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Percy’s eyes roamed over the crowd at the arrival zone, doing his best not to look disappointed when he didn’t find a certain blond head he knew oh so well. His backpack was getting heavy on his left shoulder, and the fingers of his right hand burned under the weight of his second suitcase, but he kept walking. He zigzagged through families and couples until he reached a row of blue chairs, and unceremoniously dropped into one of them. His bladder screamed at him to go to the bathroom, but one glance at the line on the other side of the entrance and the sole idea of getting up again persuaded him to stay put and suffer in silence.
Annabeth, he thought. Wherever you are, I hope you and Piper are more comfortable than I am right now.
The memory of his newly-found friend made him smile to himself, closing his eyes. Last he had heard from her, she had been in Piper’s car, coming back from her time in New York. She had left her job interview with the dead certainty that the firm would never in a million years call her back. Her girlfriend’s reply— the first words Percy had ever heard her say, for the matter— had been ‘shut your goddamn mouth, that job has been yours from the start’. Though the way it had been conveyed could have been softer, the message had made both Percy and Annabeth smile. She’d promised he’d be the first to know if she got the job— except he’d be second, really, right after Piper.
And now, well it was Percy’s turn to wait for a cute person to pick him up from the airport.
The exact title of said cute person was still unclear in Percy’s head. They were definitely going on a date— Jason had definitely called it one when they had been on the phone— but did that make them anything more than friends? Was Percy supposed to kiss him when he arrived? Would he need to be approved by Sally Jackson & Co.?
He brushed the last thought away. Jason had been approved by Percy’s family a very long time ago, when they first visited their campus and Estelle had gotten Jason to do her hair with all her animal-themed pins. Sally had called him ‘a very good influence’ and told Percy to keep him around. He wouldn’t tell his family anything about the turn their friendship had taken. Not yet, anyway. He couldn’t bear to tell Sally that it had all gone down the drain if Jason ended up deciding he wasn’t interested, or if things just didn’t work out in the end.
His mind drifted back to that birthday party that had started this whole thing between them. Some of it— Most of it, if Percy was honest with himself— was a bit of a blur. The few drinks Leo had made him had left a gaping black hole in his memories; it started after he left Grover’s kitchen to complain about a song choice, and it ended on the old couch in his basement, with warm hands on his waist and sweet lips on his own.
Percy passed a hand over his face and sighed. It wasn’t the first time he had taken a moment to remember his first kiss with Jason— far from it— but the thought that another kiss could actually happen that very same day was making Percy dizzy with a mix of anticipation and apprehension.
His phone vibrated in the pocket of his black jeans.
“Hey,” Jason’s voice was faint behind the sounds of cars and conversations around him. “I’m going inside the building, are you there?”
“Yeah,” Percy said, quickly getting to his feet. “I’m by the door.”
He tucked his jacket under his free arm and turned to face the glass wall between him and the gigantic parking lot. The crowd was still thick, but his eyes zeroed on Jason as soon as he appeared.
“I see you,” Percy said into his phone. Jason came to a stop outside and turned around, very clearly looking for him.
“I don’t.”
“A bit to the left.”
Their eyes met. All of Percy’s hesitations about proper greetings disappeared, and he gave Jason a grin. He replied with an even wider one. Percy hung up and gathered his bags. He ended up meeting Jason halfway.
“I’m so sorry,” Jason started, waving his hands around as he spoke. “I made a wrong turn, and then when I finally got here there were barely any spots left and I had to circle the whole place for a super long time and I feel so bad—”
“Jason.”
He stopped. Percy opened his arms and raised an eyebrow.
“Hi.”
Jason walked into them with a small smile, slowly but surely enough. The hug lingered, and Percy barely resisted the urge to take a deep breath against Jason’s shoulder.
“Hi.”
A pause.
“Wait, let me get that bag for you,” Jason said as soon as they pulled away, reaching for Percy’s suitcase before he could even protest.
“Thanks,” he ended up chuckling. Jason gave a nod towards the parking lot.
“The car’s over there.”
They quickly made their way to Jason’s black Toyota, pulling their hoods up to protect them from the soft drizzle. Jason put his bags in the trunk and opened the passenger door for him. Percy grinned once they were settled inside.
“So,” he sighed, putting his seatbelt on, “where are you taking me?”
Jason raised an eyebrow. “You’re the one who asked me out.”
“Doesn’t mean I know what I’m doing.”
Jason laughed, and Percy’s chest felt fuzzy with affection.
“Okay,” Jason licked his lips. “What about sushi?”
Percy’s grin got wider. “I’m so glad I asked you out.”
Jason turned the key with another breathless laugh. He pulled out of the parking lot in comfortable silence, and a moment passed before he spoke again.
“I’m glad you did, too.”
As it turned out, their second kiss was ridiculously better than the first. Percy closed the car door behind him as he stepped out and stood taller on his toes, fingers finding the sides of Jason’s face and pulling him down in a bone-melting, butterfly-sparking kiss. And even though he hadn’t imagined himself pressed up between the cold metal of a car door and the never ending warmth that was Jason Grace as they made out right in front of the stairs to his apartment building, well, it was hard to be disappointed.