Dude, I wanted to have some Posy scenes at the end of this chapter, but Beelcy took over the whole thing LMAO. I'm sorry, I just love Beelzebub so much 😭💖 This chapter is 100% Beelcy yaaaay!

It's a little angsty maybe??? It's Beel and Percy who are both going through some trauma so ofc you should expect some angst 😭😭 these guys should NOT be left alone together

I hope you guys enjoy the early update 💖 I updated early because today's the release of FF7 Rebirth and my preorder SHOULD come today, so I'm gonna be busy playing it which means.... I won't be able to write/update as much. And if my preorder DOESN'T come today, then I still won't be able to write/update because I'll be too busy being miserable. Thx for understanding! 🤗 

IT WAS AUGUST EIGHTEENTH, AND Percy was perfectly content in spending her birthday relaxing in Beelzebub's castle up until he whipped out the handcuffs and blindfold.

She stared at him in alarm, "Um."

"Today is your seventeenth birthday, isn't it?" He asked, smiling.

The sight of that smile made her back away slowly. "Yeah... but why are you smiling at me like that?" She asked wearily.

"You don't like my smile?" He asked, feigning hurt.

"Considering the fact that you only smile when you're about to do something really bad to me, no, no I don't like your smile."

He chuckled. Oh he's in a really good mood, she thought with a shudder.

"You've been so well-behaved recently, so I felt that you deserve a treat on your special day," he explained, like he was talking about giving his puppy an extra bone to chew on.

She might as well be a puppy, he mused in amusement. A puppy with a very dangerous owner.

He was pretty sure the only reason Poseidon hadn't drowned several countries in Midgar after that day was because he picked her up from his castle rather than Shiva's palace, but he still hadn't been pleased that she had to sleep over at Shiva's in the first place.

About a month had passed since then, and every Saturday, he and Percy would venture out to Valhalla to do whatever they wanted—or whatever she wanted, to be more specific. Unlike their first trip, nothing disastrous ever happened (like her separating from him and getting kidnapped by pesky gods).

Things were going so well, it was only natural for him to reward her for good behavior. Perhaps if he did it enough times, she would finally be conditioned to behave for him permanently.

"Well-behaved?" Percy echoed.

"Yes," he smiled. "At first I was thinking about giving you a blue birthday cake, but a better idea came to me. Now, close your eyes."

He started to walk towards her with the blindfold and handcuffs but Percy took a giant step back. "Wait! What's the surprise?"

He shot her a look of amusement. "It wouldn't be much of a surprise if I told you, now would it?"

She still wasn't sure about this. "This better not be another one of your crazy experiments."

"I assure you it isn't."

"Promise?" She insisted.

"Yes, Percy, I promise." He swore. "You'll be fine."

She let out a heavy sigh. "Oh, alright then..."

She closed her eyes and waited for him to make a move. Beelzebub felt pleasure brimming through his ichor. She hadn't even made a fuss like she used to. She listened to him.

Honestly, he was tempted to pat her on the head and maybe give her a good scratch behind the ears. Good girl, he inwardly cooed as he tied the silky black blindfold around her head to cover her eyes. He felt her stiffen as he clamped the handcuffs around her wrist before clamping the other end to his own.

"Wait..." She frowned. "What did you just handcuff me to?"

"Me," he answered.

"Huh?! Why?"

"Just a precaution," he replied. He knew his gift to her would excite her so much she would forget about the rules and go running around without him, and that was something he could not risk, especially when she was donning Loki's cloak that left her undetectable.

Without another word, he teleported them to the bifrost and helped her get across it.

Percy had a pretty good idea that he was taking her to Valhalla because she recognized the painful sensation in her brain whenever they crossed the bifrost. But after the pain passed, and she felt her feet touch the ground, a familiar smell drifted into her nose.

Car fumes, cigarette smoke, and terrible human odor—an overall horrible combination, but one that she immediately recognized. Her body straightened up.

Beelzebub whispered in her ear, "You can take it off now."

With a shaky hand, she yanked the blindfold off of her. The sight she saw shocked her so much she let it drop to the ground.

He smiled, "Happy seventeenth birthday, Percy."

Towering buildings and skyscrapers took over her vision. The busy streets were full of pedestrians and tightly packed roads with cars speeding around. There were blindingly bright billboards stationed everywhere showcasing the latest advertisement. The entire city was like a sensory overload of bright lights, bad smells, and loud noises, but Percy didn't care, she loved every inch of it.

She whipped her head towards Beelzebub, who gave her a knowing look. "This is New York," she breathed out. Her heart was hammering inside her chest. "Is—is this—?"

"This is the real New York," he confirmed. "We're in Midgard, not Valhalla."

Her eyes widened. "But you said it would be too dangerous for us to go out here! My father could sense your presence and you're supposed to be in Helheim with me."

"Gods have the ability to be in more places than one, remember?" He reminded her. "I don't always venture out to Midgar, but Poseidon knows I come here sparingly, so he'll just assume I've split my consciousness so I could be in Helheim with you while I take care of other business here. He won't check in to see what I'm doing. As long as I stay away from the seas, he won't look at us."

She wanted to ask what sort of business he had in Midgar, but was too enthralled at the thought of finally being home—or the closest to it that she can get—that she was too distracted to care.

"I can't believe it," she muttered in awe. "This is really home. It doesn't even look different from my universe...!"

Beelzebub was looking around too, but he didn't have the same awestruck look on his face. "I still don't understand why you would ever want to be here," he murmured. "It smells rancid."

Percy threw her arms over him and squeezed him into a hug, "YOU'RE THE BEST!" She squealed.

Beelzebub went still, his eyes growing wide. Before he could do anything, she pulled away. Her sea-green eyes had gone misty but she wore the brightest grin he had ever seen. He didn't even think Lucifer, Azazel, Samael, or Lilith had smiled at him like this.

She hugged him again, face buried into his chest. "This is the best birthday present ever! I love it! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

For a few embarrassing seconds, he didn't know what to say. Eventually, he cleared his throat and managed to mutter, "You're welcome."

She grabbed his hand—the one that was cuffed alongside hers—and eagerly led him to the streets. "Come on! I wanna see my apartment!"

They started walking down the sidewalk, and Percy immediately noticed something: the mortals couldn't take their eyes off of them. They didn't even seem to care about the handcuffs. They were too busy staring at... well, them.

Back home, whenever gods wanted to mingle with the humans, the Mist usually hid their divinity so they could try to blend in (except for Apollo who liked to keep his good looks for everyone to admire). But Beelzebub hadn't even bothered to change out of his dark priestly clothes, let alone change his eye color or his pointed ears.

The mortals would drop their jaws when they saw his unearthly handsome face before doing a double take when they saw his other unearthly features—like his blood-red eyes and pointed ears. It didn't help that his very presence radiated with power, and the mortals—albeit ignorant to what he was—could tell that something was off about him and gave them a wide berth.

But that didn't mean they stopped looking.

Everywhere she turned, people would stop to stare at her too. She didn't know if they were admiring her or the dress, but it was probably the dress. While her dress was one of her more 'simpler' outfits, it was decked out in miniature pearls and other priceless jewels. Because of how impossible her father made it for humans to even touch the seas, pearls were one of the most rarest gems in the world. She doubted these people had even seen a pearl in real life, and yet here she was, completely dripping in them. It kind of made her self-conscious, wishing she could cover herself in Loki's cloak, but Beelzebub had turned it into a necklace. 

She looked down at herself and winced. Yeah, she should really change her clothes.

"Hey, Beel," she whispered.

"Hmm?"

"Do you think you could change our clothes?" She asked. "So we can blend in more?"

He scoffed under his breath. "Blend in?"

"People are staring at us like we're aliens," she pointed out. "You didn't even change your eye color or the fact that you have pointed ears."

"Human opinions do not matter to me, and they shouldn't matter to you," he told her. His hand gripped hers a little tighter, but not as a warning, but more as a way to reassure her.

"Well... alright," she managed a smile, which he responded with a nod of satisfaction.

They made it to her apartment building in record time—mostly because people parted like the Red Sea whenever they approached, so they didn't have to worry about a crowd getting in their way.

"This is my apartment!" She cheered when she spotted the familiar building.

Beelzebub scanned the building from top to bottom. This certainly wasn't the wealthier side of the city, and the building before him made it even more obvious. The walls were dirty and stained, some steps on the fire escapes were missing, and the whole street reeked of fried onions.

"You... lived here?" He didn't even bother hiding his disgust.

She gasped in offense and playfully whacked his arm. "Hey! Not everyone can live in a fancy lil castle in Hell!"

"It's just that... I assumed your father would prefer to live closer to the sea." He said. Or in the sea. He had trouble imagining the god of the seas choosing to live in some crummy apartment building in the middle of a concrete jungle away from the seas.

Her face fell into understanding. "You thought—? Oh, um," she cleared her throat awkwardly. "My dad doesn't live with us."

He blinked. "He doesn't?"

"No," was her vague reply. She then started looking around to find something to distract her with and found just the thing.

"Oh my gods!" She gasped. "My favorite food truck that's always outside is here too! Ooh, let's go! Let's go! I wanna see if they're still offering my favorite fried mac and cheese balls!"

Beelzebub commended himself for his wise decision on using handcuffs because she was already speeding for the food truck without even turning back to him. He matched her pace and grabbed her hand once more, reminding her that they were to stick together.

Percy's eyes lit up when she saw her favorite order on the menu and went to join the line. She was practically bursting with so much joy that she hardly cared about all the wide-eyed stares they were getting.

Beelzebub paid with a credit card he summoned out of nowhere and soon, they were sitting down at a bench feeding each other fried mac and cheese balls. It was kinda awkward since they were handcuffed—and Percy didn't want anyone to catch him using telekinesis to make the food float—but they managed.

"Isn't it delicious?" She asked him after feeding him a bite.

"You know none of this is healthy for human consumption, correct?"

"Oh hush," she shoved another spoonful into his mouth.

He tried to hide his smile as he ate his food.

"I wanna take pictures of us," she suddenly announced. "Can I borrow your phone? I'd use mine, but my dad's been snooping through it and I don't want him to see this."

Beelzebub's phone appeared in his hand and he gave it to her. "Fine, but only take pictures, don't post it anywhere," he warned. "Loki's been stalking your social media account. If he catches any wind of you being here..."

She shuddered. How creepy, she thought, but then she remembered something important Hel had told her.

"That reminds me. I met Hel at, um, my uncle's divorce party," she hoped she wasn't blushing when she said that. She was still trying her best to bleach that moment out of her memory, but it was hard when he was your fucking uncle. "She told me something interesting about her dad."

Beelzebub noticeably went still. "Oh?"

"Yeah. You'll never believe this, but Hel told me that Loki's been making drawings of me," she emphasized, feeling as if she was in another gossip session with the Aphrodite kids. "That's how she was able to recognize me at the party! Weird, right?"

He swallowed down a fried mac and cheese ball. "...Quite."

"And that's not all," she went on. "She told me that he mutters weird things about me too! She said he was obsessed with me, and that he had only ever been like this for one other person: Baldur."

He made a weird sound in the back of his throat. Wordlessly, he summoned a goblet of nectar and started to gulp it down.

Percy wasn't done yet. "It got me thinking... what if Loki has a crush on me like he had a crush on Baldur?"

Beelzebub actually spewed out his drink. "Hu—wha?"

"Hear me out," she began. "Loki's got the personality of a spoiled little rich boy. He's childish, annoying, and kind of a dickhead. But there have been moments where he was... strangely kind towards me. What if he really likes me and just doesn't know how to express it properly? Like those little boys who would yank a girl's hair because he wants her attention, but doesn't wanna admit it!"

He stared at her, his jaw dropped in disbelief. "Percy... what?"

"Just think about it!" She insisted. "Hel told me the only time Loki had ever been this obsessed was with Baldur. Mnemosyne said that Loki had killed Baldur out of jealousy—that he was jealous that everyone liked him so much. But! What if it was the other way around? What if he killed him because he didn't like the thought of sharing him with others and he was angry that he wasn't paying attention to him?"

"...This is the last time we're going to New York," he muttered. "These fumes are not good for you to inhale."

She pouted. "Aw, come on!"

"That was probably the craziest thing to ever come out of your mouth," he said. And she had said a lot of crazy things to him.

She opened her mouth to protest, but he took a spoonful of their food and shoved it into her mouth. "Take your pictures and eat."

She huffed petulantly, but thankfully, didn't bring it up again.

Beelzebub just shook his head, a short laugh escaping his lips. The idea that Loki was so hellbent on trying to kill Percy was because he liked her and just couldn't express it properly was so... ludicrous! He had never heard of something so insane! That was something a moronic human schoolboy would do, not a god like Loki.

Percy continued to snap pictures of them as they ate.

"Smiiiiile~" She sang, pressing her head against his. The upper corners of his lips went up as she snapped the pictures. He couldn't help it, he always seemed to be in a good mood whenever he was with her.

"Oh! And when you find a way back home for me, promise to give me these pictures before I leave okay? I wanna keep the good memories I made here." She added, absentmindedly going through his camera roll.

His good mood took an instant nosedive.

"...If that's what you wish," he murmured.

After they were done eating, they threw away their trash and Percy tugged him to the edge of the sidewalks.

"I wanna take you to all my favorite places," she said excitedly, but then she deflated. "Buuut sadly, most of them are gone."

He frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I wanted to go to this cabin in Montauk that my mom and I used to stay in during summer breaks—it was the place my mom met my dad. But it's not there anymore," she explained. "I should've known. Daddy—the one from here, I mean—doesn't let anyone near his territory so of course there wouldn't be any cabins near the beach..."

He blinked. "The Poseidon of your universe lets people near the beaches?"

"Yeah!" She exclaimed. "He's really chill. Mortals back there like to visit the beach all the time, some even have homes at the beach! And then there's underwater explorations, cruise ships, scuba-diving..." She proceeded to list a bunch of water-related activities that the Poseidon of this universe never would have allowed. "—All kinds of fun stuff that don't even exist here."

This was all so mind-boggling to him. She had told him a few things about her Poseidon before—that he was kind and 'chill' as she liked to say—but he didn't think he would be kind enough to actually allow humans to touch his waters. He wondered how polluted it must be, with all those humans mucking it all up.

They reached the curb. She let out a sharp whistle and not even a second later, a bunch of taxis were fighting to park in front of them. She pulled him in.

"Atteridge Strawberry U-Pick," she told the driver. "At Farm Road 3.141 Long Island."

He nodded, "Ya got it, miss."

He started driving. Beelzebub looked at the screen displayed at the front and saw that their destination was about an hour away. He would've rather just teleported straight there, but when he glanced at Percy, he saw her staring out the window in awe, watching as every skyscraper passed by. She was relishing in the sight, knowing she wouldn't be able to see this as much as she wanted to.

The driver seemed to pick up on it too. "This your first time in New York?"

"No," she chuckled. "I just haven't been home in a long time."

"Oh? Where you from?"

"Manhattan."

"I'm from Queens."

The two of them fell into idle chatter about their time in New York. Beelzebub could hardly understand it, but he felt himself getting annoyed with the human for being so chatty. Wasn't his job to just drive in silence?

He reached into the man's mind, which wasn't that hard because he hardly had any thoughts worth protecting anyway. He found himself growing more displeased at what he found. The man assumed that they were a wealthy couple traveling around New York. He was jealous of Beelzebub's good looks and supposed wealth, and found Percy attractive. He thought they were together, and yet he still thought it would be okay to speak to her throughout the ride.

Be quiet and drive, Beelzebub ordered. He could see the man's eyes go blank through the rear-view mirror. His smile dropped and he stared lifelessly at the road, driving in silence.

Percy grew concerned at the abrupt silence. He had been in the middle of telling her about some great restaurant he heard of over at Long Island.

She called out to him, "Sir?"

Beelzebub reached out and grasped her hand, fingers rubbing soothingly over her knuckles.

"He needs to concentrate on his job, Percy," he smiled charmingly. "Let us not distract him. Now why don't you tell me about that building over there?"

She beamed. "Oh! That's the Empire State Building! I almost died there a couple of times!"

Wait what? Beelzebub blinked, but like the ADHD child she was, she was already changing the topic and talking about another building without even bothering to clarify that concerning piece of information she gave him.

For the rest of the ride, she rambled about everything they came across. In Beelzebub's opinion, listening to her talk to him was a much better sound than listening to that man's grating voice.

Percy was breathless from talking so much by the time they got there. Once the car parked on the side of the road, she let out a gasp. "We're here!"

She was so happy that she didn't even realize that the man hadn't asked for payment as they climbed out of the taxi. Once they were out, the driver peeled out of the road. Beelzebub made sure he would meet a fatal accident on the way back and made a mental note to pluck his soul out from Helheim to use as a new test subject.

"Wow," Percy whistled, impressed. "Look, they got a staircase that leads up the hill! Lucky... Wonder why Camp never had one built..."

They walked up the stairs. Percy had already seen what the farm looked like on her phone, but to see how different her camp looked in real life was an entirely different feeling. All the cabins that she had built after the war, the lava-climbing wall, the big house, it was all gone. Replaced by an almost endless field of strawberries, a small market, a cafe, and a souvenir shop.

"The giant pine tree isn't here," she sighed sadly. "I figured."

"Pine tree?"

"Camp has this pine tree that used to guard the area," she said. "Long-story short, my friend Thalia, was dying and her dad, Zeus, turned her into a pine tree to save her. That pine tree gave out a magical border that kept the camp safe from monsters—and it continued to do that even after we brought her back."

Beelzebub wasn't even surprised about the whole tree thing—turning humans into plants was actually a pretty common thing for most gods, but what caught his attention was—"Monsters?"

She scowled. "Yeah, you know. Hellhounds, dracanae, empousai," she waved a hand. "They like to hunt us down. It's different here though because of—well, that's another long story."

She glanced to her left and spotted a group of people handing bright red plastic baskets to strawberry pickers and grabbed Beelzebub's hand.

"Let's go pick some strawberries," she grinned. "If we have time, I'll make strawberry shortcakes back at your place." If not, then she'd have to make them at her father's palace, give some to her father, and then give them to Beelzebub (Poseidon didn't like it when she cooked and baked for others, so it was best to start with him first so he'd be in a better mood).

People's jaws dropped when they saw them. She couldn't blame them; they weren't exactly dressed for strawberry picking and Beelzebub certainly wasn't helping with his red eyes and pointed ears. She ignored them and resumed berry picking while occasionally pointing out places and what they used to be back in her universe.

"There used to only be twelve cabins for each god? The Greek pantheon is much larger than that," Beelzebub pointed out.

"Yeah, I know right? I had them fix it after the—" she paused. "I mean, I had them add more cabins the summer before I got sent here."

Beelzebub wasn't about to let that slip-up go. "After what?" He asked.

"Huh?"

"You said that you had the gods add more cabins after...?"

He noticed the way she immediately averted gazes, her expression falling. "It's nothing," she said. There was a tremor to her voice. She turned away and her cheery voice returned, "Oh! Look! Over here's where we had a lava climbing wall!"

He wanted to push for answers, but this was supposed to be her day, so he let her get away with it.

She proceeded to tell him more about the camp; how Chiron, the trainer of heroes, was the camp activities director, how Dionysus (she called him Mr. D) worked as the co-director, and how she once saw Hestia (who took the form of a little girl) poking at a hearth, etc. etc. He noticed that she talked about the gods as if they weren't supposed to be near them, which he thought was pretty weird because didn't Dionysus have a son at the camp? Why wouldn't he be near them? And Hestia was the goddess of family, it was only natural she would visit the camp to see her extended family.

"Does your father live with you at the Camp?" He wondered aloud. If Poseidon didn't live with her at her home, then surely he stayed with her during summers? He was pretty sure humans called that a 'joint custody'.

She shot him a look of surprise. "What?"

"You said there were cabins built for each god, correct? And that every demigod stayed in the respective cabin. Do you all live with your godly parent every summer?"

Her eyes widened. "Oh. No, no. Our godly parents don't stay with us. Mr. D's only there because he's stuck on probation and watching over us is his punishment. Hestia was just a one-time thing, I think. And it's not really a summer camp either. That's optional. Some kids stay there year round 'cause they don't have anywhere to go."

Now he was even more lost. "But... they are the children of gods." He said slowly, trying to understand why a bunch of demigods wouldn't have anywhere to go when their parents were literally all-powerful beings.

She wasn't looking at him anymore. "Gods aren't allowed to interfere with their mortal children. It's one of their Ancient Laws. Some gods try to help their kids out indirectly, but there are definitely some who couldn't care less."

"And your father? Which one is he?" He couldn't help but ask.

"Dad loves me," she smiled. "But it hurts for us to be around each other. I can't stay with him forever and he's not allowed to be the dad that mom and I need him to be." And that truth was just too painful to bear.

Hermes' words from years ago echoed in her head, "Do you know what that feels like? To be so close to someone you love, knowing neither of you has any choice but to keep hurting each other? I know you do."

It was a bitter pill to swallow, but that was just how things worked in her universe. In this one, there were no rules, no restrictions for the gods. They were free to do whatever they wished and that was the only reason why Poseidon was able to take her in—in here, she wasn't forbidden and her father wasn't bound by a law to stay away.

Beelzebub could feel his resolve cracking even more than before.

If it hurts so much, then stay, he wanted to tell her. He couldn't understand why she would want to go back so much. She was so much happier here. How could she want to leave it all behind?

Beelzebub didn't ask anymore questions, which she appreciated.

They resumed picking their strawberries. Afterwards, they had their baskets weighed and bagged for purchase. Then they headed over to the cafe where they munched on strawberry and cream sandwiches. They ate outside, wanting to enjoy the smell of fresh strawberries and the sight of the sun beginning to set. Percy took more pictures.

There was still cream in the corner of her lips, so, without even realizing what he was doing, he reached out with his non-cuffed hand to wipe it away. She smiled at him in thanks, as if that sad moment she had before had never occurred. It always amazed him how she easily brushed things off.

"Hey, Beel...?" She suddenly spoke.

He hummed in response, swallowing down bits of his sandwich.

"A part of me... really hopes you don't find a way to access the multiverse." She admitted.

If he had a heart, it would've skipped a beat. "Are you saying you wish to remain here?"

She shook her head. "No, I meant... you wanna access the multiverse so you can find a way to kill yourself right? I really don't want that to happen. I don't want you to die, and I know you said that you'd use me if you failed, but I won't go through with it. I'm telling you now, if there's no other choice but me, I'm not going through with it, no matter what you do to me."

Beelzebub stared at her, and he could feel that gods awful emotion creeping up to him—and this time, he could no longer ignore it. He could not hold it back anymore, couldn't deny what he truly felt.

It was coming back to him again. Love. The one emotion that brought him so much happiness and anguish at the same time.

He loved Percy Jackson, and it was the best and worst thing that could ever happen to him.

He knew, if he let this fester too much, it would spell her doom and he would be left grieving her for the rest of his miserable life. He doubted her soul would be sent to Valhalla, she wasn't from this universe, she was too much of an anomaly—she would be gone forever.

He knew that the right thing to do would be to stay away from her and pray that this accursed feeling faded alongside her, but she looked at him with so much care that he couldn't bring himself to push her away. Like the true Devil he was, he craved her too much.

If he didn't do something about this now, he would never be able to let her go.

Percy reached out to wipe away the tears streaming down his face. He hadn't even realized how much he was crying.

"Are those happy tears or sad tears?" She asked tentatively.

"...I don't know," he answered honestly.

"I know you really want it," she muttered sadly. "But I'm sorry. I just can't go through with it."

Slowly, he reached out and grasped her hand. He pressed a gentle kiss on her inner wrist, right where he could feel the heavy beating of her pulse.

He didn't think he could go through with it either.

‧₊˚✩彡𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 𓆝 𓆟‧₊˚✩彡๋ ࣭ ⭑ ࣭ ⭑

The sun was disappearing into the horizon, which meant that her father would be back to pick her up soon.

It was time to head back to Helheim.

Percy really didn't want to go. She wanted to stay here, she wanted to live here. It may not have been her city, but it was the closest thing she could have to it.

Almost everything was still the same. Her apartment, the food trucks she liked, Goode High School, the malls she would hang out with her friends at—

(—the Williamsburg Bridge where she killed Michael Yew, the spot on the pavement outside of the Empire State Building where Ethan Nakamura's broken body was found, the street where Silena Beauregard was killed by the Lydian Drakon—)

—the dog park where she would take Mrs. O'Leary on walkies, and hey! Even Sweet on America, the candy shop her mom used to work at, was still there (she had Beelzebub buy her a whole bunch of blue sweets which she proceeded to eat in under an hour)!

But her father wouldn't even let her step foot out of the palace—let alone let her live in the surface world of Midgar. Humans are a barbaric kind, he always told her. They have no sense of loyalty—even towards their own kind. They would never accept you.

He talked as if she was gonna go around introducing herself like, "Hey there! I'm Percy, daughter of Poseidon, you know, the sea god? Yeah, gods are real! Please accept me!". But for some odd reason, the idea of blending in amongst the humans seemed to baffle him (and everyone else) just as much.

When they returned to the familiar walls of Beelzebub's castle, Beelzebub undid the cuffs and Percy promptly collapsed on the nearest chaise and let out a heavy breath.

"This was probably the best day ever," she beamed at him. "Thanks, Beel. I really, really appreciate this."

"It was no problem," he replied swiftly, taking the basket of strawberries from her hand to set them on a nearby table.

She let out a yawn.

"Go to sleep," he said gently. "You must be exhausted from running all over the city."

"'Kay," she said, not even bothering to stay up and wait for her dad. She let out another yawn and got into a comfortable position. She peeked one eye open at him, "I'll see you on Monday, right?"

It was almost as if she was aware of his inner battle to stay away from her.

"Of course," he nodded. "We still need to catch up on your history lessons, after all."

She smiled.

He reached out and smoothed her hair back, and ordered, Sleep. She was out like a light.

He straightened up and sat beside her on another chaise and pulled out his phone. He started scrolling through all the pictures she took of them. Some were clear, and some weren't, not that he minded. Seeing himself on the screen was like a punch to the gut. He looked so happy beside her. He didn't want this feeling to ever go away.

"Happy birthday," he murmured lovingly, running a hand through her hair.

He wished he could have this forever, but all he could do now was sit in silence and wonder how long this happiness would last before he had to cut it short. 

— author's note —

Stormystorms made a poem about Posy 😍😍😍 AND they managed to fit it all in one pic:

Percy fanart featuring a lovesick Apollo and an annoyed Artemis by girlygrls:

Painting!Percy getting thirsted on 😍 from naoyaofficialmommy:

A whole series of fanarts from yagodnyizefir:

APOLLO AND BABY PHAETON 🥺

CLOWN!HADES 😭😭😭

Thank you for the Beelzebub one, I needed that encouragement for my exams 🥰🥰

And they also drew Anubis x Percy too!

Prim and proper Percy from 😌 nobodyunimportant!

Percy fanart from littlepotaaatosimp (the ✨booty✨ omg):

Everyone's favorite scheming auntie Hera from honeydew-mint: