It was probably luck more than anything that got Percy and Jason back to camp in one piece. Their system of traded touches worked only when they were not in a hurry, and they almost always were, and apart from that, their system barely covered anything at all. Even worse, while Percy could still see what attacked him, Jason had to rely on his instincts and his ears, so Percy was constantly worrying about both of them. They spent the nights cuddled close to one another, finding comfort in the only thing they both could still share and while it should have been awkward, their situation made it easier. Percy wished they could talk more than once, to get all their worries off their chests, but talking wasn’t an option anymore. Sure, Percy could try and talk, and Jason could answer by drawing words on Percy’s skin, but it was tedious, and more often than not, they gave up halfway through the first sentence already.

But they made it, and when they stumbled over the border into CHB, Percy was sure it could only get better.

Now they sat in the infirmary and Jason was talking to Will, explaining what had happened, Percy assumed. It wasn’t like he could hear what they said after all. Will had gotten Jason some sunglasses to swap for his normal ones, and while Percy was glad he didn’t see Jason’s unfocused eyes anymore it also made it just more prominent that something was off. It made the discomfort worse, Percy had this feeling in his gut ever since the goddess laid her curse on them, but every now and then, it would increase to the point where Percy felt like it was going to crush him from the inside.

Percy dangled his feet, long since having given up on trying to guess either boys’ words, and watched the ground. He was holding one of Jason’s hands, it was a habit now and something Will hadn’t even raised an eyebrow at. Occasionally, Jason would brush his thumb over Percy’s knuckles and smile in his general direction. Percy almost always found himself smiling back, until he remembered that Jason couldn’t actually see that.  

Someone touched Percy’s knee and his eyes snapped up. Will was smiling at him, if a little worried. He was holding a notepad in his hand with a single sentence scrawled across the first line. Percy stared at it for a good minute before he figured out what the words said.

“Are you in pain?” He read aloud, and while Will frowned a little, he nodded back at Percy. “No. Not physically I mean.” In the corner of his eye, Percy saw Jason’s face scrunch into a worried expression. He squeezed his hand, hoping it would be enough for now. They really had to figure out some way to talk again, Percy doubted either of them could suffer in silence much longer.

Will took the notepad back and wrote on it again. When he returned it, the first thing Percy noticed was that Will really made an effort to make it easier for Percy to read. A smile tugged on the corner of his lips, but it faded as soon as the words came into view.

“I can’t…” Percy stopped. He could read the rest, but he was afraid that saying it aloud would make the message even more final. “I can’t help you.” He whispered eventually, looking away from both Will and Jason for a second.

Percy had put a lot of hope in Will, but part of him had already known that even he couldn’t do anything against the curse of a goddess. They were stuck like this, maybe not just for now, but for the rest of their time. Great.

After two weeks of sleeping side by side, Percy found that he couldn’t fall asleep without the steady rise and fall of Jason’s breathing anymore, without a warm presence next to him. He gave in without much contemplation, he could blame it on being a creature of habit, or maybe just on the fucked up situation he was in. Percy rose from his bed, throwing a blanket over his shoulders to sneak over into Jason’s cabin without freezing to death on the way, but when he opened the door, he realised he hadn’t been the only one planning on this. Jason stood there with one hand raised as if to knock – like Percy would have noticed anyone knocking - but when Jason heard the door opening, a smile spread on his lips. Percy reached out, taking Jason by his wrist and pulled him through the dark.

He didn’t say anything, but he silently wondered how Jason had even managed to find his way here blindly. And if Jason had offered any information, Percy didn’t hear.

For this though, they didn’t need words. Closeness was easy before, but it came even more naturally now. Jason curled around Percy when they laid down, and for the first time in weeks, Percy felt utterly at peace. The danger of the wild around was gone, and Percy pressed his eyes shut. He was still hurting, on the inside, but if he buried his nose in the fabric of Jason’s shirt, he could feel Jason’s heartbeat and take in his familiar scent. It was almost like nothing had changed at all.

Percy was pretty sure everyone knew that he and Jason were spending most of their nights together now, but no one commented on it. Percy wondered if that was because they couldn’t actually talk to either him or Jason without any hassle, or because they understood and pitied them.

Whatever the case, things didn’t automatically get easier like Percy had expected. Sure – the immediate danger to their lives was down to a minimum, but if either he or Jason ever wanted to leave camp again, they had so start learning living with their new disabilities.

They weren’t the first demigods who were dealing with a problem like this. Some got injured in battle or monster attacks, others just simply had accidents or were born without all of their senses. Knowing that, and knowing that these people were still living, certainly helped Percy emotionally, and even though he couldn’t exactly ask Jason how he felt about it, he was sure it was similar.

Working with these demigods helped even more. It was the one thing Will could do for Percy and Jason, referring them to friends of his who he knew shared this burden.

Jake Mason came to collect them after their second check-up at the infirmary a week after finding their way back. He said something to Will, who blushed furiously while Jason seemed to fight a laugh, and then motioned for Percy and Jason to follow him.

For most of the way, Jake was talking to Jason and again, Percy gave up pretty fast trying to understand anything they were saying. He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked along with them, by now Jason didn’t need a hand to hold anymore, just a few nudges and pulls whenever they had to turn or dodge. Percy wouldn’t admit to it, but he missed the comfort of having a hand to hold, and not just any but Jason’s.

Percy shook the thoughts off as Jake opened the door to the Athena Cabin for them to pass through. He hadn’t been in there for quite a while, but it didn’t hurt anymore to go in here and not be with Annabeth. Before his mind could go down that road, his eyes landed on Steven. Percy remembered training with Steven a couple weeks ago, he was one of the oldest Athena kids. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor, a laptop open in front of him, and when he saw the three other boys coming in, he patted the space on the floor next to him.

They sat in a half circle and Steven turned the laptop halfway so that Percy could see the screen. He had a word file opened and Percy found it surprisingly easy to read. Hey Perce. He was using one of those easy dyslexic fonts. Percy remembered talking about them with some other campers, but he hadn’t thought about anyone actually using them. This was going to be an interesting afternoon.

 Percy learned quite a lot new things over the course of the next hours. Steven had suffered an illness as a child that left him deaf on one ear, and heavily hearing impaired on the other, but since he didn’t have any trouble talking vocally, Percy had never noticed before. When he was training with Steven they’d talked normally, so there was no reason for Percy to assume Steven had any trouble understanding him. It was pretty amazing how much Steven had made out of his impairment. The program he’d opened wasn’t a writing program at all, but something he had developed himself. It translated spoken words to writing and the other way around, so even when Steven wasn’t looking at whoever was talking, he could see what they were saying. It worked the other way around as well, Percy could type something and the computer would read it aloud for him, taking away the awkwardness Percy usually felt when he was speaking now.

It was the first real and lasting conversation Percy had in since the beginning of the curse, and he felt like laughing and crying at once.

Then there was Jake. Percy knew that Jake has had troubles ever since he had that run in with the metal dragon all those years ago, but he didn’t know that he was basically blind now. He moved normal, at least as far as Percy could tell, and his eyes weren’t as off-focus as Jason’s were.

I’m more like a mole. I can still see shadows and stuff, that’s why I don’t run into walls and shit.

Well. That explained a lot.

 When it was already getting dark, and Percy was starting to get trouble reading and writing even with the dyslexia font, Steven called it a day. For the first time, Percy felt something akin to hope bloom in his chest.

 “You can take it ‘til Friday. Do some research, some talking, alone I mean.” Jake’s patting Jason’s back as he said it and Steven hummed in agreement.

“Yeah. You should look into some deafblind languages too, maybe you’ll find something that works for you.” Jason found himself nodding, and reaching for Percy next to him before he had really thought about it. He tried not relying on Percy too much anymore, to adapt to his lack of sight and to learn how to go about his days without help. It had worked out quite well, Jason knew that he was on the way of becoming more independent again, but right now he was tired and just yearning for a bit of closeness.

There’s the sound of plastic being shuffled around, and then off a zipper being pulled, so Jason guessed they are packing up the laptop. Percy’s shifting as well, pulling Jason along as he stands up, and then someone hangs the strap of a backpack over his shoulder.

“See you Friday.” It’s Jake again, always with the hand on Jason’s shoulder.

“Thanks. For all the help. We wouldn’t manage without.” Steven laughs at that, and then there’s a hand shoving Jason in the direction of the door.

“Don’t mention it.”

 “Okay, so this one is like morse, with some extra symbols you draw on the palm.” Jason had his head resting in Percy’s lap and his eyes closed, but he was still listening.

Four weeks of being blind, and he thought that maybe he was getting used to it. Together with both Steven and Jake, Percy and Jason have gone from making baby steps to making actual progress. They got a copy of the program Steven has written, and even though Percy feels comfortable around Jason to talk, he knows Percy prefers using the computer.

They were researching deafblind communication again. It was a lot harder than Jason had imagined. Steven was doing his best to teach Percy about lip-reading, but it would take ages until Percy could actually use it for communication. Jason tried his luck with sign language, having Percy take his hands and show him the motions, but both of them had trouble learning all there was to it.

“Why don’t we just put them all together?” Jason yawned, Percy wiggled a little underneath, then ran a hand through Jason’s hair. Jason didn’t mean to, but he leaned into the touch anyway.

“That could work.” Jason hummed, then realised that it was one of the things Steven’s program wouldn’t translate.