Can anybody stop this thing before my head explodes, or my head starts to ring [W1, Sat post-trial]

[hydrokinetics]

[It's pretty late, long after most people have retired for the evening but not Percy. Instead, he'd stepped out to take another walk to clear his head and found himself settled in the lounge alone. He figured out how to start a fire, not at all worried that someone might come sneak up on him and kill him.

They've seen enough death today, he thinks.

The longer he's alone, the more his thoughts drift to several things. He thinks of the trial, he thinks of what Tiara told him, thinks of things from home, and Annabeth remains at the front of his mind. More than anything he needs to keep her alive now. Keep them alive.

And thinking of Annabeth leads to thinking of things that remind him of Annabeth, and that's why he turns his attention to the small library. He scans the book titles, eyes narrowing as he tries to read them and decide what ones might be nice to take to her later.

This is the scene anyone will find upon walking into the lounge somewhere in the neighborhood of midnight. He's in his sleep clothes (pajama pants he picked up from the tailor and his original ripped (and now thankfully clean) t-shirt and surrounded by books on the floor, mumbling titles to himself. He's perfectly okay being alone, but he hears footsteps nearby. His work stops and he looks up, not quite looking at the entrace of the lounge yet.]

Who's there?

Comments

[sweats]

[ So, the trial. Will is actually not really effected by the deaths of Ao or Tiara -- not that he lacks sympathy, but the empathy is overwhelming enough for that part of him to shut down. He's spent a long, long time over the past few years of trying to... detach. And he thinks he's mildly succeeded. This isn't the Jacobis. This isn't the Leeds.

It also helps that he never saw the crime scene.

But from the moment he walked into the Town Hall, he knew it was Tiara. He could see her guilt, her fear, like blaring neon lights and so he took a seat in the back. He kept quiet and kept his focus on Hannibal because that was easier. Hannibal was an anchoring point when Will felt particularly adrift and he's slowly learning that in a place like this, he will constantly feel adrift.

But after the trial, they had -- joked. Flirted? He's not sure but he felt so run over by the events of the day that he wasn't quite watching what came out of his mouth. It made him feel good though and he was eager to continue it when they left.

Except then Hannibal gave a very polite excuse me, Will and Will felt lost. He was deeply angry for a moment that Hannibal would dare to prioritize something else over him. Wasn't Hannibal just -- he was for him. Will broke him out of prison, and that meant Hannibal was his. Then he's slipping away and Will didn't quite have a leg to stand on anymore.

So now, he slipped around into bitterness where if Hannibal didn't want to spend the evening with him, when he was finished with whatever he was doing -- Will wouldn't be there. He's roaming now, a few hours later, still mildly furious and just sort of off-kilter. He's torn between wanting to be around people and not wanting to be around anyone at all, so this is why when he walks into the lounge, he is incredibly surprised to see Percy.

There's a pause and he just looks at him, bewildered before, oh right. ]

Oh, hey. Percy. [ . . . ] What're you doing up this late?

[hydrokinetics]

[He turns his head toward the entrance, giving Will an equally surprised look with a book in-hand. He doesn't respond at first, not at all expecting that someone else would be up at this hour.

The nice thing, Percy thinks, is that Will Graham seems to be an okay person. Mr. Lecter clearly likes him and Will's never displayed any ill will or harm toward him which is pretty helpful since they're all in a giant murder game. It's late and Percy's alone with his thoughts, letting the sadness of today's events intermingle with old memories, being on guard and unsure of people and most of all just...tired, maybe. Tired of being in a situation he can't help, tired of the fucking Sheriff yelling at him, and tired of having to fight to stay alive.

So, overall, he's a quiet muted version of himself and it's why the surprise is more evident than it should be.]

I think I can ask you the same thing, Mr. Graham. [He furrows his eyebrows together.] Will. Uh. Do you have a preference?

[sweats]

[ You know, this is pretty okay, Will thinks. He likes Percy and the emotions wafting off of him aren't ... awful. Not entirely. It's something Will can handle, though he does very much kinda want to pop an aspirin.

So, he gives a shake of his head and drops into an armchair, settling back. ]

Will, actually. Mr. Graham is what my students call me, and I'm not really looking to teach anything here.

[ A bit of a wry grin in response but his eyes track over what Percy's got in front of him, the books in particular. Didn't really seem like a reading kind of night, he thinks. ]

What are you doing?

[hydrokinetics]

[With Will in his chair, Percy remains on the floor and he goes back to sorting the books into small piles. He clearly doesn't oppose of him staying either.]

A teacher and a psychiatrist. Interesting match-up. [There's a little teasing grin but he says nothing else about it as he looks up from the book in his hand.]

I'm looking through the books they have here to see if there's anything interesting. They're not for me though so it's a little harder to decide if they're worth it or not.

[sweats]

[ That should make him happy and he should joke back but also the fact Hannibal ditched him for the evening to go socialize, he makes a bit of a face before he can hide it. ]

Yeah, uh. Interesting.

[ Fuck you, Hannibal. But at the comment about the books, Will's eyebrows raise. ]

They're not? Are they for -- [ He thinks, feels, considers. ] Annabeth, right? Your girlfriend.

[hydrokinetics]

[There's a handful of things he could say about Hannibal and Will right now, but he saves it for later. That, and of course, he doesn't exactly have time to since Will asks another question and Percy perks up despite himself. Despite the tragedies happening around them and despite his own feelings about this trial, Annabeth is always the one thing that brightens him.

It's a light sort of emotion, something that he can draw happiness from when he thinks about Annabeth and how she'll like the books for information and how they can pretend to just be normal kids for a while with her reading the pages and him curled up into her side. Opportunities they rarely get. But Will doesn't need to know any of that so instead the only outward shift is a wider smile.]

Yeah. [He thinks nothing of it, assuming that most people know that Annabeth's an information hound by now.] She can get through books faster than pretty much anybody I know. She might be able to at least figure out an idea or two if she finds something in the texts. [...though his eyebrows furrow a bit.] Did Mr. Lecter tell you about her?

[Yes, Percy, that's exactly it. It has nothing to do with you flirting with her during the trial or leaning against her for the latter part of it or anything.]

[sweats]

[ The whiplash there is a bit to make Will tense up and this combined with being Sara's roommate has Will's own feelings softening for a moment. His mouth pulls into an involuntary smile to match Percy's and at the question, he shakes his head. ]

No, I saw you two at the trial. She seemed very important to you. She also called you her boyfriend, quite publicly. It wasn't hard to piece it together from there.

[ But, he'll glance down at the books again because there's something else Percy says that's enough to have him curious. ]

... An idea for what though? This situation?

[hydrokinetics]

[None the wiser, Percy's unsure what that look's for but he's fine with it, at ease with talking to Will about this and he even looks a little sheepish when he calls him on it.]

I guess it wouldn't be after that. She's one of the most important people to me. We've been dating for almost a year but we've been friends for a really long time. [There's a pause, and he smirks lightly.] Mr. Lecter didn't mention that you guys were married, but that makes a lot more sense.

[Yeah he has no idea, he's going off of what was said at the trial. He seems to think that in that case, Will can probably understand his feelings on Annabeth. More so though is the important part of the books.] I'm hoping for an idea for this situation or to get all of us to work together or loopholes from the Sheriff's rules...anything. Annabeth comes up with a lot of our plans.

[sweats]

[ Okay now is when Will's poor joke to get back at Hannibal is coming back to haunt him. His eyes widen and he wants to deny it completely but two things happen, one is that he's settled into an involuntary kind of easiness here with Percy and two, it probably would be better if people assumed they were together. It's more explainable and likely, even if their own relationship status is a bit up in the air.

So, instead he reacts with hesitation and looking mildly flustered. ]

-- Ah. It's. Complicated. It's fairly new, sort of. [ . . . ] The marriage, at least. [ He sighs, running a hand through his hair. ] I'm committed to him though, I'll say that much. So I can understand how you feel about Annabeth.

[ And for a moment he wants to ask if Percy loves her because that would make sense, wouldn't it? But he probably shouldn't since that's weird and instead just sort of shakes his head and keeps going. ]

The rules are kind of interesting, aren't they? No actual direction to them. "Don't lose the key to your where you live, eat and bathe regularly, protect your items, be careful when you go outside at night, don't destroy the place you're living." All the general rules but they're nothing most people wouldn't do even if they weren't rules.

[hydrokinetics]

[It's better this way, Will. Percy is more willing to accept it and maybe he should be a little flustered as well because he's hearing about the married life of two old guys, but at the same time Percy's related to a fucking winged horse. At this point, nothing surprises him about how things work in terms of relationships. The easiness helps and Percy continues his work. Will might notice that he's a little fidgety, the type of kid who doesn't like sitting still very often and constantly moves even as he's reading and turning pages.]

That makes sense. [He nods, turning another page.] My parents had a pretty complicated relationship, too, but they're okay. And my stepdad's pretty cool. [Why he feels the need to include Paul is a mystery. It's by default, given who his father actually is and how rarely Percy sees him. Still, he gives Will another funny little grin. Relationships are definitely complicated.] Commitment is the biggest part of it though.

[And even without asking, even without Percy saying anything, it's incredibly clear that yes, he loves her. So thanks for not being weird, Will. Instead, he purses his lips together when Will brings up the rules.]

It's almost like they're a general sense of order in case things start going crazy. Think about it. People get distracted when other things are going on all the time. [Plus eating and bathing regularly was hard in Tartarus so Percy gets it, and what's this bullshit about being careful?] This kid I met here mentioned a book called Lord of the Flies and how without real rules everybody kind of went full-on anarchy. If you think about it that way? Maybe that's why they exist.