Grover

It was the middle of dinner when I got a call. Nico was a little on edge. He wasn't there for long. He told me he'd explain latter. Shit kind of happened. Not between them.

"Who is it?" Clarisse asked me and I looked at it, not expecting him to call.

"Percy?" I said confused, and glanced at Nico, who shrugged. So I answered.

"Percy, hey," I said. "What's up?"

"I'm on my way," he told me without really any explanation. "Can you save me a plate of food? I haven't eaten yet."

"What— are you okay?"

"Mhm," he was lying, but I would ask later. "I'll tell you later."

"Okay, just be careful," I said, kind of worried now.

"I will." He assured me. "Alright, I gotta go. See ya."

He hung up and that was it.

"What did he want?" Annabeth asked, sounding annoyed. Percy lives a half hour from camp. He'd be here in 20 minutes, so towards the end of dinner.

"He's on his way, he'll be here in like 20 minutes," I told them and Annabeth just rolled her eyes. Other did, too. "Don't. He's not in a good mood, I wouldn't push him."

"He doesn't need to come here," Jason insisted, siding with Annabeth. "We already sent him home once. Does he know he's not wanted here?"

"Jason—"

"I'm just saying!" Jason defended himself, of course. "He's had his time, he can leave. Just as good if he kills himself."

"Okay, that's a little harsh," Hazel corrected him. "If he'd just stay away, I don't care what he does. Nobody should kill themselves. He just needs to fuck off."

"Guys..." Leo remarked, looking behind me, and I heard somehow walk away.

"What?" Jason didn't care.

"He uh... Was right behind you," Leo told the son of Jupiter.

"Why do I care?"

"Well if he decides to kill himself—"

"Why should I care?"

"I don't know, but you should!" Leo yelled at Jason, which had everyone's attention. "what did he ever do to you, Jason!? So he was a little cocky, we're no better! He has feelings, too, you know! If he kills himself, you get in trouble for it."

"He won't kill himself," Jason brushed it off as if it wasn't anything to worry about. Like he's not having problems. "His life is perfect, remember? He has nothing to kill himself over."

Funny enough, we we're all called down after dinner because Mr. D found Percy passed out not too far from the Big House, tear stains on his face. He must've tripped, hit his head. Knocked him out.

"Do any of you know what happened?" Mr. D takes this shit kind of serious. When a camper get like this for no reason. No reason they know of. "We weren't told he was going to he here."

"He called like towards the end of dinner and said he was on his way." I told the camp director. "He didn't say why, though. He told me he'd explain what happened later."

"We have to call Sally and Paul to inform them that Percy's—"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Nico suggested, which had everyone's attention.

"And why is that, Mr. di Angelo?"

"Just... I mean, you can tell Sally," Nico kind of adjusted what he said. "But Paul like is a bad idea. He'll freak out."

"Do you know if he left without consent?"

"I mean he probably did."

"So we'll notify them."

Percy

I woke up in the Big House in one of the side rooms and my dad was there. Didn't look pleased with me. Chiron and Mr. D were there, too.

Somebody snitched.

"Are you feeling alright?" Mr. D asked me and I didn't say anything. I didn't want him here. My dad. "We notified your parents that you're here so they won't worry. Would you like to tell your dad what happened?"

I shook my head.

"It's not a question," Chiron clarified, trying to sound nice about this.

"And he doesn't look like he wanted to come here in the first place," I pointed out the obvious. "You guys can't make him he my dad. I know what he'll say and it's just going to make it worse, so no. I won't tell him what happened."

The look on his face said that I wasn't wrong.

"So if you don't care, don't waste your time." I clarified for him. "I'm tired of this one foot in, one foot out bullshit. You're either here for me to help me or you're not. Make up your mind. I'm not playing this game."

So he wished me luck and he left.

Can't say I expected anything else.

"Percy, you can't talk to your dad—"

I shot Chiron a look that right now is a really bad time to lecture me.

"Do you want your parents here?" Mr. D asked me.

"No."

So he sent Chiron to call them and tell them some bullshit so they wouldn't come here and murder me or something.

Mr. D reminded me a lot of Gabe. But not like when he was drunk. When I was younger and he was sober and he was there and he was supportive and he was my dad.

I called him dad for years. I stopped when I was... 8 years old? Somewhere around there. So Mr. D was easy to talk to.

"Are you going to go home?"

"Probably not."

"What are you going to do here?"

"Beats me," I told him, shrugging. "But as long as I'm not there and I'm not at my dad's, I really don't care."

He slowly nodded his head and looked at my bag.

"That's a pretty sizable bag."

"Mhm."

"Did you..." Mr. D was careful when he brought this up. "Did you plan on ever going back home?"

"I don't think I can."

"Are you going to be okay?"

"Probably not."

My chest just swelled up and I looked down, hugging myself, because this was just pathetic. I was crying because I walked out.

Jason's right, I probably should kill myself. But at the same time, I don't want to give him that satisfaction. I don't know what to.

It's dumb.

"Is there anyone you'd like to see?" He asked me, rubbing my back.

"Well yeah, but they're all dead." I told him, because that was still here. It wasn't making me feel even worse. "And it's just too dumb to bring them back. They're probably enjoying it down there. I know I would."

"Percy," his voice softened, and he realized how bad I've gotten. "What happened?"

I had an emotional breakdown before actually telling him.

"I just... My dad fucking hates me," I told the god, trying to breathe. "you saw that well enough. My step dad will do anything to make sure I can't fucking have a good day. Ever. I was doing fine. Today was the first day since he showed up in our lives that I got some one on one time with my mom. It was nice. And then she went to the store and he came home and he was drunk and he accused me of lying to him and he... I mean, my face, and then he told my mom some bullshit about that I got a girl pregnant and she started to freak out on me and just... My mom doesn't even trust me anymore. My step dad and my dad hate me."

I paused for a second.

"I wish I was overexaggerating this, Mr. D," I was dead serious, though. "But I'm not. I don't think I can go home anymore. They'll get over it. My mom's pregnant, they're starting their family. If they don't want me in the picture then I'll just... I mean, I really don't know what I'm going to do, but I'll figure it out. Luke turned out fine, right? He ran away, he came here. He was perfectly fine. He hated his dad, but whatever."

He got me to at least calm down before I left. Headed to Grover's place. He had my dinner.

"You woke up!" He sounded happy to see me, at least. That was a relief. "Are you okay? You looked pretty rough."

"I'll be fine." I decided as he handed me a plate of food he just heated up. I was starving. "It just... I don't know. Paul did some things and then he told my mom that I got a girl pregnant. Funny, right? And she believed him and that went as well as you can imagine. So I just stopped her before she could do any more damage and I left."

"That... He did... That?" He motioned at my face and I nodded.

"He was drunk," I clarified. "Nico was there. Hiding under the bed. I told him to hide. It's not the first time, so... I left."

"Okay..." Grover remarked, not questioning any further. "Anyways, what did happen with Nico? Like, he wasn't there long. Did stuff happen? Like...?"

"I guess," I said, shrugging, not really thinking about it. "I don't know. I mean, stuff happened. I just don't know if it really means anything. I kind of woke up and Paul got there a few minutes later and so..."

I just didn't want to think about it anymore.