Requested by JustAnanya
When Jason woke up on a cold February morning, the first thing he was aware of was that his head hurt. He got up slowly, shivering as his feet hit the stone floor. He broke into a coughing fit. He couldn't be sick. Gods, he didn't have time to be sick. He had to prepare for the quest. There were supplies to gather. There was research to do. There was training to be completed. He'd just have to push through. Maybe no one even had to know.
He sat at his table, alone as usual, staring at his food. He shivered slightly and pulled his jacket more tightly around himself. It wasn't that cold, he told himself. Camp Half Blood never got too cold.
"You okay?" He heard Piper ask as she was walking by.
"Yeah" Jason said. "Just tired." It wasn't exactly a lie, he told himself. He was tired. And he was okay. Even if his head was pounding and his throat hurt and his nose was stuffed up.
After breakfast, he went to sword training. Usually he was very good at this. But today, he found himself struggling. The Ares kid he was fighting against smirked as he whacked Jason with the flat of his blade. Jason scowled and forced himself to focus. Eventually, he did disarm the Ares kid, but it took him much more effort than usual.
He continued to struggle as the day went on, but he thought he was doing a pretty good job of hiding how bad he felt. He had gotten a lot of practice at that with the Romans, especially after he became praetor. There were really no days off at that job. He even managed to eat his lunch, though that was mostly because he saw Piper glancing at him suspiciously.
After lunch, he went back to his cabin to read the books the Athena cabin had let him borrow in preparation for the quest. He made good progress for a while, but then he found himself rereading the same couple of sentences over and over again, and not comprehending any of it. He was so tired. Maybe just a few minutes rest wouldnt hurt...
He woke up to someone shaking his shoulder. He sluggishly opened his eyes and looked up in confusion at Piper. "What are you doing here?" He asked.
"You missed dinner, so I came to check on you" she said. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah" Jason said.
Piper sighed, looking at him. His face was pale and he looked exhausted. She reached a hand out to his forehead. He moved away and she gave him a warning look. He sighed and stayed still.
"You're burning up" she told him. "Go to bed. I'll find you some medicine."
Jason nodded miserably and laid down, coughing. Piper left and returned a few minutes later with some cold and flu medicine. Jason took it with a grimace.
"Get some rest" Piper told him and turned to leave.
"Will you stay?" He asked quietly.
Piper turned and sat down on the edge of the bed. "Only if you go to sleep" she said. Jason smiled and closed his eyes.
