#and grover was v candid that percy is not enthusiastic about his solo interests and will simply do what the people he likes wants to do

[happyk44]

Thinking about Carter trying to help Percy go out and do things again as he slowly gets better so he tries to figure out stuff that Percy likes that's not just swimming. And Percy says he likes skateboarding so Carter get himself a skateboard and protective gear and gets ready to make an idiot of himself at a nearby skatepark and Percy's decent but he's so. Unengaged with it. They go out once and then never again. But when pressed Percy insists he does like skateboarding.

So Carter tries again. What else. What things did he do as a kid? What did he do when he had free time? What made him happy? And of course there's swimming but even with a pool right across from him, Percy doesn't really use it. At some point he admits he didn't swim as much as people might expect as a kid. For a long time, he needed an adult with him to have access to the public pools and his mom was busy and Gabe wasn't going to go with him. But he likes swimming. He does!

Contrary to popular belief, he was quiet kid. A homebody. He didn't have friends. He didn't have money. He didn't go out. He didn't do things. He had two video games for a GameCube console that he never got to use because Gabe hogged the TV. He had a box of cheap PC games no one ever heard of that were kinda fun but the computer took ten years to load and when Gabe came around, he hogged that too.

Outside the house, he sorted through trash for recycling to donate for coins. Hung out at the candy shop with his mom when he could. Bought a macrame set and made ornaments to sell to neighbors for the holidays. Picked up skateboarding because it looked cool, it was free, the board was cheap, and he needed a reason to not go home because Gabe was there.

He never really considered the question before. Maybe because, like now, he knew deep down asking himself "what do I like" would open up a can of worms he didn't want to sort through. He didn't need to know. He knew the reality. There was nothing good in that can. Just worms all the way down.

"Annabeth and I would go to museums," he says, flicking a piece of lint on the carpet.

Carter doesn't even look up from his computer. "Do you like going to museums?"

"Annabeth likes it," Percy says.

"But do you like it?"

Percy pauses. Then, "The tours are okay."

"So no." Carter clicks his tongue. His brows furrow. Percy wants to smooth it out. Make it go away. How can he make it go away? He put it there, he needs to make it go away.

He flicks the lint again. It tumbles once. "Sorry."

Carter's gaze flickers. "Why are you apologizing?"

"I don't know." Because I'm stupid and empty and a burden, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry.

Without looking away from his laptop, Carter reaches out and pinches Percy's cheek. "You said you sold macrame a couple times. What about that? What if you picked it up again?"

Percy rolls his finger over the lint. It balls up. Fuzzy. Gray. Small. Flattens smooth and thin as he presses down. "Sure." Maybe he could make a tiny cactus for Grover. He moves his hand but the lint stays flat. Thin. Unable, unwilling to separate from the curls of the carpet. Pathetic. "Let's try it."