Horror.
Frank noticed things. He noticed how after war…. The mood is gloomy. He noticed how some campers would look to empty spots at their tables, spots that should be filled. He noticed that things were darker. He couldn't see it, but he could feel the sadness in the air, he could feel it every time he woke up, every time he walked to the mess hall for breakfast.
Everyone reeked of sadness, agony, their eyes haunted, scars that will never heal.
But the one with the most gloom…sadness, agony, was Percy Jackson. His strong, determined, Sarcastic, hyper, Beautiful leader. His eyes were the most haunted. Frank wished he could save him, but he doesn't even know where to begin.
He doesn't understand where all this horror came from. But he wants to.
He noticed the signs before they even knew who they were up against. When Percy had first collapsed on the ground after running through th tunnels and the little Tiber. He'd seen the eyes that no child should have. Cause that's what they were, children. Children who grew up to fast. Those emeralds eyes held so much hidden pain, and if Frank didn't have the eye of a hawk, he wouldn't have noticed it. But Frank notices the little details.
He noticed the way Percy slightly flinched whenever someone raised their hand in his direction. And maybe later on, he brushed it off as Tartarus. Percy had gone through Tartarus, of course he wasn't completely ok.
So Frank ignored it. Until it started getting worse. Percy didn't sleep at night, he thought he was being discrete, but Frank knew. He'd seen him sit at the beach for hours upon hours during the dark night.
Frank had seen the horror in Annabeth's and Nico's eyes when they got out of Tartarus, and the amount never even came close to what Percy's eyes held. He saw how Percy fought and struggled to hold onto that strong façade he made for himself.
But soon after, he stopped smiling as much, and Frank was determined to make him smile again, to laugh again. To enjoy living again.
So when lunch came around, Frank decided to go against the rules this once. Just kidding, he asked Chiron first -_-. He sat down at the Poseidon table, acting like it was completely normal, looking up at Percy's shocked face, smiling softly at him.
"Hey Perce. Nice weather we're having huh?" The corners of Percy's mouth twitched, and Frank was satisfied. He didn't expect him to just get better like that. this was going to take time, and he was going to help him the entire way.
He grinned at Percy, who shuffled back to his food awkwardly. I'll fix you, don't worry.
The second day he sat with him; Frank had a request.
He stabbed his barbeque ribs, shoving it in his mouth.
"So, I was wondering if you could teach me to use a sword? I mean, I can use a spear and the bow and arrow, but I think knowing how to use a sword would be amaZhang." He grinned, emphasizing his last name. He chuckled to himself as Percy covered his mouth with his hand to hide the slight smile that appeared on his face. "So, what do you say, Percy? Will you teach me how to use a sword?" He held out his hand, waiting. Percy looked at him amusedly. He pretended to consider it before snorting, standing and shaking his hand. "You got it, Frank, I'll teach you how to use a sword. But I'm warning you… I won't go easy." Frank gulped and nodded.
But all the pain he was soon to be in, was worth it.
Because at that moment, Percy gave him a soft smile, his eyes even softer as he gazed upon him.
Frank and Percy had gotten considerably a lot closer. They sat together during meals, sparred together, talked together. Frank loved talking to the shorter male. That's his favorite part of the day, when they'll go to the lake, or the beach, or Zeus's fist, or just stay in Percy's cabin and curled up besides each other and talk about anything that came to mind. It was during one of this when Frank found out that Percy's first stepfather abused him.
"H-he what?" Frank choked out. Percy looked down, suddenly looking ten times older then he was. "Um, he'd beat m-me." Frank was afraid he said that. His heart broke, and he understood. Tears were threatening to fall, but he still pulled Percy a little closer after that, he knows it must have taken a lot to tell him that. "How bad?"
He felt Percy take a calming breath as he snuggled up on his chest. "It was pretty bad. He was an asshole. I was his punching bag most of the time, and when I wasn't, I was his servant. 'Percy, get me a beer, or else' 'No not that kind, the other kind!' ya know?" Frank didn't know, his parents didn't hit him. "Sometimes, he'd use his b-belt, other times he'd smash a beer battle on my head. The worst is when he'd use the knife, but mostly he stuck to using his fists."
Frank felt sick. But soon it turned to red hot anger. Like the embers in a dragon's lungs flaring up right as the beast spews its beautifully deadly fires.
He could imagine a child Percy, small even for the kids his age, pale as Nico, sitting against the window, waiting for the pain he knew soon to come.
"He'd lock me in small, dark places where I couldn't move." Frank sucked in a breath. That's why he was-
"Claustrophobic… yeah…" they sat there for a minute. "He'd um…. He'd sometimes….." Percy hesitated. If he said this, he'd have no way of knowing if Frank would leave. If he'd feel disgusted by him. The gods know he is with himself already.
Frank nudged him gently. "Hey, don't close up on me, I want to help, Ok? Anything it is, I promise not to look at you any differently. I swear on the Styx, that I won't… you can tell me anything." Percy almost felt like crying. He hadn't told anyone about the abuse.
"Sometimes, um h-he'd touch me, in places where I didn't want to be touched. And sometimes he would…do more then just touching….you understand, don't you?" He didn't want to say it, because saying it aloud would be acknowledging that it was real, that he was really….
Frank saw red for a split second. But it was when Percy sniffled, that his flames dulled back down to smoldering embers.
He hushed the smaller male, hugging him tightly. His respect for Percy went so high.
After he had calmed Percy down, they sat there silently. No words were needed in this minute. At some point, Percy had fallen asleep, resting on Frank, forgetting his troubles in his arms. Even though he knew they would fall upon deaf ears, Frank had something to say anyway.
"You deserve so much more then what the world has given you, my love. So much more."
And in his sleep, Percy smiled.
Another time, they were at the beach, just floating in the shallows, when Percy showed him his scars.
Frank had been horrified. Not because the scars themselves, no matter how gruesome a lot of them were, but what some of them meant. More specifically, the ones on his wrist.
Frank felt his heart stop. Sadness consumed him, but he understood. he gently grabbed Percy's wrists and placed kisses on each of the scars, muttering promises with each one.
He didn't see Percy's loving grin or his bright red cheeks, or how his eyes lightened up a few shades.
It took a while, but eventually Percy got better. He smiles every chance he gets, and grins even more.
But he has yet to laugh. And Frank was determined to lure that music out.
Frank spent all night making a list of things that make people laugh. He planned on doing each of the items on the list, one at a time.
The first one? Cheesy pick lines. Oh boy, this was going to be a tough one.
Percy was making his way to the salad bar, when Frank rushed to his side. He tripped before straightening up and grabbing a bowl. Percy watched with a raised brow the entire time.
Frank noticed his stare and gulped. Cheesy pick up lines? He'd never done anything like this before. He'd had to go look up pick up lines before coming here, reciting them over and over again. He turned, trying to seem cool, giving a smirk, and a tilt to the brow. "Hey… if you were a vegetable, you'd be a cutecumber." Percy blushed and grinned closed eyed. "Aww, thanks!" Before he got a salad and went to his table. Frank pouted, and if he had been paying more attention at this moment, he would have noticed that Percy put extra cucumbers in his salad.
Percy was teaching the younger campers how to sword fight, when Frank approached him, the sword he'd been using when they'd spar together on his shoulder.
"Hey Frank, I'm almost done here, then we can start." Percy panted out, sweat dripping down his body.
"Alright, but..." Frank wiped his sweaty forehead. "Is it hot in here… or is it just you?" He forced the words out, hoping Percy mistook the blush on his face as the sun.
Percy stared at confusedly. He blinked. Then he turned beat red and coed. "Aww, that's so sweet." He went deadpanned. "But it is seriously really hot in here, I think you need to drink some water." Frank pouted again as Percy turned back to the giggling campers. He shushed them, before dragging his feet as he walked out of the arena tog et some water. It was really, really hot outside.
By the end of it, he had tried every single one of the things on the list, and not one of them worked. Frank sighed, almost giving up, before Percy's bright smile filled his mind, and he realized that he had helped him smile again, when it seemed like there was nothing to smile about anymore. If he could do that, he could do this too. It'll just take some time. And Frank was a patient man.
They were sitting at the campfire when it happened. The soft glow of the flame illuminated Percy's face in an angelic glow. Frank was mesmerized in his beauty. It was getting late; everyone was leaving and soon they were the only ones left.
The fire was dying, the embers glowing red and orange, giving them a little light. It was then that Frank turned to Percy and smiled.
The ravenette smiled back, just as soft as the first one he'd given him. Frank was once again stunned by the shear beauty.
It wasn't that Percy was only beautiful in looks, Frank realized, but he was a beautiful person as well. And that was breathtaking.
"Beautiful… you are so beautiful, Percy, do you know that?" his words startled them both. Frank, because he wasn't planning on saying them, at least not so soon. And Percy, because he wasn't expecting those words to be said outside his dreams.
Frank blushed and stuttered out an apology, before Percy stopped him. "Do you… do you actually believe I'm beautiful?" He asked. Frank sighed.
"I do, more then you can imagine." Percy slowly started to grin. Frank thought he was mocking him at first and was about to take off, before Percy slowly leaned in and pressed his lips against his own.
Frank immediately responded, kissing back, before they pulled away, resting their foreheads together.
"Well, I think you're just as beautiful." Percy whispered, before laughing in delight. Frank watched in amazement as the other laughed with euphoria, before pulled the other into a sweet hug, laughing with him. Percy hugged back as if Frank was his lifeline.
Which, in a way, he sorta was.