A/N: I'M UPDATING THIS JUST FOR YOU, ANONYMOUS REVIEWER GILLIAN. THANK YOU. THREE MORE CHAPTERS.
"Hey," she mumbled, settling herself onto one of the bar stools facing into the kitchen. "Didn't you find anyone to go home with?"
Percy shrugged and crouched with his forearms resting on the counter. "No one really caught my fancy."
"Oh," She mumbled, "That's too bad." Groaning, she added, "I'm gonna be so fucking hungover tomorrow."
Percival opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, setting it before her grabbing a small white bottle on the island behind him and placing three painkillers next to it. "Take these and drink the whole bottle. Oh, and you should eat something. Do we have any crackers?"
Katey pointed to the cabinet to the left of the fridge before placing the pills on her tongue and swallowing with a few gulps of water and Percival set a pack of saltines in front of her. "You don't even seem drunk." She mentioned, opening the pack and taking one out. He shrugged, "Takes quite a bit of liquor to get me pissed, and I don't like the feeling much anyway. I drink until I feel buzzed, not sloshed. Doesn't mean I haven't been totally out of my mind before though, and one of my uncles taught me the perfect way to prevent a hangover: lots of water, painkillers, and something to settle the stomach before you go to bed."
"Did no one else come back?" She asked, amazed at the quiet. Now that she could think a little more clearly, she hadn't remembered seeing anyone as she'd made her way out of the club, and no one had passed her as she'd waited for her taxi, which had been a solid twenty minutes. Percy shook his head. "Nope. It's just you, Lance and I, and Lance's been asleep for hours." Katey munched on a cracker, nodding thoughtfully.
"You didn't go home with anyone either, I see." He stated. She normally might have looked into that for more than what it was, but she was still slightly buzzed and tired, and before she knew what she was saying she blurted out, "Didn't really need to. Fucked two guys back at the club."
Percival scoffed. "What, was one not good enough for you?"
She sneered at him. "Actually, no. The fucker didn't even bother to make sure I'd gotten off. I wouldn't have needed to go to the bartender if the first guy would have reciprocated a little more."
Percival just stared at her and mumbled something she couldn't quite make out over the sound of her chewing the saltines. She caught, "shouldn't…more than one…"
"I'm sorry, do you have something to say? Please share with the class, Percy."
"I said that no woman should have to take more than one lover to be satisfied. A man should satisfy his woman before himself."
Katey softened. "Oh. I'm sorry. I just assumed…" Percy shook his head. "Don't worry about it, Katey. You're drunk, neither of us meant anything by it." The words hurt a little.
She slid off the bar stool and took another swig of water. "Thanks for the uh, prevention, Percy. Good night." He smiled, a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes, and gave her a small wave. "Night."
She turned and made her way back to her room, where she removed her boots and took a quick trip to the bathroom. She quickly dressed herself for bed in an oversized shirt and boxers and tried to lay down. She snuggled under her covers and tossed and turned for a solid ten minutes before the familiar feeling of terror began to clutch at her chest, her mind whirring uncontrollably, her heart pounding in her chest, her throat tightening. She flung the sheets off and bolted for the door and out into the apartment. Her door banged against the wall and the noise brought Percival out of the kitchen to see what had happened. Seeing how pale she was and the way her chest was heaving he rushed over.
"Are you alright? What's wrong?"
Her breath was heaving as she managed to get out, "Minor…panic attacks. Happen…few times a month…"
"What should I do? Should I call Arthur? Are you…"
She put up a hand to stop him. She stood there and breathed deeply for a few moments while he went back to the kitchen to get her some water, which she gulped down before replying, "I had night terrors as a kid, and I used to not want to sleep because I was afraid I would have them. So what ended up happening was that every night, I'd have these minor panic attacks about sleeping. The night terrors stopped eventually, but I still get panicky before I go to sleep sometimes. Nothing really brings it on, it just kind of happens." She paused, avoiding his worried gaze and blushing before she added, "The only way I could go to sleep was if someone was with me."
Percy nodded. "I can understand that." He didn't seem to understand what she was implying.
"Would you, erm, mind too much…like, you don't have to stay all night, just until I fall asleep…actually I can call Nikki, or Arthur or Leon, if you'd rather not…God I'm an idiot I'm so sorry…"
"Katey," Percy interrupted, realization dawning on his face, "I don't mind." She breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank god. I was getting more anxious by the second there." Percy laughed, "I could tell. Come on now. I'm exhausted." Katey nodded and led the way into her room. She had a pile of blankets on the bed, which she rustled herself back under, and to her surprise, Percy joined her under the sheets. "You're so warm," She marveled. He laughed again. "Like, seriously. You're like a radiator. I have all these blankets because I get cold, but yeesh, you're like an electric blanket!"
"Katey. Shush. We're going to sleep now." He settled himself so that he was on his side, one hand under the pillows. Katey snuggled up near him, facing his chest, pulling her knees to her body. Percival put his free hand at her back, rubbing in small circles. "I'm here, alright? Go to sleep. Everything is going to be okay." She hummed her assent, and closed her eyes sleepily, hearing but not listening to the whispers Percival breathed out above her head, and slowly she drifted off.
When she awoke the next morning, she found that she had, during the night, shifted to drape the right side of her body over Percival's, with his hand still resting on her back. Bleary eyed she looked up at him, for he was clearly still asleep. She disentangled herself and walked out into the living room, where she found Lance and Leon talking with a soccer game playing in the background. "Morning," She said, and they turned and looked her way, replying in kind.
She meandered into the kitchen and began searching the pantry. When she found what she was looking for she pulled chocolate milk, eggs, and butter from the fridge, and took a bowl and a large frying pan out of the cupboards. "I'm making pancakes, if anyone wants some." She announced.
Leon looked up at her from his spot on the couch, concern evident on his face and in his voice. "Pancakes? Katey did something happen last night? Did you have an attack?" He jumped up from the couch and went into the kitchen. She nodded meekly.
"An attack?" Lance questioned as he joined them in the kitchen, "As in, some sort of panic attack, right? You weren't hurt by anyone last night, were you?"
She shook her head. "No, it was a panic attack. I have them every now and then and they cause me to be unable to sleep and every morning afterward, I make pancakes. That's how Leon knew."
"So who came to take care of you? Obviously not Lance and no one else is here." Leon asked. "You didn't just bare it, did you? Because you know what happened last time and-"
She nodded, "Yes, I know. I, um, well, you're right, Lance didn't take care of me because Percival did. He was home, you know, and I didn't want to bother Lance and I just, just Nikki and you and Wart were all gone and I didn't know what to do!" Katey stood there wringing her hands, feeling small and helpless. She hated that she needed to be taken care of, but even after years of therapy the attacks hadn't stopped, and they still hadn't discovered what triggered them. She turned away from Leon's worried stare to measure out the mix and milk and whatnot before pouring it into the bowl.
"Look, Leon, I'm okay, alright? I slept really well last night, actually. So please, just let me make my damn pancakes because I know that as distressed as you are about the reason behind me making them, you love my pancakes. Now, does anyone have any allergies I should know about?" She opened up the fridge, pulling out syrup and blueberries. She grabbed a pan and put it on the burner, setting it on low and throwing a chunk of butter into the pan. She took cinnamon from the spice rack and sprinkled it into the batter, and added a splash of hazelnut extract. She pulled out another pan and set it on a separate burner without turning on the gas. Katey began to crack eggs on the side of a large metal bowl, enough to feed a small army. Although, she assumed that by the time everyone else made it back, they'd be hungover and starving. She set the bowl full of egg yolks on the side of the counter and then turned the oven onto its lowest setting. She pulled out a cookie sheet and laid it on the counter behind her.
Leon and Lancelot exchanged a look before both shrugged and left the kitchen to go back to their game.
Slowly, Katey began to spoon pancake batter into the warm, buttered pan, listening to the soft sizzle. She had poured herself a cup of coffee and was sipping at it while she waited to flip the pancakes that were in the pan. Her flatmates began to make their way back to the apartment, starting with Elyan who strode in with different clothes than he'd been wearing yesterday, which were being cradled in his arms, and went directly to his room without saying anything to anyone. Next was Gwaine, who came in smirking and with Nikki on his arm. Nikki smelled the pancakes the second she made it into the flat and left Gwaine to run into the kitchen. "Pancakes?" She asked, concerned.
"I'm fine, promise." Katey told her. Nikki gave her a look before going back out to the living room to cuddle with Gwaine on the couch. She understood that Katey liked to be by herself for the duration of her morning after routine. Something about being able to do things by herself. That's how the whole pancake tradition had started.
She put the first batch of pancakes onto the cookie sheet, and slid it into the oven to keep them warm while she cooked the rest of the batter. As she was shutting the oven door, she jumped, startled to find Percival had padded his way into the kitchen, surprisingly quiet for someone so large.
"Morning," he said, pouring himself a cup of coffee. "Making breakfast?" Katey nodded, spooning more batter into the pan. Nothing more was said, and Percival leaned on the counter behind her, content to simply watch her work as opposed to watching the game with the others. Once all the batter had been used up, she placed the cookie sheet back into the oven and turned on the burner for the second pan, the one meant for the eggs. She turned and placed the pan used to cook the pancakes in the sink and began to wash it, but Percival intervened. "Don't worry about it. You cook, I'll clean." Katey began to protest, "Percival, please, this is a process for me-" but he shook his head. "It's only fair." Seeing that he wouldn't relent, she decided there was nothing she could do and turned back to her stovetop.
"Hey!" Nikki called from the couch. "What is he, special or something? You never let me help!"
"Don't act like you've ever offered to help clean, dumbass." Katey called back, slowly whisking the eggs with a fork before adding a splash of milk and pouring the egg mixture into the pan. She pulled cheese from the refrigerator and added two heaping handfuls before she began stirring it in the pan with her spatula. As she was cooking, she went to sip from her coffee before realizing it was empty. She shrugged and set it down, but before the cup had left her hand entirely Percy was pouring more into it. She looked up at him, bemused. He just smiled sheepishly and put the pot back. Noticing that the pot was almost empty, Katey asked, "Would you mind brewing another pot? I'm sure everyone else is gonna want some." He nodded and she turned back to the stove. The eggs were done, and so she scooped them into a bowl before pulling the pancakes out of the oven. She opened a cabinet and grabbed a stack of plates and pulled all the silverware they had, as well as butter and syrup, out and placed everything on the counters.
"Alrighty, guys, breakfast is-" Katey was cut off by the sound of the front door slamming open and then closed, revealing that Arthur had joined them.
"Tell me that's not pancakes I smell." He groaned, stepping into the kitchen. Katey just smiled at him bleakly. He groaned again. "You haven't even been here 24 hours and you're fucking making pancakes. Wonderful. Why didn't you call me?"
"Everything is fine, Arthur, come on, let's have breakfast, alright?" Katey pleaded. "We can talk about it later. We knew it would happen eventually."
"Fine." He grumbled. Katey took a mug from their cupboard and filled it with coffee, stirring in the chocolate milk and sugar, the way her cousin liked it, and handed it to him. "Alrighty, breakfast everyone."
The rest of the group came in from the living room and grabbed plates, serving themselves before going back in to sit on the couches. Arthur groaned some more, complaining of a headache from Hell. Katey giggled. Everyone complimented Katey on the food, which she smiled and thanked them for. Most everyone went back for seconds, and then Percival continued to clean up, which Katey wheedled her way into helping with. "Thank you again, for helping."
"Thanks for letting me. Nikki said you don't usually let people help you. That's twice now you've stepped out of your comfort zone for me." Katey blushed at this. "Oh no, I didn't mean anything by it, I was just commenting, you know? Besides, in reality I'm the one helping you, right?" They looked up to where Nikki and Gwaine were cuddling on the couch. "Can I ask you something?"
She nodded. "So, Nikki and Gwaine seem pretty cozy over there, huh?" She nodded again. "Yeah, so?" He shrugged, "I don't know, I just…I don't want him to get hurt, yeah?"
"Excuse you? What makes you think Nikki could hurt him? How dare you assume something like that?"
"Hey! Quit getting on each other's nerves in there, we're only fucking anyway." Nikki called from her space on Gwaine's lap. "Yeah, Perce, it's alright, mate. I'm a big boy, I can handle myself. And this one, at that." Nikki punched him in the arm and hopped off his lap, prancing into the kitchen to grab Katey by the hand and lead her out of the room. She locked Katey's door behind her and led Katey into the bathroom to make sure they wouldn't be overheard.
"We fucked last night. Like three times. He was easily the best lay I've had in forever." Katey looked at her best friend, sensing that there was something she wasn't saying. "But?"
"He asked me this morning if I wanted to keep doing this – like, fucking each other. And I said yes. I'm regretting saying yes because, well, you know how I am, I fall hard and fast and I don't know if I'll be able to do the whole just-sex no feelings thing, Katey. But I like him. We talked about a lot of stuff this morning before we came over and like, he's so funny and charming and I can feel myself starting to like him. It's going to end badly and I just, fuck, Katey what do I do?"
Katey sighed. "You always do this to yourself, ugh, um…well, just go with it for a few days. Once a few days have passed, talk to him about how you feel. It'll just seem creepy if you come out right now saying 'Oh hey Gwaine, I know we agreed to be just fuck buddies but I kind of really like you already so let's not,' you know?"
Nikki nodded. "I guess you're right. So, pancakes? What happened last night?"