trigger warning: multiple discussions of mj's sexual assault

*

PERCY

The first time Percy ever saw MJ was at the dining pavilion on his first night at Camp Half-Blood.

He'd just sat down at Table 11 when he spotted Annabeth at Table 6. The sight of her was a bit of a punch to the gut — she was laughing, eyes sparkling, smiling so wide her cheeks probably hurt. It was difficult to reconcile the Annabeth at Table 6 with the pensive, brooding Annabeth he'd walked away from on the dock, dripping with toilet water and scowling at the lake as if it was withholding information from her. He decided he much preferred Annabeth all giggly and giddy than scowling and rolling her eyes at him every other time he opened his mouth.

And there, to Annabeth's left, was MJ.

The first thing he thought was Whoa. Under the harsh lighting of the dining pavilion, she glowed like the sun, and her starry-eyed siblings orbited around her, hanging on to her every word and eager to share their thoughts whenever she paused for breath. She was captivating — anytime a camper from another cabin looked away from their siblings, it was to look at her as she gestured wildly and made her siblings crack up.

By then, Percy had heard the name MJ at least five times. Grover, Chiron, Annabeth, and Luke had all advised him to make a list of any and all questions he had, and Annabeth's big sister MJ would answer them. It wasn't until the next day at his first sword-fighting lesson when she introduced herself that he learned Annabeth's list sister and Annabeth's very pretty sister were the same person. She impressed him immediately with her sword and shield disguised as a ring, how effortlessly she made sword-fighting look, and her banter with Luke.

If Percy were to be completely honest with himself, the first person at camp — besides Grover, of course — that he really thought he could trust was MJ. Because even when he asked her all of those stupid questions and failed at every test Luke put him through to determine his godly parentage, MJ was the only person who never seemed disappointed with him. She never rolled her eyes or averted her gaze, shoulders slumping. She never heckled him or told him to leave her alone, as if he suspects most teenage girls would do when faced with a twelve-year-old delinquent. MJ was kind and patient, funny and informative. All of her explanations made sense. All of her warmth and positivity felt genuine.

She reminded him a lot of his mom.

When Percy was claimed, MJ was the only one who didn't seem to care at all about who his father was. She treated him just the same as she had the day before. His one-on-one sword-fighting lessons with her were always the highlight of his day.

"Do you have a crush on my sister?" Annabeth had asked him once during a lesson on the old stories.

Percy stared at her blankly. "Uh, which one?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes — something she seemed to do a lot around him. "MJ." Immediately, Percy blushed. Annabeth cracked a smile. "It's okay if you are. Everyone outside of Cabin 6 is at least a little in love with her."

"She's really nice," Percy said lamely.

"She is, isn't she?" Annabeth smiled, the warmest smile she'd ever directed at him. "MJ's the best. I don't know how camp will survive when she leaves for college."

Percy had only been at Camp Half-Blood for a short time, but he knew exactly what Annabeth was talking about. Everyone he talked to had a story about MJ and how great she is. People waved to her whenever she passed by. She was brought in as a neutral third party to deal with clashes between cabins or siblings. If you had a question about...well, pretty much anything, you asked MJ. She was as much a leader of this camp as Chiron or Mr. D, though, clever as she is, she didn't seem to realize that.

The only person at Camp Half-Blood who wasn't aware of how amazing MJ was was MJ.

When she'd come to see Percy, Grover, and Annabeth off on their quest and waxed poetic about how proud she was of them already, it was mostly expected. Well, her presence was. Not so much the speech. But then she gave Grover his beloved froggy hat and, to Percy's great surprise, she handed him a gift too — a Snoopy keychain — with the promise of more to come, and it was almost too much, how kind she was. Percy wasn't used to people, especially not older kids, being kind to him.

He'd never admit this to anyone, but he sobbed when he returned to Cabin 3 and found the wall art, scarf, hat, sweaters, blanket, and octopus plushie she'd left for him on his bed. He hung up the art, put away his new clothes, named the octopus Oscar, and that night, he fell asleep under the handmade blanket with Oscar the Octopus in his arms. The next day at dinner, he thanked Athena for giving birth to Annabeth and MJ, or whatever she did to help bring them into existence.

After Luke's betrayal and Percy nearly dying (again), he knew somehow that if he ever woke up, MJ would be in the room with him. And she was, but she wasn't MJ. At least, not MJ as he'd come to know her. She was pale and clammy and distant. She shivered so violently the infirmary bed creaked beneath her. Even after everything Percy had been through — the Minotaur, the Furies, Medusa, the Chimera, Ares, the Underworld — he'd never been more scared than he was right then, seeing MJ so...hollow.

And he'd never been angrier than he was when MJ told them what Luke did to her. It made him furious, of course, how Smelly Gabe had treated his mom. But then again, it was Smelly Gabe. Smelly Gabe being an abusive piece of shit was expected because he was, well, Smelly Gabe. His temporary kind facade was a blink of the eye compared to his reign of terror. He was unapologetically awful, and Percy's thrilled he's dead.

But Luke was...Luke. He was MJ's best friend. They'd known each other for an entire decade. Fought together, lived together, grieved together. She trusted him. And he hurt her in one of the worst ways you could possibly hurt someone.

Percy promised MJ she could kill Luke when they stopped him. It seemed like the least he could do.

Now Percy sits at his desk in his bedroom, and he's supposed to be doing his homework, but all he can think about is MJ. Despite never setting foot in this place, there are traces of her throughout their new apartment. The wall art he'd left behind in Cabin 3, but the handmade scarf and hat are on the coat rack, and the sweaters are hanging in his closet, and he sleeps under the patchwork blanket every night. Oscar the Octopus sits on the living room couch, having effectively been stolen from Percy by his mom.

Mom really wants to meet MJ. She wants to meet all of his camp friends, but especially MJ and Annabeth. Percy hopes he can make it happen someday. He has a feeling Mom and MJ would get along like a house on fire. And he thinks after everything she's been through, MJ deserves a batch of freshly baked blue chocolate chip cookies all to herself.

Percy wishes he could call MJ. Not just to ask her for help with his homework — though he would make a deal with the devil to have her as his personal tutor — but to make sure she's okay. Annabeth mentioned in one of her emails that MJ dropped out of college and is traveling now with some British people. Annabeth said she met them and they have her stamp of approval, so Percy's not too worried, especially since he knows how capable MJ is.

Still, he worries about her. He's spent nearly every day since he got back from camp watching his mom put her life — and herself — back together after the cataclysmic event that was Gabe Ugliano, trying to unlearn all of the behavior that'd been ingrained in her as survival. He wonders if MJ's doing that too. Rebuilding herself after Luke's betrayal. Adapting to her new reality — a less kind reality than Mom's new reality. He hopes her British friends are good people who won't betray her. He hopes she's not blaming herself for what Luke did like Mom blames herself for Gabe hurting Percy. Most of all, he hopes she's happy and safe, and that she knows if she ever needs help, she can always ask him. He wishes there was something he could do for her to make her feel as safe and supported as she made him feel.

Wait. He has an idea.

Percy sets aside his algebra homework and tears out a page from one of his notebooks. Then he starts writing down questions — not just about demigod life and the gods as he had before, but questions about MJ and her travels, about her new friends, and about random things he's sure she knows the answer to. MJ loves answering questions. And really, what else can Percy do for her? He's just some stupid kid with no money and limited skills.

Not stupid, he tells himself. MJ thinks you're smart. And if MJ thinks you're smart, then who are you to say otherwise?

A list of questions she'll love answering isn't much, but it's a start. MJ is his big sister — she'd offered, and he's sure he'll make her regret it — and he never wants to see her so un-MJ-like as she was in the infirmary on the last day of summer ever again. Between him, Grover, Cabin 6, Chiron, and, well, 98% of Camp Half-Blood, maybe they can help her be okay again. Give her the kind of support Percy wishes his mom could have.

As if on cue, Mom raps her knuckles on his door and pokes her head in. "How's the algebra coming along?"

"Like a narcoleptic snail," Percy tells her with a wince. "I'm taking a break."

Mom smiles, eyes glimmering with amusement. "Well, if you want, I could try to help you after dinner."

Doubtful. Mom's only slightly better at math than he is. But he nods anyway. "Yeah, okay."

"Alright, then," Mom says. "I'm going to get dinner started."

"Wait," Percy calls out the second she disappears from view. She pops her head back in and looks at him expectantly. He drops his pencil and turns to face her fully. "How do you help someone who's been through one of the worst things someone can go through?"

Mom's expression sombers and she takes a seat on his bed. "Is this purely hypothetical or...?"

"It's about MJ," he says.

"What happened to MJ?" Mom asks with wide, fearful eyes. "Is she alright?"

"I don't know," Percy says. "Remember how I told you about the last day of summer and Luke's betrayal?"

A shadow crosses Mom's face. "Of course."

"Something happened to MJ the night before," Percy explains. "Something really, really bad."

"Can you be more specific or would that be a breach of trust?"

Percy thinks about it. Remembers how aggressively MJ shook. Remembers the wild look in her eyes when the truth came spilling out. Remembers the heart wrenching sobs as he and Annabeth tried to comfort her. Remembers how, even after everything, she didn't leave for college without giving him a tight hug goodbye and wishing him luck.

"You're a good kid, Percy," was the last thing she said to him before she walked out of the infirmary to catch her flight.

He wonders how she always knows the right thing to say, and if it's a skill she could teach him.

"Is it okay to maybe tell someone something about a friend that the friend wouldn't want you to tell them but by telling that person, you can actually help your friend?" Percy asks his mom.

Mom tilts her head thoughtfully. "That's a good question. I guess you have to ask yourself if the reward is worth risking losing that friend's trust."

Percy had been really hoping for a simple "Yes" or "No," but Mom wouldn't be Mom if she wasn't trying to make him use his critical thinking skills. He thinks about the MJ that had thanked him for coming to her birthday party versus the MJ in the infirmary.

"Luke raped MJ," Percy says, and he knows it's rape even if MJ didn't describe it that way because he's Sally Jackson's son and she taught him the importance of consent when he was still in diapers. "And I don't know how to help her."

Mom is silent for a moment. "Honestly, Percy, I'm not sure that you can. The best thing you can do is be there for her in whatever capacity she needs." She sighs, looking older than she is. "You were right. That is one of the worst things a person could go through. I think as long as you stand by her, and you support her, and listen to her and care for her, you'll be helping."

"Really?"

Mom smiles, and it's bittersweet. "It's how you help me."

Percy's stomach sinks. He looks away, tears welling in his eyes. "I wish I could help more."

"I know," she says. She gets up from the bed and crosses the room to cup his face in her hands. "But some battles can only be fought alone. Or with the help of a trained professional."

Mom wipes away his tears and kisses his forehead. "You do the best you can, Percy, but I think what MJ really needs is a doctor."

*

ANNABETH

She stares out her window again, looking at the spot where the TARDIS once stood.

It almost feels like a dream, that whole day. MJ coming to visit, learning about aliens and time travel, going back in time and seeing Thalia, it's all too good to be true. But then Annabeth remembers MJ's face when she saw her mom and Thalia, and the way MJ gripped Annabeth's hand when her mom unknowingly spoke to her, and the way MJ fell apart in the console room, screaming and nearly ripping her hair out. That's how Annabeth knows it all really happened. Well, that and the stack of books she loaned from the TARDIS library.

Annabeth knows the Fates can be cruel, but to taunt MJ that way seems particularly nasty of them.

She remembers being seven years old, having just run away from home, and thinking she would never have a family who loved her. Then, MJ, Luke, and Thalia strolled into her life with a celestial bronze dagger and a promise of a family — a promise that Luke's irrevocably broken at least three times over. Even back then, before Luke's betrayal and Thalia's demise, MJ was the nicest. MJ has always been the nicest person Annabeth has ever known. She deserves the universe, but the Fates refuse to give it to her.

The Doctor on the other hand...

Annabeth only spent less than a day with the Doctor and Rose, but it's blatantly obvious that they care deeply about MJ, even though they don't know the truth about Mom. To be perfectly honest, Annabeth never thought anyone outside Camp Half-Blood would be capable of loving MJ as much as any demigod, nature spirit, or centaur. She's never been happier to be wrong.

As much as Annabeth wishes MJ weren't so far away, jumping from one dangerous situation to another, she's less worried knowing MJ is with such loyal friends.

Annabeth startles at the sound of a ringtone. Who the Hades is calling her? She digs her phone out of her bedside table drawer and reads the caller ID: Zelda. Her heart sinks.

"Did something happen?" Annabeth asks a split second after answering the call. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm good, everything's good," Zelda assures her. "Sorry for scaring you, but I'm low on drachma and I really need to talk to you, so...yeah. Sorry."

Annabeth flops down onto her bed, relief flooding her veins. "It's okay, Zee. What's going on?"

"Mattie came to my house today to start cooking lessons with my mom," Zelda says, "and she brought her white friends with her. You said there were two of them, not three."

"There's a third?"

"His name is Jack, he's American, and he tried to flirt with my mom," Zelda says. "But that's not why I'm calling. When you met the British friends, what vibe did you get between the doctor guy and Mattie?"

Annabeth's face splits into a shit-eating grin. "Oh my gods. He totally has a crush on her, right?"

"That man is down so bad he might as well be in Tartarus!" Zelda squeals. "Seriously, Buffy, you should've seen the look on his face when Mattie started talking about her hypothetical future wedding. He practically had heart eyes for pupils. And he has full name privileges, and he called her Princess Matilda!"

Annabeth laughs. "I bet it was the same face he made when MJ ordered his milkshake for him because she knows what he likes. You would've thought she declared her undying love for him with how he was looking at her."

"It's just so funny," Zelda says. "I never in my life imagined MJ ending up with a British older white guy, but I think they're actually really cute together. Or, well, will be once he gets his shit together. Man's got some issues."

"Yeah," Annabeth says, "but he seems good for her. After everything with Luke..."

They lapse into silence.

"Buffy," Zelda says, voice uncharacteristically small, "what happened between Luke and Mattie? Because I know something happened the night of the bead ceremony. I heard her come in late crying. And don't tell me you don't know because I know Mattie tells you everything."

"I don't know if she would be okay with me telling you," Annabeth says. "She didn't even want to tell me, it just kind of...burst out of her."

Zelda sniffles. "It's okay, you don't have to tell me. I...I think I can guess." Another sniffle. "How could he do that to her? I mean, going against the gods and trying to start World War III is one thing, but rape? That is a whole 'nother level of evil."

Annabeth closes her eyes, trying to stop tears from falling. "He's not who we thought he was."

"That's one way to put it."

Another bout of silence. Annabeth checks the clock on her bedside table. They've been talking too long. She's practically inviting monsters to attack her at this point.

"I gotta go, Zee," Annabeth says, voice cracking. "I love you."

"Love you too, Buffy. Stay safe."

"You too."

Annabeth hangs up and stares at the vaulted ceiling, the dark brown beams intersecting the white, and tries not to think about MJ sobbing in the infirmary or screaming in the console room. Tries not to think about how world-shatteringly terrifying it is to see the strongest person you know, the person who's been your rock as long as she's been in your life, completely fall apart like that. Tries not to think about how Annabeth couldn't help her either time, that maybe she just can't help her big sister, she can't be the life-saver and problem-solver for MJ that MJ is for her. She doesn't want to think about any of it, so she grabs one of the books she'd borrowed from the TARDIS library, cracks it open, and forces herself to focus on something else. Something less heart-breaking.

One thing's for sure: Luke is going to rot in Tartarus for what he did to MJ.

*

next chapter is taking longer than expected so i had the idea to do this little interlude. hope y'all like it <3