Mortal Poseidon AU
Why is it in fics when Zeus discovers Percy's existence early, it's always Sally who gets killed off as punishment? Why not Zeus punishing Poseidon by turning him mortal? It's not like it's the first time he did that. Plus, makes more sense to me than why Apollo got turned mortal in TOA. Maybe, Zeus punishes Poseidon by making him mortal until the great prophecy is over, be it the sea spawn or someone else's.
Imagine mortal Poseidon awkwardly knocking on Sally's door with a sheepish look on his face, explaining what happened and asking her for help and a place to stay and in return he'll help with raising Percy and keep him out of trouble. And ofc, Sally helps him. She still loves him afterall. Also, Poseidon flirts with her, saying how thankful he is, and saying how wonderful she is.
Imagine little Percy being confused at seeing a new guy in their living room, making his mom laugh. Sally introduces Poseidon as Percy's dad, he finally was found after being lost in sea for years! (Poseidon raised an amused eyebrow at that, but played along) Percy is ofc ecstatic! He's so happy his dad returned! Also, It means mom wouldn't have to date that weird stinky man she met at the store!
So, yeah. The first few weeks of them living in a tiny apartment. Sally working during the day, teaching Poseidon how to clean and cook and normal mortal things he doesn't know by night. Poseidon trying to get used to being a mortal while trying his best to protect Percy when walking his son to school and back, thankful that he had the foresight to assign some loyal Cyclops to watch over his son so he was able to get a decent weapon from them.
A typical day for him is waking up to Sally softly shaking him awake as she's about to leave for work, Poseidon taking a quick shower to energize himself and get started with preparing Percy's school bag, packing up the homework they did together last night, and a quick ham and cheese sandwich and juice box for lunch, before waking up his son in fun ways, such as, tickling him awake, or pulling his blankets away, etc. 'cooking' breakfast aka 2 bowls of cereal (for now until he learns more), amusedly watching his son run around trying to get ready for school, making sure he has his weapon hidden on him, walking his son to his primary school, waving him goodbye at the gates, patrol the area for monsters and slay them before they get to close, try and practice any of his powers, Zeus didn't take them all, since he still gets healed and energized by water. Talk to the river nymphs to pass on messages to Atlantis, just updates on how he's doing, pick up his son from school, visit Sally in the candy shop with Percy, go home, help Percy with homework, with a lot of water and sea comparisons, 'help' Sally with making dinner (her teaching him how to cook), listening to Percy retell what happened in school during dinner, watching Sally tuck in Percy for the night, and repeat.
Maybe Percy saw his dad slay a monster when they were walking home, maybe a hellhound got too close, and is ofc, scared and confused. But his dad saved him so he trusts him. And Poseidon promised to explain what happened once Sally is home with them, they'll explain together. And Percy, frustrated at being asked to wait, but reluctantly agreed, he wants his mom anyways after that scare, stayed close to dad the rest of the walk, eyeing every alleyway, paranoid.
When Sally got home, Poseidon pulled her aside and explained what happened, telling her that they need to explain to Percy what he is, and that he needs to start going to camp. Ofc, Sally refuses, she'll agree to explaining that monsters are real and that Percy needs to be careful, but not to camp, he's only 8 yrs old! Why can't Poseidon just protect her baby like he said he will? Poseidon points out that Percy needs to learn how to protect himself someday, and he can't be with him all the time, like in school, and, how about a compromise? Percy goes to camp once per week, maybe on Saturdays, he'll even let Sally inside the barrier to oversee Percy's training, once he talked with Chiron about the arrangement. Plus, there's a 8 yr old girl in camp that just joined last year, maybe Percy can have a friend that understands his troubles? And Sally reluctantly agrees. Once a week, and she gets to watch.
So, they explained everything to Percy, that monsters are real, he's a demigod, and dad is/was a god, and that he's sorry for leaving them, but it was the Law, and that he needs to go to Camp to learn how to fight monsters.
Once in camp, Annabeth got curious at the new kid who's her age, who has his mom and dad with him, with Chiron bowing to the dad, and answering the mom's questions. The dad, somehow, agreed to be the water fighting instructor, for once a week when his child was at camp, and the mom gets to supervise his camp activities. The new kid doesn't sleep in any cabin since he always went home after campfire with his parents. Annabeth, determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, started to go out of her way to talk to him. And slowly became friends with him. Once Annabeth told him how she loved playing with Legos, Percy brought his small bucket of Legos with him the following week to play with her. Once, Percy complained about a history essay he had to finish by Monday, and Annabeth helped him write it in between their (ahem) 'child-level' training. (They're 8! Way too young for the normal training level.)
Poseidon cheekily waving hi to Dionysus, enjoying being in the presence of kids who think he's so cool, and able to leave camp whenever, only teaching once a week and able to freely interact with his kid.
Sally bringing cookies for Percy and his new friend Annabeth to snack on in-between studying and training, the one who has a box of colorful bandages for small cuts and bruises, not serious enough for nectar/ambrosia/medbay, (Chiron warned her that too much will burn them up literally, and it's easier to overdose with how small they are, so, iodine and bandages for scrapes and bruises for now) and a camera to record her baby's achievements no matter how small. First time canoeing with dad? Snap! First time wearing armor? Snap! First time campfire s'mores with Annabeth? Snap!
This! Gods, I have so many ideas for this au. Please, if anyone writes this, please tag me.