Disclaimer: I do NOT own Percy Jackson, but I'm working on it. The genie bottle I'd ordered on Ebay is almost here.
Main Pairing: Nico/Percy (Nicercy)
Warnings: Slash, Depression
AN: Look below. Also, enjoy!
Chapter Four: A Year and A Day (Part One)
September
Percy's room seemed bigger without all his stuff in it. Everything he owned was either packed in boxes or on the street for the garbage people to pick up- Amphitrite wouldn't tolerate any mess of his. Still, he couldn't find it in himself to get angry. Or even care, really.
Percy sighed as he continued folding his clothes and placing them in a duffel bag. He could remember being twelve and unable to wait until he got out of this place. Here he was and he couldn't even get excited about his upcoming future at college.
"Oh, no. Still moping are we?"
Percy glanced up at his doorway where Annabeth was standing, her arms crossed over her chest. She raised an unimpressed eyebrow.
Percy just shrugged and went back to packing.
Annabeth set a hand on his shoulder and turned him around to face her, her lips pursed. "I realize this is hard for you, Percy, but you have to get over him. For God's sake, you only knew him for a day."
Percy flinched and looked away. He did everything he could to avoid thinking of those twenty-four hours, bringing him nothing but pain and humiliation.
"I know that," Percy snapped and stepped away. "I'm fine. I don't know why you think otherwise." He went back to throwing things in his bag, a bit more forcefully. "I don't think about it all. I got taken advantage of. I was an idiot. You were right. End of story." He yanked the zipper closed, green eyes hard. "So why can't we just forget it?"
Annabeth sighed. "Fine then. Let's just ignore it and maybe it'll go away."
Percy ignored the slightly sarcastic tone as he pulled the strap over his shoulder. "Sounds good to me. You can got to Yale and I'll go to NY State and everything will be just
."
"Oh, that's what this is about?" Annabeth demanded. "You're what? Jealous?"
"Of course not," Percy protested immediately, all fight seemingly drained out of him. "I just…I don't know. Everything's changing. We're hardly going to see each other anymore."
Percy's world just seemed to crumble around him after that one day. Nothing was the same anymore, as melodramatic as that sounded.
"Hey, it'll be okay, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth ran a hand through his hair and kissed his forehead, gray eyes soft. "Everything's gonna be okay."
October
Music blared. Sweaty bodies rubbed against each other. A huge bonfire roared. Percy watched it all from his place on log near the fire, while Leo, his roommate, chatted in his ear. Percy wasn't paying attention to whatever he was saying, but even if he was he had a feeling he wouldn't be able to hear him over the party anyway.
Leo dressed in a dragon Halloween costume that he'd made himself, just for this Halloween party. It was red in color and had patches of gold, metallic scales and covered his entire body. He'd gotten many compliments on it (Some in the form of pickup lines) and decided to make Percy a costume too, a sort of merman. In other words, just
tight blue jeans that made Percy
uncomfortable and some seashell jewelry. Leo wanted to go all out and actually make him a tail, but Percy had refused. Leo was lucky Percy had shown up to the party at all.
Percy sighed, his chin resting in his hand as Leo continued babbling. He was not enjoying himself. He'd never really liked big parties. This wasn't an exception.
"I'll be right back," He yelled over the music to Leo. He needed a break. Percy left before Leo could respond, having to weave between gyrating bodies. He searched for somewhat quiet place with minimal amount of people, feeling nearly claustrophobic.
He stumbled toward the hope of open space. Waves crashed in the distance, just barely heard over the pulsing pop music. Percy kept walking until a small beach could be seen just a few feet ahead of him. When he stepped on the sand almost all his tension immediately melted away, as if the ocean was a balm that could heal anything, including emotions.
Percy approached the dark sea until he could stick his feet in the water, after he'd taken off his shoes. It was cold, as it was Halloween in New York, but Percy didn't pull back. The freezing temperature grounded him somehow, and he found himself reclining back against the sand.
The party seemed distant, especially with the ocean all around him. He could smell the salt, hear the waves, see the moonlight reflecting off the water. Greatest therapy in the world.
"There you are." Leo plopped down next to Percy and nudged him with his shoulder. "Wondered where you went."
Percy liked Leo. Really, he did. But he couldn't take being around people right now. He sighed and turned to Leo to tell him just that. "Leo, listen-"
"Don't even start." Though the words were harsh, Leo's voice was anything but. He sounded downright cheerful. He grinned and nudged Percy's shoulder again. "I know something wrong. So, spill it. Can't have baggage at a party."
Percy resisted the urge to sigh again. "I don't want to get into it, Leo." No use denying it- Leo was sure he was moping. "It's really not a big deal."
Snorting, Leo wrapped an arm around Percy's shoulders, ignoring his protests. "Right. So you haven't been depressed for months now."
Abruptly, anger sparked in Percy's chest like a he'd been hit with lightning. He yanked Leo's arm off him and jumped to his feet, sand flying from his jerking movement. He glared down at a surprised Leo. "I am not depressed. I've never once been depressed in my life and I'm not going to start now, especially over that-" He clamped his mouth shut, eye wide when he realized that was the first time he'd nearly said his name.
Understanding lit in Leo's brown eyes. A soft smile, different than his usual mischievous grin, curled his lips. "I knew it was a guy."
Percy nearly choked. "It's not- I mean, you can't...ugh." He reclaimed his seat at leo's side and gripped his head in his hands. "It's not like that," He finally managed.
"You sure?"
Two words. Ironically enough, that's all it took for the entire twenty-four hours to come spilling from Percy, when Annabeth couldn't even pry the whole story from him.
He told Leo everything. Maybe it was the beach that gave him the courage to do it, or maybe he was just tired of keeping it all inside.
"It had been the best day of my life, as cliche as it sounds. And then I wake up alone, naked, and in a foreign country, without any money." Percy's arms were cradled his legs to his chest, his gaze locked on the horizon. "I don't know if it was something I did, or if he did that to everyone...I just don't know anything. And I feel stupid because of it."
Percy fell quiet. Leo didn't speak. They both just stared ahead, seemingly lost in different thoughts.
It was Leo who spoke first. "So why don't you find out?"
"Hm? Find out what?" Percy propped his chin on his knee and turned his attention back to Leo.
"What happened, duh. Where's he's at, why he left… You get it, right? You should get closure."
Percy shrugged helplessly. "And how exactly do I do that? I have no idea where he's at, how to contact him, or even if the name he gave me is real."
Leo rolled his eyes before punching Percy's shoulder and standing. "Look, I don't ave all the answers. But in order to move on, which you need to do, you should confront him. Whether to yell at him for leaving or finding out if he's the jackass he seems to be at the moment. Anyway, I'm heading back to the party. When you're done with the self pity, give me call."
November
Luke's lips tasted like popcorn, Percy noted, as Luke kissed him outside his dorm. They'd just went to the theater for their third date, and Percy had to admit he had a good time. The movie was funny, food was cheap, and Luke was a good kisser. Really, Percy didn't have much right to complain. And he wasn't. Honest. It's just...well, he kept picturing someone else's lips on his.
Luke kissed down Percy's throat until he reached his collarbone, where he sucked a harsh hickey. Percy gripped Luke's short, blond hair in an attempt to pull him closer. But for some reason, Percy ended up pushing Luke away instead.
Luke's mouth left Percy's skin with a smack, and his blue eyes blinked with surprise. "What's wrong?" He reached for Percy again, but Percy sidestepped him, his arms wrapped around himself.
"I...I don't want to go any farther, Luke." Percy avoided Luke's confused stare, barely aware of what he was saying, though not truly caring.
Luke took a deep breath. "Well, okay. We don't have to do that other step yet-"
"No," Percy interrupted. He managed to meet Luke's gaze this time, his lip between his teeth. "I mean, I don't want to continue at all."
"Are...are you breaking up with me?" Luke sounded hurt. Percy pretended not to notice.
"Yeah. I'm sorry, it's just...it wouldn't be fair to you. Trust me." He smiled sadly at his now-ex boyfriend, and opened the door to his and Leo's room. "You're a great guy. Really. It's just not a good time for me to date, okay?"
Luke only nodded, his eyes on the floor. Sighing, Percy shut the door quietly.
"So…"
Percy looked up at Leo, who was sitting on his bed with a book on his lap, grinning. "How'd the date go?"
December
Percy dropped his suitcase on his old bed, already missing the comforts of his dorm. It'd been more of his home than the house he'd lived at for years. Still, it was expected of him to visit his step family for Christmas break, no matter how much he didn't want to be there.
"...don't need that on the internet. Find someone else - "
Percy glanced up at his doorway to see his father walking past his door, talking to someone on his cell phone. "Hey, Dad."
Poseidon flicked his hand in a parody of a wave and continued down the hall.
Percy sighed.
Great to be home.
January
"Quit hogging the jelly beans." Leo glared at Percy and stuck his tongue out furiously. His hands held a bag of candy to his chest, looking as though he was prepared to fight to the death if Percy tried to take another one.
Percy rolled his eyes. "We both paid for them, Valdez."
Leo simply grumbled and shifted deeper into their nest of blankets and pillows on their dorm floor. Romeo and Juliet continued to play on their small TV, barely heard over Leo's huffing and babbling.
Percy snuck a jelly bean when Leo appeared too engrossed in the movie to notice. They had to watch it for an English project, but Leo surprisingly seemed to be enjoying himself. Even if he did interrupt to rant about something or other.
"Are you watching this?" Leo flailed his hand in the TV's direction, seemingly outraged.
Percy opened his mouth to say yes, he was in fact watching this. Leo spoke before he could. "All of this could've been avoided if Romeo and Juliet actually, I don't know, talked to each other!" He munched on some popcorn, eyes narrowed. "Drives me crazy. Why do people always jump to conclusions?"
If Leo hadn't glanced at him in the corner of his eye, Percy wouldn't have gotten the hint. He'd have thought Leo was just being eccentric again, if not holding unnecessary anger. Still, Leo did, as he wasn't exactly subtle, and Percy wasn't always as oblivious as people thought.
His shoulders slumped. "What do you want me to do, Leo? How could I possibly find him? Nico di Angelo probably isn't even his real name."
Leo snorted and ate some more popcorn. "He's not an undercover agent. What's the harm of looking him up on Facebook or something?"
"Being humiliated. He fucked me and then left. That's not exactly 'Let's get coffee later' type of behavior."
Leo waved his hand dismissively. "Details, details. You'll never know unless you try."
"What if I don't want to know?"
Percy and Leo both stared at each other in the artificial light of the TV, expressionless. Leo blinked.
Percy caved first.
"...Fine. But I get the right to say I told you so."
February
Percy felt stupid. He'd been searching for Nico for about a month and had nothing to show for it. As far as he knew, Nico had no account at any social network site. Unless, of course, Nico wasn't his name like Percy suspected.
"Come on, dude." Leo nudged Percy's side with his cell phone, smiling. "Call this chick and see if she knows. You've spent too much time trying to find this guy."
Percy groaned into his pillow. In the process of searching for Nico di Angelo he'd stumbled across Silena on Facebook because he'd looked up the name of her restaurant. "I don't want to. This is stupid, Leo."
"No, it's not! It's for closure. Just ask if she knows where Nico is. It's not that hard." Leo poked him harder, nearly causing Percy to wince. "If you don't do it then I will."
Percy turned his head to glare at Leo, not willing to give in just yet. "Why do you care so much, huh? You never even met him!"
Leo seemed honestly confused, as if he couldn't believe Percy hadn't grasped this concept. "Because I care about you, doofus. Now call the French lady."
Percy stared. Leo...Leo cared about him? They'd only known each other a few months, how could Leo possibly care enough to push Percy this much? Even Annabeth had just told him to move on, though that might've been because she just didn't like Nico.
"You gonna call?"
Groaning, Percy sat up and let Leo give him the phone. "Can't believe I'm doing this…" He snatched the piece of paper with Silena's phone number on it (Leo got it off her Facebook page) and dialed. It rang a total of four times before a familiar woman picked up with a, "Bonjour!"
Percy wasn't prepared for the lump that appeared in his throat. "Uh...h-hey, Silena. It's, um, Percy Jackson. That guy who was with Nico a few months ago? We visited your restaurant and you held my stuff…"
"Oh! The cutie! You know, we still have your bag, sweetie. I didn't let anyone touch it; I knew you'd come back for it!"
Percy laughed quietly, smiling at Leo's curious look. e couldn't believe she remembered him, let alone kept his luggage for months. "Thanks, that means a lot to me. Anyway...do you happen to know where Nico is. I'm having trouble contacting him."
Silena clicked her tongue sympathetically. "No, sorry, hun. I haven't talked to him in months. He does this a lot. Don't worry; he'll talk to you eventually."
Right. "Oh. Well, thanks, anyway. I...I gotta go."
"Alright, honey. You make sure to call again, okay? And your bag's here for whenever you want to pick it up."
She hung up before Percy could say he wouldn't ever come get it back.
AN: Gods, you guys. I am SO SORRY. I could load you with excuses, but I know you wouldn't want to hear them. Anyway, THERE IS ONE MORE CHAPTER! I intended to write it as one, but the thing just kept getting bigger and bigger. All the action will happen next chapter.
