Percy
Also, the place we live in isn't actually an apartment. It's a small house, which is really nice. I've never lived in a house. Just apartments.
So we have room now.
But gods I just fucking missed him when he was gone. And now that he's back, life is okay again. He's here and I can cuddle with him and talk to him and have fun with him.
Interpret that how you will.
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Lee
I was so ready to see my friends again. They all came over a few days later and I mean it's great.
They showed up while Percy was in the shower. So I showed everyone around the place outside of the bathroom. He knew others would be here, though, so he (sadly) didn't accidentally come out with just his towel on.
But when Percy did come out, I saw the looks Andrea and Daniel shared. And Daniel leans over to me
"Who's your roommate?" He asked me, with something intended in that question that wasn't going to happen. "Because he's hot, Lee. What the fuck, we don't have guys like that here."
"He's taken," I responded, enjoying the response to that. "You can't ask him out, and you'll probably get murdered if you tap that. So good luck."
"I was just..." He turned red in the face, embarrassed. "He's hot, okay?"
"I know."
"Wait is that—" Zander said, and looked at me like this was insane. "Lee!"
"What?"
"Is that Percy?"
I smiled at them, and of course now that they know that it's my boyfriend of almost three fucking years that they still haven't met, they freaked the fuck out. Because I got the whole package deal.
And I mean, I did. He's a sweetheart and he's hot and he's just the best, whether he believes it or not.
Percy came out fully dressed and introduced himself to my friends. They asked him about 4 billion questions before we could actually do anything.
We did get to go skating, though. I've always been shitty at it, so Percy started to teach me a little and it was more of them teasing us than skating.
It was worth it, though. I like it when he moves parts of me just slightly and he's so careful and it's so worth the teasing.
"Hey, Lee," Andrea told me. "soften yourself up they're, dude. I get that he's your boyfriend and all, but fuck."
"Hey, if all goes well while Percy's visiting here," Zander added on, finding humor in this. "that'll happen at least once. Knowing Lee, more than that."
"Hey!" I almost lied and said I was a virgin to them. "I'm not..."
"Oh whatever," Andrea didn't believe my shit. "You're not a virgin. I've seen you with sex hair in video chats too many times."
The rest of my friends didn't know that.
"Lee!"
They love me.
But with everything going on and people freaking the hell out about Percy at camp, he did have to step off for a call for a while.
And Zander remarks something once he was gone.
"You and Percy look alike," Zander said and PJ shrugged.
"I mean, I guess?"
"What are you talking about?" Andrea asked. "They're identical, Zander. You had a brother, right? Before you like came here and got adopted and whatever?"
PJ moved here when we all 12. He's from somewhere out east, but I don't remember where. Like Percy, he was kicked out of the house because he's gay. Mom kicked him out when he was 12. He's mentioned brother once or twice.
But I mean, it's not like he talks about it. It's like Nico with Bianca. You just leave it alone and learn to live with what happened.
"Well, yeah, a twin, but..." PJ told the three of us and shrugged. "I mean, don't get your hopes up, guys. My mom would've never sent us to a summer camp. Especially after kicking me out. I'm surprised she still sent him to boarding school that year. And plus, he goes to camp in New York, right? He'd not from New York."
They looked at me.
"He used live in the upper east side, I believe." I corrected them. "I mean, he doesn't anymore. He's here now. He didn't always live there, though. When he was... They moved there not long after I met him and we we're like 14 when he moved. Um..."
I had to think about it for a minute.
"Queensburo area? By the Queensburo bridge maybe? It was a really poor area."
"That is a poor area," Andrea agreed. Her aunt lives in New York, so she knows some stuff. Not much, but some. "What's his last name? Like, it's a long shot. I'm not trying to get your hopes up, PJ, but... Like parents or anything?"
I nodded my head.
"His mom remarried a few years ago," I explained that right away, sitting on the half Pike with the others. "And his step dad was really nice. His name is Paul Blofis. But her name before that, Percy's last name, is Jackson. So like... His mom is Sally. And outside of being homophobic and kicking him out of the house to never fucking see him again, she was a pretty good mom."
And like I said, Percy had also mentioned a brother like once. Or I asked and he said he had one but he moved due to things with his parents and he moved. He left. Never told me how close in age they were.
Twins really aren't hard for gods. We have a few sets at camp.
What's one more?
"Sally Jackson?" PJ asked and I nodded my head. "Who was she married to before?"
"Gabe something, I don't know." I answered his question, nervous. "Percy and j really didn't hang out when Gabe was around and he doesn't talk about much. The guy was kind of an asshole."
PJ store at nothing for like 30 seconds.
"Hey," I said, now worried about this. "Are you okay? You good?"
The others let me handle the situation, being PJ was my best friend and Percy was my boyfriend. I'm sort of their link. They left temporarily.
He didn't really say anything at first.
"I uh..." Eventually, though, he got the nerve to soak. "I think so, yeah. I just don't know how to feel about it. It's great that he's here, I guess. I don't know, I didn't think I'd ever see him again. Mom would've killed him had she known we were in contact. She will kill him. Fuck."
"He's not going home," I reminded my best friend. "he uh... Well I mean he's at the second house. Sally kicked him three weeks ago. A good friend of his died about two weeks ago. When I got back, a little over a week ago he was... I mentioned the house because my parents have been wanting to meet him. You know that. And he jumped at the idea, he wanted the fuck out of New York. He'll probably never go back."
"Yeah, I wouldn't either." PJ could get behind that idea. "It fucking sucks there. Did he ever like... I mean I'm being selfish, but did he talk about me?"
"Gods, you guys are twins," I remarked, noticing the similarities in their personalities. "Um, I mean a little. Later on he did more. I met Percy the summer after I met you. And between that probably still kind being fresh to him and us not really hanging out, he didn't say much."
I paused for a moment.
"According to Grover, he didn't know until they were 14." I filled him in. "He uh, he told me like right after he turned 15. He never said you were kicked out. Just that you left. You moved out. Never really specified a twin. Just another. Kind of closed. He missed you. I think it'll mean the world if you talk to him about it."
"Really? I feel like he won't believe me."
"Right now he will," I set the situation straight with him. As clear as I could. "This is like prime time for the shittiness in Percy's life. For every reason under the book. I was in a coma for like over a year. Most of his friends are dead. Your dad... I'm not going there. It's a fucking mess and he can tell you."
"He met Dad?"
"That's why he's at the camp" I explained, nodding my head. "But I like, it's a mess. Whatever Gabe did to Percy is still fucking him up, so between that and what happened the last two summers before this one he's had a lot of trauma and he starts therapy like next week, doesn't know it'll work or not. Then you know, Sally kicked him out. A week later, one of his whole 3 friends dies and they don't know what happened. So he left and people aren't happy about that. Or about the fact that he never came out. It's just... He's not doing the best and if leaving New York doesn't help him, there really isn't much that will."
I stopped.
"So yeah," I concluded. "Right now, he'll believe anything that means he can have something stable to hold on to again. Anything that will give him hope."