When The Villain Falls (Depressed! Percy) (Percy Jackson)

Chapter Five

Percy

Grover went to talk to my mom, which probably wouldn't end much better than it does with me. But when he found my mom, Paul came into my room. I was just drawing.

"I don't want to argue right now," I told my mom's husband as I noticed he was standing by my doorway, waiting to be invited in. "I don't have the energy right now and Grover's here."

"I'm not here to argue," after he said that, I knew he wasn't going to leave. "I honestly want to talk to you, Percy."

"About what?" I asked, figuring he going to just annoy me again. "My attitude? Disrespect? I haven't blasted shit all day, you can't blame that on me."

"I want to talk about what you told your mom earlier." Paul was a little slower when he told me that, because he probably figured I didn't want to talk to him about it. "And I'm not going to go on about how you shouldn't talk to your mom like that, even though you shouldn't. I was upstairs, I just managed to overhear it. I promise I wasn't eavesdropping. My name got my attention."

"So?" I responded, shrugging. "What about it?"

"I..." And he stopped for a second. "First off, I am sorry about slapping you. My dad slapped me a lot as a kid, and even though I've never really done it it just kind of happened before I realized it. But one, you sounded really upset. I know that, for you and me, I came into your guy's life really quick. It wasn't my plan. I lost my apartment and your mom offered. I was planning on staying with my brother. But your mom offered and that way I didn't have to pay rent and pay bills. I just helped pay bills."

"Okay..."

"But I don't try to always force myself onto your mom." Paul explained to me. "Am I touchy feely? Yes. I always have been, and your mom never seems to mind. I know that you do, though, so I try to limit when I realize that you're there. And I know I'm hard on you, Percy. And I'm sorry, but I just don't know your limits and you've never really talked to me before so I don't know how you really feel about it when you're not mad."

"I don't like it."

"I figured that out," he assured me that he wasn't a complete dumbass. "And I never really knew that your mom was married before we started dating, until earlier today. But I'm hard on you because I don't have another way to get through to you unless you want to start talking to me. And with your mom being pregnant, you know what, yeah. We probably should've talked to you about it before we decided we wanted to have a kid. You're still 16, you're here for another 2 years. So I'm sorry you weren't included in that."

I didn't say anything, just kind of waiting for him to go on with what he was saying.

"And I didn't know she talked about me so much," surprisingly, he didn't take a lot of pride in that. "I wouldn't know being it's me and she wouldn't do that when I'm there. But I'm sorry that she does. Especially when it's all she talks about, unless she's pegging on your attitude. Which, I imagine, is caused a lot by this. But... Can I ask why you don't like me? Maybe I can explain it to you from a different perspective? Even if you don't like me, maybe you'll understand."

"I... Um..." That wasn't hard to explain, but at the same time it was. "It's not you personally that I have. Well, kind of. It's just what you did and what happened because of you."

"What happened because of me?"

"I don't..." I crossed my arms over my body again. "I just feel like Mom isn't there anymore. And I know you didn't do that intentionally. I know you didn't mean to take her away from me. It just sucks when your mom starts seeing someone. And at first it doesn't because she's happy. But then she starts going out a lot and you don't see her that often, and you get used to it. But when she started to actively choose going to see you and do things with you than with me, it kind of hurt. And again, I know that you didn't try to do that. But it happened and every time I try to talk to her about it she doesn't listen. She insisted that she's here. She's right here. So yeah, I have an attitude. My mom abandoned me two years ago for a guy I didn't fucking know. I was 14. It stuck because the rest of my life sucks, too. I didn't have any friends to help me out after you guys got engaged. Everyone stopped talking with me. I felt abandoned, and I still do. So when I heard that Mom was pregnant, that was my worst nightmare."

Paul

And the prize for world's shittiest step dad goes to me.

But that honestly made me feel like shit when he told me that. It made me understand why he acted the way he did. He wanted attention. He wanted his mom to notice him.

After that, he explained to me what else has been going on with him. How kids don't like him at school. They treat him like a freak. At camp, everyone has abandoned him. Aside maybe Grover. Claimed that this is first time him and Grover had spoken in over a year.

He's been alone. No friends. No relatives to talk to. And his mom abandoned him. His dad cared, until he found out that he's having problems with his mom. Then he just shoved him back home.

I guess Grover got nowhere with Percy, but they talked about other stuff and I let them just hang out on their own as I tried to get through to Sally.

"I'm surprised I didn't hear any hollering from Percy's room," Sally remarked as I went downstairs to talk to her and grab myself a snack. "Was he asleep?"

"No, he was awake." I told her, assuring my wife that we can not fight. "I asked about what he told you earlier today and we talked about that. He doesn't hate me as much as I thought he did."

"That's good!" Sally said as she gave me a kiss on the cheek. "You guys are getting along finally. Was that all you guys talked about?"

"Well I mean..." Because it went in with it, I wasn't sure if it counted or not. "I think you might have to talk to him Sally. Probably after Grover leaves."

"Is he still upset?" She asked me. "He seemed fine at dinner. Quiet, but fine."

"Kind of," I answered her question, opening the yogurt container. "I mean, he's not upset about that specifically. He might be. But what he's really bent over is how much you aren't with him anymore."

"How much... Paul, we all live together. We see each other all the time."

I sighed. This is what Percy was talking about. She took it literally. As in how much she physically is around him.

"That's not what I mean," I corrected what she had said. "And this is why he's upset with me a lot. He feels like you've abandoned him, Sally. That's why he was so upset when he found out you're pregnant. You see him, yes. But you guys don't go out and do stuff together like we do. He says the reason he ever got frustrated with me was because when we got together, he felt like I took you away from him. He was 14 when we started going out. It's hard for a 14 year old to watch his mom choose some random guy over him all the time. That's why he had an attitude. That's why he acts out so much. He just wants attention. He wants to do stuff with you. He wants you to notice him for something good, Sally."

My wife paused and thought about that for a minute. Because when he told me that, it made sense. I've never seen just Percy and Sally go out for a day. All three of us have. Not that often. But we have.

With three of us, though, Sally and I hold hands. We can get touchy feely. And that bothers Percy.

He just wants mother son time. Nobody else. Just him and his mom having fun.

That's it.