Good news, my friend tested negative for corona. While I was gone from updating, I thought my brother had it, but he just has a throat infection. Everything is dandy.

Have fun with the chapter. Temporarily ran out of ideas and had some writer's block🚫🧢 but we're just rolling along with this for now. Enjoy!

Piper was right. Jason was absolutely 'whipped'.
*****

Jason didn't expect to have to the urge to punch his sister at such an early time Monday morning. She woke him up for school before his alarm clock rang, earning herself a glare from the blonde. She started explaining to him how her shift had changed and that she wouldn't be around for dinner, but Jason barely retained any of the information as he tiredly sat up and rubbed his eyes, his blanket falling from his chest.

"Your hair's a fucking mess," she concluded, reaching out to fix it but getting her hand slapped away by her brother.

He squinted at her, self-consciously running his own hand through his hair. "And you're telling me this why?"

Thalia's annoyance was very visible on her face. "Because you'll miss my presence. Also, thought you might want to invite a certain someone over for dinner while I was gone."

Jason sighed. It was too early for this. "He's having dinner with his mom. And where's Piper going?"

"Annabeth's," Thalia laughed quietly as Jason began to drag himself out of bed, "Where else?"

With a shrug, Jason rose to his feet and ushered his sister out of the room so he could move on with his life. She resisted, though, and the very small amount of effort she put into doing so was still enough to combat Jason and his exhaustion.

"What do you want?" He asked her, wondering why she thought she was still needed in the room.

She merely rolled her eyes at him. "Did you talk to him or what?"

Jason's face slackened, not wanting to tell his sister that he'd definitely chickened out of telling Percy how he felt. During their lunch, he didn't want to risk the awkwardness, and towards the end, he was too preoccupied with the bonding they were having to think about bringing it up. Thalia seemed to catch on regardless and nodded her head with a sigh.

"I get it," Thalia muttered, looking away wistfully, "I was going on dates with Luke for like three months before we finally made it official. You guys'll be fine."

Jason offered her a subtle smile, somewhat surprised she'd brought up her former boyfriend. It also shocked him that there was no teasing or asking when he'd make a move. He assumed it was a side effect of the fatigue she had to have been feeling at that time. The peaceful quiet that settled between them was interrupted by Jason's incredibly loud alarm clock. They both flinched at the noise, the younger of the two groaning as he trudged over to turn it off. He could faintly hear the creak of Piper's bed from her own room. The stupid clock was loud enough to wake her up through the walls.

Piper was quick to get up, stepping out into the hall and scrunching her eyebrows at Thalia standing in Jason's doorway. "Did I miss an early-morning family reunion?"

"Just wingwoman services," Thalia responded, throwing Jason a smirk.

There it is, he thought to himself with a sigh.

Nevertheless, he was, at the very least, kind when kicking his sister out of his room to get ready for school.

*****

Again, Jason found himself with an urge to punch somebody, but it was much stronger now. He stood at Percy's locker with a frown, holding the thin piece of paper covered in slurs. His eyes silently flicked between the hurtful words and the nonchalant, green-eyed boy grabbing his books right next to him.

"You're not upset about this?" Jason asked incredulously, restraining himself from ripping the thing in half. Percy merely shrugged as he gently pulled the paper away from Jason and folded it.

Jason looked at him sympathetically. "Are you sure? Don't bottle this up, Perce, trust me. It never ends well."

Percy turned and gave Jason a small smile, diminishing some of the blonde's worries. Percy's smile made Jason feel warm inside and forget about some of the problems in the world. I'm okay, he mouthed out the two simple words, accompanied by a thumbs up.

"I'm trusting you to tell me when things get out of hand," Jason said, casting a wary look at the other boy. Percy could deal with a lot, Jason had to keep reminding himself, but that didn't mean he could just sit by and let him go it alone.

Percy nodded in agreement for Jason's sake. Things had already been out of hand before he even got outed, but he wasn't going to mention that to Jason. He was fine. Everything was okay.

"What d'you got there, Jackass?" Ethan sauntered up to join their conversation, his hands in his pockets and his ego seemingly through the roof.

Percy stared blankly at him as he slid the paper through one of the slits of his closed locker, shrugging as soon as he heard the faint ding from the paper crashing into the door.

Ethan looked unamused. "Whatever. I heard you kicked Chris's ass?"

Jason's eyes shifted uncomfortably between the two boys. He wasn't sure where this was going, but he didn't like it.

Percy nodded with a hint of pride. He felt bad about hurting another person, but the fact that the person was Chris Rodriguez was starting to quench some of his guilt.

"Great," he said as his expression turned bitter, "watch your back." He turned to Jason. "You, too, blondie."

With that, Ethan slipped away and left the hallway they were in. Jason took a step in Percy's direction, looking over his shoulder.

Percy noted his concern and placed a gentle hand on his upper arm. "Ethan's all bite," he whispered, giving Jason's arm a reassuring squeeze.

"Can I start driving you to school again?" Jason asked with scrunched eyebrows and worry in his eyes. He hadn't driven Percy that day since the week prior had been without incident, and Percy insisted he didn't want to be any trouble. Now, though, he was reluctant to let him go when he was directly threatened like that.

Percy sighed. "If it makes you happy."

With a grateful smile, Jason gave him a nod.

**yeah, yeah, I know there's two time skips after two very short parts, please spare me**

"Jason, can I borrow your car?" Thalia shouted at the boy as he walked through the front door after school.

Confusion overtook his features. "Why are you still here? I thought you had—"

"Work," she finished for him, appearing from upstairs, "I'm late. So, car?"

He gave her an eye roll before holding out the keys for her. She snatched them up, high-fiving Jason and reminding him she'd be home at ten before leaving the younger of the two alone in the house. He sighed at her antics, wondering how she'd gotten this far being the mess she was.

Strolling into the kitchen, Jason dropped his bag by the stairs and went to grab a snack as he mentally prepared himself to write the mandatory first draft of an essay due next week. He'd probably just throw something together and fix it later. Besides, he had other homework to worry about as well. Homework that he cared much more about than the ten points of completion he'd receive for the draft.

Eventually, he made his way to his room and reluctantly began his assignments, knocking them out as quickly as possible. He'd gotten sone texts from Leo, asking various physics questions and also occasionally throwing in terrible puns related to the subject. Jason threatened to block him several times, even if he was secretly grateful for the escape it gave him from his own work.

Seven o'clock rolled around, and Jason forced himself to pack everything up and make some dinner. He quickly decided he didn't care about luxury and simply heated up some leftovers.

He hadn't eaten alone at the Grace table for quite some time. Usually, he had at least one of the two girls that lived in the house. If not, he tended to retreat to his room to eat and watch whatever Netflix series he was on. Sitting with his elbows propped on the scratched up wooden surface felt foreign to him now.

The house was eerily silent without the sound of Thalia's angry cursing whenever she ran into something (a regular occurrence) or Piper's definitely-too-loud music. There was no random movie playing in the background, no gleeful laughter from the two girls at videos that weren't even funny to begin with.

It was just Jason.

Well, Jason and the squirrel that scurried across the power line outside the window. The area was illuminated by the street lights and the soft glow of the moon. He couldn't help but smile at the memory of being outside with Percy just days ago, watching both the stars and Percy's eyes glitter. Jason hoped the other boy's dinner was much less lonely than his own was turning out to be.

After a solid fifteen minutes of picking at his food and periodically stuffing a bite or two into his mouth, Jason rinsed his dishes and set them aside to be properly dealt with later. He made a short journey to the living room couch and sprawled our across it, lazily pressing the power button on the nearby remote and not bothering to change the channel from the game show being played.

The voices on the television droned on for a few hours with Jason only partially paying attention. He was busy reteaching Leo their entire history class and grinning like a fool whenever Percy texted him. His eyes glanced up at the time.

10:18 P.M.

Jason frowned. Did Thalia come in without him realizing? Or was she doing some overtime to compensate for her tardiness? Surely, she would've texted him, though. She knew how much Jason worried about her when she didn't come home on time. Sighing with furrowed brows, Jason opened his phone app and quickly called his sister. Call him clingy and overprotective, but he would feel better if he knew where she was.

He heard Thalia's phone ring five times before going to voicemail. Jason's stomach dropped to his feet as he tried again, receiving the same response. He asked Piper to try her number, but the girl also got no answer. Clearly worried for Thalia's well-being and Jason's increasing anxiety, she offered to leave Annabeth's and come back home, but Jason told her he'd handle it. She seemed none too pleased but ultimately let Jason off with a request for him to update her.

Jason found himself wishing the two siblings had set up some kind of tracking system on their phones. He'd suggested the idea to Thalia multiple times, but she was never keen on it. She'd promised Jason they wouldn't need it, but he was starting to majorly disagree with her.

He gave her a couple more desperate calls before frustratingly tossing his phone to the other end of the couch. Thalia had taken his car, so he couldn't even drive around to find her. Closing his eyes and leaning his head back, Jason tried to think of logical reasons she wasn't answering. Perhaps she was talking to a coworker, or she was still driving home. Her phone could've been nearly dead, or she could've had a rough day and didn't want to talk to Jason.

No matter how many excuses his brain conjured up, Jason's nerves were through the roof. Opening his eyes, he looked back at his phone across the couch. He glared at the black screen, wishing it'd just show his sister's name at the top of a notification. Even with a twitter notification from her, he would've been satisfied.

His mouth began to feel dry as the minutes dragged on, each seeming longer than the one before. He was overreacting, he kept telling himself. The dread set deep within his veins disagreed. His whole body felt heavy and tense, and the first signs of a headache were beginning to appear.

Jason was seconds away from giving his sister another hopeless phone call before an unfamiliar number lit up on the screen. Faster than he'd like to admit, Jason stretched out to snatch up the device.

"Hello?" He spoke, ashamed of the very prominent presence of fear in his tone.

"Good evening. I'm looking for Jason Grace?" A gentle but tired voice replied.

Jason's airways felt like they were shrinking. "That's me."

"Your sister, Thalia, is currently in critical condition at Lenox Hill Hospital," the voice said.

Jason would've dropped the phone if he didn't have his fingers ferociously wrapped around it. He didn't reply, and the operator decided that was her cue to keep going.

"She asked the doctors to call you," she explained gently, seeming to detect Jason's panic through the phone.

With a shaky breath, he managed to mutter out, "Thank you. I'll be there soon."

He pressed the end call button, his eyes stinging and his chest tight. He needed to get to her, to see her and make sure she was okay. Without his car, though, his only option was to sit on the subway while he had a breakdown, not a possibility Jason was a fan of. While his brain plagued itself with every horrible outcome imaginable, his fingers were instinctively making their way to a familiar contact.

Jason's hand shook almost aggressively as he brought the phone to his ear again. "Please," he choked out into the empty house, "please answer me."

At what he knew would be the final ring, Jason had pretty much given up all hope and was ready to head to the nearest subway station. However, the phone was finally answered and Jason could've cried of joy.

"Percy," Jason breathed out, forgetting how to form a coherent thought through the primary one occupying his head: Thalia was hurt.

"What's wrong?" Percy's voice was comforting to the blonde amidst all the chaos that had come upon him in the past five minutes.

"I need a ride."

Don't come at me for the cliché, I'm really sorry about it LMAO

And sorry for taking a hot second to update there. I think the two weeks or so it took is better than the six months it used to take, though, so at least there's progress lol

Have an amazing week, everyone!

Also: I start school and volleyball on August 10, so I'm afraid to say updates may not be as frequent. Unless corona gets worse (as it probably will) and everything gets cancelled (as it probably will).