Close Your Eyes (Percico)

You're Joking

Nico di Angelo

After dinner, we were watching a movie together. As a family. And Percy got a call from the hospital. The results, I'm sure.

He went upstairs to take the call and it wasn't too long before he came back down and joined us. Maybe a good 10, 15 minutes at most. A reasonable amount of time for a call of that sort.

I sort of figured it wasn't good when he rested his head on my shoulder and just sort of held me. His arms around my waist. He wasn't quite as interested in the movie as he was before the call.

Rubbing his back, I wrapped my arm around his shoulder. He didn't reject it, which is already better than last night.

The kids went to their rooms after the movie, and he wasn't looking too good.

"Babe?" I asked, knowing that that call couldn't have gone well with how he came back from it. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Uh... You know how last night, I uh..."

"Yeah?"

"Finn went upstairs and saw me..." My fiancè explained. "Heard me tell you that I didn't... He's worried now, basically. And I guess he has every right to, because the doctor called and... I mean, they want me to meet with a psychiatrists tomorrow and they're shocked that I didn't consider going in before about it because there's so much and... And um... It wasn't just depression. So that's cool, you know? They said MDD, panic disorder, PTSD, and psychosis. So that's just amazing, right? I'm sure my therapist will think I'm nuts and send me away, too."

"We'll find you a therapist who knows," I assured Percy, sighing. "okay? No fiance of mine is going to a mental home with three kids at home and a wedding to plan for. But we're going to get through this, alright? I'm here for you, no matter what."

"But what if—"

"No matter what."

•••
Luana Jackson

I had my bi-monthly checkup with my doctor about my like depression and stuff while Vati was at his own appointment. Why, I was hoping it was just something mild. He told us that after this appointment he'd explain what was going on because two appointments in two days? That's a lot.

"Alright, Luana... How are you feeling?" Dr. Lutzke asked me as he sat down across from me. "Better? Worse? School going alright?"

I shrugged.

"I'm feeling alright," I told him, trying to think about it. "School is sort stressful, but not that bad. It's okay. I think the meds are doing their jobs. Some days I'm tired or less motivated, but I think that's more of my sleep schedule."

"That's good!" He responded. "To hear that they're working. I'll make sure to write that down, however they do want us to do a new scan just to see how it's developing and to look at it from a new angle after receiving some news, we've found out that it could be genetic. In which case, we'll also monitor your siblings more closely and if you ever choose to have kids, them."

"What... Who has depression?" I asked, because I never heard about that.

"Oh, well we ran some tests yesterday," he told me. "And I don't know if he ever answered the call last night, I wasn't the one to call. But Perseus, your father, was diagnosed with MDD yesterday, along with a number of other things. Which is why he's meeting with a psychiatrist right now. Because you share the same type of disorder, we will keep a close eye on it. Hopefully to prevent it in the future. Your grandparents haven't been tested, or if they have, we don't have those files."

I sat there and thought about that for a second.

My Vati...

My Vati has depression?

But they did another scan and everything went pretty well. He kept my medication the same, and when I got out I had a text from Vati saying that it'll be at least another hour, so unless I wanted to wait, take the train home. So I did. Nico was home when I got there, talking with the friends that were here for another few days. They seemed nice. I don't remember their names.

"Hey, Luana, how'd it go?" Nico asked me, sliding over some lunch. It was Thursday, so Carlos and Finn would be in school a bit longer. "good? Bad?"

"Pretty good," I told him, sitting at the little bar counter area we had. "Same medication, since it's working. He did another scan, though, because I guess Vati was diagnosed with the same thing I have? So I guess that makes me feel less bad about it, there's more of a reason. But like... Wait."

"Hm?" One of them responded.

"I'm adopted," I recalled. "I wonder if the doctor... I wonder if he forgot. Because then it doesn't... It wouldn't matter if Vati had it in comparison to me."

"If he had what?" One of them questioned. "Because if it's contagious..."

"It's not," Nico assured them. "Percy had an appointment yesterday and was diagnosed with a few different things, depression was one of them, and Luana was diagnosed about six months ago. It's not contagious. Luana here just had a check in, Percy's talking with a psychiatrist right now about medication and therapy options."

So they talked for a bit as I finished lunch up and went to get my homework done. I didn't have much, but also, too much.

Any homework is too much homework.

Vati did talk to us about it that night, though. Once everyone was home. Carlos asked Vati if he was alright, if he was dying or something. We don't want that here. And he said no, he was diagnosed with a few different mental disorders that he should've gotten checked a long time ago and it's just how it is and it doesn't change who he is, now he just knows. Now he has a better way to deal with the problems because he knows what the problems are.

The big thing was that he didn't want us to worry. Yes, four things is a lot of things in the context of mental illnesses. However he was hoping to clear one when he found the right therapist. One who knew about the gods. The others he sort of always knew about, this just confirmed it.

Apparently, he also had to explain to the doctor that he adopted me so they wouldn't waste time trying to connect our cases.

It took him 20 minutes to convince the doctor.