Blonde Superman
"Annabeth and Percy will be okay, I—"
"No!" Piper cut off her boyfriend by elbowing him in the gut sharply. He buckled forward, coughing, but it was more from surprise than from actual pain. They were on the top of the Argo II, the night dark overhead. Leo stood at the controls. He had not spoken a word in eight hours other than making the occasional creak-and-squeak systems update with Festus. Piper knew he blamed himself for what had happened to Percy and Annabeth, but she did not know why—yet.
"You've got bony elbows," Jason gasped out as he finally regained breath. Piper glared at him, but not because of the elbows comment.
"No promising, got it?" She commanded, "And don't promise not to promise!" She added the last bit when she saw the grin begin to slide across his face.
"Fine," he responded, "But we will get them back. Percy and I have a duel planned once this is all over."
"Boys," Piper muttered, rolling her eyes, but she had to suppress a smile. Jason wasn't what she would have defined as her type. She never would have pictured herself with a blonde superman—or any type of guy with super good-looks. No, guys like that had always reminded her too much of her dad when they were nice like Jason. Unfortunately, though, most guys with super-good looks acted more like Dylan—they would hit on her, but not really care a thing for her. If she actually paid them attention, they treated her like dirt. That was one of the main reason she downplayed her looks. Beauty attracted too many of the wrong type of guy.
She had never gone for guys like Percy either, the cute skater boy type. They always looked like trouble, and Piper had never cared for trouble she had not created. No, her type was the geek who would never have considered doing anything wrong.
Her first boyfriend had been the captain of the academic team, an amazingly smart junior who was attractive in the Alex P. Keaton way—super preppy and straight-laced. She had been a sophomore at the time.
"What are you thinking about?" Jason asked. Piper could feel the blush spread across her cheeks. She hadn't thought about Graham in a long time.
"Oh, just about Graham Hale," Piper said lightly. She shivered slightly. She wasn't wearing a jacket and they were flying several miles above sea level. Jason put an arm around her and pulled her in close. She could fell his muscles pulled tight under his skin—tense.
"Who's that?" Jason asked. His voice mimicked carelessness, like this was an everyday conversation on a normal date, not a mad attempt at making Piper forget that her friend was stuck in Tartarus and they would probably never save her. Piper loved him for his selflessness, loved him for putting her and everyone else first, even when it was infuriating and worrying. He had sat there for over an hour as Piper had cried into his shoulder earlier that day, and now he wanted to listen to her talk about a guy he knew nothing about. She almost considered making up a story about Graham because it seemed so unfair to talk about her old boyfriend when her current one was being so wonderful, but the truth spilled out.
"He was my first boyfriend," Piper admitted sheepishly.
"Mmm," Jason replied diplomatically, "I don't think I've heard about him."
"Well, it was a little over a year ago, before Dad sent me to Wilderness School," Piper told him, "He was the brightest kid in our school, captain of the academic team, big preppy with thick-framed glasses. Nothing like you.
"Then again, I never thought I would go for the muscular, hot guy type," Piper told him, "He was sweet, but, oh, everything he did for me was so nerdy! He graphed out a heart with my name in the middle on his calculator once…" Piper told him. Her smile was wider than she wanted it to be. She tried to mellow it down by reminding herself of Graham's faults. They had been blaring. "He didn't trust me though. When I was caught for stealing the car, he broke up with me, saying he didn't want to go out with a thief. I tried to explain that I had just asked for the car, but he would not listen, no matter what I said. No one ever believed me when I said that." The smile was gone now, and Piper had her knees held to her chest. She had never been a dishonest person, but when you could charmspeak, even if you didn't know you could charmspeak or if others didn't know it, people distrusted you when you didn't use the charmspeak. Piper had dealt with not being trusted her whole life.
Jason squeezed her side. "I would have believed you, Pipes." Piper pursed her lips slightly.
"That's only because you know what charmspeak is," she retorted.
"No, even without knowing I would trust you," Jason said, "Because I know you have a good heart." It was a simple line, one that would usually sound empty, but Jason said it with such sincerity that it made Piper feel better. A small smile pulled at her lips.
She was grateful that she had her blonde superman.
A/N: Another one off my tumblr page.