the weight of the world [a pjo fanfic]

chapter three.

Percy woke up to the sound of pots banging. 

Clang, clang, clang. He groaned and rubbed his eyes, already grumpy. He looked around the room and spotted Jason on the bed opposite of him, holding two pots. He stared at him as he hit the pots together, making Percy's ears throb. He covered his ears, wondering where Jason even got the pots.

"WHAT ON GAIA ARE YOU DOING?" Percy yelled.

"Banging pots." Jason smirked as Percy glared at him. 

"What do you want?" Seeing him fully awake, Jason got up and walked calmly out of the room. Percy stared at the door, taking a few deep breaths. What the Tartarus? 

The day dragged on with Jason annoying Percy. Dumping his drink on him, dropping his shield on his foot during sparring, speaking over him whenever he tried to talk to Annabeth, taking Riptide out of Percy's pocket and almost dropping it in the campfire, and almost striking him with a lightning bolt. The list went on and on, until the day dragged to an end. 

Percy walked out of his cabin cautiously, after he had changed his shirt for the 3rd time that day, watching for water buckets strung above his doorway. Jason was standing there. "Oh my gods, Grace, just please leave me alone." 

"What?" Jason asked innocently. 

Percy grit his teeth, enraged. "Don't act dumb!" He yelled. "You've been hopping on my nerves all day and now you're pretending that you haven't done anything! What have I even done to you to deserve all of this? I've never even-"

"Duel me."

"What?" Percy recoiled in shock.

"Duel me. No armor, only weapons and powers. Tomorrow at 11 am in the amphitheater." 

"Wait, what?" Percy stood, surprised, watching Jason walk towards his cabin.

He stopped short. "If you win, I'll stop bothering you. If you lose, you have to tell all the campers that you lied about all of your achievements."

"What? Jason, that's not fair. I didn't lie about my achievements. It wasn't-"

"Be quiet, Jackson. Stop acting like you killed all these monsters on your own."

"I never said that."

"You sure act like it. I'm telling everyone at breakfast to come watch tomorrow. You can show up or flake on everyone."

"Wait- wait, Jason! Jason!" Percy called out as Jason jogged to his cabin and shut the door. 

Percy rubbed his face in frustration as he sunk to the floor, wanting to scream. He flopped on the floor, his eyes closed. Grasshoppers and crickets played a symphony of chirps. He opened his eyes. 
If I go, I'll just escalate the situation even further. He gazed at the stars as the last cabin lights flickered out. If I don't go, my reputation will be screwed. His eyelids felt heavy.

I don't care if my reputation is ruined.

He traced constellations with his finger as he fell asleep under the dark blue and purple blanket of the sky, the moonlight casting a shadow on the sleepy son of Poseidon.

---

Percy was on the brink of regretting his decision. He'd been woken up by birds and had been anxious all morning. He didn't want to fight Jason, but a lot of things could go wrong if he flaked on the campers. It was 10:50. He walked into his cabin and changed into a new shirt. He had grass stains on the back of his other ones. 
I can't go to breakfast. Just as he was coming up with plans on how to avoid the rest of the campers, Annabeth barged through the door and Percy let out a high-pitched squeak. They froze for a minute, until Annabeth began to laugh hysterically. "Annabethhh!" Percy whined. "Stop laughing."