PERCY'S JOURNEY TO THE TOP OF THE WORLD | PERCY JACKSON X READER

Chapter Sixteen

He sees Y/N rubbing her arms to fight off the chill outside, so he turns the heat up as soon as they've shut their car doors. "Want me to drive, or do you just want to sit?"

"Drive, please," Y/N answers. He starts backing out, but he's interrupted by Y/N insisting that he put his seatbelt on. "I have a point to all of this, I swear."

"I believe you." Percy feels some ache in his chest that's surely akin to longing. He wants to hold her hand, just to give her some physical comfort, since he's not always that great with words.

"So, going back and forth from Mom and Dad's can be just... Weird, sometimes. I mean, you saw Dad's place."

"It seemed homey," Percy puts in, because it did. The couches had a rip here and there, but the house was lived in, and it felt warm and inviting much like Percy's own house.

"You don't have to say that," Y/N tells him with a short, self-deprecating chuckle, not quite meeting his eyes. "You watched a cabinet fall off it's hinges."

Y/N's confidence is something he really loves about her, and it makes him sad that it's so easily diminished by something as silly as a faulty cabinet door. If Percy could make a living that way, he'd stay by Y/N's side as her very own personalized confidence boost, defiantly pinching her shoulder every time she said a single negative thing about herself.

He shrugs, making it a point to press his elbow against hers; nudging little I don't cares and it doesn't change the way I see yous into her skin. "Just because it's falling apart a little, doesn't mean it can't still be home," he says wisely, thinking of the apartments he and his mom inhabited, with thin walls and dripping sinks and creaking floorboards and stairs that never felt all that safe to walk on.

Y/N gives him a vaguely surprised look, and Percy just lifts his eyebrows. He can be insightful and philosophical, too. "Right. I already told you some of this, the day where I freaked out?" Percy nods when Y/N looks to him, though he wouldn't use the phrase 'freaked out.' The reaction was appropriate, he thinks. "Well, growing up, I didn't really spend a lot of time with my parents, and the time I did spend with them, they were usually saying rude stuff about the other. So that's why me and my parents are kind of... Strained, I guess. Sometimes my mom actually tries to be my mom and it feels so awkward that we both end up ignoring each other for a day or two."

Percy's chest tightens at that. He can't imagine where he'd be without his own mother's incessant coddling, neverending encouragement, and warm smiles. He's gotten by well enough without a dad, but Percy doesn't even want to think about not being as close as he is with his mom. It makes sense, though, given the ease Y/N has going about tough situations independently. She's probably spent half of life having to do things on her own.

"And it's fine, really, don't get that look on your face," Y/N continues, noticing Percy's stricken expression. "It's just... Different. And I think it'll help you understand me more." She lets out a sigh, fidgets with a few strands of hair while Percy takes the turn into his neighborhood. "The going back and forth... It's just not stable, and believe me when I say it's hard to maintain some form of sanity when you're constantly hearing two different sides to this big fight."

Percy, abruptly, feels angry and unforgiving towards anyone who's ever upset Y/N. She deserves a lot of things, but being pushed and pulled from parent to parent isn't one of them.

"And my point is," Y/N says finally, releasing a huge breath, "that I tend to hold people at arm's length. I'm sure you noticed. And I'm close with the girls and some of the boys, but not like I am with you, and I guess what I really mean is—"

"Y/N, breathe," Percy suggests, only interrupting for the sake of ensuring her health and safety.

"I am," she says stubbornly, pulling in two deep breaths. Percy pulls into his driveway, but he doesn't even consider reaching for the door handle. "What I'm trying to say is that your friendship is really important to me. And I'm happy I met you."