reflection ● jason grace

Nathan's gay awakening

Jason and Michael leaned on the beachouse railing.

Jason was 16 now - truly the child of the prophecy that was supposed to come to fruition in a matter of days. Though glancing at the attire he was dressed in, or lack thereof, you wouldn't think so.

This was their third day on the beach now. The seven of them convinced Daniel and Leila to let them take a much-needed break. Jason and Reyna had been training nonstop for nearly a year, and they were utterly exhausted.

Theoretically, they promised they would train and come up with a plan for the week they stayed at this ex-legionnaire's vacation home, ready to head back at a moment's notice. Keyword being theoretically. He and Michael just finished surfing really badly, the rest of them were inside cooking dinner and otherwise messing around.

But like he said, they trained a lot over the last year. They had a few monster encounters over the last couple of days and all were dealt with easily between them. Jason had grown to depend on Reyna, and eventually, she grew to depend on him too.

His relationship with Daria was...slightly different.

"Jason," Michael said, interrupting his thoughts. His long hair was in a ponytail, and he wore that familiar cocky grin when Jason looked at him. "Don't make fun of me, because it's taken me like 10 minutes to get over my pride and ask this, but how the hell are you that muscular?"

Jason raised his eyebrows, suddenly self-conscious. He looked down at his, well, normal-looking stomach. "I'm not."

"Not now," Michael said like he was stupid. "When you're training or showing off or whatever."

"Um, I think it's genetics," then he smirked. "Were you staring at me?"

Michael scoffed, but his brown eyes rang with friendship for maybe the fourth time in as many years. "You wish, Grace."

Jason grinned.

"Dinner's ready," Clara chimed, walking out the front door. She looked over Michael and nodded in appreciation, making Jason wonder why the son of Venus was jealous of him. "We're having pasta!"

Jason and Michael exchanged a glance. "We're not hungry."

The girl narrowed her eyes, looking between the two. "Daria cooked."

"Oh, in that case," Michael grinned, tossing an arm around her shoulders. "We're starved. Come on, Jason."

Clara scowled.

The others were gathered around the breakfast bar. Jason watched as Daria beamed at something Dakota said, her eyes lighting up like a sunset. Her freckles seemed to multiply in the summertime, like a constellation on her skin. She was beautiful.

Also, she had to pretend to hate him.

"Put your shirts on," Reyna grumbled without looking up. "That's disgusting."

"You're just really gay," Jason reminded her, picking up their shirts from the couch and throwing Michael his.

"Right," Michael agreed. "Lots of people find me attractive."

Reyna squinted, counting on her hand. "And yet between the two of you, you've only had two girlfriends."

Michael sat beside her, probably so that he could annoy her from up close. Jason made his way next to the dining table where Clara and Dakota were. "Okay, well I said people found me attractive. Hence why both of those girls dated me." He looked over at Jason. "No offense."

"None taken."

Clara smirked. "Well, we can settle this easily."

"I don't like that look," Daria muttered, taking out the garlic bread.