A/N: Okay, so, a few important notes. First of, I had to shift the Percy Jackson verse back by a decade to make timelines match up, so just keep that in mind. In this universe, the Lighting Thief took place in 1995, not 2005. That way, by 2005, Percy's 22, and guess who else is... Sammy! Yup! Also, I know I didn't give a lot of background for this story, and you're just kind of plunged in headfirst. Don't worry. All will be explained, with time. Alright, I won't hold you up any longer. Get reading! ~Impi
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October 31, 2005

Percy walked around the corner of his apartment, getting the last-minute pieces of his Halloween costume together. It wasn't anything special, really, just his Camp Half-Blood shirt and some jeans, but he was just planning on telling people it was from a book series. The shirt was certainly brightly colored enough and stylistic enough to be so.

In his pocket was Riptide. He never went anywhere without it, not that he needed it much anymore. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry.

"Sam!" He called. He rounded a corner to find Sam staring at a picture of his mother and father.

"You okay?" He asked. Sam looked up, smiling when he saw Percy, but Percy could tell it was a bit of an effort.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He said. Percy knew he wasn't, but decided he needed his space and let well enough alone.

"Okay." Percy said, going to find some blue food dye for the drinks that were bound to be served. It used to be a habit, though now it was devolving into an unhealthy obsession. "Come on!" He called. "I think we've passed the point of being fashionably late, and now we're just irritating."

A thought struck him, and he grabbed the food dye and turned around, heading back towards Sam.

He peeked his head around the corner again, and saw Sam still sitting there, not having moved. "You got your Halloween costume on? I know it's not your favorite, but…."

Sam smiled and stood up. "Let's just go, then, if you're in so much of a rush. Wouldn't want to hold you up." He mocked.

Percy groaned. "Is that really necessary?"

He went and got his shoes on. "You have a point, though. Let's go."

They got to the bar quickly, all things considered. Once there, Percy started parting the masses, looking for his friends, and, failing that, anybody he remotely knew. Well, friends that he'd made there, recently. He knew that nobody from either camps had come with him.

He and Annabeth were unique in that respect, actually. Most campers just stayed at camp, or got a low-paying, inconspicuous job, not wanting to draw attention to themselves.

Luckily, Percy found Jess soon enough, who was sitting alone for the moment. Her face lit up when she saw the two of them, though, so that was good enough for Percy.

She was wearing a short nurse costume. Percy had actually laughed when she'd first bought it, but it suited her really well.

Percy sat down next to her, with Sam on his other side. She smiled.

"Hey, Percy. Sam."

Luis came wandering over with drinks in his hands. He jumped and started when he saw Percy and Sam, the two of them not having been there a second ago, but relaxed soon enough.

"So here's to Sam, and his awesome LSAT victory." Jess said, rising her drinks.

Sam ducked his head, but Percy saw him smiling pleasedly. Percy kissed him on the cheek, then sat back in his chair. Jess cheered him on.

"All right, all right, it's not that big a deal." Sam said, trying to get them to calm down.

"Yeah, he acts all humble." Jess said.

"But I'll have you know he scored a one seventy-four." Percy finished for her. "I'd like to see you do that." Or anyone else, really. Well, aside from Annabeth. She was probably the only person Percy knew that could keep up with a score like that, hands-down. Well, she and the rest of the Athena cabin.

In fact, Percy wouldn't be surprised if Sam had some godly blood in him, like he was a few generations removed or something, like Frank. It was actually pretty rare to be a genius without having some sort of mythological heritage. Nothing against mortals, Percy thought. Just that the last two had been in Japan, and both had died within the last year. Not to say they weren't involved with gods, just that they certainly hadn't been blessed by them. Maybe cursed.

"Is that good?" Luis asked.

"Definitely." Percy answered, leaving no room for doubt.

"Scary good." Jess added. Scary. That was one word for it.

"So there you go. You are a first-round draft pick. You can go to any law school you want!" Luis probably thought it was a compliment. To most other people, that would be. To Percy, though, it just sounded like Sam would be leaving.

"Most law schools wouldn't deserve all this, though." He said, gesturing to Sam who was sitting next to him. Sam smiled wryly.

"Actually, I got an interview here." Sam said. Percy relaxed, feeling much better. Not that he'd actually thought that Sam was leaving, but if he was, there would be no way Percy could go with him. "Monday." Sam continued. He gave Percy's hand a reassuring squeeze under the table, letting him know he wasn't going anywhere. "If it goes okay I think I got a shot at a full ride next year."

"Hey. It's gonna go great." Jess said, giving him an encouraging smile.

"It better."

"If I know you, Sam, you probably aren't going to even leave them with a choice." Percy said. "They'll be blown away by your awesomeness."

"How does it feel to be the golden boy of your family?"

Percy saw the way that Sam winced slightly, and held on to his hand. From what Sam had told him (and here Percy was pretty sure he hadn't been getting the full truth), he had had a falling out with his family when he'd wanted to go to school. He hadn't really talked to them ever since.

Percy didn't know if Luis was too inebriated to remember, or just didn't care.

"Ah, they don't know." Sam said.

"Oh, no, I would be gloating!" Luis said. Yeah, of course you would. Percy though. "Why not?"

"Because we're not exactly the Bradys." Sam said.

Percy decided on a quick intervention. "You're lucky. My entire family gathers every summer and winter solstice. During the winter ones, my uncle—who I swear looks like the Lord of the Dead—comes and ignores everybody." Yup. Hades. "And my other uncle's wife once starting leaving cow poop everywhere for my old girlfriend to get on her. I'm not sure why, but I think they had a squabble and Aunt June's been holding onto it ever since." June. Juno. Good enough.

"Cow poop?" Sam laughed. "Were you ever the victim of that?"

"Too many times." Percy sighed dramatically. Mission accomplished. Sam was now distracted enough from the bad memories of his family.

"More shots?" Luis offered.

At the exact same time, Sam and Jess said, "No!"

Percy remained a bit indecisive. "You mind if I do?" He asked Sam. Sam nodded, and Luis headed back up to the bar.

"I'm proud of you." Jess said, as if contesting the fact that some people weren't.

Percy nodded. "You better knock 'em dead on Monday. In fact, if you don't, I'd have a heart attack."

"You're gonna get that full ride. I know it." Jess said, smiling.

"What would I do without you?" Sam asked, looking at Percy.

"Probably hit a dog." Percy said, at the same time as Jess said, "Crash and burn."

Percy thought that the fact that the two of them had come up with the similar thoughts probably proved something.

Percy and Sam decided to head home for the night, after that. Percy was feeling a bit talkative, and didn't want to end up spilling all of his adventures. The best case scenario would be that Sam thought he was just really drunk. Worst case? Someone would take him seriously and either Camp Half-Blood would be in danger from FBI-ing mortals or he'd get committed to an insane asylum.

As soon as they got home, Percy tossed off his shoes and crashed on the bed, falling asleep pretty quickly after that. He felt Sam get in beside him, and was out like a light.

What felt like barely a few minutes later, though, Percy was woken up by a noise from the other room, one that sounded like a window being opened.

He could be a heavy sleeper when he wanted to be, but after having spent months with Lupa, and having tried to keep his skills intact, he could wake up at the drop of a dime if anything unusual was going on. He felt the warmth of Sam's body next to him, and he knew that someone was breaking in. He was getting ready to get out of bed, when Percy felt Sam stirring, and he froze, feigning sleep. So Sam also woke up to the window opening? He should have stayed asleep.

It really wasn't that loud. Which led Percy to wonder…

Percy felt Sam get up slowly, and leave the room silently, cautiously. Percy waited until he left the room before he started getting up as well.

He began acting like he was still tired, though, just in case Sam came in.

Cautiously, he crept out, following the path that Sam had taken.

He heard the sounds of Sam fighting with someone, and rolled his eyes. Of course. Not that he didn't mind it, but he felt there were more productive ways of getting rid of an intruder. Like a baseball bat to the head.

"Dean?" Percy heard Sam say. He stopped moving. Sam sounded like he knew who he was talking to, and Percy had to admit the name sounded kind of familiar, but it took him a moment to figure out who it was.

Dean. Sam's brother.

"You scared the crap out of me!" Sam said. He sounded annoyed. Really irritated.

Percy tried to silence his breathing and the sound of his own heart so he could hear better.

"That's 'cause you're out of practice." The other voice said, the one Percy was assuming was Dean.

There was the sound of more scuffling, and then Dean said again, "Or not. Get off of me."

"Dean, what the hell are you doing here?" Sam asked. Percy wanted to know as well. What possible reason could he have for breaking in in the middle of the night? It definitely had to be important, if Dean was willing to see Sam after, what two years? Three? Percy figured that was a long time.

"Well, I was looking for a beer."

Apparentlynot. But still, couldn't he have just gone down the street for that? It had to be something more important than that.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sam said, more forcefully this time.

"Okay." Dean said. "All right. We gotta talk."

"Uh, the phone?" Percy mentally awarded kudos to Sam for that response. It maybe wasn't exactly what he would have said, but it got the point across well enough.

"If I'd'a called, would you have picked up?" Dean's tone sounded kind of aggressive, and Percy decided that that was a good time to intervene. He flicked the lights on, illuminating them both.

"Sam?" He asked. Both of their heads turned to look at him.

A bit belatedly, Percy realized he was standing there in just his underwear.

It took him another moment to figure out that that meant he didn't have Riptide on him, and he was still heavily suspicious of Dean.

"Percy?" Sam asked. "How long have you been there?"

Percy knew better than to lie to Sam. "I woke up just before you did, actually."

He turned so he was facing Dean. "You're Sam's brother?" He asked.

Dean nodded. "Anyway, I gotta borrow your boyfriend here, talk about some private family business." When neither of them denied the "boyfriend" comment, though, his eyes widened.

"What, really?"

"Yeah, and?" Percy asked, crossing his arms and leaning against the doorframe.

"Well, uh, nice meeting you." Dean said. He started to turn around, but Sam stopped him.

"No." Sam walked over to Percy, and Percy leaned into him, uncrossing his arms and relaxing slightly. Percy figured, if things got out of hand, he could take Dean. He'd wrestled a Minotaur at twelve and not died, after all. He figured that that was an accomplishment. "No," Sam repeated. "I trust Percy. Go ahead and talk. I'm not moving."

"Okay." Dean said, staring them both down. "Um." He said, clearly trying best how to phrase a delicate sentence. "Dad hasn't been home in a few days."
"So he's working overtime on a Miller Time shift. He'll stumble back in sooner or later." Sam said. Percy, for one, didn't understand any of that, but it seemed Dean knew Sam understood him wrong.

"Dad's on a hunting trip. And he hasn't been home in a few days." Dean elaborated. Well, maybe for Sam. Percy still had no clue what was going on, but he was pretty sure this ties into the part where Sam didn't tell him everything when he was talking about his family.

The stress on hunting was weird, though. It sounded like it was a code word for something, maybe? From the way he said it, he definitely didn't mean deer and bears.

Next to him, Percy felt Sam tense up. He remained still, however. Percy looked up at him (and let it be known that Percy absolutely loathed being the shorter one, after having been taller than basically everybody for years), trying to figure out what was wrong and having absolutely no success.
Eventually, though, Sam spoke again. "Excuse us, Percy. I need to talk to Dean."

Percy nodded. Sam went and grabbed a pair of jeans and a hoodie, and then followed Dean outside.

After Sam left, Percy stared at the door for several moments, before turning around and heading back to the bed. Riptide was still sitting on his nightstand, and he cursed himself for not having brought it with him earlier. Granted, nothing had happened, but he would probably have felt a lot better with it in his hand.

Instead of getting back in bed, though, Percy sat on top of it, debating internally whether or not he wanted to one-way Iris-message Sam, to keep an eye on him. One the plus side, he'd be able to monitor Sam and he'd probably end up figuring out what Sam had been hiding when he talked about his family.

On the other hand, however…. Sam probably had a reason for keeping whatever it was he was keeping from him. Probably because he wanted an ordinary life and thought Percy was just a mortal. Definitely because he thought Percy was just a mortal.

Sam wouldn't be able to see or hear Percy, but Percy would be able to see Sam just fine.

After a few minutes, he rummaged through his drawer, digging to the very back of it to see if he could find a drachma. He knew that Fleecy had said he didn't need to, but it eased his conscience.

He summoned some water (perks of being him) and flipped on the lamp by his bed, creating a rainbow.

He tossed the drachma through, and said, "Fleecy, do me a solid."

A head of frizzy white hair appeared in the picture, and for a moment Percy had thought he'd accidentally been redirected to Einstein. Could Iris-messages traverse time as well as space? Then they took a step back and Percy saw that it was indeed Fleecy.

"Oh, hey, Percy!" She said. "What can I do?"

Percy smiled a bit at her enthusiasm. "I need to make a one-way call to Sam Winchester."

"Ooh, a spy mission!" she squealed. Her face immediately turned suspicious. "But why?"

Percy tried to give her a summarized version of events. "His brother just broke in, and now Sam's gone outside to talk to him. I just need to make sure he's alright.

"Okay!" Fleecy said. "And I'll keep it a secret, but only if you let me watch."
Extortion at its finest. "Fine." Percy said.

The image changed. Sam was walking down the stairs, following his brother. Percy assumed that he'd missed some of the conversation by taking so long to bargain with Fleecy (even though it hadn't really been that long at all) because Sam was saying, "—come on. You can't just break in, middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you."

"You're not hearing me, Sammy. Dad's missing. I need you to help me find him."

Percy didn't understand why a missing father could be so important. Sure, he understood family bonds and all that, and he'd certainly be devastated if his mother ever went missing, but the way they were talking, it wasn't any sort of sadness or fondness. It was more like "he's missing and that's going to cause a lot of problems for a lot of people."

"You remember the poltergeist in Amherst?" Sam said. "Or the Devil's Gates in Clifton? He was missing then, too. He's always missing, and he's always fine."

Percy had to stop and make sure he was hearing them right, because Sam had just mentioned a poltergeist. Was he delusional? Percy knew he shouldn't be so judgmental, but monsters were real. Percy was really very extra sure that ghosts and poltergeists were not.

Dean stopped on the stairwell and turned to face Sam, expression serious. "Not for this long. Now are you gonna come with me or not?"

Sam crossed his arms obstinately. "I'm not." He said.

"Why not?" Dean asked.

"I swore I was done hunting. For good." Sam said. There it was again. Hunting. Maybe it was monster hunting? Percy was pretty sure Sam was mortal, though. Maybe descended from a long line of demigods or whatever it was that those other pantheons had, but definitely not in touch with it. And he was definitely susceptible to the Mist. Percy had checked twice.

So if it was monsters, ghosts and the like (not that those existed) how could Sam have seen them well enough to get rid of them?

Percy decided he was very clearly missing something.

"Come on. It wasn't easy, but it wasn't that bad." Dean responded. He started down the stairs again.

Sam waited a few moments, then followed him. "Yeah? When I told Dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45."

A gun? That was just ridiculous. It was crazy. What kind of dad gives his kids a gun when they're scared?

Granted, Percy's dad had given him a sword, but that wasn't until he was at least twelve. The way Sam was making it sound, he was much younger when he'd been given a weapon.

What kind of manic was Sam's dad?

What kind of guy went around hunting monsters with two young children in tow, giving them weapons?

It made Percy's head hurt to think about. He heard Fleecy gasp, and he said, "I know" as reassuringly as he could. Unfortunately, Fleecy didn't seem to buy it.

"What kind of mortal…" Fleecy trailed of. She sounded outraged. "They're mortals! They could kill themselves by acting that way!" though Percy couldn't see her face, he assumed her expression was not a pleased one.

"I know." Percy said. He focused back on the illusion, watching closely, trying to see if he was just mishearing things. The two brothers kept talking, though, and the more they said kept making them out to be more and more of a pair of monster hunters. Monster hunters! And they were mortals, too. They probably couldn't even see most of what they were chasing after clearly.

Eventually, he couldn't take it anymore.

"Thanks, Fleecy. I think I'm done here. I've got some stuff to do."

Disgusted, he waved his hand through the mist, cutting off the call.

He just sat there on the floor, for Zeus knew how long, just staring at the floor in shock. His mortal boyfriend was chasing after monsters because of what seemed like his father's need for revenge.

Percy had to help him somehow. Otherwise, Sam was going to die.