𝑃𝐸𝑅𝐶𝑌 𝑅𝐸𝐼𝐷 thought the worst thing he would have to live through was his mother's death but life deals him a new hand, something he would have never expected, it takes away his father.
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NOT GOING TO SCHOOL SHOULD HAVE BEEN A DREAM COME TRUE FOR PERCY, getting home schooled was what he always wanted growing up but now it felt a little too forced. "I want to go to Aunt Penny's, she can teach me how to hack or something." He didn't know math could get worse until his teacher became Elle Greenaway. He couldn't keep up with what she was teaching, and she didn't seem to have the patience to go over it again.
"Good, we both could use a break." Elle walked through the living room, grabbing her car keys while Percy grabbed a hold of his winter coat and his school bag which was just filled with snacks, no books or pens, actually he did have one book in there, but it was something he was reading. Before he left his apartment, he nicked one of his dad's favorite books, Of Mice and Men. "I could use the opposite of a brake, I need someone to hit the gas. I want to get run over by a school bus, Regina George style."
"There's that award winning humor that we all love." Elle didn't realize Percy had taken the book from his bag until she caught a glimpse of the cover, "My book." She swiped it from him, the boy's mouth slightly falling open at how quick she took the book from him. "Dude, I stole that from my dad." Percy grew silent when Elle flipped open the cover to see the first page, her name was in the corner, and he didn't even notice that. "Your dad stole this from me," She handed it back to him, watching as he flipped back to the page he had last read. "Well, what can I say, karma's a bitch, he should have known better." Percy shrugged and raised an eyebrow to Elle who didn't understand his reference, he really needed to spend more time with people his own age.
Maybe he was starting to miss school.
"I don't know what that means but your dad would have read that in like five minutes." That was true, but the thing was that Percy was nothing like his father. As he grew up, he realized he and Spencer were vastly different from one another. His father had always been a genius, he was a child prodigy and well Percy, he was just Percy, nothing more, nothing less. "Are you two anything alike?" Elle asked with genuine curiosity as she and Percy made their way out the front door, the blonde boy with his head in his book, "No, I don't have an eidetic memory and I can't read twenty thousand words per minute, I have dyslexia." Percy shut his book, using a picture as a bookmark.
"No, I mean personality wise." Elle was behind Percy, catching a glimpse of his mismatched socks, that was one similarity she could point out with the eye. "You tell me, profiler." Percy stood in the far back of the elevator, he always had a small fear of elevators. He didn't trust that the ropes wouldn't just snap, and he wouldn't fall what would feel like a hundred million feet in the air. "You're just as sassy as he is."
"My dad isn't sassy."
"What planet do you live on?" Elle pressed the right button, Percy went back to his book before he just shut it, pulling the emergency stop button. Elle froze, turning her head to face Percy who stood on the other side of the elevator. "Is this because I said your dad was sassy?" She asked, sounding somewhat smug or like she was making a joke that he didn't understand.
"Uncle Luke is back in town, he went to get my dad and now he's just back." Percy woke up before Elle knew he was awake, he was laying in bed when he heard her talking to Luke over the phone. Percy had only spent a handful of times with Luke and his dad, but he knew Luke wouldn't just abandon Spencer. If Luke was back in town, Spencer was back too. "He's at the BAU, where we're going right now."
"Is my dad there now?" Naive little Percy.
"He was there, last night." Honest Elle, too honest and that was exactly what he needed. He didn't just have a few scrapes on his knees this time, his scars couldn't be hidden with Spiderman band aids anymore. "Did you go to see him?" Elle didn't have an answer which was an answer in its own way. "And you just thought I needed my beauty sleep?" Elle laughed, she had gotten the call that Spencer was back in Washington around midnight, he didn't want her to wake up Percy. Elle herself had barely seen him, one second she saw him from where she stood in the elevator, the next she had her arms wrapped around him and then she opened her eyes, and he was gone again.
"It's complicated." Elle's face grew soft as she spoke, she pitied him and he hated it. "I know I haven't even turned fourteen yet but I'm not a kid anymore and I need to see my dad." It had been five days, he hadn't spoken to his dad in five days, he had a right to be upset and all he wanted was to just hear Spencer's voice, even if it was just over the phone. "I don't care how complicated it is, Aunt Elle, I need to see him."
"Percy, please just listen to me for a second." Elle's voice broke when she spoke, she was hiding something from him. "What? Does he just not want to see me?" Again, Elle didn't answer his question but this time the sadness wiped away from Percy's face and he pushed the emergency button, starting the elevator again. "I don't want to see him either." He stared dead ahead, waiting to be released from the small metal box that was starting to feel like a prison. "You don't mean that." Elle watched him climb off the elevator, throwing the book into the nearest trash bin. "I mean it." He turned to Elle for a moment, "I hate him and I don't want to see him either." And then he walked out of the building, leaving Elle behind to collect her thoughts.
She didn't think that would happen just the way Spencer said it would, "I would rather have him hate me then miss me so much that it kills him." That was what he told Elle after he explained his plan to her. She didn't think it would work, she didn't think Percy would actually say those words, but Spencer was right, Elle didn't know there would be a day where that would be a bad thing.
