I apologize for being such a piece of crap and taking forever to update it.
A little while later, Jason's phone alarm went off. Jason jumped from his spot on the couch, where he and Nico had been sitting and watching television, and ran to the kitchen counter where his phone was placed.
"What's that?" Nico asked, cringing at the obnoxious siren noise blasting from Jason's cell phone.
Jason grinned widely as he shut off the alarm. "That would be my alarm to remind to say goodbye to Reyna before she left."
Nico nodded his head in understanding.
"C'mon," Jason said, motioning for Nico to get off the couch. "We've got a Puerto Rican to bother."
"What are you doing here?" Reyna asked, lowly, her eyes glancing up to look behind Jason for a second before looking back to him.
Jason frowned and turned his head to look behind him. "To see you off!" Jason cried. He didn't see anything weird, just the kids from the club sitting around with various pieces of luggage surrounding them, obviously waiting for something. "What are you so jumpy for?" he asked, turning back to look at her.
"I don't want Mr. Terminus to see you. He might connect the dots that I'd been sneaking out of my hotel room to hang out." Reyna explained in a rush.
"Wait he doesn't know this is my dad's hotel?" Jason asked with a smirk.
Reyna shook her head. "I handled all the hotel reservations so no." Reyna shook her head a little. "And he's been super uptight since that blonde asshole has been breaking the rules. Terminus had been so close to putting him on a plane and sending him home."
"Why didn't he?" Jason asked, looking over to the group of kids from his old school to seek out the blonde. He recognized some of them as kids he'd seen pass in the halls back when he was at the school but didn't know any of them by name.
"Sending someone home is a pretty empty threat on a field trip with only one chaperone," Reyna explained. "Not to mention Terminus might have to deal with parents complaining that their money was wasted."
Jason rolled his eyes before looking back up at the group of kids, searching for a blond among them. "Where's he at? And what's his name anyway?" None of the boys were blond so he looked over at Reyna with his eyebrows raised.
"Terminus has had him glued to his side these last couple of days. The two of them are trying to set up getting the bus ride over to the airport. And his name doesn't matter. He just transferred this year, you wouldn't know him." Reyna sighed. "But it's whatever. Nico," Reyna averted her attention, "what are you doing here?"
"Jason invited me over," Nico explained, pointing a thumb over at Jason. Reyna raised her eyebrows at Nico who gave a small smile in return. Reyna's inquisitive look dropped and she smiled widely at Nico. Jason frowned and he looked between his two best friends, feeling like he just missed something.
"Well hurry up and get out of here guys," Reyna said, making a shooing motion with her hands. "Terminus can't see you."
"Alright, alright, alright," Jason complained before taking a step forward and enveloping Reyna in a hug. "Skype me when you get home alright?"
Reyna scoffed but put her arms around Jason anyways. "Don't tell me what to do," she mumbled, before pulling back from the hug. "See you Jason. Take care Nico," she finished before walking back towards her club mates, turning around when she was halfway there to wave at them.
They waved back at her just as Jason noticed Terminus walk into the lobby, flanked by a begrudging looking blond. Neither of them had seemed to notice him and Nico standing on the other side of the large lobby.
"That must be him," Jason leaned towards Nico and whispered, pointing at the pair.
"Then let's go!" Nico whispered harshly back, grabbing onto Jason's wrist and yanking him around the corner and out of view from Jason's old teacher. Jason couldn't help but look at Nico in bewilderment at Nico's haste, despite the fact that he knew he was supposed to stay out of Terminus's sight for stupid reasons. "Aren't we supposed to be hiding from that teacher?" Nico supplied in a quick, unnecessary explanation.
"Uh… yeah," Jason mumbled, shaking his head. "Let's head back upstairs. We can do a movie or something."
Nico seemed to relax a little before he smirked at Jason. "If we're going back upstairs, you're doing your Italian that's due tomorrow. I know you couldn't have done it yet."
"Oh really? And how do you know that?" Jason retorted with a smirk, putting an excessive amount of emphasis on the 'know' in an attempt to mock Nico. He started to walk backwards in the direction of the elevators, Nico followed just behind him.
"Cause you're Jason Grace," Nico said matter-of-factly.
The statement nearly made Jason stop dead in his tracks. It was such a casual thing to say, something that rivaled just how intensely things had gone up in his suite just 30 minutes ago. Plus, it reflected how well Nico knew Jason. The only people who described things as being strictly 'Jason Grace' had been Reyna and Thalia.
Why? Why did he have to stumble over the stupidest things? Nico was one of his best friends. It should go without saying that Nico knew him well. Why did Nico saying that make his face go hot? Why was the universe trying to fuck him over so much?
Jason quickly turned around so that he was facing forward and made a beeline for the elevator, pressing the button for the elevator.
"Jason?" Nico asked, catching up to him and leaning his head to look at Jason. "Are you okay? I wasn't trying to insult you or anything." Jason looked over at Nico to see his features twisted in worry. "I mean there are lots of people who wait until the last minute to do homework. Hell, every morning Leo's rushing to get some sort of assignment done."
"I'm not insulted," Jason laughed off, sending Nico a smile that hurt his cheeks. Nico continued to look at him worriedly. "It's just funny to me that you know me so well."
"Funny?" Nico asked with a tilt of his head. "Why would that be funny? Of course I'd know you well. You're my friend."
Jason's insides just about exploded.
Leo and Percy.
Percy and Leo.
Percy kissing Leo.
Leo kissing Percy.
The two of them kissing on my bed.
Leo.
Percy.
KISSING.
Jason was having a really hard time with this secret thing.
It wasn't like he was itching to go out and tell everyone in the school that Leo and Percy had kissed but he had a borderline need to talk, at least, to Leo about it.
He'd gotten to school early and had been barely able to look at Leo, scared that he'd blurt out about the kiss and force Leo to talk about it, something Nico had asked him not to do. But every time Jason even looked at Leo all he could think was, 'Leo. Percy. Kissing.'
It wasn't until Basketball class that Leo pulled him aside. Literally. Jason was walking out of the gym locker rooms when Leo came out of nowhere and yanked his arm, cause Jason to stumble after him as he pulled him to stand in front of the emergency exit doors, the bleachers blocking them from view of most of the gymnasium.
Whoa!" Jason cried as his arm was yanked and he came face-to-face with the little Latino.
"Dude, are you okay? You've been weird all day today." Leo's face expressed concern and Jason felt shitty for making him think something was wrong. Especially since it really was just Jason having a hard time with imagining Leo and Percy locked at the lips.
Of course he couldn't tell Leo that. He promised Nico.
"Nothing's wrong," Jason said a little too quickly, his eyes avoiding Leo's eyes.
"Liar," Leo replied with a sigh. "You know you can talk to me about it if you want. The thing with Percy."
Jason quickly looked at Leo and the kid had a huge grin on his face, amusement clearly in his eyes. "I knew that was it!" Leo practically yelled, bumping his fist into the air.
"I'm sorry Leo," Jason sighed, rubbing his hands together and looking down. "There's been a lot going on right now and there's just a lot of new information to take in and Nico told me I wasn't allowed to talk about it so-"
"Wait," Leo interrupted. "Nico said not to talk about it?"
"Um, yes?"
Leo groaned. "He's so overprotective!" Leo dragged his hands down his face dramatically, causing some of the students walking out of the still visible locker room doors to send a small sideways glance. Leo then dropped his hands and sighed. "Whatever you want to know I'll tell you."
Jason raised his eyebrows. "What?"
"The thing with Percy has blown over," Leo said with a wave of his hand. "It sucks that he and Annabeth broke up because of it but Percy and I are good. Still friends and everything. Just a couple awkward moments here and there. So if there's anything you wanted to know, ask away. I'll answer any question you have."
Oh wow….
Jason resisted the urge to shake his head in an attempt to take in the new information. He'd been getting way too much of that lately.
Jason thought for a minute. He didn't want to ask something extremely personal, like how deep Leo's feelings were for Percy, or stupid. He needed to handle this correctly.
"Alright," Jason finally replied, holding up a single finger. "I only have one." Leo nodded his head to signal he was ready to answer and Jason took in a deep breath. He'd been concerned about this since last night and he was desperate to know the answer.
"Well I want to know…" Jason watched as more and more people come out of the locker rooms, including some of his friends, and line up for roll call. Coach Hermes wouldn't be angry at them for missing roll call but it meant they didn't have much time before his friends noticed the two of them weren't there. He was lucky they hadn't noticed the two of them as they walked out of the locker rooms in the first place. "How steamy did you and Percy get that night?"
Leo blinked at Jason. "What?"
Jason sighed again, looking away from Leo and feeling his cheeks burn. "Do I need to get rid of my mattress because I mean I sleep on it and I totally don't care what you and Percy did I just need to know if I need to burn the damn thing or not."
There was complete silence for a second and Jason suddenly panicked. Was that question too much? Nico was so going to kill him.
Then Jason heard Leo suddenly burst into laughter and the sound shocked him. Jason looked up to see Leo was leaning forward, gripping his stomach tightly, and laughing so loud it echoed through the gym. Jason resisted the urge to shush him.
"What?!" Jason asked bewildered. "Why are you laughing?"
Leo then leaned backwards and laughed even harder. "N-nothing," he gasped out, bringing up one his hands to wipe at the tears forming in his eyes.
"Well…" Jason started, feeling a little confused. "Do I need to?"
Leo's laughter slowly died but Leo's grin was on his face all the same. "That," he said with a wink. "That is something I'll just leave to your imagination."
Welp. That's it. That thing's going straight to an incinerator.
Leo then began to walk away towards the rest of the class. "C'mon dude. We're late for roll call."
"What is that?"
"A mattress protector."
"What do you need a mattress protector for?"
"You never know what can be on your mattress."
Thalia raised her eyebrows at Jason, not believing him but dropped the topic anyways. Jason pulled out the protective covering from its packaging and began to unfold it. He had decided that, instead of burning the bed, a protective covering would do. That plus tossing his sheets into the washer at the highest temperature it would go to. Jason realized he was being a little ridiculous about the whole thing, especially since he'd slept in the bed for several nights since Leo and Percy had done whatever in his bed but this just made him feel better.
"Alright well I'm off," Thalia said, exiting Jason's bedroom as he began to tuck the covering over his now bare mattress.
"Right. Off to manage your drug cartel, I get it. Have fun!" Jason hollered to his sister.
"I'll make sure to bring you back a souvenir," she yells as Jason hears the door to their suite opening and closing.
After putting on the covering, Jason's phone began to ring. Quickly checking the caller id (it was Nico) he answered.
"Hello?"
"Hey Jason, you busy?"
Jason looked over to his mattress, the new covering on it perfect and snug and he smiled at his accomplishment. "Nope."
"Okay good. I was just calling to see if you were still up for going to Atlas's tomorrow for the party." Nico's voice had a solemn edge to it.
"Definitely," Jason replied. "Why? Are Percy and Leo not coming?"
"No they are. So is everyone else. I just wanted to see if you were too," Nico replied. "Calypso's turning it so that we're celebrating both Zoe and Bianca. I just…"
"…wanted everyone to be there?" Jason finished for him, his heart tugging in his chest.
Nico was silent for a couple of seconds before Jason heard a soft "Yeah," followed by a hint of a sniffle. Jason heart then began to thump loudly. Was Nico crying?
"And I was thinking we could… we could all go to their graves afterwards. Calypso too." Nico's voice was barely audible but Jason was still able to understand what he was saying.
"I'd really like that," Jason said, a small sad smile forming on his face. He wanted to hold Nico so badly right now. He couldn't imagine what Nico felt after losing his sister so suddenly. If their relationship was anything like his relationship with Thalia, then it had to have been a pretty big blow.
"Great," Nico nearly squealed, obviously trying to sound perky. "I really want her to meet you. She'd would've really liked you."
Jason lifted up his hand to his face and covered his mouth, his eyes burning with the threat of oncoming tears. A couple squeezed out and Jason pulled the phone away from his ear for a couple seconds as he wiped at them. It wasn't fair. Nico didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve to lose his sister. He was such a caring kid and put his whole heart and soul into every relationship he made. And here he was, telling Jason he wanted to bring him to Bianca's grave so that she could meet him.
Nico just had a talent for affecting Jason in every way possible apparently.
"Jason?" he heard Nico's confused voice coming faintly through the phone.
"Yeah. I'm sure I would've liked her too," Jason rushed out.
"Yeah," Nico whispered into the phone. "Well I'll see you at school tomorrow."
"Yeah," Jason breathed out. "See ya."
That Friday, everyone left the school together. They hopped onto a bus and rode down to Atlas's pizzeria. Nico spent almost the entire time with Hazel, whose hand he held tightly. Frank, of course, hadn't left Hazel's side either.
From what Jason understood, Hazel hadn't met Bianca. Apparently, after Bianca's death, Hazel's mother also died and when their father received a phone call about that, he took Hazel in immediately and Nico had practically clung to her. Jason could see why, of course. Hazel was so sweet and supportive but she was strong too. He couldn't imagine anyone better to support Nico through that time.
They reached the pizzeria before the celebration was supposed to start but there already was a sign that said: Closed For Private Event. Through the window they could see 4 girls running around the pizzeria, pulling out tables into the kitchen and setting a makeshift stage at the back of the building.
They walked through the doorway, thankful for the heat since the cold winter outside was getting unbearable, and Calypso looked up from where she was adjusting microphones on the stage. "Hey guys!" she said with a wave. "Glad you could make it."
"Of course!" Annabeth said, already making long strides towards the girl. "Anything we can do to help?"
Annabeth and Percy had spent the entire bus ride here separated from the group and talking in hushed tones. Jason had wondered if they were going to get back together and had looked over to Leo. He had been talking animatedly to Frank who looked at him with slight amusement as Leo talked, his hands gesturing wildly. He didn't look upset but Jason knew better than to judge how to boy felt based on what his face expressed. He was good at hiding his emotions.
"Yeah. Actually, if some of you guys want to finish setting up the stage or moving tables that would be great!" Calypso said, jumping down from the stage. "And I was wondering if Nico and his sister would like to help me set up a little memorial for Zoe and Bianca."
"Yes!" Hazel screamed and Nico quietly nodded and Calypso's smile widened.
"C'mon then," Calypso said, waving them over as she walked into the kitchen. Nico and Hazel followed quickly after her, smiles on their faces.
Jason and Leo went up to the stage and continued to help set up while everyone else moved the tables. Of course the booths had to stay.
One of Calypso's sisters, Hesperia, helped Jason and Leo rearrange the stage and plug cords in where they were supposed to go. Two large speakers sat on the sides of the stage and a large drum set sat in the back.
"What's the live entertainment anyways?" Jason asked Leo, who peeked out from where he was working behind one of the speakers.
"Not sure," he replied with a frown.
"It's Zoe's old band," Hesperia spoke up. "A rock group called The Hunters of Artemis."
