Wowowowow. This story is at 100k reads, thank y'all so much for reading and being so supportive. As an accidental gift, here's a longer than average chapter that I think you guys will enjoy.

Percy finally felt like he was home.
*****

"Jason, you're freaking out for no reason," Piper reassured him with a pat on the back, "Percy just wants to be with you, I don't think he cares what you plan."

Jason sighed from his seat next to her on the couch. "Are you sure? Pipes, I really like him, and—"

"And he obviously likes you, too," Piper cut him off. "Do something simple. Percy's a simple guy."

"I'd hardly use simple to describe him," Jason scoffed, ignoring the eye roll he received from Piper afterwards.

The girl grabbed the remote, changing the channel from the local news to an episode of Friends. "Go on a fucking picnic or something, Jase, I don't know."

"No, that's...that's good," Jason looked to the side as he pondered the idea. "It's private enough for him to be comfortable but casual enough to where I won't feel stupid for going overboard."

"Glad to be of service," Piper nodded distantly, her attention shifting away from her distraught friend and to the TV.

With that, Jason headed up to his room, pulling up his FaceTime app and tapping on Percy's name. He propped the phone up against the dresser, letting it ring while he picked some miscellaneous objects off the ground. Hearing the other boy answer, Jason quickly slid back in front of the camera.

"Okay," the blonde started, "are you free Friday night?"

Percy gave him a look that Jason knew meant 'I'm always free', but he chose to just focus on the nod that he received.

He grinned at the green-eyed boy. "Great! You still want to go on that date I mentioned the other day?"

Percy smiled shyly at him, and Jason felt his stomach flutter a bit as he realized that it was, in Percy's case, a yes.

"I can pick you up at six-thirty, if that's alright?" Upon receiving a brief thumbs up, Jason continued, "And don't eat dinner beforehand, preferably."

Percy raised his eyebrows, and Jason half-expected him to grab a pen and write some snarky comment. Instead, a distant voice sounded from Percy's end, calling the boy's name.

With a sigh, Percy gestured at his door to show he needed to go. After agreeing to Jason's request to tell Sally hi for him, they ended the call. Jason sighed happily, snatching his phone back up and flopping onto his bed.

*****

And that is exactly how Jason found himself nervously twiddling his fingers and hyping himself up in the parking lot of Percy's apartment complex. In the two school days following when he'd more officially asked Percy out on Wednesday, Jason felt confident that the date wouldn't be a disaster. Now that he was actually about to go on said date, though, he couldn't help but worry. He'd never felt this way when going on dates with Piper, so he wasn't sure what had changed to make him so stressed.

With a deep sigh, Jason set aside his doubts and clambered out of his car before making his way to Percy's apartment at a slower pace than he'd like to admit. He stood outside the door, ignoring the critic in his head. Softly, he gave the wood three knocks before retracting his fist back to his side and attempting to compose himself.

Thankfully, Percy was the one to answer the door. It was best for everyone if Sally didn't see Jason acting like a nervous fool. However, Percy certainly wasn't helping. The deep jade-colored shirt he wore brought out his already bright eyes, practically making them shine under his dark eyelashes. His black jeans were ripped at the knees, slightly tighter than Jason thought he could handle at the moment. He noted that the boy still wore his all-too-familiar, worn-down tennis shoes and smiled to himself. He knew Percy. He could do this.

"Hey," Jason breathed out, honestly wondering how it took him so long to realize he had a crush on the boy when he looked like this. "Uh, you ready?"

With a nod, Percy followed the blonde back to his car, waving to his mother in the kitchen and locking the apartment door behind him. Jason was sure that the other boy could tell he was internally a mess, but thankfully, Percy didn't point it out. Instead, the green-eyed boy just gently intertwined their fingers while Jason drove with his other hand. Jason rambled when he was stressed, Percy knew that, but he seemed to start calming down as the boy in the passenger seat traced tiny shapes on the back of his hand. Eventually, Jason came to a stop and parked the car along a brightly lit street. It wasn't excessively dark outside at the time, but the sun would sink behind the horizon within the next half hour.

"Close your eyes," Jason said, gleefully glancing over at the other boy, "I'll surprise you."

Percy rolled his eyes playfully but did as he was told. He expected nothing else from Jason. His door clicked open, and gentle hands reached out to guide him out of the car and towards their date, supposedly. As they walked, Jason told Percy about how he'd gotten the idea from Piper, as well as how absolutely clueless he'd been. He had one arm wrapped around Percy's waist and the other softly covering his eyes.

"This is cheesy," Percy muttered to the blonde, who stuttered out incoherent defenses. The green-eyed boy laughed quietly, unknowingly bringing a vibrant smile to Jason's face.

"Every first date is," Jason gave the boy a jokingly annoyed sigh. "We're here, though."

He slid his hand away from Percy's face, choosing to keep his other arm still wrapped around the slightly shorter boy. It wasn't a lot, really. Jason had previously set out one of his largest blankets across the somewhat flat ground. Two battery-powered lanterns sat on opposite corners of the dark fabric, providing more than enough light for them. He'd done a quick search of his home to see if they had a fun basket of some sort for the food, but eventually he gave up and put everything in a tote bag.

Jason looked over to see Percy with a faint but warm smile painted on his features. The blonde took that as a good sign and invited the other boy to join him on the blanket.

"Does your mom know about this?" Jason asked curiously. They'd already skipped past the awkward greeting part, so he felt much more comfortable falling into more casual conversation.

Percy made a so-so motion with his hand. Jason packed one of his old notebooks and a couple pencils in case Percy wanted to write, but the boy seemed perfectly fine with typing out the responses he didn't feel like actually saying.

I didn't tell her, but I think she might've figured it out, he showed Jason his screen, watching the blonde chuckle as he read it.

Jason leaned back slightly onto his wrists. "Does that mean you came out to her?"

Percy sighed at himself, wondering how he'd forgotten to tell Jason. He nodded, and the blonde's face lit up. He congratulated the other boy and told him he was proud. After Percy teased him for acting like his mother, Jason tried to defend himself while he took out some of the food he'd brought. It wasn't anything special or, to be truthful, very well-made, but Percy appreciated the effort. They ate slowly, taking a decent chunk of time to converse and mess with each other. Percy primarily stuck to his phone, but he did speak a few sentences throughout the dinner. Jason didn't mind either way.

Once they'd wrapped up eating, Percy offered to return the bag to the car so they wouldn't attract bugs. Jason protested, saying he could do it since he'd planned the date, but Percy merely waved him off before snatching the bag, briefly stealing Jason's keys, and beginning the fairly short walk to the car. It had gotten dark, but the flashlight on Percy's phone was bright enough for him not to trip on tree roots every few seconds. He returned a few minutes later to see Jason laid on his back, staring up at the sky.

He twisted his head sideways and smiled once he saw that Percy was back. "Come lay with me. There's an opening through the trees where you can see some stars."

With a curious expression, Percy did as he was told, settling down at Jason's side and following his gaze to the sky.

"I don't really know where any of the constellations are," Jason admitted, "but I still think they're nice to see when we aren't so close to the city."

Percy nodded in agreement, scanning the sky for any familiar patterns. He actually knew quite a few constellations because of his mother. When he was a child, she took him to Montauk for two weeks over the summer. Every year, without fail, she took him outside for at least one night to stargaze with her. It was an event Percy didn't realize he cherished until it stopped happening.

He pointed upwards, catching Jason's attention. He outlined a constellation he'd personally always looked for when he spent time with his mother. With a whisper, he told Jason, "That's Pegasus."

Jason smiled brightly at the other boy. "Look at you, astronomer."

Percy laughed quietly, rolling his eyes before pointing in another direction. "Cassiopeia."

As Percy pointed out a few more patterns and whispered their names to the blonde, Jason listened intently. It wasn't often that he saw Percy actually get excited about something, so watching him determinedly search the sky made Jason's heart swell. Apparently, he needed to take Percy stargazing more often.

After it seemed that Percy had used up all his knowledge on the subject, Jason voiced the question that had been on his mind, "How'd you learn about all those, anyway? It's hard to see many stars in Manhattan regularly."

Percy smiled, looking as though he was reminiscing on an old memory. "My mom showed me when we used to go to Montauk."

Jason nodded to show he'd heard. He was fairly surprised Percy hadn't switched back to using his phone when using full sentences like that, but he certainly wasn't complaining. There was something oddly soothing about Percy's quiet voice. In time, Jason hoped he would be able to hear it more often, but for now, he took every chance he got to let the sound flood his ears, even if it wasn't very loud.

"Why'd you stop going?" Jason asked, letting his eyes focus on the other boy's dimly lit face.

Percy scoffed bitterly. "Gabe."

Jason frowned, saddened that so much of Percy's life had been changed by Gabe. Because of the man, Percy didn't speak to anybody for years, he used to avoid hugs and other touch like the plague itself, and he was physically beat down to the point of discomfort multiple times a week. Jason was grateful to have been there to see Percy grow despite it all, though. He really was one of the strongest people Jason knew.

An idea popped into Jason's head, and the words tumbled out of his mouth before he could process the thought. "How far is Montauk from here?"

"Couple hours," Percy shrugged, unbothered by the question.

Jason gently grasped the other boy's hand and watched as Percy smiled before lacing their fingers together. The blonde offered, "We can probably take a trip down there this summer, if you want."

For the first time in a while, Percy tore his gaze away from the sky and propped himself up on his elbow. "Really?"

With a sincere nod, Jason said, "Of course. We might have to take Thalia just to have an adult, but she probably wouldn't bother us too much."

"I'd like that a lot," Percy admitted.

Jason sighed happily at the boy next to him. "Can I, uh...can I kiss you again?" He asked, unfortunately aware of the heat rushing to his cheeks.

He received his answer when Percy leaned in and gently pressed their lips together. Jason smiled into the kiss, placing a hand on the back of Percy's head. Jason had been kissed before a couple of times, but there was something different about kissing Percy. It was a good different, that he was sure of, but he couldn't place how or why he felt that way.

They reluctantly pulled apart a few moments later, and when Percy's eyes met an electric blue, he had to restrain himself from stealing another kiss. Jason moved a strand of Percy's hair behind his ear, studying the boy.

Jason sighed, shifting his hand to cup the side of Percy's face. "You're gorgeous, you know that?"

Percy furrowed his eyebrows, not having expected the compliment. His mouth stupidly opened and closed, but he didn't say anything. Jason obviously noticed, his grin widening at the furious blush on Percy's cheeks and the general speechlessness he'd left the boy in.

Percy never thought he was anything special, if was he being honest. He was technically above average height by a few inches, but his lankiness often made him feel small and unimpressive compared to guys like Jason. His hair, regardless of the fact that Percy brushed it every day, was an absolute mess most of the time. As unique as his eyes may be, they were typically accompanied by dark circles. Until recently, his skin was littered with bruises and minor scratches from Gabe. Percy saw nothing that he would consider gorgeous, but the way that Jason looked at him proved that the blonde was genuine about his words. If it weren't Percy he was talking about, then the green-eyed boy would've easily believed Jason.

Seeing Percy's confusion and insecurity, Jason repeated, "Gorgeous," before pushing himself off the ground to steal another quick kiss from Percy.

Yup, Percy thought to himself as he felt Jason's hand run through his hair, could definitely get used to this.

I know it's cliché and I know the ending is just a little bAD, but I tried so please spare me LMAO

Hope you guys enjoyed! See you soon, lovelies!