Percy, Meet the Waynes

Chapter 50: The Principals Office

------------Percy's POV:-------------

"Bye Harley, I'm sorry I couldn't do more to help." I tried walking forwards to give Harley a hug but was quickly stopped by Tim, his arm extending out in front of my chest and creating a barrier between the two of us. I could only see the side of his face as he glared angrily at the group in front of us, I'm not exactly sure how I managed to convince him that Harley and the others were okay.

 Harley gave me a sweet smile, glancing to Tim momentarily before shaking her head. 

"Don't be sorry, I shouldn't have dragged you into this. You could've been hurt and I'm not sure what I'd do without you ya little scamp." I could help but chuckle as she gave me a small nickname. She gave me a small wave, one of which I returned before she and the others took off, thus leaving me with a terribly angry Tim.

Tim turned to me with his arms crossed over his chest, his expression cold like Bruce's which was not a compliment. 

"Care to explain what in the world was that?" I opened my mouth to begin explaining before Tim put his hand up, closing his eyes and pursing his lips as he took a deep breath. "Actually, save it, I have a feeling a lot of explaining is going to be done later tonight, until then you aren't leaving my side. I'm not the only one who got the call you know." I nodded slightly, fixing my gaze to the ground. 

"Do the others know it was me?" I asked quietly. I didn't look up, instead getting met with an uncomfortable silence that lasted a good minute before he decided to speak up. 

"No, I didn't know till I saw you, but this doesn't mean they aren't going to find out." I let out a small sigh. 

"Okay, but I can't go on patrol-" I didn't get to finish as a cape was thrown at my feet. 

"Use this to cover up, hopefully this will be enough to get us back to the manor where I will be explaining what happened to Annabeth. Hopefully she'll keep you in place until everyone can come back for the council meeting."

"Council meeting?" I felt my brows furrow as my head raised to be met with Tim's disappointed look. 

"It's something we do to decided how serious an issue is before bringing it to Bruce's attention. If deemed an issue that can be fixed by us, we don't say anything, but if it's causing too much unrest then we leave it to Bruce to deem punishment." I nodded, ignoring the chill that came with the potential of the threat. Believe it or not I truly did want to be good for Bruce, though I guess there's more to that then just being good in house.

"Okay, I'll start going-"

"Ah ah, did you already forget about the not leaving my side thing?" 

"I thought you were kidding" I said in defense, my voice rising slightly. 

"Does it look like I'm kidding! I mean Percy this is serious! You're friendly with the enemy, so much so that she not only knows your real name, but she's also managed to convince you in aiding her in schemes!"

"You don't know Harley like I do okay? Not the real Harley, I mean she's nice to me, she cares for m-"

"You can't seriously be trying to argue with me right now, right? I mean I caught you trying to steal an artifact, the heist that could've gotten you killed you know? Caring for you? Is getting you to commit crimes caring now?" My fists clenched and my jaw locked. I didn't want to say anything I couldn't take back no matter how angry this was making me. 

"You just don't get it." I said, turning my back to him as I looked out at the cop cars that were quickly incoming.

"You're right, I don't" and with that we both headed off towards the manor. 

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It felt like I was back in the principals office once again.

As I sat on the side of my bed, fingers twiddling together as I absentmindedly listened to the conversation happening outside my door, Tim's barely constrained anger making itself very apparent, even Annabeth's calm tone didn't hide the anger behind her words.

For some strange reason this thought made me want to cry, the feeling in my chest feeling suffocating as it continued to expand. 

Mom had never been angry, she'd always come out of the principal's office with a disappointed look on her face which was somehow worse than anger, because at least then you can hear the rage rather than guess.  

Suddenly the conversations stopped, their voices getting quiet as heavy footsteps stomped away from my door. 

The shadow of Annabeth from beneath the door loomed on my flooring, I watched as she stopped, a frustrated sigh basically echoing from the other side. 

My head hung lower, almost in guilt as light flooded my room, the shadow now gaining a human figure. 

She didn't speak, didn't make an angry sound. Instead she flicked on the lights, the soft lighting surrounding me and bringing my shame to light. I continued to focus on my hands, trying my best to fend off the sinking feeling in my chest. 

I listened as her footsteps came closer, eventually her socks coming into view before I felt the bed dip besides me. Then silence. 

I'm not sure what she was doing, though I knew her eyes were on me. 

After a couple minutes her lovely voice finally broke the silence. 

"Care to explain what happened tonight?" Her voice was gentle, not angry, just disappointed. 

I wanted to speak but something got caught in my throat, preventing me from speaking, instead I just continued to stare at my ever entertaining fingers. 

She gave me a minute more to explain but when she seemed to catch the hint that I would she scooted closer, her hand pulling my fingers away from each other as she pulled it towards her, her thumb caressing the back of my hand.

"Percy, this isn't the time to freeze, I need to understand what was happening tonight. You have to give me a reason to believe that this wasn't something to be concerned of." The warmth of her hand seemed to be easing the tightening feeling around my throat, opening up the passage to allow me to speak. 

I opened my mouth, expecting the words to start flowing out like they usually do but nothing. I paused, taking a deep breath as I opened my mouth once more. 

"I wasn't trying to go villain or anything, I just wanted to help Harley." 

Annabeth's finger paused for a second, though I managed to catch it, even when she continued. "Percy that's not much of an explanation. How did Harley even manage to contact you? To convince you?" I paused once more, not finding it in me to tell Annabeth of the motherly relationship that had grown without her knowledge. It almost felt like a betrayal to both Annie and Harley. 

I didn't speak, instead I pushed my head onto Annabeth's shoulder, allowing her warmth to soak into myself, slowly dissolving the bad feelings in my chest. 

Her hair lifted for a minute, the long breath that escaped her allowing it to fly in the air before slowly falling back to place. 

"Fine, you can relax for now, but you have to explain to the others because they aren't going to be as lenient as myself when it comes to the silence. Okay?" she asked quietly. 

I nodded, squeezing her hand slightly as I allowed my shoulders to sink, the tension I hadn't even realized had been there, hiding for a while.

"Okay" she said quietly. Removing her hand from my own as she wrapped me into a hug, one I happily returned. 

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