A/N: Thanks for all the positive feedback! I really do appreciate it, and it truly made my day! Here's out to all of you! Remember, if you have any other suggestions about different scenarios that you want Jason to encounter, leave it down below; I'm completely open to options. This scenario is:
The movies.
Barely edited, due to the fact I was sort of in a rush to get this through.
Sorry for the late update! School work hit me out of nowhere like an acne blip – disgusting but you gotta deal with life.
Speaking of dealing with life...
Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters nor do I own the song New Perspective by P!ATD.
~You come along because I love your face
And I'll admire your expensive taste~
It actually had taken Prince Jason a lot of time to get over Piper's words the previous day. Being the dimwitted but royal person he was, he still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that he was to stay there until Piper's ancestor could figure out a way to take him to his home. And even then, no one knew for absolute sureness that her grandfather could do it. He felt cheated, in a way.
In fact, it took him two extra days of grovelling in his hovel of a bedroom, surrounded by a bunch of beach 'shorts' and shirts and lying around (he duly noted that Leo's roommate must have really enjoyed the beach) as he sat there day by one last day mourning over the fact that he could be home. He only exited out of Leo's roommate's room, a boy named Percy Jackson whom he may have mentioned before, for food and the bathroom, plus a few lessons in what Leo thought to be 'important'. Other than that, he refused to acknowledge Leo's presence whatsoever.
He wondered if he'd be the type of person who – if spent in one place the longest – would soon forget to remember his hometown's faces. Of course, he'd spent a few days in this new dimension already, but he couldn't help feel hopeless when it came to getting out of there. He tried remembering Reyna's face right before she left: her lips quirking downwards as she frowned confusedly at him, her eyes shining with disappointment at the thought of being rejected (even if just to be sick outside), her arms almost reaching out to comfort him with her warmth, and he sighed with regret.
He couldn't help but feel selfish about Reyna coming with him to this dimension instead of him alone; at least then he would have company. Not that Leo and Piper were necessarily bad, he felt obligated to think. There definitely could have been worse. But there certainly could be better.
He was just in the middle of staring blankly and nostalgically at the wall while he thought about Reyna, his sister Thalia, his friend Dakota, even his personal guard Frank, when he heard voices out in the living room. He immediately recognized them to be Leo and Piper's, and they seemed to be laughing together, though he was quite used to that by now. He felt quite the third wheel, but why wouldn't he? Not only was he selectively choosing to ignore them both, but he honestly felt he couldn't lie in common grounds with either of them.
And that sent his thoughts circulating to his irritation about them. Leo was his own type of person; with his own quirks, own sarcasm leaking out with every step he took, own inside jokes that no one but Piper seemed to get, and simply very frustrating to deal with. Jason supposed he did have to give credit to one thing, though: he was trying to make the most out of Jason's situation by making everything seem more lighter than it actually was, though that too he found to be rather annoying. He just wished someone took something seriously around that place.
And then there was Piper, who he thought to be a completely different story. Well, not so different from Leo, but there was still something separating the two mentally for him, but both irritated him the same. She always found a way to snap back at him when he outwardly expressed his irritation with her, when Leo had more of a resilience and patience in the manner. She always told him that he should be grateful that things weren't more complicated than they already were with people who weren't ready to take him in, and to, her words exactly: "stop acting like a pompous PMSing bitch bleeding like the Niagara!"
But he could tell she secretly felt bad about it because, then again, it wasn't exactly his fault that he walked in on her in his home dimension and was way too curious to even consider the option that something as stupidly drastic would happen quite shortly. After her temper defused after an awkward silence, she would glance up at him, her eyes squinting almost apologetically, and would give him some more food to chomp down, though he didn't eat much nowadays due to nostalgia and stress. But he never did get to voice out his real concern at that moment: what the hell PMSing could possibly mean.
But there were other times when he was grumpily stomping around the apartment during breaks of staring blankly at the walls, he would notice her conversation with Leo and how she would laugh with that sort of light in her eyes that was never there when she looked at Jason, and he inwardly wondered how it would feel like to make her laugh like that.
Not that it would feel like anything, of course.
He had Reyna. He'd always have Reyna. Reyna was gorgeous, charismatic, confident, had characteristics of a warrior, softened up to the people she loved, and more importantly, she was his. From day one of birth; it had been decided since then that they were destined to be together. He loved her definitely, and they still were to be married – if he was to come back. He shook his head firmly after a blank moment; he would come back. And when he did, the first thing he'd do, frozen time or not, he'd take Reyna close in his arms and charm her until she was sent to oblivion (hopefully not literally like he had been). And as for the kingdom, he'd make sure –
A sharp knock sounded through the room as he jumped, startled, and he groaned from the movement. He swore living there gave him a death-defying headache. "Jason!" Piper, of course. "Open up the damn door and see the daylight!"
After gathering up himself from his self-loathing personal seminar, he shouted back: "Piper! How lovely it is to hear your man-like voice at – " he glanced at the clock; he learned how to read and understand time from 'digital' clocks just the day before from Leo, " – two in the afternoon! Come here to tell me a bedtime story, will you?"
"You shouldn't be in bed right now! Let me see you," she said back, her voice clearly seeping out her slight annoyance, though she was obviously trying her best to hide it. This caused him to smirk into his pillows.
"If you're that desperate, you should have told me sooner," he mocked with sarcasm.
"Fine," she said hesitantly, after – what he thought to be at least – a second of rolling her eyes. "I'm that desperate." He tensed at this, waiting for what he didn't know. His mind felt like it had to take a quick backtrack because he felt so confused at the moment. Then she filled, "To go to the movies. You're forgetting that I barely got to see the daylight either, you know." And it was true, he thought. She nowadays had a job to do at a marketplace Jason kept forgetting the name of as something to do for the summer and to make money. At this, he felt slightly guilty; she did deserve some type of break, and he didn't really help with all of his moping.
But he wouldn't be moping if it weren't for her. "Ask Leo!" he shouted back, refusing to back down stubbornly.
"Leo's out on a date!" Date. There was that word again. From what he gathered from Leo about dating despite all the suggestive smirks he sent through his words, he understood that that word was a complicated one. And from all the facts, did that mean that him and Reyna have been 'dating' all their lives, if they were to put their love into words?
No, it has to be more than that.
"Why didn't you go with him?" he asked, half in his own thoughts by that point.
"And third wheel?" she retorted after a while; as if she couldn't believe he just asked such a question. Though he now understood; it would be way too awkward to stay around with a couple when you were just simply alone. "No way. Now let me see you! You've been in there for too long, and I'm done babysitting."
"You'd still be if you took me to the movies with you, you know," he pointed out, still trying desperately for her to go away, though he knew he was acting rather selfishly. "You're paying, too. And the person you are looking after is very unwilling to go with you. It's all the factors you need for a perfect babysitting opportunity."
He heard her blow a raspberry rather immaturely through Percy's bedroom door. He blew one back, mocking her. Hearing this, she mumbled just loud enough for him to hear, "You suck balls, Jason Grace," before finally giving up and walking away (or he'd assumed because he heard footsteps descending away).
"It's Prince Jason to you, ma'am!" he shouted, feeling a smirk of triumph transfer to his face. It wasn't for long, though, because soon after the words escaped his mouth, the doorknob twisted open and in walked Piper with her normal shirt and shorts and flip-flops (yes, he finally got it right this time; hurrah for him).
As he stared after her with an unbelieving gaze from his face, she stared back at him before shrugging and giving off a sheepish smile in his direction. "The door was unlocked the whole time."
Needless to say, he was out of his bed in one finger's snap due to Piper's pushing him off the very said thing. He howled in pain since his body's been stiff for so long (at least, that's the only way he would tell the story in). "What was that for?!" he glanced up to see her adjusting her hands and cracking them before wincing.
"Don't look at me, you're so heavy!" she exclaimed, widening her eyes. He groaned audibly before propping his elbows up and glaring up at her.
Then he smirked cockily. "That's all muscle, darling." He was rewarded with a scowl from her face. She crossed her arms sassily, making his smile increase in brightness. "It's good to know you think about me that way, though."
"Please," Piper retorted then, pursing her lips with that irritating fashion of hers he was getting quite acquainted with lately. "If I had a dollar for every time I thought about you, I'd start thinking about you."
He grinned widely. "I see what you did there," he half-noted, half-complimented. He vaguely wondered why he hadn't bothered to stand up yet.
"Did you?" she asked quietly before suddenly crossing her legs and sitting right in front of him. She smirked at his widened eyes. "What's wrong? You uncomfortable, Jason?"
He really wished she'd back away from him. Normally it wouldn't have bothered him that she was sitting right there, so close in front of him, but at a time when his hair looked like an utter mess and and his breath most probably smelt like his mother's attempts at cooking when she used to, he found that a proper prince shouldn't present himself like the way he was doing so openly to Piper just now. So of course it was believable that he would say, "No. Absolutely not."
"What," she raised her eyebrow mockingly. "No sarcastic comments? No 'don't call me Jason', Jason?"
He frowned. "Don't call me Jason."
"And there it is," she concluded, and just like she had discovered the world's greatest mystery, she stood up like nothing happened just then. Fine by him, of course. "Now, at the task at hand. Movie or not?"
"I prefer the term 'not'," he countered, crossing his arms like a little kid and pouting his lips. "Again."
They had a staring contest, ones he always used to have with Dakota whenever they argued, but people in public always used to stare at them weird and they'd stop because it seemed like the only thing to do. "Well I don't agree," she said finally, though she was the one who blinked first. And though that should have made him satisfied, he only sighed.
"Of course you don't. You never do," he said. Staring blankly and reaching his own conclusion, he asked innocently, "You aren't going to leave until I leave with you, aren't you? And I suppose it's too late to jump off a bridge?"
She grinned, blinking because it was clear she was not expecting him to understand that so quickly. "Much too late. Get ready in five," she stated before turning around to leave through the room's door.
"Five what?" he asked. Why did people here always leave their commands in fragments? It was quite frustrating.
"Five carrots, Prince Jason," she deadpanned. He was just on the verge of saying 'really?' (he was quite starving) before she saw it coming and shook her head before rolling her eyes. "No, never mind that. Five minutes. You know what those are, don't you?" She didn't leave enough time for him to get up from the floor and throw a pillow at her because she stalked out in no moment's hesitation.
After a few moments of brainstorming mental hate letters out to specifically Piper, he stood up, brushed his teeth (he perfected the mannerism now), cleaned his face, urinated (he was much too sophisticated to say 'peed'; wait, he already did), before changing his black shirt and pants with ducklings all over them (the mystery roommate had some serious issues, he analyzed) into a normal set of shirt and jeans – what could be even considered normal, he thought.
He thought about how irritating the movies could be – perhaps she wanted to watch a romance picture? He figured that would be the case because back at his realm Reyna absolutely adored romance books. And movies wouldn't be so different – just a bundle of pictures being molded together to form one big-long-lasting one. Or he hoped it would be that way. He was still trying to figure out the concept of video and pictures from his mini lessons with Leo. He hoped he could put them to good use and not urinate in his pants doing so. As for the ride to the cinemas, he'd ridden in plenty of carriages to understand the concept of being in a moving box. A metal animal can't be so different, can it?
Wrong. He figured it out, of course.
Precisely two minutes after changing his clothes, him and Piper were inside of the metal thing and were currently zooming down the highway. He hadn't stopped clutching his seat from below him ever since. He was sure his stomach had dropped and crashed to the pavement below a long time back. His eyes were shut tight and teeth clenched hard, biting down so hard on his cheeks, that he was sure he tasted blood. His fingernails were white from the pressure. And as for Piper – he's sure he made it clear what exactly she was doing throughout his suffering: laughing her fat braid off, that's what.
"Calm down," she said scornfully, though the hint of mischief in her eyes – like she was about say something seriously annoying – gave her away massively. "It's not like people crash here and die every day on the road." His eyes widened at this. "Hey, here's something that's not talked about too much in the other realm." Like he really wanted to be reminded that he didn't belong to this wretched place and in another haven.
She continued her banter, not reciprocated, "Why did the cow cross the highway?" He didn't fucking care, that's why. "To get to the other meat processing camp." He was sure the term 'crickets' would fall under this category. "Guess what? The cow died because you can't actually cross a highway without getting painted bloody by a car, yours truly. It was grounded." It didn't make any sense, but her distraction failed miserably, though it was clear that was precisely her goal. "You get it, like grounded beef? Ah, never mind. It's okay, I hate meat jokes too. As you can tell already, dear friend, I'm a vegetarian."
"St-stop," he gasped, trying to breathe in air as he struggled to breathe for a second. "I-you know, I'm not used to t-this. I c-can't...I'm go...I'm going to be s-sick..." That ceased Piper's guffawing immediately.
"Not in my damn car, you're not," she said sternly, her mouth forming a thin line. He groaned as the car hit a sharp turn to a green sign labeled 'exit' and clutched his stomach with his arms.
"P-Piper..." he coughed. Why was this bothering him so much? He handled a lot worse before. He handled conversations with his father worse! And Piper seemed to be an okay tamer – er, driver – despite all the mocking sharp turns she took just to spite him, so why was he making such a big deal of this? He supposed he couldn't help it; it was just the way his body worked.
Piper finally seemed to notice just how uncomfortable he was with a quick sideways glance, and he watched through his green-with-disgust face as she formed a guilty frown. "Hey, it's alright..." her voice sounded so soothing and real unlike her sarcastic positivism, that he almost forgot about his sickness right then and there. The tone she spoke in was just so compelling and made him feel lighter, in ways he didn't quite understand and was too afraid to take that leap. However, another sharp turn and it was snapped out of his head, forgetting completely the feeling she brought him very briefly. "We're almost there. Just hang on for one more minute, okay?"
Thank the God that she was actually telling the truth that time. As soon as Piper parked the car in between the painted designated white lines, he snapped open his seat belt (with a few unfamiliar fumblings because he wasn't used to the mechanism) and dashed out the car quickly. He had to pant a few times, earning a strange look from a passerby, and soon, gratefully, it disappeared. That is until Piper muttered as she too got out of the car, when she clearly thought he wasn't listening, "How's he going to react when he finds out we have to go home the exact same way?"
Jason could tell her right then: not very good at all, and he was about to express just how bad he would react to the topic when she grabbed his arm and pulled him to the doors to enter the ever-famous unfamiliar cinemas.
A word to sum up the inside of the building? Huge would be proper. And festive. And active and chattery and loud. Okay, a couple of words. As Jason watched in awe as he stared at the huge black 'television' screens above that kept changing pictures with different wordings on them, it was then he realized he was about to be accustomed to something he was definitely not affiliated with in any way.
Especially when he looked down from the screen in shock as he took in the brightly lit glass case that engaged candies and sweets he yet to have learned the name of. Even the money exchanger thing looked mighty technological. But as his head snapped up to taken in the sight of a couple of other glass cases, it was then he noticed yellow and white...balls that popped through the center of the box. He knew it had to be some type of machine, but he felt that just staring at it fascinated him to no extent. And, wait...are those –
"Those are kernels. Like corn," Piper explained, taking in his surprised expression with amusement like she always did when he saw something new and fascinating. "You'll find that everything made here in America – again, that's our country – is made of corn. Corn syrup, citric acid, dextrose, malt, sorbitol, and starch – not that you'd know what half of those things are – are made of corn. Only processed."
Jason blinked, taking that in with a newly found frown on his face. He followed Piper as she walked towards the glass bar in the line after they had gotten their tickets. The movie was called 'Inside Out', from what he's heard from the conversation, and he anticipated very much what type of movie it would be. "Why's there so much corn?"
Piper shrugged. She halted as they were to wait in line along with the other customers. "'Cause America's biggest ingredient is corn. It's the only thing they know how to make, and it's absolutely disgusting, honestly," she explained with a distraught expression on her face. "Because, sure, corn is healthy and stuff. But mixing in sugar and other things through processing... It's just...pretty frustrating, and I know you must be wondering why America is doing that to its people," he actually had been thinking that; being a ruler himself, it was almost automatic that he'd jump to such conclusions. "The answer simply is: I really don't know."
"Then why not...move to another country?" Jason asked curiously after deep consideration. "If all you complain about is how low the economy is."
Piper grinned at him; why, he wasn't sure. She wasn't one to honestly smile at him like that, and he wasn't quite sure how to react to it. "That's a good question. But you've gotta understand that it's a pretty annoying process to move there; you need citizenship there and everything. And all my friends and relatives are here, too, and America isn't that bad in the first place. Just the people here may only focus on the bad things or the good things. We need to understand that it's a balance."
It was a silent after that, as both of them relished her words in. It was true, in his perspective anyway: his kingdom too did have a balance. He was sure that even when he became ruler, there would be both the positive and the negative. What he decided to do with them would only stand out. "What is it that you're planning on purchasing, anyway?"
"Popcorn. It's delicious, trust me," Piper said simply. Jason blinked, realizing that the kernels too were basically corn and was being baked into a newly processed junk food, before laughing at her. She noticed this before smiling sheepishly. "What? Just because everything's made out of corn, doesn't mean I won't eat it." He only laughed harder.
When Jason and Piper finally had there turn in the line and received their 'popcorn' in colorful bright bags, they walked together to their designated theater room (rather he followed her because he had no idea where to go). The first thought that came to mind when they entered the room was that it was dark. They walked up a hill (he guessed the proper term for it would be inclination) to all the plush seats decorated in rows and rows and rows of seating. There were already people there.
And then, Jason turned around. How he hadn't quite noticed it before, he didn't know. But God, it was enormous. Bright lights were flashing everywhere as the screen in front of him illuminated throughout the dark room. He'd seen a television at Leo's apartment before, but this was about enlarged as nearly twenty or more of Leo's.
And the video (to what Piper had called the 'trailers' – meaning the movie hadn't started and these were just previews of the movies coming out later on during the following years) was expanded to where Jason had to turn his head fully each way to see what was going on. The voice from the screen boomed through his head, almost making that headache he had earlier come back. He assumed that when they sat in a seat farther away from the screen he wouldn't really have to do that.
But still. Wow.
Jason blindly followed Piper through the rows as she barely was able to hide her once again smiling face since he was so immersed into his surroundings. He wondered what the other people in the theater must think of him for looking around the room in absolute awe like he'd just seen anti-Christ. He sat down with Piper in one of the middle rows as he watched the trailers. Most of them had pretty horrible plots, but he didn't care; it was not everyday you would see something like this in his realm. He didn't even care anymore if 'Inside Out' was a romance. He'd watch it and enjoy it all the same.
"That guy just died, and you're smiling like a doofus," Piper mumbled to him silently next to him. I was smiling? Kill it now! "You'd think it was your wedding day or something. Though I'm not sure if even then you'd ever smile."
"I'm not smiling," he denied, pulling off a straight face. "And dying brings me joy."
She grimaced through the light of the screen. "That was intensely emo, even for you."
He frowned. "I'm not sure if I'm entirely familiar with that term you used. Do you mean emu?"
She shook her head, not answering his question. Finally deterring his eyes away from the screen for just one moment, he saw something in the corner of the theater, something so hideous and disgusting that he jumped in his seat, making Piper turn her attention to him. "What's that?"
Piper followed his line of sight before releasing tension on her shoulders. "They're just making out." The two teenagers were eating each other. Enough said.
He shivered and shuddered, now forcefully looking back at the screen. "In public? You'd think they'd have more poise."
"Kids do dirty stuff here all the time," Piper only shrugged. "A lot is different here, you know from where you're from."
"I'm unfortunately getting very well aware to that," he muttered, half to himself, frowning. He was feeling strange about this place; more so than usual. He sighed regretfully. After the trailers had reached a close, a warning had been mentioned to turn off your cellular phones. He watched as Piper reached in her pocket and pressed a few buttons (more like tapped on the screen a few times) before the screen shut off and she put it away. "Why do you have to silent it?"
She looked at him like he was stupid. What did she expect? He didn't understand anything there. "So it doesn't disturb anyone while watching the movie, dumb butt."
"My buttocks are not dumb," he said in a matter-of-fact voice, raising his chin upwards defiantly. He reached into the popcorn bag and popped a few kernels in his mouth; the taste wasn't altogether unsatisfying, but then again, he absolutely adored the kingdom's sweets from the kitchen, yet those were highly unhealthy for his daily excercising.
She mimicked his expression into her own, and doing the same with her chin. With her pouted lips, he couldn't help but find her amusing and at the same time almost delightful to watch. Maybe if they did try hard enough to become friends, they could make great ones. "Is too."
Or not.
"You take that back," but she couldn't because the movie started precisely right then. The movie, like he had been suspecting based on the trailers, was 'animated', a term Leo frequently talked about when he was discussing 'anime''s with him (obviously it was derived from the word animated or vice versa).
It took some time to get used to, but he quickly found himself immersed into the movie along with the rest of the theater and watched as the emotions played themselves out very much like his was, though somehow different: disgust with some of the strange habits of the new world, anger at Piper but mostly himself, fear of not getting home in time (though time was frozen there), sadness – that much is pretty obvious, and then that tiny, almost unrecognizable joy he felt right at that moment watching that film.
And before one was to ask: yes, he did laugh at all the comedy relieving interludes, and he did cry at that part when the main character sought comfort at finally being home with her parents as she let her emotions take over her – literally. It reminded him too much of his situation, and he couldn't help but feel hopeless but at the same time hopeful over it.
Piper was there next to him to comfort him through it all.
Well, thoroughly mockingly, since she was laughing at him lightly for crying in front of her, and yes, he was absolutely embarrassed of doing so, but he found himself feeling better after it.
It was the first time he ever allowed himself to cry since he arrived there.
A/N: For those of y'all who've seen Inside Out, congrats to you. Brilliant movie and I'm so proud of Pixar for making such a comedy/angsty thing, all wrapped up in one gorgeous film. And for those of y'all who haven't: get out of your lazy fanfiction-reading butts and freaking watch it! I say that respectfully, of course.
Review and tell me what you think of this chapter. Leave suggestions on what you want next chapter's prompt for Jason's confusion – every thought is worth it! (Hopefully next chapter will be a lot more sooner, and I'll make sure to prioritize.)
Till next time,
Penguin
