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Percy wakes up in the infirmary in Camp Half Blood. He knows this immediately because he has practically memorized the ceiling of the Big House from all the times he’s been here in this exact bed.
“We should reserve this bed for you,” Annabeth had said once. Guess they really made good on that promise.
The door opens and a sharp exhale of, “Percy!” is his only warning before Annabeth rushed over towards him. She stops short at the edge of his bed, thankfully, because Percy doesn’t think his ribs could take a hug right now.
“What happened?” Even as he asks that, flashes of the last mission come to his mind. Percy groans. “This is the last time I’m going on a quest with Jason.”
One Big Three demigod attracts enough monsters. Who’s bright idea was it to send two?
Oh right. Maybe this was Hera’s way of getting rid of them both.
“You tell me,” Annabeth says. “You were unconscious when Jason dragged you here.”
Percy grimaces and fills her up on the details. At least they managed to complete the quest.
“Where is Jason?” Percy asks when he’s done. Last he remembers, Jason was injured too.
“Will’s looking after him right now. You can go see him if you want.” Annabeth looks very reluctant as she says it, and it’s not like Percy’s keen on leaving her side either. But he needs to see that Jason’s alright with his own eyes.
“Just for a little bit,” he promises and gets up from the bed, slowly to not jostle his still healing ribs.
He enters the other room just in time to hear Will shout in exasperation, “How do you not notice that your wound is poisoned?!”
At the door, Percy tenses. What?
Jason, who’s lying on the bed, blinks slowly at Will as if he barely heard him. Then, he shrugs, only to wince when it aggravates the injury on his shoulder even more.
“Probably all the poison resistance training at Camp Jupiter,” he says.
Will freezes mid-shout. His mouth closes without a sound and he stares at Jason as if he can’t believe what he just heard.
Frankly, Percy can relate to the sentiment. Because really, what the fuck?
“What?” Jason says, sitting up straighter, when no one replies.
Slowly, Will shakes his head and resumes… whatever healer stuff he’s doing.
“What the fuck man?” Percy says.
Jason perks up. “Percy! How are you?”
Will, who would normally get on Percy’s case for walking around, doesn’t even notice him.
“What do you mean poison resistance training?” Percy asks in lieu of responding.
Jason raises an eyebrow at him, confused. “Uh… Not sure how many things I can mean with that. They used to poison us a little every four months a year to build up resistance.”
Percy mentally swears. He doesn’t think he’s imagining the way Will places the ambrosia container in the drawer more forcefully than he needs to.
“That,” Percy says, “is messed up, dude.”
Jason only blinks at him in confusion. Because of course he does. “Guys? What’s wrong?”
“Jason, I don’t know how to tell you this—” Or why I even have to— “but that’s not cool to do to a child.”
Jason shrugs, this time minding his injured shoulder. “I was five. It was the standard age of recruitment back the— Guys…?”
Percy tries not to show his anger on his face, but he can hear the water flow faster in the pipes of the Big House. “They put you in an army when you were five?”
Jason watches him warily. “No. I went to Lupa when I was two.”
Percy remembers his own time in the Wolf House, and he’d been sixteen. He tries to imagine a two year old going through all that, but he honestly can’t picture it.
He really, really doesn’t want to picture it.
“But they joined the camp when you were five?” Will sounds sick just saying that.
Jason tilts his head slightly in that way he always does when thinking. “No. I found Camp Jupiter around when I was three. I think, but I’m not sure. No one really knew my age and I could barely talk coherently. But yeah, I left the Wolf House and found the camp, and then I joined the legion.”
Percy takes a deep breath and puts all his focus on not exploding the Big House. Because really, what the hell?
“It took me a long time to find the camp though,” Jason says thoughtfully.
“Of course it did,” Percy says, his voice coming out harsher than he had intended. “You were a toddler.”
“Your tattoo,” Will says suddenly, his face unreadable. “When did you get that?”
“Uh… Around the time I joined I think.” Jason taps his chin in thought and his eyebrows furrow. “Normally you have to earn them, but they decided to just give them to me. You know, son of Jupiter and all.” Jason says it in an exasperated sort of way, as if trying to say, Can you believe this?
He doesn’t even seem upset. Somehow, that pisses Percy off more than anything.
“So let me get this straight,” Will says, looking unimpressed. “They recruited a three year old, their standard age of recruitment is five years and they poison five year olds for months every year? You have to understand how messed up that is.”
“Yeah,” Jason says sheepishly. “But I was trying to change things. I even got them to increase their age limit to eleven years, and sure it nearly started a civil war because the Consuls didn’t want to agree to it, but we managed to avoid that too. And I was working on stopping the whole poison thing, but then Hera kidnapped me and… yeah.”
The more he talks, the worse it sounds.
“Dude,” Percy says, unsure of what he should even say to that.
But Jason cuts him off immediately. “Now Frank and Hazel are dealing with all that. Do you think I should have stayed back there? I should have stayed. Gods, I’m a terrible person.”
Percy raises an eyebrow. It’s unusual for Jason to talk this much, and it’s definitely not like him to panic like this.
Even Jason blinks in surprise. “I shouldn’t be telling you guys all this. Why am I telling you this?”
“Probably the painkillers I gave you,” Will says. “And you absolutely should be talking about this. This is insane.”
“Is it? It’s nothing like that time Jupiter electrocuted me when I was twelve because I didn’t finish a mission fast enough.”
The pipes of the Big House explode.