So, off to a good start, yeah? I hope so. This isn't my first Jacey, but I want it to be longer than my other ones, because I have one one-shot and a five chapter story that aren't the best. So, I'm here to redeem myself, so to speak.

…

Percy's POV

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If you thought that I had a hard time concentrating at school as it was, you should've seen me after Jason became my partner. My grades slipped a little lower than normal, except for Physical Science. I was almost at a B- in that class. That was because I had something solid to focus on. And no, I didn't mean Jason. I meant the mouse trap car. Over the weekend, we'd carved and sanded the body. Now, we were fashioning the wheels.

"Cut off both ends," Jason instructed. I watched as he demonstrated, then pulled the balloon over the old CD I brought to school with me today. I copied him, pulling my own balloon over the CD. I could only find three same colors, so we had three blue wheels and one green wheel. Jason called it our lucky wheel. As long as we had it, we were sure to get an A on this project. "There we go," Jason said, admiring our handiwork. "We're so far ahead already Perce. Wanna take a break?"

"Sure," I replied, stacking the CDs in our little cubby we were using to hold the supplies. I sat back down in my chair and quietly observed the rest of the class. Most of them were still arguing about how to make it. A few were up to the building phase, and were desperately trying to find the right wood to make it. Annabeth was in the middle of an argument over the right wood to use with Will, while Grover and Jake looked down at their paper in dismay. They hadn't even come up with a basic design yet.

"Feels good, doesn't it?" Jason said, I turned a questioning look on him. "Being ahead I mean. We can sit back and relax a bit. We have the body all designed already. Hell, we could even test her out before we race her." I smiled.

"Our car is a her then?" I asked. "We should name her then. Something fierce."

"Thalia!" Jason exclaimed, and I threw my head back and laughed. That would probably scare our classmates more than anything. Most still remembered the time Thalia knocked Will's two front teeth out because he made the mistake of picking on Jason. There was blood everywhere, and Thalia got suspended for three weeks because of it. It was a perfect name for our car.

"Thalia it is," I said. I got our car out of the cubby, along with some black paint and a brush. I scrawled out Thalia's name along the side of our car with big, sloppy, half-cursive writing. Jason looked over and smiled.

"Perfect," he declared. "Black and rounded, a bit like my sister, wouldn't you say?" I laughed again, mostly from relief. Jason was the only one who could get away with picking on Thalia and public. At the very least, he wouldn't have his teeth knocked in or his hands and feet broken. Thalia wouldn't attack her own brother. "Let's put this away while the paint dries," Jason said, setting our car in the cubby. He leaned against the table and studied me. "You really like the hair, don't you?" he asked. I tucked it behind my ears and shrugged.

"It's hard to manage," I replied carefully. "But I like it. Why, do you have a problem with it?" I felt the little fire of resentment flaring back to life. Jason held up his hands and shook his head.

"I like it fine," he said. "It suits you. May I?" Before I could say a thing, he reached out and ran his hands through my hair. "Soft," he said with a smile. "A lot like the rest of you, eh?" I didn't know if I felt happy about that or not. Or if it was even a compliment or not.

…

"Stupid Jason," I mumbled, sitting in front of my dresser and studying my reflection in the mirror. I had my brush in my hand, but so far I'd failed at doing anything with my hair. I didn't like it anymore. It appeared too long. It didn't frame my face like I usually thought it did. It just made it seem long and irregular. I set the brush aside and ran my fingers through it. They caught on snarls, and I winced. But I wasn't going to brush it. I had a different idea.

I swiveled my chair so I was facing my desk, and rooted around the drawers. I came up with a pair of black scissors, something of which mom had no idea I had. I positioned myself in front of my mirror, took a small portion of my hair, and chopped about five inches off, so my hair ended just above my ears. I continued the process until it was even all around, then I held up my handheld mirror to inspect the back. Not bad. I gathered up all the hair and put it in a plastic bag. I tied the ends together and stuffed it in the trash. I didn't want to keep it scruffy looking though, so I searched Google for inspiration. I finally found something I liked, and I got my sculpting gel out from the drawer of my dresser.

"Percy, what are you doing in there sweetie?" mom asked, knocking on my bedroom door. I turned to look at it.

"You'll see mom," I said, getting a nice little handful of goop. "It's a surprise. I'll show you when I'm done." I turned back to the mirror and applied the goop to my hair. Then I began sweeping it up in the front until it stood up in a little point. I left the sides down a little while sweeping the rest toward the front. And finally I did the same to the back. Now my hair looked like it had little brown waves in it. I stood up and looked at it from every angle. I liked my new hairstyle. I took a picture of myself and sent it to Jason. Hey, new style. What to do you think? I sat down in my chair and began putting things away. My phone buzzed.

Omg so you! Jason replied. I luv it. Why didn't you do that sooner? You look good in short hair! I flushed with pleasure as I read his text. Hearing Jason say that…well, it put butterflies in my stomach.

I was never interested, I texted back. But I luv it too! And that was the truth, I realized. I was really starting to love my medium length hair. Just long enough to experiment with, but still short enough so it wouldn't snarl as much. I turned the volume up on my phone and tossed it onto my bed. I finished putting things away and then wheeled myself over to the desk to start my homework. No sooner had I opened the General Math book, my phone rang. I snatched it up.

Looks good Perce. I wish I could do something like that with my hair. I'm tired of the comb-over look. I was a little stumped. The Great Jason Grace had never once said he didn't like something about himself. Think I could pull off the messy look? It's trying without trying.

I like your hair the way it is, I wrote back, then I stared at the phone, open-mouthed. Did I really just say that? So much for loathing Jason Grace. I guess I didn't loath him anymore. I still didn't like him, but it wasn't loath. More like gentle hate. Yeah, that's it. Gentle hate.

Really? Thanks Perce! That means a lot :). I giggled and scribbled answers in my notebook. I wasn't entirely sure why, but hearing Jason said that made me happy. Get ready Hell. There's a blizzard watch tonight.

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Jason's POV

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"Whatcha doing baby bro?" I jerked up when Thalia entered my room and sat down on my bed. I huffed with anger and hunched back over my Honors Algebra I book. It's basically geometry with an algebra title. I was working on proofs, which I found to be the most boring things ever invented. I mean, seriously, who needs to prove a triangle is a triangle? Three sides, three points, it's a triangle. Your standard two year old knew this information by now. I could go on about this all night. So instead of arguing with myself about the pros and cons of proofs, I turned to Thalia. Equations still swam through my head, so I shook it.

"Doing homework," I replied. My phone rang. "Texting Percy," I added, snatching my phone up. "Percy cut and styled his hair, and we've been talking about that." I sent him a text back then stuffed my phone in my pocket.

"Percy?" Thalia asked, wrinkling her nose. "Sounds like an old person's name." I bristled.

"Percy's a great name!" I practically shouted. No one, and I mean no one, could make fun of Percy's name. He was insecure enough as it was. Besides, Thals is my sister. She'd better like Percy, because if I had any say in it, he was going to be around for a long while yet. "Besides, don't make fun of him. I think he gets enough of that at school."

"Going for the unpopular again, are you Jay?" Thalia asked. She tisked. "I thought you learned from Leo in seventh grade. You know that's why we moved." I closed my eyes.

"This time is different," I insisted. "Percy's gay. Will and Jake tell me all the time he's gay. Actually, they kind of poke fun at him for the fact. Besides, I'm not interested in that kind of relationship. He hates me. Loathes me, actually. I just want to change his mind about me."

"Ah, but that's where you're going wrong, dear brother," Thalia said, rising from her place. "There's a very thin line between I loathe you and I love you. You'll see. This Percy fellow will change his mind alright. He'll change it." She left, leaving me to stare at the spot she'd been in. Was there really a thin line between those two things? I didn't want Percy's love. I wanted…I guess I wanted him to hate me less. If he became my friend, all the better. But I didn't love him. I didn't even like him that way. At least, I was pretty sure…

"How do I feel about you Percy?" I asked his picture. His smiling face offered no answers, but it did make me smile. I loved his new hair. More than I cared to really admit. To myself. Not to him. I would shower him with praise. I would smother him with it. I smiled to myself. My goal, ultimately, was to make Percy Jackson feel like he was special, because I knew he didn't think so. He was special. He just needed a little self-esteem boost. "I guess I'm not sure how I feel about you, Perce," I said at last. He hadn't texted me back yet, but I was content to wait for a reply. I didn't have to wait long.

Don't get used to it Grace. I don't give compliments often. But yes, I like the style you have. My heart gave a little flutter. Everyone thought that I was perfect, and when I did doubt myself, I needed to hear something positive. Percy saying he liked my hair was enough positive to keep me going till next year, maybe even the year after.

Why thank you good sir. *bows* I appreciate it. I laughed as I texted that. I really hoped he was laughing as he read it.

LOL! God Grace, we aren't born in the 1700s. You're funny. If my heart fluttered before, now it was launching to the moon.

Yep, that's me, I replied. Here to please. Hey, g2g. Text you tomorrow?

You bet! Night Jason. Sweet dreams. I set my phone on silent and set it on my nightstand. It was late, but I wasn't the least bit sleepy. I felt charged and full of energy. And I kept thinking about what Thalia said. About that thin line. Could the line really be that thin? Was Percy a stone's throw away from I love you? It didn't seem possible. How could you go from I loathe you to I love you in that few a steps? I had a long way to go with him yet. But I wasn't giving up.

I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling, thinking. I wanted Percy's affection, sure, but just being his friend would be nice enough. I wasn't picky. I switched to my side and stared at my white walls. White was basic. White helped me think. Like right now. What exactly did I hope to gain from all of this? Maybe it was a bad idea being paired up with him after all. I didn't know exactly what I wanted to gain from this. No, I scolded myself. You wanted this Jason. You make it work. You owe it to Percy. I got my phone back and typed a quick message.

Night Percy. Sweet dreams to you too. And hey, you might not think much of yourself, but to someone else, you mean the world. I stared at the text over and over, rereading it in my head. It felt like something was still missing from it. Then I figured it out. You mean the world to me. Before I could stop myself, I sent it. Then I set the phone back on my nightstand and closed my eyes.

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Percy's POV

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I was still awake when Jason sent me his message, and when I read it, I definitely didn't feel tired anymore. I sat up in my bed and read the text over and over. I felt myself smiling, despite the fact that I wasn't sure if I liked him yet. With trembling fingers, I typed a reply.

You'd better mean that Jason. I don't like my feelings toyed with. But, if you aren't joking, thank you. That means a lot to me, to hear you say that. I set the phone aside and lay on my back, staring at my ceiling. There was a fine line between I loathe you and I love you. I'm pretty sure I had one foot on the I love you side now. It was snowing in Hell.

…

Well, sorry about all the italics, first thing. Secondly, I really hope you like Percy's new cut. The main reason he cut it off was because Jason liked his long hair, and he didn't want that. But Jason likes it no matter what, so he may as well enjoy it. Confidence booster time!