Chapter 3: The Buddy System
I felt like shit. Even as the lecturer rambled on about the exciting world of Legal Concepts, my mind wandered elsewhere. All I could think about was a particular black haired guy. I idly wondered how Percy could even walk if he had a fractured spine.
Part, admittedly a huge part, of me wanted to believe that the son of a bitch was lying to get attention, maybe even cover for the Immortals deciding he wasn't good enough to play for them anymore, but deep down, I knew it had to be the truth.
Even if it pained me to admit, Percy was amazing in tryouts. I had never seen anyone run like that before. That, unfortunately, meant that the Immortals wouldn't have just let him go, though, which kind of cemented his story. Well, that and the bruises on his back.
If I closed my eyes, I could still see them. The patches of black and blue sprawled over his swollen lower back, the tears brimming around his eyes. Percy Jackson might have been a prick, but he was a damn honest prick.
I only noticed the class was over when the girl next to me accidentally bumped into me with her bag. She started to fuss around me, telling me how sorry she was, and I just waved her off with a smile. Honestly, I should have thanked her for bringing me back to reality.
As I made my way to the cafeteria, my mind still wandered back to raven hair and green eyes filled with pain. Something about Percy still bothered me. The idiot seemed so happy, so himself, through the entire tryouts.
He joked, smiled, and teased just as he always had. How could he carry that much pain and still smile? Not just physical pain, either. I had caught a glimpse of just how broken he was when I looked into those tear-rimmed eyes.
Percy Jackson was a husk full of emotion, just trying to get out. What scared me the most was how easy it seemed to be for him to hide his pain. It made me wonder whether Percy Jackson was just a natural liar, or if he had just had a lot of practice.
As we gathered for practice that afternoon, I faced a dilemma. How were things going to be between Percy and me? I felt a little awkward. I walked onto the field to find Percy joking around with Beck and the Stoll twins.
At first, I was shocked that the two wide receivers didn't get first string. Sure, Coach had said that it wasn't final yet, and they could still play for spots, but those two were unbelievably good. They were fast, tricky, and unpredictable, which made the QB's job hell, but I really wouldn't have minded dealing with them. Besides, Percy seemed to be able to handle them as QB last year, so why shouldn't I be able to take them on?
Speaking of the devil, I was still perplexed about how he could go on so casually with so much pain. I got this weird feeling I had trouble placing at first. Respect, maybe? This had me pretty much freaking out. I had never, in my life, thought I would feel anything but loathing for my rival, but here I was looking at the man with new eyes, searching for any telltale sign of pain without any success.
Coach Hedge worked us hard, very hard. I felt completely numb as I trudged into the locker room. Everyone was already there because Coach wanted a quick word about some play. However, I never expected the sight of about twenty half-naked guys freaking out to Green Day's Viva La Gloria, complete with Percy and Will standing on a bench, singing along in perfect pitch, mind you. The other guys were all banging on their lockers to the beat of the song. Bang-bang. Bang. Wait. Bang. Bang. Bang-bang.
The sound was deafening, but also oddly comforting at the same time. It made you feel invincible. Suddenly the music cut off, and the whole locker room fell silent. Coach hedge was standing next to Jake Mason, the guy's phone, attached to some impressive looking speakers, in his hands.
"You may continue on your own time, cupcakes," he said, handing Jake's phone back. He then raised an eyebrow at Percy and Will, who were frozen on the bench. They both sprang to the floor like military soldiers. I was maybe even a little surprised they didn't salute him.
"Now, after today's practice, I can safely say that all of you need some big improvement concerning fitness, discipline..." he eyed the Stoll twins "...and teamwork," he came to a stop in the middle of a room. "I will now read out the training pairs," he said, looking down at his clipboard. There were a few murmurs around the room. A few questions of 'Training pairs?' "These training pairs will, as the name suggests, train together, especially in the gym, spotting each other. I suggest you and your partner become good friends because you are going to spend a lot of time together."
"Charles and Frank. Dakota and Butch," he kept rambling, listing the names until he finally came to my name. "Jason and Percy," he kept on reading off names while I was busy screaming inwardly. Why? Why did it have to be Percy? Coach Hedge finished off reading the names and then looked up at the team.
"If you're unhappy, keep it to yourself. You were assigned to the person whose training schedule is the most similar to your own." With that, he went off to his office, leaving silence in his wake. I turned back to the guys just to see them all staring back at me. Then all eyes turned to Percy, who had his eyes fixed on his shoes.
"Well, this should be interesting," one of the Stolls said with a chuckle. The whole locker room relaxed at that, going back to undressing and hitting the showers. I went to my locker to get ready as well, vaguely aware of Percy, two lockers to my right.
He looked busy, but I realised he was just stalling, never taking off his clothes. That just made me remember the bruises. I still couldn't understand how the guy could even walk, and to make things even more confusing; I still couldn't find any signs of pain: not a limp, wince, or even some form of difficulty in his movements.
I went to shower and came back to find the locker room nearly empty. Percy, however, was still in his pants and a tank top. I suddenly realised just how nice those pants fit him. Percy really did have a nice ass. I shook that confusing thought off as soon as it popped into my head. I started getting dressed but found myself stalling a bit as well. Soon I was alone with Percy.
"I know why I'm stalling, but why are you?" Percy asked, turning to face me.
"Just wanted to talk," I answered as I pulled on my shirt.
"It couldn't wait till later?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. "I mean, we are neighbours, after all."
"Yeah, guess I didn't think it through," I said, rubbing at my neck. Percy was still staring at me with a raised eyebrow. "See you later then, I guess," I said as I awkwardly gathered up my things and headed for the door. I was just about out when Percy spoke up.
"I'll stop by on my way back, yeah?" he asked, looking at me for confirmation.
"Yeah," I said with a nod. Percy gave me one last smirk before he ripped his shirt over his head and effectively giving me a very lovely few of his glorious abs and shutting me up.
"You know you can go, right?" Percy asked, a cocky grin plastered on his face, and I suddenly realised I was still standing there, eyes glued to the patch of skin Percy had just revealed.
"Yeah," I said, fumbling as I head out again. "See you in a while." With that, I was out the door and almost sprinted back to the flat, not sure what had just happened. I've always known I didn't like girls, but I had never really noticed another guy's body before, and, of course, it just had to be Percy's body I would take note of, right? The fates are cruel like that. When I walked in, I found Frank playing GTA on the coach.
"Oh, hey," he said, quickly glancing back at me. "I made pasta. If you want some, it's still on the stove," he said, hijacking someone.
"Thanks. Just so you know, Percy's coming over soon to talk for a bit." His head snapped back around to me, and he crashed an expensive-looking car in the act of doing so.
"You're telling me that Percy Jackson is coming to talk to you, Jason Grace?" he asked, his game wholly forgotten.
"Yeah, we need to sort a few things out," I said with a shrug.
"You two have a lot of things to sort out, but why are you suddenly trying to do it?" he asked with a raised eyebrow. I rolled my eyes at him.
"I meant training things, but to answer your question, Coach did tell us to befriend our 'training buddies,' so I'm going to try to be at least civil toward him," I said, walking off to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water, eyeing the burnt spaghetti on the stove. How do you even burn spaghetti? Just make sure there's water in the pot, and you're golden. But true enough, there it was, spaghetti with black burnt specks.
"History shows us that you were never the problem, Jase," Frank said, hopping onto the counter. "You were always civil toward him, he on the other hand," Frank continued, rolling his eyes. There was silence between us. A few days ago, I would have agreed with my roommate, but now I felt strangely protective of the raven-haired guy.
"Maybe it was all just one big misunderstanding, Frank," I said, and Frank's eyes got big.
"Are you trying to protect..." Frank was cut off by a loud knock on the door.
"Behave," I mouthed as I went to open the door. I met green eyes and an ever-present smirk.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Percy said, strolling right into the flat. Frank went back to his game, and the space was soon filled by the sound of screeching tires.
"Maybe we should go to my room," I said, already heading down the hall. Percy followed with a shrug. As we stepped into my room, he froze, though.
"Can I ask you a serious question?" he asked, still standing in the door. I furrowed my eyebrows at that but still managed to nod. "Do you ever just relax?" he asked, waving his hands around the room. "Cause it looks like a fucking robot lives here." I looked around. The room was tidy, as always. I had no idea what was wrong with it, and apparently, it showed because Percy let out a sigh and fell onto my bed. "Never mind," he mumbled into the mattress.
"So what did you want to talk about, Grace?" he asked, closing his eyes. A million questions popped into my head as I sat down in my desk chair.
"Does Coach know about your..." I tried to think of the best way to phrase it so he wouldn't snap at me and leave "...condition?" I asked only to have him quirk an eyebrow at me.
"Fuck, you make it sound like I'm pregnant or something," he sighed as he sat up. "But no, he doesn't and doesn't have to, yeah?" he asked, looking at me with almost pleading eyes.
"How are you even walking? Not to mention playing football," I asked, spinning the chair to face Percy.
"I was lucky," he answered, his eyes falling to his lap. "It was just a minor fracture, which means I only have to wear a brace. That and I have some fucking awesome painkillers," he let out a chuckle.
"Is it the reason you didn't try out for QB?" I asked in a small voice. I was scared of the answer, but I just had to know. If Coach could choose between Percy and me for QB, I knew Percy would be selected on the spot.
"Nope," he said, popping the 'p.' I let out a sigh of relief that earned a smirk from Percy. "I only played QB last year because Luke graduated, and we didn't really have another option for QB. Well, at least not an option that could beat your sorry ass, but really I prefer running back," he said with a small smile. "Anything else?" he asked a little more brightly.
"You're being nice to me, you know," I said, and he seemed to consider that bit of information. "Why are you so talkative?" He shrugged back at me.
"As I said, Grace, I don't hate you, and you're going to be my QB," he said as if that answered my question. He must have noticed I wanted more of an explanation because he continued with a sigh. "I thought I might try being at least civil because there can't really be a rivalry between teammates, right?" he asked with a small smile.
We kept talking for quite some time. Percy asked me about Reyna; I gave him the rehearsed story of 'she joined the military.' He told me Annabeth got a scholarship at Oxford, and they decided the distance was just too great to keep dating. He said he's studying marine biology, and I told him I was doing law.
We talked about random things like we were friends, and I started noticing a few things. One was that Percy Jackson was quite a nice person, even if he cursed too much. Another was that I liked his smile, and I liked making him smile. I also found that my new favourite colour was green, specifically those sea-green eyes that kept staring at me.
That, my dear friends, is how I found myself lying in my bed at two in the morning, still smelling the faint scent Percy Jackson had left on my pillow, thinking about said raven-haired boy, my hand inching lower and lower.
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