Alone Again (Percico/Pernico AU)

Chapter 57

Hey y'all so ya girl is out for the summer. Sorry for taking approximately twelve years to get this chapter out. I was school-ing and whatnot. Got some hardcore writer's block at the moment, so please just ignore this trash chapter whoops. Also stressed out because I have to keep emailing this one lady from my school and she keeps not respoNDING. (Status update: she emailed me) Anyways, enjoy.

"Remember that criminal record," Nico winked.
*****

Percy felt odd walking home in the middle of the night. He probably could have called an uber or taken the subway, but he'd missed roaming the streets of New York, despite it being potentially dangerous. He spent too many nights of his childhood wandering the city, going against his mother's wishes to stay home while she was working.

Gods, Percy would love to go back and actually listen to her.

If he would've known what would happen to her, he would've been the best son for her sake. He would've listened to all her instructions, spent all of his extra cash on birthday and Mother's Day cards–although it would've been a minuscule amount because of his age, eaten dinner with her every night instead of hiding from Gabe in his room.

But he didn't. And now he wouldn't be able to.

Percy took a deep breath as he strolled down the surprisingly near-empty streets with his hands clenched at his side. He supposed that he should show himself some forgiveness, considering Gabe Ugliano's existence was the reason for the majority of Percy's aloofness. The man terrified Percy to his core. Percy pushed the memories of him further into the back of his mind so they didn't take over his whole body and mind as they usually did.

He remembered having a different scratch or bruise nearly everyday. Percy had tried mastering the art of concealer, but he eventually couldn't just hide behind a fake layer of color on his face.

After Gabe's death, Percy was on probation for less than 24 hours before he pulled a few reckless stunts of keying police cars and tampering with the locks on a few assorted buildings and was sent to the detention facility. He'd never admit it aloud, but Percy didn't want to still be living day to day in the world like he had been. The police told him they'd send him to a foster home, but Percy knew there was no telling what the parents would be like. They could've been just like Gabe, and Percy wasn't willing to take the risk.

His arrival at the detention center was an interesting experience. Clarisse immediately hated him and tried to instigate fights nearly every day much to Percy's dismay, Chris practically isolated himself from everyone else, the Stolls tried their hardest to snatch a little bit of everyone else's food whenever possible. Percy was highly antisocial at first, not particularly planning to make any friends while he was there. As much as he currently hated him, Luke was the first person to make any effort to talk to Percy. When they needed to condense, Luke—for reasons still unknown to Percy—gladly volunteered himself to bunk in the same cell as the green-eyed boy.

Luke talked quite a lot when they were younger. Percy was quite the opposite, only throwing a few sarcastic comments in where he saw necessary. To be honest, he missed the friendship that the two had. He knew he was better off without him now, but it was still hard to let someone go when they're all you had at one point.

Percy very vividly remembered the first time Luke found out what Percy's life consisted of. It seemed, even when he wasn't trying his best to hold up a conversation with the other boy, the blonde was moving around or just producing some kind of unnecessary noise. This day, however, he was just lying down in the top bunk, staring at the ceiling with his hands clasped together.

"Hey, Percy," Luke muttered, not moving his gaze as officers escorted Percy in. Their security was much more organized back then.

Percy narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Are you, uh...okay?"

"My father visited today," he said quietly. He'd always been a rather open person when it came to people he considered friends. "He left when I was younger and tries to act like he didn't. He disappeared for a few years and wanted nothing to do with my mom when he came back. She's...in some mental asylum now. I was trying to help her, and then I was stupid and ended up here. Now my father refuses to take care of her and I can't...I don't know when I can see her again."

Percy slowly walked over and hoisted himself onto the higher bunk, sitting at Luke's feet. A pathetic "I'm sorry" was all Percy could seem to muster up. He had nothing to say when it came to family, especially considering that he legally didn't anymore. The state had wanted to locate Percy's father, but the boy didn't know who he was. Plus, he was fairly certain he didn't want to meet him at that point.

"I'm just glad he left," Luke muttered,!sitting up, "What about you, Jackson? What's your story?"

Percy lightly shook his head. "Maybe another time when you aren't upset."

The blonde groaned dramatically. "Please? He held out the word.

Percy, totally useless when it came to rejecting people back then, sighed. He sat more comfortably in his spot on the edge of the bunk and told Luke practically all of the major events so far  in his short, nearly thirteen year-long life. It felt nice to let someone else know about the tragedy that was Perseus Jackson.

He also remembered the first panic attack he had in Luke's presence, but he had put large amounts of effort into trying to forget. After the 'incident' with Bianca di Angelo, if you could even call it that, Luke seemed to enjoy using all the information he'd learned about Percy to upset him, humiliate him, and so forth. The blonde was transferred to Ethan's cell, leaving Percy alone and considered 'unstable'. Admittedly, Percy thought about doing the same back to him, but he knew he never really would. His moral compass may be just a bit broken at times, but he still knew how to be a sufficiently considerate person.

He hated the way he felt when Luke tormented him, and as much as he then recently despised the boy, he refused to fall to his level and fight back. He did scar the blonde's face for the rest of his life, after all. That was enough payback in Percy's mind.

Percy wasn't sure why Luke acted so casually when he met Nico. He'd played along, not wanting to answer questions from either of them later. Thankfully, neither of them did then or since. He debated on telling Nico on a few occasions but ultimately decided against it every time.

Every once in a while, Percy pondered why he had such a hard time putting his trust into people. He could no longer tell which one he feared more: losing people or people turning against him.

All he knew was that he didn't want to feel either again.

Yeah, so I had absolutely no idea what I should write in here for this chapter. You all got a little transitional Percy background, as per usual. Hope it suffices for now, apologies for taking the majority of our lifetimes to update this. Have a nice week everyone.

Also Stephanie J. Block won a Tony so y'all should be happy about that.