Best Friend

Chapter 4

"Hey, you okay?" Jason was on the phone with Percy. It was the summer after senior year. They'd start college in the Fall. Still no signs of Percy noticing Jason's feelings.

"I'm fine, just got a little sick." Percy's voice was rough on the other end of the line. "I'll come over there." He decided, hanging up. Percy would protest and Jason wasn't having it. He'd go over there and take care of his best friend.

Percy lived by himself in his own apartment now. His mom had found a man she fell in love with when they were freshman and married him in their Senior year of highschool. Now, they'd just had a baby and Percy had a half-sister. He'd moved out under the lie of "I'm a big boy now and I'll be better off in college without any distractions."

Jason knew that wasn't even a big part of the reason. Really, Percy saw what had happened as he grew up.

His mother had finally gotten the life she had always wanted. The life she deserved. Percy had been a burden, no matter how hard Sally tried her best to raise him. Percy was the result of a romance that would never happen. A rich sailor's kid who was left with him mother as soon  as she got pregnant with him.

Percy loved his mom, and Paul, and Estelle a lot. He loved them with all his heart and soul. But he also felt like he was in the way and it was time for him to let them be. For him to be on his own and away from them so he couldn't mess anything up for them.

Now, it felt like Sally, Paul, and Estelle were their own little family and Percy was just a kid that watched from the sidelines, longing for the life that Estelle would undoubtedly get to have. He wasn't bitter. Just sad.

It hurt Jason to see Percy hurt so deeply like that. He wished Percy's dad had stayed so Percy wouldn't have had to suffer like he did growing up. No kid should be able to understand the pain of beer bottle glass lodged in their arm or a black eye the size of an orange. No kid should know what a bat to the ribs felt like or the tough leather of a belt on their back.

But Percy knew all about those things. And that was why Jason knew to treat him like he was delicate without Percy knowing he was doing it. Percy was strong. But he needed a lot of support to get through life in general. He never made a descision without asking Jason about it first. Percy needed that security.

And Jason made sure he was always there to give it to him.

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He arrived at Percy's place an found Percy laying on the couch with a thin blanket over him. He was pale and had the beginnings of dark bags under his eyes. Jason felt his forehead and sighed. A fever.

He went into the kitchen and took out some ingredients. Thalia had a broth she'd always make him drink when he got sick as a kid. Percy had never gotten sick as long as Jason had known him. This was different. He wondered if Percy acted different when he was sick.

His phone rang and he looked at the caller: Sally Jackson.

"Hey, Mom." He greeted her. He'd called her mom since he was nine. "Hello Jason. Um, have you talked to Percy today?" She asked. She sounded worried. "Actually, I'm at his apartment. He's sick, so I'm taking care of him." He answered.

"Oh, okay. I was worried. He was supposed to visit today for lunch and never showed up. I tried calling him, but I guess he hasn't even looked at his phone if he's sick." She sighed in relief.

"He hasn't been sick as long as I've known him. Did he ever get sick before this?" Jason wondered, stirring the broth idly. "Yes. Although, only when he ate seafood. He's never been able to eat that stuff. It makes him sick to his stomach. I wonder if he ate some without thinking. He's forgotten he hated it before." Sally told him. Jason frowned. He didn't see any seafood at all in the kitchen, but didn't tell Sally that. He had a feeling he knew why Percy was sick.

"Alright. Well, Estelle is crying again. Visit us some time, won't you?" She requested. "Of course Mom. Have a nice day. Bye." He put his phone on the counter and turned off the stove. The broth was ready and needed to cool down some.

He walked into the living room and shook Percy slightly. Hazy green eyes fluttered open. He hummed tiredly, but opened his eyes fully once he saw who was bothering him. Percy immediately smiled at him and it made Jason's heart ache.

"Hey. What are you doing here?" Percy asked. "I said I'd come over. But Perseus Jackson, how did you manage to worry yourself into getting this sick over lunch with your family?" Jason demanded. Percy frowned.

"I....I still love them. But it's easier being disconnected. It's easier letting my mom start a new chapter in her life. It feels like things are changing for the better for her. And me and you are going off to college. We're growing up, Jason. It took a long time for things to settle down and really be okay." Percy's voice was still hoarse, but he kept talking.

"I....I like it being just me and you. It's nice. Just us against everything else. I didn't want to go over there and feel like I'm not one of them. Like I'm the outsider." Percy's eyes got glassy and for a moment, he looked more like his mom than his dad.

"They have everything they need without me there to mess anything up. It's horrible, but I like being away from them. Like I'm new. Like I'm not the same person as the kid that has so many scars from years of misery and hatred that he lost count." Tears gathered and Percy tried to blink them away quickly. Jason sat down next to Percy and pulled him into a hug. A hug that wrapped all the way around Percy and made him feel warm and content, even though he was sick and felt like crap. He hoped he and Jason would never separate. It was a childish dream, but he couldn't imagine life without Jason. Jason was everything to him.

The tears spilled over. They were hot and trailed all the way down his face. And it felt great. It felt great to cry so freely. It felt great to let out sobs that sounded like a dying animal. He didn't have to hide anything. He didn't have to pretend he was okay. Because this was Jason. And Jason always knew.

After he was done grossly sobbing, he and Jason drank the broth and watched a movie. Percy fell asleep and Jason carried him to his bed. He sat by and stared at Percy's peaceful sleeping face.

"You know, I'd like to hold you, and kiss you, and tell you just how much I care about you. If only you'd realize what that means." He murmured.

Turned away from him so Jason couldn't see, Percy's eye opened and he did his best not to smile. Jason was too sweet. He deserved someone so much better than Percy. Now, it was confirmed that Jason liked him like that, but Percy didn't know what he himself wanted.

He felt the bed dip behind him as Jason laid down and fell asleep to the warmth at his back.