Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The thing about being at Camp Half-Blood for years upon years is that there comes a point where it becomes really, really boring. Everything within the boundaries of Camp stays the same: the weather, the activities, the immortals. Sure, the people change and there’s the occasional new class or something, but by and large things stay the same. It’s reliable, yes, but also so boring for any demigod… or anybody really.

All that to say, Connor Stoll is getting bored. All the quests and Big Three kids stuff had been interesting, don’t get him wrong. Too interesting. There’s this balance of things that he needs that’s easy to upset, a constant push and pull between new things and not too much change. His ADHD and autism are always warring for some semblance of peace. But things are over now and there's no more prophecies, so things are back to normal. 

Normal means boring, just to clarify. He's complained about it plenty to Travis, Pollux, and Will— all of which get where he's coming from… to an extent. Travis is off to college now, Will's all enamored with Nico, and Pollux, with all love to him, has the privilege to leave for a good 3-ish months every year. They have something outside of Camp. 

But Connor? He's been here. He’d rather do a quest before he goes to college… and he hates the idea of a quest. He has no love life. He only leaves for supply runs to the same handful of stores around the area. See? Nothing changes. It gets boring. 

Connor's never been too fond of school— mortal or Greek. He either can't sit through it because he’s so antsy or he gets so worked up he feels like he's about to have a meltdown. Does he get good grades? Always. Does it destroy him? Always. That to say, as soon as he finished the minimum requirements for his high school diploma and Greek stuff he opted the fuck out of school in favor of teaching and taking on more leadership roles. 

New things, not new enough to fix it. Talking about his special interests is nice, doing his special interests for work is nice, getting closer with some of the senior campers is nice, but nothing hits quite right. Nothing makes him feel alive in the ways that he wants to be. 

When he brought this up in therapy, Mr. D said he was depressed. No shit Sherlock, he has depression. He could recognize the lack of interest with activities and low mood, the way that nothing really seemed worthwhile anymore. Classic symptoms of depression, to the tee of the DSM or whatever book Will has in the infirmary. Doesn't fix it, though. 

Then things start to change. And gods, does it change for the better. 

It’s Fall Break for Camp when things change. Thanksgiving-ish. Connor’s family has never had the money to get him back home or to come to him for the break. West Virginia is far from New York, especially with how rural they live. Every few years, Camp sponsors him and Travis some tickets back home for a week around Christmas but that's it. They love them both, write and call and send what they can, but life in Appalachia is hard. It's nearly impossible to get out. He understands. 

Long story short, he’s spending Fall Break just like he spent every other: at Camp doing nothing because everyone's gone. To add insult to injury, most of his supply runs were cancelled because everything's closed for the holiday or would've been too crowded for him to handle. So Connor’s really, really bored. He does actually like going on the supply runs, it's a nice routine, even if he complains sometimes. 

That's when Chiron comes to his cabin, which he doesn't do very often. Only Connor’s there right now though, so it's clear it’s just for him.

He knocks on the door, “Mr. Stoll? It's Chiron,” as if anybody else clops up the steps.

“Come in!” Connor shouts back, he's laying on the floor reading a book about the geographical history of the Americas while listening to some records. 

“How are you?” Chiron asks, looking down over him.

Connor sits up and shrugs, “Eh, fine. Bored. Nothing to do in the infirmary if nobody's here, yanno?”

“Dare not say the Q word though, as Mr. Solace preaches,” Chiron chuckles. 

“Of course not,” Connor smiles back, “Did Mr. D send you? I'm not like… gonna lose my shit or anything, I'm just meh right now.”

“No, no. I came because something you could do arose. There's some prescriptions that can only be picked up at Mt. Sinai Hospital’s main campus in Manhattan, since it’s on backorder everywhere else,” Chiron explains. 

Great, a million hour drive into the city alone and in the dead of holiday traffic. Thrilling. As much as he can command the roads, it's not like Connor's his dad and can just poof away traffic entirely. Bumper to bumper traffic is hard to influence. Supply runs aren’t fun when most of it’s in gridlock. 

The immortal continues, “Mr. Jackson lives nearby and the campers staying with him for the break could use a ride back, if that interests you? Perhaps a stop at a shop or two is in the cards too, time allowing. It'll be tomorrow afternoon, getting back by 5pm.”

“Sure,” Connor shrugs, it's better than doing nothing he supposes. Even if the sudden change in plans slightly stresses him out. 

“Splendid! Here's the keys, placard, card, and cash,” Chiron hands him everything, then turns towards the door, “And Mr. Stoll? I truly do wish you find what you are looking for.”

Weird, but Connor dismisses it because Chiron’s always saying weird shit like that when he's trying to be comforting or whatever. Not like it's amazing, but compared to how Chiron used to be this is a major upgrade. The old horse has come a long way, all things considered. Even if it took Mr. D laying it into him more than a handful of times. 

The rest of the day passes like every other, the Hermes Cabin hauntingly quiet with its emptiness. It's times like this where his mind wanders to his siblings. Travis, yes, but more and more he finds his mind wandering back to Luke. Connor feels like he's more like him everyday— their roles at Camp, no educational future, can basically never go home. 

It's not that he would ever do that shit, it's just he's more able to empathize with feeling stuck. Of wanting more out of life than this.

The next day, Connor leaves mid-morning after letting Annabeth know he'll get there around 3. She's quiet on the phone, but he can hear Percy in the background. Not that he's awake, but because his breathing is pretty loud. Genuinely, he has no clue how Annabeth or Percy can sleep in those conditions. Guess they don’t have much of a choice. 

The drive isn't the worst ever. Definitely an annoying amount of traffic, but tolerable enough. He's got some old CDs in the van that Will and Cecil made a while back. It's a mix of old songs that they used to play in the cabin and whatever Will decided he likes the most because the rhythm feels the best. Admittedly it's a bit of a clusterfuck, but it's a good clusterfuck.

Mid-drive, she shoots him a text that they'll be in the same apartment building but a different unit— a mortal friend of Percy who’s been told about the Greek world. She also says, and he quotes, “Please for the love of every god in every pantheon don't break into the building and just use the buzzer like a normal person.” 

Tall order. One that Connor's not planning to follow.  

He stops at the hospital first to pick up what he needs. With the extra time, he goes to a couple shops and walks around Central Park. Connor doesn't usually, but it's nice to feel like he's just a normal guy. It's a nice break from routine. Before he knows it, it's nearly 3 and he heads over to Percy's place. He parks in this funky spot in the alley, but he trusts the Mist and the placard should take care of it.

Not listening to Annabeth’s pleas at all whatsoever, he places his hand on the door and it instantly unlocks. He fakes holding a fob to the reader just in case the desk guy is watching, but then enters and makes his way to the apartment. A man he doesn't recognize at all answers the door. He sees Mrs. Jackson though and knows he's in the right place.

“Hi, I'm Connor. I'm picking up Will, Nico, and Annabeth?” he waves politely, carefully weaving in his divinity to come off the right way.

“Of course! Come in, I'm Mr. Latu, a family friend of Percy. Are you hungry? Want water?” the man warmly greets. 

“Thank you for the offer, but I'm okay. Where are they? We've got some time, but they want us back by 5pm,” Connor replies. 

“In my son's room. Down that hall, second door on the right,” Mr. Latu points down a hallway, “But wash your hands first, use the orange soap next to the kitchen sink.”

Connor follows the instructions, then finds the room and greets the demigods, “Hey guys! I'm parked in the alley, we got some Mist wrapped around it so no rush. What's up?”

That’s when he processes the other person in front of him in the bed and Connor’s so taken aback he forgets all his words. He’s so godsdamn cute. The guy looks like he’s around Connor’s age. His hair is long and wavy, going past his shoulders and his face is angular, yet soft and inviting at the same time. And to get even more hot, his ears have little piercings cascading up the lobe and he’s got some pretty bracelets on.

He pushes himself to sit up a little more and smiles, “Hi! I'm Reid, he/him, Percy's token mortal friend. I'd be more welcoming, but I'm not moving all that great today. Do you wanna sit? Stay for a bit?”

Gods, and his smile is great too. Connor happily sits down. He quickly glances around the room looking for any hints about what Reid likes. From the scan, he gets that he’s probably Tongan and Marshallese, not straight, and likes reading a lot of sci-fi and non-fiction. Also that he’s probably born and raised in New York, judging by the pictures of a littler version of him in Central Park. 

Oh shit, I still need to introduce myself.

“I'm Connor, son of Hermes and Camp's all-but-official errand runner. It's nice to meet you, it was Reid, yeah?” he greets, sticking his hand out for a handshake. 

That’s polite, right? Masking mode, be normal for the pretty boy. 

They end up having a really nice conversation where they talk about their shared geography special interest, so much for masking. It feels so perfect, like just fitting so nicely together. Not to mention, Reid’s into the same nerdy comics and stuff that he likes too. Connor tries to hide how upset he is when he gets a text from Chiron reminding him that they need to leave now to get back in time. 

Suave as ever (extremely awkwardly and autistically), Connor gets Reid's contact info with some line about making supply runs into the city and making a map together. The scrap of paper with shaky handwriting securely in his pocket, he drives back to Camp and tries not to burst with excitement. He's gotta keep his cool, Annabeth and Will are already making jabs at him for being “totally whipped.” 

Bullshit. Reid's just nice. And cute. And has a ton in common with Connor. 

Okay… so maybe he's a little bit totally smitten. Reid was flirting back! It's not just on Connor. 

When they get back, Nico's not doing great and he has to put all his attention towards that for a bit. Then Leo and Jason come back and Leo's not doing great either, so Will needs more help with infirmary type stuff. Connor doesn't mind helping though, he likes helping out his friends. 

It isn't until a few days later that he gets around to calling Reid. It's kinda late at night, Will's sleeping in his cabin for a bit of a break so Connor's with Nico to make sure disaster doesn't strike or anything. But Nico's asleep and Leo's at his own cabin, so it's quiet. He still has the piece of paper with him, although he may or may not have accidentally memorized it. Just don’t tell Will that, Connor will never live it down.  

So he bites the bullet and dials the number on his cellphone. Which is definitely not against the rules for him to have. Connor would never break the rules. It's not like there's an actual threat of monsters inside of Camp, in his defense. Let him have this one.

It rings a handful of times before somebody picks up, “Hello?” 

“Hi, this is Connor? Stoll. Like my full name is Connor Stoll. I didn't steal anything in the past tense. Well I have, but not the point. I'm Percy’s friend? From Camp. Gods I'm fucking this up. Is this Reid?” Connor nervously rambles, roughly drumming his fist against his leg. 

The person on the other end laughs softly, “This is Reid, yeah. It's good to hear from you, I was worried you weren't gonna call. How are you?”

“I've been alright, yeah. Sorry, shit, I got real busy. Nico's been having a nasty flare, so I've been helping out,” Connor feels like he's totally fumbling this one, his father's domains about being cunning or whatever doing him no favors, and his legs start bouncing. 

“Is he okay?” Reid asks, hopefully not catching onto Connor's anxiety.

“Relatively. He's in a lot of pain and he's blacking out a lot. But he's sleeping right now, how are you?” Connor remembers he's supposed to ask questions when he's talking to people.

Nico stirs and Connor realizes that his stimming is sorta loud, so he forces himself to redirect to quieter alternatives. Much to his own discomfort. 

“I'm better talking to you now,” the smirk in Reid's voice is audible, but the tone is still so gentle and warm, “My body’s been freaking out from Friday still. I had a bad seizure after having a bunch of small ones. They take a toll on me, so my head’s been hurting a lot and I'm still all foggy.”

“Seizures?” asks Connor, concerned.

“Oh yeahhh,” Reid says as if he had a sudden realization, “I have epilepsy. That’s why I can’t really do screens or IMs, photosensitivity. Causes a bunch of other crap with me too.”

“Ah, gotcha. Sucks that your head hurts,” Connor hums understandingly, then resorts to his old, reliable talk about a special interest strategy, “Have you been to that antique store in Queens over on 37th and Main? It's my favorite, they always have a bunch of pre-colonial maps. I got a cool map of Bhutan there on Saturday.”

“Really?!” Reid excitedly gasps, “I haven't ever been, it's hard for me to make it out there since I can't take the subway. I'll have to ask my dad to take me. What else do they have there?”

The two talk for over 3 hours that night, up until Reid notices the time and realizes his dad's getting up for work soon and he needs to get some sleep. Even though he's not planning to do any school work that day so he doesn't have to wake up for anything. Connor feels like he could bask in the cadence of Reid's voice forever. It’s just so comfortable. 

It doesn't take long for them to fall into a routine of talking basically everyday. Sometimes texts or emails, the rare video call, but mostly phone calls. Even with all that talking, they never run out of things to talk about. Connor could endlessly exchange questions with Reid, it feels so natural. He feels so himself when he talks to Reid— a way he hasn't gotten to feel really since Luke.

Chiron definitely has an idea of what's going on considering Connor's been more than eager to do supply runs into the city, which he would always complain about before. And Connor takes longer than expected. Definitely not because he swings by Reid's place. He would never stray off path. It's not Connor's fault that his supply runs often fall on Reid's good days where he's feeling up to visitors. 

Needless to say, Connor found what Chiron saw he was looking for.

Chapter Text

If people ask Reid to talk about himself, he usually rattles off the same thing every time: My name's Reid, he/him, I can't shake your hand but it's nice to meet you, or something along those lines. The disclaimer about shaking people's hands is sometimes left out, but he tends to avoid the practice because of his fucked up hand and shitty immune system. 

One of his classes at Goode, 2nd semester Sophomore English, had this assignment. A real simple one because the teacher would treat the whole class like they were dumb since it wasn't honors. The assignment was to make a list of 10 words describing himself that could be used for a college essay or something. Narrative non-fiction type stuff. 

Here's how Reid's list went: 

1. Pasifika 
2. Disabled 
3. Queer 
4. Percy 
5. Cartography
6. Reading
7. Video games??

He ran out of things at that point and wrote some bullshit about epilepsy, comic books, and the ocean even though those are basically the same thing as other things on his list. Point Reid’s trying to make is the fact that he's Percy's best friend, his family, is something as core to him as his unchangeable identities. All seven of the things he listed feels so central to what makes Reid who he is, it took him all of 30 seconds to write them down. 

To be clear— it's not that weird, co-dependent, crushing on your straight best friend way of seeing it. Reid has tried for forever to describe it in English, but can never quite find the right words for it. There's all these theories and frameworks about extensions of self, community, family, and care that he's read papers upon papers on but none of them get it quite right.

The closest descriptor Reid offers is that the two households function a lot like one big family. They are each other's emergency contacts and points of deep care alike. They know each other and work in this harmony that just works. It's a really nice change of pace, in all honesty. The past 2ish years have been really good. 

For context: Sione Latu has been a single dad for basically all of Reid's life, his mom having died shortly after his birth from delayed onset complications. So for basically his whole life, it was just the two of them. His extended family would occasionally help out, but there's only so much a bunch of poor people can do to help out each other when time and money is what's most needed. 

Then Reid got kicked out of his freshman year school, a public high school, because they wouldn't believe that he's actually smart. Look, he gets it that he misses a lot of school. He's lucky if he makes it through a full week. That being said, the school was so convinced he could never be smart that when he finished the year with straight A’s in all honors they gave him an ultimatum: take a cheating denotation on his record or leave quietly. 

It didn't make sense to him either because he never cheated. Reid doesn't need to. As long as he can look it up, read a textbook, or get notes from lectures, he's set. His brain works like filling cabinets, he just remembers stuff that he learns. At least at his baseline, when he's not all foggy or postictal, he has a good memory. But if he's feeling good enough to be at school, he's feeling good enough to remember. 

So he starts at this new school, Goode High School, which is a private school about a mile away from him. They tout themselves as being an accessible alternative education, so it sounds great. Wrong. Shit was horrible. The first day Reid showed up and none of his approved accommodations were in place, he was put into gym class, and he spent all morning arguing with his counselor. 

The rest of the year was just as bad: forced to take classes he could barely do physically, constantly being punished for absences, kids being shitty. Cherry on top? Reid ended up getting kicked out at the end of that year too. Some bullshit about how they “highly recommend he pursue other educational paths that are more equipped to handle his complex learning needs.”

Bullshit. 

They kicked him out because he had a seizure in class after the teacher didn't follow one of his accommodations and didn't wanna deal with the liability of an epileptic. Because his absence seizures or hand twitching are perfectly fine, but the second he actually looks the part is the second he's too much to handle. Anything he can't pass off as a silly little quirk is too much. 

Fuck that school, but the singular good thing that came from it was the Jackson-Blofis family. Suddenly, Reid and his dad weren't alone anymore. It wasn't Sione trying to ration out his PTO just right, calling in favors from anybody that would listen, stressed phone calls during lunch breaks to insurance, and maxing out overtime to afford living anymore. They could finally just breathe. 

Ironic descriptor considering Percy's whole thing is that he can't breathe (COPD and severe asthma will do that), but it's the best way to describe it. Reid’s dad used to pay so much out-of-pocket for daytime nurses to stay with Reid because they had nobody else. Between his dad's insurance being mediocre and Reid getting repeatedly denied for Medicaid, it totaled to a lot. 

The thing is, breathing room meant that Sione could actually seriously look for another job with better insurance plans. Barely making ends meet with a full-time job then having to come home and take care of a disabled kid doesn't make for a lot of spare time for job applications. Feeling good about care coverage for Reid, his dad could look for something better. 

In the end, he ended up landing this absolutely perfect job with Make-A-Wish being the New York chapter’s Director of Human Resources. They absolutely loved the idea of having somebody fluent in four languages and a parent of a wish recipient on their team. There wasn't even hesitation when Sione said he needed flexibility to take care of Reid. They get it.

Now with Sione having a nice cushy job with benefits a billion times better, Sally staying at home, and Paul having more flexibility with his schedule, the whole day nurse thing isn't an issue anymore. That means more money. That means more than barely scraping by. And god, Reid didn't know it could be this good.

All that aside, the biggest thing is that Percy just gets it. He gets schools making assumptions about his intelligence. He gets what it's like growing up piss poor. He gets how fucking hard it is to be chronically ill in school. Reid doesn't have to do this whole explainer for background for everything because Percy, and his parents, just get it. Having that is more relieving than Reid can ever put into words. 

Then Percy disappeared for half of junior year. Reid swears, that had to be the worst months of his life— and he's been hospitalized for that same length before. The thing about knowing all that can be after having so little is that when it goes back to how it was, it's devastating. End of the fucking world. Nuclear fallout included. 

Even though the Latus weren't in their previous much more dire financial situation, the loss of community was devastating. Percy’s disappearance coincided pretty closely with Reid having an immune system crash that meant the Latu family had to completely quarantine until he got some better labs. The loneliness is what really killed him. 

Reid doesn't remember much about that time, though. A major factor was definitely the fact that he landed in the hospital for a good few months because his immune system tanked and he got sick, then had a bad reaction to new meds. More than anything, life just felt so monotonous. He would talk to his dad and sometimes Sally and Paul. His world felt so, so small again. He felt like Rapunzel, trapped in the tower. 

When he was home, he only left his house for doctor's appointments. Most of them had gotten switched to virtual format and infusions were done by a home nurse (shout out new insurance and almost dying) that had to literally do a surgical scrub to enter their home. He'd leave maybe once a month at most, only really getting outside when he'd risk spending time on his balcony. 

Updates about Percy were few and far between, and seemed like it was like that for the Jackson-Blofis family too. He was just gone. They would still have dinner together at least once a week once Reid’s immune system went back to its normal amount of shitty, Sally and Paul would still occasionally stay with him for the day as needed, but it just felt so bleak. The longer it all dragged on, the more everybody lost hope. 

It was a middle of the night voicemail that changed everything. 

“Mom. Hey, I'm alive. Hera put me to sleep for a while, and then she took my memory, and… Anyway, I'm okay. I'm sorry. I'm on a quest— I'll make it home. I promise. Love you.”

Reid has it memorized. Shit, all of them have it memorized with how many times they listened to it. It was just Reid, Sione, Sally, and Paul all crowded around the phone listening to it over and over again trying to catch anything that fell between the lines. 

“Play it again, his breathing sounds off.”

“What? Where did you hear that?”

“What's that background sound? Is that a train? Wind?”

“Is that another voice?”

“Would the gods tell us where he is?”

“Comms have been down. Chiron's been calling me, not IM’ing.”

“Wait! I heard the breathing thing.”

They stayed like that for a long while, just talking in circles and trying to remember everything leading up to Percy’s disappearance. After that, the updates became more detailed. Albeit, they were through Chiron's cryptic filters, but signs of life nonetheless. Months later, Reid found out that's basically all Camp knew too. 

It was August when Percy called Reid from an unknown number. He almost didn't pick up, but this gut feeling told him to. 

“Hi?” Reid cautiously greeted. 

“Fuck, dude. I missed you,” a raspy voice responded. 

“Percy?! Is that you?!” Reid exclaimed, “Holy fuck, hi. Oh my god! Hi!”

“It's me, yeah” Percy chuckled, coughing a little bit before continuing, “It's damn good to hear your voice, Reid.”

His voice sounded different than Reid remembered, “It's good to hear your voice too, whose phone is this?” 

“Annabeth's cell, her dad’s in California,” Percy explained the unfamiliar area code. 

Reid was about to ask more, but was cut off by Percy having a really gnarly coughing fit. Nothing that Reid hadn't heard before, but it went on for a good few minutes before Percy could talk again. Well, more like until he could wheeze out a quick apology. 

“Don't be sorry. Your lungs sound trashed, bro. As much as I wanna talk more, I get it that you're prolly busy and that post-quest is always hard on you. Email when you can, yeah?” Reid wrapped up the conversation since Percy wouldn't be and to talk much anyways. 

“I'm glad you're alive, talk soon, love you,” Percy agreed to end the conversation, signaling how shitty he must've felt. 

“Love you too, be alive the next time I see you too, okay?” replied Reid, ending the call. 

That's the point where Reid starts being able to remember more. His health having evened out and with his best friend back for real, things stop blurring together. Granted, his and Percy’s talks stay pretty short and surface level. Usually it's Percy talking about his relationship woes or Camp stuff and Reid talking about his special interests. Percy doesn't want to talk about anything more and he respects that. 

They almost never talk about the quest. 

It’s September when Sally comes over and lets them know that she’s going to go visit Percy in Montauk next week— not in the camp itself, but close to it. They’re going to be spending a day together and Percy wants to invite the Latu family too. Reid is absolutely thrilled and immediately agrees. Apparently Paul got roped into a work thing he can’t get out of, so it's just the three of them visiting. 

The day before they’re supposed to leave, Reid’s up the entire night writhing in pain and unable to keep anything down from a mega migraine. One that hasn't let up for 18 hours. No real reason for it either, his body just decided that it was due for one. When his dad carries him to the car to go to the ER after a third round of failed rescue meds, he’s more devastated about having to miss Percy than he is about the hospital. 

Look. The two have always, and probably will always, be passing ships in the night. That’s the treacheries of being friends with other chronically ill people: shit changes last minute. Reid knows that and he’s more than fine with it. He even knows that Percy will never get mad at him about how flaky he is sometimes. Still, that doesn’t mean it can’t upset Reid. 

Sally returns to Manhattan with stories from Percy and a handful of letters from him and Will to Reid. In his ideal world, everybody would talk to him with physical letters but also somehow they could be instant. Yeah, Reid knows it’s unrealistic, but it’s a dream for a reason. He really likes having that physical memory and also something that doesn’t hurt his head to look at like screens do. 

Percy knows about this preference, and occasionally slips letters under Reid’s apartment door just for fun. They see each other constantly, at least when Percy’s in the city, so it’s just a fun surprise more than actual communication. He knows that his best friend is pretty insecure about his spelling— it’s admittedly not the best— but Reid reassures him that it’s still understandable and that’s what matters. 

This time, the letters are a little more detailed. He talks about each of his friends, giving a full run-down of them all. Then, he describes all the Camp drama. It doesn’t seem like he’s the most in touch with it, but he gets enough for it to be interesting. Throughout all of them, he only offhandedly mentions the quest at most. Reid figures that really means he shouldn’t ask.

The last one concludes with an idea from Percy: he wants to invite a few other demigods to come for Fall Break. Definitely Annabeth, maybe a couple others that don’t have plans. But he wants to run it by Reid first because the main reason he’d bring them is so they can meet his best friend. Reid agrees without hesitation, always eager to meet more teens around his age. If they’re friends with Percy, they must be good about disability stuff, right?

To say those few days where they visit are a success is an understatement. Reid has never felt so in place in his life. Everything just felt so natural. But the best thing about it? The very end. The last day to be exact. When Connor comes to drive Will, Nico, and Annabeth home.

Reid had this fuckin’ awful seizure after having a ton of small ones and a bad migraine the previous day. Shockingly, he didn’t feel too foggy, but he was undoubtedly gonna be bedbound for at least a few days. Percy was also not feeling amazing, so he was staying behind for a little longer than the other demigods. But, they all came to visit Reid anyway to say bye before they left. 

They’re the only people who have ever done that. Most people just leave him behind. 

With the change of plans, Connor comes to Reid’s apartment instead to herd the demigods back to Camp. What Reid wasn’t told is how goddamn hot Connor is. The dude is total eye candy. When he starts talking about geography and isn’t weird about Reid being stuck in bed? Talk about a dream guy. Plus, Reid could swear he’s flirting. 

Reid fumbles through giving his number and email to Connor, his hands are really shaky today so it’s not the most legible. Not that his handwriting is ever particularly good any day. Luckily, Connor insists that it’s perfectly readable and he leaves with a promise to call. And he doesn’t even question why Reid can’t do texting or IMs. He just accepts it. 

 Admittedly, Reid’s sleeping when Connor called a few days later. He’s still feeling like trash and has been calling out of school because he can’t stay awake for the life of him. Also, he’s going on day 5 of having a low level migraine and it’s starting to just get really annoying at this point. He’ll just take the blessing that he hasn’t had any more major seizures. 

As expected, it’s a West Virginia area code, “Hello?”

Connor does this really adorable ramble trying to introduce himself. Reid tries to control his laughter, but it’s just so nice to hear somebody’s voice other than his dad’s. He admits that he was worried Connor would never call, but glazes over it in favor of small talk niceties. Connor explains the delay, then asks how he's doing.

“I’m better talking to you now,” Reid half flirts, even though it’s the truth, then keeps explaining, “My body’s been freaking out from Friday still. I had a bad seizure after having a bunch of small ones. They take a toll on me, so my head’s been hurting a lot and I'm still all foggy.”

“Seizures?” Connor asks.

Ah, shit. Apparently, Reid has completely neglected to actually bring up the whole epilepsy sized elephant in the room. To be fair, most people ask what’s wrong with him or see him seizing before he has to have that conversation. Or they just see one of the billion medical alert things he has that says he’s epileptic. It's not exactly a secret he can keep.

“Oh yeahhh,” Reid tries to casually pass off, “I have epilepsy. That’s why I can’t really do screens or IMs, photosensitivity. Causes a bunch of other crap with me too,” he decides not to get into it too much.

Much to Reid’s surprise, Connor quickly acknowledges it and then moves on to another topic. No prying questions. No weird worry. He just accepts it as a fact and moves on, letting Reid choose when he wants to talk more about it. People don’t do that with Reid almost ever. It's a really goddamn nice change of pace.

The two quickly get lost in conversation, it being nearly 4am when Reid realizes the time and says he has to go. Not that he’s happy about having to hang up, but more so that he knows that if he keeps pushing it he’s just asking for a flare. More accurately, a worse flare than what he's in right now. He sleeps in that day, not that he would’ve been able to do school anyways. 

Before long, calling Connor feels natural. Like another part of his routine that has always been. Reid usually calls around lunch or after dinner, finding that those times are when their schedules best line up. He loves hearing about everything that Connor's up to— the latest research rabbithole, his siblings, the classes he teaches, anything. Reid talks about himself too, of course. 

Just because he calls Connor a lot doesn't mean he never talks to Percy anymore. They still talk most days. Usually, it's at an odd hour in the middle of the day during Reid's infusion days. Percy's the only one of his friends that knows about that, mainly because it's impossible to keep anything from him. Family, remember?

Reid’s at the hospital getting one of his less frequent infusions that make him feel shitty but help a lot when he calls Percy. He’s already starting to feel shitty, but he knows it worries Percy when his friends don’t give some kind of heads up about sudden disappearances. Therefore, Reid pushes through his scrambled brain bullshit.

“Hey, dude, what's up?” Percy answers after a couple rings.

“Hospital infusion day, figured I'd call before I fall off the face of the earth,” Reid briefly explains, since this one always knocks him out for a few days, “You?”

“Just chilling today,” replies Percy, “I think Leo said he's gonna come over later if he's feeling up to it.”

Reid scrunches his face trying to remember who that is, all the names get confusing when he's foggy, “Who is he, again?”

“Son of Hephaestus, dating Jason, was on the last quest with me, builds stuff,” Percy lists off.

“Oh yeahhh! I remember him now. What are y'all gonna do?” asks Reid.

“I think he said he was gonna help me figure out some school stuff? He's really smart, so he was gonna try to help me finish up my junior year stuff,” Percy answers, his own ever present brain fog also showing a little. 

Even though Goode kicked out Percy, they still expect him to finish up his junior year stuff because he was technically still enrolled while he was kidnapped by Hera. Therefore, he's got a semester of stuff to do and basically no direction on how to do it. Real short end of the deal in Reid's opinion, but if he doesn't do it they won't refer him to the virtual academy. 

Anyways, Percy isn't dumb. Despite popular belief, he's actually not half that bad at learning when he's taught right. That being said, Goode gave him a practically impossible task in exchange for granting him a long-term medical leave of absence. Again, short end of the deal and total bullshit. As a result, he's accepting help from anybody and everybody that's willing. 

“Connor’s good at consumer economics, he could probably help with that,” suggests Reid. 

“Oh yeah?” Reid can hear the smirk in Percy's voice, “Connor, huh? Anything more about him? Like his eyes, personality, or general compatibility?”

“Gahhh! Stop!” Reid facepalms, “...Is it really that obvious?”

“More obvious than when Annabeth is trying to keep a secret from me,” Percy chuckles.

“No, it can't be that bad!” Reid groans.

“Dude. I hate to break it to you, but it is.”

“Okay so maybe I have a crush on him… a slight crush,” Reid admits, Percy scoffing a little, “...Or am totally whipped.”

“So whatcha gonna do about it? When you gonna ask him out?” Percy eagerly asks. 

“What?! Never! This is between me, you, and whatever god or gods are snooping,” exclaims Reid. 

“Awww c’mon bro. You're like… the prize catch of potential partners out there. Blue ribbon fish. He'd be lucky to get you,” Percy assures, “Plus he's sorta obvious about it too, no offense.”

“I thought he was just being nice! A good friend!” Reid defends himself. 

“Oh yeah, a ‘good friend’ that goes out of his way to make supply runs into the city when he historically hated those?” Percy sarcastically quips, “Real likely one, Latu.”

“Stop logic-ing at me!” Reid groans, “So what should I do, my local love expert?”

“Tell him!! I'm rooting for my boy, you got this! It's meant to be,” Percy encourages.

Reid’s about to keep bantering when Percy starts having one of his signature coughing fits that are actually minor asthma attacks. In case it's a question: no, it never gets easier to listen to and wait for him to finally draw in a good breath. His lungs got way worse after his most recent quest, so Reid spends a lot of time these days just waiting for Percy to breathe again. 

It takes a few minutes for him to catch his breath, a little longer than usual but not too bad. 

“Gotta go?” Reid asks, even though he knows the answer.

“Yeah, sorry. Fuck,” Percy replies, still panting, “Love you, talk soon?”

That's how Reid can tell his friend's lungs are still bothering him. It's hard for him to talk when that happens, so anything that manages to get out are all short phrases between wheezes. It's almost equally as hard to listen to. 

“Of course. Love ya and take care,” Reid affirms, Percy humming in agreement and ending the call. 

It's good timing because the shitty side effects of the infusion hit at full force and he gets really nauseous. The point of it is to boost his shitty immune system, which it does, but it also makes him feel awful. Specifically, it makes his POTS totally freak out and it's impossible for him to stay awake for more than eating and pissing. Not fun, but his labs are the best they've ever been.

Reid doesn't remember the infusion ending or getting home. In all fairness, he usually doesn't for these ones. If he thinks too hard about how much time he loses, it really freaks him out. So he tries not to. People in his life respect that wish, so it all works out. Not being fully in the know never backfires, he still knows what's necessary for his health. His system works. 

Imagine Reid’s surprise when he wakes up a few days later for real and he has a bunch of texts and voicemails from Connor. None of them seem too worried, they're mostly just little check ins and things that reminded him of Reid. There's a few “hope you're alright” messages littered in, but not so many that it's overbearing. Reid sends a quick reply and explains he was flaring but is feeling better now. 

At that, Reid knocks loudly on his wall. It's the best system he and his dad have developed for him to communicate he's awake or needs something. Between his epilepsy and all other related associates, sometimes it's hard for him to find the right words or talk loud enough for Sione to hear. This works. 

Taking inventory of his body, he has a foul taste in his mouth and his pain is at a pretty normal level. From those clues, Reid suspects that he spent the past few days puking his brains out between short bursts of half-consciousness, but at least didn't have any bad seizures. A few moments later, his dad comes in and confirms all of that as true. If Reid could get paid for this shit, he'd be a rich man. 

“Can I brush my teeth then eat?” Reid asks, knowing he'll probably need help getting up.

He slowly sits up and his vision starts swimming, he quickly feels his dad's hands on his back and chest, “Whoa there! Take it easy.”

Reid puts all of his energy into fighting to stay conscious, which works after a few minutes when his nervous system catches up with his body, “I'm okay, can you tilt my chair back a little and help me transfer?”

His dad follows his instructions, “Connor asked if he could come over today after his errands in the city. You feeling up to it?”

Reid glances at his phone calendar, “I have infusions today, just fluids though. Is it after that?”

Sione nods, “Yep, you should be done by 1 and he'll be here around 3.”

“Yeah, I'm good then,” Reid replies, “It's an async day for me, right?”

“Yep, tomorrow too, then the last 3 days are finals,” Sione smiles, “We should do something special when you're done. Halfway done with senior year! Think about it while I make breakfast.”

Reid grins, deliberating over his options while he brushes his teeth. He really wants to go to a museum, but most of the actually fun ones are inaccessible to him because of the lights. For some reason, museums love strobing effects. It really sucks, because Reid really loves museums but can't go unless they do those sensory friendly events, but then there's always a bunch of germy little kids at those. A real catch-22.

He emerges from the bathroom with his decision, “There's an antique flea market happening in a park in the Bronx this weekend, can we go?” 

“You're lucky it's not too cold yet, of course we can go,” Sione replies, as if he'd say no, “Do you wanna invite anyone else?”

“Uh… maybe if Connor can come? It's too cold for Percy and it's too germy for big inside events for me,” Reid thinks aloud.

 “Of course. I've got waffles, sausage, and fruit for breakfast. Eat up,” Sione serves up a plate of food.

Reid digs in even though he doesn't really feel like eating. His doctors are always on his ass about not missing any designated three well rounded meals and two snacks a day. Eating is a real damned if he does damned if he doesn't type thing for him— he feels dizzy after he eats, but he feels dizzy and seizure-y if he doesn't. In lieu of not frying his own brain, he takes the dizziness a la carte. 

“I know you still feel crappy, but try to finish half,” Sione bargains, sitting at the table with his own plate. 

“It's not that bad,” argues Reid, even though his standards for bad are literally unable to stay conscious. 

He still gets too lightheaded after like ten minutes and gives up to recline his chair back even more. Luckily, the infusion people don't really give a shit about what mobility aid he uses, so he'll be able to use his motorized chair without weird judgement. Reid knows he should probably work on getting his doctors less weird about that, but has long deemed that a later problem. 

Sione has to help him get dressed today. Reid's been in the same gross clothes for the past few days, so it's nice to finally wear something clean. He doesn't make it a habit to get too pressed about all the things his dad has to help him with, but the thought about what if he outlives him permeates sometimes. Emphasis on the what if, though. 

Anyways, the trip to the infusion center and the whole process goes off without anything too notable. It takes them a few times and a little bit of digging to find a vein that'll work— that issue’s becoming increasingly prevalent, but not enough for anybody to complain about it yet. Afterwards, he feels a hell of a lot better than he did before and almost like a real person again. 

When Reid gets back home, he does some schoolwork on the couch for the next couple hours now that he finally doesn't feel like trash for the first time in days. Despite the fact he kinda sucks at being in school on the logistical level, he really likes it. Learning is fun and it's never too hard for him. As a result of that nerdiness, he gets mostly caught up since he tends to work a little bit ahead. It evens out since he misses so much school anyways. 

Just in time too, because soon enough he hears Connor's voice in the hallway as he knocks on the door, “Hi! It's just Connor.”

Sione gets the door, “Hey, Reid's in the living room. Want anything?”

“I'm okay, thank you. How are you?” Connor replies, stepping into the apartment. 

“As good as ever! I'll be in the office, holler if you need anything,” Sione warmly answers while Connor washes his hands. 

Reid waves from his spot on the couch, “Hi, stranger in my home.”

Connor chuckles, “Hi, stranger in a nice, robbable home,” getting settled next to Reid.

“I might be able to go to the comic book store today if you wanna do something besides sit in my living room?” Reid offers, cautiously as to not push himself too much.

“No pressure, I don't mind staying in with you,” Connor shrugs, then points at Reid’s laptop, “Whatcha working on?”

“School, but that's boring. I started mapping neighborhood histories in the boroughs, look,” Reid pulls up one of his million tabs he has open and turns it towards the other teen, “Do you wanna help me actually draw it out? Google is shit for GIS.”

“Don't look,” Connor warns, “I'm gonna scroll really fast, Hermes loopholes, and it'll mess with you.”

Reid trusts him and looks away. Even though they've only known each other a few weeks, it seems like Connor's caught onto a lot of the limits that Reid has without having to be reminded or questioning it. He doesn't make a whole thing of it either, just treats it like any other part of life. Reid likes that. Not a lot of people are like that with him. 

Reid catches a glimpse of Connor's face, he's chewing on his hoodie string and quietly humming in that way that he does when he doesn't realize because he's so focused. It's really cute. Even though he's not looking, he can tell Connor's getting more excited the longer he scrolls because he can feel him start to happily wiggle in his seat. It makes Reid feel all warm inside. 

A couple minutes pass before Connor speaks again, signaling it's safe to look, “This is fuckin’ awesome! Holy shit! That was just your free time activity? Not even for school?”

Reid blushes at the compliments, “It's fun.”

“So you wanna draw it, yeah?” Connor asks. 

“Yeah! I already typed up a like… ledger? I can't remember the word. Key? That feels more right,” Reid gets stuck for a second, but Connor doesn't flinch at it, “A nice printed thing with all the actual history stuff. I have a big pad of paper and some art supplies in my room next to the recliner you can use.”

Connor cracks a joke about not knowing what they're called either, then gets up to grab the supplies from Reid’s room. They get settled on the living room floor together, putting down a plastic mat to provide a hard surface on the plush carpeting. Reid sits in this awkward way with his bad leg stretched out to the side and the other pulled up to his chest, but it's the only way that doesn't hurt like a bitch so he deals. 

It doesn't take long for the demigod to draw up the map, something that Reid guesses has to do with his divinity. After the ink outline is done, Connor shoves a bunch of art supplies towards Reid. He looks really in the zone right now, it's cute. 

“You do the coloring, I'll do the writing,” Connor instructs extremely bluntly, confirming the fact he's definitely hyperfocused right now. 

“Aye, aye, captain,” Reid jokingly salutes. 

He moves a lot slower than Connor does because of his messed up hands. It's annoying enough to him that he eventually gets up to grab his braces. Even though they hurt like a bitch, they do help. When he walks into his dad's office, Reid’s a little more breathless than he cares to admit. It was a tall order to try to cross the apartment without any mobility aids after being bedridden for 3 days. 

“You tryin’ to run a marathon, foha?” Sione jokes, turning around to face Reid, “What's up?

Reid leans heavily against the door frame, “Braces, need help.” 

“Sit down before you pass out, does your head hurt?” Sione gingerly asks, helping Reid to the floor and tightening his braces into place. 

That's his not-so-subtle way of asking Reid if he feels postictal. Sometimes, after seizures he gets bold ideas and ends up accidentally hurting himself in the process. While his brain fog varies a lot, it's pretty consistent that he always gets a headache or migraine from the whole affair. To add more fun to it, Reid can't always tell if he's postictal. He always knows if his head hurts or not, though. 

“No, just dizzy,” replies Reid, then starts trying to massage his leg, “Leg’s acting up too.”

He figures it just hurts from sitting on the floor. Still, it's annoying because it hasn't really been bothering him much today until now. Reid’s been noticing that it's been getting more finicky like that as of recent, but his physical therapist says it's nothing to be too concerned about. Something about it being expected with his seizures and repeat injuries. So it's just an annoyance he has to live with. 

Before he knows it, Sione returns with his rollator in tow. Reid only gets sorta dizzy when he pulls himself up to a standing position, so he starts heading back towards Connor. On his way back, he grabs a bottle of Tylenol and tips back three of them before sitting back down by the other teen. 

“Sorry, I'm back now. I need to lay down, but I can still help,” Reid says, moving so he's on his stomach and propped up with a pillow. 

“It's okay, I don't mind,” replies Connor, “You alright?”

“Yeah. My POTS has just been really bad the last few days, so I've been stuck in bed. Wasn't a good idea for me to try to walk without any mobility aids, so my leg got pissed,” Reid tries to get his leg situated right. 

With that, Reid starts coloring again. The two keep chatting and working on the map together. Connor does the finer details while he works on the bigger areas. 

That is, until Reid flings his hand and the marker in it straight at Connor's face, landing a purple streak across his cheek. It falls down and the scene in front of him jumps to something different. His hand feels stiffer now. A thick layer of confusion is cast over him. 

When did the map get moved to the table?

“Gods, talk about aim,” Connor wipes at his face, just smearing it more. 

“Shit! Sorry, let me get you a wipe. I didn't mean to do that,” Reid panickedly apologizes, “Wait, fuck, I need my phone. Where'd I put my phone? Fuck!”

“Hey, hey, hey, it's okay. It didn't hurt, it just shocked me. Your phone's over here,” Connor stays calm, handing Reid his cellphone. 

“I didn't mean to hit you, I'm sorry,” Reid apologizes again, he really can't remember what he was doing and is getting more freaked out. 

Connor firmly places his hands on Reid's shoulders, “I think you had a seizure, you don't need to be sorry for seizures. Do you want me to get your dad?”

Reid shakes his head, “No. I only need him if it lasts more than 5 minutes, I have multiple in a row, or I ask. I just can't remember what I was doing.”

“Log the seizure on your phone, it lasted 2 minutes,” Connor warmly reminds him. 

Reid nods and does it, then keeps rambling, “There was another thing, I need to do it before I go to sleep. Fuck, I'm tired. This always happens. What was the other thing?”

Connor goofily points at the purple mark on his face, “I think it compliments my eyes.”

“My room,” Reid says, Connor getting the point and helping him to his room. He lays down and clumsily points at his nightstand, “Baby wipes are there. I'm sorry. I really wanted to hang out.”

“Hey, it's okay. I had a really fun time,” Connor puts one of his hands over Reid’s, “I've gotta get going soon anyways, you can call me later. Oh! And I left a surprise in your fridge for you.” 

Reid thinks that he could melt into the feeling of Connor's touch. He doesn't really remember what happens next, he thinks that they exchange a few more words before he falls asleep. When he wakes up, his clock says that it's around dinnertime. It sounds like his dad's cooking, but he's not quite sure what. With a firm couple of knocks on his wall, his dad comes into the room. 

“Hungry? I've got some fish, kon, and banana for dinner,” Sione informs him as he stands in the doorway, “How you feeling?”

Reid shrugs, “I could eat. And I'm feeling fine enough. Mostly just my leg hurting. Can you help me transfer?”

Sione helps him to his wheelchair and they head towards the dining room. The table’s already set, so his dad just grabs the food from the stove and dishes it out. Reid loves fish. Not just because it tastes good, but also because he doesn't need any help to cut it. Food always tastes better when he can have it independently. 

As the two eat, Sione talks about his day and goes over his usual complaints about his annoying coworkers. Reid excitedly shares about the map he was making with Connor, even though his dad has definitely already heard about it and seen it taking up half of their living room. Nonetheless, both of them really like being able to debrief at the end of the day. 

“I've been watching through that show you asked me to vet for you, it seems safe for you so far. Wanna watch a couple episodes tonight?” Stone asks. 

“Ooh, yes! I've read so much about it, I'm really excited to see how it actually looks,” Reid eagerly gets launched into an info dump. 

They finish up dinner and his dad cleans up while Reid goes to try to tidy up some of the sprawl from his earlier map making. By the time they're both done, Reid's ready to curl up on the couch. The show is really good. The animation and effects are really well done, and it doesn't bother Reid’s photosensitivity at all. 

After one episode, his dad abruptly gets up, “Oh! The surprise from Connor!”

When he returns, he's holding a box with a cute ribbon tied around it, Reid tilts his head, “What is it?”

Sione shrugs, “Your guess is as good as mine, I haven't opened it yet,” and hands it to him. 

Reid eagerly opens it to reveal a handful of pastries from a place that he had offhandedly mentioned wanting to try but it was too far away. It's a nice arrangement of different flavors, a mix of savory and sweet as well as different textures too. A really perfect combination, perfectly curated. Without Reid noticing his departure, his dad returns with a knife and a plate to cut them up so they can sample each of them. 

All of them taste delicious, of course. His favorite is a pandan coconut thing with this fluffy dough. Reid has no idea what it's actually called, but he knows it tastes good and that's what matters. While they watch a couple more episodes, they keep snacking on the pastries. 

“Yanno, I think Connor's alright,” Sione says out of the blue. 

“Yeah, he's good,” Reid smiles. 

“He understands you,” his dad continues. 

Reid keeps fondly smiling, “He really does, doesn't he?”

“You know I'll always support you for as long as you want me to, right? Like whoever you're with, even if they're a white boy, I'll be here,” Sione dances around the topic. 

“Dad. I know you're fine with me being gay, we've been over this,” Reid rolls his eyes. 

Sione holds up his hands in surrender, “I know! But what I'm trying to say is that this is different. And it's the good kind of different.”

Reid groans, “Is it really that damn obvious that even my dad can tell how fuckin' whipped I am?”

“...Just a little bit,” Sione not so convincingly replies, “If you wanna take advice from your old man, I say go for it. I was around your age when I met your mom. There isn't a single day where I regret loving her. You and Connor? You look at him like I did at her.”

“He's really great. I feel so… myself when I'm around him,” Reid grins, “Can you tell me more about Mom?”

“Always, kid,” Sione grins back just as widely. 

The two spend the rest of the night just talking and laughing as Sione recollects stories. Some of them are old, some of them are new, all make Reid feel warm inside. With the lingering joy of Connor's visit earlier that day, Reid can't imagine feeling any better than he does in that moment.