♃ Human After All • Percy/Nico, Catamitus

[igrab]

Human After All
Percy/Nico, Catamitus
• 4,830 words
• mostly because I like sticking Ganymedes everywhere he doesn't belong.
• spoilers for son of neptune.



Ganymedes stopped dead in the arched doorway to Zeus's rooms.

"Jove," he whispered, the word short and shocked in his throat.

It had been a long time since his lover had taken this form. At least a hundred years, though presumably he'd done his duty to the Roman camp before the ban. But at home, he was Zeus. He hadn't been Jupiter in ages.

The god tilted his head back and smiled warmly. "Hey there, Kitten. Come in. What's wrong?"

Kitten. That was their little joke, a play on words since catamite had become an insult. It was nicer to call him Cat, or Kitten, but Ganymedes often wished that he didn't have to have a Roman name at all. Aeneas may have come from Troy, but Troy was not Rome. Ganymedes was not Roman.

"I believe I'm the one who should be asking you that question," he said, delicately. "What's going on?"

Jupiter glared into his mirror. He was taller than Zeus, more formal, serious and principled and rule-bound. He was wearing a toga that seemed to be woven of the clouds themselves; Ganymedes knew it had been. "Something's wrong. Juno's gone missing."

Juno, not Hera. So this wasn't about jealousy, which Ganymedes was frankly grateful for. He liked Juno loads better than her Greek version. A Roman wife had no problem with her husband's indiscretions. She was strong enough on her own. "Who took her?"

"See, that's the thing," and he ground this out unwillingly, like he would rather die than admit it. "It seems she left... voluntarily."

Oh. Well, that wasn't like her at all.

"Mm," Ganymedes said, because this was shaping up to be the beginnings of a disaster and a half and couldn't anything be simple for a few years? No, of course not, this was the beginning of a new Age. A new hero, etched in among the greats, an infracaninophilic son of the sea.

Ganymedes wanted nothing to do with it. Especially if Zeus was going to be Jupiter for a while.

The god sighed, reading Ganymedes as clear as day. He strode closer, cupped his chin with one rough but delicate hand and tipped his face up to meet his eyes. "Cat," he whispered. "This is big. Bigger than just Juno. Forces are stirring that will need the gods united, all of us, Roman and Greek and all our children. You'll stand with us?"

"I'm no fighter, Jove," Ganymedes whispered, but his heart was already acquiescing. He still loved him, no matter whether he was Zeus or Jupiter or whatever name they were calling him these days. "But I'm with you, of course. I always am. You know that."

"Good," Jupiter said, steadily. "And that's why I'm going to ask you to leave Olympus."

Ganymedes blinked, shocked. "Excuse me?"

"...You're one of the few who have been granted a free pass of immortality," he said. "No conditions. No reversals. You are unfettered by that which binds us all, even gods. You will never end unless you choose it, and you are no god. You're in a unique position, Kitten. I need you on the streets."

Ganymedes swallowed. He really wished he'd call him by his true name, just once. Catamitus just didn't feel right, anywhere but Rome.

"I need you to find Nico di Angelo, and introduce him to his father once again."

"Pluto," he whispered, and Jove nodded.

"You're human, Ganymedes." He smiled, and just for a moment, with that name, there was the spark of Zeus's irrepressible spirit in Jupiter's eyes. "You can change the world."

♃
He got to Nico, but someone was there first.

"Hi, Cat," she said cheerfully.

Ganymedes - no, Catamitus, he might as well get used to it - sighed. "Hi, Juventas."

It wasn't that he didn't like her - they actually got along quite well, as long as she wasn't being jealous of his job, or of the way Zeus paid more attention to him, or the way people had constantly compared them. She'd been the cupbearer to the gods before he'd come along - married off like a trophy to Herakles, which any sane woman would have been thrilled at, but Hebe - Juventas, to the Romans - was the daughter of Zeus and Hera. She felt she deserved better.

She inspected her fingernails and Cat waited for her to get to the point. It looked like Nico was waiting, too, just as frustrated and confused as Cat felt.

"If you're waiting for me to leave, I won't," he finally said. "I'm here on Jove's business."

"And I on Juno's," she was quick to respond. Juventas turned to Nico, hands on her hips. "My lady has a job for you, son of Pluto."

"Hades."

She waved the distinction away. "He's Pluto, now, I've no doubt of it. Everyone's changing, get with the program."

Cat had no doubt that her husband was cheering as they spoke - no one ever recognized him as Herakles, but as Hercules, he was more popular than anyone.

"Fine. Whatever. What is it you need me to do?"

When she told them, Cat was shocked. This was Juno's plan? Switch out Percy and Jason, take their memories, and hope for the best?

Still, he had to admit it was better than Jove's plan. He thought he didn't need the demigods. Ever. Cat had always maintained that that was ridiculous; why turn down solid help in the name of nothing more than pride?

His favorite story had always been the one where Zeus and Herakles fought side by side. Father and son, god and demigod. Working together. It had been so human of him.

♃
Nico had thought he and Percy were done with rivers. But now, here they were, another time, another river, another black sandy shore and Nico feeling helpless.

When he dropped Percy in, he would forget all about him.

In that moment, he hated the gods. Hated all of them with a passion that only a child of the dead could manage, and that was exactly why. Why did they have to be demigods? Why was the fate of the world always in their hands? Couldn't they just... rent an apartment in Long Beach and spend the days throwing frisbees for Mrs. O'Leary?

No. Perseus Jackson was made of destiny and star stuff, and Nico wouldn't love him half as much if he were anything less.

He let his sleeping body slip from his arms and fall under the black water, submerging him completely. The waters of the Lethe went over and under him, soaking into his skin, and Nico wished with that tiny, silly part of himself that it wouldn't work. That the Lethe was too much river and not enough forgetfulness, that Percy would wake up, wonder where he was, and miss him.

But no. Just as he had with Jason moments before, he brought Percy to wakefulness, cleared his eyes of sleep. The demigod blinked and winced and frowned, confused.

"Who am I?" he whispered, and Nico's heart was already breaking.

"Your name is Percy Jackson," he murmured, and closed his eyes with shaking fingers, setting him back into a slumber that only one of the Death God's own could induce.

♃
They were in between shadows, on the way to dropping Jason off, when Juventas gasped and veered off in another direction. Cursing, Nico followed, and Catamitus quickly did as well - if he got lost in here, who knows when someone would find him and fish him out? He wouldn't die, he couldn't, but that didn't mean he couldn't get stuck.

They popped out in Nevada and Cat groaned. "Juvie," he sighed, "this isn't anywhere close to New York."

Juventas waved him off just as she'd waved off Nico's insistence on using Greek names. "There's something important here," she said. "Someone - no, two someones. Can't you sense it?"

Cat gave her a dry, withering look. No, he couldn't. He was one hundred percent human, and the only reason he could see through the Mist was because he'd been around before it had even existed.

Nico frowned, but his powers came from death, not life, so it was likely that everyone alive felt the same to him.

"Amateurs," Juvie scoffed, and Cat rolled his eyes. "There are unclaimed demigods here."

Nico frowned. "What, really? Out here?" It did look barren. But Juventas set off at a brisk pace, and they had no choice but to follow her.

"Yes. Two of them. And they're important. We should leave Jason with them, let him make some friends before he's dumped on the camp."

Cat frowned. "Juvie - I don't know about this. Don't you have your orders?"

Juventas stretched up to her full height - which was not very much at all. She was a head shorter than Catamitus, and he wasn't exactly what you'd call tall. But, she was the goddess of youth, after all. Her china-doll face and petite stature were all a part of the bargain. "Juno gives me directions, not orders. And unlike some people I could name, I can tell when something's important."

Cat glanced over at Nico for help, but he was backing away, no way was he going to take sides in this discussion. The Trojan prince sighed and shrugged. It didn't matter one way or another, to him. And nothing Juventas could say would make him feel anything less than himself.

♃
And then, the more difficult one. Percy. Nico had carried Jason over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes but Percy, Cat noticed, he cradled in his arms. They weren't quite sure what to do with him - Juventas said the Wolf House wasn't safe, though she wouldn't say why, and Cat was just about fed up dealing with her and simply wanted to get this done.

"You know what, stop," he muttered, and they stopped. "Let's go to Sacramento."

"Why?" Juvie, of course, had to challenge everything he said.

"Because I like Sacramento," he said shortly. "Did Juno tell you anything else?"

She shrugged one shoulder. "Just to keep him sleeping until Lupa finds him. A city's probably not the best place - "

"If the Wolf House isn't safe, Lupa won't be there," Cat said grimly. He noticed that Nico was looking off in the distance blankly; he had no idea what they were talking about at all, but his hands clutched Percy tight. He wouldn't be tossing him carelessly around like they had with Jason. He would protect him to his last breath. "...Look. I've got a place in Sacramento, and I know Lupa. I'll take care of Percy, and you can go back to hiding in Elysium."

She crossed her arms and scowled at him. "And what if I don't trust you?"

"Oh my gods, Juvie, I've got this, just leave."

♃
Cat had apartments scattered all over the world. He liked to know he had homes to get to, especially since he wasn't a god and he had to travel just like any other human. He always had wonderful flights, of course, but hotels got very boring very quickly, and he liked to have things he could call his own.

This was the only place he had on the West coast at all, though. He found it politic to avoid southern California, but the north - well. He maybe not have considered himself Roman, may not have wanted to be associated with them - but the fact still remained, they were his only true legacy. Aeneas was the only surviving Trojan royalty to make it to Italy, and it was his grandsons, Remus and Romulus, who gave birth to Rome. So perhaps Catamitus felt a little bit responsible. Perhaps he wanted to keep an eye on things. But he stayed in Sacramento, far enough away to stay unnoticed.

Nico dropped them right neatly into the bedroom, and tucked Percy in under the covers. "Is this really all right?" he said, nervously. "It's - I can find somewhere else, if you like."

He put a hand on the demigod's shoulder and squeezed. "It's really all right. I wasn't lying when I said I'd take care of him, you know. And Lupa knows were to find me."

"Who is this Lupa?" Now that Percy was, for the moment, safe, Nico began prowling the room, restless and curious. He picked up each of Cat's shells - he had quite a collection, scattered over all his bookshelves - and read the spines of each of his books.

"...Ah," he murmured. "Yes. I suppose it's time to do my job, now, and get you up to date. Let's get dinner," he said, "and we'll talk. This might take quite a while."

♃
Nico took everything that Ganymedes said - no, Catamitus, though he couldn't even say the name with a straight face - processed it, internalized it, and accepted it. All right, then. The gods were going to be Roman for a while, there was a whole other demigod camp in the Berkeley Hills that didn't even believe the Greeks existed, and Juno needed Percy to be there, sans memories, whenever a giant wolf could spare the time to seek them out. Or something. Cat wasn't exactly clear on that bit.

"...But when she does arrive, we'll wake him up, give him over to her. She'll train him, test him - he'll pass, of course, he's Perseus Jackson - and send him on his way to the Roman camp. Where he may or may not be impaled on sight, but I suppose that's Juno's problem, if she needs him so badly."

Nico felt stricken. It wasn't that he didn't know that Cat was making sense - he was just telling it like it was - but it was Percy, he couldn't not care, he couldn't treat this like it was just any other day. Chinese takeout nonwithstanding.

"Well, as long as they don't stab him in the back, he should be fine," Nico muttered mulishly, more to comfort himself than anything else.

"Oh," Cat sighed, and tapped his chopsticks on his paper plate. "No, that won't really work."

Wait. What? "......What are you talking about?"

"Mmm. The Mark of Achilles, right? Yeah, no. The Romans won't let him in with a Greek blessing like that."

Nico just... gaped. How could he be so calm about this? So serene? "But-"

"...When he crosses the Tiber, it will wash it away."

Nico sputtered. "Excuse me? Just like that? Are we talking about the same Mark of Achilles, here? You, the one Percy nearly died getting, and he - "

But Cat held up a hand, and Nico forced himself to put a lid on it.

"...Yes. That Mark of Achilles. The Tiber is quite a powerful river, but you're right - it's not something that's so easily removed, not for very long, at least. But it will be long enough. It will come back over time, and he still has quite a price to pay for that, you know."

Nico felt that heaviness settle on his heart again. "Yes, I know," he muttered, his voice serious. "...I'm so worried about him," he admitted in a feverish whisper, ducking his head and wincing. "And now I've taken away his memories, too. What if something happens? If he can't remember to protect his back--"

"Nico." Catamitus reached out, gathered the boy's hands in his own, smooth and delicate. "Don't worry, okay? He's in the best of care."

Nico gave him a long, calculating look. "I thought you hated Hera?"

"What? No. I mean, yes, but that's personal. And I don't hate Juno."

Augh. He'd never understand this.

♃
It had been over a week, and still no sign of Lupa.

Cat and Nico took turns watching over Percy - Nico quite literally, whenever he could spare the time. He had a chair pulled up to Percy's bedside and everything; probably thought himself very romantic. Cat didn't hover quite as much, but he still kept to the apartment when Nico wasn't there, more in case Lupa showed up than anything. He had no idea what the Mist would turn a seven-foot-tall wolf into, and it was better to be safe than sorry.

Nico worried about keeping Percy in this kind of deep slumber for so long. Cat did, too, actually; though he pretty much figured Percy would be able to handle it, as long as they fed him some ambrosia now and again. But he was worried about why. Where was Lupa? Why was the Wolf House unsafe?

They watched over him, protected him, and waited.

♃
The answer came around Christmas, and Nico stumbled into the apartment looking sick from shadow travel and shaken with fear. "Juno," he muttered. "Wolf House--prison. Needed Jason--Piper and Leo--" he couldn't talk, couldn't get the words out, he was stumbling and literally falling to his knees with exhaustion. Cat helped him to the bed, pushed him down next to Percy and wrapped them both in blankets.

"Sleep, demigod," he murmured. "Tell me all about it in the morning."

♃
When Nico woke, he thought he was still dreaming. It was just too good to be true.

Percy, Percy Jackson, had an arm wrapped around him and his face in his hair, and Nico had his cheek pressed to the other demigod's chest. He could hear his heartbeat, steady and slow in the deep waves of delta sleep. But he was alive. He was here. Nico was with him.

He remembered that Percy didn't know who he was, and knew it wasn't a dream any longer.

Over breakfast, he told Catamitus all about what had happened. He still hadn't told anyone that he knew where Percy was - that was part of the plan, he knew that now, for everyone to be looking for him. The Romans were looking for Jason, too, and they would have to grow together. Grow strong, to take on the Mother of the Earth itself.

Gods, but he didn't like her. The dead trusted the earth to hold their bones, to be silent and accepting. This was not silent. This was not accepting. It made him feel sick.

Cat stared down at his hands. "Well, with the Wolf House free again, we should bring Percy there, to meet Lupa. And you need to talk to your dad."

"I what? Why?" Nico wondered whether Cat was talking about Hades or Pluto; he supposed it shouldn't matter, but it did anyway.

He gave him that same dry look he'd given Juventas, those weeks ago. "You said it yourself. The binds of death are coming undone. I should think you could be a lot of help, to your father. And..." He glanced back towards the bedroom. "...It's the best way to help your friend. Trust me. I will look after him. This is something only you can do."

Nico nodded, though the idea of leaving Percy in such a state made him anxious beyond reason. Still, he trusted Cat, and he was sick and tired of doing nothing. He wanted to act.

♃
Pluto was very different from Hades. Nico wasn't sure who he liked more, or less, they were just... different. But similar. Like two sides of the same coin, or something.

He was, at least, much less mopey than Hades. His father tended to get a bit drippy whenever the vernal equinox approached; Pluto seemed more more contained.

Likewise, Prosperina wasn't as emotional as Persephone, either. This was useful, since last time Nico checked, Persephone couldn't stand him. Prosperina didn't much care one way or another. And anyway, they all had bigger things to worry about.

Thanatos had been kidnapped. Gaea had found the doors of death. It was basically mayhem, and while Nico didn't forget about Percy or anything, he just got very busy, that's all.

It wasn't that he was looking for Bianca. Not really. He wasn't. Well, maybe only a little. But he found Hazel instead, and while he was fairly certain that her actual father was something closer to the Vodoun Loa version of Pluto, he didn't see any better options and he wanted to get closer to the Roman camp, okay? For Percy. He was scared shitless for Percy.

When he'd managed to sneak Hazel out of the Underworld, though, he could tell that something was different. Maybe he'd taken a wrong turn, or maybe Hazel's presence just sent time for a loop-de-loop. But this was definitely fall, not spring. He was in two places at once, he'd gone back in time, and he had to keep his cool. The doors were still closed, too. How had he managed to fuck this up? But at least, he thought, they should be well off Thanatos's radar. He'd make sure to hack into his dad's files later, just to be sure.

He dropped her at the Wolf House, finally met Lupa - and he thought Cerberus was big, oh gods - and ran away quite as fast as he could. Because, well, Lupa was terrifying, basically. And he didn't quite trust himself not to start spouting off about making Percy wait for so long.

He spent the overlap months becoming, essentially, a son of Pluto. He threw himself into it, because otherwise he was going to fuck things up royally by storming into Sally Jackson's apartment, yanking Annabeth off of Percy's face, and clinging to him while sobbing copious manly tears. No, there would be none of that. He had to keep himself apart. And maybe, if he was smart about it, he could learn things about what Gaea was up to, before she even made her move.

♃
None of that ended up mattering. Suddenly, March was over, and all he'd accomplished was watching Hazel fumble to find her place at Camp Jupiter and established himself as the vaguely mysterious Ambassador of Pluto. And he'd seen, first-hand, how serious this was. This was beyond just him, beyond just Percy, and it was beyond some little crush. They had a duty, to see this out, and Percy was, as Nico had always known he would be, the main player.

Prosperina had left. Pluto didn't mope like Hades but he raged, throwing fits and tantrums and bellowing at his minions. Nico made himself scarce. It had been months, now, since anyone had really cared about him, and it felt just like That Time, a year or so ago - had he aged a little more with the time jump? Was he a bit older, now? - when he'd had to forge through everything alone, nothing but information and hearsay and endless, endless shadow travel. Begging Percy to listen. Begging Percy to care.

When this is all over, I'll tell him, he thought. I'll tell him how I feel. Before something else happens, for it surely will.

But for now - he had a job to do. Keep Hazel safe. Trust Juno and Cat. Get Percy integrated into Camp Jupiter, whenever Lupa was finished with him. Keep him from remembering too much too soon. Guard his back.

♃
Lupa, of course, wanted nothing to do with a Greek demigod.

Take him away, she yipped, bored. I do not care about this war or this prophecy. I train Romans, not pederasts.

Catamitus ground his teeth, willing himself not to snap. It wasn't an insult, he wouldn't take it as an insult, even though she'd clearly meant it as one. "You forget," he said icily, "I am no Greek. I am the last Prince of Troy, the oldest blood of the Roman people. If you serve them, you serve me." He hated playing this card. He hated sounding so demanding. But status was everything, with Romans, and he knew that not even Lupa could deny his legitimacy.

You are a disgrace, she said, tossing her head.

"And you are honor-bound to obey me. You're a servant of Rome, Lupa. Like it or not, you owe me your allegiance."

He didn't know that even Jupiter knew about this, that he could do this. He supposed he would, if the god had ever thought about it, but likely he didn't expect Cat to ever stand up for himself like that. He'd be the first to say that he burned his bridges a long time ago, but this wasn't for him. It was for the future, for Juno, and for Nico di Angelo.

He wanted this to succeed most of all because he knew the look on Nico's face - that of someone so helplessly in love that everything else became inconsequential. It was the one thing Cat would always be weak to. Anyone who loved like that, and they were rare these days, deserved to get a chance.

♃
Only those months of preparation, of slipping into the role of this Ambassador persona, prepared him for the shock of finally seeing Percy again, awake and alive. Gods, he was beautiful. So beautiful. Nico wanted to kiss him, just run up and rise on tiptoes and kiss the living daylights out of him. He didn't, of course, because the Ambassador of Pluto didn't know Percy Jackson, but he thought about it all the same. "Sure," he said. "We can talk later. I'm staying overnight."

Gods, he didn't know what possessed him to say that.

That night, he sat up on the roof of Pluto's shrine for a long time, just thinking. Hazel had told him that the only thing Percy could remember was his name, and some girl - Annabeth.

Nico hated how that made his heart wrench in his chest. Not because he was jealous. He'd long ago accepted that he would always be jealous of Annabeth Chase, but that was no reason to dislike her, and after all - anyone Percy cared that much about was someone worth loving.

No, it wasn't that. It was that he'd known, all along, where Percy was, but he hadn't been able to tell her. She was out there, someone, probably searching for him. And Nico couldn't tell her. Even if he wanted to. If he'd been in her place, if he'd had the kind of claims that she did and someone else withheld information - he would be furious. It would hurt so much. He wouldn't wish that pain on anyone.

♃
"Where are you going?" Nico asked, as he watched Catamitus pack his things.

"Greece," he said, and he looked just as calm as ever, despite having plans to head straight into not only a collapsing economy, but almost certain death at the hands of evil. He didn't seem concerned about this at all. He was humming.

"May I ask why?"

Cat grinned. "The same reason you're headed off through the Underworld. I'm helping in my own way, the only way I can, the way that no one else can." He squeezed Nico's shoulder again, and it had been a long time, too long, since anyone had looked at him with nothing but concern. "The monsters can't sense me, or hurt me. To them, I'm invisible. Only a human can do that."

Nico smiled despite himself, a strain of Daft Punk winding unbidden through his head. "And you're pretty useless on a battlefield, huh?"

"That too." The cupbearer of the gods chuckled, hoisted his pack, then - leaned in impulsively, kissed Nico on the cheek.

"You'll get your chance," he murmured. "I'll make sure of it. Can I get a ride to the airport?" Nico blinked at the lightning-fast subject change; he didn't even have time to process that first statement, which he supposed was the whole point. "You're much faster than a taxi."

He pulled Cat into the shadows and spit him out just before security. A chance, he thought. And that's all I want, really.

The thing about humans was that they were unpredictable, and couldn't be forced into destiny. If the Fates had plans for Percy Jackson, there was only one person who could hope to throw a wrench in those gears.