Uncomfortable Truths - Jercy, Jasiper, Percabeth

Uncomfortable Truths - Percy

"Well, that sucked," Jason says, rolling his shoulder and grimacing, his hair and clothes plastered to his body.

Understatement of the century I think to myself, but I don't say anything. I climb to my feet, the rocky sand crunching beneath my shoes. I'm not wet, despite being caught up in a typhoon, along with Jason, and thrown several miles from where we started. My half-sister, Kymopoleia was not kidding when she said being feared by demigods was more important to her than being represented in action figure form. She kept the action figure, though. I have a feeling she's sweeter on Jason than she lets on, and I'm thankful for it. Seriously, she could have killed us, but settled for scaring us shitless.

I give Jason a hand and he pulls himself upright. He's shaking from the cold and seems to have trouble regaining his balance.

"Come on, bro," I tell him, offering my arm. "I got you. We gotta find somewhere to lie low for the night."

He drapes his arm over my shoulder, leaning on me as I lead us up the rocky beach to a row of dingy-looking hotels.

"Thanks, man," he says, teeth chattering. "I owe you one."

"Dude, you owe me like ten."

"Shut up, Jackson. Just get us somewhere warm."

I chuckle and half-carry Jason's heavy ass to the nearest hotel with a vacancy sign.

XxxX

I get us a room and Jason takes his key, suddenly perfectly able to carry his own weight.

"I'm gonna take a hot shower. Get us some food?"

He takes off before I have a chance to answer. I roll my eyes and turn back to the guy at the counter. "Any place nearby sell food?"

He points to a mini-mart across the highway.

I sigh, and head back out into the night. Grace really does owe me big time.

I'm lying to myself. It's so good to be back in the thick of adventure again. Finishing high school was a total bust. I know Annabeth is disappointed, but after working with half a dozen school counselors, it's pretty clear my way forward is gonna be a GED. I'm alright with that. The University in New Rome said they'd accept it without a problem. It was a fluke running into Jason when I'd gone to check it out, but when he mentioned visiting Kymopoleia to settle our score, there was no way I wasn't coming along.

XxxX

I have to jiggle the key in the lock, but finally get it to work and push open the hotel room door. Jason strolls into the room along with a billow of steam, a towel wrapped around his waist.

"Dude, yeah. You're the best," he says as I push the grocery bag into his arms and make for the bathroom. I have to piss like nothing else.

"Don't forget it," I call over my shoulder. "And leave me something to eat!" I slam the bathroom door behind me, so happy to see a toilet I could cry.

There's a rumbling sound coming from the cabinet beside the sink. I finish pissing, then take a look. I open the bathroom door a crack. "Is this a washing machine?"

"Yeah! Isn't it awesome?" Jason calls back. "My stuff should be done in about twenty minutes. It's gotta hang to dry, but you can use it next. Better than what we're used to."

"Right on." I close the door and strip myself. The idea of a hot shower and clean clothes is pretty close to Elysium after the typhoon. I'm not going to complain.