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Percy had only been going to feed a hungry Stormy.
According to Grover, who was typically right on all things animal, Stormy was about to start chewing the coffee table legs if she didn't get fed. That coffee table was the landlords and, considering Percy would really appreciate the security deposit back, he'd resigned himself to dinner duty.
Honestly, she ran the apartment and she'd only been in it three months.
Her paws padded across the wooden hallway, her nails clipping slightly as she followed him. Even if her still puppy brain hadn't grasped the concept of no chewing the coffee table it had captured the word dinner. Percy couldn't blame her. If he was in her paws he'd have done the same.
Also, she was cute and Percy's heart caved into Stormy's wide eyes the same way it did to Estelle's.
Just as Percy went to push open the door that lead to the kitchen, the noise of his friends and the general party energy behind him with Stormy hot at his heals he paused. Someone was already in there.
"-you mean?"
Jason.
“The others think it too,” Percy heard Piper's voice respond. Okay, well that at least explained where they'd both got to. “But if we’re wrong I’m sure you two can talk it out.”
Huh? Just what had he nearly walked into? It was clearly private, Percy wasn't meant to overhear and he knew he should turn around and make Stormy wait (rest in peace security deposit). Although, at the same time his feet wouldn't move. Something was telling him that he needed to hear whatever Jason and Piper had to say.
“We don’t need to talk it out,” Jason replied. “Percy and I are fine.”
Oh gods… this was about him.
Just what was going on?
“But what about your own happiness? You deserve that chance, Jace.”
Piper’s voice sounded so soft and so certain and Percy agreed with her. Whatever was upsetting Jason, something he hadn't disclosed with Percy yet had with Piper, a fact that set a bitter feeling inside Percy's chest he pushed out, he knew they would work it through. They'd worked out everything else until this moment. Apollo's trails, Jason getting so close to meeting Thanatos it still woke Percy up in a cold sweat, the other nightmares, apartment and job hunting, the list could go on.
“Tell him Jason," Piper continued. "I think you’d be in for a pleasant surprise at what his reply would be.”
“I already know what his reply would be, Piper," the irritation in Jason's voice clear. "That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”
Percy only realised he had opened the door when he was already two steps in. The door clicked closed behind him with a loud thud and time slowed around him, both blue and kaleidoscope staring in his direction, eyes wide as if Percy had just caught them doing something illegal.
“Woof!”
Stormy's impatient bark broke the spell.
“Sorry!” Percy exclaimed, hurriedly finding his words. “I didn’t mean to barge in. Stormy's getting impatient.”
“She gets that from you,” Jason grumbled back and Percy let out a short laugh.
Piper clapped her hands together. “I was done here anyway, I’m going back to the others,” she announced then flitted out the kitchen before either Percy or Jason could respond.
Silence fell over the two of them other than the muffled noise of their friends in the other room. Percy wasn't sure if he should ask, he wanted to with the way it itched under his skin. Instead he busied himself with preparing Stormy's dinner, the actions in his muscle memory and not needing much thought other than not standing on her as she hovered and weaved around his legs. As he leant down to let her lick the spoon he froze.
“Did you overhear what we were talking about?” Jason asked.
Percy spun around, spoon still in hand, and stared at Jason. His cheeks were flushed with a tint of pink, eyes not focused as he looked somewhere beyond Percy. Nervous, embarrassed, not two emotions Percy saw on Jason's face often. Just what had they been talking about?
“Not really. I only got the end of it,” he replied.
“Woof!”
“Fine, fine,” Percy leant back down. “Here have the spoon, you needy thing.”
Jason sniggered and Percy smiled to himself as Stormy began to lick the spoon clean. Stormy was good at that, calming Jason’s anxieties and worries. Percy was pretty sure it was some side effect of Jason spending his formative years with Lupa and a wolf pack but he'd remained quiet on the matter. He didn't want to break the spell by making Jason aware of it or, if he was, that Percy had clocked onto it too.
“She suggested I tell you how I feel," Jason sighed. "Apparently it’s obvious to the others.”
That time, when Percy looked up, he kept the spoon low. Jason was looking his way, arms crossed over his chest and butt against the countertop. One of those looks, the ones he'd seen Jason pull out when he thought no one was looking at him in Senate meetings rested on his face. It read 'I'm surrounded by idiots' and Percy would have to bite his cheek to stop himself from giggling mid meeting.
“I sure hope it's obvious to the others,” Percy replied.
Jason groaned, his head falling backwards. “Percy, you’re missing the point." Percy saw blue again as Jason's head dropped back down. "She thinks we’re not together. They all do.”
The spoon fell to the floor with a clatter causing Stormy to jump backwards in alarm.
"But- but," Percy stammered as he tried to process the new information. "Dude, we live together," metal scrapped against tiles as Stormy went after the fallen spoon, "for Hades sake we even have a dog together. I thought they'd got the idea?"
Jason shrugged his shoulders.
"Even Piper?" Percy continued. "I thought her Aphrodite powers made her more in tune to this kind of thing."
"Even Piper."
Percy slumped his shoulders. "And they say I'm oblivious."
Jason moved around him, picking up Stormy's bowl from the counter and bending down, distracting her with her actual dinner so he could rescue the spoon. It dropped in the sink with a small clatter and then Percy found weight on each side of his hips.
He was still bitter that Jason was a couple inches taller than him, a fact Jason had no problem reminding Percy about on a regular basis.
Lips pressed against his, so short and sweet Percy barely had the time to respond before Jason pulled away.
"You're not that oblivious," Jason said, small smile curving the little scar that intercepted it. "You picked up on my feelings."
"Dude, you got hard while you stared at my dick in the New Rome baths, you made it pretty clear," Percy lightly teased back, smile of his own matching Jason's.
Jason pouted and Percy pressed another kiss against him, running a free hand into the long since grown out hairs on the back of Jason's neck and pulling him closer. The metal of Jason's glasses dug into his face but Percy had got so used to it that it was barely a bother.
How the others hadn't noticed, Percy didn't know. It wasn't as if he didn't speak about his boyfriend, he came up in about every conversation Percy had to the point he was overly aware of such fact and had to try and limit himself. Sure, they weren't big on PDA, mostly because Percy respected Jason's boundaries, yet had not even Grover, an empathy link buzzing between the two of them, noticed that Percy's heart fluttered in the direction of Jason Grace?
Pressure hooked around his legs before he found himself lifted by the back of the thighs and deposited onto the countertop. Lips found his again and Percy's hand gripped the back of Jason's hair with a swallowed, combined groan.
He could drown in Jason's mouth, stay in that exact spot for the rest of the evening, let his friends find out the status of his relationship by them discovering them intertwined into one person. It was tempting. One of them would walk in eventually, see them like this and realise they were on the right track but the wrong conclusion.
Although…
A light bulb clicked in Percy's mind and he broke apart from Jason only enough to mutter against his lips, "Bro, I've got a plan."
Now Percy would admit he'd had some questionable plans over the years but, as he wandered back into his and Jason's living room, he was feeling quite confident. Really, it served his so-called-friends right for not realising he'd had a boyfriend for the past eight months. Of course Percy was going to have some fun with that. Who wouldn't?
Even better that he'd got Jason onto it with only some light persuasion of many kisses and a promise to go down on him later (that Percy would have done anyway but Jason didn't need to know that).
Stormy bounded past him, running into the crowded space and picking her next victim to demand attention from who so happened to be Piper.
Leo whined. "Why won't she do that to me?" he pouted.
"I'm sure if you laid down on your side Piper would give you a belly rub too," Percy teased.
The room burst into various sounds of amusement as Leo's face turned a similar shade of red to his t-shirt, a protest on his lips and his hands waving out in front of him in an attempt to help his case. It didn't, Hazel prodding her own tease in Leo's direction and setting him off again.
In fear of sounding as if he were ancient instead of nearly twenty-four, which already made Percy feel old, at least in Greek demigod prophesied to die at sixteen terms, the sight of their living room full of life, of friends that had survived, brought a smile to Percy's face.
He just wished Thalia and Reyna could have made it considering what they'd all gathered to celebrate. Percy hadn't quite forgotten Jason's downcast face, turned in body language and the cuddle session that had followed after the letter to say they wouldn't make his birthday had come through.
Percy plonked himself down between Annabeth and Grover on the floor, only spilling a small amount of his drink as he did so that he hovered in the air to prevent it hitting the floor. He felt eyes on him, searched those sky blues out like a moth towards a light and when he found them he smiled.
The shirt, one new and a dusty blue, fit tight across Jason's frame and Percy had already imagined what it would be like to undo the buttons later probably five separate times. Jason's lip separated as he brought his cup to his mouth and Percy, even though it was a common sight in his day-to-day life couldn't remove himself from the way Jason's throat bobbed as he swallowed.
Conversation and a board game buzzed around him, one he only noticed after Jason had set his cup down. Although, he barely got to figuring out which of Jason's board games it was before a vibration from his pocket froze Percy's movements.
Huh?
With one accidental knee in Annabeth's thigh, Percy squinted down at the demigod safe phone Leo had invented. Then, in a moment of silence and question directed towards Jason, Percy asked, "Bro, my mom's asking if that sushi restaurant you like is okay for tomorrow?"
"Are you alright with it?" the concern and thought in Jason's voice wiggling into Percy's chest.
"Yeah, I can eat the noodles instead," Percy shrugged as he typed a response to his mom.
Over the years being able to talk to sea creatures Percy had begun to develop a mental sympathy towards them, one he felt silly admitting to yet Jason accommodated for each time without a fuss or question. It was maybe silly such a small thing made butterflies flutter inside Percy's chest but he'd never get over just how good of a person Jason was; after all, it was one of the things that had made Percy fall for him in the first place.
He just couldn't bring himself to eat them anymore, his mind putting names, voices and personalities to them without his permission. No wonder Grover was a vegetarian. Percy was simply glad he couldn't talk to cows as he'd spend his life yearning for and mourning a good cheese burger, fries and milkshake combo.
Hmm yeah they should order dinner soon.
"You two are going out with Percy's parents tomorrow?" Hazel asked, leaning her weight forwards.
Percy hadn't even tried with that one and he kept his smirk at bay as he replied, "Yeah, my mom and Paul insisted for Jay's birthday. Swear to the Gods he's Paul's favourite."
"No I'm not," Jason protested.
"You are. Whenever I visit without you it's always-" Percy put on an impression of his step dad- "Jason not with you? I wanted to ask him about insert niche Roman history topic here. Tell him to come over next time."
Jason flushed a shade of pink, Percy tempted to cross the room and kiss the pretty blush but he held himself back. Annabeth's grey eyes were already trained to the side of Percy's head, clearly attempting to figure him out between his words.
Honestly, it warmed Percy's entire being to see how easy Jason had been essentially adopted by all but legalities into his family dynamic. The first morning he'd woken up to find Jason and Paul at the kitchen table, empty mugs between the two of them and in such a deep conversation neither had noticed not just Percy but also Sally and Estelle were watching them, something had clicked within Percy that Jason belonged with them and Percy wanted to hold onto that forever.
"Jason is Stormy's favourite dad though," Grover stated from beside him. "No offence dude."
As if Stormy were listening she moved and plonked herself down in front of Jason's legs on the floor.
She was perfect, found by Mrs. O'Leary in the midst of a storm from where she'd got her name. The shelter vet had predicted her to be a Husky crossed with some mystery breed and around two and a half months old. No collar, no microchip, just a large ball of dirty fluff that from the moment Jason's eyes had landed on her Percy knew she wasn't remaining behind at the shelter.
He'd never seen Jason warm up to something so quick, a bond instantly settling between them. Sometimes he'd look at the two of them, as he were in that moment, and picture that same loving stare on Jason's face directed down at their future child. He knew biology but Percy couldn't help but imagine how their features would combine. Would they have blond or black hair? Would they inherit Percy's freckles? Which powers would they gain from each of them?
Gods, he was getting carried away.
Percy nodded at Grover. "She kicks me out of bed for the sake of him, trust me I know." Jason leant down and smiled as Stormy lifted her head for a scratch behind the ears and Percy's chest warmed at the sight. "I can't be mad."
"I thought Jason was sleeping in the spare room?" came Annabeth's question.
"He's not using it," Nico butted in, eyes not moving from the board in front of him.
Annabeth's eyes narrowed in Nico's direction. "What do you mean by that?"
Nico said nothing, simply lifted his eyes and stared past Annabeth's shoulder then onto Percy, brows raised in a way Percy knew he was faking his nonchalant exterior. If anyone had the ability to ruin Percy's fun it was Nico, the guy dropping in unannounced through a shadow last month and discovering them shirtless but thankfully still wearing trousers even if Percy had been half-way there on undoing Jason's at the time.
Jason had been mortified, Nico had given a great startled deer impression and since Nico had learnt to shadow travel outside of the apartment and knock on the front door. Better for all of them that way.
"We share," Percy commented, purposefully placing new evidence into the room of hungry wolves. "Have been for a while now."
"He still drools in his sleep."
"Hey! Dude! I don't!"
As Percy ripped off his sock, throwing it in Jason's direction, he caught the looks passed between girls and mouthed, silent words that were no doubt about himself and Jason. If they were putting the pieces together, getting slowly closer to the answer, then Percy wouldn't be surprised. Out of everyone in the room, Annabeth, Grover or Piper would be his first bets. Piper nudged Leo, whispering something in his ear that only mildly made Percy concerned until his attention was stolen by Stormy plonking his now damp sock onto his lap.
"You started it," Jason commented, looking awfully smug about that fact.
Percy sighed and threw his sock back across the living room, Stormy cashing after it with haste. Even fetch doesn't pause for birthday celebrations.
Dinner passed and with it so did some of his friends alcohol tolerance from tipsy to actually drunk. Percy could hear them through the kitchen door as someone (most likely Grover) had suggested karaoke and now he was being subjected to his friends wonderful, lovely drunk singing. Apollo's Muses were probably crying up on Olympus. He wasn't to get distracted though, all his focus needed to finish Jason's cake. It needed to be perfect. Jason had missed out on too many birthdays and birthday cakes for it to not be.
Also, it was Jason's first birthday with Percy as his boyfriend so he needed to impress.
Percy continued to pipe icing onto Jason's cake when noise flooded the kitchen as the door opened. It was blue, of course, but a softer, pale blue compared to the usual brightness Percy put into his baking.
Socked feet padded the floor before hands snaked around his waist from behind, chin coming to rest on his shoulder with a sigh and Percy paused his icing to take one of Jason's hands in his own.
"You okay, dude?" Percy asked, voice quiet.
Jason hummed then mumbled, "Leo's trying to start a drinking game."
"Typical Leo behaviour after a few too many drinks. I'm not even surprised."
That generated a chuckle from Jason. "Do you think anyone knows yet?"
"I think Annabeth is close," Percy admitted. "She knows I don't like sharing beds or rooms with people after-" that word, the name of down below, got stuck in his throat and Jason's arms hugged him tighter.
How his friends hadn't seen this between them, that sometimes it felt as if there was a string connecting them to each other and that Jason Grace had been who Percy had spent his life searching for, Percy did not know.
"Piper probably is too," Jason spoke. "Hazel and Frank have started sharing looks with Nico so I doubt it won't be long until they figure it out."
Percy placed the piping bag down, spinning himself in Jason's hold and running his hands across Jason's spine. He'd always been beautiful to Percy, even before Percy had realised he also liked guys a couple months and one late night after his break up with Annabeth, and Jason was only getting better. His now grown out hair fell softly around his face, the ends containing a slight curl texture and a permanent shadow of stubble rested on his jawline and above his nose while his summer freckles had begun to show through across his cheeks.
Oh how he wanted to let everyone know how much he loved the man in his arms, the one he got to share his life with and call his.
Percy dragged his arms down, hooked his thumbs into the front belt loops of Jason's jeans and, just because he could, pressed a kiss to Jason's jaw then over his neck before he followed with a light scraping off his teeth.
"I could suck a mark into you right now and see how long it takes them to notice," he mused against Jason's warm, soft skin.
A Latin curse hissed under Jason's breath. "Dude, don't tempt me into agreeing."
Simply to be a tease Percy kissed the same spot one more time before he pulled away.
"Fine, but I have a different idea to speed things up…"
When he returned, Jason's cake sufficiently iced and now resting in a safe spot away from the possibility of Stormy's (and, if he was honest, Grover's) jaws, Leo was still very unsuccessfully attempting to persuade Nico into whatever drinking game he had come up with that time.
Then he caught Jason's pretty blue eyes behind golden frames and Percy's couldn't prevent the smile. Gods, he was so in love with him.
Jason patted his thigh with one of his hands, brows raised over the top of his glasses and Percy swore he fell in love a little harder. He wasted no time settling himself onto strong thighs, careful not to spill the drink in his hands as he did so, the position slightly awkward due to his height. It was the best seat in their living room, made even better as one of Jason's hands slid from Percy's waist and down his thigh until it settled there.
Only then did Percy realise the room was silent minus the hum of his CD player.
"What?" Percy questioned the room. "He's comfortable."
Glances flicked between his friends, expressions Percy clearly read as one's that meant they thought he was being an idiot and to his left, also on the couch with them, Frank let out a sigh.
"Comfortable, sure," Nico muttered from the other side of Frank and Percy had to hide his snigger behind a well timed cough.
The thing is, Percy wasn't lying as Jason was comfortable, warm too and fingers tracing a pattern on his thigh that instantly relaxed Percy's mind from its usual race of constant action. An arm pulled out from between their bodies, Percy throwing it over the back of Jason's shoulders, fingers absentmindedly playing with the strands of hair on the back of Jason's head as Piper began to distract Leo from a Nico who looked a few seconds away from shadow travelling Leo to a different continent and leaving him there.
Percy made it probably five minutes before he was lightly poked.
"Stop it, you'll make me tired," Jason mumbled around a yawn.
Percy hummed, low and gentle. "Yeah but you're cute when you get sleepy," he whispered back.
He pressed his fingers in deeper, absent fiddling turning to a massage and Jason let out a small groan. Percy had learnt that particular weak spot early on, only the second time they'd slept together, not technically yet dating. Jason wiggled, shifting Percy's weight and just as pads of fingers began to grip Percy's thigh a voice paused the continued massage of Jason's scalp.
"Percy," Frank's tone unimpressed, "you're not allowed to sit here if I have to listen to you two flirt for the rest of the evening."
He let out a fake groan but removed his hand from the back of Jason's head. "Told off in my own apartment for flirting," he complained, also fake. "Fine, fine, it's birthday boy cake time anyway."
Percy planted a kiss on Jason's cheek before he slipped himself off. He barely made it two steps before-
"Wait! Sparks! You're-"
That was Leo.
"You're already dating Percy!"
That one Piper.
"I knew it! Grover, how didn't you?"
"Don't blame me Annabeth, it feels the same through the link."
Oh, that made Percy blush thankful the only thing that could see his face in that moment was a confused Stormy who had appeared to investigate the noise.
"You knew, didn't you?"
Hazel's voice.
"Trust me, you did not want to find out the way I did."
On that reply Percy burst out in a laugh and Stormy ran past him and into the chaos.
Maybe kissing Jason's cheek had been a step too far of something he could have dragged out for longer but Percy just couldn't help himself, it really was so easy to love Jason Grace.