Chapter Text
Jason blamed Percy for putting the idea into Leo’s head. He just had to keep the joke running, hadn’t he? Seriously, it was like he and Leo were competing for the title of Argo II Comedian.
He should have known Leo would take it as a challenge.
It had to have been around ten o’clock at night, but there were no clocks on the Argo II that Jason knew of. It must’ve been another one of Leo’s crazy strategies to get everyone locked in for their quest, because there was no way that Leo Valdez, genius inventor extraordinaire, self-taught mechanic, solo builder of a 200-foot-long multi-level flying ship, son of Hephaestus himself, would have forgotten to install clocks.
While Hedge was on watch, the seven demigods had gathered in the mess hall belowdecks. At first, it had been under the pretenses of strategizing, but quickly, Jason realized everyone just wanted a break—from fighting, from monsters, from stressing out about the looming end of the world and the inevitable battle against Gaea and her army of giants, which this scraggly group of teenagers would have to defeat or else life as they knew it would be over and everyone would die.
No pressure or anything.
Nachos were passed around as their conversation shifted from battle-planning to shared stories, and eventually the main conversation split into two—Frank, Hazel, Percy, and Leo debating how saying centaur poop was no better than bullshit, while Piper and Jason teased Annabeth about how red she got while describing The Dagger Moment during their last encounter with the Romans back in Charleston.
It was when Annabeth admitted to how attractive Percy had looked returning her dagger to her that it started.
The guy must have had some sort of super-hearing when it came to Annabeth, because even though she spoke conspiratorially to Piper and Jason—and Leo, who abandoned making fun of Frank to listen in—Percy perked up when his name was mentioned.
He leaned over the tabletop and fixed his piercing sea-green gaze on Annabeth, who immediately flushed.
“Which of my famously embarrassing Seaweed-Brain moments are you tarnishing my reputation with this time?” he asked playfully.
“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Piper jeered back, and Leo snickered, adding something under his breath that sounded like weather boy, which made absolutely no sense to Jason.
“No tarnishing,” Jason said with a light chuckle.
Percy’s eyebrows shot up, his unsettlingly vibrant gaze shifting to Jason. “Oh? She’s glazing me for once?”
Jason had no idea what that meant, but it must have been a good thing, because Piper laughed. “Guessing it doesn’t happen often?”
“Of course not,” Leo scoffed, wisely adding, “Thou shalt not glaze aura farmers, lest they become chalant.”
Jason could only gape blankly. Sometimes he felt like an old man. The mystery of slang was beyond him. Thankfully, though, Hazel and Frank looked just as bemused, which made him feel a little less out of touch.
“Well, now I gotta know.” Percy turned back to Annabeth, pleading with his eyes, and she crossed her arms and shook her head teasingly, though her cheeks still resembled stop lights.
Jason snickered. “Just that you were totally attractive saving the girls in Charleston,” he said to the girls’ dismay, and he raised his eyebrows innocently at them across the table. “What? He was there—he deserves to know!”
Annabeth huffed, crossing her arms as she leaned against her chair’s backrest. “Well, I would have preferred to tell him in private.”
“What, so you could seduce him into kissing you?” Hazel asked with a light giggle, and Frank snorted.
“No seducing needed,” Percy said, shooting Annabeth a sly look, but the heat in his eyes was noticeable even to Jason.
He groaned as Annabeth leaned toward Percy, her gray eyes glued to his, and Leo slapped a hand over Frank’s eyes, clearing his throat loudly. “Woah, woah! Eyes in the cornfield, lovebirds!”
Frank swatted him away with a roll of his eyes. “The term is ears in the cornfield,” he muttered derisively, crossing his arms over his thick chest. “And I’m older than you, Leo. If anything, you should be covering your eyes.”
“Not to mention, you’re the one with the least relationship experience,” Piper pointed out—a little harshly, in Jason’s opinion. Leo had never told Jason outright, but he could tell his best friend felt a little put-out over being the only one on board who had never been in a relationship before. He claimed he was more comfortable with machines, but Jason could tell from the longing looks he shot at the seafaring couples that he wasn’t as unaffected as he let on.
Jason didn’t really blame him, to be honest. It got old sometimes, constantly feeling like he was intruding on intimate moments. At least Hazel and Frank kept as private as possible on the ship; Percy and Annabeth were insufferable most of the time, constantly making lovey-dovey eyes at each other and always finding some way to be touching—or worse, kissing in full view of everyone. Jason had walked in on more make-out sessions than he wanted to count.
Don’t get him wrong; Jason was happy for his friends. If anything, he was high-fiving Percy for his game. But didn’t they get even a little uncomfortable?
Anyway, maybe the main reason Jason understood Leo’s feelings was because he’d never exactly been in a relationship, either. There was that thing with Piper all those months ago, when he’d woken up on the Wilderness School bus holding hands with the beautiful Cherokee girl. Of course he found her attractive, and they got along great and had some chemistry—but not exactly the right kind.
In all honesty, he’d tried to develop feelings for her. He sort of felt like he owed it to her, after all the false memories she struggled with dismissing. Once they returned from their quest to free Hera from her cage in the Wolf House, Jason and Piper figured they’d give dating a shot—like, what was the harm in it?
It didn’t work out, obviously. Hardly a month into the relationship, they agreed there wasn’t much of a spark (pun not intended, but Leo would probably laugh). Jason had been relieved to discover Piper’s feelings for him were also entirely platonic, and they’d settled on being friends. He liked things better that way; it was more comfortable being alone with her now. No sense in trying to force emotions that were fake to begin with, right?
Gods, Jason hated Juno. She was always making things more complicated than they needed to be.
He snapped back to the present when Leo guffawed at Piper’s comment—a little late, probably because he had to work through his affront before forcing an unfazed reaction. Jason glanced over, noticing Leo’s hands tapping nervously on the table; something in Morse code. Jason had learned Morse code in the legion, and part of his brain translated: SOS.
He paused, unsure whether to laugh or worry. Did the topic really bother Leo that much?
Of course it did; it was a direct hit at one of the many things he was insecure about.
Nonetheless, Leo laughed it off, the way he always did. No one else seemed to notice his quickly masked dejection. Jason couldn’t help feeling a little miffed over the fact.
“What are you talking about, Beauty Queen?” Leo retorted. “I have plenty of experience!”
Percy laughed. “Kissing the homies goodnight doesn’t count.”
Everyone laughed, and Leo grasped onto the joke, running with it to distract everyone from the original topic. Just like he always did.
“Sure it does!” Leo jibed, his finger still tapping incessantly on the wood: THX. “A kiss is a kiss, isn’t it?”
Frank raised a sleek brow. “Maybe for practice.” Hazel shot him an accusing look, but he just shrugged. “What? It’s a thing!”
“Is it really?” Annabeth asked, looking flabbergasted, and Piper smirked, propping her chin in her arm and fixing her alluring eyes on the scary blonde.
“What are you talking about, Annabeth? You and I practice all the time.”
Hazel laughed. Percy gasped, a hand flying to his chest like he’d been physically wounded. “No way... That’s why you’re so good at it? It has nothing to do with me?!”
Jason might have asked, That’s the part you’re worried about? if he hadn’t been distracted by Leo tapping out FB—Fine Business, like Morse code slang for “good”. That probably meant Leo deemed the crisis successfully averted.
A smirk slid over Annabeth’s face as she raised a brow at Percy. “As if you’re not doing the same thing with Jason.”
Now it was Jason’s turn to gawk. “Don’t involve me in this—”
“No way, bro,” Leo shook his head at Jason in disbelief, his amber eyes narrowing. “You’ve been kissing other dudes?”
“Oh, my bad, man.” Percy could barely contain his laugh now. “Didn’t mean to steal your dude.”
Leo crossed his arms, and Jason’s ears rang in the sudden absence of his patterned tapping. “Yeah, back off, Jackson. Get your own homie to kiss.”
Jason blinked around the table. “What is happening right now?”
Everyone cracked up, which was probably a sign of their delirium. It had to be past midnight by now, and more than half of them had been up since before sunrise to fend off a venti attack—one of many throughout their journey across the Atlantic so far.
The intercom clicked on, and a series of clicks and creaks echoed through the mess hall. Leo sighed and pushed his chair back, staggering to his feet. “Festus says Coach is ordering us to tuck in. I guess he can hear us from all the way on deck.”
“Not surprised,” Frank muttered, and Hazel fell into a fit of giggles. Frank shot her a bewildered look, probably because he hadn’t really said anything funny.
“I think that’s our cue,” Jason murmured, and Frank nodded fervently.
Annabeth pushed away from the table. “I guess it is getting pretty late. We all need to rest up if we want to be able to defend ourselves against attacks. Who has next watch?”
Piper yawned and stretched, murmuring something that was probably meant to be an answer, but Jason couldn’t make out the words.
“I’m up next,” Jason supplied. “In a few hours—or whenever Hedge decides he’s had enough, I guess.”
“Sleep tight, then.” Percy shifted his gaze away from Jason to wink at Leo as he rose to his feet. “Don’t forget to kiss your homie goodnight.”
Leo perked up. “Oh, yeah!”
Frank and Hazel snickered. Clearly, they didn’t know Leo well enough to think he was serious.
Before Jason knew what was happening, Leo marched right over to where he was still sitting in his chair, slapped his hands on either side of his face, and guided their mouths together.
Jason froze, because Leo was... warm. His hands reminded Jason of his mother’s heated oven mitts against his cheeks whenever he tried to sneak a fresh-baked cookie. The tip of his nose pushed softly into Jason’s cheek, tickling his skin as he exhaled. His lips—gods, his lips—
Just as quickly as he’d come onto Jason, Leo pulled away. For an absurd second, Jason had the urge to chase after his warmth, but then his eyes locked on that familiar impish grin, and reality set in.
Leo had just kissed him. No jokes, dead-on-the-lips kissed him.
The room had gone utterly silent, but Jason hardly noticed with his blood rushing in his ears. Why did he feel so short of breath all of a sudden? His fingers tingled like he’d collected static electricity.
Leo shifted on his feet, shoving his hands into the pockets of his grubby jeans. Jason was positive he was the only one who noticed the awkwardness in the movement.
“Well, goodnight!” Leo exclaimed cheerily, then bounded from the mess hall before anyone could repeat the parting message back to him.
Jason watched him go, and even after Leo had left, his eyes stayed glued to the door.
What just happened?
Percy was the first to break the silence. “Well. That was...”
“Something,” Annabeth finished helpfully. Jason couldn’t tear his eyes off the door to check their expressions, but he was sure they’d be alarmed. Maybe even mystified.
Jason couldn’t tell how he felt about it himself.
Piper cleared her throat. “Um... bedtime, guys?”
There was a great scattering of assent and the sounds of chairs shoving away from the table. Everyone shuffled toward the exit, already easing back into casual conversation, interrupted by the occasional yawn. Mechanically, like one of Leo’s inventions, Jason followed after them, his mind on autopilot.
He didn’t remember getting ready for bed. His mind kept running over those brief few seconds in the mess hall, and even as he lay in bed staring up at his darkened ceiling, listening as items in his room shifted with the soothing rock of the ship, he couldn’t help but replay the moment again.
Leo was Jason’s best friend. He knew Leo better than anyone; recognized the slight shifts in his expressions, knew what each of Leo’s fidgets meant. He could pick out every lie that left Leo’s lips when no one else detected a thing. He knew Leo’s sense of humor like he knew his own, and could even predict the jokes Leo might make.
And not once had he ever taken a joke that far.
Jason heaved a sigh into the dark quiet. What had Leo been thinking? Was it the overtiredness getting to him? Maybe he was just as delirious as some of the others seemed to be. Maybe the long day had completely thrown his inhibitions out the window—er, porthole?
Whatever the case, there had to have been some contributing factor for Leo to have... for him to...
The warmth rising up the back of his neck was so unfamiliar that Jason immediately shut down his thoughts.
That was a problem for future Jason to figure out. He’d have plenty of time to himself during his watch, anyway.
Speaking of... The longer he put off sleep, the more miserable he’d be.
He rolled onto his side, squeezed his eyes shut, and prayed he could escape the nightmares this time.