Percy is a gladiator (a pow from greece) who has won every fight he's been in, Jason is the Emperor's favorite nephew
Five times Jason or Percy was interested and the one time they both were
I
Rome was different from how Jason remembered. It was bigger and after being in the countryside for so long the roads felt small and cramped with buildings looming overhead. No matter how long he'd been away though, some things never changed. His uncle, Emperor Zeus, was still pushy and overbearing. Constantly trying to mold Jason so that, one day, he could be emperor. Never mind that Jason was perfectly happy as a general working alongside Reyna, defending Rome's glory. No matter what, Zeus always thought there was a way for Jason to improve and Jason was tired of it. So he was running away. Or trying to, he'd been away from the city for so long that after a few minutes he was hopelessly lost. He was pretty sure this wasn't what happened to Thalia when she ran off to join some all-women cult. The huntresses of Lady Artemis or something? At least it was an honorable group, his uncle had allowed her to go because she was bringing honor to the family on the field of war. That's why Jason was allowed to escape the city to fight with Legio XII Fulminata, his army unit. Getting lost while running away was probably the least honorable thing a true roman could do, he thought hopelessly. He looked around for a marker to identify where he was when he saw the walls of the coliseum looming in the distance. Wandering in the direction of the familiar landmark Jason pondered the topic of his uncles most recent ire, Jason's wife. Or, more importantly, the lack thereof. Almost as soon as he entered the gates of Rome, Empress Hera began parading eligible women before him in hopes of finding a good match. They'd all been lovely girls but Jason just wasn't interested and by the seventh girl, Penelope or maybe Piper? He couldn't even keep their names straight. Jason frowned, it's not that he didn't want a wife, he knew that the right woman could help the empire and bring glory to his family tree, he just never felt a spark with any of them. Really, he was just trying to find the best woman for the empire. She was going to be at his side the whole time, she had to embody all of rome's values. Lost in thought, Jason was completely oblivious to the city streets – until he slammed into another man, tripped over the hem of his toga, and feel onto the dirty road. "My apologies." The man offered as he reached down to help Jason up. The man was handsome, gorgeous in the vaguely foreign way that was common in the city. His olive skin glowed in the midday sun, contrasting with his basic, woolen tunic. What Jason was most drawn to, though, were the man's sea green eyes which were twinkling with mirth. "I'm sorry," Jason responded, blushing slightly, "I'm afraid I'm a little lost." The man smiled, revealing the whitest teeth Jason had ever seen, "Where were you headed? Maybe I can point you in the right direction."
"I'm not really sure, to be honest," Jason admitted, "But I was going towards the coliseum."
The man laughed, "You must've been really lost in thought then, you're going the opposite direction! I'm actually heading there too, maybe we could walk together? I'm Perseus by the way."
"I'm Jason and thank you I would really appreciate a guide."
The man - Perseus - Jason corrected himself, grinned again and the two of them started walking down the streets. Perseus pointed out every landmark and point of interest along the way "So you won't get lost again" he insisted. By the time they reached the coliseum Jason was infatuated. Perseus was kind and sweet but he also had a sharp tongue and Jason had never laughed as hard as he had at Perseus' sarcastic wit. He was interested too, if Jason was reading him right, he'd been gone from the city so long though, maybe he was wrong. Jason was so lost in their conversation he didn't realize they had passed the general entrance until Perseus stopped outside the gladiators' entrance. "Well," Perseus said, his smile slightly forced and his tone a little strained, "This is me."
"We should do this again!" Jason blurted out, "This is the best experience I've had in the city in years.
"Yeah, this was nice." Perseus' smile was looser now, more honest.
"I'dliketotakeyouout?" The words rushed out of Jason's mouth before he had a chance to think about them. He hesitated, "If that's alright with you?"
Perseus frowned, "I don't think it would be right," He admitted, "You're clearly wealthy and I'm not even a free man. I don't think it would be fair to either of us." Jason nodded, he hadn't realized it walking through the city but Perseus wasn't wearing the toga of a freedman but a tunica, which clearly designated his status as a prisoner of war. Perseus continued, unaware of Jason's revelation, "I would still like to see you again though, if you don't mind? But just as friends."
Jason managed a smile, "Right, just friends. I can do that." Jason didn't know if he could, actually. Perseus was sweet and funny and interesting and gorgeous. Jason didn't want to be 'just friends' with him. But he also knew that people were counting on his marriage securing some kind of political alliance, either with a wealthy family or a foreign princess, and Perseus clearly wasn't either of those. Perseus didn't even know he might be talking to the future emperor right now.
"Can you meet me here around this time tomorrow?" Perseus asked, once again breaking Jason out of his reprieve.
"Sure." With that Jason turned and started walking, already thinking about how he would find his way here the next day.
"Oh, and Jason?" Perseus called over his shoulder, "You can call me Percy."
Sis I'm back. I also have a tumblr now ( it's called whatifhoodidn'tsuck and I already regret the name but idk (and idc) how to change it) also...
yessss, I know none of them have roman names. Actually all of them have greek names, except for piper which is kind of funny. Just pretend it's a nickname and his real name is brutus or gaius or whatever. I really don't care. Perseus is a greek name and Percy is greek so we all good on that side.
Also also idk when im going to add to the pxd story if ever or when im going to add to this story. Sorry :(