Chapter Text
"I was thinking about changing my name," dropped Jason casually as he drove. He was on a road trip with Percy and Nico, heading to Cancun for Frank's bachelor party. Despite large protests that he could merely shadow travel them, the other two Big three sons managed to break down his spirit. Percy sat happily in the passenger seat, while Nico scrolled his phone, unamused, in the back.
"Finally realized it's hypocritical to be named Grace when you possess the dancing ability of a dead boar?," scathed Nico without looking up.
"Good one," Jason said as he rolled his eyes. "I mean, it's not like I ever really was a Grace besides in name. I barely remember living with my family, and it's not like my mother's name is one I wear with pride."
Percy contemplated before offering a counter point to his best friend.
"That's true, but by keeping it, you're also sort of reclaiming it and giving that name a new legacy."
"I thought about that," the blonde admitted. "But Thalia's already done that. I don't feel the need to be attached to it anymore."
Nico barely lifted an eyebrow, maintaining his veil of feigning disinterest, before muttering "makes sense" and checking back out.
"So what would you new name be?"
"I haven't decided yet," Jason confirmed.
"Ooh," Percy jumped in with excitement, "so we can brainstorm!"
"What if you dropped the last name totally like the original Greek Jason, or Cher?," deadpanned Nico.
"That guy definitely had a last name," mused Percy.
"I think I'm no Cher and, wait-- Percy, tell me you know that Jason the Argonaut did not have a last name?"
"I'm absolutely sure he did," smiled the surfer.
Now, Nico and Jason both looked aghast at their friend and began to reprimand him.
"Are you that fucking dense?,"
"I'm not so sure about that babe," answered the two, with Nico in harsh shock and Jason more worried about his friend's education.
"I think it was like Rodgers or something...," said Percy, drifting his eyes up like he was trying to remember the name of a friend from high school.
"Rodgers? You think the Greek hero Jason's full name in ancient Greece was Jason Rodgers?," fumed Nico.
"Maybe? Aren't last names like that usually jobs? Like carpenter or taylor? Maybe it's like that. I'm sure they used to rodge in ancient Greece."
Nico didn't realize he had begun stressfully pulled on the roots of his hair as the jokester in the passenger seat wound him up.
"That's in English! And rodging isn't a thing!"
"I'm pretty sure," Percy said, taking a long, loud slurp through the straw of his soda just to aggravate the shorter man, "rodging is a thing."
The Italian just ranted off a list of swears at the other while Percy and Jason laughed and calmed down. For the next hour of the drive, they tossed out names back and forth trying to decide what would best suit Jason based on his life so far.
"Jason Roman?"
"That sounds like a porn star."
"Jason Franklin?"
"That sounds like a grandpa!"
"Jason Vasquez?"
"I don't think that's very woke."
Finally, Nico's eyes glimmered with the mischievous idea only a younger brother could have.
"What about Jackson?"
Jason nearly destroyed the car's engine forgetting for a moment that he was operating a motor vehicle as he reacted to the idea.
"Uhh, uhh, I don't know. Percy's already got that one," said a blushing Jason sheepishly. But unfortunately for him, the easily excitable man to his right had already notched the idea into his mind, and it was taking hold.
"I mean, it makes sense if you think about it," he smiled innocently, "you are like family to me Jace. And my mom and Paul and Estelle definitely agree. I think you'd be a great Jackson!"
Nico smirked and watched the tone on Jason's face sink to a deep scarlet, somehow slipping past the distracted Percy, who was already ten steps ahead.
"I mean, you're definitely family to me too, but it's a big ask."
"It's so not," Percy pushed back. "I literally don't have to do anything and nothing else changes."
Despite his best efforts at remaining rational and objective, the sweat collecting under Jason's palms on the wheels said otherwise. The puppy dog eyes looking over at him weren't helping either.
"Jason Jackson," he said slowly. The words felt somewhat marbly in his mouth. He had been very cautious before to never allow himself the perverse pleasure of slipping those words off of his tongue, even in the dark, alone, at night when they itched all over his brain like a set of monograms.
"Jason Jackson," Percy repeated with an ear-to-ear grin. "Jason Jackson, Jason Jackson, Jason Jackson, say that five times fast."
"That was only three," scoffed Nico.
"Nuh-uh it was five!," snarked back Percy.
"Three!"
"Five!"
"Are you sure you two aren't brothers?," teased Jason lovingly.
"No," shouted both men at once.
"But you are now, Jason," Nico added.
"Okay, one, I haven't even decided. And two, taking Percy's last name does not make us brothers."
"Yeah, we've made out way too many times to be brothers," said Percy casually. This time it was Nico's turn to blush along with Jason, whose face had plunged back into the shade of a schoolyard kickball.
"Only drunk!," he stammered to correct, while Percy just shrugged and carried on.
"Whatever you say, Jason Jackson."
"It does admittedly sound pretty good," acquiesced Nico.
"I don't...hate it," said Jason with measure, selecting his words to white lie about how he felt about the name.
"Wait, what's your middle name though?," asked Percy with a sudden seriousness, as though tragedy could strike if it didn't fit well.
"I never had one," shrugged Jason. "Lupa isn't big on names I guess. For a long time, I actually thought my name was this kind of snarl noise the wolves made--"
He cut himself off when he realized the other two were staring at him in horror.
"You Romans are fucked up," said Nico definitively.
"Well even better then," said Percy. "Now you can pick that too. What goes well with Jason Jackson?"
"Try some family names on for size, since you're in the family now," Nico chuckled, throwing more fuel onto the fire lighting Jason's skin tone.
"Jason Percy Jackson? JP Jackson?," volunteered Percy.
"I'm not taking your entire name, Perce," protested Jason. "It's not a bad name, but I'm not also going to be Percy Jackson."
"JP Jackson!"
"It's a cute name, but not for me," he settled.
"Fine," Percy relented, "we can save that one for kids."
Nico choked on his water for a moment before catching his breath.
"Everyone in this family is insane," he mumbled.
"Oh, so you're in the family too? Nico Jackson?"
"I'm so in the family," Nico nodded, "I'm the stray dog they took in. For now. But if you think I'm giving up the last name di Angelo, you're crazy."
"Not even for Leo? Mr. Nico Valdez?," cooed Percy with teasing motions. Nico just rolled his eyes.
"First of all, I could do that and it would still be woke. But we already agreed to use my name in exchange for him getting to name the dogs after Batman characters. When I found out what Batman was, I was pissed."
"Let's focus on the name at hand," redirected Jason. "Do I really need a middle name?"
"It feels a bit diva to not have one," pondered Percy.
"Way diva," said Nico, back to scrolling.
"I can't believe Nico Valdez just called me way diva," bemoaned Jason.
"di Angelo!,"
"Whatever," moved Percy. "We still need a middle name. Who's someone who inspires you, or a name that makes you feel wow?"
Jason thought about the question and sheepishly had an answer.
"What about Edison? The inventor. I remember reading books about him in the library at New Rome and just really feeling inspired to do something big. Not even invent, but just be somebody, in the senate, in the world."
"Jason Edison Jackson," said Percy slowly out loud as Jason waited for reaction with bated breath.
"Jason Edison Jackson," Jason finally said himself, affirming it.
"Lovely to meet you, Jason Edison Jackson," said Percy, holding out a firm and loving hand and shaking it as Jason beamed bright red.
"Hi, I'm Nico," said the sarcastic younger man as he answered some texts, "I don't really need any new friends."