Chapter Text
“Fuck Annie, I don’t know what I’m gonna do.” Percy dragged the last syllable to really sell his whine. His best friend certainly wasn’t buying it, as she barely acknowledged him as she flipped through her book.
“Seaweed Brain, I know what you’re going through is rough, but there is no way on earth they’re letting you room with me in the girls’ dorm. And no, you cannot drop out and open an aquarium or sea animal rescue.”
“Look it’s not my fault my roommate decided to be an absolute creep who stole another dude’s underwear and shit! Why do I have to suffer for his bullshit?” Percy slammed his head onto the table. They were currently seated in the university’s courtyard, enjoying the crisp autumn air.
Piper patted his back as she rifled through her bag of vegan chips. “Tough luck kid. Do you want me to kiss that booboo better?”
“Not with your breath right now, that’s for sure,” Leo said absentmindedly as he not-so-subtly was welding together two pieces of metal under the table.
“Leo, the smell of that is gonna get everywhere. Put it away before the mortals start looking at us,” Annabeth whispered. “More importantly, you’re gonna set my stuff on fire.”
“Psshhh, nothing Mr. McShizzle can’t handle. Unlike you, Miss ‘I can’t handle even sriracha.’”
Percy rolled his eyes. “Guys, do you not care? Because I can leave.”
“Percy, just head to the housing services office to apply for the dorms. Lie your ass off to get the cost down as much as possible, pray your next roommate isn’t insane, and boom, easy-peasy.” Piper shook the bag to get the crumbs at the bottom. “If you need help, I can always charmspeak them.”
“Yeah and add on a BMW so I can drive it to class,” Percy giggled as Piper shoved him.
“Stick to your horse gimmick, horse-man. Cars are not your thing, I’m still seeing spots from last time. I’m never getting a ride from you again unless I’m already on my way down to Nico’s padre.” Leo shivered.
“I’m a New Yorker, that’s normal! You just fly around on Festus, you’ll never understand-” Piper and Annabeth shared a look. “You two aren’t any better either, stop looking so smug. But I’ve already got a new room, they closed off my old one for investigation. The more important thing is my new roomie might think I’m also a crazy stalker.”
“Well you were on the national terrorist watchlist when we were kids.” Annabeth had at one point stolen some of Piper’s chips. “Doesn’t Chiron have a picture of that in the Big House?”
“Not. Helping.”
“OK but for real Percy, you literally survived the River Styx, you’re still not smote by the gods for how much you talk shit to them, and you were fine getting blown up off national monuments or volcanos. You can handle an awkward conversation.”
Percy gnawed on the inside of his cheek. “Well… about that…”
Piper scored her crumpled bag of chips into the trash can, earning a salute from Leo. “There’s a chance your roomie doesn’t even know you shared a room with the stalker. And even then, what proof would he have to think you’re some weirdo… Percy. I know that look, what did you do?”
“I should’ve known better than to think Perce wouldn’t get into trouble, monsters or not,” Leo groaned. Annabeth nodded in tacit agreement.
He leaned over the table, looking very cool and suave if he said so himself, as he propped his head on his hand. “Hypothetically speaking, what if my new roomie thinks they got the wrong guy locked up and I framed him? And thinks I’m hiding a whole conspiracy against him?”
Annabeth held her face in her hands. “Seaweed Brain, what did your dumb ass do this time?”
. . .
OK, so Percy might’ve skimped out on a few details, but can you blame him? It’s been a hectic three months and his freshman semester’s only just started. And it’s not his fault this time, nothing to do with being a demigod or his ADHD, nothing! It’s all his weirdass (former) roommate’s fault for being a stalker.
The guy in question, Milly, looked normal as is. Percy was never one to judge a guy by their looks, but he wasn’t getting scouted by an agency nor was he offensive to look at. He was just a normal dude, Percy liked normal enough. He’d had enough of the not normal for a life time. They hit it off OK, as far as roommates went. Percy always came back to the dorms late in the evening because of his swim practice and hangouts with the Camp gang, but somehow this guy came back even later. Sometimes Percy would prod at him to ask where he’s been, especially if he woke Percy from a good dreamless slumber with him stumbling through the door. But he never got a clear answer, just hand-wavy gestures and insisting nothing was wrong.
One day though, his roommate interrupted his studying (well he was actually losing his mind and venting to Annabeth about it, wherein she told him to get his shit together because no she is not making him flashcards at midnight with Daedelus’s super laptop), with this look in his eye Percy had only ever seen on monsters about to break their disguise and eat him. Cursing at himself for being so complacent, he almost whipped out Riptide but luckily did not slice Milly in two (not like he could’ve anyway with Riptide being made of Celestial Bronze and he’d have had the more awkward conversation of trying to explain whatever the Mist decided was appropriate). Instead he was met with a blue plaid shirt and the nerdiest thick black frame glasses he’s ever seen.
“Uh, dude, I don’t need glasses,” Percy floundered dumbly.
Milly giggled, a slight uptick in his usual monotone. Percy blinked, keeping his hand over his pocket. “No, I know, these are fake. But I wanted to get you an apology gift since I kept waking you up in the middle of the night. I know you like blue,” he gestured to Percy’s side that was completely drenched in blue paraphernalia, “so I got you this shirt too.”
“Oh, um… thanks my guy. Really appreciate it and I’m thankful, but I have to get back to studying for the quiz this Friday.” Percy shuffled awkwardly in his desk chair.
Milly looked at him expectantly, this glint in his eyes he couldn’t place. Percy promised his mom, Grover, Chiron, and Annabeth- well pretty much everyone and everything in existence, that he’d have a normal life and not cause trouble. So begrudgingly, he put on the shirt and glasses. They seemed normal enough, not laced with Hydra blood or anything supernatural. But the material did feel nice, a bit too nice for something your average college student could buy, especially for a plain plaid shirt. It was definitely better than anything Percy’s ever owned, he could tell that much even with his poor fashion knowledge beyond the streetwear he was fond of. Piper had tried and failed. Given that though, was Milly one of those quiet luxury kids? The kind that didn’t even realize they’re wearing his mom’s entire salary back when Smelly Gabe did fuck all on a single arm?
Milly asked him to stand up and do a twirl around. Percy didn’t get what the fuss was all about given it was just a shirt and glasses, but maybe this was just one of those weird rich kid whims he was unfortunately the only victim in sight for. He briefly took off the glasses to examine them, gaining him a disappointed hmph from Milly for some reason. Unlike the shirt, the glasses were certainly cheap. He turned it over, bent the arms, nothing was off. Just some cheap plastic you could buy in a costume pack straight off the rack. He looked up to a slightly antsy looking Milly, sighing, and put the glasses back on.
“Do you mind if I take a picture of you?” Percy’s head whipped around to fill attention at that. “I uh, told you I was undecided but I think I’m getting an interest in game design. So I want a reference picture, y’know? For a character I wanna develop.”
Percy might have not been that familiar with the internet yet since Leo had only just developed the first demigod-safe cell phones, but was it not common sense to just look up a reference picture? It’s not like plaid shirts were a rare thing. And he also didn’t have much experience with mortals outside of his and his friends’ family, but even he had some sort of common sense, contrary to popular belief.
At Percy’s silence, Milly cleared his throat. “Well, it’s just, you’re the kind of model I want to reference. No homo, but you’re a really hot guy.”
Percy gave him a look the other demigods at camp nicknamed his ‘wolf stare’, a combination of suspicion, imminent threat of harm, and analysis. He’d worked very hard on it, although his natural resting face was partially doing some of the work courtesy of his dad. Though his good looks came more from his mom than Poseidon, in Percy’s opinion, despite everyone telling him he looked just like his old man, but don’t tell him that.
Mortals were weird, was the inevitable and usual conclusion of his analysis. Percy wasn’t always good at math, scratch, never good at math. But something wasn’t adding up. Not that he was opposed to being gay, he discovered he liked boys a bit more than girls only a couple years ago. But Milly’s sudden bounciness? No that’s not right, it’s like he’s airy and floating.
He let out another tired sigh. “Sure, just get it over with.” Milly was oddly specific with the types of shots and poses he wanted Percy to do, making sure to get all kinds of angles of Percy in plaid and jeans. Riveting content, but whatever gets the dude out of his hair.
Over the course of the next two weeks, Milly came back to the dorm with more seemingly normal but definitely expensive clothes. Percy’s eyes popped out of his skull when he saw the labels in the back and looking at their prices online. Burberry, Hermes (he’s probably laughing at him right now), Louis Vuitton, so many more luxury brands on normal looking shirts Percy could find in a clearance bin for 1/100th of the price for the same effect. Then a few times Milly brought pants, but Percy had to draw a clear line when he brought over the latest garment.
“Dude, I am not putting on random boxers. This is getting to a point, man. I know I’m not that smart but this is just dumb.” They were a light sky blue, with a lot of allowance in the front. On some level, he was flattered he thought Percy’s size was that, but the overwhelming feeling was, “like what the fuck? I’ve tolerated it because you’re my roommate and I don’t want any drama, but this is really weird… wait, I’ve seen those in the laundry room before- have you been stealing all this shit? Oh my FUCKING–”
Percy barreled his way past a fumbling Milly, too flustered to say anything back. Savior of Olympus, child of the prophecy, and all that bullshit just to be dealt this horseshit? He nearly knocked the stranger he walked into down the stairs if it weren’t for the guy’s lightning fast reflexes as he caught Percy by the shoulders before he could make impact. Holy my dad, this guy’s strong! “S-Sorry, I’m so sorry my guy, but do you think you could let go? I can tell you hit the gym but Jesus your hands are… wow.”
Poor ol’ Percy made the mistake of looking up at the man who caught him and immediately losing his breath. For one, he was so tall. Percy was usually the tallest guy in the room barring Chiron in full horse mode at a nice six foot and a half, but this guy was at least two or three inches taller, maybe more. He’s never had to look up at another person apart from the gods. And speaking of which, they truly sculpted a perfect one because this guy was hot. He was like those Roman statues, sharp angles and lines with his cheekbones and jawline, that perfect nose that’d make plastic surgeons only dream of replicating.
But he still had a boyish vibe that softened him up so instead of an intimidating statue, he was an intimidatingly handsome model who would fit right in as the poster boy for a military campaign or an Abercrombie & Fitch or American Eagle line. Definitely both. Like if a Roman statue and a blonde Clark Kent had a baby, with his hair being cut short but clearly growing out and swept across cleanly. Not to mention the slight scar on the edge of his lips, clearly old and faded but eye-catching.
But what caught Percy’s attention the most were his eyes, a bright, vibrant blue, like a cloudless sunny sky reflecting onto a lake. They were framed by a pair of black-rimmed, rectangular glasses. Not quite as chunky as the fake ones Milly brought him, but still nerdy. He wore a purple T-shirt under a black button-up with the sleeves rolled up, the buttons only done halfway up his built torso (“goddamn”, Percy thought), revealing the tops of four gold letters he couldn’t quite guess what they spelled or stood for. The hottie stranger stood there, awkwardly coughing into his hand, the other fiddling with something in his jeans.
Oh no. He was Percy’s complete type. Blonde, smart-looking, and could definitely fold him in half and he’d thank him for it. And oh no, the guy was waiting for him to say something because Percy definitely blocked out whatever he just said. “Oh uh, sorry, uh- I was…” Get it together Jackson! “Sorry, my brain’s panicking, I was about to report my creep ass roommate for probably stealing some guy’s underwear from the laundry room for his probably fetish? Why do I always get caught up in weird shit-”
On a second glance, while the guy was seeming to look awkward, the gaze of his eyes was completely different. It made Percy shiver, not entirely sure in a good or bad way. His pale eyebrows furrowed, the faint, almost imperceptible creases in the set of his face made Percy’s stomach turn and heart beat a little faster, his breathing a bit shallower with a sudden sharp charge in the air. It felt like he was on board an airplane, like back when he was a rookie demigod on his first quest. Maybe this was a real wolf stare… was he a demigod? He’s never seen him in camp before. But something about him was familiar, especially his eyes. He parsed through his brain, but all he could conclude was that he’s never met Miley Cyrus in real life before.
“You mean the underwear you’re holding in your hand?” The guy pointed to Percy’s waving hand in the air.
He jumped, cold sweat startling his body as he burned red. “Shit, fuck, I can’t believe I have to deal with this right now. Fuck I- I’ll just get going-”
Percy almost jumped out of his skin when he put his hand on his shoulders again. It felt like a static charge pulsed through him. He caught the stranger’s eyes again, now softer looking. “I’m really sorry if I made you feel scared. But I’ll join you, if you don’t mind, because I’ve been looking for that pair.”
“Wait, these are yours?”
He chuckled, deep in his chest like distant rumbling thunder. “I’ve been noticing some of my stuff’s gone missing every time I get my laundry back, but I thought I was going insane.”
“Holy shit, OK follow me,” he shoved the pair of undies into the dude’s chest, accidentally feeling up his muscles a little. He played it off by shaking his hands to dust them off from whatever particles are in the underwear now. “We’re going to find the RA, I really did not want to deal with this bullshit this late, nor did I think I’d experience a nightmare roommate immediately.”
The blonde stuffed the underwear into the pocket he didn’t have his hand in before, catching up with Percy pretty easily with his long legs. “My name’s Jason, what’s yours? I have a feeling we’ll be stuck together for a while for questioning.”
“Percy, full name’s Perseus, y’know like the Greek dude who killed Medusa and all. But I prefer Percy. I’d really have liked to meet in better circumstances, but here we are-”
“Wait up!” A panting voice called down the hall. Percy grumbled, finding himself looking at Milly. “Percy, I can’t believe my luck! You know Jason Grace! Why didn’t you tell me sooner!” Jason frowned when Milly grabbed Percy by arms.
“Why the hell would I tell you? I don’t know you! And I also just met the guy, what is your problem man?” Percy snarled, ripping his hands away.
“He’s the most perfect thing I’ve ever seen! Don’t you see it too? The nerdy look is top tier! And it’s Jason Grace- the Jason Grace, the son of-”
“What the hell are you boys doing that warrants making that much noise?” Their RA stumbled out of their room with a toothbrush in their mouth and dressed in PJ’s, the uniform of every burned out senior. He was a mess of untamed brown curls and fading tattoos.
“Theo, I need to make a police report, campus security, anything! My roommate is a fucking stalker-thief! He’s been stealing Jason’s clothes for the past few weeks and he’s trying to get me to wear it all to fulfill his weird fetish shit-”
Jason choked. “He made you what.”
“Because you were the closest thing to him! Don’t you see it? The hot, hunky guy you get to unwrap from underneath the frumpy yet cute and endearing unfashionable fashion, the kind you-”
“Who are you calling unfashionable?” Jason cut in, but Milly continued his tirade.
“-only get to see because he only shows that side to you. You get the ultimate package of the innocent virgin geeky nerd and a sex god, you get to corrupt and defile him until-” Percy socked him across the face as he reached for Jason’s face, unfortunately making Milly stumble and knock Jason’s glasses off and stepping on them with a crack as he crumpled to the ground.
“You fucking creep, don’t fucking talk about people like they’re your sex toys. I can’t believe I-” Jason caught Percy’s arm before he could swing again.
“That’s enough Percy, we don’t need to waste our time on this thing. Theo?”
They turned to their RA, who pointed his toothbrush at them. “Yeah, this was totally worth interrupting my Netflix binge for. Nice right hook my guy. I’ve already called campus security, they’re heading over now. I’ll deal with him, you two take a breather.”
Before Percy could kick the creep who’s already down, Jason pulled him away, the adrenaline and anger and shame muffling his senses until Jason snapped his fingers in front of his face to get his attention. “Which one do you want?”
They were outside the dormitory building at the vending machine. The midnight chill washed over Percy. “Sorry, um, the blueberry one.” Jason handed him a plastic wrapped donut thingy.
“Thanks for doing that for me. I wanted to beat him up, but you beat me to it.” Jason mimed a ba dum tss with his palms on his thighs.
“Lame,” Percy laughed as Jason flicked his forehead. “But that was more for me honestly. I’ve uh, been through a lot of schools because of ‘misbehavior’ and I was always the receiving end of all the fallout, so when he was getting me to do all that, I didn’t want to start something that’d end up with me ruining my academic career even more and disappoint my mom. I didn’t think I’d make it- I mean, I didn’t think I’d get to a point to go to college y’know.”
“I sure get that feeling. Well, not the student delinquency stuff, but the college part.”
“Yeah, you really look like a goody-two-shoes nerd. I think leaving the classroom without raising your hand for permission really took a lot out of you poor little baby.” He certainly did not resemble a stereotypically fragile nerd nor was he a freak muscle-baby.
Jason rolled his eyes. “OK I made the mistake of asking once on my first day, but after that I never did it again.”
“I fucking knew it-” He choked on his bite of the donut thing, flipping off Jason as he pretended to keel over laughing. “Shut up. Also I’m sorry about your glasses. I know how expensive they can get. They looked nice… can you even see me?”
He rolled his eyes again. “I’m nearsighted, not blind. And you look nice.”
Percy flushed, pretending to cough from the donut thing.
“But really, I think I was gonna have to start putting a lock on the laundry room door while my stuff’s in there. I plan out my outfits to make it easier and it put a real damper on my plans when I couldn’t find where I put my shirts.”
“Of course you’re the type to plan outfits,” Percy smirked. “But for a guy who only wears like the same thing anyway, why do you have luxury designer brand stuff? I think you could pay for my tuition with just the shit that was stolen.”
It was Jason’s turn to turn red, brightening up his pale skin. “Oh, my family is a bit… overbearing. They already didn’t like me moving all the way out here to go to college and they wouldn’t let any son of theirs wear anything but the best, more or less. But I needed to get out and away… didn’t feel like I knew myself.”
“Yeah I could tell from your accent you aren’t from New York. Lemme guess, California?”
“San Francisco, yeah. And you’re definitely a native. Ey, I’m walking ‘ere!”
Percy lightly kicked his shin. “I’ve literally never met anyone who sounds like that.”
“Doing that to a New Yorker was on my bucket list. Thanks man.”
“I was gonna praise San Francisco, but now I’m not,” he huffed, “your loss Grace-” he stopped himself. Grace?
Jason didn’t seem to notice, or ignored his loud thoughts on his face. “Eh, I don’t really like the place either. I mean it looks nice, but I just didn’t have the best time growing up there.”
Percy thought back to that ill-fated quest that led them to San Francisco, atop Mount Tamalpais. He balled his fists, keeping down the memories, then running a hand through his hair to feel for something no longer there, but then he stopped. “Do you… have a sister?”
Jason paled even more. “Um… I think I had one. My memory’s pretty fuzzy, I was adopted when I was two years-old and by that point my sister wasn’t in my life anymore. I don’t know what happened- I tried looking for her when I got older but I came up with nothing. I don’t even really remember her name so you can imagine the trail went dead there.”
Percy winced. “Ooh, yikes. Sorry dude, I didn’t mean to- it’s just I also know someone whose last name is also Grace, but she looks nothing like you. Like she’s all goth and emo, and short, and you’re a hunky nerd.”
“So do I need to worry about you too?” Jason winked.
“I am not stealing your shit. It’s not even my style, it’ll make me look like a poser.” Percy twirled a finger and pointed up, and used his other hand to push an imaginary pair of glasses up his nose. “But erm, well actually, it suits you though, you big nerd.”
They laughed together, enjoying the other’s presence as the night wind breezed between them. Percy shivered again, prompting Jason to unbutton the black shirt over him and lay it over Percy. “For someone who lives up in New York, you sure aren’t used to the weather huh.” Jason swiped his hand off Percy’s shoulder, palm flat and straight. The night chill seemed to have slowed down a bit.
“Shut up, you dragged me out here while I’m just in a T-shirt.” Percy rubbed his arms.
“I run pretty warm, so you can hold my hand if you want my fair lady,” the corners of his mouth curved up into a shit-eating grin as he held out his hand.
“Yeah yeah, my savior gentlemen…” He ignored how Jason’s smirk grew as he actually took his hand. He was actually warm even in this weather without being sweaty. He was jealous. Percy’s eyes lowered to the letters on Jason’s shirt. It read SPQR, framed by a golden laurel. “Nice shirt, where’d you get it? The museum?”
Jason’s hand briefly froze in his. “Oh yeah, y’know, big nerd and all that.”
“Checks out.” They held eye contact for a fair bit too long, but Percy didn’t mind. He didn’t want it to stop. Jason didn’t seem like he wanted it to either. He was still holding Jason’s hand, absorbing his heat. His hands were big, Percy had big hands but Jason could knock him out cold if he wanted. They were nice to hold, even with the callouses he felt. They kinda made it better.
“We should probably head back inside, otherwise we’ll get locked out. What time is it?” Jason’s warm blue gaze never left Percy’s.
Percy, making a very small whining sound at the moment stopping (and he could’ve sworn Jason tilt his head very slightly and smile as if he heard it), got his Leo-custom made phone out. “It’s almost two AM. We could’ve slept out on the sidewalk tonight but you just had to ruin it, Grace.”
Jason suddenly grabbed Percy’s hand and squeezed it tightly, almost making Percy drop his phone.
“Fuck you, asshat. Lemme get your number so I can report you for that,” he pulled up his contacts for Jason. Once he was done, Percy sent a text, wassup nerd.
Jason’s phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled out the most ancient looking flip-phone. “Dude, what kind of rich kid are you? You wear designer shit and have a Nokia?”
Jason pouted, looking like a puppy denied a treat. “Well I’m not rotting my brain with the TokTiks- TikToks, whatever! Stop laughing. But the real reason is because… it’s harder for my family to keep tabs on me. There’s only so much you can put on something this jank before it explodes, y’know?”
“By the way, I forgot to ask, but what are you gonna do with the stuff he stole?”
“Burning it. I don’t think I could ever wash away the sins of that bastard.”
“Woah dude, let me sell that shit first. I’m not the one who wipes his ass with dollar bills here.” Percy shoved lightly at Jason’s chest. Jason sent a reply back. I’m going to push you off a building and make it look like an accident. “Aww, babe! That’s my dream date!” Percy batted his eyelashes at Jason, but internally, falling from a huge height was up there with his fear of airplanes. Anything in Zeus’s domain gave him the heebie-jeebies.
“I’ll make it a reality very soon. And we can burn it all together, or sell it. But for tonight, I’ll walk you back home,” he held out his arm, looking quite pleased with himself.
“My dream date, a guy with his stolen undies in his pocket. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted,” both of them broke into huge smiles. When they got back to their floor, Percy’s room was closer so he got dropped off first. “Oh, Jason, your shirt.”
Jason blinked. “Oh, you can keep it. It’ll keep you warm, and I’d rather lose a shirt to someone I know and trust as opposed to a stalker.”
Percy wrapped it a little tighter around him. “Anything that forces you to branch out. I’ll treasure it like nothing else. Good night Jason.”
“Good night Percy. Sweet dreams.”
. . .
“Wait, Jason Grace? We have a gen ed class together.” Piper turned to Leo.
“Yeah, Jason’s my man bro. He does all the work for us- well, the writing part of the group assignments. We’re the idea guys.” Leo made finger guns.
“Grace? Does he know Thalia?” Annabeth cut in.
“I asked, doesn’t seem to know her,” Percy sighed.
Piper made a timeout gesture. “Wait, if you two were flirting so hard like that-”
“We were not flirting!” Percy blushed.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night. I’m a daughter of Aphrodite but also not stupid. I can tell even without being there to see it. But if you two were getting along so well, why do you think he hates you now? Like if you’re now roommates and bonded over your shared trauma, what did you do?”
Percy put his hands behind his neck, leaning his head back. “Long story.”
Leo finished with his welding project. Annabeth frowned. “A metal Rubik’s cube?”
“Yeah they exist but for this one, depending on how fast you solve it, it’ll vary the celebration fanfare it does. I just need to paint the colors and magnetize it.”
“Guys, off topic. Percy, we have all day, that’s why we’re sitting here. Spill.” Piper crossed her arms.
Percy sighed, closing his eyes. “Alright,” he slowly opened them and froze. Jason Grace was looking at him from across the courtyard. Even from here, he could feel the weight of his icy blue glare. “Holy shit, how did he find me? Guys, meet me at the usual spot in half an hour.”
"Percy, I love you so much, but I really worry about you sometimes," Annabeth sighed.