As a child of Aphrodite, Piper could pretty much convince anyone to give her anything. Fortunately for her friends Piper almost never used her powers for her own personal gain. Sure, she had used her charmspeak on occasion to stop any fights between her friends, or in emergencies but Piper never took advantage of people like that. She was smart enough to know it was wrong. However now, in the heat of the moment, Piper couldn't help but think she should persuade her boyfriend to abandon all his thoughts on Reyna.
Piper wasn't dumb. Ever since Percy and Annabeth had returned from Tartarus and the war with Gaea was drawing closer and closer, Jason's head remained in New Rome. The two had discussed it a few times, usually in the privacy of one of their rooms on the Argo II. Jason would always ask her what they would do after the war and while Piper insisted they return to Camp Half Blood, she could see the longing in Jason's eyes. She knew he felt bad for leaving Reyna in charge of Camp Jupiter but it seemed like any time they were alone now, that's what Jason brought up. Piper wouldn't mind it if she hadn't felt like there was something more going on between the two praetors.
Tonight was the last straw for Piper. Annabeth had assigned them first night's watch and as far as either of them could tell, it would be a quiet night for the demigods. That didn't happen much if at all so Jason and Piper took the opprotunity to kick back on the deck, huddled together in a swamp of blankets. It reminded Piper of their first quest when she had gotten hypothermia and her boyfriend had been there for her next to the fire. She remembered how cold and scared she had been then but looking back on it, their adventure to free Hera seemed so silly compared to the war they were about to plunge into now. Almost immediately Piper was pulled away from the memory when she heard Jason speaking next to her.
" -when Reyna and I watched the enterance to Camp Jupiter." was all that Piper had caught.
She looked up at him, a mask of confusion on her face.
"What?" she asked as Jason stared into the night.
"Tonight," he said, finally looking at Piper. "It just reminds me of when Reyna and I would watch over the tunnel enterance to Camp Jupiter."
Jason knew how jealous Piper would get of Reyna. He spent nights reassuring Piper that nothing had happened between them but Piper couldn't help but think about how good of friends they must've been. She knew they worked together for years before she had even come along.
"Oh." A look of annoyance and hurt spread over the confusion. Jason must've seen it from the way he squeezed her tigher and kissed her cheek though he didn't say anything. An awkward silence fell between the two before Piper squared her shoulders and looked up at her boyfriend.
"You shouldn't talk about her." Piper said, only putting half effort into sounding persuading.
A look of weariness fell over Jason. "I shouldn't," he agreed though the charmspeak was weak. "Why?"
Piper already felt bad about trying to charmspeak Jason. She knew he felt comfortable enough around her to trust her not to use his powers and she felt like she stabbed him in the back. "N-nothing." she stammered.
Jason looked down at her suspiciously before it dawned on him. He didn't want to accuse his girlfriend of anything but he was almost sure she had been trying to manipulate him. "Were you charmspeaking me?" he asked, face cold with regret.
Piper looked down shamefully at her lap, shoes, picking at a whole in her jeans. Anything to avoid Jason's gaze but it was too late. He pushed away from her but grabbed at her arm gently, forcing her to look at him. "Piper! What were you thinking?" Anger flared through his voice but Piper finally met his gaze nervously.
"I uh..." Embarrassment flooded through Piper. She should've been the angry one what with him bringing up Reyna and Camp Jupiter every other sentence but Piper couldn't help feeling ashamed, like she'd betrayed his trust. "I wasn't thinking?" she replied, her voice small.
Jason huffed in disbelief but tried to control his rage. "That's your excuse, Piper? You 'weren't thinking'?" He had completely let go of Piper by now and was only putting more and more distance between the two of them. The sun was still buried somewhere deep in the dark sky though Piper suspected they only had an hour or two of their shift left. That didn't seem to matter though as Jason stormed below deck, waving Piper off. "Forget it."
Piper tried to call her boyfriend back but her voice was caught in her throat. She felt awful. Charmspeaking usually left her feeling empowered but now Piper just wanted to sob. She had completely disrespected her boyfriend but knew there was no point in chasing after him tonight. She'd let him sleep it off before taking her chances and confronting him in the morning.
A few minutes a later Percy stumbled on deck, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. Piper was sure Jason had asked him to cover for him and also suspected that they had had an argument but he didn't question her which Piper was incredibly thankful for.