PERCY'S JOURNEY TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD | PERCY JACKSON X READER

Chapter Ten

As soon as the words leave her mouth, the air falls flat. Percy feels like time stops for a few moments, while Y/N glares at him with hurt and anger swimming in her eyes. He's so stunned by the change in atmosphere that he has trouble forming a decent response, and she stares at him, like she's waiting for something, but Percy isn't sure what she wants from him. Oh no, he thinks with a sense of dread. "I don't—Y/N, that's not what I..."

She waits for him to finish his sentence, but once it becomes apparent that he has no intention to, she just closes her book. "Really, don't worry about it," Y/N says, far too lightly to be genuine. "I understand."

"I don't want you to leave," Percy blurts out, and it sounds a lot more dramatic than he meant for it to. Go big or go home, some demented part of him thinks. "I just wanted to make a point."

"Point made," Y/N says without inflection, and Percy throws an arm across her book to prevent her from picking it up. She pushes at his arm, though not with enough force to actually move it. Percy tries to catch her eye, so that he can apologize right, but she just stares at the place where her knuckles are pressing against his arm.

"You don't get it," Percy says, and it sounds more gentle than he means for it to. "I'm not saying that, like, I don't want to spend time with you." She still won't look at him, but she might nudge him a little with her hand, so he takes what he can get. "I just... Maybe we could just do what we did last week? Where we talked? And we don't have to say we're doing homework every time we hang out. We can just say that we're hanging out. I mean, if we're doing homework, then we can say that. There's nothing wrong with doing homework together. And I like having a study partner; that's cool. But we don't have to be study partners all the time, right? Like we can be friends? Who do friend things?"

"Friend things," Y/N mutters, sending him a small smile. Percy's internal organs perform an intense gymnastics routine. "Like what?"

"Like—" Percy pauses. "Like, talk. And watch TV. And, like, me and Luke go to the park sometimes, but that's mostly because there's never kids there and he wants to smoke and look at the lake and be all philosophical and stuff. But I don't think you're a smoker."

Y/N lips twitch, like she's dangerously close to laughing at him. She slides her knuckles over his wrist briefly before removing her hand altogether. Percy finds that it's a little harder than usual to pull air into his lungs. "I'm not."

"Well," Percy says, blinking at her. He can feel his pulse pounding in his wrist. "Good."

"Good," Y/N repeats, with a very serious nod. She's definitely picking on him now.

"So..." He trails off, removing his arm from her book. "We could, uh, watch something?"

She smiles fully, now, and Percy is a few 'Y/N smiles' away from passing out. "I can't," she says. "Dinner with Dad."

Percy nods too many times, almost dizzying himself in the process. "Of course, it's—yeah, don't—we'll... Next time."

"Was that even English?" Y/N teases, raising an eyebrow. Percy can feel a flush working it's way up his neck, so he tries to be casual when he pulls the collar of his hoodie up a little.

"It was," Percy says, needlessly. Y/N's packing up her bag, albeit slowly, like she's still waiting for him to say or do something that he just can't seem to pin down. He tucks his bottom lip into his mouth and averts his gaze.

"And, for the record, even if I don't need help, I still want you as a study partner. I mean, we worked well together in chem. Remember?"

"Nope," Percy says, sending her a look. "Completely forgot those 9 weeks of sophomore year."

"You aren't even a quarter as funny as you think you are," she says blandly. Her bag's packed, but she doesn't start for the door. Percy feels something like nerves inching up his spine.

He draws in a deep breath. His mother raised him right; he's been taught to walk guests out when they're exiting their home. Percy's just worried that he'll do something stupid with Y/N.

"Still makes me pretty funny," he says, after a bit of a delay. "I'll—Let me walk you out."

Y/N nods immediately, and he leads her to the door. She steps out, and some part of him has a reflex to pull her back in, like he hasn't quite gotten his fill of her company. He manages to restrain himself. "I don't mean to skip out on you."

Percy gives a small, nervous laugh. He rubs the back of his neck and idly pulls at his hair to calm himself down. "Dinner's a good excuse."

She nods, then looks down at her feet. "I... I didn't mean to freak out on you earlier. You struck a nerve, but it was one you didn't know was there, so it's not your fault."

Percy waits for her to continue, tipping his head forward and staring down at his socked feet. One blue sock's just slightly more faded than the other.

"It's kind of a sore spot, the whole 'people not wanting me around' thing. Um, the short version is that Mom and Dad were kind of at each other's throats during the divorce. Not really much time for the kid. And the typical 'you're just like your father' comments were certainly there. And a few bad experiences with friends, too, but... Anyways. It's not really important, I just figured I owed you an explanation."

"You didn't," Percy reassures her, and his heart hurts a little for Y/N. "But I know how much you like explaining things."

She smiles, and it's small, but it's enough. "Thanks."

Percy shrugs. "'S whatever. And, like, if you ever feel like your parents don't want you around... I mean, you don't have to, of course, but just know that you can just hang out with me. Or text. Or something." Because I'm getting dangerously close to that stage where I always want you around, Percy adds silently, but ultimately decides not to voice.

"Thanks, Percy. It means a lot."

She looks, for a moment, like she might hug him. Percy likes hugs well enough, and he wouldn't be averse if she reached out for one, but he's not feeling confident enough to meet her halfway on this one. "I'll see you?"

"You will," Y/N confirms. She turns and heads for her car, parked out in the road like she wasn't sure if she was permitted to use the driveway. Percy makes a mental note to tell her it's fine next time he sees her.

Just before she settles into the driver's seat, she waves—nothing more than a flutter of her fingertips, but Percy thinks he might be blushing anyways. He waves back.

He closes the door and sands his hands together. First things first, Percy thinks, ask Mom what's for dinner. Then get the Y/N Situation under control. Because it certainly is not.