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“I'm home!”
Leo’s loud voice filled the silence, along with the “click” from the door closing right behind him as he entered the house. A pout appeared in his face the second he noticed there was no ‘Percy Hug’ waiting for him.
“Percy! I need my welcome home hug!”
No answer came back, and Leo frowned with worry.
Percy didn't have classes today, and he never left without letting Leo and Jason know in advance.
Maybe he's sleeping?
Unlikely, since he never sleeps during the day… but it's the only option he can think of at the top of his mind.
Then he saw Percy's irisphone™ on the table of their living room. It had a paused tiktok on screen, and for a moment Leo thanked the gods that the phone stayed turned on for hours without blocking automatically.
The video was quite messy, a bathroom stall was shown, light absurdly bright, and a few doodles and illegible texts on the door. Shouting could be heard, along with sobbing from behind the camera.
“I’ll beat the shit out of you!”. A punch to the door. “Oink, oink” it sounded farther away, but still there, bothering. “Fuckass fatty, get out of there!”
A few other insults were thrown, then the video repeated.
Leo paused it. He did not need to see it again anyway. He already had an idea of what happened, worry for his boyfriend curling deep in the pit of his stomach.
Percy was always careful around food. Something about his eyes, the way he sometimes ate as if it was the best thing in the world, and a few weeks after he ate as if everything he consumed may be poisoned.
Probably better to find him soon.
He looked around, checking the kitchen and the bathroom first, just in case. Then he checked the bedroom, no Percy in sight at first glance.
Then he really looked, and in the corner between the bed’s footboard and the wall, a small space where Percy barely fit, he saw his boyfriend curled up, knees to his chest and holding his forehead in trembling hands.
Suddenly, Percy raised his head to lock eyes directly with Leo.
His view softened, he immediately became less tense and his eyes filled with tears once again.
The brunette almost ran to sit in front of him, putting both hands on the cheeks of the other and making him look back.
Green sea eyes filled with tears meet with deep brown.
“Hola, mi pececito hermoso, whatcha' doin' here, hm?”
A smile graced Leo’s face, even though it wasn't ideal, he couldn't help but think how cute his boyfriend looked, so tiny and scared yet so happy to see him.
Percy just let out a shaky breath, feeling his chest ache at the fact he just couldn't talk.
“It's okay now, ‘kay? Here, lemme help you get into bed so you can be more comfortable”
Leo helped Percy up, who struggled to even move. His mind was now completely foggy, the second Lee showed up he couldn't help but slip completely into regression… but he'd never admit that.
“Okay, now you're in a better place, how about you tell me how old ya’ feeling, yeah?”
The mentally smaller took a moment to think. He felt small. More than usual. He doesn't like it. Not cool.
He raised three fingers, doubt still showing, but he was visibly calmer than when Leo first arrived.
“Ohh, you're a little fish, kiddo!” Leo ruffled Percy’s hair, something he's learned always makes Percy giggle when small. “Now, how about… I bring you some of those yummy blue gummies we have in the kitchen?”
Percy's eyes filled with doubt for a moment, he looked down to his stomach, even in his little mindset not being able to shake the feeling that eating was wrong. But then he thought about how good the candies were… so he nodded even though it felt wrong to do so, accepting the treat.
Leo's heart ached, Percy looked so small, and seeing him sad while small? That's a new kind of suffering he's not ready to stand.
“I'll be right back, yeah?”
He smiled and left the room, immediately grabbing his phone to dial Jason while he searched for the blue gummies Percy always had around somewhere in the kitchen.
“Hey Leo, everything okay? I'm kinda in the middle of-”
“Percy's regressed, he got triggered or something, I dunno, he was already like this when I got back from work”
He heard ruffling from Jason's side of the phone.
“Just thought I should let you know”
“I'll be there, thanks for letting me know, love you.”
Jason cut the call, and the other boy put the cell phone in his pocket.
Found it! Leo grabbed the gummies and walked back to the bedroom, finding Percy just as he had left him, only now he was sucking on his thumb.
“Here you go! And since Jayjay isn't home, I'll let you have as many gummies as you want”
Leo winked, as if letting the kid know a big secret to save the world.
Percy's eyes looked shyly at Leo, then at the bag. He mumbled something that sounded a bit like “Thanks” and grabbed a single gummy to start eating.
Leo then stood up again, going to the closet, and to the box where they kept all of Percy's age regression stuff. He grabbed a pacifier, just in case, and Percy's favorite dolphin plushie.
A click came from the front door, followed by quick footsteps, and Jason stepped into the room.
Once he assessed the situation and noticed everything was fine, he let out a deep breath and walked towards Leo.
He gave him a little peck in the lips, and then went to Percy who was looking at him with soft, wide eyes.
“Hi, seashell, how are you feeling?”
Jason's soft look almost got Percy to start crying again, but he kept it inside like a big boy.
“M’ ‘kay”
He looked down to where he was holding another gummy, and kept chewing on it.
Leo chuckled. “He didn't talk to me at all, so I guess he's feeling a little bit better, ain't ya’, kiddo?”
He handed Percy the plushie, left the pacifier in the nightstand, and sat on the bed, while Jason moved around a chair that they kept in the bedroom and sat so they could all be facing each other.
“Do you think you can tell us what happened?”
Jason asked. It was always difficult for him to deal with emotions. He needed to understand, and even though it might be harsh, he decided it was better to ask straight away.
“I dunno’”
Percy frowned childlikely, murmuring something along the lines of “I don’ like feelin’ like this”, pouting at the slight pain in his chest while he tried to remember the reason for his regression.
“That's okay. It's okay. There's no need to think too hard about it, you might fry your little head, hm? For now let's eat some good ol’ gummies.”
Leo handed another candy to the kid, and Percy just accepted it, still visibly upset, but not seemingly too bad.
Jason and Leo looked at each other, communicating through their eyes.
Worry was what they had, yes. But they had to keep it down to ensure Percy's okay, at least for now.
Later on they'll talk it through and solve anything that needs solving.
“Do you feel like cuddling, bug?”
Jason asked, caressing Percy's hair softly.
The little one just nodded, still munching on the sweets, now with no restraint, just enjoying the comfort of his favorite food.
“Aww, you're so sweet I think I could eat you whole!”
Leo couldn't keep at bay his cute aggression, he threw himself onto the bed by Percy's side, and squished the boy in a hug, which was accepted and reciprocated with cuddles.
Jason joined the two more softly, but still hugging both of them and making sure the gummy bag on top of Percy's chest didn't fall just because of the movement, as he knew that gummies falling would lead to a trouble he didn't even want to consider at the moment.
After a while, there was no more food left. Jason handed Percy his pacifier and the kid fell asleep, hugging his plushie and having both Leo and Jason to hug him.
Percy woke up feeling tired, it was that kind of waking up where you don't know where you are or what time it is.
He noticed he had his pacifier on and cringed slightly, getting it off his mouth and sitting, careful not to wake up Jason or Leo.
He got up, put away the plush and the pacifier in the box, and went to the bathroom to wash his face.
He looked like shit.
Oh well, it could've been worse.
If the clock hanging in the living room was right, then it was only an hour, more or less, since Leo got home, he knew his schedule and the boy probably got around at some point at 4 p.m.
He decided to go and eat something, he felt incredibly hungry and as he looked through the fridge he remembered he had not eaten anything for lunch yet.
His stomach churned at the thought of food.
Right.
Ugh.
Welp, that's it.
He closed the fridge and went back to his boyfriends.
Laying in between them once again, he noticed that Jason opened his eyes tiredly.
“Good morning”
Jason's groggy voice resonated in the bedroom.
“Good morning”
“I'm kinda hungry… mind accompanying me to look for something to eat in the kitchen?”
“I can cook you something, if you'd like”
“Nah, I had lunch back at college, I'll just eat a snack”
“Okay, whatever you say, Superman”
Jason just chuckled at Percy's nickname and stood up, going to the kitchen with Percy right behind him.
“I'm gonna make me tea, would you like some, Aquaman?”
“Sure, why not”
“What did you have for lunch?”
Percy freezed slightly. He knew he couldn't lie to save his life, even less so if it was lying to Jason. Oh well.
“I didn't get lunch, I wasn't hungry, and after eating so many gummies I think I'm done for today”
He tried to play it off, chuckle a bit. Act delusional and all that stuff.
Jason read right through him.
“I'll make you some rice with sausages.”
“Thanks.”
Dread filled Percy's stomach. Now he couldn't eat for real, the nausea and anxiety increasing at a terrifying speed. But there was no escaping when Jason got determined, so he just accepted his fate and decided it was for the better. He can push through it.
The second they sat to eat, Jason with his snack and tea, Percy with his lunch, Leo got up, all messy and silly looking, and served himself a plate of lunch too.
“You didn't eat either?”
Jason asked.
“Nah, it just looks too good to pass. Thanks, Superman”
“Sure thing, hot stuff”
“You're making me blush!”
Leo acted as if getting all shy, and they all laughed for a bit.
They ate and joked around, something common and comfortable. Routine was appreciated greatly by the three of them.
Then, the dreaded question came.
“Percy, could you tell us what happened before we got home?” Jason's voice was all soft, as if scared he could break Percy if he worded his question in the wrong way.
“Yeah, you had me worried for a moment there.” Leo tried to act a little bit more joke-y, but the three of them knew he was just as worried, if not even more than Jason.
Panic tried to flare its way up to Percy’s chest, but he kept it at bay forcefully.
“Gimme a second, I need to- yeah, you know how it is.”
He took a deep breath, left his fork in the table, and ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to calm himself down. Don't cry.
“I- erm- saw a tiktok- don't laugh, I know it'll sound silly”
He mumbled nervously, even though his boyfriends were listening with all love and support in their eyes.
“It was about bullying, and y’know how I get with those things, it just was triggering, so I had a kind of, I dunno if it was that, but I think it was a panic attack. And then I just stayed there in between the panic, the age regression and the wanting to curl up and disappear"
He looked to his boyfriends again, nervously smiling to soften the blow.
“But anyway it's alright now. So you don't have to worry. Sorry about it, too.”
Jason and Leo looked at each other, doing that thing where Percy can't understand even if he tries with all his might, and then Leo spoke up.
“You don't need to apologize, we love you, Percy, thanks for trusting us.”
He smiled, comforting, warm, and it made Percy's eyes teary with love because how could he have gotten so lucky with these guys.
He hid his tears behind his hands, got rid of these, allowed for his hands to uncover his face, and smiled towards his boyfriends.
“Still, thanks. I love both of you so much”
They smiled back.