still hadn’t really processed the fact that gods were real yknow. If I knew what I did now, I wouldn’t have done that.”
“Wait, what do you mean by haven’t processed it yet?” Piper asked.
“Oh it was just that my first quest was so soon after I found out about the demigod world, like less than a month after so my brain was still catching up to everything.”
Piper felt lightheaded. All that time she had been complaining about the hero worship the camp did - and it wasn’t even half of what Percy Jackson had actually accomplished.
“I think I need a nap.” Piper said slowly as everyone else nodded their heads in agreement.
“Welcome to my world.” Annabeth said solemnly as Percy buried his head in his hands in embarrassment.