Percabeth Dirty One Shots and Drabbles

ins (is) 7

Goodgodwhy on ao3

He was still stewing a little as they stepped through the door.

"Perce, sweetheart, just tell me what's wrong," his mom implored.

Except he couldn't tell her what was wrong because his reasons were stupid.

His mom had decided to pick him up from school today since she got off work early, which he appreciated, despite how short the walk was for him. He would never turn down the opportunity to spend time with her.

What had upset him, however, was the man that had been chatting her up when Percy walked out of school and met her at the car.

He wasn't inherently uncomfortable with the idea of men being interested in his mom. He understood that much, anyone would be lucky to be with her. But Percy was terrified of another Gabe. Not for himself, he could learn to deal with that if it meant his mom was happy, but what he couldn't go through again, was seeing the toll it took on her. She had become a shell of herself when she was married to Gabe, and Percy never, ever, wanted a repeat of that.

And he knew in theory that the likelihood of his mom ending up with someone as awful as Gabe again were quite slim, but he just didn't know if he was willing to take that risk.

He didn't tell her any of this, although he had a feeling that she had probably pieced it together anyway, "mom, I'm fine. Honestly, I'm just tired."

She stared at him for a moment, waiting, hoping that he might concede but he held firm.

Finally, she sighed and nodded, "okay, do you need me to pick anything up on my way back?"

He shook his head and gave her a bright smile, trying to show that he would be okay, "nope I'm good."

She nodded, "alright, I'm interviewing someone for the café so I'm probably going to be home pretty late. There are leftovers in the fridge when you get hungry. And maybe try to do some homework or something," she teased and ruffled his hair.

He rolled his eyes good naturedly, "I know mom, you told me twice. It's fine, just leave me all alone here, don't feel guilty."

"Well by all means, feel free to come with me, and sit in the corner of my office while I do the interview," his mom answered with a knowing smile.

"I mean, I didn't say all that," he answered with a laugh.

"That's what I thought," she responded and gave him a quick peck on his cheek.

Another thing he didn't mention to her, was that he hated being alone in the house. He hated when she left. It reminded him too much of nights when she was working late, and he was stuck with Gabe. Whenever she was out, his 'stepdad' and he used that term very lightly, would drink and gamble and take out his frustrations on the only other thing in the apartment, Percy.

He watched her grab her keys, ignoring the pit in his stomach as he offered her a strained smile. Once she closed the door behind her, he spun on his heel and plopped down on the couch tiredly. He picked up the remote on the cushion next to him, and turned on the tv, hoping to take his mind off Gabe. He began flipping through the channels.

He stopped on a trivia show that he was sure that Annabeth would love, but after he shouted out two wrong answers in a row, he moved on to the next station.

He turned to a random sitcom that was not very funny. He wondered what kind of jokes would make Annabeth laugh. She seemed to have a similar sense of humour as him, sarcastic and dry. Despite how much he held back his smiles, she had forced a few too many grins out of him for his liking. Eventually the show annoyed him enough to switch channels again.