All at Sea

03: Nothing Good Happens Before sunrise.

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Morning came promptly, though the Sun's rising came to a while after, Apollo taking his time and making use of his autumnal schedule. By four in the morning, after a couple of hours Percy'd managed to snatch from Hypnos, it became clear that she would not be able to sleep for much longer.

After a few morning stretches to soothe her aching muscles, Percy turned on the antique lamp at her bedside and rummaged through her bag. The inside of her bag was still lined with golden dust from the beasts slain over the course of the Second Giant War, the content shimmered with the metallic ash. There wasn't much in the rucksack; a small wad of cash, her New York City metro card, a change of clothes, and her girlfriend's phone, for some reason. Annabeth's phone was dead, and Percy'd bag didn't include a charger (just her luck) so she set the phone down--she would ask to borrow a charger once the Sun came up.

She shuffled into the bathroom and rummaged through the cabinets and drawers, to take stock of what was available. Finding a first aid kit under the sink, she moved it up onto the counter—it could be useful and she didn't want to forget—where she'd already put the bottle of unscented soap she was provided. Percy looked at herself in the mirror where she noticed a note taped onto the glass. The scrip was small and neat with compact loops, all the letters seemed to have the same tilt and the fine letter was with an intricate A.P. that she guessed must have been the butler's initials. She skimmed through quickly, not registering any of the words the first time she read through until finally, she got the gist.

At some point in the early morning, after she'd showered, Percy heard some rummaging outside, her room. Taking that as an 'OK' to leave her room, she stepped out quietly, hair still damp and curling into itself. She followed the noise down the hall, where she found a vast library, in it, stood Tim perched up against a fairly tall table.

He was typing at something in his computer, eyes glassy and trailed on the bright screen as he stood hunched over. His back was to Percy, and she quickly noticed that he was resting one foot on a skateboard with worn-out red wheels. He was rocking the board back and forth while he typed feverishly until Percy spoke to make herself known.

"So... you skate?" Percy asked, scuffling her socked feet against the regal rug in the library sitting area.

Tim was taken off guard, eyes wide and hair disheveled as he turned quickly freezing on instinct. The dim lighting and the whimsically pale color of his eyes made them seem almost reflective. He replied with a mindless "huh?" Percy pointed at the skateboard under his foot, and upon realizing he cleared his throat. "Oh, yeah. Or I used to, rather. It's been a while."

"That's nice," she moved around the room walking towards the bookshelves she had no interest in reading through, "me too." Percy walked past the books, glancing at their spines as she walked with an idle grace, skimming her fingertips gently against covers that caught her eye.

"Drake, I demand you train with me." Self-entitlement dripped from the words of the youngest Wayne—whose name she was never given.

"I'm busy right now, Dames, go bother someone else," Tim replied eyes only momentarily moving off of his computer to glance at his brother.

"Nobody else is awake at the moment, save for Pennyworth. I mustn't bother Pennyworth." He hadn't yet noticed Percy's presence, so she took that moment to make herself known.

"There is another person awake, by the way. Dames, was it?" Percy greeted, hands shoved into the front pockets of her sweatpants, she slipped out a hand to offer to the boy.

He looked at her hand, then back at her face. He looked disgusted. "My name is not 'Dames'. You do not need to know my name, do not refer to me, harlot."

"His name is Damian, but feel free to call him a brat," Tim informed Percy, now balancing both feet on the skateboard.

With a scoff, Damian exited the room and Percy was left to ponder over the interaction.

Alone with her thoughts, Percy was somehow brought back to needing a charger for her girlfriend's phone, so she chose to ask the closest person to her. Tim replied, telling Percy to show him the phone so he could find a charger to fit. Percy led him to the room (in reality, he lead her there since she still hadn't memorized the layout of the manor). The phone in question, a Sidekick from 2008, was highly outdated. Tim didn't have the charger on hand, but he assured Percy that Bruce was likely to have one somewhere. With that, the boy left the room, setting his skateboard on the floor, and skated away with his laptop closed and under his arm.

An eternity later, just as the Sun was making his grand entrance over the horizon, a knock brought Percy out of her window-watching gaze. With a smile as bright as the rays of Sun that were just starting to stream through the window pane, Dick opened her door softly after a couple of knocks.

"The two gremlins tell me you're awake and without a phone," he started, stepping into the room and leaning against the wall beside the doorframe. "Wanna join me on my morning jog? Bruce won't be up for a while and there's not much else to do."

"Sure. Is it okay if I go dressed like this?" She gestured at her sweatpants and loose t-shirt, grabbing her sneakers from where she had left them. She slid them on after hearing Dick's enthusiastic 'yep!'

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I don't own any Percy Jackson or DC content.

p.s. hey babes, how are we doing today? I wanna thank y'all real quick for the overwhelmingly fast (and positive) response to this fic. I'm really excited for it and I hope you enjoy it.
I really don't wanna do me summer reading :/
ily bye xo

Saturn