While staying at the hospital, Jason learned three new things.
One, Annabeth was not good at small talk.
Example:
"What college do you go to, Annabeth?"
"Berkeley."
...
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-one."
...
"What's your major?"
"If I answer, will you stop asking me questions?"
"Sure."
"Architecture."
"Cool."
"Now be quiet, I'm trying to go to sleep."
Two, the hospital food was absolutely horrid. It was like a cross between those microwave dinners from Dollar Tree and the lunch food back in high school. It was still food though, so Jason couldn't really complain.
Wait.
Actually, Jason could complain because while he was sitting in the most uncomfortable chair in the world, debating whether or not he should become anorexic, Annabeth was sitting on the edge of Percy's bed, smirking at him and shoveling spoons of Chipotle into her mouth.
Damn her.
Anyways, the third thing he learned was the name of a boy he met in the elevator. His name was Nico di Angelo.
Jason had first met the dark-haired teen on the elevator when he was leaving the hospital for his psychology class. Nico was leaning against the wall, headphones plugged into his ears and his head casted down. He bopped his head softly to the music.
When the blonde stepped into the elevator, the boy simply looked up and gave him the tiniest nod as a form of greeting. His eyes watched Jason carefully and he found himself squirming under the gaze of a boy who couldn't be more than eighteen years old, at least a year younger than himself.
"What are you here for?" Jason blurted out and then nearly face-palmed because the boy obviously wasn't listening to him. Obviously.
"Hmm?" The dark-haired boy raised an eyebrow and removed just one earphone from his ear - his way of saying 'don't talk to me.'
Jason felt stupid all of sudden, his cheeks turning a dark shade of red as he stuttered out, "I-I asked what you're here for. I mean, there's obviously not something wrong with you." He waved his hand up and down in a gesture that was lost even to him.
"My sister broke her arm," the boy said, wrapping his black aviator's jacket tighter around himself. Jason noticed that he wore all black - a little goth, but not quite. He was missing the black eyeliner. Though, the boy would totally be able to pull off the look. He was cute, but definitely not Jason's type. "You?"
"My boyfriend was in a swimming accident and's in a coma." Jason said, shrugging. Then before he could stop himself he continued on, "We were getting pretty serious and then this happened and his ex-girlfriend showed up out of blue, which probably shouldn't bother me as much as it does and ... you probably think I'm crazy right now." He laughed to himself, shaking his head and wondering why he was talking to a complete stranger about his life problems.
"I don't," the boy replied, his eyes pure black as they focused on Jason. "Everyone's got a little bit of crazy."
They were silent for a while until Jason noticed that the elevator hadn't moved since he stepped in.
"Why aren't we moving?" He asked, biting his lip.
"Because you didn't push the button," the boy chuckled.
"Oh, wow." Jason said sarcastically and stepped forward to push the button for the lobby, groaning inwardly at the fact that he was probably going to be late for class. Again. As of late, his punctuality had really been suffering.
Jason leaned against the wall, crossing his arm over his chest and watching as the boy pushed one of the glowing buttons - number two. "I feel like I've seen you before."
"Do you go to Olympus?"
"Yeah," he nodded.
"That's probably why. I go there, too."
"Freshman?"
"Unfortunately," the boy said and then raised an eyebrow. "Wait, you're on the football team, right?"
The blonde grinned to himself. "Yep, number three, star running back."
The elevator doors opened then, revealing the fourth floor of the hospital. A couple stood in the doorway with agitated expressions, waiting to board the elevator.
Jason turned to the dark-haired boy, extending out a hand. "Well, it was nice meeting you, ... "
"Nico," the boy offered, shaking Jason's hand. "Nico di Angelo."
"Nico," the blonde said. "I'm Jason Grace."
Over the next couple of days, Jason was what you would call 'on edge.' He kept checking his call history on his phone and he wore his old gray Olympus hoodie for the whole week because between worrying about Percy's health and school, he honestly didn't care about his appearance. (Thalia, though, teased him relentlessly about his latest wardrobe staple, saying, "You're gay, you're supposed to be fashion forward!" Which was followed by a series of incessant giggles.)
"Ugh," Jason groaned, closing his eyes and shoving his phone back in his pocket. "The hospital was supposed to call by now!"
Leo sent him a pitiful look from where he was slumped on his bed, his back against the wall. He pointed at Jason, "Dude, you need to relax. If Percy wakes up, his ex, Annabel or whatever, is there. I mean, what's the worse that could happen? It's not like they're gonna hook up in a hospital room."
Jason's eyes widened at the thought of Percy and Annabeth hooking up in the hospital room and Piper glared at the Latino.
"Leo," she said. "Not helping."
He held up his hands and shrugged. "Sorry," he apologized, glancing over at the blonde who was contemplating jumping out of the window of Leo's dorm room. It was only the second floor, the worst that could happen was a couple of scrapes and bruises. That wouldn't hurt too bad, right?
"... because you need to go out and - Jason, are you listening to me?" Piper was saying and said boy blinked slowly, realizing that he'd been too consumed in his thoughts of suicide to hear what the girl was saying.
"Huh?" he wondered out loud and Leo groaned, which seriously was not a good thing because he rarely payed attention to anything. He had a really severe case of ADHD and it was a miracle he'd even gotten into college - no offense, Leo.
"Were you even listening?" Piper questioned with a raised eyebrow.
Jason nodded a bit too enthusiatically. "Yeah, you were saying how I need to get out more and ... stuff." Leo snorted.
She rolled her eyes. "Leo and I are going to this party that Drew invited us to. You remember Drew, right?"
"She's your sister? She's Asian, right?"
"She's really hot," commented Leo, who they both ignored.
"Half Asian, but yeah." Piper waved her hand in the air dismissively before continuing, "My mom's throwing a surprise party for her since she got accepted by some big modelling agency in New York City and she said I can invite some friends over. You should totally come."
"Pipes, you know that I have to be here in case Percy wakes up - "
"Nope, you're going," she decided for him. She stood up and grabbed Jason's hand and dragged him out of the room. "No excuses!"
As the pair passed through the doorway, Jason grabbed onto the doorknob in an attempt to get away from Piper. "Help!" He called to Leo.
The Latino laughed, sauntering over to where Piper was trying to pull him off the door. "Sorry, bro, but I need another guy there. Do you know many parties that girl dragged - literally dragged - me to?"
"Uh, one?"
"Hundreds!"
Piper rolled her eyes. "It was only, like, twenty."
"Still," Leo said. "A lot, so you're coming, Grace. You owe me."
Then Leo proceeded to release Jason's hand from the doorknob, sending the blonde flying through the door. He could hear Jason screaming all the way to the end of the hall.
"Piper," Jason whined, tugging at the collar of the too tight polo he was wearing. "I told you that this shirt was too small."
Piper sent him a glare over the punch table, her eyes turning from brown to a dark shade of green that vaguely reminded him of Percy as she poured red punch into a clear glass. "Shut up, you look nice," she said, tucking a lock of her choppy brown hair behind her ear. "Would you rather my mom dress you? She would probably make you wear a corset or something."
Jason laughed harshly, still adjusting his shirt. "I don't know if that would be better or worse."
"Worse, way worse," Piper confirmed, walking around the table to stand beside the blonde. She brought the glass up to her lips and with her other hand, pointed at a woman who was wearing a fancy red dress that looked like it came out of a Alexander McQueen catalogue. (Don't ask how he knew who that was.)
"That's my mom," Piper told Jason and if he were drinking something at the moment, he totally would've done a spit take.
"Aphrodite, the number one supermodel in the world, is your mom?" He asked, shocked. Piper shrugged as if it wasn't a big deal that her mother was on the cover of every posh magazine on the shelf.
Leo popped up beside them, laughing. "What happened to you, Piper? Didn't get the pretty gene?"
She rolled her eyes and sent Leo a look over the top of her glass. "I might be wearing a dress, but I can still kick your ass, Valdez."
"Shh, don't let mommy hear you curse. She might give you a make-over - "
"Wait," Piper held up a hand and both boys sent her curious glances. She nudged the blonde with her elbow as she said, "Who's the hottie checking you out, Jason?"
"Where?" He asked, looking around.
"At four o'clock."
He peeked over his right shoulder, past Leo and Piper, to see Nico leaning against a wall. (Seriously, every time Jason saw him he was leaning against something.) He still wore all black, but he had traded the leather aviator jacket for a tuxedo jacket - still black, of course. It was almost as if he was trying to blend in with the shadows, trying not to draw attention to himself.
Nico gave him the most minicule nod, his lips curling upwards in a smirk.
"Oh, that's Nico. I met him at the hospital a couple of days ago."
"He's totally into you." Piper said.
"I have a boyfriend," Jason pointed out.
"I'll take him off of your hands, then," said Leo, running his hands through his unruly dark curls. "How do I look?" He asked the two.
Jason gave him a thumbs up while Piper shrugged, indifferent. "You look like you always do," she commented off-handedly.
"I'm guessing smoking hot." He winked and then sauntered over to Nico, immediately engaging in conversation.
Piper sighed, turning to Jason with an annoyed look on her face. "This is why I didn't want to come with Leo. He always ditches me."
Before he could open his mouth, Aphrodite walked up to them, looking effortlessly beautiful as always. "Piper!" She exclaimed, engulfing her daughter in a hug that smelled of Chanel No. 5. "How are you, dear?" She asked, pulling away.
"I'm going to go," Jason said awkwardly, attempting to leave. He could sense they needed some mother-daughter bonding time from the way Piper was avoiding her mom's gaze.
"No!" Piper latched onto his arm, pulling him back to her side. Aphrodite looked between the two teens. "No, because I have to, uh, introduce you to my mom, Aphrodite. Aphrodite, this is Jason."
"Are you Piper's boyfriend?"
They both almost choked, shaking their heads and muttering incoherent things. Finally, Piper managed to say, "H-He's just a friend."
"Oh?" Aphrodite raised an eyebrow, giving them a tight-lipped smile.
"Yeah," Jason nodded.
"Yeah," Piper said.
The awkwardness between the trio was growing increasingly more... awkward.
And then Jason's phone rang and he almost jumped for joy. He meekly said excuse me and stepped outside to answer the call, which was from an unknown number.
"Hey," he said, "who's this?"
"Annabeth."
Jason frowned. "How did you get my number?"
"Percy's phone," she said as if it explained everything. "Anyways, I just called to let you know that Percy is supposed to wake up soon. Like tonight, maybe."
"Tonight?" He repeated, feeling his heart swell up with joy. He considered thanking all the gods that existed or maybe even crying. Mostly the former.
"Yeah."
"Alright, I'll be there as soon as possible."
Annabeth said okay and he hung up, running back to Piper, who was still having a conversation with her mom. Jason told her what Annabeth had said and Piper immediately perked up, offering him a ride, much to her mother's disappointment. "She'll get over it," Piper said when they got into her car.
They made it to the hospital and Jason ran up to the third floor, throwing open the room door with his heart hammering in his chest as his eyes met Percy's sea green ones. And then he noticed that Annabeth was laying on the bed beside Percy, holding hands with him.
Like a couple.
Oh my God, Jason thought, they did hook up.
Umm, I have no idea what happened at the end there. Like honestly.
This chapter was just going to be about Jason meeting Nico and then my fingers started typing and damn Leo for putting those thoughts in Jason's head. Ugh.
As always, review and stuff.
I love you, beautiful person!
- Hazel x
