My Boyfriend is a Dead Roman Hero | Jason Grace

I Punch the Wind

TW: Mention of suicidal thoughts

When Julie was fourteen, she was in a car accident.

It was minor - well, minor for a demigod. She was in a cab on the way to a cheer competition when a van from Ohio slammed into the driver's side doors in the middle of an intersection. She walked away with just a broken collarbone from a wonky airbag. Sally called it a miracle.

Sitting in her hospital room that night, though, waiting for the ambrosia Sally brought disguised as lemon bars to kick in, Julie found the situation funny.

Like, there she was, a daughter of a mystical being who can turn into a creature from fairytales, laying in a hospital bed eating Jello because of something as mortal as getting T-boned by some tourist texting while driving.

Percy also found the situation ironic, but them laughing about it pissed Paul and Sally off to no end. They both refused to allow Julie to take taxis alone anymore and demanded Iris messages whenever she left the apartment and arrived at a destination. It even got to the point where they were grounding her for forgetting until Percy finally stepped in and sat them down for a talk.

"We're half god," He'd reminded them, arms crossed like a teacher. "We're going to get worse than a broken collarbone and not always be able to contact you about it. You guys need to understand that danger comes with the territory."

Their parents had reluctantly loosened up on their requirements after that, but there were still moments where Sally's anxiety would flare up and the two of them would be confined to the apartment for the day just because of a "feeling."

Despite the exasperated looks Percy and Julie would share on those days, neither of them could find the heart to argue her on it. They both put Sally through enough stress on the day to day to comply with missing functions every now and then so she could keep an eye on them. In fact, the only time they put their feet down and went ahead with their plans anyway was the weekend that Percy disappeared from Cabin 3.

Julie's not certain she'll ever be able to forgive herself for that.

Still, when they picked up Percy in New Rome, she was able to just crack a few jokes and pretend to be mad at him for getting kidnapped again. He'd laughed, passed her some ibuprofen for her wrench-induced concussion, and they went back to being inseparable like he had never left.

'Danger comes with the territory,' right? Business as usual for demigod brother and sister.

That isn't working this time.

When the meeting to decide who's going down to face Nike in Olympia disbands, Julie is on her feet as quickly as possible. When she'd first come in, the only seat available had been directly beside Percy. She took it, but sitting next to him for the whole debate...

She still can't explain it. It's almost like he isn't there, even though he's been smiling and laughing and devouring an ungodly stack of blue pancakes. For the weeks Percy and Annabeth were in Tartarus, Julie mentally prepared herself for what she might feel from them once they got back. She'd been expecting waves of paranoia, floods of boiling terror, or even steady flows of grief.

And, she does feel all of that. From Annabeth.

She feels absolutely, entirely, all-consumingly nothing from Percy. Not a flash of hesitance. Not even a whiff of seaweed and saltwater in his aura. It's like he's not even in the room with her.

It's kind of freaking Julie out.

So, the second Annabeth declares the decision for Leo, Percy, Frank, and Hazel to scour Olympia for the rampaging goddess Juno sicked them after, Julie is out of her seat and skedaddling her wounded boyfriend back to the infirmary. Unfortunately, deadly wounds in the abdomen will slow a guy down.