Uhhh, yeah good luck dragging yourself through this chapter, everybody. Have fun.

[TRIGGER WARNING: chapter contains one direct mention of suicide. I've put a double asterisk (**) in front of the corresponding paragraph if you wish to skip. Thank you, and stay safe.]

At that, she silently walked around the corner and away from the three boys.
*****

Jason peeked into the living room from where he was standing in the kitchen and saw Leo anxiously waving his hands around as he explained what happened with Chris to Percy. The blonde had thought Percy would be much more upset, but his composure was calm and collected as he listened to Leo. Jason couldn't particularly make out any of their sentences but chose to refrain from eavesdropping. Piper was already mad at him and Leo, so he didn't think damaging his relationship with either of the two boys would be very productive.

He sat alone at the kitchen table, sipping a cup of coffee and scrolling through his phone. Thankfully, there'd been no mention of Percy or his sexuality on anybody's social media accounts, and Jason followed a decent amount of people in their class. For now, they were safe. It was another ten minutes before Leo knocked on the wall to get Jason's attention from where he stood in the doorway.

"I'm gonna head out, man," Leo said, trying for his usual carefree grin but only mustering up a sad smile. "Text me when Pipes gets home so I know she's safe. She won't want to talk to me, probably, but let her know I'm leaving my ringer on all night just for her if she changes her mind."

Jason nodded. "Same goes for you. Everything'll turn out fine."

"I hope so," Leo muttered, not meeting his friend's eyes. "I'll see you later."

"Bye, Leo," he said, watching the other boy turn away from the kitchen and eventually disappear from his sight.

Once he heard the familiar sound of his front door shutting, Jason abandoned his cup of coffee and walked towards the living room to see Percy staring blankly at the ground a few feet in front of him.

He cleared his throat, catching Percy's attention. Jason quietly walked over and sat beside Percy on the couch. The green-eyed boy made quick work of pulling himself closer to Jason and laying his head atop Jason's shoulder. The blonde gently put his arm around Percy's waist as he glanced at the boy.

Jason sighed. "Hey, Percy, I'm sorry about—"

"Just hold me for a minute, Jase," Percy cut him off quietly, closing his eyes.

With a nod, Jason frowned and subconsciously held onto the other boy just a little tighter. His free hand reached across his torso to find one of Percy's. He held it gently as Percy intertwined their fingers. Pulling their hands up to his face, Percy placed a soft kiss on the back of Jason's palm before letting them drop into his lap again. Jason smiled, grateful that things hadn't become awkward since earlier.

It was only another thirty seconds before a loud ding from Percy's phone broke the silence. Jason saw the boy look at the device where it sat on the table, making no move to grab it. It went off again, and did so periodically every forty-five seconds or so. Jason pulled himself away from Percy and looked into his eyes, tired and unnerved pools of green.

"Are you not gonna check to see who it is?" Jason asked him. "It could be Piper or your mom."

Percy shook his head. He didn't say anything, but Jason got the message: he knew who it was. Percy silenced his phone without looking at the texts and DMs he'd received. Jason was about to offer to go through and block the numbers so Percy wouldn't have to read any of the messages when an arm wrapped around Jason's neck and lips pressed against his own. Naturally, he kissed back as Percy's second arm joined his first, pulling the blonde deeper into the kiss. Jason found this kiss to be much different than the few others he'd shared with Percy. This one almost felt...desperate?

With obvious hesitation, Percy threw one of his legs over Jason's and pulled himself to sit on the blonde's lap. He snaked a hand into Jason's hair as the other boy held onto Percy securely to insure he wouldn't fall. When Jason pulled back to catch his breath, Percy only waited a couple a seconds before attacking the other boy's lips again. Quickly, the blonde realized that, no matter how much he might've been enjoying it, this wasn't the Percy he knew. Gently, he grabbed Percy's face and separates them again, keeping their foreheads pressed together.

"Percy, wait," he whispered, meeting Percy's eyes only a few inches away. "What are you doing?"

The other boy didn't respond, his eyes shifting to look anywhere but Jason's. The blonde brushed Percy's cheek with his thumb as he was struck by the realization that Percy was upset, and Jason was a distraction. He hadn't shown it because Leo was already a mess, but Jason could tell.

"What's wrong?" Jason asked with a caring tone.

Percy pulled his face away from Jason's and awkwardly slid off his lap before muttering, "Nothing."

With a frown, Jason persisted, "Perce, come on."

"I'm scared," Percy admitted, and Jason almost missed the response.

"I know, Percy," Jason said sadly, but Percy shot him a glare, surprising the blonde more than it should have.

**"No, you don't know, Jason," he said harshly, but his voice didn't raise in volume, "because nobody is gonna look for you in the hallway just to make comments about how you're disgusting, or a mistake, or about how you should kill yourself to make everyone's life a little easier. They're not planning to take you behind the school and beat you until you bleed because they know you won't scream for help, they aren't going to make you late to class almost every day because they're busy telling you how useless you are, and they certainly aren't going to care that you aren't straight."

Jason was taken aback by the outbreak, not expecting another one of his closest friends to get upset at him, and definitely not expecting Percy to be the one to do it. This was the most he'd heard the boy speak at once, but his words were so full of hurt that the thought didn't even cross Jason's mind until long after it happened.

Seeing as Jason didn't have a reply, Percy coughed twice to clear his throat before continuing with a slightly softer tone, "Don't sit here and try to tell me that you know how I'm feeling. Jason, please, just be here for me. You don't have to understand, I just need you. Okay?"

Jason nodded in agreement. Being supportive was an easy task compared to some of the other things he'd be willing to do for Percy. "I'm sor—"

"Don't apologize or I'll leave this house so fast," Percy said, his voice back to its typical mutter but still holding hints of pain in it as he joked with Jason.

The blonde offered a half-hearted smile. "I am, though."

"I know," Percy shrugged, leaning his head back and casting his gaze to the ceiling.

Jason was unsure how upset Percy actually was with him, so he refrained from initiating any physical contact. He told Percy, "I can drive you to and from school, if you want. And walk you between classes."

Percy shook his head. "I can still handle myself, it's just...we'll see how things go tomorrow."

There was an uncomfortable silence after that, something that Jason wasn't used to when it came to Percy. Usually when they were together, Jason had no problem sitting in a silent room with Percy—it calmed him, honestly. Now, that didn't seem to be the case. In an attempt to get away from the room, he offered to get Percy some water. The boy nodded, seemingly done with speaking for a while. When he returned, Percy was wrapping up typing something on his phone.

He set the electronic down as Jason approached, taking the glass of water and mouthing his thanks. Percy was there for about another thirty minutes before texting Jason that he should be heading out. The blonde frowned, knowing Percy had to scroll past strangers' texts to get to Jason's name, but nodded and walked with Percy up the door.

Before he left, Percy pasted a longer text into his phone and showed Jason that he was hitting send. It was for Jason to read after Percy left, he gathered. When the blonde nodded, Percy offered a kind smile. He quickly leaned in to peck Jason on the lips, an action that lit up Jason's face as Percy had hoped. He felt slightly bad for blowing up on him earlier, but he knew it needed to be done if Jason would ever really help Percy through this disaster.

"I'll see you tomorrow," Jason told him, scratching the back of his neck as Percy's text finally went through and set off a notification on Jason's phone. Percy nodded to reciprocate the message before pushing the door open and starting his walk home.

Jason made his way upstairs to his room, skipping every other step. He hastily pulled up his Snapchat to check Piper's location, but it appeared that she had ended up at Annabeth's. He was just glad she was safe. His next stop was the text Percy had sent him right before leaving.

Percy: sorry for being so upset earlier, i shouldn't have assumed that your coming out was perfect and all that. i'm just stressed over this whole thing because i wasn't ready for people to know after growing up with gabe. he can't be my excuse for everything, i know, but i'm trying to get better. you've done so much for me, and i probably wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. you didn't really do anything wrong, i just took my anger out on you because you were there. i regret it, and i should be giving you this apology in person. sorry again, j. hopefully you're still willing to be my friend and (it's not really the time, but i think i should let you know) possibly go on another date sometime soon. thank you. talk to you later

Jason sighed as he finished reading the message. Percy was so damaged by his past, and the thought broke Jason's heart, to be frank. He wasn't bothered, really. He thought Percy was angry with him, so he'd been giving the boy space. Accidentally giving Percy the idea that he was upset wasn't part of his plan.

In a way, Jason admired how well Percy had been handling himself. He'd held his composure while Piper had yelled at Leo, as well as while Leo told him about the situation and apologized profusely. If Jason were in his place, he saw sure that he'd have already had a breakdown and would be absolutely freaking out. The worst Percy did was call him out for pretending like he knew what Percy was going through. If anything, it'd help him grow and be able to care for his friends better.

He wished those were his initial thoughts upon reading the text, but apparently his brain had set different priorities. Instead, he was originally focused on one of the last few parts.

Percy was interested in a second date.

This chapter is...odd??? Like I was writing it and the vibes were not it. Also, sorry for making literally 2/4 members of the friend group get mad, but I'd imagine they're all under a lot of stress LMAO

Thanks for reading! Have a good week!