Chapter Text
Jason’s POV
~
Oh man, I really screwed up. I know that Leo said he liked me back and whatever, but kissing him then just walking away? Why did I do that?!
Hopefully things aren’t super awkward between us tomorrow. I mean, they probably will be, but hopefully not. We never said that we’re dating, but I do want to talk to him about that. I could just sneak into his cabin early tomorrow, wake him up, and take him to my cabin to talk, but who knows if he’ll want to. But I probably should so at least people won’t notice if we are acting weird around each other.
The more I think, the more I worry. What if? What if…? Wha-
Thinking about it, I should probably go to bed. I look over at the clock. 10:30. How long were we sitting out there? It couldn't have been 2 ½ hours. We were out there for an hour at most. I must have been thinking for a while.
If I stay up any long I know that these dumb thoughts are going to consume me. I sighed, setting an alarm for 6:45, deciding that I’m going to talk to him.
***
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
My alarm blares throughout the cabin. I really need to turn that thing down.
Reluctantly, I roll over, sit up, and turn off the alarm. I put on my glasses and slowly get up and walk over to my dresser. I had set out black sweatpants and a blue shirt a few days ago, but I never ended up wearing them when I had wanted to. Now they’ll do.
I pick up the clothes and bring them into the bathroom with me. If I don’t get changed in the bathroom, I’m going to get distracted by a picture or something like that because of my stupid ADHD brain. I can stay more focused and get ready faster if I do everything in the same place.
While I’m just finishing brushing my teeth, I hear a knock on the cabin door. I hesitantly walk over and open it.
Leo?
Oh wait. Shit.
“Oh! Hey, Leo.”
“Up early again? What’s up this time?” he asks.
“Well, I was going to get you from your cabin to talk, but it looks like you beat me to it.”
He walks in and spins around to face me. “I have to beat you to some things! You basically confessed to me and kissed me first. I need a win at one point.” he laughs.
Ok, so things aren’t awkward. That’s really good. Now, if I can just think of a way to ask him out without it being weird.
“When you’re least expecting it, I’ll get you back.”
“Looking forward to it.”
We both just kind of stand there for a minute before I go sit down on my bed. Leo follows my actions, sitting right by me. More silence.
Finally, Leo breaks it. “So I kind of came here to ask you a question.”
“Go on.”
“Ok, I totally get it if not because we talked about how we liked each other just yesterday and this might be moving too fast or whatever, but like I said before, I’m realizing I’ve liked you for a long time and I wanted to know if…” Leo paused for a second, taking a breath. “I wanted to ask you to be my boyfriend. Like, officially, or whatever you want to say. And honestly, it’s totally fine if-”
“Leo, I would love to be your ‘official’ boyfriend.” I say, cutting him off. “That’s actually kind of what I wanted to talk to you about. I felt really bad for just leaving you there.” Immediately my face feels like it’s on fire.
Before we can say anything else, the horn blows.
“Already?” Leo complains.
I sigh before standing up and walking over to the door. I motion for Leo to follow.
Unwillingly, he gets up. When we get to the pavilion we say semi-awkward goodbyes before Leo heads over to his table.
“Dating yet?” My shoulders tense as I quickly spin around. Dam it, Nico.
“That's the 10th time this week, Nico! Is it just not possible for you to make sound when you walk?”
“You should learn to listen to your surroundings,” he states. “And yes, it is possible, obviously, but I like doing this to people. Keeps them on their toes.”
I roll my eyes. “Whatever. Also, no, we're not dating.”
Look, I would tell Nico, but me and Leo quite literally just started dating a few minutes ago. I don’t think I should say anything about it.
“Surprising after last night.” he whispers, just loud enough so I can hear him.
“Wait, what did you-”
Before I could finish my sentence, Nico said, “More than you think.” He then pushed me aside and walked over to his table.
*
Leo’s POV
~
So… I’m dating Jason Grace now.
The Jason Grace. My best friend.
I genuinely don’t know how I never even considered the fact that I could have a crush on him. Looking back, it was painfully obvious. I could barely even look in his direction when he was around Piper, and I definitely couldn’t when they kissed or did couple-y things.
Ok, I’ve always thought that everyone is good-looking, don’t get me wrong. But Jason… I’ve always thought he was extra, if you get what I mean(come on pls tell me you know this feeling). I’ve caught myself staring and basically drooling over him more than once. MORE THAN ONCE!!! Gods dammit. How. The. Fuck. Didn’t. I. Know.
All of a sudden, I feel a hand on my shoulder. “Leo, this is, like, the millionth time that you’ve spaced out this week. Is something wrong or what?” Nyssa says, snapping me back into reality.
“Huh? Oh, no, nothings wrong.” I say quickly, probably raising suspicions that something happened.
“Uh huh.” She mumbles in response. “Well, if you’re not going to truthfully answer the question, at least tell me where you were last night and this morning. You came back to the cabin a while after curfew, and when I woke up this morning you were gone.”
Shit. What am I supposed to say? Oh yeah, sorry about that, Nyssa. I was just down by the lake, basically confessing my feelings to my best friend last night. And this morning? I used my undeniable charm to get him to go out with me. Pretty cool, right?
I mean, I guess I can just tell her I was by the lake with Jason and that I went to his cabin this morning, leaving out the whole ‘boyfriend’ thing. She already thinks I have a fat crush on him(not wrong), though, so saying I was hanging out with him late at night and early in the morning isn’t going to help much.
“Uhm, I was by the lake last night with Jason because he looked lonely and, you know, I don’t want my friend to be alone.” I say quickly.
Nyssa’s looks confused at first, but she slowly gains a smirk. “And this morning?”
“Oh yeah. I went to Jason’s cabin because I got bored.”
“Jeez, just make out already or something!” She whines a little too loud, throwing her head back. All our siblings' heads quickly turn towards us. It stays silent for a few seconds before Jake breaks the silence.
“Wait, who's Leo making out with?!”
Nyssa starts to say something before I shove my hand in front of her mouth. “Nobody.” I hiss.
Somehow, Piper manages to butt into the conversation. “Wow, does Leo have a girlfriend?” she smirks. “Or-” she pauses, running over to whisper something into my ear. “-did you finally get with Jason?”
I lay my head onto the table. “Why does everyone keep thinking that?” Is it really that obvious? I mean, I’m not really surprised, but still.
Piper stares at her watch for a few seconds. “Breakfast is basically over. Follow me.” she says, grabbing my arm and dragging me.
“Hey! Be careful! I can’t show off my beefy muscles if you compress and bruise them, you know.” I sigh dramatically.
Piper rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Whatever helps you sleep at night.” she murmurs. “Also, I’m not even holding onto your arm that hard! Quit being a drama queen.”
After a few seconds, I ask, “So, uh, Piper, where are you taking me?”
“To my cabin. Nobody’s there from after breakfast to around 11, so I can talk to you in private for a minute.”
As soon as we get there, she pauses. “Wait here for a second. I need to go grab something else.”
“If you take more than 10 minutes I’m leaving!” I yell as the door shuts. Not my fault if she can’t hear me.
What in the Tartarus is Piper doing? There’s really nothing for her to talk to me about, unless…
I swear to the Gods if she’s getting Jason I’m going to tweak out.(I’m sorry I needed to use some sort of brain rot)
Just as I predicted, a few minutes later, she barges in with Jason.
“Sit down.” she says, pointing to a solo bed.
After we make ourselves comfortable, Piper tries to be serious. “Alright, it’s painfully obvious something is going on between you two. Spill.”
After about 30 seconds of silence and Piper continuously asking, we tell her. Jason tells her what happened by the lake, and I tell her about this morning. By the time me and Jason are both happy with what was shared, Piper is fangirling her ass off.
“I knew it!” she squeals, covering her mouth. “Does anyone else know?”
“Well, considering the fact that we just started dating about an hour ago, no, nobody knows.” Jason says matter-of-factly.
“Oh yeah, forgot about that.” Piper mumbles. “Well, it’s probably not going to be a secret for much longer. Even though you guys haven't shown any public affection or anything, most of my siblings can tell because, well, Aphrodite. And you guys know my siblings: they can’t keep things like this a secret. They’ve probably been talking about it with other people for however long they’ve sensed it. I bet half the camp already knows that there’s at least something going on between you guys.”
Jason scotches a little closer to me and grabs my hand before saying, “Well, I guess I don’t really mind if people find out. Will’s out as bi, and I don’t really think anyone gives him shit about it.”
“Yeah, I really don’t think anyone cares about that stuff. All the campers that I talk to don’t, anyways.” Piper adds.
“And I’m not saying that we have to tell anyone today, because, like I’ve said a million times, we’ve been together for only an hour. But if someone happens to find out, I wouldn’t really care.” Jason says.
“Honestly, same. The only person I don’t want to tell is Percy. I want to see how long it takes for him to find out.” I insist. Jason agrees, laughing.
Piper sits down on the bed by us. “Aw, you guys are holding hands!” she fangirls. “Looks like I’m going to be the 3rd wheel now.”
“I pass my suffering to you.” I declare, holding out my hand.
She rolls her eyes, pushing my hand away. “Now Jason’s going to be the only one here who hasn't experienced 3rd wheeling.” Piper sighs
“Do you want me to break up with him and date you or something like that? Because that’s the only way to get him to the 3rd wheel.”
Piper scrunches up her face. “Ew. Of course not.”
“Wow. Just wow.” I say dramatically. “You could have at least pretend that you didn’t mind the idea of dating me.”
Piper rolls her eyes for, like, the 5th time.
“Gods, Piper. You’re the queen of eye rolling today.” Jason laughs.
“I could pull a Leo and make a terrible joke right now.” Piper mentioned.
“Please don’t.” I groan. “I can barely even stand to listen to myself make those terrible jokes.”
Jason laughs slightly at what I said before saying, “Well, I told Chiron that I would help some of the younger campers with training.” He pauses, lifting my hand up and kissing the back of it. “I’ll see you guys at lunch.”
Jason drops my hand and walks out the cabin door, waving right before shutting it.
“Alright, I barely got any details about how you asked him out. Spill.”