"Percy?"

He isn't crying.

He might have to wipe his eyes before he turns to face the voice, but that doesn't mean he's crying.

"What are you still doing here?" Paul asks. "Are you…are you alright?"

He's such a great guy. Percy's mom isn't the type to get dreamy about anybody, but he's seen how she smiles when they're together. They haven't been together for very long, either, but Paul's never anything but good to the both of them.

"Yeah." It surprises him how thick his own voice is. "Yeah, I'm good."

"Are you sure?" The concern is his voice would usually be enough to make Percy angry, but he's a bit too spent at the moment to turn away kindness; even if it might be pity.

"I mean…not really. I'll be okay."

He's trying to help, Percy can tell, but he doesn't know if he wants help. He doesn't know how anything can help the mess that he's—that they're—caught in.

"Well, I was just leaving," Paul says, his expression staying the same as the subject changes. "Do you want a ride home?"

Percy swallows hard before he smiles. Pride and shame all go down the same way, he notices. "Sure, yeah. That would be great."

He notices that Annabeth's car is still in the parking lot as they leave the school, but he looks away as soon as he sees it. "Paul?"

"Yeah, Percy?" The older man says, a reassuring kind of smile on his face.

(If Paul hadn't interrupted him, who knows how long he would've stood there, not-crying.)

"Thanks."

.

It's odd to see that his mom is home, but Percy has no issues with this. He loves spending time with her, and talking to her, and with the day he's just had he can use as much of that as he can get. Maybe some blue waffles, if he can swing it.

"Mom?" He calls as he opens their apartment door, dropping his keys back into his pocket.

"Hi honey!" Sally yells back. They've lived there for a long time now; long enough to explain all of the dents in the walls, and the scratches on the floor, and the way Percy can tell his mom's in the kitchen just from the sound of her voice. His stomach grumbles in anticipation.

"You're home early." He shuts the door behind him, walking into the living room and following the smell.

"Got sent home early for good behavior," She replies with only a hint of irony.

"We're capable of good behavior?"

"It was news to me, too," She answers, and he makes it to the kitchen just in time to see her grin. It's just as sarcastic as his own, but the rest of her face softens it out. Everything about Sally shows up in Percy, but just a bit sharper. Too sharp sometimes.

"Whatcha making?" He looks down at the pot on the stove, bubbling but empty. "Something blue, I hope?"

Sally turns to him, her brow creasing slightly. "Was it a blue food day?"

"Kind of, yeah." Percy tries to keep any hints that he's upset out of his voice; Sally's frown deepens anyways.

"Well…" She folds her arms, glancing around the kitchen, though she doesn't actually move from her spot. "We're out of blue pasta…"

(It was some stupidly expensive stuff, from a weird hipster shop. Percy bought it for her birthday, though, and the smile on her face was worth it.)

"Will the stash work?" Sally looks up at him. There's worry in her eyes, but a little mischief, too. Percy's relieved.

"The stash is perfect."

.

The Airheads are his favorite.

The weird liquid lollipop stuff that comes out of a tube is a close second.

Jolly Ranchers would be higher up on the list, but he never has the patience to keep himself from biting them, and it hurts his teeth.

Percy's favorite part, though, is looking at his tongue in the mirror after he eats, quite frankly, too much of every blue candy they have on deck. He pokes it out like a little kid—probably because he formed the habit about ten years ago—and no matter how shitty of a day he's had, it always makes him smile. Just a little bit.

Before he can get up to perform this ritual of his, Sally turns to face him. The Little Mermaid is playing on TV, her favorite, and the macaroni's a bit cold by now. "Are you going to tell me?"

Maybe it shouldn't—after all, his mom has never been clueless—but the question catches him off guard. "Tell you what?"

Sally's sigh is a bit teasing, but it would be impossible to miss the exasperation in it, too. "Honey, you've been off for months now. You haven't exactly been talking to me about it—" Percy's face heats up a bit, "—but I've noticed. I've been letting you do your own thing, giving you space, but…"

"You're worried about me." He says, a bit disappointed in himself. He hates it when she worries, especially about him.

"I'll stop being worried if you tell me what's wrong," She offers, a bit of a smile on her lips.

Percy can't help but laugh. It dies pretty fast.

"It's a girl."

Sally nods. She doesn't say anything else, waiting for him to go on.

"Her name is Annabeth, and I've been working on my video project with her for these past few months, and I kissed her the night that I lost track of time and she kissed me back.

"I think she liked me. I'm pretty sure. I definitely didn't like, force anything. But then the next week at school, she asked me if we could forget everything that happened, and told me she had a boyfriend.

"And I mean, I think she was trying to avoid me but the video stuff happened, and we had to be around each other for a while and we had to kiss for the video and it was really, really, awkward, and then I met Rachel and I thought being with her would make things easier, but it really didn't and all that did was make me feel like shit."

Percy doesn't like swearing in front of his mom, but he sort of needed to get the aggression out of his system. (He hasn't even been talking to Hazel about everything lately)

"And then Rachel broke up with me because she thinks I have feelings for Annabeth—which maybe I do but I was trying, really, really hard not to—and then I found out that Annabeth's boyfriend…he's a jerk, really, and we were talking today and I thought that everything was going alright, but then she said she couldn't be around me anymore and I asked her why everything between us was so…weird…and somehow we ended up kissing and it made her cry and I don't think anything's okay."

Something about saying this feels good. Nothing is better, of course, but he feels lighter. Sally lets out a slow breath.

"Well, that certainly is…a lot."

"What do you think?" He asks, almost anxiously. He didn't realize how badly he wanted advice.

"I think," she frowns again, "…there is something there. But it could end up being nothing."

That's about exactly how Percy feels.

"Give her space. Even if she does feel the same way. She needs it."

He can do that. It's what she asked him for, anyways.

.

Maybe I should just think about all of the bad things about her, he thinks. That would help, wouldn't it?

She probably isn't even that great.

Like, blonde hair? Totally not my type.

And gray eyes are kind of boring.

Nobody likes a know-it-all, and she's a control freak, too. I'm better off not even bothering with her.

Liar, liar, liar. He's not even convincing to himself.

.

His hair is really messy. I never really noticed it, but it's a complete disaster. He probably doesn't even brush it.

And he always kind of smells like chlorine. It reminds me of being dragged to the pool when I was little. I always got my books wet.

He's a stupid kind of beautiful. It makes no sense for somebody to look so intimidating and pretty at the same time.

When it comes down to it, he's just illogical. I don't have time for him.

Liar, liar, liar, she thinks, but shakes the thought out of her head. It's better this way.

This is short and I'm busy. This thing is ending soon, I think. There's not many places this can (will) go from here.

What's your ideal ending?