Hello

Chapter 7

Even though the construction workers had been uneasy with Percy watching them – especially after he tried giving them a wrench that they had dropped into the water– they did a marvelous job on Percy's island. It's not very large, even though it definitely is much bigger than Percy's inflatable one, but it's framed with soft leaved plants and covered in nice little pebbles and sand, so Percy sure isn't going to complain. There's a thin door and two one way windows on the side of the island that is attached to the wall, but not even that bothers Percy now – he's just happy he can laze in the sun without having to be afraid of falling off any second.

Most of his tail hasn't seen the sun in ages, it's paler than it used to be and so is Percy's skin. Rolling around on what little space he has all for himself outside the water, Percy is determined on changing that again. He stretches, then pillows his head on his folded arms, eyes closed and a happy hum resonating in his chest. For the first time since Will's accident, Percy feels like singing again.

Just like they promised, Jason and Will are here almost every day now. They are still in the works of setting everything up that they have planned, but they try and for Percy, that's enough.
Yesterday, Jason brought a bunch of coloring book and crayons, told Percy children loved to do that. Percy would have told him that he isn't in fact a child anymore, but he just settled for sticking his tongue out at Jason and taking them anyway.
Half the animals and things shown in the books are foreign to Percy, but when he takes the time to leave through all the books now, he sees that Jason has written in the name of every animal Percy might not know. He ends up giving a horse-like creature Jason had labelled as zebra blue and pink fur, the elephants a soft, dark green skin and colors the lions different shades of purple. Personally, Percy feels very content with his work, but before he can turn the page to start on a strange kind of bird, the big door on the platform opens.

It's way too early for Jason and Will, and they mostly use the door to the island now, so Percy isn't very surprised to see the intern with his breakfast. The boy waves and Percy waves back, finally having accepted that the intern too is just trying to make a friend – and trying hard. He takes his coloring book and a crayon, placing both carefully on his floating island before he pushes himself into the water. It's cool on his heated up skin, but Percy's body is made for the cold so he doesn't notice it that much. Anyway, he is far too excited to think about it.

The intern watches interested as Percy pushes the floating island toward the platform and as soon as it's within reach, grabs the coloring book off it.

"May I?" He asks before opening, and Percy would be lying if he said he wasn't at least a little surprised that the boy is asking for permission even now. Percy nods eagerly, wanting to share what he did with someone even when Jason and Will aren't here yet. Flicking through the pages, the intern's smile grows more and more amused for reasons Percy doesn't know but can guess: given that he never saw those animals before, he probably chose the wrong colours. Embarrassment tints Percy's cheek pink, feeling a little stupid for having shown the intern something that is obviously wrong.

"I like it, your lion is very cool." Percy perks up at that, raising an eyebrow and hoping he won't look quite as insecure as he feels. Pushing himself up on the platform with his elbows, Percy makes a grabby hand for the book. The intern sits cross-legged in front of them, the book fitting right between them, and Percy's face grows even redder when he takes his crayon to write on an empty page.

Name?

Percy's letters have become better, but they still look pretty awkward in comparison to Jason's neat and clean handwriting. The intern doesn't seem to mind though, his eyes go wide and then he looks at Percy, blushing furiously.

"M-my name?" He asks and it's almost cute how happy he is that Percy wants to know. When Percy nods, the boy breaks out into the widest grin Percy has ever seen on him. "I'm Nico."