Work Text:
Leo pursed his lips slightly in a thoughtful grimace. He raised the nut in his hand and, with a single breath, blew the dust from it. Leo inspected it for a few seconds with one eye closed, then nodded with satisfaction; smiling and taking the tip of his tongue out for the corner of his lips, Leo placed the nut on the salient of a medium bolt, adjusting it naturally.
These last few days he had been terribly busy with a project, as well as various accumulated works — which, by the way, he still had to finish. The only places where Leo had been working or spending the rest of his free time, had been the forge of the Camp or his favourite place, the Bunker 9. Leo needed his maximum concentration and his working hands to be able to reach his varied objectives. Therefore, he didn't even know what day he was living.
Leo rubbed his cheek with the back of his hand to take away a soot stain, not realizing that he had worsened it. He kept working, grabbing another of his tools from his belt.
Leo fluttered his wings and stretched out them a few seconds with the intention that they would not stay so still against his back. The tension he had had in his wings had reached his shoulders and neck, and Leo didn't need more muscle tension, thank you very much.
His wings were neither larger nor smaller; they were balanced according to his height and weight, basically. So Leo was more than happy with them. His feathers, although they were splashed with soot, oil and grease from machinery and work, had very striking and peculiar color patterns for a child of Hephaestus: the pigments were mixed with colors of a dawn on fire, as Leo used to describe it. In the upper part, just in the extension of the wing bone that connected to his back, was a darker brown, and as it went down, the colors were becoming clearer in orange hues, reaching the end with a yellow finish until the tips of his feathers.
A dawn on fire.
Normally, the children of Hephaestus didn’t have such colors; only him, by owning the element of fire, he supposed. Most of the wings in his Cabin were dark brown, clear or simply a combination of both, but never orange or yellow colors. Peculiar, Leo knew, and yet he loved his wings…
Leo had been so focused on the work and immersed in his thoughts that he didn't even hear the door open behind him. Until he heard a totally familiar voice.
“Gee. I knew I'd find you here,” Jason sighed, stepping into the forge with slow steps. Apparently, Valdez was the only one there.
Leo, with his back to Jason, didn't turn to see him, “It's a bad time for your visit, Jason, I'm busy.” He informed, inspecting another of the salient nuts.
“I'm also glad to see you.”
Jason didn't take long to stand next to Leo. He kept his white wings comfortably still against his back, crossed his arms and leaned his hip on the large table which his best friend was working; it was full of plans, tools, gears and the occasional pencils, counting also the soot on some maps. It didn't differ much from the other tables in the forge.
Leo looked up and glanced at Jason, but then he looked down again.
“Sorry,” even so, Leo found himself telling him, “I have a lot of work to do and this project is absorbing my life.”
Jason looked at the machinery in Leo's hands with interest, “What project is it?”
“Top secret, buddy.” Leo said.
Jason pressed his lips, “Mmhm.”
Jason's wings fluttered a bit by the heat that the forge always accumulated, and at that moment Leo found himself looking out of the corner of his eye at his best friend again — or to be more exact, as he always did when Grace's presence was noticeable, he found himself looking again at Jason's wings. A faint pink tone settled on Leo's cheeks.
The wings of the son of Zeus were incredibly sleek and huge, also in keeping with his height and the toning of his body. The color patterns of his feathers were reassuring and simple, but nothing took away the beautiful: the extension of the wing bone that was connected to his back was a soft blue hue, like a clear sky in midsummer or the peaceful waters of the Caribbean. As the pigment went down, the color melted into an impeccable white like snow until it reached the tips of his feathers, the end of his wing extension.
Even though the forge emitted fiery colors, Jason's wings always gleamed in a comforting aura.
Leo swallowed hard and decided to stop looking, just for the sake of his own heart.
“I was wondering where you were,” Jason continued, sighing. “Seriously, I've not seen you in… how much? Five days?” The son of Zeus shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “I needed to see that you were taking care of yourself, but I see that you don't. You're right; this top secret project is absorbing your life. You look horrible.” He murmured softly, “Your wings look horrible.”
Leo jerked his wings, feeling the state they were in; they had spots of grease all over their length and, besides, over his shoulder, Leo could clearly see that many of his feathers were bent at strange angles. A whole damn wings' mess.
Suddenly Leo dropped his shoulders, relaxing his wings to the point of imitating the action, too. 'Your wings look horrible.' In an instant Leo felt a bit insecure with himself.
“Thanks for all your compliments.” Leo said, changing his weak voice for a sarcastic one.
Jason chuckled softly. At least, that made Leo smile a little. He knew that his best friend didn't mean it, and still… listen it from him…
“How long have you not groomed your wings?” Jason asked.
“I already told you, Jason: it's a waste of time.” Leo murmured, fixing his eyes on his work.
Jason uncrossed his arms and slowly reached out, giving a quick caress to the bone of Leo's wing; it jerked instantly. Startled by the sudden touch, Leo raised his head sharply and looked up at Jason, trying with all his willpower not to blush. That caught him totally off guard.
Blinking, Leo was going to open his mouth to say something, but Jason did it first:
“It's very hot here. Your feathers harden to the touch,” he said, pointing to the wing he had just caressed.
Leo glanced sideways at his own wing, “…oh.”
“You should groom your wings, Leo.” Jason sighed, “I don't know, you must feel uncomfortable, right?”
Leo shook his head to move away other thoughts and cleared his throat, “A bit, but I'm—”
“—used to it.” Jason finished for him. “I know.” He put a hand to his chin, looking away. Then, a relaxing smile slowly formed on the lips of the son of Zeus. “Okay, it's decided.” Jason looked down at him.
Leo seemed to have a disconcerting grimace on his face, because Jason smiled even more.
“What have you… decided?” The son of Hephaestus drawled.
“I'll groom your wings for you.” Jason concluded, “Meanwhile, you can keep working on this project. What do you think?”
At his words, Leo's eyes lit up for a moment, making his wings flutter. He had never thought of it that way before.
“That's… great!” Leo exclaimed, trying to ignore the fact that his best friend would touch his wings for a long, long time. He turned to the machinery that had still to finish, ready to continue the work. “You can start right now, dude.”
Jason crossed his arms again, “Nope. As I said, it's very hot here, Leo.” He smiled when Leo raised his head, blinking. “You could put up it for hours, even days, but you know that I don't.”
Well, Leo had not thought about it that way either. Jason was right.
“But I…” Valdez trailed off and looked down at the work in his hands, feeling a light bulb turn on over his head — it was that or fire, he didn't know. Leo smiled broadly. “How about in the bunker 9? There I have everything I need to continue with this, and so… and so you can… you know, groom my wings without any problem with drowning yourself in the fire.”
Leo gave him a crooked grin, not quite sure with his choice of words. With Jason at his side everything seemed to go downhill in the literal sense of the word; but, hey, he didn't matter breaking a leg if he saw that smirk — yeah, that same smirk that was forming right now on Jason's lips.
Leo swore that damn — and perfect — smirk.
“I think with you I'm already drowning myself in the fire, Leo.” Jason chuckled.
Leo's heart skipped a beat, and he ignored it again.
Taking some indispensable plans and maps and keeping them in Leo's magical toolbelt, they both left the forge and unfold their wings, taking impulse to take the flight.
They had met at the entrance of the Bunker 9 in half an hour. Jason arrived first, with a small bottle of conditioner in his hands. Leo arrived a few minutes later, with no trace of soot or grease on his skin and feathers. Even so, his wings were made a huge mess, with feathers equally bent and fluffier than before because of the shower he took in the Cabin of Hephaestus.
When Leo saw the small bottle in Jason's hands, he looked at him questioningly.
“It's a conditioner for your wings.” Jason answered his mute question.
Leo dropped his shoulders, “Jaaaason, you know perfectly well that it will not last. Piper gave it to me once, and no, it didn't go well.”
“Trust me, it will last you.”
“Why are you so sure?”
“Because it's mine,” Jason replied.
Leo's shoulders, along with his wings, raised suddenly. The brunet moved his hands from side to side in front of him.
“Wow, wow, wow, hold your horses, buddy!” Leo said. “Are you telling me you're going to use your conditioner on my wings?” He almost screamed. Then Leo swallowed hard, keeping his wings stiff. “That… t-that's too much, I mean…” Now his wings moved nervous. “It's very…”
Intimate, Leo thought, afraid to say it out loud.
Jason tilted his head slowly, not taking his best friend's point, apparently. Leo cleared his throat and decided to forget it, turning around towards the entrance to the Bunker. He managed to burn his hand by willpower and placed it against the door. The huge stone door opened and they both entered.
Leo extended his arms, encompassing the surroundings, “Welcome to my humble abode.”
“I've been here before, you know,” Jason reminded him.
“But I've still made some installation fixes.”
Leo spread his wings and took the flight toward his large work table, taking out the plans from the toolbelt. In the short flight that the son of Hephaestus had made, two feathers that had been bent at a strange angle had fallen off. Jason was hurting to see the wings of his best friend in that state.
Leo placed himself in his work area, sitting on a chair and leaving another behind him for Jason. Zeus' son sat behind Leo and settled his own wings behind his back, scrutinizing the damage in Leo's wings now that the brunet had his back to him.
When Leo began to write on the plans, he tried not to be startled by having felt the sudden sensation of Jason's hands on his wings. Normally, it was Piper who occasionally groomed his wings, with that characteristic concern of Aphrodite; however, he never imagined that having Jason's hands in his feathers was such a different feeling. Grace had never groomed his wings before.
Now Leo knew why he always tried to avoid such situation.
Jason's soft, strong, big hands untangling some of his feathers were taking away Leo's entire focus on the plans of the project. Jason's movements were so delicate and calm, that the son of Hephaestus had to bite his bottom lip with the intention of not letting out a trembling sigh. Leo returned his focus on the maps with all his willpower.
Jason untangled other of Leo's feathers, smoothing the worked area with the palm of his hand. It was with calm for each part of the extension of his wings, dividing them in zones so as not to repeat the course in one. Jason grimaced when he visualized one feather, beautifully brown and orange, twisted until the point that it almost looked broken. He stretched his neck a little and watched Leo working quietly; Jason stroked the base of that broken feather a few seconds, before pulling it and pulling it off in a quick movement.
The reaction was instantaneous.
“Ouch!” Leo yelled with a jump in his chair, shaking his wing. Then he turned to Jason, frowning and a pout on his lips. “That has hurt,” he whimpered.
Jason shifted his own wings by the reaction of his best friend. It hurt him to see it too, really.
“Sorry,” Jason said, shrugging slightly with an apology smile. “You have to get used to it. Trust me, your wings need this.”
Leo looked down at the feather that Jason had pulled, and grimaced, “I always trust you, Jason,” he muttered, turning back to the plans and retaking his writing on them.
They were in silent for a long time. Jason was working on Leo's wings, untangling feathers and pulling out the bent ones, and each time he received a faint whimper of pain from the son of Hephaestus.
Jason began to spread his conditioner over the full length of Leo's wings, expanding it with the palms of his hands; for a while it was fine while Leo worked on his own things… but when Jason's huge wings stretched out slowly forward, almost wrapping both demigods, that's when Valdez started having problems. Serious, serious problems.
Leo's breathing was stuck somewhere in his throat, suddenly restraining it. The beats of his heart went to a thousand, until the point of feeling that the organ that kept him alive climb up his throat. Leo was paralyzed from one moment to the other; he glanced to his sides, noticing the shadow produced by the wings of the son of Zeus on him. The brunet swallowed hard, blushing.
At first Leo didn't think that a time of grooming would have such an intimate atmosphere when both were alone. Gods, Leo wished that Festus were there with him, desperately wanting another distraction.
Jason's huge white wings, in this situation… they looked so sleek and protective… damn it. Was not Jason aware that something like that, so intimate in grooming, only couples did? Why was Grace wrapping him in such a protective way? Gods, Leo was going to die with so many feelings.
Leo let his forehead hit the table, quickly feeling the heat of the blush rise to his ears. He couldn't stop the frantic beating of his heart. He was definitely going to die with so many feelings.
“H-hey, Jason… I think it would be better if… you leave it,” Leo said, keeping his voice away from the tremor he felt in his words.
The hands of the son of Zeus smoothing his right wing sent a shudder through Leo's body. Ay Dios, Leo thought.
Jason's wings fluttered around the brunet, emitting a rich beach smell. Apparently Jason wasn't realizing what his own wings were doing.
“Don't even think about it,” Jason replied, “today I will not leave until I've seen your wings groomed.”
Leo raised his head, murmuring, “Why so much effort?” Why was Jason acting like that?
Jason was silent for a few seconds, slowing down the movement on Leo's feathers. At the end, smiling, he said:
“Because your wings, groomed… would look more beautiful than they already are.”
That's it, Leo had died, definitely. Was he, or had he just heard his best friend say that his wings were beautiful? He hadn't misheard, right?
Leo's wings quickly stiffened against his back, away from Jason's hands. His heart went back to a thousand. Leo forgot the work and turned to face Grace. Jason did not even make an attempt to move his wings and move them away from around Leo. The son of Hephaestus swallowed hard, nervously watching the white wings of his best friend on either side of him.
Hell, he was wrapping both of them. Like a bubble, allowing an intimate space.
“Um, Jason, don't you realize?” Leo asked, blushing even more as their eyes met. Those eyes so blue and beautiful, staring only at him.
“Realize what?”
Oh Gods, Leo thought, he really isn't realizing it.
“Of… of this.” Leo pointed with his hands to Jason's conditioner on the floor. “And… and t-this.” Now he pointed to the protective wings of Jason around him. The son of Zeus fluttered his wings a little, gently, but didn't move them away. Leo was losing patience and doubted that he survive the intense blush on his face. “Jason, clear that memory of yours with a little air! This! This only couples do!”
When he finally released it, Leo let out a trembling gasp and hunched his body, hiding his face with his hands. His wings remained rigid against his back.
There was silence.
Jason watched Leo closely, who was now trying to hide himself with his own wings. Now that he could, Jason didn't even hide his fondly smile when he saw, once again, the beautiful colors of Leo's wings; those brown, orange and yellow pigments. Those beautiful pigments, so unique and special. His wings were no longer a mess.
Jason felt the deep beat of his heart. Then he cleared his throat.
“Maybe…” The son of Zeus began, softening his gaze, “Maybe I'm seeing it natural, around you, Leo.” He said, his voice softer. “Maybe I wouldn't mind grooming your wings when you work. Maybe I wouldn't mind doing it every day if with that I can see you every time I open my eyes.”
Leo's wings relaxed slowly, gliding gently over his back until getting rid of any tension. Leo moved his hands away of his face, straightened slowly, and met Jason's sweet gaze. Analyzing the words, Valdez felt his jaw drop, but the intense blush was still there.
“W-what?” Leo shuttered. “Y-you, you want to be my… my…?”
Jason, without breaking his smile, slowly leaned toward Leo.
“I've never really given importance to the acts of my wings in you,” Jason confessed. “But now that you've noticed, for giving me the opportunity to groom your wings… Yes, Leo. I'm serious when I tell you that I'd love to be your—”
To Jason's surprise, it was the son of Hephaestus who shortened all distance between them, pressing their lips in an unexpected and sudden kiss. Not even Leo himself knew why he had done so impulsively, but he didn't need the words to be hypnotized by the lips of his best friend — oh, no. Correction: his partner, his boyfriend, his soulmate.
Leo put his hands to Jason's cheeks, while Grace's own hands were already clinging to his hips, kissing as they had never imagined before. Leo's wings jerked full of emotion, Jason's wings fluttered a little, wrapping they both even more in their intimate bubble. The lips of Zeus's son crackled like a small electric current, while, without realizing it, the temperature in Leo's body was increasing.
Leo broke the kiss before they both burst in flames, in the literal sense of the word.
The two gasped, but no one could take away the smiles they were dedicating to each other. Well, maybe Jason hadn't been so unconscious in his actions after all.
When Jason began to move his wings to give them more space, Leo stopped him with a glaring, more confident than ever.
“Don't even think now about moving away them, Grace.” Leo ordered him.
Jason's chuckle bubbled straight into Leo's heart. And no, he didn't move his wings away. In fact, he doubted he would do it that afternoon. Leo smiled and this time both were precise at the moment of joining their lips again, making them smile even more in the kiss.
And they didn't care about the time. They kept on kissing until the dawn on fire and the sky clear of clouds in midsummer hugged in a mess of wings, with the different patterns of colors entangled between their love.