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Jason tapped his fingers against the metal bench, waiting impatiently as Percy sparred with Clarisse. Jab, duck, roll, stab, parry, drop, jump. He had a beautiful rhythm, Percy did, perfectly in sync with only himself, keeping Clarisse on her toes as she tried to match his pace. She couldn’t. Percy felt all of her movements too early and incorporated them into his own spastic, unpredictable dance. Years of training and questing had brought with him a vicious, unconquerable grace.
Of course, he still couldn’t shoot an arrow to save his life, and Annabeth could easily outdo her best friend with a dagger, but given Riptide and a foe, Percy was unstoppable.
It was a testament to Clarisse’s own prowess that she had managed this long. Off to the side, a group of campers grumped, bruised and beaten by the hero. Hours in, sweat slicked Percy’s skin, but his fatigue was barely noticeable as he gracefully did his dance.
The sun beat down on Jason, pleasantly warm, while he watched. His skin had a light tan, nowhere near as dark as Percy’s deep bronze. Jason had seen Poseidon once before in his favored human form - a kind old fisherman, features a warm brown from, hair lightly bleached, hands rough from decades of working out in the sun. Percy was en route to looking just like him. However, Jason noted, nothing failed to darken Percy’s black hair.
The Son of Poseidon suddenly lunged forward, smashing his sword against Clarisse’s armor. A loud ring resounded throughout the arena. A young group of campers cheered.
As fascinating as it was, he needed to talk to Percy. Capture the Flag was tonight and the camp had the wonderful (terrible) idea of pairing the two of them together plus some preteens against literally everyone else , and they needed a strategy, stat.
And if Percy tired himself out this early in the day, Jason was going to kick his ass.
Clarisse made a sudden dive and the dust of the arena arose in a cloud, obscuring all but the silhouette of Percy slashing after her. Clarisse rolled, kicked him in the stomach, aiming to act just as random as her opponent, which resulted in Percy leaning into her legs, not off of them, propelling himself into the air and landing on her chest, sword against her neck.
Applause erupted from the young campers as Percy helped Clarisse up, the gruff girl merely nodding at him before storming off. Percy wiped his brow with his arm before sauntering over to Jason, grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“Pretty good show, right?” he asked, capping Riptide.
“Oh, it was fair, Jackson. Good enough,” Jason smirked back. “Not anywhere near perfect, though. I can see why you’re so afraid to fight me.”
Percy grinned, trying to match the light-hearted mood, but Jason saw the fire behind his ocean eyes. “Sure, Grace. That’s why every time I invite you to spar you disappear off to Camp Jupiter.”
“The one time you asked, when you knew I was leaving that evening? Pretty cowardly move there. I hold my duty above wrestling with a guy I already know I can beat.”
“Tomorrow morning. 10am, here. No armor.”
“You’re on.”
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to-”
“Sit down and strategize since we have Capture the Flag tonight.”
“What? I thought that was Thursday.”
“Today is Thursday.”
Percy blinked. “Oh. Right. Okay. Well, maybe not where the enemy can hear us?” he said gesturing towards his already-beaten group. Clarisse looked up from where they were seated and scowled.
“Man, every now and then you do manage a good idea,” Jason said in awe, standing up and throwing his arm around Percy’s shoulders. “That time with Annabeth must’ve rubbed off on you.”
“Oh, shove it, Grace,” Percy snapped, rolling his eyes. “Where we headed?”
“That alcove behind the climbing wall.”
“Sounds good.”
The alcove provided a few essentials - privacy, shade, space to crudely draw out a map of the forest. The one thing it did not have was quiet, and with the goal of being heard over the lava jets and campers’ screams, Percy and Jason happily resulted to shouting at each other throughout their discussion. Both failed to notice the ruckus quiet down as most everyone left for lunch, and carried on the most important part of debate as their peers enjoyed their meal.
“Alright, fine . Coin flip. Heads, I get to claim the other team’s flag, tails, you guard our flag,” Jason snapped.
“Fi-Grace, the hell you playing at? You think I’m stupid?” Percy demanded, but Jason was laughing and Percy couldn’t help but smile along.
“Almost had you there for a second,” the blond said, still shaking with laughter.
“Fuck you, Grace,” Percy snapped, but there was no bite behind it.
“Alright. But still. Heads, I go, tails, you go. Fair enough?”
“Deal.”
Jason flipped a drachma. Heads. Percy let out an anguished shout and leapt at the taller boy, who ducked, grabbed Percy to his chest and rolled over, pinning him down in one smooth movement.
“Come on now, don’t be a sore loser,” Jason smirked.
“You cheated!” Percy whined back.
“You watched me! You know I didn’t!”
“Oh sure . Think you can fool me, try again.” And suddenly Jason was laying splat on his back, Percy straddling his waist.
“Jackson, it was fair and square. Now get off. We still need to decide where we want the Apollo kids.”
“Arm them all with bows and put them on the border.”
“Half of them can barely shoot still. Havent’ you been to the archery range?”
Percy’s silence answered that question.
“Gods, you’re hopeless. Maybe, if you actually tried , Austin could teach you to at least hit the target by the end of the summer.”
Percy scowled, flopping onto the ground next to Jason. “Fine. Whichever ones can shoot on the border. The rest stay with me.”
---
Percy grumbled as he sat next to the flag, a moat forming itself around him. The sun’s setting light filtered through the dense tree leaves, creating light orange patterns on the rusty soil. Percy’s little moat carved out a circle , water digging deeper, deeper down, the light trickling sound barely a whisper against the ambient rustling of the trees and cawing of birds. Next to him, an eleven-year-old daughter of Apollo, Abby Arnolds, drew in the dirt with her dagger. Her cheeks were stained red, and all she’d said to him that night was a mumbled, flushed hi.
He tried to stay grouchy and upset, slighted at Jason getting the funner job, but it was a bit difficult with the tranquil world surrounding him and the little girl next to him. Percy didn’t want to scare her, after all, and soon nudged her into a conversation about her past.
Turns out that she and her mom lived in Iowa. Her aunt and her mother both worked at the local university, her mom a professor of Greek mythology. She came to camp at the start of the summer, believing it to be an extended family vacation road trip with their long-lost friend Mr. Hedge. They had a few rough encounters with monsters in the past year, and her mom couldn’t find it in her to explain the full story to her daughter until they arrived at camp. Teary-eyed and betrayed, Abby stuck through the first couple weeks at camp horribly lonely. She called her mom on the camp phone as often as Chiron would allow, and spent her days at the lake. But Will kept pulling her away, kept forcing her to try new things, and she eventually found herself right at home with her siblings.
“I really really like the music stuff here,” she finished. “And the healing. And my siblings actually like poetry! I got made fun of in third grade because I liked poems so much, but they like them too!”
Percy grinned down at her. “That’s great, Abby!”
“Yeah! And I get to go home in August and tell my mom all about it, and next summer I’ll get to learn sword fighting! I only have tried stuff with daggers and archery so far. Chiron said that I wasn’t big enough for swords yet, and my best defense if need be would be daggers. And they’re sending a sandor to school with me too!”
“A sandor?”
“Yeah! With the goat legs!”
Oh. Satyr. Percy was wondering how to properly correct her when their peace was destroyed by the one-and-only Jason Grace.
“FLOOD THEM!” he shrieked, launching over Percy’s moat with an extra air boost, gesturing madly behind him.
“What?” Percy asked, dazed. Jason slammed into him.
“Behind me. Annabeth, Stolls, they’re almost here! Flood!”
That was all it took. Percy’s moats grew, overflowing their banks and forming together into a tidal wave. “Get the other Apollo kids! Most of them clumped back there. I’m not waterlogging our team members,” he commanded. Jason shook his head frantically.
“I can add wind-”
“Grace, goddammit go get the kids!”
“Don’t tell me what to do!”
“Bite my ass, Grace, and go do it!” Jason glowered at him before launching into flight once more, darting to and fro carrying the little campers two by two back to the safety of their island. Percy heard Travis Stoll shout over the crashing waves.
“Why the Hades are you even here?” Percy demanded once the last of their young team members was safely behind him. “Go get the flag!”
“Had to warn you. Also, need one of them to set off the trap,” Jason huffed, gasping in air.
Percy groaned. “What kind of trap?”
“Quicksand. Only will go to your neck.”
“Ugh. Alright. Go do it.”
“Stop ordering me around, Jackson.”
“I’m not ordering you around!”
“Yes you are! You just did!”
“Oh get over it and get the flag al-”
“You’re doing it again!”
“You need it!”
“Gods, Percy, fine! I’ll go get the damned flag! Just keep up the flood, alright?”
“What does it look like I’m doing?”
“See how you like being bossed around?”
“STOP BICKERING!” one of the kids roared. Percy and Jason froze for a second, the flood dropping as they looked over at a twelve year old son of Apollo. “Now, both of you , do your jobs.”
Percy and Jason exchanged a look before wordlessly carrying on. Jason ran off with the tallest kid in their group back to the other side, and Percy focused on not drowning the three opponents he now had in his little whirlpool. Annabeth’s blonde hair came in sight as she sputtered curses at him before being thrown back into the Stolls.
Half an hour later, he and Jason’s team were announced the victors.
---
“I swear, it’s like they live in their own little world,” Piper sighed, turning her marshmallow roasting stick. The bonfire crackled before her and Annabeth nodded solemnly.
“Boys,” she muttered. Across the circle, Percy and Jason sat next to each other, each trying to knock the other’s marshmallow into the fire.
“No, this isn’t just them being boys . This is something else,” Piper said. “They can’t stop bickering. It’s ridiculous. It’s like Nyssa and Mitchell before she finally asked him out.”
Annabeth gaped at her friend for a moment. “You can’t possibly be suggesting that Percy and Jason are…”
Piper shrugged. “They’re sitting so close they’re touching,” she commented. Annabeth studied the two boys. Piper spoke true. Their noses even bumped as they giddily glared at each other, both no doubt muttering curses as Jason’s poor marshmallow caught flame. Seconds later, Percy shoved him and pointed, laughing. Jason opened his mouth to swear, before apparently remembering the quiet son of Iris to his left, and angrily falling silent instead.
Piper smirked as Percy “solved” the problem moments later by shoving his own marshmallow into Jason’s face. The quiet, heated argument that ensued ended in the two grinning and popping another two of the white sugar balls onto their roasting sticks and starting the process once more.
“How’d I never notice before?” Annabeth asked.
“Probably because you’ve been too distracted chasing after Connor Stoll,” Piper suggested innocently.
Annabeth lightly smacks Piper’s arm. “Don’t even start with that,” she warned.
“You know he likes you too,” she sang.
“And here I’ve been turning a blind eye to how you look at Pollux,” Annabeth groaned, leaning back. Piper huffed.
“Look, now they’re feeding each other,” the daughter of Aphrodite pointed out.
By “feeding each other,” she really meant “stabbing each other down the throat with marshmallow sticks,” but the two girls “awwed” at it nonetheless.
---
The next morning found half the camp filling the stands around the arena, gossipping and betting as Percy and Jason stood facing each other, hands hovering over their weapons. Chiron stood off to the side ready to intervene “should things get out of hand.”
Somewhere, a clock struck 10:00am.
Things got out of hand.
Their dance was beautiful, intricate, and fast. Their feet kicked up a storm of dust and they made their way around the arena, shining blades catching the sunlight.
Percy fell, and the crowd erupted. His leg shot out, and suddenly Jason laid beside him. Spectators jumped to their feet as Percy threw himself on top of the taller boy, sword hovering above Jason’s neck. The blond kicked him square in the chest and Percy somersaulted over him, smacking his head against the hard ground. Unfazed, the son of Poseidon sprang onto his feet and swung at Jason, his blade stopped with a loud clang.
The two pressed on, both looking a little worse for wear. A hushed whisper fell over the area as someone pointed out a storm cloud. Chiron frowned, shifting his weight between his feet as he took note of the air growing damp.
The tension cracked as lightning split the sky, met by a thunderous wave crashing out of almost nowhere. Jason grabbed Percy and flew up into the sky, just to be knocked down by a torrent of water.
Back on the ground, their swords met with more and more force. Fatigue meant nothing as they dazedly parried and lunged and thrusted and slashed. For all the stars dancing behind their eyes, their focus held a deadly edge. Percy’s water lightly flooded the ground, making the area a muddy mess and keeping the two ankle deep in brine. Neither slowed a bit.
The power in the air crackled as rain started to fall. Lightning sparked high in the sky, not daring make the leap down to earth. The arena felt to be so much more than a dinky flat battleground surrounded by beaten metal stands - the spectators roared, with front row seats to the fight of the century as Percy and Jason waged war on each other.
Seconds bled into minutes bled into hours as the two crashed back and forth. They glistened with what could’ve been water or sweat, their bodies following natural instinct as their minds calculated the next ten steps.
All of it held an odd, intangible beauty. The thunder, the rain, the mud, the shouting, the clanging, the unshakable sense of being alive .
The arena crackled and the dust cleared, one final clang.
Percy and Jason stood, dead in the middle, swords met in an embrace. Their chests heaved in sync, eyes locked.
“Hand to hand?” Jason asked.
Percy nodded once, and their swords fell. Everyone stared.
Jason swept Percy off his feet with a single kick, and suddenly the two were in the mud, shoving each other down. Clarisse almost fell out of her seat, cheering at the top of her lungs. Chiron tentatively edged forward before thinking better of it.
It was 1:30 in the afternoon by the time the two of them collapsed, dead tired, aching, bloodied and bruised.
No winner.
---
Percy enjoyed meditating at the bottom of the lake. The water revived him, and the naiads would occasionally stop by and flirt, never sticking around for too long. It felt peaceful, sitting in the sand. All around him muted shadows from canoes and swimmers scattered and joined, mottling in and out with the little bit of light that crept this far down.
Fish nibbled at Percy’s hair as he thought.
The fight with Jason had been… incredible. Of course, Percy was beyond pissed that The Matter had not been resolved. The Matter, of course, concerning who was better - him or Jason.
The whispers among campers had started the second Jason arrived at Camp Half-Blood. Temporarily put on hold by the Giant War, the two returning together had brought back the contest full force.
“Maybe you two are equal, and you’re both being stupid,” Annabeth had suggested when he brought up the issue with her.
Equal. What a simple answer.
What a wrong answer.
No, one of them had to be better. They just had to find the right contest to determine it.
“Which of us is the better leader?” Percy had asked Annabeth.
“Neither of you, because I’m in charge.”
“That wasn’t what I asked!”
“Too bad, Seaweed Brain.”
Percy watched as a silver, fat fish darted in front of his face. If his nickname was Seaweed Brain , then maybe the contest was intelligence, and Jason would win.
Percy frowned. No, that couldn’t be it.
The last of the light died down, and the resulting cold let Percy know that night had fallen. He made no move. He knew that tonight he’d have nightmares.
They didn’t always come, still. It had been a year since the last war, and countless therapy sessions with Chiron, his mom and Will Solace had helped. But some nights Percy just knew . Waking up screaming, shaking as the darkness of Tartarus still seemed to cling to him, as the fire of the Phlegethon still burned through his throat, was not an uncommon occurrence.
He felt safer in the water. This water was cold, clear, and kind. It was pure. Not the murky, wailing waters of the Lethe, of the Cocytus.
Percy closed his eyes, thinking circles around any memories of the pit. He absently wondered how Annabeth was faring with the memories.
However, as the night grew darker, the water grew freezing, and Percy’s body started to crave the open air. Son of Poseidon he may be, Percy was still part human. And humans could only handle so much water for so long. He’d been in there since morning, spending the day after the fight away from the world.
He trudged back to Cabin Three, trying to ignore the shadows his mind thought it saw. No, that rock wasn’t a blister of a monster. The running water was not the River Cocytus. And the sky? That was not Nyx the goddess. That was the sky. The Mansion of the Night was nowhere to be found.
Percy collapsed in his bed, not bothering to change into pajamas, falling into a fitful sleep.
He woke up screaming.
---
Jason frowned from his table as Percy slumped in a snoozing pile next to his blue pancakes. How could he be so tired still ? Oh, sure, Jason still had a pleasant ache in his muscles from their duel, but Percy had spent all day hiding away somewhere. Unless he had been training, which Jason sincerely doubted, Percy shouldn’t be so exhausted still.
After breakfast, the son of Jupiter made his way over to his best friend, shaking his shoulder gently.
“Jackson? You okay buddy?”
Percy looked at him, eyes bleary. “Oh. Yeah. Just rough sleep last night, y’know? Hey, I’m on climbing wall duty today. Wanna help?”
Jason studied him before nodding once, a frown still tugging at his lips. “Sure. I have to lead sword practice this afternoon, though.”
“Eh. I’m off this afternoon. I’ll come watch. Or take a nap. Or both.”
Jason nodded, and the two headed off to the climbing wall. Jason found it difficult to look away from the slightly stumbling Percy.
They reached the wall, and Percy grinned a bit as it erupted. “Man, it’s gonna be rough today,” he commented, aloof. “I’m gonna climb it once, get warmed up.”
Jason stared after him, concerned. Something was clearly off today. His mind flicked back to the first month back from the war, Percy and Annabeth both wracked with nightmares day and night, shells of the people they could’ve been. But both had seemed so much better lately.
Then again…
Percy threw himself onto the top ledge of the wall and whooped, before scrambling back down. “Alright. It’s official. Ready for duty,” he stated.
“Percy, do you still have nightmares of Tartarus?”
The black-haired boy in question rolled his eyes. “Grace, don’t be dumb. Hey, look, it’s Abby! Abby, have you climbed the wall before?”
The girl nodded once, blushing again. Percy grinned. “Hey, do you remember what level it was when you did?”
“Uh, Annabeth said, uh, two?”
“Two? Alright. And how’d that go for you?”
Jason crossed his arms as Percy adjusted the settings on the wall, giving Abby the thumbs up to go ahead and climb. He refused to tear his eyes away until she made it to the top, grinning and giggling. She got nervous climbing back down, though, and Percy almost scrambled up to save her. She made it, though, jumping before she made it quite to the bottom. Percy caught her in his arms and spun her gently.
She giggled, blushing even more, before running off to proudly display her now-scraped arms to her friends elsewhere.
Annabeth showed up later in the morning, brushed past Percy as she set the settings as high as possible, and scrambled up and down faster than Jason could blink an eye. She smirked at the two of them, whispered something to Percy that made him blush, and wandered off.
That was about it for interesting activity at the climbing wall. Other climbers came and went, Jason tried twice more, unsuccessfully, to talk Percy into explaining his earlier tiredness, and then the pair headed off to the arena.
---
Percy seemed fine over the next two weeks before Jason noticed anything again. All day, Percy seemed jumpy, and escaped to the lake at the earliest opportunity.
So Jason waited at the shore until he came up. It was summer; the night stayed warm, with only the occasional breeze giving him chills.
It was almost midnight when Percy finally surfaced, eyes sunken. He jumped at the sight of Jason, before steeling his friend with an icy glare.
“It’s past curfew,” Percy stated levelly.
“Like you’re one to talk,” Jason said, standing. “What’s up with you?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve been jumpy all day and hid in the lake all night. What’s wrong?”
Percy shrugged. “Just thinking.”
“That’s new.”
Percy lightly punched him. “Shut up.”
“Not until you tell me what’s wrong.”
“Nothing!”
“It’s not nothing!”
“Then what do you think it is, Grace?”
Jason frowned. “I think ,” he said, voice dropping, “that you’re still having nightmares.”
“We all do, sometimes,” Percy countered. “No big deal. I don’t need you hovering over me. It’s not gonna make a difference.”
“Do you need therapy? Like, a professional?”
“No. Stop worrying.”
“I’m spending the night in your cabin.”
“Wow, Grace, didn’t know you found me that hot.” Percy found it in him to smark at the taller blond.
Jason didn’t even humor him with a scowl. “It always helped Thalia to have someone nearby, when we were little,” he said.
“Awww, I’m gonna tease her for that later,” Percy cooed, heading off to his cabin. Jason pretended to not see him jump at the far-off howl of a wolf.
Cabin Three was warm and smelled of the ocean. Jason found little problem in settling into a bed, stripped down to just his boxers. Percy found little problem in crashing fully dressed acrossed the room from him.
Four hours later, Jason found himself sitting on Percy’s bed, Percy’s head in his lap, running his hand through Percy’s hair and murmuring that it would be alright, with the black-haired boy crying in his sleep.
---
Annabeth left for a quest, and Percy’s nightmares started coming back almost every night. Jason found himself spending more nights in Cabin Three than not, calming Percy each time he woke. He insisted each morning that Percy seek out help.
“I’ve worried everyone enough,” the dumbass masochistic hero would claim, and then brush off any of Jason’s further suggestions.
Two weeks in, Annabeth still hadn’t returned. She was okay, she Iris-Messaged, but Percy’s sleeping mind didn’t know that.
Two weeks in, Percy looked at Jason, wide green eyes pathetic and scared, and whispered “please, just share the bed with me. I need warmth.”
Two weeks in, Percy’s nightmares calmed, the teen snoring quietly in Jason’s protective arms.
---
When Jason realized he might… like Percy, he panicked.
Like, he was flying, thinking, realized it, and plunged straight down to the earth panicked.
Because Percy was, well, Percy , and he was the son of his dad’s rival, and weren’t they like cousins? But they were all cousins, and well, god blood works differently, so not really, but Percy was… his bro . And Percy sucked at that sort of thing. Oh yeah, he was romantic with Annabeth and all when she sent Piper to guide him, and he was endlessly loyal, and cute, and really tried his best all the time, and…
He was just so goddamn Percy . Plus, how would the camp react? They had their whole rivalry-competitiveness dynamic going. And Jason was Jason . He wasn’t… gay. Well, like, it’s not like that sort of deal bothered him, but Nico liked Percy and he couldn’t hurt Nico’s feelings like that. How much would it suck for him to watch his crush turn out to be gay afterwards and be with someone who wasn’t Nico?
Wait. Jason didn’t even know that Percy was gay yet. He was just… assuming. Because they were friends. And because Jason wanted him to be.
Now covered in dirt from his crash landing, Jason did the only thing he knew how to when he panicked.
He hunted down Piper.
“Jason, we’ve all known this for months ,” she stated, tossing a tennis ball up and down. She laid on her back in the middle of an empty volleyball court, ignoring the sand getting everywhere. The ground was so warm here.
“You have?” Now Jason was confused. This was a recent revelation.
“Yeah. You two are all over each other constantly and do everything together.”
Jason frowned. “Well, I didn’t know it. And I don’t think Percy did either.”
“That’s because you two are dense.”
“No I’m not. I mean, Percy is, but I’m not.”
Piper laughed. “Of course not, sweetie.”
Jason shifted uncomfortably. “What would people think if we started dating?”
“They’d cheer that the unresolved sexual tension had finally reached its end, some people would get some cash, some people would lose some cash.”
“What?”
“There’s a betting pool going on.”
“About me and Percy?”
Piper’s grin spread, and she let the tennis ball roll onto the ground as she folded her arms behind her head. Above them, a hawk soared, cawing. Almost no clouds mottled the blue sky today, and all around campers were playing and training. Pretty soon, the volleyball courts would be packed.
“Yeah. Who’ll ask who out, when it’ll finally happen, who would top, all that.” Piper tried to keep her calm, knowing aura, but a blush crept onto her face at the last part.
Jason stared incredulously. “I-How would they even know who would, uh, top?”
“That doesn’t matter. Point is, we’re all waiting for it to happen, and if you let me know when so I can get my bets placed and make some bank, then our friendship will be secured for another five years.”
“Wasn’t it anyways, Pipes?”
“Doesn’t hurt to have a little extra guarantee, Jay.”
“What if he says no?”
“Then that means he’s having what my siblings call a ‘Big Gay Freakout’ and he’ll be over it within a week and you two will be a happy couple.”
“What if I’m having a ‘Big Gay Freakout?’”
“Well, that’s why you’re talking to me now and sorting everything out now so you can ask him when you’re ready,” Piper explained. “Here. Lay down Jason.”
The blond obliged.
“Think on all you two have done together. All you’ve thought about him. Everything.”
The duo didn’t speak a word for the next hour, instead sinking into the world around him.
“He hasn’t been interested in anyone,” Jason finally said.
“Yeah,” Piper agreed. “Except for…?”
“I guess me. But I think it’s all been friendly. He’s never…”
“Never what? Made a move because he thinks he’s straight?”
“...Yeah.”
“Would you two be happy together?”
“I think so. But what if something went wrong? What if we broke up?”
“What if you spend the rest of your days pining after him because you’re too scared to make a move and he finds someone else and your relationship dissolves anyways and you regret not doing anything until you die?”
“Pipes, that’s a bit extreme.”
“Is it though? Is it really?”
A breeze stirred the air.
“No, I suppose it’s not. Should I ask him now?”
“Hmm, I’d get him to have his ‘Big Gay Freakout’ first, since that probably needs to happen. I’ll sic someone to hit on him and he’ll figure it out.”
Jason bolted upright. “What?”
“Jason, calm down.”
“What if he falls for them?”
“He won’t. And if he does, you’ll just have to win him back. My mom would say it made a beautiful story,” Piper said. “I mean, I’d rather it didn’t come to that, truly, and I doubt it will. But I don’t need you freaking out over Percy getting all messed up over you.”
---
One of Piper’s brothers, a boy named Rhys, took on the challenge. Jason cringed for the next week as the blond-brunett- why couldn’t his hair stay the same goddamn color- raven groped Percy’s butt, whispered innuendos in Percy’s ear, cornered Percy alone.
Percy’s reactions were unexpected, to say the least. He seemed mostly unbothered, even flirting back at some points. Jason was getting anxious. Was Piper wrong? Would percy fall for Rhys instead?
Jason stormed over to the Aphrodite cabin that Sunday, just to witness Percy and Piper laughing together underneath a window in the back. Jason froze, before quietly sneaking behind a bush.
“Yeah,” Percy said, smiling, “I guess I just figured it out after Annabeth pointed out how I’d been acting. I mean, everyone thought she and I would get together, and it just never worked. I never liked her like that. And I told myself it was blondes. The blonde hair just didn’t do it for me, and the whole Poseidon-Athena deal, we just weren’t meant to be.
“And then, obviously, Grace comes in and his dad’s Zeus and his hair’s golden and everything he did was just right. I mean, like, when Annabeth told me, I freaked out sure. He’s my bro. But like, whatever. Nico’s gay, isn’t he? So’s Solace. So’s like, a quarter of the camp. We’re all Greek. Annabeth told me the stories. It’s normal.
“And so I just kinda forgot about it. Ignored it. No need to burden Grace with it. He always just seemed straight, all superman-y and the like, with girls fawning after him all the time. He’s my bro, he always will be.” His voice held a sort of wistful sadness, which was to be expected.
Jason blinked.
“Yeah, I getchu. Sorry bout all that. I’ll tell Rhys to lay off,” Piper said.
Percy laughed. “Thanks, Piper.” He hopped to his feet and wandered off. Piper, on the other hand, headed right over to Jason’s bush and kicked him.
“What was that for?” he demanded.
“Eavesdropping! Get up,” Piper ordered. Jason didn’t hesitate to obey. “So we have a new plan now.”
“We do?”
“Yes. It’s called you’re going to pin Percy against a wall nearest chance you get and make out with that boy because holy Aphrodite you two need to get together already.”
“What’s the rush now?” Jason demanded, then hesitated. “Not that I’m, you know, complaining or anything.”
“If you do it tonight, then Drew loses fifteen drachmas to me, and also it’d be cute, and also Percy’s ‘Big Gay Freakout’ happened forever ago, and you two just need to get together already ,” Piper snapped, lightly jabbing her finger into Jason’s chest. “You eavesdropped, asshole, so you heard him. He likes you. There’s nothing to lose. I don’t care if it’s at dinner or the bonfire or what but it needs to happen.”
Jason gulped and nodded. “Of course, Pipes.”
---
Percy grinned, forking brisket into his mouth as Jason plopped down next to him, blatantly disregarding camp rules. Chiron looked as if he was about to complain, then simply meandered off. Good signs, good signs.
“Wazzup,” Percy asked, mouth full. Jason made a face, then gently tapped Percy’s chin with his index finger, closing his mouth. His hand was shaking, Percy noted. Interesting.
“Not much,” Jason answered after a second, digging into his own brisket. “How’s life?” He sounded awkward.
“Same as usual. Annabeth’s going to Camp Jupiter for a while.”
“That’s good,” Jason said.
The rest of dinner was quiet at their table. When finally it was time to clean up, Percy tried to stand, but Jason’s hand shot out and stopped him.
“Jason, wha-” And suddenly the blond’s lips were on his own.
Percy couldn’t help it. He froze for a second.
Jason must’ve felt it, and tried to pull away, but suddenly Percy’s arms were wrapped around his torso and he couldn’t escape, and now, now , Percy was kissing back.
He tasted like brisket and the sea breeze, Jason noted. Like a hot summer day out on a boat, like scuba diving through a coral reef. Like saltwater and sweetness.
Jason was vaguely aware of the cheers around them, especially as he guided Percy’s arms up to wrap around his neck, as his own hands hoisted Percy up so his legs wrapped around Jason’s waist and Percy was too heavy for this what was he thinking he was like, maybe three inches shorter than Jason they were gonna fall, and suddenly he had the brilliant idea of setting Percy on the table and pinning him down and-
Oh gods.
This was good.
Percy’s legs hugged him tight, Percy’s hands wandering up and down his back, Percy’s mouth on his, chasing the corner of his lips when they broke apart, and holy crap that felt good and-
“Get a room, Jason!”
Piper’s charmspeak left them no choice.
They wound up in Cabin Three for the night.
---
Jason woke up first, relieved and disappointed all at the same time to find he still had his boxers on. In his arms slept Percy, drool spilling out of his mouth and onto the pillow. Classy.
He studied Percy’s face, soaking in every detail not for the first time in the early morning light. His bronze skin, his coarse and crazy black hair, his nose-it matched his mom’s, Jason had noted before. Percy’s teeth were scarily white, slightly more pointed than most, like that of a sea creature. His chin and cheeks lacked any facial hair, but his chest wasn’t exactly lacking. His muscled arms were covered in light cuts and bruises, with pale white scars that never quite faded away standing out.
Percy was beautiful, even drooling.
Jason smiled and kissed him.
Seconds later, Jason found himself pinned down, a grinning Percy on top of him.
“Can you wake me up like that every day ?” Percy asked excitedly.
“I, uh, sure,” Jason stammered, face heating up.
“Good.” And Percy’s lips were upon his once more, kneading, pushing, caressing, loving.
Good.