#but particularly

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Jason eyed down his opponent- a friend, of course, but was then his opponent- and witnessed the rolling and stretching of lean muscles before they sprawled themselves like a starfish on the ground, sword clanking on the ground next to him. There was a telltale smirk on his face and Jason couldn’t help but call out, “Does that mean I win? I’m still stand-” 

He hit the ground with a resounding thump. His laugh came easily.

“Perce.” He groaned, and yet he couldn’t seem to stop smiling. 

“What?” Percy grinned back and Jason wanted to wipe it off his face. “Since we’re both on the ground, guess there’s really no official winner, huh?”  

“I was the one who knocked you down first!”

“If you’ll remember correctly, I wanted to be on the ground, not because I was tired. And now I have you here to chill with me.” 

Internally, Jason knew that both just started in their fight and neither were tired or even really got going. He knew Percy only challenged him to a fight because it seemed to be the only way they could see each other lately. Amidst having to take care of other campers, fun yet threatening camp activities, and enjoying the downtime that was not dealing with a quest (for once), they settled into their respective friend groups with the only thing bringing them together was the need to exercise their strength.

It satiated him, somewhat, this dance of swords between them, but something in him urged for more during their fights. 

He remembered the sheer power it took him and Percy to create an amazing storm. The air and the water convulged to work together under their pure strength. Even though it was tiring and exhausting afterwards, the thrill of it was something he felt hammered through him in times where he wished he could go all out again.

“Do you think-” He turned to Percy, who he realized was already facing him, and he wondered if those sea green eyes were staring at him the whole time. He felt himself gulp at the thought. “-we could try something?”

Percy blinked. He seemed to study his face, before his lips pulled upward at finding whatever it was looking for. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking we could try using our powers together again. There was something about that time, going all out, that I want to go back to when we aren’t fighting for our lives. I think it’d be fun.”

There’s a moment of silence. Percy’s face seemed to tinge darker, as if getting sunburnt (which was impossible), and his hand seemed to unconsciously reach for rubbing his neck. “Oh.”

Jason raised an eyebrow at this very odd response. The only reason Percy would act like this was because he was embarrassed. He smirked. “What did you think I was going to say?”

“I don’t know.” Percy immediately spat out.

“Your idea seems really cool. It’d be awesome to combine our powers again.” 

Percy got up suddenly, and looked down at Jason earnestly. “Dude, I need this. We gotta make this happen.”

Jason couldn’t help feeling pleased about his behaviour. The moment they agreed on something always felt monumental to him.