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Percy has lived every single day by routine since he graduated. It goes something like this:
8:00 a.m. (ish): Wake up.
9:00 a.m.: Take ADHD medication.
10:00 a.m.: Feed the fish.
11:00 a.m.: Get to work just in time to flirt with the cute blonde girl at the front desk.
12:00 p.m.: Get knocked into the shark enclosure by said cute blonde girl.
1:00 p.m.: Take aforementioned cute blonde girl out to lunch and listen to her talk about math equations and her pretty trans model boyfriend for the whole thing.
2:00 p.m.: Whine about how lonely you are to the dolphins.
3:00 p.m.: Give a tour to that day’s school group with too much rambling.
4:00 p.m.: Trip and fall into the penguin habitat while waving goodbye.
5:00 p.m.: Try not to look too kicked-in-the-pants when the cute blonde girl bandages you up while rolling her eyes.
6:00 p.m.: Buy dinner from MacDonald’s, a Happy Meal (as always).
7:00 p.m.: Take the train home and try to disappear when someone catches you stimming.
8:00 p.m.: Spend ten minutes crying about how you can’t open your door so the sweet zookeeper with the awesome abs will come and help you out.
9:00 p.m.: Watch Luca. Again.
10:00 p.m.: Realize that all your plants are dying and put a sticky note on your alarm clock to ask that frizzy-haired archeology student at the library about it.
11:00 p.m.: Try to stay up until midnight and instead fall asleep halfway through The Little Mermaid.
Rinse and repeat.
Yeah.
… Okay, maybe yesterday was worse than usual.
This morning, Percy wakes up two hours late. He throws some food half-hazardly into the fish tank and downs his meds dry as he stumbles out the door in dirty jeans and a ratty sleep t-shirt with a dad joke about fish on it. He can’t make it to the subway, so he drags himself through Times Square, muttering apologies as he knocks through person after person after person.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry—”
“Slow down, sugar.”
Percy stumbles back on his ass, knocking over a top hat lyding upside down on the ground. His hands shaking, he shoves dollar bills back into it as thin caramel hands help, covered in gold.
“Sorry, I’m sorry—” he says, looking up at whoever he’s offended. But the person just smiles, a vision with amber eyes and soft dark curls wrapped in golden jewelry. They’re wearing a loose purple skirt that falls halfway down their calves, showing their bare calloused feet, and a loose, open white poet blouse, one that they’ve probably borrowed. They’re easily the most beautiful person Percy’s ever seen, even without that gorgeous smile.
“Hi,” he squeaks out. The person laughs.
“Hi,” they say, pulling him up with gentle hands. Their eyes twinkle as they kiss his cheek, shooing him away. “Off to work you go, darling. I’ll still be here after.”
Percy shakes his head. He doesn’t wanna go.
“What’s your name?” he asks, morbidly curious. “I’m Percy. Uh—he/him.”
The pretty person grins.
“Leo,” they say, and wave him away. “Literally anything you want.”
“Your mouth on my face,” Percy answers, then flushes red and sprints away with Leo’s laugh still echoing in his pink ears.
“I met a pretty boy today, Annie,” Percy babbles as he rubs his hands over the stingrays. Annabeth sits just far enough away so as not to get splashed on, scribbling notes from her quantum physics textbook onto her iPad with one of those fancy tech-pens. (It’s pink.) “He’s also a girl and a person. He’s so pretty, Annie, like sunshine.”
Annabeth rolls her eyes, turning the page. She smiles down at her phone, probably a text from Piper—her boyfriend of two years. They met in Annabeth’s computer coding class, which she had aced and Piper had flunked out of. They’re a good match.
“You said something stupid, didn’t you,” she says. It’s not a question. Percy wails, flopping backwards across her lap. She rolls her eyes, but starts petting his hair anyway with a fond smile.
“I told him I wanted his mouth on my face!” Percy whines. “If I wasn’t a raging asexual I’d probably have told him I wanted his mouth on my dick!”
Annabeth rolls her eyes again. She pulls a little bit on his hair and Percy goes limp, tapping random patterns out on his hands in his restlessness. The octopus needs feeding.
“You’re gonna be fine, seaweed brain,” she tells him. “Just cause you’re a bi disaster doesn’t mean everyone attractive is repelled by you. Whoever pretty boy is, I’m sure he’ll love you.”
“Really?” Percy asks, sort of desperately as he shoots up, spraying salt water from his hair all over her. Look, he hasn’t had a date in six months, okay, and probably for good reason. “You think so?”
Annabeth looks up at him and shoves his shoulder.
“You’re an idiot,” she says. “Go clean the shark tank, would ya?”
Percy slumps, slinking away like a wet cat. He hears Annabeth sigh and perks up just a little bit.
“Yes,” Annabeth says with a reluctant smile. “I think so.”
Percy beams, and, with a pep in his step, skips off to do something responsible. (He can’t remember what it is, but he’s sure he’ll figure it out after he names all of the stuffed animals in the gift shop again.)
It’s half-past four when Hazel wanders in, slapping his chest with a piece of paper on her way by to the penguin exhibit.
“Your plants,” she says, dropping her backpack by the front desk. “You sing to them too much. That’s not an informed opinion, just a friendly observation. Also, you haven’t watered them in a month, dipshit.”
Percy tilts his head, thinking this over. Yeah, he decides, that would do it.
“Hello to you too, Hazzy,” he snarks back, pulling the piece of paper off his chest to read. It’s just a list of animal foods with oddly specific measurements—
“Oh, did Frank forget to refill the zoo’s shit again?”
Hazel nods, munching on Scooby Snacks and animal crackers as she watches the penguins, the tension seeping out of her shoulders as she stares. Her dissertation, something about fossils or whatever, is killing her, and she comes here almost every day after class to visit the penguins. It would be cute if Hazel wasn’t so damn scary.
“Yeah,” she says now, not even looking at him. “He was hoping you could do some shopping for him. Also, could you stop by my brother’s house? He hasn’t been to work in three days and I think maybe his depression’s acting up again.”
Percy swallows. He knows Nico’s always had trouble with his meds.
“Yeah, sure,” he answers, and hightails it outta there. “Tell Annie I’ll be back when I can.”
Hazel shrugs.
“Whatever,” she says, and viciously bites off the head of a giraffe.
“Your sister’s worried about you,” Percy says, throwing his keys on the counter and dropping the bag of zoo shit on the floor as he wanders into Nico’s apartment. “You should really give her a call.”
Nico doesn’t answer. Wrapped in a blanket pile on the couch, he’s got bags under his eyes and sunken cheeks that say he hasn’t eaten in a couple days. Percy looks over his mess of an ex-almost-boyfriend and sighs, rummaging through the cabinets for some Cheetos.
“Here,” he says, collapsing back on the couch next to Nico. His hands start to go wild in his lap and he starts shaking and twisting them, stimming like mad as he watches Nico, who just stares at the bag of Cheetos like maybe it has all the answers in the universe. (It doesn’t. Percy used to think that too.)
“What was it this time, Neeks?” Percy asks, forcing his hands to still so he can tug Nico into him. “Bad day at work?”
Nico shrugs. Percy knows he likes dead things, but he’s always sort of unsure about how good of an idea it was to let an orphan with anxiety, depression, and PTSD become a medical examiner.
“It was a little girl this time,” Nico mutters. “Rosalie Jenkins. She was abducted by this fuckwad at the dog park. They found her in a dumpster.”
Percy hums. Slowly, he shifts so he’s lying back on the couch, Nico tucked up between him and the backrest. He cards his fingers through the kid’s hair and hopes his heart isn’t beating too fast under Nico’s ear.
“I’m sorry you had to see that,” he says. Nico shrugs, lifting himself up and wandering into the kitchen. He pulls out a peach from the fridge and bites into it, letting the juice dribble down his chin and over his chest, covered in burn scars from when he was younger.
(His uncle, Zeus, used to abuse him before he, Bianca, and Hazel were found by their dead dad’s partner, Hermes. He didn’t come soon enough, though, and Bianca was strangled to death by the bastard while Nico hid in a cupboard with his hands over his ears.)
Percy, for all of his suicide attempts and dropout tendencies, is not the most fucked-up person in their group.
“I’m sorry I didn’t save her,” Nico says, knocking back some cold black coffee. “This shit sucks.”
Percy nods. He waits for Nico to come back over to the couch before grasping at him again.
“How can I help?” he asks, touching Nico’s neck. Nico smiles just slightly, pretty in the afternoon sunlight.
“Wanna make out?” he says. Percy flushes and laughs, shoving him back as Nico snickers. Still, when Nico straightens back up, Percy reaches across and pulls him in.
Forty minutes later, Percy gets a call from Annabeth.
“What?” he asks, groggy. Taking his meds late kinda fucked him up, and Nico’s depression has got him sleeping like there’s no tomorrow, so they’d passed out in each other’s arms ten minutes into kissing and now they’re here.
“Relax, you’re not in trouble,” Annabeth says, somehow even sounding like she’s rolling her eyes. “Hazel told me where you disappeared off to. I’m just wondering if our little ghost king is okay.”
Percy looks down at Nico, snuffling in his sleep on his chest. He smiles softly, reaching down to brush Nico’s hair from his face.
“Hey, dumbass,” Annabeth snaps, and Percy shrieks in surprise, dropping forward to accidentally bonk his head on the coffee table. Nico mumbles something sassy through a yawn, rubbing at his eyes as he waddles off on creaky knees to the bathroom. Percy whimpers, holding his head wound as Annabeth sighs loudly in his ear.
“Sorry. You want me to feed your fish tomorrow? Since, you know, you’re obviously staying the night.”
Percy nods, then winces.
“Yeah,” he says, biting his lip. “That’d be nice.”
Nico comes back in and takes the phone from Percy’s hand, a wet washcloth in his hand.
“Bye, Los-ah-beth,” he says, then hangs up before Annabeth can start yelling at him for calling her a loser, and Percy smiles gratefully as Nico starts dabbing at the cut on his head with the washcloth. His hands are so cold, but Percy likes him like this anyway.
“Can I sleep over?” he whispers, because it’s dark now and everybody knows you don’t talk loud in the dark. Nico kisses his cheek.
“Yeah. But my girlfriend’s coming over too, so be warned.”
Percy nods absently.
Nico stalks off to his bedroom to get Percy some pajamas and his favorite Nemo stuffie that he keeps leaving over here. Percy smiles. He’s so thoughtful.
Wait.
Percy frowns.
“Hold up—you have a girlfriend?”
Nico smirks at him, shoving Nemo into his hands.
“Yup,” he says, and that’s when the doorbell rings.
Leo comes flouncing in the door in her purple and white and gold ensemble, this time with a new green shawl that Percy has no idea what the fuck is about, and peppers Nico’s face with kisses as soon as she’s close enough.
“Ay, querida!” she exclaims as Nico smiles happily, grasping at her hands. “Or is it querido, or just amor today? I’m sorry I didn’t ask, mi vida, I haven’t eaten since this morning and I’m feeling a little woozy.”
Nico smiles at their girlfriend, comfy in their own shapeless black dress. Percy isn’t new to Nico’s genderfluidity, but he isn’t very familiar with Nico’s happiness, so it’s always nice to see.
Oh, fuck, he’s made out with Nico and flirted with Leo all in the same day.
Shit.
Bright red, Percy stutters out, his hands going crazy, “Hey, I’m sorry, for flirting with you and also making out with Nico and, uh—”
Leo squeals in delight, bouncing over to Percy and knocking him back with a hug. Percy feels up her sides, his lips parting in surprise—Nico was right, she is too skinny.
“No need, no need! We’re polyamorous, cariño; my sweet Nico can make out with whoever they wish so long as they tell me.”
Percy nods absently. Taking her hand, he sees the same ace pride bracelet wrapped around her wrist that Nico and Percy both have, part of a homemade set. Frank and Hazel have their own, but with fancier beads. Annabeth and Piper’s are woven from strings. Percy looks up at Nico, who shrugs and cracks a smile.
“Are you spending the night with us?” he asks, flustered by Leo’s proximity, and Leo laughs and kisses the corner of his mouth. She keeps making these odd tittering noises with her mouth, stimming like Percy does, but with snaps and taps against the walls.
“Sí, sí,” she says, going into the bedroom and coming back out two minutes later in a onesie of Tiger from Winnie the Pooh. She looks adorable. “I’m homeless, so. I stay here every night.”
Percy blinks. Nico frowns, reaching out for their girlfriend’s hand and pulling her close.
“I told you, this is your home,” they whisper, touching Leo’s neck and pressing their foreheads together. “Here, with me and Jason.”
Leo smiles, murmuring something back in Spanish. Percy, completely lost, throws his aching hands up in the air.
“Who the fuck is Jason?!”
Jason, as it turns out, is a complete fucking Adonis that Percy wants to bone in the most unsexy way possible.
“Oh my gods,” he says when Nico and Leo’s boyfriend walks through the door, in dorky ass glasses and a Captain America t-shirt. “Can I bite you?”
Jason turns the color of that lacy underwear Percy used to buy in bulk from the Victoria’s Secret Valentine’s Day sales just to sew dresses from. He drops the pizza he’s holding and Percy dives to catch it, popping up an inch from Jason’s face.
“Uh,” he says, then sees Jason’s arms and flushes even redder, somehow. “Sorry.”
Behind him, Nico is cry-laughing into her hands. Leo, the fucker, smiles sweetly.
“Oh, yes,” he says, snatching the pizza from Percy’s hands and shoving him right into Jason’s beautiful pink lips. “This is gonna be fantastic.”
Percy is gonna sleep on the floor, really, he is, but then Jason carries him bridal style in his food coma to the bedroom and deposits him gently on the bed, smiling when Percy takes his hand. Leo and Nico are cleaning up the mess outside, and Jason is tapping patterns of threes out on Percy’s palm, his eye twitching when Percy stops him, leaving the last pattern unfinished. Percy watches him struggle for a minute before getting it, holding out his hand and letting Jason finish the pattern with a happy sigh.
“OCD?” he asks. Jason smiles sheepishly, shrugging as he lies down. Percy tucks himself into Jason’s side and traces circles on his perfect, beautiful pecs. “I have ADHD. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, man.”
Jason shrugs. He pulls his phone out and starts reading through emails, most of which look to be about birds. After skimming the fifth one over his shoulder, Percy figures out that Jason’s the bird guy that Frank works with, the one who goes skydiving on the weekends and dropped out of the police academy in his first year due to not wanting to shoot anyone.
“Where’d you meet Nico and Leo?” he asks, hating the quiet. Jason puts his phone down, taking Percy’s hand again and squeezing three times. Percy smiles.
“Leo’s been my best friend since childhood,” Jason says quietly. “We dated in high school and broke up when I left for college. I didn’t know he didn’t have a place to stay… I came back a couple years ago, when he called me to bail him out for his pyromania, again. Nico had a late night that night and my car broke down, so she drove us home. I watched Leo and Nico fall in love and get together, during some incident involving firecrackers and a graveyard, I think, and I was gonna go back to L.A. except Leo kissed me the night before my plane left and I ended up staying.”
Percy hums. He shuffles a bit closer and smiles when Leo and Nico stumble in, kissing until they fall back on the bed in laughter. The air is heavy and they’re all tired.
“Can I stay too?” he mumbles. Nico grabs his hand and squeezes.
“Obviously, dumbass,” she says, and Leo giggles and turns out the light.
Percy wakes up in an empty bed. There are three post-it notes on the alarm clock, which tells him he’s still got an hour to take his meds before he goes nuts again.
get up, loser. there’s cheerios somewhere, so eat them. see you later, loser.
Definitely Nico. If he looks close enough, there’s a super tiny heart in the corner.
Next is Leo, with about fifty dozen hearts on it—
hi!!! i gtg bc street dancing ya know but uh i hope we see you later bye bye mwah
Jason’s is cut into a heart, the only one with proper capitalization and punctuation—
We’ll all be back around seven. Dinner date? You can bite me.
Percy blushes, taking all three post-its with him as he leaves. On the fridge, he leaves his own scrawled answer in blue—
does this mean i can tell annie that i have three hot pieces of ass
Ten minutes after he’s taken his meds, he gets a text from Leo, who apparently stopped back at the apartment to get some shit they forgot.
yes obviously
Annabeth sees him beaming and rolls her eyes.
“Hey, dumbass! Get back to work, lover boy.”
Percy grins at her, skipping over to hug her tight.
“I have three hot pieces of ass,” he babbles at her, and Annabeth sighs.
“I know,” she says. “Nico texts me about everything, you know. Now, you want me to drive you to the library later?”
Percy nods eagerly, and Annabeth kisses his cheek as he bounces away, smiling fondly despite herself. Piper comes up behind her and kisses her neck, and she turns in his arms and smiles.
“Idiot,” Percy hears her mutter, and gags into his hands when he sees them kissing. Annabeth flips him off over her shoulder with a smile, and Percy goes to tell Geraldine the Whale (dead and hanging from the ceiling) all about it.
At the library, Rachel Elizabeth Dare helps Percy pick out books.
“When I met Travis, Connor, and Octavian,” she says, referencing her own boyfriends, “I made sure to read up on every single disorder I thought they might have.”
Percy opens his mouth to point out how fucked up that is, then decides better of it and heaves under the weight of yet another book as she adds endlessly to the pile he’s carrying.
Rachel has been with Octavian since her senior year of high school. They hate-fucked in a janitor closet and denied they were dating for three months until getting drunk at a party and confessing they loved each other during Truth or Dare. Then Travis and Connor came along, though both were thought of and referred to as Connor for seven months during college until the twins came clean about being, well, twins. Octavian and Connor then did something in a Starbucks that got them arrested for public indecency, and Rachel took Travis home to introduce him to her POP! figure collection. Now Travis and Connor have been dating both of them happily for years, though still only Rachel and Octavian can tell them apart.
“When I met Grover,” Percy huffs under the stack, “you didn’t make me read The Encyclopedia of Austistic Anxious Nerds.”
Rachel shrugs.
“You weren’t dating him, dumbass,” she tells him. “He’s aro and therefore uninterested anyway, even though you had the biggest fucking crush on him. Has Annabeth proposed to Piper yet?”
“No,” Percy wheezes, dying now. “She’s planning for New Year’s Eve. Gods, fucking, Rachel—”
Rachel takes the books from him and drops them on the table next to them. Percy pants, clutching at his chest with his stupid hands.
Rachel raises her eyebrow.
“Here,” she says, shoving a book at him titled ADHD for Dummies. “They should know about you too.”
Percy smiles just the slightest bit. Rachel ruffles his hair.
“I’m happy for you, bubble,” she tells him, nodding to the stack of books about anxiety (Nico, Leo), depression (Nico, Leo), PTSD (Nico), OCD (Jason), and autism (Leo). “You deserve this.”
Percy smiles. Rachel smiles back, then lifts the stack off the table and into his arms again. He hates her immediately.
“Come on! Time to check out!”
Percy groans, but goes anyway.
He swings by Walt’s restaurant to pick up dinner. It feels weird, not smelling chicken nuggets this time of day, but then Walt hands him two bags full of steaming hot Southern barbecue and Percy’s mouth is watering too much for him to notice.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he says, taking the bags in his hands. “I’m so fucking glad you beat cancer, shit, I—”
Walt just smiles at him.
“Me too,” he says, ushering Percy out the door. “And I hope you like the food, man, but Anubis and Sadie are gonna be home pretty soon and I’d kinda like the place to ourselves. You know—a quiet, delicious dinner, just the three of us…?”
Percy wrinkles his nose.
“Ew,” he sticks his tongue out, and Walt laughs, his hand warm on Percy’s back.
“Go, go. Tell your babies I said hi, aye, man?”
Percy flushes.
“Aye,” he mumbles, and slinks out to the car, a jittery nervous mess who can’t remember the last time he actually had someone to go home to. (And isn’t that just so fucking sad?)
Nico comes home first, trudging through the door with a satchel of files in his hands. He drops them unceremoniously on the ground and walks right into Percy’s waiting arms.
“I’ve been wanting to get you back,” he says to him, nuzzling into his chest. Percy kisses his head, squeezing him tight. “Ever since we didn’t finish what we started, I’ve been wanting to get you back. I hope you’re happy to have me, cause I’m sure as fuck keeping you.”
Percy closes his eyes, reaching down to lock their fingers together. Pulling back to tuck Nico’s chin up, he kisses him, remembering the sweet sweet taste of honey that used to come with their kisses, now the salty sweet of caramel.
“I’ve loved you forever, baby boy,” Percy tells him. “I’m sure I can love your loved ones too.”
Nico smiles at the mention of Leo and Jason, wrapping his arms around Percy’s neck.
“Duh,” he says, dragging Percy to the couch. He grins devilishly, pulling them both down onto the grey cushions. “But for now, we have some time to kill.”
Percy beams.
“Wanna play checkers?” he chirps, and Nico rolls his eyes.
“Get down here, you moron,” he mutters, and Percy laughs like an idiot, high on being loved.
Leo comes home in mussed-up lipstick, with a black eye. She stumbles in in her pink dress and Nico is on her in an instant, pulling her close and touching her eye with care. He guides her to the couch, and she stares blankly at the coffee table as Nico brushes a warm washcloth over her bruise, as fetched by Percy, who settles on her other side.
“I’m so sorry, tesoro,” Nico murmurs to Leo, squeezing her hand. “This shouldn’t have happened to you.”
He’s so gentle with her here, but Percy can see the rage burning in his eyes. Whoever did this will surely pay for it later.
Percy swallows, glancing away to follow Leo’s gaze. She’s staring right through the coffee table, it seems like, but then she reaches forward with delicate hands and picks up the book titled How to Love Your Autistic Sad Boi.
“You wanted to read about me?” she asks, seemingly in awe. Nico notices what she’s looking at and starts pulling at the books too, his mouth dropping open at Emptiness In Place of Feeling: How Not to Sleep Your Way Through Life. Leo tears up at ADHD for Dummies, which shakes in her hands.
“How’d you know about this one?” she says, her lip wobbling as she looks up at him. “I… did Jason tell you?”
Percy shakes his head, reaching out to take the book from her hands.
“This one’s for me,” he says. “I have this.”
Leo nods, her eyes still clouded over.
“Me too,” she says, then reaches out and pulls him into a hug. Percy hugs her back extra tight, and she smiles at the pressure he’s trying so hard to make heavy enough for her.
“It’s okay, cariño,” she tells him, kissing his cheek. “I don’t mind when you touch me, bonito.”
When Jason comes home, Percy and Leo are stimming through hand games on the couch, and Nico is warming up the food they’ve left sitting out. Jason pulls Nico close to him and kisses his mouth like it’s water in a desert.
“I missed you all today,” he says, his eye twitching until he finishes tapping out his three-three-three pattern on Nico’s cheek. Nico smiles, tucking his face into his neck.
“Things are good,” he answers, and Percy starts to think that he can fit in here, maybe, really.
“I proposed to Piper last night,” Annabeth tells him the next morning. “It was a disaster. You would’ve loved it.”
Percy pops his bubblegum between his teeth, scrubbing down the penguins—specifically Salvador, the troublemaker. (He peed on a three-year-old last week. In his defense, she kept making kissy faces at him.)
“You got a video?” he asks. Annabeth sighs, dropping her head into her arms dramatically.
“No,” she complains, her voice muffled by her polyester cardigan. “I blurted it out in the bathroom while watching him brush his teeth with my toothpaste. I was naked and he was wearing Spongebob boxer shorts. I hate those shorts and I love that man and the world is a fucking nightmare and I’m so so happy—”
She bursts into tears. Percy reaches over with penguin-greasy hands and pets her perfect hair.
“There, there,” he grins. “Good for you, princess.”
Annabeth lifts her head from her arms to glare at him.
“You’re on thin fucking ice, seaweed brain,” she hisses. Percy beams, pulling her into a hug.
“Awww,” he says, running his dirty fingers through her hair as she screeches. “I love you too, smartass.”
On his lunch break, Percy pops down to Dunkin, putting in an order for three dozen donuts with pink frosting and rainbow sprinkles. He carries the boxes in an unsteady stack into the police station, dropping them stupidly onto Sadie’s unfinished paperwork, scattering slips everywhere.
“Percy!” she shouts, standing and grabbing him by the front of his shirt. “What kind of moron—”
Percy grins dumbly. Sadie glares, but opens up the top box. Seeing the donuts, a smile rises to her face, much as she tries to fight it, and she grabs one of them with a ring-adorned hand.
“Thanks,” she says begrudgingly, biting into one and moaning as her eyes flutter closed. Percy keeps grinning, reaching out to grab her hand and shake it as she startles.
“Oh my god, did Walt propose? Holy shit—”
Sadie tugs her hand back, hitting him upside the head.
“You idiot, no. Anubis found this in a thrift shop and stole it for me.”
Percy wrinkles his nose, rubbing his head.
“But you’re a cop—”
Sadie rolls her eyes.
“Yeah, and I find kleptomania hot. Whatever. Don’t you have somewhere to be, Jackson?”
Percy shrugs. He hadn’t really thought about it, to be honest.
“I have three boyfriends,” he babbles, hopping up and down in rhythm with the Spencer Reid bobblehead on her desk. “Did you hear? That I have three boyfriends?”
Sadie shakes her head at him, but kisses his cheek as she shoves him back.
“Yes, Jackson, I heard. I’m so happy for you. Now get the fuck out of my precinct, how ‘bout it?”
Percy beams, skipping towards the door. At the last minute, he turns around and screams, “Did you ever have Anubis tattoo that heart on your ass like we talked about?”
Every officer in the room freezes and stares. Sadie turns bright red.
“Don’t make me shoot you, asshole,” she hisses through gritted teeth, and Percy laughs, hightailing it out of there with no regrets.
Sure, he’ll get an angry call from Annabeth about it later, but right now, drunk on life like this, he really couldn’t care less.
(He cares a little bit more later, when she punches him in the stomach and he throws up into the turtle exhibit.)
Today’s school tour is a kindergarten class from Cam Phaffblüdd Elementary, which is run by Chiron, Percy’s old foster dad. (And Patroclus’, who Chiron always seemed to love more, through no fault of Percy’s own.) Huh. Percy should really pay him a visit soon.
(Percy’s actual dad, Poseidon, has places to be. They found each other like five years ago, and he comes by when he can, but he’s currently busy planning the wedding of Apollo, who’s very particular about his musical tastes (and lost his boyfriend Hyacinthus by homicide two years ago and therefore has a shitton of baggage), and Dionysus, who’s highly specific about his wine preferences (and has a bit too much interest in female exotic dancers). Percy doesn’t like being around him when he’s all frizzle-frazzled.)
Magnus, the teacher, stands in the middle of the pile of screaming children, a clipboard in his hand that smacks his head as he pulls at his hair. Nearly on the verge of tears, he begs and begs for the little nutcases to calm down, which of course they don’t. Alex, Magnus’ husband-wife since they were nineteen, is grinning from ear to ear, filming all of this with that damned camera he-she carries around everywhere.
Percy smiles at the sight, helping Magnus out of the horror.
“Hey, man,” Magnus breathes desperately, and Percy bro-hugs him.
“Sup, dude,” he answers, and thinks about Leo when Magnus turns back to catching a clumsy Alex in his arms, dipping him-her with a dazzlingly exasperated smile.
Alex hums into his mouth as they kiss, waving vaguely at Percy, who flushes and clears his throat, flailing his arms towards the kids. They all follow him like little ducklings as he leads them towards Fitzswanna, their pink-purplopolous octopus.
(Annabeth tells him he should really learn the real scientific names of these animals, and Percy shrugs her off and neglects to mention that he knows every single one by heart, and also knows that field trips should be about wonder and adventure and not about stupid learning.)
He’s so involved in his ramblings that he slams right into the built-as-fuck chest in front of him with an oof, all of the kids laughing as he pulls back to see Jason, blinking and blushing with a dripping cup of coffee in his hands.
“I, uh—got you coffee,” he says helplessly, shoving the glittery gold to-go thermos into Percy’s hands. He shoves his glasses back up his nose and eyes the children nervously, trying to push past—
“Sorry, uh, have a good day—”
Percy reaches out and tugs him in by the tie, sliding his hand up to grip the back of Jason’s neck as he squiggles and squirms and finally settles, like a breath of fresh air in Percy’s mouth.
“I love you,” Percy breathes, then turns bright red because it’s only been like two days. Jason turns about the same color and manages to sputter out, “I love you too,” before sprinting through the front doors with all the grace of Clark Kent disrobing into Superman.
Percy beams stupidly after him, or at least he does until one of the little girls pulls on his hand and asks after the penguins. Then, he starts talking about the amazing superpowers of his beloved flufferbirbs and doesn’t shut up for another hour, even as Annabeth cries from exasperation.
Nico’s waiting for him by the door when he finishes work, still in his star-covered blue scrubs and looking haunted, like always. Percy reaches down and threads their fingers together, kissing Nico’s head, and on unsteady legs and with fluttering eyes, Nico steps forward with him.
“There was this boy,” he whispers as they walk down the street. Percy’s stomach growls for french fries, which is really very inappropriate right now. “A teenager, this college freshman. He was wearing these camp bracelets and cargo shorts and a short-sleeved flannel. He was killed with a blunt force object to the head while leading some kids through the woods. The kids are missing. The boy is on my table. He looks like Will.”
Percy tugs Nico closer. He pulls him into a MacDonald’s and listens to Nico talk as he buys five dozen Happy Meals out of his own pocket.
“He’s been gone seven years,” Nico says, staring blankly at the toy display box. “I always kinda thought it would get easier.”
Percy drags Nico to the corner (gently, obviously) and holds him there while he waits for his frankly ginormous order to be filled. They’re number 69, and the part of Percy that’s emotionally insensitive thinks that’s hilariously funny.
The rest of him rocks Nico back and forth, and listens to him mourn.
It happened seven years ago. Nico had been with this boy Will since he and Percy didn’t work out, and they were so perfect together. They worked through college, and Will became a nurse and Nico started cutting open dead people, and they had an apartment down by city hall, and then Will proposed on a late night while Nico was looking at files of murder victims and Nico had bawled his adorable little eyes out while Will laughed and laughed and laughed, slipping the ring onto his finger, the ring that Nico’s still twisting around his finger now.
The morning after the proposal, Nico had gone into the office glowing. By afternoon, he was a sobbing, catatonic mess on the floor of the ER, covered in self-inflicted scars from his scalpels, because he’d rather cut himself open than his fiance, who’d thrown himself in front of a mugger’s bullet for a sweet old lady’s purse. (Hestia, as it turned out, who’s been having tea with Nico ever since.) Nico had a blonde boy on his table, a beautiful loving blonde boy, and he’d tried to kill himself three times over the next three months.
Percy was the one who took care of him then, like now.
“I met Leo at the psych ward, you know,” Nico’s telling him, clutching hard to Percy’s arm. Percy kisses his head and face and pulls him up towards the counter to grab his humongous order. “He was in there for the same shit as me. His girlfriend Calypso croaked in a train accident, and he downed a bunch of pills. We didn’t fall in love there, but we were good friends, and when we left we thought it was forever, but eventually we found each other again.”
Percy drops the bags on the pavement again, cupping Nico’s face in his hands and kissing him. Nico melts against him with a whine, tugging at Percy’s shirt and ducking down to bury his face in his chest. Percy holds him close and rocks him around, flipping off every bitchy boomer that gives them a weird look as they pass by. Percy waits until Nico is ready, and then he picks up the bags of Happy Meals and starts walking towards the most populated part of the city.
“I’m happy you found each other,” he says, letting Nico hold on tight to his arm. “I’m happy you found Jason. And I’m very, very, very happy you found me.”
Nico lets out a wet laugh, taking one of the bags from Percy so he can grab his hand again. Percy rubs his thumb over the back of Nico’s and tries not to burst with how lucky he is.
“Come on,” he says, kissing Nico one more time. “Let’s go make some misfortune-befelled people feel a little bit better.”
(Two hours and five dozen full homeless people later, Percy pulls Nico into a candy shop and buys him enough candy to kill a small child. Nico beams at him, and Percy kisses him so sweet, tasting rainbow lollipops on his tongue.)
Frank calls him over at two a.m. to cuddle a seal named Plopplina. Now, normally, Percy would be all up in this bitch, but he’s currently got three snuggly morons wrapped around him and he has absolutely no intention of making them move.
“Please?” Frank whimpers through the speaker. Percy shakes his head. He will not be budging. Frank whines. “I think she’s sad.”
God fucking damnit, Frank.
“Fiiiiiiiiinnnnnneeeeeeeee,” Percy groans, pulling himself up from the pile. He’s pulling on his jeans when an octopus in a pink dress by the name of Leo wraps around him, holding him fast.
“I’m coming with you,” they say groggily, and Percy’s heart beats in his chest with fondness as he ruffles Leo’s silky hair.
“Nah. You stay here, sweet thing. I know you’re tired.”
Leo rolls their eyes. They stretch, so their bones crack everywhere, and Percy winces at the sound but still flushes red when they kiss him, pulling him in by the shoulders.
“I’m coming with you,” they say when they pull back, like it’s a fact. And it must be, because they pull him from the bedroom in their untied sneakers, and Percy barely has time to glimpse Nico asleep with his head on Jason’s chest before closing the door.
Percy doesn’t like walking in the dark, but Leo picks up a bucket and peels their socks off, throwing them in. They pull a box of matches from their pocket and light the socks ablaze, a makeshift torch to carry through the night. Percy worries about their fingers, already covered in so many burn scars, but Leo seems delighted by the fire, so he tells his brain to shut up and they get on with it.
At the zoo, Frank busies Leo with playing with the jaguars (which nuzzle up to them like fucking house cats while Leo squeals and coos like some sort of magical cat shaman) and he leads Percy to the seal enclosure, where Plopplina rests pathetically on a rock. Frank starts to call her name, but Percy just dives right in, ignoring Frank’s panicked mutterings. If the asshole’s gonna call him here at two in the morning, he’s gonna let Percy do things his way.
(That’s really not fair. Frank is really such a very nice man. It’s why Percy likes him so much.)
“Hey, Ploppy,” Percy murmurs, pulling himself up onto the fake rock. He collapses against the seal and rests his head on her back, stroking her flippers. “Why’re you sad, pretty dearling?”
Frank is on the phone with somebody, probably Hazel, who told Percy last week that she’s gonna stay with Frank forever but she’s never gonna marry him. And Percy had smiled dumbly like he always does and told her that he was happy for her, because he was, but now he’s thinking that maybe he should tell Hazel that he’s gonna make her boyfriend a fossil for her to study, because gods, he’s so fucking tired and he’s cuddling a seal instead of his three sleepy partners and that is a fucking crime, okay.
… The seal is pretty cute, though.
“You’re lonely, aren’t you?”
He twists one of her flippers gently, kissing her head.
“Yeah,” he whispers. “I used to be lonely too. But now I have friends, and hot people, and I feel so much better.”
Ploppina looks up at him with those sad sad eyes and Percy might as well have been stabbed in the chest.
“Frank!” he shouts, which of course makes Frank fumble with his phone for approximately thirty seconds before dramatically losing it to the water, snivelling mournfully. Percy rolls his eyes and kisses Plopplina goodbye before swimming back towards the shore, shaking out his hair all over Frank, who most definitely deserves it, and then hugging Frank, who most definitely deserves that too.
“Get her a lesbian seal wife,” he tells Frank very seriously. Frank doesn’t look like he’s taking him seriously. Percy frowns. “No, seriously. Get her a gay flipper wife. And a hunky beefcake seal boyfriend while you’re at it. She’s lonely, Frank, it’s not that hard to fix.”
Frank nods distractedly. Percy really thinks he should be writing this down.
Leo wanders over with a stuffed raccoon, parrot, red panda, and puffer fish that they probably got from the open cart over by the food court. They blink down at Percy and Frank and hand the puffer fish to Percy.
“Here,” they say. “It reminded me of you.”
Then, very sweetly, they reach into their hoard and pull out a stuffed panda, one of whom’s ears is singed.
“And this is for you,” they say, offering it to Frank. “You looked sad. Also, I burned it a little bit. Sorry.”
Frank blinks at them. Then at the panda. Then at Percy.
Leo skips away with the rest of the stuffies (for Nico, Jason, and themself, no doubt), disappearing into the dark. Percy sincerely hopes they don’t get lost.
“You know,” Frank says, helping Percy up off the ground, “they’ve got an opening in the chemistry department back at the college Annabeth’s at. Leo should really look into it.”
Percy nods. That does sound like a good idea.
(Leo set their couch on fire last week. It’s still unclear whether it was an accident.)
“Bye Frank,” he waves, heading off to find his disaster partner in the dark. “By the way, you have the abs of a god. Please tell Hazel I said that and record her screaming at me. Thank you. Buh-bye.”
Frank walks into a tree. Percy breaks into a sprint and catches Leo in his arms by the door, blowing raspberries on their neck as their laughter rings throughout the clear night.
(At least it does until Jason calls them to say that Nico’s having a panic attack wondering where they are and why the fuck are they out at three in the fucking morning, all the while clicking his tongue three times every thirty seconds.)
(Percy sort of loves them.)
Annabeth throws something in his face when he arrives to work the next day.
“Here, seaweed brain,” she says. “I had it made just for you.”
Percy blinks after her swaying hips, then smoothes out the shirt on the carpet. It’s sea blue, his favorite color, with the bisexual flag across its chest. In giant letters over the purple stripe, it reads: DUMBASS.
Percy stares.
… He has never loved a shirt so much in his life.
“You are brilliant,” he breathes, on the verge of tears, and looks up at his best friend.
Annabeth smirks back in a matching pink shirt that reads SMARTASS.
“I know,” she says, and Percy tackles her to the ground in a hug and drinks in her laugh like ambrosia.
On his lunch break, Grover comes by to pick him up. He’s holding a bouquet of yellow roses, which he hands out to Percy sheepishly, who beams and kisses his cheek.
“Hello, dear,” Percy says, then laughs. “Ha! Get it? Deer, dear? Cause you’re—you know—”
Grover smiles, snuggling into Percy’s side and shoving his sharp fake horns (he’s been wearing them everywhere since they were nine) into his neck. Percy winces, but grins, kissing Grover’s forehead as Grover takes Percy’s hand over his shoulder.
“Carter asked me to move in with him,” Grover tells him as they walk to the high school. Percy had dropped out of there early, getting his GED later, after he’d found Annabeth and therefore his path in life.
(Okay, so maybe he’d gone back and gotten it when he realized that Nico wasn’t going to be able to support himself and that somebody had to take care of him, and that that somebody might as well be Percy, who loved him better than anyone else in the world.)
“What’d you say?” Percy asks, holding open the door for Grover, who smiles shyly at him. They head towards the court, where Grover’s (second) queerplatonic life partner (because Percy’s the first) probably awaits, since school hours are over.
(Carter’s a social worker, but he also does outreach programs at the local juvenile detention centers. He spends all his time trying to get kids’ lives on track, and usually forgets his own. That’s what Grover’s for.)
“I said yes, obviously,” Grover answers, Carter almost immediately pulling him in by the waist in a spinning hug. Grover laughs, pressing his forehead against his one true platonic love’s, and Percy smiles softly at the sight, always happy to see his best friend slash favorite person happy. Carter looks up at Percy then, holding out his hand.
“What’s up, man?” he asks, out of breath. His red jersey is already covered in sweat. Percy rolls his eyes, and tugs him into a hug.
“I’m fantastic, bro,” he answers. “I’ve got three new hotties to tell you all about.”
Carter raises his eyebrow.
“Sounds ambitious,” he says, and Percy shrugs. Grover kisses Carter’s cheek, whispering something in his ear before disappearing up into the bleachers. He’s already pulled out his poetry books and started reading by the time Percy’s picked up a basketball.
“It ain’t. How’s aro life?” he asks, throwing the ball up and right into the net.
(Okay, not really. He misses by a mile and it bounces off the wall and into some child’s head.)
Carter shrugs, jogging over to the poor kid to check him over. Once he’s decided he’s okay, he shoots Percy an unimpressed look, as if he expects better. This has happened at least six times before, so that’s honestly a really unrealistic expectation.
“Lovely as always,” Carter says, passing him the ball. “Now, your three hotties—Nico, Leo, and Jason, right?”
Percy nods, then aims for a three-pointer. He hits someone in the bleachers and quickly ducks behind Carter as the girl with a brand new bruise glances around to see who hit her. Carter sighs, exhausted with him already.
“Please keep your mess on the court,” Carter says, shoving the basketball back into Percy’s chest after retrieving it from the girl. “The kids on here, they’re athletes; they signed up to be hit with balls. Not the people on the bleachers, like Grover and Zia—that’s the girl you hit, by the way, who has so graciously agreed not to gruesomely murder you at my humble request.”
Percy blinks. Carter raises an eyebrow.
“This is where you thank me,” he says, waving a hand in the “come on, let’s get to the very simple solution to this really not a big deal problem” gesture. (Percy is very familiar with it. Annabeth uses it on him almost every other day.)
“Thank you,” Percy blurts, without really thinking it through, and Carter grins.
“No problem, man,” he says, throwing an arm around Percy’s shoulders. “Now, I know we do this every week with no luck, but what’s say I try to teach you to shoot again, huh?”
Percy nods, knowing they’re doomed. He has terrible eye-hand coordination and he stims too much to focus, even with his meds. But Carter has always been patient and kind with him, and that’s why Percy keeps it up.
“Thanks, Cartier,” he says, horribly mispronouncing the French name, and Carter rolls his eyes, but still ruffles Percy’s hair. It’s nice—Percy is the big brother of a lot of people, so it’s nice to have a big brother of his own.
“No problem, Percilicious,” Carter says, and Percy laughs himself to tears.
(An ambulance is called. It takes twenty minutes for Carter to explain to his kids and the authorities that Percy is just a dumbass and not in any danger. Grover drives him home and it’s the best time he’s ever had, he swears on Mother Earth.)
Percy ducks through the door of the bakery, looking for something to pass the time. He can’t seem to find anything to do on Mondays during lunch, because everyone else is too swamped with new work or agitated from the sheer amount of caffeine they have had to inhale to stay awake. Here, in the pink and white walls of this yellow-blue paradise, Percy can breathe.
Patroclus, the love of Achilles’ life (and Percy’s old foster brother, coincidentally), is by the marble counter, his back to Percy. Brown and beautiful under the golden lights, Percy watches him for a minute, so happy to have met him and his husband. They moved here some years ago, acting like lovers who had been together for thousands of years, and there’s always something so sweetly mysterious in Patroclus’ eyes when he looks over at Achilles, and something so sullenly regretful in them whenever Achilles comes home with blood on his hands from another fight. Patroclus is the neighborhood healer, always bandaging up someone’s knuckles, but he was always so upset when it was Achilles on his bar stool.
Percy remembers it well, the day things changed—Achilles had fought a guy for a lady’s honor (someone named Briseis, Percy thinks), and he’d nearly died, stuck in the hospital for five days with a stab wound in his heel. (He still walks funny sometimes, and he has to use a cane when it’s cold.) Patroclus had shut down, not speaking to him for a month, and finally Achilles had tied back his golden hair and gone to get a job at the nearby juvenile detention center, helping kids (and himself) to focus their anger (and his) into something other than murder.
Patroclus had cried, the day he found out. Achilles had bought him a lyre from Orpheus’ shop, the one he shared with his snappy and paralyzed wife Eurydice, almost dead by car accident before Orpheus had managed to drag her out of the wreckage blind. (He still reads in Braille.) Patroclus had embraced Achilles closer than ever before, whispering secrets in his ears that no one else was prone to hear, and Percy had heard all about it from Patroclus the next day, holding tight to every word in awe.
They are the only happy heroes he knows.
Now, Patroclus turns to him with a smile, as kind as ever. Without a word, he hands Percy four cupcakes—one blue, one orange, one black, and one purple. Percy bites into the blue one and tastes sweet sweet vanilla, grasping Patroclus’ wrist and squeezing. Thank you. Patroclus just smiles.
Achilles comes through the back door then, winding his arms around Patroclus’ waist. He nuzzles into his neck and holds there, kissing his jaw, and Patroclus smiles fondly, the stress lines around his eyes loosening. Percy takes the cupcakes and leaves, watching as Patroclus’ husband bends down to kiss his hands, murmuring prayers over his palms like eternity together could never be enough.
(And this, this blushing endless love, this is what Percy runs now to find.)
Percy stops by the square to see Leo dancing, this time in a fiery orange and red dress with so many ruffles that Percy’s head starts to hurt trying to figure out where each one leads.
“Hey, fire lord,” he calls softly, and Leo spins right into his arms, smiling brightly. “You have a good day?”
Leo nods, squeezing his hands.
“This fire lady had a very good day,” she tells him, pulling him in to kiss his lips once or twice. “I applied for that chemistry thing you told me about and I got the job. I get to build things and then blow them up all day, Percy!”
Percy laughs as she throws herself onto him, burying his face in her curls.
“I’m so glad, angelfish,” he says, kissing the bronze skin of her shoulder as she wraps her arms around his neck. “Sorry for calling you a lord.”
Leo waves him off, pulling away to grab his hand and her hat, tugging them both down the street.
“Eh, es no problema. The important thing is that you know I’m royalty,” Leo teases, and Percy smiles, dragging her back in for another kiss.
“That you are,” he says, and she shakes her head at him with a smile.
“Silly man,” she says, tugging more insistently now. “We have to pick up our person, cariño. They’re waiting for us.”
Percy doesn’t ask. He knows Nico goes to therapy on Mondays, and that Jason’s working late today. He lets Leo pull him along to Ares’ studio, this violent therapy place that treats people by giving them physical outlets for their anger. Nico’s been beating shit up here since they were ten, when Hazel found the place for them after Bianca’s sudden death.
Today it’s with a baseball bat, smashing this tiny little robot to bits. Nico’s got safety goggles on, because duh, and Percy and Leo hang back, watching their partner demolish a stand-in for the uncle who abused them for years and years.
“Kid’s got grit,” Ares says, coming up to them with his ginormous body and leather literally everything. His motorcycle helmet is tucked under his arm, and honestly, if Percy didn’t know he was a therapist with multiple degrees, he’d be scared shitless right now.
But, as it is, he does know, so he just smiles and drops an arm around his girlfriend’s shoulders as she cheers (loudly and shrilly and in his ear) for Nico.
“Yeah, they do,” Percy answers, holding out his hand for a fistbump. Ares raises his eyebrow, but returns the gesture, frowning just a little bit. (Inside, Percy pumps the air. Yes, they are becoming bros!)
“My wife’s coming by soon,” Ares says, “so I’ve gotta close up soon. You should take your boy-girl-whatever and get outta here.”
Percy nods. Right on time, Aphrodite comes through the front door in a stunning charcoal pantsuit and a plum-colored shirt, two buttons undone to show her chest. Dark-skinned with luscious curls, she smiles as Ares bends down to kiss her, humming against his lips.
“Heffy’s stuck up at the shop,” she says, her fingers crawling up her husband’s chest. “He says he might be late for dinner.”
Piper’s parents are cute together, Percy decides. Leo screeches as Nico throws the baseball bat down, tearing off their safety glasses and easily holding Leo up when she jumps at them. Percy smiles at them, and how they kiss over and over and over and grin and whisper and laugh, like they’ve always been made to fit together. Honestly, out of the four of them, they’re the two that Percy would bet that’s the most true about.
(Not that you can’t make yourself fit with whoever you want, or find ways to fit with people who don’t fit with you, or blah blah blah blah blah. The point is, Percy believes in soulmates, and Nico and Leo are, in fact, that.)
A hand cards through his hair. Percy looks up at Aphrodite, who gives him a coy smile.
“Our boyfriend will be home soon,” she says, nodding towards his own people. “Your Leo’s father. You mind gettin’ out of our hair?”
Percy shrugs. He takes Leo’s hand when she bounces back over, Nico’s hand still tight in hers, and she kisses Aphrodite and Ares’ cheeks as skips out the door.
“Take care of my dad!” she shouts over her shoulder, and Aphrodite tugs her (personally designed and surely soon-to-be ruined by her greasy mechanic boyfriend) jacket closer to herself, but smiles.
“Will do!” she calls back, and Percy kisses Leo’s ear as soon as he gets the chance, and then Nico’s lips. His phone rings, because Jason is calling to ask if he should pick up some pizza for dinner, and Percy can’t remember ever being so happy.
(Well, there was last week when that documentary about pirates was on.)
(... Nah, this is better.)
After they get home, Nico pulls Leo into the kitchen. The two of them take to cooking together, with Leo bossing Nico around and Nico smiling soppily at her, kissing her every few minutes when she’s close enough. Watching them, Percy thinks of how just a few days ago he was alone in his apartment and now he has three beautiful people to fall asleep next to.
It’s all a bit fast, isn’t it? It’s absurd.
His hands start shaking again, his brain bouncing from thought to thought without focus. He forgot his meds yesterday, because they’re all back at his apartment along with the rest of his stuff, and it’s starting to fuck with him.
To busy himself, he starts rearranging Leo’s sock drawer.
Right now, they’re all willy-nilly and folded in mismatched pairs. Percy takes them all out and sorts them by pair and color on the bed, arranging them into a neat rainbow in the drawer. He’s just finishing up when Leo comes in, running right into Percy’s back with a laugh.
“Percy! Come on, we—”
She catches sight of the socks and goes quiet. Then, horribly, she starts to whine, backing away towards the bed and whining again and again and again, chewing on her dress now. Percy reaches out for her, not knowing what he did, when Nico rushes in, squatting down in front of Leo but not touching her. She keeps wailing, biting at her hands at this point, and Nico reaches into their pocket, pulling out a rubber bracelet and offering it to Leo. She takes it and starts gnawing at that instead. Nico smiles at her softly.
Then, they turn to Percy. Their voice is gentle, but their eyes are thunderous, and Percy wants to sink into the ground and disappear.
“What happened?” Nico asks, glancing back at Leo, who’s rocking back and forth on the bed now. They touch Percy’s arm, and it’s such a sweet thing, but Percy pulls away, feeling so so small.
“I—I don’t know,” he whispers, squeezing his eyes shut at the sight of Leo, but then her wails are even higher and his heart is pounding so loud in his head, so horribly horribly guilty. “I don’t know what I did—”
Nico touches his face, pulling him back. Percy stares into their dark dark eyes, trying to breathe.
“She likes things a certain way. You can’t rearrange her stuff; it sets her off,” they explain gently. Percy feels his knees start to wobble and Nico grasps his shoulders and holds him tighter.
“It’s okay. We’ll put it back. Just—”
They glance back at Leo, whose eyes are closed now as they rock back and forth. The door creaks open and there’s Jason, staring wide-eyed at the scene in front of him. Without judgment, Nico pushes Percy towards him, turning back to Leo with steady hands.
“Go with Jason,” they say softly. “Jason, take care of him, please.”
Jason nods, shooting one last look over his shoulder as he shuffles Percy out of there.
“Tell Leo I love her,” he calls back, and makes sure to see Nico nod before shutting the door.
Jason clutches Percy’s arms, not ungently, rubbing them up and down. Percy feels numb, cold, like a thousand eels are slithering around in his stomach, and it sucks. Jason is smiling at him, so soft and so kind, and to think, Percy is probably going to barf all over his nice new shoes.
“Hey, hey, fishface,” Jason murmurs, leaning in close. “Hey, hey, sweetheart, look at me. It’s not your fault. You couldn’t have known.”
Percy shakes his head. The books are still on the coffee table, hidden under a greasy old pizza box.
“I read the books,” he whispers. “They talked about this sort of shit. I shoulda—I shoulda known—”
Jason silences him with a kiss. It’s horrible, but in that single, awful, gut-twisting moment, Percy feels safe and loved, and he thinks that he maybe adores Jason best.
“We’ve all caused Leo to melt down before,” Jason tells him now, touching him so sweet. “And it’s okay. I know it feels terrible, like you’re the most worthless and stupid person on the planet—”
“Gee, thanks.”
“—but you’re not. She doesn’t blame you, and neither do we. You’re our boyfriend, Percy, okay, we know it was an accident. We trust you—”
“You shouldn’t,” Percy blurts, the tears spilling over now. He’s never felt so fucking embarrassed. “I don’t fit with you three, I’m the new kid, you all were perfectly fine before I came along—”
He trips over the couch and falls flat on his face trying to get out the door. Holding his bloody nose, he bolts out of there with Leo’s wails still echoing in his ears and drowning out Jason calling after him.
His fish are dead.
Logically, Percy already knew this. Fish don’t survive that long anyways, and he hasn’t been back to feed them in a couple of days. He never told Annabeth that he keeps falling asleep on Nico’s couch and never going home.
Then again, maybe that’s cause he was already there.
At that thought, the tears start up again. Percy presses the heels of his palms into his leaking eyes and scrunches up his face, trying to stop himself from crying. Persephone, the family lawyer who took care of Nico’s case, always told him that crying was healthy, and that he should do so whenever he felt like it. Percy never quite believed her, even as he met her wife Hestia and heard about her ex-husband (slash BFF) Hades and understood that she stood by that philosophy, even with the strongest of people.
Persephone had been the lawyer who took Percy’s own case, too. He’s never told anyone that, though. He doesn’t want anyone to know the horrible fucked-up shit he comes from.
(Not Poseidon. Gabe, who murdered his mother. Poseidon didn’t even know about Percy until Percy got drunk and ordered a DNA test, then enlisted Annabeth to help track him down. They’re both better for it, he thinks.)
He’s always been the pillar. The strong one. That’s quite the workload, you know—being the person everyone relies on to be okay, the person that people look to as their constant. When someone’s very reality is shaken by your tears, you don’t want to be an earthquake. So you hold it all inside, if only to keep that shocked, helpless look off their faces, the one that says that they never really thought of you as a human being with feelings. The one that says that they always took you for an immortal, infallible being. The one that makes you wanna be that being so bad that you’ll kill yourself dying to attain it.
Don’t be that person. I’m that person. It gets you nowhere.
Percy looks over at his fish. They’re still dead.
And so what? What the fuck, who cares? They’re fucking fish, man, and he loved them, but he’s had so many over the years. First there was Plop, Thump, and Boink; then Fish, Phish, and Phfish; these three were Glitter, Sparkles, and Spooky-Poopkins. They’re fucking fish, okay, and he named them stupid names that made him laugh when he looked at them, and he loved them for being these bright orange specks in his otherwise dredgy grey days. He used them as a means to an end, and then he buried them in his flowerpots when they died. If he can forgive himself for neglecting these shiny bright blobs, he can goddamn forgive himself for messing up a little bit.
He pulls everything he loves into a suitcase and grabs his keys off the counter as he goes. Before he leaves it all behind, though, he carries the dead fish into the bathroom and he flushes them down the toilet, not staying long enough to watch them go.
Just as Percy reaches for the knob, the door opens. Three angels stare at him with sweet eyes, and Percy cracks a smile.
“You came back,” Jason marvels, and Nico reaches out and takes Percy’s hand. Percy reaches for Leo’s hand and squeezes.
“I came home,” he says, and steps into the future, not without fear, but with enough imperfect joy to smother it away.
“We want you to move in,” Jason tells him, blurting it out without much thought. (Clearly.) He flushes red, but Percy can only beam, feeling oh so light. Leo rolls his eyes, leaning into Jason’s side.
“You belong here,” he says, “with us.”
Percy smiles even wider.
“We know it’s only been three days,” Nico speaks up, “but we’ve known you way longer than that. Leo watches you every day when you run as fast as your cute little ass can take you to work. Jason has watched you babbling to the penguins on his days off more times than he can count. And me, Percy, I—well, I’ve loved you since I was fifteen and I don’t think I’m stopping.”
Percy’s grin is going to break his face.
“So?” Jason asks, all nervous. “What do you think?”
Yes.
“I think,” Percy says, slowly, “that I want to have all of your babies.”
And though the words come out all jumbled and stupid and different, they all tackle him back on the couch anyway with kisses, and he’s laughing so hard that he gets to thinking that it doesn’t really matter, because at the end of the day there are so many different ways to tell the people you love that you love them.
Still, just to be safe—
“I love you,” he tells them, and they curl around him and stay there, promising to hold on for as long as they can.
(Forever.)
Percy still lives every single day by routine. It goes something like this:
8:00 a.m. (ish): Wake up. Kiss Jason, Leo, and Nico awake. (In that order. It’s very important that you do it in that order. You will need Jason and Leo’s strength to help you hold down Nico when they start trying to blindly claw your eyes out.)
9:00 a.m.: Take ADHD medication. Make sure Jason takes his OCD meds, that Leo takes their depression and anxiety and ADHD meds, and that Nico takes their anxiety and depression meds. Count yourself lucky that the four of you have each other.
10:00 a.m.: Feed the fish, dogs, cats, and birds. Tell Leo they can’t have a bunny and then help them name the three bunnies they bring home without telling you.
11:00 a.m.: Get to work just in time to flirt with your best friend at the front desk. Tell her all about your beautiful, amazing partners who make you feel oh so alive.
12:00 p.m.: Get knocked into the shark enclosure by said best friend, and know that she’ll help you dry off after.
1:00 p.m.: Take cute blonde girl out to lunch and listen to her talk about whatever the fuck she wants and then talk about whatever the fuck you want while she listens.
2:00 p.m.: Whisper about how happy you are to the dolphins.
3:00 p.m.: Give a tour to that day’s school group with just the right amount of rambling (which is however much you end up doing so) and kiss Jason when he shows up to bring you a snack you’re not hungry for.
4:00 p.m.: Trip and fall into the penguin habitat while waving goodbye to Leo after they come to tell you about their newest contraption.
5:00 p.m.: Try not to look too kicked-in-the-pants when Nico bandages you up while rolling their eyes.
6:00 p.m.: Buy dinner from the restaurant of whoever’s turn it is’ choice, or drown in the heaven that is Nico and Leo’s cooking. (Not Jason. Never let Jason cook. This is a life-or-death warning.)
7:00 p.m.: Take the train home and remember how special and amazing and normal you are when someone catches you stimming.
8:00 p.m.: Spend ten minutes babbling to your partner’s sister and her partner about that book you all read. (Coincidence, every time.)
9:00 p.m.: Watch something that makes you laugh and cry and then laugh again, all tucked up in their arms.
10:00 p.m.: Realize that all your plants are in full bloom and that whatever new ones you acquire will surely blossom too, in time.
11:00 p.m.: Fall asleep when you’re tired, and look forward to the endless tomorrows you have by their sides.
Rinse and repeat.
Yeah.
… Life is pretty damn good.