A/N: Before you read the actual story, I would like to say a few things. I wrote this story years back in 2016 and, to be honest, as with most of my old fics, I am not proud of it. When I migrated to AO3, I decided not to re-post my old fics, for several reasons. This one here in particular is one I wouldn't write again today.

The entire 'he bullies you because he likes you' trope is overused and incredibly harmful. Bullying is a serious issue and if somebody only knows to express their affection that way, they might want to seek help. Either way, it cannot be the basis for a healthy relationship.

I have decided against deleting any of my old fics, rather preserving them for archiving purposes (bit of a 'stand by what you've said / written' stuff in there), but instead preface it with this updated author's note. You have been warned. Proceed at your own discretion. Original A/N below.

— AmberMX (formerly HashtagMC), 26 Oct 2019

A/N: I'm not really satisfied with the title, but was the best I could come up with. The actual author's note is at the bottom of the story. Read and review, please!

Ugh. Jason should have really not let Percy challenge him to run lapses around the field of Mars. Jupiter knows where Percy's stamina stemmed from. This was, like, the twentieth round they ran around the – really big – field, and Percy wasn't even as much as panting, while Jason felt every single muscle in his body ache and scream in protest. Finally, he stopped, panting hard as he waited for his breath to slow down.

'Already tired, Grace? Wouldn't have thought our Golden Boy would go down so soon!'

Even his voice doesn't sound the slightest bit exhausted, thought Jason. Perseus 'goddamn perfect' Jackson. It was really annoying.

'We should have bet about this, Grace. I would be a rich man!'

Jason managed to choke out a, 'dream on, Jackson' before his knees buckled and he feel down on all fours. Groaning, he forced his aching body to get up again and keep running. He would not. Let. Jackson. Exceed him. Never.

Fifteen minutes later, Jason had to admit: He had let Percy exceed him. When Percy had passed him from behind, having one whole round advantage, he had given up and watched Percy finishing his thirty rounds. Now Percy

'Tired already?' Percy taunted. 'Come on, I'll carry you to the city.' And to Jason's endless embarrassment, he picked Jason up and carried him to New Rome bridal-style. Jason fought back, and squirmed, but somewhere halfway to the city, he gave up and prepared himself for the laughter that would inevitably follow once Percy set foot into the city with Jason in his arms.

But the laughter didn't come, because Percy had the consideration to let Jason out of his arms before they reached the gates of New Rome. Jason was so surprised, gaping at Percy, that he would prefer to die from embarrassment right now.

'Dude, I know I'm amazing, but I think your staring is making me a bit uncomfortable.'

Jason forced a snort. 'Amazing? Have you recently looked into the mirror?' But the retort was only half-heartedly.

'Come on now, we don't want to miss the wonderful sight of our respective ex sucking faces with each other, right?' Percy made a fake-gagging noise. 'If that's what Annabeth and I have been looking all the time… ugh.'

Jason nodded. 'That's exactly what you and Annabeth were like. Though I doubt me and Piper were any better.'

Everybody had been pretty shocked when the two dream-team couples had simultaneously broken up. And Jason couldn't deny that he felt a bit left out among all his friends now, he and Percy being the only singles. That had to be how Leo had felt all the time between Piper and him. He had mentioned that the other day, but the Latino had brushed it off, jokingly pointing out that he was catching up on the whole couple thing with Calypso.

Cut

'Jason, you're with us?' Piper's voice jolted the son of Jupiter out of his thoughts. 'Uh, what?' He hadn't really paid attention to his friends' conversation.

'We – as in, Annabeth, Piper and me – are going to the beach for a swim, and Piper just asked if you wanted to join us! But I'm totally fine with it if you're busy staring at your plate with dreamy eyes. Shall we call a priest, so you can marry this gorgeous piece of toast?' Percy's taunting hurt Jason. It hurt more than physical injuries. Why did the son of Poseidon have to be so mean?

'I'll come with you' Jason decided, and he was pleased to see a surprised look in Percy's eyes. 'But don't expect me to join you in diving each other underwater.'

'Aw, is Sparky scared of water?' Percy cooed. 'Don't be scared, Sparky-Spark. Percy can protect you from bad-bad water.' He burst into laughter.

Jason felt like crying right now. 'Go – go ahead' he croaked. 'I'll catch up with you.' As soon as his friends were out of sight, he bolted from the Dining Pavilion, not stopping until he was inside Cabin One. He hated Percy Jackson. He hated him for taunting him like that. He had never done anything to offend the boy, yet he kept laughing at Jason and making fun of him. People had described Perseus Jackson as a born leader to him, a guy who was easy to get along with. Apparently, this did not apply for sons of Jupiter. During the whole let's-save-the-world-quest, Percy had been nothing but competitive, and Jason had played along, hoping Percy would grow tired of it. Nope. He just kept teasing Jason, showing the younger teenager that he was better in so many ways. Jason would have admitted that Percy Jackson was better than him anyway, without the bullying. He could control water in an amazing way and was so much more powerful than Jason. He was the best swordsman Jason had ever fought, and the fact that they had fought just showed how easy it was to set them against each other. It had taken nothing more than two evil spirits to have the rivalry between them live up and have them at each other's throat.

Jason wished nothing more but for this rivalry to end. He would be happy to step back and let Percy take his place at the top. He didn't mind. But Percy seemed to be zeroed in on proving himself and humiliating Jason. It made Jason cry. Because, besides the whole bullying, he admired Percy Jackson. Not only he was more a hero than Jason would ever be, and – during the two wars, at least – the most selfless person Jason had ever had the pleasure of meeting, but he was also drop-dead gorgeous. He was tall, his eyes had a unique shade of sea-green, he was muscular, and just handsome in general.

Worst of all: Despite the fact that Percy was humiliating him every day, Jason felt drawn towards the black-haired teenager. He was, to sum it up, crushing on someone who had nothing better to do but to destroy his self-esteem every day.

Cut

'We're going for a ride with the Pegasi, Jason. Are you coming with us?' It was nice that Annabeth asked, but Jason wished nothing more than to stay away from Percy. He wouldn't survive another day in the presence of this selfish asshole who had stolen his heart. But while he was still trying to come up with a believable excuse, Percy's voice interrupted his thoughts.

'Don't tell me you're scared of heights, Jason. What is it with the children of Zeus being afraid of heights? Don't think I can catch you if you fall down?'

That settled the matter; Jason was so not going to ignore this challenge. 'In your dreams, kelp-head' he grunted, calling for his ventus friend, Tempest. Every now in a while, he would ask the spirit to carry him, and on good days, the ventus would appear. As usual, it took him some time to answer.

'Aw, is your cloud pony not coming? Should I give you a ride on Blackjack, Sparks?'

Just then, Tempest appeared, effectively shutting Percy up. Satisfied a bit, Jason glared at Percy.

The ride with the Pegasi was actually a lot of fun, and usually, Jason would have enjoyed this. But now he was busy glaring daggers at the back of Percy's head, tempted to toss the asshole off his flying horse and let Percy be the one who needed help for a change. The image of him having to catch Percy was really nice. Maybe it would help keep Percy's mouth shut. On the other hand, he certainly didn't want to get skinned alive for almost killing the Hero of Olympus.

Annabeth had picked some spot on Long Island for a picnic, and Jason used the time to separate himself from the group. He certainly didn't need more time in the presence of Percy 'I like bullying' Jackson. However, he didn't notice that Piper followed him as he strolled through the forest, careful not to loose sight of the group.

'It's really getting to you, isn't it? Percy's bragging.' Jason spun around at the sound of Piper's voice. After he'd recovered from the shock, his rage took over.

'Bragging? You call this – this asshole's behaviour bragging? That's fucking bullying! He's humiliating me whenever and wherever he can! He is constantly making fun of me! He laughs at me whenever I do something embarrassing or stupid, and not the funny kind of laughing. He finds my suffering amusing! He is abusing me as a target for his insults and bad jokes! He uses every opportunity to raise himself above me and prove how oh-so-wonderful he is! I've been crying myself to sleep on days when he was especially bad! And if he'd know, he'd only make even more fun of me! I fucking hate him!' His voice cracked at the end of his monologue, and he broke down, sobs shaking his now lean chest. He had lost weight over the past months, because he had barely shown up during meals anymore, trying to avoid the son of the sea god.

Piper knelt down next to him, wiping his tears away with a tissue. 'You should talk this out' she said sympathetically. 'It can only help,' she raised her hand to prevent him from interrupting her, 'because, as I understand it, it can't really be any worse. Right?' Jason nodded, tears forcing their way into his eyes again.

'Promise me you'll talk to him' Piper demanded.

'I – I promise. Today.'

Cut – Later that day

'See? I can balance two s'mores on my nose! You owe me ten bucks!' Percy's laughter sounded through the amphitheatre as he collected the money from his friends.

'I bet two bucks Blondie over there can't do this!' Jason did his best to ignore the laughter that was sent his way and to hold back the tears. Now now, he told himself. He could cry when he was back in his cabin, as he did almost every night. Impatiently, he waited until all campers were gone, the only ones still there being Annabeth, Piper, and, of course, Percy. Jason watched them from his seat at the last row of the amphitheatre – he was pretty sure no one besides Piper had seen that he was still there. Eventually, Percy stood up, announcing loudly that he would call it a night and go to bed. Quietly, Jason stood up and followed Percy towards the cabins.

'Why do you keep doing this to me?'

At least, Jason had managed to surprise Percy. Or rather, scare.

'Jeez, Grace, you almost gave me heart attack!' Percy exclaimed. 'And what do you mean with "doing that"?'

Now Jason was unable to hold the tears back any longer. 'Bully me! Humiliate me every single day I have to spend on this goddamn planet! Laughing at me! Making fun of me! Enjoying to embarrass me! Over the past months, you have done nothing but insulting me! What do you think you're doing? Do you think you have to prove yourself by destroying me? You don't have to! I know that you're better than I will ever be, so no need to rub it in on every opportunity! If it makes you happy, I'd announce that in front of the whole camp! So why?'

'Are you… crying?' Percy asked incredulously.

'Of course I am crying!' Jason spat. 'I am crying myself to sleep every single evening because you are torturing me! Happy now? "Oh, I made the Golden Boy cry! I'm a hero!" Is that what you think, Perseus fucking Jackson?'

'I'm sorry.'

As if he hadn't been angry before, now Jason exploded. 'You're sorry? You bully me, you make every single day of my fucking life a fucking hell for months, and then you have the audacity to say that you're sorry? Do you think that's funny? Torture me until I'm almost destroyed and then you apologise? Do you think you can play this game with me, Jackson?' Angrily, he pushed the older demigod away. Percy stumbled and fell into a puddle of mud, soaking his clothes. He didn't seem to care, he stood up as if his clothes weren't covered in dirt.

'Jason… I'm sorry. Please. I'm fucking sorry, and I know you won't forgive me, but please at least believe me that I'm sorry!'

The son of Jupiter was so surprised, he stopped sobbing. 'You… you called me Jason' he stuttered. Percy shrugged, shuffling his feet. 'Well… that's your name, right?'

'But… you never call me Jason. You say Sparky, or Golden Boy, or Grace, or worse names' Jason stammered.

'Right' Percy muttered. 'Look, Jason – at least give me a chance to explain myself. Please.'

Jason glared at him, waiting two full minutes before he broke the silence. It should have felt good to have Percy begging in front of him. But it didn't.

'Fine. I'm all ears.'

'You… you make me feel insecure.' Jason sent him a disbelieving look. 'Really? That's your excuse?' He snorted.

'Please, Jason, hear me out!' Percy pleaded. Reluctantly, Jason nodded.

'You – you're everything I never was, and – and I feel so worthless around you. You're practically rubbing in everything I have done wrong. You – you've been there for Nico when he needed you, and I haven't. You led the others when I had failed them. You led your people to destroy Mount Orthrys while all I had to do was hand Luke a dagger. And – you can fly and do all sorts of amazing stuff, everybody likes you and such stuff – I felt like a total nobody when you were around. So – so I kept up that competitive façade. I – I thought when I kept challenging you, nobody would see how much of a nobody I am. And when the war was over, I thought – I thought if I kept insulting you, you would hate me so much that – that the feelings would go away!'

Jason frowned. This had so not been what he had been expecting. Percy had just described pretty much the same experiences he had felt whenever he was around the son of Poseidon. Yet…

'Feelings?'

'Yes' Percy whispered. 'F-Feelings.' He was crying, too, now. 'I – I fell in love with you, Jason. I'm such a hypocrite and a loser. I – I told Nico that I had no problem with him being gay after he confessed to me, but I was freaked out of myself when – when I found I love a guy. It m-made my breakup with Annabeth easier, I guess.' He sniffed. 'B-But, I s-swear, I didn't – didn't want to m-make you cry, and I'm so, so sorry, Jason. And – and I understand if you w-want nothing to do with me now.'

'You are so stupid!' Jason exclaimed. 'We could be together for months now if you would have just told me!'

'We – what?'

Jason cupped Percy's face with his hands. 'Do you know what made the past months the hardest?' he whispered. 'I wanted to hate you, but I couldn't, Percy. Because I was and am in love with you.' He let one of his hands wander down to take Percy's hands in his. 'Will you be my boyfriend, Percy?'

The glint of hope in Percy's eyes was unmistakable. 'You – you would still want me as your b-boyfriend, after – after everything I've done?' Percy stuttered, averting his eyes.

'Yes, Percy. I forgive you. I'm in love with you, and now that I know that you like me back, I would be stupid to let that opportunity slip.'

Guilt and rue were written all over Percy's face. 'I – I'm not worthy of your love' he whispered. 'But if you still want me – then, yes, I'll be your boyfriend.' He looked up. 'Can – can I kiss you?'

'Yes, Percy you can' Jason breathed before he brought their lips together. Gods, this felt so good. Jason had never kissed a guy before, and he had absolutely no idea what to do, so he tried to move his lips along with Percy, hoping the black-haired boy would understand that Jason expected him to take the lead. Apparently, he did, because soon, Jason found himself shoved against the next wall, Percy's tongue touching Jason's lip. Willingly, Jason parted his lips and allowed Percy to explore his mouth. It was unfamiliar, but totally amazing.

Neither of them wanted to part, but eventually, the need for air won. Panting heavily, Jason rested his head on Percy's shoulder. It felt good to be the smaller one who was resting his head on someone's shoulder instead of having someone's head rested on his shoulder.

Even with Percy's arms wrapped around him, Jason shivered from the cold. Percy didn't fail to notice.

'You should go inside, otherwise you'll catch a cold or something.' With that, he picked Jason up and carried him in the direction of Cabin One. And for once, Jason didn't protest. Being carried by his boyfriend was something completely different than being carried by his worst rival, right?

Cut – Epilogue – The next day

'Jason! Wake up and get your lazy ass out of your bed!' Piper's voice woke up, and he opened his eyes just in time to see Piper step into his cabin. 'I can't find Percy anywhere. I hope you haven't murdered him and are hiding his corpse inside your cabin?' She let her gaze travel through the cabin as she hoped to find a dead Percy under his bed. Just on cue, Percy poked his head out of the blanket, causing Piper to scream and jump back. 'Ugh. Too loud, too early' the son of Poseidon mumbled.

'Percy! Jason! What exactly is Percy doing in your bed?'

Jason grinned. 'I thought it was obvious.' He snuggled up to Percy. 'I'm cuddling with my boyfriend.'

Piper gaped at them before she burst into giggles. 'That's not what I expected when I said you should talk this out' she choked out between to laughs.

'Go away' Percy mumbled, still drowsy from sleep. 'I want to kiss my boyfriend good morning, and you are way too loud for this ungodly hour.' He let his head fall back onto the pillow, his eyes falling shut again.

'Well, I'll leave you and your boyfriend alone, Jason' Piper said with a wink. 'Don't do anything inappropriate.'

'PIPER!'

After Piper had left, Jason smiled fondly at the sleeping son of Poseidon before placing a gentle kiss on the older boy's lips.

'Look who's kissing whom good morning now' he mumbled into Percy's ear.

'Shut up and cuddle me, you idiot.'

How could Jason refuse that?

A/N 2: I think I have found my individual recipe for mixing oneshots. Ingredients: Have a flash of inspiration, stay up until 1 am, listen to Breaking Benjamin. Keep mixing all the ingredients, and after three hours, you have written a 3,4k words Jercy oneshot.

This story is not exactly what I had planned when I began writing this. Originally, I had planned that Percy would do something unexpected each time after harassing Jason, sending him mixed signals. That can be seen at the beginning of the story, when he lets Jason down before they reach the city, successfully not making a fool out of Jason. But, in the end, Percy decided not to follow my instructions. Blame him.

Also, I was actually crying while I wrote the part where Jason confronts Percy. Does that mean the story is good? Tell me!