Piercing Needles

Books and Spills

I have been standing outside this apartment for half an hour now. Just staring at the worn knob and bits of chipped paint on the frame. Its 4:45. I'm too early. Gods why did I come so early? This is weird. Only now do I realize I was "rebooting" again.

Especially when I notice a hand holding the back of my head and one of my hips. 

"What the-" lifting my hands to defend myself I'm frozen by green eyes. 

"You were doing that reboot thing you mentioned and were swaying really bad I'm not being weird I just didn't want you to get hurt please don't hit me." lowering my hands he lowers his. 

"I-I'm really sorry I just freaked out." 

Hes not in his usual ripped jeans and hoodies. Blue fuzzy flannel pajama pants and a tattered Hollywood Undead shirt that has since been cut into a tank top made him look softer. his bare feet shifting makes the floor squeak. I was not expecting a little brunette head to be peaking around those pajama pants. 

"Are you dying?" the little girl asks. She must be Percy's sister.

"Essie hes not dying, he was just thinking really hard." he scoops her up onto his hip. "how about we all go inside and get those cupcakes before they burn?" she starts giggling and flapping her hands in excitement. 

---

After watching Percy and Estelle smear blue frosting on blue cupcakes, Percy loos at her and gives her a smile like the devil. And as quick as a rabbit he sticks 2 fingers in the frosting and swipes them across my face. 

Suddenly a flood of childish joy hit me and I did the same to him.

"Boys! Frosting is for the cupcakes, not your faces! If you want to do face masks they are in the bathroom." Sally Jackson stood in the doorway

"Sorry mom, here jay." hes still giggling as he hands me a damp cloth

After cleaning and handing Estelle to Sally, we actually began working on the lab papers in his room. Surprisingly, Percy works very diligently and quite fast for someone being thrown deep into  a completely different science. I think my favorite thing about this though was looking over and seeing Percy writing, but it was the tongue held between his teeth and absentmindedly playing with all the various piercings while he thinks. 

We finished it all surprisingly fast, this would have taken me at least 2 or 3 days to do by myself. and now after only 5 hours with both of us, we were done. 

"Is it cool if I order the pizza? Anything specific you want?" he stands up and he starts cracking all his joints. 

"Yeah and no I'm okay with anything as long as there's no pineapple." I shiver out of impulse. 

"Shit, okay I'll call that in and I need to take this wrapping off my neck, I was supposed to do it 2 hours ago." I have no idea why my brain decides to make decisions like this but it does and i have to deal with it.

"Do you need any help doing it?" He looked just as shocked as I felt.

"Yeah if you wa-" he was interrupted by Sally yelling his name. He bolted and I followed after

Laying on the floor was Estelle, having a seizure. Percy dashes to the kitchen and returns with 3 towels, 2 dry and 1 wet. kneeling down he places one under her head and sally lowers it back down to the ground. He hands sally the other dry one and pulls Estelle's mouth open and Sally places it inside. They both sit on the floor on either side of her sally dabbing at the little girl's forehead when she could with the wet towel. Percy seems to remember I'm here. "Estelle has epilepsy, its one of the reasons I didn't want you to spook her. She will be okay here in a minute I promise."

"Percy baby can you grab her book out of my room? There should also be a pen near it." he walked into what I assume to be her room and came back with a smaller than normal binder. flipping through it she writes a few things down on the pages. after another minute the seizure stopped and Estelle is starting to wake up.  Percy pulls my arm and I allow him to lead me back to his room. 

"Lets let mom wake her up. I'm sorry you had to see that Jay I really am." he looked like he was trying not to cry. Cry?

"No No, you are perfectly fine Percy. She can't help it and neither can you. Is there anything I can do?" he smiles, tears welling up.

"I think you're the first person to say that. Most people get mad that I don't tell them beforehand." he finally looks me in the eyes. "But its okay, shes okay, lets order that pizza now and you can help me peel this stuff off and get a look at my tattoo." 

He calls in the pizza and leaves the money with him mom and Estelle who were laying on the couch, grabbing a pair of swim trunks he changes into them before letting me into the bathroom.

And of course, hes shirtless again. I really don't want to be red right now. 

"You're blushing Jay." Gods damnit. Forcing myself to look away I mumble an apology. "Don't be sorry, its cute." That is only making me redder. He steps back and into the shower tugging my arm to pull me closer to the tub. He picks at the edge of the plastic until he can tug more. "Here, pull on this and just keep pulling unless I say stop, okay?"

Nodding my head I began to pull the wrap painfully away from his skin.  "Pause. I need to breathe, this stuff hurts like a motherfucker to take off." I panic a bit inside.

"Do you want me to stop?" Before I even finish he is already shaking his head.

"No, you doing it is actually better than me doing it, plus I can brace myself." he takes another deep breath "Okay, you can keep going now."

Slowly yet with good pace, the wrapping is peeled away, the ink pooled lose underneath spilling out and beginning to reveal yellows, blues, reds and blacks underneath. its still to muddled to see the picture when the last of the stuff is peeled off. Stepping back he turns the shower on very lightly, just enough to get his neck under. The water rinsing away the free ink not trapped in his skin. My eyes are quickly met with the true picture embedded into him.

Gold metal tipped with blood, water wrapping around its base. 

Percy has a bloody trident tattooed on his neck.