An Assassin's Guide to Family

Chapter 65: Present

—————-Percy's POV: ——————

I was exhausted.

Honestly exhausted was putting it too lightly, but after an entire day of shopping and redecorating, my room was finally finished, paired with a new closet and new items dispersed around my room, including things from my previous apartment. I'm also happy to report that I finally got a tour of the bat cave. Quite the place I'll tell you that, Ares would love it.

But it was a lot to do in one day, and my limbs were practically screaming for rest so I laid down expecting to fall asleep. Unfortunately my wish didn't really come true. Instead I fell into a light sleep at best, like if your phone was charging but REALLLLLYYYY slowly.

I "slept" for a few hours, listening to the silence in the house and the distant car horns honking. The boys had gotten home early tonight, I could tell by the sounds of their doors down the hall. I'd counted them. First it was Jason, then Tim, then Damian, and finally Dick. I could tell based on the way the doors were shut. I'd expected to either sleep lightly the rest of the night in a peaceful silence or to eventually be pulled into a dream as my body fully withdrawed from the world but instead at what I guess to be around 1 am, I heard the creaking of my door as it swung open.

I got up slowly, my eyes half adjusted as I squinted at whoever it was. "Hello?" I called out, my eyes finally seeing enough to see it was Damian. A tired expression on his face and a bandage wrapped firmly around his torso. A slight ache filled my chest as I waved him over. "Come here bud." He slowly walked over, slowly getting into bed before resting his back against the headboard. I joined him with a slight groan as I got out of the position I was comfortable with. Damian stayed quiet, his eyes distant as he rested his head against my shoulder. I looked over him carefully before resting one of my hands in his hair. "You didn't knock." I mumbled quietly, a small smile on my face. It didn't cheer him up as he stared numbly out towards my wall.

"You were trained by mother, you knew I was there." I shrugged and nodded.

"Fair point." I began running my fingers through his hair, softly and slowly ruffling his hair. "So what's wrong?" He didn't answer, instead continuing to keep his head on my shoulder. I could hear his quick breathing. Something must've happened.

I let him sit in silence for a while before he spoke. "The building exploded." I sucked in a light breath. My fingers freezing for a moment before I continued.

"Oh." I mumbled, my voice low and gravelly. He nodded, I looked over to see his eyes now glittered in the moonlight from tears that lined his eyes. Immediately I felt a pang to my chest. "Are you okay?" I asked.

"I stood outside and just...stopped. It was like I was glued there. I just couldn't move." I removed my hand from his hair and wrapped my arms around him, holding him tight as he turned his head to face my shoulder.

"It's okay. You're fine. I'm sure the others managed to handle it right?" He nodded, the feeling of small drops made itself known as I realized he was crying. My grip on him tightened. "Then you're okay. That's why we have teams remember? I helped you back then so you have to let them help you too." This small bit of info didn't make him feel better.

I didn't say anything else, instead I let him cry quietly.

Eventually he stopped crying and I felt his breathing even. I let out a small sigh as I carefully shifted him so he was laying down. I kept myself sat up though because I wasn't tired any longer so I just continued to brush through his hair.

I sat for what had to be half an hour when I suddenly picked up the sounds of footsteps running and stomping around outside my door. I blinked a few times, a sense of worry put me on guard as I instinctively wrapped an arm around Damian and put my hand into my pillow case and pulled out Riptide, my thumb on the cap ready to extend the blade if something were to happen.