Say What Now?

"What?" I heard Percy scream as he answered the knock on the door.

"How dare you, Jackson?" Thalia''s voice carried in through the apartment.

"How dare I what?" he yelled back in outrage. "Bend over and take it?" I put Percy's blueberry pancakes on a plate, grabbed my muesli and walked into the living room food in hand.

"What?" she asked. At least she wasn't screaming anymore. I set our food down on the coffee table.

"Okay, babe?" I called, making them both look at me. For a chilling moment, I realised they looked more like siblings than Thalia and I did. "Pancakes are ready. Coffee?"

"Do you really need to ask?" he deadpanned, and Thalia frowned.

"You made him breakfast?" she asked, her frown deepening. "I didn't think you'd be up, yet."

"Breakfast is the least he can do since he decommissioned me for the day," Percy grumbled, hopping to the side and waving Thalia in. "Get your sister coffee, too."

"Oh, dark and bitter like my soul, please, baby Grace." I rolled my eyes at the nickname. She walked in and hesitated before turning back to Percy. "Are the couches clean?"

"Bite me, Grace," he growled, slamming the door and hobbling to the couch. I smiled with newfound pride, turning back toward the kitchen to grab two cups of coffee and a cup of tea for me.

"Judging by your neck, a Grace already did," Thalia cackled, actually cackled. "I thought you didn't bottom, Jackson. Word on the street is that's your one rule."

"Like I told you yesterday, Jason changed the way I see things," he groaned, and I suspected he had sat back down. Last night had been wild. I had no idea what came over me. Percy had been fantastic. He had done everything in his power to give me exactly what I needed, things I never knew I needed.

"And apparently you've changed the way he sees things too." I rolled my eyes.

"You know I can hear you, right?" I called as I finished the coffee.

"Yeah," Thalia called back. I smirked at her as I set her coffee down in front of her. I then ducked back into the kitchen to grab my and Percy's mugs. Thalia took a sip of coffee, overdramatically sighing contently. I handed Percy his, where he sat slouched and tilted.

"Thanks, babe." I bent down to give him a kiss, and he hummed in appreciation. "Um, one last thing. Could you check that Leo's awake? I've heard his alarm go off twice already, and I'm worried he's sleeping through them because he fell asleep with the headphones."

"Sure." I walked down the hall and knocked on Leo's door. "Leo, are you awake?" His door swung open, and I was met with a very disgruntled Latino wearing nothing but his Iron man boxers.

"I'm up," he grumbled, making his way down the hallway. "I fucking need coffee," he told me over his shoulder.

"Wait, Leo, you might want to put on some clothes." He ignored me and came face to face with Thalia, who raised an unimpressed eyebrow at him.

"I really should be embarrassed right now," he deadpanned. "But my noise-cancelling headphones proved ineffective last night. So I am currently suffering from severe exhaustion, and I need caffeine." He turned and walked into the kitchen, not even batting an eye.

"You can blame Superman, or the entire DC franchise if you'd like," Percy called after him. He then tried to sit up enough to grab his pancakes. Emphasis on tried. His wince made me feel incredibly guilty, and I jumped for the plate, handing it to him as I sat down next to him.

"I love you," he said as he took the plate and gave me his mug to put on the coffee table.

"Love you too."

"So how long have you two been dating?" Thalia asked.

"Just over two months?" Percy looked to me for confirmation.

"Yeah." Saying it aloud made it all seem surreal. Everything happened so fast. How did everything happen so quickly?

"Two months?" She asked more to herself than us. "I just...you guys just seem...I don't know." She sighed. "You're obviously having sex. This is absolutely not the first time you've stayed over, because you make Percy pancakes and coffee just the way he likes it. I know, because he didn't add syrup or sugar or milk. And you do this without asking any questions."

"Did you make pancakes just for Percy?" Leo called from the kitchen.

"No, there's three in the oven for you," I called back.

"Thanks!"

"You're comfortable with Percy's roommate," Thalia continued. "You're throwing casual 'I love you's around. You just seem too comfortable, you know? You're fucking domestic." Percy chuckled at her rant.

"What's your point, Thals?" I asked.

"My point is, how did this all happen in two months?"

"If it makes you feel better, we didn't have sex for like the first month and a half of us dating, because I had a back injury," Percy shrugged as he took a large bite of his pancakes.

I, of course, felt the heat rise up my neck. How could Percy discuss our sex life so casually? Then again, the man had no shame when it came to sex. On the other hand, I was tremendously proud of Percy's perfect phrasing. This way, she didn't have to know the relationship was born out of a one-night stand.

"And I was over here a lot to help take care of him because of the injury, which is why I know how he likes his pancakes and coffee." I bit my lip, trying to gauge her reaction.

"Okay, what did I miss?" Leo asked, emerging from the kitchen and plopping down on the floor by the coffee table.

"You seem oddly chipper for someone who hasn't had coffee yet," Percy accused, raising an eyebrow.

"This is my second," Leo shrugged, taking a sip from his mug. "I downed a cup in the kitchen."

"I will never understand your inhuman tolerance for heat." Percy shook his head, and Leo rolled his eyes.

"I'm Leo, by the way." He extended his hand to Thalia. "I know who you are, but we've never formally met."

"Thalia," she conceded and shook his hand briefly. "Shouldn't you be putting on some clothes?"

"Nah, I'm already humiliated," he shrugged. "To put clothes on now and take them off again in five minutes for a shower just seems redundant."

"Anyway," I turned back to Thalia. "I know this all seems to have happened fast, but this wasn't normal dating."

"How was it not normal?" she asked with a frown.

"Well, for starters, normal couples don't have to lock themselves away in an apartment out of view. We did because gods forbid that father might find out. Or worse, the media founds out Senator Grace's only son, and heir is gay, and it reflects negatively in the polls. Point is, for two months, we were in our own little bubble. We mostly only had each other, day in and day out. And with the injury, we couldn't do much but talk. That's not normal circumstances. We had to skip the awkward first dinner dates where you have your friends call half an hour in with an 'emergency' in case the date's a bust. We had to skip all the normal relationship stuff and go to practically living together, because that's what our circumstances were," I ended my rant. Thalia smiled at me.

"I never said it was a bad thing, baby Grace. You look really happy."

"Great, the family member that matters, is on board," Percy cheered, starting to raise his arms in celebration, but then hissed and froze. Leo burst out laughing.

"It's good to know I'm not suffering alone," Leo teased, stuffing a pancake stacked fork into his mouth.

"I regret absolutely nothing," Percy leaned back with a satisfied smirk. "At least I got laid." He playfully kicked Leo in the shoulder.

"Speaking of family members..." Thalia gave me a pointed look.

"He knows," I answered. "I called him Friday after I talked to you."

"Oh." A swirl of emotions swam in Thalia's eyes. "That's good because, after last night, half the campus knows," she tried to joke. "How'd that go?"

"Well, umm..." Percy squeezed my hand reassuringly with a smile. "When he finally pulled himself away from Miss December, he didn't give a fuck. He had a press conference yesterday to realign his standings." Thalia's jaw clenched, and her eye twitched.

"Hey, at least he knows. And now we can go on an actual date," Percy said, squeezing my thigh with a grin. "You know when I can walk again."

"You know, it's going to take some time to get used to you guys actually being together," Thalia said as my Fitbit vibrated with an alarm.

"I need to go. I have a class. You gonna be okay?"

"Yeah," Percy shrugged. "I only have one class on Mondays, Chem 101, and I already texted Will to cover for me and bring me the notes. He said he'll drop them off after practice." I froze.

"Will?" Percy nodded while pointing to his coffee. I handed him the mug. "Solace? Premed Will Solace?"

"Yeah, all the premeds were thrown in with the science mayors for Chem 101." Percy frowned at me. "Is that a problem?"

"No, I was just surprised."

"Surprised that I share a class with premed students?" Percy cocked an eyebrow at me.

"No. Okay, fine. Remember that bet Leo still owes us money for?" I asked sheepishly.

"Say what now?" Leo asked with his mouth full.

"Yeah," Percy chuckled, ignoring Leo's question.

"Well, most of the guys put their money on Will..."

"Uh, okay. Understood," he smirked at me. "You're gonna join us, aren't you? I'm really in the mood for pasta alfredo tonight, and I can't make the sauce like you can."

"Uh, okay. See you tonight." I leaned down to give him a peck on the cheek. "Thanks for not blowing this up and making me feel worse," I whispered in his ear so Thalia and Leo couldn't hear. Percy caught the back of my neck as I pulled away.

"I love you," he said sweetly.

"Love you too."