Chapter Text
“Wait, what?” Was what Leo had asked, dumbfounded.
Unfortunately, Jason had left the question in the air and decided that he didn’t need to give an answer. He instead offered for them to go to sleep, and because Leo was so confused, he couldn’t protest…. It also didn’t help that when Jason touched his shoulder, Leo yawned and his knees buckled underneath him.
Despite his newfound exhaustion, Leo refused to sleep in the nasty cocoon Jason had made in his bed. Jason, however, didn’t seem to have this problem, and innocently slipped into bed without much issue.
Leo resorted to laying on the floor. Jason turned to look at him from above. He slept in the jeans and sweatshirt he stole from Leo.
“You shouldn’t sleep on the floor, Leo-”
“An egg.”
“What?”
Leo frowned at Jason. “Did you come from an egg? Duh.”
“An egg?” Jason looked confused. “Why would I come from an egg?”
“‘Cause you’re an alien,” Leo said, proud of his conclusion on the knowledge of Jason’s birthing process. “You, like, freaking shapeshift and sleep in little swimmers.”
“Little swimmers?”
“Heh. Don’t worry about it.” Leo said. He folded his arms behind his head. “So are we in a War of the Worlds type situation or Invasion of the Body Snatchers? I need to know how doomed I am.”
“Those are movies, right?” Jason asked. “Tom Cruise.”
“Yeah. Love that man.”
“Love that man.”
Leo sighed in the darkness. “So. Finding your sister, huh? Want to elaborate more on that, buddy?”
“I-” For the first time in the night, Jason hesitated. “I do not want to talk about it. May we talk about this in the gninrom?”
“What did you say to me? Was that German because I don’t know German. How do you know German?-”
“Morning.” Jason corrected, stiffly. “Morning, Leo.”
Leo glanced at him. In the night, Jason’s eyes glowed blue. It’s… really creepy. Leo looked away to avoid any more nightmares. “Gotcha. I guess even aliens like procrastination. I have a feeling we’ll be good friends.”
“As do I.”
“As do I what?”
Jason rolled away from staring at Leo. “Nevermind.”
“Kay.” Leo closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Leo woke up to a jello blob sitting on his chest. The clear blob pulsed blue in its center, it’s intensity going up and down to match with Leo’s breathing.
Leo groaned. “Jason. What the fuck, man?”
The blob slinked off Leo- its core turned an alert red, before flashing back to blue- and slid under the bed. A few moments later, a naked teen boy stood on the other side of the bed. Jason scratched his chest. “Sorry.”
“You’re not sorry,” Leo accused. He walked to his closet to get his clothes for the day. It’s been a while since he had done such a thing- normally he would pick his outfit with the Pick-and-Sniff method: he would pick something off the floor and sniff it to see if it was deemed okay in public. The system never failed him, but he supposed just going to his closet for clean clothes would have to do for now.
Jason sat on Leo’s bed. “I am.”
“It was a joke, Martian.” Leo pulled on a clean shirt. He turned to offer Jason one but tilted his head at the sight of the naked alien. “Why don’t you- Why is- Huh.”
“What?” Jason leaned forward. He looked over his body. “Am I okay? Do I need a new form?”
“No, it’s just-” Leo didn’t know how to say it. He went back to his closet to find some clean pants. “Nevermind. It’s not important.”
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“You just.” Leo pulled on the strings of his sweatpants. He threw a shirt and basketball shorts at Jason. “You don’t have nipples. Or like. A belly button. You have a dick, for some reason but no nips.”
Jason rubbed his hand over his nippleless chest, horrified. “I thought it was bad to comment on other people’s bodies in human culture?! Turn around!”
“Jeez. Self- conscious much?” Leo turned around, regardless, but only because he was about to walk out of the room. He looked over his shoulder quickly. “Do aliens like pancakes?”
“No peeking!”
“Oh my God, you have no nipples, what is there to peek at?”
Leo was very lucky to have the entire house to himself and E.T. He was mid-stir for his pancake batter when Jason came down the steps.
“You okay, honey?” Leo’s voice dripped with sweetness as he whisked away. “Do you have some type of body issue we need to talk about?”
“I do not like you, sometimes,” Jason said solemnly, as he stood by the counter. He eyed the bowl in Leo’s arms. “What are you making?”
“Pancakes. Ever had them?” Leo titled the bowl to him. “Taste it.”
Jason hesitantly put a finger in and licked the batter. He gagged. “That’s terrible.”
Leo scowled, taste-testing it himself. It tasted fine. He rolled his eyes and turned the stove on. “Whatever. You’re going to eat it because that’s the only thing I’m making right now.”
“There is food upstairs.”
“There’s no food up there.” Leo scoffed. He knew his house- Nyssa had a very strict Eat Only in The Kitchen rule. The last time he snuck food up to his room, Nyssa practically freaked out and sprayed his room with enough Raid to kill any roaches in the nearby 20 mile radius.
Jason disappeared. When Leo set plates stacked high with blueberry pancakes down on the table, Jason materialized in the doorway. He held a crumpled McDonald’s bag in his fist.
“Food.” Jason dropped the bag on the table. Leo helped himself to pancakes and poured syrup over them.
“Oh yeah. Forgot I had that. You can eat it if you want, but like I said: there was no food up there.”
Jason pulled out a bright red container of cold fries and a box of chicken nuggets. He opened them, and stared at Leo, expectantly.
Leo chewed, sighing into his fluffy and definitely-not-terrible breakfast. “Go ahead,” He said, mid-swallow. “Try it.”
Jason ate one fry. He bit into it, and his face burned purple. Then he swallowed and his face turned back to normal. Then, Jason took the entire container and tilted his head back, devouring the cold fries in one swoop.
“Wow,” Leo said, watching Jason with morbid curiosity. “It really says something about our food here. I mean just- wow.”
Jason vibrated when he started eating the chicken nuggets. Honest to God, vibrating- Leo felt it from across the table.
“Those must be good, huh, buddy?” Leo laughed.
“Very.” Jason moaned into his leftovers. He looked at Leo with tears in his eyes. “Like home.”
“Uh huh,” Leo chuckled again, continuing on with his own meal.
When they were done eating, Leo took them back to his bedroom to talk. They sat on Leo’s bed, with Leo interrogating the alien.
“Alright. You slept in my house, ate my food, and even stole my voice for a little while,” Leo narrowed his eyes. “Now what do you want from me?”
Jason backed away. “Nothing. I came in here by accident.”
“I was looking for an answer like brains or my organs but nothing is okay too.” Leo folded his arms. “And how did you get into my basement by accident?”
“I was there for a few days. The big door that goes up was open. So I went in because it was raining”
The big door that goes up…. Leo flushed when he realized Jason was talking about the garage door. He had accidentally left it open a few days ago, and had been yelled at when the garage flooded. Now, it looked like more than just water came into the home.
“Fair enough,” Leo said. “Your story checks out. For now. Tell me about this sister of yours.”
“Sister…” Jason glowed blue, but this time it was a rich and dark navy blue. Just looking at Jason made Leo sad. “She came to this Earth… never came back… I dessim reh os hcum…”
“English, man.” Leo had only tapped Jason to remind him of the language barrier but was instead filled with the urge to cry. Leo wiped at his eyes furiously, for some reason, still holding onto Jason’s shoulder. “English.”
“She crashed near here, I believe,” Jason said. “Don’t cry, my friend. We will find her”
“I’m not.” Leo was fucking bawling. Damn. He pulled away from Jason and suddenly felt fine. “Your freakiness made me all sad.”
“Of course.” Jason didn’t sound very convinced, but his skin color seemed to return. “You’re not just a big baby.”
“You shut up,” Leo slapped Jason’s shoulder, only to start crying again. “Damn it-”
“It’s okay,” Jason grabbed Leo’s wrist before he can pull away. “It’s okay to cry.”
“Are you,” Leo sobbed, limply trying to pull his arm away. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“It’s okay, big baby,” Jason hugged Leo, who started to cry louder. Jason patted Leo’s back, “You’ll be okay you big crybaby.”
“OH MY GOD.” Leo blew his nose in Jason’s shirt. All he wanted to do is curl up in bed and write sad poems. He bawled on Jason’s shoulder.
Anyway. That was basically the rest of Leo’s morning.
“We need to establish some ground rules.”
Jason looked up from on the floor. “I’m on the ground.”
“Dumbass.” Leo threw a pillow at Jason. He remained on the bed, refusing to be within Jason’s field of touch. “Ground rules are like the essential rules you have to follow because they should be obvious.”
“Interesting,” Jason sat up. He rested his arms on the bed. “Like what?”
“No touching.” Leo slammed his other pillow down at Jason’s touchy hands. “I think that’s obvious why.”
Jason looked disappointing. “I like touching.”
“That’s the worst thing you’ve ever said to me,” Leo said. He frowned. “What the heck is up with your species?”
“It’s how we connect.” Jason linked his fingers together. “Touch is how two people connect their souls.”
“Wow,” Leo deadpanned. “That sounds fucking stupid.”
Jason looked hurt but didn’t continue. He lifted his hands from the bed and falls back onto the floor. “What’s next?”
Leo didn’t really have any other rules besides that. The touching thing was the only thing that really disturbed him. Besides that, Jason was just as normal as he was. Except for the whole alien thing, of course.
“Am I the only one who knows you exist?” Leo asked, peering over the bed. “I’ve seen a lot of movies, and that means the government is probably looking for you. If SWAT storms into my house, I’m gonna be pissed.”
Jason’s face scrunched. “As far as I know.”
“Okay, then that’s rule 2.” Leo held up two fingers. “No one can know you’re not from here. If anyone asks, just say you’re from, um, Canada.”
“Canada,” Jason repeated. “But that’s lying.”
“Not really. You’re an alien, so you’re like, just not a citizen. If you want to say you’re from somewhere else, be my guest.”
“Hawaii.” Jason immediately suggested.
“What? No, that’s apart of the US.”
“No, it’s not.”
“Yes, it is-” Leo rolled his eyes and hit Jason with his pillow again. “Shut up, I know more about the US than you do. Hawaii is a state, leave it alone.”
Jason rolled his eyes back. “I’m Leo and I think I know everything.”
Leo smacked him with the pillow. “You’re so rude. No wonder we make horror movies about your people.”
“Whatever,” Jason rolled his eyes again. “I have a rule.”
“What?”
“No prying.”
Leo shrugged. “I guess, why not? It’s not like you already stole my identity before. Which should be rule 4 then. No stealing identities, you freak.”
“Hmph,” Jason pouted. “Then you have to stand by me no matter what.”
“Jeez, did you fucking kill a man?” Leo stared, incredulous. “First no prying, and now backing each other up? Are you a murderer?”
“No,” Jason said. “I’m just worried.”
“‘Bout what? All we’ve been doing was lying around in my room.” Leo pointed out.
Jason rubbed where his heart was. His chest glowed a soft red. “It’s been fun. But I need to find my sister and go home.”
Leo nodded. “So find a way to your sister and you’re homebound? Cool. Any clue where she is?”
“Yes, actually.” Jason stood up and scanned the floor. He picked up his jeans from yesterday and pulled out his compact mirror. He opened it, and showed Leo the screen. “That red dot, right there.”
“Hm,” Leo squinted at it. It was all dots and squiggles, but they looked familiar to Leo. “Hold on, I’ll be right back.” He jumped off the bed and ran through the house.
A minute later, he came back in with a tablet. He tapped in the passcode and pulled up Google Maps. “Okay, we’re right here.” Leo pointed to his hometown of Houston. “And your sister is in Nevada. So that’s about a 25-hour drive.”
“I can’t drive.” Jason seemed interested in the piece of technology in front of himself. He tapped the screen, delighted when it responded. “Oh.”
“You’re in luck because I just got my license.” He was so not able to make a drive like this with his license, but it was only a week until summer vacation, and he had been dying to get out of the Texas heat for a while. “We can go when school ends.”
“School.” Jason was more preoccupied with the device. Leo fiddled with it, before opening to Angry Birds. “You’re in school? An institution for educating children.”
“That’s what it’s supposed to do, huh?” Leo said. “Give me about a week, and we can just roll out.”
“Okay,” Jason watched the cartoon bird fly across the screen. “This is fun.”
“I bet it is.” Leo reached for Jason’s compass again. There was a bright red dot on the Eastern side of Nevada, but he’d have to play around with Google to figure out where exactly Thalia was. The blue dot marking Houston had to be Jason, standing steadily next to a dark red dot. Small blinking green lights littered the screen, while a yellow light hesitantly floated south of Thalia.
“Hey, Maritan, what’s all these lights for?” Leo asked, placing the device in front of Jason. Jason brushed off Leo, annoyed and glanced at it before returning to his game.
“I don’t know,” Jason muttered. “Stupid thing’s been glitching.”
Leo snapped it closed and took away the tablet from Jason. “Okay, I think that’s enough game-time for you, my friend. You’re like a little kid.”
Jason made a face at Leo. “You’re mean.”
“Oh really?” Leo put the stuff at the corner of his bed. “How do you know all this stuff, anyway? I didn’t show you how to play, but you beat Jake’s high score.”
“Remember that time when our foreheads touched? It was that?”
“Wait-” Leo shuddered. “When you were the creepy naked girl in my basement? How could I not forget that?”
“Yeah, well, it’s that touching thing you hate so much.” Jason deflated at the words. He pouted. “I don’t understand why you’re so against it-”
“Anyway, so you’re just like Starfire, who like, absorbs language from physical touch?” Leo got up from his bed and flipped from the comics that Jason has stacked yesterday. He pulled out a Teen Titans comic book and pointed to the orange redhead woman. “Not as hot, but I can see it.”
“Let me see?” Leo tossed to book to Jason. Jason stared at the cover and traced the lines. His hair grew bigger and curlier, dying to a bright red, as his skin tinted orange. “Like this?”
Leo stared. He even tilted his head and furrowed his brows to understand what had happened. “Dude.”
Jason’s eyes blinked back, now a toxic green.
“Not as hot as I thought it would be, turn back to Jason,” Leo said and Jason dropped the comic book, turning back to his former blond look. “Can you, uh, control that, uh, thing you do?”
“Most of the time.” Jason picked up the comic from the floor again. He skimmed through it. “I have to focus a lot not to do it. It’s weird being the same thing all the time.”
“Aaaaand you have officially hit super weird alien territory.” Leo drops onto the bed next to Jason. Because of the goo under the covers, his bed shifted and molded around his body. “Can’t wait until you get back to Mars, man.” Leo playfully punched Jason’s shoulder. For the split second Leo touched Jason through the thin shirt, Leo felt feelings of familiarity flow into him.
He sighed, feeling good from that. “Jason, we'll find a way to get you home. Trust me on it."
Jason smiled back at him.