Chapter 6
The bathroom was right next to the bedroom. So when a pipe burst there was flooding in both rooms. And so there was only one thing to do.
He called first. To a rather welcoming of course. Octavian still didn't wanna impose. Nothing he owned was dry, so his carry on included a beagle and beagle chow and nothing more. Augustus slept with Rachel now, so the toy was in no danger. Rachel wasn't very happy that she wasn't the first person he called when his apartment flooded, but set hard feelings aside.
So when Percy arrived home for the day he was semi surprised and disgruntled to be greeted by tiny puppy kisses. It, at least, improved his attitude, since he'd been in a mood all afternoon.
"Roselia what are you doing here?" He asked the comparatively cheerful puppy.
"My pipes burst. It should be taken care of by tomorrow." Octavian was just coming in too, having gotten off work just awhile ago.
"Oh, okay." Percy wasn't against Octavian staying over, but had had a rough day himself. He didn't really want to bring that up to a guy who almost lost his home though.
Octavian had an instinct.
"I won't bother you." He informed, sensing something was up.
"No, no, it's okay dude." But Percy's heart wasn't in it, for all the demigod reasons, mainly nightmares, and horrible ones at that. The ones that coaxed him into becoming something that he wasn't, or at least tried his hardest not to be. The voices that told him he would see the world in ruin and know in his dark and twisted heart that he'd caused it.
He winced out loud, remembering, and Octavian could see exhaustion written all over his face. He knew asking questions wouldn't help anything, at least not right now. So he said nothing, and Percy went to do homework.
That night Octavian curled up on the couch with a blanket and a beagle, but he couldn't sleep, for worry that something was going wrong somewhere. He'd grown attached to his little home and his nightly rituals. But he wasn't worried about himself. Percy had looked so agitated, and... Afraid. Octavian knew that fear well, from himself and from every time Percy had spoken of losing control.
His suspicions about Percy's trouble was confirmed around midnight when the younger went into the kitchen, dazed, for a drink of water. Octavian heard his friend muttering nervously and stood moving towards the panic.
"Percy?"
"Are you alright?" He reached a timid, thin hand out towards Percy's shoulder. The son of Poseidon whipped around, eyes ablaze.
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" He screamed. Octavian barely flinched.
"Percy it's okay I'm your friend."
"I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!" That made Octavian uneasy. Did he? Did he know the bitter stonehearted freak who had given up on making friends around the age of fifteen and lulled himself to sleep with sadistic fantasies of ruling the camp and destroying his enemies- which happened to be everyone.
He was snapped from painful memories though when Percy broke down.
"Please... I don't wanna hurt you..." Octavian smiled now. If this was the Percy that shone through even in a delusional state, the demigod would be just fine.
"You won't... Come on buddy." Octavian waited for Percy to calm down before taking him to the couch.
"You want to tell me what happened?" Well, he certainly wasn't getting better by holding it in... He confessed his brutal dreams.
"You're scared you'll see the world in ruin? You won't. You have friends. We're your support group. We will do everything in our power to keep you from losing control of yours." The augur promised, sincere.
"What do you dream about?" Percy asked with a yawn.
"I used to dream about the exact same thing." He admitted, sheepishly.
"How'd you get it to stop?" Percy was desperate for an answer.
"That stopped being what I wanted." The words sunk in.
The next morning Sally found both boys fast asleep, leaning on each other, Roselia deeply kissing Percy, who was consequently dreaming of Annabeth.
"Who wants blue waffles?" That woke them up.
Mini contest for anyone who suggests a better name for this fanfic. Will run until... Lets say the 20th.