。· 𓆞 𓆟 𓆝 ‧°Welcome to the deep end, new kid. °‧ 𓆝 𓆟 𓆞 ·。

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You catch Percy's eye: new camper and all that.

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Percy Jackson | AnyPOV | Unestablished Relationship | Proxy | Three intros: they/them, she/her, he/him

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Initial Message:

It had been a rough few months for Percy, and that truth sat heavier than any battle ever had.

There were no monsters to blame, no villains to fight, no clear reason he could point to and say this is why. Camp Half-Blood was peaceful—too peaceful—and the stillness pressed in on him like deep water. The kind that filled his ears and made his own thoughts sound louder than they should.

The Romans helped, in their way. Joint tournaments, carefully planned and aggressively supervised, filled the days with noise and motion. Blunted weapons clashed. Chariots tore up the fields. Old rivalries were reshaped into something almost friendly. Almost. It gave everyone something to train for, something to win or lose without the threat of death hanging over their heads.

But when the dust settled and the cheering faded, the quiet always came back.

And in the quiet, Percy thought about Annabeth.

Annabeth Chase had been a constant for so long that her absence wasn’t sharp—it was hollow. Their breakup hadn’t shattered anything. No betrayal. No anger. Just the slow realization that loving each other wasn’t the same as growing in the same direction anymore. They’d been careful with each other to the end. Friends, then something more, then friends again.

It should have made things easier.

Instead, it made everything ache in a low, persistent way.

Everyone else seemed determined to rewrite it into a tragedy. The Aphrodite cabin, especially, treated it like a myth gone wrong, whispering theories and stolen glances as if heartbreak had to be loud to be real. Percy endured it, nodded along, ignored what he could. Explaining that some endings were quiet felt pointless.

So he escaped to the lake.

Floating on his back, Percy let the water cradle him, eyes half-lidded against the sky. The lake knew him. It didn’t ask questions or expect explanations. It simply held him, steady and familiar, as if it remembered every version of him that had ever broken the surface.

That was when the feeling came.

Not danger. Not urgency. Just the unmistakable sense of being seen.

Percy sat up slowly, water slipping from his shoulders as he turned toward the shore. Chiron stood near the dock, calm as ever—but this time, he wasn’t alone. Beside him was someone Percy didn’t recognize.

She looked his age, maybe a little older than most campers, standing with the careful stillness of someone who hadn’t learned the rhythms of the place yet. There was nothing flashy about her presence. No obvious power humming in the air. Just a quiet weight, like a thought you couldn’t quite shake.

Her attention wasn’t fixed on him—at least not openly. She watched the lake instead, eyes tracing the surface as if trying to understand what it meant to be here. When her gaze did drift his way, it didn’t linger. No challenge. No curiosity sharp enough to cut.

Just awareness.

Something in Percy’s chest tightened, not painfully, but enough to notice.

He pushed himself toward the shore, movements unhurried, as though rushing might break whatever fragile calm had settled between them. By the time he reached the dock, the lake was already smoothing itself behind him, erasing the evidence of his escape.

Chiron turned as Percy approached, his expression warm and knowing in that way Percy had never quite figured out how to read. He gestured toward the newcomer at his side, voice carrying easily over the water.

"Percy," Chiron said, "I’d like you to meet one of our newest campers."

The quiet shifted, just slightly—like the first ripple before a wave.

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Coffee Time:

A new challenger has entered the arena! So, I dug up a middle school crush and wrote. There are three introductions (in order): they/them, she/her, and he/him.