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Nico never saw himself in any of the characters on TV, but he always tried to. Sometimes he would read into how certain male characters would gaze at each other, all of their general displays of affection, and he would want to see more. He liked to draw characters, but especially the attractive dudes he would see in the media he consumed. If he dared to at night, he would even draw them kissing, even if he knew they never would.
He longed to connect to these characters, and when he found fanfiction, he felt like he finally understood he wasn’t alone. Some characters felt ashamed for being gay, some took time to come to terms with it, they were like him. The fiction he read from that point forward mostly consisted of this, he loved seeing the characters he enjoyed in a different light.
A lot of the fanfictions he read, he realized, were from a singular author. BiTheSea. He snorted at the name at first, but never what this author wrote. Something about it scratched his brain in the right ways, and he quickly grew to admire the ideas this writer would let unfold. Sometimes it would be slow and careful, other times fast and impatient. Nico wouldn’t mind, he loved it all the same.
At first, he focused on the content being provided. That was until Nico finally started reading the notes he left on his fanfictions. Little things about his life, jokes that made Nico smile, glimpses into who he was as a person. Nico became enamoured with the idea of learning more about this dyslexic author who loved blueberries and going out to the beach, but also struggled with feelings of inadequacy and being neurodivergent.
Nico wanted to know more.
He was able to trace this author from the fanfiction site to a social media app, and then he finally got to casually stalk BiTheSea’s online presence. The man never showed his face, but between his promotions for fics were more personal posts. He found out the author’s name was Percy, the person he held in such high regard had such a satisfying name. All he wanted was to say it again and again.
There was a time where Nico stopped drawing. He felt he wasn’t doing it for any good reason. Enjoying it wasn’t enough when he couldn’t do anything with it, and no one wanted it. Yet when he saw Percy had an interest in artwork of these characters, he instantly set out to create art specifically for Percy.
That was all the motivation he needed, but even as he finished piece after piece based on Percy’s stories, he could never share them. He didn’t even have any accounts to post on.
When he saw that Percy wasn’t getting a lot of comments though, he changed his tune. Percy deserved all of the attention in the world, that is what he truly believed. He made an account everywhere Percy did, and started commenting with simple expressions of admiration. There was no way he could bring himself to show the true extent of how he felt, he kept it hidden away for some time…
But he couldn’t hold himself back forever.
He started posting the art, even the older pieces he was less proud of. Something Nico saw people do was put a @ sign before people’s usernames, so he did that for Percy. Post after post, he wouldn’t say much. He would just post the art and quickly exit the website, not wanting to see the direct aftermath. He was afraid of how people would see it.
Even though very rarely did he see homophobia on this website, not anything like he’d seen a decade ago when he himself was ten, he still felt wrong somehow. Guilty. He knew he shouldn’t feel that way, but he did.
When he would check back hours later, he found out his favorite fanfiction author had followed him. He leaned back in his chair a bit, fiddling with the artist’s glove he almost always wore, even when not drawing. Daring to look further into what happened, he saw a message from Percy too. His heart instantly beated faster.
BiTheSea
Hey! I saw your art, wow dude you’re amazing. I’m so happy to see you like my fics, at least I assume? Thank you so much for the art, seriously
Nico took a moment to breathe. His art, amazing?? It wasn’t valuable. He wasn’t going to get anything out of it… But Percy’s admiration. It was fine. He wanted that. It was enough for him. He didn’t care about what anyone else thought. Not wanting to sound too obsessed however, he typed a short response.
NDArtist128
No problem.
Would Percy take that as brushing him off? Nico didn’t want to leave bad feelings, so he added more.
You’re amazing.
Instantly, he felt embarrassed. A little panicked, even.
Your fanfiction is amazing, I mean. I’ve read all of them.
When there was no immediate response, Nico had to stop himself from sending more messages. Seeming nagging or attention-seeking was the last thing he wanted. He posted another drawing before forcing himself off the website and onto watching videos of cats. The cats did nothing to distract him though, and his brain nagged him.
What if he responded and thinks you’re ignoring him? What if he hates what you said? What if he said something that completely changes the admiration you have for him?
Nico went to see if Percy had responded. Thankfully, he did, and it wasn’t bad news.
BiTheSea
That’s flattering, all of them?? YOU POSTED MORE ART? HOW HAPPY ARE YOU TRYING TO
MAKE ME??
If knowing he made art for his fics made Percy happy…
NDArtist128
Yes, all of them. I have over 20 more to post I think.
This was a bold faced lie on his part. He knew he only had 15, but he would draw more, it would be fine. Percy actually talking to him sparked something creatively within him, he wanted to draw again.
I’ve been drawing these characters for a while, your fic motivated me to draw certain scenarios as well. I hope you don’t mind.
BiTheSea
Why would I??? The linework is really impressive, how long have you been drawing for?
NDArtist128
Ever since I can remember, but I’ve been taking it a little more seriously ever since I was 12.
BiTheSea
How old are you now?
The fact Percy was at all invested in who he was as a person made him feel warm inside.
NDArtist128
21.
BiTheSea
I’m almost 24 :D
That is in my bio, but it’s missable
So you even read my longest fic? The 200k word one??
NDArtist128
Of course I did, it was one of my favorites. Can I share my thoughts?
BiTheSea
Please! I love hearing what people think of my work
That set off an hours long conversation ranging from the plot Percy created to how he figured out the dynamic between the two characters. Nico couldn’t help but smile at his computer screen unwittingly before realizing he was doing so, cringing at himself and dropping it. He switched over to his phone to text as he started taking care of his apartment, doing laundry in between texts with Percy.
He then made dinner while texting.
He then went to bed while texting.
For some reason, he didn’t want to be the one to end the conversation. Some part of him said if he did, he may not ever get a chance to speak to this person he held in such high regard again. So he kept going.
Their conversations veered to being more personal as they talked. Less about the things they were interested in and more of why they were interested in them, then it went on from there. Nico felt bad when Percy finally ended the conversation, he had kept the conversation going deep into the night.
BiTheSea
It’s getting late here, I should sleep. Have a good night, I’ll see if I’m able to talk tomorrow.
Nico quickly responded.
NDArtist128
Goodnight, thank you for talking to me.
Nico hoped that didn’t sound too odd, he didn’t socialize often. Upon the realization he may have been texting weirdly, anxiety kept him awake. He ended up sitting at his drawing tablet in front of his computer, drawing a scene from one of Percy’s fanfictions once more.
The next morning, he was still awake. He finished two pieces, and one was starting to come together before he felt his hand could not be steady anymore. His bed looked especially welcoming now, and he posted some art from his phone before he finally passed out.
In the afternoon, he woke up and finally started his day. He grabbed some breakfast and checked to see if Percy had said anything. The man had commented on his new posts with very positive things, it made him smile again. Checking their messages, he saw new ones. Internally, he cheered, but also dreaded coming up with a good response.
BiTheSea
I loved talking to you yesterday. Do you want to draw something for a new fic I’m writing? You can say no, obviously, but maybe I could put it in my fic/fic promo posts too
He held his breath for a moment, reloading the page just to make sure Percy said nothing else. It felt like a dream to be asked this, and maybe have the opportunity to be part of the fic itself.
NDArtist128
I want to.
Percy didn’t respond for some time, so he posted some new art and waited while getting some work that he didn’t give two fucks about done. He would check the website occasionally, wishing for Percy.
BiTheSea
Would you like to get on call to talk about it? It’s fine if you’re not comfortable with that but I like talking about the plot ideas I have in my head and it’s hard to get it all down through text yk?
Nico felt as if he could have died happy at this very moment, but that would be without hearing how Percy sounded! So he wouldn’t be that happy. His normal urge was to say no. He hated how he sounded, And his voice was slightly damaged due to a house fire a long time ago. But this was Percy, it was a sacrifice he needed to make.
NDArtist128
Let’s do that.
Before he could even reach to grab his headset, Percy was calling him. He scrambled for it then, plugging it in and sitting back in his chair. Then he quickly accepted the call, not letting himself think about it.
When he accepted, he momentarily saw Percy’s profile picture, before there was a loading circle, and then…
In front of his very eyes was Percy. Like, actual Percy. Casually showing his face as he too leaned back in his chair. In his hands was a rubix cube that looked nowhere close to being solved, and he set it to the side as he leaned closer to the camera.
For Nico, Percy’s magnificence was hard to describe, especially as he was no writer, but he could try.
His room had blue lights, but they weren’t overwhelming. The shade of blue was almost comforting and contrastingly warm on Percy. Percy had dazzling blue eyes, though they may have been green and just affected by the lighting. They both had dark hair but, unlike himself, Percy had tan skin. He stayed inside too often, he was more lifelessly gray than anything himself.
When Nico started thinking of what he himself looked like, he cringed. He couldn’t show how he looked to Percy, at least not yet. He didn’t look like a supermodel like Percy did.
“Hello? Can you hear me? Are we good?” Percy said, sounding a little confused by Nico not speaking.
Quickly, he managed to come up with an excuse. He didn’t want to admit the truth, that he was in awe of Percy’s appearance. While he responded, he quickly took a screenshot. ”I-I’m here! Sorry I was um- Plugging my headset in.”
There was a small amount of air that seemed to go through Percy’s mic, almost like a soft sigh. “That’s all good man.” Percy scratched his neck, adjusting himself in his chair. The man seemed to not be able to sit still. “I did call you a bit fast, didn’t I? Sorry, I was a little eager to talk about my plans.”
Nico hummed softly, grabbing the pen that went to his drawing tablet and twirling it between his fingers. He dropped it onto his lap on accident, not able to do the trick reliably just yet. “What sort of feedback do you want? Do you want more ideas?”
“Well I have a plan in my head for this one, but I’d love to hear some more ideas. Feel free to interrupt me and suggest things, I won’t care.” Nico wondered if he could even interrupt this man, everything about Percy was stunning to him. Still, Nico tried to take his words to heart. Feel free to interrupt him. Okay, I can do this.
He couldn’t do it. All Nico could do was sit and listen, complimenting things along the way. By the end, he realized he hadn’t suggested anything, and panicked internally. He was paying attention with intensity, he needed something to add.
“W-Wait, okay.” Nico took a breath, finally his brain was starting to work again, mostly because Percy finished his explanation. “What if he doesn’t jump after him? Instead, he leans forward too much and falls involuntarily? Like his heart is guiding him? His character isn’t brave enough to just jump, he’s more of a hopeless romantic. He’s not that cool.”
There was a moment of silence where Nico considered the optics of lobotomy via a spoon he left in a dish at his desk, and then Percy responded.
“That’s a great idea! Holy shit- I have to write that down.” Percy sat up in his chair and started typing, his mechanical keyboard was very audible over whatever mic he was using. “Have you ever considered writing a fanfiction before?”
The question struck Nico in an odd way. He hadn’t considered himself a good enough writer to give himself and others what they wanted. “No.”
“Aw, why not? That was a good idea you just gave me there.”
Nico frowned, looking over at his drawing tablet. “Writing is not my thing. Art is.”
“They could both be your things...” Percy trailed off, “What do I call you? N-D-A sounds weird.”
He took a moment to consider what his name could be. Sharing his real name with Percy was a step he didn’t really want to take yet, so he needed to come up with something. One of Percy’s most recent stories changed one of his favorite character’s into a ghost, that gave him an idea.
“Call me Ghost.”
Raising an eyebrow, Percy leaned back while tilting his head. “Not giving me your real name?”
Nico watched as Percy reached off screen, a cup with a blue drink in it emerged from the side and he sipped on it. The blue food thing was factual. “Are you giving out your real name on the internet, Percy?”
Percy froze, lowering the cup. “Maybe?” He stretched the word.
He couldn’t help but chuckle at that, and Percy smiled. He seemed to be an honest guy. Things were checking out, and that only made Nico fall harder. Nico took another screenshot, making sure the many he took over their call were saved. They were references for him to use later.
As if on queue with his thoughts, Percy tilted his head to look up at the wall to his left. “I should probably go, I have a shift at the aquarium soon. It was nice to talk to you, Ghosty. I just really have to go.”
Nico rolled his eyes at the slight change in his nickname. “It’s just Ghost, but same to you. Don’t die on your shift.”
“I’ll try, but people are major idiots at aquariums. There was this one time where some dude came in with-“
“Your shift, Percy.”
Though Nico hated even the mere thought of interrupting Percy, this was for his own good. He would hate himself if he were the reason Percy missed his shift, if he let his selfishness take over just to listen to Percy talk for a little longer.
He watched as Percy’s eyes widened slightly, “Right. Sorry, ADHD. Bye!” Percy waved before the call was finished, and Nico realized they talked for over two hours.
Taking a breath so the revelation could settle in his mind, he pulled over his drawing tablet so it was in front of him and looked over the various screenshots of Percy. Was it creepy? Yes. Did he care? No. Who was going to judge him, the FBI agent watching his computer?
Time passed quickly after that, and Nico was happy to call Percy almost every day. He would hop on and, most of the time, he would get to see Percy. At one point, Percy even got sick and still showed up, though he was swaddled in blankets and dozing off. Nico had to tell him to get off call then, and to make some soup for the good of his own health.
At some points, Percy would allude to wanting to see Nico’s face. After a while, he finally told Percy the truth. “You’d find me ugly.”
“How?” Percy shrugged and crossed his arms, a cocky smile still playing on his lips. “Unless you’re secretly an old man, I’ll probably find you attractive.”
“Your standards are low then,” Nico retorted.
He watched Percy’s hands fly up in mock surrender before he set them back down in his lap. “I only judge people based on who they are inside, Ghosty. If you were an old man, you’d be a liar, that would be the part that would gross me out.”
The reasoning Percy was giving made sense to Nico, and he started trying to reason with himself. Percy wanted to see his face, no matter how it looked. It would make Percy happy, and it would rip the bandaid off if Percy hated how he looked.
Nico sucked in a breath before running a hand through his hair and hovering his mouse over the camera button. This was for Percy, he could do this. He ran his hand through his hair one last time.
“…I’m going to do it.” Without hesitation, he clicked the button. There was a moment where a loading circle appeared, and there he was. Maybe he should have done his makeup. All he could think was his dark circles were evident and he looked sickly, almost as if he was dead.
“I don’t know what you were on about, Ghosty. You look great. Pretty, even.”
He was flattered, but he didn’t want to be called by that nickname anymore. More than anything, he wanted to hear his name come out of the man’s mouth. If he were to be complimented like that, he wanted to hear his name alongside the words. At first, it seemed to be an irrational wish, but it didn’t feel so far away now. He showed his face, he could trust Percy with his name too. Besides, it wasn’t his full first name.
“Call me Nico.”
Percy’s eyebrows rose, “Is that your real name?”
Nico slowly nodded, ducking his head a little out of shyness.
“I really like it, it feels nice to say. Nico.” Percy spoke like he was trying it out, as if it was satisfying to say, just as Nico had felt with Percy’s. “I like it, Nico.”
Nico screenshotted Percy’s grin, and then instantly made sure it was saved. He didn’t want to lose out on having a record of this precious moment. “Don’t wear it out.” He muttered softly, hiding the lower half of his face behind a hand.
All he got was Percy barking out a laugh, and saying something that made him want to fall off his chair. “Nico, I don’t think I’ll ever become weary of you.”
“Y’know how we’re in the same time zone?” Percy mentioned one day while Nico was drawing on call, sharing his screen with the writer. He paused his drawing of one of the side characters in the new fanfiction Percy was writing, setting down his pen and stretching his hands. Getting carpal tunnel was not one of his aspirations in life.
“Yeah, why?”
Percy shrugged, his facecam was on Nico’s other monitor. “What are the chances we live close to each other?”
This was the moment when he realized Percy wasn’t just interested in him as an artist, but a person as well. The realization was sudden, and he ignored it for now.
“I don’t want to give you my address to check, not yet anyways.” He felt Percy would send him twenty pizzas as a prank or show up at his doorstep, he was not prepared for either. Also, the internet safety lectures he was given as a kid still stuck in his mind a bit.
“That’s fine. How about…“ Percy shifted in his chair, leaning closer to the camera. “I choose a place, and you tell me if it’s too far away for you to drive to so we can meet up?”
“…You want to meet me??”
“Why not? We’ve shown our faces, we’ve been talking for months, and I noticed you like sweets.”
He heard a message be sent to him, so he checked it. It was a link to a location website, showing an ice cream place about thirty minutes away. A bit of a drive, completely worth it to meet Percy, but he still felt a bit hesitant. He didn’t want to fuck this up, and he was eternally scared of doing so.
Switching out of the drawing, he mindlessly showed his gallery of digital drawings. He didn’t think much of it, leaning back in his chair. Honestly, he was so full of excitement, he wasn’t thinking straight. “Sure, I can get there. When would we-?”
“Nico. Are all those drawings of me?”
Nico instantly ended the call, realizing what he had done. In his gallery there were visibly at least fifteen drawings of Percy, and he felt as if he were choking. There was no way Percy wouldn’t see him as a creep, a freak really. He didn’t know what to do. There was a moment where he was so close to meeting the person he admired the most, and yet he couldn’t now. Why did he let himself believe he could be so lucky?
He scowled and stood up out of his chair, going to his kitchen to chug water and consider how he was going to get out of this. Even from another room, he could hear someone calling him, and it had to be Percy. The fanfiction writer was the only person he chatted to online, after all.
For a time, he was able to ignore it and busy himself with doing chores angrily, but the ringing never ceased. He swore it must have been 30 minutes of constant calls. Finally, Nico had enough and stomped back over to his computer. Shoving his headset on, he answered the call while still standing.
“Nico!” He heard Percy instantly say, exasperation evident in his tone. “Why did you hang up??”
Both of their facecams were turned off, and Nico preferred it for once. He didn’t want to see Percy be unnerved by what he had done. Nico scowled, “Don’t play dumb, Percy. You saw it.”
There was a small pause. “The drawings? Nico, I think they’re awesome. You like my face that much?”
That made him freeze, and he didn’t even know what to say for a minute. He swallowed, “You’re not freaked out?”
Percy audibly hummed from the other side of the call, it was pleasant to Nico’s ears. “Let me put it like this. Imagine a person you adore decided to draw you not once- But many times.” After suddenly turning on his camera, Percy leaned back. “I wasn’t mad, Nico. I was awestruck.”
All Nico could do was gape at Percy as he smiled and continued pleasantly. “To get back on topic, I was thinking we could meet tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow? That soon??” He was being given completel whiplash. A few minutes ago, Nico was fully convinced Percy would never enjoy his presence again, but the world really wanted to have him be lucky in the relationship department for once. Maybe it was making up for the years of barely having friends.
Most people found him creepy, or odd— sometimes depressing— but Percy never seemed to mind. He would tell Percy how he would eat apple cores and all Percy would do was tell him how cool that was, even if it really wasn’t. To him, Percy seemed to be the least judgemental person in the world, but there wasn’t much to him to judge in the first place.
“Yes, that soon.” He watched Percy stand up, his face now out of frame. “Could you make it?”
Of course I could, Nico instantly thought. He would make time for Percy no matter what. For the sake of seeming more interesting than he actually was, he pretended to be checking his calendar on his phone. “I’m free tomorrow. What time?”
“Noon? Meet up at the ice cream place and walk around?”
Nico smiled, feeling himself become giddy with excitement. He was going to see Percy, and he didn’t even have to wait that long! “Sounds good.”
The first thought that came to Nico when he sat in his car to head to the ice cream place was that it was way too cold for ice cream. He was wearing a long sleeved jacket, but only because he was always wearing jackets, even in the hottest of weather. When he got out of his car again at the place, he was hit with the cold air again. He rubbed his face with his hands as he approached the front doors.
The place was a bit busy at this hour, but Nico instantly spotted Percy standing just outside the entrance, holding the door for a couple coming in. Feigning confidence, he approached.
A smile broke out on Percy’s face. He jogged over to Nico, “You made it!”
Before he could react, arms were wrapping around him. Nico froze before deciding a normal person would likely return the hug, so he wrapped his arms around Percy’s waist. The hug was then broken when Percy pulled away, “It’s so good to see you in the flesh, Nico! I hope you didn’t have to drive very far.”
Nico shrugged, “Half an hour, give or take.”
He was led inside the ice cream shop, quietly thanking Percy for holding open the door for him. The shop housed pastel color walls, large signs showing off all of their flavors, and three workers who were going back and forth trying to get people through what seemed to be a never ending cycle of people. Sometimes he really sympathized with them, he worked in customer service for a few months when he was younger after all.
“What sane person would want to eat ice cream in this weather??” He asked quietly before they stepped in line, hugging himself a bit.
Percy smirked down at him, leaning forward so they were at the same level. “What sane person would agree to it?”
Hearing Percy’s voice dip lower did something to Nico, but he ignored the feeling. There was no option to turn off his camera when he decided to give into gay panic, so he pushed it down. He stuttered as he retorted, “I didn’t think to check the weather!”
“You don’t go outside a lot, do you? It’s been like this for at least a week, Nico. It’s almost Christmas.” It seemed Percy read him like a book, because he didn't go out for a while except to buy groceries with his sister. Nico went quiet, looking at the people in front of them as they shuffled forward in line.
Seeming to dislike the silence, Percy put an arm around him. He spoke quietly to Nico, it felt oddly personal. “Hey, it’s whatever. I’m happy you agreed to come with me, we can just sit inside if a table becomes free. Now c’mon, choose a flavor.”
One of the workers came over, his muscular arms folding as he looked at Percy. “Is this your date?” All Nico could think was how this guy could probably bench press him, or Percy.
Percy sputtered, “Jason! It’s not a date, it's a uh- Hangout!”
The intimidating factor of ‘Jason’ instantly faltered as he quickly apologized, “I didn’t realize! Sorry! What would you guys like??”
A not-so-fun-fact about Nico: He got overwhelmed easily. Being presented with so many options gave him a headache, and he hesitated to respond. Percy ordered something, but Nico was too focused on trying to figure out what he wanted to hear what Percy said. He decided to play it safe.
“Vanilla with chocolate sprinkles, thanks.”
When Percy was given his ice cream after paying for both of them, much to Nico’s displeasure, Nico was a little stunned to see he was eating a blue flavor with a bunch of toppings. He didn’t even see any options for blue ice cream. Noticing Nico’s shock out of the corner of his eye, Percy lowered the treat he was eating from his mouth.
“Secret menu,” Percy shrugged, chomping down on some more of his ice cream before continuing. “Jason told me about it.”
Nico was given his ice cream which looked decidedly more plain before he heard Percy gasp. He was staring outside, his eyes wide. “Nico, look! It’s snowing!” Looking out the windows, Nico realized it was indeed snowing. It was light too, thankfully, he didn’t want to deal with a snow storm.
“It is.” He looked around, trying to find a table. There were none available, everyone was taking shelter from the snow. “Shit, there’s nowhere to sit.”
“There are chairs outside.” Before Nico could protest, his hand was being grabbed and Percy led him outside. There were two small tables and four chairs outside, and they were all made out of metal. They would likely be cold… But Nico was wearing pants. He could handle it.
What he couldn’t handle realistically was the snow potentially piling on him and his dessert, but luckily there was an overhang above them that acted as a shield from it. Nico sat down at the table with Percy at his side, trying to make progress on his ice cream as he realized they were still holding hands. He’s just trying to keep them warm!
“We must look crazy, eating ice cream while it’s snowing,” Nico mumbled.
“Don’t care what they think.” Percy got through all of his ice cream quickly, biting through the cone with an audible crunch. “It’s really feeling like Christmas time now, it hasn’t felt like it really since I moved out of my mom’s place.”
He could understand, he missed living with his sister sometimes, but living on his own just felt like how things should be. As he was about to reply, he felt Percy’s foot nudge against his. It felt so intentional and out of nowhere that Nico dropped his ice cream. It fell face first on the table.
His foot nudged back against Percy’s as he stared down at the half eaten ice cream. Percy looked instantly apologetic, “I’m so sorry!” He stood up quickly, “I’ll go get paper towels!!”
Percy rushed inside and Nico, unsure of what to do with himself, got on his phone to reread one of Percy’s fanfictions. He became so lost in it he didn’t realize the amount of time Percy took to come back out. A cup of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sprinkles was set in front of him and the writer of what he was enjoying started cleaning up the mess.
“You didn’t have to get me another one, Percy.”
“It wasn’t a problem,” Percy insisted gently. “I ruined your ice cream. I didn’t warn you about the weather. I didn’t even offer you my coat! I am a failure at dat-hanging out.”
If Nico was delusional enough, he could have convinced himself that Percy was about to say dating. He wasn’t.
“You’re not a failure, and you didn’t ruin anything.” Nico grabbed his new ice cream and stood up. “I’m here for you, not for ice cream, and I don’t care about the weather. Here, I’ll prove it.”
He took Percy’s hand, leading him out of the overhang and onto the sidewalks where snow was starting to build on the ground. “Let’s go for a walk.”
On this walk, he couldn’t even focus on the snowy sights, all he could keep his eyes on was Percy.