"Dude!"

Stars

Sorry for not updating in a while. It's been a ...hard? time right now. 

"And why exactly am I escorting you to the abandoned theater?" Percy's voice barely reached Jason's ears in the heavily packed streets of California. The dark puddles on the side walk reflected the street lights in a mosaic of blues, reds, greens, and yellows. Each ripple that disturbed the tranquility of the water art sent colors blurring and reforming in a kaleidoscope of abstract street art. 

Jason stepped in each puddle. "My mom performed there once, before she was an actress on television she did plays. I want to visit the last place she performed in live." He stopped for a second, glancing back behind his shoulder. "Besides, I'm curious to see where she performed, being famous and all." 

The whole smug look on his face was a facade. He didn't really care that his mom is-was- famous, almost as much as he didn't care his father was a Roman God. 

Jason had had a hard time tying up the loose ends with his family. He hardly bothered with the nearly non-existent tie with his father, seeing as he was Jupiter. But desperately grasped at the strands with his immortal sister, fearing every battle her last, he reached for some mortal comfort: his dead mother. Percy heard what had happened in Rome when Jason had turned into a roman kabob, and he was still utterly confused as to why Jason wanted to hold onto the fact that his mother was still, his mother, and not some egotistical woman who left him to the wolves. It reminded him a bit too much of a certain step-father. 

He wouldn't stop Jason though. If this would make Jason happy, then he would do it. Gods knew all the coping methods he had discovered after the war. 

It wasn't too bad out. There were cars speeding past and the smell of wet asphalt and food vendors wafted throughout the cooling air. He didn't have much time to relish in the delightful, comforting scents, much like the ones in New York, Jason was bobbing throughout crowds and Percy struggled to keep the blonde in sight for more than a minute at a time. 

"Jason!" he shouted. "How much farther?" He jogged a few steps, narrowly avoiding a couple in front of him. He caught up to the blonde and tugged on the wool fabric. 

Jason's eyes sparkled with something Percy couldn't detect. Jason had been pretty...off the closer they got closer to the theater. He seemed more and more reclusive and tucked away inside his thoughts. Random smiles would cross on and off the boy's face as fast as the cars driving by. 

"Can't you see it? It's right up ahead." They turned down a darker street where the sounds of the cars barely reached them and jogged between fence line. 

"Is this legal? I really do not want to get arrested before college Jason." Normalcy was a luxury Percy was fortunate to be able to afford. At least for a few minutes a day. He didn't want to over do it. The new fiasco with the Norse gods were getting really close to snapping his patience. 

"If we don't get caught."

"Jason!" Percy grabbed his sleeve and turned him around. "We can't do this. I don'-"

Jason gently brushed Percy's hand off his arm. "I know you don't want to Percy. But i need to. I have too."

"That's not what i meant-"

"I know. But let's just get this over with." Jason pulled his arm slowly back from Percy's grip, looking him steadily in the eyes. 

"Okay." Percy said hesitantly. The quicker they got this over with, the better. Jason was right.