The Kid Needs Help

Chapter 1

Percy Jackson had more than his fair share of trauma, especially for a kid his age; at seventeen his biggest worry should have been the SAT, but he found himself, yet again, stopping a cosmic war between ancient deities.  Really, this wasn't in the job description of your average high school student, and sure, Percy technically didn't qualify as average anything, but a guy could dream right?  At least he used to be able to, most his dreams these days were nightmares, so he preferred not to sleep at all if he could help it.  

Actually, Percy hadn't been doing so great since the last war, not that anyone really noticed, as it wasn't too hard to keep a smile on his face and crack a joke occasionally to keep the suspicions away, and training the new campers and helping join CHB and New Rome kept his mind off of most of his troubles during the day, but staying busy and forcing a laugh wasn't really doing well.  More like it was keeping up appearances and shoving all the hard-to-deal-with stuff into the pit of his stomach and letting it fester.  

It had been a long day, he, Jason, and Annabeth were exhausted after training the new campers, and then sitting through what felt like a 24-hour long meeting with Chiron and the other Greek and Roman representatives from each community.  Percy was feeling particularly dead to the world after a week of near-sleepless nights and that same weight perpetually sitting in his stomach, taking up most the room where food should have sat.  

He must have dazed out longer than he realized though, because Annabeth nudge his side and peered up at him worryingly. 
"Hey Seaweed Brain, how ya' doing?"  She asked gently, and Percy recognized bags under her eyes almost as bad as his own, though he knew she had been leaning on her cabin mates more and more recently.  He was glad she had a support system.  
"Just tired, its been a long week."  He offered with what he hoped was a light hearted smile, Annabeth knew better, but she also knew there was no point in pressing him, especially right now.  From experience she knew that if he wasn't ready to talk about something, he wouldn't, and if he was pressed, he'd shut down; she'd done a good amount of pressing in the past to no avail.  She knew in Percy's idiotic way he thought that talking to her would just hurt more her more than it helped him, and he was so dumb and selfless that he'd rather drown than use her as a lifeline, no matter how much she offered.  So she just smiled back and nodded in understanding, rubbing his back and laying her head on his shoulder.

They were no longer dating, due to extraneous reasons, but a friendship as strong as theirs didn't vanish when the physical aspects did, and it was as mutual and friendly as any break up could be, so they carried on without changing much, as falling out of romantic love didn't mean they fell out of love entirely, and they both needed the other as a friend and in battle.  Gods know how many times they had had each other's back over the years.  

The rest of the seven and Nico joined them and Jason at the table, and the conversation gradually picked up, Percy plastering on that smile that was oh so close to real.   

That night, after the campfire, Annabeth cornered Malcolm on the way back to their cabin, eyes as fiery and intimidating as ever, and while Malcolm had grey eyes to match, he was far less impassioned at the moment, and even attempting to match her stare didn't seem worth the effort, so he just sighed and resigned himself to whatever she was about to ask of him. 
"Percy needs help." She said, slightly hushed as she waited for the other campers to clear out.  When they were finally mostly alone she continued in a louder tone.
"He needs your help, I think, specifically..."  This had caught Malcolm off guard, not that Percy was struggling, he was probably one of the only people who actually noticed how broken Percy had become after returning from the war, but that Annabeth was requesting he help somehow was definitely surprising.  Malcolm wasn't known for his people skills.
"I'm not known for my people skills, Annabeth."  He retorted, and she rolled her eyes. 
"I've talked to you hundreds of times, you great at comforting people, but besides that, you're the only one I trust outside of the other seven to do this."
"Then why not ask them to do it?"  He had never been stupid, but Malcolm had to be missing something here, there were, by his count, at LEAST seven people before him more qualified for this job, and that's not including the other kids at camp that Percy was still closer to before him.  
"You think we haven't all tried to get through to him?  He clams up and smiles and laughs us off..."  She looked genuinely distressed before continuing.  "The point is, he won't talk to us, I think we're too close to the source.  As much as I hate it, every time he looks at me, he sees war, and battle, and even Tar- er, everything else.  And I get it, because, to an extent, I see that too, but you're calming Malcolm, you just have that effect, and you're logical and practical, and you've been on enough quests and lead enough troops to empathize without representing everything he is trying to forget the way I do, or any of the other seven do."  Her eyes filled with tears and she averted them before her brother could see any fall, and seeing his sister like this softened him a bit.  He had seen Annabeth cry, even been the one to hold her during a panic attack or wake her from a nightmare, but now she was crying for someone else, someone who didn't have, or rather, wouldn't let anyone be there for him the way Annabeth did.
"Please Malcolm, just talk to him or something, he can't keep doing what he's doing...  He'll never make it to eighteen at this rate."  Her voice cracked as she begged, and even though he knew it wasn't his fault, part of him was angry at Percy for putting his sister, and all of his other friends, through this sort of pain.
"Okay Annabeth, no promises that it'll help anything, but fine.  I'll talk to him tomor-!"  The blonde girl wrapped her brother into a tight hug before he could even finish his sentence, which he returned after a moment of awkward stiffness.

The next day was a Saturday, and after breakfast Malcolm watched Percy retreat quietly back to his cabin as the other campers went about their business.  After a few moments, and an encouraging nod from his sister, he followed.  Two minutes later he was knocking on the third cabin lightly.  
"Percy?"  He waited, and was about to knock again when a light voice answered from the other side.  
"Come in!"  Well that was easy, thought Malcolm as he opened the door cautiously to reveal Percy crisscross apple-sauce in the center of his floor with a text book, pens and pencils, and sheets of paper sprawled around him.  He looked up and smiled as Malcolm entered the room.  
"What can I help you with?"  He asked as he began standing, but Malcolm shook his head and motioned for him to stay sitting, not missing the fact that Percy automatically assumed Malcolm was asking for help rather than just wanting to talk (to be fair Malcolm wasn't really a big talker with anyone...).  
"Nothing!  I just didn't have anything to do, and you seemed like one of the only people who hadn't split off with someone else to do something else.  Guess I just wanted to chat is all..."  He really hated this whole talking thing, the words felt like lead leaving his mouth, but Annabeth had insisted, so... Here he was.

"Ah, cool bud, sorry I'm not doing anything very interesting right now though."  Percy shrugged and motioned at the school work, and Malcolm was actually relieved, school was something that he could actually do.  He sat down, trying to ignore how weird it felt to not only initiate a conversation but to carry one.
"That's actually probably better than anything else.  I love hunting monsters in the forest as much as the next half-blood, but I doubt you'd need me much in that situation."  He said, then realizing how it sounded, he rushed on.  "Not that you need my help with this!  I just meant that homework is a strong point of mine!  I didn't mean imply that you couldn't or anyth-" But he was cut off by Percy's chuckle, and when he looked up his eyes met those sea green ones, and a smile that didn't quite reach the other boy's eyes.  
"You're fine, I get you, actually I could probably use your help on this stuff, English has never really been my strongest subject."  He paused in thought and shook his head in a way that made Malcolm's heart flutter.  "Actually no subject is really my strongest subject, now that I think about it."  He laughed again in that way that could be real to anyone who wasn't exactly as observant as Malcolm.  Malcolm ignored it.  
"What are you studying?"  He leaned forward to read what Percy had been slaving over.  "Shakespeare?"  Percy nodded and Malcolm smiled slightly at him.  "You're in luck, I did a couple reports on Shakespeare last year."  

Time actually passed pretty quickly, Percy had a lot of questions but it soon became clear to Malcolm that Percy's comprehension was perfectly on par with any average AP student, once he was able sort the words out and read it properly.  It was actually fun discussing the story of Macbeth with him once they got into the rhythm of it, and before either of them knew it, it was midday and the lunch bell was ringing.  Malcolm didn't miss Percy's small jump, and while it could just be fast reflexes, he thought it was more likely the fact that Percy hadn't gotten a day of peace sense he was twelve, and every loud noise is a potential attack, even in Camp Half Blood.  
"Should we show our face or just hang out here?"  Malcolm asked, almost hoping Percy said to stay inside.  No such luck.
"While there is air conditioning in here, and that's pretty tempting, I'd hate to disappoint the youngsters by not saying hi."  Percy smiled and stood, offering his hand to Malcolm and pulling him up.  

They headed for the cabin door, but before they opened it the older boy paused. 
"Uh, thanks for all the help today, it's been a while sense I actually had fun studying, but uh, you make understanding this stuff easier!"  Percy beamed up at him and Malcolm didn't know what to say, he assumed he stumbled over some sort of 'no problem, or 'I had fun too' because he could hear words leave his mouth, but his brain was too distracted by the fact that not only was that a genuine smile from Percy, one he hadn't seen in a very long time, but that it was directed upwards, meaning he was taller than the other boy.  Something he had never noticed until this point, but now seemed extremely important for some reason.  Taller and broader.  Malcolm had filled out over the years for sure, training, leading armies, and general puberty does that to boys, but he had never noticed just how much until right now, as he was closer to Jason's height and width than Percy's.  For so long Percy had been bigger, stronger, braver, and more heroic than him in every way in his head, but something had clicked in that moment, and now the green eyed son of Poseidon just looked like a seventeen year old kid with too much life experience and way too many lives resting on his shoulders.  

Malcolm's brain was racing a mile a minute, but Percy was already headed out the door and waving for Malcolm to join him.  For lunch, they went their own ways, and Percy didn't eat, and Malcolm tried very hard not to watch.