Building A Problem | Jasiper

2. Questions

Jason wanted to accept Piper, he really did. And he did, he really did. But still, there was a nagging feeling, a voice in the back of his head telling him differently. Why had she decided to tell him now? it would ask him, and Jason would counter, She told you. Because it felt right to do now, and because she needed to figure it out for herself first. And Jason did believe himself, did believe his voice of reason. That was true. That was what Piper had told him, therefore it must have been true. She had no reason to lie to him. So, he did what he did best: shut that voice out and told himself that everything was fine, for she did love him, with every part of her being—just like she had told him. Why would she lie to him?

   One day when he had been working in his home office, Piper crept up on his unaware self and startled him. For a moment, he shouted profanities and frantically searched around for his gladius. Luckily, it was to no avail, so Piper did not become a kebab that day. He looked at her with pleading, apologetic eyes when he found out that it was just his flatmate—his girlfriend—who had scared him.

   She looked at him with scared eyes for a moment, before they softened. 'How are you?'

   He gazed at her, his body still rigid, as she stood before him: the lighting catching in her deep, brown eyes, dissipating as it wandered through her dark, dishevelled hair, hitting her cheekbones in a way that made her look angelical. Yeah, he was definitely still in love with this girl.

   'I'm alright. Work's a lot, but I'm keeping up,' he said with an awkward grin at the end, moving his hand into his hair, searching for something to keep him stable.

   Her eyes raked over him, but he could not see why. Oftentimes, he was able to read her expression, almost feeling as if he could see right through her. But something in her eyes was different that day. Something he couldn't quite decipher.

   As always, he was mesmerised by her movements when she went to embrace him. It was like she was floating, like she was mostly just a warm vapour that neared him and held him in her arms, getting himself lost in between her warm limbs. 'I love you,' he said, quietly, into her ear. His eyes were closed, hiding in her hair.

   She hummed for a second. 'I know,' was all she told him. 'I know.'

***

Jason pondered those two words as he entered Percy's car the following morning; they usually carpooled, and that day it was Percy who drove.

   'Hey, man,' Percy greeted as Jason lowered himself into his friend's car, unwilling to meet his eyes. 'Long weekend?'

   Jason didn't really know what to say; technically, it hadn't been longer than any other, but the nagging feeling that grew in his stomach over Piper coming out to him only seemed to grow with each passing hour. 'I guess you could say so,' he responded. He knew he shouldn't tell Percy about this, even though Piper had assured him that she was okay with other people finding out, he still felt wrong telling others; this was her thing to tell everyone else. 'Just... something happened with Piper, but it's alright.'

   Fortunately, Percy hadn't yet been able to pull out of the car park, for he whipped his head around with such vigour, that Jason feared its ability to stay in place; 'Is everything okay?' he asked, his eyebrows furrowed.

   A sting ran through Jason's heart at his friend's worry, but he chuckled as he told him, 'Everything's okay. Nothing bad happened, she just told me something that took me a bit... off guard, shall we say?'

   Percy kept staring at his friend, as a crease formed between his eyebrows. 'What, did she like, fuck someone else?' he asked, and Jason nearly choked on his own spit.