One Shots feat. PJO, Irondad, and More!

Part 4: Quintessential Teenage Fun

4/4- We made it. This is kind of thrown together but I needed to get it finished. Here it is!

Percy scrubbed the water out of his hair and stared into the mirror.

He looked tired, despite the energizing rush the water had given him. It was almost as though he was crashing after a caffeine high. Except, of course, he wasn't. He was crashing after the adrenaline of feeling like he was going to die because there was alcohol in the vicinity.

Weak.

A scowl glared back at him. He entirely regretted confidently announcing he was willing to tell all of his friends why he'd run off- honestly, Percy preferred to do anything else. Like maybe going to sleep or even jumping into the car and driving as fast as he could away from everything. Faking the flu. A coma. But he wasn't one to back off from a challenge and Annabeth wouldn't let him anyway, so with a sigh he threw a pullover over his head and stepped out of the bathroom into the hall.

Everyone was already back inside. The living room was littered with his friends, sprawled quietly over couches and the carpeted floor. Grover was at the kitchen table talking lowly to Juniper. Annabeth was picking through a magazine on the couch, though she didn't seem all that invested in the contents. He  gave a forced smile at the attention he drew, watching his feet until he joined his girlfriend on the couch. He wasn't risking tripping again, nor did he want to look anyone in the eye.

Thank the gods water healed him. The humiliation associated with hurting himself on a two inch ledge wasn't something he cared to deal with. His friends thought he was an idiot as it was; most times it was hard not to agree with them. 

Annabeth moved her legs to make room before shifting to fall into his side when he plopped down. She wrapped an arm around his waist and let her head fall onto his shoulder. No one said anything, just minding themselves in silence, but it was ignorant to assume they didn't want to. Of course they had questions. They just thought he was too fragile to answer them.

"Feeling better?" she hummed softly, just audible enough for him to hear. He gave her a small nod of acknowledgement before leaning back. His shoulders rolled in an attempt to alleviate the stress in his back. The room was quiet, and Percy knew they were waiting for him to say something. He was glad none of them smelled like cheap beer. 

"You?" he relayed. He ignored the subtle tilt of their friend's heads, desperate to hear what they were talking about.

"Better now that you're feeling alright."

A minute passed before he realized Jason and Thalia were missing. When he cleared his throat to ask, his friends tensed. 

"Thalia ran off, Jason went with her," Hazel explained. "She was pretty upset."

Annabeth frowned. He nodded. "Ah."

"Are you doing okay?" Piper bit the bullet. "I'm sorry if we made you uncomfortable drinking, this was your party and we didn't ask-"

"It was my fault," Leo but in. "I'm sorry, man. I didn't realize you, like, really didn't do alcohol. I thought it would've been fun, but-"

"Guys, it's fine," Percy waved them off. Annabeth's hand tightened around him. "Thanks, but seriously. I'm sorry I ruined the mood."

He didn't mean for it to come out how it did. Foresight would have done him some good. Red flushed to his cheeks when they began to protest that he hadn't, and the son of Poseidon found himself wanting to admit to everything just to get them to shut up.

Grover coughed and sent him a knowing look. His stomach turned. He stood to escape to the kitchen for a glass of water. To do anything but just sit there.