Just Let Me Leave (Jercy AU)

Chapter 30: History of Grace

As you might've guessed, the majority of this chapter is dialogue from our golden boy. Ignore my lack of knowledge of social cues and conversation skills. Sorry 'bout that.

Enjoy, hopefully!

[TRIGGER WARNING: implications/discussion of alcoholism, infidelity, suicide, depression, etc. These topics are not meant to be romanized in the contents of this story. If you or a loved one are struggling, please seek help. Thank you, and have a nice week.]

"Her name is Hera."
*****

"My parents fought a lot when I was younger," Jason figured he should start out his story of the mess of his life with the foundations of it all, "And my dad walked out a lot whenever he got frustrated."

He continued, "When I was ten, they had this huge argument over I don't even know what—Thalia refuses to tell me, and my dad left for a few days. My mom was on some business trip when he got back home with Hera. I guess I should've known better, but I was young and didn't really know how relationships were supposed to work because my parents' was...you get the point. Anyway, Thalia separated Hera and me, so it's not like I knew why she was in my house."

Percy nodded as Jason spoke to let the blonde know he was still listening. "They had this...affair for a month or two before my mom found out. Thalia took me around town that day...to keep me away from their screaming at each other. My parents got divorced, but my mom didn't have the money to find a new place to stay and my dad refused to leave the house. Hera stayed around a lot more after that, and I'm pretty sure it was just to bother my mom and my sister."

"My mom dealt with it for a while, but eventually she...she, um, decided that drinking away her problems was a good idea. Thalia hated her for it. She died in a drunk driving accident when I was eleven, and Hera took that as her chance to come live with us. My father and Thalia never got along in the first place, but it got awful when Hera moved in. Then her boyfriend...," Jason paused to stare at the ceiling.

He hated talking about Luke's death. Jason had felt that the two blondes not only had much in common, but also that they may actually gotten along if he would've spoken to him more, unlike his other family members' significant others. However, he took a deep breath and continued. He wanted Percy to know about his past, and that meant mentioning a few rough patches. "You've probably heard about it. It was a huge thing around the area. Castellan."

Percy nodded with a sympathetic look in his eyes. He had, indeed, heard about the death of Luke Castellan. He never knew that Jason's sister had anything to do with it, though, since her name was kept anonymous in the media. The school he was at that year was filled with commotion about it. There was an assembly about suicide prevention, and a few of the kids were even talked to by the counsellors. Percy, unfortunately, was one of them, although they couldn't get much out of him. He hated therapists, but school counsellors were excessively worse.

"Luke was like...I don't know, Thalia's anchor, I guess?" Jason struggled to find words to properly describe their relationship, "He kept her grounded. Kept her calm. Kept her from leaving me with my dad."

"After he died, Thalia didn't take it well, obviously," Jason hoped his sister wouldn't kill him for talking about her, "She was never home, and when she was she was constantly upset. She, um, she needed help and didn't get it from my father. She...tried to kill herself, and I don't know what would've happened if I hadn't found her before..."

Jason swallowed and stopped talking, turning on side away from Percy. The green-eyed boy placed a gentle and reassuring hand on Jason's shoulder before moving next to him and leaning over him to see his face. The blonde avoided eye contact as he stared at the corner of the room. Percy sighed before wiping away a stray teardrop on Jason's face and returning to his original spot on the bed.

Jason finally turned to face Percy again a few minutes later. The latter was lying there, patiently waiting for Jason to continue if he wanted to. The blonde scooted next to Percy and laid his head against the shorter boy's shoulder, hoping he wouldn't mind. Percy seemed confused but showed no sign of objection.

"My dad's in jail, Percy. He's got a ton of charges for assaults and drug deals and things like that. He'll be locked up until I'm twenty at the rate he's going. They keep adding time on his sentence for 'inappropriate and violent behavior'," Jason finally told Percy where his father ended up. "It's just...it bothers me when people mention it. I know a lot of the people I've told judge my family for it...or I guess just judge Thalia and me."

Jason sighed, considering whether or not he should relieve Percy of a curiosity he was sure the boy had before deciding to go ahead and tell him, "Chris mentioned them the day we got into that fight. I think that's what really set me off, Perce."

Percy nodded understandingly. He had been wondering what exactly Chris said about Jason's parents that day. What he didn't know, however, was that he didn't even need to insult them. All he had to do was make Jason remember them.

Gods, Percy despised Chris Rodriguez.

After a few moments of silence, Percy yawned. He slept well for one night when he was on Jason's couch, and now his body refused to return to its former 'sleep-deprived but functioning anyway' state. Jason smiled at him and pulled the blankets closer to his face. He lazily draped an arm around Percy.

"Just kick me off if you're uncomfortable," Jason muttered before closing his eyes.

Percy just settled into a more comfortable position, fiddling with the blonde's hand as they tried to fall asleep. He wanted to feel calm, he really did. There was still a very large issue lingering in his mind, though, regardless that he was safe in the Grace household.

His mother wasn't.

Ooooooh, hello again.

I don't have anything to say.

Bye, I guess?