Chapter Text
Leo chews on his pen. His teeth work their way into grooves already made by weeks of consistent abuse of the plastic, and his jaws grip down on the material hard enough to make the muscles tense. He’s brought out of his vague circular daydreams about entering a go-kart race down at the local track by the sound of something cracking sharply, Leo’s brain reaching for a memory of when Piper accidentally stepped on the plastic casing of Drew’s eyeshadow palette before he’s back to reality.
But there’s no ink on his lips, and his pen’s casing, if a bit battered, is remarkably intact. He lets it fall from his mouth with a raised eyebrow, glancing around the class. Jason Grace, two rows over, is dripping with dark blue ink, dark splotchy marks covering his lower lip and chin. It dribbles down to the front of his white uniform polo shirt, undoubtedly going to stain as the ink bled. Leo stares at the remaining half of the pen in Jason’s blue hand, at the ink staining the front teeth of Jason’s slightly agape mouth and raised eyebrows, at the cracked little plastic pieces sitting on the desk.
For some reason, Leo’s lip quirks upward, and he snorts. He quickly brings his hand to cover his mouth as Jason’s eyes flicker toward him, the expression in his bright blue eyes a little lost and dazed. Then his lips stretch into a small smile as well, his pale face turning a shade of pink as he brings a hand up to rub at the back of his neck.
Leo smiles back, gesturing at his own face and chin as he quirks up an eyebrow at Jason. Jason’s brow furrows for a second, frowning before wiping at his chin with his forearm, smearing the dripping ink across his face. Leo burst into giggles as Jason’s frown deepened.
Leo takes a gasping breath and pulls his lips in a tight line, biting the inside of his cheek while Jason holds a hand up in the air, eyebrows furrowed and mouth in a shaky smile. Jason swallowed, a hint of laughter in his voice that he visibly forced down as he called for the teacher’s attention.
“Mr. Chiron? Um- I think my pen burst,” Jason said, mouth in a slight slant. He was still trying to wipe off the worst of it, and Leo sucks in air so fast his lungs start to hurt, exhaling in a laughing wheeze. His ears feel like they’re burning, laughing so hard that all he can hear is his own blood rushing to his head. Leo folds over with the weight of it, the class otherwise silent.
Chiron sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. He gestured for Jason to stand, wheeling over to grab the bathroom pass from his desk as Jason made his way to the front of the class. “Leo-”
“I’ll help ‘em out,” Leo beamed, already moving to stand. He’s grinning so wide he can’t help but giggle again, wiping his spit-covered pen on his pants.
“I mean, that-” Leo gestured at Jason’s whole deal, stuffing one hand in his pocket as he walked up to Jason, neck craning up to look him in the face. Jason’s trying not to smile, but there’s a light in his bright blue eyes, the corner of his eyes crinkling. Leo smiles before he turns back to Chiron, grinning. “-Kind of seems like a two-man job,”
Chiron gives him a look. Leo’s grin doesn’t waver.
“...Very well,”
Leo clapped a hand on Jason’s shoulder, guiding him out of the classroom with snorting giggles. “Come on, Superman,”
***
The water doesn’t do much for Jason’s uniform. The ink just spreads and smudges, but Leo gets a kick out of watching Jason rinse his mouth out, spitting up saliva streaked with blue. Leo snickers the entire time, not actually doing much in the ways of helping, but Jason doesn’t say much about it.
“Pobrecito. You the type of kid to eat glue, too?” Leo poked at the splatter on Jason’s bicep, who immediately sputters out the water in his mouth, dribbling down the side of his lips. Jason’s like, ridiculously easy to make laugh. Jason stands up straight, wiping his mouth with his arm again, thankfully clean of ink stains, but Jesus Christ, was this dude raised in a barn?
“How’d you even do that? Bit through that shit with your fucking teeth? You some kinda wolf-man, Grace?” Leo mused, leaning his back against the counter of the sinks, hard porcelain digging into the small of his back. It pressed an indent into his skin, marking just above the waistband of his khaki cargo shorts. They’re stained with vague grease marks and oil, but that was true of practically all of his clothes. He and Nyssa didn’t really get a chance to buy something new before the semester started, and there was no way to keep things clean when Leo had to traverse the workshop under their apartment in order to catch a ride to school.
Jason shook his head, rubbing under his eye with one pale-pinkish knuckle. “I just- don’t know my own strength,” He flashed Leo a small slightly yellow smile, revealing a crooked canine that Leo immediately fixated on, distantly amused by the fact it lined up almost perfectly with the equally crooked scar on Jason’s upper lip. There’s something about the way his mouth moves that makes Leo take a second to decipher his words, but he smiles anyway, thankful his hearing aids take the brunt of the work. “Leo, right?”
Jason held out a hand, and Leo took it, his hand practically engulfed by Jason’s. Jason’s fingers are calloused and his skin is weirdly cool, and Leo almost immediately pulls away, only waiting long enough to be polite. “Yeah, it’s Leo. Leo Valdez,”
“Class clown,” Jason mused, and Leo shrugged.
“Maybe. You vying for my spot? Pen explosion is a pretty bold stunt, but you ain’t beating the shit I’ve pulled,” Leo grins, looking up at Jason, who blows out a breath with a small smile, face pink from being rubbed raw. Jason looks down at Leo through blonde eyelashes and thin rimmed glasses, the stupid little lightning bolt shaved into the side of his undercut littered with the type of freckles you get from sitting in the sun too long. He had some on his nose too.
“I wouldn’t dream of it. I doubt I could come up with anything nearly creative enough,” Jason said, and Leo watches the way this dude’s eyes slide over him, too deep of a blue for a dude with thick lips and a square jaw. It’s like, unfair how attractive this guy is. Leo shivered, shoving his hands back in his pockets as his fingers itched to tug on his own curls.
“Yeah, alright, Prom King,” Leo scoffed, biting his lip. He pulled one of his cleaner pens out of his pocket, unused but with red ink, and handed it to Jason. “Don’t chew on this one, Superman,”
Jason took it, glancing down at the relatively pristine pen- free of teeth marks, anyway- and then looked back up at Leo. “Superman?”
Leo pointed at his own forehead, giving Jason a tight-lipped smile. Jason looked in the mirror, swearing under his breath as he tried to brush away the cowlick.
***
Jason sighed, leaning up on one elbow as he stared across the school courtyard. He ran a hand through his hair, brushing back a blonde cowlick for perhaps the fifth time that day. Mixed hair textures made for difficult hair days. It happens when he doesn’t wash his hair every day, but then he gets split ends, so he really doesn’t know what to do at this point.
“Leo Valdez? Isn’t he straight?” Percy asked, raising an eyebrow and turning to Nico, who shrugged, sweeping thick black hair out of his eyes. He was fiddling with his biology notes, littering them with scribbled out annotations and bright red lines, a crease in his brow as Percy looked to him for input.
“Fuck if I know. Didn’t he date Calypso?”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought too. Isn’t that why he hates me?”
“Leo hates you?” Jason asked, sitting up to look at his friends, who both shrugged. Percy’s eyebrows furrowed, and he frowned at the table across the courtyard where Leo was signing exaggeratedly, making big movements as Piper cracked up, smacking a fist against the table in a way that made her many bracelets jangle. “Well, he doesn’t like me, that’s for sure,”
“But you guys know him, right?” Jason asked, and Percy gave a small nod, eyes darting toward the sky. He tilted his head, glancing at Jason as he cautiously stabbed at his blueberry yogurt with a Spider-Man themed spoon. “Kind of. I guess. Frank thinks he’s kind of a dick,”
“Oh,” Jason slumped, leaning back against the hard plastic of the booth. Percy winced, patting Jason’s shoulder in what Jason was fairly certain was an attempt at being reassuring. “He seemed nice to me. He took me to the bathroom after my pen broke, and gave me a new one to replace it. Did Leo do something to Frank? How do they know each other?” Jason frowned, turning his head to look at his friends.
Frank regularly volunteered at the animal shelter, helped Hazel organize the art therapy program at the community center, and did Jason the kindness of becoming student council president after Jason stepped down. He didn’t like the kind of person who would be a dick to Frank.
“Uh, I think he and Hazel grew up together? That right, Nico?” Percy glanced back at Nico again, who closed his eyes tight, the bruised bags beneath them crinkling with the force of his grimace. He took a deep breath, taking a moment to slick back his thick shaggy black hair and tie it up.
“Um- maybe? I think so. Their families were close- they knew each other before she moved here…” Nico trailed off, squinting at the empty air in front of him. He leaned forward on one elbow, closing his heavy biology notebook. “Long story. But they’re friends, so he can’t be that bad. Kind of rude sometimes, I guess. I don’t know him very well- he’s around the house a lot, but we don’t talk much,”
“Right.” Percy nodded, snapping his fingers. “Right, so that’s why he knows Frank. But like- Frank says he’s kind of an asshole. Picks on people, or whatever,”
“No, Hazel wouldn’t be friends with him if he was a bully,” Nico pointed out, frowning and crossing his arms on the table. He rested his head on them, yawning.
“Yeah. Leo doesn’t seem like the bully type,” Percy conceded, then turned to give Jason what was probably a sympathetic look. “Maybe it’s just a ‘class clown’ thing. We can ask Hazel about him, if you want,”
Jason nodded, giving Percy a thin smile. “Sure. Sounds good,”
Leo and Jason’s spheres orbited each other, overlapping in just enough places where they nodded to each other in the halls, exchanged glances when they ended up in the same classes, acknowledged one another whenever their mutual friends stopped to talk. Somehow, though, despite the agonizing number of near misses, Leo and Jason never did more than hover near each other. Part of Jason died inside as he thought back to the way he’d spoken to Leo in the bathroom, awkward and embarrassed at the fact that he of all people had caught Jason in such a humiliating position.
“Leo, right?” As if they hadn’t circled around each other for ages, as if Leo’s name hadn’t been seared into Jason’s brain since freshman year, as if he didn’t, in his lonelier moments, daydream about Leo sweeping him up and away from boring mounds of homework on nights when Thalia was out. As if Jason had never been caught staring, making eye contact with Leo from across the classroom for a few heart-racing seconds before Jason looked away, ears burning red.
Jason sighed, burying his face in his hands and pushing his glasses up to his forehead. “...He’s probably straight.”
Percy sucked his teeth, and Jason could tell he was wincing without even looking. It’s the same face Percy pulled when he had to be the one to tell Nico that Grover hadn’t been able to get the newest Mythomagic cards before they sold out. “...Probably.”
Jason groaned, hunching over even more.
Percy backtracked quickly. “But hey! There’ll be more guys, right?”
“He’s been obsessed with Leo since freshman year,” Nico pointed out with a raised eyebrow, looking truly and deeply sympathetic to Jason's situation. Percy’s head snapped toward him, then back to Jason, then back again. He frowned, eyebrows pinched together. “What? Since when?”
“...Since freshman year,” Nico repeated, a hint of an incredulous smile on his lips. Nico shook his head, sitting up to tilt his head at Percy. “You really are oblivious. I don’t know how the hell you managed to get with Annabeth,”
“I don’t know either, man,”
Nico rolled his eyes. “Leo’s… okay. Frank doesn’t like him because he’s JROTC, and Leo’s…” Nico pulls a face. “Class clown. Not sure if he’s gay, but he’s not homophobic,” Nico shrugged, which would’ve been helpful if it hadn’t been anything Jason already knew.
“Question is- you ever gonna like… talk to him?” Percy asked, giving Jason a cautious glance.
“No. Never. I like, completely humiliated myself- he probably thinks I’m a freak,” Jason huffed, voice tight. Leo, who was all sharp angles and nice hair, pretty hands and defined eyebrows that were both always moving, expressive and hilarious and maddeningly handsome.
Leo could captivate a crowd and make people laugh. Jason struggled to keep a one-on-one conversation without putting his foot in his mouth.
“I think he’s fine with freaks,” Nico mused.
***
“I don’t think he can even sign,” Leo signed, raising an eyebrow at Piper. Piper waved dismissively, stepping over cracks in the sidewalk. He and Piper both toed around them, Piper’s long purple laces dragging through the rainwater collected in the holes in the concrete. She’ll bitch about it later, and then Leo will have to go shopping with her for new ones, even though it’d be just the same to wash the mud off them. It’s not like anyone ever got judged for dirty shoelaces, but Piper kept them pristine ever since she saw the same color on Thalia’s chunky black combat boots.
Thalia, who heavily disliked Leo, and happened to be Jason Grace’s older sister. They met through Annabeth, who Leo shared a physics class with, and who Piper insisted he introduce her to before finding out that Annabeth had a boyfriend.
It was whatever, though. High school friend groups were convoluted, and their stupid private school was too small for anyone in their year to not at least know each other’s names. Everyone knows everyone, and yet nobody knows no one. It probably didn’t help with Jason’s opinion of Leo, though.
“Annabeth can sign,” Piper reminded him, and Leo rolled his eyes.
“Annabeth also knows Morse code, Latin, and Ancient Greek. Doesn’t mean Jason does too. Her boyfriend can’t even sign. Don’t mean shit,” Leo shot back, stuffing his hands in his pockets because he was done talking about the people around him and their vehement unwillingness to learn ASL. It’s a lot to ask someone to learn a new language, sure, especially ‘cause he already knew English, but lip-reading is fucking exhausting and hearing aids aren’t perfect.
Half the time, Leo didn’t know if he preferred voice or if he was just used to it. Piper still signed to him, though- probably ‘cause he told her that his head was going to explode back when they were picking up their bus passes. He still doesn’t get why they take the bus when Piper has a dad who can afford to buy her a car, but maybe stealing a BMW means she isn’t allowed to get a license just yet. He’d probably refuse a ride from her anyway because fancy cars make him nauseous, but still. There’s a principle to it.
“I don’t know. Maybe he’ll surprise you,” Piper mused, and now it was raining again, small pattering droplets that hit the back of Leo’s neck, light enough that Leo had to take a moment to realize it was even there.
“Blondie don’t know sign,”
“Bet,”
Piper has the same look on their face as that time Leo didn’t hear her heads-up and slammed face first into a wall when Piper’s dad took them out for laser tag. It makes him bite his lip, pinching the flesh on the inner corner of his mouth until he tasted a few spots of blood. He shouldn’t take the bait, but he’s a little bit too prideful to back down now.
“…Five bucks,”
“Deal,” Piper grinned, then she put her hands down to adjust the rolled up waistband of their uniform skirt, a dark blue plaited thing that made Leo kind of glad he was born with a dick, ‘cause there wasn’t any universe where he’d put up with being forced to wear that shit. The uniform was already bad enough without a skirt. He felt like the buttons on the polo were constantly trying to choke him. Teachers have stopped trying to get him to button them up, but faculty still bitched sometimes.
“Even if Jason doesn’t know, he seems like the type to be willing to learn. The guy reminds me of a big puppy,” Piper finger-spelled his name, and Leo hummed back.
“Nah, more like Superman,” Leo smiled, tilting his head slightly as he made the sign, dragging a closed fist in a ‘S’ shape in front of his chest. He turned his head fully to her, thinking about the clumsy way they had both communicated when they first met, signing slowly and with English grammar, hand movements awkward and clunky. Learning ASL was… tough to admit, but it was hard. Neither of them had a mind for language. They lost their goddamn minds when they managed to figure out the grammar, maintaining an honest to god conversation with a fellow deaf person they met while out at one of Mr. McLean’s shoots. They spoke about it for weeks.
Oh, how far they’ve come. Leo wouldn’t mind teaching someone else, but despite Piper’s optimism, he doubted he’d find anyone willing.
“And Lord fucking knows your ass don’t need the money,” Leo scoffed, nudging Piper with her shoulder. “I’ve seen your allowance, with your spoiled ass,”
“Boo-hoo, bitch. You don’t complain when I’m buying you filament refills,” Piper grinned, hands moving with her mouth, and Leo couldn’t help his smile.
***
Jason looks up from his phone as Leo Valdez and Piper McLean walk up, his eyebrows raising at the sight of them. It’s raining and there’s no cover for the bus stop or a place to sit, so Percy and Nico, like most other students, had already ordered an Uber or caught a ride home. There’s barely anyone there waiting with him when the pair arrive, and Jason knows Piper has money for a lift, so he can’t help but be surprised to see them.
Piper makes eye contact with him first, raising an eyebrow at Jason. She cuts Leo off mid-sentence with a sharp elbow to his side and he stalls his steps, exaggerating a wince before looking up at Jason, who she’s very unsubtly gesturing toward.
They all blink at each other. He ignores the ping of his phone that lets him know that Percy is once again asking if Jason wants a ride home, that it’s really no problem and they could be right back after dropping Nico off at home if he really needed it. He pockets the device quickly and raises a hand, giving the pair an awkward little wave and close-lipped smile. Piper’s face splits into a grin.
She pushes Leo forward with a narrowing of her deep brown eyes and a nod of her head. He stumbles a bit before catching himself, throwing a glare back at Piper over his shoulder, who just gives him the same look again, pumping her eyebrows up with another nod toward Jason. Leo visibly rolls his eyes, turning his attention toward Jason, who is suddenly very tense.
Leo makes a motion with his hands, leaning slightly forward at Jason and raising a thick eyebrow at him, incredibly expressive and wow , Leo’s really pretty. A part of his curly hair is brushed back behind a slightly pointed ear, clipped back with some Bobby pins and the rest up in a bun that it wasn’t in earlier. There’s a braided bracelet on his wrist too, a splash of color against the white sleeve of the undershirt Leo wore beneath his sky blue polo uniform. Jason can see marker stains under the sleeve of his shirt as it rides up with his movements.
Leo’s mouth twists into a frown, and Jason’s fixated on the way his lips look, and at the beauty spot on the corner of his chin, one of many littering the dark skin of Leo’s face. Jason blinks, realizing very suddenly that Leo and Piper are both staring at him.
“Uh- sorry, can you repeat that?” Jason asked, clearing his throat slightly.
Leo’s frown deepens before twisting into a grin as he takes a small step backward, away from Jason. He threw a look at Piper over his shoulder, voice incredibly smug. “Told you. Pay up,”
Jason’s eyebrows furrowed. “What?
“No, he asked you to repeat it, he didn’t say he didn’t understand,”
“Same thing,”
“No-“
“Yuh huh-“
“Excuse me?” Jason cut in, and Piper turns to look at him, and Leo follows. They’re both looking him up and down, and Jason shifts in place, the blood rushing to his ears. He knows for a fact that he’s turning pink, but there’s not much to be done about it, not when he inherited his mother’s pale skin.
“What’s happening?” He asked, because it’s the only thing he can think of to articulate his confusion and discomfort.
“You know sign?” Leo asks back, hands in his pockets now, and Piper looks up at him expectantly, a friendly smile to her face.
“Oh. A little bit,” Jason replied, holding his hands up and going through the motions of clumsily explaining that he’s learning, so he’d appreciate it if everyone signed more slowly.
Leo’s eyebrows raise, and his face slowly splits into an incredulous grin. “…You sign so English ,” Leo snorted, and Piper elbows him. Jason frowned, dropping his hands to his sides. Piper gave him an apologetic look while Leo rubbed his side, elbowing Piper back, but with far less force.
“Bitch.”
“Dumbass,” Piper shot back easily, stepping on Leo’s boots. She turns her attention back to Jason, who is kind of wishing he’d accepted Percy’s offer.
“What’s wrong with my signing?” Jason asked, furrowing his eyebrows. He didn’t practice much, but Jason wasn’t aware that there was a way to screw up so royally that Leo would straight up laugh at him. Leo grins up at him, apparently forgetting how oh-so offended he was by Piper’s insults. Jason tried to ignore the fact Leo only came up to about his chin.
“Nada. Pero- It’s just your grammar. It’s like- uh- it’s kinda like combining English and ASL. Y’know, like- um- like pinche-“
“Like Spanglish is a combination of English and Spanish?” Piper suggested, and Leo huffed at her. “Not really, ‘cause it’s about uh- grammar- but yeah, kinda. You can sign English, but it’s like- I don’t know, it’s not technically correct, I guess. But I understand what you’re saying, so it’s whatever,” Leo shrugged, still smiling, and Jason nodded slowly, lips in a tight line.
Maybe Leo is a little bit mean. Jason can’t really tell.
“So, you’re learning ASL?” Piper asked, tilting her head at him with a small, inquisitive smile. The rain was picking up now, and Leo scowled up at the sky, squinting at the rain clouds. Jason took off his glasses as rain water started to gather on the lens, pocketing them.
He took a moment to gather his thoughts before answering. “Um… yeah. Well, I’ve been trying to. I don’t really get much practice. Annabeth helps me with ASL in exchange for tutoring her in Latin, but… learning from someone who isn’t deaf is kind of…” He trailed off when he noticed Leo’s orangey brown eyes locked onto him, the corner of his lips curled upward just the slightest bit, like a ghost of a smile. A beat passes as Leo searches his face, gaze running over his lips.
“He and Annabeth are… tutoring each other? In Latin?” Leo glances at Piper, who nods to confirm. She signs something as well- he recognizes the sign for, well, sign - and Leo blows out a breath.
“Why?” Leo asked, turning back to Jason with his hands still shoved deep in the pockets of his cargo shorts. He sounded borderline amused, but his eyes were shining with curiosity.
“Why what?” Jason blinked, leaning backward as Leo took up way too much of his space. Piper looked like she was trying to fight back a smile, lips pressed tightly together. Leo blinks at him for a second, smiling like he’s trying to figure out a puzzle.
“Uhh… sorry, dawg, you kinda mumble when you talk,” Leo said, raising an eyebrow, and Jason’s eyes widened. He clears his throat with a fist to his mouth, cheeks going red. Jason brushes a nonexistent lock of hair behind his ear on instinct, fingers working through the fuzz of his undercut instead.
When was the bus coming again? The rain was pouring now, and Leo was hiking his backpack over his head, eyes still locked on Jason with an expectant look.
“O-oh. Uh- sorry- I mean. Sorry,” Jason said, trying his best to enunciate his words. Years of speech therapy down the drain, just because a pretty guy wants to talk to him. “You asked why? Um, why what?”
“Ohh, yeah, aight. I mean, why are you learning ASL?” Leo’s in his space again, and Jason takes an instinctive step back. Piper tugs Leo back a bit, wrapping an arm around Leo’s shoulder so they were more side-to-side, a more acceptable distance away from Jason’s personal bubble. Leo accepts the manhandling easily, shifting so his backpack shielded them both from the brewing storm. Piper watches Jason for a beat as Leo situates himself, biting the inside of her cheek.
“…Better question- why are you on the bus? We don’t normally see you here,” Piper signs as she speaks, one-handed, which Jason hasn’t even attempted yet.
“Oh, yeah! You ain’t a bus kid. Your ride bail?” Leo asked, grinning like something was funny.
Jason shook his head. The water in his hair was starting to drip down his neck, and Thalia was probably going to laugh at the sight of him when she got home, covered in pen ink and soaking wet from tip to toe. They’d probably have to go to the laundromat to clean up once the weather cleared. “My sister picks me up, usually, but… I don’t know. Work thing, I think. She’s been busy lately,” Jason shrugged.
Sometimes Jason would come home to an empty apartment, twisting his key in the lock with mud on his shoes from the gutter that drained right below the steps up to their door, their home eerily quiet. He would know whether it would be a good night based on the type of music blasting through the walls as he walked up, Thalia usually shouting good-natured arguments with their neighbors about the volume and vulgarity, but more often than not these days, the building would be dead quiet. He’d stay up sometimes, waiting for the silence to be broken by the sound of rows and rows of bracelets and chains jangling, heavy boots stomping up the steps, usually past midnight.
Jason made breakfast those mornings, though Thalia never woke up before Jason was off to school.
Piper and Leo’s faces fell at the same time, with a crease forming between Piper’s eyebrows and Leo’s nose gaining a wrinkle. “Really? Damn. That sucks,” Leo says, face scrunched up.
Piper gave him a sharp look, and Leo shrunk back a little. “Uh- No offense,” Leo added quickly, scratching his ear. His eyes widen, and he swears, taking out his hearing aids and kneeling down to the sidewalk with his backpack, rifling through it for a small case, which he stuffs his hearing aids inside. “Pinche-“ Leo swears, glaring at his backpack. He looks up at Piper, pouting. Jason fights back the urge to stare.
“Fucking- why didn’t you remind me about the rain?!”
“Dude- they’re your hearing aids! How should I know?!”
Jason falls silent, standing awkwardly off to the side as Leo and Piper start signing rapidly to each other, incapable of keeping up with the conversation. He was pretty sure that was his cue to leave. Jason could hear the bus coming up from down the street, thank god, but he wasn’t sure what to do about Leo and Piper. They didn’t seem mean, but they weren’t exactly easy to talk to, or particularly nice. He kind of felt like an outsider to their dynamic, and he couldn’t help but feel like they were treating him like one too.
He took a step back, turning to face the street. Jason glanced back at the pair, and at the little plastic case in Leo’s hand. Jason hoped Leo’s hearing aids would be okay, but he didn’t exactly know how to tell him that with them out. Not that he’d be able to get a word in anyway.
***
The bus driving up to the curb is the only reason the argument stops. Leo pauses mid-sign, punching Piper’s shoulder to get them to turn around, where Jason is climbing on the bus.
“Dumbass! You scared him off!”
“Me?” Piper signs big, her eyebrows pinched together. She starts to roll her sleeves up, but they don't get to retort before Leo is clambering after Jason, climbing onto the bus and searching for the blonde. Piper’s right behind him, clinging onto the strap of Leo’s backpack.
Leo spots the blonde head of dripping wet hair, silently thanking god that Sparky over there happened to be so tall. He’s texting someone on his phone when Leo sidles into the seat behind him, propping himself up on Jason’s backrest as Piper slid in next to Jason.
Leo can see her mouth move, but her hands don’t, and they’re not facing him, so… yeah, he gets none of it. He frowned as Jason nodded at Piper, saying something back.
“Oye.” Leo snapped his fingers in Piper’s ear, who swats him away with a glare. He’s leaning his upper half over the back of the seat, and the driver would probably start yelling at him soon, but Leo was always back in the same position before their stop. “Translate for me,”
“Calm down. You’re freaking him out.” Piper flicked him, and Leo rubbed his nose to soothe the stinging skin. Jason turned toward him and signed a quick ‘sorry.’ Jason’s hands could have smothered Leo’s if he wanted, pale skin with bruised knuckles that bled red in scrawny lines, slightly blotchy and protruding veins that Leo wanted to press his thumb over. Hands that brought bruising grips and hard work in the gym to the mind, something strong in the calluses of his skin that felt more artificial, strength gained on purpose rather than collected through labor.
Yeah, Leo could be normal about that. Probably.
“Why?” Leo asked, wrinkling his nose. Jason blinked, staring for a second before recognition sparks in his eyes, and he brings his hands up awkwardly before stalling, eyebrows furrowed. Leo nudged Piper, who turned to him with a raised eyebrow.
“Come on, oralé, translate, pendeja,” Leo huffed, flicking her ear. She tried to flick him back, but Piper was an only child and Leo’s grown up in houses full of annoying relatives both younger and older, so he’s quicker to dodge than she is to attack. They roll her eyes at him, and he sticks out his tongue.
Piper explains what Leo’s asking, and Jason gives her an answer while glancing back at Leo, seemingly careful to keep his attention on him. But Jason’s eyes flicker to Piper’s hands as she interprets, zeroing in on each movement.
“He said he’s sorry because it’s rude to exclude you like that.”
“Ooohhh,” Leo grins, turning to give Jason his best teasing smile. He’s gonna be honest- most people don’t really think twice about leaving him out of a conversation. A combination of being friends with hearing folk and people who speak about a dozen different languages. It’s rude, but there isn’t always a translator. Piper, however, gets no excuses- she knows he doesn’t like it. “Got a true gentleman over here.”
Piper gives him yet another eye roll as Jason just blinks. Leo thinks he’s gonna end up breaking a new record. He decides to go for at least ten eye rolls before the ride’s over. But Piper translates anyway, but he can tell she’s lengthening the message, so he taps her shoulder. “Hey, what are you telling him? I’m gonna just start using voice if you’re gonna change what I’m saying anyway,”
“Fuck off, nosy. I’m just talking to him, calm down. What, I’m not allowed to be part of the conversation?” Piper talks as she signs for Jason’s benefit, and Leo just scowls at her.
“Not if you’re gonna bitch,”
“Good luck without an interpreter,”
“Motherfucker, a notes app could do your job. Don’t think I won’t replace you,” Leo cracks a smile as he sticks a finger in Piper’s face, who snorts back.
Jason says something, and Leo watches the movement of his mouth, but he’s a little too distracted by the scar on his lip to actually process a word he’s saying.
“He said he’s sorry that he doesn’t know more sign. He doesn’t get a lot of practice since Annabeth’s so busy,” Piper explained, the signature blank look on Leo’s face undoubtedly informing her that he had not been paying the slightest bit of attention. It was a face they knew well after years of taking the same classes together. Piper had started just sending her notes to him for him to use later.
Leo scoffed. “Yeah, I’ll be surprised if she doesn’t get gray hairs by twenty. I can respect the hustle though,”
Annabeth Chase was a senior, a grade above them, and Leo was absolutely terrified of her, as kind of a person she was. He practically starts shaking every time she takes the time to compliment his physics skills in class, though he could see the way she bristled whenever his test scores matched hers, despite the age difference between them.
Jason shrugged, putting his hands up again. “ Slow learner, ” Then he pointed at himself, like he was taking the blame for whatever had hindered their progress. Leo tilted his head, drumming his fingers against the seat. Jason’s hands moved slowly, and they shook.
“We could like- I dunno. We could teach you,” The words leave Leo’s mouth before he could stop them.
***