HP: Monochrome

Percy Jackson

After escorting a tipsy Thalia Grace back to Artemis's residence, Percy left Olympus for the first time since taking possession of his very own palace. Being a god came with a few perks. One of them was being able to cut down on travel time. Only a few seconds passed between walking out of his front door Olympus and appearing walking down a residential road on the outskirts of New York City in a brilliant golden flash. Not that he could teleport quite yet, but Apollo had given him a few charms that could take him to a select number of locations.

A few houses were down the road. He reached his destination, a relatively new two-floor house. The god climbed the stairs and rang the doorbell. After a few seconds, the door was answered by his former English teacher.

"Good evening, Paul. Is mom home?" Percy asked.

"Oh, hi, Percy. Ahem, Lord Perseus? What do you go by these days?" the middle-aged man asked.

"Just Percy..."

"Yes, she is. Come in!" The teacher turned around. "Sally, Percy is here!"

Percy met his mother in the living room, and the slender woman approached him and embraced him firmly."There you are! You've been quite silent over the past few weeks. Annabeth explained what happened. I hope you aren't upset that we still hang out. We've grown quite close. She's been helping me with something..."

Percy had overheard that last part and might have seen what he would only learn later. He wasn't surprised by the first part. He knew Annabeth and his mother were quite close. The daughter of Athena had found something of a nurturing mother figure in Sally Jackson, and his mother had found a daughter in Annabeth.

"That is the least of my problems right now. Can we talk? I need your advice..."

Sally smiled. "Let me make you a hot chocolate."

Seven minutes later, they were both seated on the living room couch, mugs of the steaming brown beverage clutched in their hands. "So, Percy. What is on your mind? Is this about Annabeth?"

"Indirectly, yes," Percy confirmed. "Remember Silena Beauregard?" Percy asked.

"The one that died? I met her when I picked you up from camp. Lovely young lady, and ever so polite. Had quite a long chat with her father. Terrible what happened to her. What about her?"

"Well, I now have my own residence on Olympus, and when I explored the house, I found her..."

"You mean her body?" Sally asked, horrified.

"No, lord Hades brought her back to be my slave... and now we are more or less stuck with each other."

His mother stared at him with shock, and Percy was grateful that she allowed him to finish the tale and explain the situation of her being stuck with him and how she had even sworn a separate oath of loyalty to him. He left out the part of his darker urges, not seeing how they were relevant in any way.

His mother and Paul, who had joined them to the beginning of his tale, sat there in silence.

"Gods, that poor girl..." Sally breathed.

"Well, she seems happy enough. Apparently, slavery is better than Asphodel," Percy said defensively. "I don't know what to do. I also don't want to ruin my chances of getting Annabeth back..."

Sally sighed. "For now, just do right by that poor girl. I trust that you won't take advantage of her..."

"Of course not," Percy promised. "What am I going to tell Annabeth..."

His mother looked up at him with tired eyes. "You will just have to tell her the truth. I am sure she will understand."

"I sure hope so."

"Why don't you just talk to her.." Sally started.

"Sure, if Annabeth comes to me," Percy shot back. He wasn't an overly prideful man, but even he had his limits. Getting put on ice, especially when he had done nothing wrong, didn't sit too well with him.

Percy ended up staying at his mother's for more than an hour, longer than he had initially intended to, but it was time to return to Olympus. He kissed his mother on the forehead, departed the mortal world, and returned to his divine one where he found Silena busy at work, vacuuming the floor.

"Percy, do you need anything?" Silena asked, interrupting her work to attend to her master.

"Did you get what you needed?" Percy asked.

The dark-haired young woman nodded. "I have," she confirmed.

"You know, you are free to kick back and relax," Percy offered.

"Percy, I am your only servant, and this is a huge place. If you want me to kick back and relax, you should find yourself a few more servants!" Silena suddenly snapped at him.

Percy smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, trying to disarm her anger and anxiety. "I should be the one apologizing to you. Trying to be nice to you aside, I have been treating you quite poorly, making you do all the dirty work," he announced, his mother's word concerning doing right by Silena, still fresh on his memory. What did that mean?

His attempts to appease her clearly hadn't worked because the pretty girl pursed her lips and then glared at him. "While I'm incredibly grateful for all of the kindness you've offered me, being your servant is the main reason I exist at the moment. Just let me do it and sleep easier for it, knowing that I won't wake up back in the underworld." she was glaring at him now, and Percy realized that he had somehow angered her even more.

"So, you are really alright with just being the servant around here?" he asked in an attempt to salvage the situation.

"Just being the servant," Silena mocked his words. "I can be whatever I want to be, provided you don't decide to be a huge dick. A friend to you as well, if you will allow me. I can pursue my own interests, go after my hobbies. However, to be anything other than dead, I need you to let me honor my part of the bargain and be your slave. I do not need saving, Percy Jackson." she growled, her cheeks flushed in anger.

She looked cute in her anger, unlike Annabeth, who could be downright scary. It was those stormy gray eyes, Percy decided. They made you question how much your life was worth at that moment. Silena didn't have those.

Just then, her eyes widened, and she clasped a hand over her mouth in shock.

"Gods, I just stepped way out of line. I am so sorry..." Silena gasped, looking around panicky as if someone might have overheard her mouthing off to her owner and run to snitch to Hades.

"It's fine, I was being an inconsiderate dumbass. I will try to let you do your thing and not be an ass about it."

Percy quickly vacated the screen to allow Silena to cool off with some dignity and spent some time sitting at the pool before retiring to the media room, where he took full advantage of the Netflix account set up in his name and did his best to banish the confusing topic of women out of his mind.

"Hey, Percy?" Silena asked quietly from the entrance to the media room, maybe an hour later.

He looked around and spotted the daughter of Aphrodite enter. She had changed into something lighter, a simple T-shirt, pajama pants that almost reached her knees, and flip-flops. Her breasts were thrown in clear relief as the fabric stretched over them. Her hair was open and flowed down her shoulders like a shimmering waterfall. With her makeup gone, Silena seemed to unleash her natural beauty, not that she was any less sexy.

"Ahem, Silena," Percy stuttered, his mouth suddenly very dry again.

He tore his gaze away from her curves and back up to her face. "Sorry about snapping at you earlier. I do not know what came over me there." She smiled apologetically and held out a tray filled with snacks and refreshments. Truth be told, he was more interested in her than the snacks at that point.

"It's alright. Are you still working?"

Silena nodded. "Yes, the shopping trip messed up my timetable," Silena explained. "I need to do some catching up..."

Percy looked the young woman over and noticed how tired she looked. "Would you be upset if I demanded that my beautiful servant sat down here with me and watched Young Sheldon?" He asked cautiously.

Silena bit her lower lip. "No..."

"Well, then. Attend me, woman!" He commanded.

She smiled sheepishly, smoothly pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, and walked over to him.

Placing the platter in front of them on the table, Silena then awkwardly sat down next to him and folded her long, cleanly shaven legs as he leaned back deep into the cushions of the couch.

"Is this like a derivative of Big Bang Theory?" Silena suddenly asked, confusion written across her face.

"It is," Percy confirmed.

"Oh," Silena explained and sat up with renewed interest. "Gods, I have missed so much. I used to love that show."

In the dim light of the flickering screen, Silena didn't notice that his attention was very much on her while her as they watched the show. He had become very aware of how close they were sitting, their arms touching ever so slightly.

Silena seemed to relax more and more, pulling her knees up to her chest as time passed. Her body seemed to melt against his, all tension slowly fading from her until her head came to rest on his chest, her body curled up against his. Finally, it became fairly obvious that Silena's exhaustion was getting the better of her because she curled up, yawning deeply.

Surprised, Percy tried to get a good look at the young woman before he realized that she had fallen asleep. Percy was afraid to move for a few long moments, very aware of how her ample breasts pressed against his torso. She looked peaceful in her slumber and breathtakingly beautiful in the pale light. On another day, the setting might have soothed his troubled soul. Unfortunately for him, Silena lay in a manner that offered him a perfect view down her cleavage.

The strain in his pants was slowly growing increasingly uncomfortable and her hand, gently resting on his thigh, wasn't helping much. Just when Percy thought he couldn't bear it anymore, the young woman started snoring.

That seemed to break the spell the sleeping daughter of love had cast over him for some reason. Finally, could relax enough to gently put an arm around her slender waist and hold her.

In hindsight, it was one of his prouder moments as a man and a god. That night he scooped the sleeping woman up into his arms and carried her back to the room she had occupied, and put her down to rest in her own bed. She awoke as he put her down and tucked her in but only mumbled something almost incoherent that sounded suspiciously like "Mercy," pulled the blanket closer, and fell right back asleep.

Boy, what had he gotten himself into with Silena? He couldn't get rid of her, even if he wanted to, and it seemed just as unlikely that he would find absolution for his desires.

Despite his trepidations, Percy left the room feeling quite pleased with himself. Once he had left the room and the door was closed behind him, Percy felt as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders.

Taking a deep breath, Percy ran a hand through his hair and rubbed his temple. Silena? Annabeth? One might presume that the gods didn't have girl problems; Percy could now attest to the contrary.