The Preserve, Wednesday evening

[dontvotemeout]

Jason had been feeling weird all week, but it was nothing compared to today. He hadn't been around people too much, but every time he talked, little things that he hadn't meant to say kept coming out. He was pretty sure it wasn't just him - the island did seem to love screwing with people in great big batches, after all - but avoiding people as much as he could still seemed like the wisest course of action. Even though it was nighttime, he decided to go for as long of a run as he could.

Yes, he'd already gone for a run this morning. He still had way too much energy to burn off.

[For one person in particular, but feel free to come across him if you'd like!]

Comments

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

If anything was certain after class, it was that Nico had no intention of being anywhere near his dorm room tonight. Avoidance was key to keeping his thoughts in his head where they belonged, and what better place to chill out than the dead of the woods? Heh.

Okay, it was good up until he heard the pounding of sneakers against the ground and looked up to see a pair of seriously attractive legs running by. "Zeus, you run fast." Uh, okay, strange way to say hello.

[dontvotemeout]

Jason skidded to a stop in front of Nico and gave him a kind of sheepish smile. "Uh, thanks," he said. "You get pretty fast when you run a lot."

Maybe he should have kept running and apologized to Nico tomorrow.

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

If Jason had kept running, Nico would've had a chance to check him out from behind and that could've led to completely other problems. "I skulk in the shadows too much for running to ever make sense, but you make it look almost worth all the sweating."

Oh sweet mother of Hades.

[dontvotemeout]

"It's good for you, skulking or not," Jason said, and that was just stupid, not particularly honest. "I'm gonna guess the island's screwing with you today too, huh?"

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Yes, I can honestly say that's true," Nico replied, hands idly tugging at the dying grass that clung to the dirt where he sat. "I don't know yet if it's a good thing or a bad one. How's it messing with you?"

[dontvotemeout]

"I keep saying stuff I don't want to say," Jason said, sticking his hands in the pocket of his sweatshirt. "I've been feeling weird all week, but today's been a lot worse."

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Tell me about it," Nico groaned. "I told Luke how--" Suddenly Nico had a grass, dirt, and half his fist shoved against his mouth.

[dontvotemeout]

"You told Luke what?" Jason asked, sitting down next to Nico. If he'd been thinking clearer, he might have realized that asking questions was kind of a mean thing to do today, but, well, there wasn't much with the clear thinking going on this week. "Was it something to do with you and Percy fighting in class?"

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

Nico sighed, glancing at Jason and feeling a little sheepish at how hard he had to bite his tongue to ignore that first question. "You saw that?"

[dontvotemeout]

"Yeah, you guys were kind of hard to miss. And I was worried Percy might genuinely hurt you." Jason scowled a little, adding, "You should have hit him harder." At least that wasn't embarrassing honesty.

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Yeah, he's too busy thinking about himself to land a punch," Nico said, his honesty tempered with just a hint of bitterness. "I swear on the River Styx I do not hate Percy as much as it seems. He's just a moron sometimes. It helps his case that he looks like you."

[dontvotemeout]

"Well, I'm glad you don't want to punch me," Jason said, assuming that was why his face helped Percy. "Not that you'd get a punch off if you tried." Okay, now the grass was looking tasty, and he wondered if it would stifle him any.

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Hey, I'm the guy who hit Percy twice without him getting a punch in," Nico pointed out. "I could take you, too I bet."

[dontvotemeout]

Jason was planning on just laughing, but instead, he laughed and said, "I don't know, I've had enough training that you might not be able to get me."

Mmmm, his hand tasted nice pressed against his mouth like that.

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

Normally that sort of comment wouldn't have spiked an interest, but there was that hand with those nice, long fingers halting more words that cause Nico to see if he couldn't hear more. "Should I give you a try or are you gonna tell me why I shouldn't?"

[dontvotemeout]

God help him, Jason tried so hard to stay quiet. But it wasn't long before he said, "You shouldn't, because I'm a costumed hero's sidekick." Oh god, Bruce was going to kill him if he didn't do it himself.

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

Oh, all eyes were on Jason for that bit of sharing time. "Costumed?" Yes, that was the part that stood out for Nico. "Like, spandex and masks? Kinky."

[dontvotemeout]

"It's not kinky! I mean yeah, there's masks and spandex and the shorts are way too short--" Jason said, groaning. "I hate this place so much right now."

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

Nico maybe stole a quick look at Jason's current shorts and bit his lip in interest. "Shorter than those? By how much?" He probably shouldn't want to see this.

[dontvotemeout]

"Like, underwear short," Jason admitted. "But they're armored and I can move freely and you can't tell anyone about this or I'll be really, really angry." Geez, he couldn't even threaten to kill Nico like this, since he'd never really do it.

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"Your secret armored underwear shorts are safe in my hands," Nico said, leaning to bump Jason's shoulder with his and trying to ignore the way his words sounded. "Even if I'm still not sold on how this works."

[dontvotemeout]

"We find criminals, stop them from getting away with their crimes, and make sure the authorities take care of them. Basically," Jason said. "It works really well and it's a lot of fun. It's like, the best thing that's ever happened to me." Now he really was going to strangle himself.

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"You make it sound like your life's a comic book," Nico quipped. "Why didn't you tell me you're a hero? This is great! So wait, who's the we?"

[dontvotemeout]

Jason put both hands over his mouth this time, to stifle "Me and Batman," when it came out and pray Nico wouldn't understand it. "I'm not supposed to tell anyone," he said, after dropping his hands. "I know secret identities aren't a big deal to people here but I'm still not supposed to tell and I don't want to get into trouble because then I couldn't be Robin anymore and that would suck. I'm glad you think it's great though," he added. "It's not as cool as being part god, I know."

[deaths-demigod.livejournal.com]

"I'll keep it to myself," Nico promised. Jason was right that Nico didn't know how to cope with a secret identity. Everyone and their mother could feel who he was half the time. "So, this means you get to be this other person when you fight and you when you're just hanging out?"