Chapter Text
Ages 5 (3rd Person Percy POV) (TW: allusions to racism)
Percy didn’t understand why he had to be here. His aunt had dressed him up in an uncomfortable suit and dragged him to a gala hosted by someone called Montague. A silly name according to Percy, Newton was a much more reasonable name. There was an orchestra playing in the corner and Percy wanted to desperately sit by the side of the stage and watch the first chair sway along to the music. His violin was much newer and shinier than Percy’s was. Perhaps one day he would be just as good. His aunt kept pulling him over to what he was convinced was the same woman but in different dresses. Frilly, bright and loud, cooing over him and acting like he was a doll in a toy shop.
In the whole five years of Percy’s life he had quickly noticed that he was not the same as all the sons of his aunt’s friends. Sometimes, it meant that Percy had to stay in his room when they visited and sometimes it meant that frilly ladies squealed right into his ear about how ‘delightful’ he looked. Something told him that ‘almost like a gentleman’ was not in fact a compliment despite the bright smile on the woman’s face. Eventually, finally, he had managed to slip away as his aunt approached a tall man who looked sharp and rough. He reminded Percy of the mean horse at the stables, the one that nipped him at every opportunity, horrid creature. He started to wander away when he noticed his aunt making the same motion at him with her hands as she did on ‘stay in your room’ days.
Taking the dismissal in stride, Percy slowly ventured over to the table filled with pastries. They were piled upon each other in large amounts, each spilling over with cream and icing. He stood there for a while, wondering which one he should have and by what feature he should choose the one. Would it be by cream amount or by pastry thickness or whether or not the pastry had more to it like cherries or strawberries or perhaps-
Percy stopped short, he looked down. He swore he felt something tug on his trouser leg. He blinked, perhaps he had imagined it. The pastries called out again to him, so mouth-watering and definitely delicious…there it was again! He looked down quickly and saw the table cloth sway back into place. So, he hadn’t imagined it after all. He frowned a little before carefully walking around the big table, trying to be as silent as possible. He snuck to the same spot he was stood at before and quickly pulled up the tablecloth. He was met with a loud yelp as a figure under the table hit their head against the underside of it.
A boy. It was a boy, a small one, around his age or perhaps younger. He was dressed in very fine clothing with pretty swirly thread designs running down his front. He was rubbing the top of his head which also meant his very lovely curls, the colour of straw left out in the sun or the innermost petals of a sunflower. His big blue eyes were quickly filling up with tears. Percy felt very bad, so he did the first thing to come to mind and slipped under the table.
“Sorry for startling you” the boy whined a little, the pain in the crown of his head starting to obviously fade as he pulled a smile onto his face. The sides of his cheeks dimpled.
“I tried to bother you first” he admitted. Percy smiled,
“Really? Why?”
“I’ve never seen anyone with skin like yours before” he stated bluntly. Percy was used to flowery language and smile-softened, sugar coated insults but he was certainly not used to bluntness. So instead, he narrowed his eyes.
“Well I’ve never seen anyone hiding under a table during a ball before” he countered, certain that it was the grandest reply he could come up with. The boy turned scarlet.
“I’m not hiding! I was just… bored. Is all” He nodded, puffing out his cheeks hoping it would make him look more confident. It did not. Percy levelled him with a look for a while before breathing out.
“You’re funny. I’m Percy. Percy Newton” he held out his hand. The boy looked at it and smiled before shaking it
“Henry. Henry Montague”
“Montague? Like Montague hall?” Percy tilted his head. Henry sighed and nodded
“Yeah…”
“Don’t like galas?” Percy said quietly and Henry shook his head “me either…” Henry looked up, blue eyes wide and endless. Like the expanse of the sky.
“Do you want to be my best friend?” he whispered. Percy grinned
“Sure.”
6 Climbing Trees (1st Person Monty)
“Come on!” I shout, and pull myself up onto another branch. Below me, Percy is breathing all funny already. I’ll definitely win. He’s the one that suggested racing to the crown of the tree anyway and I’m almost there, though Percy seems really tired. Maybe I should wait for him? He’s my bestest friend and it’s only fair to give him a little catch up time. I sit on one of the branches and swing my legs, Percy is reaching up to grab another branch. He looks up at me, his brows furrowed, from so far away I can’t see the freckles splattered across his cheeks. I hum and pick up a caterpillar making its way across the branch. Its body is all wrinkly and gross as it wriggles on my hand. It reminds me of Mr. Peele, though that would be ridiculous because Mr. Peele isn’t green. I’m still giggling, but I quickly feel the branches shaking as Percy hoists himself up to sit opposite me.
“What are you laughing at?” Percy asks, I hold out my hand with the caterpillar on it. He leans back a little, wrinkling his nose “Gross”
“It looks like Mr. Peele” I declare and Percy holds back laughter trying to be polite; though he knows he doesn’t have to be like that around me. There are no boring governesses here in the trees. They’d have to have special tree-climbing powers and they don’t.
“Mr. Peele isn’t-“
“Green?” I cut Percy off before he can finish and he laughs again. We’re both laughing when the branch under Percy gives a crack and splits. It sends Percy lurching and I quickly manage to grab the front of his coat to stop him from falling. We sure are lucky the branch did not break the whole way.
“Percy!” I cry out and change my hold on him, he’s shaking and carefully makes his way to my branch, clearly scared. “that was so close!” He nods and gulps a little, trying to wipe away any blooming tears with his sleeve. Big boys don’t cry but I don’t mind. It can be our secret; we have a lot of secrets. Just us secrets, special secret ones, so secret I can’t even think about them in case someone around us can see into our minds. That’s how secret they are. I put an arm around him carefully, “maybe we should stop the race here. call it a tie?”
“But… we didn’t get to the crown”, his voice is all shaky. He must have had quite the fright; his eyes are all wide and glassy.
“We can do it tomorrow… I’m hungry anyway. Want to see if the cook can give us any sweet buns?” I slide off of the branch onto the one below and look at him. He hesitates, looking around before carefully holding out his hand to me. I take it and help him down; we make it to the ground still holding hands. It makes me feel warm inside. Percy can always count on me to help him down. That’s just what best friends do.
7 (Monty 3rd Person)
Henry stared out over the bannister. He was politely asked to step out of Percy’s mathematics lesson. Who knew that attempting to fold slips of paper into figures could be so distracting? He sighed and stood up on his tiptoes to peer over the smooth mahogany of the railing. He could just about see the landing from here but suddenly his hair wiggled loose from the hairstyle his maid had meticulously styled this morning. The strand fell over his eye and he could barely see anything, he tried to blow it out of the way but it just wouldn’t shift. He sighed and set himself back on his feet, pushing the stray strand back into place. Just as he was satisfied, the door to his right opened and Percy carefully walked out. He gave Henry a light grin.
“Admiring the view?” he asked and Henry rolled his eyes, nudging his shoulder against Percy’s.
“Ah yes, your Aunt’s portrait looks just as lovely as always.”
“You know, perhaps one day you will make it through a whole mathematics lesson” he suggested. Henry laughed.
“I think I’d have to be tied down. Mathematics never make any sense.”
“They make perfect sense Henry.” Percy sighed and Henry shook his head, adamant. He slowly turned his head back to the landing, attempting to pick out any servant walking past.
“You know…” Percy started, catching his attention. That tone of voice always meant that Percy was planning something no one would believe careful Percy would ever suggest “do you think we could slide all the way down these stairs?”
“How would we do that?” He looked around slowly and grinned, eyes lighting up with mischief. He tapped Henry on the elbow and pointed out a maid who was just cleaning out Mrs Powell’s bedroom after breakfast. As she entered the bed chamber one more time, Henry watched Percy sneak up to her cart and snatch a silver tray off of the top of it.
“On this!” he sounded triumphant and Henry knew this was going to be a disaster. A glorious one. He was sold.
“Okay, but you sit behind me, you’re taller”
They carefully made sure that every servant in proximity had disappeared, pretending to just be admiring the paintings along the ornate walls in the mansion. Then Percy perched himself on the edge of the tray and gestured to Henry to come on.
“Both of us?”
“Course, we’ll fit” Henry carefully tucked himself in front of Percy, breathing in sharply as the tray wobbled before settling against his chest.
“Hold tight”
“I am!” Henry huffed and grabbed onto the sides of the tray, he was curled up in a way that was mildly cramped, however Percy was right. They did both fit, just about. Without any warning, Percy kicked off from the top of the staircase and they were off. Henry couldn’t help but squeeze his eyes shut as he felt each step of the staircase bump under him. They were going at a fast speed and slowly, he managed to relax and enjoy the ride, not for long however as the tray rattled twenty steps from the landing forcing them to become unbalanced. Both boys wobbled and tried to hold on but the soft carpet had dragged against their fingers painfully. In the split second, the tray fell out from under them and they tumbled down the rest of the way landing painfully on their arses.
“Are you okay?” Percy mumbled after a moment
“Ow…” was all Henry could answer as he slowly brought himself back to the reality.
Soon enough a whole entourage of staff was rushing in to figure out what the ruckus was about. They sighed at the sight of the two boys and scolded them mercilessly but the glint in Percy’s eye told Henry that this would certainly not the be the last time they attempted this.
8 (3rd Person)
It was raining. Rain always spelled disaster in the Montague household. Morning lessons have long since come to an end and children were best to be seen and not heard. In fact, it was most ideal that they were not seen at all. Percy scurried quickly from the carriage to the front door hoping to avoid most of the rain, after that a maid had let him into the manor. By now, Percy knew the way to Henry’s quarters as well as to his own. He slowly made his way to the door and heard his best friends dramatic sigh from the other side of the threshold. Percy smiled to himself and pushed the door open.
“Terrible weather.” He sighed. Henry jumped up from the windowsill and slid onto the floor, eyes wide and excited as he threw his arms around Percy.
“You’re here!” he cried out
“I braved the storms just for you” Percy grinned.
“I’m bored to death Perce”
“And yet you’re still here.” Henry huffed and puffed out his cheeks. The scowl had dissipated within moments only to be replaced by an enthusiastic grin
“Come on. I just got a new set of soldiers; they have blue uniforms” he tugged on Percy’s sleeve excitedly
“Blue you say?” Was all he replied before settling down besides the toybox.
Henry groaned, flopping down onto his bed. Percy followed him soon after, laying close; pressed elbow to elbow. There were only so many things you could do inside after all and Percy was sure that they have done just about everything. The rain outside was getting even worse and Percy had gotten tired of beating Henry at draughts. There was nothing to do, he had never been so bored in his life.
“...Chess this time?” he suggested after a moment and Henry groaned even louder
“Spare me the torture… battledore?”
“Not after last time”
“Agreed…War again?”
“We’ve played out every war Henry.”
“Not a fan of war in the first place…sounds like a lot of blood” his friend shuddered and let his head hit the pillow. Just then they heard a soft humming sound. Percy sat up slowly and Henry followed. Outside, Sinclair was arranging some miniatures, his back turned to them. Percy slowly looked to his friend and saw that his eyes had lit up. His lips curved up into a smirk, tugging at his round cheeks and dimpling.
“How many times do you think we can get Sinclair to move that frame before he realises its us?” he asked
“Oh at least four times” Percy mused.
“I say six”
“What’s the bet on for?”
“Pudding at dinner. If you win, I shall give you mine, and the other way round if I win”
“You’re on.”
The first time was fairly simple, Sinclair had left to make sure Felicity was not trying to burn the library down again with a magnifying glass and so Henry just waltzed up to the small table and swapped two of the frames around. Upon hearing footsteps, he quickly joined Percy at the crack in the door and they watched as Sinclair walked by. He stopped slowly by the table, a frown forming on his face. He shook his head and swapped the frames again before nodding to himself.
“That’s one” Henry said
The next time, Sinclair had gone into the guest bedroom to make sure the windows were closed, they had to be quick and so Percy ran up to the table. He cocked his head to the side for a moment before moving a smaller frame to the back. He ran back to Henry’s room, his blood pounding from the excitement. Sinclair was humming again as he walked past the table. He had passed it already which was strongly disappointing. However, his eyes soon widened and he made a couple steps back to the table. Percy’s eyes gleamed as Sinclair’s brows furrowed with confusion. He could make out his lips moving, talking to himself as he carefully slid the missing frame to the front.
They managed to confuse Sinclair three more times. Once by placing the frame on the floor, making him look around for an open window where the gust of wind might’ve knocked it over. Once by laying a couple folded down and eventually a third time by moving the entire table one step to the right. It was Percy’s turn again and this time he was planning on taking one of the frames off of the table, to see if Sinclair would take notice. He had thought the coast was clear but upon plucking the frame from the table he heard the sound of a throat clearing. He turned very slowly to see Sinclair standing there, arms crossed over his chest. Percy squeaked and put the frame back
“What, If I may ask, are you doing?” Sinclair asked, voice stern. Percy gulped and gave him a sheepish grin
“I was just… it wobbled….” He finished lamely. Sinclair snorted. A giggle rippled through the air and both of them looked in its direction. Henry was stood in the doorway, hands covering his mouth. Sinclair’s stern expression softened slightly as he sighed
“Young Master, wouldn’t it be better if you put this much effort into your schoolwork?” Henry wrinkled his nose and shook his head. Percy grinned. Sinclair’s eyes darted between him and Henry
“Go play somewhere else and stop bothering hard working staff you rascals.” His tone of voice lacked heat. Henry grinned wider
“It’s raining.”
“Not anymore” Sinclair inclined his head towards the window. It seems as though they were so wrapped up in their game, they didn’t notice when the rain had stopped. Percy beamed and bounded up to Henry
“Come on!” He threaded his fingers through Henry’s and the other boy grinned at him and nodded. They easily fell into step besides each other, making their way down the stairs
“Five” Henry said suddenly
“Hm?”
“Five times, so you win.” He stated. Percy smiled
“It’s okay, I’ll give you half of my win.” Henry’s smile made Percy’s chest flutter weirdly. Perhaps rain was not so disastrous after all.
9 (1st person Monty)
“Are you done yet?” I huff. Percy is just coming out of the side room where he was taking French lessons. Personally, I think that French has no business existing and especially not floating in my brain in ragged nouns and conjugations.
“Oui” Percy says, smug. I groan and push at his arm
“Do not!” he laughs. “Can we go outside now?” I beg. I watch him look down a little and bite his lip. Uh-oh that means he’s worrying about asking me something. Nothing good ever came of Percy worrying, he always wound himself up into such a tizzy. I blink and tilt my head, its best if I don’t make a comment now and just let him work up the courage himself.
“I was… thinking… Perhaps. I could show you something?”
“Show me something?” Now that sparked my interest “What kind of something?”
“Something I’ve been working on” It was rare that Percy did anything that I was not aware of so of course, I just had to know what he was hiding. So, I nodded and followed him towards his quarters.
Once inside Percy’s rooms I quickly flopped down onto his bed in the most un-gentlemanly way I could possibly muster. It was just Percy, there were never any expectations with him. I took a moment to wiggle around, ruffling and wrinkling his fresh sheets before finally settling down. I look up and he’s been watching me the whole while. I flash him a big grin.
“So, what did you want to show me?” I prop my hand on my palm and my elbows on my knees. Percy smiles and holds up his father’s violin. Instantly, I groan
“Percy Newton are you trying to play music to me right now?”
“And what if I am Henry Montague?” I roll my eyes and shiver a little. Full names are always tricky like that. I’m honestly ready to call it a day, I’ve had my fair share of lessons today and music was never an interest of mine. Perhaps that was because it should be. Percy however, is shifting from foot to foot, biting at his lips again. He’s so nervous so the least I could do is humour him, so I sigh dramatically.
“Go on then, can you even play that thing?”
“Of course, I’ve been taking lessons for years” years?
“So why have you never played for me before?”
“I wanted to save it for when I was really proud of something. Like now” my heart fluttered just a little bit. I wasn’t accustomed to people saving memories for me. So instead, I just cough and motion for him to go on.
If you asked me to describe the music Percy was playing with the violin, I would decidedly come up empty for my brain shut off the minute Percy dragged the bow over the strings. It wasn’t that he was bad, no the issue was that he was good. Damnation, he was fantastic. All I could watch is the way he stood, the sunshine flowing in through the open curtains, floating around him. It was like molten fire coming to settle itself between his curls, dusting along the bridge of his nose, illuminating his freckles like stardust.
The light glinted off of his coat buttons and reflected into the room, it was like his entire body was glowing. Percy had his eyes closed and I couldn’t do more but focused on his face, smooth and relaxed without a single worry plaguing his bones. He moved with the music, his entire body surging and jumping with the highs and lows. His hands were still clearly a little too small to properly wrap around the neck of the violin but honestly, I have never heard Music quite this… It was certainly not boring at all. Percy’s lips curled into a smile and my stomach twisted into knots. Well I’ll be damned indeed, Percy managed to make me feel things about music, perhaps he will be a musician one day?
All too soon he stops, breathing heavily and eyes flying open. He was so alive, in time with the music that now that it was over, he was clearly trying to regain his own footing within reality. His chest rose and fell rapidly and there was sweat pooling around his temples. Who knew music-playing was such hard work? Like all good audiences of course I decide to clap and whistle and when Percy’s face breaks out into a smile I just know. I know I’m going to be in his audience no matter how boring of a piece he is playing. I will clap and cheer even if his strings snap and he miss every note because its not even about the music, but about the way Percy lives and breathes for it. I was so proud to have him as my best friend.