Sacrifices

Of Friends And Silent Relationships

Luke’s Diner. It was Percy’s favorite place to go to. All of his friends usually met up there, and Nico had brought him there a few times for small dates that would usually end up lasting until midnight. So many memories were held in that place, and Percy didn’t mind it one bit. He actually loved it. 

    “Percy, over here.” Someone called out. Percy turned towards the source of the voice, and saw Piper waving him down with one long arm, a wide grin spread across her glossed lips. In the booth he could also see Jason, Leo, and Frank. Leo was sitting next to Piper, across from Frank, and Jason was sitting next to the buff teen. 

    “Hey guys.” Percy sighed, letting his shoulders slump the closer he got to them. He’d been so stressed lately, not being able to hang out with Nico all week due to the more pressing meetings with Annabeth. It was getting tiresome. 

    “You look like mierda, man.” Leo pointed out, not bothering to blink at Jason’s slight jab at his shin. 

    “That’s one way to put it.” Percy laughed halfheartedly, melting into the booth next to Jason. He used one limp hand to ruffle up his hair, and didn’t care that it probably looked even worse than it felt. He had small bags under his eyes that he hadn’t covered up, and it didn’t blend well with his sea green eyes. 

    “Are you okay? You don’t look well.” Jason claimed, poking a finger at Percy’s forearm. 

    “I’m tired. Gabe is pressuring this whole arranged marriage thing on me, and I swear, if Annabeth tries to give me another lecture about architecture, I just might willingly jump into a coffin.”

    Frank hissed. “That bad, huh?”

    “Worse.” Percy retorted, causing everyone else to give him pity stares. Percy was too tired to give them a second thought. “How’s Nico?” He decided to ask, giving Jason a side glance so he wouldn’t have to move his head so much. 

    “He’s fine on the most part. He really misses you, though.”

    “I miss him too.” Percy whispered, now looking at the table in front of him, letting the tops of his eyelids droop. After a moment of silence, he covered them with both hands, closing his eyes fully. “Gods, I hate this. I wish everything would just go back to normal.”

    Jason patted his back to give him a sense of comfort, while Piper reached across the table to pat his shoulder. 

“I think he does too.” Leo added, only making the deep pit in Percy’s stomach drop.

“I know.” Percy whispered into his hands, trying so hard not to cry in front of his friends. He was trying so hard not to, tried to focus on it just a little too much. Tears leaked, escaping the commands his mind tried to send to them. 

“Percy-” Frank started to say, only to be cut off. 

“I hate this. I hate not being able to see him. It hurts.” Percy mumbled, squeezing his eyes shut tighter, hoping that it would stop the threatening tears from spilling. 

While it had only been a few days since Gabe banned Percy from meeting up with Nico because he was convinced that Nico was a bad influence on him, Percy’s heart ached to see his usual bedhead, his smile that broke his cheeks that Percy tried so hard to bring back into this world, and desperately just wanted to hold the other in his arms.

“We know, but we’ll figure this out. We always do.” Piper encouraged.

It was at that moment that Percy broke. “And what if we don’t? What if we never see each other again? I can’t let that happen. I will not let that happen. I love him too much to let that happen.”