trigger warning (Percy Jackson au)

chapter 7: A Pretty-Sensitive-but-Still-Awesome Guy

VII

 A Pretty-Sensitive-but-Still-Awesome Guy

 

Warning: strong language.

Percy’s eyebrows shot into his fringe when the doors opened again. His back was still turned while he closed all the cabinets, but he called, “Did you forget something?” Or maybe his coworkers had decided to be nice and help him clean up for a change.

“Not exactly.”

Percy whipped his head around so fast the ends of his hair slapped him right in the eye. “Jason?”

“From Rent!, yup.” He stepped closer to the bar, taking in the setting. “Your friends let me in, by the way.”

You guys. Percy glanced at the clock. “It is, like, three thirty in the morning. Don’t you have rehearsal in a couple hours or something?”

Percy wondered if it was possible to mature in two and a half days, because that’s exactly what it felt like to see the blond standing in the middle of his workplace and looking like a freaking centerfold. With clothes on.

He shrugged. “I can still get enough sleep.” Which led Percy to wonder why he was here, at this time, and alone. Jason seemed to hear the unspoken question and answered it himself. “I was out and saw the lights on, and thought I might drop in to say hi.”

Percy crossed his arms before even realizing he was doing so.

Jason rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, so, I wasn’t exactly just around. But I was close enough.” Percy’s silence just seemed to elicit all this guilt out of the blond. “Yeah, I googled to see when it was closing. I came to say hi, though. That part wasn’t a lie, at least.”

He managed to restrain himself from laughing. “Well, I’m just about to leave now. Where were you headed?” He grabbed his jacket and keys from a hidden compartment in the corner.

“Just to my hotel on West 48th,” He mumbled.

“48th? Did you walk here?” The other boy gave no reply, and Percy shook his head. They turned off the lights and stepped out into the night air. “Alright. I know we won’t get too much traffic for the next ten blocks, so we can just walk over.”

“You’re walking me back?” He seemed surprised, like ‘this is not how I expected this to go’.

Percy gave a small smile as they began to walk. “I’m on 56th – your place is on the way, so might as well head over together.”

That seemed to please the (taller) blond and he fell into step beside the sloucher. Conversationally, “So do you always work such late hours?”

Percy nodded. “I mean, like I said, I don’t do anything besides sleeping during the day. A night job kind of fits.” He glanced at blue eyes. “What about you? You always stay up till three, waiting to jump guys at their jobs?”

“No,” The reply was instantaneous and defensive and Percy could not help but laugh.

“You could always, you know. Call.” Percy touched his own phone in his pocket. “I mean, you have my number now.” Or maybe Thalia was right, and it was his turn to call. Was that the ‘call code’ or whatever? Did they take turns?

The stage actor was having none of the inner conflict Percy faced. He only sighed. “I don’t always have my phone with me. You kind of have to throw your social life away during tech and show weeks.”