Out of Water (Fem!Percy)

02- Paint Chips and Oat Milk

Percy had moved places before, granted, she was usually only helping her mom and whoever else had offered her mom help, but she still could not fathom why it was so stressful. And though she was well acquainted with stress—saving the world was no walk in the park—having 4 brunettes sitting on newly built chairs and kicking around trash filled boxes like they owned the place (which Percy had made a point to remind them they didn't) made her want to burn something.

"So, this is your new place..." Dick began, looking around from the dark grey couch he sat on, "I like the built-ins. What year is the place from?"

"I think the lease said '26, but that's beside the point, why are you lot here?" Percy asked, her hand placed on a hip with an unamused expression on her face.

"We wanted to see you, Perce, can't your big brothers miss you now that you're out of the house?" Jason quipped, despite no longer living in the Wayne manor. He was toying with the paint chips that were left lying around from when they were still painting the place. Damian was walking around the small apartment, judgingly inspecting the place. The five settled into a silence, the shuffling of boxes and feet filling the silence along with distant street noise.

Wally wasn't home, not yet at least, and that was the only reason he was not being interrogated by the four ex and current Robins. Sure, he'd been hunted down when news got around that he and Percy would be living together, but now that the apartment was settled into, it made Wally more of a 'threat' in the Batboys' eyes. Very discreetly, Percy sent a warning text to her boyfriend, telling the redhead about her brothers' intrusion at their home.

"Robin-Egg Blue, huh? I knew you'd missed us, but I didn't think it was that bad," out of all the paint chips he could have read the name of, he just had to find that one. Percy was sure she would never hear the end of it, even if her walls were instead coated with Soft Fern Green rather than the cyan shade Jason was waving around. Percy rolled her eyes and decided to reply to the older's teasing.

"In case you didn't notice, those are not the same color. Plus, it is only an accent color, not like I would actually paint my house like that. Speaking of my house, why are the four of you still in it?"

"I mean, coming here was Dick's idea, he wanted to give you this plant, but the Jason wanted to see you and the demon wanted to 'make sure nobody was tracking you and by extent him from your house' which is code for 'I miss my big sister, but I cannot display emotions'. He's almost worse than Bruce." Tim spoke up, looking away from the foldable device in his lap, being a CEO on top of going through college was clearly wearing on him.

"Shut it, Drake. You know nothing of my motives. I am simply looking out for my own wellbeing, since I'm the blood-son and the current Robin."

"Well, to be frank, I don't really care why you're here, so long as you leave by nightfall. I have plans." Percy spoke up, going to the tiny washing machine and taking out a load of clothes while putting another one in and tossing cleaning chemicals into the machine. She unfolded the dainty drying rack and began setting the damp clothing to dry with wooden clothespins.

"Oh, do you?" Dick asked, mischief in his voice and his eyebrows wiggling to complement his playful tone.

"Not that kind of plans, get your mind out of the gutter!" Percy chastised, using the moist towelette she was hanging up to smack the oldest over the head, "I meant as Maritime. I'm making my 'New York Debut' which is stupid, considering all the world-saving I've already done here."

"I remember my Blüdhaven Debut like it was yesterday, beating up new villains, faking my death," he let out a nostalgic sigh, falling back over his brothers dramatically. "The good old days."

"Right, then," she furrowed a brow at the antics of her older brother that she should have been used to by now when a ding came from her phone. A text from Wally lit up the screen, informing her that he was on his way and buying oat milk, for some reason.

"Is that West? Shouldn't he be here by now, it's not safe to leave you alone for long." Damian snapped, feigning annoyance.

"Yes, Dami, he's on his way now, and for your information I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself."

A huff from Damian punctuated Percy's statement, soon followed by the fourth-floor apartment once again falling into a calm quiet only interrupted by the tumbling of the washing machine and the comforting white noise that is NYC's street noise.

The front door clattered open to reveal a tall man, red hair peeking over the brown paper bags that were being clutched at by toned lean arms. He stumbled into the small dining table that was conveniently placed beside the door, dropping the overflowing bag onto the pine-wood tabletop. Big green eyes met Percy's form excitedly, disregarding the quartet of bats that sat behind his lover.

"Percy," he breathed out, entranced by the girl before him, "Remember how the other day I was talking about how milk was bad for the environment —because of CO2 emissions — but then almond milk uses too much water and has an aftertaste? Well, I was talking with Freddy from the lab and he told me that Mery told him that oat milk doesn't have any of those problems!" He ranted, eyes lit up, while he took a blue carton and showed it proudly to his girlfriend. "Plus, I found out that it's pretty easy to make so we could try it and if we like it, I can start making it!"

A scoff sounded from the other side of the room, "nerd," Jason muttered good naturedly.

Wally only now seemed to remember that they had 'guests' over, his ears burned brighter than his hair when Persephone swooped to his rescue. She should have thought her response through as what she spoke caused a ruckus in the previously quiet apartment.

"Okay, mister 'I-wanted-to-major-in-literature'."

I do not own any Percy Jackson or DC content.

p.s. Hello again, I'm not sure if I can say that it has been a while, but I have been working on this chapter for what feels like forever because I've been writing in in like ten-minute intervals between classes which breaks the flow and makes it seem unbelievably long. Every time I go to my history class, I despise my choice of character name (Maritime) because I try and take notes but all I can think of is PJO. Wally is tall... like really tall, he's six feet tall. I hate that. Anyways take this sliver of whatever this was. I love you all and I love reading your comments, it makes my day.

Much love, Victoria.