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Percy feels like he could sleep for a thousand years after the final battle against Gaea ends. Then again, after Hera’s stunt he would be content with never sleeping again. The goddess-driven coma ought to make up for the fact he’s barely been able to sleep since the whole quest started, right? He basically passed out for the rest of the day after the battle ended, barely making it back to his cabin before wiping the fuck out.
But he can’t keep sleeping now. Annabeth is shaking him awake. And has been trying to for the past half hour. He doesn’t blame her for being annoyed though. Judging by how exhausted he is, how fucked his throat feels, and the fact his chest feels like somebody wrapped twine around his lungs, he's pretty sure he was coughing all night. Honestly, he would most literally bet his life again if he could just get to feel normal again.
Percy knows that it kept her up all night— it’s impossible to sleep through. In fact, he’s pretty confident that he’s been unintentionally keeping her up every night with coughing since the Pit destroyed his lungs even more and she's been too anxious to sleep alone. At the very least, he’s appreciative to not be stuck in the seemingly endless nightmares he’s been having anymore. It's the little things to be grateful for, right?
“Come on, Seaweed Brain, we gotta get you to Will. You sound so sick right now,” Annabeth urges, pulling the blankets off of him.
Percy wheezes out a groan, “I’m always sick, ‘Beth. Just another hour.”
“It’s already noon, Percy. Plus you haven’t even really slept, trust me. The sooner you go, the sooner you can get decent sleep,” Annabeth persists as she hands him an inhaler, “Take it, you’re gonna have an asthma attack on the way to the infirmary otherwise.”
He takes a few puffs of the inhaler as he sits at the edge of his bed, knowing that his girlfriend is definitely right, “Will has more important things than to check on my perpetually shitty lungs. I can wait.”
The two sit on the bed, Annabeth obviously skeptical of Percy’s insistence that he can wait. When he’s still heaving to take in each breath a few minutes later, she pulls Percy to his feet, “Come on, Seaweed Brain. We’ll go slow. Your breathing’s still awful.”
“My breathing’s always awful,” he argues.
Annabeth rolls her eyes, “Yeah, but now you have an actual infirmary and not a measly medbay. Let me help you, please Percy.”
Percy sighs before he wraps his arm around Annabeth’s shoulders, who places her arm around his waist. From the outside, it looks like they’re just a cute couple going on a leisurely walk together. In reality, they both silently know he needs the support to make it to the infirmary. Even though he’s grown to be comfortable with his diagnoses, he still doesn’t love everybody knowing how vulnerable he is. By the time that they approach the infirmary, Percy’s looks like he just ran a marathon. A young camper he doesn’t recognize is sitting at the front desk and their eyes widen upon seeing the couple.
Before they can speak, Annabeth cuts in “Can you get Will? Tell him it’s Percy.”
“O-Of course! Right away!” they respond, scurrying away.
Will rushes out and takes one look at Percy before ushering them to the closest bed. He quickly connects an oxygen line to the nebulizer machine and hands the mask to Percy, “Dude, you sound miserable. Why didn’t you come to me earlier?”
“I was sleeping,” Percy hoarsely replies.
Annabeth scoffs, “He barely slept, he spent all night coughing. He spent the whole quest coughing, actually. I can’t believe you thought this could wait, Percy.”
“Can I touch your back? I need to feel what’s going on,” Will asks, Percy nodding in agreement. The medic places his hands over his lungs and sighs, “Yeah that’s what I suspected. You’ve got a ton of crap built up and new scarring, probably from everything sitting in your lungs for so long. I’m surprised you could even walk here. I can do some healing and percussion to help you out. Hopefully get you breathing a bit better.”
Percy reluctantly agrees with a groan, “It hurts so much, though.”
“I know, I’m sorry, do you want more privacy?” Will offers, Percy nods again, “Annabeth, you wanna wait on the porch?”
Annabeth squeezes Percy’s hand and leaves. Will helps Percy get to the private room. He feels embarrassed that he can’t even make it across the Big House without Will and the oxygen flow. Everything about this feels embarrassing knowing that there's no way he can hide this anymore. What if they all think you're lying for attention?
“It’s the post-prophecy crash, you know it. Happens to you every time you’ve come back from a quest or finished a war,” Will says, “I’d ask how you’re doing, but I’m getting a picture that it’s not too great.”
Percy laughs, which makes him cough even more, “What gave it away?”
“Healer intuition, what can I say? You know the drill: regular chest percussion that we’ve done before but I use my powers to help break it up more. You can tell me to stop at any time for a break,” Will summarizes as Percy lays down.
See, it’s not the actual act of Will basically beating the shit out of Percy that hurts— it’s the coughing that it causes. A couple times on the Argo, he tried to do it to himself out of desperation for anything to work so he could sleep. So he could just fucking breathe and not feel like he's drowning. He hates being on land and feeling like he's drowning.
It scared the shit out of Annabeth. She gets scared every time he coughs, though. Percy figures it’s best for everybody that she doesn't see how bad it actually can be, that he was trying to hold it back on the Argo. She hates seeing that Percy’s actually as sick as he is. That he always feels horrible. When Will starts, Percy loses all track of time.
Will stops for the final time and Percy looks at the clock to see an hour has passed. It took longer than usual because Percy needed more breaks than he used to need— he's just grateful he didn't get sick from it. Even though he feels exhausted, he’s breathing a lot better. He still doesn’t feel as great as he hoped, but Percy figures it’s just because the Tartarus air caused more damage than he realized.
“I know you just got back, but I want you to get back on your routine in the morning and after dinner. And don’t go sparring or anything. You might feel better than it did earlier today, but you need time to get back to baseline,” Will instructs.
“I know, I know. I just fell asleep yesterday before I could do anything. I need new supplies though. I think all my stuff was brought back here after I disappeared,” Percy responds.
“Speaking of falling asleep, how’s your energy been?” Will asks, “Your ME cannot possibly be happy with another quest.”
Percy groans, “Fucking abyssmal. Some fucked up god must be stringing me along for some fucked up game because the fact that I’m not in straight up crashing to severe right now is a miracle. I’m so fucking tired all the time and haven’t’ gotten good rest since I disappeared,” the words leave his mouth before he has the chance to filter himself.
Will gets this look like he wants to lecture Percy but doesn’t wanna actually do it. That’s a common thing. Like when he learned that Percy was basically drowning in his own lungs right up until getting the Curse of Achilles. Or when Percy went on multiple health-endangering quests. Or when he insisted that the Curse basically cured him (it didn’t).
Well, Percy is nothing if not good at being a disappointment and a problem.
“I’ll arrange for some more support so you can rest in your cabin, like meals being dropped off. Please, I beg, get some actual rest,” Will all but gets on his knees pleading.
“Thanks, I really appreciate it. I’ll try,” Percy doesn’t make any promises.
“Of course, I’ll be right back with that all. You want Annabeth to come back?” Will asks, Percy nodding in response.
Will leaves, and less than a minute later Annabeth comes through the door and hugs Percy, “You sound a lot better now, you’ve been so sick lately.”
Percy shrugs, “It happens, I'm always sick. Just got worse after losing the curse and everything else that happened. But Will’s bringing back more of my meds, should help. And resting.”
Right on cue, the medic walks in with a bin labeled with neat Ancient Greek letters that's filled to the brim with the meds and supplies that were missing from his cabin.
“Chiron brought them back here to restock the infirmary assuming you’d check in here before going to your cabin. My bad, I should’ve made sure you had everything,” Will explains.
“You were busy, don’t sweat it. I made it here eventually,” Percy replies, rubbing his chest to try to relieve some of the pain, “I think I'm gonna eat lunch and go back to sleep until the funerals tonight.”
Will nods with approval and the couple make their way to the Mess Hall, where Jason is sitting at the Poseidon table. Annabeth goes to grab a plate for Percy, noticing how exhausted he looks.
“Hey, what’s up?” Percy asks.
“Nothing much, been busy talking with Reyna and helping with the treaties. You look like crap, though.” Jason responds.
“Eh, it’s normal. I just need some sleep,” Percy dismisses him.
Jason shoots him a skeptical look, “...Didn’t you just sleep for like 16 hours straight?”
Annabeth sets a plate in front of Percy and sits next to him, “Arguably, he didn’t sleep at all. But you'll be able to get some actual rest soon,” she punctuates with a kiss on Percy’s cheek.
“Yeah, hopefully. Breathing a lot better now. Apollo powers go wild,” Percy jokes.
The three eat their lunch as they chat, parting ways as they finish. Percy urges Annabeth to go check on her siblings and cabin, while Jason needs no urging to go back to the chaos of peace treaties. Percy walks back to Cabin 3 and sits at the fountain adjusting a prism until a rainbow forms.
“O Fleecy, do me a solid. Show me Sally Jackson in Manhattan,” he says as he flips a drachma into the rays.
Before his eyes, an image of his mom sitting in the living room with Paul appears, they seem to be watching some reality TV show together. Percy feels bad interrupting, and almost waves the message away but the stray mist from the image makes him cough for a second.
“Percy! Oh my goodness, it’s you!” Sally exclaims, noticing the Iris message.
“Hi mom, I love you. I missed you. I made it. There was this whole prophecy, the world almost ended, the usual. How are things?” Percy replies.
Sally beams, “Much better now that we’ve heard from you! Reid and his dad still come over once a week for dinner, they'll be thrilled to see you again.”
“I really miss them too,” Percy smiles.
“Percy! It’s good to see you bud, I’m so glad you’re okay. You sound wheezier than last time we heard from you, how are you feeling?” Paul asks.
“Eh, it’s been… I’ve been better. But one of Apollo’s kids, Will, just helped me out so I’m breathing a lot better than I have been the past couple months. Lost the Curse of Achilles, by the way, so yeah,” Percy explains, “I forgot how shitty it feels to not be able to breathe and be so fucking tired. But I finally have my meds again, so I’m hoping it’ll get a little better soon. How pissed is Goode now that I missed basically my entire Junior year?”
Sally grimaces, “I’m sorry sweetie. We tried our best, but it’ll take some kind of miracle for them to let you back in. They weren’t happy that they couldn’t reach you like they could before when you’d miss a lot. I’m sorry.”
Percy sighs. He's disappointed, but not surprised, “Nah it’s not your fault. I should’ve expected it. I was on thin ice with attendance before missing six months. Maybe it’ll be better for me this way?”
“Yeah, like a new chapter. We can find another school that’s better for what you need. Plus, I got the professor gig at NYU! So this was my last academic year at Goode,” Paul adds.
“Congrats! I’m glad that worked out. Gods, school. Annabeth really wants me to graduate with her next year and then go to New Rome University with her but school just destroys me and I’m too dumb to miss as many classes as I need to miss because I’m always so sick,” Percy anxiously rambles.
“You're not dumb, schools just don’t teach you in the ways you need. You're smart, Perce,” Sally asserts, “But it sounds like this school thing is stressing you a lot.”
Percy hesitates before he continues, “...I don't think I can do school. I wanna take a break. Maybe wait to see if I can call in a favor for a monster-proof laptop and do online school? Reid said that the Virtual Academy was really good for once they got his accommodations sorted. It’s just so hard for me to sit through a school day. I could barely do it before, and after this quest I feel even worse.”
“I’m sorry you feel so awful, I wish I could be there with you. Your plan with school sounds perfect, sweetheart. We'll do what it takes to figure it out,” says Sally.
Percy sighs, “Annabeth is going to be so disappointed. I think this dream of New Rome literally got her through this war.”
“I’m sure she’ll understand if you explain it,” Sally tries to comfort Percy.
“That’s the thing though— she doesn’t understand at all. I love her, and sometimes it’s like she purposely forgets that I’m chronically ill now. Today, she woke me up to drag me to the infirmary because she said I sounded really sick and was coughing all night. I always cough all night! Let me sleep! And I’m always really sick! Which she would know if she had talked to me literally at all before Manhattan!” Percy, ironically, has to pause to cough.
He's still bitter about that whole sophomore year where she completely dodged every time he tried to talk to her. Is he happy he became best friends with Reid as a result? Of course. Did he also just need somebody who understood what he was going through on the Greek side? Desperately.
“I just feel like I did at the end of sophomore year. She gets so freaked out whenever she hears me wheezing or coughing, which is basically all the time. I’m not actually mad at her or anything, I know she's worried because she loves me. I just… it’s a huge part of me for her to miss,” he sadly sighs.
Sally and Paul both nod understandingly, but it's Paul who speaks up, “It's okay for you to be mad about it. Getting mad doesn't make you a bad person, it means you're rightfully frustrated that she thinks you should be healthy.”
“She thinks I'm still like I was when we first met, and I'm just not. I'm sick now. The idea of going back to school, let alone college, sounds horrible for me. But she loves learning, and I love that she loves it. I don't wanna ruin that for her. But gods I just feel so, so sick all the time,” Percy’s just exhausted at this point.
“We can help you tell her when that time comes, Perce. You need to put your health first right now, which I know she’ll understand because she loves you. Now, when can I come see you? It’s been far too long,” Sally switches the topic.
“Maybe a week after the final war council meeting? I don’t know, sorry. I need to find Nico for that to happen but the infirmary needs to clear out but then the Romans need to figure everything out but I want to get myself back to a better place before I spend time with you because I don’t want to just laze around doing nothing all day and—”
“Percy, take a breath. It’s okay. We’ll figure it out later. I'll come to you anytime, anywhere, dear. Whenever you’re ready. I’ll always love you, no matter what. And if lazing around watching movies is what can happen, then I’ll be overjoyed still,” Sally cuts off her son’s anxious rambling.
Percy takes as deep of a breath he can manage, “Thanks, yeah. I love you too.”
“Is there anything I can do to help you out for now?” Sally asks, “I'm already gonna send you some food, your favorites, for your freezer.”
“Can you formalize my medical leave from school and apply for AAR with the MTA for me? And can you tell Reid that I’m back and I’ll try to call soon? I guess you can tell other people too, but Reid first,” he rubs at his chest, it's really starting to hurt again.
“Of course, sweetheart. I can tell you're running out of steam, I'll let you go,” his mom warmly replies, “Keep breathing, I love you always and forever.”
“I’ll talk to you soon, promise. Love you too,” Percy tiredly smiles, waving the image away.
As the image disappears, Percy crawls into his bed and immediately falls asleep. Surprisingly, he doesn’t have any dreams. When he’s awoken a few hours later, the dinner horn is blaring through the camp. Feeling vaguely refreshed for the first time since the quest started, he makes his way to the Mess Hall and joins Jason at the Poseidon table.
“Sleep well?” Jason asks.
“Yeah, I actually did for once. Peace treaties finished?” Percy replies.
“Just about, just needs last signatures. Yours included, part of the Seven and all. I haven't been able to find Nico though, they need him too. I do not miss all the bureaucracy of being a Praetor,” Jason complains.
Percy looks around the tables, not spotting the son of Hades, “He's probably doing the funeral rites tonight, you can catch him then. I've gotta talk to him too.”
Dinner comes to an end as the sun begins to set. Gradually, all the Greeks and Romans make their way to the amphitheater. Where the campfire usually stands are countless shroud-wrapped bodies ranging from intricate designs to a simple white cloth. Any semblance of a seating chart had been abandoned, with the cabins and cohorts mixing indiscriminately.
Percy takes a seat next to Annabeth with the rest of The Seven near the front while Jason breaks off to join the current praetors, Nico, and Chiron in the center. As the funerals begin, Nico meticulously recites the rituals in Latin and Ancient Greek, inviting siblings and cohort members to say a few words about each person before burning their shroud. The sound of soft cries fills the air. It almost sounds like Nico is getting choked up, stopping every once in awhile to clear his throat or muffle a cough.
Percy is ashamed to admit he doesn’t recognize the vast majority of the fallen Greeks and Romans. He’s heard of a few of them, but by and large none of them had ever talked to him much. The Romans didn’t trust him because of his heritage and most of the Greeks who didn’t fight in the last war were too intimidated by his feats against Kronos to say more than a few words to him.
About halfway through the funerals, all the smoke from the shrouds starts to really get to Percy. He starts to rub his chest and sips on some water, hoping it will be enough to get him through the rest of the rites. Annabeth notices and shoots him a concerned look, then starts to rub his back.
Percy leans over to rest his elbows on his knees to focus on breathing, his wheezing becoming more and more noticeable as the funerals continue. He's just praying he can keep his shit together until the funerals end and he can go back to his cabin to be miserable alone. It feels like somebody's waterboarding him with muskeg water from the inside out.
When there’s about ten more left, Will nonchalantly sits on the empty side of Percy. He places a small device in the son of Poseidon’s hands and whispers to him, “Silent portable nebulizer. Albuterol. You need it right now. Come by tomorrow too.”
“Thanks,” Percy signs, holding the mask up to his face while trying to duck behind Will to avoid anybody noticing. I don’t want to take attention away from what actually matters here.
As the breathing treatment finishes, so does the last of the rites. The amphitheater bursts with overlapping conversations, giving Percy the chance to finally cough without hundreds of demigods and legacies staring at him like he’s a total freak. Garnering attention would also mean everybody finding out how sick he is at the same time, and he's not ready for that quite yet.
Annabeth pulls him closer to her, “I thought Will helped you earlier today?”
“He did, the smoke is just messing with me a lot,” Percy replies.
Annabeth raises an eyebrow, “It never bothered you that much before though?”
“Eh, I could just hide it better back then. Smoke’s always been a trigger, nothing I can’t handle,” Percy shrugs and gives her a kiss.
At that, Jason approaches the couple with Nico and Reyna following closely behind. He shoves a pile of documents and a pen into Percy’s hands, “Percy, you need to sign the treaties. Basically gives credit for building the relationship between Greeks and Romans and mutual membership to both camps.”
Percy turns away and coughs for a couple minutes. Ignoring the worried looks from Jason and Reyna, he picks up the pen and flips through the papers to see that it’s just missing his signature. A pang of guilt pulses through him for making everybody wait on him.
“Oh, Nico, been looking for you. The quest debrief. We should— shit what’s the word— Same? Coordinate? So it’s faster. Tomorrow morning I’ll be in the infirmary. For three hours? I dunno. Can you meet then? You should get checked out too,” Percy looks up to see Nico looking almost as dazed as Percy feels, “Nico? Nico di Angelo? You there?”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah. Uh, maybe? I don’t know. I’ll tell you tomorrow,” Nico replies.
Percy gives a thumbs up, “All chill, just meet me there if you can. I’mma get there around 10.”
Nico clears his throat, “Okay. Also uh… I think I should clear the air. Since I’m staying this year. For a long time, I had a crush on you. Just wanted you to know. I don’t anymore, I’m over that and I’m happy for you guys.”
“Wait, does that mean-”
“Yeah. But it’s cool, we’re cool. You’re cool, not my type though.”
“Wait, not your, are you-”
“I gotta get going, see you around,” Nico waves, then turns and gives a polite nod, “Annabeth.”
Annabeth moves to give Nico a high five before the boy shadow travels away. She turns to her boyfriend with a stern face, “So, Seaweed Brain. Do you have plans to say a real sentence to Nico at any point?”
“My brain isn’t working right now, give me a break. But I will tomorrow if I see him at the infirmary,” Percy replies.
“I was wondering, what do you need to do at the infirmary that’ll take three hours?” Annabeth asks genuinely.
Percy doesn’t have the energy to have the normal patience he tries to uphold, “I feel like shit. I can’t breathe so I can’t think. I’m so fucking tired but I can’t stay asleep for more than a few hours. I thought I just needed a good CPT session since it helped earlier today, but I just had another attack. Something’s really wrong. I’ll be fine for the night, but I really need to figure out something that works other than Will beating the shit out of me for an hour twice a day.”
“What?!”
“CPT? Chest Percussion Therapy. You remember when I was hitting my chest on the Argo to make myself cough? It’s that. He doesn’t actually beat me up and it doesn’t hurt that much, I promise. It helps me a lot, but takes a lot of his time and my time. I’m gonna see if there’s something I can do by myself.”
“I still don’t understand why it’ll take three hours, I don’t remember your appointments ever taking that long before.”
“I’m pretty sure he wants me to do some tests, which takes awhile because my lungs really suck. Then another CPT session, which takes an hour. Then he’s gonna make me walk through the whole new routine he’s probably gonna start me on, which usually takes another hour with all his explaining and the interruptions he gets.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“Nah it’s okay, Wise Girl. It’ll be boring and mostly me just coughing up shit for three hours. I’ll see tomorrow prolly, okay babe?”
Percy and Annabeth slowly walk back towards Cabin 3 now that the crowd has thinned out enough that they can easily move around. It’s nearly curfew at this point. When they make it inside the Cabin, Percy immediately beelines to where his meds are and starts another breathing treatment, connecting an oxygen line to it.
“It’s that bad right now?” Annabeth nervously asks, pacing the room.
“I’ll be okay soon enough, I promise ‘Beth,” Percy reassures her, “It’s just hard right now. Come sit down, pacing isn’t doing either of us any good.”
“How are you going to do school if you’re like this?” she questions as she sits next to Percy, rubbing his back.
“I’ll figure it out when I need to, I’ve been sick and in school before,” Percy says, avoiding the truth, “You should head to your cabin. It's gonna be more coughing than sleeping tonight. I’m also gonna need oxygen all night and the machine’s loud. You need to sleep, Wise Girl.”
“I don’t wanna leave you alone like this, Percy.”
“I’m never alone here, my dad’s watching. Plus I can page Will if it gets really bad. Go get some real sleep, I love you.”
“...Fine, but I’ll see you tomorrow. I’m leaving my phone here, call Malcolm if you need me. Take care, love you too.”
At that, Annabeth kisses the top of Percy’s head and leaves as the sound of final warnings before curfew blare through the camp outside. Percy slips an oxygen mask over his face, pulls a blanket over him, and curls up on his couch half-sitting up. He can never really lay down when he can't breathe like this.
As he predicted, he wakes up every couple of hours coughing up a lung and has a couple different asthma attacks where he almost pages Will with a 911. He doesn't. He just coughs until he pukes, decides he's too tired to deal with it, and drifts out of consciousness again. It takes every part of him to resist his body's cries for medication in favor of accurate tests.
By 10AM he’s at his wit’s end with his lungs. I can’t believe some smoke messed me up this much. Am I going to need to take another Styx bath to breathe again? Forcibly shoving those thoughts aside, he heads to the infirmary. Once again, he’s breathless by the time he arrives to see Will Solace at the front desk.
“Hey Percy, let’s head to a private room,” Will says as he stands up to support the older demigod. When they arrive at the room, Will hands Percy an oxygen mask, “No treatments yet today, right? I wanna do some lung function tests. It’s okay if you have, though. I can tell it was a hard night.”
“Nothing after curfew. Just oxygen all night. Figured you wanted to test,” Percy replies between wheezes, “It was a really bad night.”
The healer nods sympathetically and starts administering the tests. Will’s powers are wildly strong, but not so strong that he can instantly diagnose or read the nitty gritty of lung function beyond oxygen levels. After all, he’s a demigod, not Apollo himself. Since Percy still has to get doctors and schools to believe him in the mortal world, he has to do pulmonary function tests every couple of months.
He hates it. They make him feel even worse and always make him nearly, or actually, throw up from coughing so much. It always takes him at least an hour because they have to be more thorough on account of his disaster lungs. But thankfully Will takes a couple of shortcuts using his powers, so it goes slightly faster than with his mortal pulmonologist.
When they’re done, Will is frowning at the computer monitor, “Your maximum lung function is at 53% on the optimistic side. Realistically, it’s more like 48% in practical usage. With the Styx you were at 87%, before that your best after my dad’s last intervention was 73%, pre-intervention you were at 59% How the Hades are you walking around right now?”
Percy scoffs, “Barely at all. Spite. With a whole lotta breaks and coughing.”
Will signs to himself as he formulates a plan. After a few minutes, he clasps his hands together and speaks, “So the good news is that we can get your PFTs up, unlike mortals who are usually SOL. Like you know, it won’t be perfect, but I’m hoping to get you back around 70% function or above eventually. It’s gonna be a lot of work,” Will warns.
Percy nods, “More than right before The Styx?”
Will nods as he continues explaining the changes, “When you wake up, do a saline treatment with the percussion vest or CPT. Then get ready for your day and do the routine you were doing before in the morning. Treatments every 4 hours and your normal night routine with the vest or CPT added too. You know your body pretty well, so you can start cutting down the extra stuff as you see fit. But, no strenuous activity until we do more PFTs and you’re at least at a solid 62%. Got it?” Will concludes his monologue.
“Damn, I guess it really is that bad. You got me on what your dad had me doing at the end of my sophomore year and then some.”
“Yeah Jackson, it’s that bad. You’d be hospitalized indefinitely in the mortal world. I have literally no clue how you're up and walking. Any questions?”
“Oxygen?”
“As needed, prolly all night. I’d also love it if you'd carry around an oxygen concentrator just in case, I have a handheld one like the nebulizer I gave you yesterday you can have. Also you should probably carry that around too, it just seems like your triggers are affecting you a lot more severely and suddenly. Now, I can do a CPT session and then you can give the new morning routine a shot?”
“Will do. And yeah, the smoke messed with me more than I expected. And you don’t have to do CPT if you don’t have time, there’s probably other patients.”
“My siblings can take care of it for now. You’re a great patient, this is basically a break. We gotta catch up, anyways,” Will happily says, handing Percy a box of tissues.
“...I threw up a few times last night. I might need something more,” Percy admits.
The healer flashes a thumbs up and hands him a few of these plastic barf bags. Usually he gets given a trash can or something, so maybe this is an upgrade.
Will starts the CPT, “I’m staying all year again. I still have that deal with Texas Deaf schools, so I get class packets from them instead of Chiron. He still sucks at ASL, but nobody’s surprised about that. This year, I get to take Honors Health! I’m less excited about econ, maybe I can get Cecil to help me with that. I’m taking AP Lang and AP Psych too this year.”
“They let you do it all without being there?” Percy questions in shock.
“Yeah! A lot of farmers have Deaf kids, so they know how to deal with kids needing to miss school. They just assume my mom travels a lot, so I just fax them my work once a month and occasionally send a video or do a video call. It’s great. I’m really lucky that I don’t need to worry about faking a diploma.”
“My school just kicked me out because I missed too much. But they’ve wanted to do that since I got sicker. I didn’t know schools could just… do that. Just send you the work like that and it’s no big deal. No expulsion required.”
“That’s such bullshit, and probably illegal if you want me to get into disability law with you. So, what are you gonna do next year?”
“I still feel too foggy from last night to understand all of that. But school. If you ask Annabeth, I’m going back home with her to graduate on time and then go to NRU. But honestly? I told my mom I wanna drop out. I’m too sick to sit through school days and I'm too dyslexic for packets like you do. I might try to call in a favor for a monster-proof laptop for online school, since those have screen readers and I won’t have to worry about missing school.”
“Being chronically ill and in school is really hard, and being a demigod makes it even harder. I’d take a break if I were you too. I like your plan though, then you could move between camp and your mom’s whenever. Plus I’m sure Nyssa would be down for the challenge for a laptop, she’s been developing the tech for a phone for a while.”
“I was gonna ask her dad, but Nyssa sounds a lot easier to ask. It really does sound great, my mom says that too. I just wish I could figure out how to tell Annabeth.”
“Yeah she seems… impressively clueless about chronic illness despite being a daughter of Athena. I’m sorry! That was too blunt for hearing people. Annabeth is great. I don’t mean to—”
Percy cuts off Will with a wheezy laugh, “It’s okay, Solace. You said what I’ve been thinking. She just gets so worried every time the COPD-asthma combo shows. It’s ‘cause she loves me, but damn the C stands for chronic for a reason, yanno? She worries like it’s something totally new every time. I’m always sick.”
Will laughs, “A lot of people out there have a hard time conceptualizing that chronic actually means you always feel sick and are always in pain. Still frustrating though. I can help you with that sometime. Like talk to her about it or add a disability justice unit of the required first aid class the senior campers have to take every year?”
“My mom’s gonna help me figure out how to tell her, but the class sounds good. And I think I just need to start being more honest with her about how I feel, get her used to it yanno? I really want her to get it and not be so afraid.”
“Sweet, I was already trying to plan that new unit so even better. Well if you ever need anybody to explain in excruciating detail your chronic illnesses, their symptoms, their causes, and their treatments, then I’m your guy!” Will jokes with a cheeky grin.
Percy laughs, “You joke, but I might have to take you up on that. Annabeth loves knowing everything about things once you get her going.”
The two continue chatting through the rest of Percy’s treatments, Will advising Percy to stay away from any triggers for the time being. It feels nice to catch up with Will. He always treats Percy so normally without ignoring the fact he’s sick and always knows how to balance what Percy’s complaining about with his medic talk.
It’s what makes him a good friend and a good healer. When he's with Will, it feels like talking with his family or the handful of mortal family friends he has. They all know that he’s sick and doesn’t like to see him struggling, but also doesn’t treat him like he’s about to break or something. It makes Percy feel normal for once.
After finishing all his treatments, Will sends him off with another basket full of machines of varying portability, the percussion vest, CPT cups, more meds, extra masks and mouthpieces, another Acapella, and other various supplies that Will felt like throwing in.
Percy drops off the haul at his cabin and decides to rest for a little. Even though it’s only the first day of the new treatment plan, he’s already feeling a lot better than he did yesterday. Then again, that's a low standard. In hindsight, he really felt awful.
Putting everything away has made him fucking exhausted, though. No amount of sleep is feeling like enough right now. It hasn’t felt like enough since the whole Great Prophecy Round Two started. The pre-funeral nap was a fluke of low standards.
Percy flops down in bed, then remembers that Annabeth left her phone with him. He should morally call Reid. Luckily, he has Reid’s number written down on a scrap of paper he keeps in his nightstand, so he doesn’t have to risk trying an IM that might trigger Reid’s photosensitivity.
The phone starts ringing and, inconveniently, Percy has to immediately mute so he can cough up some shit. That’s what he gets for laying down, he supposes. Oh shit, he didn’t text ahead so Reid knows it’s not spam. He really hopes he answers anyways, he misses his voice.
“Hi?” Reid questions while Percy’s still trying to catch his breath.
Percy’s immediately just overcome with emotions. Joy, grief, relief, melancholy— everything, “Fuck, dude. I missed you,” his voice sounds so fucked, but whatever.
“Percy?! Is that you?!” Reid excitedly realizes, “Holy fuck, hi. Oh my god! Hi!”
“It’s me, yeah,” Percy can’t help but fondly chuckle at the sound of his best friend’s voice. He missed him so much, he doesn’t care that it strains his lungs more, “It’s damn good to hear your voice, Reid.”
“It’s good to hear your voice too, whose phone is this?” Reid asks, skipping right to the point like he always does. It’s one of the many things that Percy likes about him— he doesn’t beat around the bush.
“Annabeth’s cell, her dad’s in California,” explains Percy.
He wants to ask how Reid’s doing like a good friend would, but Percy’s lungs are apparently anti-being-polite and decide right now’s a great time to start freaking the fuck out. Maybe calling wasn’t the best idea, but the idea of having to put together his thoughts enough to email Reid sounded awful. So what if it fucks him over a little?
After probably too many puffs of his inhaler, Percy more or less catches his breath. Well, he stops coughing and is just wheezing now, “Sorry, been sicker,” he hopes the point gets across enough.
“Don't be sorry. Your lungs sound trashed, bro. As much as I wanna talk more, I get it that you're prolly busy and that post-quest is always hard on you. Email when you can, yeah? I’m doing okay, I’m not going anywhere,” Reid replies, always having the right words to say.
“I'm glad you're alive, talk soon, love you,” Percy has so much more he wants to talk about and it’s so fucking annoying that he can’t right now. As if the gods haven’t taken enough from him over the past months, now he can’t even catch up with his best friend?
“Love you too, be alive the next time I see you too, okay?” Reid reciprocates the sentiment, then ends the phone call.
Percy isn’t really sure when he falls asleep, he just knows that at some point his body’s exhaustion outweighs the feeling of drowning in his own lungs. It’s fucking awful. He hates this so fucking much. He just wants to be with his family again, he wants Annabeth to get it, he wants something to stay.
Whatever, he falls asleep before his brain can spiral too much.
When Percy wakes up, it’s because some meal bell is going off. Who’s to say which? Looking at his clock, the answer is dinner. Whoops, slept through lunch. It looks like nobody dropped off food yet, so he has to drag his ass to the Mess Hall. It’s fine, he likes sitting with his girlfriend. Plus, it’s not like she won’t be willing to hang out with him the next few days while he rests, right?
Getting to the Mess Hall feels like climbing another fucking mountain, as if he hasn’t been there done that already. When he sees Annabeth, it feels like a weight off his soldiers and like maybe, just maybe, he can breathe.
Percy sneaks up to the Athena table and hugs Annabeth from behind, “Hey Wise Girl, missed you.”
“Seaweed Brain,” Annabeth looks up and softly touches his face as she kisses him, “Feeling better?”
Percy grins, “Always feel better with you.”