Take Off Those Glasses! (Jason x Percy = Jercy)

Someone Else's Problem

Each step Percy took made his body heavier, each breath harder to breathe. There was coal inside him, burning and burning and burning, like iron. There was electricity in him, currents gone haywire, sparks at all the wrong places. He possessed a storm, roaring with all that it had, circling inside him like he wasn't living anymore. He held the violent tides of an ocean, the ones that captains curse, the one that lead the crew to death.

Was it right to feel all these feelings – feelings he didn't know existed, feelings he was kept in the dark for so long. Was it justified? To cheat on a person, one whom he held so dearly once? Maybe not. But it was necessary. Percy knew who he was now. What he liked. What he did not. It was all clear, right in front of him. And he was not a bit sorry for that. Everything comes with a price, and some things just need that price for us to understand their value, their worth, their significance.

It had always been there, though. It just took Percy a little time – 17 years – to realise that it was there. At least he was glad it didn't take longer.

The purple hyacinths were merry in their own way, though. Percy almost thought they thrived in his grief. Apollo's creation, he reckoned. And my apology.

The bell jingled as Percy opened the door of the café.

And there she was, sipping on a tall glass of a milkshake.

And Percy's heartbeat quickened.

And his knees crumpled together.

And he thought he would fall down, down, down, down into the depths of whatever was buried under the tiles of that café.

And his breath hitched, and he felt like he forgot to breath altogether.

And then he found himself staring at those stormy-gray eyes, those wavy blonde hair, those beautiful lips, those tiny, almost-invisible freckles.

But not in the same way. Not with the glimmer there was there before. It was all hazy now, like the distant rumbling of thunder, one whose direction you can't really name, but you just know that it's there, consuming all that comes in its wake.

It was unfamiliarity that flooded over Percy, not affection. There was something about Annabeth then that Percy could not recognize. Something he would never be able to put a finger on ever again.

Annabeth's face didn't light up either. At least not the way it used to. There was a smile tugging at her lips, sure, but it had something missing. Empathy. Yes, that was it. That was what was missing.

"Hyacinths, Percy?" Annabeth asked when Percy reached her table. "Really?"

Percy's free hand automatically went back to his hand, and he laughed nervously. He couldn't have made a worse choice of flowers. It gave everything away. And Annabeth sure was smart enough to know what they meant. Because of course she was.

Still, there was still a part in Percy that wanted to see Annabeth's face contort with surprise, anguish, and all those painful emotions Percy couldn't name. Couldn't know until one day he was betrayed in the same way. It wasn't sadism, nothing like that it all – just a memory to remind him of what all damage he had caused.

"Yeah," he said. "At least I brought you flowers."

What else?

Annabeth sighed. There was confusion written all over her face, however hard she tried to hide it.

Percy took a seat and placed the flowers on Annabeth's side, beside her half-empty glass of whatever it was that she was drinking. He knew what he had said had stabbed her like knives, but maybe he didn't care anymore. Annabeth was someone else's problem altogether now. None of Percy's business. Nothing that came in his territory. Nothing that was in his league, his reach.

He didn't really know what to say, or what to do, because Annabeth kept scraping the bottom of her glass, never really looking up. So, Percy just took out his phone and started scrolling through older texts from Jason. God. What all he could do to have Jason beside him then. Jason would do all the right things, say all the right things. He would help wipe off that scorn off Annabeth's face.

"So, Percy, hasn't it been long since we went on a date?" Annabeth said, maybe trying to break off the silence.

"Yeah, I guess so. It's not much of a date though," Percy remarked, almost matter-of-factly. "I've got confessions to make."

"Oh, really?" Annabeth said, never making an eye-contact with Percy. All the time, she kept stirring her drink with that soggy paper straw that had been there since she ordered that shake.

Maybe Annabeth resented this conversation as much as Percy did. He was grateful. It could be quicker that way. Better, silent. All those good things Percy wanted it to be.

"Uh, yeah," Percy said, suddenly angry with how carefree Annabeth sounded. How could she be so at ease with all this when Percy was on the brink of killing himself with the mere exhaustion of looking at her? "And it would really help if you stopped giving so much interest to that drink of yours which I deserve anyway."

"You know what I think?" Annabeth asked, her voice calm, not even a little bit of edginess to it. "I think it would help if you put down your phone and look at me in the eye, Perseus."

Perseus.

"Well, okay."

"You're really wasting my time, I think also. Why don't you just get over all those confessions of yours?" Annabeth snapped sharply. "I think I've got better things to do."

Percy scoffed. Sure she did. "Sure you do." This was going better than he planned. Way better. All the odds were on his side. No one to be slapped by, no one to be cursed by, no one to throw a tantrum.

"Quick, Percy. Quick."

"Alright," Percy said. "Brace yourself."

"Percy, I swear –"

"I'm breaking up with you?" he said, unsure now. Why did Annabeth act like she knew everything? Was it all so obvious? Percy hated himself to have made it so obvious.

"That's it?" Annabeth asked. What? What was she expecting? To be told that Percy was pregnant? That it was the end of the world? Huh. As if. There was this look on Annabeth's face, one Percy could match with his – boredom. Something that screamed that it was monotony, yet was new all at once.