Chapter Text
Jason didn’t mind knocking on the thick metal door. It wasn’t like Leo would hear anyways.
The rest of the seven had already headed to bed, him included, but he hadn’t been able to close an eye, his thoughts trailing back to the hard-working boy each time he tried. He knew Leo would forget to sleep, or eat, or drink, or do anything other than fixing that cracked engine.
“Hey.” Jason said, straightening his sleeping shirt. The tank beside him rumbled an answer before Leo did.
Leo barely looked up. His messy curls were soaked in sweat and oil, tiny beads rolling down the nape of his neck.
“Sup superman.” He greeted, his focus and squinted eyes laying on a problem Jason couldn’t even see with his glasses on. Leo stuck his tongue out a little as he pulled a screw tight. He always did that when he was concentrated.
Jason chuckled quietly as he watched his friend’s focused expression. He stared, maybe a second too long, before he snapped back into reality, rubbing his neck.
“Just wanted to check on you. It’s late you know; we should go to bed.” He suggested, knowing that wouldn’t do much.
“We?” Leo smirked, wiggling his brows and shifting his gaze to Jason, who instantly regretted every single decision he’d ever made in his life. Leo grinned, dropping his shoulders. “Chill. Yeah, I’ll hit the hay when this dam spiral finally does what it’s made for.”
Jason chewed on a thought for a moment, leaning against the tall metal tank. Then, he slid down in a cross-legged position. “Okay.”
Leo frowned, oddly confused. “What are you doing? Aren’t you tired?”
“No.” Jason said without thinking. “I just wanna make sure you get your sleep too. When was the last time you slept more than six hours at once?”
Leo raised his eyebrows in a thoughtful expression, counting quietly on his rough fingers.
Jason snorted. “What are you counting? Days or weeks?”
“Months.” Leo said dead-serious. A moment passed, then the two boys broke into wide grins.
Jason snickered. “Seriously though, go to sleep, Leo. I could tuck you in.” He joked, receiving a light shoulder slap from Leo. The touch sent small tingles down his chest. They lingered as short as Leo’s hand on his shirt.
“Shut up.” Leo smirked.
“This helps me calm down more than any sleep could anyway.”
Jason’s smile faded, leaving traces of something warmer. “I know what you mean. All that demigod dream-your-trauma stuff really sucks.”
Leo nodded quietly, locking his dark eyes with Jason’s icy blue ones. The screwdriver in his hand was long forgotten, time seeming to slow down as they spoke without words.
Jason felt lost in the quiet exchange, before he realized he had really really intense eye contact with his best friend right now. Wasn’t there like a study of after what timespan eye contact could be seen as romantic? There sure was.
He blinked, the tip of his ears heating up in record time.
Leo seemed to notice, but he didn’t say anything. No dumb comment or sly smirk, just him.
“Yeah, sucks.” He said, looking down at his fiddly fingers. Jason was sure he would one day accidentally knot them together.
“I dream of Gaia a lot.” Leo admitted, his voice dropping in volume, “And the war. And then I wake up and wonder who’s the one to die.”
Jason stayed silent, letting Leo’s words hang heavy in the air between them. Truth was, it was no different with him. Every night the same fear, every morning the same burning question no one dared to say out loud.
“No one will die.” Jason decided, “Prophecy this or that.”
Leo looked up. “Well, it’s quite literally written in stone.”
“Doesn’t mean it can’t be changed. Also, you can’t take Prophecy’s by heart. Interpretation and stuff.”
Leo huffed a quiet laugh. “And then he said he wanted to change the prophecy. You’re almost as funny as me, sparky.”
Jason rolled his eyes. “I didn’t say I want to change it. I mean… kinda just… I don’t know.”
“Well, fate will decide I guess.” Leo stated with air quotes, shrugging his shoulders.
“Fate…” Jason repeated, “Weird concept, isn’t it? I mean, it means nothing is really ours to decide.”
Leo raised an eyebrow. He was one of the few people Jason knew who could do that. “Did you have a poet for breakfast or what? But yeah, I try to ignore it most of the time. The stupid shit I do is the stupid shit I decide to do and not some weird god who doesn’t have any other hobbies.”
Jason chuckled. Leo joined him, their giggles soon fading into a comforting silence. Leo could’ve gone back to fixing whatever was broken, Jason would’ve watched, but he didn’t.
“I don’t like that destiny stuff.” Leo said into the dim light, voice just above a whisper. “I don’t even know if I like that demigod stuff.” He admitted, looking down, maybe avoiding Jasons eyes.
Before Jason could even think about it, he reached his hand out to gently brush over Leo’s knee. He didn’t know what it was like to not be a demigod himself, and he wasn’t sure if he wanted to. But he could understand that Leo wanted to have a normal childhood. Without gods and demigods, his mother would still be alive after all.
“That’s fine.” Jason tried to comfort his friend. His hand lingered on the soot-stained pants of the Latino.
Leo’s hand brushed against his, maybe an accident, maybe not. Jason felt every fingertip. His breathing fastened against his will. Still, Jason didn’t pull away. He would never pull away from Leo.
After a while that felt way too long, Jason found the courage to search for Leo’s gaze again.
His eyes wandered over Leos that seemed almost black in the poorly lit room. A comforting, warm darkness.
Leo’s ears seemed pointier than usual, or maybe Jason just hadn’t looked at them for a while. Jason’s gaze travelled over Leo’s nose, almost unnoticeably crocked. He could imagine Leo had broken it while doing a dumb stunt or just one of his side projects.
Leo’s cheeks had a healthy red tint to them, shining through his olive skin and smears. And his lips…
Jason’s look dropped. Just for an instant. An instant that was long enough to notice how soft they seemed despite being a little chapped. How kissable…
Leo’s chest went up and down faster than before. Without really taking note of it, Jason scooted closer, just an inch, until he could effortlessly cup Leo’s cheek with his hand.
“You have some… oil there.” Jason said, his voice sounding far away. He glided his thumb across Leo’s skin, feeling it heating up.
Jason’s heart pounded in his chest as Leo leaned forward, just a little but enough for Jason to notice. In a trance, Jason felt himself lose control over his body, slipping into something that didn’t need thoughts or rules.
His voice had gone, his thoughts disappeared as his eyes slowly fluttered shut, feeling Leo lean in as well, his warm breath shakily fanning his cheeks. Straw-like curls twisted around his fingers as if knowing their place was and had always been there, around him.
The engine room grew quieter, leaving only the sound of Leo’s breath.
Jason could almost feel Leo’s lips tickle his as a loud shrieking noise made him rip his eyes open.
Leo startled, almost jumping up as he flew around to find the loose screw. Jason watched awkwardly silent as Leo hastily screwed the tiny piece back into its place.
“I… uhm – sorry.” He stammered, tripping over his words. Jason couldn’t even get a sound out.
Leo’s breathing still went unevenly fast. His cheeks were a flaming color of red, Jason would’ve been seriously concerned about him blowing up if his head would’ve been able to form just a single thought.
“You know – know what?” Leo eventually asked as the screw seemed secure. He avoided eye contact. “You were sooo right earlier. I’m so tired I could eat a horse.”
He fake-yawned, getting up as quickly as possible. “I – I should head to… bed… yeah.” Leo said, pointing to the door with finger guns.
As he made his way out, Jason could hear him curse and mumble under his breath. He still sat on the floor, unable to move yet.
Needless to say, Jason had never despised a screw more than that night.