Rain
A/N: I wrote this a couple of years ago-before Son of Neptune and Mark of Athena were published, but I suppose it's still mostly in canon. It was written for a prompt which was the song Cry by Jay Sean. It's not my favorite thing I've written, but I hope you enjoy!
Whenever he's upset, it rains.
It's a power he's never been able to control. Instead of tears falling from his blue eyes, they fall from the heavens. Even within the rain-free borders of the Greek camp, whenever his emotions are heightened to a point that would make a normal person break down and cry, rain pours, occasionally accompanied by unhelpful thunder and lightning.
It's rare for the son of Jupiter to reach this point. Control of emotion is as important as being an efficient soldier at the Roman camp. But today there had been a setback on the Argo II and Piper had accused him of spending a suspicious amount of time with Annabeth and Thalia still hadn't been heard from and he just lost it.
The paper copies of the Argo II plans had been ruined (thank the gods Annabeth had them on her laptop), the girl's faces were stained with mascara and eyeliner, and Seymour growled angrily, hissing at the offending drops of water. Jason had quickly regained control of his anger and frustration by taking a few deep breaths. Even after the rain had ceased, the occupants of the room had stared at him from around the ping pong table.
Annabeth had quickly come to his rescue. "Why don't we take a break while I print some more copies of these?" She indicated to the soggy and smeared drawings.
He had shot her a thankful glance and she nodded. In the months since he'd come back from his quest, they'd become quite close. He would tell her how Percy probably felt, and Annabeth shared with him how Reyna might have been feeling. It brought them both some sort of comfort, even if Piper didn't understand it. The daughter of Venus—Aphrodite—had been a source of stress for him lately, which had only fueled his burst of emotion.
The sound of the ocean woke him from his thoughts. Normally, Jason did not find the ocean to be a comfort, but the beach offered privacy and would spare innocent campers from taking an unexpected shower should another outburst of emotion occur.
So Jason sat in the sand and stared out at the sea. A million thoughts ran through his head: the location of his missing sister, battle plans, vague memories from his home, a flash of long, dark hair and dark eyes that felt so familiar. Suddenly, anger and frustration took over again and rain poured all around him. He put his head on his knees and wrapped his arms around his legs and. But there was still wetness on his face and when it reached his mouth it tasted…salty? He sat up and the rain washed away the unfamiliar feeling of tears.
As he calmed, the rain disappeared. He sensed someone coming and when he turned he saw Annabeth, jean shorts and orange T-Shirt dripping wet.
"Should have brought an umbrella," he offered as a greeting.
"I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."
"I am. It's just…too much sometimes." He didn't feel like he explained it right, but she nodded in understanding.
"Does that happen to Thalia?" he asked. "The rain?"
"No, I don't think so."
Jason wasn't surprised. The Greek kids often have different powers than their Roman counterparts.
"It's hard to picture her really upset," he said. "She seems so in control."
"I've only seen her cry twice."
Jason thought about the blond boy in his sister's pictures in Cabin One, and he was almost sure the kid had something to do with it.
"Do you think she's okay?" Jason asked.
"She's Thalia, she'll be fine," she said, but she sounded worried too.
A wave crashed against the beach and tears cloud Annabeth's grey eyes. Impulsively, he took her hand and smiled reassuringly. She returned the smile and looked out at the ocean, letting the tears spill down her face.
And in that moment, Jason realized that sometimes even the strongest heroes need to cry.
A/N: I really did try not to include Thalia/Luke but they always sneak their way into my stories :p