-oOo-

Seal It with a Deal (part 2)

Pairing: Jasper (with minor Percabeth)

Rating: T/ M (for adult content and language)

Summary: Piper seriously needs to start getting higher grades in statistics for that scholarship, and Jason has exactly the right clever tactic in mind to get her to study.

Or so he thought.

-oOo-

True to his word, Jason waited for her in his car after school, drumming his fingers against the wheel of his Toyota. The passenger side door was abruptly pulled open, disturbing the silence, and Piper jumped in, dragging her bag in behind her.

"Hey," she said, slamming the door shut, causing Jason to wince at the noise. He instantly pulled the car into gear and reversed out of the parking, heading towards the route he had memorised to Piper's house.

"You're studying at home too, right?" He asked her over the loud Fall Out Boy music she had turned on.

She paused amidst screaming out another lyric. "Yeah," she replied, much to Jason's astonishment, as she studied her thickly-coated black nails. Through his peripheral vision he saw her give him a smug sideway glance. "Surprised?"

"You'd know if I was lying, Pipes."

"Yeah, well, I just wanna get this bargain over as soon as possible," she admitted sullenly. "Plus I need that fucking scholarship. So I've gotta study. Or..." Looking up at him again, her lips pulled up into a grin. "You could just, you know, give up..." she suggested.

"Never, McLean," Jason scoffed. "Not gonna happen."

"Oh well," she sighed, feigning disappointment. "At least I tried."

"Oh, you did, didn't you?" he asked dryly, his incredulous laugh disbelieving as he glared at her when they stopped at a red light. Her laugh was loud, and Jason tried miserably to prevent his heart from swelling fondly. He was such a failure. All this cheesiness was totally ruining his masculinity, which he did not need to lose (mainly because Piper would torture him, and his career in football… well, let's just leave it at that.)

"You know I won't go down without a fight, Grace," she said, chuckling. "What the fuck did you expect?"

Instead of responding, Jason turned the radio up louder as Centuries burst through the speakers. He rolled into the driveway of Tristan McLean's mansion.

Piper unbuckled her seat belt as Jason rolled to a stop by the door, then turned to look at him with her hand on the door handle. "You wanna come in for a bit?"

"For what?" Jason immediately asked, eyes narrowed.

Raising an eyebrow and causing the ring pierced into it to move and glint in the sunlight, Piper smiled at him slyly, the contained mirth visible in her eyes. "Just for a drink, Sparky," she assured him. "Mellie's gonna slaughter me if I don't invite you in- you know she adores you."

Sighing defeatedly, Jason nodded and spun the ignition and the soft purr of the engine faded into the silence.

-oOo-

And that is exactly how Jason Grace got roped into a very inappropriate position which did not suit his situation at all. At. All.

After a drink and a short chat with Mellie, who had left straight after for a 'casual date' (and a suggestive, none too oblivious wink from Piper), his girlfriend somehow managed to get him to follow her up the stairs to her room (Jason was still struggling to aimlessly figure out how that had happened). Upon stepping into the doorway, he was greeted with the familiar sight of the maroon and black walls, black floor, black furniture, dark red bedspread... He never liked the colour scheme, but Piper loved the darkness. It was weird. All he got was gloomy and depressed, like the black ceiling was a dark cloud above his head.

Piper had waded her way through the thick layer of clothes, rubbish, and papers (and a lot more stuff he couldn't identify) towards her desk, and ruffled through the papers strewn across it, finally picking out one with a triumphant "ha!" Jason carefully followed her, and for the next five minutes he was engrossed in explaining one of the more complicated questions on one of the high level sheets he had printed out for her, and unfortunately, stupidly, he actually believed that this was okay; it was normal; she wasn't planning anything. He was just there to help her study.

Then the next second, Piper had let lose a shrill cry and had doubled over, clutching the back of her thigh.

"Piper!" He spontaneously gasped in alarm, instantly leaning down to wrap his arms around her waist, keeping her upright.

"I'm okay," she choked through heavy breathing, her features screwed up in agony. "Oh, fuck. Dance cramps."

Jason immediately scooped her up, taking care not to move her too much. She moaned feebly in protest as he carried her over to the bed. Setting her down on her back, he sat next to her on the queen-sized bed, gently smoothing his fingers over her knuckles and watched as her expression gradually loosened and cleared up, allowing relief to wash over him.

"When did you go dancing?"

Piper bit her lip as she lifted her leg slightly, testing. "Last night. I went to that bar."

The overprotective boyfriend instantaneously reared in Jason. "Alone?" he demanded.

Rolling her eyes, Piper smiled dryly up at him. "Calm it, big boy. I was with Percy."

Pursing his lips, Jason mentally debated chiding her about wasting her time when she could have been studying, but then decided she was doing enough anyway. He felt a flare of pride strike through him. That was without a doubt the last thing he had ever expected.

His forehead furrowed in concern as she groaned again, clenching the sheets in her fists, and Jason vaguely recalled seeing her a number of times in the same position… only there was no agony or pain.

He wanted her like that again.

It wasn't exactly intimate, what he was about to do. It was just something to cure the pain, make it go away; it was something he often did when she got cramps. So it wasn't exactly going against his side of the bargain (or maybe it was, but Jason stoutly tried to ignore that side of him.)

When she relaxed again, he gently held her by the waist, lifted her then flipped her body over so she was on her stomach. Accustomed to this, she didn't question or object, though Jason expected the latter wouldn't have happened in any way.

Slipping his index fingers underneath the waistband of her ripped black skinny jeans, he rolled them down and off her legs, almost moaning at just the feel of his knuckles skimming against her smooth skin. He was never ever doing this whole deal thing again. He'd find another way to get her to study, but this was testing and destroying him as much as it was testing and destroying her.

Gently placing his hands on the backs of her knees, he coaxed her bare legs wider apart, smirking to himself as she shifted slightly underneath him. She tried in vain to mask the fact that she was struggling to reduce some of the pressure between her legs, her stubbornness getting the best of her. Unfortunately, knowing this just made the situation worse for Jason. But he wasn't going to let her stay up all night clutching her muscles in pain.

Jason moved forward on his knees until he was seated right between her legs, and had to close his eyes in order to regain his composure for a moment when he caught a glimpse of the tantalising view from his position.

She was gorgeous.

Once he had managed to get his heartbeat under control enough to concentrate, he started out low, at her calf, massaging the sore muscles away. He let his fingers linger at the tattoo of the rope wrapped around her right calf, but then slowly continued upwards, feeling the tension gradually leak out of her muscles. Digging the heel of his hand into the back of her thigh, he skated his palms up and down her skin to soothe it until his fingers disappeared under the seam of her black panties, and he felt Piper stiffen beneath him. Her clutch around the pillow beneath her head, which was turned to the side, tightened instantly. She hadn't said anything yet (which was a surprise), but Jason stole a quick glance at her face and saw her biting her lip tightly, eyes screwed shut.

Maybe this would be easier if they weren't so stubborn.

Against his will, Jason's fingers slipped down into the insides of her thighs, dangerously high, and he took a sharp intake of breath when he felt the slight wetness of the cool skin there.

"Shit, Jason," she moaned lowly, and Jason's heartbeat began to quicken at her slightly laboured breaths. She lightly thrust her hips backwards, and Jason immediately retracted his hands and grabbed her hips, setting them back down on the bed.

They remained still in the silence, their heavy breathing the only sounds in the room. Sitting back on his hunches, Jason fisted his hands on his knees, trying to stop them from shooting out to touch her. To feel her skin again, slide her panties down her legs and slip a hand in between, making her moan and groan his name as he flipped her over and moved down her body till he was in between her spread legs and leaned down and- Damn it, Jason.

Lying with her head buried in the pillow, Piper's back rose and fell with her ragged breaths. "Ugh, fuck," he heard her curse under her breath, and Jason felt like doing the same when he caught sight of the glistening chocolate coloured skin of her inner thighs again. He grabbed one of her pillows to cover his lap, trying to help the both of them out.

"Damn, talk about control exercises," Piper suddenly groaned. "I'm scared of looking at you right now."

"How do you think I feel?" Jason chuckled nervously, trying to look anywhere but her body below him.

"I really fucking badly need you to touch me right now."

"I never thought we'd be in this position, I swear."

"I honestly still can't believe I let you talk me into this. This sucks like shit," she grumbled sullenly in the pillow, the amount of heated cursing a tell-tale sign of her frustration. "Now I'll have to get myself off, thanks a lot, dumbass."

"Shit, Piper, you're killing me here," Jason groaned as the image which matched Piper's crude description entered his mind.

"Then get out."

Jason scurried out of the door, not daring to look at the bed again.

-oOo-

They avoided each other as much as they could the next day. Jason would blush whenever he looked at her and the memories of the day before washed over him, while Piper would scowl, roll her eyes and swiftly walk away as she deftly ran her fingers through the hair streaming down her shoulder, which Jason knew was actually code for, "I really can't handle looking at you right now, so to avoid embarrassment and having to pull you into that supply closet just down the hall which we always use if one of us quickly needs to get off so I'm just gonna pass it all off as being pissed at you and I'm just gonna walk away now."

It was a day until the first final exam, which was statistics for Piper and World History for Jason. This fact left them both on edge during their study session in the library. They sat in silence as Piper scribbled through some last minute questions while Jason hurriedly skimmed through his notes, loyally reciting them to himself for the tenth time.

Glancing up at him, Piper's pencil paused on the page. "What're you studying for, smartass? You're gonna do great anyway."

Jason instantly looked up from his notebook when he heard her sullen, slightly more-darker-than-normal tone. She was staring at him with eyebrows raised, challenging, questioning, but Jason could see the underlying uncertainty and insecurity below from the nervous biting of her lip. And she reached up to scratch the space right below her ear. Those signs were always her tell.

"So will you."

"Me? Passing statistics?" She scoffed, as if Jason was telling her that Leo was going to sit down and read a novel.

"Yeah, why not?"

Her gaze was incredulous. "I know I've studied my ass off for this and it was all for that stupid deal," she paused, taking a deep breath, "but you can't possibly expect anything which is higher than a D, maybe C, from me, Sparky. So it's 'goodbye, bitches' to that scholarship."

"Okay, fine," Jason said, pulling the sheets Piper was doing towards him and grabbing a green pen. "Let's see and get a rough estimation of how you're doing before we go all whiney and unconfident, okay?" He asked firmly, studying her face.

Piper sat up straight in indignation. "I'm not being unconfident-"

"Yep, you are, Pipes."

She sighed, crossing her arms and swiftly moving into her famous sulking position, with her lower lip jutted out and arms crossed over her lap.

Working out the math in his head, Jason quickly marked the paper covered in Piper's untidy scribble. He didn't allow any of the emotions coiling inside of him to reveal themselves on his face, remaining impassive.

Once he was done, he simply slid the paper towards her, then picked up his notebooks and stood up. Not waiting to see her reaction, he made his way towards the door, leaving her staring at her sheet in shock behind him.

She most definitely didn't need the tutoring anyway.

Jason was smiling from ear to ear when the lunch bell rang. Annabeth gave him a weird look when he took his place next to her in Honour roll Chemistry, but he didn't elaborate on his sudden cheerfulness.

"What's up with you?" She hissed quietly as Mrs. Aberly began to drone in the same monotone she used to put students to sleep every day. If she has kids, they must have gotten some awesome sleep, Jason thought wistfully.

Jason threw a quick glance to his right, where his blonde best friend sat straight and prim with notebooks piled high in front of her. Her knees length skirt flowed around her knees, and the flowery top hung off her shoulders as the jewellery she wore glittered in the white light of the lab. Her cheeks were flushed and she appeared slightly dishevelled, a clear sign that she and her troublemaker boyfriend had been going at it in some supply closet or abandoned classroom. As soon as he thought that, Jason desperately tried to rid his mind of the image, causing Annabeth to cast another weird look when he squeezed his eyes shut and lightly rapped his knuckles against his head.

When she stared at him questioningly, Jason remembered the question she had just asked. He shook his head discreetly and mouthed Piper's name, struggling not to be caught by Mrs. Aberly's razor sharp eyesight. Annabeth instantly caught on, and she was unable to mask the surprise on her face as realisation dawned on her.

"She's doing good?" She asked, her voice a whisper, sounding slightly incredulous. "It actually worked?"

Nodding, Jason had to purse his lips to hide his growing smile.

-oOo-

The first few moments of the next morning were spent in a haze of consciousness- they were those moments in which your mind is beginning to wake up but your body hasn't, but your brain can't recall anything and you just lie there, a soul in the shell of bones and muscles and skin. And then, the memories come rushing back and you remember exactly why the tumour of anxiousness was gnawing away at you the night before.

The first exam.

Jason didn't know which was more intimidating and nerve wracking- his own world history paper, or the statistics exam for Piper. He knew he had studied as much as he could have for his own exam, and Piper... she had too. Jason was certain that she would do fine.

She had to get that scholarship. Jason knew, even though Piper hadn't ever actually told him, that she really wanted this. Art, dance, music- it was an awesome opportunity for her. And then again, if she passed... Jason would be a pretty happy guy today.

His stomach was churning and rolling with nerves, like a rock tumbling down a hillside, as he hurriedly wolfed down his cereal, grabbed his backpack and got into the car. Just before he was about to plug the keys into the ignition, his phone rang. He scooped it out of his pocket and his eyes skimmed over the caller ID before pressing the sliding the green answer button.

"Jackson," he declared.

"Grace."

"What's up?"

"What the fuck have you done to my best friend?"

"I could say the same to you. Do you have any idea how annoying I find the Lion Kind theme song now?"

"How dare you? And again, how dare you?" he asked, gasping incredulously.

"What's wrong with her?"

"Dude, I've never seen her this worked up in my life."

"Get her on the phone."

There was a short pause, filled with rustling and muffled voices.

"Jason?" Her voice was small. He instantly knew she was nervous.

"Hey."

"If I don't pass this I won't get that scholarship."

"I know."

"Then I'll have to go die at some shitty community university."

"Piper."

"While you'll probably be at Columbia with smartass blondie curls and Percy'll be at NYU with a scholarship for swimming and Leo will be at some fancy mechanic thing-"

"Piper."

"It's a good thing Percy always wears black, he won't even have to get ready for my funeral-"

"Pipes!"

She paused. "What?" she breathed timidly through the line.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

That effectively did the trick. Jason could tell by her sharp intake of breath that she was immediately fired up. "Well, excuse me, but-"

"You've literally worked your freaking guts out for this."

"I know, but-"

"And now you're wasting it all by doubting yourself."

There was silence at the other end. Jason sighed, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. "Look," he began gently. "I know why you're nervous right now. I can understand- trust me, I can. But you don't need to be."

"But what if-"

"No. No what ifs. There's only one way this is gonna end, and that's with you passing it and getting into that awesome art school only five miles away from Columbia."

Silence, with only the sound of her breathing down the line.

"Okay?" he asked.

"Yeah," she whispered. "Yeah, okay."

"Good," he said, twisting the keys in the ignition until the engine revved up. "Now I need you to get to school and ace that statistics exam, and then- You're staying afterschool, right?"

"Yeah. I need to speak with my Drama teacher."

"Okay, then I need you to go to your statistics teacher and ask her to mark your exam right there and give you the mark."

"Uh, Jason, I think you've forgotten who I am. Ms Charlene's not exactly all too fond of me."

Jason thought for a moment. "Annabeth's in statistics with you?"

"Yeah."

"The teacher loves her?"

"Well, duh."

"I'll ask Annabeth to request your teacher to mark yours early, so then you can just stop by and get your marks."

"Yeah, that's perfect."

"Okay then, I need you to then come straight to my house. I'll be there since my exam finishes earlier than yours and I'm leaving straight after."

"Okay," she said, taking a shaky breath. "Okay," she announced again, a little stronger.

"Okay?" he asked, just to make sure.

"Okay."

"Okay."

She inhaled again. "Okay. Bye."

"I love you."

There was a short pause. "Love you too," she whispered, and Jason realized then and there that this was a whole other side of his girlfriend. The side he had only managed to catch glimpses of- the side she always tried to hide from the world. The side that was covered by a veil of black clothes and piercings and tattoos and curse words.

Then the line went quiet, and Jason was left sitting in silence with only the soft sound of the engine and his breathing. He turned up the volume of the radio, and began to drive towards school.

There were many students already milling around by the time he walked through the door, and he realized because of his conversation with Piper he wasn't as early as usual. Luckily, he ran into Annabeth on the way to his class, and hurriedly told her what she needed to do for Piper. Annabeth agreed in an instant (Jason thanked his lucky stars for how amazing his best friend was), and threw him a mischievous smirk before walking towards her statistics classroom and Jason changed his mind- okay, maybe she wasn't so amazing.

Jason found the World History paper easier than he expected, and finished earlier, patiently waiting until the teacher declared time over. When he did, Jason shot up and walked to the front to hand his paper over, then got his stuff and made his way out of the class, heading towards the exit. He passed the statistics classroom on the way, and paused for a second, staring at the door. He hoped Piper was doing okay. He didn't want to even imagine what she would feel if something went wrong.

He reached his car and drove home.

-oOo-

I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry. I know I promised you guys smut but since I've almost passed my word limit for each chapter, and didn't have much of a choice but to split it. _ But it was kind of fluffy, right?

But I'm almost done with the whole thing, smut and all. I never expected this little idea to transform into a whole three part thing, but guess what, it has. And trust me guys, if you're looking forward to some really steamy, hot smut, hopefully you won't be disappointed. ;) Oh, and for those of you who don't like that kind of stuff, be warned… Turn around.

The next part of this fic will be out in a couple of days, hopefully. I'm almost done with it!

Don't forget to be awesome! (AND DROP A REVIEW)