A/N: Yo, I am so bad with updates, and for that I sincerely apologize. Truth is, I guess I've just been insanely lazy. I wouldn't even blame y'all if you barely even followed this story anymore. This scenario is:

Pop Culture.

Not edited yet.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Percy Jackson characters at all, nor do I own the song New Perspective by P!ATD.


~And who cares, divine intervention
I wanna be praised from a new perspective~


"Are you sure you're supposed to press this button?" Jason asked confusedly, his index finger hovering over the rounded circle thing hesitantly. Him and Piper were currently sitting on top of his bed (or rather, whoever the bug Percy's), and she was teaching him the basics of technology. How to open a tablet.

In his realm, a tablet was certainly not a melodramatic colorful screen which had a talking lady voice flirting with him from time to time; it was a solid plaque which had various laws plastered over it. This was certainly something new. Piper rolled her eyes, stretching out her legs in front of her. For once, they were clad in pants, he thought absentmindedly. He was getting used to her wearing shorts all the time, so it was slightly strange to see the change in her attire. Not that he was complaining, of course – because that would be absurdly unexpected of him.

"I'm pretty sure I know how to work my own iPad, dear Princey," she mock-scowled at him, glancing down at her nails as if she was bored. He thought that, finally, she might be getting bored with the ever-not-ending of his confusion with the new innovations sprouting about. He hurumphed at her, snorting. "What?"

"Nothing," he frowned, slightly glancing away from her. "But if you want to leave, you know, you can. No one's stopping you."

Piper glanced up at him before returning the frown. She sighed, tucking a mahogany strand behind her ear. "That button right there," she repeated for what felt like the tenth time to Jason, "is called the 'home button'. It sends you back to the 'home page'. Isn't that ironic?"

He could hear the bitterness seeping through her words. "Then why is there a curvaceous box in the circle? What does it represent?"

She blinked at him blankly. "It represents a box," she shook her head at him as he stared confusedly below him at the tablet. "Seriously, you're over thinking this. Just," It was then that she physically reached over to his hand and guided his finger to the mentioned button, "Press it." Shaking off the unearthly feeling he got when she did that, he did exactly as he was told to.

He watched in amazement as the screen washed into life, just like it had done before when he'd seen Piper's phone about a week ago. The picture this time was different: a shot between five strange boys stood there, staring back at him with smiling faces. Across the screen placed the words: Mayday Parade. "What the duck is this?" he asked, wondering how many boys Piper knew. And the men seemed to be about thirty...that was strange.

She grinned, her eyes lighting up happily as she gazed down at her tablet – the first real emotion she'd shown all day. "It's Mayday Parade."

He shot her his typical face he made at battle when he stroked through enemy barrier – a plain, indifferent look. One that Octavian particularly despised the most, considering he got that look a lot. That made Jason pause. When was the last time he thought about that man? "Poppy cock."

That only made her smile grow wider. "That's what old people say when they actually mean 'bullshit', don't they?"

"Don't call me old, Miss," he said, still staring at the tablet below him. The writing above it said 11:03 AM and he was quite glad that he actually knew what that meant now. "I'm the same age as you. I'm assuming."

She nodded her head once. "Yes, we are. I'm the same age as Reyna, and I'm guessing she's the same age as you, or you wouldn't be...you know, getting it on."

There was a silence. "No, I'm afraid I don't know." This caused a groan from Piper, undoubtedly. "Anyway, what is Mayday Parade?"

"Mayday Parade," Piper started out as she sat up straight and adjusted her hair as if she were prepared to present a debate (why he picked up on little things like that, he didn't quite know). "Is only one of the most amazing bands ever to be produced on this planet."

"As in," he replied after taking that thought in as a different thought occurred to him, "a wedding band? But they're so...ancient. Almost as if they're in – "

"Another realm?" she cut in, raising her eyebrow hotly. The way she gazed at him made him almost feel challenged as if he'd just crossed a line with her. "Yes, I'm sure you are quite familiar with such a predicament. And as for what a band is – only the bane of my damn existence. Bands are beautiful, amazing, unique, magically – "

"A group of instrumentalists playing music of a specialized genre, I presume?" he said smartly, grinning at her. He hadn't even noticed the tablet had automatically shut off because he wasn't paying much attention to it anymore at that moment.

Jason was proud of himself of her reaction to his insight. She looked almost as if she respected him, and that thought made him want to laugh until his stomach felt weird. "H-how..." she trailed off, scrunching her eyebrows at him in bewilderment. "How do you – "

He felt triumph course through him over something so small. He'd been interrupting her a lot lately, and she was too befuddled by him to do anything about it. "How do I know? I went through hours of research, countless minutes pondering over the depths of the definition, through numerous pages and pages and – "

"That bastard Leo told you, didn't he?"

"Obviously," Jason replied, grunting before smirking at her indifferent face. Oh, how the tables had been turned, indeed. "Now, tell me more of this...One Direction."

Piper groaned, laying back into the pillows as she did so. After the whole nostalgic issue at the movie theater the previous days ago, he'd found himself a little closer to her than he was before then, finding it in himself to confront her easily now that he'd...discussed it over (he'd refuse to say he'd actually cried). Of course, he knew his boundaries. He wasn't stupid enough to cross it. But yet... "Of course he'd tell you about that vexatious thing called a boy band."

"Hey, don't discriminate."

But just when he said it, Piper snapped in: "And this is coming from the guy who thinks slavery isn't a major political issue. Romans."

Ignoring her spiteful remark, he pointed out, "But isn't..." he pressed the circle button on the tablet again, letting the screen picture shine through the room, despite it being broad daylight. He read the label of the band again. "...Mayday Parade...a boy band as well? They're all...well, boys."

She clenched her jaw. He vaguely heard her mutter to herself: "Patience, Piper, he doesn't know, he doesn't know." He raised his eyebrow at her. How could someone, at the age of practically eighteen, be frustrated over something so small? But then again, he wasn't one to talk, considering he cried over a film. One meant for little children, at that. "A boy band," she finally started to explain. "Is when the instrumentalists don't use actual instruments. A band is when they actually do. You know, actually make their own music. No hate on to One Direction or anything; I'm sure they're all a fantastic group of people – they just ain't the type of people I listen to."

Jason nodded, as if what he was learning was sacred to him. As if this was something he might be quizzed on later. But seeing as how seriously Piper was taking this as, he figured he was too. "But Leo says you sometimes hum along to them. As in, frequently."

He watched as her cheeks flushed a little, and he smirked. She noticed this before stuttering, "Well...they're hard to not pay attention to!" She's so strange! "And hey. Leo listens to them way more than I do, you know. Where do you think he got his haircut from? That's right: Harry Styles, one of the people in that group. You know, his virgin haircut? Before he, like...blossomed?" At Jason's blank stare, she shook her head. "Never mind, you wouldn't know."

"I wouldn't," Jason said. "You're right. Though Leo told me that one of the members gave up. Told me it caused a huge ruckus among the...I don't remember what the term he used..."

"Fangirls?" Piper offered, smirking lightly. "Yeah. But then the kid, Zayn Malik, basically called another fellow boy band member a nosy bitch, and all of a sudden, all those years of adoring that Paki dude went to waste because everyone started hating on him. Lord, the meaningless drama these days kill me to no end."

He figured vaguely in one of the geography books he'd read in his pastime there in the apartment that 'Paki' was another term for the country Pakistan, which happened to be all the way across the world. That very thought made him wonder if his realm had countries across the world like that; they barely had the material to find out. Jason shook his head in a daze. "Tell me about it...these type of things didn't happen where I'm from...also, can you explain what is a fangirl?"

"Only the things you should be the most afraid of in your life," she said after taking his question into deep consideration. He felt his curiosity peak at the new things he was learning. This new realm seemed like a joke to him, honestly; nothing as serious and real as his realm. But he couldn't help how fascinated he was with this world. Never in his life would he ever imagine him feeling this way.

"I didn't think these things existed in this realm, but do you mean...a monster?" he suggested carefully. "Or...a demon?"

"Close. But not quite," Piper smirked, her dimples flashing as she tilted her head to the side, analyzing him. "I suppose you don't understand what 'shipping' is either, huh?"

"Wait, wait..." Jason shut his eyes tightly as he tried to focus. He'd heard of this word before. Sure, sailing and small ships were used frequently for trade back at his realm, but this was a different kind of boat, and he knew it. "A...a cruise ship? Is that what you mean?"

He couldn't believe he was actually disappointed when Piper shook her head lightly, her eyes gleaming with amusement back at him. "Nope. See, the definition of a fangirl is literally that: a fan...girl. You become one of those treacherous things when you have passionate feelings for a certain type of genre, a television show, and in some weird cases...for fiction books."

He felt his nose twitch as he absorbed that in. "But...it's fiction. It doesn't exist." She chuckled at him, her fingers absentmindedly reaching over to braid a thick lock of her hair. He stared at them for a while before glancing back up to her face again, not quite understanding why he had a sudden urge to stop her hands from moving. It was quite distracting.

"Tell that to them. And that's not even the worst part, which brings us to 'shipping'. I'm honestly proud of you for knowing what a cruise is, but that's not the point. Shipping is a form of fangirling; it's when you fangirl over a particular couple," Piper explained patiently, still twirling her hair. "Sometimes it doesn't even have to be a person with another person."

She said it like it wasn't something to fuss over, and that just made Jason's eyes grow wider in confusion. "What?"

She rolled her eyes for what seemed like the hundredth time, though he found himself strangely used to it by then. "I mean that some people ship a person with...let's say a brick, but as a sort of parody, duh," her voice deepened mockingly at the last word she used, and he repeated that word in his head. Duh. He liked the sound of it, as weird as that may sound. But then Piper's eyebrows knit together as she thought deeply about her words. "Then there's some people who take the parody to a whole new level and start writing fanfics about it, but that's no big deal."

"Er..." Jason muttered, staring at Piper as if she grew another head. "Alright." Like he knew what fanfics were.

"And when people ship other couples," she continued, obviously not taking the hint that he didn't really want to know beyond this point. "They normally merge their names together. To whatever matches or sounds right, according to them." But when he muttered something that sounded like: "now don't tell me you're going to give me an example too", she took it as the sign to do the opposite. "An example would be..." she tapped her finger thoughtfully against her thigh. "Jeyna."

Jason frowned. "That sounds like a jam. Like it would be something I would want to spread on my toast. Pass me the butter and Jeyna," he mocked her.

She raised her hands in surrender as she defended herself, "Hey, I was trying, alright? There's a bunch of other ones too, like...Reyson? I don't know. And for the record, that was actually you and Reyna's ship name if you didn't realize it."

"I did," he stated, his voice clipped and cut short. I really didn't. "That's...nice to know. But isn't it...what's the word...creepy that people actually do that?"

She shrugged. "You'd be surprised, honestly."

"Can people ship other people that aren't actually...together?" He didn't know why he was so intrigued by the concept of something that he felt would be redeemed enough to be fenced for because it was so strange.

Piper, shockingly, nodded her head as he sat there in silence, learning lessons he'd never thought he'd actually be willing to listen to. "That's called a non-canon ship."

"Give me an example," Jason said, not sure why he said it. He knew what she was going to say, but odd enough, he was prepared for it. As if he was too curious to hold back when he got so far already in.

"You're asking for this, but..." Piper sighed, folding her hands together finally after her restless endeavor. "Jiper. Jasiper. Pason. Or...maybe Jasper. Can you take a damn guess, Gracie Grace?"

He flinched at the way she said the last part in embedded irritation she said it in, as if she disliked him for ever suggesting to give an example. Though he didn't know why; she could have easily gotten away with 'shipping' herself with Leo or anyone else. "I'm guessing...us? We create Jasper. But isn't jasper a..."

"Birthstone for March? Yep, precisely," she confirmed, though he had no clue about whatever birthstones were. "But no one would ship us together, so that horrendous problem is solved," she waved the issue away, leaving him in a strange way uncomfortable.

"Er..." Jason repeated. "Alright." Then after a short moment later, he finally removed the tablet from his lap and put it on the bedside table. He found himself nothing to do with it, all of a sudden. It made him slightly miffed that the tablet made him start this conversation with her in the first place. Changing the subject abruptly, he asked, "Where's – ?"

"Hey, bitches!" Another boy's voice rang across the apartment, making Jason slightly smile in relief now that the brief tension between him and Piper was cut short. "I'm finally back from my date – " Leo said as he burst in the room, his dusty hair ruffled into wild curls and his smirk even more disastrous than Jason last saw him.

"Shouldn't it have ended yesterday night?" Piper asked, raising her eyebrow. "This has only been your second date with her."

"Who – ?" Jason tried to splutter, but just like that, he was ignored as Leo's eyes seemed to gleam with excitement like it normally did.

"Let's just say she liked my stick shift a lot more than she let on," Leo winked at the two of them, continuing to reign in his triumph. "And I ain't talking about my car."

Jason grimaced; strangely, he understood that innuendo, and he shuddered. But the male pride in him sort of appreciated Leo's humor at the moment, though he couldn't find it in himself to admit it, as usual. "Ugh, that's disgusting, Leo," Piper mockingly retorted before releasing a light chuckle. "Send my prayers to her, will you? I pity her so bad."

Leo stuck out his tongue at her before tilting his chin up defiantly. "Trust me, Calypso made a ton of prayers last night, and I was there to preach up along – "

"Who's Caly – ?"

"Did you show her your weird birthmark on the side of your arm?" Piper cut him off, seemingly almost trying to irritate him to death. "'Cause I'm sure that was a huge turn-on."

"Oh, but on the contrary, my caramel-colored friend, may the nature spirits bless you with a rain dance – " Leo briefly stuck up his index finger as if he was a teacher and wanted to point out something worth dying for.

Unfortunately, Piper interrupted him by saying, "That's a bit racist, but I'm just gonna ignore that – "

Leo continued abruptly; Jason noticed that they had a tendency to joke around a little too sudden for him to keep up with. "She loved it. In fact, she adored it so much I'm going over again tomorrow night for round two of birthmark-exploring."

"Lovely," Piper noted dryly. "Is she packing the condoms or are you?"

Leo giggled, a sound that Jason really wasn't accustomed to hearing that it made him frown. "I may have told her to bring some extra," he said, holding his right hand up around his mouth and covering himself like an insecure teenage girl. He would know this because he'd seen Piper's pictures when she was a few years younger. "What do you gotta say about that, Pipes?"

Pipes. He kept on forgetting that people actually nicknamed her that. He remembered vaguely one day when Piper had told him why her name was the way it was. It had to do with her grandfather, the very person that was helping him get out of that realm in the first place. Grandpa Tom had named her Piper because of how loud she would cry when she was little; according to Piper, her grandfather said she had really sharp lungs. Which made sense because Jason could imagine very well just how aggravated she could become.

"Nothing," she intervened, fully facing towards Leo now on the bed. It was then that Leo seemed to notice Jason right there to her side because he narrowed his eyes at him before smirking. What is he thinking? "Just be careful, alright?" Jason's head snapped towards her as he gazed at her in amusement. Her voice noticeably changed into a softer tone as it held a slight sisterly protectiveness prowess. "I heard she can be quite the slut, no offense."

Leo rolled his eyes, clearly not taking this into consideration. "Piper, Piper, oh Piper," he sighed synthetically. "Just because a girl pretty much sleeps-slash-dry-humps with anything with a dick and a pulse doesn't mean that she's a slut." Jason was sure that that was exactly what a slut was, but who was he to talk when he barely even knew the term well? "And I'm sure if anyone is a slut in this relationship, it would be me because, please. Have you seen this face? I'd dry hump me."

Piper snorted, amused, all previous tension between the two platonic friends diminished now. "Yeah. Like a dog in heat."

Leo fake pouted, reminding Jason of exactly a dog right then. "You mock me, Pipes. Take it back." Piper was just on her way to form the words 'never', when Jason jumped at the chance as something briefly caught in his mind. Never would he imagine himself saying such a thing like what he said, and he was sure if he merged two names in his realm, they'd think he'd lost his marbles.

"Caleo!" Jason shouted with such precision that it caused Piper, who was still sitting not too far away from him, to jump in her spot. Both eyes turned to look at him, and he almost wished he hadn't spoken at all. Brilliant, he thought, now they listen to me.

Leo seemed to catch on to what he was saying than Piper, as not surprising as that was. "Is that...?" Leo asked suspiciously as he narrowed his gaze on Jason once more.

Jason reluctantly nodded, feeling dread as he said the next few words, "Your ship name, yes."

The next few moments seemed frozen as they all sat there, staring at him blankly. Jason shifted uncomfortably on the bed, wanting to turn away from them but make it seem natural. It was quite impossible. Then, with eyes radiating in more increments than the sun, Leo pumped up his fist into the air, yelling, "Fuck yes!" before sprinting from the doorway in two large steps. He arrived to Jason where he was sitting before pouncing on him and squeezing him to what felt like death. "I love you, man. I didn't even know you knew shit like that! I shall kiss the person who taught you."

Jason smirked, his face red from the tight abrupt hugging, as he stared from the corner of his eye to Piper whose eyes shot wide open. When Leo finally released him after extraneous moments later, her face was still in that disturbed fashion, making Jason chuckle lightly. "I prefer not, thank you very much," she stated with force.

Leo looked from her to Jason before finally coming to the conclusion that the ever-so blessed teacher was, indeed, Piper herself. Then he laughed. "What? Afraid I'll dominate you with my amazing kissing skills?"

"Hey," Piper said, shaking her head but all throughout still not entirely annoyed the same. "I just don't want what Calypso probably has, you dig?"

Leo pinched her lightly on her side before sternly looking at her. "Yo, that was a low blow." Piper shrugged. "You don't even know her, woman. If you give her a chance, you might like her, though I don't see why you should stick you nose in other people's business. First Jason, and now this? Seriously?"

Jason didn't understand why the room had gotten so quiet all of a sudden. He was sure that his face stopped functioning to show his emotions long ago, but this was a completely new case. He'd never seen Leo and Piper fight before, even if this was something small, and he didn't like how it went. He preferred the way it was in the beginning when Leo first showed up that day.

Then, Piper sighed: "You're right," she said in her form of apologizing that caused his eyebrow to shoot up. He'd honestly thought he'd never see the day. Except that time when she had apologized for bringing him to this realm but accident, but still. It was still something foreign for him to see. "I, of all people, should know better than to stereotype people just based on what people say about them. I'm sorry, but if you really care about her, you should bring her over some time. I'd really like to meet her."

It seemed like every word she tried to say came out forced, but he could tell from her down turned plump lips and solemn face that she was being genuine. And it was a brief moment when, for the first time since he met her, she seemed to show actual emotion other than dry humor in front of him. Even if it wasn't directed to him. Though maybe...if he continued to spend time with her during the following weeks, he would see it more often.

He figured that the two of them weren't so different in some ways; they may sometimes fake their happiness to those they cared about. He'd know because he'd been doing it all his life. To his friends, to his parents, and even to Reyna, he didn't know what was the 'proper' way for a prince like him to behave in front of them.

But as he stared at Leo and Piper continue to fool around with each other with about zero care in the world, he wondered how it must feel like to be cut free from the strings that attached him to reality.

Though his deep reflective portion was cut short when Leo turned back to him, his lips turning up again into his signature optimism. "So Jay Jay," he said, causing Jason to flinch before he could mutter 'I am a bloody prince'. "Did Piper teach you about OTPs, yet?"

Another thing both him and Piper had in common: they both knew how to groan.


A/N: I'm debating on whether or not I should bring in Percy and Annabeth yet in the next chapter or later on, when things settle down. But for the next chapter, I'm planning another eventful one, though I'm gonna need a solid vote on it. The options are: restaurant (Leo included because Jasper ain't a thing yet), water park (Leo again included), or just a simple one where Piper and Jason are inside and she's teaching him how to play cards on a rainy day (this prompt, however, does not include Leo).

Feel free to leave suggestions! Review!

Till next time,

Penguin