Dear son

Twelfth chapter

Hiii!

So, I'll start of with the TW's so you'll kinda see what direction this chapter takes...

Graphic depiction of violence and injury, mentions of PTSD

Buuuut there will be cute fluffy friends stuff because I absolutely adore Percy, Luke and Gaia (I hope you do too)!

And no cliffhangers this time, I promise.

Thank you for reading guys!

Good night,
Wobbly railing

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Dear son,

Never scare me like this again!
Two hours ago I got a call from some random nurse, informing me that I could come visit you in the hospital... I'm sorry, I didn't even know you were in the hospital?!
The woman with poor brain cell distribution failed to mention why you were there or what happened, so I had to rush here and find out for myself. Apparently you got into a fight with some kid in kindergarten, because the kid hit Luke and you didn't find that very funny. I'm not filled in on all the details yet, but the kid has a broken arm and nose and you got a sprained wrist and several bruises (personally I find that very impressive of you, but as your Mom I have to act worried).
So the good thing is you take after me and the bad thing is... you take after me. Also you're taking this like a champ. No crying and no complaining. Oh and the best thing was when the mother of that other bastard came in and demanded you apologise, you straight up refused and then ignored her.
I'm very proud of you and I love you so much, kid.

With all my heart,
Your mom

The first two things I noticed when I woke up were the white covers I was buried underneath and my mothers worried eyes staring down at me. I could tell something was wrong with me, because every time I tried to focus my eyes on something, it started to move and dance around. Also there was this buzzing feeling in the back of my head.
I couldn't help but think of my mom's dark blue eyes as the ocean. The way the different tones of blue were swirling together and moving around made it seem like waves dancing around. There were even drops of water coming from them and dripping down on my face... oh. She was crying.
Mom was crying. I tried lifting my hand, but it was heavy and didn't want to listen to me. After a couple attempts I eventually succeeded in bringing it up to her face and cupping her cheek with my hand. There was the feeling of slight pressure as mom leaned into it, letting me hold her.
"Mom?" I croaked, my voice rasping in the back of my throat. I tried clearing it, but it was so dry it hurt. "What-"
"You were in a car accident." A sob escaped her and I barely heard the whispered "again" at the end. Mom hid her face behind her hand, but she didn't move away or turn her head around like she usually would. It was both a good and a bad thing at the same time.
The good thing was that for once she really showed me how bad she was doing, without downplaying it... the bad thing was that she really had to be at her lowest to do this. Fuck.
Even in my very drugged state I wanted to do something for her. Get up and hug her. Or at least sit up so I could put an arm around her. But neither of those things were possible at the moment. I did try to get up, but again my body felt heavy and numb, like I had been rolled in a shit ton of bubble wrap and then packed into some cotton. So instead I did the only rational thing I could think of in the moment and pulled her head down to my chest. Mom didn't put up much resistance and she was laying down, her arms wrapping around my waist. I felt a bit of pain in my upper body, but didn't complain.
I moved my hand from mom's cheek up into her hair, brushing through it as I felt her body shaking against mine under her sobs. "Sh...sh... I'm okay. I'm okay." I kept whispering, knowing it wouldn't do much.
She knew that too. After all, I was still here, living and breathing. It was just a shock reaction, maybe some PTSD too. This wasn't the first time I had been in a car accident. The first time I had actually only been a couple of months old. Not much had happened to me (only a little scar on my chin was left from it), but it had gotten Mom right back into the hospital (she was actually the queen of getting into fatal car accidents, one had gotten her a removal of her reproductive system and another an amputated leg). There had been some minor accidents since then, but Mom got worried every time. At least when she wasn't in the car with me to make sure I made it out without a scratch.
Slowly the memories of what happened started to come back... A harpy crashing through the windshield of our car, Luke almost crashing the car and knocking himself out by hitting his head on the steering wheel and me killing the harpy but passing out (probably from blood loss). Technically I wasn't even in the hospital because of the car accident and where was Luke?
Worrying about him was enough to push through the fog that was clouding my mind and I asked my mom: "Where is Luke? Is he okay?"
"He will be." Mom sat up again, taking my hand and wiping the tears off her face. "He's got a concussion, but he woke up a couple of times and seemed alright. Zayn and Gaia are with him right now."
I nodded slowly, processing what she just said. My mind circled back to one little detail. "Gaia?" I couldn't help but smile a little.
"Yeah, I called her right after I found out. Nico picked her up and brought her here." Mom smiled too, drying off the last tears on her chin. Then she laughed. "She's a good friend, you know?"
"Oh, I know. We wouldn't have taken her in if she wasn't. And I think Luke really likes her." The glow in mom's eyes told me that she had known for a long time. Probably longer than me. But to her, things like that were obvious. She could point out crushes and potential couples before anyone else.
The door behind mom opened and Nico burst in, almost dropping the bag of chips and the two cups of coffee in his hands when he saw me awake and smiling. "Percy! You're alive!"
"Great observation, Nico." I laughed quietly, not to strain my throat too much.
"And I know what's wrong with you." Nico said, sitting down in the chair next to mom's and handing her one of the coffee's. "So, you have various cuts all over your body, thanks to the window getting absolutely demolished, but those will heal the quickest. The deep scratches on your chest and the fucked up leg on the other hand..."
Images of the Harpy's claws ripping through my shirt flashed through my mind. It would have been more traumatic if I hadn't ripped off her wing a second after (and then broken her neck). But there was one thing I couldn't make sense of.
"What happened to my leg?"
"Well..." Nico seemed to be very disgusted by what he was about to tell me, his whole face scrunched up. "You passed out in the middle of the street and... some guy drove over it. He didn't see you laying there. He also called an ambulance immediately after he heard the bones scrunch."
"He drove over my leg?!" I shouted, pulling back the covers. My eyes flew over my bandaged chest and down to my leg, which was also covered in a lot of bandages and tape. Arguably it was for the best, seeing that would have made me throw up. "Why can't I feel it?"
"They pumped a shit ton of morphine in you. So much it could probably count as a horse tranquilliser." Nico shook his head, his eyes fixed on my leg.
"And how do you know all of this?" My mom asked. Her voice sounded stable, but I could see suspicious glitter in her eyes. I gave her hand a slight squeeze before also looking at Nico.
"Uhm, the doctors told me?"
"How? You're not related to him. They only give information to family members."
"So... I have a favour to ask." Nico gave Mom his best puppy eyes, which he only brought out when he was in trouble. "Could you pretend I am your husband? Just as long as we're here."
I let out a surprised snort, while Mom just rolled her eyes. "Sure, sure... once again." She sighed and then looked back at me. Her dark eyes sunk right into mine, searching for reassurance that I was okay or at least going to be. So I smiled at her, giving her a little nod. It took her a moment, but eventually she smiled back, leaning against Nico.