A/N: Hey guys! Glad to see you're liking it so far! Here's chapter two! Let me know what you think! Enjoy!

Chapter 2: Jason

Nothing beats the feel of cold, hard concrete beneath my feet in the morning. Before the sun is even really risen; when it's still just a red streak on the horizon and my only companion is the white morning mist hovering in the air. I don't need music to run to, the steady, quick beat of my heart and my own breaths are tune enough for me.

This is my favourite hour of the day.

Running in the not quite darkness of the purple dawn, with only myself for company. If I have time to think, I'm not running hard enough. If I have time to worry, I'm not running fast enough.

I find my morning run helps me to focus and sort things out, even though I try not to actually think about anything while I go. Maybe it gives my subconscious time to work through whatever happens to be on my mind. I'm not sure, whatever it is though, I like it.

Plus, I get to see some of the most beautiful sights a person can only see at this near silent hour of the morning.

I stop running and draw a deep breath, raising my arms up behind my head as I take in the view. I'm standing on the stone bridge that passes the river and the sky is a glorious explosion of colour. It's a soft peach streaked with intense reds and gentle hues of pink and purple and I just stand and drink it all in. I stay there for a few minutes, just breathing and feeling my sweat cooling on my skin.

I can't be still for too long, the ache will start to settle in my legs, but I can take this glorious sunrise with me.

I pull my phone from the pouch on the black band strapped around my arm and quickly snap a picture and give myself one last look at the colourful display before me. The sunrise is always amazing, but there are some days when it just feels even more spectacular.

My run takes me to my next usual stop of the day; the gym. I run for an hour, then I train for an hour, then I go on to do whatever else needs doing in my day. I'm an organized soul, I like routine and planning and to know what's happening. I like to be in control of what I'm doing.

As my friend Nico once put it, I like to have structure and it's true, really. I mean, I agree with his assessment and why wouldn't I? There's nothing wrong with self-discipline and creating purpose and solidity in ones life. Those are good things.

It's not that I don't do impulsive things. I just like to have a plan of action, to know what's happening and when and why. Surprises along the way are fine, but too many of them and then everything just runs away from you and falls through your fingers and then you find yourself throwing back a neon red drink, standing on a dark wood coffee table and performing karaoke with a mop handle and wondering how the hell you got there.

I don't like it when things get too out of my control. When things start happening without any rational thought or clarity. I watched things spiral out of control too often for my mother to allow that happen to me.

So my day always starts the same; get up, make the bed, drink a smoothie, run, gym. Sleep, smoothie sweat. It's a good morning routine and usually prepares me for whatever might happen over the next twenty-four hours.

Unfortunately, I don't think all the green smoothies and sweating in the world could've prepared me for my sisters early Tuesday morning assault.

"Have you messaged him yet?"

"Thalia... What?" I was still too busy staring at her. It was barely eight o'clock and for some reason she was standing in front of me, arms crossed over her chest and glaring at me sitting on the weight bench. Her dark hair is messy and looks like she might've just rolled out of bed. Considering that ten is usually pretty early for her, I don't think that's an unjust statement.

I should applaud her for actually putting herself together this early though. While her hair is messy, her dark red lipstick and black eyeliner are spot on. She's wearing her usual ripped denim jeans, a black band shirt of some sort and a spikey black leather jacket. There also happen to be buckles everywhere; so many buckles. I'm pretty sure most of them don't serve any real purpose.

"That guy I've been telling you about!" She gave me a look like, "Duh!" and all I can do is stare at her some more, my hand wrapped around a black weight, arm still curled.

"Thalia, what are you doing here?" She never comes to the gym. She calls them douchebag central and avoids them harder than she avoids peas at supper time. And skipping over the fact that she's here at the gym, there's the small detail that she doesn't like to get out of bed before noon."It's like... Eight o'clock. Why are you even awake?"

Thalia rolled her blue eyes at me like I was the one being strange.

"Jason." She seized a large orange exercise ball and sat on it, leaning towards me, hands steepled like she was praying. "I am asking you." She said this slowly and with very strained sounding patience. "If you've messaged my friend yet."

I stare at her. Then I resume doing my curls. Trying to force some sense of normalcy into this morning.

"You're asking me this at eight AM, why?"

"Oh my god little brother!" The sound of exasperation she made was really quite funny and I can't help but chuckle and grin, glancing up at her. She's leaning back on the exercise ball and is clutching at her face with her hands. The black nail polish on her fingers is chipped and her left pinky is twitching violently. I'll take pity on her.

"No Thalia, I haven't."

"Why the hell not!?" Her hands fly from her face and she gestures wildly around, looking at me like somehow I'm the crazy Grace kid. "I'm telling you! He's hot! You'd get along great!"

Were we really having this conversation right now? I sigh and switch arms.

"Thalia look... He's a friend of yours and I just don't think..." How was I supposed to put this delicately to my sister who really only wanted to see me happy? The people Thalia typically chose as friends weren't really... They weren't the kind of people I usually went out of my way to say hello to.

"Oh. My. God." Thalia's mouth snapped shut and she glared at me and I groaned, already hearing what she was about to accuse me of. "Jason! You're being biased and judgmental!"

"I am not!" Well, I might be.

"Just because he's a friend of mine, you -"

"Thalia." I frown at her and set my weight down, moving slowly to give myself a little more time to think carefully about my words. My fingers linger on the weight, sweat drips off my head and onto the hard grey floor. Quickly I grab the white towel sitting beside me and wipe at my face, leaning back. I know she means well, but I can just picture the the guy she wants me to message. Decked out in all black, torn clothing, a lot of band shirts and chains and at the very minimum, nine piercings in his face. "When was the last party you went to?"

"Last night, but what does-"

"A Monday night party. And how many people were there?"

"I don't fuckin know, a lot? Jason what-"

"How many of them did you actually know?"

"Jason, come on."

"Thalia, I'm not the same kind of person you are." I stand up from the bench, the towel draped around my shoulders. I run a hand through my damp hair and try to give my sister a smile in apology, but Thalia gets off the exercise ball and follows me in a huffy silence as I wipe off the weights I'd used and return them to the stand.

"Jason, I'm not stupid, okay? I wouldn't try to set you up with an asshole."

I look at her over my shoulder and raise an eyebrow. I can feel sweat running down the side of my head and I pat at it again with my towel. This was really not how I wanted my morning to go. Discussing some grunge friend of my sisters that she apparently wanted me to date.

"And why hasn't he messaged me yet, huh? I haven't gotten any messages from someone claiming to be your friend and wanting to hook up." I cross my arms and look at her expectantly, I've got her there. This 'not an asshole' guy friend of hers hasn't said hello either.

"Uh, because I told him not to?" Now Thalia's crossing her arms and looking me up and down like I'm the problem here. I blink.

"Why?"

"Because I told him you're a control freak and need to make the first move."

My ears start to feel hot.

"Thanks." It comes out a little acidly and Thalia actually grins at me and starts laughing. You would really think that her and Nico would get along better, considering that sometimes, they're practically the same person.

"Jason, seriously. I was talking to him yesterday at the park and when I asked him, he said he hadn't gotten any messages from you."

"So you already knew?" We're getting odd looks from some of the other people in the gym, Thalia does stand out a little bit and we might be just a tad on the noisy side. "So why'd you ask me?" I make quick work of ducking into the mens room and throwing my towel at the dirty laundry pile. Normally I'd shower or at least rinse my face off before leaving, but Thalia was here and throwing my morning off.

"Because I wanted to know your reason of course. Just you being a judgmental freak like I thought."

"Thalia! Can you blame me?" I gesture at her. From her high, black army style boots, ripped up black jeans and the spikes covering her clothing, to her dark lipstick, and black hair, we really couldn't look less or be less like siblings if we'd tried. You'd never know we were related to look at us. "Your kind of people and my kind of people don't mesh very well."

"Pipers my kind of people and she used to be your special kind of person."

I definitely couldn't argue with that point.

"Yes well... Pipers not into the... hard stuff though. Just the skateboarding and rock music."

"And what makes you think my guy friend is any different? Seriously Jason?" The gym door closes behind us with a dull thud and I resist the urge to go back in and ignore my match making sister."We hang out at the skate park. We shoot hoops. We go for nachos! I didn't meet him at a party. I didn't meet him at a concert. I showed him how to do a sweet trick once and BAM! We became friends." She crosses her arms and fixes me with a really disappointed look so reminiscent of our mother that I can't help but wince and look down.

"Jason." She uses that firm, serious voice she uses only when something actually matters to her. "I wouldn't try to just hook you up with someone. I know you better than that." She punches my arm and smiles at me and I can't help but feel like I should apologize. "I really think you'd like him. He's a nice guy. Like really."

"Thalia..." Sighing I close my eyes and try to think, try to come up with the words to explain to her why I haven't messaged her friend yet. She'd told me about him a couple weeks back, that she knew a guy she thought I'd like and gave me his number. Thalia didn't really tell me much more about him, just that they usually hung out at the skate park.

It's not like I don't trust her, but she's part of a wilder crowd than I am and just imagining the conversation she must've had with her friend makes my head hurt and my face burn. 'You like dudes? You should get with my little brother! He finally fucking figured out he's gay two years ago!'

"Jason." She snaps her fingers in front of my face and lifts an eyebrow at me. "Just message him, okay? Do yourself a favour. You'll thank me for it later, I promise." Then she actually winks at me and starts walking away.

It is true though. It was two years ago that I finally realized what my body, mind and heart had been telling me for years. Maybe I'd known it all along and was simply denying it to myself and everyone else; if I pretended it wasn't real, then it would go away. I don't actually know and that's scary. I don't know if I actually knew the truth about myself and was just pretending, or if I was genuinely completely oblivious.

Piper had been my girlfriend for years. I loved her. I still do. But it's not the kind of love she wanted, needed or deserved from me. She's forgiven me, but I don't know if can ever forgive myself for hurting her like I did.

Piper was the one who broke my silence for me. She was the one who finally gave voice to the nagging words in the back of my head. I should've said something sooner. I shouldn't have pulled her along like I did. I shouldn't have used her as my scapegoat.

But that's all in the past now, we've both moved on. Piper's moved on so well that she's taken to pointing out good looking men to me and all but ordering me to make a move. Between her and Thalia, you'd think I'd be swamped with guys. But no one they send my way is ever my type really. Nothing about them catches my eye. Sure, I've gone on a few dates, but I haven't really felt anything for anyone.

No, that's a lie too.

Piper broke the silence on my being gay and in the same breath sucker punched me with the name of the guy I was trying to convince myself I wasn't crushing on. Nothing came of it – nothing romantic anyway. Nico is one of my best friends and I love Will to death. I would never want to tear them apart, they're perfect for each other but, I will admit... I sometimes wish I'd said something when I had the chance, instead of pretending I was something I'm not.

"Thalia!" I call to my sister and she turns around, the morning sun glinting off the many buckles and spikes on her outfit. "You still haven't answered me." I catch up to her and grinned. "Why are you awake and out at eight in the morning?"

She rolls her eyes and grimaces.

"I needed Valdez to look at my body and he said he was busy today, but would do it at this ungodly hour of the morning."

I stop walking and stare at her, she notices me standing and the weird look on my face and then -

"The body of my BIKE Jason! God!" And then we both start laughing. A good, rich laugh that's warm and good and deep. "I think Frank and Hazel might oppose if I paid Leo for that!" She grins at me and wipes a tear from her eye and I can't help but laugh again.

"Yeah, they might have a little something to say."

It's still early, but the rest of the city is coming to life. The coffee shops have their doors thrown open wide, the smell of toast and frying bacon from breakfast places floats over the street. Traffic is starting to pick up on the road as people begin to head to work. College students laden with their packs and projects are milling about looking stressed and sleep deprived.

The colours of fall are everywhere I look; the trees dotting the streets are a blaze with red and orange and yellow. People are decked out in the rich browns and warm greens and vibrant colours of the season. Scarves and hats and gloves and skirts and boots. Everything seems to glow in the gold light of the morning sun and my hands twitch by my side.

It's a typical busy morning brought to life by the splashes of colour and the sun and everything that people are. The way that girl adjusts her glittering hair accessory, the way that guy fixes his blue tie. That child over there clutching his mothers hand and skipping along in his bright green coat and yellow boots. The laughing little girl across the street wearing the frilliest, most purple skirt and dancing about.

My phone camera snaps picture, after picture. Stealing these precious, private moments of beauty and living and colours for me to lose myself in later. The college girl running down the street, her blonde pony tail streaming out behind her. Rolled white and blue papers clutched to her chest, tall brown boots pounding the concrete sidewalk. Her face glows with excitement and hunger and ambition – whatever those rolled papers in her hands are, she knows they will bring her the A grade.

I turn and aim my phone across the street and grin, snapping another picture.

A young man cradling a paper coffee cup in his pale hands winds his way through the crowd. He's skinny and pale and practically oozes morning unfriendliness, his darkness standing out amid the bright colours of the morning. But once he gets some of that coffee into him, I know his mouth will curl into a smile and his deep brown eyes will glitter with friendly snark and sarcasm. His hands will move across the white pages of his sketchbook and the lines he places there will write stories in colourless images.

"Nico."

I didn't even know I said his name until Thalia punches my arm again.

"Are you coming with me or...?" She lifts an eyebrow at me and jerks her thumb over her shoulder.

Right. Leo's.

"Nah, I'd better head home and clean up. I have a lot I need to get done today."

"Like texting my friend?" She grins. I laugh and tuck my phone back into my arm band.

"Like texting your friend."

"His name is Percy." She tells me. "In case you forgot! Text him Jason! I mean it!" She points at me warningly and then turns and heads further down the street towards Leo's machine shop where her beloved bike must be.

It wasn't like I hadn't texted her friend on purpose. I'm just a busy guy. Between work, school and my freelance work, it had simply slipped my mind.

Standing in my kitchen, holding the post-it note Thalia had stuck to my fridge weeks ago with Percy's number on it, I find myself staring at it. I sigh and shake my head and set the note and my phone down on the counter. I'm really too busy for this sort of thing anyway.

My phone chimes and startles me. I look at it sitting there innocently, light blinking with a new message. Had Thalia given him my number knowing I'd back out? That didn't seem likely. She wouldn't just hand out my number like that. Would she?

Frowning I pick my phone back up.

From: Thalia

'I know a picture is worth a thousand words to you.'

My phone chimes again in my hand and underneath Thalia's grey message bubble, a photo appears: he clearly doesn't know his picture is being taken. He's on a metal railing at the skate park looking at someone just out frame (their arm and shoulder is in the shot). Percy... Is wearing a beautiful, genuine smile. One that looks like he wears it often and it's true and warm and is very likely full of laughter on the other side of this picture.

I let out a slow breath and lean back against the counter top, looking at the photo of Thalia's friend. Seconds passed, slowly turning into minutes. She doesn't text me anymore, just leaves me with the stolen photograph of her friend. I close my eyes and run a hand through my gross, sweaty hair and let my phone drop down to my side.

I look up and another photo catches my eye. It's stuck to my fridge with a magnet, a little strip of four pictures from one of those mall photo booths. It's from about a year and a half ago. Will and I are all grins and joy and looking into the camera, Nico in between us is struggling to get out. We hold onto him, laughing, my arms wrapped around him, Will holding his hand. I kiss the back of his head, Will kisses his nose. Nico smiles.

My heart clenches in my chest and my eyes sting. I remember that day so clearly. We hadn't done anything particularly special. They'd helped me out with a project, Will and I helped Nico out with one of his. We'd gone out to lunch, then Nico wanted to buy Will new shoes because flip flops weren't going to get him through the winter and Will wanted to buy Nico a floral print shirt because he wore way too much black for the summer.

I bought them both ice cream just because I thought it'd be good.

Will and I had to drag Nico out of the art supply store before he tried to spend more money than he actually ever had and then they had to drag me out of Shutter Up before I spent two months rent on a new lens. The whole days was made of the three of us, just doing stuff together and it had been awesome. We looked at things, tried things on, made jokes and had the time of our lives.

Will and I had spotted the photo booth first and before we'd even said anything, Nico was saying 'Absolutely not!' and trying to escape through the food court. But there was no escaping Will and myself.

I look away from the photo strip and raise my phone again, looking at the picture of Percy. Thalia's phone isn't the best so the photo quality isn't that great, but there's no denying it. The guy in the picture with his wind swept dark hair and brilliant crooked grin is good looking and Thalia said he was really nice and that I would like him.

But do I want to?

I look back at the photo strip on the fridge for a long minute. My chest feels tight, my throat is hot and it almost hurts to breathe. I swallow heavily and look at my phone in my hand again.

Do I want to?

To: Percy

'Hey, this is Jason. Thalia's brother.'

…

Message sent.