Alone Again (Percico/Pernico AU)

Chapter 1

Ignore my lack of juvenile punishment information. I was searching the Internet for a while today, and didn't really find the minors' punishments for murder and manslaughter and all that, so I'm just going by adult terms. And I was looking by state, and New York did not have the manslaughter punishments on the website, so I'm going by New Jersey's. Okay, continue.

Percy shoved open the doors, five years over. He hadn't even tried to go against his case in court, knowing it wouldn't matter in the end. He was charged with manslaughter and sentenced to five years of imprisonment. It might've been longer if he wasn't a minor, so for once, Percy was glad to be young.

But now there was another problem: everything. His mother was killed years ago by Gabe, he himself had killed Gabe, and his father left. He wasn't coming back, Percy knew that. So that meant Percy was on his own at seventeen. He didn't have anything, no money, no job, no place to stay. Nothing. The police had told him that there was a boy his age trying to find someone who needed an apartment and was willing to pay half the rent. And live with him, of course. They called him, and Percy was supposed to meet him later. Right now, though, he needed to fix himself. If he remembered correctly, it was only a few miles away. Percy began walking.

*****

He approached the gate, sighing. He cautiously hit the buzzer.

"Hello?" He spoke into the square box.

"Who is it?" A voice replied.

"It's, um...it's Percy."

A gasp came, but no other reply. The gate began to open, and Percy was tackled with a hug. Rachel Elizabeth Dare. Percy met her in fourth grade when they got paired to work on some project together.

"You're finally out! And, oh my god, you changed!" She said, laughing.

He nods, barely cracking a smile. "Yup. Five years does that to you."

She grabbed his arm, pulling him up the walkway to the front door. She was rambling about something as she opened the door and led him upstairs. She plopped down on a couch, patting the seat next to her. Percy walked over, sitting down.

"So what do you need?" She asked.

"To shower and eat so I can look presentable for some meeting later."

She nods. "You shower, I'll order a pizza," she says, standing up.

"Rachel?" She turned around. "Thanks." She smiled, heading downstairs.

He stood up and headed into the bathroom. He stripped off his clothes and stepped in, sighing as the water hit his body. It'd been forever since he took a decent shower. The ones he had been taking were usually cold, gross, and short. After cleaning himself off, he turned off the water and dried off, clothing himself. He stepped out of the bathroom, drying his hair. Rachel was watching TV, but she turned around when she heard Percy.

"Yeah, you needed that shower," she said, studying him.

He nodded. "Your honesty is always appreciated."

He sat down next to her, waiting for the food. A few minutes later, the doorbell rung, and Rachel stood up, walking downstairs. Percy looked around, taking in his surroundings. Rachel's dad was some businessman, so they were pretty rich. Rachel wasn't your stereotypical snobby rich kid, though. She seemed more like the type of girl who would graffiti the city because she was bored. Percy enjoyed that about her. She was a rebel, and she didn't care if you didn't like her.

She returned to the couch with a box of pizza. She set it down on the end table and opened it, handing me a slice and grabbing one for herself before sitting back down. We ate the pizza, Rachel updating Percy on what had been happening the past five years. Nothing too big seemed to have happened.

Once the pizza was gone, the two continued talking, Percy complaining about the past five years. Percy looked at the time on Rachel's phone.

Well crap.

He had five minutes to get to an apartment building ten minutes away. Rachel came to the rescue, though, offering to drive Percy. He provided directions from the police as Rachel, who was probably speeding, drove through the city. They arrived at the building in just enough time, Percy stumbling out of the car and rushing into the building, waving to Rachel. She drove off as Percy went inside, looking around the lobby for the boy he was supposed to meet.

He heard small clicking sounds, and turned around to face a boy with curly ginger colored hair and crutches.

"Are you Percy?" He asked.

Percy nodded, not saying anything.

"Okay, great! I'm Grover, the guy with the apartment."

Percy nodded again. "Cool."

"So, um, we can just go up to my apartment, if that's okay."

"Sounds good," he answered as Grover smiled and began to walk towards the elevators, Percy following. He seemed nervous, probably because he knew Percy killed some guy. He's probably just being normal, staying cautious around murderers. There was no way Percy was being asked to live with anyone besides Rachel. People didn't want to stay around you when you were accused of manslaughter. That wasn't very comforting to most people.

They stepped into the elevator silently, pressing the button to take them up to the third floor. Grover was nervously tapping his foot as we went up. The doors slid open with a small ding, and the boys stepped out and headed to his apartment. Grover unlocked the door, gesturing for Percy to enter. Percy nodded a thanks at Grover, stepping inside and looking around.

It was nice, Percy had to admit. A grey couch and matching recliner were facing a TV on one side of the main room, and a small, dark table with white cabinets on the other side. A hallway was near the back right corner, so Percy couldn't see down it from the doorway.

"So, uh, welcome," he said, sitting in the recliner.

Percy sat down on the couch, on the edge of his seat. "Grover, was it?"

So there ya go, happy birthday. G'bye.