Two time skips in this chapter, y'all. Thrilling content.

This chapter is significantly lower in quality than some of my more recent ones, in my opinion, but it's about time I added a partially filler chapter. These poor characters deserved a break LOL

"Night, Thals."
*****

When Jason arrived at school on Monday, he left Piper behind as he crossed through the front doors and made a beeline for Percy's locker. Leo stood by the black-haired boy, but waved at Jason as he walked over. Percy followed his gaze and offered a pleasant smile to the blonde.

"Long time, no see," Jason greeted, knowing it'd only been a day since he last saw the two.

Piper arrived as Percy playfully rolled his eyes at Jason. She didn't say anything, but she grabbed Leo's arm and dragged him away, ignoring his protests and confused comments. Percy looked at Jason expectantly after watching the other two walk around the corner.

The blonde had a faint blush tinting his cheeks as he awkwardly scratched the back of his neck. "Uh...I may or not have told Piper about...you know."

Percy nodded, smiling at the blonde. He thought he'd had enough time to recover from the pure joy he felt after kissing Jason, but it appeared that he still couldn't totally contain his emotions.

"About that, by the way," Jason gave the other boy a sheepish grin, "would you maybe be interested in going on a, ah, a date with me in the future?"

Percy's eyes widened slightly. He hadn't expected the blonde to be so forward. He certainly wasn't opposed to it, but he expected to have to go through an awkward phase where they pretended nothing happened. Before his brain could even process the question fully, Percy felt himself nodding.

Jason sighed in what seemed to be relief. "Okay, great. I was a little worried, not gonna lie. We can talk about it later, yeah?"

The bell rang after Jason's statement, telling the two they really had no choice but to speak later. Percy gave the blonde a thumbs up before they parted ways to start the school day.

*****

"Dude, what happened with you and Jason?" Leo took the seat next to Percy at the back of their English class. It was the first time Leo had seen him or the blonde since Piper separated them early that morning.

Percy frowned. Nobody but Jason, and apparently Piper now, knew he was gay. Surely, though, Leo wouldn't mind. Jason was out to the shorter boy, so Percy chose to ignore the doubts at the back of his mind and pulled out his phone to send Leo a brief text.

He kissed me.

Leo read the message, a wide grin spreading across his face. "Fucking finally. Between you and me, he's definitely had a crush on you for a while now. Actually, I only found out about it like last week, but still."

Percy made a gesture telling Leo to lower his voice. Chris and Ethan already tortured him enough without even knowing if he was gay. If they found out, they'd surely have a field day with it. He could already hear some of the things they'd say to him.

"Right, sorry," Leo waved his hand, "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

The taller boy shrugged, not feeling the need or desire to dive deep with Leo about his anxieties and doubts at the time. Percy had actually spent most of the previous day with Leo in a sad attempt to avoid talking to his mother. He thought he'd be able to face her, he really did. She'd already gone to bed when Percy arrived on Saturday, and when Sunday morning rolled around, Percy felt sick at the thought of talking to Sally about what had happened.

He initially considered reaching out to Jason, as per usual, but he knew the blonde would just console him then end up sending him back to work things out with his mom. With Piper, he was sure Jason would find out since she was living with him, and things would play out the same way. When he reached out to Leo with a brief explanation that he wanted to get out of the apartment, though,  the boy didn't ask any questions except about where Percy wanted to go for breakfast. He stayed with Leo until the sun started to set before reluctantly forcing himself to go home.

All that was there to meet Percy when he got back was a note from his mother telling him that she was at work. She made sure to add a P.S. at the end to tell Percy that he needed to talk to her eventually. Percy felt a little guilty, as he knew Sally probably wouldn't force him to tell her anything until he felt ready, but he was avoiding her more than necessary.

"This is great," Leo decided, yanking a notebook from his bag, "Jason needs a little romance. Plus, I don't hate you like his last girlfriend."

Percy furrowed his eyebrows, obviously blanking on who that would be. He couldn't think of any girls he knew of that Leo might have hated.

"Piper McLean," Leo scoffed, "what a bitch."

Percy sighed, chuckling slightly at the other boy. He was used to Piper and Leo taking every chance they got to destroy each other. Every once in a while, they'd take a stab at Jason. Percy figured it was only a matter of time before he became another victim, so he decided to enjoy his peace while it lasted.

When their teacher started the lesson, the two simply switched to inconspicuous texting under their desks. Percy filled Leo in on the whole Jason thing, telling him when the kiss happened and about how he'd asked Percy on an unplanned and unscheduled date. Leo jokingly criticized the blonde for being unprepared, but Percy was personally grateful that Jason had asked because he then knew they were on the same page.

The page that, hopefully, led to more than just one kiss on Jason's front porch at night.

*****

"Hey, Percy," Jason said to let the other boy know he was there before placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. They were at Percy's locker, and Jason stopped by just to check in and say goodbye. Piper was talking to one of her teachers about a project, so Jason knew he had a few minutes.

Percy felt a faint smile cross his lips as he shut the metal door and turned to the blonde, nodding a hello. He was glad that they weren't being too awkward with each other after Saturday night. On the inside, Percy felt giddy and somewhat nervous when Jason was around, but he was just thankful that it hadn't reflected in most of their interactions throughout the day.

"Did you have a good day?" The blonde asked sincerely, not having anything particularly interesting of his own to tell the other boy.

Percy instinctively went to respond with a shrug, but he stopped himself. His day had been rather peaceful, in an unusual turn of events. Both Chris and Ethan hadn't bothered approaching Percy all day besides giving him a couple dirty looks, but he could easily deal with those. Plus, knowing that Gabe wouldn't be there when he went home was always a pleasant addition. He'd gotten a B on his last math test. He had a loving mother that he would see at home, even if he was reluctant to do so. He had people he'd consider friends, one of which was currently asking Percy how his day was.

For the first time in a long time, Percy didn't feel like he had to shrug. He didn't have to give some ambiguous answer in an attempt to hide his life, his pain from others. Finally, the boy felt confident saying he'd had a good day.

Jason was looking at the green-eyed boy with curiosity. Percy appeared to be thinking a lot over the simple question, but the blonde was accustomed to the other boy being an overthinker. He waited patiently before being met with another genuine smile from Percy. Jason was grateful that he'd, hopefully, be seeing that smile a lot more now.

It was good, Percy mouthed. Jason seemed to have gotten rather good at reading the other boy's lips.

The corners of Jason's lips curved upwards as he replied, "You deserved a good day after everything's that happened these past couple of days."

Percy's mind drifted to the fact that Jason kissing him made Saturday a pretty decent day, but he decided not to mention it. Instead, he nodded at Jason, acknowledging that he'd heard the blonde. With that, Jason's phone dinged, and he frowned upon seeing the message from Piper saying she was ready to go whenever Jason was finished.

"My chauffeur services are being called upon," Jason told him disappointedly. He wouldn't have minded spending more time with Percy.

Percy let out a short, breathy laugh before sending Jason on his way with a small smile and a wave. He watched the blonde go before shouldering his backpack and starting down the hallway. Now, he just had a problem to tackle at home with his mother before he could finally have some true relaxation.

Surely, it wouldn't be too bad.

Wattpad updated, and now everything is just slightly out of place and I'm a little upset ngl

Also, how do I find the option for dark mode bc I wanna see what it looks like👀

Anyways, thanks for reading everybody! See you soon!