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Title: 20 Something – How Thalia Grace Saves the Day
Fandom: Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus
Disclaimer: All rights reserved to Rick Riordan for he created the awesomeness that is Nico di Angelo. And everything else related to Percy Jackson and the Olympians / Heroes of Olympus. Aside from the Gods, they belong to the old Greeks. This fanfiction and its OCs on the other hand are entirely mine. No money is made with this, though reviews are more than welcomed.
Warnings: m/m, fluff, oblivious idiots in love, matchmaker Thalia
Main Pairing: Jason/Percy
Percy Jackson Characters: Perseus Jackson, Jason Grace, Thalia Grace, Grover Underwood
Summary: Jason is really bad at being single, so his big sister drags him to a party for singles in their twenties. That is where Jason meets and befriends Percy, who was also dragged there by her. But when asked by Thalia, both claim it had been a disaster because all they made was 'a friend'...
20 Something
How Thalia Grace Saves the Day
Jason Grace was really bad at being single. Bad to the degree that he moped a lot and ate a lot of ice-cream and kept hanging out at his sister's to whine about it. Said sister, Thalia Grace, was absolutely done with this. All of her ice-cream was gone, Jason had his own spot on the couch by now. And Thalia absolutely could not listen to it anymore. Over the past seven years, Jason had gone through three girlfriends and one boyfriend – first there had been Reyna, followed by Piper, then Leo, the latest one had been Calypso. And the phases in between were always bad. It had already been unbearable when the two had still lived together under their parents' roof – the breakup from his high school sweetheart Reyna. Then, when Jason had moved out for college, where the relationships with Piper and Leo had happened, he'd mope about it on the phone and during visits. After graduating college, Jason had moved back to San Francisco. There, Thalia got to treat Jason's broken heart in person again after he and Leo had broken up. When Jason got together with Calypso, things had been good. Until that also came apart and now he was back to moping.
"You're insufferable and I have a headache. Come with me", ordered Thalia one evening.
"What? Why?", asked Jason in protest as he was pulled off the couch.
"A party. It's a special party just for singles in their twenties, a friend of Luke's – Silena – is hosting it. She is big on matchmaking", grunted Thalia. "And I am so done with this, Jason."
"What is... this?", asked Jason doubtfully.
"This", repeated Thalia, motioning at her brother.
"You just gestured to all of me!", exclaimed Jason in protest.
"Exactly", drawled Thalia pointedly. "Get cleaned up, dressed and... shave."
/break\
"Now go. Drink, dance, kiss someone, get a number, get laid, I don't care."
With those kind words did Thalia push Jason into the bar, disappearing herself the next moment. Glowering, Jason instantly found the far corner at the bar directly. Sitting down, he ordered a beer and started nursing it. Honestly, he had no desire to be here. Calypso had broken up with him three months ago and he was not willing or ready to go 'out there'.
All he needed to do was drink, stay alone and then get out of here as soon as possible. He would have done as his sister had requested and all would be fine. Sliding down in his chair, he took another deep gulp from his glass, only to have someone knock into him. He grunted as he spilled half his beer over himself. Frowning annoyed, he turned to glare at the offender.
"I am so sorry! That was totally my fault!", exclaimed the pretty boy.
Jason blinked slowly, staring at him. He had the greenest eyes possible and messy, fluffy-looking dark hair and his jeans and shirt were nicely cut in a way that showed off his good build.
"It's... okay", nodded Jason slowly. "Gives me an excuse to go home early and get changed."
The green-eyed boy blinked and laughed. "Here against your own free will too?"
"Ye—eah", sighed Jason. "My sister thinks that my 'moping' is 'insufferable' ever since my last breakup so she figured I should get back on the horse..."
"I feel you", sighed the other and sat down next to Jason. "A good friend of mine invited me along and told me she wasn't going to take no for an answer. That I had been unbearable lately."
"What's your excuse for being unbearable?", asked Jason curiously.
"My ex Malcolm is getting married to this beautiful girl, Katie. And I'm just... sitting at home, with my kitten and my puppy, while he's starting a proper grown-up adult life."
"Urgh", groaned Jason and threw his head back. "I know that feeling! First time I heard that my ex – not the most recent one but the one before – got not just a new boyfriend but also a girlfriend..."
"I'd drink to that... if I had a drink", grunted the other, turning to the barkeeper. "Two beers."
"You don't have to-", tried Jason to argue.
"Nonsense. I caused you to spill yours. I'm Percy, by the way."
"Jason", replied Jason with a smile as he accepted his beer, lifting it. "To being left behind."
"To being left behind", echoed Percy, returning Jason's smile as he knocked glasses with Jason.
/break\
Percy woke up with a hang-over and ten new texts from a number he had saved under 'fellow helpless single'. Jason. Right. Grinning softly, Percy grabbed his phone and texted Jason back.
"Hey, Perce. You got home late, considering you planned on ditching Thalia as soon as you got there and showed her 'I'm here, you win'...?"
Percy turned to look at his flat-mate and best friend since middle school. Grover had one eyebrow raised, fingers running through his goatee as he leaned against the door-frame.
"Yeah, well, I spent the night talking to this guy, Jason, who actually turns out to be Thalia's little brother and she also forced him to go there too", replied Percy. "We hit it off pretty well and exchanged numbers. I think we'll make great friends."
Grover had already opened his mouth to congratulate Percy, but at that last sentence, he closed it again fast. Seriously? Percy went to a party for singles to find someone to date and he came back having made a friend...? That was probably the most Percy thing Grover had ever heard.
/break\
Thalia was suspicious. It had now been three weeks since she had dragged not just her insufferable baby brother to Silena's party, but also the annoying stray kitten known as Percy Jackson. Him and her went way back to high school, they had shared the same circle of friends even then – Luke, Annabeth and Grover – and they had never really lost touch. Now Percy, he had been less mopey and more... depressed. It wasn't that Percy couldn't stand being single or that he was still hopelessly in love with Malcolm and mourned the loss of their relationship, it was more that he longed for that too. Marriage, settlement, the ideal happily ever after.
Yet both fronts had considerably calmed down since the party. Even though neither of them were actually seeing anyone. Both had complained to her in the direct aftermath that, as predicted, the party had been a complete failure and there had been no one of interest there.
"Tell me again, you really met no one at the party?", asked Thalia, circling her brother like prey. "No one at all? There was no one you talked to or drank with or stayed in contact with...?"
"Oh, no, that happened!", replied Jason without looking up from his phone, smiling as he texted. "I just didn't meet, you know, the love of my life or anything. But I made a friend. Percy. Haven't we told you about that? We met and we talked all night about how horrible you are for trying to force us to do this. And we talked about our exes and our dating history and also Marvel movies and then we exchanged numbers. Yeah, we're totally friends. Have been texting since then."
Thalia blinked very, very slowly. Those absolute morons. They were texting each other? So the person making Jason smile like a fool with his texts was Percy? And the one Percy had gone to the movies and dinner with like seven times in the past two weeks was Jason? That explained so much. But it was also very clear that the two of them were dating and very much into each other without even noticing. How could they be this blind? That was just ridiculous.
"So, that friend you went with to see that Potter spin-off thing last week... where you went to dinner afterward and bought a special new nerd-shirt to look particularly good for... was Percy?"
"Yeah. Totally had to buy the Hufflepuff shirt to match his Griffindor shirt", nodded Jason. "Why?"
Instead of answering right away, Thalia just shook her head in amazement for a long moment. "Have you considered that maybe that... could have been a date? That it looked like a date and felt like a date because it should have been a date? That you look forward to his texts like a love-sick school boy? Because you're totally smitten?"
"What? No. Don't be ridiculous", huffed Jason with a frown, though he stared at her doubtfully.
/break\
"Percy! Man, are you alright?", asked Grover surprised when Percy choked on dinner.
Percy, still coughing and trying to regain his bearings, shook his head. "J... Jay just texted me."
"So? What... crazy fan-theory did he text you that you nearly died?", asked Grover concerned.
"He... asked me if we might be accidentally dating without noticing", muttered Percy.
Grover nodded slowly, taking a bite from his pizza. "So he noticed first. Interesting."
"...What?", asked Percy slowly, staring at his best friend.
"Dude. You can barely put your phone down lately. You keep sending him everything you find interesting ASAP. Every single time you left the house to do something fun and non-work-related, it was actually with him and he's been over for the past two of our movie-nights. During which the two of you were actually cuddling up to each other. Seriously", snorted Grover.
Percy's eyes widened and his cheeks heated up. Okay, so the cuddling part was hard to justify, maybe, but mainly the two of them were just friends. Right? Though Jason was really good for cuddling. And talking. And hanging out. And just generally... everything.
"Fuck I think I have a crush on Jason", whispered Percy. "...And I think I might have been dating him for the past weeks, perhaps. Kind of. Shit, I think I have to go and talk to him."
Grover barely had time to blink a few times before Percy ran out of the apartment.
/break\
Jason heaved a sigh as he returned home, ducking his head as he thought about everything. Maybe Thalia was right and he was a total idiot. But when he had met Percy, he had been so set on not finding someone to be interested in. He just wanted to be left alone and think about his past relationships and yes, also wallow in self-pity. Percy had been great to share the wallowing in and then some more. And somehow, the circumstances of their first meeting had made him blind to seeing Percy as anything but a fellow suffering single. He paused when he reached his apartment and found someone sitting in front of it, legs drawn up and head leaning against the door, asleep.
"...Percy...?", whispered Jason surprised.
He knelt down in front of Percy and had to smile. Percy was definitely asleep and he looked so cute, all curled up, snuggled into the doorway like that. If Jason would unlock the door now, Percy would just fall over. And sure, he could wake Percy, but then again... he also could just not, because Percy was cute. That really should have been a clear sight, if only he had realized. Unlocking the door, Jason leaned down and carefully picked Percy up before actually opening the door. Smiling to himself, Jason carried Percy into the apartment. Very carefully did Jason place Percy on the couch before he went to close the door and then went to the kitchen to prepare dinner.
/break\
Percy woke up to the scent of spaghetti frutti di mare. Humming contently, Percy blinked his eyes open and craned his neck toward the source of the scent. Jason, in the kitchen, cooking.
"...What am I doing here?", asked Percy a little confused.
"Hey, Perce. You're awake", smiled Jason pleased. "I found you in front of my door."
"Right. Yeah. I remember coming here, but... how did I get here?", asked Percy, pointing at the couch and raising his eyebrows. "Here, on your couch, silly."
"Well, I... carried you inside?", offered Jason with a shrug. "Also, I made dinner. You said you like spaghetti with fish-stuff in it so I got a recipe from the internet."
"Okay seriously, how have I failed this hard at seeing the boyfriend-potential in you?", asked Percy in awe, mouth hanging open. "Seriously, marry me right now."
The blush on Jason's face was absolutely adorable. "Uhm. I mean... I figured maybe an actual official date first...?"
"Right. Good plan. Solid timeline", nodded Percy with a grin and got up. "So... this? Date?"
"Dinner, you, me... mh... yeah?", shrugged Jason awkwardly, ruffling his hair.
"You're so cute", grinned Percy and pecked Jason's cheek. "Seriously, I'm an idiot."
"Well, so am I?", offered Jason. "Because you're hot and adorable and..."
Percy grinned at that and started setting the table. "You and me, we're... a pair."
"Apparently", chuckled Jason as he served the food. "Thalia had to spell it out to me."
"Yeah, Grover had to give me examples of all the times we were acting couple-y", sighed Percy. "Like, uh, the... cuddling during movie-night?"
"...Damn, we were even more oblivious than I thought", muttered Jason beneath his breath. "I just figured you were really affectionate, which you actually are, but..."
Percy shrugged and sat down with Jason. "I know. I just... didn't see you that way...?"
"Neither did I!", exclaimed Percy. "I was just so super determined not to find any potential boyfriend or girlfriend at that stupid party that I immediately filed you away as not dating material. Even though I should really know better than that. Silena's parties never fail."
"But you know what?", asked Jason, suddenly very serious.
"What?", asked Percy curiously.
"We can never admit aloud that Thalia brought us together", stated Jason determined.
"...Agreed", confirmed Percy, nodding hastily. "She'd never stop gloating."
"She'd be absolutely insufferable!", chorused Percy and Jason, laughing.
They clinked glasses at that and smiled at each other. They talked to each other over dinner, mostly exchanging stories about Thalia and making plans for future dates.
~*~ The End ~*~
Author's note: Who doesn't love two oblivious idiots needing a push to admit their own feelings? And Jason and Percy are SUCH GOOD oblivious idiots! ^o^
Another story based on a Fake Fic Title I got over on tumblr during a game (come visit me at takaraphoenix ;3)!