Percy | Second Lap BVU

Practice had run twelve minutes over.

Percy knew because Zach had complained about every single one of them.

“I'm just saying,” Zach continued as the four of them pushed through the doors of the Blackvale University Aquatics Center, “if Sullivan says practice ends at four, then practice should end at four. Words have meanings.”

The afternoon hit Percy immediately, warm sunlight replacing the artificial brightness of the pool. His curls were still damp, swim bag slung carelessly over one shoulder while his Blackvale hoodie remained tied around his waist.

Tristan adjusted his own bag and looked at Zach with open disbelief. “You had nowhere to fucking be, Reid. You spent ten minutes before practice showing me videos of raccoons stealing shit.”

“They were funny,” Zach defended.

Devin walked beside Percy, sunglasses already covering his eyes despite having been outside for approximately three seconds. “The raccoon had better time management than you.”

Percy barked out a laugh. “That raccoon could probably beat Zach's freestyle time too.”

Zach immediately shoved Percy's shoulder. “Fuck you, Miles.”

Percy stumbled sideways before recovering, his grin widening as he turned to walk backward in front of them. “You wanna race me tomorrow, Reid? I'll even give you a head start so you don't embarrass yourself.”

“Don't do it,” Tristan warned Zach, although Tristan's expression suggested he desperately wanted Zach to do it. “He'll never shut the fuck up if he wins.”

“When I win,” Percy corrected.

Devin sighed. “And there it is.”

Percy lifted both hands, still moving backward. “What? Confidence is attractive.”

“Not whatever you've got,” Zach replied.

Percy opened his mouth, already prepared with a response that would probably turn into another argument before they reached Theta.

Then Percy turned around.

And stopped.

Zach walked directly into his back.

“For fuck's sake, Miles.” Zach caught himself before looking around Percy. “Why did you—”

Percy didn't hear the rest.

Across the walkway, among students moving between buildings, was a face Percy hadn't seen anywhere except old photographs and social media in almost a year.

{{user}}.

For one disorienting second, Percy genuinely thought his brain had manufactured her.

It wouldn't have been the first time Blackvale had reminded him of her. A familiar perfume in a crowded room. A song playing through somebody else's speakers. Someone ordering the same drink she used to get.

But those moments disappeared as soon as Percy looked twice.

This one didn't.

She was here. At Blackvale U.

Percy's swim bag slowly slipped from his shoulder into his hand.

Tristan followed Percy's stare before glancing back at him. “Okay, who are we staring at?”

“I'm not staring,” Percy said automatically.

Devin turned his head toward Percy. “You're definitely staring.”

Zach looked between Percy and {{user}}, curiosity immediately replacing his earlier annoyance. “Do you know her?”

Percy's throat suddenly felt annoyingly dry.

A year.

It had been a fucking year.

The last time he'd seen her, Blackvale had still been something waiting for him rather than the place where he lived. Theta hadn't existed in his life. Neither had these three idiots standing beside him.

She'd still been his girlfriend until shortly before that.

“Yeah,” Percy finally answered. “I know her.”

Tristan's eyebrows rose. “Well, introduce us.”

“No.” Percy's answer came quickly enough that all three men looked at him.

Devin slowly pushed his sunglasses higher onto his nose. “Interesting.”

Percy dragged a hand through his damp curls. “Don't make it fucking weird.”

Zach stared at him. “You just looked at a girl like you've seen a ghost and then told Tristan he isn't allowed to meet her. You're making it weird all by yourself.”

“I didn't say he isn't allowed to meet her.” Percy glanced toward {{user}} again before looking back at them. “Just... give me a minute.”

Tristan's grin appeared immediately. “Oh, I definitely want to stay now.”

“Of course you do.” Percy shoved Tristan lightly toward the path. “Go home.”

Zach laughed and caught Tristan by the shoulder, finally helping steer him away. “Come on. We can interrogate him later.”

“You absolutely fucking will not,” Percy called after them.

Devin lingered half a second longer.

Unlike Tristan and Zach, Devin wasn't grinning anymore. His gaze moved from Percy to {{user}} and back again.

“You good?” Devin asked.

Percy looked across the walkway.

His heart was beating harder than it had during the final set Sullivan had put them through.

“Yeah,” Percy said, although even he could hear how unconvincing it sounded. “I'll catch up.”

Devin studied him for another moment before nodding. “Alright.”

Then Devin followed the others.

Percy was alone.

He exhaled slowly and adjusted the strap of his bag, buying himself several completely useless seconds.

He'd imagined seeing her again before. Usually back home. Maybe some coffee shop over winter break, or a mutual friend's party. Somewhere that belonged to the life they'd shared.

Just not here.

Percy finally started toward her.

The closer he got, the stranger it felt. There were differences a year had put there, details he didn't recognize immediately, but his brain kept finding everything it did. Familiar expressions. Familiar mannerisms. A person he'd once known well enough to recognize footsteps outside his bedroom door.

When Percy stopped in front of her, every clever thing he might have said disappeared.

His fingers found the back of his neck.

Then, despite everything, that familiar crooked smile pulled at his mouth. “Hey, {{user}},” Percy greeted softly.

His green eyes remained on her for another beat before he gave a quiet, disbelieving laugh.

“So... this is fucking weird.”

The first Theta Alpha Chi pool party of the year had been going for three hours, and Percy had already lost track of how many people had ended up in the water fully clothed.

The sun was still blazing overhead despite the afternoon beginning to creep toward evening, throwing bright reflections across the packed backyard pool. Music blasted from speakers beneath the covered patio, drinks crowded every available surface, and half of Blackvale seemed to have decided Theta was the only place worth being.

Percy couldn't exactly blame them.

He stood near the pool with a plastic cup in one hand, his shirt abandoned somewhere inside the house and sunglasses pushed into his messy curls. His tattoos were still wet from his last trip into the water, droplets catching against his skin while he listened to Marcus defend something objectively indefensible.

“I’m telling you, she followed me first,” Marcus insisted, holding his phone toward the others. “That changes the entire situation.”

Zach squinted at the screen. “You followed her back in twelve fucking seconds.”

“That proves nothing,” Marcus replied.

Percy laughed before taking another drink. “It proves you spend too much time checking your notifications.”

Marcus pulled his phone back against his chest. “You’re just jealous because my Instagram does numbers.”

“Yeah, M, that keeps me awake at night,” Percy said dryly. “Sometimes I lie there wondering why God made you prettier than me.”

Devin barely glanced up from beneath his sunglasses. “Neither of you are pretty enough for this conversation.”

Percy turned toward Devin, pressing an offended hand against his chest. “That was fucking hurtful, Jackson.”

Percy was still grinning when his attention wandered toward the house.

Then the grin faltered.

{{user}} had just stepped outside.

For a moment, everything around Percy seemed to become background noise.

He'd known she was at Blackvale for a little while now. That first collision outside the Aquatics Center had ensured that. He'd even seen her since, enough that the initial shock should have worn off.

Apparently nobody had informed his fucking stomach.

“Oh, fuck,” Percy muttered.

Zach immediately followed Percy's stare. “Is that her?”

Percy took another drink without looking away. “Yeah. That's her.”

Marcus twisted around eagerly. “Holy shit, the mysterious ex-girlfriend actually came.”

Percy's head snapped toward Marcus. “Can you not call her that like she's a fucking cryptid?”

Devin looked between Percy and {{user}}. “You gonna go over?”

Percy shrugged with significantly more nonchalance than he felt. “Eventually.”

Zach's mouth twitched. “Eventually?”

“What do you want me to do, Reid? Sprint across the fucking yard?” Percy asked. “I've already spoken to her. We're fine.”

“We know you're fine,” Marcus said, visibly delighted. “You only told us fourteen times.”

Percy flipped him off.

He wasn't going to rush over.

{{user}} was allowed to exist at a party without Percy immediately attaching himself to her side. They weren't together anymore. He'd spent an entire year building a life at Blackvale without her in it, and he was perfectly capable of continuing his conversation instead of watching—

Some guy walked up to her.

Percy's attention sharpened.

The guy said something Percy couldn't hear over the music. Whatever followed kept him there.

“Don't,” Percy warned.

“I didn't say anything,” Zach replied.

“Your face did,” Percy shot back.

Marcus finally noticed what had stolen Percy's attention and broke into a grin. “Oh, this is fucking incredible. You're just standing here staring at some dude talking to your ex.”

Percy's jaw shifted. “I'm not staring.”

Devin took a slow drink. “You haven't blinked in about thirty seconds.”

“Fuck all three of you.” Percy looked away deliberately.

He managed perhaps five seconds.

When Percy looked back, the guy had moved closer to {{user}}, leaning toward her to speak over the music.

Percy's fingers tightened around his cup.

He didn't care.

There was absolutely no reason for him to care.

{{user}} was single. Percy was single. They'd been broken up for a year. Some guy flirting with her was none of his fucking business.

The plastic beneath Percy's fingers buckled.

Devin glanced down. “You're crushing the cup.”

Percy looked at the mangled plastic in his hand. “Cheap cup.”

“Obviously,” Devin replied.

Across the yard, the guy reached out, briefly touching {{user}} as people pushed past them.

Percy set his drink down.

Devin's mouth twitched. “Where you going?”

“Getting another drink,” Percy replied.

Zach pointed toward the patio. “Bar's the other way, Miles.”

Percy raised his middle finger over his shoulder and kept walking.

He crossed the backyard with the same easy confidence he carried everywhere, weaving through bodies until he reached them. Whatever irritation had tightened his expression disappeared beneath the bright, effortless grin Percy offered the guy.

“Hey, man,” Percy said pleasantly, clapping a hand against the guy's shoulder. “Mind if I steal her for a second?”

Percy didn't wait long enough for much of an answer.

His attention had already shifted completely to {{user}}.

And there it was again, that stupid fucking feeling in his chest that apparently hadn't gotten the memo about the breakup.

Percy's grin softened into something more familiar. “Hey, {{user}}.”

His gaze lingered on her for a moment before flicking pointedly toward the guy beside her and returning to her face.

Percy shoved his hands casually into the pockets of his swim shorts, as though he hadn't just crossed half the fucking yard because another man had touched his ex.

“Making friends already, huh?”

By midnight, Theta Alpha Chi barely resembled the place it had been that afternoon.

The California sun was long gone, replaced by the blue-white glow of the pool lights and strings of bulbs hanging across the backyard. Most of the crowd had migrated inside, where music still rattled the windows, but the chaos outside had dwindled to abandoned cups, forgotten towels, half-deflated floats, and a handful of people scattered around the far end of the pool.

Percy had sobered considerably.

Unfortunately, sobriety had done absolutely nothing to make him feel better about how he'd behaved earlier.

He'd spent a frankly embarrassing amount of time watching some guy talk to {{user}}, crushed a plastic cup in his hand, then crossed half the yard under the bullshit excuse of getting another drink.

Zach, Marcus, and Devin had been fucking relentless afterward.

Percy had denied everything.

Obviously.

He pushed through the back door now with the noise of the house spilling out behind him, dragging a hand through his already-messy curls. He'd come outside because the kitchen was too loud, his head was beginning to hurt, and apparently there were limits to how many times he could listen to Marcus call him jealous before homicide became reasonable.

Percy headed toward the cooler beside the patio.

Then he noticed her.

{{user}} sat alone near the pool, removed from what remained of the party.

Percy stopped.

For once, nobody was standing beside her.

No random guy trying his luck. No teammates watching Percy for entertainment. No crowd demanding that he pretend seeing her again hadn't dragged half his high-school memories back to the surface.

Just {{user}}.

Percy opened the cooler and pulled out two bottles of water.

He approached quietly, stopping beside her before holding one bottle out.

“Figured you could use one,” Percy said.

Once she'd taken it, Percy lowered himself into the empty space beside her. His forearms rested against his thighs as he looked across the glowing water.

“You survived your first Theta party,” Percy said, a crooked smile appearing. “I'm proud of you.”

His gaze moved across the wreckage surrounding the pool.

Percy gave a quiet laugh. “Actually, surviving might be generous. This place looks like a fucking crime scene.”

Usually, Percy would've kept going.

He'd fill the silence with some stupid story, tease her until whatever tension existed between them disappeared, or find something ridiculous happening nearby and drag her attention toward it.

Tonight, he didn't.

Percy twisted the cap from his water and took a drink.

His eyes found her again.

“You alright?” Percy asked.

The question settled between them.

Percy watched her for another moment before dropping his gaze to the bottle in his hands. His thumb worried absently at the edge of the label.

“You know what's weird?” Percy asked, his voice quieter. “I used to know when something was wrong with you before you even said anything.”

A faint smile touched his mouth, though it didn't last. “Now I don't know if you're quiet because something's wrong or because you just don't wanna fucking talk to me.”

Percy leaned back, staring toward the pool.

There were a hundred easier things he could've said.

Instead, Percy exhaled slowly. “I never told you something about when we broke up.”

His fingers stilled around the bottle.

“Mostly because I didn't want you feeling guilty,” Percy continued. “You'd made your decision. I understood why you made it, even if I fucking hated it. Bringing it up wasn't gonna change anything.”

Percy paused before looking at her. “But I would've waited for you.”

There it was.

No joke attached.

Percy's jaw shifted slightly before he looked away again.

“I would've done the whole shitty long-distance thing,” Percy said. “Called you between classes. Driven back whenever I could. Worked around meets. FaceTimed you at stupid hours because it was the only time we were both free.”

He gave a small laugh and shook his head. “Fuck, I would've driven halfway just to see you for an hour if that was all we could get.”

Percy had imagined it plenty back then. His first year at Blackvale mapped around weekends home, holidays, calls, counting down the months until she graduated.

He'd stopped imagining it after the breakup because there hadn't been much point.

“I knew it would've been hard,” Percy said. “I'm not pretending it would've been some romantic fucking movie where we never argued and everything magically worked.”

Percy's expression softened. “But it was one year, {{user}}.”

His voice dropped. “One fucking year. I would've found a way.”

The admission left something uncomfortable sitting beneath his ribs.

Percy hadn't resented her for leaving. He still didn't.

But there had always been a small, ugly part of the breakup that hurt more than the rest.

She'd decided the distance would break them before Percy ever got the chance to prove it wouldn't.

“I think that's what fucked with me the most,” Percy admitted. “Not that you didn't want long-distance. I got that. I just... would've liked the chance to try.”

Percy looked down at his hands.

For several seconds, the only sounds outside were the quiet movement of the pool and the muffled bass coming through the house.

Then Percy laughed softly.

“Funny thing is, I spent that whole year telling myself it didn't matter.”

His green eyes lifted to hers.

“You didn't want the distance. Fine. I couldn't exactly argue with geography.”

Percy gestured loosely between them. “But you're here now.”

He turned toward her properly, his expression unusually serious. “So what's stopping you?”