Percy groaned as his alarm went off, it was entirely too early and he was half-tempted to snooze his alarm and continue sleeping, if not for the flecks of light peaking through the gaps of his blinders and blazing the suns rays directly into his eyes. He hissed in pain as he rolled over onto his side, and felt something warm run down his side. Pressing a hand to his side, he cursed in annoyance when it came back red with blood. He must have torn his hastily made stitches in his sleep, and sure enough, as he glanced down he saw that the sheets were equally stained red and the wound aside his flank had re-opened.

Cursing under his breath, he reached down and grabbed the bandages he'd hastily put in place the night before and ripped the remnants to shreds. Hobbling unsteadily to his feet, he cursed in pain once more, his feet were still blistered and torn, and he growled in annoyance. Cursing and growling in pain with every step, Percy hobbled from his bed to the bathroom, dripping blood across the floor the entire way. Not for the first time, he was happy with his decision to splurge and get the wooden floors, as opposed to carpet.

It made the clean-up easier.

Reaching the bathroom, he all but collapsed onto the side of the bath. He reached out, turned the knobs to full blast and plugged the drain, before hauling himself uncomfortably into the tub, doing his best to avoid agitating the wound further.

He shivered as his back touched the cold of the tub, before sighing contentedly as the water rose to meet his toes. This method of healing himself, submerging himself in water, worked well-enough at healing him, though it was considerably slower than his preferred methods.

Gods be good, what he would give to have even a sliver of nectar or ambrosia, to be able to taste his mother's chocolate chip cookies again.

He clamped down on that train of thought before it could go too far, and focused his attention back on the wound. He'd been hunting over in northern Michigan, where a wendigo had been terrorizing the local populace of a small former mining town. Percy had gotten careless, and the bastard had slashed him in the weak-point of his armor, knocking his sword away at the same time. Percy had been forced to kill the damned thing with a road flare, and in the process had started a small forest fire and his shoes had been lost entirely. He'd managed to douse the fire before it got out of control, but he'd had to hike twelve miles through the forest before he got to Lake Superior, and he was able to swim back towards Metropolis. It had still taken some time before he was able to get back to the city, and his feet had paid the price, though the swim through the Great Lakes had done well to help slowly close the wound on his side.

Still, by the time he'd gotten back to his apartment, the wound had re-opened and he'd been too tired to do more than stitch the wound in the bathtub and get some sleep.

He lost track of time as he laid in the tub, his mind drifting back off towards the sort half-awake, half-asleep sort of daze that accompanied the early hours. By the time he jerked awake, some hours had passed and when he checked the wound, he was pleased to see that it had finally closed more fully, though the skin was still bruised and yellowing, and ached to the touch.

Gingerly getting out of the tub, Percy dressed himself, doing his best to avoid agitating the wound on his side, and the scratches marring his back, he meandered into his kitchen and set about pouring himself a bowl of cereal for breakfast. He'd been just about to check his phone when there was a loud knock at his door. Grumbling in annoyance, Percy rose from his chair and hobbled to the door, he'd had half a mind to curse the sorry bastard who'd dared to knock at his store at so early in the morning, only stop in his tracks and grunt in surprise as he was nearly knocked to the floor as a blonde-haired missile shot into his arms.

"Linda?" Percy spluttered, wincing in pain but doing a good job masking it as his best friend crashed into him.

She leaned back, her dazzling blue eyes dancing happily as she beamed up at him.

"Did you really think i wouldn't be here?" She asked incredulously, "It's your birthday silly!"

Percy just stared at her, completely floored. His eyes darted over to the digital clock on his kitchen counter, and read the date inscribed under the time read:

August 18, 2006.

It was a strange sensation, realizing that it was his birthday. He hadn't even realized that he was closing in on his twentieth year. It wasn't his birthday here, not his first birthday alone in this strange new world that he was trapped in, and he'd grown a habit of simply ignoring the date. It didn't hurt that he wasn't celebrating his birthday with his mother's famous blue chocolate cake, if he didn't know that it was his birthday.

But he no longer had to suffer alone.

The beautiful blonde woman in his arms told him that was most certainly the case.

"Oh my god," Linda muttered, "You actually forgot, didn't you?"

"I've been busy," He said, becoming painfully aware of the beautiful woman still tucked comfortably in his arms, but neither of them seemed quick to end the embrace. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Linda let Percy go, before her hand flashed out and grabbed Percy around the wrist.

"C'mon, we got a full day ahead of us!"

"Hang on!" Percy spluttered, "At least let me change first!" Linda stopped her charge forward and only then seemed to notice that Percy was still essentially in his pajamas.

"Fine," She groaned, as though Percy was the ruining her birthday, rather than the other way around.

"I'm so sorry to ruin my birthday for you," Percy teased, and responded in kind by flicking him in the ribs, Percy flinched, wincing in pain and unable to hide his discomfort. The woman was deceptively strong and even her more casual flicks of amusement stung a little, but against his bruised and wounded flesh, the minor blow had felt like a punch to the kidney.

He gasped in pain, and he felt Linda's hands dart out and steady him,

"Percy!" She gasped, sounding incredibly distressed, "I'm so sorry, I didn't-I thought, Oh god I'm so sorry are you okay?"

"M'fine," Percy grunted, though he felt anything but.

"Here let me take a look, make sure nothing's bruised," Linda said, her hands reaching out and gripping the hem of his t-shirt. Percy tried to stop her, but was unable to move quickly enough to stop her. The hem of his shirt rose just high enough to show the ghastly yellowing bruise on his side. Linda let out a small gasp of surprise, and dropped the shirt as though it were on fire,

"It wasn't you," Percy was quick to say, he didn't want the woman thinking she'd done that to him, not that she could have at any rate. As strong as she was in spite of appearances, not even she could do something like that to him, she was only mortal after all.

"Got-got run over by a bike the other day," He said, thinking quickly for a plausible excuse, getting unsteadily to his feet. Linda was still staring at him, her mouth open in a small O, and her eyes wide in surprise.

"Percy," She whispered out, reaching out with a hand,

"I'm okay," Percy assured her, "Just a little bruise, I'm okay,"

Linda looked at him, her expression telling Percy exactly how much she believed his lies.

"I'm okay," He said again, walking over to her, "Just a little bruise and some scratches, I swear that's it though. I'm fine, I promise."

Linda continued staring at him, but eventually accepted him when he approached and enveloped her in a tight embrace. She rested her head in the crook of his neck, and her arms wrapped tight around him, though he noticed that she wrapped her arm just above his bruising.

She smelled like raspberries, he noted idly. Freshly picked raspberries and a hint of something like vanilla.

"Come on," Percy said, detaching himself from her, "I'll go change and you can show me what you have in mind for today."

Linda nodded, though she remained silent, staring him up and down. If Percy didn't know better, he would have sworn that he were being x-rayed.

They managed to continue with their day, with a silent agreement that they wouldn't discuss Percy's injuries, an agreement to which Percy was irrevocably thankful. Not for the first time, he felt the swell of guilt well up in his chest. He hated lying to his best friend, hated hiding who and what he was, but he felt that he absolutely had to.

How did he explain that he was from another world, another reality? How did he explain that he was half-god, and that the true reason for his injuries was because he was spending his evenings running around fighting the things that go bump in the night.

Moreover, how would his best friend react to the fact that Percy had spent literally the entire time that she had known him, lying to her? He was in too deep now though, he couldn't not continue lying to her, and it tore him in ways that were indescribable. With every passing day he elves deeper into his lies, compounding one upon the other, until he was so far into the depths of the sin that it on some days he himself, almost convinced himself that the lies were true.

It killed him.

it killed him to lie to her like that.

But he was also selfish, he should tell Linda the truth, she deserved as much, but Percy couldn't bring himself to do it. He'd tried, on several occasions he'd tried, only to find his mouth unable to form the words he needed to say. He just couldn't say anything, he couldn't risk losing the one real tether to sanity he had left. He couldn't risk pushing her away and allowing the darkness of despair to consume him utterly, he was well aware of what would likely happen should that become the case.

So he kept his silence, knowing full-well that the blowback would all the worse for his mounting wagon of lies. Knowing that when, for it truly was a matter of when and not if, the truth came out, Linda would be well and truly lost to him.

But he clung desperately to his charade all the same.

It was a well worth sacrifice he'd decided. Knowing that it was soon that the truth would be revealed, and so he cherished the memories he made with her, the happiness and brightness that she shone upon his life. He clung desperately to these times, the more memories that he made, the longer he hoped that he would be able to live with them when the time ultimately came.

So he did what he could to shunt the thoughts from his mind. To lose himself in the presence of the woman who had brought him from the brink.

For the most part, it was a success. They'd spent the day in relative happiness, with Linda having prepared an entire day of activity. They'd spent most of the afternoon resting at the beach, sharing a picnic on the sand. They then walked across the vast boardwalk, joking and chatting, they finished their day off with a lovely dinner at fine restaurant, one that Percy knew required more than a few weeks of notice before gaining a reservation. But apparently having a cousin working with one of the most famous journalists on the planet had its perks.

It had truly been one of the best birthdays in Percy's memories, and they finished their night, cuddled near one another and watching some movie that they were only half paying attention to, all the more engrossed in one another to truly pay any attention to it.

"Thank you, Linda," Percy said, during a lull in the conversation, "Today was a good day, a really good day."

"I'm so glad to hear that." Linda said, smiling up at Percy, "But I hope you don't think we're done," She reached down to the other side of the couch, and pulled a small package free, that she'd somehow managed to conceal from him.

"Gods above Linda," Percy groaned, "You've done enough for me, you didn't have to-"

"No," Linda agreed, "But I wanted to. Now open,"

There was no fighting it, and Percy didn't stop the grin that threatened his face as he took the small package from her smooth fingers. Pulling the small blue ribbon free of the small box, he lifted the lid and felt his mouth go dry.

Inside the box, sat upon a small sheet of velvet, was a small blue bead. It was almost identical in every respect to the beads on the necklace clutched tightly around his neck. With trembling fingers he reached out, and picked up the small ornament. It was a deep shade of blue, bordering on navy, and there was a stenciled horse, in fine ivory white decorating the marble-like surface.

"I know you don't like to talk about it, but I know that your necklace is important to you. You like to tug on it when you're sad." Linda said, watching him nervously when she saw that Percy hadn't so much as moved,

"I hope I didn't overstep," She added hasitly, "I-I just wanted to give you something happy, a happy memory to go with the side, but-but if you don't like it you can always-"

Percy silenced her as he swept her up into his arms, clutching her tightly to him as his hand dug into her blonde locks, pressing her flush to him.

"Thank you," He said, his throat feeling tight.

Linda smiled into him, pressing her lips to his cheek in a chaste kiss,

"It's like I told you Percy," She wrapped her own arms tighter around him, securing him tightly to her.

"I'll always be there to catch you when you fall."

Percy clutched her tighter to him, his own guilt warring with his thankfulness. Not willing to let go, to relinquish his hold. He wanted, no, needed to hold onto these memories. To these small moments.

He knew sooner or later, there would be no more.

But until then, he would take what he could.

AN: And the plot thickens, how much longer will Percy be able to keep his double life a secret? Will Kara be able to contain her curiosity and stop herself from pursuing the truth? Am I ever going to stop with my endless stream of bullshit? All of these questions and more, will maybe be answered at some point. As always shoutout to Double0Sxvxn for being an awesome Beta and dealing with my bullshit and as always if you enjoyed this but haven't checked out my other work, give them a try you never know you might find something else you like. I'm also on discord now, where I and a bunch of other writers hang out, chat and brainstorm ideas, you just have to copy the link that's in my profile bio if you want to come and hang out with us. Stay safe, stay healthy and have an awesome week

All My Love,

LilDB