A/N: This one-shot takes place after the Lost Hero and before the Son of Neptune. A lot of fluffiness ahead! Reviews are much appreciated!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters at all.

He didn't know why the impact was so hard on him. It wasn't like he hadn't felt this way before because he definitely had, but now... the feeling just seemed to intensify. And he didn't know whether he liked it or not. And talk about timing as well. They were on the brink of war, and Leo, poor poor Leo, was working constantly; day and night to finish the ship. And the tension around the camp at the start of another Great War, Jason knew he wasn't supposed to be feeling like this.

He couldn't help it, though. It was just... the way she was around him that made him like this. It was her aura in general; warm and inviting and just constantly... there. Yes, he definitely shouldn't be thinking this. Especially not when he didn't know what was going to be on the other side. The other side-meaning from his hometown. Camp Jupiter. He couldn't abandon his family like that. Not after all they'd done for him. He couldn't abandon them just because the selfish part of him wanted to stay in Camp Half-Blood with all of his new friends.

He couldn't abandon Reyna like that. He was still really confused about her. He didn't know what she meant to him. And the more he thought about her, the more he felt guilty about it. And he didn't know why until Piper came to talk to him that sunny afternoon on the bench.

Jason only told her some basic information about his worries, but didn't want to give too much away. He was confused enough as it was, and he didn't want to ruin the moment too much by worrying her as well. So he learned to clamp his mouth shut. At least, only at that time. He remembered she seemed oddly optimistic that day, and when he asked her about it, she just shrugged it off and claimed she wouldn't worry since he would be the one leading them onward, and that she would follow him anywhere. He had gotten incredibly giddy after that.

Now he seemed to be noticing every small detail about her. He had been studying her (in a not at all creepy way). And during the time he had been memorizing her, he realized that there wasn't a single legitimate flaw about her. Of course, there were flaws in all humans and even Piper was no exception, but he hadn't really been focusing on her flaws. They were always covered up by her perfections either way.

And Jason hated that.

It wasn't fair that she could walk the way she could-swaying her hips in all the right ways and not even stumbling once (at least from what Jason's seen). It wasn't fair that Piper kept on coming into his head more often than the people back at Camp Jupiter did. It wasn't fair that whenever she was around him she would act like the effortless demigod she always was. And it just wasn't fair that Jason was the one who had to have the burden of feeling this way.

There was a sudden knock on his door, and Jason groaned before raising his voice and asking, "Yeah?"

"Jason? It's Piper." He froze. Shit. He already knew that voice very well from the past couple of days so he didn't really need her to clarify. But still, hearing her confirm it made him unconsciously straighten his shirt out a bit and sit up a little bit straighter. "Chiron apparently wants us to come out for a sec. There's fireworks going on outside in a couple of minutes, and he says it's supposed supposed to 'relieve some stress' whatever that's supposed to mean." Jason could hear the sarcasm dripping from her voice and felt the corner of his mouth twitch up like it always does whenever she says something like that.

"Yeah, alright, I'm coming." And then he walked to the door and opened it to see Piper with her shorts and converse on, wearing her camp T-shirt as usual. Her hair was still in a dozen side braids like it was the first time he had met her, and he felt a sudden urge to run his hands through her hair. But that, of course, would have made things awkward so he clenched his hands into fists and jammed them into his pockets. She didn't even notice. She just started heading towards the beach, and Jason padded after her, like a dog on a leash.

When they arrived at the beach, he noticed that they had come a little bit late and everyone had already sat down. That only left a meager amount of space for them to sit, so they did.

It began almost immediately. It was slow at first, just the occasional spurt of color across the sky. Blue... Green... Red... But then it began to pick up speed. All the way until they were throwing more than one firework at a time and the eruptions were bigger and more wider than before. Jason just watched, mesmerized. He didn't think he'd ever done something like this before. Just sitting down, not doing anything, just watching the sky burst into a rainbow of colors and for fun.

He definitely knew that he'd never done this in Camp Jupiter before. And it wasn't bad at all. He felt a smile crack widely across his face and let out a laugh as another big firework erupted. Gods, he never felt this... happy. And it was a strange feeling, too. It was definitely not something he was used to. So in some weird, unexpected way, Chiron was right. The fireworks had worked; it had relieved some of his stress. He turned to Piper to see her reaction to this and his smile stopped short.

She was also looking at him and her eyes seemed to blaze straight into his own; seemingly reading his soul. In other circumstances, he would have felt incredibly creeped out, but now he was staring straight back at her with the same intense stare. He didn't know why, of course. Out of all the moments he had spent with her, this was definitely the most intensifying. Her eyes were still changing rapidly again. They were changing so much, that Jason almost mistaken the colors of her eyes as the reflection of the fireworks in them. Probably both, he now considered.

He couldn't come to a conclusion, however, because she turned away quickly from him, her cheeks turning into a rosy pink. Jason thought it was cute, but felt his own ears begin to do the same so he turned away quickly as well.

The previous lighthearted, happy mood had now turned into a uncomfortable one. He couldn't really pay much attention to the fireworks anymore because all he could think about was her all over again. He figured he was supposed to come up with a conversation so things wouldn't go into straight-out awkward. He was fumbling with his words for a while. "Piper... I-uh, I just wanted to say that... you know... uh... yo-you're, I mean I-um."

But when he turned to look at her, she seemed to not even be listening to him. She was just watching the fireworks again, so deep in thought that Jason felt like he just might have imagined their 'moment' at all. So he just turned back once again. He was watching it absentmindedly, when Piper said something softly to him that made him turn his head towards her fast.

"I like you." Then she turned her head from the fireworks to him. Her eyes still had that intensifying look in them, but it had lessened to a degree where it looked like she was worried. Worried-as if she was afraid of rejection.

But of course, even though Piper said the words as clear as water itself, he felt like he still needed some reassurance. "Yo-you do?" He stuttered out. "As in like... you like-like me?" He knew he was sounding ridiculous at that moment, but he just needed to hear her say it.

She snorted. "Yes, I like-like you." Then, in a much softer tone, "I always have, Jason. When we-I mean, Leo and I-were at the Wilderness School, when Hera put the Mist in our minds, I had always liked you. You were always different from the other boys I had met. You never really used to talk much and the way you treated me... it wasn't what I was expecting from a guy like you."

Jason all of a sudden felt like his breathing was coming out too fast; like he wasn't getting enough oxygen in his lungs to his brain to function properly. He felt like he was comprehending everything too slowly, and he found himself more confused than ever. "What do you mean a guy like me?" He asked in away that he hoped wasn't harsh as it sounded.

She shrugged. "I don't know. In the Wilderness School, boys always used to tease me. I always felt like I was being abused in some sort of way. It wasn't what I would call a nice feeling. And then you came along... I didn't trust you at first. Not like I had trusted Leo."

"Why didn't you trust me?" He asked in a tone that matched hers.

"Because... you just had that aura, you know? You seemed like the controlling type at first. I never had liked the controlling type... But you had turned out to be different, I guess..." she trailed off, deep in thought, her eyes glazing over to the ground. He wondered if she was thinking about them during then, when her head was stuck in the Mist. When they were dating... he immediately felt envious. He didn't really get it at first, but now he knew. He wished their relationship had been like that. How Hera had put it in the Mist.

He breathed out as he finally figured out his desire for her. He knew he had it before, but now it was just plain insane. But that wasn't necessarily bad, though. And before he could stop himself, the words tumbled out of his mouth. The words he had been dying to say, that he'd been holding back all of this time since that sunny afternoon on the bench. "I like you too, Pipes," he whispered. And he didn't even know how true the words were until he said it.

A soft smile started spreading on her face, and Jason felt the same on his face as well. "It's about time you said that, you know," she stated, her face inching closer to his.

He chuckled before bringing one of his hands and, finally, let his fingers snake through her silky, choppy hair. "So... does this make us... you know...?" He asked hesitantly, feeling his face brighten as their foreheads and noses were now tightly pressed together. He felt a shock run through his spine as he could feel her warm breath on his lips as she let out a laugh.

She wiggled her eyebrows, something that she had probably caught on from Leo. "Boyfriend and girlfriend?" She asked teasingly. He chuckled nervously again, nodding slightly.

She shrugged playfully. "Then, yes. Yes, it does." And with that, Jason closed the space between them and pressed hard on her lips. He didn't know if kissing was supposed to feel like this at all. He thought it was just going to make him feel a little happy and that was it. Definitely not like this.

He felt... elated. Like he could do anything. And, considering he now had Piper, he felt like he could. And the sudden thought made him so happy, that he used the other hand to wrap around her waist, and his hand slipped from her hair and ran down her body in order to bring her closer. She didn't seem to mind. Her hand had now crawled up his chest and around his neck, which deepened the kiss. He felt another shock, this time more intense than the other, shoot through his body.

And Piper pulled back suddenly. "What?" Jason asked, afraid he had done something wrong.

But she chuckled instead. "Uh..." She pointed to his hair. He reached up to his head, and he immediately knew what she was talking about. "I think you just shocked me."

He felt an embarrassed smile come on his face. "Yeah... sorry. I guess I sorta got a little..."

"Excited?" She asked, poking his stomach. He smiled in return. He heard someone cough and that brought him back to reality. The entire camp was watching them. The fireworks were still going on, but no one seemed to notice anymore. All of the attention was on them two.

Silence. Then everyone roared with excitement and surprise. But he didn't pay attention after that. He looked back at Piper, his arms still wrapped tightly around her, and smiled widely again.

Okay, so maybe he was confused. Maybe he was not sure about what he was going to do with his life after they would arrive in Rome. And maybe things with Reyna were complicated... but he now realized what exactly Reyna meant to him. And he was relieved. Because now, he was able to look at Piper the way he always does without feeling an inch of guilt. From then on, he swore that whatever decision he made in his life about possibly leaving Camp Half-Blood, he would be sure to take Piper and Leo with him.

After all, they had been with him since he had woken up in that bus, and he would make sure that they would stay with him. So, completely forgetting that the entire camp was watching because honestly, he didn't really care, he continued to watch the fireworks in Piper's eyes.

And they were just as alluring.