The entire morning, Hadrian had also noticed that Hazel had been a little wary of him. He didn't know what her deal was but according to Annabeth who had talked to Percy (since Hadrian didn't want to go seek out Percy to talk to him) Hazel was technically dead. No one really talked about it, they never acknowledged it, but everyone knew it.
She'd died in the early 1940s which was a wild thing to wrap anyone's head around. Hadrian wondered how she was coping. It must not have been easy- dying at such a young age and then being resurrected somehow in a completely different era.
So what if she was side eyeing him? What if she kept looking at him like he was walking around naked? This must all be so weird for her. Or maybe it was the eyeliner.
Hadrian wondered if he'd pushed it. He wondered how long it would take the demigods on board to all find out he was pan and how long after that they would start to call him slurs. Percy and Jason seemed decent, but everyone pretended to be nice at first.
"Can I ask you something?" Hazel spoke up. She was almost halfway across the deck, but her voice carried since there was no other noises around them. In fact there was nothing around them at all, for miles and miles. Oh gods he was turning into a full american- he meant kilometers and kilometers of course.
Hadrian shrugged. He'd been doing that a lot.
"Why do you- why did you put the eyeliner on? I hope I'm not being rude"
"I think I look good" Hadrian said. "I like the creative part, it's fun and it makes my eyes pop. Why?"
"No reason"
Of course there was a reason. A reason Hazel seemed wary. She had been decent yesterday when he was flirting with her for fun, but now Hadrian wasn't sure if he wanted to stay on deck one second longer than he needed to.
He'd take his suffocating room over the awkwardness on deck.
She's from the 1940s. He tried to tell himself. He wasn't making excuses for Hazel, but he was very well aware how homophobic, racist and sexist those times had been. She'd take a bit longer to adjust.
Maybe he should just hold off on the makeup and nail polish. He almost slapped himself at the thought. Since when did he give a shit about what others thought of him?
Why should Hadrian have to sacrifice something he liked to do so she wouldn't be uncomfortable?
And besides, Hazel knew what it was like to be discriminated against, she definitely had it way worse than him in those times. She'd come around. Hopefully.
"Do you-" Frank began and Hadrian almost groaned. Oh gods this was going to be bad, he could tell already. "Do you like anyone on board?"
The way he said it, Hadrian could tell if he wanted to ask if Hadrian liked him. Gods he may be queer but he had standards or so he liked to think.
"Yes I'm madly in love with Coach Hedge" Hadrian deadpanned, "Just because I'm queer doesn't mean I'm falling for every guy or girl I see" He snapped. He'd just said those words to Percy yesterday, and apparently the son of Poseidon had thought the same thing because he flinched when Hadrian said it.
He was so fucking tired of saying that all the time. He usually tried to be polite, tried to explain it to straight people. But they never put in the same effort, never gave him more thought than needed, never tried to see how hurtful their words could be.
Gods, this really was a bad idea. Could he just shove Frank off board and offer him a sacrifice to Gaea? Surely a Greek primordial didn't give a shit about things like sexual orientation.
"I'm sorry I just-"
"Forget it" Hadrian rolled his eyes. He swallowed the words he wanted to spit out and turned to Jason. He pulled out the polaroid camera he had brought along (so what if he charmspoke Hermes kids to steal it for him?)
Before the battle of Manhattan, before the battle of the Labyrinth, before all of it, Hadrian had a photography phase. It wasn't anything grand, just mostly photos he took of Kira and their girlfriend. He still had those photos, in a shoebox under his bed. The actual photos had gotten destroyed months ago but then one day the shoebox had shown up at his cabin and he'd sobbed when he opened it. He had no doubt Gaea was behind it, but frankly, he didn't give a fuck.
Hadrian shook his head, trying to push back memories. He needed to get these demigods to like him, to trust him. He had been pushed around enough, he'd dealt with hundreds of people like Frank, he wasn't special.
Jason was one person Hadrian would have to befriend first of all. He was a born leader as a son of Jupiter. He was also a great warrior and just an all around experienced demigod. He could work his way down from Jason.
Hadrian aimed the camera at him and Percy. A slight click startled the two as they watched the picture print. The two looked so similar- not in their physical appearance, but the way they held themselves, the weight of the world on their backs, the pressure to be great.
"Hey!" Jason rolled his eyes. Ever since Hadrian had stitched him up, he seemed friendly. "That wasn't my good side"
Hadrian grinned, thankful that someone on board wasn't a total dick. He walked over to them, pushing Percy aside as he slid next to Jason.
He didn't want to push it, but he pressed their cheeks together, "Say cheese!"
He tried to ignore the uncomfortable atmosphere from earlier and focused on the picture as it printed and fell out in his hand. He couldn't help a snort as he saw the end result.
Jason's cheek was squished and his mouth was half open, his eyes wide in shock. He looked so taken aback, like a grandpa who had just discovered something dirty.
"This is golden I'm putting this on my wall"
"No, Hadrian! I won't ever talk to you if you do that" Jason called after him, trying to pull him back but he was already moving towards Hazel. The best way to make friends was to swallow your pride and act friendly even if you weren't.
"You act like I care whether or not you talk to me, Jason" Hadrian rolled his eyes and turned towards Hazel, leaning down to come face to face with her, "color color which color do you want?"
"I don't think you can pull off a turquoise" She challenged.
Hadrian shook his head and laughed, "Oh sweetheart, there's nothing I can't pull off." Without another word, he shoved the camera into Frank's hands and posed with Hazel.
His arm was around her shoulder, and he tried to be respectful, at least until she grabbed his waist and pulled him closer. So he guessed the hostility from earlier was wearing off. The subsequent picture was beautiful, Hadrian's eyebrows had flown up in surprise and Hazel's hand was visible grabbing his waist while they both threw up peace signs.
"Does he always do this?" Frank groaned as he clicked.
"I've only known him for three months, but yeah" Jason sighed, "Unfortunately that's technically his power"
"That's right, I'm too hot to be handled" Hadrian swooned dramatically and beckoned Frank to take a photo of him like that. Gods he could be vain. But damn he looked hot so he deserved some photos.
Percy watched all the interactions from a safe distance away, he really didn't want to be dragged into a photo while Hadrian grabbed his waist or something equally mortifying. Besides, his mind kept drifting to the quest and to Annabeth.
The two designated smart people were working away in the engine room so Percy didn't really have a lot to do. Sure he had hobbies, but he couldn't exactly skateboard here or go for a quick swim.
After Hadrian was done torturing the other demigods, he brushed past Percy to go below deck. Despite himself, Percy felt offended. Hadrian had flirted with practically everyone else (except maybe Frank) why not him?
But then again, Percy had this nagging feeling about the boy. There was just something about him Percy couldn't put a finger on. Maybe he recognized him from somewhere before?
After getting his memory wiped by Hera, his past life seemed a bit fuzzy. Some of his memories were downright forgotten. He hated that. Hated how the gods thought they had any right to do that.
He did however remember just before he had been plucked from his bed. He had been planning with Grover to ask Annabeth out. Sure they had kissed once before, but that was when she thought he was going to die. Did that even count?
Hadrian would know.
A/N:
Listen, either you'll like Jason in this fic or you won't. But I think he's pretty cool all things considered. He's just a little blond dumbass. Plus I'm living for Hadrian becoming friends with all the crew
Also Percy being like: Why doesn't Hadrian flirt with me???