Title: Take A Break

Author: MidnightinJapan

Disclaimer: Characters, locations, etc are the property of Rick Riordan.

Edited by the fantastic Lordandladiesofthesilverscreen

The second gift ficlet for betsib. She's the only person I'd write Jasico for.

"It's for the best, Jason. This is not a punishment," Reyna said gently.

Jason was standing in what used to be their office listening to another delivery of bad news. He was being suspended from his job as camp liaison. After the battle with Gaea he'd formally stepped down as Praetor and named Frank as his successor. But he still felt like he needed to do something and luckily Annabeth thought it would be a great idea to have two campers who could handle the relations between the Greeks and Romans. So he volunteered for the job which unfortunately meant he had to be at Camp Jupiter a lot more than he originally thought.

That led to an argument with Piper who felt uncomfortable at Camp Jupiter so close to Reyna and everything that represented Jason's old life. She was afraid he would fall back into it and forget her. When he refused to give up the job, they agreed to "take some time apart", a gentle way of saying it was over. As if that wasn't enough, a group of campers he'd been escorting to Long Island was attacked by monsters and he was injured. It was nothing after some nectar and ambrosia but Reyna was convinced he was stretching himself too thin.

"I understand," he lied and asked to be dismissed.

He ran into Frank on his way out who tried to apologize. He said he tried to talk Reyna out of the decision to no avail and Jason thanked him for it and left. He wanted to be alone but people were everywhere and he had to smile and pretend like everything was fine. Eventually he ran into Nico and Hazel on their way to a coffee shop.

The Ambassador of Pluto was spending a little more time around New Rome with his sister since coming out of the closet and confronting Percy Jackson with his crush. It surprised everyone, even Jason, but he was proud of him. From the little he was able to get from Nico since, Percy was actually nice about it but Nico would still rather not be around him too long.

"Are you okay?" Nico asked Jason.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he lied again.

"Do you wanna come get coffee with us?" Hazel asked.

"Nah, you two go ahead. I'm going check the weapons."

He walked away quickly after that, not even bothering to consider that the weapon's store room was in the other direction.

Jason sat alone in his father's temple. It's not really a place he usually went unless he was making an offering, but he'd been there for hours now. The cold marble and mosaics reminded him of cabin one at Camp Half-Blood. They were places without warmth or comfort, but at least in the cabin he had Thalia's leftover trinkets to help make it feel like home. He didn't even know why he'd come here of all places except he knew that he could be alone. It was the middle of the night and except for the campers on guard duty, everyone was asleep.

He sat on the floor with his back against one of the columns. His elbows rested on his knees as he looked up at his father's statue in the center of the shrine. He felt like a failure. He'd lost his Praetor position and now he wasn't even a liaison for the two camps anymore. Reyna had been right to suspend him. Nothing felt the same anymore, not since his time at Camp Half-Blood and the quest. Everything he cared about and used to measure his own value was falling apart. His relationship with Piper had been the first pillar to collapse.

He sighed and looked away from the statue. He couldn't even bring himself to pray because he knew his father wouldn't answer. The king of the gods wouldn't play favorites. Jupiter expected his children to be the best and strive for excellence. They were natural leaders and everyone looked to them for guidance and strength. Jason had failed miserably at these things lately and if his father wouldn't answer him before, he most certainly wouldn't do it now.

He heard the heavy Imperial gold doors open and turned around to see Nico di Angelo peeking in. He looked unsure, as if he was afraid Jason would yell at him to leave.

"Hey," said Jason, his melancholy voice echoing off the temple walls.

"Can I come in?" Nico asked.

"Yeah." He shut the doors behind him and walked toward Jason with his hands shoved in the pockets of his aviator jacket.

"How are you holding up?" He asked looking at the statue of Jupiter.

"I'm not holding up, that's the problem," Jason said sounding a little bitter.

"It's not the end of the world. I mean, we've seen what that looks like…"

"Did you just make a joke?" he laughed more out of surprise than actual humor. Nico cracked a little smile and sat down on the floor. He was still a little awkward, clearly trying not to impose on Jason's personal space, but he was trying.

"I just…" Jason stopped because he could feel the beginnings of tears stinging his eyes, but then decided if there was anyone he could cry in front of it was the boy sitting beside him.

"How did this happen? How did I let this happen? I mean the quest threw me because I wasn't the go-to leader, especially not with Percy there, and it was hard but fine because I had people to depend on. How is it that now, when I'm only one of three leaders, suddenly I can't do anything right anymore?" He wasn't crying yet but only because he was getting angry at himself. Nico didn't say anything at first; he just looked at the statue.

"You know, you expect too much from yourself," he said finally looking at Jason. "Or maybe everyone else expects too much from you, maybe both."

He knew that. He didn't need anyone to tell him.

"That doesn't mean I shouldn't be able to rise to the challenge though," he said.

"Why?" Nico asked almost in genuine confusion. "Because Jupiter is your father? I'm starting to think that's a curse worse than being the son of Hades. Maybe that's why all the sons of Jupiter/Zeus end up with some of the worse ending. There's too much pressure and you guys feel like you can't fail."

"Cracking under pressure isn't allowed," said Jason with a sardonic smile.

"And that's why Reyna took it away. She did you a favor."

"Really? Because it feels like I just let her down…again!" he said banging his head against the column behind him.

"She's fine. Trust me. And you should look at this as vacation time. You can regain your position but you really should try blowing off some steam first. Like you said, it's been weird since the quest. Camp Half-Blood is different. There aren't any regiment drills or any of this protocol to keep you busy."

Jason realized Nico was right. That's why the Greek camp had changed him. He'd been allowed to "relax" for the first time in…forever really. Besides checking on the progress of the Argo II, which Annabeth and Leo pretty much handled on their own, he'd been free to spend long days on the beach with Piper. He wasn't a Praetor there or a camp liaison. He smiled at Nico.

"When did you get so insightful?"

"I just observe a lot…no one notices," said Nico and it looked like he was trying to hide a blush.

"So what do you recommend for a vacation?" Jason asked.

"I doubt you want to face Piper right now, so Camp Half-Blood would probably be a bad choice."

"Good call," he said. "I've never really been anywhere unless it was quest related. Where do you go?" he asked looking at Nico.

"What do you mean?"

"You don't spend much time here or at Camp Half-Blood and you can't be in the Underworld all the time. Where do you wander off to?" Nico shrugged and looked away.

"Anywhere, but it's mostly by accident. When I was first learning how to shadow travel, I went China by mistake. That can still happen if I don't concentrate."

"Really?" Jason asked in awe.

"Yeah but it tired me out so much that I slept for like a week so it wasn't really an adventure or anything," he said with the ghost of a smile on his face.

"Would you want to make it an adventure?" Jason asked. He didn't know why but he would rather go anywhere with Nico than spend another moment feeling sorry for himself.

"You wanna go to China…with me?" Nico asked in disbelief.

"Unless you don't want to, I understand," said Jason, back peddling immediately out of fear he'd push too far.

"No, it's just…no one's ever asked to go anywhere with me," he said and Jason didn't miss the note of sadness in his voice.

The son of Jupiter stood and stretched his arms over his head before offering his hand to Nico and smiling.

"I'm asking."

End