sky blue ● jason grace

lover

To say Jason was nervous was one of the biggest understatements of the century.

He stood at the bow on the raised crossbow platform, where the Romans could easily spot him. Hopefully he looked calm for someone who was making themselves a target- Romans didn't think too highly of fear. Jason tightened his grip on his sword; his knuckles were white, yeah, no fear here.

His friends were all in various positions of excitement themselves. Piper paced back and forth between the mainmast and the ballistae, practicing her lines. "Lower your weapons," she murmured. "We just want to talk."

Her charmspeak was so powerful, the words flowed over Jason, filling him with the desire to drop his gladius and have a nice long chat.

Leo, on the other hand, was in maniac mode. On the stern quarterdeck, he rushed around like a madman, checking his gauges and wrestling levers. Most helmsman would've been satisfied with a pilot's wheel or a tiller. Leo had also installed a keyboard, monitor, aviation controls from a Learjet, a dubstep soundboard, and motion-control sensors from a Nintendo Wii. He could turn the ship by pulling on the throttle, fire weapons by sampling an album, or raise sails by shaking his Wii controllers really fast. Even by demigod standards, Leo was seriously ADHD.

Most importantly, their war crazed chaperon, Coach Hedge, was below deck, watching reruns of mixed martial arts championships. Jason got stressed just thinking about it- the last thing they needed as they magical Greek trireme into a potentially hostile Roman camp was a middle-aged satyr in gym clothes waving a club and yelling "Die!"

And then there was Annabeth, the person who, with the exception of Jason, had the most to lose from this meeting. For the last hour, she had been pacing the deck of the Argo II, checking and double-checking the plan (and the backup plan, and the backup plan for the backup plan).

He understood why. Her boyfriend, Percy Jackson, had been missing for the last eight months as a part of Hera's 'exchange program', in which the goddess had plucked both Jason and Percy from their homes and swapped them. Because of this, Annabeth and Jason didn't exactly have the best relationship, she didn't trust him, and Jason felt exactly the same way about the daughter of Athena.

However, that wasn't why Jason was nervous. No, Jason was seconds away from leaping into the forum because at the forefront of the crowd of Romans gathering in the forum, would be Daria Jackson.

Over the last eight months, he hadn't allowed himself to think about her. This was for two reasons: 1. His memory wasn't all the way back, there were blank spots that got too frustrating to fill in after hours of trying to remember, and 2. There was the very small possibility that Daria had moved on.     

The logical part of him knew he was being ridiculous. Even if they weren't dating, Daria had been his best friend for ages, there was no way she would just...forget about him.

But what if she did?

No, he told the voice in his head petulantly. She's not allowed to do that.

Piper joined him at the bow, probably because you could read his mood from Jakarta. "You know, I sincerely hope that after today, you'll quit moping around like you've got My Chemical Romance on shuffle."

"Who?"

"Right," Piper snorted. "I forgot you've been living under a rock your entire life."

Jason gestured to the Oakland hills, "does this look like a rock to you?"

Piper tsked. "Seriously, Jason. It'll be okay, if Daria loves you even half the amount that you're infatuated with her, then she's yours."

"Piper," he whined. "You don't understand, that's the problem. A lot of people love Daria."