Percy
After fifteen minutes of wandering around, asking random people for directions, and going on one wrong bus, I finally made my way up the steps to city hall. I knew the private party was on the floor Oliver's office was, but I didn't know the specific floor. As I walked in the lobby, I scanned the room looking for the elevators. Once I found them, I began to walk towards them, but I only made about ten steps before two security guards grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the elevator. In confusion, I shoved one of them away, causing him to stumble back. "Kid, you aren't supposed to be here."
"No, I think you're confused. I'm friends with Oliver Queen."
They both scoffed and rolled their eyes. "That's what they all say," one of them said. "You got an invite?"
"I don't have-"
"No invite, no entrance. Now leave before we make you leave."
I glared at them, before turning towards the entrance doors in defeat. I knew I could probably find another way in easily. I began walking away when I heard a familiar voice call my name out. Grinning, I spun around to see Oliver walking towards me. "Where do you think you're going? The party's this way. We were just looking for you, actually."
"The guards wouldn't let me past," I announced loudly enough for everyone in the lobby to hear, including the grumpy guards. They just eyed me and Oliver, and I shot them a wide smile as Oliver led me inside the elevator.
On the ride up, Oliver looked at me and down at my untied tie and the 2 unbuttoned buttons on the top of my shirt. He gave a small chuckle. "The suit looks good but what's with the whole. . ."
"What? These are hard things to tie, you know." I protested, making an act of trying to tie the tie but failing miserably.
Oliver just scoffed. "By the time I was 5, I knew 20 different ways to tie a tie. Did you know there are 177,147 different ways to tie a tie?"
Oliver offered to help tie it for me, but before I could reply, the ding on the elevator indicated we were already on the floor. I could already hear the voices of dozens and dozens of people through the thick elevator doors.
The first person I saw when I walked on the floor was Thea who immediately greeted me with a smile, looked at my tie weirdly, and went back to doing her own thing. I saw Felicity talking to a few people I didn't know, and I thought we were going to go to her, but instead, Oliver led me to the opposite direction, where at a table, a lady was waiting with two alcoholic drinks in her hand. She smiled once she saw Oliver. "Finally," she sighed out. "I was beginning to think you ditched your own party."
Oliver grinned, "Sorry, I had to go to the bathroom, and I thought it would be better if I went to the one in the lobby. And that's where I met my friend, Percy. Percy, this is Susan Williams, my girlfriend."
At the word 'girlfriend' I could've sworn my eye twitched or something. I wasn't aware he had a girlfriend, in fact, I only just learned Felicity was dating someone as well. This is making me wonder what other secrets those two are keeping from me.
"Susan, this is Percy Jackson, a close family friend of mine."
"Oh! Well, nice to meet you," she gave me a partially insincere smile and shook my hand. She didn't seem at all interested at who I was, because she immediately went back to looking at Oliver.
"You know, I'm just gonna go. . ." And I backed up a little bit before turned swiftly, hoping to find someone to talk to. But instead, someone came to me before I could do anything else. Felicity bumped into me as I turned around, her face surprised as she saw me. "Oh! I didn't realize you were here already."
"Yeah, sorry. Oliver just finished introducing me to his girlfriend. I do not like her," I mumbled. After that, I expected her to scold me for being rude or for her to hit my arm for saying somethin mean, but instead, the quite opposite happened. She grinned, her eyes squinting so much it was hard to see her pupils. "Trust me, not one person likes that woman except for Oliver. Now come on, I want you to meet Billy."
"Another one?" I groaned as Felicity dragged me by my wrist towards the large crowd. Before I could complain once more, Felicity already had me in front of this guy, who I assumed was Felicity's boyfriend.
"Hey! Who's this?" He greeted Felicity with a smile and looked at me with a smile that seemed much more sincere than Susan's.
"This is my friend, Percy. He really wanted to meet you." Felicity gave him a smile and jabbed me in the ribs. "Uh, huh! Nice to meet you! Billy, right?"
"Mhm, Billy Malone. Nice to meet you." He stuck out his hand but I didn't shake it because I was partially in shock.
"Malone? As in Post Malone?" I asked quickly, leaning in closer to him.
"Wha-?"
"Are you related to him? My gods, you probably are."
"Uh, I don't think I'm related to him, sorry."
"Are you sure? I mean, you don't look much alike accept for the dark hair and beard. But cousins? Second cousins, maybe?"
"Percy, Percy, he's not related to Post Malone, calm down," Felicity grabbed my shoulder, giving me an scolding eye.
"Sorry, kid, I'm not related to Post Malone, but it'd be cool if I was," Billy shrugged "By the way, why does it look like you just rolled out of bed?"
He motioned his head towards my chest where I looked down at it, realizing I still hadn't buttoned my shirt all the way and my tie needed tying. I quickly buttoned the top buttons on my shirt, but I left the tie hanging around my neck.
Before I could do anything else, Felicity just grabbed the tie and starting tying it in quick movements. And in a few seconds, it was pushed up against the collar of my neck. I have no idea how Felicity knew how to tie a tie, but I wasn't going to question it.
"Thanks," I said, turning to Felicity. "Well, I'll probably be getting some food now. But we'll talk soon, hm?" And I walked away oddly fast. I'm probably not going to talk to him again. Why do Felicity and Oliver have to date the weirdest people.
I plucked something off a caterers palette, looking down at it, it took me awhile to realize it was a bruschetta, grilled bread topped with seasoned tomatoes and other ingredients. I used to hate tomatoes when I was younger, I thought they tasted like literal barf but I grew to love them. I took a large bite of the bruschetta, almost all of it fitting in my mouth. It took me a little bit to swallow it all, as I took more than I could handle. But by the time I finished everything, I had three other things in my hand that I was craving to eat. But as soon as I realized I picked up a small serving of caviar, I immediately put it back on the the server's palette.
I walked around the floor a little bit, exploring the room. I couldn't find anyone else I knew, and I didn't feel like being in the presence of Ms. Whatsherface and Post Malone's distant cousin.
I lingered around the dessert bar, contemplating whether I wanted a 3rd serving even though my stomach could barely take anything else. But that was when I bumped into a certain Curtis.
"Hey, Percy! Fancy seeing you here," he smiled at me while grabbing handfuls of random food and stuffing them in his suit pockets until they were teeming. His pockets were bulging out, and it was quite obviously he was taking all these foods, but I couldn't blame him.
"I haven't seen you all night, where've you been?" I asked, shoving my hand into my pocket, where Riptide was. The familiarity of its form calmed me in a sense "I was here all night! I saw Felicity and Oliver, and they said you wandered off into the crowd. I really want you to meet Paul, give me a second."
Why is everyone introducing me to their significant other today? I was getting tired of fake smiling and shaking hands.
He turned around as the crowd swallowed him up, his afro gone from my vision. But before I knew it, his head came back towards me, and he popped up in front of me, a man behind him who was in the middle of chewing some food. "I was in the middle of eating, what do you want?" I assumed the man, Paul, groaned.
It seemed that they were on similar terms again, but it was hard to tell from just one glance. Hopefully they were, because I don't think I could stand more of Curtis complaining about his love life again.
"Paul," Curtis says slowly. "This is my friend, Percy."
Paul gave me a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Nice to meet you, I'd shake your hand but mine are rather dirty."
"It's fine! Don't worry about it," I scratched the back of my neck in awkwardness.
"All right, we were just about to go anyways, I just wanted to go and find you before we left," Curtis said to me before looking at Paul.
"Yeah, we were, weren't we?" Paul's tone suddenly changed to annoyance, but it seemed Curtis noticed his tone change as well.
So I offered to ease the tension. "Do you mind if I go out with you guys? I really need some fresh air right now."
"Yep! Yeah! Of course!" Curtis said a bit too enthusiastically which gave him a look from Paul.
I smile back in thanks, unsure on whether I helped the situation or not.
••••
We reach the bottom floor, and I see the guards from before wandering around the lobby, talking to one another. The two of them noticed me, and it seemed they wanted to say something to me but held themselves back. I too wanted to say something snarky, but my tiredness was growing, and I didn't feel like wasting my energy on those two.
We open the front doors and a breeze of fresh air hit me, chills running through my body, blowing my hair back. The sky was dark, splattered with few stars due to the light pollution from the city. I was immediately brought back to the time Hazel, Frank, and I slept beneath the stars for my first quest at Camp Jupiter. Except that time, stars filled the sky, like paint splattered on a blank canvas.
I waved goodbye to the two, except Paul didn't return the favor. He went down the steps two at a time, purposely trying to go faster than Curtis. "Paul? Paul! Come on," Curtis shouted, running after his husband.
I knew Curtis really wanted their marriage to do badly work out, but something in my head told me they might not be possible.
I half-expected Paul to keep running down those steps, but instead, he stopped in the middle of the stairs and spun around to face Curtis. "Tell me, all those nights you said you were with Felicity, what have you actually been doing?"
I don't think I should be listening in on this conversation that clearly didn't involve me. But at the same time, my feet didn't feel inclined to move. I couldn't help but stand there with widened eyes, watching the scene before me unfold. "Nothing!" Curtis replied, his voice quivering. He was horrible at lying. I could already point out three tells he had from where I was standing.
"Are you seeing someone?"
"Of course not!"
"I don't believe you."
"Just let me explain-"
But Curtis barely had time to explain his situation because before I could even register, a knife flew past Curtis, slicing his neck, blood already beginning to spew from the wound. My eyes enlarged as I paused, turning to the spot where the knife came from, wishing it isn't who I thought it was. But not all wishes can be granted.
Prometheus stood a few feet away from Curtis, another knife already in his hand. He was only mere yards from the couple, and he was beginning to walk closer.
I didn't know what to do at the moment. Curtis pushed Paul away, getting him to safety. It was obvious he wanted to take the villain in a fight one-on-one, but Curtis can only hold his own for so long against someone so skilled. I was about to run towards my friend to assist in the fight, but I turned to Paul first. I realized that if anything happened to Paul, if he got hurt by the crossfire, Curtis would never be able to forgive himself. And although they aren't on the best terms, I won't allow myself to let him get hurt.
So I whipped around and went towards Paul. I grabbed him by his arm and pulled him away from the fight that was happening. He tried to resist and run towards the fight. "Curtis!" Paul shouted, trying to wiggle free, but I shoved him back.
"What are you doing? Run! Get away from here!" I screeched, while trying to dig Riptide out of my pocket. Although it couldn't hurt mortals, it wouldn't hurt to try and threaten Prometheus.
"But Curtis is still back there!"
"He can fend for himself! Now go!" I gave him another shove, trying to push him away but a loud grunt caught my attention. In fear, I spun around just to see Prometheus kick Curtis in the chest, causing him to fall and roll down the steps of city hall. His face was already stained with blood. It was hard to tell where his wounds are since you could barely see his bare skin beneath the blanket of red.
I heard Paul yell something from behind me, and he ran towards his husband, evading my clutches. He was now at his husbands side, cradling him. Curtis seemed just barely conscious. But he blacked out as soon as Prometheus through another knife at him. It embedded itself in his right shoulder, and Paul screamed.
"Hey!" I uncapped Riptide, watching how the sword gleamed through the dark night, illuminating everything around me. I tried to get his attention by swinging my sword around in his direction.
"Back away from them!" I roared. He slowly turned his head around to me. Suddenly, I could feel his dark stare on me. He tilted his head, and examined me from head to toe, trying to see how much of a fight I'd give him. And to my surprise, Prometheus took a small step away from them and towards me.
He was just two meters away from me, but he lunged for me. I swung my sword up in the air and brought it down upon him, but he side-stepped to his left just an inch and missed the hit.
I showed a moment of weakness as I saw civilians running for their lives in my peripheral vision. I should've known better than to look away from my opponent, but their screams had distracted me. Although I looked away for just a millisecond, he managed to push me against a wall. I hit my head against the brick hard. While dizzy and sore, he grabbed my neck, and I immediately started clawing at his fingers, trying to pry them open from my neck. But instead, he lifted me up a few inches off the ground. I kicked my legs around, and managed to kick him in the groin hard enough for it to hurt a lot. He doubled-over in pain, and in that second, his hand was putting less pressure on my neck, so I slid down from his grip and ran off.
I threw Riptide off to the side, realizing there's no use it holding my sword if it couldn't pierce him or even threaten him.
The only thing I had left to fight with were my fists. I'm aware I could use my powers to defeat him easily, but I wouldn't dare risk it with a growing crowd of people around us and security cameras all around.
He stood up straight, and we began to circle each other. Even through his dark mask, I could feel his piecing stare stab my soul. A wave of unease crashed over me. Something about this man just made me sick to the stomach.
I pounced at him before he could make a move, and managed to punch him in the face hard enough to form a bruise. I stepped back, and went back in my fighting position. He brought his hand up to the place I hit up, and he touched his mask lightly, almost amused that I was able to get a hit in. While he seemed distracted, I got another punch in, but before I could retaliate my hand, he grabbed my wrist and twisted my arm slightly. I yelped in pain, and he pushed my arm back, causing me to topple over.
I expected him to come at me with another round of hits while I was vulnerable, but instead, he towered over me for a split-second before taking a step back and running off. I stood up quickly, ignoring the throbbing pain in my chest and ran after him.
But he was gone.
••••
I didn't remember much after that. It's all bits and pieces, all jumbled up in my mind.
The only thing I truly remember is running to Curtis, and having to listen to Paul's racking sobs as he cried into Curtis's blood-stained chest. Paul, being a physical therapist, was already holding his hand up to his neck wound, trying to stop the blood from seeping through his fingers. Paul had also took off his jacket and pressed it lightly against his shoulder wound. But I pressed it harder into his shoulder, knowing that the harder I press, the less blood he'll lose.
But help needed to come sooner or later, or I was afraid he'd die of blood loss before we could get him to the hospital. It was only until Oliver had run down, shaking me from my shock, and bombarding me with questions I don't remember answering.
When the ambulance had come, they had taken Curtis and I to the hospital, where Curtis was admitted with his extensive injuries. My injuries weren't as severe as his, nothing a little ambrosia and nectar couldn't fix.
But I just couldn't get that night out of my head. I got uneasy just thinking about it. My stomach would churn, and I felt like throwing up every second. I started eating less because of this. But Felicity would be the one to force me to eat some food even though I'd throw it all up within the hour.
Paul had screamed at Oliver, yelling obscenities at him, blaming him for ruining Curtis's life. Oliver had just stood there in silence, taking in every word being thrown at him. In some way, it reminded me when Smelly Gabe would yell and shout at me, and I remember biting the insides of my cheeks to keep myself from talking back, which would most likely end up with a harsh beating.
In the hallway outside of Curtis's room, Rene and I sat in silence, a wave of solemn passing over us. I looked down at my suit, which was now ruined with dirt and blood.
I just wasn't sure whether I should be the glad the blood isn't mine.
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hellooooooooo . I honestly don't know what to say in author notes anymore. So I'm just gonna do the qotc. I was also lazy to write, even though I just needed to fix 2 sentences, sorry for the late chapter.
What's one thing everyone loves but you hate?
BYEEEEE 💗 <3