#jason grace angst

[poppitron360]

*raises hand slowly* Did… Did anyone want some fluffy Grace Siblings set to the backdrop of my Married Valgrace AU??

— — — — — — — — —

“Do you need any help with that?” Jason asked, looking down at where his sister was crouching, “Reyna’s pretty good at this stuff having lived on Circe’s island-“

“I can handle it on my own,” Thalia said, her tone not quite irritable, but a little flustered. She fumbled the long sheet of silk that hung around Jason’s legs, trying to hoist it up in the customary fashion.

She took a crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket and studied it. It was a printed-out screenshot of a Pinterest board, taken from a demigod-safe computer in a New Rome Public Library.

“I’ve fought countless untold horrors,” she muttered to herself, “I’ve slain the unslayable. I’ve completed feats no mortal could possibly accomplish. I should be able to handle a frickin’ toga.”

Despite her frustrations, Thalia was doing very well- all things considered.

She went about pinning down the garment, smoothing the folds perfectly crisp, tucking and pressing the delicate fabric- she was being uncharacteristically gentle as she ran her fingers along the gold embroidery on the hem.

Jason helped where he could- holding the silk in place with his fingers, directing Thalia on where and what to adjust. Eventually they fell into the rhythm of it. There was a quiet sadness to this ritual. Jason could feel his sister grieving for all the moments she had lost with him. All the school uniform collars never smoothed down. All the medals never pinned to lapels. All the ties never tied. She was mourning the loss of a childhood. One they could’ve had together. Where she got to be a big sister.

She clipped the gold broach at Jason’s shoulder to hold the silk in place, and stood back to admire her handiwork.

Jason turned so he was standing in front of the mirror and adjusted the garment.

“Does it look okay?” Thalia asked, glancing at her reference pictures, “I’ve never even worn a toga before, you have more experience than me.“

“It looks great,” Jason assured her.

He turned to his sister. There was so many things he wanted to tell her. So many emotions it was hard to put into words.

Thalia reached a tender, almost motherly hand up to Jason’s cheek, the back of it brushing against the stubble on his chin.

“I can’t believe how much you’ve grown,” Thalia whispered, “It seems you came into this world only yesterday, and now… gods… married?”

She cupped his chin in her palms, and stood on her tiptoes and pressed her forehead against his. A little spark of electricity jumped between their hair. “I am so proud of you, Jason.”

Funny- Jason had worked his whole life trying to make people proud. His father. His friends. Camp Jupiter. They’d awarded him Praetorship and Pontifex Maximus, given him medals and wreaths and titles- but never had anyone said “I’m proud of you.”

And here Thalia was, staring in wonderment of him just standing there, just… existing. Jason hadn’t done anything to make her proud, and yet she was proud all the same. He’d worked his whole life for the approval of others only to realise the love he needed could be given to him unconditionally, by Thalia, by Leo, by the hundreds of friends and found family waiting out there- all for just being himself.

“Oh gods, I’m gonna cry-“ Jason said, hiding his face and wiping his eyes.

Thalia rubbed his back. “Let it out, brother,” she told him.

He fell into her shoulder and buried his nose in her padded suit jacket, letting his face sink into the warmth of his sister’s earthy smell.

“I love you.”

“Love you too,” she patted his arm, soothingly, “Now we should probably get going. You’ve got a man to marry.”

“You’re right,” Jason stood up. Thalia handed him a tissue, which he accepted and used to wipe his eyes.

Then he took a deep breath, and grabbed the door handle.

— — — — — — — — —

So! You all apparently loved my Married Valgrace AU. And if you didn’t… I loved my Married Valgrace AU. This is another little vignette set in the same world, or in any other world where Jason gets married! The fact that it’s Leo he’s marrying only comes up once, so feel free to swap it out for whoever you want in your head. This is just a short little bit of Grace Siblings fluff to keep the gremlins fed while I’m away for the holidays. Their siblingship is everything to me.

Also, for the record, Leo is doing the exact same thing with Nyssa in the other room.

Basically tagging my usual tags + anyone who left a nice comment on the Married Valgrace AU:

@ottpopfic @ginnyluna @groverapologist @echo-stimmingrose @demigod-shenanigans @lavenderfairiez @keefessketchbook @sleepyycapybara @euryvices-deactivated20241019 @123letsgobestie @kaleidoskuls @fairytalesociology @four-leafed-queer-gal @child-of-helios @green-tea217 @puzzled-pegasus @ollieisanerd @twomanyfandomshelp @lokiwiiiiiii @yoshuko-ew @keefessketchbook @xixovart @frayna-of-the-hollow @via-rant @daonedaonlyskh @hadeslegacyhephgirl @siimplyapril @pjowasmy1stfandom

[demigod-shenanigans]

Summary: “Where’s Jason?”

The moment the words left Leo’s mouth, Piper crumpled against him, sobbing uncontrollably.

Leo wrapped his arms around her, more impulse than conscious choice. His trembling fingers bunched up the fabric of her shirt.

“Piper, what the hell happened?” he asked. He looked around, and, seeing everyone’s grave expressions, he felt like he was eight years old again, sitting in the back of an ambulance, waiting for the paramedics to tell him that his mom was gone. He couldn’t breathe. “Tell me- tell me he’s not-”

He couldn’t get the words out. Couldn’t even begin to consider what it would mean if he’d failed to cheat the prophecy—if after everything they’d been through, he would never get to see Jason again. To his immense relief, Piper shook her head.

“He’s not- but Leo, it’s bad. Jason is really, really hurt, and we don’t have any stupid ambrosia left, and-” The rest of her sentence was swallowed by another bout of sobs. She was trembling like a leaf in Leo’s arms. “We’re not sure he’s going to make it.”

Written for @lost-trio-week Day 6: Reunion

Word Count: 6k

Rating: Teen and Up

TW for major character injury (Jason for the love of god please stop getting stabbed so much)

I did say I wanted to post two fics today, and I stuck to that, despite the fact that it’s currently absolutely unreasonable hours of the morning. I allowed myself exactly one heavy angst fic for the event, and it’s this one! Lots and lots and lots of hurt/comfort in this one. As with the other ones, some Valgrace that’s tied into a larger plot focused on the fact that all three of them care about each other so, so very much.

———

Leo could tell something was wrong the moment Festus touched down on the beach.

Everyone was looking at him, sure, but it was almost like they were looking through him. Not a single person managed to make eye contact.

Leo honestly wouldn't have minded this—direct eye contact felt really uncomfortable to him a lot of the time—but he’d learned over the years that when other people avoided eye-contact, it usually meant bad news.

For a moment, he was too caught up in his relief that Lester and Meg and Piper were fine to really let himself think about this, though.

He just went through the line of people and hugged everyone.

He paused in front of Piper—there was so much he needed to say to her, and he wasn’t sure she’d appreciate a hug before he’d properly apologized.

“Pipes, I-” he started, but then she looked up at him with red-rimmed eyes and everything stopped. Terror grasped his heart. “Where’s Jason?”

Leo hadn’t registered Jason’s absence as weird at first. He hadn’t known for sure Jason would be here. With everything going on in the demigod world, there could have been plenty of reasons he was busy elsewhere.

Please let it be that, he thought.

But the moment the words left his mouth, Piper crumpled against him, sobbing uncontrollably. 

Leo wrapped his arms around her, more impulse than conscious choice. His trembling fingers bunched up the fabric of her shirt.

“Piper, what the hell happened?” he asked. He looked around, and, seeing everyone’s grave expressions, he felt like he was eight years old again, sitting in the back of an ambulance, waiting for the paramedics to tell him that his mom was gone. He couldn’t breathe. “Tell me- tell me he’s not-”

He couldn’t get the words out. Couldn’t even begin to consider what it would mean if he’d failed to cheat the prophecy—if after everything they’d been through, he would never get to see Jason again.

To his immense relief, Piper shook her head.

“He’s not- but Leo, it’s bad. Jason is really, really hurt, and we don’t have any stupid ambrosia left, and-” The rest of her sentence was swallowed by another bout of sobs. She was trembling like a leaf in Leo’s arms. “We’re not sure he’s going to make it.”

“Pipes, hey, breathe,” Leo said gently, trying and failing to take his own advice on the matter. He couldn’t get a handle on his racing heart, but his arms around Piper felt a little steadier now. Hurt, even badly hurt, was a million times more manageable than dead. “Jason’s going to be okay. He’s way too stubborn to just die on us after everything we’ve been through.”

He said it with more confidence than he felt.

“It’s a miracle he’s even alive at all,” Lester said quietly. “But with the condition he’s in-”

“He’s going to be okay,” Leo repeated, because the alternative was unthinkable. Jason was going to be fine. They’d survived a lot of impossible shit together. He had to be okay.

Besides, Apollo— Lester —wasn’t the god of medicine right now. He wasn’t really the god of anything right now. That was sort of the point. 

What did he know, anyway?

“Where is he?” Leo asked, trying to ignore the anxious lump in his throat. “Can I see him?”

“Inside. Coach Hedge is with him,” Piper said immediately, slowly breaking the embrace. “Come on. Let’s go see Jason.”

~~~~

The former McLean mansion felt like a setting straight out of a horror movie. It was way too big, all the furniture was gone and the floorboards creaked as they walked inside. Piper’s hand was trembling in Leo’s as she led him down the hall to a room that smelled strangely of a mixture of disinfectant, mushrooms and gatorade.

Much like the other rooms, this one also didn’t have much furniture, with the exception of a lonely mattress. It was the most makeshift sick room Leo had ever seen. A bunch of supplies were loosely strewn about—some meds and bandages that had clearly been taken from a regular medical kit, along with what looked like sticks and moss and various other plants that he guessed were Hedge’s contribution.

Leo barely had the brain space to take in any of it. Instantly, his attention zeroed in on the mattress. 

Jason was pale as death. What Leo could see of his chest was wrapped in bandages. It rose and fell slowly, which was the only outward sign that Jason was alive at all.

Coach Hedge was sitting at his bedside and pressing a piece of cloth to his forehead.

“Still no change,” he said somberly. “The nature magic I used barely helped.”

“Thanks for trying,” Piper said quietly, squeezing Leo’s hand so tightly that it hurt. 

Leo had no room to complain. He was squeezing back just as hard.

“Yeah. I’m sure Jason appreciates it,” he agreed, trying not to think about the way Hedge’s attempt at sports medicine had looked and smelled when he’d tried to help with Piper’s broken ankle.

He knew the satyr meant well, and besides, Jason looked like he could use all the help he could get.

Hedge whirled around. 

“Valdez?” His eyes were wide with shock. “We thought you died!”

“Yeah.” Leo shrugged, eyes wandering back down to Jason’s too-still form. “I got better.” 

“I’d kick you across the room, but luckily for you, Mellie’s putting Chuck to bed right now,” Hedge said, his expression an attempt at fury that was dampened slightly by the fact that his eyes were misty. “He should be here for this. I need to set a good example,” he continued before Leo could attribute the first statement to the fact that he might not want to wake his sleeping child or something equally absurd.

“Good to see you, too,” Leo said, giving Hedge a weak smile. He dragged Piper along as he kneeled down by Jason’s side. 

“Hey. I’m back,” Piper said, gripping Jason’s hand. Her voice was quavering. “Leo’s here, too.”

Jason didn’t react. His eyes stayed firmly shut. 

Leo carefully reached out to touch his friend’s face. Jason’s skin felt cold and clammy, and it made Leo ill with terror.

But being so close to Jason meant he could at least hear his breaths.

Alive. Alive. Alive.

“We managed to free the Sibyl,” Piper continued, undeterred by the tears that had started to stream down her cheeks again. “She’s safe now. We couldn’t have managed it without your help.”

Jason’s unconscious form was unmoved.

“I’ve got some nectar left. It’s not much, but it’s probably better than nothing,” Leo said, rummaging through his bag for his flask. He cursed himself for not refilling it before he’d left Camp Jupiter. 

He hadn’t even considered asking if they could spare any. Not with the amount of people that were wounded. Not with another battle still looming on the horizon. Besides, he’d figured what he had would be enough, considering he’d be heading out of danger. 

Gods, he was such an idiot.

Piper’s face lit up just slightly when he produced the flask, despite the fact that it was nearly empty.

“We should wait until he’s a little more conscious, but yes, this will help.”

“What happened to him?” Leo asked, not sure he actually wanted to know the answer. 

“I-” Piper gulped, hard. He wasn’t sure what she saw, but her eyes had gone distant. He pulled her back into his chest.

“Sorry. You don’t have to talk about it if it’s too hard.” 

“I don’t know the details,” Hedge took over for her, “but he got a spear through his chest and a bunch of ocean in his lungs. Ocean generally isn’t great for children of Jupiter, even when it’s not in their lungs. He’s been out cold since yesterday.”

“I don’t know what I’ll do if he doesn’t wake up.” Piper’s voice was awfully broken and quiet. 

Leo couldn’t stand it. He couldn’t stand any of this. Not the way she obviously blamed herself. Not his own fear. Not Jason’s pale face or his bandaged chest or how ragged his breaths sounded.

What Leo said next was reckless, and stupid, and also horribly insensitive. He couldn’t say he cared very much. He’d spent ages traveling, trying to get back to his friends. The only reason he’d made it through all these months of fighting monsters and camping out in the wilderness, which had been terribly reminiscent of the time he spent on the streets, was thinking about this—being back with Piper and Jason. Finally having a home to go back to where he’d be welcomed with open arms, mad as the inhabitants would probably be at him for disappearing for so long.

He didn’t have it in him to be sensitive or reasonable or smart when there was still a chance he’d have half that home ripped away from him.

“Oh, he’d better wake up. I’m never talking to him again if he doesn’t,” Leo said, crossing his arms. He was furious. At himself for leaving and at the world who kept ripping all of his loved ones away from him and especially at his stupid best friend and the fact that he always had to play the fucking hero. “You hear that, Jason? I swear on the Styx, if you die on us right now, I will spend our whole afterlife ignoring you. I mean it. I did not go through all that nonsense with the physician’s cure for you to croak the moment I get back here.”

He learned later that a broken Styx oath was half the reason they were in this mess. He had time to feel a little bad about what he’d said, then.

Right now, though, Jason’s fingers twitched in Piper’s trembling hands, and Leo couldn’t bring himself to regret a damn thing.

****

The sun had dipped below the horizon an hour ago. 

Piper was curled up in a sleeping bag, staring intently at Jason’s sick bed.

Her father was in one of the other rooms in an old sleeping bag of his own, probably fast asleep. He was trying his best to help—he had made her and Leo a truly disastrous meal in an attempt to make sure they ate—but it was clear he didn’t understand the situation. Piper wasn’t sure what the Mist was showing him, exactly, but it must have had a hell of a time trying to make sense of the fact that they’d chosen to treat their severely injured friend with homebrew medical supplies in the house they no longer owned instead of calling an ambulance. 

Hedge and Mellie had left for Aeithales a few hours ago, hoping to fetch some more demigod-grade medical supplies. She doubted they’d be back before tomorrow afternoon. 

It would have been more effective to just take Jason there— safer, too —but they couldn’t move him while he was in this state, so this was the best they could do. 

Piper had offered to come, hoping that doing something proactive might help her feel a little better about everything that had happened, but Mellie had put a hand on her shoulder and told her “your friend needs you. Both of you,” and that had been that.

Piper was exhausted, so she probably should have slept, but she didn’t. It had been three days since she’d last so much as napped for half an hour.

She couldn’t bring herself to sleep. Couldn’t bring herself to take her eyes off her injured friend. Guilt was gnawing at her, hollowing out her chest until there was nothing left. 

She was supposed to protect Jason like he’d always protected her, and she’d failed him, in the same way she always seemed to fail her loved ones.

She was fifteen and her absentee goddess mom had to save her father because Piper wasn’t strong enough. 

She was sixteen and Leo didn’t trust her with his plan or the real physician’s cure, and then he was gone, and she couldn’t do a damn thing. Couldn’t find him, no matter how desperately she tried. 

She was almost seventeen and Jason was comatose because her powers had failed her when she’d needed them the most. 

Her mother was the goddess of love, for crying out loud. Her love for her friends should have been her greatest strength. 

It wasn’t. Her love was a dagger that she only ever managed to point at her own chest. Piper loved herself bloody, and it was never enough.

Every time she closed her eyes, she was back on that damned yacht. She saw the determined expression on Jason’s face, then the spear through his chest. She saw Jason stumbling into the chasm where the yacht was breaking apart, dropping like a rock.

She knew she couldn’t change what had happened. 

She still tried to reach for him every time. And every time, her hands grasped empty air.

She kept having to remind herself that Tempest had slowed Jason’s fall and dragged him back out of the water, but it barely helped. Nothing really seemed to help, with the exception of watching the slow rise and fall of Jason’s chest. Any time she turned away from him, she was afraid she might have imagined it—that she might turn back and find his body utterly still.

“Pipes?” Leo asked, looking up from where he was sitting on the floor. “You good?”

Having Leo back by her side should have been comforting, but it felt much the same way Jason’s survival did—like a dream she would wake up from any moment now.

Piper was used to waiting. She had spent much of her early childhood waiting for a mother who had never come back. Later, she’d spent ages waiting for her father—to come home, to visit her at school, to remember she existed for more than a few days a year.

She was great at waiting for things that would never happen. She had no previous experience with waiting for things that did.

She’d stopped hoping Leo would come back a long time ago. Now that he had, she wasn’t sure how to handle it. She kept waiting for the other shoe to drop—for Leo to dissolve into Mist like the rest of her life had.

“Fine,” she lied, moving closer to where he was sitting. Leo wasn’t doing much better than her, sleep-wise, but unlike Piper, he’d at least found himself something useful to do. Currently, he was in the process of inspecting one of Aurum’s diamond eyes that had come loose. Piper looked down to where the two dog automatons were lying in sleep mode, heart clenching again. “How’s it looking? They’re gonna be okay, right? Reyna will probably kill me if any of the damage is permanent.”

Aurum and Argentum had gotten pretty banged up dragging Calligula off Jason. They’d retaliated, getting in a few nasty strikes that would have been satisfying to watch if Piper’s heart hadn’t been dropping to the bottom of the ocean at the same time. Now, the damage they’d taken was just another item on the ever-growing list of Piper’s failures.

She hated the thought of anything happening to the dogs. She’d seen the way Reyna interacted with them—the fond smiles and head scratches and the inadvisable treats she snuck them whenever she thought no one was looking. 

To say Reyna struggled to let herself be soft would be the understatement of the year. But it was obvious to anyone with eyes that she loved her dogs to death, and after everything that had happened to her, the last thing Piper wanted was for her to lose them, too.

“‘Course I can fix them. But you know Reyna wouldn’t have given you the whistle if she hadn’t wanted you to use it, right?” Leo asked, putting aside the diamond before reaching out to touch her arm. “One of the first things she did when I got to Camp Jupiter was ask about you, and not in a ‘I’m worried she’s gonna wreck my automatons’-way.”

“I just…” Piper balled her hands into fists, losing the fight against her tears. “All of this is my fault. If I had-”

“Beauty Queen, hey. Don’t be stupid,” Leo said gently, pulling her into his arms. “There’s lots of people you could blame. Calligula is a really obvious one. Or Lester and his dumbass oath. Or, you know, me. Never yourself, though. None of this was on you.”

Piper looked at him with a startled expression. “Why in the world should I blame you? You weren’t even there.”

Leo deflated against her chest. “Yeah. Exactly.”

“Leo…” 

“I thought I could cheat the stupid prophecy,” Leo sniffled, holding her tightly. It was like her crying had made his dam break, too. “But I couldn’t. And now Jason’s hurt, and I- I wasn’t there.He could have died because I wasn’t there.”

“I think you did cheat your prophecy,” Piper told him, squeezing him back just as tightly. “It’s not your fault we failed to cheat ours.”

“The gods really seem to have it out for us,” Leo said, huffing a half-laugh, half-sob against her shoulder. He felt warm, in the nice, soothing way he always had. “Why else would we get so many shitty death prophecies, huh?”

“Yeah. I think we should get a refund on this whole demigod experience. I want my money back.”

“Tell me about it.” Leo opened his mouth to say something else—likely to make another joke, no matter how hollow it rang—but then he froze. “Jason?”

Piper turned, feeling cold as ice at the realization that she’d taken her eyes off him for a moment. She was terrified of what she would find.

But Jason’s chest still rose and fell steadily. More than that—he was moving his head, blinking in obvious confusion.

Leo and Piper were by his side in an instant. 

“Hey buddy,” Leo said shakily. “How are you feeling?”

“Hurts,” Jason rasped, wincing when Piper touched his face.

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry,” she told him, her lip wobbling. Jason’s eyes were glassy, and his skin felt way too warm. “Shit, I think he’s running a fever. Leo, we need-”

“On it,” Leo announced, already elbow-deep in his tool belt. 

With all the months they’d been separated, Piper had almost forgotten how naturally these things came to them. 

She remembered sitting at Jason’s bedside, re-bandaging the stab wound in his abdomen that refused to heal. Remembered Leo handing her bandages and disinfectant and holding Jason’s shoulders steady to make sure he didn’t move too much.

They’d done this before. They hadn’t needed words, then. They wouldn’t need them now.

For the first time in months, Piper actually felt like things might be okay.

****

Jason woke up tasting cocoa. He only knew three things for certain. One: from what he remembered, him waking up should not have been a thing. Two: everything hurt. Three: everyone was mad at him.

Things had been hazy and painful for a while. He could tell that people were speaking around him, but despite the fact that his aching head couldn’t seem to properly process the words, he could tell that the voices sounded upset. He was pretty sure that was his fault.

Everything was blurry and dark and a cold, wet thing was on his forehead and he couldn’t make sense of any of it.

“You’re gonna be okay,” someone said from the darkness, barely more than a blurry shape. Jason knew the voice, but he couldn’t remember how he knew it. He tried to make out the person’s features, but the harder he tried to focus, the more the image in front of his eyes swam. “What do you need?”

He registered he was trembling, mostly because it made his pain worse, but he couldn’t get his body to stop.

He wanted to ask for- Jason wasn’t actually sure what he was going to ask for. Something warm, probably. A blanket, maybe. Something to make the trembling stop.

But that wasn’t what came out of his mouth when he opened it.

“I wanna go home,” he said instead, feeling incredibly childish. “Please.”

There was a pause.

“You mean camp?” a different voice asked. It was just as familiar as the first, but something about it was strange, too. Jason hadn’t heard that voice in months. He didn’t know why, but hearing it kind of made him want to cry. “Dude, you got skewered less than a week ago. We’re not making a fucking cross-country trip right now.”

“No,” Jason said, feeling whiny and desperate. He didn’t care about camp right now. Camp hadn’t felt like home in forever. “I just want Piper and Leo.”

“Oh,” the second person said, voice quavering. Hands gripped his. Strangely, one of them felt several degrees warmer than the other. “Jeez, how out of it are you?”

For a moment, Jason struggled to process the question—which was probably an answer in and of itself. But then he remembered. 

Remembered that Leo had been gone for months and the only way he’d be seeing him again was making it to Elysium. Remembered the prophecy that had told him it had to be him or Piper. And he’d woken up, which meant it hadn’t been him, no matter how much he’d wanted it to be. 

If he was alive, that had to mean-

Jason wanted to cry. His lungs wouldn’t work right. The already blurry world grew even blurrier around him. 

“Jason? Jason, you’re okay. Breathe.” The hands squeezed his tighter. Fingers combed gently through his hair. The voice was so sweet that all thoughts vanished from his head until he could remember nothing except how to breathe, despite the horrible ache in his lungs.

“There you go. That’s better. No more stupid moves, alright, Superman?” the other blurry shape told him. “Piper and I are getting real sick of patching you up constantly.”

Finally, the voice slotted into its rightful place in Jason’s fever-addled brain, and now he felt like crying for a completely different reason. 

“Leo?” he asked weakly, then coughed a few times, which did really awful things to his aching chest.

“Gods, it’s been, what, six months? Did you already forget what I look like?” Leo asked, teasing and concerned and alive.

“No. You're just really blurry,” Jason told him, attempting to blink the spots out of his eyes without any success. Like he could ever forget what Leo looked like. Like he hadn’t spent the past months filling an entire sketchbook with portraits because he was terrified he’d forget the slightest detail. “My head hurts.”

“Of course it does.” Leo sighed. “Please tell me he didn’t get concussed again. At this rate, it’s a miracle he even remembers his own name.”

“Actually, I’m the one who ended up concussed this time. We decided we needed some variety,” the other voice said, and this time Jason knew it was Piper. She was okay. They’d both made it. 

“Yeah, I get it. Gotta switch things up occasionally,” Leo joked.

Jason was exhausted and everything hurt, but he didn’t care. Piper and Leo were right here with him, and nothing else mattered.

He was home.

~~~~

The next time Jason woke, someone had switched on the sun and his surroundings weren’t nearly as blurry.

“Morning, Sleeping Beauty. Feeling better?”

Leo was leaning over him. Jason could properly make out his features now that it wasn’t the middle of the night and he wasn’t quite as hazy with fever.

Leo had strange highlights in his hair, and it had grown a little longer since Jason had last seen him, but other than that, his best friend looked almost the same he had eight months ago. With a sting in his chest that was entirely unrelated to his injuries, Jason realized Leo also looked worn out in the same way he always had back on the Argo. His shoulders were slumped and he had deep rings under his eyes.

Jason couldn’t stop staring at him. Couldn’t process the fact that looking at Leo was a thing he got to do again.

Leo raised an eyebrow. 

“Are you checking me out?” he teased, smiling widely despite his obvious exhaustion.

The next thing Jason did was probably ill-advised, medically speaking, but he couldn’t stop himself. Wouldn’t have wanted to, even if he could have. He pushed himself up into a seated position and wrapped his whole body around Leo.

The pain came a moment later, bad enough to almost be blinding, but Jason didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, he was never letting Leo go again, no matter how badly it hurt.

“We thought you died,” he said breathlessly. The tears came unbidden. 

Jason had never really allowed himself to cry much. He hadn’t had time for it, and besides, it hadn’t felt like his place when he was supposed to be the brave, competent leader at all times. 

Crying in front of other people wasn’t a thing he could ever remember doing.

But he was past the point of caring about that right now, because his best friend was alive and breathing and so, so warm against his chest, and that was the only thing in the world that mattered.

“Dude, stop!” Leo said immediately, eyes wide with alarm. “You’ve got two broken ribs and a hole in the middle of your chest! You’re going to hurt yourself!”

“I don’t care,” Jason insisted, holding him tighter. “I thought I’d never get to hug you again.”

“I love you to death, okay?” Leo told him, sounding exasperated. He squeezed Jason just slightly, for barely half a second, before he expertly wiggled himself out of the embrace. “But it took me days to finally coax Piper into getting some rest. If she wakes up and you’re worse off than you were when she went to sleep, she’s going to kill me, and I doubt I can get her to nap for as much as half an hour again if that happens.”

He gestured vaguely to the other end of the mattress where Piper was curled up like a cat, snoring softly.

She was alive. All three of them were alive. 

Jason still couldn’t fully believe it.

“I’m not going to-” Jason started, wincing when he lowered himself back down onto the mattress. “Ow.”

“Told you so,” Leo commented, but he didn’t look very happy about it. “Take it easy and get better, okay? Then we can maybe renegotiate the hugging thing.”

“You suck,” Jason told him, but he couldn’t stop smiling. 

Leo was okay. They were all okay.

“Oh, I know.” Leo grinned. “I’m about to suck a lot worse, too. Hedge made more of that sports medicine stuff. Full disclosure, we’re not sure if it really does anything, but at worst, I figure making you take shitty meds will discourage you from getting stabbed a third time.”

“It’s not like I did it on purpose,” Jason grimaced, but he did drink obediently. 

Swallowing sucked. His throat hurt and his mouth felt parched and the strange liquid didn’t really help with either of those facts.

But, weirdly enough, he didn’t mind the taste too much.

“This actually isn’t that bad.”

Leo looked at him strangely, then turned towards where Piper was sleeping. 

“Pipes, are we sure he isn’t concussed?” She just continued to snore softly in response. “I’m gonna take that as a no.”

“Is Piper okay?” Jason asked, trying to sit up again to take a proper look at her. “She didn’t get hurt, did she?”

“Nuh-uh. None of that. You’re resting,” Leo protested, gently pressing his shoulder back down onto the mattress. “Piper’s not hurt. She’s just really tired. I think she’d be significantly more fine if her dumbass best friends would stop dying in front of her face, though.”

Jason winced. “I promised her I wouldn’t do anything stupid. But we were all going to die, and I just- I couldn’t lose anyone else.”

“Dude, Piper’s the one you have to apologize to, not me. I may not be happy about it, but I get it. I did the same damn thing, remember?”

Like Jason could ever forget. Like he hadn’t spent months dreaming of the burning sky. 

He reached out to grip Leo’s hand—warm and calloused and just enough to remind him that Leo was fine.

“Let’s just agree not to do that anymore, okay?” 

“Yeah, deal. I’ve died more than enough for one lifetime.” Leo grinned, but then his smile wavered. “So, you’re- uh- you’re probably wondering where the hell I disappeared to for so long.”

“Leo-” Jason started, trying to express just how little he cared in this current moment. That the only thing that mattered to him was that Leo was alive.

Leo went on talking like Jason hadn’t said anything.

“No, I get it. It’s a fair question. Also, you’re allowed to be mad at me. Everyone’s mad at me.” Leo rubbed the back of his neck anxiously. “I sort of went back for Calypso.”

“Oh.” 

Something clenched in Jason’s chest. He hoped it wasn’t showing on his face—Jason’s messy feelings were his problem, not Leo’s—but from the way Leo’s face fell, it was obvious he could tell something was up. 

“See? Told you you’d be upset with me.”

“I’m not upset with you. I just-” Jason sighed. “Are you two…?”

Leo looked confused, then utterly baffled in a way that immediately melted the ice in Jason’s chest. 

“I didn’t go back for her because I was in love with her. I knew this girl for like, a week, tops.” Leo laughed. “I went back for her because she’s been stuck on an island for three thousand years and that fucking sucks.”

 “Oh.” Now Jason just felt like an idiot. “So you’re not dating?”

“Nah. We’re not even very good at being friends, honestly. We argued almost the whole way back here. But she’s free now, and the Waystation seems to make her happy. She deserves that.” Leo shook his head. “Did you seriously think I ditched you guys to get a girlfriend? Wow, if that’s what everyone assumed it’s no wonder I got punched so much.”

Jason froze.

“What do you mean, you got punched?”

“Everyone at Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter was really mad at me for disappearing the way I did. People lined up to hit me. It was a whole thing.” Leo shrugged. The nonchalant way he said it made Jason feel nauseous. “So, yeah, if you think you’re feeling good enough to punch me, you and Piper still get a freebie. If you wanna yell at me instead, that’s cool, too. I’m not picky.”

Before Leo could say anything else, Jason had wrapped him in his arms again.

“Jason! Seriously, stop sitting up! This isn’t- if you make yourself worse-” Leo protested, but this time Jason didn’t let him go. He didn’t care that it hurt. He couldn’t just lie there and listen to Leo talk about himself like that.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Jason said, holding him tightly, feeling incredibly angry at the fact that he lived in a world where Leo needed that reassurance at all. “Nobody should hurt you just because they’re mad at you.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Leo insisted, but he was trembling slightly against Jason’s chest. “Besides, I sort of deserved it.”

“No, you didn’t.” Jason spoke softly into his hair. “You really, really didn’t.”

Leo didn’t say anything else. He just let his head drop onto Jason’s shoulder and cried.

A moment later, the mattress moved and another pair of arms wrapped around both of them.

“Gods, I let myself sleep for three hours and suddenly you’re not resting and you’ve managed to make Leo cry. What in the world did you two get up to?” Piper complained groggily. 

Jason wasn’t surprised they’d woken her up—they hadn’t exactly been quiet even before Leo had broken down sobbing. 

There were so many things Jason probably should have said to Piper. 

Thank you for saving me, for one. And, sorry I got myself stabbed.

But he wasn’t sure how to say any of those things. Since the breakup, he’d barely known how to talk to her in general. Things had been so weird between them in the last few months, and he had no idea how to fix that.

He ignored everything he didn’t have words for, and instead chose to just say “Leo got punched.”

“What?” Piper blinked at him. “Did he annoy Hedge or something?”

“Not right now,” Jason explained, then relayed everything Leo had just told him to Piper.

Unlike Jason, who had been more concerned than anything, Piper just got angry.

“Names. I need names,” she demanded immediately. “Whose idea was this? I swear, when I’m done with them, they’ll wish-”

“Okay, calm down!” Leo let out a startled laugh. “Guys, I appreciate this, seriously, but can we just group hug for now and put the murder plotting off until later?”

“I guess,” Piper grumbled. “As long as we will do it later.”

Jason had a feeling the later in question would be applied to a variety of things beyond murder plans, but right now, he couldn’t bring himself to think about everything they’d still have to deal with. Not when things were finally starting to feel normal again.

~~~~

Jason had managed to tear his stitches. 

Leo and Piper would not stop chiding him about this for the following half an hour as Mellie patched him back up and redid his bandages, which she covered in truly ridiculous amounts of aloe vera for reasons Jason didn’t entirely understand. If nothing else, at least the sensation was soothing.

In the end, he was sentenced back to bed rest.

When he told his friends he didn’t really feel like sleeping because he’d already spent the last few days unconscious, Piper suggested they watch a movie, so that was what they did. Leo got a miniature projector out of his tool belt that painted a large rectangular image on the ceiling, and then the three of them just laid there together, watching the movie and sharing the snacks that also came out of Leo’s tool belt. The movie was about talking cars that were also large robots, which Jason was pretty sure would have gone entirely over his head even if he hadn’t still been slightly feverish and his aching chest hadn’t made it impossible to focus. He didn’t really care that he didn’t understand the movie, though. Leo had picked it, and therefore he’d already decided he was going to like it, even if he couldn’t follow the plot.

Leo spent the first thirty minutes of the movie quietly mouthing along the words, which was endearing beyond anything Jason had ever witnessed. Then, suddenly, he was fast asleep with his head on Jason’s shoulder, radiating a soothing warmth. 

Piper didn’t speak. For a brief moment, Jason thought she might try to start a conversation about everything that had happened, but then she closed her mouth again, maybe deciding to save it for when he wasn’t distracted by pain and she wasn’t exhausted.

Instead, she just reached out and took his hand, squeezing it hard.

Jason knew she would forgive him, then. 

Lying there sandwiched between his best friends, the pain in Jason’s chest ceased to matter. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so completely safe and content.

Home had meant a number of things to Jason over the years. As a small child, from what little he remembered, home had meant people arguing and only ever feeling safe in his sister’s arms. With Lupa, home had meant protection in exchange for him proving his worth. Growing up in New Rome, home had meant chores and responsibilities and others looking to him for guidance. 

Jason was still getting used to the fact that it could mean other people taking care of him, too. That it could mean just existing in other people’s spaces and being loved for it, even if you had nothing beyond your own love to give in return.

And the quiet, selfish part of him that grew steadily louder told him that, given him the choice, he would always choose this—that he would always choose them —for as long as he lived. 

———

Fic Notes:

-Hey, I had to do at least one angsty piece of Injury Hurt/Comfort fic for this event, right? I’ve got a brand to stick to.

-Fun fact about this fic: I originally came up with the concept in the context of a completely different, far sillier valgrace fic that I have yet to finish. Part of the reason I didn’t finish it at the time was that I wanted it to be silly but then I started coming up with the backstory and it got way too angsty, lmao. So maybe that’ll be easier now that the backstory is a fic of its own.

-The reason Reyna’s automatons are here is Jason’s whole comment about how the word at the end of the prophecy has to be “die” because “one of us will dog” makes no sense. It’s immensely silly and I’m pretty of proud of that one. I feel kind of bad that they just disappear halfway through the fic, but Jason didn’t know they were there at all, so he doesn’t notice. Please assume Leo finished fixing them up while Jason was conked out and they’re doing well and are off doing Tyrant’s Tomb stuff with Reyna currently.

-Also yes, I did specifically put the punch line thing in because the fact that it happened at all makes me angry. People lining up to punch a kid we know suffered abuse in foster care is not very funny to me, actually. I’ve seen several angsty posts about how “Jason didn’t even get to punch Leo for disappearing 3” and I felt the need to point out that a) Jason wouldn't have punched him and b) he’d be horrified Leo would even suggest it at all.

-I’ve got one, potentially two more fics I’d like to set in the same universe as this (one of them being the aforementioned silly Valgrace fic), but I’ve always got too many fic ideas at once, so we’ll see if and when I get around to actually writing those.

Thank you so much for reading!! As always, feedback is immensely appreciated.

[mmavverickk]

anyway have any of you ever thought about how Jason was raised by wolves and then an army and told he had to be the best so he became the best, made himself the best using his experiences and power, who has to prove himself time and time again to the people who made him, and then he meets Percy Jackson who, with almost none of Jason’s training, without having been raised and molded into a leader, is better than him

Percy Jackson, who had a childhood, who had a mom, who seems all the better for it. Jason can finish his quests and missions and get a pat on the back and congratulations for bringing honor to the Legion and nothing else because that’s what’s expected of him, while Percy gets hugs and cookies and tears of relief and so much love because people had been hoping he’d succeed, not because it meant victory, but because it meant he'd live.

all of the things Jason’s gone through to make him that perfect leader and soldier feel like they were all for nothing because he looks at Percy Jackson and sees that perfect leader and soldier and none of the things that made Jason good are what made him great

[demigods-posts]

currently thinking about how percy attempted to end his life by suffocating himself underwater near the argo ii. but jason disrupted it and saved his life. then months later. jason was killed on a boat surrounded by water. and it just so happened to be on a quest that percy turned down.

[storywriter007]

can you do a “fighting for the first time” preference/headcannons with the HoO boys ? i love ur work!!

Fighting for the First Time - HoO Boys x Fem!Reader

author's note: thank you for the request!! and i'm so glad you like my work, this literally made my day. this is what i feel like first fights (non-quest related) would go but add your ideas in the comments!!

genre: angst ending in fluff

word count: 1.5k but it's all in bullet points

-> heroes of olympus masterlist

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send me requests here! (these are my guidelines)

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percy jackson

the first time you guys seriously fight, it goes one of two ways

either a.) he doesn't care about who's right and just wants things to go back to normal or b.) he thinks he's right

option a is the preferred option

he tries to talk to you, finding you whenever and wherever

he refuses to leave until the problem is sorted out

and he is upset the entire duration of the fight

he apologizes for anything

"i'm sorry if i did anything at all to hurt you" kind of apology

option a fights would be over things like unintentionally hurting each-other

like accidentally saying something mean or sparring too roughly with each-other

or it would be over his reckless behavior

in which he understands why it worries you

this first fight wouldn't last long

maybe a day before you guys are all good again

option b is the worst

when he's convinced he's right, he tunes you out

not intentionally, it's just that he's too caught up in what he's feeling to properly listen to you

you guys go back and forth in circles

practically yelling at each-other

his eyes get dark and he becomes angry quickly

refuses to listen to you until things reach a tipping point

either you or him storm out and leave the other one alone for a few days and talk it out once they've cooled down

or one of you starts crying, and the anger is overshadowed by guilt and heartbreak bc of their ignorance

this fight would probably be over his loved ones

if you had pointed out a flaw about them or something they did which you didn't appreciate

or maybe just a passing comment you unintentionally made

i mean the loyalty on that man is crazy

lots of hurt feelings during this fight

and it would last a while - the most being a week

however, both fights would have a mutual apology

where both of you apologize for the things you've said and done

and you guys agree to do better in the future

you probs end up falling asleep in cabin 3 that night

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jason grace

to get in a serious fight with him, it's gotta be something big

jason is calm and level-headed

he takes a walk the first time things get heated and comes back to you with a clear mind

he talks to you calmly, treating the fight more like a debate

don't get it wrong though: internally he's freaking out

he's lost a lot, and he doesn't want to lose you

honestly your first serious fight with him would be over reckless behavior (on your end) or him being walked over

your first serious fight spawns from how deeply you two care for each-other

either he's mad you don't care about yourself and doesn't know how to tell you calmly bc you don't listen

or you're mad that he's ready to die for gods and kids who don't care about him in the least

you guys only fight about these things because light-hearted conversations don't send the message

jason, especially, stays stern during the fight

you wonder if he even cares tbh

but then you notice how he pauses and searches for words, how his lip twitches when you say something snappy, and the look in his eyes

he barely raises his voice, and only does it when you interrupt him constantly

the first fight would end within a day

it would end with revealing why you are reckless or why he is so selfless

it would be a calm, vulnerable conversation

would probs end in a make-out session bc he was so afraid he was gonna lose you

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leo valdez

i'm going to be so real rn: the fight starts because he's feeling inferior

he loves you sm and he considers himself lucky to have you

but bc of that - his feeling of inferiority would be on the back of his mind

he's not really jealous, but more-so afraid you're going to leave him at the drop of a hat like how everyone else has

so he gets upset if you're spending too much time around any other guy

the book series repeatedly talks about leo's insecurities and how he feels like he's not good enough and how he feels everything is his fault

insecurity runs deep and it would most definitely be a reason for a fight

you guys do raise your voices bc at first you're not understanding each-other

you think he's jealous and he thinks you don't want to be with him anymore

after you guys are done with your screaming match, leo would coop up wherever his machines are

he would stay there for a long time and think

he 100% is over analyzing every single thing you said to him

he's convinced you guys are going to break up and you're going to leave him

and he deserves it because it's his fault for starting the argument

even though he isn't jealous or thinks you're a cheater, he just let his insecurities get the best of him

and he feels like it's over for you two

he doubts himself; wondering if he should even try to talk to you or just let what he believes is the inevitable happen

so he doesn't even try to apologize

he is convinced it is all his fault

overworks himself in an attempt to distract himself from all of his terrible thoughts

you, on the other hand, have your time alone and want to talk to him

it's nighttime and he's nowhere to be found

you go to his little lab and voila, there he is

his eyes are red and sunken and his hands are shaky and dirty

you don't say anything, you just hug him

he breaks down and tells you why he was actually mad

he profusely apologizes and doesn't blame you if you want to break up

you explain to him that you are with him because you love him and that one little fight would never make you leave him

you reassure him that he is more than enough

this fight doesn't last more than a day or maybe two

the fight would end with a really intense kiss

and you would probably spend the rest of the night with him in his little work area

you'd watch movies, make jokes, laugh a lot, and company him while he manically works on something

that something is metal flowers as an apology for acting the way he did

it's his way of saying "we're stuck together and i love you :)"

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frank zhang

it's difficult to get into a serious fight with frank

but if you do, it would be over reckless behavior (on your end, c'mon y/n) or his own insecurity

your reckless behavior specifically with fire

frank and fire do not get along - it's well known

he literally can't stand you doing something dangerous in general

but with fire, it's even worse

he's convinced something terrible is going to happen and he lashes out at you bc of his previous experiences with fire

this fight would be short-lived though, bc you would understand why he feels that way

you'd apologize to him and he would apologize for lashing out

you'd agree to stop joking around with fire, but you'd convince him to start getting over his fear

this first fight actually ends up more helpful in the long run as frank slowly overcomes his fear of fire with you by his side

however, if it's his own insecurities, this would go another way

as mentioned, frank has been bullied

and he repeatedly feels like an outcast because he doesn't have dyslexia/adhd, he's an archer but he's a mars kid, and his life depends on a piece of firewood

your fight would start bc he felt left out with you

but it's just him overthinking

(if you use a sword) it's you sparring with jason or percy for practice

and it kinda makes him feel like "i want to help my gf but she needs someone who's actually good"

if you hang out with another mars kid for too long

makes him think "what i should be"

if you made a jab at him that he took a little too seriously

frank is a gentle giant, so he wouldn't yell in the least

you guys would argue and he'd be lost for words, kind of stuttering and repeating himself a lot

he'd just kinda walk off during an argument

this would make you mad bc he started the thing and doesn't want to listen to you

but really, he just wants to talk to you when it's not so heated

you'd go hide in your cabin/room

frank would be walking around and comes to the realization that walking out on your argument was a douchebag move

he shapeshifts into like a rat or a bug or something to go see you in your cabin and make sure you're not hurt

you'd see some random animal in your cabin and you get freaked out

he turn back into himself and apologizes for being rash

he'd be honest and tell you that he was just overthinking things and that he just got in his own head

you accept his apology and tell him to communicate better

to tell you if he feels left out or if he doesn't think something is funny, and to tell you that's he's leaving the argument bc he wants to think abt it

this fight is over by sundown

and you spend the rest of the evening practicing archery with him

[gaygirldoodles]

No matter what you do, don't think about Leo Valdez

Don't think about the trauma of having his mother die like that at such a young age

Don't think about how his Tia Rosa treated him horribly despite how he was just a kid

Don't think about the amount of abuse he faced in all of those foster homes he was sent to

Don't think about how he had to run away from them, fending for himself on the streets over and over again

Don't think about him being sent to wilderness school, a thing notorious for being horrible towards the kids and downright traumatizing

Don't think about the people he knew even a little who were harmed by that system or even killed

Don't think about how the history of a friendship he held so dearly turned out to be fabricated by Juno. That it was all a lie

Don't think about him still being best friend with Jason - the real Jason - only for their to be a prophecy that one of them must die

Don't think about how he decided that it must be him

He couldn't let Jason die

Don't think about how he tells Hazel and Frank about his plan because Romans understant self-sacrifice, but Jason wouldn't. Jason, who's done nothing but sacrifice things for the people he cares about.

Don't think about how Leo and Jason never reunited after that.

Don't think about him finding out that his best friend, and someone he maybe even liked more than that, died.

"Where's Jason?"

But we all know that he knew

And he still asked

Don't think about how he would blame himself for that.

You can't avoid prophecies after all

They always have to be fulfilled somehow

Don't think about his mother, Esperanza

Don't think about how he spent weeks months in Bunker 9 building the Argo II barely interacting with anybody

Don't think about how he barely even celebrated Christmas if at all because the whole world depended on hin building this huge warship

Don't think about Leo using humor to hide how bad he truly feels just so that Gaea wouldn't win

He could not let her destroy him

Because as long as he didn't lose that part of himself, he was still winning, even if what she had done had left him broken

But you do want to think about how he was finally able to find a home.

A place that would accept him how he was

A place that would be safe for him

A place where he wouldn't have to run from abusive family members and fosters homes anymore

He once again had a family that loved him.

[helpallthenamesaretaken]

Percy's eyes burned like the shroud behind them. Annabeth was stroking his arm to calm him down. "Just keep it cool. Just until the funeral is over" But he wouldn't stop.

"You abandoned us, Leo," his lip trembled as he yelled. "For Calypso. We were devastated for months searching for you. Piper cried every night. Hazel and Frank didn't talk to us for months. Jason had to mourn you till his death. How could you do that to your friends?"

Leo felt redness rising in his face. Anger emanated from him like heat. "Take Calypso's name out of your mouth!" he bellowed. "You broke her heart and left her alone with false hopes, you selfish--"

"What did you say about him?" In a fit of sudden anger, Annabeth let go of Percy's arm, and hell broke loose.

[slices-of-naranja]

I desperately need to organize my thoughts but if I don’t get this out now I will forget it, so take some vague circular incoherent ramblings about Jason motherfucking Grace.

Jason Grace has this weird kind bluntness about him that I desperately need to study. He’s so normal in a fucked up way. Almost regular. Almost an Average Kid. Brutally honest and kind and pragmatic. He wakes up on a bus with no memory, holding hands with a girl, and he’s immediately like “What the fuck. Who are you people. Where am I. Who am I?” Doesn’t even try to play along to figure out what’s happening.

One of the first things he says to Leo is “You’re weird.” Just “You’re weird.”

Jason is judgy as fuck!! Like!! Such a judgmental motherfucker!!! “If Leo is his best friend, then his life is seriously messed up.” Like!!! What the fuck!!! Be nicer to the man you fall madly in love with!!!

He sees Mean Kid (monster) Dylan and immediately goes “fuck that dude.” (“Jason hated him instantly.”) He even mentally makes fun of the guy’s outfit!!! And he roasts the shit out of Dylan’s fucking shiny ass teeth!! He sees two girls being mean to Piper and he literally, despite not knowing where he is or why he’s there, tries to fight them!! And Leo is the only thing holding him back from immediately throwing hands!!

Mr. “I can’t even take Leo out for burgers bc he’ll set the restaurant on fire.” After the 1 (one) time Leo gets too excited and bursts into flame. (Leo not being able to control his powers as a consequence of finally starting to use them after years of repression is something i WILL be talking about another time)

Jason is a judgy, brutally honest bitch. Like, he’s kind and good natured and strong. But years of being raised by wolves, strict deadly Romans, and being praetor have made him a little bit harsh. Rough around the edges. Just a bit off. This is the dude who was like “hm. Yeah I know Nico’s ur boy but… world is ending. So.” He’s been raised to be pragmatic. Make snap judgements. Be harsh. Be deadly. Like, reading his PoV is so different from the fandom characterization.

Jason is wittier, snappier, and wayyy more regular teenage boyish than I thought. He just has that Roman Demigod Edge to him… the part of him that was trained to scream “MONSTERS! MIST! MAGIC! DANGER!!!” even when he had no memory. I need to study this boy so badly. He’s fucking fascinating.

Bc for all his judgement, he grows so quickly attached to people. Like, it doesn’t take long for him to be fiercely loyal to Piper and Leo and Camp Halfblood. I think that’s because they accepted and loved an imperfect him, and while Expectations were still there, expectations he’s been haunted by his whole life, they’re lesser. Bc Piper and Leo don’t know shit fuck about the mythical world. And the rest of the seven are just as strong and capable as Jason, so he has no need to lead. I don’t know. Jason Grace drives me crazy. Marching to his destiny like a good little soldier. No other options for a son of Jupiter. Have to be strongest, have to be praetor, have to lead a legion-

He loves Nico like a best friend. He adores and admires Leo’s wit and talent and smarts, something that is mentioned a lot in his POV. (While also pointing out Leo’s bullshit.) He envies and admires Percy’s strength. He loves Piper’s brashness and heart. He loves them all. I don’t know. He’s quick to judge but he’s even quicker to change his mind. I forgot where I was going with this. Jason Grace has always been a hero at heart and a soldier since age 4 and I think that’s why some people think he’s boring. He’s trained to be serious and stuff. We don’t get to see him goof around very much, except for with Leo, and Leo does most of the goofs. And I would love to know who Jason Grace, judgmental pragmatic kindhearted bitch, would be if he just got to be a regular teenager.

And I think that’s why he loved camp Halfblood. It gave him half a chance at being half normal. What’s one more big three kid? There’s no strict orders or rules to follow or shape him there. But unfortunately, Jason, hero at heart, soldier since age 4, trained to be selfless, trained to give everything up for the greater good, was never going to get a happy ending. Never get a chance at what Percy Jackson found. Being a demigod kills people. And Jason was one from birth, to his very core.

I think part of him would be relieved, at that. Knowing that Percy Jackson, hero with a happy ending, is someone he will never be. Never overcome or surpass. Yeah, it’s the exact reason they’re rivals, too similar to not be compared, yeah it hurts his pride and goes against everything he was raised to be, and yeah he’s had a few silent breakdowns over it, but there’s relief in knowing he’d never win. Being in Percy’s shadow at Camp Halfblood means he can be out of the spotlight. Die a hero’s death while knowing there is no other option. There’s peace in that.

Anyway New Rome represents heteronormativity and Camp Halfblood is Jason figuring out he’s gay. I will not take criticism.

[aria-upside-down]

I am begging for an angsty valgrace fic rec

Please someone give me one

[inkyrainstorms]

@via-pantomime behold :D thought you'd appreciate a ping

The Burning Maze HURT so bad, but honestly the tragic irony of Jason's character, the way he was raised to sacrifice everything and everyone in the name of the mission, in the name of the honor of the legion, but he died protecting the people he loved. He chose to protect and chose to leave behind a legacy which was nothing like what he'd been born into. He died into a world numb from sacrifice and made it better, made Apollo PROMISE to change.

He's Jason Grace. He's awesome. And he deserves the world. <3

[poppitron360]

100% not thinking about how Jason spent months looking for Leo after the explosion and never stopped believing he was out there while knowing full well that NOBODY looked for him when he went missing from Camp Jupiter.

[demigod-shenanigans]

Something something Jason starts his life as a demigod being abandoned by his mom. Something something he dies asking to be left behind so Piper and Apollo and Meg can live.

[mmavverickk]

how do you think Jason felt knowing he looked like Luke Kronos? how do you think this kid, this child who’d been raised to be a soldier, who is so fundamentally good and tries so hard, felt when he realized why the greek campers were uneasy around him.

not because he was roman. the greeks didn’t care about that. but because he was tall. lean. blond hair, blue eyes. facial scar. brotherly disposition.

someone who’d looked just like Jason had been a leader at this Camp. someone who’d looked just like Jason had been a brother here. someone who’d looked just like Jason had taken their trust and shredded it, had turned their siblings against them, had sabotaged their home, had caused so many deaths in his war to destroy Olympus, to be noticed by his father. (something Jason also desperately wants.)

Hera had sent Jason to replace Percy—the leader, the hero. but how was he meant to do that when all any of them could think when they looked at him was traitor?

[jasongracesluvr]

some valgrace doodles because I love them and they’re always on my mind <3

yes Jason is feeding Leo a Dino nugget

[storywriter007]

You Came Back - Jason Grace x Fem!Reader

summary: in which y/n tells jason grace something she thought she'd never ever say

warnings: cursing, emotional turmoil, heartbreak, mention of sex

genre: heartbreak/angst

word count: 826

-> heroes of olympus masterlist

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y/n heard someone shuffle through the door of the principia. they tried sneaking in, quietly, but it was a failed attempt.

"you missed it." she said, not even turning around, and continuing to organize papers. "it's over."

"y/n," he sighed. "i'm sorry, i'm so, so, sorry. i was at camp half-blood, and i lost track of time-"

"don't apologize to me." she said calmly. "apologize to the kids. they were upset when you didn't show up."

fifteen little kids, all between the ages of six and ten, wondering why their hero hadn't shown up to spend the day with them. fifteen little kids asking y/n, "where's jason?" with disappointment in their eyes.

"maybe, i can talk to them tomorrow? or maybe, thursday?" he suggested.

"tomorrow, we have a senate meeting. thursday, we've got paperwork due. the next date you can take the kids around new rome is in around two months." she said. "when did i become the organized one, grace?"

"i know, i know. i fucked up. i was with piper, and i completely forgot i had to be here. i came here as fast as i could."

of course he'd been at the other camp, with his other friends, with his other girl.

"they were so hurt, jason." she said, feeling upset on behalf of all the younger children. "they were so excited to finally have a one-on-one with their hero. just for me to tell them that you got caught up in some last-minute, saving-the-world shit. and still, they left with their feet dragging and their heads down." she said, finally turning to meet his blue eyes.

he looked ashamed. he should be.

"thank you, for protecting my reputation." he said. "but you didn't have to lie for me."

"what was i going to say? i knew where you were, you're always there. 'sorry kids, jason's at his other camp right now, he probably forgot.' or should i have gone with 'don't worry kids, he probably lost track of time because he's with another girl right now. he'll be back when he's done.'" she said, sarcastically. "c'mon."

she was extra pissy with him today. usually, it would just be, "it's alright, don't do it again" even though it always happened again. but today was different.

the principia door opened, and a group of young children stood at the door frame. there were four of them, two boys and two girls. y/n knew them, since she'd taught all of them.

"what're you kids doing out of bed?" y/n smiled, her voice softening.

"hey, jason's back!" one of the kids pointed out.

"yes, yes he is. but why are you bunch out of bed?" she laughed.

they shuffled forward, and gave her a cupcake.

"happy birthday y/n!" they said in unison.

jason's face fell to the floor.

"aw, thank you guys." she smiled, giving the kids a big hug. "real sweethearts, aren't you guys?"

after a few minutes of further talking, y/n walked the kids back to their cabins, and returned to the principia.

"oh my god. y/n, i'm so sorry-" jason started once again.

she chuckled. "y'know, in the ten years i've know you, and in eight and a half you were my best friend, i never thought you'd be one to forget."

"i'm so sorry. i can't believe i forgot-"

"i can." she said. "you seem to forget just about everything relating to this camp."

"that's not fair. that's not fair, i didn't want to forget." he said.

"i'm not talking about your amnesia. i'm talking about now. i'm talking about the missed senate meetings, and missed deadlines, and missed expectations." she said. "you've forgotten everything about this place and everyone in it. it's been this way since you came back. and you say sorry, but you don't change."

"camp half-blood is my home just as much as camp jupiter is." he defended.

"i waited a long time for you, grace." she started. "i waited for eight months. i waited for you while everyone else thought you were gone. i thought you were dead, but i still waited."

"i came back."

"you did." she agreed, feeling her voice break. "but, sometimes, i really wish you didn't."

they were standing face to face, but her gaze was to the side, while he looked at her.

"because i would rather spend the rest of my life wondering what happened to you than you coming back and not recognizing my face." a tear fell from her cheek.

"i would rather have lost you forever than knowing a ghost of you." she paused. "i would have rather lived in misery than grief ."

"you came back. you sure as hell did." she smiled. "but your body came back, not your character." her voice broke.

she could see the hurt in his eyes. they were both grieving.

jason grieved over what he had done.

y/n grieved over who she had known.

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there is not enough jason grace content on tumblr

[i-still-got-love-for-you]

hi!

could you please do a reader x jason grace fic were reader was severely injured and barely survives?

(feeling a bit angsty hehe)

Soon You'll Get Better

Jason Grace x gn!reader

910 words

cw: god i hope im doing the angst thing right, there IS fluff bc i would cry if there wasn't, i really hope its gender neutral tell me if it isnt, once again verb tense grammar that might only bother me

a/n: thank you for this request!!! i had so much fun writing it <333 hope you like this!

Rocks were raining down like deadly raindrops from the sky. It was getting harder and harder to dodge them, and your lungs were burning from the running. The Laestrygonians weren't letting up. Percy's story of the "Dodge Ball Game of Hell" came to you at that moment. You were sure this was worse.

You were cursing your godly parent, wishing you had Hermes' gift of speed at that moment. At the risk of slowing down, you looked back t see how close the giants were. They were slowly gaining on you, and a random burst of adrenaline made all your pain fade away.

Blood was pounding in your ears, feet hitting the ground in tune. Just beyond some trees, you could see Half Blood Hill. The force field around it wad your haven, the only way the endless storm of rocks would stop.

You were climbing the hill now, falling and scraping your knees in the rush. Your hands were shaking and covered in scratches and the rocks were getting closer and closer-

You felt a pounding on the back of your head just as you saw Peleus. You stopped in your tracks as you made eye contact with the dragon and promptly fell over. The last thing you remembered were a pair of black glasses.

─ ୨୧ ─

Jason was panicked. It was a feeling he was unfamiliar with, numb and lightheaded and unable to think about anything other than you. He had found you at the border, surrounded by boulders and bleeding from your head.

His brain immediately went into autopilot. Checking for a pulse, carrying you to the infirmary. He was promptly kicked out by Will Solace, who stated he was “hovering worse than a moth near a lamp.”

He could hear the shuffle of feet through the door, sometimes broken by the sound of voices too muffled to be of use. Then, he heard someone yell, “We’re losing her!”

His heart dropped. His whole body might have gone with it, had he not quickly moved to a chair. Losing you? How?

Thousands of thoughts flooded his brain, words he wanted to say, things he regretted, his future with out you. The latter were the scariest of them all, each one more depressing than the last.

Him slowly falling into madness, him isolating himself from the rest of the world. Dying alone, him doing something stupid in his grief that gets him killed.

His nose prickled, warning him of the tears pooling in his eyes. Oh god, what if these are your final moments?

The door opening snapped him out of his downward spiral. He shot up out of his chair and wiped away the tears about to fall. Will looked tired. The bags under his eyes were more pronounced, his hair rumpled, and he was swaying slightly.

“She’s stable, but we put her into a deep sleep so she could heal with minimal pain. We wrapped her head to stop the bleeding, but only the nectar we gave her is going to heal her,” he informed the son of Zeus.

Jason sighed with relief, “Thank you, Will. So much.” He went around the boy to enter the room, pausing as he saw you.

You laid lifeless, the bandages on your head almost obscured your face. Hundreds of tiny scratches littered your arms, sure to scar. Jason didn’t care, all that mattered to him was that you were alive and you wete going to wake up.

He took your hand as he sat beside you, and the scabs he felt made him sick. The nectar might have healed up the smaller things, but the marks you still had were remnants of worse cuts. You almost died. You had almost left him. Permanently.

─ ୨୧ ─

Right next to you was where Jason was for the next three days. Holding your hand and praying to any god he could think of were the only things he did. It took a lot of convincing (and a threat to kick him out) by Will (and Nico) to get him to eat something.

It was on the third day that you woke up. It was a particularly sunny day, but with it came midday heat. Not that Jason noticed. Because what point was looking at anything other than you? What was there to feel other than the black hole in his heart?

When your fingers squeezed his hand, he shot up in his chair and called Will over. The son of Apollo rushed over just as your eyes opened, immediately asking you how you felt and if there was any pain.

Over and over, you assured him you felt nothing. He leaned over and removed the now bloodstained wrap around your head. “I’ll leave you two alone,” he announced with a small smile on his face.

You turned to Jason and damn near fell out of the bed trying to hug him. He caught you and positioned you back on the mattress, half his body going over you. He chuckled, thankful you couldn’t see his teary eyes.

"Gods above, I missed you," he exhaled. Maybe his arms were a bit too tight, but you weren't complaining.

You laughed, "How long was I out?"

"Um..." He hesitated, not sure how to proceed. "Three days?"

Your brain stopped working for a second, processing the number. "Well then, superman, we have a lot to catch up on," you whispered as he caught your lips in kiss.