𝙸 𝙲𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝙲𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚘𝚗𝚜

𝚂𝟹𝙴𝟸: 𝙿𝚒𝚙𝚎𝚛 𝙶𝚎𝚝𝚜 𝙱𝚊𝚒𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝙾𝚞𝚝

Part II of Piper Gets Weird

CW: This chapter contains strong themes of sex (nothing explicit)

Inspired by Community S3E2: "Geography of Global Conflict."

Piper POV

"Thank you so much-"

"Don't even." Jason slams the door of his new used Honda Odyssey minivan. He has to turn the key in the ignition twice to get the engine running. Piper wants to point out that Leo could probably fix it, but Jason doesn't seem to be in the mood for suggestions.

She reaches for the dial to turn on some music, but Jason slaps her hand away.

"Jesus," Piper says. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

Jason pulls onto the shoulder of the road and hits the brakes. Hard. "Uh, maybe it's two in the morning and I just drove ten minutes to pick you up from a protest gone wrong? Really, Pipes? How hard is it to just show up for your friends?"

She slumps in her seat. When she was a kid she wanted nothing more than to have a mom that would pick her up from school in a minivan just like this, with candy wrappers on the floor and air conditioning that takes at least five minutes to kick in. She'd have squirmed in the seat while her mom grilled her about a bad grade, or told embarrassing stories about her to the rest of the kids in the carpool.

Piper's starting to regret that fantasy. "Tell me if I'm wrong, but I'm starting to get the impression that you're not just mad about picking me up in the middle of the night."

Jason takes off his glasses and pinches the bridge of his nose. "I asked you to join our Mock Trial team because you're good at debating and I thought you might need it for your resume. Hazel invited you to her sleepover because she never had girlfriends until college and she wants to spend time with you and Annabeth. God, what do you think they're even doing right now without you?"

"Probably talking about the study group-"

"You ditched us for a protest organized in like two hours!"

Piper rolls her eyes. "Well, if it makes you feel better, Octavian slashed my Smokey the Bear plush with his pocket knife."

Jason freezes, probably because that's the bear he bought for her when they went to Mount Tam last year. Piper was touched by the gesture, but when Jason pulled his van up to her apartment to drop her off, he got all awkward and they ended up exchanging goodbyes for what's longer than socially acceptable.

For some stupid reason, Piper thought she might get him to kiss her first that time, and she'd finally have some confirmation that yes, Jason Grace likes her too, and then they could finally go on a real hold-hands-across-the-table date where he'd bring her flowers—white roses, to symbolize their new romance—and the night would be magical and they'd end it with a sweet kiss on the porch of Piper's apartment complex underneath the moths that circle the streetlamp.

Or better yet—yes, even better—she'd bring that boy into her apartment, not needing to explain the collection of Tristan McLean films or the designer clothes sent by her mother that she never wears because Jason doesn't care about her parents, he only cares about her, and then he'd carry her down the hall, asking her with those sky blue eyes which room is yours? And she'd grin the stupidest grin and push the door open with her foot.

Or maybe they wouldn't even get home. They'd just have mind-blowing sex in Jason's minivan.

But Jason didn't kiss her that day, and she couldn't bring herself to make the first move. Not again.