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Sometimes, Leo didn't know how he got to be where he was. Okay, well, that wasn’t quite true. He definitely understood the sequence of events that had led to him becoming somewhat friends with Jason Grace of all people. Jason Grace with his perfectly chiseled features and amazingly broad shoulders and darling blue eyes that had everyone on campus swooning. He understood that his mom had threatened to cut off his allowance if he didn't get a job, which had led to him signing up as a math tutor, which had led to Jason sheepishly coming up to him in the library to confirm that Leo would be the one to guide him through the murky waters of advanced logarithmic functions. He even understood that somehow or another, Jason actually started to look forward to their study sessions, simply because he enjoyed Leo’s company. Leo logically understood the timeline and that all of these things had happened, but sometimes his brain got so caught up on the absurdity of the fact that he was semi-friends with Jason Grace that it kind of forgot that all of those events weren't just some extended fever dream. (Leo would never have a fever dream about befriending Jason. If he was going to go through the effort of fantasizing up a whole relationship with Jason, it was not going to be friendly, to say the least. Or very PG-13, for that matter.)
So, with all that in mind, Leo thought it wasn’t completely unfair to cut him some slack when Jason hit him with a major curve ball at 7:30 AM on a Saturday. (Jason was a freak who loved early mornings, and Leo was a weak, weak man.)
Leo blinked hard and squinted at Jason in confusion. “Wait, run that by me one more time?”
“I just wanted to know if you were single,” Jason asked. He didn’t look up at Leo, too busy highlighting his notes like a dork.
“Why do you wanna know? Gonna make fun of me when I say yes or something?” Leo joked.
That actually got Jason’s attention and he looked up from his paper, nose scrunched up in confusion so that it knocked his glasses a little askew. “What?”
“You know, the whole ‘You’re never gonna meet someone who will put up with you, and you’re gonna spend the rest of your life third-wheeling Piper and whatever hot girl she's dating’ joke?” Leo prompted. “No offense, dude, but you need new material. Definitely not the first time I've heard that one.”
“I– No! That's absolutely not why I was asking!”
“Okay, I'll play your game, Grace. Yes, I'm single. Why do you wanna know?”
Jason cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter, his cheeks pink. “Well, if you are single I'd like to change that.”
Now it was Leo's turn to be confused. He quickly started running through the list of Jason’s friends, trying to remember if any of them were single. “Uh, how? Do you have a friend you’re trying to set me up with?”
That was apparently the wrong answer because Jason's face got stormy. “Why the hell would I let any of my friends date you?”
Okay, ow, that one may have stung a little, but Leo did his best to play it off. “Yeesh, no need to be mean. I thought we were friends, dude. I mean, at least kinda. Not besties or anything, but, you know, friend-ly, at least.”
“We are friends,” Jason insisted, suddenly looking like a kicked dog. “How am I being mean? If anything, you're being mean.”
“Me?” Leo spluttered. “I'm being mean? You're the one who doesn't even think I'm good enough to date your friend group.”
“You’re putting words in my mouth,” Jason accused. “Words I never said because I don’t even speak the language of the words you just put into my mouth.”
“Okay, okay, fine! I misinterpreted you. My bad.” Leo flapped his hands through the air dismissively. “But I still don't get why you called me mean.”
“Look, I was just trying to say I'm into you.” Jason was back to staring at his paper, cheeks a dark red. “You were the one making fun of me.”
Leo was pretty sure his brain would have worked better after getting trampled by a feral half-goat gym coach than it did after hearing those words come out of Jason Grace's mouth. “You are not into me.”
Jason once again whipped his head up just because Leo’s words had baffled him so much. “What? Yes, I am!”
“No, you're not,” Leo explained slowly, adopting the voice he used when Jaspn got scared of exponential equations. “Dude, have you seen yourself?”
“Is that a trick question?”
“Okay, have you seen me?” Jason's eyes very obviously trailed over Leo’s form and Leo thought for sure his hair was going to burst into flame. “Did you just check me out?”
Jason immediately jerked his head to the side so he couldn’t see Leo, looking just like those videos of dogs sitting next to a mess they’d obviously made and pretending they didn't do it. “Um, no?”
“Liar,” Leo grinned. Then the situation caught up with him and he went right back to confusion. “Why were you checking me out?”
“Because you're hot? Why else?”
“Incorrect. Only one person thinks I'm hot and that person is me.”
“Okay, well, congratulations. At least two people think you're hot,” Jason scoffed. “Though, Im beginning to think you don't actually think you're very hot at all.”
“Shut up,” Leo ordered, unwilling to analyze the validity of Jason’s accusation right then. “Look, you being into me doesn't make sense, like, mathematically speaking.”
“Okay, well, I am into you,” Jason insisted. “Look, if you're not into me, then I–”
“Woah, woah, woah!” Leo interrupted. “Now who's putting words into whose mouth? I am very into you; I have fully functioning eyes and hormones that are definitely buying what you're selling.”
Jason’s face went a shade closer to scarlet. “Alright fine then. Date me and prove it.”
“Maybe I will!”
“Fine!”
“Fine!”
The words hung in the air between them before reality his Leo like a truck. His breath hitched in the back of his throat and his cheeks warmed. He cleared his throat and Jason winced. “Uh, Jason? Did you just ask me on a date? Like, a real date?”
“Why do you wanna know? Gonna make fun of me if I say yes, or something?” Jason asked dryly. Leo furiously shook his head no, and a tiny smile formed on Jason’s lips. “Then, technically, I asked you to date me, but I haven't asked you on a specific date.”
“Oh.” Leo’s cheeks got somehow warmer, and he started fiddling with his fingers.
“Do you, um,” Jason cleared his throat awkwardly and adorably. “Do you want to go on a date? We could maybe get ice cream after this.”
“Uh, yeah. I like ice cream.”
“Cool.”
“Cool.” They went quiet again before Leo cleared his throat. “Hey, Jason?”
“Yeah?”
“Why the hell didn't you lead with that?”
Jason’s cheeks skipped right over scarlet to land in a nice purpley shade of maroon. “I was… trying to play it cool.”
Leo gaped at him. “Okay, do not do that. You cannot be playing games with my self-conscious, neurodivergent ass, man. I'm sensitive.”
“I'm sorry,” Jason said earnestly. “I was just really nervous and Percy said to do that.”
“What the fuck made you think getting dating advice from Percy was a good idea?”
“Well, he's dating someone out of his league, so I figured he could help me.”
“Dude, even I know that Annabeth is only dating Percy because she's as batshit insane as he is,” Leo scoffed. Then the world did a record scratch and he was blushing again, which was super bad for the very cool macho persona only 5’3” Latino twinks can pull off. “Wait, did you just imply that I'm somehow above your league?”
“Obviously. Have you seen yourself?”
“Trust me, I try not to.” Jason's face puckered in that familiar way Piper’s did when she was concerned about something Leo had said about himself, and he wasn't ready to deal with that, so he just flapped his hands in the air again. “Okay, fine, we're both in the same league. Promote yourself to whatever league you think I'm in.”
Jason puffed his cheeks out slightly, displeased with and probably ignoring the order but he nodded. “Okay, we're both in each other’s league.”
“Alright.”
“Alright.” They went silent again for a moment, but this time Jason was the one who broke it. “Hey, Leo?”
“Yeah?”
“Do you wanna maybe get out of here?”
Leo flicked his eyes up to Jason who was giving him a shy little smile and looking at him with eyes full of adoration. Leo felt himself smile, wide and giddy and maybe a little goofy, but he didn’t care. “Yeah, Jason. I'd like that a lot.”