Warning: Swearing.
Nobody had realised where the topic was heading as they talked, not until the voices rose and the fingers twitched.
Surprisingly, the groups' current argument had been started by Frank. Well, technically, it was started by Annabeth bouncing off of Frank's words and enraging every omega in the room, even Will and Hazel. So it wasn't really Frank's fault.
"What do you mean omegas don't have it bad? Where the fuck were you when I fell?"
By 'fell' he meant drowned. If omegas didn't have it bad then why did Nico spend years stumbling alone in the dark? No one wanted to help as they didn't deem it necessary - Nico, wasn't necessary.
Annabeth continued to tell Nico, over and over again, that he wasn't left alone out there just because he was an omega. Each new sentence raised the volume of Nico's eyeroll, the intensity of his glare.
Piper continued to try and push between the two, as did Grover. The two betas were having a rather difficult time trying to push the two apart, whilst also trying not to anger them further.
It wasn't working.
Poor Frank sat practically alone on the couch, his head ducked and neck bared. Anyone who knew him knew he wasn't a violent person, that he hated confrontations.
But at this moment in time, he'd rather that than feel the way his two omegas stared down at him, silent and blank.
A hand on each of their necks brought them out of their trance-like states, Katie stood behind them with a serious look before her lips tilted up into a gentle smile.
Both Leo and Hazel's whole demeanour changed, their arms falling to their sides as their shoulders drooped, tension slowly leaving their bodies.
Katie's gentle smile turned secretly fond as she made eye contact with Travis, watching his own lips lilt at the corner as he slightly shook Calypso before slowly moving his hands from her shoulders. Just as with Leo and Hazel, the tension in her muscles began to seep out of her, easing Frank as he began to lift his head.
As Travis and Katie continued to monitor the four, they witnessed Leo and Hazel bridge the large gap between the two alphas, Hazel curling up next to her mate as Leo pulled his friend closer.
Travis moved from his spot behind the couch to beside Katie, the two of them taking a seat on the floor instead of searching for spare seats and possibly disrupting the scenes around them.
Chris could barely hold in a grimace as his hand was squeezed tighter, the grip on his forearm just as strong.
How he'd been stuck as the stress toy for two alphas when the amount of betas in the room outnumbered the alphas, he didn't know.
Despite having more of a sense of colleague-ship than an actual friendship, no awkwardness was shown as Reyna squeezed all of her frustration and instincts out into the clutch she had on Chris' - by now - bruised arm.
Even if she could handle her feelings on her own, by herself, the group had come to a recent promise of not doing exactly that.
She wasn't necessarily complaining, better Chris risked broken bones than she did crescent-shaped scars on her palms.
On Chris' other side, Clarisse's thoughts bordered along the same line, giving no fucks about whether or not she crushed her poor boyfriend's hand.
In their minds, better the unfortunate beta than the two fuming omegas in front of them.
Jason stood tall and proud, his shoulders squared as he forced himself to keep that air of intimidation he knew he could. To his left and slightly behind him stood Will, blue eyes just as stormy as he stood with his arms folded across his chest, not unlike how Leo and Hazel had been.
Reyna stayed alert, listening to Jason rant about omega hardships whilst also trying to keep track of what was happening with her mates behind her.
She was battling against her mind's conflict as her instincts threw several possible courses of action at her - circling them around in her head.
She wanted to help Piper calm Annabeth, wanted to tear Nico to shreds for getting so up close and personal with, and shouting at, her mate. She wanted to comfort her friend as she stared at Jason's troubled expression. She wanted to defend Nico, he was her friend too.
Unfortunately for Chris, all of these emotions she channeled into the death grip she had on him.
Gods, being a beta sucked sometimes.
Moments like these were about the only times Chris - or any beta he knew - had thoughts like that. Being a beta was actually awesome, no matter what arrogant alphas and brainless omegas claimed.
Just, sometimes, betas didn't appreciate always being the mediators. It wasn't a common feeling though, as it was often just a natural instinct to them anyway.
No one noticed that in the corner of the room, Percy sat, his back against the wall and his hands held over his ears. With his knees pulled up to his chest, his face was easily hidden, proving a nuisance to the two betas trying to comfort him.
Rachel had a hand on Percy's knee, rubbing circles with her thumb as she tried to delicately untangle Percy's fingers from his hair, having moved there as soon as the pair had worked his hands away from his ears.
Connor used Percy's now-available hearing to whisper in his friends ear, soft whispering comforts.
Despite the so obvious differences, Percy couldn't help but be reminded of when he was younger, of the arguments he'd hear at night when Gabe and his mom thought he was asleep.
He almost never was. Often, he had been asleep but was awoken by the loud slams and shouts.
With their situation as bad as it had been, Percy didn't dare think about what would have happened if Gabe was an alpha.
"-ask Percy! He would know, Sally raised him."
It seemed everyone had heard Nico shout as they all turned towards where Percy sat, the omegas waiting for him to prove their point purely because of his love for his mother, whilst Annabeth waited for Percy to defend the alphas. He too was an alpha, after all.
Percy's head shook as he tossed it side to side, curling together tighter and pressing back harder against the wall.
For an alpha, he looked uncharacteristically small, and that was before his shoulders began to shake.
It took an extra three squeezes to each of his wrists for the shaking to cease, enough for Rachel to slot herself against Percy's side with an arm over his shoulders.
Connor's hand found it's way to the back of Percy's head, his fingers tangling in his hair as he swiped his thumb along soothingly.
Every alpha, and omega, had what betas liked to call a 'Calming Point'. For Percy, it was the back of his head, Calypso her shoulders. Hazel and Leo both had certain spots on their necks.
Some however, had theirs in rather annoying places. Like Annabeth for example; no beta was ever getting anywhere near close to her ankle unless they were Piper. Grover too, if he was lucky.
Why bother telling them where it was if she was just going to boot them in the face? That one time in the Labyrinth had not been fun for Rachel. At all.
Others, irritatingly enough, didn't tell any of them where their Point was unless they trusted you outright.
With Nico, there was a total of six people who knew his Point, none of which were betas.
And the touch of either an omega or an alpha helped, yes, but only slightly and if there was some sort of connection between the two.
Out of the six people who knew, only four had been told by him willingly, Jason having been there to hear it from Eros and Will having pissed him off to the point of shouting it at him by accident.
Of course, Hazel knew, as did Reyna. Percy knew because he'd shown Nico his and it meant a great deal to know someone's Point if you weren't a beta. And lastly, Sally Jackson knew because she was Sally Jackson.
With Percy now still, hands now gripping at his knees, Annabeth took a measured step forward.
"Don't!" Rachel, luckily, had managed to slip her hand alongside Connor's just before he kicked off again.
"No alphas step forward."
Annabeth's face soured at being told what to do, especially by Rachel. But with Piper's foot held against her ankle, she took a step back instead of speaking up.
Connor let his gaze flit around the room before landing on Will.
"Will," he gestured with his head for Will to come over, reaching a hand out for him to take. "Come here."
Will's body relaxed almost immediately at the command, rushing forward to kneel directly in front of Percy as he took Connor's outstretched hand.
With his hand clasped loosely with Will's, Connor brought his hand to the back of Percy's head, him and Rachel bringing their hands away long enough for him to slide Will's underneath. With Will's palm pressed reassuringly to Percy's skin, Connor dropped his other hand to Percy's calf.
Slowly, Percy moved his arms so that his hands could grasp onto his beta friends' wrists, peeking out from between his elbows cautiously.
His eyes met Will's, for only a second before Percy had made room for Will to lean forward, pressing their foreheads together softly.
As Percy went to speak, his words got caught in his throat and jumbled themselves together, so all that was intelligible was a small whisper of 'no alpha'.
Will nodded as a form of acknowledgement as he moved his other hand to rest it on Percy's right knee, the one Rachel wasn't back to rubbing pacifically at.
"No alpha?"
Percy nodded.
With Percy seemingly calm now, Annabeth decided to speak up, still hoping for Percy to choose her side in all this.
But Percy just shook his head, having maneuvered both of Will's hands into his own, resting them atop his knees with his cheek laid against them.
Percy's next words, although still small, came out clear and understandable.
"Alphas don't have to lie."
His words confused Nico, who had been expecting him to talk about how much harder omegas had to work to get even half as much recognition that alphas did; especially in their world.
His next words only proved to confuse some of the room's occupants further, however some were hit with a chariot of realisation.
"I don't wanna lie."
It was rather obvious who understood his words and who didn't, Reyna, Annabeth, Nico, Jason and Calypso all stiffening instantly.
Grover took a look at Annabeth and Nico before going to sit on the floor by Rachel, back against the wall and his legs outstretched.
If he hadn't been so worried about Annabeth and Nico possibly killing each other, he would have been right by Percy's side the entire time.
Obviously, he'd already known this life-changing, view-altering secret, having been practically the only thing Percy had for a long while and then sticking with him for so long.
Rachel knew too, but only because she knew Percy before she knew Percy Jackson. Out in the mortal world, Percy still faced his omega hardships. Their world however refused to see what was right in front of them.
Connor felt only slightly out of place, having found out after a prank gone too far.
The clip-clop of Grover's hooves on the wooden flooring brought Leo back to reality, his mind trying to decipher what Percy could have possibly meant by that.
"Wha-"
Hazel's gasp was loud, drawing most of the attention to her as she turned to face Leo, her hand flapping against his arm several times lightly.
Once Leo's eyes met Hazel they widened, almost immediately. If he'd paid proper attention he could have understood quicker, but he didn't let his mind dwell on that as he gripped Hazel's hand and dragged her over to Percy's corner.
They both stopped just a foot short however, unsure of whether it was a good idea to get so close, especially with Percy being so crowded already.
Instead, they kneeled where they stood, hands still entwined as they smiled softly at Percy from their positions behind Will, sat on his left and right in order to still see Percy easily.
As Nico sputtered, searching relentlessly for the right words - at least, the most acceptable words in this situation - the others in the room slowly figured out what was meant, both by Percy's actions and the cryptic 'no alpha'.
The room stayed dead silent, waiting for a pin to drop or a - gods forbid - some form of deity to show up.
As all eyes flicked from Percy to the others around the room in an unbalanced rhythm, Mr. D watched, lazily, with slightly bated breath from behind the barely-open door. Just next to him stood Chiron, his arms crossed over his chest and his face stoic.
His form didn't relax even moderately until Annabeth sat down in dejection, her sorrowed scent letting out an air of despondency. Her face flickered between blank, angered, disappointed, and unsettled, as if unable to choose which one she was really feeling.
Most other faces in the room expressed similar reactions too.