Chapter 17- Tempest

Jason checked his outfit for the third time. He tugged his slim-fit shirt and pants, contemplating if it was appropriate enough. He looked long in the mirror. "What do you think?" He asked Percy, who was laying in his bed, haphazardly reading the English assignment.

"Huh?" Percy asked without bothering to look up from his book.

Jason rolled his eyes in annoyance. "What do you think?" he asked. He gestured over his outfit, hoping to have some reassuring comments.

"You look and sound like a virgin who never talked to a girl before," Percy dully stated. He casually flipped to the next page.

"Ha-ha, very funny asshole."

Just when Percy was about to retort back, Jason heard a buzz from his phone across the room on his desk. It was time. "I better head out," Jason said as he ruffled his hair one last time. Not too preppy, nor jockey, but enough to let people know that he was still Jason. As he walked out of his room, he heard Percy as he continuously read.

"You'll be fine, Jason."

Jason looked at Percy. He hoped he was right. He walked downstairs, reciting how the night was going to turn out. They would go get dinner, have some nice time together, and he would drop her off home with a kiss. It was an old-fashioned, classic date. A little outdated, but still effective. He reached in front of his door and took a deep breath. Here I go, Jason thought.

Despite the practice, Jason froze once he saw Piper. Which sucked. Why did she have to look so pretty? There Piper was, in a pretty, olive-green blouse with skinny jeans. She wasn't even trying. And she looked good.

"Hey," Jason managed to spit out. "You look great right now."

Piper raised her eyebrows with a smile. "Oh, so I don't look good before? Is that what you're implying?"

Jason recoiled at her comment. "Wait! No, that's not what I meant. Oh geez, I meant to sa- why are you laughing so hard?"

After Piper settled down from her laugh, she gave him a smile that made Jason blush. "Nothing. I think I'm going to have a great time today."

Jason ignored the blood rushing from his ear and searched his pockets for his keys. He laughed. "Why does it seem like you enjoy to mess with me?"

"Cause it's fun."

Tempest was beautiful. Tempest was beautiful and no one was going to tell him otherwise. It was a sleek, black car that was environmentally friendly (it runs on electricity). Tempest was something that couldn't be compared to the likes of Blackjack (no offense, Percy) or Skippy (sorry, Reyna). Or at least, that's what Jason thought. In truth, it was a car with unpredictable brakes, acceleration, and handling. It was a fickle car, but Jason was far too stubborn to let it be considered an inferior car. Especially in front of Percy. After all, Percy's car wasn't perfect either. Its gas mileage was far too unstable. "Feeding her sugar cubes", as Percy liked to call it. Point aside, Tempest was one of Jason's treasured belongings.

"That's your car?" Piper asked with incredulous.

"Hey, this bad boy here is the best car ever," Jason defended as he patted it on the head. Boys and their obsession with cars.

As they were inside the car, Piper looked around the car. It was kept clean, much to her surprise. Meanwhile, Jason tried to start up the engine with much difficulty. He frowned when it didn't work the sixth time.

"Is this a normal thing?"

"Not at all," Jason replied as he attempted again. "Usually, it only takes about three."

"That's not reassuring at all."

"Come on, kiddo," Jason muttered. "You haven't let me down so far."

Much to their surprise, Tempest started up. Jason sighed a big relief until he checked his speedometer and hissed in annoyance. It seemed to be broken. "No!"

Piper looked over and saw the problem too. "That's not good." She said.

"You think?" Jason said sarcastically.

"Hey, it wasn't my fault your car is broken."

Jason took a second to collect his breath and ease his panic. "You're right. Sorry. I'm just worried."

Piper got her phone out. "You're fine. We better take this to a workshop."

Jason nodded. "You're right. The engine still works for now and Leo's workshop isn't that far away."

Piper sighed. "So much for the nice date."

Jason didn't say much as he carefully drove out and attempted to drive to Vulcan as safe as possible. Maybe he could solve the problem. Maybe even fix his date.

Good news, the car was fixable. Bad news, they're now stuck. So here Jason and Piper were, sitting on a couch, watching Leo and Beckendorf were attempting to fix the car. Jason sighed.

"Hey," Piper said. "It's going to be fine."

"I know," Jason said. "I trust them. It's just…"

"What is it?" Piper asked as she turned towards him, closing the distance.

"The car is valuable to me," Jason admitted. "It's the thing I bought with my own money I saved as a kid."

"So the car is special to you," Piper noted.

"My father offered to buy me a new Ferrari, you know? But I didn't want that. My friends and I went everywhere in that car. Had I used what my father gave me… it would have been like, I could never escape him."

Piper nodded her head. She understood. Family troubles, it was something she was familiar with, as unfortunate as that was.

"You said you bought it?"

Jason nodded. He smiled with pride. "With my own money. Took several jobs over the years in order to buy it. Although, some money chipped in from my friends certainly helped too. But man, I have some funny stories to tell you."

Piper smiled. Although they weren't at the dinner date they initially wanted, sitting close together inside Leo's workshop wasn't half bad. Time flew by and before they knew it, Leo walked towards them, with grease stains all over.

"Whew, that gave me a workout!" Leo sighed as he plummeted down towards the other side of the couch, sitting far way in consideration.

"How's the car?" Jason asked.

"Fine, he's fine," Leo said with a wave of a hand.

Jason let a breath of relief out that he had been holding in for a while. Tempest was okay. "Thanks, bro," Jason said.

"That damn car," Leo said with a laugh. "You're lucky I'm fond of that car. Otherwise, Charles and I would have smashed it into bits."

"Hey," Jason said, who was smiling as well. "It's not like any other car that we have is better."

"Oh yeah?"

"Festus."

"Ouch. Touché."

"Hey, Leo," Piper said as she interrupted the conversation. When she saw Charles and Leo work on the car, she expected her close friend to be working as well. "Where's Calypso?"

Leo shrugged. "She said she was going to hang out with Annabeth, today."

Piper nodded her head. "Probably to get some guy help."

Jason looked at her funnily. "Guy help?"

"It's probably about your partner-in-crime."

"Stoll?"

"The other one."

"Zhang?"

"No, the other one."

"Wait… Jackson?"

Piper raised her eyebrows. "Why do you sound so surprised?"

"Nothing. It's just weird to think that they're talking about Percy. Cause, you know, it's Percy."

Leo snickered as Jason explained. He wasn't wrong. "Why aren't you the one to help her out?" He asked Piper.

"I have a date," Piper said bluntly. "Besides, Calypso would be an expert in the field with Jackson."

Leo frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Don't worry about it too much," Piper said reassuringly with a smile. Nevertheless, that still bothered Leo. He was going to have to ask that about Percy when they hang out later. "Oh? Would you look at the time?"

Jason stood up and gave Piper a hand. "It's time we continue our date."

Piper smiled. "I can do that."

Leo rolled his eyes. "Yuck, disgusting." He dug into his pocket. "Just make sure to not overexert the engine source. That's what was causing trouble the first time." He said as he tossed the key to Jason.

"You got it, dude."

"And use protection."

"You got it."

"Piper! Leo! NO."

"I'm only joking," Piper said, unable to hold back her laughter. She really should mess with him more often. "We can go raw."

"NO!"

If Jason's face wasn't red before, it sure was now. And as Leo watched the two interact, he couldn't help but think they were pretty cute together.

Here's the story! Enjoy! As I finish this one up, I decided to go for short storiese or one-shots... Less commitment. Anyways, hope ya'll find these chapters fun!