Does Percy Ever Have Any Trauma From Gabe?

Listen, I read your post about Percy's strategic genius and I thought something.

Percy, Sally, and the entire Jackson family are descendants of Odysseus.

Sally is also damn smart, just look at how she competently got rid of Gabe and remained in full advantage.

And that is why how Athena treats Percy in this way.

He is a descendant of her beloved mortal, so similar to him in his mind and the son of her sworn rival, who tormented this very mortal and prevented him from returning home.

You seriously have no idea how GENIUS that headcanon is like holy hell the sheer depth it adds to everything is insane.

1. Athena begrudgingly guiding Percy in Titan's Curse, getting extreme deja vu (God's probably get that a lot) from the situation and how conflicting she gets over the mortal that is Perseus Jackson for his uncanny resemblance to Odysseus when it comes to his wit and his personality minus strangely the hubris.

Despite her disdain for him out of some strange loyalty, she tells him of his fatal flaw and how it would endanger him.

She let's her loathing for Poseidon get the best of her in Titan's Curse and votes to kill Percy and Thalia but Percy like Odysseus has both the wit and achievements she can't overlook despite her desperate intentions to and hence in the Last Olympian she acknowledges in her own subtle way that Percy is the greatest demigod of this age. That he's saved both the world and his friends.

2. Annabeth proud and confident as ever would be flabbergasted that Percy who she despite her supposed love for him undermines him almost always when it comes to his intelligence finds out that her mother has acknowledged Percy for his strategic mind and that he is the descendant of her mother's most favored mortal ever. (Maybe just maybe it will tone her hubris down a notch and then some, and if we are really lucky, a reality check)

3. Percy would laugh, probably shrug at the revelation. After all, stuff like that makes no difference to him.

4. But I can imagine if Sally knew beforehand about it, then how much hell must she have given Poseidon over it and probably still finds it to be a hilarious coincidence .

5. To Poseidon himself, it must have struck as an agonizing coincidence, but for the better, because for all of Poseidon's flaws, he loves his own intensely. His godly children, his monstrous children, his demigod children, and Percy, he loves most out of them all by his own words and he loves him so in some strange manner for the same humanity he scorned Odysseus for having.

Sally must have made him see the error of his ways, and even Poseidon for his quick temper would be loathe to not change his opinions on mercy then. (If the Queen among mortals tells you, you listen)

All in all, everything that happened in the Odyssey with Poseidon Odysseus and Athena would have come to a good closure with this.

That a millenia later by strange set of circumstances Athena and Poseidon begrudgingly acknowledged the folly in their perspectives from the times of Odyssey all because Poseidon met Sally Jackson and sired a demigod child who by a twist only the fates could make up turned out to be the descendant of Odysseus himself. (I reckon the fates must be cackling in glee at the whole thing)

PS: Hermes is having a blast with this news of Percy's ancestry.

No, but seriously, you have given me more pjo brainrot. (Now I hope this keeps you awake like it does me)

And on that note, Percy would totally canonly be the biggest fan of Epic the Musical, lol.

I have a feeling I am not going to stop talking about this now.

And people wonder why there are anti Annabeth and anti Percabeth stans. It's because Rick and all the stans have shoved Annabeth up a non-existent pedestal of the smartest ( which she is not and it's not even close) and continue to still only consider Annabeth's goals and aspirations and trauma valid.

Think of it this way:

Respectfully, if your ship consists of character A repeatedly calling someone a nickname that is a substitute for the word dumb( as further confirmed by readriordan article), dismissing character B's trauma and opinions, consistently physically hitting character B , showing toxic and controlling behavior towards character B and blaming character B for their own kidnapping and amnesia? It's not the IT couple or the perfect relationship. It's the definition of an escalating toxic relationship.

At least accept that your ship is very flawed and not even close to the definition of perfect that you paint it as. And that it's run mostly by Annabeth's wants and opinions and goals.

Just some of the screenshots. There's a few more but these are the ones I have on hand at the moment.

Percy: *comes up with a great lie to cover their asses in a heartbeat after Annabeth stuttered, unable to think of anything* Annabeth: You're stupid

???

If I had a nickel for every time Percy Jackson turned down immortality/godhood, I would have two nickels. Which is a lot, and it is absolutely iconic that it happened twice!

watching percy’s trauma and low self-esteem be used as fuel for the “hehe himbo adhd simp” punchline instead of a genuine in-depth exploration of how fighting two wars (and some) and going thru hell have affected him

I don't think people understand what Tartarus means. It's the demigod equivalent of what we might call Zombie apocalypse. Everything goes in the name of survival. Tartarus has its own rules. Holding to naive reservations about certain morality or ethics will get you killed. Not to mention not only was Percy defending himself, he was also responsible for keeping Annabeth safe and they had a job to get done, i.e closing the doors of death from the inside.He had to ensure it done, even if neither of them lived. Percy just found the best option possible to circumvent that, and no one has the right to complain because, well, he is the reason YOUR FAVORITES ARE ALIVE, ANNABETH IS ALIVE. She was injured, couldn't fight, didn't have powers, and usually, it wouldn't have made much of a difference. BUT TARTARUS IS THE ONE PLACE WHERE YOU ABSOLUTELY NEED POWERS.

Also, PERCY WAS READY TO DIE. TO REMAIN ALONE IN TARTARUS. That's how selfless he is. He jumped in after Annabeth as he would have for anyone else in the seven as well. He could have chosen not to, but he took responsibility and carried it through and got them both alive. If anyone else had done that, you would call them strategic and clever and necessary. I bet if Jason had done something like that, everyone would be praising his military training, highlighting how he was able to make the hard choices, unlike Percy. If Nico had done it, everyone would have praised his power and how he was right to use it.

Well, it doesn't matter. Because they would have all been right. I DON'T THINK SOME OF THE READERS UNDERSTOOD THE CONCEPT OF TARTARUS. IT'S A PRISON FOR IMMORTALS, TO TRAP CREATURES OLDER AND STRONGER THAN THE GODS. IT'S THE HOME OF MOST OF THE PRIMORDIALS. NOT EVEN A GOD WANTS TO BE ANYWHERE NEAR THERE AND PERCY IS A DEMIGOD, THE LOWEST IN THE HIERARCHY OF IMMORTALS.

If Percy couldn't do half the things he could, they would have died. And so would everyone else. He did what he had to, needed to. It's like blaming someone for SELF-DEFENCE.

For example when Annabeth set Percy up to be beaten up or potentially fatally injured by the Ares kids, she was wise and strategic to set a young, inexperienced and clueless Percy to almost die because she had her "guess". That's not toxic or manipulative, eh?

Or when the rest of the Seven except Hazel, Percy, and Frank voted to let Nico die because they were suspicious of him? That was for Greater Good, right? Definitely not toxic.

There are so many other instances of different characters being toxic, and everyone knows it. But to hide that they demean other characters and it's mostly Percy because why not? The one character where there are no faults to pick at.

Listen, these are all children, OF COURSE EVERYONE OF THEM MADE MISTAKES. THEY ARE TEENAGERS.

But don't you dare put it on the one person who has nothing to do with half those things.

everytime i see things where ppl are like, upset at percy and blaming him for calypso still being on that island or like, forgetting abt bob im like....okay but when was he supposed to do smth abt either of them. and why is it supposed to be on him to do smth?

cause like, if we're talking calypso, he did what he could. he made the gods promise, he made zeus swear on the styx how was he supposed to know whether or not zeus actually followed through. and then he had what, a few months at best, recovering from a war, trying to focus on his mortal life, yk, pretty much all he wanted, before he was kidnapped by hera and the gods closed down communications. and then hes homeless and amnesiac and then hes going on quest after quest, like. he doesnt even have time to breathe, forgive the boy for not thinking of calypso in this time.

and bob/iapetus like. ive seen many percy is so "manipulative" and "toxic" takes in regards to him and like?? do ya'll even remember when percy and iapetus met? cause when they met iapetus was an enemy doing his damndest to kill thalia, percy, and nico. percy thinking fast and telling him they were "friends" was percy being smart and saving their lives. and he very clearly did have regrets in House of Hades abt how he left things off with bob too, like, that isnt the action of a self-absorbed hero at all.

Like yes, Percy can be manipulative, and he fascinates me for it, but in that one instance where he names Bob and says they’re friends, like. Can you rlly blame him??

I cannot believe how this hasn't been addressed in the PJO Fandom yet but does no one notice that the books, Rick himself glosses over or downplays the fact that PERCY FUCKING JACKSON GAVE UP IMMORTALITY!!!

And in reason as to why Percy gave up immortality?

The Percabeth stans are only too happy to make "Oh Percy gave up immortality for Annabeth." The hell he did. Have we read the same books? Are you really demeaning the importance of what Percy did. Cause here's what happened, and here's why it's so important:

PERCY GAVE UP IMMORTALITY SO THAT GODS COULD CLAIM DEMIGOD CHILDREN EARLY SO THAT THEY DO NOT REMAIN DEFENSELESS.

Furthermore, he did it so CHILDREN OF MINOR GODS COULD HAVE A PLACE TO BELONG TO, TO HAVE IDENTITY OF THEIR OWN, SO MINOR GODS THEMSELVES CAN BE PROPERLY ACKNOWLEDGED.

Similarly, he further added that CHILDREN OF HADES SHOULD NOT BE OSTRACIZED, THEY AS WELL AS HADES DESERVE TO BE WELCOME INTO OLYMPUS AND INTO CAMP , DESERVE PROPER RESPECT.

What ticks me off the most is how such an important sacrifice such an important change is never addressed again to the extent it deserves.

Cause this is not a surface level thing. This is going to change and better the lives of all demigods that come after or even demigods who were wrongly forced to remain in Hermes Cabin. A safe, more respectful, more meaningful environment for all demigods no matter who their godly parent is.

Are you telling that children of minor gods don't literally worship Percy for doing all this? Don't wholly completely feel grateful at least that he voiced out for them over his own difficulties? That he made a safe place for them happen?

Are you telling me that Minor Gods themselves don't feel at least a little grateful and respect Percy who did this of his own volition without having even met many Minor Gods. That he voiced out for their own children when they couldn't?

Are you telling me that Travis and Connor or any other demigods and cabin counselors don't automatically rave on about the greatness of Percy Jackson to any new arrivals in Camp Half-Blood?

Cause we were robbed of this of a proper homage to the sacrifice other demigods, Luke himself and Percy himself made to make it happen.

Piper, Leo , and Jason all seem so ignorant to it. Even newer demigods in Chalice of Gods or other books seem ignorant to this, and that's so against the usual canon representation of Camp Half-Blood as a community.

We should have seen it in Lost Hero, should have seen it in Chalice of Gods, should have seen it acknowledge repeatedly. You know why?

Yes, Percy didn't want immortality, but don't you know that deep down Percy knew exactly what immortality meant? Eternal protection from his father in his realm. No Gods bothering him, no more sacrifices or death quests. Freedom to do what he wants. To be able to spend time with his family as long as he wants without the worry of risking their safety. And he gave it all up

NOT EVEN IMMORTALITY. GODS WOULD HAVE GRANTED ANY WISH. HE COULD HAVE WISHED ANYTHING. FOR HIM TO BE PROTECTED? NO MORE QUESTS? FOR GODS TO LEAVE HIM ALONE? HE GAVE IT ALL UP, ALL OF IT.

Perseus bloody Jackson made happen what no one in the History of Camp Half-Blood has ever done. He managed to make Gods change their ignorant ways. He dismantled a culture of neglect and abuse.

And the fact Rick himself let this happen, let all this gloss over, and the fact that Percabeth stans have the AUDACITY to insinuate that he did for Annabeth and demean Luke's sacrifice, Percy's sacrifice is beyond me.

headcanons for Percy?

WHOOP WHOOP okay just to preface this, most of this is me going “hey i think being a kid of poseidon is a weirdly complex experience”

i think this is canon officially but percy’s music taste is one of the 78378837 things in his life he got from his mother; sally’s an old-school rock and old-school rap diehard, and percy follows right in her footsteps, because on days when gabe wasn’t home sally would turn their shitty little radio that sat on the kitchen countertop on and bang her head while cleaning or cooking or shuffling bills. trips to montauk were sally shouting the lyrics to an AC/DC song and tiny percy not knowing the words but wanting to join in, so he’s just shouting nonsense. a lot of the things percy likes, he likes them for sentimental reasons, and music’s just another one of those things.

when percy was first born for three weeks he would literally not stop screaming. he would not shut up. he would sleep for half an hour and then he’d scream for three. and then sally gives him his first real bath, and percy is the happiest he’s ever been since he’s been alive. i have in my head a very comical image of sally pulling percy out of the little tub and he starts screaming like a banshee, and then she sets him back down and he’s back to giggling happily, rinse, repeat - so eventually sally learns that she can clean the kitchen sink really good, stop it, and just drop percy in. after she figures that out he’s an insanely easy baby, and also toddler, because imagine if you could just dump a cup of water on your kid’s head and he’d just instantly be less upset. the downside to this is that water gives percy a lot of energy, but sally would rather be chasing a giggling toddler than a screaming one.

because of that, growing up, whenever percy was angry or upset and sally couldn’t immediately calm him down because she had to wrangle gabe, she’d tell percy to take a shower. percy takes showers based on his current mood. he thinks everyone does this, and one time at his first summer at CHB, annabeth is upset about a fight she had with someone in the athena cabin and percy’s helpful advice is, “maybe you should take a shower?” and annabeth gets so pissed because she’s 12 and she thinks percy’s telling her she smells. percy is extremely confused.

if he’s ever landlocked far away from the coast for a long time, he gets antsy and irritable and depressed, which is not something they figure out until annabeth’s first job involves her relocating to denver for six months and percy goes with her, and it is a truly hellish six months. they figure it out when they stop off at CHB on the way home because maybe percy just needs something familiar, maybe he’s just homesick, and then he proceeds to stay under the ocean for three days straight

while i’m thinking about headcanons relating to percy being half sea god, this kid drinks a truly astronomical amount of water. he’s like the king of the hydration nation. he has a reusable water bottle of truly monstrous size that he has to fill up every hour, because he is the most hydrated person alive, and he has been known to sometimes just stick his head under the faucet and drink directly from the sink like an oversized dog. beverages that are not water are unacceptable. annabeth, who lives off of tea, coffee, and red bull, thinks this is weird.

half sea god metabolisms go hard because percy’s body, although he doesn’t realize it because he’s never lived in the ocean, works doubletime when he’s not in the water. he eats so much because it takes more energy for him to exist on land than it does for literally anyone else. zeus and hades kids have it easy, they’re literally always breathing air or walking on land, they’re in their natural element just all the time. percy’s magic godblood is just screaming “what the fuck is this what the fuck is this what the fuck is this” and that’s why percy eats almost an entire meal every three hours.

further Percy’s Blood Is Half Seawater headcanons include: he has never owned an umbrella in his life because he just trots through the rain like nothing in the world is wrong, he’s not only more resistant to heat but also resistant to cold because the ocean’s pretty damn cold most of the time, he has a high tolerance to mortal drugs so when he gets sick not even the tamiflu can’t save him, if he’s near the ocean he gets really bouncy at incoming tide when the waves are strongest, always knows whether it’s an el nino or la nina year, and he doesn’t know it because NYC isn’t exactly at risk for hurricanes, but the closer he gets to natural ones the more batshit he goes. completely chaotic, can’t focus on anything, running around like a chicken with his head cut off.

living on a fault line or near a fault line is a NO GO he CANNOT DO IT. not just because percy accidentally triggering an earthquake on a fault line could Fuck Shit Up, but because the constant tension of the colliding of the tectonic plates puts him on edge. he gets stress migraines near transcurrent faults. being near intense volcanic activity for a prolonged amount of time, like living near an active volcano, just makes him angry. sometimes he gets inexplicably frustrated when traveling, it’s just because they’re over a failed ancient rift in the middle of a tectonic plate. and percy accidentally triggers a lot of earthquakes, but since they’re all intraplate quakes and he has no idea he’s doing it, they turn out to be more like lil tiny tremors, and people just kind of... don’t notice it. no one figures this out until after the giant war and percy’s struggling with night terrors and those tremors start getting a lot more noticeable. percy, annabeth, and grover have to go on a Recovery Roadtrip because staying in one place means percy’s doing a lot of damage to one specific area of a gigantic tectonic plate and creating a weakness in the earth’s crust increases the tectonic stress making subsequent earthquakes worse and also i fucking think they deserve a roadtrip what the fuck!

being a kid of poseidon needs to come with a goddamn handbook, but it’d be 1000 pages of the wildest shit imaginable, like “if you need a blood transfusion there’s not going to be any human that can help. you’re going to have to find a willing horse or ocean creature, and pegasi do not count” or “if you ever have the urge to just knock back a salt shaker like it’s a shot of vodka, that’s also normal, and encouraged”

i’m pretty sure canon contradicts this but lol canon is mine to ignore, but i think because of gabe’s tendency to be a gross human being, percy has grown into being a neat freak. annabeth leaves one (1) empty can on the table and percy makes distressed percy noises about how they HAVE A RECYCLING BIN, BABE, TRASH DOESN’T BELONG ON THE TABLE - also because of gabe, percy gets weird around alcohol and the smell of beer makes his heart hammer. which is awkward, because sometimes the older CHB kids who survived the titan war and the giant war celebrate being alive by sneaking in alcohol, and chiron will turn a blind eye to it because CHB is one of two places in the world where demigods are safe to be off their game. mr. d is seething, but, you know, that’s fine. so percy spends those parties cleaning up after people and cutting people off when they’ve had too much and chatting with the people who got drunk but accidentally got sad drunk. if they’re on the beach and the waves are crashing harder than usual, well, they’re a bunch of demigods excited about being alive, and no one really notices.

extremely good taste in sneakers he just wears those sneakers with like, the worst outfit imaginable

A friend of mine pointed out that people tend to date those with similarities to their parents.

When I started poking around the PJO franchise, my brain screamed that when I looked at Annabeth and then Gabe. And now I'm thinking about how Rachel may have similarities to Sally.

Please share Perachel thoughts.

This is so GOOD. I am only mad I didn't make the connection first. Percy is a mama's boy, so it's obvious his first girlfriend is a reflection of Sally. Bear with me, this is going to be LONG.

I am going to gloss over the bit about Annabeth and Gabe because it's not as much of a comparison as it is an analogy.

[Before anybody gets mad at anon, he wasn't saying Annabeth is like Gabe, he is paralleling them because Annabeth's form of mistreatment against Percy is so subtle but so deeply unsettling that he hasn't noticed it himself and if he has been feeling suffocated he hasn't yet connected the feeling to Annabeth.]

I feel compelled to clarify a few things in Gabe Annabeth comparison and why it's unfair.

Gabe was in no way, shape, or form Percy's parent.

Percy despises anything remotely related to Gabe like alcohol or poker, so Percy would never be with someone who, even for a second, reminds Percy of Gabe.

Gabe was exploitative of Sally, heavily so with no love or affection attached to it.

Annabeth, on the other hand, does love Percy. She, however, does not love him the way he deserves to be loved because her fatal flaw and a few toxic traits get in her way. For example, Annabeth has a habit of taking Percy for granted and is not appreciative of his efforts. She shows toxic possessiveness over him and almost always gets physical with Percy due to her lack of control over her emotions and not knowing how to express them well enough. She has consistently shown a poor understanding of Percy's motivations and his choices and has a habit of putting blame on Percy in several unnecessary situations. Character development would have served us all well but it doesn't seem very likely because Rick is Rick and Annabeth's fatal flaw is hubris, which means she is unlikely to acknowledge her toxic traits.

Now, back to our main point. Let's look at some direct or indirect parallels between Sally and Rachel and some things that deviate from the mold of Sally's experiences.

Rachel, I think, has always paralleled Sally. She is a mortal born with the sight, something that Sally herself has gone through. Rachel is Sally's past, and Sally is Rachel's future in a way, at least when it comes to their sight. Yet their final choices contrast each other, which is very fascinating.

Sally is a writer, and Rachel is an artist. They both have creative interests and aspirations. They are both naturally compassionate and kind but also very strong-willed.

What Poseidon was to Sally, Percy is to Rachel, and I think I really like that parallel. Maybe in another life, Sally would have said yes to Poseidon's offer, and in another life, Rachel would have turned down the Spirit of Delphi and pursued Percy, and Percy would have pursued her.

(They represent the pathway to an entirely new world to both Sally and Rachel, and its a feeling you cherish forever.)

Remember how being in the rain or near the sea makes Sally look younger and healthier, I think Rachel has a similar connection to the things Percy is connected with. After meeting him, she does seem to like beaches more. Considering her vacation spot was a beach and she also went on a beach date with Percy.

(You might think Percy chose that date spot, but it was obviously Rachel cause Percy is a gentleman who would definitely let his partner choose the date spots and then prepare the date for them as they like)

Her visions begin revolving around Percy, and Percy himself begins dreaming often of her. Not just visions but in general. It is stated in Botl that he dreamed of running into her again and not being able to answer her questions.

Another thing is that Sally parallels Rachel in case of emotional nuances between her and Poseidon and Rachel and Percy. Even after all these years, Sally trusts that Poseidon will not abandon Percy and will protect him when it comes to it, even after her death; especially after her death. The same way Rachel is comfortable in calling Percy whenever she is in trouble or when the visions are bothering her [I think we get a mention of how Percy has met with Rachel's father in The Last Olympian and how Rachel's father TRUSTS Percy's word about keeping Rachel SAFE.] And for the shippers, he has already met the parents and they approve lol.

The trust goes both ways, too. Cause we know Percy is an extremely private person and doesn't like to share anything about himself unless he is obligated too and even then sparingly. Even after being friends with him for so many years, Annabeth and Grover are in dark about a lot of things about him but Rache who has canonically had visions about Percy and his experiences, who has the power to tap into Percy's past and Percy is just so chill with that. Like he knows Rachel knows cause he has had several visions of his own about her, but he just lets it go.

Percy Jackson of all people TRUSTS Rachel enough to let her peek into his past experiences, hell it's because of her that he uncovered the true meaning of the prophecy and then TRUSTED HER WORDS ENOUGH TO STAKE THE FATE OF THE WORLD ON IT. We all know he hates Luke like no one else has hated Luke ever and yet GIVES Luke the knife, not cause of Annabeth's or Hermes's trust in him [they have both been wrong before] but because RACHEL SAID SO.

Another thing that's reminiscent of Sally's relationship with Poseidon is the fact that Sally was in no delusion of who she was with. No delusion of Poseidon being anything other than what he was, a force of nature and a god. He was kind and soft with her, but she was not disillusioned to his other natures. The same goes for Rachel.

Rachel doesn't expect Percy to be some tamed down version of himself or for him to suppress his impulses or nature. He is soft and nice to her. She appreciates it, but she doesn't expect nor want him to be anything other than what he is. As evidenced by the lovely painting she gives him of Percy looking fearsome against his battle with Antaeus. It was such a sight that Percy himself was jarred, but Rachel said he looked good. She was totally fine with his darkside, accepted it, and understood it.

Rachel also has a very positive relationship with things Percy is passionate about. She has a keen sense for environmental conservation as we see her participating in a charity work (actual volunteering) in BoTL and we know how sensitive Percy is on rivers or oceans being unclean.

She also seems to have a great bond with Percy's companions. Like you are telling me Blackjack, who has trauma of his time with being captive on Princess Andromeda under Luke, and who is fiercely loyal to Percy, let Rachel just order him into going to CHB like that. Obviously, Blackjack likes her enough to let her take him without Percy's explicit permission and without informing Percy because he knows his boss cares about her. I don't know how we, as a fandom, moved on from that scene. It's so beautiful that Rachel is able to connect to Blackjack so seamlessly. And how one of Percy's first thoughts is worrying about Rachel's well-being as soon as he finds out.

Don't even get me started on how him, including Nico and Hades in his wish and demanding justice and respect for children of Hades, is what broke the curse on the Oracle. I think Percy knew what Rachel was going to do or what her role was due to him seeing the visions of May Castellan, and don't tell me he didn't include Nico in his wish for that reason as well. And he was still so panicked when Rachel swore the oath to Apollo, despite the curse already being broken.

There's also a point of how they are both very integral part of Olympus and quite above the others in terms of hierarchy. Percy is the twice savior of Olympus. Several gods owe him a favor, and he is the prince of Atlantis. Rachel is the vessel of Spirit of Delphi, a force that has existed before even the gods. The Olympians need her, the demigods need her, and she is under the protection of Zeus himself. The two most important people in the world exempting gods and other immortals are literally them.

This is why it bothers me when people say Perachel is a big what if. Perachel isn't a what-if. It already happened. It simply didn't last. Not because they didn't want to but because the choice was taken from them. But both Percy and Rachel chose to save the world and chose to do the duty expected of them over dooming the world and being in a relationship. Destiny is inherently unjust as it were. The only what if's are what if they chose to defy expectations and rules and got back together anyway.

The Savior of Olympus and the Oracle of Delphi are a perfect match, but fate would not let it be. Perhaps in another world, they would have cared less about the fate of the world or less about defying Olympus. Maybe when Percy becomes immortal, he will finally get a chance to be with Rachel. In my headcanons, that is how it goes. I admit I like the dynamic of the strongest demigod ever and the Oracle herself teaming up. It's not like anyone can top that duo. The power couple that they would have been, the fandom is not ready for it.

Preach. Finally someone else is also acknowledgeding this.

A big issue I’ve just realised while looking at P*rcabeth again, is something I haven’t really seen discussed. I think while a large portion of their relationship was forced by outside perspectives and everyone thinking they should be together, I think another factor that makes it just as toxic is the trauma bond aswell.

I whole heartedly believe that they didn’t stay together after canon because there is no way that is a functioning long term relationship. I think they relied on a connection they thought was there while they were literal children fighting wars, but after that it becomes harder.

I think Percy in particular should’ve stayed single, because I think there’s a lot of things he hasn’t dealt with and needs. He was (heavily implied) to have been abused growing up, he watched multiple friends die and handed Luke the knife he killed himself with (which even with everything that happened there, it would still weigh on him either way), all the pressure that had been put on him to save the world, Sally making the Blofis family after the fact (which again would be hard for Percy, no matter how welcoming, because he never got that like Estelle will). Not to mention all the other trauma over the years. The blame that others put on him (Bianca was the first death he saw, he was maybe fourteen, and he canonically has always felt guilty about it). Boy needs a therapist, and I think being with Annabeth only exacerbated both of their issues.

exploring Percy's canon interactions with Nico from botl and onwards on the level that I am for my fic is making me have a whole new perspective on percico and their relationship...

like Percy. oh, Percy cares for Nico so much and it's subtle at times but he's constantly reaching out at him, checking he's okay, making sure he's safe, inviting him to sit with him, asking him to keep in contact.

yet each time he does, Nico shuts it down with his own logic or brushes him off. there's nearly always something else he needs to do instead of going with what Percy suggests, and Percy always respects that.

at the end of botl, Percy respects Nico's need to leave camp, even if he does try and suggest options on how Nico could be welcome there, and then let's him go without any bitterness or other negativity (he even lightens the mood and makes Nico remember he's still a kid under there).

Percy accepts Nico for who he is and lets Nico go at his own pace. He doesn't push him or drag Nico's feelings down or blame anything on Nico's own actions.

also, at the end of the sword of Hades, Percy respects and understands Nico's need to stay in the Underworld while still offering out his support (by letting Nico know he's there if he needs anything).

Percy understands Nico's need to find out information about his family, get closer to Hades, stay in the Underworld & be one with it.

then, to top it all off, Percy uses his reward from the Gods to make sure Nico has a home, a safe place to go back to, somewhere where he can be accepted.

Nico is part of Percy's loyalty and honestly, I feel like if the two of them had simply got a chance to talk then Nico would have realised just how much he does mean to Percy.