Stone Walls (Jercy AU)

PERCY

Percy waited on the street outside the big building for Thalia. Percy was feeling rather good. His therapy session went better than he expected. Dr. Chiron was very respectful of Percy's privacy. He didn't pry if Percy said he wasn't ready to answer a certain question, and he didn't ask invasive questions either. As soon as Dr. Chiron greeted Percy, he told him to relax and that they'll move slow, and the first session is more like "developing a sense of comfortability". Percy was very grateful they didn't need to get into the depths of his depression in just the first session. His conversation with Dr. Chiron consisted of how was school today, how he's been feeling recently, who the people around him are and how they have helped, and what steps has he taken today that could help him get through tomorrow.

BEEP-BEEP!

Percy snapped out of his thoughts and saw Thalia's black Honda pull up in front of him. He jumped into the car and buckled up, while Thalia started to drive back to her house.

"How was your first session, Perce?" She asked him.

"Honestly," Percy began, "it went better than I thought."

"Really?" Thalia beamed excitedly.

Percy's lips grew into a small smile. "Yeah, Dr. Chiron seems nice."

"That's great Percy!"

"Yeah, I think this might just be what I need."

After a few minutes, Thalia pulled up in front of her house. They walked into the kitchen and made small talk with Beryl, who was starting to prepare tacos for dinner tonight. When Thalia went to shower, Percy was talking to Beryl about Gabe's case. They had enough evidence to put him away. Beryl also told Percy he could go back to his apartment with Jason after school tomorrow and get anything else he might want to keep before it's all thrown out. Percy thought of a few things he would want to get.

Before Percy left the kitchen to go do some homework, Beryl said, "Jason was asking nonstop about how you were doing. He's giving me a migraine."

Percy's heart fluttered a bit and he laughed before walking down the hall to Jason's room. But he couldn't get the thought out of his head that Jason asked about him. He actually cared about how Percy was doing. Percy tried to calm himself so his slightly pink cheeks to go away. When he was ready, well he hoped he was ready, he knocked on the door.

The door opened, and there was a smiling Jason, his twinkling electric eyes looking straight into Percy's sea green ones. "Hey, Percy." He stepped aside so Percy could step into his room, Percy took a seat on his desk chair and Jason sat on the bed.

Without thinking, Percy blurted, "I didn't see you at school today." He immediately wanted to bang his head against a wall because he knew probably sounded so clingy. Percy held his breath as he felt his cheeks heat up, hoping Jason would be too ignorant to notice his pink face.

"Yeah, I got a little occupied." Jason sighed. "I broke up with Piper and then my classes were very loaded today."

Percy's eyes widened. "You broke up with Piper?"

Jason chuckled softly. "I know, she's going to make my life a living hell."

"Maybe," Percy laughed. "But why did you end it?"

"Honestly, Perce, it didn't feel right and I don't think it ever felt right in the first place."

"Why?"

Jason sighed and looked down at his hands. "She has her good things, but she wasn't into me, you know?"

Percy stared blankly at Jason and said "Huh?"

Jason looked up ad laughed. "You don't know what I mean?" Percy shook his head slowly. "She wasn't that interested in who I am as a person." Percy suddenly felt very embarrassed about how clueless he was about relationships.

"That doesn't sound like a nice relationship," Percy said.

"Definitely wasn't. All she wanted was sex. I wasn't ready."

Percy was a bit shocked at that. He always thought Jason was doing it with Piper. Whenever Percy saw them, they were either really close together or sucking each other's lips off by the lockers. But Percy felt a bit relieved about Jason's breakup with Piper. Of course Percy knew it was probably wrong of him to believe that, but at least he won't see Piper kissing Jason anymore. Not that Jason was Percy's significant other, but it was a crush, another high school crush.

Jason, Percy and Thalia played some video games in the living room until Beryl called out that dinner was ready. The happy feeling Percy got from sitting at the table with the Grace family never changed. He always felt ecstatic to sit with people who actually appreciated each other's presence. He liked there wasn't arguing or beer bottles flying across the room. He enjoyed having people to talk to and he couldn't help but smile when Beryl asked him how school was. Dinner with the Graces was relaxing as always, but Percy could've swore he saw Jason staring at him quite a lot. Or gazing? Percy didn't know what to call it, it was flustering for Percy and all Jason did was smile whenever they made some brief eye contact. Whenever Percy snuck glances at the blonde boy, his blue eyes were already on him and Percy would look away. Percy felt like the blue eyes were boring into him and Percy had no clue what that could have meant. It probably didn't mean anything at all so Percy assumed Jason was happy his therapy session went good today, and nothing more than that because Jason Grace wasn't gay.