Tough Love

Chapter 38

Jason's P.O.V

The past few days Percy has been acting a bit off. I can't really describe it but he just seems a little distant. Despite talking to all of us and getting back into his training, he always seems to be thinking of something else. I don't want to pressure him into telling me but if this continues I have to confront him about it.

That's not the only thing though. He has been ignoring certain subjects and is often found with Nico and Jacob, whispering about things. What's so important that I can't know? Well that's what I would like to know. In all ends, Percy is just acting... off. And quiet frankly I am getting worried for him. He has to trust me. He has to let me in.

A hand waved in front of my face, pulling me from my thoughts, "Earth to Jason! You home thunder head?!" Leo screamed in my ear making me jump at the sudden noise.

Rubbing my now ringing ear, I glared at Leo who smiled triumphantly, "The fuck, Valdez?"

"You were staring at Percy..." Hazel's voice rang to the left of me. Turning to face her she had a frown on her face, "You have been glaring at him for the past hour. When Percy is here everything seems fine, but when he is gone you monitor his every movement. You make sure he is never out of your eyesight. What is going on between you two?" she asked worryingly

I looked down at the pitchfork in my hand and sighed. Going back to what I was doing before I dozed off, feeding hay to Pegasus, "Nothing happened between us. I am just worried for him."

Leo snorted as he put new horseshoes on the hooves of the Pegasus, "Jason, we know when you are lying." Hazel hummed in agreement as she combed their manes. I slumped my shoulders and Leo tossed his tools, "There is no point in lying to us. Now spill it. What is wrong with you and Percy?"

I groan and stab the pitchfork into the ground, "I wasn't lying when I said nothing happened between us. We haven't had any kind of fallout. Its just Percy...."

"What about Percy?" Hazel asked setting her comb down to listen.

Sighing heavily I leaned against one of the pillars in the stable, "He has been off....every time I ask how he is doing he says he is fine. Every time I ask about how he is dealing with the new changes in his body he quickly changes the subject..." I shove my hands into my pockets, "I have no clue what thoughts he has running through his head and i'm just worried for him. I don't want him to relapse and fall back into a depressed state of mind. I want him to let me in but it's kinda hard to do that when he refuses to tell me anything."

They were quite for a good solid minute, clearly not sure how to respond to this. The atmosphere grew heavy and the silence was unbearable. Clearing his throat in hopes to get away from this awkwardness, Leo attempted to change the subject, "So umm.... so when are you planing on proposing? I didn't work hard on that ring for nothing you know." He chuckled nervously.

Hazel on the other hand decided to dwell deeper into my personal problems, completely dismissing Leo's attempts she cleaned her hands on her pants, "So Percy is acting weird around you...? Have you ever thought it was because he is simply overwhelmed? Or that he has something to tell you but doesn't know how to say it?" She asked and again ignored Leo arguing with her about continuing this conversation.

I looked at the ground and poked at the hay with the tip of my shoe, "I thought that may be it....but I never thought to ask him..."

The curly haired girl sighed in annoyance, "You two are so bad at communicating with each other. Okay how about I talk to Percy and I will get back to you on it?" I bit the inside of my cheek and nodded, "Good because I was going to do it anyways." She pushed a strand of hair behind her ear and gave Leo and I a smile, "In the meantime, Leo why don't you help Jason with his communication skills. Maybe when he learns; he and Percy can stop having so many problems." With that she walked out of the stables.