AN: This is almost late. Almost. It's a few days from being late and I am so thankful.

Disclaimer: Not mine, never mine. Sigh.

Onwards and enjoy!

~halestorm


"And I'm hoping, against all hope, that that's how I'm going to be able to move the fuck on."

Percy doesn't say anything, and Jason runs his hand through his hair, breathing out a heavy sigh.

"I don't mean that," he mutters, shaking his head, squirming beneath the intensity of Percy's glare. "I'll get over you, eventually. It's just, you're—you were. You were everything to me, and now you're Luke's, and I don't know how to handle myself around you anymore."

"You don't have to handle yourself differently around me," Percy says after a moment, his voice low. "I'm the same person I've always been. I still talk too much when I'm nervous and I still swear like a sailor when I'm angry and I still make lame jokes and I still drool in my sleep. It's just, now, I'm dating Luke."

Jason shakes his head, yanking a little too hard as he pulls at his hair. "You don't get it. Didn't you come here to understand me? This is me. I can't be around you like I used to when you belong to someone else. It's awkward and it makes me uncomfortable. Don't you understand that?"

"I understand fine!" Percy snaps, and Jason lifts his chin defiantly, glaring down the half inch of height he has over Percy. "You want to get over me and you think the best way to do that is by being forced into social situations with me where I'm not yours! And that's a fucking stupid way to get over someone, you know that? It'd be easier if I just got the fuck out of your life and never came back."

Jason's breath catches in the back of his throat. "No, that's not what I want."

Percy scowls, pacing the sand in frustration. "Then what the fuck do you want, Jase?" He stops abruptly, turning to face Jason again, his eyes wild, and there's a spark in them that Jason has missed so, so much.

"I want you," Jason says, and his voice breaks off halfway through the sentence. "I've always wanted you, and you—"

He's cut off by cherry red lips crashing into his own, chasing away any other words he might have said. It's so familiar, so comforting, and Jason can't stop himself from wrapping his arms around Percy's waist and yanking the older boy closer, breathing him in and begging for more.

And then Percy is pulling away (or pushing Jason away—Jason can't tell the difference anymore), staggering backwards, lips swollen and a more vibrant shade of red than usual. Percy's cheeks flush crimson, and Jason's stomach flip-flops. First at remembering how adorable Percy always looks after a good kiss, and then when he remembers that Percy is Luke's and Jason can't just kiss his pseudo-brother's boyfriend.

"I have to go," Percy gasps out, an unreadable look on his face as he takes several more steps away from Jason, stumbling in the sand. "Luke is waiting for me." He turns and bolts up the beaching, sand flying up in his wake, and Jason stands on the turf for a little while longer, staring after him, one thought echoing on repeat in his mind.

Holy fucking shit, Percy Jackson just kissed me.


"How'd it go, hot lips?" Piper asks brightly when Jason steps into the living room, flicking through a magazine, a light smirk resting on her lips. "Your boyfriend just stumbled through here muttering something like 'oh God, what have I done?' Tell me you didn't do anything I wouldn't."

"That doesn't narrow it down very much," Leo quips, amazingly not attached to Nico's mouth for what feels like the first time all summer.

"Percy isn't my boyfriend," is all Jason can say, and his cheeks flush hotly, because there used to be a time when he would've been laughing alongside Leo instead of distancing himself from Percy.

Piper's eyes soften slightly. "Come sit with me. Tell Momma Piper all of your troubles."

Jason groans. "I'm not sitting with you if you pull this 'Momma Piper' shit again."

Piper pouts. "You didn't mind in December!"

"He was emotionally compromised," Thalia interjects, smirking. "Momma Piper is always welcome when he's upset."

Jason narrows his eyes at the two girls. "I hate both of you."

Piper laughs. "Well," she says, "if you're not going to talk, I am. Did you know Percy Jackson is friends with my half-sister?"

Jason cocks his head to the side, and as much as he doesn't want to talk about Percy, he knows it wouldn't be fair to Piper to avoid the topic altogether. "Which sister?"

"Drew," Piper says, shaking her head. "I'd think they met through Aphie's sex hotline if he wasn't gayer than Neil Patrick Harris."

Jason wrinkles his nose. "I really wish everyone would stop making Neil Patrick Harris references while talking about Percy."

"Sorry," Piper says, grinning sheepishly. "I just think we're all still kind of hoping you get to be the Robin to his Barney."

Jason balks in horror. "I was never the woman in that relationship!"

"Liar," Leo snorts. "You guys swapped between who topped all the time. When he was topping, you were the woman."

Jason makes a face, and Nico chuckles, swatting Leo's arm. "Quit, Leo," he scolds, despite the affection in his eyes. "You're making him uncomfortable."

Nico turns back to look at Jason, shrugging. "Frankly, your guy looks more like Josh Radnor than Neil Patrick Harris. If we're sticking with How I Met Your Mother references. But that still makes you Cobie Smulders—and for the love of god, Piper, if you're trying to convince Jason that he should be dating Percy Jackson, comparing their relationship to a failed marriage is a shitty way to do it."

Piper shrieks loudly, slapping her hands over her ears as everyone flinches away from her outbreak. "Don't say it!" she shouts, her voice bordering on hysterical. "Don't tell me they get divorced! I don't believe you!"

Jason turns back to Nico, shrugging sympathetically. "She's in denial. Sorry."

Nico rolls his eyes, and Jason sighs. His voice shakes a little as he says, "There's nothing between me and Percy Jackson anymore."

Jason's never flat-out lied to his friends before now, but there's a first time for everything.


"Hey, G-Man," Jason says, dropping onto the porch steps beside Grover. Out of the corner of his eye, he can make out Luke's Mustang, but Luke and Percy are nowhere in sight.

It's for the best, Jason thinks, his lips tingling at the memory of Percy kissing him on the beach two nights ago.

"Want a joint?" Grover asks, holding up the rolled weed, and Jason snorts, shaking his head.

"Not really. I don't feel like getting high tonight."

"Well, I do," Reyna butts in, plucking the joint from Grover's fingers and taking a heavy drag. She comes away coughing slightly, like she always does on the first drag, no matter how many times she does it. It was one of the things Jason had originally liked about her—he'd thought it was cute. Now, he remembers how Percy would always laugh and take the smoke in smoothly, having done it a million times, and there's nothing cute about how Reyna coughs anymore.

"Share," Grover scolds, taking the joint back from her after her third drag. "Sharing is caring," he mutters to himself, and a smile breaks over his lips.

"Excuse me?" Reyna asks, cocking her head to the side.

Grover's grin widens, his pale cheeks flushing scarlet. "I met a girl. That was written on her t-shirt. 'Sharing is caring.' I think I'm in love."

Jason snorts. "You met a girl? What's her name?"

"Juniper," Grover says, sighing dreamily. "I met her at Iris' Vegan Whole Foods and I'm in love with her. She's small and cute, and she's a vegan, too. And an environmentalist. I'm in love, Jason."

"I can tell," Jason says, and grins.

"We're happy for you," Reyna promises, taking the joint from Grover. "So, when's the wedding?" she teases.

Grover blushes even harder, and Jason stands, telling Reyna he'll catch up with her later. He's not sure where he's going, but he knows that Grover sounds a lot like Jason himself did when he finally told Piper about Percy, and it's a little embarrassing to remember.


"Shit," Jason swears, staggering away from the other person and staring down at the beer spilled on his shirt.

"Shit, Jase, I'm so sorry."

It's Percy. Of course it's fucking Percy, Jason thinks bitterly. He glances up from the beer to look at Percy, making eye contact, shaking his head.

"It's fine," he mutters brusquely. "It's only my favorite shirt."

Percy laughs, the sound high-pitched and frazzled, and Jason cocks his head to the side, wrinkling his brow.

"You okay, Percy?"

Percy shakes his head vigorously. "Nope. I'm drunk and I can't find Luke and Annabeth is in the hospital and I don't know why because Rachel didn't say why when she texted me. All I know is that Annabeth is in the hospital and I need to go see her but I can't find Luke to take me to her."

Jason opens his mouth to answer, but closes his jaw again, staring intently at Percy. "I…" He hesitates, groaning. "I could drive you to the hospital, if it's that important. I mean, I know I'm not Luke, and we—but I could drive you. I could text Luke and tell him what's going on, and to meet us up there. If you wanted."

"You're a saint, Jason," Percy slurs, wrapping his arms around Jason's neck and planting a sloppy, wet kiss on Jason's cheek, and Jason flinches away. He wonders how much of this Percy will remember when he's sober—Percy was always a touchy drunk, but it never felt awkward before now.

"Yeah, yeah," Jason mumbles, shaking his head. "C'mon. Let's get you to the car before you pass out."


Percy twiddles his thumbs in the passenger seat, bouncing up and down on the seat like a little kid. Jason almost tells him to calm down, but he doesn't have the heart.

"How long were you at the party?" Jason asks finally. "You're completely sloshed."

"Not sure," Percy mutters, shaking his head. "Not long. An hour? Your sister was making me take whiskey shots. I don't like whiskey."

Jason snorts. "That sounds like Thalia."

Percy taps his fingers against the dashboard, swaying back and forth in the passenger, and Jason really wishes Percy would put a seatbelt on.

"Do you think I'm pretty, Jason?" Percy blurts out. "Thalia says I'm pretty. She says I have feminine features. I don't have breasts, Jason. If I had breasts would I be pretty? Luke says he wouldn't like me if I had a vagina. You'd like me even if I had a vagina, wouldn't you, Jase?"

Jason groans. It's going to be a long night. "Yeah," Jason grumbles. "You're very pretty, and I'm sure I'd feel the same way about you that I do now if you had a vagina."

Percy blinks slowly, and Jason thinks that Thalia is right. With as long as Percy's eyelashes are, it's no wonder she thinks he has feminine features.

"How do you feel about me?" Percy presses, and Jason sighs.

Now would be the perfect time to smite me if you're going to, God, Jason thinks, and keeps his eyes on the road as he answers Percy.

"You know how I feel about you," Jason says carefully. He knows Percy won't remember anything in the morning, and that Percy knows everything, anyways, but it still makes him uncomfortable to talk about. "I love you. I never stopped loving you."

Percy doesn't say anything, and when Jason glances at him, Percy is staring out the windshield. He sighs. Percy's isn't even listening anymore.

"I can't help it," Jason continues, despite Percy's silence. "You were kind of my everything for a while, and I can't just let that go. I hate you for making me love you, and I hate myself for hating you, and I hate myself for loving you, and I hate myself for not being able to let you go."

Percy grins at the windshield. "Sounds like you just kind of hate everything, huh?"

Jason rolls his eyes. Percy is such an uncooperative dick when he's drunk.

"You're drunk," Jason snaps, scowling. "What do you know?"

"I don't know," Percy says, shrugging. He sits up, turning to face Jason and wagging his finger importantly. "But I know you're pretty and I like kissing you. I know I like you a lot even though we don't love each other anymore. I know I feel something for you that I've never felt before in my life. I don't know what it is, but I know it's special." Percy grins, slumping back in his seat and staring at Jason expectantly.

Jason can't breathe.

"I'm probably in love with you," Percy confesses as he continues. "But I'm with Luke, and Drew made me promise I'd try to make it work. I can't break another heart just to fix yours."

Jason isn't sure how to respond to that, and he knows drunken confessions of love are useless, anyways. Still, he can't help hoping that, even in sobriety, Percy has the same thoughts.


Jason pulls into the hospital parking lot with a yawn, glancing over at Percy. He's passed out, head resting against the window and his breath fogging up the glass, a trail of drool running down his chin.

Jason ignores how adorable Percy looks in favor of shaking him awake. "Come on, Percy. Wake up. We're here."

Percy groans, pressing his face into the window for a moment before sitting up, squinting at Jason as he runs his fingers through his sleep-tousled hair.

"I'm either dreaming right now," Percy decides, his voice husky from sleep, "or I dreamed up an elaborate version of the last year and none of that ever happened and we're still dating."

"Neither," Jason says, rolling his eyes. "You got pretty wasted last night. I'm not surprised you don't remember anything."

Percy rubs his eyes, yawning as he takes in his surroundings. "Are we at Apollo Health Care? In New York?"

Jason arches a brow. "You really don't remember much, do you?"

When Percy shakes his head in confusion, Jason sighs. "We were at a party last night, and you got drunk. Rachel apparently texted to say that Annabeth is in the hospital, and since you couldn't find Luke, you had me bring you."

Percy stares at Jason blankly for a long time before the realization clicks in his eyes. "Oh, that's right! Thalia was force feeding me shots, and then… Luke was gone. And Annabeth was in danger. And I was in your car?"

"Yeah," Jason confirms, blushing helplessly. "Can you remember anything we said?"

Percy's stare remains blank. "I think something was said about Meryl Streep?"

Jason laughs awkwardly. "You wouldn't shut up about 'Julie and Julia' once you got hungry."

Percy tilts his head to the side, face wrinkled in concentration. "I feel like I said something I should regret."

Jason shrugs, kicking his door open. "I don't know what you regret and what you don't anymore. C'mon, let's go see if Annabeth is okay. I still have to call Luke for you, too."

"Luke?" Percy asks, following Jason out of the car. "Why?"

"So he can be alerted as to where you are and be here for you, and I can go home and get some sleep," Jason mutters. Percy hesitates, then shakes his head.

"Luke is working today. We shouldn't bother him unless something is really wrong with Annabeth. Are you okay to drive me home?"

And Jason can't think of a legitimate excuse for not driving Percy home, so he nods. "Sure, yeah. Whatever."


Finding Annabeth's room is difficult, even with the help of the nurse, but when they finally stumble across it, she's sitting up in the bed, her blond curls pulled back in a pony tail as she thumbs through a magazine—architecture, Jason thinks, but he can't tell. Her leg is propped up in a cast, and Jason blanches.

I did not just drive Percy Jackson from California to New York just so he could check on Annabeth's leg.

Percy knocks on the doorframe as he strides into the room, careless and hungover. "You okay?" he asks, dropping into the seat beside Annabeth's cot, and she glares up at him.

"Perseus Jackson," she says sternly, "tell me you didn't drive all the way from California to check on me."

"I didn't drive all the way from California to check on you," Percy says solemnly. "I came to make sure you haven't killed Rachel in a fit of rage yet."

Annabeth's eyes narrow dangerously. "Percy."

He grins, shrugging. "Sorry. I'm hungover. Rachel texted last night to say you were in the hospital, but didn't say what for." Percy's eyes catch on Annabeth's leg. "I guess it wasn't as serious as she made it sound?"

Annabeth groans, snapping the magazine shut. "We were out at Rachel's house, trying to check out her old tree house, and the rope ladder collapsed before I made it halfway up. I broke my fucking leg because I'm too fat for Rachel's goddamn tree house. She told me her phone died while I was in surgery."

"Language," Percy reprimands absently, propping his legs up on the edge of Annabeth's bed. "Speaking of Rache, though. Where is she?"

"In the cafeteria with my dad," Annabeth mutters, her lips drawing up in a pout. "She abandoned me for food."

"I would never abandon you in a situation like this," Percy says, smirking. Annabeth scoffs.

"Yes, you would. And Rachel does the same thing because she's too similar to you."

"Maybe you have a friend type." Percy winks at Annabeth, and she rolls her eyes.

"Go find Rachel," she orders, and then she notices Jason, still hovering halfway in the door. "Oh, you brought Jason with you?"

"He drove me." Percy flaps his hand through the air thoughtlessly. "Apparently Luke couldn't, or something. I don't remember. I was drunk."

Annabeth purses her lips. "Go get Rachel, Seaweed Brain."

Percy laughs, climbing to his feet. "Haven't heard that one in a while," he calls over his shoulder as he breezes out of the hospital room, and then it's just Jason and Annabeth.

Annabeth stares after Percy. "I forgot how flippant he is when he's hungover. He doesn't drink very much, anymore."

Jason snorts, relaxing against the doorframe. He'd forgotten how easy it was to talk to Annabeth, even though he's only met her once before. "My sister was force-feeding him whiskey shots, I think. Sorry."

Annabeth sighs. "What can you do? An alcoholic will always be an alcoholic."

Jason flinches, hazily recalling his mom. He doesn't remember her very well, but he knows from Thalia's stories that she used to drink, a lot, and that she died in a drunk driving accident.

Jason is no stranger to alcoholics.

"Well, let's hope that's not true," he mutters. "For Percy's sake."

"Why are you here, Jason?" Annabeth asks quietly, and he glances up at her.

"Percy asked me to drive him."

Annabeth shakes her head. "You still care for him, don't you?"

When Jason blushes, looks away, and doesn't answer, she sighs. "Don't waste your whole life in love with someone who may never love you back, Jason. You deserve so much better than waiting on Percy Jackson."

"I know," Jason says, fidgeting as he avoids Annabeth's sharp gaze. "But it's so hard to let go of the best thing I've ever had."


Fin.

Aha! Finally things are happening!

So, there are three chapters left after this, making a grand total of twelve. With a potential epilogue-I haven't decided yet.

Anywho, songs for this chapter are: Blame it on the Rain, by He is We. You'll Think of Me, by Keith Urban. Why, by Secondhand Serenade. And I'm Alright, by jerseygreenll (i.e., that girl who sounds like Taylor Swift on SoundCloud).

Next update should be up in May, and the whole fic will probably wind down to a close in July.

kisses,

halestorm