Aquagirl (Fem. Percy x YJ)

82

I woke up slowly.

And that was a surprise. So many times did I snap awake, heart racing, hand itching for Riptide. But this time, I woke up to warmth wrapped around me. A hand ran through my hair. Mind hazy and filled with the fog of sleep, I could only assume it was Father. 

But Father was never this warm. Nor did he fail to lay me down when I would drift off against him. I cracked my eyes open, and a palm tree greeted me. Not Father, my mind helpfully provided, Dad.

"You're awake." 

I tried to push away. Dad's arms stopped that, and no matter how hard I may try I knew I could not best one of the Big Three. I could not oppose him in this matter and come out victorious. If anything, my short-lived struggle had him tightening his hold. 

"Little one, allow me this. Please," he said, voice heavy with some emotion I could not place but that did not sound right coming from him. I said nothing and he pressed his cheek against my head. "My brother will have my head for daring to do this. It is a risk staying as long as I have, but I cannot do this to you. You deserve love and care. I watch over you the best I can, yet you harbor...let's say contempt for me." His fingers stroked the back of my neck, careful to never draw near my gills. "I do not want you to. I understand why, but--" he chuckled. "I'm a god and we are selfish beings."

"Why are you acting as if you even care?"

The earth trembled. My words hung in the air, spoken and unable to be taken back. They echoed in my ears, taunting me with my own stupidity. I pressed my head against Dad's broad shoulder. Make myself seem smaller, more vulnerable. He may be a god, but he is also a god with a penchant for protecting what he considers to be his. He sighed. 

"You have done far too much." Dad's voice rumbled. "We have asked too much of you, child, and now you are the one paying for it." He pressed a kiss to my hair. My stomach growled without warning, and my face heated. Please have missed that.

To me, it seemed like he had. He didn't try to force me to eat, not like Mother or Father or Tula or Garth. He held me the same as before, with no intention of letting me go. And it confused me. All those times he had pushed me aside, treated me as weapon, those conflicted with this. He brushed his hand through my hair with all the love and tenderness I would expect from Mother and Father. 

His other hand slid down over my back. I could practically sense the way he frowned. 

"You need to eat, Percy," he said. I shook my head. He breathed out. "I'm not asking if you want to, I'm saying you need to. I really don't care what you eat at this point, so long as you eat something." 

"And get poisoned? And just throw it all up?"

"Even if you throw up, you're still going to get something from it." Exasperated, Dad clutched me closer. "Child, Percy." There was so much emotion in his voice.

"I- I don't want to." I didn't care if it made me sound like a bratty child. Just the thought of eating, trusting someone enough to know they would not poison me, it was sickening. Acid ate away at my stomach, hunger gnawing at the lining. Knowing that I had to eat and actually doing it, those were two very different things.

He shifted me, releasing me from the death grip but not from his arms, not fully. A piece of ambrosia appeared in one hand. Splitting a piece off, he tossed that small part into his mouth. The rest was dumped into my trembling hand. "Trust in me, child," he said. "I do not wish harm to come to you. And while this is not a permanent solution, it will allow you a bit of strength. I- I do not wish to watch you wither away."

The knock on the door went ignored. I stared up at Dad, my eyes mirrored in his. I sniffled and ducked my head. I couldn't stand it. Not when I had to keep myself from crying. It wouldn't be proper to cry in front of him. Already I had done too much. Regardless of recent actions, our positions have not changes. 

I placed the ambrosia in my mouth, and the warmth and Aunt Sally's cookies...

Dad's thumb wiped across my cheekbone. My shoulders shook, choked breaths sucked in past my lips only to be released in shaky exhales. I wasn't sobbing. I wasn't. I couldn't- I couldn't be. Not in front of him. 

And yet the strong arms wrapping back around me and holding me close, the soft words and gentle fingers running through my hair: those were there. They were real. My hands twisted in the back of Dad's shirt. Even if I didn't know why he was doing this, even if he would get bored of me and leave, he was here at the moment. That was the only thing that mattered.

"Percy, are- I thought you had left," said Mother. I swallowed, silencing my cries on reflex. One of Dad's hands, rough and calloused but oh so gentle, cupped the side of my face. 

"She is my child."

"I never said she was not."

Dad's grip on me tightened, as if he was afraid she would take me away from him. I could feel his aura slip out from his careful control. A warning. Not to me. And certainly not to Mother. I could not figure out why, at least until I shifted to wipe my tears.

"My little one." Mother's hand brushed over my hair. "Have you eaten?"

"I gave her some ambrosia. It will be enough. For now at the very least." The arms around me loosened, and Dad pulled me to sit by his side. "Did you want something?"

Mother dipped to hug me, pressing a kiss to my head. "While you are here, Calvin and I wished to talk to you about something." Silence reigned, and then fingers tapped against me. 

"Of course." Dad stood, taking his warmth with him. It took all I had not to whine. A large hand rested atop my head for a moment, an overt sign of affection that left me wishing for more. But I did not get that wish, as they left me alone to stare at the door. 

"More than I ever expected," I mumbled to myself. 

I hope you all know I had 500 words, said nope, and then wrote this. And then I deleted half of that and added more and it was a mess and I hope you enjoyed this!

(Cuts included, there was garth, some of the team, Spirited Away, and Hera)

See yah