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xviii. magic spells, foreign feelings, and hungry ogres
percy had woken up, washed his face, put on a purple shirt and a pair of jeans, and slipped into some oddly comfortable socks, and as he walked out, he noticed gale was still asleep, snoring softly as the blanket concealed parts of his face. percy found it oddly adorable, but that didn't matter. gale needed to wake up, he was sleeping as if they weren't on a quest to save literal death.
he tried opening the curtains, gale slept through that. he tried pulling gale's blanket off, but he held onto it like it was his lifeline. he peered toward the open door to the bathroom, debating on willing some water from the faucet to splash on gale's face when there was a knock on the bedroom door. percy jogged over to the door, wrapping his hand around the handle and opening it to be greeted by hazel, dressed in a white shirt, jeans, and a pair of slightly dirty shoes.
"morning, percy," she greeted.
"morning," he replied, his voice slightly raspy as he hadn't woken up fully just yet. "sleep well?"
"yeah, somewhat," hazel said, though her mind seemed to be elsewhere, a hint of confusion evident in her voice. "the beds here are so comfortable."
percy hummed in agreement, picking up on the fact that hazel didn't seem completely focused on their conversation. "mmm, yeah. did you see frank today? i didn't get the chance to talk to him last night."
"yeah, went to go check on him," hazel answered. "left him some clean clothes and breakfast. poached eggs and bacon, his favorite breakfast. i talked to grandma zhang too."
percy raised an eyebrow, and hazel started to get flustered. "gods, percy, it's not like that! i don't have a crush on frank, stop it!"
percy smirked. "i didn't even say anything."
"whatever," hazel stuttered out. "i made breakfast for you guys too. it's downstairs, if you're hungry."
"well-"
"is he still asleep?" hazel asked. she must've heard gale's soft snores, she peered into the room, amazed at how he could sleep so peacefully, like the idea of impending doom didn't faze him at all. "how?"
percy sighed. "my current dilemma."
hazel shook her head. "well, good luck percy. doesn't look like he's getting up soon."
"thanks, haze," he said, slightly exasperated. as hazel walked down the hallway he closed the door he faced gale, who was still dozing off. he sighed, walking over to the bed, before latching onto gale's shoulders and shaking him somewhat-violently, "gale, wake the hell up!"
gale slapped percy's hands away, rising up like a mummy out of a coffin. percy smirked, thinking he had succeeded in waking him up when out of nowhere a pillow was pelted at his face with pinpoint accuracy and gale laid back down, closing his eyes as he tried to go back to sleep.
