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1.
Jason took a deep, shuddering breath as he laid out flat. The floor of the training arena wasn't exactly what he'd call comfortable, with the sharp little rocks digging into his sweaty skin, but it was a horizontal surface, which made it a gift from the gods at that point in time. At the moment, he was trying his best to become one with the floor, but he wasn't having much luck. He could still feel the way his whole body ached with exhaustion and bruises and a couple of nasty cuts, and how his chest cramped with every inhale. He squinted at the bright sun overhead and distantly wondered if a prayer to Apollo would be enough to save him from this mortal realm. The guy did owe him, after all.
Then the sun was blocked out by a head of messy, curly hair, brown eyes that glinted with menace, and a maniacally wide, closed-mouth smile on a face that looked upside down from Jason's point of view.
“You look like a frog when you smile like that,” Jason scowled, ignoring the skip in his heartbeat.
Leo just smiled wider and more frog-like. “That was a good round, buddy, but you gotta keep this train a-movin’,” he chirped, patting Jason on the cheek. “Come on, Superman. Up you get. Come on. Uno más.”
“No,” Jason groaned, feebly lifting his arms to cover his face. “Uno no more mas at all, thanks.”
“Sorry, man, but I am going to have to write you a ticket for that pronunciation,” Leo said. “That was borderline painful, and almost certainly offensive.”
“You and what army?”
“Hey, Percy! Wonder Bread over here just said ‘uno no more mas,’” Leo shouted, making sure the last a was incredibly flat, which Jason took slight offense to. He knew his Spanish was bad, but it wasn't that bad. Probably.
“Booooo!” Percy yelled, and Jason's only consolation was that Percy sounded just as exhausted as he was. “Tell him I'm gonna kick his ass!”
“Fuck off, Jackson!” Jason called back, and he felt his mouth twitch up when he heard Leo cackling.
“Come on, seriously, dude. You have to get up,” Leo insisted, poking in the one spot on Jason's cheek that wasn't covered by his arms. “ Uno más . I know you don't want me to lose this bet against Annabeth, right?”
“You've been saying ‘uno más’ for the past six rounds.”
“Yeah, well, I expected you to actually have it in you to keep Percy down six rounds ago,” Leo replied. “I mean, you've been doing this for twelve years, man. I'm still rooting for you, but I was expecting your stamina to way outstrip him by now.”
“If he actually fought properly, I would have beat him by now,” Jason protested. “But he's all wibbly-wobbly and moves around too much.”
“The Graecus has some moves!” Percy piped up from where he was getting his own pep-talk from Annabeth. She muttered something that Jason couldn't hear, which made Percy crack up. Had it been anyone else whispering and giggling to one another, Jason might have felt a little self-conscious, but never with those two. They were his friends, and besides, Percy was probably the butt of whatever joke was told. He was his own favorite punchline, after all, and Annabeth was happy to indulge.
Leo wasn't paying either of them any attention, he was too busy trying to force Jason into a sitting position. With a grunt of effort, he managed to shove his shoulder under Jason's and pushed until they were sitting up back to back. “Dude. Why are you so heavy? I thought you were supposed to be some hero-boy in top shape. Maybe you should skip on the s'mores tonight. I'll take care of them for you, if you want.”
“It's muscle, dumbass. And I'm not even that heavy, you're just scrawny.”
“Yeah, sure. Keep telling yourself that, cupcake.” With a scowl, Jason pressed backwards as hard as he could, causing Leo to fold right in half with a squawk. “Dude!”
“If you two are done, Percy's ready to go,” Annabeth said. Jason blinked, unaware that she had gotten to her feet and was standing over them with an eyebrow raised. “Unless you want to admit defeat?”
“No!” Leo let out a grunt when Jason leaned back on him and squeezed all the air out of his lungs again, but he pressed on. “Never give up! Never surrender!”
“Okay, well, how about you take this round, and I'll sit on the sideline and make smartass comments?” Jason suggested. “Seeing as you're so ‘never surrender’ and all.”
“Great idea! And then afterwards, you can go up against Annabeth in Trivial Pursuit!” Leo enthused. “I mean, you were able to name how many states the other day? Twelve? That's impressive!”
“Hazel and Frank both beat you and they're from the 1930's and Canada, respectively,” Annabeth reminded him.
“Nico almost beat you and he's from the 20's and Italy!” Percy added helpfully.
“Fuck off!”
“It's called playing to your strengths, Jason,” Leo finished, and Jason could almost hear the mocking flutter of his eyelashes. “I thought a big, bad ex-Praetor like yourself would know basic strategy.”
“I was Praetor for, like, two months.”
“Whatever!” Leo started digging his elbows into Jason's back. “Come on, man! Please?”
Jason pursed his lips. With Leo sitting behind him, he couldn't actually see the pleading look plastered on his face, but Jason didn’t need to see it. He could still perfectly picture the sparkle in Leo’s eye and the slight flush capping his wide smile and the scrunch of his nose. He vividly remembered the thump of his own heart and the fuzzy warmth that had filled his chest when he’d finally agreed to partake in this stupid bet and Leo had beamed his gratitude at him. He felt his resolve falter at the memory, and let out a deep sigh. He grabbed his ankles and used them as leverage to pull himself up, leaving Leo unsupported, so he fell backwards with a yelp. He looked down at Leo with that one fond smile he reserved just for him, and hoisted him to his feet. “Alright then. ¿ Uno más?”
Leo's eyes were brighter than Jason's memory had supplied and he stuck both of his fists in the air, whooping his delight. “¡Uno más!”
2.
By far, Jason's favorite part of Camp Half-Blood was the campfire. That seemed almost silly to him, in a way, considering everything else Camp had to offer, but it was the truth. One of the biggest differences he'd noticed between Camp Half-Blood and Camp Jupiter was that the Greeks highly valued their individuality, and for someone who grew up being told that he was part of a group first and his own person second, the thought made Jason a little dizzy sometimes. It wasn't a bad thing, necessarily, but it meant that each one of the cabins largely kept to themselves, and even within those cabins everyone kind of did their own thing. Jason still found it lonely and isolating, eating meals by himself and going to bed with only the giant statue of his father for company, and part of him longed for the over-crowded barracks of the Fifth Cohort.
The campfire was a different story. Sure, people still gravitated towards their own cabins, but there weren't any rules about it. The cabins and the tables at the dining pavilion all had a god or goddess's name attached to it, which made it borderline sacred ground, so nobody really wanted to test their luck with that. Jason usually managed to get away with sitting with other people, but every now and then thunder would roll, heavy and loud, across a perfectly clear sky and Jason was sent sulking back to his big lonely table with his tail between his legs.
But not at the campfire. At the campfire, everyone was part of one big group, and Jason got to spend a couple hours surrounded by laughter and comradery with his two favorite people plastered to each of his sides. It was also his only guaranteed Piper time. He got to spend plenty of time with Leo, as most of the Hephestus kids preferred for their schedules to be as completely devoted to solo work as Chiron would allow, but the Aphrodite cabin wasn't like that. They liked to move as a group, a pack even, and Piper, obliging head camper that she was, made sure their schedules were full from breakfast to dinner almost every day. Jason joined them as often as he could, especially when they did arts and crafts, but Cabin Ten could get downright vicious under the right circumstances, and Lacy kind of scared him. But even the clingiest Aphrodite kid understood the sanctity of PiperAndJasonAndLeo so they let her slip away and tuck herself under whichever one of Jason’s arms Leo hadn't claimed for the night. And so the three of them would spend the night talking and laughing and singing with various levels of skill (Piper and Leo both were remarkably good singers but they were even better at singing poorly in just the right way to make Jason's gut cramp with laughter) until everyone else had gone to bed and the harpies started circling a little too close for comfort.
Oh, and, of course, with the campfire came s'mores.
Jason had been surprised to learn that Leo and Piper both loved s'mores, seeing as neither of them had all that much of a sweet tooth, but they did. Piper liked them simply due to her rapturous love of marshmallows, but Leo was singularly obsessed. He roasted his marshmallows in every way his busy little brain could conceive and delighted in the mess he made devouring them. On one remarkable occasion, he’d even convinced Jason to help him by summoning “just one teeny tiny little lightning bolt. Come on, please?” That method was immediately banned, seeing as it had zapped each and every one of Leo’s curls straight on end, sending him and Piper into a borderline panic as they tried every method under the sun to soothe them back into their usual softness. Jason had gotten the silent treatment from them both (which he still argued was not fair) but Leo had showed off his recovered curls by headbutting Jason’s hand until Jason deigned to pet them, so Jason figured he was forgiven.
Another time, Jason had asked him why he liked s'mores so much, expecting little more than a wink and a dumb joke. Instead, Leo got quiet for a moment before admitting that he and his mom used to make s'mores over the little charcoal grill at their apartment complex and Camp was the first time he'd had them since. Jason swore in that moment that he'd make sure Leo always got as many s'mores as he could eat.
He was beginning to regret that personal vow, now that he was staring down Leo, who had his hand stuck directly in the fire and was grinning at Jason and showing off every last one of his teeth.
“You look like a crocodile,” Jason accused. “A very sticky, untrustworthy crocodile.”
Leo just laughed at him, which managed to show off even more of his teeth. “Dude, what is with you and comparing me to amphibians to—” Piper interrupted him with a loud incorrect buzzer sound, and he turned his winged up eyebrow on her. “Can I help you?”
“Crocodiles are not amphibians; third graders know that.”
“I'll have you know that I was homeless for part of third grade.”
“Boo hoo. You've learned how to read since then. No dead mom excuses.”
Leo rolled his eyes so hard it looked like it hurt. “Anyway. Superman. Can you pretty please do me a favor?”
Jason tipped his head back and groaned. “You want another s'more? You've had, like, ten.”
“They're called s 'mores for a reason, Jason. Come at me when they change the name to s‘mlesses or something,” Leo scoffed, rolling his eyes. “Now, come on. ¿ Uno más?”
“Either I don't know what uno más means, or you don't know what it means, because I've heard you say that, like, a dozen times tonight,” Piper drawled. “That doesn't seem very uno to me.”
“And that's why I'm not asking you , Beauty Queen,” Leo said, fluttering his eyelashes. “Unlike some people, my bestie Jason doesn't fucking nitpick.”
“No, she's right,” Jason said, crossing his arms. “I've already had to tell Chiron that you wanted ‘one more’ four times tonight. If you want that number to go up to five, you're gonna have to do it yourself.”
Leo's eyes got wide and his jaw dropped in betrayal. “Jason! I can't go get my own s'mores stuff!” He gestured at the fire where he was slow-roasting a marshmallow in his bare hand by shoving it directly in the coals. “I'm in the middle of a very delicate process. This is my life’s work, man! I can’t just abandon it. You gotta get the stuff for me.”
Jason scowled stubbornly. “No. Go get it yourself.”
Leo puffed out his cheeks in frustration for a moment before he grinned at Jason in that one specific way that made his nose scrunch. “Come on, Jason. ¿Uno más, por favor?”
Jason clenched his jaw for a moment, willing his resolve to hold, before letting out a loud, defeated sigh as he got to his feet. “Fine. But this is the last one I'm getting. You hear me? I mean it,” he said seriously, ignoring the fact that he'd said pretty much the exact same thing last time.
“Loud and clear, Superman!”
A few moments later, Jason arrived back at the fire with another s'more kit, setting it aside for when Leo finished with the one he was working on. He glanced up to see Piper staring at him with a look that was simultaneously delighted, scandalized, incredulous, and a little offended. He blinked at her. “What?”
“What was that about?” she hissed, quiet enough so that Leo wouldn't hear.
Jason tried very hard to play dumb. “What was what?”
“You know exactly what I'm talking about,” she accused. Jason couldn’t meet her eye and instead focused on resisting the urge to curl up in a ball of shame. “I know you’re in love with the guy, but come on. That was embarrassing. You didn't even do that for me when we were dating. I asked you to go grab some cream cheese for me one time and instead you offered to go find an Apollo kid to make sure my legs were still working.”
“That's not fair,” he protested. “You thought it was funny at the time, and I got you the cream cheese anyway.”
“Okay, it was funny.”
“Ha!”
“But my point still stands!” she finished stubbornly. “What, all Leo has to do is bat his eyelashes and speak some Spanish and you'll do whatever he says? Is that a Leo thing, or a foreign language thing? Would it work for Cherokee?”
Jason beamed at her. “You're learning Cherokee?”
She shrugged, but she looked pleased with herself. “I'm starting. My dad and I are learning together.” Her face puckered and she narrowed her eyes at Jason suspiciously. “You’re trying to distract me! You don’t want to admit you–”
“A-hem.”
Jason whipped his head around to see Leo standing before them with a perfectly toasted s'more in his hands. He cleared his throat like he was about to make a decree, and Jason couldn't help but grin up at him. “Jason, as a show of gratitude for being the best marshmallow-fetcher ever and my only real friend,” he paused to shoot Piper a look and now it was her turn to roll her eyes, “I am presenting you with this s'more. In case you missed the memo, this is a big deal and a huge honor. Highest I can give, really.”
“Well, then, consider me honored,” Jason beamed at him, gingerly taking the cookie between his fingers. He nodded at the plate next to him. “I got your s’mores stuff right here, when you’re ready for it.”
Leo crinkled his nose again before scooping up the plate and bounding back over to the fire. Jason took a bite of the s'more. He didn't like marshmallows, they were too sweet and sticky, but even with the graham cracker crumbling to dust and coating his fingers with goop and Piper's knowing stare heavy on his shoulders, this s'more tasted like the best thing he'd ever eaten.
3
It was a long-standing tradition at Camp Half-Blood that Cabin Nine was allowed to do whatever they wanted, within Camp rules, all day on Thursdays. They were excused from meal time and any other camp-wide activities, and anyone above the age of 13 was allowed to stay up past curfew. Which, obviously, made it the best day of the week, according to the Hephaestus kids. Thursdays meant that Leo was up before the sun and in Bunker Nine, banging away at whatever project had his attention that week with absolutely no plans to stop.
To Jason, who didn't have any cabin mates and therefore didn't have a schedule, Thursdays didn't mean much. He liked to bounce around to whatever activity his friends were doing at any given point in time, but with Percy and Annabeth in New York, Frank and Hazel at Camp Jupiter, and Nico either making himself at home in Will's back pocket or off doing Prince of the Underworld things, his options were a little limited. He, of course, liked hanging out with Piper, especially when they were doing activities that required teams of two, but Jason had honestly been avoiding her ever since the campfire earlier that week. Piper had been in top form since she’d witnessed first-hand the weakness of Jason’s resolve when it came to Leo, and he could only withstand her knowing stares to a point.
And so, Jason banished himself to Bunker Nine.
Jason would never admit it upon pain of death, but he hated the bunker. It was just so crowded and the air tasted horrible and recycled and there was no natural light. Every last one of his senses were dulled by the whir of machinery or the overbearing scent of oil. Everything about that place seemed like it was specifically designed to put Jason on edge and he was sure that if someone came up to him at any time and told him that it had burned down, he wouldn't feel an ounce of regret. Fortunately, he could rest easy knowing his secret would die with him. He spent so much time there that everyone, including Piper and Leo, assumed he loved it, and it was for one, embarrassingly simple, reason.
Leo's favorite place in Camp was Bunker Nine, and Jason's favorite was wherever Leo was.
And so, when Thursday came around, Jason once again found himself hanging out in his own personal hell on Earth. Not that “hanging out” was really the right word. Hanging out implied a level of relaxed laziness that Leo did not tolerate in the Bunker. Jason had been put to work from the moment he strolled in hours after Leo had already been hammering away at whatever he had decided to work on. He'd fetched countless tools (some of the trips to the toolbox were kind of his fault, but how was he supposed to know the difference between a 3/8 socket wrench and a torque wrench?) and carried around heavy things and even held Leo on his shoulders while flying so he could reach a jammed pulley system that needed fixing. He'd also taken it upon himself to make sure Leo actually tended to his basic needs, which required more creativity than most people would assume. Hydration was… out of the question, seeing as there was no way on Earth, Olympus, Tartarus or anywhere in between that Jason was going to get Leo to stop what he was doing long enough to drink something, but eating was doable. He just had to turn it into a game.
“Hey, Leo. Catch!”
Leo whipped his head around just in time to have a grape hit him right between the eyes. He scowled and puffed out his cheeks. “No fair, dude. Try again.”
Jason raised his eyebrows in surprise at the demand like that hadn’t been his goal in the first place, but picked up a little peanut butter granola ball and held it up. He moved it side to side, watching Leo's eyes track the movement like a cat. “Alright. You ready this time?”
“Just throw it, Superman.”
Jason did as he was told and the snack landed right in Leo's mouth, only slightly assisted by a convenient breeze. Leo chewed the granola, eyes narrowed and a small frown on his lips. Jason didn't think much of it, Leo always made that face when he was trying to solve a puzzle, but then Leo looked at him suspiciously and opened his mouth. “Uno más.”
Jason cocked an eyebrow at him but shrugged. This time, Leo overcorrected, and the granola ball would have likely hit him in the ear, but the winds made Jason's aim as true as any Apollo kid’s. Leo's eyes shone victoriously as he ate his snack, and as soon as he was done, he slammed his hands on the table in front of him and pointed an accusatory finger at Jason. “Jason Grace, you fucking cheater!”
Jason reared back and blinked at him. “What?”
“I should not have caught that. I know for a fact I was off-target,” Leo grinned. Jason's cheeks went dark at being caught, but Leo just giggled at him. Leo rested his chin in his hands and Jason tried not to get distracted by the sparkle in his eye. “You ever try that at carnival games?”
Jason cocked his head to the side. “What?”
“Carnival games. They're these little games they have at fairs and junk. They’re supposed to be skill-based, but everyone knows they’re rigged to hell and back, but if you manage to do well enough, you get a little prize. Come to think of it, your brand of demigodliness would probably kick ass at most of them, considering how many are based around throwing stuff.” Then an idea sparked behind his eyes and his smile got sharp and mischievous. “I should take you to Coney Island. We could totally clean them out.”
“I dunno,” Jason said hesitantly. “That sounds like cheating.”
“Oh, so Mr. Grace is too noble to cheat a carny, but he is willing to cheat against poor little Leo Valdez? I see how it is.”
Jason rolled his eyes. “I am deeply sorry for using my powers for evil. Next Thursday I'll just let you starve.”
Leo laughed brightly, and Jason let his smile go a little soft and gummy, and when Leo's brilliant bronze eyes locked with his, he felt his breath hitch. “Well, thanks anyway,” Leo said. “I mean, it sucks I'm gonna have to starve to death in a week's time, but thanks for making sure I didn't today and all the Thursdays before this.”
Jason's cheeks flushed again and he couldn't hold Leo's gaze. “Yeah, well. Someone has to take care of you. Everyone knows you won't.”
“So, you've decided you're going to be the one who takes care of me?”
“Would you prefer someone else?”
Jason dared to glance back up at Leo, and saw that his nose was crinkled up and his grin was a lot warmer than it was playful and his cheeks were a little pink. “Nah, I'm pretty happy with you being my own personal Superman.”
Jason's chest glowed with pride, and he looked away again, feeling a little bashful. He checked his watch, making sure that Leo couldn't see him in order to avoid being made fun of for his “suburban dad habits,” before he cleared his throat, shattering the slight tension between them. “Speaking of you not taking care of yourself, it's getting late. We should probably head back to Camp soon.”
Leo groaned and flopped over his table. “Dude, no way. It can't be that late. What's the point of getting to ignore curfew if I go to bed on time anyway?”
Jason cocked an eyebrow at him. “It's almost two in the morning.”
“Pft, that's not even late-late,” Leo scoffed. “At least let me finish up what I'm working on.” Jason crossed his arms but Leo just continued to grin. “Come on, Jace. Uno más.”
Jason scowled. “You can't just say uno más when you want something and expect it to work every time.”
“Sure, sure. But is it going to work this time?”
Piper's words rang in Jason’s ears and his heart stuttered. He let out a defeated sigh. “Yes.”
“¡Uno más!” Leo cackled, then turned back to his project.
Jason, unfortunately, didn't properly estimate just how long it would take for Leo to “finish up” what he was working on, and over an hour passed with seemingly no progress that Jason could identify. He yawned. It was getting late, and it was getting really late for someone who went to bed at 10:30 sharp every night. Apparently, it was also getting late for people who regularly stayed up past midnight, too, based on the loud clattering clang that shook Jason out of his half-doze.
“Huh? Whah?” Leo grunted, blinking blearily around with a brand new bright red mark in the middle of his forehead.
Jason chuckled softly before he got to his feet and walked around to Leo's side. He leaned his hip against the table and tugged gently on Leo's curls when he squinted up at him. “You fell asleep on the job, Commander Toolbelt. That means it's bedtime.”
“Nooo,” Leo whined. “Lemme finish. Uno más.”
“Not gonna work this time, man,” Jason huffed around his smile. “If I let you keep at it like this, you’re probably going to wind up in the Infirmary. I don’t know about you, but I do not want to be the one knocking down the Apollo Cabin door to get Will. It's back to Cabin Nine with you.”
Leo scowled down at his tools like they had betrayed him then up at Jason. “Fine then.” He stuck his arms up, his scowl still firmly in place.
Jason's eyebrows shot up. “Can I help you?”
“If you want me back in my cabin, you're gonna have to take me there yourself,” Leo demanded. “I’d personally rather sleep under the table, but you get all pissy when I do that.”
“Because it's bad for you.”
“Then carry me,” Leo insisted.
“Don't you have legs?”
“They don't work any more. Oh, nooo…”
Jason rolled his eyes but he still laughed softly to himself. “Alright. You win.”
Leo grinned victoriously as Jason bent down and grabbed Leo up. With Leo's arms around his neck and their chests pressed together it would have passed for a hug if not for the fact that Leo was clinging to him like a koala and pretty much sitting on Jason's locked hands. Leo sighed happily and rested his chin on Jason's shoulder. “It's really convenient that you're so weirdly buff.”
Jason snorted and knocked their heads together. Jason could feel his heart hammering in his chest and he kind of wondered if Leo could feel it, too. “It's also convenient that you're so weirdly scrawny.” Leo huffed out his own mosty-aborted laugh, but didn't reply, already fast asleep. Jason didn't say anything, he just carried him back to Cabin Nine with a smile. He had to endure the sight of Nyssa’s eyebrows reaching her hairline, and he had to carefully dodge the harpies now that he'd lost his living, breathing hall pass, and he knew he was going to regret staying up so late in the morning, but he still fell asleep with that same smile on his face.
4
Jason didn’t actually think Leo was going to take him to Coney Island to cheat at carnival games, which, to be fair, was a serious oversight on his part. He’d honestly forgotten about the off-hand remark until a week later when Percy and Annabeth came back to Camp. Leo immediately pounced on Percy, insisting that the five of them should visit the park, sans chaperone, and Percy was the only one with a car and a (valid) license. Much to Jason’s relief, Percy screwed his face up in disgust and disavowed ever stepping foot in “that tourist trap,” and Jason thought he was in the clear. Unfortunately, Annabeth chose that moment to make a mildly disappointed noise at his assessment and commented that she’d been interested in seeing some of the engineering that went into old roller coasters up close and personal. Percy had immediately changed his tune and promised that he’d take her that very same weekend. Leo loudly protested being left out of these plans, as it had been his idea in the first place, until Percy agreed that Leo, Piper, and Jason could all theoretically fit across the backseat of his Prius. Jason wasn’t exactly thrilled about being stuffed in the backseat of a compact car for two hours, but he’d learned that things like that were easily ignored when given the right incentive, and Leo was almost always the right incentive.
Of course, whether or not he was willing to share that backseat with two people didn’t wind up mattering in the end because the morning they were packing up to go, Piper bounded up to them and told them she was “so so sorry” that she couldn’t go, but “head camper duties and all. Mitchell needs help with… something,” while she gave Jason a wide, toothy grin. Leo booed loudly at her, and Annabeth tried her hand at some mild guilt-tripping, and Jason glowered at her so hard he was almost surprised she wasn’t zapped by lightning, but Piper wouldn’t budge.
“Sorry, I’m doing a favor for my mom,” she beamed while giving them all goodbye hugs, which appeased Annabeth and Leo, but made Jason flush to his hairline.
“I hope you stub your toe so fucking hard,” Jason hissed in her ear when she hugged him.
Piper just kissed him on his cherry red cheek, fluttered her eyelashes and chirped, “Don’t choke!” before running as fast as she could over the hill.
All three of his companions gave him funny looks, which made him flush even darker, so he just crawled into the backseat with a muttered “Don’t worry about it,” and refused to make eye contact with anyone until they arrived at the park.
Based on the way Percy had moaned about how the park was “always crowded, especially in summer,” Jason had expected to see people packed together like sardines, but it was borderline deserted. He thought that maybe it was an act of godly intervention (he would not put it past Piper to actually call her mom about this) but he had a feeling it had more to do with the pitch black storm clouds that were brewing just off the coast. Jason took one look at them, then turned to Percy with a challenging eyebrow raised. Percy looked them over like he was sizing up an opponent, then gave Jason a casual shrug. “I won’t let it land if you don’t.”
Jason snorted. “Bet.”
“Come on, Percy,” Annabeth grinned, her eyes gleaming. “I want to see the Cyclone.”
Percy turned his wide, love-struck, puppy-dog eyes on her and grabbed her hand. “You got it. Let’s go!” Then he dragged her off into the crowd, the both of them giggling like it was their first date.
Leo watched them go, amusement clear in the sparkle in his eye. “Percy really just does whatever she says, huh?”
For the second time that day, Jason found his cheeks turning red. He cleared his throat. “Uh, yeah. I guess.”
“Come on, man,” Leo said, tugging on Jason’s jacket sleeve. “I was so not joking. We are going to clean them out.”
“I– Yeah, okay,” Jason agreed, trying very hard not to think about the fact that Leo was dragging him off just like Percy had with Annabeth. The only difference was the direction and that Leo was holding his jacket, not his hand. He tried very hard not to mourn that last bit.
The first booth Leo took him to looked simple enough: Just throw two balls into a bucket and you got one of the funny-looking stuffed monsters hanging around. Easy. He wouldn’t even need his powers for this.
“Three games,” Leo requested cheerfully, handing over the card Piper had gifted them with as one final apology for bailing on them.
Jason scoffed. “I’m not going to need three games, Leo. The sign says you can only have one prize.”
The carney grinned like a shark. “Not the first time I’ve heard that today. You wanna knock it down to one game then?”
“Bad idea, Jason,” Leo sing-songed, rocking back and forth from his heels to his toes, looking just as amused by Jason’s confidence as the carney was.
Jason puffed his cheeks out. “It’s throwing balls in a bucket, Leo. How hard can it be?”
“Well, you heard the man,” Leo said blithely. “One game then.”
The carney did as he was asked and handed over two rubber balls to Jason. “Alrighty. Rules are simple, like you said. You get two throws. Both balls have to land in the barrel and stay in. One ball thrown at a time. Barrel has to be emptied before you can throw the second one. And, of course, you have to stay behind that,” he gestured to a line on the ground that Jason instinctively hopped behind. “line. Good luck.”
“You’ve got this, Superman!” Leo cheered, even though he sounded like he was trying not to laugh.
Jason shot him a scathing look then carefully threw his first ball. As expected, it arced through the air, landed directly in the bucket, circled around a few times, then settled. Leo whistled his approval and the carney clapped a couple times before he stepped forward to retrieve the first ball, then gestured for Jason to take his second shot. Jason cracked his knuckles, gave Leo a smug grin, then threw the second ball. Just like the first, it arced through the air, landed directly in the bucket, circled around a few times…
And then fell out.
“Oh, bad luck man,” the carney said with clearly false sympathy while Leo cackled. “That was a good shot, though. Since you made it on your first try, you can take one of the smaller prizes, if you’d like.”
He gestured at the little display of three-inch plastic toys in front of him, and Jason leveled him with a glare. “No. I’m trying again.”
“If you insist!”
Once again, Jason was armed with his rubber balls and stared down the buckets in front of him like an enemy. He’d made the first shot. He just had to do that again. He didn’t need his powers, mortals did this all the time. He just had to do it right. He threw the ball. This time, the first one didn’t even try to stick the landing and just ricocheted out as soon as it hit the target. He bared his teeth, wishing he could slash the stand down like he did the training dummies at Camp.
“Alright, I think we’re gonna call it before you try to bite someone, Sparky,” Leo snickered, tugging at Jason’s arm again. “You can try some of the other games instead.”
“No,” Jason growled, refusing to take his eyes off of those damned buckets. “I wanna win this one.”
“Here, I’ll cut you a deal,” the carney offered. “You play one more game, and I’ll only charge you two credits instead of four, that way it will be like you bought three games in the first place. Sound fair?”
“Yeah,” Jason said sharply. “One more.”
“You got it, big guy,” Leo grinned. “ Uno más.”
Jason took his second ball, and took a deep steadying breath. He could do this. He just had to focus. The first ball flew through the air, landed, and managed to stick. The second ball left his fingertips, exactly the same as the first one, landed, then started circling around the rim like it had in his first game. Stay in, Jason thought viciously, and, quite without his input, he felt a stiff breeze from the nearby storm brush across the back of his neck and…
The ball landed.
Leo whooped victoriously and bounded forward to demand one of the big orange fire lizards hanging on display. Even the carney looked delighted, and maybe a little gobsmacked, at Jason’s luck, but retrieved the toy Leo requested. Jason was a little too shocked to really listen to either of them, and it wasn’t until Leo had dragged him off again that he was able to speak. “Did I… win?”
“Better,” Leo corrected, eyes gleaming and nose wonderfully scrunched up. “You cheated.”
Jason blinked at him for a second before he felt his own smile curling up over his cheeks. “That was… fun?”
“Hell yeah it was!”
“Should we do it again?”
“Hell yeah, we should!”
And so, Jason happily let Leo drag him all over Luna Park. Leo had made the executive decision that they shouldn’t just play carnival games, especially once he learned that Jason had never even been to a county fair, much less an amusement park, so they went from game to game, chowing down on junk food and going on rides in between. For lunch, Jason had what was allegedly a 2-pound soft pretzel and Leo had a corndog the length of his forearm, covered in more toppings than Jason personally thought should be legal. Then, Leo immediately directed them to a ride called Soarin’ Eagle, and as soon as they were released promptly abandoned the many stuffed animals Jason had already won for him so that he could throw up into a conveniently placed trash can. Jason scooped up his prizes with one arm and sympathetically rubbed Leo’s back with his free hand and tried not to laugh at him.
They were on their way to the Pyramid Smash game, which Leo assured him was the most classic (and therefore most rigged) carnival game in history, when Annabeth showed up out of nowhere and grabbed Jason by the elbow. “Hey, you guys ready to go?” She gestured over her shoulder at Percy who was swaying on his feet and blinking slowly at them, and added, “Percy’s pretty much passed out.”
“Oh, uh, yeah, I guess we can leave,” Jason agreed easily. “Come on, Leo. Time to go home.”
Leo stuck his head out from amongst his armfulls of stuffed animals and gave Jason a betrayed look. “What? No! We can’t go! We aren’t done with all the games yet.”
“Come on,” Jason coaxed. “Percy’s exhausted and he’s the one driving us back to Camp. Plus, we’ve won basically all the games you said we could cheat at, right?”
Leo huffed sharply. “Come on, Jace. Uno más. It is literally right there. It won’t even take that long.”
Jason pursed his lips for a moment then sighed and turned to Annabeth, who was watching the exchange with keen interest. “You and Percy go get the car, and meet us at the gates. Leo and I will be just a few more minutes, alright?”
Annabeth laughed, her eyes crinkled up at the corners. “Whatever you say, Jason. Come on, Seaweed Brain. Let’s let these two finish up.”
“Whatever you say, Wise Girl,” Percy slurred, giving her finger guns, then stumbling after her as she tugged him along with their interlocked hands.
As promised, the Pyramid Smash was definitely rigged, just like every other game they’d played, and Jason felt absolutely no guilt in cheating. He and Leo went through their practiced song and dance of Jason trying the game once, pretending to get frustrated, then playing again, just in time for a convenient gust of wind to make sure all six of the cans fell over, securing Leo a gigantic pink stuffed dragon, which Jason jokingly dubbed Festus Jr, before they scurried to the front gates to wait for Percy and Annabeth.
“I’m kinda glad Pipes couldn’t come today,” Leo commented as he stuffed Festus Jr in the backseat before squeezing in after him. “I don’t know where she’d sit.”
“I don’t know where I’m supposed to sit,” Jason grumbled half-heartedly.
“Hey, man, you were the one who won them.”
“You were the one who asked me to!”
Leo didn’t reply to that, he just peered around the wall of stuffed toys to give Jason another nose-scrunching smile (he’d lost count of how many times Leo had smiled at him already that day) so Jason figured it was worth being uncomfortably squished up against the door for a couple hours.
Piper was waiting for them at Camp, and laughed when Leo all but fell out of the car, followed by his avalanche of prizes. “Looks like you two got what you were after.”
“Cleaned them out, just like I said we would!” Leo crowed. Jason couldn’t help but peacock a little at the pride evident in his tone, especially once he started rattling off their winnings like an auctioneer. “Seven giant prizes, five large, and a whole bunch of little ones we gave out to the kids instead of keeping.”
Piper turned her grin on Annabeth. “What about you? Did Percy win you anything?”
“No, but I did win me a shark,” Percy announced, holding up the little blue stuffed toy while Annabeth hid her laughter behind her hands. “Her name is Beth-Annie.”
Leo smacked Jason’s arm a couple times, looking smugly delighted. “Yeah, I definitely won. And this is why I have a crush on Jason, not Percy.”
Silence fell over all five of them for a moment as Leo’s words sunk in. Jason’s head was spinning so fast he wasn’t sure if he actually spoke English anymore, so it was understandable that when he finally managed to open his mouth, the only thing that left it was, “Uh, whuh?”
Leo gave him a funny look for a moment, then seemed to finally realize what he said because his eyes went wide and his face went pale. He gulped heavily and stared at Jason in absolute horror. “I, um. Well, you see–”
“Whuh?” Jason asked again, feeling incredibly intelligent.
That was apparently the final straw for Leo because he hopped up on his toes, turned on a dime, and darted away. Jason just stared after him. Even if he was fast enough to catch Leo (He wasn’t. He was more a distance runner than a sprinter, and Leo could keep pace with the dryads in foot races) he couldn’t even feel his legs, much less get them to move.
“Well, that happened,” Percy said eventually, once again breaking the silence that had fallen over them.
“Um, yeah,” Annabeth added, clearing her throat. “Good, um. Good luck with that.”
And with those sage words of wisdom from the most brilliant strategic minds in Camp Half-Blood history, Percy and Annabeth got back in the car and sped off into the night, leaving Jason with a speechless best friend, a half-aborted accidental confession, and a pile of stuffed animals he’d never even wanted in the first place. He turned to Piper, blinking like he was trying to get spots out of his vision. “Did– Did I choke?”
“I mean, yeah, but I think it was more Leo who choked, actually,” she corrected. She bent down and scooped up the stuffed animals Leo had abandoned right alongside Jason. “Come on. I’ll take these to him, you go back to your cabin. He’s gonna need a little time to himself after that.”
“Are you sure?” Jason fretted. “He’s not going to start avoiding me, is he?”
“Nah,” Piper said confidently, shaking her head. “This will all blow over in two days max, and you two will be back in one another’s pockets. Trust me.”
Jason stared over the hill and realized he could only do just that.
4.5
Jason groaned and buried his face in his arms at the Aphrodite table, completely ignoring his lunch. “Pipeeeeeeerrrrr.”
“I know,” she said sympathetically, running her fingers through his hair.
“It's been a week.”
“I know.”
“He still won't talk to me.”
“I know.” Piper looked guilty now. “He's not… mad at you or anything like that. He's convinced this is all really complicated and he needs to pluck up his courage. He keeps saying he's going to talk to you and tell you to just pretend it never happened.”
Jason looked up, absolutely horrified. “What? No! That is the opposite of what I want him to do!”
“What do you want him to do?”
“I want him to talk to me!” Jason all but shouted, throwing his hands in the air. “I just want him to talk to me and let me hold his hand and kiss him all over his face! What's so ‘ complicated’ about that?”
“Still haven't got the Leo thing sorted?” Percy asked, dropping down in the seat next to Jason while Annabeth took the seat on his other side.
Jason flopped over and smushed his cheek into the table and gave Percy a weak glare. “What are you doing here? I thought you were supposed to be in Montauk.”
“Sally had a last-minute meeting with her publisher, so the trip got pushed back to next week,” Annabeth supplied. “Besides, Piper called us in for backup.”
“Yeah, we’re here for you, dude,” Percy added. “Did you really give yourself a miniature storm cloud, though? Just curious.”
“Fuck off.” Jason scowled at Piper in betrayal. “You tattled on me? Seriously?”
“I just felt bad about abandoning you!” Piper whined, shrinking back a little. “You've been so miserable and I've been too busy trying to get Leo out of his cave that I haven’t been able to hang out with you.”
“So you brought in the biggest pain in the ass I know to annoy me into feeling better?”
“It's what I do best,” Percy said cheerfully. “Me and Leo tag team it. If you don't find one of us annoying, the other definitely will be.”
Jason furrowed his brow. “Leo's not annoying.”
“Oh, dude, you’ve got it baaaaaad.”
“Fuck off!”
“So, what, exactly, went down?” Annabeth asked before Percy could reply.
“I mean, not much that you didn't see,” Jason shrugged. “Piper deliberately bailed on us so Leo and I would be on our own at Coney Island – Thanks for that, by the way.”
Piper shrunk down again. “Sorry.”
“No, I meant that genuinely. We were having a great time hanging out all day. We got back, and, well. You saw what happened.”
“Okay,” Annabeth said slowly like she was very carefully diffusing a bomb but instead of explosives it was a social situation. Jason personally thought this was far scarier than a bomb. “Just checking, but have you tried talking to him?”
“Yeah,” Percy chimed in. “Just tell him that Jason has the fattest, most embarrassing crush ever on him and everything will be fine.”
“Um, fuck off, maybe?”
“You think I haven't tried that?” Piper scoffed. “He just doesn't believe me.”
Jason gave her an offended look. “Why not?”
“Would you have believed me if I told you Leo had a crush on you before last weekend?” Piper challenged. “Because he did and he told me all about it. I just didn't tell you because I knew you wouldn't listen.”
Jason opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. Then opened it again and settled for, “That's different. I mean, it's Leo. Who wouldn't have a crush on him? Look at him.”
Percy clapped a hand down on his shoulder. “Jason. Buddy. How many times do we have to tell you that your experiences are not universal?”
“Again, fuck off.”
“Hey, that's four! Annabeth, does that beat the record?”
“No, he told you to fuck off six times when we last played Uno.”
“Okay, well, what about outside of Uno?”
“Hmm. Pretty sure you're actually tied for first in that case.”
“Nice. Gimme one more, Grace.”
“I'm not giving you the fucking satisfaction.”
Annabeth waved their words out of the air to get them back on topic. “Anyway, I didn't mean Piper talking to him, I meant you Jason. Have you talked to him?”
“No,” Jason said, and he definitely wasn't pouting.
“Leo hasn't left the Hephaestus cabin once,” Piper reported. “He's got a stash of snacks hidden in his room for emergencies, and he gets me and his siblings to bring him food. As far as he’s concerned, he’ll never have to leave.”
“Hmm…” Annabeth tapped her chin in thought. “Well, what happens when you visit him in his cabin?” She was answered with only silence and she narrowed her eyes at them. “You have gone to see him, right?”
Jason felt heat creeping up around his ears. “Um. No?” Percy immediately burst into hysterical laughter. Jason felt the urge to tell him to fuck off, but refrained.
Annabeth groaned and drug a hand down her face, but most of her disappointment was centered on Piper for some reason. “Really? I understand this from Jason, but I expected better of you, Piper.”
Piper looked positively baffled. “What? Why? I don't know anything about this junk.”
“You're literally an Aphrodite kid.”
“Just because my mom is the goddess of love doesn't mean I know anything about it,” Piper huffed, crossing her arms. “I'm useless at this, I'm just trying my best for these two because they're even more useless.”
Annabeth sighed deeply, then met Jason's eye. “Look, just go talk to him. At least start there. It may not fix it completely, but you can't be any worse off.”
“Annabeth, you are the smartest person in the world,” Percy cooed, kissing her on the cheek.
Piper snorted in response. “I'm not arguing with you, but I think in this situation, we may just be dumb.”
“Yeah, why didn't we think of that?” Jason asked. “Obviously I should talk to Leo. I'm great at talking to Leo. I talk to Leo all the time. I can totally talk to Leo.” He stood up suddenly and slammed his hands on the table. “I'm gonna talk to Leo!”
“Yeah! You’ve got this, Superman!” Annabeth cheered in her best Leo impression. It was really bad, but Jason appreciated the gesture.
“Don't choke!” Percy advised with a wink.
“Fuck off!”
“Gottem!”
Piper reached out and grabbed his hand. They locked eyes and she gave him a wide, gentle smile. “You can do this. You deserve to be happy. Both of you.”
Jason smiled back at her and squeezed her fingers. “Yeah. I've got this. I'm gonna go talk to Leo.”
Piper's eyes sparkled. “¿Uno más?”
Jason laughed with a decisive nod. “Uno más.”
“¡Uno más!” the three of them shouted in unison, hands thrown up in celebration.
With that Jason turned sharply on his heel and marched off towards the cabins, the cheers of his friends (and several other Campers who had been minding their own business at the Pavilion, but were more than happy to eavesdrop) warm against his back.
+1
It was a lot easier to say that he was going to waltz right up to the front door of the Hephestus cabin, knock, and demand to speak with Leo than it was to actually do it, Jason realized. He had managed the first step well enough, he’d made the trip so many times he could do it in his sleep, literally. He had anecdotal evidence to prove it. Unfortunately, that left him staring down a bank vault door, and for some reason he couldn't bring himself to lift his hand and knock.
“Pull yourself together, Grace,” Jason growled under his breath, trying to psych himself up, channeling an odd mix of Piper's encouraging mockery and Percy's antagonistic support. “You can do this. You're just going to talk to Leo. You love talking to Leo. It’s, like, your favorite hobby. All you have to do is knock.”
As if answering him, the door suddenly opened, and Jason was left staring down at Leo's youngest sibling, who was staring back up at him with his eyebrows puckered in what Jason assumed was confusion. Jason grinned at him. “Hey, Harley.”
Harley didn't grin back at him. In fact, Jason learned that his expression was not confusion, because his scowl deepened and he suddenly reared back and kicked Jason in the shin as hard as he could, which hurt a lot, seeing as all Hephaestus kids were apparently born wearing steel-toed boots. “You're the reason Leo won’t hang out with me!”
“I’m sorry!” Jason yelped, jumping up and down on one foot and clutching his ankle. “I didn’t do it on purpose!”
“I don’t care!”
“Harley? What are you– Oh.” Jason looked up to see that Nyssa had appeared behind Harley. She was leaning against the door frame with her arms crossed and a cooly blank expression on her face. “Why, if it isn’t Mr. Grace himself.”
“You’re not going to kick me, too, are you?” Jason asked. He hated whining, but Harley’s kick had hurt a lot and Nyssa was easily three times the size of her little brother. He really wanted a heads up if he was going to need to dodge another kick.
“Depends,” Nyssa hummed. “Are you done sending Piper here to clean up your mess?”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Oh, trust me, we’re all very aware of what you haven’t done,” Nyssa said seriously. “And what you haven’t done is come get your supposed best friend out this weird little spiral of his.”
“I didn’t think he wanted to talk to me,” he mumbled, knowing he sounded pathetic, even to himself.
“He doesn’t. But he needs to.”
As Jason awkwardly avoided Nyssa’s judgemental stare, he realized something that was kind of obvious in retrospect. Nyssa was Leo’s sister. His big sister. She was probably mad at Jason for abandoning her little brother for a week (sure, Leo had abandoned him first, but that likely didn’t matter to her) but this was more than that. Her stare wasn’t judgemental, it was judging, and he’d never known there was a difference before, but now it was all he could think about.
“I need to talk to him, too,” Jason said. He gave Nyssa his most determined look. “I’ve tried waiting for him to come to me, so now I’m going to go to him, if you’ll let me.”
Nyssa stared him down for several seconds, but Jason refused to drop her gaze. Suddenly, she gave him a wide, toothy grin. “I’ll do you one better. I’ll have him meet you in the middle.”
“How are you going to do that?”
“Oh, don’t you worry, Mr. Grace. I have my ways.”
She turned and headed back into the cabin, but Harley let out a startled noise and jumped in front of her, arms outstretched. “Wait, no! You can’t! I don’t want him talking to Leo!”
Nyssa smiled down at him, carded her fingers through his hair, and gently tugged until he was looking up at her. “Hey, Harley?”
“Yeah?”
“Scram.”
Harley puffed out his cheeks in a furious pout, but ran out the door towards the forges, pausing just long enough to give Jason one last glare and kick him again, though Jason managed to dodge this time. Nyssa went inside, and Jason was left on the porch.
What followed next was a series of sounds Jason could only describe as cartoonish. There was a bang, followed by a mechanical whirring, followed by a crash, and finally some very agitated back and forth in Spanish. Then there was silence, another crash, and Nyssa came back out of the cabin with a wide smile on her face. Leo was thrown over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes and he was thrashing his arms and swearing rapidly in an odd mix of Spanish, English, Ancient Greek, and, most surprisingly, Latin. “Delivery!” she chirped, dropping Leo on his butt at Jason's feet and heading back inside with a casual wave. “See you two at dinner!”
“Why the fuck am I so goddamn scrawny?” Leo seethed. He turned his furious glare on Jason like this was somehow all his fault. “I'm the smallest person in that cabin. Harley is eight years old. Literally what the hell?”
Jason felt his lips curl into a wide grin as he crouched down next to Leo. He knew he probably looked more than a little dumb but he didn’t really care, as this was the first time he’d gotten to see Leo in a week, and he was just really excited to see him again. “Hey, you were bragging the other day about how you can get in all the little nooks and crevices no one else can. If you weren't this size, you'd have to send Nico into Festus to do some of his repairs.”
Leo looked absolutely horrified at the idea. “I would let Festus brick before I let Nico get his hands on him.”
“No, you wouldn't.”
Leo crossed his arms and grumbled under his breath, most likely bitching about how much he was willing to sacrifice for his dragon. Then, like he suddenly remembered Jason existed, he whipped his head around and stared at Jason with wide, terrified eyes and vermilion cheeks. “Um.”
“Yes?” Jason asked pleasantly. He could feel the way his face had gone all soft and mushy when he looked at Leo, but he couldn't help it. He didn't really think he wanted to help it. Why should he?
Instead of answering, Leo grabbed the collar of his t-shirt and yanked it up over his head like a turtle. “Go away! Leo's not home!”
Jason laughed, and settled down more comfortably. “That's alright; I'm willing to wait until he gets back.”
They were silent for a moment before Leo stuck his head out with a bewildered frown. “Dude. Are you really going to just sit there?”
“I’m waiting for my friend to get home.”
“You're so fucking stupid,” Leo laughed. His eyes sparkled and the late afternoon sun got tangled in his curls and his nose wrinkled up over his wide smile. Jason's heart thumped painfully and wonderfully in his chest. “It's absolutely embarrassing to have a crush on you.”
“So you do have a crush on me?” Jason asked, leaning forward eagerly.
Leo flustered for a moment before he gave Jason a half challenging, half accusing eyebrow. “Do you have a crush on me?”
Jason blinked at him. He thought about sparring with Percy beyond the point of exhaustion, and of fetching probably a whole bag of marshmallows one at a time at the campfire, and of bringing Leo snacks and carrying him back to his cabin when he worked too long in Bunker Nine, and of armfuls of stuffed animals won at carnival games, and of every other teasing uno más that had ever crossed Leo's lips. “I thought that was obvious.”
“What?” Leo spluttered. “What do you mean by obvious? I can assure you it wasn't obvious from over here!”
“I can assure you that it was obvious from everywhere else,” Jason countered. “Seriously. You can ask anyone in Camp, they’d be more than happy to tell you. I think Percy described it as the ‘fattest, most embarrassing crush ever.’”
“No way! How was I supposed to know? That’s bullshit.”
Jason gave him a bemused smile. “Leo, I do literally everything you ask me to do.”
“Not ever—”
“ Everything .”
Leo was gobsmacked. “Everything?”
“Everything.”
“Why though?”
Jason shrugged. “I just do. If you want it done and I can do it, I'm gonna. It doesn't help that I hear the phrase uno más in my dreams at this point. You've basically Pavlov’d me into responding to that.”
“No, I mean, why would you have a crush on me?” Leo asked. “Like, you’re you, and I’m me. Things aren’t really adding up from this side of the court.”
Jason’s face crumpled in confusion. “What? Is this a trick question?”
“Uh, no? Have you met me?”
“That was going to be my answer.” Jason snorted. “Leo, why wouldn’t I have a crush on you? You’re my best friend, first of all, that’s already halfway there. Plus, you’re, like, insanely smart, and the funniest person I know. And, for the record, I know you joke about it but I can assure you that no one ever has or ever will make ‘scrawny, covered in gunk from head to toe, and wearing overalls three sizes too big,’ look half as good as you do. And another thing–”
“No! Stop!” Leo yelped, diving forward to cover Jason’s mouth with his hand. “I get it, already! Sheesh!”
Leo’s face was so red that tiny embers were beginning to spark in his curls and Jason knew his answering grin was more than a little dopey. Still, he pulled Leo’s hand from his face (not before pressing a kiss to his palm, though) and tangled their fingers. “You sure? I promise, I can definitely keep going, if you want. ¿Uno más?” ”
“You’re a menace,” Leo accused with a huff, but he didn’t even try to take his hand back.
In reply, Jason just pressed a smiling kiss to his knuckles.
“So, you really do like me, then?” Leo asked, and he still looked confused, but now it was tempered with a bright seam of hope that made Jason's heart flutter. “Like, for real, for real?”
Jason lifted his other hand and cupped it around Leo's jaw, melting at the way Leo pressed into it like a cat. “Yeah, man. For real, for real.”
“Then prove it,” Leo challenged, and his eyes were shining and his lips curved up into a smirk. “Kiss me and prove it.”
“Gladly.”
Jason leaned forward and pressed their mouths together. It was like a wildfire. It was like a thunderstorm. It was like each and every cheesy romance novel that compared kissing to fireworks. It also wasn’t like any of that at all. Leo's lips were chapped and so very warm and pulled thin with the force of his smile. He was so warm, in fact, that it reminded Jason to keep his own power in check. If he zapped Leo in the middle of their first kiss, he was going to walk straight into the Long Island Sound and never look back. Then, Leo's breath hitched and he made a pleased little sound in the back of his throat, and Jason suddenly remembered that he was finally kissing Leo and he really needed to pay attention to that.
When they eventually had to part, Jason pressed in close to rub their cheeks against one another with a giddy grin. Leo's hands fluttered around Jason's shoulders and neck, and in response, Jason thumped their foreheads together. Leo's eyes were dark and deep and beautiful and filled to the absolute brim with joy. “Hey, Jason?”
“Yeah?”
“¿Uno más?” he asked with a breathless giggle. “¿Un beso más?”
Jason pressed another kiss to Leo's lips. “Un beso más.” He kissed him again. “Dos beso más.” Another kiss. “Tres beso más.” More kisses. “Mucho mucho beso más.”
Leo laughed, loud and long and bright, and when he cupped his warm hands around Jason's jaw, he was smiling wider than the sky itself. “Jason?”
“Sí?”
“Please never speak Spanish again.”
“I can do that,” Jason agreed easily, and when Leo kissed him again, he figured it was well worth the trade.