A/N: And here's the next chapter! I wonder where the story will go with this one? Let me know what you think! Enjoy!

I know I give Jason's coffee a lot of praise, but truly, the man knows how to make a good cup of coffee. It's a rare talent and one he's been blessed with. You can sit there and say it's the machine in the cafe that does all the work, that he just pushes a button and holds the cup under the stream but you'd be wrong. You'd be so very wrong. See, I like coffee. I like good coffee and I am very picky. If it's not good, I won't drink it. Well, no that's a lie. I'll still drink it, but I certainly won't enjoy it.

It doesn't matter where he makes the coffee. It doesn't matter if it's here at the cafe, at his place or at mine. It always tastes just right. It's always exactly what I want, every single time. There is very little that can put a smile on my face like a cup of coffee from Jason Grace.

I breathe in the rich, deep smell, cradling the warm mug with my hands. My eyes are closed and the typical sounds of the little cafe blend into a soothing white noise in the background. I didn't sleep well last night, so this is just what I needed. I open my eyes and watch Jason for a minute, I can't help but smile.

He's chatting with another of the regulars here and he looks just so relaxed and at home, like there's no where he'd rather be than right here, serving sweets and warm drinks.

I've loved Jason for as long as I've loved Will. Not that he knows that. Jason that is, Will knows.

I met them both the same night, four years ago. You'd think a life changing evening like that I'd remember in vivid detail, but I don't. I don't remember much of the weeks leading up to the night and even the weeks after it are kinda hazy. I just didn't care enough to commit them to memory.

I don't like to think about it. I was sick and needed help and didn't care enough to go get it. I just did not care.

I do remember the morning I started coming coming here every day though. That was a big day for me. I'd had a long night. I didn't want to get up. I didn't want to move. I didn't want to be that day. I'd thought about calling Will, but couldn't bring myself to. We'd only been dating for about six months, he didn't want to hear about my issues at oh my fucking god o'clock in the morning. At least, that's what I'd told myself.

I don't remember what I was thinking about, as I lay there curled up and alone in the dark. But I do remember the little thought that just suddenly whispered in my mind. It was quiet, but it mattered so much more than whatever else my brain had been saying to me.

'Jason was sad yesterday.'

It was such a small thought, but once it happened, I couldn't stop thinking about it. Why had Jason been sad? Why would he be sad? What could've hurt him? Shouldn't someone make sure he's okay? What if no one else noticed?

Suddenly, getting out of bed was important. Someone needed to ask Jason if he was okay.

I've more or less been a regular here ever since. You'd think I'd get tired of drinking the same coffee almost every day for two years. But I don't always get the same thing. I've gone through the menu multiple times and I try every seasonal and specialty thing they come up with. Food, drink. Either or. Except, I won't do anything with avocado in it because I do not need that weird green butter in my life.

I smile down at my page and Jason smiles back up at me, my pencil shading in around his eyes. I wonder if my teacher knows how blue Jason's eyes are. Probably not, I don't think I've ever turned in a colour drawing of him. Everyone has their preferred tools and me, I like the black and white and all the shades of grey in between. You don't need full colour to bring something to life, the stark lines of graphite and charcoal and ink can pull raw emotion and feeling from the nothingness of a blank page, just the same, if not more effectively than colours can.

That's not to say I don't use colours though.

I look up at Jason carrying a tray with a steaming mug and slice of cake on it. I tug my back pack closer and rummage through it, grabbing a box. I hear Jason's laugh from across the room and grin, setting the metal box on the table and flipping it open. Maybe it's time my life drawing teacher learns that Jason has blue eyes.

Often when I'm sitting and drawing people, the lines are very sketchy, just swiftly poured onto the pages of my book in the moment, then later I'll go back and define them; I'll solidify them on the white and make them real and know that I didn't just imagine them, that they were really there. It's a pretty quiet morning in the cafe today, so that's what I've been doing this time. Going over the barely there lines.

I've finally finished Jason, the kaleidoscope of blue that are his eyes glitter up at me from the dark greys and whites of the pencil and paper.

It looks nice. I like it. I wonder why I never did that before. What's that saying? The eyes are the window to the soul? Maybe I'll do it more often.

I frown at my empty cup, when had I finished it? Maybe I'll get another one today. Or maybe I'll go find somewhere to draw, it's nice out. I look out the window. People are walking by, cars are driving past; everything looks like as it does every morning really. Actually, no. That's new. There's a large black dog tied to the fence outside, he wasn't there a moment ago was he?

I hear someone laugh and then Jason starts laughing and I'm sure I injure my neck with how fast I whip my head around.

Percy Jackson is at the counter making Jason laugh.

They're laughing together for some reason and I want so bad to be over there and laughing too. The feeling is intense and powerful and terrifying and I was not prepared for it. I want to know what's so funny. I want to know what's made Jason lose composure like that. I want to see what I'm getting wrong in my drawings of Percy; what is it that Will saw the other day that I haven't been seeing from the stands?

I'm out of my chair and walking across the floor and over to the counter. Their laughter sounds so jovial and real and I just really want to be there right now.

"What's so funny?" The question leaves me before I've even had a chance to really think about it. I look at Jason, studying him curiously. Did he know Percy? I know I haven't met all of his friends, but he's certainly talked about them enough. I don't think he's ever mentioned a Percy before.

"Nothing Nico, nothing, it's just... Hoo~!" How do they know each other? I'm pretty damn sure I would have noticed if Jason ever mentioned knowing a Percy. It's not exactly a common name. I look down at my coffee mug. Why did I bring it over with me? I want to know how they know each other. How is Percy able to make Jason laugh like that. I lick my lips and look up at him.

"Friend of yours Jason?" He won't look at me.

It's funny. When he was standing in front of me in the stands at the pool and Bianca wanted to show him my drawing, the last thing I wanted was for him to look at me. Now I wonder why he won't.

"Not exactly? He's um..." What was that supposed to mean?

"Thalia's!" Percy looks up and grins at us both, but won't meet my eye and... "I'm a friend of his sister's. Just thought I'd say hi!" Why is he afraid of me? "So I'll uh, see you later!" Why is Percy Jackson afraid of me?

He backs out of the cafe with about as much dignity as I had when I left the pool that day. Part of me kinda wants to go after him, because nothing about what just happened here made any sense. Another part of me is rooted to the floor and screaming.

Jason isn't laughing anymore. He's actually kind of pouting. My voice had apparently left with Percy, so all I can do is swallow and tilt my head at Jason, hoping he understands my silent question.

"You know... I think I've seen him somewhere before." He looks confused. I swallow again and force out a nod, moving my stiff fingers.

"You have." I cough and clear my throat. "You have seen him before." Jason is looking at me curiously now and I just jerk my head over towards my vacated table with my sketch book sitting open on it. I don't think he quite catches my meaning.

I roll my eyes and hand him my empty mug.

"I've drawn him before, Grace." And I walk back over to my table, my legs feeling weird and like they don't want to bend properly. Does Percy know who I am now? Does he remember me from high school? I sit down heavily in my chair and flip to a page with Percy on it in my book. I haven't drawn him since Will pointed out I've been getting his face wrong.

If he does remember me, why is he afraid of me? I know our relationship was kinda weird back then, but I don't think I ever gave him a reason to be scared of me.

Was it the drawing? It was probably the drawing. He probably doesn't remember me and just thinks I'm some weird stalker. Oh god...

I groan and put my face in my hands.

Jason sets my freshly filled mug on the table for me and I hear him pick up my book.

"Yeah! That is him!" Except his face is all wrong. "Thalia should've just pointed at this instead of sending me that shitty picture."

Picture? Thalia sent Jason a picture of Percy?

"Why would Thalia send you a picture of Percy?"

"We have a date tonight."

"...Excuse me?" Did I wake up in the goddamn twilight zone today!? What is going on? Percy wasn't into guys! He had only ever had eyes for Annabeth. I'm pretty sure they got married after high school.

Jason laughed, apparently oblivious to my sudden inner turmoil.

"Thalia set us up! She seems to think we'd get along pretty good." He laughs again and does that thing where he scratches his chin and looks off at a point that no one else can see. "He seems nice, yeah?" And then he's looking at me and he's nervous and I can see it. Jason wants my approval; he wants me to agree with him.

If I say no, Jason will call off the date. Just like that. He's done it before. Gone on a date with someone, introduced us and then if I really didn't care for him, I never actually see or hear about him again. I could end this right now, before it even goes anywhere.

"Yeah he is, the kids just adore him at the pool." I look at my coffee and bring it to my lips, gathering my thoughts. "Probably the most popular coach there."

"Really?" And Jason's smiling again. I set my mug down.

"Was that your first time meeting him?" He laughs again and nods.

"We've been texting for a few days now, but I'd never actually met him in person yet." He smiles again and leaves me at my table to tend to the other few people there.

I look at my drawing of Percy. Will is right. I've drawn him cold. Unfeeling and distant. He's smiling but you can't hear his laugh; instead of looking at you, he's looking through you.

"Okay Nico, what's wrong?"

I don't like hospitals very much. I try to avoid them if I can. I don't know how Will does his job, I don't know how any paramedic can do what they do. The things they must see and hear? I get chills just thinking about it. But I guess, someones gotta do it and if you're ever unlucky enough to need an EMT's attention, I hope you get one like Will.

Will cares about people.

He sits next to me on the bench. It's in a sort of little garden at the back of this hospital, under some trees. It was where he said to go when I told him I needed to talk to him.

"I don't have too long Nico, what's going on?" He looks at me and he's wonderful and worried and I love him.

"Jason's going on a date tonight." Even to me the words sound stupid. Will just lifts an eyebrow and waits for me to go on. "With Percy."

"Oh." He leans back in the bench and looks up, closing his eyes. My fingers twitch. The sunlight coming through the trees paints him with shadows and lights and he looks almost heavenly. "So, your unrequited love and your unrequited crush are going out together." And now he just looks like my darling significant annoyance. "And you're upset and you don't know why." I hate him.

"Yes!" My hands twitch and I raise them and gesture and grab at unseen things. "Yes dammit!"

Will laughs at me. He actually laughs at me. And then he's standing and now he's in front of me and leaning down and –

His kisses have magical properties I swear. I tend to feel really mellow after one of them.

"Nico, this is something you gotta figure out." He runs a hand through his hair and I'm sure I look miserable. "You say you're over Percy, but you draw him all the time. You say you don't want to confuse Jason, but you don't like him dating anyone." He smiles at me and with the blue sky around him I feel like I'm flying.

Then he leans back down and his soft lips touch my nose, his arms on on the bench on either side of me.

"I'm all for whatever you wanna do Nico." Wills voice is gentle and quiet and I just want to hold him. "You already know that." It's quiet and we're close and his breath fans across my face and Will is right. Will is always right.

But just because Will has a tendency to be right, doesn't mean I like it. I won't lie, I'd complained to him because I was hoping he'd have an answer. I was hoping he'd be able to go 'This is the problem. This is how we fix it.'

But this needs more than a band-aid. Why is Percy afraid of me? It's just like the band-aids that were on his hands the other day. It's a question I don't think I'll ever get the answer to. Except, this is Percy Jackson. He's not some nameless person on the street. He's not some one off face that I plucked out of time and captured in my sketch book.

It's also Jason. Jason Grace who smiles and waves at me from the pages of my book. Jason Grace who scraped what was left of me off the sidewalk one random night and helped Will sort out my pieces. The pieces of me that had been broken apart a long time ago.

Ugh. God that's so melodramatic.

Every nerve in my body is screaming at me to not be here. To run far away from this and let it sort itself out without me. To just let Jason and Percy have their date and go on like everything is normal. But it's not normal. Not really and it won't be normal if I just ignore this.

None of that makes sense but it doesn't really matter cause I'm sitting on a swing over by the skate park. It's not close enough that I look like a stalker. But it is close enough that older kids in the skate park can keep an eye on their younger siblings playing on the swings or jungle gym.

I totally am a stalker right now, aren't I?

"What are you doing here?" I'm really glad no one I have respect for was around to see me face-plant in the dirt off the swing.

"What?" I scramble to my feet and turn around, my heart is pounding. My nerves were already shot this morning. I do not need some random... Oh no.

I can't hold her gaze. I never could. I take the moment to look down and brush the dirt off my clothes. I'm sure I look fine, but my heart is thumping loud enough for her to hear and every part of me wants to run away. This was a terrible idea.

"You're Nico, right?" She's staring at me so sharply.

"Uh, uh..." I am a poet I swear.

"Percy said you were drawing him at the pool. Now you're here. What are you doing Nico?"

Annabeth wants answers that I'm not entirely sure I have. The swing hangs between us and I think my voice is still down in the dirt somewhere. I can't look at her, she's way too intense. She's always been too intense. I look away from her and over at the skate park and I'm pretty sure that's Percy sailing through the air.

"I'm not stalking him, I swear." I look back at her and she's glaring at me and she clearly doesn't believe me. "Annabeth, that's not it. It's just... It's been a weird day."

When did they break up? I guess the rumour in their graduating class that they were leaving town to go get married wasn't true. Cause Percy never really struck me as the type to cheat on anybody and if he was going on a date with Jason that meant he was single and definitely gay. Two things back in high school that I convinced myself would never happen.

"A weird day."

"Yeah." She looks like she's trying to decide the best way to ground me into a paste.

"You can't do this again Nico." What's she talking about? I guess my confusion showed, because she waved an arm over towards the skate park. "This!"

"Look, Annabeth..." How is this even happening right now? I run a hand through my hair and breathe slow, counting to seven with each breath in and out. "I'm not stalking him." I repeat. "Or following him around or whatever. I just... wanted to talk to him."

And it's the truth. I think that is why I'm here. I've been wanting to talk to him ever since his basketball bumped my foot. Before that, I could convince myself he was just a really good model for life drawing. If we didn't ever interact at all, it would stay that way. But then he smiled that stupid crooked little grin at me and suddenly became Percy Jackson again. He wasn't just a face and a body in my book anymore; he had a name again.

So badly I want to know what he did to his hands. I want to ask him how it felt when he saved that womans life? When he saved the kid the other day? When did he learn to dive so beautifully? Where did he go after high school? Why did he leave and for that matter, why did he come back?

Our friendship was always weird back in school, but when he was just suddenly gone without a word one day...

"About what?" Why does she sound so angry? There are so many questions that I want answers to, that I need real answers to. Making up the story as I go along won't work this time. I need to know. "What could you possibly want to talk to him about?"

She's trying to not be angry. She wants answers just the same as I do. Except, she expects them from me. I just want to run away. I never should've come here. What am I doing?

"Just uh... stuff." Stop looking at me.

Her arms are crossed over her chest and her stance suggests she's ready to tackle me if I make any sudden moves. It's still the same. People always had to tread carefully around Annabeth when dealing with Percy.

"Stuff."

"Yeah..." Please stop looking at me that way. I wonder why they broke up? I wonder what happened, what changed after they left. What happened to them in the last six years? I know I've changed, but why did they?

It's like Annabeth suddenly deflates. The tension leaves her body and she's looking at me differently, studying me not like I'm an enemy, but as something she's not entirely sure she can trust. Something in her look hurts and I flinch. I look down at the dirt beneath my feet. What am I doing here? How is this even happening right now?

"You have no idea, do you?" Her voice is soft. I look up at her and she looks... Sad.

"About what?" There's a weird tension in the air. It feels like all the hair on my body is standing on end and there's a pressure on my chest.

"Of course you don't." She laughs a little laugh and runs a hand over her hair, grabbing at her pony tail. "You were a stupid, self-absorbed teenager."

Thanks. That's probably my cue to leave. But that pressure is still there; a horrible gnawing feeling begins clawing at my ribs.

"Annabeth?" Do I want to know what she's talking about? I feel like my lungs aren't getting enough air, that gnawing pressure is keeping my breaths short. And then she beckons me over with her hand and starts walking toward a bench. I could just leave now, I don't want to have this conversation.

I pick up my backpack and follow her.

When I sit down, Annabeth doesn't look at me, she just looks towards the skate park, eyes following one of the figures moving gracefully along... Shit, Even from this distance that looked like it hurt.

"You're... How old now Nico? Nineteen, twenty?" She half looks at me, her hands folded around her knee. My fingers twitch, I want to draw her hands.

"Twenty-one." I answer with a shrug. "Three years younger than you and Percy, remember?"

"Mm," She nods at me and again, I wonder how I got here today. Even though I walked the steps, I'm not sure how this happened.

"You're not a teenager anymore Nico."

"Yeah, I'm aware. Thanks." She gives me a sharp look and I just frown at my knees. I had to grow up a long time ago Annabeth.

"Well, Mr. Di Angelo, remember when you were?" What is she getting at? "You lost your sister." I think I might know. "You were upset." Don't. Please don't. It's okay, you were ten. But..." The gnawing pressure is biting at my ribs. "Percy was thirteen, Nico. Bianca was his friend."

Oh god. Oh god.

I can't look at her. I never thought about it like that before.

"Do you have any idea what you did to him?"

I'm gripping the bench. It's not enough. I can't breathe. The grass, the dirt, my legs, my backpack, they all blend together. My eyes sting, my throat feels tight. I never thought about it that way.

"So tell me Nico." Annabeth is looking at me again and I'm not sure which of us is the one crying. "What stuff could you possibly have to talk about with him?"