Staying Budget Friendly [Percy]

Peaceful. Before Leon descended upon him like a sleep-eating demon, Percy had been dead to the world, dreaming of something somewhat pleasant, for once. His lips twitched into flashes of smiles as his fingers flitted like gentle fairies over the circuitry of a giant mecha, freshly painted glossy black and red. It was nearly ready for its maiden voyage and was simply stunning. It was all he'd ever hoped to build! A testament to his technological genius packed with bells and whistles that not even Bosco could crest. It could time travel, it could teleport, it could down Doglizza in a single pure ethernano punch, it could stop wars and expunge pollution! It could also level a mountain range using only three percent of its power, but that was beside the point. As he soldered the last of the tiny wires, he stepped back and lovingly closed the panel, using a towel tucked into his tool belt to buff out the fingerprints. It was perfect. A gundam, a man-shaped machine that could fly and fight and look super cool doing it, something not a soul made fun of him for and everyone was envious of. Just like in his favorite anime... He used the towel now to rid his skin of as much grease and grim as he could before stepping onto the lift to rise into the cock pit. The only thing that could make this better was...

Just as he thought it, his eyes caught a glimpse of Leon perched in the pilot's seat, tight leather bodysuit lit up at the seams in glowing red, the sharp angles of his jaw reflecting the blue hue of the holographic controls and HUD. While he was plenty anxious to break his new toy in with a flight to Bosco, there were other ways to break it in as well. Percy didn't even hesitate to approach his smokeshow of a boyfriend, taking a seat on his lap as if the man was the pilot's chair itself. Strong arms served as seatbelts for the bumpy ride and his head buzzed with the scent of leather and cedar, strange smells for a brand new cockpit but he wasn't complaining... now if he could just find that joystick--


Not the most ideal way to be woken up, that was for sure. Percy jolted out of his dream with a gasp and wide eyes, barely able to keep his arm from swinging at that handsome face of Leon's in pure panicked surprise. Once his brain acclimated to waking life, a deep scowl creased his otherwise gentle features and he sleepily reached a rough hand full of busted-up knuckles to grab Leon's face. Percy had been working tirelessly to try and work off his own debt, that comment during The Argument(TM) ever-present in his mind. He might not always make it up before Leon, or even before lunch some days, but when he was awake he was rushing like a demon to try and chop twice as much wood, gather twice as much produce, repair twice as many things, and then go into town for the evening to fight for extra vigs on top of that. This was the one morning where he intended to take a small break, and while he hadn't wanted to punch Leon before, he did now. His dream had been perfect. It had been a perfect world where nothing was wrong and no one cared that he was gay and he had everything he wanted.. and now he was back on this inferior, pokey straw bed in a musty shack on a farm in the middle of nowhere, still a little sore from a healed puncture in his gut, knowing full well that he'd never ever get to build that gundam from his dream or live the fantasy he'd been just about to enjoy in the cockpit...

Dream Leon would have never done this to him.

"Why...?" he asked, betrayed and already starting into a pout. Groggily his eyes closed, attempting to go back to sleep despite his hand still palming that intense but also puppy-like face. Also, it felt early. He had no true confirmation of that other than half-noticing the level of sunlight making it in through one of the foggy windows, but since he hadn't woken on his own and his psychotic morning-person lover looked fresh and lively, he couldn't help but put the pieces together. "Early... Nnngh," he groaned, somehow knowing that Leon wouldn't let him go back to sleep and finish that dream.

[wc: 758 || total: 1387]

An eye cracked back open when he heard coins jangling close to his face, shifting from the pouch to the smiling man hovering near it. It was only then that he let go of Leon's face, always interested in seeing his smiles, even if they were because he was being annoying before the sun was directly overhead. "Listening..." he mumbled, proceeding to rub his eyes but ultimately go still with the temptation of going back to dreamland.

The clicking tongue wasn't missed, and though he half wondered what exactly Leon had up his sleeve, he didn't feel the need to check. And then he was blasted in the face with... outside. The sun blinded him even from behind his eyelids, and the scent of farm was enough to ruin any restful Zs waiting for him. He growled and flailed to cover his eyes. Leon wouldn't give up. He never did once he had something in mind...

And apparently, that was shopping at this stupid early hour. Fun.

After a few more seconds of rolling and whining, Percy heaved a heavy sigh and sat up, squinting forlornly at the silhouette near the blazing doorway. "Alright, alright!" he gave in, getting his bearings for only a few seconds before finally doing what Leon wanted and "Up, up!"ing.

His morning routine was quick, as usual. Pull on the blue button-up washed the night before, the brown trousers that were a size or two too big, and the suspenders that held them up. Wash face, brush teeth, comb hair, don't get any toes stuck in the scratchy holey socks when pushing them into the dusty old boots. Now that he was actually awake, he turned to look at his boyfriend with an inquisitive brow. "Shopping? For what?"

[wc: 293 || total: 1925]

Hustled outside before he could make any comments, Percy was led to the marketplace without so much as a word. He was still properly waking up and was normally very quiet and limited to sentences four words or less for at least a half-hour or until some sort of caffeine passed his lips, but his mind rapidly came online as he saw the magnitude of the crowd. His steps hesitated and Leon with the cart (that he had previously been focused on noting various repairs) passed on by, leaving him to process what he was being introduced to. A veritable army of incomprehensible morning folks like Leon, already noisy and energetic. Percy was never one for crowds anyway, so this all seemed like something he'd typically avoid like the plague...and speaking of the plague, that was just another reason to add to his unease aside from the normal anti-social ones. So many people. So many germs. Percy had no idea what, if any, plagues existed and if they'd invented vaccines, but judging by the weird numbing tuber he'd been given at Hari's clinic, his assumption was that most modern medicine had to be limited to much more populated and...open-minded areas.

Hopefully, the fish and cigarettes were worth an outbreak of something ridiculous like slime pox or some other such new infection they had no antibodies for.

Steeling himself and rushing to catch up before Leon noticed he'd fallen behind, within seconds a piece of paper graced with his boyfriend's perfect handwriting was shoved into one hand and a bag of coins in the other. Looking absolutely lost, he stared at his lover as the inky-haired man excitedly issued instructions. There were many questions that rose and fell from the tip of his tongue. 'Why can't someone go get them for us?', 'We can just order for drop off or pick up, right?', 'You're leaving me in this alone?', and 'How do I do this?' However, all that actually left his lips was a very meek. "Okay..."

And just like that, he was alone. The market loomed before him, growing in size like some monstrous beast puffing up its chest to blast him with hellfire, making him feel so very small and ill-prepared.

Percy, as a scientist, knew what each of the items were... but nowhere in science does it teach the worth of items on the open market. That would be a task for the majority of the world that learned by doing and common sense, neither of which he really possessed as a privileged young man. The Daggers had many, many issues, but money was not one of them. There was a hoard of well-paid people who did this stuff for the lot of them, something Percy had taken entirely for granted until this very moment.

Unbeknownst to the identity-stripped boy, his time grocery shopping ended in disaster for several reasons. Most of the town knew he was an Otherworlder due to his own admission in their first days, so they were either hostile, saw an opportunity for jokes and/or taking advantage, or both. Some wouldn't sell to him at all, and the ones that did either haggled too hard and scared him off with the conflict, or gouged the price and giggled when he didn't notice. Percy never questioned the price of anything, honestly. He was easily swayed by the biggest and shiniest and not by what was the best value, either that or he bought the very first piece of produce he came to on the list, no matter how battered and bruised. He didn't cook, so he really didn't know what made foods 'good' or 'bad' at a glance, as long as they were identifiable it was good enough. And thus, despite having a large cart, there was exactly one paper bag full of things in it.

Did he get everything on the list? Nope! He'd run out of money long before that! How Leon had thought they could get all of those things with that minuscule amount of vigs baffled him. The cigarettes had taken a chunk of it, so he only ended up with a small bag of rice, butter, and a random assortment of varying qualities of veggies... none of which really made a meal with rice, but he wouldn't know that, now would he? No, the peppermint head somehow managed to walk to an uncrowded spot to wait, proud of himself that he got through the whole thing by himself and seeing nothing wrong with what he'd done. "That wasn't as bad as I thought..." he said to himself, blissfully ignorant to what was to come. Did he ever want to do it again? No. Did it stress him out a little that being poor meant that a whole sack of coins disappeared into such a small amount of necessities? It was certainly a new sensation, one he was struggling to truly grasp. He teetered between blind optimism and cavernous despair but could never settle on one.

[wc: 835 || total: 3400]

Poor ignorant Percy grinned at the sight of the meat, oblivious to the less than excited reaction to the lack of fruits of his labor. "Wow!" he marveled simply at the haul of meat, eyes flickering between Leon's face and everything he carried, still not putting it together that he'd messed up. He didn't exactly expect to be praised, but he thought he'd done alright, given it was his first time doing something like this, and in a whole different world, too!

"Actually, I'm finished." A throwaway, distracted comment as watched fish and some sort of beast's ribs flop into the cart. It was a bit hard for him to believe that things that looked like that could be turned into appetizing food. Of course, he knew this is what it looked like before it was cooked, but since he didn't cook... it was just a bit amazing. The one time he'd tried to make soup for Leon was possibly the only time he'd touched raw meat not intended for some sort of scientific experiment. While his brain made a valiant effort of trying to frame the ingredients in the cart into actual meals, he held out his hand for the coins that he returned to the bag once full of vigs, now empty given the lack of clanking metal.

"You really must have helped out a lot. I didn't get half as much as you for the vigs you left me. I got maybe half of what was on the list," commented the oblivious man, his tone a little perplexed, though not in the capacity it should have been. "I don't know if it was the same back home, but I think cigarettes are expensive here..." Percy said, reaching into the bag and holding up the small box. Clearly, he didn't understand at all how this was supposed to work, and that meat was more expensive than literally anything he'd purchased, and that the cart should have been heaping if he'd done it correctly, and that cigarettes should've been purchased last if there was enough left over. "But don't worry, if I do a fight tonight, I can probably make up the difference and buy the rest tomorrow... Does the market close early or something? Is that why we're here so early?"

[wc: 383 || total: 4336]

The ear-piercing "HUH?!" made Percy flinch so hard that he almost dropped the nearly empty coin pouch. Actually, the only reason he didn't drop it was because Leon snatched it as it fumbled, to which Percy flinched again and almost fell backward. Scuttling back to put some distance between the two, just like that, his bubble of satisfaction was popped by a razor-sharp glare.

Now he stood in frozen, wide-eyed silence as he took her verbal lashing as a good Dagger child should, eyes shifting nervously between his irate lover, the 'participation award', the people glancing at them, and the dirt floor of the marketplace. His cheeks flushed an embarrassed crimson and really wishing this could be done in private instead of in front of all of these people... but there was no interrupting. He didn't dare, no matter how shocked, ashamed, or angry he was.

Percy was really tired of messing up, and it showed in the sag of his shoulders as the weight of defeat only grew heavier the longer Leon raged. While the poor, dumb peppermint-head's mind raced with this new knowledge, he tried to formulate fixes for his mistake, like always. If he was supposed to be able to get a cart-full of food with what he was given, what could he have done differently? He didn't know the value of things here... though he also hadn't known values at home. It hadn't been important, but now it was. He thought it couldn't be too hard, but it was.

How could he have botched it this badly? Where would one find this information, by walking around and observing? Or maybe some sort of manual or book? Did they note fair prices in almanacs? Did they even have almanacs here? He'd only paid what they'd told him... but he didn't dare try to defend himself.

Even as his boyfriend fell into a fit of Bellian he barely understood and then to his knees in even scarier silence, Percy took about a half step backward before he realized he'd been about to run. No, he wouldn't run away from this one. He wanted to get away from the angry man--too soon to their recent argument, perhaps-- and away from the glances of the townsfolk, but there was no way to fix it if he was gone. It wouldn't be right to leave it all on Leon, just like he didn't want Leon to shoulder his medical debt.

In horror he watched as Leon suddenly placed the bag down and approached. Why he was expecting to be punched, he wasn't sure, but the young man braced all the same and tried to mentally prepare to fight back. All of this over grocery shopping? But, instead of whatever Percy had been expecting, he was hugged instead. If you could call it a hug. Leon's boyfriend remained braced and tense, suffering the sinister nature of it. He felt the air squeeze from his lungs, and he silently wondered if this was some passive aggressive means of punishment.

Percy was strong, though, so when he was ordered to backtrack to the merchants he visited, he was more than happy to pry himself out of... whatever that was and catch a breath. Though he turned and strode with every ounce of fake confidence he had back toward the vendors who had duped and gouged him, his silence and balled, pocketed fists were enough to convey his overwhelming anxiety. One by one he led the dark-haired man from stall to stall, projecting that he was a calm man but feeling very much like a scolded child. A scolded child who was frowny and now mute, apparently.

[wc: 612 || total: 5626]

In a moment of frustrated pettiness, Percy just let the strawberry crepe thing smoosh into his lips without opening them. This time it was his turn to glare into Leon's fierce stare, having clearly been simmering this whole time in icy silence, only growing more heated with each vendor they revisited, partially from the sheer shame of falling victim to their simple schemes, but mostly from just Leon having to rant and rave and threaten to fix it. And from Leon just being so much better at even this than he was. Leon was better at basically everything in this world, and Percy was the competitive type, so it was starting to hurt. The only reason he hadn't left Leon with the cart once his mistake was remedied was purely for educational purposes, though he really never planned to do this again. His first grocery shopping experience had been a disastrous one, but who knew when these unprecedented times would call for an emergency run to the market.

But, as Percy's tongue hadn't been graced with anything decadent and non-nutrient necessary since they arrived, a more primal need for the sugary sweetness just beneath his nose tanked his resolve, so he snatched the snack out of Leon's hand and partially turned away, taking a proper bite but making sure not to look like he enjoyed it as much as he was.

With the parting of his lips to munch on the crepe, the seal on his silence was broken. "Thanks," he muttered, polite manners still intact even if his pride and every other part of his being was as bruised as the stupid potato he'd bought. There was a pause, but then he spoke again, knowing Leon was trying to make apologies. He might be feeling some type of way, but he couldn't ignore Leon and his antics. "For your information," he started off, his voice prickly with icicles, "that was my first time grocery shopping," he said in a low, quiet voice, idly smearing his thumb over his lips to try and get all of the whipped cream off of his face without being able to see.

[wc: 358 || total: 6441]

Percy bristled at the word 'spoiled' and opened his mouth to disagree, but realized he had nothing to say and frowned instead. It was annoying that now that he was forced to evaluate his life based on new circumstances and criteria there was no way to refute it. Percy was a spoiled boy who knew no other way to live than the life he'd had before, one where between his family's money and what he made in his own right, it basically meant nothing. They showered it on people for even the most minor conveniences so their illustrious efforts could be focused on more important things. At least, things that were more important to a Dagger.

So even if he shed the name, it haunted him still. Of course, it wouldn't be that easy.

"Yeah, I guess," the peppermint-head admitted begrudgingly, but there was a hint of sadness. It made him feel vulnerable, knowing something this simple was out of his depth. The same guy who could program robots to do complex actions couldn't buy his own food or clothes. The only things he bought for himself were parts he needed for projects, magical paraphernalia, and the odd collectible or impulse buy. "You know I can't cook, so there was no reason to go buy them myself. The chef or personal shopper picked up whatever was needed," he sighed, proceeding to angrily chomp into the fruity treat, taking out his irritation on the supple flesh of the freshest strawberries he'd ever tasted. A general sulkiness washed over him. "I spent all my time in the lab."

[wc: 266 || total: 7037]

Was it really time well spend if this was where he was going to end up? Percy's face scrunched in doubt, but nevertheless, Leon's shift from enraged screaming to understanding was nice. After being called out about beating himself up and being surprisingly comforted by the same man who had embarrassed him in front of most of the town, he felt a little of the tension lift from his shoulders and face. His body angled a more toward his lover, apparently done with closing him out.

"I'm not your fiancé yet," Percy protested, but there was a bashful smile playing on his lips to compliment the subtle rosy tint. "But when you put it that way, I don't really understand what I bring to the table. What do you get out of it if I can't do even basic life skills without messing it up?" he asked, reaching up to steal a chunk of banana. It sounded sulky, but if anything, he seemed mischievous about it. In return, he held out a halved strawberry. "All I can really do is apparently beat up scammers and fight club competition," he mused, slowly pressing the berry up to the lips of the man desperately trying to propose to him. "So... does that mean you're the housewife? I'm not really your sugar daddy anymore, though..." Percy smirked, using his free hand to raise up what was left of his crepe so he could lick some of the remaining sweet cream.

Of course, he had no intentions of remaining incompetent. He was a fast learner as well, and there was no way he'd let their relationship tip so heavily off balance. However, he seemed intent on some light teasing, perhaps a little prying as to what their roles really would be and if he could ever fit into them.

[wc: 305 || total: 7726]

Percy knew, or at least hoped, Leon was joking about the sex being the only thing, but that didn’t keep him from smiling sadly. Maybe that was all he had going for him now, which sounded like some sort of paradoxical joke itself, considering his tragically virginal existence prior to their fit of emotional panic that served as their first time. How had sex become the only thing he had to offer here?

Making no comment aloud, but swearing to himself that he’d find something to bring to the table eventually, he listened to the conversation  steer right into wedding territory. This actually did draw a light chuckle from the young man. Leon was nothing if not persistent and it was so cute. Did he think if he just talked about it like he’d already accepted that Percy would eventually just roll with it? He might be life skill dumb and horrible with money, but he wasn’t stupid. “I’ll definitely enjoy one of your delicious meals, but we’re not talking about that!” he replied playfully, a cheeky grin crinkling the corners of his eyes.

The short walk home with their cart was spent with Percy trying to avoid the questions, sometimes with ridiculous subject changes that never worked or deliberately running ahead to escape. Despite it all concerning marriage, it made him feel good that Leon was so keen, and he couldn’t say it didn’t make him think. And even if he didn’t want to answer, that didn’t mean the conversation was uncomfortable. When they weren’t arguing, the two had actually eased into easy existence with each other, talking like they’d known each other for years. Percy adored hearing Leon’s chatter and excitement about literally anything, and he noticed even he was talking more these days without an invention to gush about in sight. Perhaps he could grow and change in even more surprising ways and become someone who deserved Leon.

Even though the conversation had moved on a bit from weddings by the time food had been stored away and Leon was prepping dinner in the kitchen, Percy’s mind wandered back to a specific question that caught his attention and intensely pondered it, as he was known to do. Ceremony or no, that didn’t matter too much at the moment (though given the Valentine’s event where he fake married a girl, maybe he’d pass), but what did was the surname issue. The Dagger name was dead to him whether he was disowned or not. Forming it in his mind alone made his stomach twist violently enough that he placed a hand on it as if to quiet it as he leaned against the counter watching Leon work. Did Leon still consider himself a Hoffman?

Eyes distant, the words were out of his mouth before he realized. “I don’t have a last name, so I’ll have to take yours...” he said seemingly out of nowhere. Cringing at his own admission, there was little he could do about it other than go with it. Hopefully Leon didn’t get too carried away, because he certainly wasn’t accepting the proposal yet. This was all hypothetical. Mhm. “Er... yeah, so if you don’t want to b-be a Hoffman anymore... now would be the t-time, I guess, to, uh, pick something else.”

[wc: 547|| total: 8758]

Percy watched Leon through this whole process, amused by the fact that he'd seemingly broken his previously perky boyfriend. Patiently he waited for the next words out of his mouth, simply watching his stern face's subtle shifts as his brain ran through whatever lines of code it needed to come up with a name or make peace with keeping his old one, whatever it was that was going on in there. Joining him at the small table, he continued to wait, unwilling to start the heavenly smelling meal until Leon was ready. And then Leon spoke with almost comically steadfast resolve.

"...Daggman?" the peppermint head repeated slowly, the end quirking up an octave in thinly veiled disgust.

Alright, so it seemed the pair wouldn't be the Hoffmans after all. Leon had decided to go with choosing a new name for their union, but it needed to be a strong family name that could stand the test of time. It wasn't that Percy thought they'd become something as powerful and well known as the Daggers, but the circumstances and weight of the Dagger name was all he'd ever known. Names were important, they carried everything about you as a person wrapped in them. Since discarding half of his own name, it was no secret that Percy was lost and drifting in unfamiliar waters.

Daggman sounded awful. "Too close to Dagger in the front," Percy grimaced, nearly gagging on simply speaking his dead name. "We can't just smoosh our former surnames together. Maybe we should find something completely new. Something that sounds really cool..." he trailed, clearly coming to a conclusion that excited him, though it would likely horrify Leon in a few seconds.

This was his chance! All the cool names he'd come across in his favorite anime and manga and games could be his real name here in this new life. "Greywolf," the nerd said with about as much unwavering conviction as the black-haired cook had moments before. "Oh, or Dragonblood!" he added, palpable excitement filling his features with boyish electricity, a look he hadn't had since in their halcyon days back in his lab when he was gushing about one of his inventions. He couldn't conceive how anyone could find fault with these two hardcore names.

[wc: 380 || total: 9699]

Crestfallen. Percy was crestfallen! How could Leon not approve of his two options! They were objectively the best choices. Leon's boyfriend sat in stunned, frowny silence for a second or two, digesting the rejection and formulating his response.

"We won't be made fun of," the peppermint head disagreed with a pout, unable to fathom how two cool names like that could be met with anything but awe. "They're super cool. Besides, how do you know what's a cool surname here? Have you asked? What if White is something weird?" he wanted to know, though that was hardly the point. As someone who had been made fun of his whole life, he didn't really care about that.

"Why pick something so boring when we can be any cool name we want?" Percy countered, gearing up to double down. "I think Dragonblood is awesome. How about Akatsuki, then?" Yes, he was going straight into cool names from his favorite animes now. They had to be good if they made it into a popular show. "Or Zoro. That one is simple, no way to be made fun of, since that's what you care about."

[wc: 191 || total: 10151]

"Hey, anime is cool!" Percy blustered, offended. They weren't on the same page at all. Didn't he realize this was the time to pick the name you'd always wanted, the coolest and strongest of names to impress everyone! One that you loved dearly and would want to go by for the rest of your days! One that could pass on for centuries, even if it wasn't by blood in the beginning! This was the perfect time for anime names. "No one would even know they are from anime! This is a whole new world and they'd just think they are really cool, you know? Come on!"

No longer waiting, Percy dug into the lovely but mostly forgotten dinner, watching Leon, the rejector of his second round of names, with attitude as he thought something terrible up. And he wasn't disappointed...with how terrible it was, anyway. Actual disappointment was fully present. Somehow he hated it more than White.

"We're not naming ourselves after wood. Woodsman?" Percy shook his head. "It's the only chance we'll get to reinvent ourselves. How about Uchiha? Percy and Leon Uchiha? Yeah!" he said with a bright grin, hyped just thinking about it. He'd always related to Sasuke Uchiha, the second son in the family living in the shadows and never getting his father's approval until it was too late. It was perfect!

[wc: 226 || total: 10537]