Percy Jackson, Brother of Dipper and Mable Pines

I Have No Idea How To Make Good Title Ok

Ford led them down to an area below-deck that he'd been using as a study. A round wooden table sat in the center of the room with two chairs at opposite ends. It was covered with papers, pens, and three red journals with golden hands on the cover of each. A single bulb on the ceiling provided the only light in the room, and diagrams, models, sketches covered most of the wallspace. Ford set down a fourth journal on the table and sat down as Percy sat across from him. Ford opened one of his journals and flipped through the pages, thinking about what to say. He knew he had questions, but couldn't seem to put them into words now that Percy himself was in front of him.

He drew a deep breath, "So, Percy, where have you been for the past year?"

Percy looked down and fidgeted with the strange red ribbon thing at his waist. "Well, um, I've been... around." Ford sighed. He had been expecting vague unwilling answers, but thought he would give it a try anyway. He opened his mouth to say something, but Percy interrupted him, "I meant to come home sooner, but I... I got held up."

Ford raised a brow. It was more of an answer than he'd been expecting. "Held up? By what?" he questioned.

"Stop with your interrogation, kid's just been found after a year, give 'em a break." A gravelly voice sounded from the doorway and Stan strolled into the room. His expression was as miserable as always, but when his eyes met Percy's, he smiled at him. Percy smiled back.

Gosh, it really had been a year since they'd seen anyone from his mortal family. It hit them all at once how long they'd been missing. And how much they missed their family. Without any sort of warning, Percy jumped out of his chair and trapped Stan in a hug. Stan stumbled backwards from the force, but hugged him back. "It's alright, kid. I don't know where you've been or what happened, but you're back now. And that's all that matters." Percy pulled away, trying not to cry.

"I'm sorry."

Stan started, " 'S alright. Let's head home and then-"

"No." Percy interrupted a bit more forcefully than they intended.

"...you don't want to go home? Dipper and Mabel have been really missing you."

Percy looked up at that and considered it for a moment before shaking his head. "No no no, it's not that I don't want to go home. I never even wanted to leave in the first place, but I can't go. Not yet." A stunned silence filled the air. Percy's eyes widened a bit. They hadn't meant to say as much as they had. Maybe all that time talking to himself alone on the boat was coming back to bite him. But they were family, so it's fine, right? They could see through the mist, too. No. That was a bad move. Demigods are only supposed to tell immediate family or caretakers. His apparently sea-faring great uncles were not his caretakers.

Stan and Ford exchanged a worried glance. Everything about that was concerning.

Percy fidgeted, "I should go." He started towards the door, a little embarrassed, but Stan grabbed his arm. He tried to get away, but Stan held on. "Let me go!"

Ford began, "No. You're staying with us. I don't know what happened to you, but I will not let a teenager march back into whatever hell has you trapped." The way Percy's breath caught on the word "hell" did not go unnoticed.

"It's not like that!" Percy knew that he could easily escape. Shake the boat a bit and he could leave. But he didn't. He should've, but a little part inside of him wouldn't let him. A little part of him that hoped they would succeed at making him stay.

"Then tell me what it is like!"

Percy stayed silent, already having said too much. Stan pulled Percy from the doorway and forced him to sit down. "You are staying. We're not letting you go unless you give us a good reason why we should let you." He sat down across from him. Ford closed the door. "So? Why should we let you go?"

"I have to find something. It's for my friends."

"What is it?" Ford leaned against the door frame.

"I can't tell you."

Both Stan and Ford raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"

"I can't tell you."

"Can you at least tell us where you were headed? Or where this object may be?"

"I can't tell you," he thought for a moment, "I'm sorry."

Ford had a sudden realization and sighed. Figuring out what happened was not their first priority. "Alright, alright. We can ask these questions later, and I'm a little ashamed of myself that this wasn't the first thing I asked," he paused. "Are you alright?"

Percy stared at him. "Am I ok?" He repeated it back.

Ford nodded. "That squid looked pretty dangerous and that fall looked like it hurt."

"Oh? Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Percy was a bit taken aback by the sudden change, but he told the truth. He was uninjured. Physically, at least.

"And you're sure?"

"Mhm."

"Are you hungry?"

"I don't accept food from boat strangers asking me questions."

Stan grunted, "I'm a stranger?"

Ford reminded, "Please just answer the question."

Percy hesitated before saying, "Not especially." In truth, they were fairly hungry, but they wouldn't want to cause trouble for Stan and Ford. And it wasn't like he was starving or anything.

"Are you sure? It's almost dinner time."

"Mhm." It was always pretty hard to keep up with breakfast-lunch-dinner while on quests, and it had been so long since he'd really had any normality in his life. He mostly just ate when he felt like it, sometimes more than he should, most of the time less.

Stan grumbled, "Sure you're not. 'S bout time I got cookin for dinner, so I'll make ya something too."

"No no, you don't have to do that for me. I'm fine, really."

"You're right, I don't have to do anything. I do things because I want to, and I wanna feed you. So that's what I'm gonna do, whether you like it or not," Stan stated and stood up to head to the galley.

Percy quickly looked to Ford to see if he'd make any move to follow. Percy had seen the (what looked to be) gun by his waist, and they didn't know him very well. He didn't trust him, and didn't really want to be alone in a room with him. True, they didn't know Stan too much either, but they'd at least met him before Hera decided kidnapping children was her best option. He seemed friendly enough then. Plus, Stan didn't have a visible gun on him.

Ford looked up and noticed their staring. Percy glanced towards the doorway before quickly moving to follow Stan. Ford sighed. He couldn't help but be a little hurt, even though this mistrust was completely expected. He hoped that his great nephew would want to be a little closer to him, but he understood why he wasn't. He had gone through something incredibly traumatic, and the first thing Ford had tried to do was interrogate him instead of making sure he was alright. Ford couldn't quite forgive himself for that. The laser gun around his waist probably didn't help too much either. He took it off and set it in a nearby set of drawers.