Chapter Text
Prelude
Percy didn't really know what to make of the situation.
He stepped out of the car and off the road, to instant regret- his Converse sunk to his ankles in the mud, and he let out an involuntary yelp. He tried to shake it off, whimpering like a wounded dog. He hated the woods. Still does. Who wouldn't prefer the feeling of hard, real concrete under foot? Matter of fact, who wouldn't prefer ANYTHING over this? Call him a Yank all you want, but what exactly is there to enjoy about the swarming bugs, and the twigs scraping against your ankles, and the mud- God, the mud. He ran a hand through his rusty blonde hair- a self soothing gesture, if anything. The ugly noise squelching emanating from the ground nearly made him agoraphobic. He didn't understand his dear friend, Piper's love for the outdoors, and he doubted he ever would. But when said dear friend calls you at the break of dawn, panic ringing clear in her voice, and the only coherent piece of information you can gather is that she's in the middle of the forest by herself, you learn to prioritise.
A shock of dark hair appeared between the trees, and the line between Percy's eyebrows deepened. "Worried" was not an apt enough descriptor for his friend. Seemingly unbeknownst to Piper, her slender hands and chipped black nails were tearing holes into her graphic tee, leaving the lead of the obscure punk band plastered over it with an unsightly scar. Her face was flushed an almost mauve colour atop her usual ochre. Umber eyes were wide and darting around, and even from their short distance he could see she had chewed her bottom lip bloody. She almost reminded him of a rabbit.
She finally noticed him and her eyebrows shot up. Piper dropped her ragged shirt and ran towards him, but instead of enveloping him in a bone crushing bear hug like usual, she grabbed the sleeve of his denim jacket and started tugging him along, not a word on her usually every chattering lips. Dear God, was it that bad? Between her and the mud she sluggishly dragged him over, it took every effort for Percy not to faceplant, but he focused enough to hiss, "Piper, Christ, you scared the living shit outta me, what's going-?" She shushed him, and for a split second Percy wondered if the earful he would receive if he got back in the car would be worth it.
Until he saw him.
Piper had led him to a narrow strip of beach. The trees cascaded over top, shading the pale sands below. They overlooked the most crystal clear waters Percy had ever seen ; no broken beer bottles or soda cans to be found. It was secluded. Percy might've even said it was beautiful, but his attention was somewhat taken by the half naked man stretched across the gravelly sands. Piper skidded down the rocks towards him, and Percy followed gingerly. A hint of familiarity was at the back of his brain, but he liked to think most of his friends didn't pass out on beaches on school nights.
As he got closer, his thoughts drifted from unfiltered confusion to the boy laying in front of him. Despite himself, he couldn't help but immediately think one thing : he was beautiful. And in such a poised way. His skin and hair were both porcelain, but he hardly looked delicate- faintly, Percy wondered if somebody had chiselled him out of a block of marble. He was 6 foot 1, maybe 6 foot 2, and "built like a brick wall" seemed less hyperbole and more understatement. His shoulders were broad as the sky, and his tense hand enveloped Piper's even as it lay open at his side, twitching ever so slightly. Percy's cheeks tinged pink as he noted Piper's patchwork of a jacket had been tied around his more intimate areas and his eyes roamed back upwards, lightly skirting over his stomach and chest-and his breath caught as it dawned on him.
High cheekbones and a cutting jaw accentuated a strong Roman nose, below which lay a pair of flushed lips, parting open and closed ever so slightly. His eyes were closed tight, and his strong brows were furrowed. Even while he slept, next to him, Piper looked like a hare besides a wolf. He was statuesque. Poised. Of course he was.
It was him, after all.
Percy stared. "Shit, Piper, when you asked me if I would cover up your boyfriend's hypothetical murder with you, I believe the key word was hypothetical." She glared. It was still funny.
"Just- help me get him into the car, okay? I called you because I thought you wouldn't be an asshole about this."
"Is that the only reason?"
She paused. "That, and you have no friends to gossip to."
"Ouch."
"Percy, please?"
He shook his head and crouched down beside her boyfriend. They both positioned themself on either side of his shoulder and counted down before starting to lift. Percy considered them to be a fairly athletic couple - he was a varsity swimmer, and they both ran track - which made him somewhat thankful for their seclusion when they both nearly toppled under his weight. Despite this, Piper still broke her grip to reach around and punch Percy in the shoulder when he muttered a quick, "He could stand to lose a few, huh?" The boy's head hung like a ragdoll's would, but he eventually managed to find his footing- or stumble upon it, anyways.
His face now inches away, Percy took more detailed notice. His scent hit him like a boulder, but there wasn't the sickening shroud of alcohol that he was expecting - it was more like a wet dog, if anything. Not gross, but pungent enough that it wasn't necessarily pleasant either. Percy's eyes found themselves travelling back over his face. The tight coils in his chiffon hair, the stubble forming on his jaw. The softest, slightest dip in the bridge of his nose seemed somehow elegant, as though somebody had broken it when he was young and the gods themselves had taken it upon themselves to fix it. A striking scar slashing through the side of his head, running through his hair like a river. A subtle scar in the vast ivory pool of his skin, laying delicately on his lip. Deep, sunken eyebags stood boldly against his pale skin, but he somehow made it work. Faintly, he noticed Piper's mouth moving quickly, and he realised she had been talking to the boy. He had been so taken in by his appearance that he hadn't noticed. For some reason, Percy felt his cheeks grow hot again. Seriously? Get a grip.
"Green", he slurred, suddenly, breathlessly, his pink lips barely parting. "Sea green." Piper muttered a word of encouragement to her boyfriend before staring at Percy out of the corner of her eye, and he suddenly realised he was expected to join in.
He paused, before awkwardly uttering a small, "Yuh huh."
Piper stared at him some more and sighed. "What he said." Oh, come on, what was she expecting? Percy had been politely informed that he wasn't the most comforting presence, and that was under normal circumstances. These were not normal circumstances.
After many long minutes of struggling and maneuvering, they laid her boyfriend on his side in the back of the car. Piper had attempted to give him a bottle of water, but in his daze, he swatted it away, instead opting to clutch at the tiny baby blanket Percy had half jokingly placed over him with fervor (he made a mental note to throw this particular blanky out and buy his sister a new one). Suddenly, his face crumpled and he spat, thick and coloured, at the carpeted floor, then blinked slowly, oblivious to Percy's twitching eye. He could practically see the rusted wheels grinding in his head, setting off sparks, as he deliriously realised what he had done. He half heartedly reached down to the spittle as though he was going to wipe it off, before his eyes rolled back and he passed out. It would've been funny, if it wasn't so... not funny.
Percy's grip on the car door tightened as he tried not to get irritated. He was familiar with the situation. Very familiar. It almost illicited a feeling of nostalgia. He wasn't a fan of Piper's boyfriends by principle of being her best friend, but drinking, or whatever the shit he had been doing, was sure to set him on edge. He never wanted to, but he could be such a buzzkill sometimes. He dimly hoped his mother was thankful.
"It's not a big deal." Piper's head sharply swiveled round to meet his gaze, and he hesitated. "I mean. Plenty of kids get drunk out in the woods, right?"
She blinked at him, as thought she couldn't process what he was saying, before pushing her hair out of the way and rubbing her neck. "Right. Of course. Just... don't tell anyone, yeah?"
Percy nodded and began to crack a joke - something stupid, he hoped - and suddenly, his heart dropped. He had been so caught up in her boyfriend - dear God, wording - and the absurdity of the situation that he hadn't even noticed. There was a massive gash in the back of Piper's neck. It didn't look infected, but there was crusted, dry blood covering it. Too much blood to suggest some strange accident.
Just enough to make him scared.
Piper saw his mouth fall open and quickly dropped her hair back around her neck. "Don't."
"Over the phone, it sounded..." Percy tried to sound less serious, ease out of his accusatory tone, but the tension in his voice was palpable. "Did something else happen?"
Piper's head bent lower. "No." Her very pointed lack of eye contact was not reassuring.
"Piper, did he do something-?"
"Christ, you sound like my dad. Just get in the car. Nothing happened."
"Piper, I think something very pointedly did happen-"
"Drop it, Percy."
"So, what, I don't get an explanation?"
"No, you don't." She snapped.
They stared at each other, before sighing. They weren't very good at getting mad at each other. They also weren't very good at lying to each other. Percy waited a beat, and after a half hearted squabble over who was driving, opened the driver's seat and sat down. Piper sat beside him, playfully kicking her feet up on the dashboard and reaching for the radio before he could slap her hand away. She could handle herself just fine. Besides, he could always murder the boy later if he needed to.
And so they drove off to the rapidly alternating sounds of the Beach Boys and Korn, with a very sober Jason Grace in the back, and a darkening spot of blood on the car floor.
Maybe if Percy had paid better attention to the signs back then, Piper's body wouldn't be rotting in the mud now.