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Bold = Parseltongue
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Percy was such a dork.
Nancy couldn't help her crush on the boy, but that didn't stop him from being a dork and worse, at times, a know-it-all when it came to that pointless stupid stuff about gods and their children inside their stomachs. Honestly, they'd never go on to use that in their life, so Percy wasting his time on it was stupid. He could be so much cooler if he was interested in sports, that would partially stop her bullying too.
Bullying… that was such a mean-sounding word for the few remarks she'd make towards him or that boy with the leg issue. She didn't care much for his name or identity, really she only used him as a means to get to Percy considering there wasn't all that much about him to target aside from his general geek-like hobbies and personality. He was fairly athletic in gym class, smart, not horrible-looking and wasn't full of himself like other classmates of theirs.
Nancy shook her head and looked towards Percy along with that friend of his; they were seated a little ways away from her eating lunch on their field trip. She was nearly done eating too, so what if…
She snorted and grinned to herself.
Her mind had devised a plan that would get that little crush of hers tickled while at the same time ensuring she didn't oust herself.
"Is everything alright, Nancy?" Mister Br- Chiron asked, the ma- centaur looking at her kindly and his voice incredibly patient.
Nancy couldn't verbally respond, her shyness had returned in full force thanks to the insane events that had happened to her recently. To think that it'd all started by her crush, the boy she'd wanted to speak with and bullied as a result of that desire for him.
Percy Jackson, she blamed despite knowing it wasn't his fault. It started when he was attacked by some creature following her dumping of food on Grover… the series of events that transpired afterwards was still hard to comprehend. As were the words her mother had spoken to her before she left with Mister Bru- Chiron.
God, she would never stop referring to her teacher as Mister Brunner instead of Chiron. His name was too ingrained in her mind.
Nancy rid herself of the thoughts of her former teacher and focused again on Percy as well as the other happenings of her life; Percy had been fighting Mrs Dodds and afterwards, Chiron had pulled her aside while Grover spoke with Percy.
He told her how the 'useless' gods and titans as well as all the other mythological stuff had been real all along. Chiron shared with her that the information was important, especially to those like Percy and her because they were children of gods. Nancy could hardly believe that even now and the only reason she partially bought into it then was thanks to the sight of Mrs Dodds turning into some form of monster.
Chiron had called her a fury or something, but she was more worried about the fact that he'd instructed her to live with Grover until the end of the semester. He barely gave her a reason for why she should do that and hardly went into any more detail as to why Grover was a good choice, but he told her that it was for her own safety. When he said that to her, she was smart enough, albeit begrudgingly — who wanted to live with somebody they'd bullied for months? It was hard enough with her parents at home, what with the arguing they often did and the remarks her father made that didn't make much sense.
Nancy snorted. It was hard to picture her mother or father as a god or goddess. Maybe, hopefully, they had her confused with somebody else. She would be very happy if that were the case, as this camp life wasn't for her. Not at all.
After she plucked a bug off her forearm, she went back to thinking about how the time had passed with Grover; painfully could sum it up. He had tried his best to be respectful to her, he'd even answered a few of her questions and explained that he didn't have any issue with his legs. That had been a cover for him, as he too was a creature like Chiron had been… he didn't seem like much of a centaur, but who was she to judge how many legs made a centaur a centaur?
Percy would know, she chided herself.
She huffed and shook her head. Percy isn't here… but he will be soon. That would be quite the conversation, she knew. He wouldn't be wrong to hate her either, she knew how stupid she'd been when trying to hide away and express her feelings at the same time. Her parents had shown her how relationships worked, but she must've done it just a tad bit wrong if Percy hadn't wanted to be her boyfriend yet.
There was no other explanation that could be offered up.
"Nancy," Chiron tried again, the ma- centaur looking at her with a growing expression of worry on his face. "Think of me as your teacher if it makes it easier. In a way, with you here, I still am," he laughed lightly and that reassuring gesture made her smile slightly at him. "There we are. Is everything alright? Do you need anything?"
Still, with that small smile on her face, she shook her head and broke eye contact. "No, Mister Chiron," she looked up at him from behind a curtain of her red hair, her eyes barely making eye contact with his long enough for her next words to reach his ears. "Thank you for bringing me here."
When the end of term had come, Chiron had come directly to Nancy so that he could escort her to Camp Half-Blood safely. She still furrowed her brows at the name of where she now called home, and even when she'd asked her former teacher about it the centaur had simply said it was a place for those like her; saying that wasn't all too helpful considering she didn't know anybody else like her, at least not apparently.
Still, Chiron had said that would change and that more would be explained inside the safety of their camp. He even told her as a sign of trust that Percy would be here with Grover in the next couple of hours.
Nancy hoped Chiron didn't know of her crush on Percy.
That was the last real thought of the boy she had before he made his very… eventful appearance.
Percy had slept for a few days after his arrival. Nancy didn't know much about what happened other than the fact that his mother had apparently passed away during it, and Grover, Percy's friend and somewhat hers, felt directly responsible. He had been the one to escort his friend to the camp, after all, and when something went horribly wrong in the process, well, it was only natural that he felt horrible for it.
Nancy didn't think it was his fault though, not after the time she'd spent with the boy; he was gentle, caring, thoughtful and friendly despite her never being any of those things to him. If she could ever earn his friendship to the same degree that Percy had, she would consider herself lucky. She knew she didn't deserve it, not in the slightest, but with how often Grover was at Percy's bedside whilst the boy was out — it was a no brainer to make friends and amends with him.
If she hadn't felt so embarrassed or, in her father's words, if she hadn't felt like shit, she would've been by Percy's bed too. Sure, they weren't friends, but who else knew the boy better than her aside from Grover or Chiron?
So naturally when he woke up from that sleep and eventually calmed down after the loss of his mother — which she felt horrible about and decided not to make herself known to him for the next few hours because of — she thought about how she could speak to him. Nancy wasn't stupid despite what her grades in certain classes were, she knew the boy wouldn't want to speak with her after all the pain her wickedness had caused for him.
But at the same time, something inside of her told the girl to apologise when a few hours had passed by. It may mean little to nothing to Percy, her apology, but she still needed to give it to him. Chiron had told her how she'd be staying right alongside him in Hermes' cabin too, so clearing the air between them before she laid to rest near him was probably a good idea for the both of them.
Unluckily for Nancy, Percy had eluded her for the rest of the day and during their dinner time.
Because of that, she found herself in her spot making her bed when the boy walked in, and when he made eye contact with her, the angry look that found its way to his face was completely warranted. With that said and known to her, it still didn't stop a similar look from appearing on her face despite her knowing that such a look wasn't at all helpful to her case.
Ah well, at least she didn't make some bitchy remark to him. That would've been the na— Nancy stopped herself short of that comparison, the pain on Percy's face that was still visible despite his 'angry' look made her do so.
He had red eyes as if he'd been crying or tearful, and worse yet, there was the slightest bit of shaking from him. It made her feel completely and utterly horrible, for it'd not been present at dinner. Briefly, fleetingly, a bit of her from their school days rose to the surface. She wanted to tease him to get out of speaking with him. Actually, it didn't need to be him at all, it could be that blonde girl he'd befriended or Grover, despite her improved relationship with the boy. Either of them would work so that she didn't have to speak with Percy.
She quelled that very quickly before it took any traction. Nancy didn't need to kick him while he was down. That wasn't who she was, no matter how garbage-like she'd been during their school days, she knew that now after speaking with Chiron on the way down to Camp Half-Blood.
Nancy shook her head, that conversation and the issues it had touched upon could be thought of another time. She didn't need to think about her parents even if they were likely to come up in her apology, she didn't need to think about anything other than Percy.
Speaking of Percy, when her eyes darted back up to search him out at the door, she saw that he was no longer at that spot; he was closer now, much closer. Nancy swallowed nothing and raised her head to look at him. She put on her softest, gentlest look so that he didn't think her hostile.
Percy's eyes, red and watery locked on to hers again. His face was still contorted into that of a slightly angry albeit far less sad visage, it was enough to know that he wasn't all that pleased with seeing her. Still, the lack of insults or words thrown at her filled Nancy with a sense of hope. Maybe, just maybe, her crush Percy didn't hate her.
Maybe she could speak with him longer than her apology was meant to… maybe she still had a chance wi— no, no she was still far too shy to try and talk to him longer than was necessary. Who was she to think that the boy would harbour any feelings for her?
"Hi, Percy…" Nancy greeted softly, her voice nearly a whisper thanks to the loudness of the others in the cabin.
She had thought they would be an issue, but when she realised they weren't minding either her or Percy, they'd become something of a camouflage. It would make speaking with him far easier when she knew that there wouldn't be pure silence in the cabin.
"Nancy," Percy said in return, an open frown and not much else, his response to her.
Nancy very nearly winced at the tone in which he'd used her name, but she didn't. She deserved it, and he deserved to say it with the level of spite that he did. Had she been a better person to him and to so many others, it wouldn't have ended up like this.
With a nod and another attempt at a smile before it fell completely from her face, she spoke to him. "I'm sorry," she said, meaning it in more ways than one… hopefully he could pick up on that too.
Percy cocked his head at her, no tears coming forth from his eyes. "What?"
"I'm sorry," She said again, her voice quieter than it'd been when she first greeted him. "I'm sorry for your mom — for everything I did in school too, I, well," she huffed, angry at her own inability to speak with him only a few feet from her. "My parents, they argued a lot and I took it out on you. I didn't mean to, there were other reasons too, but those are… those are private. I guess I'm just sorry for everything I did."
Nancy had finished with one last look at him before she altogether avoided looking in his general direction. None of her words was a lie, her father, or rather her step-father as she would soon come to realise, was being pushed away by her mother. It was partially thanks to that why she'd been allowed to come to Camp Half-Blood in the first place, as her mother hadn't any idea what to do with her and the man she'd called father had been absent almost completely whilst she was home.
Percy took a step closer to her and looked closely at her face as if he were trying to determine if her words were a joke or prank.
In a very unlike her way, she let him look as much as he wanted despite the blush it forced to her face. Percy was still, after all, the boy she had a crush on and having your crush look very closely at you was an unnerving thing. Well, at least to her it was, she couldn't speak much about what others thought.
"You really mean it? All of it?" Percy asked, missing out on her meaning despite how closely he'd looked.
Nancy looked him in the eyes, shocked that he wasn't his usually short-tempered self despite how small and polite she'd made herself.
"Yeah, yeah I mean it," Nancy said to him, moving back quickly when his hand abruptly jutted towards her.
Percy let out a small huff of laughter at her jumpiness, but his hand stayed stuck out towards her. "Apology accepted, Nancy… and thank you for it."
Nancy looked at his hand as if it would jump out and bite her, but after a few seconds of hesitation, she shook it with the widest smile that'd been on her face for some time. "Thanks, Percy."
Like that, a huge weight was off her chest and she could sleep soundly for the first time in a while. It didn't matter that she was still blushing horribly at the contact she'd made with him or how closely it looked at her. That crush of hers was something she couldn't act on, god, she'd be lucky to speak with him again unless he initiated it. But still, there was peace knowing that she'd at least made up with him. It'd hurt when she thought the chance might've eluded her when he'd been in that bed for so long.
"Nancy?" Percy asked, making her jump out of her skin and squeak when his hand found her shoulder.
"Y-yeah Percy?" She said back to him, her voice a bit hoarse when she saw how close he was.
"I was thinking," He said, a curious look about him. "I was thinking, would you want to talk a bit? I know you didn't really care about Mythology," Percy said with another small burst of laughter as he gestured around them, "But you're the only person I know all that much and everybody else is already talking. It might seem weird but I just thought it'd be cool to think about who our father or mother is."
Nancy agreed, it would be cool knowing which god or goddess was their relative.
So, blushing furiously and still nervous at the closeness as well as the conversation that would soon ensue between them, she nodded shyly at him; Nancy would talk to him for some time that evening, and when the next morning came, they were the closest to friends they'd ever been before.
She liked it, but… Percy was still a dork.
Percy was the son of Poseidon.
That was how matter-of-fact Percy had been when he told Nancy that, and to say that she was surprised was an understatement… when the boy reminded her of who Poseidon was and what his powers were. She hadn't witnessed his fight in the creek, after all, nor had she witnessed that big neanderthal-looking girl bullying him.
If she'd seen the latter bit, she had no doubt she would've jumped in to defend Percy, for he was only hers to bully. Annabeth would've probably helped too, the little blonde was fiery and smart — together they could probably be a great team. Percy probably wouldn't think so though.
"Nancy," Percy said, waving his hand in front of her face.
Oops, she thought, I definitely missed something… gods, I still can't believe he's become my friend since we've been here.
It was because of that, she was often distracted in his presence. Who would've ever thought she and Percy would be friends with one another?
"Yeah Percy?" She responded albeit in a manner that made it clear her full attention still wasn't on him.
"Would you help me move my stuff to Poseidon's cabin after dinner?" Percy asked, energetic and at the same time, seemingly with sadness in his tone.
She couldn't understand why. Not when he'd have an entire cabin to himself; that was a lie she told herself. Truthfully, Nancy was sad to see him go and could understand completely why he felt bad. He would be alone in that cabin, though he'd always be welcome in Hermes' it wouldn't be the same. Not with him sleeping in another spot, no, that wouldn't be the same at all.
"Yeah," Nancy said quietly back to him, offering one of her half-smiles.
If it looked as fake as it was, she would apologise to him… eventually. Nancy didn't have it within herself to be happy at his leaving, even if that leaving was simply a few dozen yards away rather than the distance their houses had once had from one another. He could and likely would still seek her out, Percy was hard to get rid of once he was close to somebody, but it wouldn't feel the same to her.
Not with all the what if's going through her mind.
Percy smiled wide and hugged her. It felt nice and warm, though it was a bit wetter than she'd have liked thanks to the sweat that was dripping from the boy following a game he'd played with his friends from the Hermes cabin. Luke was somebody she'd grown to like just as quickly as Percy had, so she'd allow him this hug.
"Thanks, Nancy," Percy said to her when he finally pulled back, a new sense of confidence about him since he'd found out who his father was; his short-temper, obtuseness and other traits were still present too. "Oh, Grover said that you and he were really good friends too. How'd that happen? I remember the two of you not getting along."
Nancy initially shrugged as her response, but that was something Percy would never accept. As a result of his incredibly persistent attitude, she caved and spoke about what happened with Grover. She spared very little aside from the most personal matters, the ones that he didn't need to hear.
One instance she couldn't resist sharing was when Grover had eaten the can of her Ravioli's. Sure, she had already eaten the food within, but when she had come back to throw away the can only to find the cen— satyr, eating it… Well, anybody could imagine how surprising that had been.
Percy seemed to love that too. He found it far funnier than she had at the time, Grover too, as he had been incredibly apologetic about it when he saw her reaction.
Nancy nearly snorted during her final seconds of recollection, as her reaction had been one of surprise and slight horror at what it would do to his insides. Grover, the sweet boy that she now knew him as had thought he had eaten her snack. She would never be caught eating tin cans as he did, but the thought was a funny one.
"Gods, tin cans… I wonder what they taste like to him," Percy said thoughtfully after sitting in silence with her for all of three seconds.
As much as she'd gotten to know Percy in recent times and as good a friend as they were, the boy would never be able to sit still for any length of time. If there was something, anything, to do, then he'd be doing it. Even if that something was a stone to toss randomly about — so long as it wouldn't hit somebody — he would do it during a conversation.
Nancy didn't mind. She'd grown less shy in recent times, and better than that, she grew to understand how horrible her family life had been. Not every pair of parents argued as it turned out, nor did one parent treat you worse than the other on purpose. Her step-father, as her mother had finally gotten word to her, was simply a bad man.
"Probably like tin cans," Nancy said back before she thought about who her real father was and the plethora of problems that would open for her. "Who knows? Maybe they hit the same feeling that eating a warm brownie does, or maybe he's one of those weirdos that likes broccoli."
Percy snorted, then he laughed as her words lingered. She liked that sound, she liked it a lot.
"I think I'd eat tin cans too if they tasted like brownies," Percy said, making the both of them laugh again.
A few minutes later, Chiron would find the pair of them, for there was a letter that was meant for Nancy that had only recently been found — there was an issue with mail that was often caused by her mother. Nancy couldn't be too mad though, as her handwriting wasn't all that better than her moms… too bad she hadn't gotten her fathers skills with a pen or pencil. She didn't think it was possible for a God or Goddess to write poorly.
"Aren't you going to read it?" Percy asked her after Chiron had made his way away from her.
He seemed more eager than she did; he didn't know how rare it was for her mother to send her a letter, much less call her when she visited a friend. Whatever was inside the letter was likely very important, which was a good enough reason for Nancy to delay reading it. But Percy being Percy, the boy would pester her until she gave in… it didn't help that her crush on him would make her give in either, though he didn't know that.
She'd done a great job hiding it, after all.
Hermes, Hermes was her father. At last, Nancy knew which God had been with her mother and by extension, which god had been her father. It made sense why her step-father as she would forever refer to him as disliked her, or rather, treated her poorly too. She wasn't his child, and the expectations her mother had laid out for him in addition to making him keep that a secret… it made sense to Nancy now even if she had grown to dislike the man more than ever before.
"It makes sense," Percy finally said after a long bout of silence.
"What does?" Nancy asked him, a touch of annoyance in her tone as she looked at Percy; he didn't seem to mind it though.
"Your father being Hermes, he's the god of thieves and orators, other things too," Percy grinned at her once he finished.
Nancy, for her part, didn't react as she previously would've. There were no objects thrown or quick-witted, mean replies said. All that she said back to her friend was something she'd said for an entirely too long amount of time.
"You're a dork, Percy."
And gods was he.
"You're going on a… quest?" Nancy asked, the final word coming out of her mouth questioningly as the very idea was foreign to her.
Who said the word quest anymore, she asked herself whilst looking at Annabeth, Percy and Grover.
"We are," Percy said, looking proud at the chance he was given and prouder still at the pen that had yet to leave his hand. "I can't say much about it, Chiron said that, but it's something I have to do. Maybe I'll find my mom too if she's in the same place as the object we're headed to get."
"Percy," Annabeth chided, "You're such a seaweed brain, you've practically told Nancy where we're headed by saying that."
Percy shrugged. "Nancy's my friend the same as you and Grover are, I bet she would've been the fourth member of our group if we were given the chance to bring one along."
Annabeth sighed, shot Nancy a far too knowing look and went back to speaking with Grover; the satyr boy had been gorging himself on tin cans whilst his friend broke off to speak with Nancy and Percy.
"You'll be back before too long, won't you?" Nancy asked. "I mean, well, you can't be gone too long or something will happen. I heard you say so yourself earlier," Nancy abruptly stopped speaking and watched Percy.
She had been rambling, and rambling wasn't very fun when it made her look like an idiot. Percy had called her his friend and that'd only started recently, it had taken more than a few days for the boy to open up to her after all the horrible things she'd done and said to him as well as Grover. Nancy accepted the status of friend for now too, but she knew she'd eventually get him to be something more than that.
He had said that Hermes being her father made sense thanks to how often she'd stolen things in school, and he was right. Little did he know that if she were the daughter of the god of thieves, she would have little trouble stealing his heart; Annabeth was too focused on her Athena-like stuff and all the other girls didn't seem to pay Percy too much attention.
"Nancy, you're zoning again," Percy said knowingly, having learned the signs of her doing so after such a long amount of time together.
"Yeah, yeah sorry. What did you say though, how long'll you be gone?" Nancy shook her head to clear it and looked back at Percy, her attention focused solely on him.
Percy shrugged with a smile on his face. "Ten days at the most, but I think we'll be back before then. You'll have to tell me about everything that I miss!"
Nancy scoffed and kicked at the dirt. "Everything that you miss? You mean you will have to tell me about everything that I miss, dork."
"Come on, I already told you that I'd take you if I could," Percy whined, pulling at her closer hand with both of his.
Nancy smiled whilst looking away from him. She wouldn't ever tell him, but she loved when he worried about her… she loved when he worried about any of his friends really. Percy was the most loyal person she'd ever met. It was cute, really cute.
"I know, I know," Nancy finally said after letting Percy sweat it out for a few seconds. "I can't help but worry, isn't that weird?"
Percy laughed, Grover did too from his spot a few feet away.
"Sometimes it's still weird that we're friends, but you're pretty cool," Percy said. "I mean it too, you have to tell me about everything that happens while I'm gone — avoid Clarisse too. You wouldn't want her chasing you, she looks bigger th—"
"Percy," Annabeth warned, pointing over his shoulder with her eyes while a disapproving look settled on her face.
"Don't get into a fight before you leave for your quest, dork," Nancy said with a roll of her eyes and laugh that turned into a squeal when he started chasing her.
Percy would chase her for a few minutes before he eventually gave up too. Unluckily for him, he'd chosen to chase a daughter of Hermes; her speed and general athletic ability made sense after so long, so did her way with words. It wasn''t a mystery anymore why she had the group of girls that often followed her around at school and wherever else she went with only a few words to them.
"You win for now," Percy said while he caught his breath.
Nancy laughed at his words, and while they would go on to spend the next thirty minutes or so having fun, the time eventually came for the three companions to leave Camp Half-Blood.
She didn't like that part much, but she definitely liked the tight hug that Percy gave her when he made his leave. It was nice, it was warm, and more than anything else, it was a promise that he'd come back.