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Percy knew something was off before his eyes even opened. Every morning of his living memory Percy Jackson had woken up with his face shoved into the pillow underneath him and his arms up underneath said pillow. He had never once woken up on his back with his arms down by his sides.
It only got more suspicious as he opened his eyes slowly. He tried to look around the room with just his eyes, carefully stopping himself from moving. Whoever was there hopefully wouldn’t notice he was awake. His vision was blurry and no amount of blinking was helping his eyes clear. Even through the vision issue, he could still see the towering statue of Zeus glowering over him.
He closed his eyes again and strained his hearing. Was someone in the room with him? Was Jason there? He was supposed to leave that morning to return to Camp Jupiter for some Official Business™.
There were no other sounds in the room. Jason had probably left already. Maybe Percy had sleepwalked over here. He hadn't done that since he was young, but if it had to happen anytime, last night would've been the night.
They had a nice time together. Jason said he wanted to spend time with just Percy before he left. They took their dinner to eat on the dock. They walked around the edge of the woods before ending up back at the dock to watch the sunset together over the lake. Their hands had nudged together where they both rested them on the ground. Jason rested his head on his shoulder. And Percy still blew it. He didn't say anything about it. He walked Jason home and they didn’t even hold hands. They said good night with a hug. There was a moment where their faces were so close and still he didn't do it.
Percy had had the courage to fight monsters since he was a preteen. He'd fought multiple wars. He'd been to Tartarus and back.
None of it mattered.
He still hadn't kissed Jason. He still hadn't managed to even tell his friend that he liked him as more than just a bro.
He failed and then he sleepwalked to Jason's cabin and Jason either had already left or hadn't even woken him to say goodbye.
It was humiliating, really. He lifted his hands to rub at his eyes, groaning in frustration. To make it all worse, a knock sounded at the door. When he didn't answer, it happened again.
“Come on. We've got places to be. We can't wait for you to sleep in just because we're friendly with the Greeks now.”
It didn't even feel late. The sun was barely shining through the windows. This person obviously didn't know what they were talking about. Still, he managed to get himself up from the bed. His body hurt. It felt like he'd been tense all over the whole night and maybe longer. Maybe he had been. He couldn't get the muscles to relax. It felt awkward to stand in the normal relaxed way he was used to. His muscles were aching to make him stand straighter and more broad.
He took the few steps needed and walked over to open the door.
“Hello?” He asked groggily.
Reyna already pushed right in. “It's about time. I didn't realize wake up calls were on my list of duties again.” She didn't hesitate in grabbing a small duffel bag from the end of the bed Percy had just gotten out of. “It's time to get going. The cars are rolling out any minute. We've got places to be.” She threw the bag at him. “Grab your glasses. You can get changed in the car.”
The bag hitting his chest broke him out of his stupor.
“Reyna. What are you talking about? I’m not-” He stopped talking. He didn’t sound right. That voice wasn’t his.
“Are you losing your mind again, Jace? You literally gave me your packed bag yesterday. There’s no way you forgot. Unless somehow your not-a-date got a little too crazy.”
“I…” Percy tried to say. “I’m not…” He looked down at his body for the first time. Something was wrong. He rubbed at his eyes with his palms and then tried again. But no. His skin remained dark with scars in the wrong places. The branding on his arm wasn’t a trident with a single line. It was an eagle with more lines than he could count in a glance. But he knew there were 12. Jason had 12 official years in the Legion. Percy took a deep breath. “Holy fucking shit. Reyna… Something is wrong.”
Reyna was the one still now. “You’re standing weird. And you don’t talk like that.” She took a step back, hand going to the hilt of her weapon. Her eyes narrowed even as he raised his hands in surrender. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“I don’t know. I just woke up here. I thought I slept walked,” he paused. “Slept walked? Sleep walked?” He shook his head to clear the thought. Reyna started speaking before he could get his train of thoughts back to the track? On the track? Just on track?
“Who are you?” Her voice was pointed. Maybe as pointed as the dagger she was currently pulling from her side.
“It’s Percy. Swear. Please don’t stab me.”
She took a step forward and Percy braced himself for defence. But he just wanted to have some space. Just a little space.
And then a gust of wind was sending them apart, Percy falling on his ass. Reyna, of course, managed to stay standing.
“Holy shit. I have his powers. I don’t know what to do with that!”
He went to sit up but Reyna was sitting on his chest, dagger to his throat.
“Tell me something only Percy would know,” she spoke through gritted teeth.
“I, um, shit. I… New Rome’s Navy sucks… Please don’t stab me for this, but you came onto me once and I denied you because I could only remember my girlfriend Annabeth but we ended up breaking up after the war anyway,” he spoke quickly, heart pounding in his chest, eyes wide.
Reyna rolled her eyes and then stood up and backed away.
“I guess we’re gonna have to postpone this trip, huh?”
🌊⚡🔄⚡🌊
Percy sat at the table in the big house, his hand wrapped around a cup of coffee and his leg shaking aggressively under the table. He stared down into the cup. It was the second one he had to make. He made the first one how he normally would, two creams and five sugars. It was so sweet he spit it back out. This second cup was only one cream and one sugar — the way Jason liked it. He took another sip, wrapping both hands around the cup. It was perfect.
The mug of coffee needed to stop him from looking at the mirror in front of him. It needed to somehow be so eye-catching that he didn't want to look up and stare at Jason, or himself in Jason's body. But coffee really wasn't all that interesting.
He let his eyes find the mirror. He'd gotten on Jason's glasses so he could actually see again. It was a weird feeling to look into the mirror and be taken aback by the beauty there. Jason's bright blue stared back at him. His two-strand twists fell over his forehead, but didn't quite reach his eyes. The contrast of his eyes and blonde hair to the rich, cool brown of his skin was breathtaking. He'd loved seeing Jason grow his hair for the last year. He was trying different hairstyles and trying to get Percy’s opinions. Percy just thought he looked beautiful no matter what he did. His features were sharp just like the rest of him, but his lips were beautifully full. Percy had always been fascinated by the way Jason's little scar rubbed on the skin there. He'd never gotten to stare like this before. Jason usually caught him looking and he just had to play it off or look away.
Even though the coffee deserved a stern lecture about not being interesting enough to keep his attention, he was at least a little grateful he had the opportunity to just admire his crush. He hated the word crush. He was seventeen. Having a crush was embarrassing.
He quickly turned his attention toward the sound of the door opening, definitely not blushing like he'd gotten caught staring or something. Chiron, Reyna, Grover, and Mr. D walked inside one by one. Coming in last was Percy’s own body. He stood up straighter than he'd ever seen in the mirror. His shoulders were held back with a confidence that Percy rarely actually had outside of the battle arena. It was odd seeing himself from an outside point of view. Their eyes met and Percy could feel the anxiety flowing back instantly. He didn't know how this was going to go. He didn't know what to expect.
The group each took a place at the table around him. Jason, in his body, sat next to Percy, in Jason's body. Percy turned to look at him fully.
“This is really fucking weird,” he whispered, at least bringing a smile to his own face. His own face with Jason's mind controlling it.
“Hi, Percy,” Grover greeted sheepishly. He still wasn't sure if that was rude. Maybe he should say goatishly? Now wasn't the time for that. Grover looked guilty. But Percy didn't know why because this was definitely not the kind of magic his bro could do, even by accident.
“Hi, Grover.”
“Alright, boys. Obviously, something has happened here,” Chiron began. “We all know that sometimes gods,” His eyes flicked toward Mr. D as he spoke, maybe subconsciously, “like to play in the affairs of mortals and half bloods alike. Do we know a reason why one might have chosen to switch you?”
Right to the point. Good ol’ Chiron.
He made eye contact with his own green eyes for a moment before they both looked away.
“We spent the evening together yesterday. Just the two of us. Maybe we went over a shrine or something when we went on a walk and the god decided to punish us?” Jason spoke up. Did his voice always sound like that?
“There aren't any shrines over there, and I would think the god would make themselves known so you could give them a better one, ya know?” He countered. He reached up to nervously itch at his scalp, but quickly remembered that wasn't a good thing with this hairstyle and put his hand back on his mug.
“Well, Patsy and James, maybe there was a god who saw you and thought you two may need a little Freaky Friday moment for whatever reason,” Mr. D offered up, punctuating his sentence by taking a long drink of his Diet Coke.
“Why do you know what Freaky Friday is?” Percy asked.
“What is a Freaky Friday?” Jason asked at the same time.
“LiLo was big in my worship. Of course I know her movies.”
“I'll explain later,” Percy murmured to Jason. “So how do we fix this? Do we need a soul bonding moment when we play guitar and magically everything is better?”
“Well. Maybe not the guitar. But I think the first part could help,” Grover offered up.
“Well. Let’s hope we figure something out. We’ve already had one pipe burst this morning. We don’t need more.”
It was the best solution they had.
🌊⚡🔄⚡🌊
Percy and Jason sat at the edge of the dock, feet dangling in the water like they had the night before. Neither was speaking. It was weird being so close to the water and feeling nothing for it. Usually he could feel the tides shifting and the creatures moving in the water close to him. Now his feet in the water just felt the coolness of the water and the small waves that lapped past his ankles. He took a deep breath, more aware of the air entering his lungs than he normally was.
“Freaky Friday is a movie about a mother and daughter who don’t understand each other. They mysteriously swap bodies and then have to live life as each other for a few days. They understand the struggles each other are facing. And they swap back and get along better,” he blurted out.
“We already get along. And what does that have to do with Lilo and Stitch?”
Percy felt a soft chuckle arise in himself for the first time since he woke up.
“Not Lilo from Lilo and Stitch. The movie stars Lindsey Lohan. Some people called her LiLo,” he explained as he turned his head to look at Jason, a smile on his face.
Jason nodded slowly and looked over to Percy just a moment before his eyes went back to his lap.
“Maybe it isn’t that we don’t get along. But we could still be hiding things from each other.” His voice was quiet.
Jason knew his secret, didn’t he? Jason knew Percy had a crush on him and he didn’t feel the same and now he felt like Percy was lying to him and that none of their friendship was real and Percy ruined it all. He was sure he’d ruined it.
“I… Jason, I… I’m sorry,” he whispered. He felt his throat getting tight as he fought back tears.
The wind around them started to pick up. He didn’t know how to make it stop.
“No. No, I’m sorry. I should’ve been honest with you. I…” Jason swallowed thickly. There was a shake in his hand. “Are… Are the fish always this loud? Can you… can you always feel the water tugging at you?” His breathing was starting to get quicker. His hand came to his chest to pull his t-shirt away from it.
Percy knew what was happening. He’d seen Jason act like this on the Argo II when everyone had gotten too loud, whether it was argumentative or fun yelling. It was different seeing it on his own body.
“Jace…” He turned toward Jason completely.
Jason brought his hands up to cover his ears. “They know I’m not you. They want you. They won’t stop talking.” His breath was quickening.
The water started to churn around them. Water pellets joined the winds Percy already couldn’t stop.
“Tell them I’m right here and we’re figuring it out. Ask them for privacy. You just have to think it toward them. They’ll hear it,” he urged. He didn’t want Jason to freak out, but he was freaking out himself. The weather around them was quickly turning into a storm.
Jason shook his head, still holding his hands to cover his ears even though the voices were in his head.
Percy felt himself getting damp with water for the first time in years. He turned and set his hand on Jason’s (on his own?) thigh. “It’s okay, Jace. You gotta take some deep breaths. We can’t… We gotta keep it calm.”
He could tell the words weren't hitting Jason the way they should. He was too caught up in his mind. He could only think to do one thing. He turned and pushed Jason (himself?) down to the dock and then he just laid down on top of him. He forced himself into taking deep breaths and willing Jason to match his own. They had done this before— used Percy as Jason’s human weighted blanket. Of course it was a little different now.
“Match my breathing. It’s okay. You control the waves, they don’t control you. Find your own rhythm. Create your own waves,” he murmured to him repeating his words. Eventually it started to work.
He got the winds to settle and the rain went away with them as well. The waves slowly returned to a relaxing lull. Percy let his head rest on Jason’s chest as they calmed down together.
“Your powers are a lot,” Jason whispered after a minute.
Percy let out a little laugh. “Yours aren’t that easy either. I won’t even attempt to fly. That’s for you only, Superman.”
“It feels a little different with us switched like this. You’re heavier than normal.”
“Do you want me to move?”
“Not at all.”
Percy let out a heavy breath and let his eyes closed.
“Grover told me. Before I could tell me it was me. He was asking about us hanging out. He asked if you told me. He asked if I, um, if I kissed you. He said he wanted to see things different between us when I came back,” Jason was quiet, but steady in his words.
“Jace…” He started but Jason shook his head and cut him off.
“I’m sorry I didn’t say anything. I should’ve told you.” Here it came. Jason was going to let him down easy. They would come to an understanding that they didn’t feel the same and Jason needed to get away from him for things to be normal again. “I know you were going to let me down easy. I was in denial that you knew I had a crush on you. I’m sorry I made you uncomfortable. It will be different when I come back. I’ll get over it.”
What?
Percy lifted his head to look at Jason.
“You like me?”
Jason looked down at him. “I thought you knew that. I thought that's what you were going to tell me.”
“I thought you were about to tell me you didn't feel the same.”
They stared at each other for a moment. Percy felt a grin spread over his face more than he controlled it going on there.
“So you like me. And I like you. And we both thought the other didn't feel the same,” he explained, a giggle leaving his lips.
“Oh my gods. We're idiots.”
They fell into laughter, curling into each other so they ended up laying side by side on the dock, looking at each other.
“I was trying to get the courage to tell you before I left.”
“I was too.”
Percy shook his head in amusement at themselves.
“Percy? The first are back,” Jason said but this time a blush rose to his cheeks.
“Lake first are gossipy,” Percy explained with a laugh. “What are they saying?”
“They're saying I should kiss you.”
“Well they can't be wrong all the time.”
Percy had kissed people before, but it was weird leaving in to kiss himself, even if it was Jason. They only got one peck in before they both pulled away. They made eye contact and burst into laughter again.
“No more of that until we're in the right bodies,” Jason grinned at him. He could understand why people said he looked mischievous now. He could see it.
“Agreed.”
Instead, they laced their fingers together and watched the clouds pass on the horizon.
⚡🌊🔄🌊⚡
Dionysis snapped his fingers and the two boys fell together, asleep on the dock. They'd be back to normal when they woke up.
“You shouldn't be using magic to get into the love lives of our campers,” Chiron said on the other side of the Pinochle table, not even looking at him.
“I just couldn't deal with their sullen lovesick gazing anymore,” he replied with an eyeroll.
“I think you actually like that and wanted them to be happy,” the centaur said on his next move.
“Whatever.”
He threw down his hand of cards as Chiron won the game. Again.