Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Percy hadn’t been normal since the day he was born.

He knew that much.

He had always been slightly rowdier than the other kids, constantly fighting with the boys who picked on the girls or younger kids, and never stayed in the same school for more than a year.

Percy was eternally grateful that his mom was so patient and understanding. She really was amazing to constantly put up with him.

Really, the only thing he could criticize her for is her taste in men. A dad who never made her live like the queen she is, and Smelly Gabe.

Percy wouldn’t sugarcoat it, he despised Smelly Gabe from the moment he saw him. He didn’t know if it was from how he ruffled his hair a bit too rough during the first meeting, or how he seemed to ignore his mom in favor of calling his buddies, or just his general awful smell.

But Percy knows there is plenty more to hate him for now. From how he yelled at his mom like a servant in her home, or how he used up all their money for poker and beer of all things, how he let his equally gross friends walk around all willy nilly in the apartment..

And most importantly, how he’d hit Percy.

Those disgusting, sausage resembling, grimy hands always hit hard. He learned that at 7 and a half years old when he refused to sell the candy his mom got for him at her work for money for Smelly Gabe’s poker games. It had never been anything more than a beer bottle smashed in his direction before.

Percy would never tell his mom that, though. It would break her heart, and she said they needed Gabe for.. something.

Percy would disagree, but as long as she remained unharmed, he wouldn’t speak a word. No matter how much he wanted to.

Percy would also look out his window at the moon often, late at night when he couldn’t sleep (which was pretty often for some reason). He always got more energetic at night without him or his mom knowing exactly why. He thinks it’s from the excitement he gets when his mom tells him a new Greek tale.

His favorites are the one with the Goddess of the Hunt, Lady Artemis, in it. But his mom barely brought her takes up, often telling him more about monsters or the Lord of the Sea, Posideon.

…He’d never tell her this, since Poseidon seemed to be her favorite to talk about, but he honestly doesn't like him very much.

Especially not his son, Theseus. He couldn’t exactly explain why, but he had a certain distaste for him since his mom uttered his name. Especially after hearing of how he used and abandoned Ariadne. His mom laughed at his face after admitting she almost named him after the infamous cowardly hero.

Percy didn’t know why it bothered him so much more than it should, Sally hadn’t noticed it, though. Or maybe she did and chalked it to him not wanting to be named after a man who did.. that.

Greek mythos are probably a big part of why he passed history, he just seemed to understand it better than most of the other students. Which probably put a target on his back as a history nerd considering how much more often he raised his hand in that specific class than others.

Another thing he usually got teased for was his fear of horses.

Don’t get Percy wrong, horses are awesome. They just.. he just prefers not to be near them, like, at all. From a distance, they’re fine. On/near them? Hell no.

Not to mention how many schools he got expelled from for reasons he barely had control over. Like seriously, how was he supposed to know that an old cannon would activate again as soon as he touched it and send a cannonball to the school bus? Or which lever would send his class into that shark tank? Maybe they should’ve been better guarded or labeled properly!

The only bright side to his days was leaving school and seeing his mom, even if it was for a slightly short time due to her getting more late night shifts for more money due to Smelly Gabe’s poker problem.

At least that meant she wasn’t around at home enough for Gabe to do anything to her. And he wouldn’t be able to when she was because Percy would also be there. As long as Percy stayed with her, he could protect her.

That was until he got into Yancy.

“A boarding school?!”

He gaped in shock at his mom, who only looked back at him apologetically.

“I’m so sorry, baby, but it’s to help you.” She reasoned gently, cupping his cheek with a warm hand. His panic quelled slightly but was still somewhat there.

“Mom! You can’t just send me away. I—what if Gabe—“ His breathing started getting unsteady.

“Percy, breathe.” Sally worriedly patted his cheek, Percy tried to do some breathing exercises she taught him beforehand. It helped a lot. Especially with nightmares. Especially with that same weird recurring nightmare of being on a horse that was running off at Mach 6 speed.

“…’M sorry..” He mumbled when he finally calmed down enough. “Didn’t mean to overreact.”

“It’s alright, honey.” She soothed him gently. “It’s just.. this is for your own good. Yancy has support for your needs that most other schools don’t.” She gently explained to him, fixing some out of place curls on his hair. He frowned.

“We could do homeschooling, though. You said you were a good student before.” Sally’s smile dropped slightly, she nervously glanced to the living room where Gabe let out some hideous guffaw at the tv with his friends.

“I wish we could, baby. But we gotta send you to an actual school so you can learn properly.” Her voice was soft and kind, it did little to soothe his mood.

“But I can’t keep leaving you with Gabe!” He exclaimed, instantly quieting when she quickly shushed him to avoid Smelly Gabe drawing attention to them. “It’s not fair… You have to deal with him all alone…” His eyes drooped sadly. Sally’s own eyes were full of guilt for a second before being schooled into another kind look.

“It’s okay, Percy. I’ll be okay.” Her lips wobbled slightly as she spoke, Percy pretended not to notice it for her sake. “All that matters is that you’ll be—that.. you’re getting the best possible education possible so you won’t end up like me.”

Percy frowned extra hard at that, his mom was amazing. She was kind, possibly the most beautiful person in the world, she never raised her voice at anybody, even Percy or Smelly Gabe, and was so patient no matter how many schools Percy got expelled from. If anything, Percy looked up to her more than anybody in the whole wide world.

But he can’t be more difficult for her right now.

“Fine.” He looked down, eyebrows furrowed. Sally let out a sigh of relief and kissed his head, which made him smile a bit.

“I love you very much, just know that.” She rubbed his cheek with her thumb, he let out a small giggle at that.

“I love you, too, ma.” He told her back earnestly.

And so, he got to packing with help from his mom for Yancy. No matter how reluctant he was about it.

He just hoped he wouldn’t be expelled too quickly.

————————————————————————

“—lytus.”

It was so foggy.

“—ippo—“

So, so foggy.

“Hippoly—“

That voice… who.. who was that voice?

It was so familiar…

“Hippolytus!”

His eyes flashed open. But they weren’t sea green. No, they were light blue with hints of green and light red.

“Finally! You’re awake. You kept tossing and turning in your sleep.” A girl with warm deep blue eyes and auburn hair half up pouted at him.

She wasn’t speaking in English.. and.. and he understood it anyway, fluently. Like he’s been speaking this new language his whole life.

Where was he… Right, the forest right outside of Ephesos. They had been resting at their Lady’s temple for a bit as she had to attend a counsel meeting with the rest of the Olympians and gave them the go ahead to get some good rest.

He rubbed his eyes, trying to make sense of the situation. His black tinged, murky red hair fell over his shoulders. Wavy and messy. When had it fell out of the ponytail he put it in before bed?

“Sorry, Kallisto… Did I make you and the others wait too long for me?” He muttered with genuine sorryness. His sister in arms, Kallisto, softened her expression and shook her head.

“No, the others were mostly worried. Especially Arikia, she was practically convinced that you were dying.” She giggled slightly at the memory as he grew embarrassed.

“I gotta apologize, then. I shouldn’t have made them so worried. Especially to Ari.” He sat up properly and stretched. Fixing his hair back into a ponytail. He could brush it properly later. He grabbed his bow and took Kallisto’s offering hand to get up.

Kallisto went out the tent first, Hippolytus followed shortly after, he was then immediately approached by a fuming girl his age with short brown hair with a longer, braided strand on the side. Her stormy green eyes bore into his soul, but he knew better, she was more worried than anything.

“Good morning, Ari.” He greeted Arikia with a smile. Her eyes softened as she saw him no longer struggling in his sleep.

“What in Olympus were you dreaming about?” She shook her head and regained her previous expression. “You kept mumbling and tossing in your sleep.”

“Horses.” Hippolytus deadpanned. Kallisto muffled a laugh with her palm. Arikia’s lips unwillingly twitched into a smile as she desperately tried not to laugh.

“Not funny, seriously, are you okay?” She collected herself and placed a hand over his shoulder. He grinned and nodded.

“Yeah, I honestly can’t remember either. I guess it’s just stress about seeing my father again in a few moon cycles.” He admitted, fiddling with the tips of his unruly ponytail.

Her expression softened, and Kallisto seemed worried now aswell. Hippolytus and his father have always had a somewhat strained relationship. Especially after he chose to join the Hunters of Artemis instead of honoring Aphrodite and Queen Hera by marrying someone and participating in acts of Eros.

Figures that Storge and Philia aren't enough for that man.

“Hippolytus.. you know you don’t have to visit him.” Kallisto spoke softly, she was always the one caring. Hippolytus shook his head.

“No, no. It’s fine, really.” His eyes dropped to the ground. “I.. want to do this. I want to see him.” He straightened up. “I haven’t seen him in so long. I may not agree with his terms of perspective, but he is my father. I need to.. want to be on speaking terms at the very least.”

Kallisto’s worried gaze and Arikia’s no longer glaring but soft stormy eyes still rested on him like he would collapse any second. He hated moments like these. He did not need to be pitied. He didn’t want to be worried about, all the time. He isn’t fragile and seeing his father again isn’t gonna kill him. Because no matter how much they disagreed with one another, his father would never hurt him.

He was going to be fine.

(It felt like there was another pair of distasteful eyes glaring at him.. somewhere up above…)

————————————————————————

“Percy, honey..” He was suddenly shaken awake.

His eyes flashed opened.

His mom looked at him with kind eyes. He looked down at himself and found himself in an ironed school uniform that was without a doubt worth two of his mother’s paychecks.

Right, he was going to Yancy.

“Mm, yeah I got it..” He grabbed his backpack. All blue with several pins he got from skateparks.

What was he dreaming about again?

—————

After he exited Smelly Gabe’s camaro, he went to orientation and stood as the teachers and principal kept talking. Absolutely bored out of his mind.

He let out a quiet yawn.

Suddenly, someone else’s shoulder brushed against his and he instinctively moved away. Nobody except his mom was allowed to touch him freely, it always felt bad or weird when it was someone he didn’t know.

(It was always bad before, but only got worse as Gabe entered the picture.

He thinks.. he thinks it reminds him.. of something…)

He turns back and gives a slight glare to the student who bumped into him. He had curly brown hair with a Rasta cap, acne and some barely there facial hair, and big goat-like eyes. He looked like he was about to faint or freak out or all of the above.

Percy raised an eyebrow and he immediately shrunk, looking down at the ground with a meek “sorry”. Percy felt slightly bad, then worse as he noticed how the boy was standing weirdly with a walking cane by his side.

“It’s okay.” He responded and the goat eyed boy untensed slightly. “Uh, you clearly didn’t mean to.” He nodded at him, Rasta cap boy finally looked back up to meet his gaze. Percy gave a hopefully reassuring look.

It seemed to work as the guy burst into a relieved smile.

“Aah, yeah. I’m still getting used to these..” He looked at his shoes first before quickly turning towards the cane. Must be a new injury. Percy usually wasn’t one to pry, but…

Percy glanced towards a group of kids who were giggling and pointing towards the Rasta cap boy. Doesn’t seem friendly at all. And he understood what it’s like to be mocked for something out of his control.

Percy should really get his name.

“I’m Percy, you?” Percy saw the boy blink, almost shocked.

The boy then quickly straightened up. “I’m Grover!” The newly identified Grover then glanced towards the orientation, where they moved onto dorm rooms.

Percy looked back. “Geez, I just can't wait to share a room with a total stranger for a whole semester…” He rolled his eyes to emphasize his sarcasm. He then saw Grover who seemed to be in deep thought. He wondered why.

Oh well, as long as his new roommate isn’t a complete douche.

Chapter Text

Percy never really had a lot, not that he was complaining. His mom and the cabin back at Montauk were enough luxury for him three times over. But speaking materialistically wise; he was pretty humble. Mostly because of Gabe’s gambling and stealing their funds.

So he walks into his dorm room with only a worn backpack full of books and some books, and a small handbag full of smaller necessities like toiletries and pens and erasers.

He looked inside and blinked in surprise, seeing his new roommate was not only already there, but also the same boy with a cane he met during orientation. Grover.

Grover looked towards him with equally wide eyes, having been placing one out of several plants he already had in his room. Which was surprising since he seemingly had only three bags and there were at least a dozen plants—a few were even bigger than the bags he brought. Where had he even—How did he even—

“Hi.” Grover squawked, slightly awkward as he shifted his weight, placing the plant on the windowsill next to what seems to be the bed he claimed.

Percy blinked, coming back to reality. Oh right, he still had to speak with the person he was gonna be living with for the rest of the semester.

“Hi.” He greeted back, just as awkward. His eyes shifted around in uncertainty, then he walked towards the bed Grover hadn’t bombarded with what seemed to be an entirely recycled and hand-sewn green and brown blanket with small patches of different environmentalist communities. Percy supposed that wasn’t the strangest thing to carry around New York.

Percy started to quietly unpack, hearing Grover occasionally shuffle or let out an odd hum behind him. He didn’t pay mind to it, though.

“Do you need any help?” Grover asked at some point.

“Nah, I got it. Thanks, though.” Percy replied as he put his clothes away.

After he was done with his small amount of items, he plopped down on his bed and brought out an old book filled with Greek mythos. Grover perked up at the book.

“Do you like Greek Mythology?” Grover blurted out.

Percy looked back at him and nodded. “Yeah, well, some tales. My mom’s been reading them as bedtime stories for as long as I remember.” Grover had a look in his eye that Percy couldn’t fully register, but it left much quicker than it came.

“What’s your favorite one?” Grover asked, walking closer with his cane in tow, but hesitating slightly.

Percy was having none of that awkward roommate phase, it was already weird enough living somewhere that wasn’t home, it would be even worse if he and his roommate had to act like strangers every day. He patted the spot on his bed and Grover blinked in slight surprise before sitting down.

“It’s a bit hard to say, but myths about the Hunters of Artemis and Lady Artemis herself are always super interesting.” He gestured vaguely.

Grover seemed to be mentally working through this, before speaking again. “Like the one with Kallisto?”

The name brought an unfamiliar tension through Percy, like a dam being shook by the waves it holds off. Where had he heard that name before…

“Who?” He tilted his head.

“Uhm, it’s a—Hold on, I have a—“ Grover quickly got up, neglecting to grab his cane and nearly falling as a result, Percy reached out to grab him before he let out an undignified shriek that had the black haired boy wincing slightly. “Sorry!” Grover tacked in embarrassment, face turning a light shade of red as he quickly regained his balance and grabbed his cane this time, slightly limping and slightly running towards his side of the room and pulling out a worn, leather book from there.

“I’ve got the myth in here along with some others, if you wanna skim. Or read it all.” Grover shrugged.

Percy’s mouth opened slightly, before shutting momentarily. “Really? I don’t wanna bother, I can just look it up online..” Grover then panicked for god knows what reason.

“No! No! It’s okay.” He shook his head, rushing back towards Percy and placing the book in his hands. He shook his hands in front of him. “I’ve already read the things a dozen times! You can borrow it for a while.” He insisted.

Percy blinked in surprise before he squinted at his sudden insistence. Grover didn’t seem like this when he first met him, but he guessed first impressions weren’t always completely accurate. Plus, he got more myth recommendations from him, so he’s still pretty chill in Percy’s books.

“Thanks, I’ll read this.” He smiled, then looked down at the book. The leather cover was even more worn looking now that he was holding it, the cover holding on through pure hopes and dreams.

But it was undoubtedly loved, which sounded weird at first, but made sense to him at how the spine was broken and the pages limp with how often they’ve been looked through.

The pages themselves had a light coffee stain yellow, and there were practically thousands of colorful anecdotes and sticky note comments. He couldn’t read them all that well, but there were small pictures and doodles that he thinks were related to the myth they were on.

“Aah, the blue one with the bear is Kallisto’s myth…” Grover pointed out. Percy nodded in thanks before opening to that side. Surprisingly, but thankfully, there were illustrations and the texts were kept short and separated into a sentence or two.

While Percy wasn’t looking, Grover suddenly straightened up as he glanced out the window, hand gripping his cane.

“You can look through that, I’m—I’m gonna go to the bathroom.” Grover muttered slightly stressed. Percy nodded and thanked him again for the book.

As Grover left, Percy began reading, smiling at the illustration of Kallisto and Artemis hunting together with smiles, although Kallisto’s appearance felt slightly wrong, with caramel hair and light blue eyes. Oh well.

—————

As Percy finished the book, he shut the cover immediately, his vision blurred by tears. He tried wiping them away with his sleeve, but more came.

She didn’t deserve that. She didn’t deserve any of that.

It hurt so bad, he didn’t even know this girl personally (buthedoeshedoesHEDOES) but he felt so sad and angry for her. Why did it hurt so badly?

It hurt so much.

—————

Grover was internally losing his shit.

At first, he couldn’t tell if this kid was a demigod or a mortal with a weird scent due to the disturbing odor around him, like a veil of gross mortal smell.

But the more time he spent with Percy, the more he realized that the odor really was a mask. Hiding hints of sea salt and seaweed.

(He could’ve sworn he caught whiffs of oak at first…)

If this was who he thought it was… it wouldn’t turn out good. He had to contact someone at camp, he had to contact Chiron immediately.

And with that, he picked up a spray bottle in the bathroom, caught the light of the tinted window all the way up in the wall, with a dramachae and a prayer.

—————

After recollecting himself, Percy began reading through a few more myths to pass the time.

And after Grover returned, they began talking, so much so that they hadn't realized when it turned dark already. It turns out Grover is a really chill guy, which is kinda rare to find in New York of all places.

As they settled down for the night, Percy tried his hardest to simply sleep and not continue his strange nightly ritual of staring at the night sky and the moon until he was overtaken by sleep.

Though it proved hard on his first night here, and he caught himself instinctively looking out the window to search for the moon more than once, but eventually sleepiness made his eyelids close and his breathing evened out as he started to sleep.

That’s when Grover made his move.

He ran outside, making sure the mist concealed his presence to the cameras on campus. Horrible shoes off, reed pipes in hand, heartbeat going as fast as a satyr being hunted for sport.

And as he steps outside the school, moving towards the backside of the dorms, that’s when he sees it.

A giant, growling hellhound in the woods.

It was mostly just wandering around, clearly on the hunt. Good, that meant the weird odor surrounding Percy’s actual scent had worked. The hellhound was likely detecting satyrs and decided to follow in hopes for a taste of demigod.

Grover, despite the pounding of his heart in his ribcage, lifted his reed pipes to his lips and began playing.

Grass and branches went out towards the hellhound, who began roaring and trying to make its way towards him. But Grover persisted.

He began playing faster and faster, putting in more energy.

Nature danced beautifully and violently with the melody, grabbing the hellhound and keeping it away.

With one final tune, he lifted his hand and made a hand motion, nature squeezed the hellhound until it exploded into dust.

He looked around, sniffing the air. No other monsters around. Thank the Moirai.

Grover groaned as his stomach rumbled, he fished out a crushed tin can from his baggy, handmade pajama pants. Carefully made to feel more comfortable around goat legs. He munched on the tin can to regain some energy as he made his way back to the dormitory.

Once he snuck back inside, tin can finished and reed pipes carefully tucked away, he immediately collapsed onto bed, knowing Percy was safe.

His eyes drooped with sleep, feeling Hypnos’ realm overtake him.

Grover fell asleep.

——

But as Grover slept, Percy began to have horrible nightmares.

“No— don’t—“

He tossed and turned, visions of an auburn haired girl screaming and tears dropping from deep blue eyes.

“She didn’t— it wasn’t her fault—“

A girl with darker auburn hair and deep silver eyes that flickered to sky blue had a grim expression, he kept pleading.

But nobody heard him.

The screaming continued, flooding his ears as he was filled with deep desperation and a need to help. He couldn’t let this— Why was this happening— Why wouldn’t somebody, anybody else—

Auburn fur, a frame too big and fuzzy for the previously lean and lithe girl, deep blue eyes now on a creature that didn’t seem to fit the humanness of it.

Percy gasped awake, sweat and tears dropping. The memories of the dream fading away from his fingertips once more.

He looked outside towards the moon.

The same calmness that soothed him while seeing it was now accompanied by a pang of betrayal.

He couldn’t understand why.

Chapter Text

When Percy woke up, he felt particularly drained. Strands of his hair sticking to his forehead from sweat, skin slightly pale and dried tear tracks under his eyes. He quickly rubbed the tear trail off before hearing a small “click” beside him.

He turned his head and saw a concerned Grover standing beside his bed after placing a glass of water by his nightstand.

Well, this was embarrassing. Literally the first morning and he’s already cried in a nightmare in front of his new roommate.

“Goodmorning.” He still said, like the idiot he was.

“Morning.” Grover nodded, still visibly worried. Percy hated that look of worry on his face, it made his skin crawl to make people worried over the likes of him. “Are you… okay?”

Percy sighed and nodded. Taking the glass of water on his nightstand gratefully and taking a sip, feeling better almost immediately and deciding to just down it instead.

“Cool,” Grover shuffled in place. “You wanna talk about what made you, y’know?” He gestured vaguely and very nervously. Percy felt bad for the poor guy.

“No.” He shook his head. Frowning before quickly adding: “I just—it’s not a big deal, I get nightmares sometimes. I don’t even remember what it was about afterwards.”

“Oh.” Grover took his words in. “Alright, but if you need anything.. I’m here.”

Percy looked Grover in the eyes, as if he was determining the sincerity behind those words.

In the end, Percy smiled at him, and it seemed more genuine than any of the previous ones.

“Thanks, dude.”

——————————

Unfortunately, since it was also the first day of classes, they had to get ready quickly before heading off.

Most of the classes felt like a boring blur to Percy. He’d zone out mid lecture and then get called on to answer a question he didn’t hear. Get scolded for not paying attention. Then have the other students laugh at him because he got scolded… All that jazz.

But it wasn’t his fault! The teachers talked so long that he happened to.. drift into his consciousness every now and then. It’s not his fault he can’t fathom how someone can drag out the explanation of electrical systems while simultaneously making it impossible to understand at all. He couldn’t even read off the board due to his dyslexia and the teacher writing and erasing too quickly.

The only classes that he really paid attention to were biology and history. Nature had always caught his attention for some reason, the wild always seemed so inviting and freeing. And it seemed that the history teacher, Mr.Brunner, was really hooked on Greek and Roman mythology, which helped since he had already read most of the myths.

…

Okay, maybe he only owned the graphic novel versions and listened to audiobooks, but those still count! As long as he could find those versions of the reading assignments Mr.Brunner gives him, then maybe he’ll do fine!

Speaking of Mr.Brunner, he seems pretty cool so far. One of the only teachers who didn’t call on Percy to visibly pick on him. And it seems like he’s slowly getting favor from the biology teacher with each decent answer he gives. So at he might have two okay teachers at this school, which was two more than any other school he went to!

————————

Days turned to weeks, and weeks merged into months.

He had kept his tongue in for most of it…. Emphasis on the “most” part. And he’s doing somewhat well in history, biology, and P.E. Well, whenever it’s being held outdoors.

It was mostly uneventful, Grover and Percy began getting closer, even making nicknames for each other.

“Sup, G-Man.” Percy slid inside the dorm, throwing his bag on the floor.

“Hey, Perce.” Grover nodded towards him from where he was watering one of his numerous plants.

They had even bonded over taking care of Grover’s plants together after Percy expressed interest in nature. Grover seemed particularly happy—even somewhat relieved?—about it. Percy guessed his previous roommates(?) didn’t really like his green thumb.

Also, it seemed like Percy was also pretty good with plants. It was too bad he couldn’t have any at home due to Smelly Gabe. Grover had offered to let him help with taking care of some of his plants this semester though, which was awesome of him.

That being said, his view of nature outside his dorm room was spectacular, even if he had to repress his urge to jump out and run through the trees. He knew it was weird to have such an urge, but in his defense the trees look pretty running-throughable. And no, he’s not certain that’s an actual word and that’s why he made it up.

But throughout all this, there were also downsides. Such as the devil incarnated into a red headed kleptomaniac 12 year old girl named Nancy Bobofit, who seemed to have immediately targeted him after he let her borrow his eraser during class, before promptly never returning it. She insisted she didn’t have it despite how many times he’s seen her use it during class.

Also the other teachers who seemed to despise him, like the new math teacher who came in on Christmas named Mrs.Dodds from Georgia. She probably hated him the most, which was understandable. He hated numbers just as much as the next sixth grader.

But most importantly, his number of nightmares increased. Especially under stormy nights. Visions of dozens of girls with bows and arrows laughing with him beside a campfire, before it turned to horrified screeches, horses running as he felt like he was falling, a girl with stormy green eyes and choppy brown hair crying in his arms as blood stained her arms and legs, an auburn haired girl with deep blue eyes having her body twisted into that of a bear’s, and another auburn haired girl with silver eyes slowly shifting into.. something else.

And most importantly, the woman with red lips curved into a strange smile that was possibly meant to be alluring but did nothing except make his skin crawl with crippling fear, hazel hair over her shoulders and piercing eyes that made him wanna curl into a ball in a ditch and never come out. Usually accompanied by a man with similar black hair and sea green eyes, but his gaze was so distant whenever he looked at Percy and it hurt so bad, even if he didn’t know this man. (his body was so broken and in pain, he screamed for his father but was met with a cold gaze, as distant as always. His body was broken and the guiltless stare his father gave him still hurt so much at that moment.)

Percy did his best to keep it hidden, but Grover seemed to always know what was up and encouraged him to tell him about it whenever he was ready.

Percy was more than ready to instead keep his weird nightmares to himself, until one particularly awful night.

(He was shoved to the floor, a sword held against him as he tearfully looked up, terrified baby blue eyes meeting angry sea green.

“Father, please.” He begged. “I swear I did nothing, I can prove it! Just give me a court case or something—“

“You,” Theseus His father cut off coldly. “Are no son of mine.” The metal of the sword felt so cold against him.

“Father…” He cried out, and for a second, he could’ve sworn—hoped—he saw pain behind his eyes. But then that pain subsided almost immediately.

“Leave.” His father demanded. “And don’t come back.”

Hippolytus looked at the other end of the hall. Piercing eyes and hazel hair stared back, adorned with the same pale pink peplos she had attempted to… to…

His blood ran cold, still feeling the coldness of her palms caressing over his arms, while he wanted to scream and cry.

Everything went silent to him at that moment, not even his father’s sword against his chest could compare to Phaedra (hehatedherhehatedherHEHATEDHER) at that moment.

And so, Hippolytus got up and ran.)

Percy woke up only when Grover was yelling, not even when his body began moving by pure instinct out of the window. Only the yelling got him to really wake up.

As he was pulled back inside, he buried his face into Grover’s shoulder and screamed.

It was hardly a loud one, but it was filled with fear and pain that surpassed this lifetime. Even as his friend tried to soothe him, the distant sorrow in his eyes remained like glue.

He broke down and told Grover everything that night about the dreams. His friend, his best friend, his only friend just allowed him to, holding Percy together both in his arms and in his mind.

Grover had begun paling more and more with each nightmare Percy described, but he allowed him to do so anyway, listening to each one with intent.

By the end of it, Percy had dried tear tracks down his cheeks, but had never felt so relieved to just.. talk about it. Grover and him made an impromptu sleepover by placing several pillows, blankets, and some random plushies Grover had at hand for some reason on the floor.

Grover had said that maybe next week’s field trip to the history museum could help clear his mind more. Percy didn’t have the heart to tell him he doubted that.

But as they laid down on the pseudo beds, Percy felt more at peace as his eyelids drooped down.

And for the first time since he got to Yancy, Percy had a slightly nicer dream.

————————————————————————

“Are you alright, little prince?” Hippolytus looked up from where he was previously glaring at the ground.

His gaze was not met with deep blue, stormy green, or sea green as he looked up. Instead it was the face of a concerned servant.

He huffed and crossed his small arms. He had recently turned eight summers and was already brooding.

“Everyone keeps comparing me to my father… but I don’t wanna be compared to only him.” He had explained with a scowl that did not match the adorable puff of his cheeks.

“Oh?” The servant’s face twitched to a smile as they sat down beside him. Normally they would never dare to do this, but young Hippolytus had always been kinder to the staff.

“Nobody ever talks about my mother.” His voice broke a little at that, lips wobbling. “It’s like.. they rather she never existed. Even father doesn’t utter a word about her!” He stretched his arms in frustration.

The servant watched his fury with apprehended silence, and what Hippolytus assumed was a trick of the light made a red color wash over the servant’s eyes for a second before disappearing. For that brief second, the servant almodt seemed.. angry.

“Well… I think I could tell you a few things about her.” They tapped their chin in thought. Hippolytus’ head swung towards them in shock, his eyes wide and clear.

“Really?!” He scrambled closer to them, hands going over their lap. “Tell me! Please!” He had barely any memories of his mother since he was four and his father had gotten remarried. He was sure something happened when he was ushered away, and suddenly he never saw his mother again and was confused and hurt. He had even begun forgetting bits about her as he grew up much to his dismay.

He was very eager to gain even a morsel of knowledge about her again.

“Settle down, little prince.” The servant let out a chuckle. Hippolytus pouted slightly before sitting down. “Though my lips are loose, what I can afford to tell you is still limited.”

“What I can tell you is that you,” they tapped his nose. “Have more of her eyes than you do your father’s. And the red in your hair is from her.” Hippolytus touched his hair and face in wonder. “And most importantly, you have her smile. Every bit of it.”

His mind was blown, he had always longed for her presence so much that the thought of appearance simply escaped him. The idea that he resembled her was mind boggling, especially after years of being told how much he takes after his father.

And sure, maybe the information he gained was little, but it was still information about his mother, and that mattered the most to him.

Soon, he gingerly peeked over the reflective pond, staring at his eyes and red tinged hair. It was slightly brighter in childhood.

He put on his best smile and imagined a woman in armor (she was a warrior, right? That’s what he thinks) with red hair, baby blue eyes with red flecks, and that same smile looking down at him with love and warmth, the same the mothers in books he read had felt for their children.

His face brightened immensely.

“I’ll always smile so I can see her!” He giggled with glee. Unbeknownst to him, the servant’s eyes turned red once more, something akin to grief in them. But they turned back to normal as the servant cleared their throat.

“It’s time to head inside, your highness.” The servant spoke.

And as they entered the palace once more, Hippolytus made it a point to smile at everyone and everything.

He thought he would smile until the day he died.

Oh, how wrong he was.

Chapter Text

The morning after the impromptu sleepover was the most refreshed Percy had ever felt after waking up. Even Grover noticed it as Percy was smiling more than ever.

Percy had felt more productive in general after that night, he guessed that letting someone in on the bad feelings really helped. 

He had started moving the plants around a bit, under the careful supervision of Grover, of course. But even he helped around a bit, keyword being a bit because Percy was worried that he’d hurt his legs further.

“Nah, don’t worry about me, Perce. I got these plants in here by myself, anyway!” Grover tried to assure him.

Percy frowned, he knew that. But he couldn’t help but worry. He had always been a nuisance to people around him before, he doesn’t wanna show Grover the bad parts of him, not yet at least. He still wants some form of friendship in this damned school.

Even if Grover practically bolted down the hall each time it was enchilada day in the cafeteria like it was nothing, and was able to handle himself in walking terms, Percy was still worried that somehow his presence would make Grover trip and fall and hurt himself and realize how much of a hindrance Percy is and hate him forever—

Okay, maybe Percy was overthinking this a bit. Grover has lived long enough with him to justify being sick of him, and he isn’t yet, so it’s likely Grover is really patient like his mom is.

He should chill out and just continue rearranging the plants in the room, it’s fine, it’s totally fine.

———

As the day went on, Percy felt like he was being stared at more, maybe it was because he was in a good mood after that one good dream. His smiling probably showcased that.

But he did feel bad for Grover, who was limping slightly more due to sleeping weirdly on the floor and moving the plants all day with Percy. Percy made sure to help him out as much as he could.

Grover insisted it wasn’t a problem again, but Percy didn’t buy it. He half considered carrying Grover around as an apology before shaking it off as a crazy idea.

(Half baked memories of carrying a shaking body with chopped hair from a city that was ablaze threatened to seep through his mind, only to pull away as soon as he tried to recall it.)

He continued on his day, feeling a sense of dread of the continuous feeling of something building up in his mind. It was probably nothing. He assured himself that it was just his mind playing tricks on him. His brain always felt weird at certain points of his or when he did specific things, so he assumed it was probably another 

Like when he was six and pretending to be a hunting dog much to the confusion of his peers who preferred to play as horses or families. Or staring at his reflection when he was eight and wondering why he wasn’t satisfied with his smiling face, feeling like something was missing. Or that one time when he was ten and wondering if he should try and ask for archery classes before shaking the idea away due to costs and Smelly Gabe.

He couldn’t do a lot of things when Smelly Gabe moved in. He was only four years old at the time and felt endlessly nervous, like his mother would disappear as she signed the marriage certificate. He never did get over that feeling until a long while later, as his mother stayed with him each day.

He still remembers the days before Smelly Gabe showed up, he used to kill small things like insects or general pests and pretend like he was hunting for food. Sometimes even using a makeshift slingshot with rocks against flies and pretending it was a bow and arrow. It was silly, and his mother quickly made sure he stuck to the general pests at home after he brought home a dead rat and squirrel from the park. He thinks he might’ve made a few kids cry with the squirrel.

Or those days he’d place the best bread with honey slathered on and small white candles on his windowsill whenever it was a full moon. (He ignored how he was always spot on with when it would be a full moon without even checking the calendar.)

He didn’t understand why he always did that before. He's doing best to break the habit, but it feels wrong to do so.

He didn’t understand why he did a lot of things. He just hoped that one day he could find a way to fix himself and these urges or something. Seriously, he did not need the urge to run into the woods at night time and explore every crevice of the woods around Yancy until  it was familiar to him as home was.

Even right now in math class, he had the urge to simply fade into the wild as he felt a pair of dark eyes burning into his skull. He hated math class for a variety of reasons, but Mrs.Dodds strange attitude towards him was one of them. It was like a light switch; one moment she seemed like she was convinced that he was the root of all middle school evil, and the next she’s concerned and asking if he needs a moment alone.

He almost believes she flips a coin for every time they interact to see how she was going to act at that moment. It would explain the mixed messages he gets from her.

He tried his hardest to focus on the equation on the paper, no matter how little it made sense to him. He kept tapping his pencil over the desk.

Nancy Bobofit raised her hand with a smile that screamed that she was up to no good. “Mrs.Dodds, Percy’s being loud and distracting me!” She called out with false pitifulness.

Percy internally sighed. Of course she would try to start something now, especially with the teacher that thinks that she’s a little angel. He didn’t get why she bothered with this. Surely it wasn’t that funny to watch him get scolded, right?

Egh, he guesses he can’t understand because he isn’t such a damn asshole.

His mother might scold him for that use of language on one of his classmates, but he’s heard so much worse. Consequences of living in New York. Even moreso in the poor parts of New York.

He wondered if he could get as much money teaching some prissy high class kids new swears as he does with selling the smuggled candy in his locker…

Then again, they could use it against people they’re bullying, most likely people poorer, younger or different from them. Maybe he should stick to the candy gig.

“Mr.Jackson.” He snapped out of his thoughts. Everyone was staring at him. A few people snickering.

Oh, he had zoned out.

Well, damn.

“Yes?” He scowled as the snickering increased a bit. Goddamnit he hated this school.

(He pondered if he jumped from the window, he could land on the trees and run away.)

Mrs.Dodds narrowed her eyes, and Percy had no idea what he was in for. If she flipped to her nicer-ish side or to her full demon side.

He proceeded to ignore the churn in his gut that made him want to run far away, like the demon guessing was not only right, but far too right. 

Like an indescribable ache in his bones urging him to flee, that there was danger nearby, something otherworldly and deadly that could claw him to red mush resembling swiss cheese.

All he could pray for is that his punishment wouldn’t be weekend detention. He and Grover made plans to explore the woods outside of Yancy. Even if it took some time convincing Grover that one small hike wouldn’t get them in trouble. Really, the way Grover was nervous made Percy feel like it would put them in grave danger or something

But it seemed like luck was on his side for once, as Mrs.Dodds simply sighed and grumbled at him to keep the noise down.

Percy glanced back at Nancy and was delighted with the angry red that painted her face. She glared at him and he gave her a semi smirk, which only made her redder with what he presumed was rage before turning her head away as quick as wind.

Percy shrugged, too bad for her, at least he won’t have to deal with canceling plans he had waited ages for. Seriously, the trees and grass around Yancy were so vibrant and alive and well kept, nobody could’ve spotted the way the wilderness in the deeper parts seemed to stretch out, leaving unexplored and untamed territory in its most natural state.

Maybe they could spot things like animals, like deers, or a wolf, god, he hopes he can see one of those in real life one day.

Percy was practically beaming the rest of math class, humming so quietly that it blended in with the wind as he absentmindedly answered the questions he thought he understood and doodled wild life like trees and vines and forest creatures on the plain corners.

“Mrs.Dodds” continued staring at him, tilting her head in curiosity. Though she was always more than happy (perhaps trigger happy was a more accurate term) to punish wrongdoers, she can’t help but feel like the boy seems.. more attracted to the wild than the sea.

She tried thinking of a possibility that underneath, the child smell of her lord’s fruit baring sister rather than the stench of the ocean his brother rules over.

It would fit, she thought. The poor soul this boy holds would be delighted to be connected to nature again after being separated from his sisters in arms and the Hunt Queen.

She would share this information and speculation to her lord. She briefly pondered bringing this to the Hunt Queen, who was well known to be (almost overly in her opinion) protective of her hunters. Especially since the remaining ones she’s known since the Bronze Age.

It was well known that Lady Artemis initially only collected immortal nymphs for her Hunt, never truly experiencing their deaths in the first few centuries. It was only until she let the first few mortals in that she had seen the possibility of their demise that she began becoming protective. Almost overly so after the cases of a few ones Alecto hadn’t bothered to remember the names of after the Library of Alexandria was burned alongside their myths. Whether they become dead or cursed is beyond her.

Yet the few she especially remembered causing the increased protectiveness were Kallisto and Hippolytus. The first two the Hunt Queen had lost. A son of two well known names and a girl who shared distant blood with a nereid. A hunter who’s smile never felt to make anyone feel at peace and her very best friend.

Her just knowing that one of her first losses has returned would surely garner a big reaction. Possibly even more. Even Alecto shivered at even the thought of being near her for when—(or if, but she highly expected otherwise with the goddess’ sharp eyes honed by the years)—she gains the information or realizes it by herself.

Alecto shook the idea off, the possibility of how the goddess may react to one of her long dead friends coming back would be a fate not even Alecto would wish upon anybody. Not now when the boy was still in a similar age to when he first joined the Hunt in his time as Hippolytus.

Gods were still gods, after all.

————————

Grover had messed up irreparably badly.

He realized this as he and Percy began heading out to the woods on that fateful Saturday, bags full of necessities and an old camera and binoculars he brought that Percy was eager to test out.

He took a bite of an apple as Percy watched the birds in the trees with the binoculars, grinning brightly. Grover wondered how it led up to this. How he could’ve possibly made the same mistake of getting way too attached to the halfblood he was supposed to guide to camp again. He should’ve learned from Thalia last time.

It had begun safe, Percy seemed to trust him, and even helped scare away bullies from him, which worked well with how he constantly snuck away to get monsters away or get rid of them with the power of nature.

But then as the semester progressed, they kept getting closer. Percy was funny and nice and thoughtful towards Grover. It was just so natural to get along with him that Grover hadn’t realized it until they were whispering excitedly about plants and their favorite myths late at night. He was a food for letting himself get attached too easily.

But still, he tried to believe that he could get Percy to camp safely this time. Get his searchers license and use what time he has left to spend time with Percy. Hopefully at the strawberry fields. He’s got a feeling that Percy’s a Demeter kid. Probably just.. a very strong one with a stronger scent. A very, very stronger scent. 

Percy has only been showing an undying adoration for the forest around them. Grover can see pure glee in his eyes right now as he hangs upside down from a tree branch and manages to pet a bird—seriously, how is he managing to do that?—Grover is confident (he hopes) that he might be able to get Percy to camp. He can’t fail again. Percy won’t end like Thalia.

“Yo, Grover, look!” Grover snaps out of his train(wreck) of thought as he looks at Percy who’s… is that… is that a fucking guinea fowl?

Indeed it was, a baby guinea fowl was sitting comfortably in Percy’s arms as he crooned over it.

Where… Where did it even come from….? Are guinea fowls even supposed to be anywhere near here?

Normally Grover would be delighted in spotting such a creature in the wilderness where it belongs, but right now he was just confused.

“It’s so sweet!” Percy laughs before abruptly freezing and looking the bird dead in the eyes. Is he now realizing how strange it is that the bird appeared out of nowhere? “Sorry, she’s so sweet.” He corrected himself. Ah, nevermind.

“Percy… where did the guinea fowl come from?” Grover asked gently. Percy simply shrugged, and Grover felt himself age 40 years in his mind.

“Dunno, but she’s nice and soft.” Percy cooed, then his eyes gleamed with excitement that made Grover’s gut churn between rising horror and fondness. “Do you think we can find a deer here?! Or even a wolf! That would be so cool!” He gushed.

Grover didn’t have the heart to directly tell Percy that that sounded the exact opposite of fun. Well, the last part at least. Finding a deer would be cool. But with the possibility of it being a disguised monster? Absolutely not.

“I don’t know, Percy. It’s getting kinda late, and Yancy isn’t that common of a place to find a lot of wild animals…” Grover shifted nervously, Percy huffed before softening as he saw Grover’s anxiousness.

“Fine, but let me snap a few photos of the birds.” He gestured behind him where way too many birds sat patiently.

Grover felt himself die a little.

How Percy has not realized he was a halfblood yet was beyond him. He was just relieved for his obliviousness in the face of cute animals.

Maybe there was a god of Dis-Knee (or whatever that thing was called) princesses or something.

Grover took a few pictures of Percy holding the guinea fowl from Gods knows where, and Percy took many photos of the birds he saw before labeling them all correctly in marker under said photos, like he had known them by name and silhouette his entire life.

Grover needed a tin can.

They both then proceeded to spend the rest of their time there watching the plants, getting rid of some trash the students at Yancy undoubtedly tossed into the woods (which made Grover angry and Percy internally seethe), and Percy indirectly giving Grover a heart attack and a half by swinging from branch to branch on the trees like Tarzan.

Percy had never felt more free than in the woods, he could barely express the joy and excitement that coursed through his very bones that truly made him feel alive.

Just walking through the woods and feeling the bark of trees on his palms as he hopped over some bushes while the fallen leaves crunched under his shoes had made him experience a sort of bliss that he had never felt before. One that shook him to his very core and filled him with warmth and comfort.

He had heard stories from adults to not go in the woods alone, that there would be danger lurking and he’d get lost, but it felt so deeply inviting to finally be in it, his feet practically walking themself as if he had endless experience.

Grover remained behind him the entire time, never straying from each other as was promised. He knelt down as a squirrel stopped by the roots of a tree. Grover also stopped and waved at the squirrel.

It tilted its head and Percy grabbed one of the nuts from the forest trail mix he had in his bag, holding it out to the small forest critter. It let out a noise of delight and took it.

Percy grinned as it left, Grover watching.

”You know, you seem to be really in sync with nature.” Grover spoke with amusement and amazement blended together. “I’ve never seen so many animals attracted to one person.” Well… a non saytr person, at least.

Percy felt inexplicably proud of that.

As they made their way back, Percy felt weirdly empty as he stepped away from the forest. Grover clamped a hand over his shoulder, they had finally gotten to a point where Percy felt okay with Grover touching him.

”Excited for the field trip coming up this week?” He asked. Percy shrugged.

”Museums aren’t really my thing.” He responded, then thought about it for a bit. “I am curious about the old Greek and Roman stuff, though.” He added on.

Grover felt a pang of anxiousness, he reassured himself that there was no way Percy could get some sort of ephiphany of his actual identity just by looking at some ancient artwork. He was pretty sure that bird species that should not be in New York had flown over right to him on this small exploration alone.

Though, Grover would need to look at which birds could be sacred animals of certain gods to narrow Percy’s parent range down. Though he still heavily prayed for it to be Demeter.

Maybe at camp, they could still take care of plants together. That would be nice. It will be nice, because Grover wouldn’t fail at his duties again.

As they walked inside their dorm and Percy plopped down on his bed, giving Grover a kind smile, Grover swore to himself to do his very best to protect it.

—————————————————————————

Hippolytus sat down infront of a girl with chopped brown hair, storm-like green eyes glazed with tears as blood stained her arms and legs.

She was around his age, just barely a teen. Her town was burnt to ashes, he had managed to save her from some slave owners while his sisters took care of them.

He hummed gently in an attempt to comfort her as he cleaned up the blood with a wet basin. She had various injuries that would without a doubt scar, even in the long run.

Her name was Arikia. She was a human girl, soon to be a fellow Hunter of Artemis, and one of Hippolytus’ best friends.

Visions of them running through the woods together, him pulling a knife away from her after she chopped her hair off time and time again, helping her style her hair, and even sharing a tent on her first night as a Hunter because he was the first person she was able to trust before she got her own tent.

She was his best friend. And he was hers.

He confided in her about his shaky relationship with his father, how he felt wary about his stepmother, and how he had always wished for a sister, and joining the Hunt was like finally gaining that wish tenfold.

She let him in about her old town, her friends and family that she lost, and how long she had wished for a home to go back to again after it all burned down.

Kallisto gently draped a blanket over them oke particular night where the Hunt was celebrating the first day the hunt had formed. Both had fell asleep on the grass after barely half a glass of wine.

Their senior Hunter giggled softly at the sight of them both sprawled out with their hair sticking wildly over the grass blades.

Memories of several other girls flooded his mind, his mind screaming “family” “safe” “sisters” at him with each memory. Hunting together, laughing at jokes and singing by a fire, being taught by the first lieutenant of Artemis, his sister Kallisto. And even welcoming a few new faces.

Hanging over tree branches, silly contests and challenges, opening up more about his homelife to the others as Arikia and Kallisto supported him, and serving Lady Artemis with his fullest abilities.

This was his family.

Who were they.

He needed to get back to them.

Who was he.

Where was he.

Who are you.

I’m Hippolytus. Who are you.

I’m Percy.

No you’re not.

Who are you to tell me that.

I’m you

Tell me who you really are.

I’m Hippol

y—tu

—s

—————————————————————————

Percy gasped awake again.

He groaned, checking at the bed across from him which was empty.

Grover’s probably in the bathroom.

He tiredly rolled over and tried getting some more sleep before sunrise.

Weird dreams, man, weird dreams…

Chapter Text

“Perce, you sure you’re okay?”

Grover stared worriedly at his best friend, who seemed a little pale and clammy that morning.

Percy waved him off. “I’m fine, just another bad dream. I’ll walk it off.” He threw a worn, green water bottle into his backpack. He gets cranky when he isn’t fully hydrated. He can’t imagine the amount of trouble he would get in if he was dehydrated and irritable during a trip as big as this one.

He wished he could have a blue one, but he didn’t want to bother his mom on something as small as that. Not to mention that he was anxious on how Gabe would react knowing that he wanted to waste money on “stupid things”, nevermind he does it anyway with imaginary poker

Percy instinctively scratched at his arms thinking about Gabe. It felt like something was touching his arm. (It was all over his arms, her touch, her eyes, her smile. It burned it burned it hurt so much please get it off get it off gETITOFF)

“Really? Like you walked off all those other nightmares?” Grover raised an eyebrow as he packed his own water bottle. It was more forest green with tree, animal and “save the planet” stickers plastered all over it. Similar to his own backpack. Percy was slightly jealous, but he knows better than to complain about something like lack of stickers.

Though he has been eyeing some moon ones at the student store… It wasn’t his fault they looked super cool. Just cause he isn’t gonna order doesn't mean he can’t look at the menu. And that menu is cool looking stickers.

“I’ll be fine, G-Man. I don’t even remember why I got startled by it! It’s pretty tame compared to the others now that I think about it.” Percy tried to reason, but only succeeded in making Grover look more conflicted.

Grover started wondering if he should contact camp to check if there was a Morpheus or Hypnos kid that could give some advice.

Percy continued to pack his backpack for the field trip to Metropolis Museum. Water bottle, check. Lunch, check. Some money (just in case), check…

—————————

So currently the field trip already felt like hell.

Percy leaned his head back, he felt a headache coming on already. He took his water bottle out of his backpack to take a sip. It felt a bit better. He drank a bit more.

And right beside him was Grover trying to dodge pieces of Nancy Bobofit’s peanut butter and ketchup sandwich (ew? Disgusting? What the hell?)

“You sure you don’t want me to deal with her?” Percy asked Grover, glancing back at the nasty red headed kleptomaniac who was cackling along with her equally nasty friends. “I’ve been told I have quite the right hook…”

“No, Percy, it’s fine.” Grover quickly shook his head and hands, wincing as a piece of the ungodly sandwich got stuck in another one of his curls. “I like peanut butter.”

“In your hair?” Percy raised an eyebrow and tilted his head sideways.

“…No.” Grover admitted and sighed. “Listen, we just gotta deal with this for like half an hour more. Then we’ll get off the bus and go to the museum where Mr.Brunner will keep a better eye on us.” He reasoned. Percy listened with a small frown but nodded.

“He does have the eyes of a hawk…” Percy mumbled. “I guess so. But if she does anything else, I’m throwing her out the window.” He declared with the utmost seriousness.

Grover snorted. “Thanks, dude.”

Percy wasn’t joking, but he didn’t need to correct him.


Another piece of Nancy's sandwich hit Grover's hair. Percy started to stand up but Grover quickly distracted him by asking about some facts about bears.

Percy immediately sat back down and explained every single bear fact he knew until the bus stopped.

Grover internally sighed from relief, while also mentally noting to himself to write about the facts Percy told him down in his wildlife journal that he started a while ago.

——————

As they entered the museum, Percy felt his headache come back even worse. It split through his skull and all that spilled was pure agony.

Grover looked at him in concern, Percy didn’t see it, but he shuffled closer to Percy.

“Percy?” He whispered, his worry lacing his tone.

“Mmm…” His eyes lazily trailed over the Greco-Roman artworks Mr.Brunner was talking about. His vision blurred for a second before he blinked enough for it to clear up.

“And this,” Mr.Brunner continued as he pointed to a specific sculpture that made Percy’s eyes go wide and dark. (They almost flashed baby blue with sea green and light red flecks) “Is Theseus Slaying The Minotaur, by Antoine-Louis Barye, 1843.”

Percy’s ears started muffling out noise after that, his throat felt like it was closing in on itself, even his chest pounded rapidly like when he was 8 and held a pair of scissors close to him as Smelly Gabe and his poker buddies banged at his bedroom door and laughed. Suddenly he had to leave the room as fast as possible.

He raised his hand.

“Ah, Mr.Jackson. Care to explain what myth this artpiece is referring to?” His eyes glinted with approval at the eagerly raised hand.

“Can I go to the bathroom?” Percy managed to choke out, barely able to register the slightly disappointed look on Mr.Brunner’s face.

“Are you sure? You seem to be one of the students that read up the most about the myths.” He tried to bargain, but Percy was at his limit, feeling like he was gonna burst into tears.

“Please,” he pleaded, not caring about the weird looks he got. "It's urgent.” Grover tried to gently reach out to his forearm to calm him, but Percy all but flinched away.

Mr.Brunner seemed to realize something was wrong.

“Alright then, don’t take too long.” Percy barely had time to nod before he bolted away.

Come one, bathroom, bathroom, bathroom… He couldn’t stand being in this exhibit anymore, not after seeing Him that. His eyes stung like hell and his throat felt like it was burning up. He needed to get away, now.

As he kept searching, hyper aware of each artwork (too many, there were too many around him. He was surrounded. Where were his sisters, where was Ka-ll-is-to) around him. Suddenly, he froze as his head turned to a sketching.

A young face, a quiver of arrows paired with a bow, long hair, a smile on his face.

It was…

—————————

Grover was immediately antsy as Percy practically flew away from the rest of the group.

“Chi—Mr.Brunner, may I please follow Percy?” He raised his hand and asked as politely as he could while riddled with anxiety.

Chiron nodded. “It would be useful to have help searching for the nearest bathroom.” Grover nodded back thankfully and went after Percy.

The cane was both useful and irritating in the way that it helped adjusting to the shoes and got in his way when he needed to bolt.

He couldn’t mope about it, though. He sensed just how much Percy’s entire mood shifted so quickly. It was almost scary how sudden it was, he had to check in on him.

Grover then saw one of the nearest bathrooms and checked inside.

The good news was that Percy was inside. Bad news was that he was currently bent over a sink and heaving heavily.

Grover scrambled towards him. “Percy! What happened?”

Percy’s head snapped towards Grover, causing the satyr to freeze in place as his friend stared at him as if he was a foe. The light of the bathroom made his warm green eyes an intimidating almost light blue. He reached to his back similar in a way to the Apollo campers whenever they were having archery practice.

Hippercy searched for his quiver and bow—

(where was it

he needed to wait for his sisters

where are they

where is it

he felt adrenaline fill up every single bone in his body

there was a foe but no allies

where is it

he should wait for his sisters and his Lady

k A l L I S t O would know what to do

is Arikia okay?

he missed home

where is it

he needed to get home

where is it

he needed to get back to the Hunt

where is his B o D t  A n D  s O u L—)

“…Percy?” Grover managed to bleat out.

Percy snapped out of whatever came over him, his hands falling to his sides. He blinked and his eyes were back to their usual sea green as he repositioned his head in the lighting.

“Grover.” He strained out, suddenly all the adrenaline exited his body and he was shaking, barely able to stand upright.

Grover rushed towards him and managed to catch him before he fell, Percy buried his head into his shoulder with painful, shaky breaths. Grover made sure to be careful and keep his hands on his shoulders, Percy was always especially jumpy whenever someone touched his arms in this sort of state. He learned that during their fourth night as roommates when Percy was doing breathing exercises to calm himself from yet another nightmare.

“Hey, it’s just me.” Grover tried to comfort Percy. “Can you hear me?” Percy weakly nodded with an equally small “uh-huh”. “Okay, just focus on my voice. Breathe in for three seconds, hold for another three, and then let it out, and repeat.” He started demonstrating when Percy struggled a bit at first.

As Grover listed out the breathing exercise that always seemed to calm Percy, Percy had become just quiet as he stepped away from Grover.

“Thanks…” Percy managed to mumble out, almost dazed.

“It’s no problem, man. I’m glad I could help.” Grover assured him with a smile. Percy found enough strength to smile back.

“Boys?” Grover and Percy both tensed at the voice, it was Mrs.Dodds. “Mr.Jackson? Mr.Underwood? You’re spending quite a lot of time in the bathroom.”

Damn it, how long have they been in here? And why was it Mrs.Dodds that came looking for them?

Percy was more confused than anything, while Grover stood terrified. Had she finally decided to shed out of her human skin and gobble Percy up like demigod soufflé? Could Grover even grab his reedpipes and find some sort of nature in this building fast enough to stop her.

Percy glanced back at Grover, seeing how stressed he was and thinking that he was probably worried they’d get some sort of mega math punishment. He felt bad, Grover was always majorly stressed out during their math classes like Mrs.Dodds was gonna jump him if he got an answer wrong.

Despite his usual aversion to touch (no matter how much he craved it at the same time), he tugged Grover’s sleeve before linking their pinkies as a show of support.

“Don’t worry dude, I got us covered.” He tried to comfort Grover. His best friend nodded slightly, still tense but a bit more at ease.

As they left the bathroom together, Mrs.Dodds eyes immediately locked on them with a sneer, but then she looked towards their linked pinkies and her expression blanked. Huh?

“Sorry for taking a while, Mrs.Dodds.” Grover immediately blurted out.

“I was feeling a bit ill.” Percy put on his best acting skills, trying to get them out of trouble as quickly as possible.

“I see…” Her eyes didn’t leave their linked pinkies. Percy was now feeling the discomfort of physical touch all over again. He felt like he wanted to tear his entire arm off right this second. Grover felt his discomfort and unlinked their pinkies.

Mrs.Dodds let out a sigh of relief in her mind. “Well, come on now. The trip must continue.”

They both nodded and sped off.

But Percy made a point not to look up at any of the artworks, as to not catch a glimpse of that all too young face ever again. He even made a point to avoid each horse depiction nearby, though that came more from his distaste of horses than anything. Grover was right beside him the whole time, which helped a bit.

As they found their way towards their class, they saw Mr.Brunner rolling up his wheelchair towards a stele of a young girl. Percy frowned as his brain got an unexplainable itch.

(Hippolytus watched with tears in his eyes as he held the chiseling items towards the sculpter, who was remaking the body of the dead little girl in stone. One of the girls he and his sisters failed to save from the sláve market. Arikia cried into his shoulder. She knew this girl. He may have saved Arikia, but he couldn't save her friend)

"Ah, Mr.Underwood, Mr.Jackson, care to finally rejoin us?" Mr.Brunner smiled as they approached.

Both nodded. "Yup, sorry we took a while. We... both got lost." Grover glanced back at Percy before he said the lie. His best friend was awful at lying, but by god is he a good friend and that's what matters at the end of the day.

"Oh, I'm sure." Their latin teacher gestured back to the rest of the class. Some students were snickering at whatever the hell. Percy stared back like he dared them to say something while Grover looked down at the ground.

They rejoined the group, and Mrs.Dodds seemingly materialized after they did so. Mr.Brunner then started talking about the stele of the girl their age (of the girl too young with torn bloody clothes and a permanet terrified look in her eyes).

Percy's head hurt a lot today. What a terrible day to have a field trip.

It would probably clear up by the end of the day, though.