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It's a Monday morning. It's a Monday morning and he has to get up. It's a Monday morning and he has to get up and go to work. He has to go to work.
At this point Percy would rather face the fire wall at camp. Hell he'd settle for a sword fight against a minotaur. But instead it's Monday and he has to do his job and he will get coffee because he'll likely die if he doesn't. He practically rolls out of his bed, his knees hitting the floor in prayer position. He snorts at the thought.
His phone chimes as the morning messages start flooding through. He has no doubt there's several "emergency" texts from Leo and Rachel. And several more texts from Piper and Jason that have nothing to do with emergencies but somehow always sound more urgent— likely because Jason is a worrier. And the email chime, loud and grating in his ears, indicates the reality of another busy work day. The calendar notification also goes off and he frowns as he tries to remember what was so important about the date. After a minute of standing in the same spot, his face screwed into concentration, he gives up. He's not awake enough for this.
He stumbles to the shower, grabbing his toothbrush on the way because he can't be bothered to stand in the shower and then again by the basin. The shower takes longer to warm up than usual, probably because the pipes are frozen. Winter in this city is nothing short of brutal. He wonders if the Apollo cabin suffers during this time. It's an absurd enough thought that he chokes on some of the toothpaste. That's his cue to hurry it up and get on with the day. The faster he starts the quicker it ends and he can be back in his warm apartment watching weird nature documentaries and shoveling fries into his mouth at an alarming rate, at least according to Annabeth.
By the time he leaves the house, clad in all black, he is about ready to keel over from lack of caffeine. It really is terrible for his adhd but his insomnia forces his hand, and maybe the slight addiction to the drink that he's managed to garter over the years, but he can stop if he wants to! Can't he?
The apartment door locks with a soft click and he pockets the key card before jogging down the stairs. Elevators still make him... uncomfortable. There's so little room, and so much that can go wrong.
His thoughts are all over the place as he steps into the frosty air of New York city. There's a hundred coffee shops on his short walk to work but his favourite one is in the little building next to their offices. As he pushes open the door, hit with a rush of warm air and gentle conversation, he remembers what's happening at work today. The new boss starts. Oh gods he hopes they're nice, or if not nice, at least calm. He cannot handle another Mr D. Someone clears their throat and he startles up, blushing as he realises the line has moved up.
"Morning, Mr Jackson." The familiar bartender smiles, "Your usual sir?"
"Hello Kayla," He scans the menu, knowing he'll get the same thing he always does. "Yea I guess, and maybe a blueberry muffin."
"Sure, is that everything?"
With a nod he's paying and moving to sit at a little high-table to wait.
He pulls his phone out and answers the first few emails of the day and then he opens his messages, sighing at the notifications. Sometimes he wants to switch off the world. Sometimes he wants to switch off his own brain. If he responds it means he has to keep responding. The very idea churns at his stomach like yellowing butter. However, if he leaves the messages he never has to keep responding, but people will be hurt. The dilemma is enough to deepen the crease between his brows like valleys. And that is the first thing a friend long since lost to his childhood comments on.
"What has the world done to you Percy Jackson?" A warm voice made from cozy fires and toasted marshmallows envelops him, "That you are frowning in a coffee shop?"
He looks up. He becomes the wind.
It is a Monday. It is a Monday and he is in a cafe. It is Monday and he is in a cafe and he is seeing a man made from the richest parts of the earth. He sees Charles Beckendorf.
"Charlie?" He gapes, the name sounds foreign on his tongue after all these years. He scrambles up pulling the large body in for a hug, wrapping his arms tightly around Charles’ waist.
"Hello Percy," A soft voice caresses his ear. He can feel their ribs expand in time with each other, as in tune as their first embrace when he was twelve and needing a friend.
He pulls back only slightly, looking into those molten eyes, years of life flashing behind them. "What are you doing here?"
Charlie laughs, and it is the same gentle, encompassing sound as he'd always remembered, albeit deeper now. "Life has pulled me a thousand different directions but my heart has pinned me to here. I guess whatever I'm meant to find has always been in this great noisy city."
Their eyes clash like waves against rock, a love story that always falls away. A flash of something dangerous scorches through Percy and he wonders if this will be the story where the wave doesn't leave.
He pulls them together again, finding comfort between their beating chests and then he steps apart completely, already gesturing to the spare chair across from him. Just as he's about to start talking a coffee cup and a wrapped muffin is put down in front of him. With a smile at the barista he takes up the coffee, realizing as it warms his throat that he doesn't actually need it. Something else, someone else, woke him up.
"Would you like anything?" He waves to his own breakfast.
Charlie shakes an empty cup in the air, before discarding it in the waste bin near their table.
"How are you? What have you been doing?" The questions bubble out of him. He wants to know everything like his very happiness depends on it.
Another laugh tumbles out of the man and it warms the whole room. "Id love to chat but I have work to get to. Don't want to make a bad impression on my first day," He winks.
Percy can't stop the disappointment from flooding his system, and it reflects in his expression like fracturing glass.
"But—" A smile takes over Charlie’s face and it lights up the world. "I'd love to catch up tonight, if you're free?"
He matches the grin like stars in the same constellation. "Like a date?" It is teasing and full of fun and the promise of something more.
He doesn't expect it when the man raises a brow, and says in a voice made of silk and sweetness, "Yes, like a date Jackson. If you're okay with that?"
"More than." He breathes.
They share another secret smile.
"Well I best be going before I'm late. See you tonight?"
"Where?" Percy grabs his arm, tugging them together in a parting hug.
"Let’s meet here."
And then Charlie is gone, and he watches as his friend walks outside, bright winter sun lighting up that glorious dark brown skin as he disappears from view.
He collapses back into his chair, his lips dancing in memory, draining his coffee and shoving down the blueberry muffin.
When he leaves, his office building looming before him, he remembers the arrival of the new boss, but even that isn't enough to damper his happiness. He steps into the air conditioned space, much warmer than the crisp outside air; he takes a deep breath and so the work day begins.
He greets everyone he passes, a genuine smile gracing his features. The world around him is ablaze with possibility, with hope. Stepping off the elevator and onto his floor brings him to the bustling area of the graphics design department. No matter how much he complains about work, being there brought him a level of familiarity and joy that he cannot bear to part with.
He slings his coat over his chair and boots up his computer, but just as he spots Hazel and Leo a throat clears on the other end of their space.
He looks up, and the sound that leaves his mouth is not entirely human.
Charles Beckendorf sees him across the room and as their eyes meet Percy Jackson knows this love story will have a happy ending. The wave caresses the rock.
It is a Monday. It is a Monday and he is in the office being introduced to his new boss. It is a Monday and he is in the office being introduced to his new boss who also happens to be his date tonight. He's going on a date with his new boss.
It's a damn good Monday.