𝑃𝐸𝑅𝐶𝑌 𝑅𝐸𝐼𝐷 thought the worst thing he would have to live through was his mother's death but life deals him a new hand, something he would have never expected, it takes away his father.
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WHEN PERCY WAS SIX, he stepped into about a dozen or more thorns. He was in a cabin in the middle of the woods, it belonged to Elle and she had taken both Spencer and his son up there once and a while. There were almost no rules at the cabin, only thing they told Percy was that he wasn't allowed to leave the cabin without them and he always had to wear shoes if he went outside but he was bad at following instructions.
He had woken up around midnight, he shared a room with his dad, they even shared a bed because they were scared he would wander in the middle of the night but not even that would stop him. It certainly didn't stop him from sneaking out from under the covers, from opening the sliding door and walking into the dead of the night.
They would ask him why he did it about a million times, he could never come up with an answer but he didn't think he needed to, they studied human behaviour, they probably understood him better than he understood himself.
Spencer had always known he was a good father, he knew Percy, he loved his son and they had built a trust that he knew would last a lifetime but that didn't mean that he couldn't make mistakes. He didn't know his son had slipped out of bed until Percy's crying woke him up from a fever dream. His head felt heavy when he saw Percy sitting on the bed beside him, bawling his eyes out. He didn't even ask what happened at first, too wrapped up in shock, he just grabbed ahold of his son, wrapping the boy in his arms.
"My feet hurt!" It was only in that moment that Spencer saw about a dozen thorns on the boy's legs and on the bottom of his feet. Percy had been trapped, surrounded by thorns and the only way was to crawl back to the cabin, he crawled onto the bed but he didn't want to wake up his father. He knew Spencer would be upset at him for not following the rules but in that moment, all his rules seemed to have left his mind.
The crying had woken up Elle and at one in the morning, Spencer and Elle were sitting in the bathroom together, carefully plucking thorns out of Percy's feet and off his legs. His skin was red from the discomfort but none of them had cut him too deep. He had scrapes and only a handful of them would scar his body, his mind however, was a more delicate thing.
"I'm gonna make you some hot chocolate for being so brave." Elle rested a hand on his shoulder before she left the room, giving the father and the son privacy.
"What were you thinking Percy?" Spencer placed a few Spiderman bandaids on his knees and legs which he liked a lot better than regular ones so Spencer always carried them with him, just in case of an emergency.
He waited but Percy didn't answer his question, he just shrugged it off. Spencer tried to put himself in the boy's shoes, but he couldn't, mostly because the problem was Percy never seemed to be wearing any. He just shrugged when his father sat down next to him on the floor, "We don't just wander around in the middle of the night," He turned to Percy, trying to reason with him but Percy just stared dead ahead, he was lost in his own world that he had created for himself in his head. "I know." That was the only answer he could come up with.
"Then why did you go out there? You could've gotten seriously hurt, something could have happened to you that band aids couldn't fix." Spencer wasn't angry, that was what he told himself and he hoped Percy knew that too. He was just frightened, his mind worked at the speed of light, thinking about all the ways Percy could have come back a lot more scarred than he was, thinking of scenarios where he might not have come back at all. Spencer couldn't bury another body, he couldn't bury the love of his life and then his son. The universe couldn't be that cruel.
"I'm sorry, daddy." Percy was smaller than most six year olds, he made his way onto his father's lap and when it came to Percy, Spencer didn't know what to do so he did what he thought was for the best in that moment, he comforted his son. "Now that we've learnt our lesson, we're not gonna do it again, are we?" Percy shook his head, messy blonde curls covering his eyes slightly as Spencer brushed them to the side. All he could think about in that moment was Delaney until Elle walked back into the bathroom and the memory of her seemed to fade away like morning dew when the sun finally comes up, a peaceful process.
Percy went to her like he always did, she helped him back to bed and handed him the mug. When Spencer finally got off the bathroom floor, he found Percy sipping his hot drink with Elle sitting at his side, stroking back his hair carefully as he rested his head on her shoulder. He was comfortable with her, it was something they all knew, he preferred her to everyone else. He used to say they were best friends, him and Elle, all he ever wanted was to be around her.
"Can you stay for the night?" Spencer wasn't surprised by the question, he was already laying beside Percy who was handing Elle his cup. He held her right hand in his own, almost refusing to let her go. "Stay here?" She pointed to the bed and he nodded, she put the cup down on the bedside table, not knowing what to say.
"I don't mind," Spencer yawned slightly, eyes barely open as he watched Percy climb under the covers. He was telling Elle to lay beside him, she couldn't say no to him, no one could so she did what he asked her to do and he rested his head on her shoulder again. "Goodnight dad." Percy yawned when he finally got comfortable between the two, the same way his father had done, only minutes before. "Goodnight Percy."
"Goodnight Aunt Elle." His eyes slowly shut, his body growing more comfortable as he pulled away from her, now laying in the middle of the two grown ups, hair covering his pillow like a blonde cloud. "Goodnight Percy Jackson." He fell asleep in a matter of minutes but Elle didn't, she listened to his breathing while he slept. Spencer didn't either, he had his head to Percy's back, listening to his heartbeat, it was a song he had grown familiar too.
Before he fell asleep, Spencer extended his hand out until he felt Elle's. She didn't push him away, in fact, she held his hand beside her body, their fingers interlacing in the silence. Neither of them had to say anything and an hour later, they were fast asleep.
