Same Love

August was excited to spend time with his cousin and talk to her. He was ready to tell her about how nervous he was about school and how he had met the famous Cassie that Percy talked about a lot. This was the perfect place to just sit and talk, He would hopefully learn some more information about the school and what to expect. That would be nice. He was basically starting the school without knowing anything about what was ahead of him. It was scary, but hopefully Percy would it a litle easier. He was probably worrying about nothing. It wasn't like everyone was mean at that school, right? He did meet a few people and they seemed nice enough. He had no reason to believe people were mean there.

He sat down and waited for Percy to arrive. He would let Percy talk first, he hoped she sensed how nervous he was and how much he wanted to know about things. He would have to mention how he had met Cassie and how they talked about her for a bit and how Cassie helped him pick a pet. Once he saw the familiar face, he jumped up and ran to over to her. "Percy!" He pulled his older cousin into a hug and smiled. "I'm so nervous about school! What if people are mean and don't like me? What if they reject me and send me home?" So much for letting Percy sense how nervous he was. "Oh! Guess who I saw!" He wasted no time and didn't let her answer. "Cassie! Your friend! She is your friend, right?" It seemed like Percy talked about Cassie like a teen girl talked about a famous cute boy.

How could Persephone forget about her dear little cousin attending school with her this year? It was impossible, naturally, so of course she didn't. What she did fail at was trying to meet up with the boy before she had gone and did all of her shopping herself. She arrived at the pub late, her purchased books tucked beneath her arm and the imbalance causing her to wobble like a duck over towards where he cousin was waiting for her.

"August!" She cried, enthusiastically, dropping her books and catching the boy in a tight embrace. "Merlin's polka-dotted shorts you are starting to get so old!" She cooed, then took a seat at the table and propped her tired feet up. She laughed a laugh that shook her body as the boy was talking a mile a minute. "Slow down! I'm sure the school knows that you are my cousin and therefore would totally accept you! And if any meany poo head tries to mess with you, I'll take care of them!" She tried to make him feel better and acted all tough when really Percy had never fought anyone in her life before.

Percy's face lit up at the mention of Cassie, her cheeks turning a slight shade of pink as he called her her friend, which she was, but the fact that he had remembered was touching. "Wow, I'm surprised you remembered me talking about her," She ruffled her kid cousin's hair. She didn't think she talked about Cassie that much. I mean, she definitely told stories, but surely she didn't talk about her more than what she did about Ellis or Gwen, right? "Isn't she nice?" Percy asked, really wanting August to like her friend.

August's worries disappeared as Percy talked, he wasn't as nervous as he had been and he was glad. He didn't want to worry about all that when he was spending time with Percy. It was no time to have any negative feelings about things when the best cousin ever was around. "Okay, I think I'm okay now." He smiled a great big smile. He was glad that Percy had his back, it was a nice gesture.

"Of course I remember Cassie, you talk about her a lot." He had heard tons of stories about the adventures they had together, which was one of the reasons why he was excited for school. "She liked my idea of being a group of friends and hanging out." She was very nice and he was happy that she had helped him. "Yeah, she's nice. She's your girlfriend, right?" It would seem like it, even though nothing was said about it. "I'm not sure about your relationship."

Her cousin was so worried at first that Percy was starting to get worried for him. She had never seen him like that before and was relieved to see that her words had washed the concern from August's face and once again it had lit up with innocence. That was much more like her dear August.

Persephone laughed pleasantly at the idea that August wanted to hang out with her and Cassie. She rolled her eyes, humored, as she knew he would find his own group of friends, but didn't mind if he wanted to tag along with some of her and Cassie's games. However, Percy nearly fell off of her chair at what he had to say next.

"And what made you think that, Gus?" She asked, slightly flustered. She never even considered dating before, let alone one of her friends like Cassie. She righted herself in her chair once again and tried to regain her composure. "We are just friends. Quite possibly best friends...actually, we should be best friends. I need to give her a friendship bracelet to make that official!" She gasped at her own realization. "But we are definitely not dating."

Percy didn't say no to the idea of them all being friends, so he took it as a yes to befriend Cassie. They were probably already friends since they talked so much at the pet shop. She was very helpful and seemed like she would be a good friend to him. "We're all gonna be friends and hang out and have fun!" The idea seemed perfect and it was a great idea to him.

August bit his lip to keep from laughing when Percy almost fell, it was pretty funny that she reacted that way. "I just assumed, the way you talk about her made it seem like you liked her a lot. Like, more than a friend. Like how girls at my old school acted when they read about their favorite celebrity in a magazine. Like a crush." So, he was wrong about them dating, but that didn't mean that Percy didn't like her. "I thought you liked girls, though. I'm confused."

"Of course I like her!" Percy replied, not angrily, just a bit hastily and in her defense. She didn't know why she was overreacting so. Maybe it was because if Cassie heard what her cousin thought of them, she would probably turn all red and be really bashful, like she had when Percy had kissed her on the cheek. "She's my friend! And I like my friend a lot!" She pulled on the strand of beads in her hair, nervously.

She blushed as he said she was acting like she had a crush on Cassie. Percy supposed she didn't exactly act like her friends that were female back home, who were now starstruck and in love with some pretty faced boy actor from some new hit film and talked about him all the time and had posters of him and such. Percy never really saw what was so great about him, but she could easily see how great Cassie was and could easily talk about her for hours.

"Huh?" Her cousin confused her yet again. "You're always saying such silly things!" She said, with a laughed and moved in to ruffle his hair. She then paused. "What made you think that I like girls?" She had never thought about it herself. Actually, she hadn't been doing much thinking about anyone, besides Cassie of course.

Percy looked a bit nervous, maybe embarrssed. Just by her body language, August could tell that she didn't talk about this subject a lot. He had the urge to laugh at her nervousness, but stopped himself. This wasn't something to laugh at, this was serious. "Just take a breath and relax." He bit his lip, holding back a laugh. He wasn't sure why it was funny, but it was. "Of course you like your friend, I know that."

"Hey! My hair was the perfect kind of mess and now its just a mess!" He tried to fix his hair to the way it had been, but failed at it. "I may be young and not know much about relationships and liking people, but I am good at seeing the obivious. Its pretty clear, you like girls." That's all he could say about it, not having much other proof. "And I already know I say silly things, it makes me adorable."

Persephone laughed. Her cousin and his hair were always ridiculous. It wasn't that his hair made him look bad, it was just that his hair was stylistically a mess all the time and when it was an actual mess, he was concerned. "Relax, you look fine," She replied with a giggle. Actually, she couldn't tell the difference between his hair before the ruffle and after.

It was sort of embarrassing that of all people, she was receiving romance advice from her kid cousin, of all people. It wasn't like she couldn't have asked her Papa about it, but it just hadn't occurred to her before then.

"I like...girls?" She repeated. That sounded about right. She didn't hate boy but she didn't exactly see what the whole hub-bub was with boys and their 'butts' or whatever it was that Gwen and Winnie were so crazy about. "You are pretty silly, but you're my silly cousin." She ruffled his hair once more. "Thanks, Gus. You really helped out!"