He didn't even know you, yet he hated seeing you cry.

Really, Jason hated seeing anyone cry.

So when he found you sitting behind the bakery in New Rome, holding an ice pack over the letters SPQR and your god parent's symbol that had been burned into your skin as a display of loyalty to the legion, to show you were officially a legionnaire, he couldn't leave you there by yourself.

Jason approached, silently sitting beside you. He looked at his own tattoo on his arm, the same letters with a lightning bolt permanently on his skin.

"I remember my branding."

He said quietly.

"It always hurts more than they tell you it will..."