Jason

Jason couldn't sleep. It was about 2:00am and the Argo II was silent, apart from the occasional creak made by the machinery, yet Jason found himself lying awake, staring at the ceiling. This sort of behaviour wasn't unusual for a demigod, but Jason wasn't thinking about the quest, or what they were going to do next, or even his girlfriend Piper. He was thinking about Percy. Before Percy arrived, Jason had been happy to be Piper's boyfriend. Then Percy arrived and…wow. He was just so perfect. After Percy arrived, Jason began to doubt he was who he thought he was. For example, every so often when he made a joke, Percy gave him a cheeky smile. This made Jason feel light headed, and wonder what Percy was thinking about. Did he feel the same way? Jason banished the thought to the back of his mind. Of course he didn't. Percy was with Annabeth, there was no way Percy could like Jason. But you're with Piper, and you like Percy A voice at the back of his head pointed out. He secretly hoped the voice was right, although he told himself Percy wasn't like him.

A knock at the door startled him. He looked up and saw Leo standing there in his pyjamas, covered in machine oil. "Sorry dude, I didn't mean to frighten you."

"It's alright. You need anything?"

"Sort of. I need to ask you something."

"Ask away."

"Ok, so there's this girl-" Jason started laughing. Leo looked puzzled. "What? This is serious. I need girl advice."

"Dude, we all know you have a thing for Hazel. Even Frank knows."

Leo went bright red. "Yeah, well what do you think I should do about it?"

"I'm the last person you should come to for girl advice. Piper would know what to do, ask her."

"I'll do it in the morning. Last time I woke her up in the middle of the night, she threw her shoe at me." Leo rubbed his head, as if the pain was still there. "Well, I guess I'll see you in the morning."

Leo started to walk out the door, when Jason called out to him. "Leo, wait. I kinda need your advice on something as well."

"You need my advice? You must be pretty desperate." Leo sat down on the floor, and Jason sat on his bed. "Ok, swear on the River Styx that nothing we say here goes beyond these walls."

Leo saluted him. "Aye, aye captain. Whatever you say."

"Well, I've been dating Piper for a long time now, and you know we both really like each other." Leo nodded. "Well, what if I kinda liked someone else."

Now it was Leo's turn to laugh. "Man, if Piper finds out…"

"You swore on the River Styx."

"I know, but still. So who is she?"

"That's the other thing. What if it was a guy?"

Leo let out an exasperated sigh. "Finally. He admits it."

Jason gave him a puzzled look.

"Ever since Percy arrived, you've been acting weird. Like, we've all noticed you staring at Percy. At first we thought it was just you being jealous, but then it happened more and more, and we began to wonder. Is Jason Grace really the straight hottie we all assumed he was? Will he and Percy ever get together?"

"You're making it sound like a TV program." Jason grumbled.

"To the gods, that's what it is! Aphrodite must have got bored with you and Piper, so she decided to give your love life an interesting twist. The son of Jupiter and The son of Poseidon. This could work!" Leo grinned madly at Jason.

Suddenly, Jason felt really tired, as if all the sleep he'd missed out on had somehow arrived now. Jason could barely keep his eyes open. "Dude I'm really tired. Go back to bed."

"Bye then. Hope it works out between you and Percy." Jason had the feeling that Leo gave him another wild grin, but his eyes were already closing. He heard Leo close the door behind him, and that was the last thing he heard before sleep took over.

In Jason's dream, he was on a beach. He vaguely remembered it from when he was little, but the memory was distant. He looked around, and saw the most beautiful women he had ever seen. Jason was speechless for a moment, then he realised he'd seen her before. "You're Aphrodite. Piper's mum." She smiled. "Yes, dear I am." Jason looked at her face and he understood that this was beauty. He didn't love her, but she was beautiful. Aphrodite spoke again. "You want to know why I decided to make you fall in love with Percy, don't you?" Jason nodded. "Very well. I shall tell you."

She took a deep breath, and began her story. "Being a goddess on Mount Olympus may sound fun, and it is, if you're perhaps Athena, Artemis or even Hera, but being the goddess of love, one gets terribly bored with all the couples. At first it was fun, matching people up and seeing where they get too, but it eventually got tedious and all the couples began to get samey. You know, the hot popular guy gets the shy pretty girl. So I decided to spice up your love life by making you fall in love with… what's his name again?"

"Percy."

"Yes, him. I decided to make you fall in love with him simply because you and my daughter were a dull couple."

"So, I'm in love with Percy because you were bored."

Aphrodite smiled. "Precisely."