𝐂œ𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐬é𝐬 [Percy Jackson]

71

Percy was woken up by a knock on the door.

Jason poked his head in, "Hads-"

He stopped short when he saw Percy too. Objectively- Percy knew it looked bad. Hadrian was sprawled like he always was, the covers were barely covering him. Half of his torso was visible- shirtless of course, his leg was also bare and half falling out of bed. He had worn shorts to sleep so to anyone looking in, Percy knew what it looked like. Especially with him in the corner.

"Jason" He greeted, trying not to blurt something stupid.

For some reason, he really enjoyed the flush of Jason's features, the way his ears turned pink. He looked anguished. Why? Percy didn't know.

Jason had been the one to say the thing between Hadrian and him was casual, that it meant nothing. Jason had also been the one Hadrian kissed, the one he gave a fucking hickey. But for some reason, Percy was the one under his covers.

"Percy" Jason tried to regain his composure, though Percy didn't miss the slightly annoyed tone. "I was just going to wake you up"

"I'm up, so what's going on?"

"We're descending over Rome" Jason said, eyes bouncing from passed out Hadrian to Percy. "You guys should really see this"

"Yeah, I'll wake him, don't wait up"

Jason hesitated in the door.

Percy tried not to smile at that. Why was he so pleased with making Jason uncomfortable? After all, it would be easy to say nothing had happened, that they were just friends. Just because Hadrian liked guys didn't mean something had happened between them.

Hadrian would probably have a field day with how jealous Jason looked. Percy reached over and shook his shoulder, he was always careful with touches after what Hadrian had revealed. "He's a menace to wake up"

"Fuck off" Hadrian mumbled, just to prove his point. "Jackson, I swear I'll shoot you in the dick, let me sleep"

"Jason said we're in Rome"

"Jason can suck my dick, let me fucking sleep"

Jason's eyebrows flew upwards so fast, it was a miracle they didn't fly off. Percy laughed and Hadrian hit him with the shark.

"Shut up, pretty boy"

"Mon cœur" Percy tried again, "We're in fucking Rome, wake up"

"Motherfucker-"

"Do not call Poseidon"

"Jackson-"

"Allaire"

"Fine" Hadrian scoffed, "You're impossible, I'm up. And I hate you"

Hadrian sat up, but froze when he saw Jason in the door, also frozen on the spot. The hickey seemed lighter now, like it was fading away. Percy didn't know why it took so long to fade, Jason could have easily had some nectar or a bite of ambrosia.

How did people even get hickeys? He'd only been kissed once- by Annabeth. So in no way was he a master in the art of romance. Hadrian probably was. How many people had he kissed before, Percy wondered. Then he wondered why he cared.

"Get up, loser"

He pushed Hadrian out of bed.

The boy- with pink hair now, scrambled to his feet and gave Jason a thin lipped smile. "Morning"

He looked more awake now. As if he was realizing that he was wearing nothing but socks and shorts.

"Morning" Jason greeted with a curt nod, he tried to hide the way his eyes traveled over Hadrian's shirtless body, but failed. Then he stuck a thumb out behind him, "Gotta- uh- gotta go"

"Yeah"

Jason walked out so fast, Percy thought it was a wonder he didn't trip over his feet.

"Congratulations Hadrian, you made one of the most revered Roman heroes into a mindless head over heels fool"

"It's not like that" Hadrian insisted, rubbing his hands over his face. "It was casual"

"Casual" Percy repeated, "Did you not see the way Jason turned red? Gods, his face when he saw me was golden"

Hadrian just then seemed to realize how it looked- the two of them in the same bed- him shirtless. He groaned.

"If he liked you, he should've put a ring on you" Percy shrugged.

"Jackson-"

"Yes that's my last name, what's your point?"

"Just shut up"

"I'm just saying, if he doesn't want commitment, you shouldn't give him your attention or your time" Percy insisted, "You deserve something Shakespearean like you said, something dramatic, someone who'd go to hell and back for you, don't settle for less"

Percy wasn't sure if he imagined the way Hadrian eyed him.

He was always a bit pleasantly surprised when Hadrian stared. Because honestly, Percy didn't get why he would. Sure he was a great hero and all that, but otherwise, he was nothing that special.

After training with Lupa, he'd put on a bit of muscle, but he seemed to be losing it because of inactivity. He genuinely couldn't understand why someone like Hadrian would be staring at him.

"Rome" Hadrian cleared his throat. "Let's focus on Rome"

The sky was brilliant blue, as if the stormy weather had never happened. The sun rose over the distant hills, so everything below them shone and sparkled like the entire city of Rome had just come out of the car wash.

Percy had seen big cities before. He was from New York, after all. But the sheer vastness of Rome grabbed him by the throat and made it hard to breathe. The city seemed to have no regard for the limits of geography. It spread through hills and valleys, jumped over the Tiber with dozens of bridges, and just kept sprawling to the horizon. Streets and alleys zigzagged with no rhyme or reason through quilts of neighborhoods. Glass office buildings stood next to excavation sites. A cathedral stood next to a line of Roman columns, which stood next to a modern soccer stadium. In some neighborhoods, old stucco villas with red-tiled roofs crowded the cobblestone streets, so that if Percy concentrated just on those areas, he could imagine he was back in ancient times. Everywhere he looked, there were wide piazzas and traffic-clogged streets. Parks cut across the city with a crazy collection of palm trees, pines, junipers, and olive trees, as if Rome couldn't decide what part of the world it belonged to—or maybe it just believed all the world still belonged to Rome.