He didn’t know how it got to this, but somehow it had. During the group session, where he thought he could just stop by for a moment, things had gone well until they were doing the role call again at the end and noticed someone that hadn’t been there from the beginning or was on the roster.

Turns out she was an infiltrator-slash-spy and was not only there to listen in on them…but trap them and find a way to break the fangirls/boys into their little meeting. Safe to say…the protest and sit-down was probably cancelled.

The moment she was caught, she whistled loudly and there were loud screeches and yells before the doors to their meeting hall was broken in and hoards of fangirls and fanboys came manically rushing in. Rinzler, poor guy, screamed loudly and was the first person out, way before the fans had actually even crossed the threshold of the doors. Only a cloud of dust was evidence he’d been there.

And now that leads us back to the present…where Percy was in the middle of running from his groups of fanatics. After Rinzler’s quick getaway –he really couldn’t blame the guy –he’d stupidly stood there and gawked at the attacking crazed group. Then he snapped out of it to realize everyone else had (of his group) started to run away as well, after a momentary pause after Rinzler’s disappearance, and that he was being left behind for the fans to attack –if he didn’t haul ass and get the hell out of there.

Now he was in a random hallway in the ship, hearing echoes of the screaming girls and boys behind him (all coming closer), and trying to find an exit and his eventual nirvana from the fans. Suddenly, he was grabbed and dragged into a side hallway and then pulled into a room.

“Bagged and tagged,” a semi-familiar voice said gloatingly.

He looked up in surprise, seeing his older half-brother smugly towering over him from where he sat on the floor.

“Triton? What are you doing here? And why’d you drag me in here for?”

Triton rolled his eyes, flicking his hair back idly.

“Duh. Didn’t you want to be saved from those crazies?”

They shared a moment to reflect and remember the fanatics, shivering at the thought and grimacing.

“Yeah, I did. Uh, thanks,” Percy awkwardly said.

“Anyways, I did it because I thought I should at least try to get closer to you,” Triton sighed, as if it was too much trouble. Percy sweatdropped. “What with you looking to be a more permanent fixture in the family and how much Father favors and likes you. Not to mention the other gods and all. And your annoying ability to survive and live on no matter what. And stubborn determination. And –”

“Okay, okay!” Percy twitched, wondering if he should leave his brother behind now or at least wait a little.

“Anyways, I researched ways to do that and I found something called a ‘brother complex’. Therefore, I will now form a brother complex towards you.”

“You can’t make yourself form a brother complex. You just have to have it or form it naturally,” Percy said in annoyance, hiding his underlying discomfort and wondering if Triton understood what that exactly was.

“Sure I can. I’m Triton,” his brother answered back arrogantly.

Percy mentally smacked his forehead and wondered why he was surrounded by idiots and insane people. It’s worse when those aspects were combined…which, most of the time, were.

Damn it all to Tartarus.

Percy ignored his brother and walked out of the room, not bothering to heed the immortal’s protests or being followed by said immortal. He only froze when he came into contact with a group of fans just as he’d exited the room, both parties frozen and staring at each other.

“Now see here –!” But then Triton’s continued protesting died on his lips as he entered the scene and saw what was happening.

“I’ll attack the other to keep him busy while you bag Percy!” a random fanboy hollered, hauling up a huge water gun out of nowhere and then fired upon the shock-still Triton, who became even more horrified at the thought that his hair –and his clothes –was going to be ruined and waterlogged.

Percy moved quickly, darting in front of his older brother and taking the hit, completely splashed upon and wet from head to heels. Grumbling to himself, he wondered why the hell hadn’t he just used his demigod powers? Hello? Water? Damn it all.

Triton blinked, taking in the scene again. He stared at Percy before a new light lit up in his eyes and inwardly started squealing for some reason. His little, baby brother had just saved him from a fashion disaster, and had so adorably been heroic on his behalf.

Then he turned icy eyes towards the perpetrators, seeing them dazed and staring goofily at his brother, who looked like a god now with all the water soaking his body and clothes sticking heavenly to him. His eyes narrowed.

No! He’ll protect his brother’s virtue no matter what!

He whipped out his mini-Trident and held it sideways, aiming it towards those vicious rodents.

“Be gone, you foul beasts!” he roared.

Percy stared. “Where’d that thing just come from and why are you holding it like a machine gun?”

Triton just ignored his cute, little brother’s adorable nonsensical ramblings.

“Not now, Percy. Your blatherings are always so cute, but I must focus on protecting your virtue from these fiends.”

“…”

The demigod twitched and wondered why this was all happening to him.

And this was how Triton formed a brother complex.

Meanwhile, Nico was evading the fanatics by sneakily traveling on shadows. On the ceiling. And crawling on all fours.

“What on Olympus are you doing?” a velvety voice asked in amusement, sounding right next to his ear.

Nico jumped, as much as he could upside down, and nearly let go and would have fallen to the ground had it not been for his father.

“Relax, Nico. It was simply a question,” the Lord of the Underworld seemed to be rolling his eyes just with his words.

It was a talent Nico had yet to master.

“I’m avoiding demonic little girls,” he muttered unhappily.

“Are you sure you aren’t the one demonic, walking on walls like that? Even if you aren’t a little girl and sickly green,” Hades added as an afterthought.

“Don’t cross fandoms. Be lucky I’m not spewing puke all over you,” Nico replied childishly, pouting.

Hades gave him a look and it was clear he could do whatever the hell he wanted. Because he was Hades.

And that included crossing fandoms.

His father moved further up to crawl on the ceiling right beside him. Unfairly, his father seemed to look quite graceful doing it and even worse, made the ‘crawling on the ceiling’ thing look very sophisticated.

“So, while we were busy talking, we have been caught in the midst of those ‘demonic girls’ you were running from,” Hades then nonchalantly noted, Nico starting to freak out.

Right in front of them, a small group of the girls were staring up at them from the junction between two halls. Hades swiftly appeared in the middle of the group, and Nico was about to shout a warning. Instead, he found Hades smoothly chatting up the girls with an easy smile and a cool look on his face, the girls staring adoringly and in awe at him.

Damn, his dad was good.

“What are you girls doing?” a fierce voice interrupted the meet and greet. “You’re supposed to be taking them prisoner.”

Hades hmmed. “Ah, a minor head honcho. Suitably immune to the Dark Family charms with the right training.”

Hades nodded at his son before stepping into a shadow and disappearing. Nico gaped. His father had just disappeared without a trace. His father had just abandoned him.

“WAIT, DAD! I HAVEN’T MASTERED SHADOWWALKING WHILE PANICKING!”

With no answer, Nico turned tail and crawled on the ceiling like a bat out of hell. Or Tartarus.

Back to Percy, he had lost Triton back somewhere as he rushed away, searching for some help to get to the protest potluck/barbecue. It was dinner time and he was starting to get hungry. Suddenly a slightly familiar little girl appeared in his path, looking cute with her auburn hair tied back and wide eyes looking up at him.

“Are you lost, little one?” he paused, inwardly melting.

“My name’s Arty,” she said perfectly, though her tone was childish. “I’m hungry.”

The truth was that was Artemis having de-aged herself to being a 6 year old. She also knew, from the look on his face, that the demigod was hungry. It was the perfect opportunity for her and she wasn’t going to waste it. Especially with so many others having had a head start already…

“Alright, Arty. My name’s Percy and I was just about to go looking for some food. Do you want to come with me?” Percy bent slightly, smiling gently at her.

“Okay,” she held out her arms.

He was going to take a hand when she shook her head and widened her arms.

“Piggyback ride,” she demanded.

He chuckled lowly and bent down, allowing her to get on his back and comfortably settle herself against him, her small arms winding around his neck.

“Fine, let’s just go now.”

Artemis inwardly cackled in triumph.

Soon enough, they managed to locate the protest potluck/barbecue, which was getting into full swing. Nico, looking strangely frazzled, was taking charge and directing stuff and everyone around. And then there was the surprising god already there, shocking Percy and Artemis with his presence.

Hades, the dark god, was coolly flipping burgers on one of the grills, wearing a dark purple (almost black looking) apron with the words ‘I AM the Chef God.’ The indifferent look on his face clashed with the image he made.

But he just looked so cool.

“Man, he’s got skillz,” Percy commented, staring in awe.

Artemis made a shocked noise in agreement.

From somewhere nearby, there was a loud yell of “Dattebayo!”

“Perseus, how wonderful for you to get here,” Hades greeted, a smooth smile crossing the god’s face. “Come, sit next to me and I’ll hand you a plate.”

Dazed, Percy did it without realizing he had. Then he forgot about it after being handed the most scrumptious looking burger he’d ever seen. While he dug in, Artemis and Hades traded looks.

If the other didn’t rat or say anything about the other, then they were all good.

“So, Perseus…this may be forward of me, but would you like to go for dinner tomorrow together?” Hades propositioned silkily.

Percy choked on his burger, looking up at him with wide eyes, with slight suspicion in them.

“You see, I’ve been rather lonesome and frustrated at still being rather much an outcast with the Olympians,” his voice moved into a purr, going in for the kill. “Even with meetings, I’m not considered.”

It was true; his opinion was mostly overlooked in the meetings. But he managed to frame his words in a way that made it sound like he wasn’t even invited at all.

“Especially the last meeting,” Hades clinched it.

Percy was now looking at him in contemplation, putting it together. Artemis’ eyes widened and she stopped the kicking of her legs back and forth to stare at the god. So that was his plan…

“Oh…well okay. So long as you’re cooking,” Percy hummed happily, taking another bite and not bothering to bite back his moan.

Hades inwardly smirked.

“Excellent.”

When the barbecue neared its end, Artemis clung tightly to Percy’s side, who amusedly hefted her up and carried her in his arms. She happily nuzzled his neck and clutched onto him with both arms and legs. She looked back at Hades from around Percy’s head, who stared back in amusement. Laughingly, she planted a kiss on the side of Percy’s head, who patted her back fondly and started to move away.

So that was her game. Playing kiddy to get away with affectionate touches and kisses…

For her, she could handle that for now. She’ll come up with a way for Percy to like and be attracted to her later. For now, she was content with stealing his affections and attention.

He took her to an indoor playground, playing with her for a bit, before they tired out and he started wondering about where she was going to sleep and finally who she belonged to.

“Say, Arty, where’s your mom and dad?” he furrowed his eyebrows.

She shrugged, only slightly panicking.

“You must be still undetermined,” Percy declared, thankfully solving her dilemma for her. “Well, we’ll have to find you a room at least.”

No, no, no.

She clung onto his arm, looking up at him. She made sure to widened her eyes and make her lower lip start trembling.

“B-but…I don’t want to be without…” she paused and thought quickly, “Big Brother!” she cried out.

Percy’s eyes softened. “Oh okay. You can sleep with me tonight. I have a big bed and I can read you a bedtime story to help you fall asleep!”

Mentally grinning, she outwardly just nodded her head enthusiastically.

He brought her to the area housing all the rooms and led her to his, tucking her into bed and sliding in beside her. Then he began an old fairytale, which she tuned out and just focused on his face tenderly. Instead of falling asleep, he was the one who did so, leaving her to perversely smirk and transform to an older version of herself, hovering over the prone form of her prey.

“Perfect,” she murmured, eyes glinting in the darkness.

Eagerly splaying her hands on his chest, she inquisitively felt around his pectorals and sighed admiringly. Moving to caress his neck and then his face, she was brought out of her admiration when she felt a buzz in her pocket. Twitching, she ignored it and started to continue her exploration. A more insistent buzz bothered her and she sighed in aggravation this time, reluctantly bringing out her Olympus cell.

Narrowing her eyes at the caller, she unhappily answered it.

“Not now, Thalia,” she snapped, a holographic image of her lieutenant appearing above her cell phone.

Thalia blinked in confusion. “My lady?”

“I’m busy,” Artemis immediately replied, hoping to end this call already.

“But –! Wait a second…where are you?” a tone of accusation entered Thalia’s voice, the demigod huntress peering at the area her lady was in.

“None of your business,” Artemis said nervously and just hung up without another word.

Huffing to herself, she just plopped to her side and stared at the asleep form of her future lover. Or so her aspirations were. Not feeling up to being interrupted again and getting disappointed and frustrated, she just let herself cuddle closer to Percy and hum happily to herself.

She could only thank the Fates that Thalia didn’t know where Percy slept.

At least she had better not.

Hoping as well that Thalia wouldn’t suddenly barge in and ruin the moment, she buried her face into his shoulder and mumbled to herself pleasingly.

 ~*~*~

“So…this is the infamous H.E.L.L. Inc,” Clarisse said, looking over the group of men and women who looked harmless enough.

But the reputation…

‘How Everyone Learns to Love,’ Chris mouthed to himself disbelievingly by her side. He twitched and wondered if he’d landed in some Wonderland or something. Perhaps he was still crazy and he’d never been cured.

Tartarus, he would even say that maybe he preferred to go back to his insanity before than deal with this new insanity.

“Ladies and gents, let’s get started! Start hauling ass, people!”

The people before her started to scramble, working on setting things up, putting things where they were supposed to, installing some suspicious things, and all around doing work that was sure to make Percy’s life a living hell.

Clarisse started to cackle.

Even if she was crazy, Chris didn’t deny that he loved her. Though he was starting to regret involving himself in all this…

“Come, my minion,” Clarisse directed towards him. “There is work to do. We must get started.”

Chris sighed and followed after.

“Our master plan will come to fruition and we must also continue to create and spread the chaos,” his girlfriend nodded to herself and began to walk away.

He resigned himself to following after her and making sure she was alright. Someone had to make sure things went right and that nothing backfired on her. He did want to make sure Clarisse didn’t go overboard or end up going crazier…or doing crazier things.

He still didn’t envy Percy.

Therefore, with heavy steps, he trailed after a still talking to herself Clarisse (who kept making up plans and scenarios –many of which just got crazier and crazier), and hoped to survive the coming Armageddon intact and limbs whole. 

Preferably with his mind in perfect order as well. He’d already been down that road.