Uncomfortable Truths - Jercy, Jasiper, Percabeth

Uncomfortable Truths - Percy - Chapter Three

I don't even know how we made it through the end of that thing. Most of the time was spent cracking jokes and laughing our asses off, but a lot of times I'd make a joke to cover up the fact I was starting to get hard.

Jason turns off the TV and puts the remote back on the nightstand. "You wanna get your clothes out of the washer? We should get some shut eye."

I climb off the bed, adjusting my towel so it stays in place and take care of the laundry. It's not weird, is it, I wonder to myself, that two guy friends are hanging out in only towels, making fun of gay porn before turning in for the night, sleeping in the same bed?

I tell myself it's not weird. Demigods live different lives than mortals, and being comfortable around the people you'd die for and who would die for you isn't a big deal.

When I return to the bed, Jason's turned off the lights and I have to feel my way under the blankets. My foot bumps his and he pulls it away.

"Dude, your feet are cold."

I lie on my side, facing him, though he's facing away and deliberately put both feet on the backs of his calves.

"That's it, Jackson," he says and I prepare myself for battle.

But I don't see what's coming. He traps my legs with his, and flips himself over until he's pinned me to the bed, an arm pressing down on my chest until my lungs feel like they'll burst and the other across my throat.

I smack the arm at my throat with my only free hand. He lets up enough to let me breathe. "I surrender," I gasp.

He releases me and flops back down on the bed. "Don't forget it. If you steal the blankets, I won't be so nice."

The threat might have been scarier if he wasn't trying not to laugh while saying it.

He pats the bed, searching for something. I grab the towel he lost lying on top of me and hand it over, and we settle down side by side on our backs.

"I'm not sleepy," I complain.

He grunts, and I'm quiet for a while. I stare up at the ceiling, not really able to focus on much of anything.

"Can I ask you a personal question?" he asks after a few minutes of silence.

"Go for it," I say. I'm really not tired. I'm not sure what I am, but if we weren't sharing a bed, and a room, I'd probably be jerking off to get my brain in a sleepy mood.

"I uh ... I was just wondering. It's on my mind because of that video, probably. Just ... Have you, you know ... gone all the way with Annabeth yet?"

My cheeks burn in the dark. We don't usually talk about our girlfriends when we hang out. I wonder if that's not normal. "What do you think, Grace?" I say, trying to sound as if I'm not fazed by the question. "We're 18 years old, going to the same school, seeing each other on all our days off ..."

"So you have?" Jason asks. He's clearly looking for a straight answer.

I'm not sure why it's so hard to say it. But I finally do. "Yeah, only once, though."

"Is that why you left? Did it go badly?"

My defenses are up; I can't help it. "No," I say, trying not to grit my teeth. "Not really. It was my grades mostly. I don't really want to talk about it." That is the honest to gods truth. It makes me feel like a total loser, talking about why I dropped out of high school. Perfect Jason wouldn't be able to understand why school is so hard for me. He was raised in New Rome, where they actually get that kids with learning differences aren't morons, they just learn differently. It's a sore point between me and Annabeth. She insists that struggling through the education grind is worth it; I disagree.