New benchmark! Yay! I imagined this really weird scene, where I was a scriptwriter and this was a movie (I said this would be weird), and when a certain actor walked onto the set, I was whopping and clapping super loudly until the director kicked me out for, like, the millionth time. Who the actor is should become apparent very soon….
Also, my nerdiness is still giddy, because I've just explicitly used a literary term: foreshadowing! Hopefully Ch. 9 wasn't from too long ago.
Enjoy!
Annabeth Chase's Facts about People, Life, and Earth: "Hello, can you hear me?/I'm in California dreaming about what we used to be./When we were younger and free/I've forgotten how it felt before the world fell at our feet./There's such a difference, between us/And a million miles." – "Hello" by Adele
A ceiling of surgical-masked people fanned over Percy's line of vision. He blinked as the faces parted, revealing the actual brightly-lit ceiling, and let out a small sigh.
"Perseus Jackson," a doctor read from his report. "I see you've had quite your share of ERs, how does this one compare?"
He chose to keep silent. He was swimming in too much guilt and fury to open his mouth.
He leaned in, the glow of the operating lamp sparking off his shiny teeth. His eyebrows were drawn out from under his cap and deeply furrowed. "Am I to presume your every instance of overdose has been recorded?"
Percy shrugged this time, avoiding his penetrating gaze.
The doctor leaned back on his stool. "Yet that's still a lot of occasions, Perseus."
He felt a shudder and a little like throwing up. Except all of his overdose symptoms should've been reversed. Trying to shield himself from all the intrigued nurses' gazes, he mumbled, "I didn't want to."
The doctor's cloud of spicy aftershave wafted over to Percy as he bent over. "Pardon?"
"I was trying to get clean," he muttered under his breath.
The doctor schooled his surprised and slightly bemused expression within a second. "Ah." He exchanged glances with the nurses.
"Better luck with rehab," a willowy nurse said, rinsing and stacking equipment.
A male nurse reached over him to mercifully turn off the lamp, and dubiously questioned, "And would you ever choose that?"
There was a small scuffle, and the nurse dealing with the lights yelped. "You didn't have to kick me," he snapped softly, glaring at the doctor.
"The choice is yours to make, Perseus." He cleared his throat easily. "And I'm certain you have plenty of experience ignoring professional suggestions, but don't let yourself be swayed." He held out a muscular arm, and Percy loosely put his fingers in his and pushed himself off the table.
The doctor peeled off his latex gloves and took a moment to firmly fix his bright blue eyes on Percy's. "I truly care about your well-being, Perseus, and you already know what the right choice is."
He let my gaze slip from his like putty. He didn't deserve so much concern from everyone when he knew was just going to let them down again. "Thank you," he croaked.
He nodded and headed outside to wash up. A dimpled, round-cheeked nurse helpfully gestured to the exit. Percy had the sudden instinct to run back.
Grover was twisting and wringing his Rasta cap, and his hair was an utter bird's nest. His cheeks looked sunken in his weak pallor. Sourness, bitingly acidic, burbled up to Percy's throat when he remembered what Juniper told him yesterday morning.
"Percy," Grover breathed. "I'm so sorry."
He smiled senselessly, stunned. He was expecting nothing short of a thick, suffocating silence full of accusation.
Grover seemed like he wanted to rip apart his cap. "I should've noticed you were gone or even checked on you once in a while and I didn't even pay attention to you," he broke off, his gaze dropping to the ground.
Percy only had his apology in mind, and he was grateful he didn't have to meet Grover's eyes. "I lost it. I turned away the opportunity to stop myself. I'm so sorry, G-man."
Grover looked a little similarly startled. "Percy, it's perfectly normal for you to—"
A bitter laugh slipped from his throat. He didn't want to interrupt Grover, but he had already done it and he was going to continue. "Of course its normal to want to rebound. But I had no reason to choose to get high in the first place, nor let myself slip." He paused, and his mom took Annabeth's place in his mind, telling him what to say. "But I can't thank you enough for caring and sticking through this." He was a little concerned about Grover's blind loyalty—it looked a whole lot like his, but at the moment, he couldn't do anything but feel grateful someone was waiting outside for him.
They crossed the hallway of ERs, which resounded with screaming and sleepy countdowns and casual conversation between doctors and nurses. Percy shuddered involuntarily at a shriek: "Don't take her from me!" A nurse emerged from one door with blood spread all of her shirt. She nonchalantly inclined her head at them and left for the changing room.
The hallway opened into the waiting room, and Percy stopped in the middle of his tracks. His friends, all the old guys from the streets and the ones he still half thought of as Annabeth's, were cluttered around all the squeaky plastic chairs. Tension seemed to seep out of and thicken inside the room at the same time, and the few other strangers peered up with vague interest.
Hazel swiped a tear from her cheek, crushing a bundle of tissue in her fist, Clarisse stared at him like, There better be a good reason to all this commotion, and Jason was pulling up the hem of his sweatshirt, proving he truly did have an eight-pack, to polish his glasses before giving Percy a shocked once-over. Nico jolted from his half-asleep haze, his expression unreadable from behind his dark circles, Leo shoved a mess of bolts and nails from his lap to get up, and Frank dropped his magazine in surprise. Thalia and Piper were marching over, clearly determined to give him an earful, and Percy avoided looking over at Harvey in the corner.
"Shoot," Grover muttered at Percy's elbow. "I forgot to mention Thalia asked for Reyna's number."
Piper opened her mouth, and Percy was about to turn and ask him why that was worrying, when Will ambled back from the nurse's station. "Oh," he blurted, and Chris crashed into his back, spilling coffee all over the floor.
Surprisingly, Travis was the first to get up and Calypso followed in tow. Clarisse knew the location of the janitor's closet for some reason, but it wasn't enough of a distraction for Piper to postpone her tirade.
Her words ran into each other, but Percy could very well understand, "Don't you ever do this again, Jackson," and "I was freaking out!" and "Do you know how Annabeth will feel?"
Grover cleared his throat and whispered to Percy, "Thalia called her and Reyna's flying over." Thalia had opened her mouth, but now she was just leaning against one of the plastic chairs, silently staring at him. She wasn't wearing any eyeliner this morning. His stomach roiled.
Piper straightened. "And so is Annabeth."
Percy found himself wondering if she ever did get to try Dutch Crunch bread, whatever that was. He then imagined them being on the same flight, because why wouldn't they be, and plotting how to kill him, because they could have sharp objects in their checked-in luggage…
The guilt must've showed in his face, because Thalia's voice softened ever so slightly. "How are you feeling, Jackson?"
Percy felt everyone quiet down for his answer, even Katie and Travis' bickering. The real answer was, that he was willing to give his life for another parcel of something. That he was most definitely in love, and falling in love all over again with heroin was so, so nice. But he stared at a stain on the wall and said, "Okay. Apologetic."
The noise turned back on, Leo sidestepping the mopping up of coffee to touch his shoulder, then pretended not to notice Percy's flinch as he called out, "It's okay, water boy." Chris kept rubbing the toe of his sneaker on the ground, and it made an annoying squeaking sound. Piper was saying something to Calypso, and Grover sighed into Juniper's shoulder as she profusely pleaded with Percy to forgot the last morning, and he noticed Harvey clearing his throat.
"Harvey, I—" he tried not to choke on his guilt. "I'm so sorry," he whispered hoarsely.
Harvey shook his head and answered, "I forgive you."
And then Will was taking his wrist to check his pulse and peering at his pupils, murmuring almost to himself, "How much Narcan did they give you? You're fully revived now?" Percy remembered he graduated from med school early and was a resident at the Presbyterian or somewhere else.
Frank was at his shoulder all of a sudden. "He looks tired. Percy, Jason's hotel is…" he trailed off at Leo's glare.
"Our guest room is free," Calypso offered. "We can head there now."
Percy numbly nodded as everyone came to say their goodbyes, and Calypso shooed them away with "You can visit when he's not sleeping, so give us some space!" He found himself doing the math, with the traffic it probably took two hours for him to get out of the ER, and Annabeth and Reyna would be exiting the JFK in three hours, plus however long it took them to get out of security. That would be just enough time for him to push a canoe into the Long Island Sound and paddle a few meters away from shore, if he managed to keep his eyes open.
"I'm dead," he muttered, and Leo had the audacity to wheeze before Calypso elbowed him.
"You're perfectly fine, Percy. I won't let you get to anything," Calypso said lightly.
"He's talking about Annabeth," Leo said through his chuckles.
"Oh. I think you'll be perfectly fine," she responded easily.
Percy remembered mustering a smile, and then falling asleep moments after he'd slipped into their Volkswagen. Now that he'd turned the tables, he supposed his withdrawal effects would be put off for later.
-line break-
Percy woke up to a glowing, awfully-sunny-for-December sky, and waited behind his door for a moment. He heard soft conversation, but it didn't help him identify anyone. Would New York look different at the arrival of Annabeth Chase and Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano?
He decided to check his phone as a last precaution. There were twenty texts, an expected amount from when he went missing, so airplane mode was still probably preventing Annabeth from blowing up his phone. Percy changed into a warm pair of sweatpants and a Valdezes's Auto Shop and Bakery hoodie folded onto the armchair and crept out of the guest room. He remembered Thalia saying something about the brick oven underneath heating up the whole apartment, and it was true, the woven carpet felt downright toasty under his feet.
Calypso spun at the sight of him and strode over, clutching two steaming mugs of tea. "Good morning, Percy. Did you sleep well?"
He yawned. He'd spent a chunk of the night unconscious, so he found he wasn't actually that tired then. "I think so."
She grinned. "Good. You've got guests here to see you."
Percy felt a stab of panic in his gut, and his blood froze over.
"Aquaman, you up?" Leo yelled as Calypso led Percy into the living room. There was a wide-eyed wonder to his voice, and Percy soon discovered it was because he sat sandwiched between Annabeth and Reyna.
Reyna commanded the loveseat, her back stock-straight, and she looked like she swept out of a conference room in the Ritz-Carlton or somewhere in her purple suit jacket, perfectly ironed slacks, and crisp golden shirt. Strands of her hair were curling from her braid and resting against her cheeks, but there was no other sign of the flight or any other hassle. Her pocketknife was held out, and she kept pushing the blade in and out of the guard. Flick. Her skull ring flashed in the dawn. Flick. Reyna's dark eyes raised to Percy's. Flick.
On the other side of Leo, who he was not-so-clandestinely leaning away from, huddled Annabeth under a warm blanket, with a silk maroon collar peeking out from under her Columbia sweatshirt. It was the one she wore to the Stanford lecture, Percy realized. Despite how at home on the Valdezes's couch she appeared, she was white-knuckling her mug of tea, and her expression when she glanced up had been iced over with fear. At the sight of him, she released a silent breath and a dam seemed to shatter, but in a blink the open book was shut.
Flick. Reyna's knife slide into the guard with finality, and she crossed the living room in a few steps. She stopped not a foot from where Percy was frozen in the doorway. She was close enough for him to see the staccato rise of her chest under her shirt, smell a sharp, simple perfume on her neck, feel the warm sunny heat of the West Coast emanate from her. She was close enough to deliver a painful punch to his jaw, unsheathe her pocketknife somewhere fatal, or shove him down. Percy realized he missed the inscrutable darkness of her eyes.
"Percy," she said, too soft for anyone else to hear. Her voice was a little different than the one in his memories, lighter and scratchier, only roughened on the edges, and so suddenly familiar. He distantly heard Annabeth shifting on the couch, and his nervousness for that conversation easily surpassed Reyna. "This again?"
Calypso dragged Leo away, murmuring, "Let's give them some space" and Annabeth was staring distractedly into her mug.
He was choking on pain, hysterics, excitement. "I tried," he responded at the same volume, because he had no good argument to offer Reyna.
She tilted her head slightly. "What happened?" Her firm confidence in him, her unwillingness to believe it was simply her addiction, stunned him more than a hit between the eyes would've.
He smiled bitterly. "Annabeth," he mouthed.
"Ah." Her lips lifted. For once, he was okay with her teasing smile.
"I mean, no. Nothing actually happened. I just believed," he raised his eyes to the ceiling, "that she could save me. But I have to deal with my problems."
Reyna seemed surprised at the rush of confessions. Percy realized he would've never said any of that a year ago. Less than a year ago. And maybe he should've been more careful unburdening himself to people other than Annabeth, or worried about appearing weak, but he didn't. Reyna was talking to him again.
She leaned in. "This seems kind of like Rachel."
"Yeah." Except Reyna was still talking to him. He had to fight away a smile. "Um, sorry about all that. I should've listened to you."
Reyna shook her head. "It's okay. Keep trying," she finally said.
This time, he didn't trust himself with only a one-word answer. He wanted to blurt everything out to Annabeth, but there was of course the elephant in the room.
"I'll leave you the room, then."
The end of her braid grazed against his arm, and Annabeth looked up. She smiled slightly. Percy slowly unglued his feet from the ground and sat down where she gestured. He tried his best to keep from jostling or brushing against her.
"I'm sorry, Annabeth." He found himself scratching his inner arm.
Up close, he could see bags under her eyes. "You don't need to apologize to me," she said lightly, no-nonsense.
"But…" he closed his eyes for a moment, and he saw her handmade candle's flame twitching in front of sparklers on his one-week sober cupcake. The usual vivacity of her grin, her fingertip on his pulse. "No. I'm sorry for letting you down, for worrying you, for making you stay up."
"Percy, I'm choosing to worry." Her eyes locked on his. "I'm always keeping hope for you. Nothing you do can take it away."
He let out a shaky breath. A minute ago, he wanted things to go back to normal, now he wanted to push her away. Did he want to find out what would finally break her? How could she be waiting for him? "I can't fix myself."
She leaned back, and he thought the circle they kept going through was going to break. And it did, just not the way he expected. "I'm broken, too, Percy." She smiled achingly. "Everyone is."
Slowly, ever so carefully, he felt a finger touch his. She waited for his reaction, and when he kept breathing cautiously, too nervous to stir the air, covered his hand with hers.
"I don't know if you can fix yourself. The only thing you can do is pick yourself up."
He could see, somehow reflected in her eyes, the same journey. Laying wide-eyed at night, watching clouds pass through the dark sky, running to the alley on his shifts at the grocery to throw up, living with an empty hole inside of him, like somebody carved part of his life out. Was exhaustion a symptom, or did he innately want to turn and slam the door?
"No." He whispered.
She suddenly looked away. Percy felt something plunge inside him, and his ocean flooded with fear of her disappointment, but she only said, "I know, Percy. I know."
Annabeth set down her half-empty mug and placed her face in her hands. Percy immediately stiffened. He didn't know how to deal with—what to even do and in the back of his mind the idea passed that he should call Calypso, but she straightened and fixed her bun.
"Piper told me you guys watched my speech." She slid her eyes back to him, still mostly speaking tonelessly. "I said cognitive dissonance was an issue I was going through in college, but it's never over." She twisted her mouth into a smile. "I don't listen to myself and my pride battles rational thought. I know best," she said in an exaggerated voice, "and I know better than fact."
"It's," he faltered, "okay."
Her smile looked a little more real. "I'm sorry, I should've—" she cleared her throat. "I need to walk you through everything."
Percy rubbed his eyes. "I could've considered more." He could guess what was coming, and he didn't exactly want to face it.
"I never mentioned a rehabilitation center because I thought it would be more painful. To be separated from everyone else." She knew him to a fault. "But it's harder to have nothing in the way but the people you care about. Right?"
"I can't let myself think about anyone, and the guilt is driving me back."
Annabeth rested her head on the top of the couch. "But I know they're not pretty. I guess I wanted to keep you close." She whispered the last part, so softly he wondered if he imagined it.
He glanced away. "Maybe it'll work out. I can't fight anymore, and I can't be letting everyone down again."
"Percy," she smiled faintly. "The fighting doesn't end."
Percy groaned, but with a laugh. He accidentally bumped her hand, and she simply retracted it, and everything from yesterday was flooding up. Which still made him want to groan. "Um." He wanted to glance away, and his heart was speeding up. "I have something to say."
"Yeah?" It was like her eyes were doing a study on him.
He blurted out, "Did you get my letter?"
"Oh." She nodded. "Yeah, I believe you handed it to me." She quirked a grin.
"Right." He paused, and she moved in to diffuse the awkwardness.
"By the way, Percy, I hate to break it to you, but that wasn't a thousand cranes." She reached for her bag on the ground and delicately lifted out the string of cranes. It looked like she was holding a waterfall.
Percy took it back and thought forlornly that his wish wasn't coming true. Not that he really believed it would.
"Thank you for writing it, though," she said, with her usual brilliant smile.
It just contained a short and horribly unpoetic message saying how much he appreciated her influence in his life. And that she was a great friend. He hoped he wasn't blushing.
There was suddenly a crash in the kitchen, and a puff of air followed by ominous crackling. "Don't hurt me!" Leo yelped.
Percy jumped up, Annabeth muttering behind him, "I suppose we'll have to deal with that." Calypso and Reyna were both occupied with murderously zeroing in on Leo, so Percy grabbed a mixing bowl and set it under the tap, and then lobbed it at the flaming kitchen table.
"Now I know I'm back in New York," Annabeth said with a cheeky grin. "Was that all you had to say?"
Percy bobbed his head and turned her to the yelling match.
-line break-
They were still trying to wipe away the scorch marks on the kitchen table when the doorbell rang. Leo had shut the place down for the day, so they turned towards the door in confusion.
And then Hazel's clear voice called out, "Can we see Percy?"
Everyone turned to him, and then Calypso contemptuously threw down her rag and headed to the door.
Hazel and Frank were both bound up in scarves and hats, and Hazel awkwardly clutched a foil plate in her gloved hands. "Sorry," she winced. "I know this isn't a…thing, but I didn't want to show up empty-handed."
Frank immediately took the dish away, like he wanted to take away anything that would cause her to be uncomfortable, and handed it to Calypso. Reyna was still scrubbing at the table. "It's blueberry pie."
Leo glanced at it with interest while Annabeth beckoned them in and collected their coats. Percy bit his lip. "Thanks, you guys. But, um, you didn't need to come here or anything."
Frank shook his head. "We wanted to see you, man."
"We should've been there," Hazel said quietly.
"No!" He protested. "It was my choice, and I was pretty set on it."
Annabeth came back from the coat rack and stood beside Percy. He tried to not sigh in relief. "Thanks for coming all this way," she said with the hosting ability of Cecil.
Hazel was still smiling with a guilty edge. "Of course."
A fantasy of leaning against Annabeth flashed through his mind, and he quickly wiped it away. They excused themselves to talk with Leo and Calypso, and there was a knock. Percy leapt to get it.
Jason and Piper stood on the landing. Piper was chewing on a sugar-dusted croissant she probably lifted from the bakery. They were sharing a smile, but their expressions morphed at seeing Percy. Jason's blond eyebrows drew together in worry, and now Piper seemed contrite and hid the croissant behind her back. "Hey Perce," Jason said. He looked him over.
"I'm alright," Percy asserted before he could say anything.
"Good." Jason ran a hand over his cropped hair. "It's just that…Will said—"
"I mean it," Percy said the same time as Piper elbowed him.
"Okay." He nodded like he was trying to convince himself. Piper led the way inside, and like usual, they were dressed way too lightly for winter and had no coats for Percy to hold and leave with. Jason clearly could tell his fiancé had something to say and went over to talk to Hazel.
"So," Piper raised an eyebrow. "How did it go with them?" She gestured to Annabeth, talking and cleaning up the table.
"Not too bad," he said with a small smile she immediately mirrored. "No thanks to you."
Piper shrugged. "Just doing what I should." She paused, her blueish-green eyes falling to the ground. "You know you can tell me…if you're feeling…low."
He knew that, but he could never do so. He didn't want them to get involved. "Yeah." Percy met her cautious gaze, now a little brown. "Annabeth and I were talking. I might go to rehab."
Her eyebrows rocketed. "Really? That's great."
"I hope."
"You know what, let's sit down." Piper pointed to the living room, and he thought he would have to go through the same thing again, but she plopped down on the carpet. Percy settled into the beanbag she kicked over.
She ran her fingers through the choppy ends of her hair. "I'm really sorry, Perce, we can't stay here with you."
He blinked, and her words rushed out faster.
"Jason's company needs him back, and spring comes early in California so that camping thing I'm doing has training in a few weeks and we'll have to head back."
He'd almost forgotten about that. She would probably be great at teaching those kids Cherokee tradition. "Oh."
"I can't believe we're leaving at the perfectly wrong time."
"It's fine," he heard himself say. "I'll probably be in rehab."
She gave him a bracing smile. "Hazel and Frank have a long vacation, they'll go back in February." She suddenly sprang to life and started fishing for something in her pocket. She took out a crumpled business card, and Percy had mild déjà vu when he remembered Annabeth's, but this one had a blurry picture of the sea. "It's the surfboard renting place. Check it out and tell me how it went, 'kay?"
"'Kay," he replied, fighting down a sudden bitter surge.
She got up and headed to the kitchen, and Percy followed a few steps behind. Grover had come in the meantime, and he was saying hi to everyone. Percy exchanged nods with him, and he knew it was going to be alright, even if he didn't deserve it. Jason's hand went to the small of Piper back as he chatted with Annabeth.
The door of the bathroom opened, and Reyna moved over to Percy. "Did something happen?"
Before he could reply, Jason slowly turned around and his eyes grew huge. "Reyna?" he asked.
Reyna tensed, almost like she wanted to get away.
"Whoa," Grover whispered.
Percy wanted to laugh at how Piper seemed to instinctively stand closer to Jason, weaving her fingers in his, except Leo was already doing that for him. That was the hand Jason wore his ring on. Reyna has never been interested in anyone, ever, he wanted to tell her, except he had no idea what was going on.
"How do you know her?" Piper asked Jason.
Reyna, too, crossed her arms, waiting for his explanation.
"She's my friend from college," he said slowly. "Why are you here?"
"I've known Percy since he was a kid," she answered coolly.
"Oh." His gaze flicked back and forth between them. "Then why did you never—" Piper elbowed him again. Percy thanked her magical ability to read emotions.
Annabeth cleared her throat, and it was loud in the silence. "Let's give them the space." Leo shuttled them all down into the shop, because he still had some cars to be working on.
And then there was small smash in the bakery, and they spun around to see Thalia guiltily clutching a whole case of chocolate donuts. Annabeth went over to fix the mess, and they headed out a few moments later with Thalia licking her fingers.
Percy hoped the, well, hope wasn't showing too much on his face.
"I'm only here now because stupid criminals never take a break." She lightly commented, looking away from Percy. "I just caught a wannabe serial killer."
"Oh," Frank said politely. Piper asked her for a donut, which she complacently handed over. When Grover tried the same, he got none.
"I'm only here to deliver a message from my cuz." This was finally directed to Percy, in a flat tone. "He says to be careful who you take on rides with."
Percy felt his heart stop. Annabeth stood forward.
"Hey," she said, almost sternly to Thalia. Percy wondered if Nico told Thalia the story.
Thalia simply crossed her arms.
"What?" Calypso carefully ventured.
Percy felt Thalia's diamond-hard gaze on him. "Something I'll have to settle with Nico."
Thalia flicked her eyebrows up in surprise or annoyance and pushed herself up onto a gleaming Cadillac with a chocolatey hand. Leo yelped like he was stabbed, and the tension thinned slightly.
Leo was waving Calypso's rag around and shrieking stuff at a pitch Percy couldn't quite understand. Finally, with an annoyed harrumph, she slid off, and turned to Annabeth. "You went to see Mr. Frederick, Annie. Did he tell you what good memories of me he has?"
Annabeth tried to casually lean against an old Jeep and tilted her head. "No, I missed him. He did tell me on the phone call that I should stay away." She grinned teasingly.
Piper snorted, but Thalia's gaze darted to Percy for a moment. Then she grinned widely and said, "I know he thinks of my visit every day."
"I don't doubt it," Annabeth deadpanned dryly. "You ruined five of his Civil War models."
"What?!" Grover said.
Thalia went on to recount all the havoc she created in the Chase household, but Percy was only then realizing Annabeth must've meant to see her dad before she was called back…. because he overdosed. He knew family may not have been as important to him as it was for everyone, but if he had a chance to see his mother, he wouldn't have given it for anything. He stared at Annabeth's amused, easygoing smile as she listened to Thalia. How much did he mean to her?
"That's nice," Hazel told Thalia, looking a little shaken.
Jason opened the door to the Valdezes' apartment. "Hey, you guys can come back up." Leo had fully disappeared inside a car, and Piper nabbed some more pastries before they headed up the stairs. Jason's shoulders were a little slumped, in sadness or relief Percy couldn't tell, and Reyna was slightly flushed, but all their limbs and the furniture was intact so they probably didn't have a fight.
"Percy, where are you staying tonight?" Reyna asked him.
His stupid impulses from yesterday almost had him blurting, "Annabeth's apartment" but he swallowed that down. "My place, probably."
Calypso turned. "No, you can sleep here. It's nice to have some company for a change."
Annabeth raised an eyebrow, but she didn't elaborate. Reyna opened her hands. "I'm going wherever you are."
Percy was stunned at how much time Reyna was suddenly giving to him, or even this public display of concern. "I guess here."
Calypso grinned, and Annabeth gave him a mockingly annoyed glare. "So you'll agree to her," she teased softly. "Then I'd also like to sleep here."
Calypso's grin grew wider, and Grover smirked at Percy behind Annabeth's back.
-line break-
Jason put a hand on Percy's shoulder, and Percy didn't flinch this time. "I wish we could stay, man."
"Me too," Percy allowed himself to admit.
"I think you'll be fine without me," he said with a good-natured grin. "We'll come back the next break we get."
"Make sure it's within my visiting hours," he said without a trace of bitterness.
Jason nodded. "Of course. I hope it gets better." His vivid blue eyes were serious.
"Me too," Percy could only repeat.
Jason leaned in, and he smelled like sun and rain and coppery electricity. "Maybe it's not time yet, but don't wait for the perfect moment. Just act when you're feeling brave enough."
Percy felt a little heady from his smell and the realization that even Jason knew how Percy felt when he pulled back. "Thank you," he managed.
Jason grinned his toothpaste commercial smile, tugging on the little scar under his lip. "Pipes decided we're getting married in the late spring. Can you be my best man?"
Percy gaped. "But—but we're not—what?" he spluttered.
"Come on. I can't think of anyone else." His smile was so earnest and sunny Percy could feel it glittering off his inner ocean.
"Yeah, sure," he mumbled.
Piper, who had been waiting for their conversation to end, swooped in. "Is a hug okay?"
"Of course." She lightly wrapped her arms around him, and he awkwardly brushed her back with the tips of his fingers, but she pulled away and smiled like it wasn't the most terrible hug ever.
"Have lots of fun there," she ordered. "Figure out how to not drown the next time we meet. And tell me when your estranged friends have had some interesting relationships with my fiancé, okay?"
Percy laughed and decided not to protest at the second part. He'll show her. "Right."
Grover came from Harvey's side. "I'm supposed to be hanging out with Juniper," he said embarrassedly.
"No, it's fine." Percy had already told him about the possibility of rehab, and Grover clearly had no idea what to make of it, and he knew they would talk about that later. He was also grateful that they were now the kind of people to schedule talks about "mushy stuff." "Go have a nice time."
"I'll see you tomorrow at work?"
"Yeah, if you can peel yourself away from her." They exchanged grins as Percy nudged him.
They began bundling up, and Percy said goodbye to Frank and Hazel, and then they were gone. At some point earlier, Harvey had arrived to help Leo out with the cars, and now he was puttering around the kitchen with Calypso, eagerly examining all her spices.
Soon Calypso carried out bowls of borscht, and Leo frowned at all the vegetables in it as Annabeth set out the cutlery. Harvey was still lording over a giant saucepan and Calypso was sticking something in the oven, but they told them to eat first since Leo complained he was starving.
Percy moved his spoon around. He was feeling too excited to eat, or maybe anticipatory of whatever was going to happen this night. "Where did you go to college?" he finally asked Reyna.
She elegantly dabbed her mouth with the handkerchief. "New Rome University, in San Francisco."
Leo was leaning his head on one elbow and leering. "So, did you and Sparky," he waggled his eyebrows.
Reyna face remained stony. "No," she answered flatly to anything he could be insinuating.
Leo dropped his head and stabbed at the cabbage in his soup.
"What do you do for work?" Percy asked. Annabeth suddenly grinned, and he realized they must've talked on the plane and maybe there was some story there. It was weird to think that she knew more than him about Reyna.
"I'm a prosecutor at the Jupiter law firm. I'm the co-founder," Reyna said coolly.
Leo dropped his spoon, and Percy figured it must've been famous enough for Leo to know, even if he'd never heard of it. But Annabeth inclined her head.
"I worked at the same firm as Ms. Wickerstein. The lawyer who was getting after your case last time. She noticed some tax abnormalities," Reyna raised her eyebrows sharply, "and thought your overdose could be evidence of drug trafficking."
"What?" Leo squawked, but Percy had good practice at keeping a straight face and Annabeth and Reyna ignored him.
"I presented her with some more serious cases, but she was sued on one of them, so the firm dropped her. One of the interns under her division helped me start Jupiter."
In the few months Percy was getting high and then trying to quit, Reyna had apparently founded an extremely famous law firm.
"What about you?" She turned to Percy.
"I work at a grocery," he said. "And that's it."
"Really?" she murmured appraisingly. It clearly was not the normal reaction, and Leo's eyebrows were disappearing into his curly hair.
"I don't know about Chris," Percy said with a shrug. "But Grover and I are full-time there."
"I see." She nodded and Annabeth gave Percy a smile from her side of the table.
"I have shepherd's pie," Calypso announced, bringing over the glass dish with mitted hands. Annabeth cut out slices for them.
"I'm taking a break for as long as I need," Reyna told him, handing over her plate. "I shouldn't have waited so long to see you again."
Percy breathed out a puff of air, trying to maintain eye contact. "I never apologized." He felt a grin pull across his face.
"And I was too stubborn," she said lowly. She motioned for him to move closer. "I missed you, Percy."
The words, whispered into his ear, sent a small tingle down his spine. Was Reyna actually getting soft before his eyes? "I missed you too."
Annabeth had been exchanging grins with Calypso, and she set down his plate when they moved apart. "So, do you want to start looking tomorrow?"
"Yeah. Only five-star rehabs for me," he joked.
Harvey came out of the kitchen with a grilled chicken salad, at which point Percy realized they were mostly eating vegetables, and they filled up all the seats around the dining table. Calypso told them the blueberry pie was getting warmed up in the oven, and Percy suddenly thought of a Thanksgiving dinner. But it was just Calypso and Harvey making a homemade meal, and it was nice, and he thought he could get through with another day.
Another benchmark!
Edit alert: Some changes in Ch. 16 (but this right after I posted it) to explain his flashbacks. Also a shoutout in Ch. 19's A/N, there's a really good recommendation there .
Review replies:
Guest: Ah, thank you! Yeah, he's going to be coming to terms with his addiction for a long, long time. Sorry I take so long to update, I hope I'll make you wait a little less in the future. And thank you so much for calling this good work! I try .
MrGilborg: Hello! I swear, I just love replying to your reviews. Yeah, you're right, I haven't actually put much thought into the other characters' development, and in my perspective, not enough with Percy's either…. but I totally agree with you about Annabeth. I don't know how I thought it would be a good idea for her to be a flat character, but I have made a plan for that and it's hopefully going to work out. Don't worry, seeing as she's the other main character here, she's not inherently this simple. I think I've said this already, I've started out with a very different plan for this fic, and then decided that was stupid and unrealistic, so some stuff is still changing. There were so many places where I wanted to have her share or show something but her character will just have to progress naturally, which means slowly . And thank you so much, the section where they were watching the speech did take some editing, and I'm glad you liked it! I was trying to show how ADHD and the general personalities of everyone should distract them from that kind of talk, except Percy wants to pay attention and his friends start annoying him, and yeah, it was fun to write. I have several turning points in mind, not going to spoil but one is coming very soon and it shouldn't be too long until he shares his story. And thank you so much for saying this has a good balance! I'm glad this isn't utterly tame, and I've edited some stuff so hopefully you'll have a better experience rereading. As a romantic, I am holding out hope that it's possible for a love story to happen within an addiction, but yeah, I'm aware (now, anyway, probably not when I started) it's highly unlikely. Hopefully you liked the minor character development here, and won't have as long of a wait this time.