Percy's POV
My phone hadn't stopped ringing and buzzing. I hadn't picked up once, I couldn't bring myself too. Especially since most of the calls came from Annabeth. I had made Tyson fall down the stairs. And the worst part was, for a minute, I wasn't even upset about it. I just stood there and watched him fall. I didn't try to help him, I didn't call for my mom, I didn't run to help . I just stood there. My feet didn't move, even when my mom came running out of the apartment. I swear the whole world moved in slow motion.
She didn't pay attention to me, she headed straight towards the stairs. Paul came towards me. His lips were moving but honestly I had no clue what he was saying. The world didn't return back to regular speed until the paramedics arrived. Then everything went very fast.
I swear all my senses exploded at once. My mom was crying, paramedics were talking loudly, neighbours were coming out to watch and Paul was just shaking his head with no words. He was staring down the stairs. He looked ill. This was all my fault. I had to go and see what I'd caused. I ignored the paramedic who was trying to get everyone back into their apartments and stared down at my baby brother. I wished I hadn't.
He'd fallen all the way down the entire flight of concrete stairs. Much of the view was blocked by Mom and the ambulance crew but his left leg was twisted at a horrific angle and he wasn't moving. There was blood. A lot of it. As he was lifted onto the stretcher I caught a glimpse of his face. It was already bruised, despite the fact the fall had only happened about twenty minutes before. His eyes were shut. For a second, I wasn't sure if he was alive.
I sank to the floor, holding back a sob. The shocked neighbours and frantic paramedics were blocked out, leaving only me. I'd completely forgotten about my injured hand until someone touched my forearm, sending pain licking down to my fingertips like fire. It was excruciatingly painful. Paul was crouched down beside me where a second ago there was no one.
"Lets get you checked out." There was no mention of his son, no mention of the fact it was my fault and no mention of the tears that ran down his cheeks. Still unable to speak, I nodded once and stood slowly. We made our way downstairs, cringing at the pool of blood that was smeared around the last step. Neither of us said one word on the way to the hospital. But tears fell from both our eyes.
They wouldn't let me in to see him when we arrived, they were sure I would be too upset no matter how hard I argued. I didn't want to go far from his room. I refused treatment for my hand. So I sat in one of those little plastic chairs with my head in my hands for nearly three hours. Doctors came and went without paying me any attention, one nurse offered me a drink of water which I turned down with a shake of my head. Finally, Mom appeared from the room with bloodshot eyes and a runny nose. Despite everything that had happened she still tried for a smile.
"Are you okay? I should have asked someone to check on you. Come through and see him. But, Perce, it looks a lot worse than it is. Okay? And they've had to sedate him so he can't talk." She held tightly to my hand as I walked into the room.
He was battered and bruises decorated his skin. While the purple stains were terrifying, the cleaned off blood made the scene a little less nightmarish. I thanked the gods his legs were covered by a blanket because the sight of his left leg before had made me feel physically sick. His eyes were closed and his breathing sounded shallow and raspy. But he was alive. After squeezing Mom's hand, I made my way to the chair next to the bed and gently took his hand.
I had only moved from the chair to shower, change clothes and occasionally sleep. Despite her best efforts, Mom couldn't convince me to go to school. Although she did eventually convince me to allow a doctor to stitch up my comparably minor injury. His condition had barely changed, they'd had to increase the sedatives though. Every time he fully woke up he'd start screaming. As I said before, my phone hadn't stopped ringing. Annabeth, Nico, Leo, Piper and even Cally had all called. Obviously some more than others.
I'd just got a text from Annabeth explaining what had happened between her, Reyna and Drew. Eve through a text I could tell she was upset and I so wanted to reply and cheer her up. But I chickened out. She'd know I was guilty in the same way I'd known she was upset and I could not say the words out loud. Especially not to her, she'd hate me. Still, it was comforting that none of them ever had to know what'd happened. But not for long.
It was about four in the afternoon. There'd been no change in Tyson but fatigue had caught up with me, leaving me snoring in the pink leather chair. It wasn't a good sleep, I was super uncomfortable. Until someone's fingers brushed through my hair, grazing my cheek as they pulled away. My first thought was Mom but I thought she'd left for a bit to finish some work project? My eyebrows scrunched together as I tried to work out who it was but the giggle that came after told me exactly who it was. My eyes flew open. The room turned into tunnel vision, blurring out everything other than the actual angel stood in front of me, one hand raised to her lips to stifle what she probably thought was an inappropriate giggle.
"Annabeth?" My voice came out deep and thick with sleep. She stopped yet another giggle escaping .
"Obviously, idiot." She was grinning like a madwoman, until she glanced over at Tyson. Then she sobered right up. "What happened? And what happened to your hand?"
I opened my mouth to reply but was interrupted. "And where's Sally? She called and told my Dad he was in here." I jumped a little, I hadn't even seen Nico on the other side of the bed wearing a worried look. This was it. The moment I'd been avoiding a week. But as I looked at the two of them, I realised that was dumb. I could trust these two. I mean come on, Nico was family and Annabeth had somehow become pretty much my best friend in a couple of days. I took a deep breath and explained the whole story.
"So yeah, he's okay they think. But every time he wakes up he freaks out. And my mom had to go to the office for a bit, otherwise she'd be here with me. Neither of us have slept properly all week." I smiled, happy that neither of them had run away screaming 'physcopath' when I told them about my lack of reaction. Nico just stood there, taking it all in. Whereas Annabeth being Annabeth of course ran over to give a hug. Not that I was complaining.
"Oh gods, Percy. It wasn't your fault, it was a horrible accident. But the doctors have told you he'll be okay, you should trust them and get some proper rest. I'm waiting with you until your mom gets back then I'm taking you back home so you can get some actual sleep. You'll break your back sleeping in that chair, at least your mom got a bed. No arguments, it's happening." She crossed her arms across her chest and raised one of her eyebrows, daring me to argue with her. I decided against it. I glanced at Nico, who hadn't said a word. He didn't look that worried.
"Look this is really awkward, I'm glad you're both okay and everything but I kind of have plans with, um, Will. I'll stay if you guys want but uh yeah." He glanced at his phone anxiously. For the first time that week, I grinned widely.
"Just go, we're good here. Have fun!" I winked at him as he left, causing him to blush in a way I'd never once seen from Nico. Annabeth was smiling too. Her eyes fell on me and narrowed.
"So, I know your reason for not coming to school. But why the hell didn't you answer my calls or texts you jerk? I thought you'd been kidnapped or something! I was freaking out!" She took a menacing step towards me. I gulped.
"Well I felt bad for, yeah you know. And I thought you'd hate me and I didn't want to mess everything up or piss anyone off. I'm sorry." I put on my best puppy eyes, hoping it was enough. Her expression softened and she took another, much less scary, step towards me. I thanked the gods. What? She could be terrifying when she wanted.
"Okay, fair enough. But still," She actually threw herself onto me, wrapping her arms around my neck and perching on my lap. My arms moved practically by themselves, curving around her waist. We stayed that way for a few minutes before she pulled he arms back. She was smiling innocently. She then had the guts to flick my nose. She actually flicked me. "You still have to pay."
"You are evil." I scowled a her. She smirked both irritatingly and adorably. I wanted to kiss her. As inappropriate as the setting was, I really really wanted to kiss her. But I guess Aphrodite hated me or whatever because she turned away, crossed her legs and leaned against me so her back was pushed up to my chest. As per usual, my arms were wound around her waist. She talked to me for about an hour, updating me on everything that I'd missed. Particularly about Nico and Will. I made a bet with myself that they'd be a thing within two months. I noticed there was no mention of her dad, I was surprised to find out that she was still at Piper's.
My eyes were staring to droop after a while, which I thought was the intended effect. Her head was leant back, resting on my shoulder and I'd unconsciously pulled her right up against me. Neither of us had spoken in a while. I didn't really mind but the hospital room was pretty creepy with no noise except from the steady beep from the heart monitor. I guessed she picked up on it too, as she spoke up.
"Percy?" She turned herself so her legs were over the arm of the chair and her side was leaning against my chest. She traced invisible patterns onto my arm as she spoke. "Can you help me with my dad? Because I love staying with Piper and everything but it's just not home, ya know? You can say no but they might be slightly nicer to me if you're there too. But I get it if its too weird, in fact it doesn't matter. Its super weird to ask so you, mmpphd."
She stopped talking because I put a finger over her lips. "Of course I'll come with you, Wise girl. Just tell me when and where. "
My finger was still over her lips but she was smiling now. There was silence for a few moments. I couldn't help but think how incredible she was. But that thought quickly stopped when she opened her mouth and bit me. She actually bit me. I probably looked like idiot, with my mouth hung open and my eyes wide. She grinned mischievously.
"I, you, did? Did you actually just bite me? Gods, that actually hurt woman! You're insane." I pulled my hand away and inspected it. There were little indents where she'd bitten down. Dam her teeth were sharp.
"Awh, poor baby. Please tell me that tiny little nip didn't hurt you." She raised her eyebrows in a serious expression but her eyes twinkled with humour. As she spoke, she took my hand and stroked thumb across the bite marks.
"Well, yeah. That 'tiny nip' hurt like a bitch. You have very sharp teeth." I put on a face, trying to pretend to be upset. I didn't think she bought it.
"Hey, no fair! Don't you dare use those baby seal eyes to make me feel guilty. It was playful, not painful. If you're that bothered, here, I'll kiss it better." She pressed her lips against my finger. "There. All better now, you big baby." Her hand let go of mine and patted me on the cheek. She left it resting there. Her thumb stroked against my cheekbone. Suddenly my hands got real sweaty and my heart got real fast. For the fifth time in two weeks, I psyched myself up to kiss her. I leant down a little, she bit her lip. Her hand moved to the back of my neck, mine curled into her hair. We were centimetres away. I was sure there was nothing to interrupt this time.
"Hey, Perce, I felt bad for just leaving so I decided to come back and, oh gods, Annabeth, hi. I didn't realise you'd be here." And my mom proved me almost instantly wrong. She had blushed all the way to the roots of her hair, not that I blamed her considering mine and Annabeth's lips were literally centimetres away from the others.
"Uh, hey Mom. So Nico brought Annabeth here so she's just chilling with me until you got back and you are back now so would it be okay if I went home for a bit to sleep? Because obviously I want to stay here but I haven't had like any sleep all week so would that be okay? " The words spilled out of my mouth due to the sheer awkwardness of the situation. Annabeth's hand was no longer curled into the back of my hair and both of us had straightened right up but she was still sat on my lap. My mom's eyebrows were raised as she glanced between both of our faces.
"Yes, that should be okay. You don't really have to ask permission to sleep you know Percy, you're practically a full grown man. I'll give you a call if anything changes with him, but I doubt it will. It was nice to see you again, Annabeth." She stifled a smile as Annabeth clambered off my lap, pretty ungracefully with a pink tinge to her cheeks. I pushed myself up, offering Mom the seat. I kissed her cheek before kissing Tyson's forehead and grabbing my backpack.
"I'll see you later, Mom. Call me if you need anything." I gave her one last wave before turning to leave.
"Bye, Sally. The same goes for me, you or Tyson need anything and I'm there." She gave my mum a quick hug before following me out the door. Her cheeks were still bright pink, she was pretty embarrassed. I burst out laughing, as bad as it was to laugh in a hospital.
"Oh gods that was awkward. Come on, lets go." I leant my arm across her shoulders without thinking.
"Woah, woah, woah. I am not going anywhere near your armpit until you have showered because quite frankly you stink. And don't even try it, no amount of cute puppy eyes will make me change my mind on that one I'm afraid." Her nose scrunched up as she side stepped away from me. Usually I would have been offended but my mind was still ticking over the fact that she basically just called me cute. She actually just called me cute. The word flashed in front of my eyes in everyone colour, font and size. I was on a high.
"Yeah, yeah. Fair enough then. Once I've showered though, you owe me." I knocked her shoulder and she rolled her eyes in return. I took her bag from her shoulder and slung it over the top of mine, winking at her as I did which again earned me a roll of her eyes. My phone buzzed as a message came through.
No funny business. - Mom
My face heated up, which if course Annabeth noticed.
"What? What did the message say? Tell me or so help me Perseus," This time it was my turn to roll my eyes. I quickly bent down and shut her up with a kiss on the cheek. It worked. She grabbed my hand silently as we walked. Only a few steps from the hospital and my mom's text was all but forgotten.
~So what up you guys? I know, I've been MIA for like a week which is not like me at all but I've been busy Ik the ending is a little shitty for this chapter but it felt kinda long and I wanted to leave the hospital in this chapter so I could move on in the next one. I have a plan to throw a spanner in the works in a few chapters time, featuring a known and loved character. But that's all the hints you're getting. I'll try to update quickly but we'll see how it goes.
see you laters alligators