Imma get some flames here ':) if you haven't noticed, I'm not a leo fan. Sue me. Fight me. Idc. i tried to make him a better character in this
TRIGGER WARNING: SUICIDE MENTIONS AND PTSD :( IM SORRY
Frank didn't know what to think. When everyone awoke the next morning, they all seemed to be acting oddly. And he wasn't sure why. Percy was still the same Percy, they only knew something new about it. It struck him odd that Piper especially acted differently. She was walking on ice around him, thinking before talking and acting like he is someone new, someone else. She wouldn't banter with him anymore, though there were plenty of opportunities.
He didn't feel the need to treat Percy otherwise. Besides, Frank could tell it was starting to get to Percy. Everyone, with the exception of he and Annabeth, was treating Percy like he was a tortured soul. By lunch, Sally and Paul came home.
"Mom!" Percy cried, ecstatic that his mother was home. Sally hugged him with equal vigour, just as pleased to see him. She grabbed Percy's face.
"Dark bags, eyes bloodshot… Percy? What did you do this weekend?"
When Percy looked at his feet and started scuffing the ground, Sally's face softened. Almost like she was disappointed. Not in Percy, but the Seven. She looked at them.
"I think it's best if you all went back to camp," Sally said softly, rubbing her baby bump absent-mindedly with one hand, the other grasping Paul's.
"Can Frank and Annabeth stay?"
Everyone turned to Percy, stunned. They were the weirdest combination of people to want to stay. Sally's eyes swept over the teenagers, then searched Percy's. His eyes, though red, were earnest. Sincere. Sally nodded.
"Frank, Annabeth, you don't mind, do you?"
Annabeth shook her head and glided to Percy, taking his hand.
"Of course not, Sally."
"Frank?"
Frank looked at the others, than at Percy. His look alone was an answer for Frank.
"I can stay."
"Why Frank and Annabeth. Of all the people… okay, I get Annabeth, but Frank? Come on!" Leo huffed, piling into a taxi van behind the other three.
"I don't know Leo! Gods, calm down. Maybe Percy had a dream that Frank had to be there?" Hazel sighed, disappointed that Percy asked her boyfriend to stay, but not her.
Jason spoke up for the first time in a while.
"What were you and Percy talking about on the balcony, Leo?"
"When was this balcony talk? I don't remember it," Piper pressed. Leo scratched the back of his neck.
"Oh, you know. Stuff," he nonchalantly said. The others didn't look convinced. Jason knew that at some point, Leo had held a grudge against Percy about Calypso. Honestly, Jason could see Percy's point more clearly than Leo's. Despite having apologised and beating himself up about it, there wasn't anything Percy could do about it. He asked for the gods to get her off the island, then had disappeared for eight months, then immediately joining a quest. Not much time to check that the gods actually got her off.
Sure, Percy went on the island, but he was… fourteen? Leo was sixteen. According to stories, Calypso helped Percy, even though he was unconscious half the time. Leo had only pissed Calypso off. Leo was his friend, but it kind of bugged Jason how Leo got so mad at Percy over something Percy couldn't control. Percy had a life to come back to, a mum, friends, family, a quest, a war, and it wasn't like Percy prioritized Calypso over all of his friends, risking his life to see her twice even though she fell in love with him because of the curse.
The thought of Calypso unsettled Jason a little. She was an immortal titan, right? She was thousands of years old, Leo was sixteen. Age is just a number really shouldn't apply here. Maybe… necrophilia? But she wasn't dead. Yet. Who knows how long Calypso will last here.
"Zhang. Frank Zhang. Percy Jackson. Nope. I cannot see why Percy wanted Frank-"
"Shut up Leo!" Hazel screeched. She had had enough of Leo insulting her boyfriend. "Just- please." Hazel looked tired; worn down. Clearly the whole Percy incident still made her upset.
Leo nodded solemnly, looking out the window briefly. The taxi driver said nothing. It was a seemingly long drive back to camp.
"Percy, if you don't mind me asking, why am I staying?" Frank asked, raising a hand to run through his hair. He had out-grown the buzz cut he had had before, choosing a more modern style. A more Frank style.
Percy smiled softly, seeing the purity and goodness ooze out of Frank. He was so kind… it was amazing.
"Because, you have… uncovered, I guess, all of you, this new… trait from my past, and you didn't push me away. Treat me differently," he mumbled, embarrassed.
Frank was surprised.
"Why should I treat you differently? You are the same Percy you were before, well, you never changed. It's like how we don't see Leo differently now he has a girlfriend."
Percy snorted, reclining back on the couch. The two boys lazily chatted, not having nearly enough 'bro' time together since the Argo 2. Annabeth and Sally watched from the kitchen, Paul being at work. They had both decided Percy should stay home, despite having no valid reason. Even for them.
"He looks so at peace today," Annabeth murmured, smiling at her boyfriend. Sally raised a questioning eyebrow.
"We kinda found out about Gabe… and the… Harry?" Annabeth rushed. Sally blanched, head whipping from Percy to Annabeth.
"Wha-huh? How?" Sally stuttered, scared. Annabeth stared at the ground.
"Hazel got lost in the city and met your old drug dealer. Percy found her," she explained in a quiet tone, ensuring Percy couldn't hear. "Frank is the only one who hasn't been disgusted, ashamed or hurt or anything. He was simply… Frank."
Sally nodded, rubbing her baby bump absent-mindedly.
"I tried so hard for Percy. He is such a good kid, he didn't, well, doesn't deserve anything he had been put through. Dealt a band hand, I guess. I married Gabe to protect Percy from monsters. It turns out, I only made a monster a permanent factor in our lives. He hit Percy, I know it. Neither ever said anything, but I know."
Unshed tears glistened in Sally's eyes, and Annabeth wrapped her in a hug. It angered Annabeth that this man was dead. If he was alive, she would decapitate him, rip him to shreds, annihilate him.
The boys fired up the gaming console, unaware of the conversation between the two women.
"Whenever I asked Percy, he would' say, 'it's not the bruises that hurt, it's the wounds of the heart and the scars on the mind,'" Sally sniffed. "For someone who hates English class, he was quite the poet,"
Annabeth sighed. He was complex, she knew. But she didn't know a lot of the dark thoughts swirling inside her boyfriend's mind, who was trying desperately to keep them at bay.
When night took over Camp-Half Blood, Leo snuck out. Avoiding the harpies was easy. He made is way over the sweet smelling grounds to the Pegasus stable. Saddling a white one, he rode off into the night. He needed a long and hard conversation with Percy. He had some explaining to do.
Percy tossed and turned. He couldn't stop thinking. It hurt. Images flashed through is mind, behind his eyes. Tartarus. Fire. Jagged cliffs. Akhlys. In the ocean, when Polybotes trapped him under the net. He deserved to die from that poison. He remembered John Gilberto. He was always so quiet when Percy was in their cabin. Always there, always silent. No one knew about his suffering. Percy sat up, gasping. He rubbed his face and padded softly to the kitchen. When he turned to the balcony, Percy almost screamed. Leo was there, a palm of fire ignited, tapping on the glass.
Percy scurried out to meet him, the cool air whipping his hair immediately as he stood outside.
"Leo? What the Hades?" Percy scolded, folding his arms. The Latino shrugged, sitting back on the balcony ledge.
"You have some serious talking to do, pal," Leo snarled. "Suicide?" he said, reminding Percy of their conversation the night before. "You totally blew me off. I want to help,"
Percy looked up to the sky, his Adam's apple bobbing.
"I've made mistakes, okay? I've killed people," he whispered.
"No you haven't, you only killed moster-"
"No! What about Beckendorf? I was with him on the ship, I didn't save him. It was my fault."
Leo started protesting again.
"Leo, what about Bianca?"
Leo looked startled.
"Who's Bianca?" The name sounded foreign on Leo's tongue. Percy looked Leo straight in the eye.
"Nico's sister."
Leo's mouth moved before he could have time to register what he was saying.
"What did you do?"
Percy sniffed loudly, the mucus evidently there via the unshed tears.
"I had this idea to kill this robot-monster thing from your dad's junk yard. I told Bianca, she ran before I could stop her. I shouldn't have told her. If I didn't, she'd still be alive. I promised Nico I would keep her safe and…" Percy trailed off, scratching his forearm where is tattoo was. Leo watched the action. He had seen Percy do it a lot.
"Michael Yew, Silena, Castor… my fault! Even you!"
Leo was taken aback.
"You died because of Calypso. If I had made sure she was off the island, you wouldn't have had to die! My fault," Percy sank to the ground, putting his head between his knees.
"If I ended it, I wouldn't have to burden myself. If I wasn't here-"
"Annabeth would be a mess, your parents would be distraught, you wouldn't be able to meet your new sister," Leo whispered, kneeling next to Percy. They sat, Leo comforting Percy every time Percy would put himself down, give himself a reason to die. Leo contradicted every point.
Percy started to stop giving himself reasons to die. Instead, he pointed out points to factor death.
"It's the one mistake I won't live to regret," Percy mumbled.
"What about your plan? New Rome for you and Annabeth? Don't you want children with her?"
"She'll find someone else. I'm replaceable,"
"Don't say that."
…
"I don't want to end my life, I want to end my pain,"
"It's a permanent solution to a temporary problem."
…
"If I did kill myself, the stars would still disappear, the sun would still come up, the earth will still rotate, time would take away the pain,"
"Suicide doesn't take away the pain, it gives it to someone else."
…
"I don't know what I want in life. I don't know what I want right now. All I know is that I'm hurting so much inside that it's eating me, and one day, there won't be any of me left."
"When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang the fuck on,"
Annabeth nudged Frank awake. She saw Percy talking to Leo outside. When and how he got here, Annabeth had no idea, but she dismissed it. They were in a deep discussion, she didn't want to intrude. She needed to talk to someone. Her nightmares, her PTSD in general, it was acting up. She needed to talk to someone. It was therapeutic for her. They sat on Percy's bed together.
"My PTSD," she whimpered. Frank hugged her. He knew her and Percy had their demons, their PTSD. Frank wanted to help, and if only lending an ear was the way to go, he did it. He sat and listened to Annabeth ramble on, soon, like Percy was, pointing out the factors.
"It's not me refusing to let go of the past, it's the past refusing to let go of me,"
"It's not about what's wrong with you, it's about what's happened to you."
…
"I hate getting flashbacks of things I don't want to remember,"
"PTSD isn't a sign of weakness Annabeth, its proof of your strength because you survived!"
Annabeth smiled softly.
…
"Memories haunt, words remind, fears remain,"
"But you will survive,"
…
Frank wrapped his arm around Annabeth's shoulders.
"You know what PTSD stands for?" he whispers.
"Post-traumatic stress disorder," she grumbles.
Frank shakes his head.
"Proud, tough, strong, determined."
I'm so sorry guys. Let me know what you thought. I need ideas! Don't hesitate to hit me up!
I apologise if I offend anyone. I can't tell anyone with depression, anxiety, PTSD or is suicidal that your feelings are invalid. I have no idea what you guys are going through. If anyone on here is like that, don't hesitate to tell me fuck off. I feel like I overstepped boundaries. Before you all say,
"if you feel like you overstepped why did you do it!fucking bitch you dont know what its like!"
I feel like Percy and Annabeth do feel these things. They both have PTSD. They could, at some stage, be suicidal. I'm sorry.
Thanks for reading guys, gals and non-binary pals. :)