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Let’s Got Basted || Jason and Percy

Percy and Jason spend the holidays together, enjoying the well earned time off. Relaxing has never been so enjoyable.

Jason and Percy had been friends for almost ten years now. In that time they’d developed a certain comfort in one another’s presence. Aside from Annabeth and Grover, there were few people that Percy would want to spend his time with as Jason. So the invitation to spend the holidays with Jason, at least in the runup to Thanksgiving, was if nothing else something to look forward to. Now that it had finally begun, Percy had to admit that his excitement almost got the best of him. Standing outside of Jason’s front door, he struggled to stand still as he prepared for the first break that he had had all year. He’d packed all of the essentials of course, beer, food and everything else that they might need. It promised to be a good week. Knocking on his front door, he knocked and stepped through knowing that Jason wouldn’t want him to wait. “I’m here, sorry I’m early,” it was 12:00PM and Jason had told him to come at 1:00PM, “I got bored and the excitement over took me.”

Hearing the sound of a knock at the door Jason rushed out of his bedroom, still toweling shower-wet hair off, to see who it could be. But when a key scraped in the door and it opened of its own volition, he knew exactly who’d shown up. “Percy!” he waved from the hallway, in all his sweatpant clad glory, before wandering back into his bedroom, “I set up the guest bedroom for you, cleared all my papers out of it and everything. Set yourself up and I’ll be right out. And it’s never too early for you to show up at my door.” He finished drying his hair and changed into jeans and a tanktop, flying out of his bedroom once again to tackle his best friend in a giant hug, “It’s Thanksgiving! And my best friend is here to stay for awhile. I literally could not be any happier right now. This is fucking perfect.”

Setting his rucksack down on the sofa, Percy moved over to the fridge and started emptying the contents of the carrier bag into the fridge. He’d brought a few steaks that he was sure they’d eat one evening, some beer, regular soda and a few tubs of ice cream. “I’ve brought all of the essentials,” he said reassuringly, “everything that we could possibly need for our week being shut in together.” He smiled as he adjusted his bag and set it down on the floor before sinking into one of Jason’s comfortable sofas. “Believe me!” he practically screeched, “I am just as over joyed to be a part of this little event as you are, this is going to be a holiday to truly remember.” After everything that they had been forced to put up with this year he thought that they deserved to be able to enjoy a week off. He refused to feel guilty about this.

Jason hopped up on his kitchen island and watched Percy put things away in the fridge like he belonged there, which, they both knew, he did. “All of the essentials,” he said with a laugh, snaking past Percy to grab a bottle of water from the fridge, “beer steak and ice cream. The most American of shopping lists.” As Percy collapsed into a sofa, Jason did the same into an arm chair, “gods a week being shut in together sounds amazing. No work to call me away, school is already on thanksgiving break, it’s going to be amazing. Just you and me and food and games and booze and chilling.” They had earned this. Having been commanders in three wars now, they’d learned too well that relaxing weeks were hard to come by, but Jason was determined to make this a good one. “What do you wanna do first?”

Carefully slotting the final three beers into the fridge, Percy closed the door carefully behind him with a gentle clink. “I know you would’ve probably had all of these things covered, but I wanted to contribute at least something.” He knew that they wouldn’t get to do everything on their own, inevitably something would breach their solitude. “The best thing is that I won’t have people asking me what to do constantly,” Percy replied with a contented smile, “I didn’t mind leading, but it’s gotten to the point where people aren’t using their initiative. I get that we are experienced but some stuff you’ve got to do yourself.” Frowning, he rubbed his forehead and smiled. “I shouldn’t just bitch, things have gotten so much better but still not quite there yet.” He pulled a pillow underneath his back and shrugged. “Do we need to get anything ready yet?” he asked somewhat hopefully, “or am I too early for that one?”

Beaming beatifically at his friend Jason chuckled, “your presence is contribution enough. But thank you. I’m sure some late night beers will be fantastic at some point this week.” He watched Percy make himself comfortable, marveling at how perfectly at home Percy looked. He just fit in the tableau of Jason’s apartment. He belonged. “Well I promise not to ask you what to do. You know me and thanksgiving. I’ve got a whole schedule written out of what to cook and when.” As Percy looked at him with hope glittering in his vibrant eyes jason laughed again, “well… I do need to make some cookies. I told some people I would and so you can steal chocolate while I make those if you want.”

“You know that I have always thought that was a bullshit answer and you’re doing absolutely nothing to convince me otherwise.” Percy beamed despite this all. It was hard not to feel good when there were so many good things that would follow on from this. Raising an eyebrow at the suggestion of stealing chocolate from Jason’s cookie mix, he had to admit that he thought it sounded rather accurate. He would never admit that to his best friend of course. The prospect of admitting that Jason was right was something that he was unwilling to relish. “I will pretend that I have somewhat of a semblance of self control and attempt to restrain myself, at least while you’re looking.” A blatant lie, Percy’s race horsesque metabolism meant that he’d never had to worry about putting weight on, the holidays were the perfect time to flex those muscles.

A broad shrug flexed tan muscles underneath Jason’s tank top, “I don’t have to convince you. I just have to know it’s true… and I do. So… it’s true.” Rolling his eyes he launched himself out of his chair and across his apartment, starting to move through his ingredient list with the speed of a dervish. “First I think will be the ginger molasses ones, then while they’re in the fridge resting we can make the peanut butter ones, then at the end we can start baking pieces for gingerbread cookies and if you’re super extra good I’ll let you play with the icing.” He gave Percy his brightest most honest smile, “Frankly this is way more than needs to be done, but, I’ve got you here to motivate me so I might as well take advantage of it. Feel free to put whatever you want on netflix while we’re working.”

Percy flicked through Netflix before putting something mundane on in the background. If he was totally honest he hadn’t even really considered what it was that he was picking. Turning to Jason, he leaned forwards before slumping into a chair next to the breakfast island. “That all went right over my head,” he admitted as he pulled a bowl of chocolate chips towards him and began nibbling on the small chocolate chunks, “but I am glad that I can be your muse. If you must model your biscuits after my fair child, then I shall pose for you.” He laughed heartily before cramming more chocolate chips into his mouth happily. “How’s school?” he asked sincerely, as swiveled on the chair.

Digging a recipe box out of a cupboard, Jason set to laying out ingredients for the first set of cookies; grabbing them both beers while he did it, “That’s fine. It was more for my benefit than yours anyway. You’re just here to look handsome and keep me company and not have to be in charge of something for once.” Laughing, Jason shook his head and leaned across the counter to pat Percy on the cheek, “I don’t think I could do your handsome face justice in gingerbread, Jackson. But we can certainly try when we get there.” As he set to weighing out individual ingredients and setting them aside, building the foundation of his mise en place, he shrugged, “It’s hard. It sounds strange but it’s hard to focus on just that. I’ve always juggled things, but now I only have school to worry about and it’s a difficult adjustment. Might get a short story published in the school’s journal though. My professor really liked it.” He licked an errant drop of vanilla off his finger and intoned solemnly from memory, “In the beginning there was naught but the Eternal Void and the Boundless Melody, stretching to both the past and the present and the future and the dark places beyond all three…” He huffed a laugh, “You know… the usual fiction nonsense.”

Though Percy knew that his best friend was joking to some degree, it was certainly a refreshing change to not have someone hanging on his every word. He didn’t want to have to constantly be in charge and with Jason he wasn’t. Jason was one of the few people able to take charge of almost any situation. It was certainly a nice change. “Well, I am sure that is something I can manage.” He smirked with a mouthful of chocolate and shrugged. “If you can’t do it justice then why bother, frankly mediocrity bores me.” He laughed at his dramatic outburst. “Change isn’t always a bad thing,” Percy pointed out as he popped the cap off of a beer and slugged several mouthfuls down, “you’ll take a little bit of time to get adjusted sure, but you’ll get to live a more normal life than before. That’s surely got to be a good thing.” He smiled at Jason, “How can something be both when there’s three things in it?” he asked with a bright smirk.

“I’m sure you can as well. I have infinite faith in you. More so than anyone else around.” Jason started to carefully mix dry ingredients, swirling flour with fragrant ground ginger, cinnamon, and cloves, watching as the pale mixture turned ever darker by degrees. “Change isn’t a bad thing. This just takes more adjustment than I thought it would. Mundanity is… different. I understand why so few of us try to live normal mortal lives. Once you’ve gotten used to the frenetic pace of Legion life it can be…. Boring.” He cracked a couple of eggs and started scrambling them together, pausing only to level an accusatory finger in Percy’s direction, “Creative fucking liberties that’s how. Consider it a treatise on the duality of time or some shit. Don’t give me fuckin’ sass about it your mom approved it all.” He resumed mixing the eggs together, adding heavy cream before carefully mixing them in with the flour mixture, “What about you? Outside the Reconstruction… how are you?”

“I’m not sure that you’re placing your faith in the right person my friend, I know that it doesn’t seem like it considering how close to perfection I am, but I am actually fallible, believe it or not.” Percy had to admit that he loved being around cooking, the smell of the various ingredients. Whether they were spices, starches, sugars or something else entirely different always enchanted him and threw him back into a happier and simpler time with him and his mother. Before she’d met Gabe. Before he’d been kicked out of a hundred or so schools and fought Titans and Gods. “Mundanity sounds, perfect.” He couldn’t help but be honest. “I’m sure that me of all people couldn’t do it for very long, but I feel like I’m yearning to be bored. It has been such a long time since I was and now I wish for it. Though I’m sure that I’d hate it all the same.” He raised an eyebrow and laughed along with Jason, wondering how he actually was. “The war really took it’s toll on me,” he replied eventually, “when we hammered out the cease fire, I slept for almost 24 hours straight. But that was the last good night of sleep that I got and it was months ago. Since then I’ve been kept up by reoccuring nightmares, either old ones or new ways of examining the horrors we went through…” he fell silent, staring at the perspiration on the side of his drink.

“Faith has absolutely nothing to do with fallibility, old friend.” Jason replied airily, snagging the bowl of chocolate chips from Percy’s fingers and sprinkling them liberally into the dough mixture in front of him, “And everything to do with purity of character. In that regard, you are beyond reproach.” He listened with an ever sinking heart to Percy’s story, worry gathering in the furrows of his brow with each syllable, until Percy trailed off into silence, looking at the bottle in front of him. “Let me tell you a story,” Jason murmured, wiping his hands on the towel flung over his shoulder and leaning forward to wrap his hands around Percy’s; the uncharacteristic intimacy sheltered by the walls of his apartment, “Once upon a time there were two princes, born of war, with the gods in their bones and the wither of mortality in their blood.” The tv talked aimlessly in the background, weaving between the susurrations of Jason’s story, “In the way of all heroes they had been given much, but had much taken from them, as the scars on their bodies told a story so too did the deep-etched scars on their souls.” He looked down at their hands, hair falling in front of his face, “The Prince of the Sky grew weak and wounded, and wondered in his darkest hours if the burden of the royal blood would be too much for him to bear, and in his weakness sought out his brother-beloved, the Prince of the Sea, for counsel. But what came to light was that neither Sky nor Sea could fathom a way to escape the horrors of the war eternal they’d been born into.” He paused for a long moment, trying to decide how best to phrase what he was trying to comunicate, “But in the end perhaps it was not an exit that the Princes required, but simple assurances that the war would never overshadow them entirely. That dawn would come again, if only for a brief moment, and they could breathe unfettered by cares and commands.” An uncharacteristic blush skated across his cheeks as he withdrew his hands and resumed mixing, “Long story short…. Sleep will come again, and sleep free from nightmares. I know it, because you’re strong, and because I’ll be there every step of the way to make sure of it. Whatever happens you’ve always got me for whatever you need.”

“Hey I was eating those,” Percy complained as the chocolate chips were tugged from his grip and used for their intended purpose. Pouting gently, Percy fell silent as Jason took his hands in his own. Percy was not opposed to physical platonic intimacy. Yet there was an intensity to Jason that he had never previously experienced. Whether this was due to neglect on his part was somewhat unclear. However he could see that Jason truly and deeply cared for how Percy was struggling. “Thanks, that was a great improvised story by the way,” he smiled slightly before sighing, “I know that things will eventually get better and my therapist has always told me that recovery was a long and lonely road. Things get better everyday but I am sure I don’t need to tell you how frustrating it is that my problems can’t all be fixed with the blade of my sword.”

“You were eating them and I needed them.” Jason kept his tone breezy to alleviate the somber attitude from his story, “You can have them back when I’m done with them.” He wrapped the dough in cling film and tucked it into his fridge, returning to the counter to start weighing out ingredients for the next project, “In all honesty… it’s not improvised. The Princes of Sea and Sky are in a project I started that your mom won’t let me give up. She says it’s cathartic.” He started to knead bread dough, arms working the lump on the counter as he kept listening to Percy talk, “Yeah… it is. But it’s not one you have to travel alone. I’m here for whatever you need.” His laugh broke through the room as he paused his kneading and took a swig of his beer, “Believe me I know that feeling. If I could just lightning bolt everything to smithereens I’d be way happier.”

“Yes well it seems obvious that you need a bowl for yourself that isn’t my bowl of chocolate chips,” Percy replied with a chuckle, “I can’t help it if you have to attempt to use all my food.” As Jason kept working, Percy busied himself with observing. Jason was so at ease and so careful with his cooking that Percy found it almost relaxing to watch. It was certainly cathartic to say the least. “Of course my own mother was involved. This had the whiff of her all over it, she appears to be one of the few people left on earth that believes in the power of fables.” He nodded and looked at Jason. “I know, you’re here for me and so is Piper and Annabeth and Connor and everyone else. The thing is, what can you really do? We know this isn’t something that can be beaten back with a sword or even a lightning bolt. Unfortunately I don’t think there’s a quick fix for this.”

“My chocolate chips, sir. Mine. You’re the pilfering party here.” As Jason felt the dough start to come together under his hands he weighed it out carefully into eight equal balls, starting the complicated process of braiding them all together. “You can just assume if it involves my writing it’s got your mother involved. She’s second only to you in terms of people who are super vocal in their support of me.” He bit his lip in concentration as he continued to braid the well spiced dough, listening to Percy talk, “I know I know I know. We can’t really do anything, which is the hard part. Because I want to. But you’re right. There’s nothing I can do. So I’ll just keep letting you drink beer and steal my chocolate chips and hope we come out alright on the other side of this all.”

“What’s yours is mine,” Percy joked, reaching into the bowl of chocolate chips and using his long fingers to scoop up another handful, “and I intend to share the bounty amongst us like equals. I tell you this, we shall share. I shall only tax you a requisite sixty percent, for I am a kind and benevolent lord.” He smirked gently and raised an eyebrow gently. “You two spend far too much time together for me to be comfortable about it,” he said with a complete lie. He loved how close they were. It was refreshing to see the antithesis of what the usual friend-friend’s parent dynamic was. “Let’s just pretend that we live in a world that we’re all happy, that there are no monsters what so ever and we even have semi-normal lives which is a joke compared to the previous world we actually live in.”

Jason stopped braiding his loaf of bread long enough to slap at Percy’s hand “and you wonder why I buy so much extra… my lord.” He kept the mockery thick in his voice but it was interwoven with affection. “You should be worried. Sally showed me where all your baby albums are kept. Ive seen allllllllll the embarrassing pictures of you.” He finished the braid as Percy talked, setting it carefully on a tray to rise a second time, the smell of it already permeating his apartment. “I don’t think we can pretend anymore, P.” He smiled hollowly and tapped at the gnarled flesh where his eye had once been, “too many permanent reminders. And not just the physical ones.” Propping his chin in his hand he smiled, “but the reconstruction continues and life marches on. What more can we do but march with it.”

“I can’t help but eat food when you put it in front of me,” Percy rarely felt this at ease. But there was something about being in the presence of Jason that set him in a more comfortable mood. They’d been through so many things together and seperately. Their upbringing was so similar, yet so different. The heritage they shared, the responsibility of their birth. “Puh-lease,” Percy said emphasizing the p, “there is not a single photo that has ever been taken of me where I haven’t looked hot shit, therefore there cannot be an embarrassing photo of me out there. Even my baby photos.” Percy watched fascinated at Jason’s skill. “We can make things better, that is the whole point of this, we didn’t fight for nothing. We fought for a change. Now we’ve got the chance to. I don’t doubt for a second that the two senators who weren’t mentioned in the document, Arcadi and Karavadra, they were definitely involved in some way. I don’t trust the amount of power that the Karavadras still have in the Legion too. They led the war against us and they’re sitting relatively pretty, they’ve not suffered a single loss yet.”

“Having a dish of supplies on the counter does not count as leaving it in front of you, Perseus.” Jason turned his oven on to preheat and took the chilled cookie dough out of the fridge. “Oh yeah? You think? Cuz I’ve seen some of your baby outfits. It’s good to know Sally loved neon in the 90s as much as everyone else did.” He started to roll the cookie dough into small balls, dusting them with sugar before placing them on a baking sheet. “Senator Karavadra has always wielded too much power.” Jason’s voice turned bitter as he kept working, “of course he would have redundancies in place to ensure nothing was ever traced back to him if he indeed was involved.” He looked up at Percy as he slid the sheet into the oven, “we joked about it before. But a full dissolution of the Senate isn’t a terrible idea. Start completely anew. No former Senator may have a family member on the new Senate. And we have to split it equally between Greeks and Romans.” He moved onto the next baking task, never content to be still for too long. “Rome could use Senator Jackson. Rome could use Emperor Percy to be honest but that won’t ever happen.”

“I’m basically a dog, you cannot leave food unattended in front of me. Isn’t this something that my mother covered with you?” Percy asked teasingly with a bright smirk dancing across his face before flickering away as he sipped at his bottle of beer. “Please, I look hot as shit in neon. I don’t care for non-neon baby grows.” Nodding gently, Percy sighed. “I believe that we need to change the complete senatorial system and the entire political system in New Rome.” He paused and scratched at his beard. “Maybe we get rid of the senate entirely. It didn’t work the first time, why would it work the second time? We could come up with a brand new system where everyone’s voices are heard, where all the needs are addressed.” He considered what Jason was saying and sighed. “I don’t know if I am the right person to lead this city, and even if I were, is that what I want? I know that was never part of the plan.” SIghing he sipped at his beer and watched the bubbles trickle to the surface of his larger. “I don’t think the Romans would ever accept me. I’ve not exactly been their best friend.”

“Honestly? It absolutely is.” In fact, during one of his frequent visits to see the Jackson family, Sally had indeed gone over a list of concerns and such, which is how Jason had known some things Percy liked to eat without being told. “The problem is we’re all stuck in the past. Our blood is old and so we all feel like we have to stick to the old ways.” The cookies started to fill the apartment with another layer of holiday scent. “The Senate worked for the Old Rome and so it must work for the new one. But that’s not necessarily true, is it.” Jason barked out a laugh as he dragged a mixer out from under the counter “I think a lot of the old romans are well and truly done with both of us. When I left with the Exodus a lot of them saw that as a massive betrayal but honestly. I don’t care.” He polished off his beer and reached for a bottle of whisky sitting on the side table, pouring himself a modest amount before adding soda water. “No clear way forward and traps everywhere. It’s just like the good old days.”

“I’m glad that she ensured that you are properly prepared for eventually becoming my primary care giver.” Percy hadn’t dated anyone in several months, hell it was probably close to a year now. “I don’t know how much longer we can blame our genetic make up for the situations that we find ourselves in. At what point do we say that enough is enough? When do we take a stand and say no more?” He sighed sadly and ran a hand over his jawline, scratching gently at the hairs of his beard, tracing the outline of the bone. “Well it obviously is not true,” Percy agreed, “otherwise we wouldn’t have found ourselves in the situation that we are in. The fact that a handful of families have the majority of the wealth and power within New Rome is pretty terrifying.” Raising an eyebrow, Percy smiled warmly at his friend. He would always be grateful for everything that Jason, a son of Jupiter and a Roman, had decided to sacrifice for his friends, over his people. “You know I can never truly thank you for everything that you did for us.” Percy followed Jason’s example, copying his drink choice and drinking a chunk of it straight away. “Well, all we need is for Leo and Grover and your sister to come back and we’d have most of the old crew.”

“Somebody has to take care of you and Gods know it isn’t going to be you. So I guess I’ll keep feeding you chocolate chips and making sure you wear your coat in the winter.” Jason shook his head and left off his baking, walking over to lean next to Percy against the island. “My worry is we have been taking stands. Over and over and over and how long before people just start tuning us out. Oh it’s just Jason and Percy raising a fuss again just ignore them.” He waved Percy’s thanks away, “the deep and abiding love I have for you and my Greek friends left me little choice. It was the right thing to do and even with all it cost I would do it again and again and again. I could never abandon you, Percy. Not then, not now, not ever.” He raised his brow at Percy’s quick chug of his drink, “Oh is it going to be that kind of night? I can get behind that.” He thought of his sister, off doing whatever immortal Huntresses do, “it would be nice to see them all again.”

“I do a pretty good job of looking out for myself,” Percy replied with a chuckle, “I just don’t live up to your high standards of health and care. Sorry.” Percy frowned gently and considered Jason’s point. “I don’t think that means that we have to stop making a stand, I think that all that it means is that we have to make an even bigger fuss about things otherwise no one is ever going to listen to us. I know that you don’t intend to stop fighting for what is right and neither do I.” He shrugged gently and smiled at Jason. “All the same, what you did for us and what you gave up for us was more than we could’ve asked for and I am so thankful that we have you about to help us.” He smiled gently and shrugged. “It would be really nice to see them all again, especially Grover.”

“You do a moderate at best job of looking out for yourself.” Jason stuck his tongue out at his best friend and shook his head, “We need to get you a girlfriend just so I can split the duties of caring for you with someone else.” His smile faltered for a moment, “No. It doesn’t. It just means it’s more of an uphill battle every time we do it. Which is exhausting.” An eye roll preceded a hand flapping and a sigh, “Hush. What I did for you and gave up for you I would do a hundred times over if it meant I could keep you all safe. And that’s the end of that discussion.” Jason topped off their glasses, “Yeah. It would. It’s always nice to have the whole family together. Wish they could spend thanksgiving with us, but, I guess we’ll just have to make it perfect just us.”

“Moderate my ass, exemplary. Look at me. I’m in perfect shape, my hair is healthy and clean, I have a full face of hair.” Percy smiled happily, genuinely enjoying himself more than he had in a good long while. “Believe me Jace, if there was anyone out there that I was interested in, I’d much rather be with them than stuck here with you.” He joked of course. They both knew that there was nowhere in the world that Percy would rather be at this exact moment. “Either way, I’m sure when they realised that it was a full time job, they would quickly give up on it.” He considered continuing their conversation about his gratitude to Jason, but decided to respect his friends wishes. At least for now. “Speaking of, who are you planning on inviting over?”

Jason cast an appraising eye over Percy, “Well… you do have the body of a god… well demigod at least, and that beard is a solid 8.5.” He reached out and scratched Percy’s beard before walking back to his kitchen, “Oh I know… but that sounds like the kind of talk that means you don’t want one of my famous molasses chocolate ginger cookies fresh out of the oven.” He pulled the tray out and set it on a rack on the other side of the kitchen, flipping Percy off after he pulled his oven mitts off, “Their loss, then. They’d be missing out on one of the best dudes in the world. If they couldn’t see that then they don’t deserve you. Any girl would be lucky to have you.” Jason shrugged, putting the bread he’d neatly braided into the oven after washing it with egg and milk, “Nico, though he won’t come. Frank, Reyna, Hazel, probably Piper if she isn’t going to go see her dad, Annabeth if it won’t be weird for you. I dunno. Part of me wants to invite everyone. Part of me just wants it to be you and me getting drunk and fat on thanksgiving food.”

“8.5?” Percy almost spat out his whiskey and soda in shock. Surprised by what he was hearing. “What would constitute getting a ten then?” he asked teasingly. “Would Gandalf or Dumbledore be worthy of getting a ten? What about Chiron? Where does he come on the Grace scale, which is how we shall measure all beards from now on.” Percy laughed gently. “You and my mom definitely have been spending far too much time together, you’re beginning to say almost the exact same thing at the exact same moment that the other would say it.” Percy was glad that he had his friend for the holidays. It was easy to feel sorry for yourself and to miss home, but he knew that even though he wasn’t with his family, he soon would be. Or at least that was what he hoped. “Invite Annabeth,” Percy said with a nod and a shrug, “the more the merrier.” He nodded and shrugged. “I can’t decide for you, all I know is that whatever we decide will be great.”

“Mark the day! Percy Jackson, offended that his war beard didn’t score a perfect ten on the Grace Scale!” Jason shook his head mockingly at his friend, laughing all the while, “Perfect ten beard? John Krasinski in A Quiet Place… totally a perfect ten beard there.” Chuckling he kept working in the kitchen, always moving, never stopping entirely, while he talked with Percy, “You know that’s a gigantic compliment right there. I’ll always take being compared to your mom. She’s one of the dopest ladies around.” Nodding he started to assemble the ingredients for his gingerbread, “I will then. I’ll invite them all, though while you can’t decide for me you definitely get some input. This is your Thanksgiving just as much as it is mine.”

“It’s now actually known as the “War and Peace Beard” thank you very much,” Percy couldn’t help the pout that crept upon his face. “Bullshit, John Krasinski doesn’t have anything on me. My beard is fuller, shinier, has better volume, shape and definition than Krasinski does.” He wasn’t going to be defeated by some actor who couldn’t grow a beard in the Office. “Why do you think I said it?” he asked with a smirk. “I think that if we can all get together like we used to, if we can all settle down and really enjoy an evening together. Despite everything that has happened, despite everything that we’ve had to do. Then you know what, that is probably the best victory we can ever get.” He swallowed a mouthful of whiskey and soda, shifting on the stool he sat at as he continued to watch Jason work. “You know we’re really lucky?” he said with a laugh, “I just realised that there is pretty much no chance that our parents are going to show up uninvited.”

Jason shook his head dolefully and sighed, “Percy. I love you more than life itself and would literally throw myself into a burning building to save you… but…. I have to say… his beard is better than yours.” Jason chuckled and nodded, pulling one of the many pads of paper that littered his apartment towards him and started writing names down on it. “I love that reasoning there. Our family and and us celebrating the good things is a good victory indeed.” Jason’s chuckle turned into a deep booming laugh as he nodded to Percy’s realization, “I can’t really imagine my father descending from the heavens to sit at my kitchen table and bitch about my baking skills. He seems like he’d be really judgey.” Leaving his kitchen he brought Percy a warm cookie fresh from the oven, leaning against the counter as he waited for his verdict. “Well?”

“Lies and slander can often be responded to with an example of litigation of some variety.” Pausing for a second, Percy raised an eyebrow gently and smiled. He was rather proud of his beard, it was not difficult to argue that it was the best thing to come out of this war, though he wasn’t sure that was entirely true. “I don’t know, I don’t think that my concern would be Jupiter but rather Mrs Olympus AKA Juno, or Hera. I don’t care what we call her, but she’s the patron Goddess of cows for a reason.” Pausing for a second, he sipped his drink and did his best not to be the most judgemental of bitches. “Ah, excellent, allow the sampling to begin.” Percy grabbed a paper napkin and made a huge show of tucking it into the collar of his t-shirt before grabbing a plate and a knife and fork to complete his display. Using his cutlery to cut into the cookie, he delicately stabbed it with his fork and chewed on it. “9/10, it’s not as good as those chocolate rainbow cookies you made for pride.”

“You think it’s awkward for you. She’s my stepmother. It’s so awkward. She’s one of the worst creatures in existence.” Jason paused and canted his head toward the ceiling “and yes I know you can hear me and no I don’t care.” Returning his attention to Percy’s ridiculous and grandiose display of cookie eating he shook his head in utter disbelief. “A 9 out of ten?! Those cookies have won baking contests, Jackson! You just liked the pride cookies because they were rainbow and that handsome dude from the parade ate one off your abs.” It seemed a long distant past when Percy and Jason had been in the closet to each other, but now they were both out and supremely comfortable with each other. “speaking of… a guy in my writing seminar asked me out for beers the other day. First date I’ve been asked on since the injury.”

“Well, having had the worst and best stepfather in the entire world, I can sympathise with you, to some extent at least. Though neither Paul nor Gabe ever tried to mind wipe me and send me to the wrong Camp.” Percy shrugged gently as he nursed the last of his drink, swilling the whiskey and soda around and around his glass. At the mention of eating cookies off of his abs, Percy found himself smirking gently in remembrance. “Yes, well that might’ve been one of the highlights, but there was something about those blue chocolate chips that you used or made or whatever,” raising an eyebrow gently, “I don’t know what to say, this is not the first time you’ve not been able to best a previous accomplishment.”

“Though. I do have to give mommy dearest a tiny sliver of credit. Without her I never would have met you, and I can’t imagine not having you in my life.” Jason started to eat one of his cookies before a timer went off and he moved back to the kitchen, pulling the bread from the oven and smiling to himself at how it looked. “Nice to know I haven’t lost any of my skills.” Pride with Percy had become a yearly tradition after Jason had come out of the closet as bisexual, and it was something he enjoyed. It was nice to be free and unconcerned for an afternoon, and if he was incredibly honest; he liked the attention. “I turned him down. But. It’s nice to be asked. I just don’t think I’m at a point in my life where dating mortals is a good idea. Too many things I can’t explain to them.”

Though Percy remained silent, he couldn’t help but think that Juno’s original intention had not been to provide her two favourite demigods with a lifelong friendship. He was certain that she would claim credit for that too. “I guess we occasionally get lucky don’t we?” Pausing he chewed on the last of the cookie in front of him and smiled brightly. “These are really good J,” Percy said quietly, “one day you and my mother will have to teach me how to bake. Maybe I can be someone’s house husband. That would be the dream.” He smiled brightly and shrugged. “Poor kid, I bet he was devastated ….” he still saw Jason the way he saw him when they’d first met. Jason was tall, tanned, muscular and well groomed. He looked like the stereotypical popular kid in all the movies. “You might enjoy the distraction, it could be a nice outlet to get away from all of this.” Percy couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to really date a mortal, everyone he’d dated had been demigods. Maybe it would be the bridge into the mortal world. A first step into normalcy? But he knew that was something they’d never achieve.

“As much as it seems like the Fates shit on us constantly I guess we do get lucky some of the time.” Jason gave Percy his most dazzling smile and threw on his Hollywood voice, “You’re the best piece of good luck that’s ever happened to me, Jackson.” He heaved a longing sigh, “Oh gods right?! Being a house husband is the fucking dream. Just cook and write and game. That sounds amazing. Need me a man or woman who’s on board with that.” He shut off the oven and moved to flop onto his couch, deciding it was time for a break. “I’m sure he wasn’t devastated. But he was disappointed. But I’m retired now. There’s not much I need a distraction from. I mean… I do homework and cook. I help out a little bit but not as much as you or Annabeth.” He shrugged, swirling the liquid in his glass and watching it, “I dunno. I just don’t feel like having to hide parts of myself. You know? I could never invite him back to my place. It’d be very one sided and that’s not good for a relationship.”

“You could maybe try actually getting to know the guy, discover if he is trustworthy and be honest that there are somethings that you simply can’t tell him.” Percy wasn’t really sure why he was suggesting this, he preferred Jason single so that he could always be about when Percy needed him. “I know it’d be difficult to make work, but you never know, what if he is the one and you’re missing it completely because you’re too focussed on what might go wrong?” he paused and picked at a crumb on the marble kitchen island in front of him. Absentmindedly crushing and rolling it between his fingers. “I don’t know, you know what’s best for you, but you’re not leading anymore, you’re basically retired. I’d think that if there was ever a time to look into the benefits of love, then it’d be now, right?”

“Yeah because that doesn’t scream cliche. I’ll just swagger over like hey I know I’m a one-eyed man with a checkered and mysterious past but you just have to trust I’m not a serial killer.” Jason shrugged, “I really don’t feel like there’s the one. There’s someone who’s good for me now, but I mean, especially as a bi bro… there’s a lot of fish in that sea. I don’t wanna get stuck in the rut of thinking there’s just one. But. Who knows. Maybe there is just one.” He laughed “the benefits of love? I think we’ve both been single for far too long to speak on the benefits of love. We just have a hazy memory of what they are.” Sitting up he tugged the hair tie out of his long blonde braid and let his hair hang loose around his shoulders, “I’m still young. 24 isn’t that old. But hey. Whatever happens happens.”

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