𝐆𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐑𝐔𝐒𝐇 [Jason Grace]

93

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐥𝐨𝐰. As slow as they could be when you're a demigod.

The Argo II was still in no shape to fly even after three days and whatever modifications Leo had made.

At one point they got stuck on a rock, and Percy and Jason had to get out and push.

Dante went down there with them to inspect the work they were doing (definitely, totally not, as Jason suggested, to stare at him). Overall, it was still slow progress.

For once, they had caught a break and the demigods were eager to take full advantage of the time they were getting. Sure, the world was about to be destroyed, but so what if they played Uno in the mess hall, screaming and betraying one another?

Dante loved it, being a teenager for once. He looked around at his friends, even Piper who seemed to have picked up on whatever was going on between him and Jason. He felt so incredibly lucky to know these people, to have them watch his back and be his family.

During the day they goofed off and if Dante snuck out of his room and into Jason's, no one had to know (except for Hazel who found him sneaking once and he made her promise not to tell anyone which she didn't hear since she was busy fanning her face and staring at him with wide eyes).

"You want me to tell you you're pretty?" Dante asked, blinking slowly in a way he knew made Jason lose his focus. It was intoxicating, having those blue eyes on him, all of Jason's attention focused on him.

The boy in question hummed. He had been complaining, childishly, about how Dante kept bullying him and never said anything sweet.

Dante didn't know what exactly they were. He called Jason his. His what? No clue. But Jason took it in stride. Dante had a feeling he still had feelings of guilt, but he never voiced them. And he seemed scared to bring up commitment even after they kissed and slept in the same bed and stared at each other like they were ready to kill for the other.

Honestly, the whole thing was confusing for Dante. On one hand, he liked insulting Jason, he liked the way Jason struggled not to laugh. He liked his hatred for Jason. That's the way it had been for so long.

But then again, he liked the way Jason kissed, the way his scar felt under Dante's lips, and his stupid, unnecessary muscles.

"You want me to tell you how good you look in combat?" Dante whispered in the crook of his neck. One thing was clear to him when nothing else was. He liked being close to Jason. He liked touching him, liked mindlessly tracing his fingers over his skin, liked the warmth under his fingertips. He had severely missed it. "How good you look angry? When you're fucking seething? When you're cutting through monsters?"

"Yeah," Jason mumbled into his hair, "Tell me."

"What's the golden word, Jason?"

"You're killing me, you know that?" But he did say it, "Please?"

"You look so fucking good," Dante had trouble breathing right when he so much as thought of Jason, to be in his arms, in his bed, tracing the letters D-a-n-t-e on his skin after they had been kissing for what felt like hours, was all very new to him.

Jason pulled him closer so Dante was practically on top of him. He liked that, Dante had discovered, just lazing around at night, with the light casting a golden glow, just staring into Dante's eyes.

Somewhere in the night after they had fallen asleep, they fell in the same position, Jason's leg over Dante, an arm around his middle cuddling him.

It was mortifying every single time Dante woke up, his stomach doing all sorts of flips. It was disgusting and humiliating, liking someone.