Chapter Text
After the war with Gaea, Camp Jupiter had sent multiple praetors to Camp Half–Blood to keep the peace between the two camps. Which may have just been the biggest blessing of Leo’s life. A few weeks later he met Jason, one of the praetors that came to camp.
He immediately became intrigued by him, his shaggy blonde hair and his electric blue eyes. It almost made him forget about Calypso, they had broken up a few days ago after having a fight. That night, Leo decided to invite Jason to a party the Dionysus cabin was holding. Leo told Jason that he didn’t have to go if he didn’t want to but there were also going to be some of his friends going as well. Jason was a little unsure at first but he decided to go anyway because he didn’t have anything to do that night. As they approached the Dionysus cabin they could hear music.
It was a collection of songs that the Dionysus cabin was playing; the songs were a mix of Brittney Spears, Rhianna, and Avril Lavigne. (One artist Piper specifically requested) As they both got closer and walked inside the music got deafening. Leo could barely hear his internal thoughts, he looked over at Jason and gestured him over to a quieter spot in the cabin away from other people. As they walked Leo attempted at small talk, “How’s camp treating you?”
“It’s alright. I’m still getting used to the new schedule, it’s really nice not having so much on my plate all the time. I hate having to sleep with all of the other praetors though. I have to listen to Octavian snoring all night” Leo laughed at the thought of it really?! The reason that Jason was so sleep deprived after coming to camp was because of Octavian. For some reason Jason looked at him and immediately started laughing as well. They crouched down into a small room and started to laugh their guts out. After they stopped laughing Leo looked over at him and said “At least you don’t have as much stuff to worry about here including other things.”
Jason replied and said “Yeah, I don’t miss the military vibes, I’m glad to see Thalia after all these years I’ve been worried about her. I cried in her arms for about an hour when I first saw her again.”
Leo responded "I would've done the same thing if I had a sister.” They sat in comfortable silence for a moment listening to the dampening music from a few rooms over. “Well.” Leo said “ I think we should go look for Piper and the others, they’re probably looking for us.” “Yeah.” Jason nodded “I don’t think I can stand being stuck in this cramped room anyway.”
They both began to file out of the room and started to look for Piper and the others. The crowds of people were thick like smog. Everyone was celebrating even Nico who got dragged out of his cabin by Will and Percy. As it got increasingly more congested they finally found Piper she was by the punch bowl talking to Hazel.
Piper squealed and called over to both of the boys. “Finally! I was wondering where you two ran off.” Hazel questioned them. “Yeah, where were you two? “We’ve been looking for you for hours?!” Leo and Jason stood there like idiots just looking at them until.
Piper retorted and said. “Well???” Leo finally came to terms with the conversation and said. “Oh, we were just talking. Ya’know, catching up.” Hazel giggled and replied “Well, you two sure did a lot of catching up in there.” Jason spoke up before Leo could answer “Yeah, we just had a lot to talk about.”
Hazel and Piper both looked at each other like they knew something Jason and Leo didn’t. Piper then said “Well, I don’t want to interrupt your bonding time. So we should probably get going, I’ll see you guys later though!” Piper and Hazel walked away from them into the crowd of people. Leo and Jason just looked at each other confused; it's like their faces were question marks. After a while, it’s like they both subconsciously agreed that they had to get the hell out of that cabin.
When they walked outside they both looked up at the sky. It was especially clear that night, you could see millions of stars in the sky. It's like the sky was dusted in glitter.
Leo suddenly spoke up “Man that was weird.” Jason responded “Yeah I agree, I had never seen Piper and Hazel look at us like that. It’s like they knew something we didn’t.”
After a brief moment of silence just looking up at the sky Leo said “I don’t know about you but, I’m thirsty and this humidity isn’t doing me any favors.” Jason nodded wordlessly as they looked at each other and began to look around for a cooler of some kind. They finally spotted the cooler, it had cans of soda in it and some other mysterious drink was also laying inside as they both walked closer they finally got a glimpse of what it was.
It was beer. Leo looked at Jason he looked confused, his brows furrowed Leo was going to ask why he looked so confused yet so concerned when Jason spoke up. “Why’s there beer in the cooler??” Leo laughed and looked at him “It was probably the Stoll twins who put it in there. Do you want one?”
Leo was already grabbing one of the beer cans Jason looked at the cooler like it was Pandora’s box he asked “How do people get away with doing things like this??” Leo shrugged and cracked open the can of beer. It made a fizzing sound as he took a sip out of the can. Jason reached into the cooler grabbing a can of sprite he cracked the can open and took a drink out of it
They both walked away with their drinks. Leo asked Jason if he wanted to go to the fireworks beach. He nodded and followed Leo towards the beach, as they got closer the stars were even brighter than before and they could see multiple constellations clearly in the night sky.
The pair sat down against a boulder watching the shore move in and out, almost methodically gazing up at the sky.