✶

her gentle voice is what pushes you over the edge, breaking down in tears in front of her.

sally pulls you over the doorstep and closes the door. she pulls you into a hug, not caring that you're soaked.

you wrap your arms around her and cry. you let all of the anxiety rush out of you as sally rubs circles on your back and whispers soft words in your ear. you ignore your aching body and allow yourself to just be here in the moment.

after a while, sally pulls back and holds you at an arms length.

'I'm so sorry for dropping in like this, miss jackson.' you say softly.

'y/n, you know you're always welcome here. and I've told you to call me sally.' she says kindly.

you nod. 'is percy home?'

'he's out to the movies with grover. do you want me to ask him to come home?'

'no, he's out having fun. it's alright. could I just..'

'why don't you take a shower first, hm? I bet you're freezing.'

you sigh softly. that does sound good.

'yeah, alright.'

'you go take a shower, then I'll make tea and see if I can do something about that.'

she pointedly looks at the cut above your brow. you totally forgot that was there.

'I don't have any clothes.' you say softly.

'that's alright, just borrow some from percy. he won't mind.' says sally.

'thank you.'

you walk towards percy's room to get some clothes when sally calls your name, making you turn around again.

'you're not a burden, you know that right. we love having you over.' says sally.

you swallow back the new tears that threaten to fall. sometimes you forget she knows you so well.

'thanks.' you say, entering percy's room to get some clothes.

you pick a shirt, sweater and sweatpants form percy's closet before going into the bathroom.

you peel your soaked clothes from your body, hissing when you pull the fabric from your wounds.

turning on the water, you get in the shower, letting the water calm you down. you wash off all of the dried blood, dirt and sweat.

after drying off you put on percy's clothes, his scent surrounding you and comforting you.

you head back to the living room to find sally putting two steaming mugs on the table.

'we still got your favorite.' she says, sliding your mug towards you.

'thanks.'

'drink up, and tell me about today if you want. I'll see if we have some medical stuff left in the kitchen.'

you sigh, thinking back to today.

'I didn't even do anything.' you say. 'I was just walking down the road and I got this feeling I was being watched. I thought it wasn't a big deal but hey, demigod instinct, so I took a turn and went into an alley. sure enough, someone followed me.'

'someone or something?' says sally, returning with the first aid kit.

'someone at first. then the mist cleared and it was one of the furies.' you say. 'at that point I was just so done. I wasn't even on a quest so what the hell was she doing there?'

'how did you get away? you've fought a fury before, percy told me.' says sally, scooting her chair closer to you so she can clean the cut on your forehead.

'I have. it's okay if it's one. but then the other two showed up.' you sigh. 'at that point I was really annoyed. I think it was just annoyance that drove me at that point. they were clearly there because they were bored. they thought "hey smells like demigod, oh look it's the hades kid, let's mess with her."

'well, you're here now. you made it out.' says sally, finishing with the cut on your forehead.

'yeah. thanks again.' you say, sipping your tea.

'you don't have to keep thanking me.' says sally. 'you know you're always welcome here, you're practically family. I know you don't like your foster home. now, do you have any other wounds?'

you chuckle. 'only about two dozen little cuts and even more bruises. I've had worse, it's okay.' you say.

'it's never okay.' says sally. 'you and percy are way too young for this.'

you shrug. 'and yet we have to deal with it.' you say, rolling up your sleeves so sally can clean and bandage the cuts on your arms.

the next hour is spent by sally cleaning your wounds and bandaging you up as she tells you stories. you liked hearing her stories. ever since you first met her, it was one of your favorite things about her. she could tell stories in a way that felt like you were actually there, experiencing them.

just as she secures the last bandage in place, you briefly close your eyes, exhaustion getting to you.

'you can get some sleep, I'll tell percy when he gets home.' says sally.

'it's okay, I want to see him before I go to bed.' you say.

'alright, want to watch a movie of something?'

'movie sounds great.'

sally picks a movie while you sit down on the couch. it doesn't take long for you to doze off, even though you fight to stay awake. the fight with the furies was intense, so sally lets you sleep while she waits for percy to home home.

about halfway through the movie, the door to the apartment opens and percy enters.

'hey mom.' he says, taking off his shoes and jacket and dumping his bag near the door.

as he walks into the room, he notices a familiar sword leaning against the back of the couch. he frowns, he didn't know you were coming.

'is y/n here?' he says, walking over to his mom.

she nods, pointing to the couch.

percy looks over the back of the couch to find you fast asleep, wearing his clothes and your body littered in bandages and bruises.

'what happened?' says percy, walking around the couch.

'the three furies.' says sally. 'she didn't feel like going to her foster home.'

percy kneels before the couch, studying your face. he reaches out and traces one of the bruises on your cheek.

you stir awake from the movement, your eyes meeting percy's.

'hi.' you say softly.

'hey. you alright?' he says.

you nod. 'how was the movie?'

percy chuckles. 'it was good. you would have loved it. heard you got in a fight?'

'yeah. those damned furies.' you say. 'luckily your mom patched me up though.'

'you know my bed is more comfortable than the couch, right?' says percy.

you slowly sit up. 'I know. I wanted to stay awake til you got home.'

'and you did a great job at that.' says percy with a familiar twinkle in his eyes.

you hit him on the shoulder. 'you would have fallen asleep as well!'

sally watches the exchange with a smile on her face. moments like these make her especially happy you met percy.

'come on.' says percy, standing up and holding out his hand for you to take.

you take it and allow percy to gently pull you to your feet.

'thanks again sally.' you say as percy beings leading you to his bedroom to sleep in an actual bed.

'no need to thank me y/n. it's always good to have you around, even if it's like this.'

you and percy both say goodnight to her before entering percy's room.

'so, did you sugarcoat the story for my mom?' he says as you sit down on this bed.

'not really, I just didn't tell her all of the details.' you say.

percy raises an eyebrow at you. 'details like?'

'like how one of them punched me in the gut and I nearly threw up because of it.' you say.

'ew.' says percy, face scrunching up in disgust.

'you would have thrown up as well.' you say.

'but you managed to fend off all three furies on your own?' he says.

you nod, laying down. 'I think I bruised a rib, though. the rest is all small cuts and bruises. no broken bones this time. they looked like they were really fucking annoyed they could be bested by just one kid.' you say.

percy smiles, walking over to kiss your cheek, careful not to touch the wounds on your face. 'that's my girl.' he says.

'you got anything to do tomorrow?' you say, stifling a yawn.

'nope. we can spend the day here.' he says, walking over to the bed an laying down next to you.

'good.' you say. 'I just need to wash my clothes and clean my sword, and I should probably-' 'y/n.'

you look at percy.

'let's just relax tomorrow, okay? come on, you need sleep.'

you nod, moving closer to him.

as you're laying next to percy, feeling sleep get to you once more, you can't help but to feel a deep sense of gratitude.

sally didn't question why you showed up at her doorstep, but pulled you in her arms and sat with you to bandage your wounds and listen to your story.

percy listened to you as well and provided you familiar comfort you needed, telling you to relax.

you just know if something ever goes wrong, you're always welcome at the jackson household.

percy was silent, and you were about to apologize for even asking as you thought about fifty different ways to bury yourself alive when you noticed his cheeks were tinged an adorable shade of pink. maybe the moon was driving you crazy. or maybe it was rooting for you, who knows?

after percy safely parked the car on the side of the road, he faced you and finally replied, “depends on why you’d be kissing me. wouldn’t wanna be a rebound for you, y’know?”

ah yes, the reason why you were in his car in the first place. after you discovered percy was going to homecoming with annabeth chase of all people, you found some random guy to go with too. at the time, you’d hoped he’d be jealous, but now you weren’t sure why you even went in the first place. anyways, about an hour in you found your prince not-so-charming making out with some girl, and that’s when the waterworks started.

you weren’t upset that this guy was kissing another girl. you couldn’t care less about him, that was your problem. you couldn’t believe that you - the girl who vowed to go to dances either alone or with the guy of her dreams - would do something like this.

percy ended up walking in on this scene (which caused you to cry even more), assumed the wrong thing, took you by the hand and dragged you out of there, which is how you ended up in your current situation: sitting in the passenger seat of percy’s car, with his hoodie thrown over your dress, the sleeves stained with mascara from your teary eyes.

“it wouldn’t be a rebound. to be honest with you, i don’t even know that guy,” you said, unable to face the man in front of you. if he didn’t hate you before, he’d definitely hate you now.

you expected judgement, maybe for him to kick you out of his car, but instead you received… laughter?

looking up, you found percy with the biggest smile on his face and tears quickly forming in his aquamarine eyes, “that’s hilarious! you, lovergirl herself, went to homecoming with a guy you don’t even know?” you simply sat there, unsure of what you should do. this was the moment you’d confess your undying love, and here was your love interest, laughing his ass off.

“yeah, but i had my reason. was it a good reason? not really, but in the moment it seemed like it was,” percy sobered up at your reply, quickly remembering the way you sobbed on the way out of the venue. things like this were a big deal to you. he knew that from piper, your only mutual friend and his wingwoman.

noticing the way percy’s brows furrowed as he considered prying further, you said, “i don’t mind telling you my reason, if you want. i mean, i sort of owe it to you, since it does involve you.”

at this, percy was caught off-guard. how could it involve him? sure, he had a crush on you, but you guys barely ever talked. he couldn’t imagine any way in which he’d be a part of this. you took this as a sign to continue.

“i’m not going to beat around the bush anymore, it’s cost me my true self - i really like you, percy; you could even say i’m in love with you. it’s been like this since freshman year. when i heard that you were taking annabeth to the dance, i kinda freaked and asked the first guy i saw…”

oh. oh?

“please say something,” you whispered, “you have no idea how scared i am.”

percy’s hands did the talking. words couldn’t describe how he felt at that moment. he cupped your face with his palms and began closing the distance between you.

“if i kissed you right now, would you be upset?”

“maybe?” was your immediate response, which caused the two of you to giggle, “i’m kidding, i’m nervous, sorry.”

percy smiled, and this time, you knew the moon wasn’t playing tricks on you.

"But what if I don't get the role ? What if I don't get in at all ?" You ranted, pacing around the school stadium. Sure, you'd been doing drama for years at this point, but that didn't mean that callbacks got any less nerve wracking. But, things seemed a little less stressful with a boy with unruly black hair, tinkering with something or another, sitting on the floor beside you. "You're thinking about this way too hard, mi amor. You were practically the best actor up there," he reassured, taking you hand and pulling you down next to him, "quite worrying and take a chill pill." The soft thudding of your soles against the wood stops, followed by soft sigh. You knew he was right, he usually was about this sort of things. But it did help with the frantic feeling of not knowing what was going to happen.. "You're perfectly talented, it'd take a real idiot not to cast you." He stated, smirking with a cocky expression on his face. Him and that stupid smirk. You lean your head on his shoulder, the faint, yet familiar, scent of car oil and smoke hitting your nose. "You really think so, sparky ?" "I know so ! Besides, I need my favorite person on stage while I work the lights." A fit of laughter spills through the empty auditorium, and the once dreadful feeling of the unknown comes to a halt. You might not have known if you got the role, but you did have love, and maybe that was enough to get by.