Percy Jackson, The Missing Hero.

58. Zeus Causes a Little Chaos.

Percy woke up slowly, ignoring the soft murmur of voices in the background in favour of discreetly trying to pull his covers closer to his jaw. It was a conscious choice to keep his eyes closed, hoping beyond all hope that Hypnos would lure him back into the realm of sleep. Typically, he could sleep through the sound of voices; used to trying to sleep through the sound of his team's bickering when they were away on missions when every moment that could be used for sleep was sacred.

Unfortunately, this particular morning, he wasn't overly certain that he could continue to ignore the sound of two familiar voices.

Especially since he was fairly certain one belonged to his dad.

It was with great reluctance that he opened his eyes and sat up, pushing the duvet down as he did. He shot the two gossiping gods a look that would have been dirty if it wasn't for the fact the effect was ruined by a yawn.

"Morning, Perseus," Poseidon greeted him fondly. He was one of the few people that Percy could tolerate hearing his full name from, one of the few people he was actually happy to hear it from. "Sleep well?"

"You drool in your sleep," Aether informed him, an unimpressed look on his face.

"Believe it or not, I've heard that before." Percy gave him a tired smile; he couldn't help but wonder if the god had gotten any sleep, or if he'd spent the night curled up in Percy's armchair reading. If the blanket lying on the seat and the books scattered around said chair were anything to go by, Percy was going to go with the latter. "Morning dad," he gave Poseidon a sunny smile before realising that he should be asking why he was chatting with the one god he had expected to see when he woke up. "Why are you here?"

"You could pretend to be a little happier to see me, kiddo," Poseidon teased, a twinkle in his eye.

"Believe me, I am happy to see you!" Percy assured him swiftly. "I'm just a little confused as to why I'm seeing you."

"Did Apollo not tell you last night?" Poseidon raised an eyebrow.

"Apollo didn't tell me a lot last night," Percy responded, unable to stop the bitter edge from leaking into his voice. "He just confused me. A lot."

Poseidon winced, seemingly detecting the underlying tension. "Ah, did he make no mention of bringing the Council by to see Eros?"

Percy tilted his head to the side and thought for a moment before recalling the throwaway line of 'Eros is still refusing to return to Olympus until he regains some semblance of control over his powers, so I fear I must bring Olympus to him tomorrow, so please prepare him.' from Apollo's mystifying letter. "Oh," he let out a sigh. "He may have mentioned something, but I didn't realise it was something to be concerned about. I was too confused by everything else he was saying."

"I hate to say it but that sounds like the Apollo we all know and love," Aether pointed out.

"Yes." Poseidon looked pained. "It really does."

"The whole Council is here?" Percy asked, suddenly registering what Poseidon had said. It was like taking a shot of espresso, he was wide awake instantaneously.

"Not yet," Poseidon assured him, raising his hands in a placating gesture. "At the moment, it's just myself, Apollo, and Hades who have arrived to forewarn you. I offered to wake you. Needless to say, I was a little surprised by the presence of your guest."

"Oh, Aether?" Percy looked to said god, wondering what excuse Aether had given his father. "I needed his help with a couple of books Apollo dumped on me. We met a few years ago."