Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hi guys

This is my first book.

I want to say English isn’t my first language but it is, I’m just really bad at it, but I’ll try my best for you guys.

pls i'm so bad a punctuation i need help

Also I don’t really have a plan so this goes where it goes.

I would love any constructive criticism but please avoid being rude to me or other people.

I will try to avoid being cringe

For some reason I started a fanfic in the middle of assessment block so…

First chapter out soon!

Thanks for reading guys!!!!!

Chapter Text

Chapter 1

The entire crew of the Argo II had assembled below deck for a meeting.

“Ok our next stop is coming up soon and we need to choose who’s going” said Annabeth standing over some maps. “We need three people, but it’s some remains of an ancient temple of Mnemosyne so maybe we should send someone who doesn’t have a traumatic past…”

The whole crew was silent.

“Oh”

Hazel put her hand up “I used to have flashbacks all the time so maybe I should go, because I’ll be used to it”

“You sure?” Nico asked

“Yep” chirped Hazel “I’ll take Leo and Frank since they already know what’s going to happen”

“So it’s decided?” said Annabeth

Leo and Frank nodded.

—:—

The ship dropped them in a wide empty plain.

Leo took a deep breath. He was more scared than he wanted to admit. His biggest fear was to have to relive any part of his past, but here he was, walking towards the temple of memories. He’d spent so long running and distracting himself. But Hazel had asked him to come and he couldn’t imagine anything worse than saying no to her.

He felt a hand on his back and looked up to see Frank. “You all right?” He asked, concerned. Leo forced a smile and brushed him off to keep walking.

Hazel stood in front of a large house that towered over the trio. Looking at its blue paint and white trim he realised with a start he was looking at the big house from camp. He could almost hear Chiron's Frank Cinatra CDs and it was only when he felt a tear roll down his cheek he realised how much he missed it, the only home he’d ever had.

He quickly wiped his eyes and turned to Frank who was staring in shock. “Is that my house?…” Hazel turned back to them and she too was crying. She sniffled “It’s messing with our heads, come on guys.” She grabbed Frank's hand and started walking, but Leo held back. “You too,” she said and grabbed Leo’s hand. She squeezed it reassuringly and he felt his cheeks become hot. He tried desperately to make sure he didn’t accidentally light himself on fire.

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The inside of the house was horrible. Even more horrible than he could possibly have imagined. It looked like a suburban American home, plain and forgettable, but Leo could never forget. Every detail was just as he remembered it, from the couch placement to the wooden spoon on the bench. He felt panic begin to set in and he could almost hear the footsteps of his furious foster-father thumping down the stairs or feel the sting of a handprint on his cheek. He had sworn never to come back here, it’s like he couldn’t escape. His throat felt like it was closing up and his heart thumped in his chest. He needed to get out of here. He took a step back and ran into something behind him.

“Whoa,” Frank's hands on his shoulders pulled him out of his panic. “You alright there buddy?” He sounded concerned and that almost made Leo feel better, but he couldn’t see Frank, or Hazel for that matter.

Hazel’s voice rang out “Frank, there's something really wrong with this place” her hand found his forearm, “is that you Leo?” she asked.

“Yes” he squeaked.

“Ok, good,” she said and grabbed both of his hands. Before Leo could freak out and set his hair on fire, a cackle rang out from all around them. A horrible screeching voice echoed,

“If you want what you seek”

“Past demons you shall meet”

“I hope you truly trust your friends”

“For they will pull you to the end”

They paused for a second but the voice seemed to be gone.

“Well that's super ominous” Leo said, forcing a laugh. Neither Hazel or Frank said anything.

Chapter Text

“So, a prophecy… how fun” Leo said in a pathetic attempt to hide his nervousness. Hazel took a step back, away from Leo but still holding one of his hands. Frank was holding him by the shoulders, right up against himself but his grip had grown almost painful with the delivery of the prophecy.

Leo wiggled out from his hands and chuckled. “Let’s not forget how strong we are and shatter my shoulders okay?”

Frank sounded so apologetic he almost felt bad, but then he gently rubbed Leo’s shoulders, and he might have died right then and there from the awful butterflies beating in his chest.

“Shame” he thought to himself “Shame on you”. He knew he needed to keep himself in check but it was so hard when it came to Frank and Hazel. He couldn’t help it.

“I think the first step to conquering this place is by removing the illusion magic” Hazel said.

Oh right, the quest. It was very important, but Leo could not be expected to remember that sort of thing while Hazel’s thumb gently ran back and forth across his hand. Oh how thankful he was that the others couldn’t see the horrifying blush that flushed his face.

She dropped his hand and began to murmur, in Latin, Greek and maybe Old Creole?

He and Frank listened in silence and after a few short moments her outline became visible, like a wandering shadow in the middle of a kitchen.

But her chanting grew more rapid and uneven as the shadow flickered and Leo felt a slight tug at his mind when all of a sudden there was a shriek and Hazels silhouette was yanked backwards.

“NO” he cried, surging forward, as Frank boomed “HAZEL”

But he fell to his knees, hit by a sudden wave of nausea as the rooms walls collapsed outwards.

Chapter Text

The room still spun as Frank hauled him back to his feet, panic clear on his face. Leo could feel his heartbeat, 120 bpm. “Hazel!” He called again frantically, whipping his head around looking for any sign of her. Frank was holding Leo’s wrist tight, obviously scared Leo would be pulled into oblivion as well.

“Where are we?” Leo asked. All the other illusions had been pulled from his memories but he had no recollection of standing in a dark, cold, creepy ass cave.

“Mama, please!” He whipped his head around to see Hazel kneeling on the ground at the feet of a tall African-American woman. She was regal, cloaked in rich purple and dripping with gold jewellery.

Frank started forward. “Get away from her!” He cried. Neither reacted. Leo put his hand on Frank's shoulder, which probably wouldn’t have stopped him if he tried to move but he stopped anyway.

“Let’s think about this” he whispered. “This must be Hazels memory”

Leo watched the woman carefully. She had Hazel's face, almost exactly, except instead of the stunning gold irises Leo loved so much, both of her eyes were entirely black.

“I think that’s her mom” Frank murmured, not looking away from his girlfriend for a second.

Strangely, Hazel had always spoken very highly of her mother, never recounting anything like this to him. He supposed that made sense, seeing as he was not her boyfriend but he was hurt nonetheless.

Looking at her face, Leo remembered something important. He had almost forgotten the part where Queen Marie had been possessed by the earth mother.

“Do we do something?” Leo asked.

“Worthless girl” Gaea spat. “I asked one thing of you and you can’t even do that” she leered “no wonder your father won’t meet you, he’s ashamed”

Hazel sobbed even louder.

Aw hell nah. He grit his teeth, he didn’t care if this lady could see him or not he was gonna beat her ass.

Frank got there first.

Body slamming Marie out of the way, he morphed into a bear and roared. Leo ran to where Hazel was crouched and hauled her to her feet. Her memory had changed her into an old fashioned pink dress and hair ribbons. He would have complimented her if he hadn’t been so concerned about the imminent threat at hand.

He tried to yank Hazel back the direction they had come but she stood frozen, tears dripping down her face. “Come on Hazel we have to go” He tried frantically. She wouldn’t budge.

“What did I do wrong Leo?” She whispered. He frowned. “I mean, we kinda have to go but-”

“Why does she hate me, I’ve tried so hard to make her happy”

Oh.

“My mother hates me, my father is ashamed of me and I only have one friend” She bowed her head. “I can’t make anyone happy” Leo felt a pang in his chest.

He grabbed her chin. Wow, how forward Leo. “You make me happy”

She looked up, cheeks shining “Really?” Her voice was small.

“Absolutely” He said “And I know for a fact Frank would agree” He smiled gently “And you’ve got loads of friends now, everyone loves you”

She pulled him into a hug. She was soft and warm and her hair smelt like fresh baked pastries. “That’s someone's girlfriend” he reprimanded himself.

Suddenly they were both squished together by an enthusiastic Frank. The three stayed like that for a couple minutes, just hugging, and Leo hated how much he enjoyed it. Frank let them both go, pressing a kiss to Hazel’s forehead and staring at Leo for a couple seconds. He hates you, you hugged his girlfriend, he thought, but Frank didn’t really look angry, only a little sad. Leo knew he was intruding on what should have been Frank and Hazels moment, so he turned away, but a hand on his wrist stopped him.

“We’re sticking together from now on, Mr Mechanic”

And he couldn’t say no to those golden eyes.

Chapter Text

The moment didn’t last. It never did because his life was a shitshow and he never got a second of peace.

No longer than when they had even begun to catch their breath, Frank's bulky form was pulled into the shadows.

Hazel cried out but Leo put a hand on her shoulder and told her calmly that “they would find him” and “he would be totally fine if they just relax”. Like the biggest hypocrite in fucking world. Like he himself wasn’t trying desperately to stop a fire forming at his feet.

And not the sorrowfully beautiful ones he got when Frank touched his arm or Hazel ran her fingers through his hair. No this was fear (and a little anger) because he had no idea what he would do with himself if anything bad happened to Frank.

The cave began to spin and he shamelessly (ok, maybe a little shamefully) pulled Hazel close, squeezing his eyes shut.

–:--

He thought that he would be happy to be out of the stanky cave, but he was proved *oh so wrong* when he opened his eyes to see a school changing room, quite possibly one of the top ten worst places Leo wished to never visit again. *Oh please bring back the cave!* He caught himself thinking.

No.

This was for Frank and if there was anything in the world that could convince him to step foot again in such a hell room again, it would be his awful infatuation with his best friend.

They rounded the corner to see a mob of kids, maybe 14 or 15 year olds, crowding one of the closed bathroom stalls. They were all giggling and snickering and a blonde boy with a squished face, probably the leader, called “Come on out!” before dissolving into a fit of laughter. He was holding a red backpack with ZHANG written across the front in sharpie

“Just give my bag back please” a nervous voice drifted out from behind the stall door.

“No” the boy snarled “Come out and get it”

“Leave him alone!” a girl stepped forward, but was promptly shoved back. “Sod off Jamie” he growled. “If Fat Frank wants his bag back, he’ll come and get it” he sounded almost teasing now.

Leo couldn’t believe his eyes. Anger pooled in his stomach, threatening to boil over, as he took a step forward and opened his mouth, ready to start shit.

Nobody, *nobody,* deserved this and especially not Frank, one of the best people he had ever met. He risked a glance at Hazel, angry red rubies spawning at her feet, golden eyes narrowed with rage.

The low squeak of a stall door opening drew his attention back to the scene in front of him. Frank stood in the stall door blushing profusely, eyes glued to sticky tile floor. He only wore his swim trunks, and as he shuffled out of the stall, the other kids burst into laughter.

He remembered what Frank had looked like, back before Ares had magically hot-zapped him (not that he hadn’t been before, in Leo’s opinion). But he remembered how insecure he had been, of his clumsy form and his bulky stomach and arms. Leo had personally thought his round face was adorable, but no one had ever asked him. But it was the look of absolute shame on his face as he took his bag out of his laughing classmates' hands that destroyed his resolution.

Leo’s mild anger issues couldn’t take this anymore, and when one kid in the back called out “someone’s been eating too many dumplings!” he practically leapt towards the ugly-blonde-leader kid. He could hear Hazel behind him and while he was glad he knew Frank would be ok, his primary thought process was to make these kids regret *ever* messing with anyone, especially not his big fat cru-

... his best friend.

He knew he was probably on fire in multiple places, but he decided not to care. He briefly noted that as soon as his rapid spreading flames touched the children, they poofed into smoke, which in hindsight, wasn’t how children normally died but he was running with it. He pressed his flaming palm into the little shits chest and it fizzled through like he was made of foam. Weird. His flames engulfed the boy and he slowly melted into a sad little puddle. Satisfied, he put his foot in it and turned to the others.

The whole building was on fire. Oops.

He strolled through the flames over to where Hazel knelt next to Frank.

He looked ok, if not extremely shaken up, and Hazel held his hands gently.

Again, this felt like the kind of situation that Leo shouldn’t have been present for, but they both turned to look at him, relief written all over Frank's face.

Frank softly asked,“Are you alright”

Leo squatted next to him, and as Frank opened his mouth to say something, he cut him off.

“Man, you worry too much,” he said. “Take a minute to yourself, gods man, are *you* okay! I swear Frank I will never let anything like that happen to you again“

“Hey-” Frank started.

“I know I was a dick head to you a while ago, but you are one of my favorite people and I will not stand to let anyone make you feel less, and if you feel insecure, no asked me, but I think your body is pretty darn great and I- erm”

He trailed off.

They both just looked at him.

*Great job Leo, you never know when to shut the fuck up.*

Leo got up, rubbing his neck awkwardly, “better go, erm … put out all these fires, haha…”

Frank shot up pulling Leo into a bone crushing hug. His chest still shook and his face was wet but Leo didn’t care, and he and Hazel just sat with Frank, listening to the crackle of the their burning surroundings.

Chapter Text

Leo tried not to think about the inevitable as he sat silently in Franks arms. He knew he was next. This stupid temple was going to pick a horrifyingly traumatic memory from pretty much any point in his sad life, and make him do it all again.

And somehow even worse, Frank and Hazel would find out about it. And maybe even care.

Scary.

He tried to pretend that he could stay in their arms forever, but he could feel an unpleasant tingling and nauseas sensation creeping up his spine. “You guys don’t need to worry about me, okay” he said, pushing away from them “I’ll be fine on my own.” He didn’t want them to get hurt, but Frank only gripped him tighter, like he was going to defy the creepy shadow spirits and keep Leo there with him.

But no amount of strength, willpower or hot buff arms can stop a pull from the abyss, and soon Leo had melted into the surrounding shadows.

—:—

He regained consciousness to find himself in the echoey halls of an empty chapel. He looked down to see his reflection in a small basin of water. A baptismal font. Oh boy, he remembered this one. It had been especially traumatic, the temple chose well.

He breathed slowly trying not to think about his stuffy church clothes, his split lip and his black eye. Fear pulsed through his veins, and a bottomless pit had opened up in his stomach.

A voice above him snarled, “demon child” putting a large hand on Leo’s neck “you will be cleansed”

His eyes widened, frantically “Wait, Please! No, I’m sorry, I’m sor-”

And suddenly his neck was pushed forward, shoving his head hard into the shallow pool. His forehead hit the bottom of the basin and he struggled against the grip on his neck as his blood slowly mixed with the water. His fingernails scrabbled for purchase against the edges of the stone bowl, so he could do something.

It was freezing and he couldn’t see or breathe. He also felt a tad light headed which couldn’t have been good.

He was about to give up when the pressure on his neck was abruptly released and his head shot up, out of the water, frantically gasping for air.

There was yelling off behind him, and someone grabbed him by the shoulders. The very large (and admittedly blurry) figure had big rough hands and they towered over him.

“Stop, no-“ Leo gasped helplessly.

They immediately let go. Strange.

“Leo I’m sorry, please tell me you're ok, please, oh gods…” they rambled.

This wasn’t the pastor, Leo didn’t think. Or one of his “family members”.

He felt super woozy but he took a step back from the basin and immediately crumpled.

He blinked, waiting for the harsh reality of the ground but it never came. Not only was he not a beat up heap on the floor, but he was draped over something soft. He knew he should probably run away, or at least check what was going on, but he brain felt disconnected from his body.

The water had been cold, but Leo wasn’t sure whether he was shivering from cold or fear.
But something warm and comfortable was wrapped around him l and his cheek was pressed against something soft. It was only when he felt something move and a hand began to run through his sopping wet curls that he realised he was lying against a person. He jumped away from them, only making his head pound harder. He moved sluggishly, trying to move away from them. The guilt pounding on his heart, this person obviously didn’t realise how dangerous that was.

He drew another ragged breath, and the devastatingly caring look on the man’s face made him almost feel bad.

The tingle of familiarity tugged at his mind as he watched the guy bend down. “Leo?” His voice sounded like it was coming from under water. “It’s me Frank, do you recognise me?” His voice was level but hands were shaking a little.

Frank. Did he know a Frank?

He could barely breathe and his head was swimming. He glanced up at this guy, at caring brown eyes, and he realised, he did know a Frank.

The Frank he knew was kind and caring and handsome and would (probably) never hurt him.

“*Frank*” he whispered, shakily getting to his feet.

Frank stretched out his arms, an invite, and Leo took it.

Frank's large fingers ghosted Leo’s forearms as he pulled him into his chest.

“Just breathe,” Frank whispered.

Leo shook his head, “you shouldn’t keep me this close, you know”

Frank's eyebrows furrowed.

“I could burn you” Leo gave a dry laugh. “You should probably keep your distance”

Frank grabbed Leo’s shoulders. “You really think that?” He sighed. “Leo, you are …my best friend, and I care about you so much and nothing is gonna change that.”

Frank smiled gently

“I know that you wouldn’t hurt me on purpose, and if you do it accidentally, I don’t care”

He gently squeezed Leo’s shoulders.

“We’re going keep telling you ‘till you get it, alright” said Hazel, who had appeared behind him.

Leo sniffed pathetically and leant back into Frank. At this point, he was so overwhelmed he did not even care anymore.

He just stood against Frank's chest and listened to the faint beat of his heart, as Hazel gently carded her fingers through his hair, and despite all the evil spirits and dark magic that surrounded him, he thought this might be the first time he'd really felt safe in years.

Nice.

Chapter Text

✨Franks pov✨

The aftermath of the temple had felt like a blur. Some creepy voice spirit things had given Hazel something, maybe a rock or a necklace or something, Frank hadn’t really taken much notice. He’d been too preoccupied by holding onto Leo and trying to calm his own very loud mind.

He wandered absentmindedly back towards the ship, Leo stuck to his side and Hazel's hand hanging in his. He tried his hardest to resist the urge to run his fingers through Leo’s hair again, but he didn’t want to disturb the delicate (and incredibly sleepy) air surrounding them.

He was too preoccupied anyway, listening to his heart pound in his chest.

He needed to talk to Hazel.

–:--

It had been super late when they got back to the ship, so they were greeted by some very sleepy crewmembers. Annabeth had plucked the stupid magical item out of Hazel's hands and with a murmur of thanks, pulled Percy and the others back into their room.

Leo gently peeled himself off Frank and began to trudge back towards his own bedroom. Frank desperately wanted to follow after him and make sure he was ok, but he had more pressing matters to deal with.

He tucked Hazel into his side and they walked together to what had been designated as Frank's room, but had since become home to Hazel's clothes, spatha and stuffed toys.

They both crashed onto the bed and Hazel let out a sigh. Frank turned to look at her, and was struck by, well, how pretty she was. Call him what you will, but even after their months of dating, he could just never get over how beautiful she was. Sue him.

She smiled at him and the uncertainty in his mind disappeared. Well, almost.

He took a deep breath and sat up. “You alright love?” She asked, furrowing her brow, “you look worried...”

“I just need to ask you something” he gripped her hand, “I’m not, like, upset or anything but…”

He paused.

“Do you like Leo?”

She looked at him for a long minute.

Then she let out a sob, and Frank realised what he’d done.

“No, Hazel, I didn’t mean to upset you, don't worry about it, it’s ok, I know you would never!”

She sobbed louder.

He pulled her into his chest and stroked her hair. “Listen, I’m sorry hon, I know you wouldn’t do that, that was horrible of me to ask”

She pulled away from him, wiped her face and looked up at him. She mumbled something, then sniffed and said louder, “...but I’m worse.”

Frank frowned. “What?”

She shook her head, tears streaming down her face, “I’m such a terrible girlfriend, liking two guys at once, Frank I’m so sorry!” She loudly sniffed, and Frank realised damn… he was right!

Was he mad? He knew he probably should be, but for some reason he found that he just wasn’t. Maybe it had something to do with his own crush on Leo that he had quite recently come to terms with.

He put his hand on her cheek. “I’m not upset, love” he whispered, “No.” He gently kissed her. ”I was only wondering because…” Blush crept across his cheeks, as he lowered his gaze. “... I kinda do”.

She looked at him eyes wide. “Really…?”

He rubbed his neck, “remember when we talked about … me being bi and stuff”

She nodded and smiled at him, “so you’re not upset?”

“Of course not!” He reassured her, “I just wanted to make sure we were both on the same page, yeah?”

She smiled at him and he pulled her into him and they lay silently next to each other, as Frank gently wiped her tears with his thumb, surprised when Hazel reached up to wipe some from his own cheek that he hadn’t even realised were there.

—:—

It grew later into the night as they lay together and Frank eventually hauled himself out of bed to change.

Hazel turned away as he pulled his shirt off, blushing. She still hadn’t quite gotten over some of the habits from her time with the nuns at St Agnes. She almost never swore or shouted, and she wouldn’t look at any of the boys (or girls for that matter) if they were shirtless.

“What should we do?” He asked. He knew his voice was a little shaky, but he tried not to dwell on that.

“Wha’d’you mean?” Hazel murmured as he yanked on a shirt and turned back toward her.

“Do we just wait for it to go away? Cus I don’t know if I can do that.” He flopped down back onto the bed with Hazel “but we can’t tell him, can we?”

She just rubbed her eyes, obviously tired, but he was so worried and confused and in love that he wanted to scream.

Hazel must have noticed, as she took his hands in hers.

“Hon, I can almost hear you overthinking this, how about we sleep now and talk later, we’ve had a really long day”

He kissed her and she leant against him, smiling. “I don’t know what we’re gonna do, but we’ll figure it out”

Her voice was so reassuring, and Frank realised that, even though she was probably just as uncertain as he was, if not more, she was trying her best to save face for his sake.

“I don’t know what I would do without you” He buried his face in her hair. “I love you”

She kissed his nose,”I love you too, baby”

“Now go to sleep! It’s like … the middle of the night” She giggled.

“As long as you promise to talk to me tomorrow” he countered.

“…promise” came the murmured reply, and he hit the lights and pulled her closer, hoping his brain would quiet enough for sleep.

–:--

✨Hazel pov✨

As per usual, Hazel tried her hardest not to wake Frank up with her loud morning routine. Unfortunately, she had been an early riser her whole life, and was not at all used to sharing with someone like Frank … who was not.

She heard Frank groan and the bed creak a little as he began to stir.

It was still so crazy to her that she had a boyfriend. A perfect perfect boyfriend.

Whom she had betrayed by liking another guy.

Another guy that her boyfriend also happened to like.

This whole situation was so strange it made her head spin.

Her train of thought was interrupted Franks arms around her waist.

“Good morning” he rumbled and her heart skipped a little.

Curse her distractingly shirtless boyfriend and his equally distracting morning voice.

She turned to give him a peck on the cheek and giggled, “put on a shirt!”

Usually she would head to the dining hall and grab enough breakfast for the both of them to eat in their rooms.

She began to make for the door before Frank caught her by the wrist. “Wait”

She turned.

“You promised we would talk today”

She didn’t meet his eye. She didn’t know how to do this. She wasn’t raised to communicate like Frank was. Nobody ever taught her this. Of course her mother taught her practical things, like cooking and sewing, but none of that helped her now. She was lost.

She took a deep breath. “I don’t know what to do, I mean, we should probably just keep it to ourselves right?” she looked up, “what else could we do?”

“I mean we could just talk to him about it… there’s nothing stopping us?” Frank shrugged.

“No way! Why would we do that? It’ll be really weird and awkward if he knows!”

“I don’t know, Leo doesn’t really strike me as the aggressively heteronormative type” Frank said “Maybe he’d be willing to share”

Hazel was aghast. No way was she going to cheat on Frank, even if he did know. Never, she wouldn’t do that”

“No way” she told him ”No way I’m cheating on you. Ever”

“It’s not cheating if there’s a mutual agreement” he told her “Relationships can be a lot less straightforward now than they were when you were growing up”

He ran his fingers through his hair “Obviously, I would never want you to agree to something you weren’t comfortable with” he met her eyes, trying to make sure she understood “but I want you to be happy, so if that’s what you wanted to do, just know you have my full support”

Hazel stood silently. This … almost sounded like it could work. But that was only if Leo liked her. And if he agreed to this strange relationship.

“That’s not allowed, isn’t it?” She asked

“I mean … there isn’t anything stopping us?” He frowned “I say fuck it, demigods live short, difficult, dangerous lives, I don’t think we should waste any of ours being sad and in hiding!”

Frank grabbed her by the shoulders “Hazel.”

“He so obviously likes you” She couldn’t understand how Frank could sound so certain.“You should just tell him, I’m happy for you to do that”

Her heart was beating fast. Frank sounded so sure it almost made her believe this could work.

“Are you certain?” A smile pushed its way to the surface.

She kissed him “Oh Frank, thank you so much! I’m so happy this worked out, and you don’t hate me and we didn’t break up!”

He laughed “As long as you still like me!”

“Always” she whispered.

“Plus” he added “ I couldn’t really break up with you for crushing on Leo, I’d be the biggest hypocrite ever!”

Hazels face fell. Of course. How could she forget.

“But what about you?” She asked.

Franks gaze faltered. “I know how he feels about me, we shouldn’t push our luck”

“I care about you and him enough to want you two to be happy, and he’ll be happy with you, and you’ll be happy with the both of us. No need to complicate things”

That didn’t sit right with her. Frank had guided her through this whole situation, he was always there for her. He was her rock. And the idea of him pushing aside his feelings for her? No, she didn’t like that at all.

She grabbed both of his hands “No, it’s like you said, we shouldn’t waste our years, that applies to you to. If we do this, we do it together”

“Hazel, I-“ he started, but she cut him off.

“We will both flirt with him together”

“And we will both tell him together”

“And, if we get rejected” she met his eyes “we will get rejected together, ok?”

He nodded. “Ok”

He still sounded a little unsure.

“Frank, you are my boyfriend and I love you, I am not going to do this without”

She smiled.

“We’re together forever, remember?”

He smiled back at her.

And that day, as she ate breakfast, in bed, with her boyfriend, she thought to herself that maybe, just maybe, everything might end up ok.

Chapter Text

It finally happened.

It had been almost a week since she and Frank had talked, and as it turned out, Hazel was not a patient person. Knowing she didn’t have to feel guilty about her feelings anymore made it much harder to contain them, and resisting the urge to randomly grab Leo’s hand (or any other part of him) made her want to explode.

He probably already thought she was being super weird because she kept randomly smiling at him.

She had just spent the better part of the afternoon fighting sword to talon against a particularly nasty group of harpies, and she was worn out.

She would have liked to relax, cloud-watching on the ship's deck, but she was a little concerned the harpies may come back, so the Argo II ’s dining hall would have to do.

As she lay starfished on a dining table, watching fake clouds drift across the screen ceiling, a whistle drifted across the room. It was a nice tune, bright and pretty, and she closed her eyes.

The door swang open to reveal none other than Leo Valdez, arms full of machinery, humming a tune and stuffing his face with Doritos. She sat up excitedly.

“Hey Leo!”

He yelped, whipping around and dropping his junk. “Geez Hazel” he laughed bending down to grab his stuff, “you scared me”

He looked up at her sitting on the bench, “are you okay? What are you doing?”

“Relaxing” she said, “what about you?”

She inspected some of the pieces of scrap metal, which didn’t look like they could be turned into anything, but she knew better than to doubt Leo’s recycling skills.

“I found this old radio, so I was going to attach it to Fetus, so he could play disco music whenever I wanted” Leo explained, dumping everything onto the table “but the stupid thing only plays old timey waltz music”

He sighed, sat down, and popped another Dorito into mouth.

Hazel was buzzing with excitement. “I know how to waltz!”

Leo raised an eyebrow.

“Back in Alaska all the girls had to learn” she hopped up, grabbing his wrists and flicking on the radio “I’ll teach you!”

He laughed

“Okay, okay! But lower your expectations all the way down, what do I do?”

She pulled him into the centre of the room, where the sky had gradually began to grow dark.

She grabbed both of his hands in hers. She had expected them to be soft, like Franks, only to find callouses on his palms and fingertips, from years of hard mechanic work. She drew them down to her waist, where they rested, warm and infinitely light. He touched her like she was made of porcelain, ready to break any second. She pressed his hands down a little harder before reaching up to place hers around his neck.

She pushed him forward a little and he stumbled, she giggled as she gently led him in the steps. As warned, he was an abysmal dancer, but that didn't really matter as they stepped back and forward together, laughing and moving with the music.

As they got into the swing of it, Hazel looked at him. She looked at the sprinkle of freckles on his cheeks, the fresh scar across his nose and the golden caramel of his eyes. His hands on her waist held her tight. She rubbed her fingers against the back of his neck, and she could feel the bruise back from the temple. Anger boiled inside her, how could a person treat anyone that way, Leo didn’t deserve that. The injustice of it all made her want to punch something. It also made her want to kiss him. Like a lot. She absentmindedly wondered whether that would help or not.

She gently drew her fingers up to rest them in the bottom of his curls, wrapping them around her fingers and grazing them along the sides of his neck. He gently moved his thumbs around on her waist, the feeling making sparks jump up her spine and her senses tingle. They swang with music, Hazel giggling as Leo grinned back at her. It was nice. She loved spending time with Leo like this, and he was so close to her, she could almost…

The door swung open.

“Leo have you seen-“

It was Frank

“Oh … sorry”

Leo jolted away from Hazel.

“Hey man it’s not what it looks like I swear we were just-“

“I’ll come back later” Frank stammered. His face was bright red as backed out of doorway.

Hazel watched the door swing shut before turning to Leo, who was running his fingers nervously through his hair.

“Geez, Hazel, I’m sorry, you can tell Frank it’s all my fault ok, Gods he’s gonna hate me, I’m so sorry, I should not have let that happen, that’s my best friend”

His breathing sounded a little short and his hands were shaking.

“Leo stop”

He looked up, obvious scared.

“Firstly” she started. “It was just as much my fault as yours”

“And secondly, there are no faults, Frank wasn’t mad or upset, trust me”

She held his hands in hers.

“Please?”

Leo drew in a deep breath.

“Ok” he said.

She gave him a wide grin.

He couldn’t help but grin back.

He didn’t understand all of this. Did Hazel like him? Was Frank mad?

But he thought that maybe he didn’t need to. Maybe he could just let it happen.

—- ps —-

Leo actually saw Frank that night at dinner. He had just smiled and waved as usual, to which Leo had responded in kind. Like everything was normal. Maybe Hazel was right.

—- pps —-

“You guys looked so good dancing together” Frank had told Hazel as they were getting ready for bed that night.

She’d giggled and blushed a little, but a triumphant feeling bloomed in her chest as curled up next to him.

“Tell me everything” he said. And she did. From the color of his eyes to feeling of his hands on her waist. And Frank had listened very carefully and happily.

Chapter Text

Leo was tired. He had been working nearly to death for about 3 days and he was one blink away from passing out. He felt a little bad for not seeing or talking to any of the other crew members but on the other hand, it was working well to help him avoid Hazel and Frank. He didn’t really know how to deal with his feelings and he had an awful habit of running away from his problems.

He stifled back yet another yawn as he soldered the pieces of a broken cannon. He knew it probably wasn’t a great idea to be working in intense heat in his current state but those were the perks of being fire-proof. He heard the door behind him open and called out.

“Piper, I told you I’ll come to breakfast soon”

He didn’t really intend on eating, but Piper kept coming to check on him and he didn’t want to worry her.

“It’s actually me” spoke a voice much deeper than Pipers.

Leo turned around, brain moving much slower than his body, to see Frank, standing awkwardly in his doorway holding a plate of food.

“Can I … come in?” He asked.

Leo stared at him, blankly, for a few seconds, he was tired beyond repair and not performing his best, cut him some slack.

“...yeah”

Frank had been coming in alot, actually. Just to sit and watch Leo work. He didn’t quite understand what he found so interesting about Leo welding and constructing and what not but most days he enjoyed the company. Frank was always excited to just sit and talk with him, sometimes for hours. Occasionally, he’d hold tools for him or lift heavy hunks of metal, but Leo was never keen to let him get too close to the numerous open flames he worked with on the regular.

“Jesus Christ Leo” he said, placing the food down precariously on a bench. He glanced around the room incredulously. “This place is a shithole” “Geez, judgey” He said, sliding back over to his workbench.

He looked down, God he looked awful. He wore one of Jason’s shirts with the big gash in it and his face was covered in grease and grime. “Dude, don’t even look at me right now, I haven’t slept in … a while, I look crusty as”

“Just leave the food and I’ll come to lunch later, okay?”

“Leo…” Frank said solemnly, stepping further into the mess, “this is … dinner”

“Huh?” Leo turned around. “What time is it?”

“Like, 10:30,” Frank's eyes were filled with, what was that, concern? “c’mon Leo you gotta go to bed”

Leo snorted.

“At least eat something?”

“Nah man, I’m almost done” Leo said, shaking his head.

He was only lying a little bit. While he may have been almost done with the cannon, he had no intention of stopping. He would probably go ‘til morning. If only Frank would leave.

He kind of assumed this whole situation stemmed from something to do with his giant terrifying crushes and his preference to avoid and flee situations whenever they got to… feelingsy.

Fortunately, he cared little to no about his personal health and wellbeing, and was happy to shut down all food, water, sleep and human interaction needs for a few days at a time.

Plus, he enjoyed getting stuck in work, problem solving, building, things he was good at.

“Just leave the plate Frank” Leo called back “I’ll eat in a minute”

Frank chuckled, “Liar”

Leo turned, “Seriously man, I have work to do”

But he stopped when he saw Frank's face. Brows furrowed. Eyes soft. Which emotion was that? Maybe concern again?

“Leo, your eye…bags…?”

Frank was reaching out, placing his hand on Leo's cheek. It was warm and surprisingly soft and he tilted his head a little into Frank's hand. His legs were a little wobbly.

He went to take a step, towards or away from Frank, he didn’t know.

“I-” Oh shit, lightheaded.

And his knees collapsed. Yay!

Immediately Frank caught him. Stupid, always reliable, there for him, Frank.

His head pressed against Frank's chest, his arms tight around him. He knew he didn’t weigh that much, but the way Frank could lift Leo like it was nothing made his head spin and his heart flutter. He had a gentle hand on the back of his head and a strong arm wrapped around the small of his back. He gently lowered them both to the floor and with Leo's head against his chest he could hear Frank's heart beating, very fast.

“Leo…”

He tried to push away from Frank, who helped him sit up. He couldn’t really stand, so he scooched his butt across the floor and away from Frank.

“You can leave now” he murmured

He wanted very desperately to curl back up into Frank's arms, but he kept his distance, folding his arms and resting his head on his knees.

“You need to eat,” replied Frank.

“I’m fine”

He was reaching towards Leo again “No you’re not, just let me-“

“Would you quit that!” Leo retorted “I am FINE on my own and I do not need help, not from you, not from anyone!”

Frank was quiet. A voice in the back of his told him that he’d blown it and Frank hated him now.

“Listen Frank, I’m really sorry, I didn’t mean it and I appreciate you coming here but-“

“Leo I should have listened to you” he apologised, “You just haven’t left your room in days and we were starting to get really worried”

“…I’m just really tired” Leo whispered.

And Frank wordlessly pushed the plate of food aside, opening up his arms. Leo hesitated for a moment before sliding back towards Frank. He didn’t know what he was allowed to do, but Frank tugged him closer into his side.

He tried not to focus on the fact that this was his best friend (who was in a relationship), instead gently laying his head down on Frank's shoulder, warily closing his eyes. His head buzzed with anxiety, was being weird or clingy? But Frank placed a light hand in his hair and began to softly card his fingers through, gentle and steady, and Leo couldn’t restrain the wave of sleep that washed calmly over him.

Chapter Text

Hi guys, sorry that the updates are kind of slow. I promise I’m not abandoning this work, my motivation just comes and goes.

I JUST HANDED IN MY ASSIGNMENT THAT WAS MAKING ME HATE EXISTENCE YAYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!

I was also not very happy with the ending of the most recent chapter so the start of this chapter is a continuation of the last one.

--:--

The next morning, Leo awoke to the obnoxious screams of distant harpies. He slowly blinked the sleep out of his eyes as he reminisced.

*That was the best damn sleep of my life* he thought as he tried to stretch.

His back hurt like a bitch and he was surprisingly warm. He turned his head to the side, only to find Frank fast asleep, leaning against a wall. He realised with a start that he was still lying against Frank like they had been last night. He had just assumed that he would wait for him to fall asleep and leave him in his bed, but Frank had stayed here all night with him, lying in what was arguably the most uncomfortable position, haphazardly propped up against a wall.

Leo felt a pang of guilt, but it was far too late for that. He gently tried to lift himself off Frank, as not to wake him, but the grip on his waist tightened. Shivers shot up Leo’s back, he hadn’t even noticed that Frank had his arm around his waist, hand placed gently on Leo’s side. Frank let out a low rumble.

“Where do you think you’re going?” he asked. His voice was low and garbled and made Leo’s stomach leap.

“Um…”

“You literally passed out from exhaustion not even 6 hours ago, sit back down”

Leo briefly thought about arguing, before deciding that he would much rather do this anyday.

He sat down on the floor facing Frank. He watched perhaps too intently as Frank yawned and stretched, exposing a little bit of stomach that was enough to drive Leo crazy.

“So what are you even making?” asked Frank

“Huh?” said Leo, taken aback.

“Like, what is this thing that's so important you have to push yourself to exhaustion to complete?”

Leo wasn’t really used to people taking an interest in his work, but Frank seemed genuine.

As Leo began to explain the finer points of bronze cannon mechanics, he soon found himself lost in the excitement of getting to talk about his hobbies.

Almost half an hour in he realised that Frank was probably bored out of his mind. I’ve trapped the poor guy here with my yapping, he thought to himself.

“Sorry dude, you’re probably bored as shit right now, you can go” But he turned to see Frank staring at him, mesmerised.

“Don’t stop! You sounded so happy” smiled Frank

Leo's face flushed all the way to the tips of his ears. He swiftly turned around, “now actually scram” he dismissed Frank “I gotta work”

Frank looked a little reluctant, but he heaved himself up off the ground nonetheless. “Ok, but promise me you’ll take better care of yourself” he said watching Leo turn towards his desk.

Leo didn’t want to make promises he couldn't keep. “Yeah alright” he waved, avoiding eye contact.

Frank grabbed his wrist, locking their eyes. “Promise me”

Franks low baritone sent shivers up Leo’s spine,

“Yeah, Ok” he said solemnly this time. He would try not to let Frank down.

—:---

Frank pov

Following the whole “Leo passing out from exhaustion and lack of nutrients” thing, Piper decided that the entire crew needed a fresh air break, and dragged every person out onto the deck for a “field trip”.

Leo emerged from the workshop, blinking, dazed in the sun. Frank was still majorly concerned but by the look of the way Hazel was fussing over him, Frank was pretty sure he’d be fine.

“Alrighty folks!” Piper announced, standing on a crate with her hands on her hips, “we are heading down to that forest nymph village over there to do some research on the funky little artefact Frank, Leo and Hazel brought back from mnemosyne's temple”. She gestured to a cluster of buildings nestled in the trees a few metres below their floating ship. “The villagers have very kindly offered to show us around, so you should all be on your best behaviour, alright?” There was a murmur of agreement from the crew, and with that, Leo unhooked the ladder and Piper led them down to the forest floor.
–:--

On the ground beneath the ship, three forest nymphs stood waiting for them, a woman in the centre with a dress made of oak leaves and a crown of roses stood flanked by two guards holding wooden spears. She stepped forward and whispered to them, “It is an honour to guide such a powerful group of heroes through our humble village, we take pleasure in assisting you with your quest.” Piper bowed, thanking her, and with that the woman turned on her heels and began leading the group further into the forest.

–:--

The walk was long, down a winding path, but the forest with beautiful, and they walked at a leisurely pace.

At the front of the group, the head of the village (the female nymph from earlier) was pointing out buildings and trees. Piper listened very intently as Annabeth walked next to her, diligently taking notes.

A little further back, Percy and Jason were locked in conversation with one of the guards and they laughed and high-fived each other regularly.

Frank and Hazel strolled along behind them hand in hand, watching birds flit from tree to tree and butterflies flap in the sun. Frank pulled his girlfriend in closer wrapping an arm around her waist as she lay her head on his shoulder. She sighed happily and he smiled down at her. “This is nice,” he said to Hazel. She hummed in agreement but she wasn’t looking at him. He followed her gaze to his left to see Leo.

The second guard had stayed back and was walking alongside Leo, smiling as they talked. Leo laughed (how Frank loved his laugh) and the guard put his hand on Leo’s forearm.

Something curled in Frank's stomach.

He forced himself to look away. *Stop that* he told himself *you have no right*. But still, his grip on Hazel's hand tightened. Her eyes were narrowed as she glared at the guard.

“Look at him” she whispered “all over Leo”

The guard slung his arm over his shoulder and Leo giggled nervously. An odd, sick feeling washed over Frank.

“He doesn’t even know him” snarled Frank, “like, I bet he doesn’t even care about Leo’s favourite colour or what foods he hates or anything.” Frank shook his head “he just thinks he’s hot” (Frank would be the first to admit Leo was gorgeous, but this guy didn’t care about Leo … not like he and Hazel did, anyway). Frank blushed and looked away, “he doesn’t deserve someone amazing like Leo”. Hazel rubbed her thumb over his hand, “but darling, we have about as much claim to Leo as that guy does” Frank snorted and looked back towards Leo.

The guard sank his hand lower down Leo's side and brought his face up close. He whispered something to Leo, who turned away, discomfort flashing across his face.

Frank's disgust quickly turned to anger.

“That's it.” he growled, striding over to Leo and the guard.

“Whats up”, he spoke loudly, startling the guy, who let go of Leo.

“Not much” he hissed, reaching a hand back out towards Leo, but before he could, Frank stepped forward wrapping a hand around Leo’s waist, pulling him in towards his chest.

They held eye contact for a few seconds, Frank's gaze stone cold, before the guy relented and turned back toward the rest of the group.

He stood for a minute, holding tight to Leo as the guy walked away.

“Umm… Frank?”

Frank looked back down to where he was gripping Leo and hastily let go.

“Sorry, sorry, are you ok?”

Leo’s face was bright red. “Yeah, um … thanks Frank” he murmured, not making eye contact.

Hazel strolled over to the two of them. “Are you sure?” she questioned, holding Leo's face in her hands and bringing it close to hers, which only made him redder.

He just nodded quickly. “Thanks Hazel” he gave her hand a little squeeze.

He turned ahead, “we should catch up to the others.”

Chapter Text

Leo was blushing. He found that he’d been doing that alot.

He didn’t like being the “damsel in distress” but he couldn’t deny how thankful he was for Frank showing up while they were walking.

He had been excited at first because no one was ever really interested in him, chatting loudly and flirting, but he’d soon found the guy hadn’t actually been listening to anything he’d said, and when his hand started to wander, Leo began looking for a way out.

And like a knight in shining armour he had appeared, Hazel by his side.

He had spent the rest of the field trip walking by the two of them staring out the ground, partly to avoid third wheel awkwardness and partly to hide his blush. Hazel gently squeezed his hand, startling him. She tilted her head,

“You alright?”

He nodded.

“Thanks”

–:--

Leo was ecstatic. The excursion had ended with a gift from the forest nymphs, and they had given the crew a tree that could constantly regrow, giving Leo unlimited access to all the wood he could ever need. This meant less stops and more updates to the ship, he couldn’t be happier.

He was chatting excitedly to Hazel about all the things he could build, a new rudder, better masts and maybe even a swimming pool. She was rattling off suggestions as the group rounded the corner to ship.

Once on the ship, Leo asked if he could have the magic sapling so he could figure out how it worked. Piper had handed it to him and he planted it in a box in his room before heading out to his workshop to immediately begin drafting up plans.

–:--

The next morning Leo was walking past his room when he stopped in his tracks. His room was a forest. A straight up forest.

He called a crew meeting.

–:-- (guys pls i beg of you ignore the plot holes)

“... so I guess we know how the magic tree works,” Percy offered.

“Dude, seriously, I have no room” Leo laughed.

He turned to Annabeth, “can we, like, chop them down or something?”

She sucked in a breath “If they grew that fast, I’m pretty sure they’ll grow straight back”

“And the nymphs told us that if we kill the main one, it’s dead for good” Piper chimed in.

“So what, I’m fucked?” Leo asked.

They were going to be flying into icy alpine terrain very soon and sleeping any room that had not been designed for sleeping would mean freezing over night.

“You’ll just have to share with someone” Jason shrugged.

“No way” Leo frowned “That is like, next level third wheeling” he folded his arms, “I’ll sleep in my workshop”

He spoke with finality but Hazel immediately interrupted.

“Absolutely not, that is not healthy”

“He can room with us” said Frank, not quite offering, just letting them all know. Not like Leo would’ve refused anyway.

They were both looking at him. Right, waiting for him to agree.

“Uh- yep”

–:-- (around 7 minutes later)

Leo was pacing up and down the hallway.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck” he frantically whispered to himself.

Why had he agreed to this.

This was the worst idea he had ever had.

His day had already gone badly, which meant he felt terrible, and now he could hardly breathe.

“Great” he thought “now I’m going to have a panic attack, that’s just super!”

He was going to embarrass himself, or worse, reveal himself.

And there was no way out.

But his descent into madness was interrupted by none other than Frank himself, who gave Leo nothing but a worried look and opened the door.

“You can come in, you know…?” he offered, “it's your room now too.”

Chapter Text

It was really late. Leo knew they probably needed to discuss the sleeping arrangement but he had been hiding from everyone all day and desperately needed sleep. Ever since yesterday's incident, he had felt off, like something sticky and itchy was crawling under his skin. Being around the other crew members only seemed to worsen it and his ears felt like they were under attack, so he found himself spending the entirety of the day in his workshop with the door locked.

He crept along the hallway in the dark, ever so gently cracking open the door to Frank and Hazels room and tip-toeing in. He squinted looking around as best he could in the darkness. He glanced at the bed where Frank and Hazel were curled up next to each other, her head tucked under his chin and and his arms wrapped around her torso, and a gross feeling squirmed around in his stomach.

*This is why this was a bad idea* he berated himself. They were so disgustingly cute together. Jealousy was truly an ugly feeling.

He wondered where he was going to sleep.It had been a while since he had had to sleep on the floor and he wasn’t much looking forward to it. Frank and Hazel probably forgot he was even going to be sharing with them and it was like, the middle of the night.

But he spotted something on the floor and with a start he realised that it was a sleeping bag. There were pillows arranged and two blankets draped over it, and he stood, silently staring at it, a tiny lump forming in his throat at the thought of Frank and Hazel preparing his sleeping bag for him to come back to. He bent down next to the sleeping bag, kicking off his shoes, and saw that next to the sleeping bag was a plate with a sandwich on it. He reached out to find that it was stale, probably having been made about 3 hours ago, at a reasonable sleeping time. There was a little sticky note on the plate the read, “Going to bed, in case your hungry, Love Hazel and Frank”

Leo felt really stupid crouched on the floor crying, but the stale sandwich was one of the nicest things anyone had done for him in a while, and he had literally avoided them all day. God, he desperately needed sleep. Maybe he would feel better in the morning.

–:--

Dream Leo was strolling around suburban Texas as he often did in his dreams, his feet not quite touching the ground in that weird dream sort of way. He walked, not entirely of his own accord, down a street, and he thought he didn’t much mind dreaming like this, until he rounded a corner and appeared at a school. His old school. Fun, that was a great place to be. He wandered through the halls aimlessly because nothing usually happened in these dreams. He watched classes and students phase past him, when he felt something bump into him. He swivelled around, confused as to how something so solid existed in his dream, and he locked eyes with the nymph guard from earlier. He reached out and Leo felt a hand on his waist again, more tangible than it should have been. It crept lower and he smacked it away.

“Oi, not this again” Leo scoffed trying to turn away “Leave me alone”

Suddenly Leo felt a whoosh and found himself pressed against a locker, the hands on his face and chest much too real. It wasn’t the guard anymore, it was a different vaguely familiar teenager, maybe a bully, Dream Leo couldn’t quite tell. The thing was, last time Leo checked, you weren’t able to feel the cold press of a metal locker against the back of your head in dreams. The guy had one hand gripping his chin, squeezing so hard it hurt, and another splayed on his chest jamming his torso into the lockers and shortening his breath. There were more people he couldn’t quite see on either side of him, one yanking his wrist backwards and the other digging their nails into his forearm. They were saying things too garbled to hear, but he could sense the malice in every word.

“Let go of me!” he cried, over and over. Why wasn’t anyone listening? Couldn’t they hear him telling them to stop?

They slammed him backwards another time, and suddenly he was in his Aunt Rosa’s living room, her husband grabbing him by the shoulders, screaming words he couldn’t hear. His left eye throbbed, like real pain, and Leo knew, he *knew* it was a dream, but something wasn’t quite right. When he swung his arms, there was no one there, but he could see them, he could feel the harsh grip on his shoulders.

He was being shaken back and forth, his uncle's eyes boring into him as he screamed at Leo. He couldn’t actually hear the words, only a dreamish kind of ringing but he knew what they were.

Worthless

Ungodly

”Please” he cried “I’m sorry, please let me go”

There were hands all over him, holding him down, scratching him, wandering all over him.

He reached out trying desperately in his dreamy state to get away, and was surprised to find a pair of arms, very tangible. Frantically he dug his nails into the arms and pushed himself backwards.

With a thunk he rolled onto the ground, his head throbbing from being slammed against the ground. He could hear again, the wash of waves against the boat, the gentle tick of Frank's alarm.

He whipped his head up, breathing frantically, and caught eyes with Frank, who was crouched beside Leo’s sleeping bag, arms out. Tiny crescent shaped cuts in his skin leaked blood. Leo did that.

His heart was almost beating out of his chest.

“Leo…” Frank tried to crawl closer.

“Go away” Leo couldn’t make eye contact with him as he tried desperately to steady his breathing. God, everything was going wrong and it was day one. He hadn’t meant to wake them and now he was crying in the corner from a bad dream like a little kid.

“Just go back to sleep” he choked out, “I’m fine.”

“Leo just let us help you” Hazel started, from where she was squatted next to Frank.

“Look, I’m sorry for waking you up,” he said, keeping his eyes down. “I’ll change rooms tomorrow, just go back to bed, I’m fine”

“Leo” said Frank sternly “If you don't want help, that's fine, but in case you hadn’t noticed, we care about you”

“We *want* to help Leo” whispered Hazel “If you would just let us”

He stared at them like a deer in headlights. He couldn’t move. Not because they wouldn’t let him, because he didn't want to.

“I can’t think why you would want to help, it’ll just be a massive pain in the arse” he whispered hoarsely, attempting humour, but Hazel just rolled her eyes and sat down next to Frank.

Leo inched ever so slightly closer.

“I’m really tired” he whispered “Maybe we could deal with it in the morning?”

“Alright…” Frank eyed him suspiciously before beginning to stand up.

“You don’t want a hug?” he checked, always the cuddler.

“No, Gods no” Leo breathed, “just floor time”

He lay down on the carpet, spreading his limbs like a starfish and taking a deep breath. He closed his eyes gently and exhaled.

Ok Leo. This is it. You can ask them for help. They are your friends.

He took a deep breath, “Wait!”
They turned back to him.

“I’m … scared … to go back to sleep”

They looked at him blankly.

“Fuck, nevermind, sorry” he said frantically, squeezing his eyes shut. Stupid. Who's scared of sleeping?

“Ok”

He heard a rustle to his left, and cracked one eye open to see Hazel lie down starfished beside him. On his other side Frank crouched with great effort.

“Do… you want to talk about it?” asked Frank hesitantly.

“Just that guy yesterday.” Leo shrugged “Just threw me off, no biggie”

If Leo hadn’t been looking up, he would have noticed Frank's eyes narrow, or Hazel's fist clench in anger. But he lay watching the ceiling fan complete its rotations over and over again.

Fatigue washed over him, weighing his body to the ground and clouding his mind. He gently closed his eyes, breathing deeply and feeling himself slip away, out of consciousness. But no sooner than his eyelids had drooped, he felt the whisper of a hand on his leg. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter.

*It’s not real* He told himself, but in his sleepy state it felt like he was floating in an abyss and all he could feel was the cold slide of unwanted hands over his skin.

It’s not real. He squeezed his eyes shut tighter.
It’s not real. He clenched his fist.
It’s not-

He felt the gentle brush of a hand over his. This one was real. It was warm and gentle and slowly pushed its way between his fingers until Hazel’s comforting hand cradled his own. This was so grounding and comforting that it made the sad little brushes from before so obviously imagined. His mind no longer wandered, her hand a reminder of not only where he was and who was really there, but a silent comfort that she was there no matter where he was or who was there. He remembered how quickly she and Frank had appeared the day before, and as awful as he had felt, he was grateful to know they would always be there.

—:—

The next morning, Leo’s eyes fluttered open as light poured in from the slightly cracked window.

He knew he was on the floor and was surprised to find much more comfortable than he remembered it being. He tried to roll over and found he couldn’t, so forcing his eyes open, he tried to take in his surroundings.

Oh shit

No wonder he was so comfortable, he wasn’t lying on the floor, he was lying on Frank. He remembered last night but distinctly did not remember being this close to either of the pair.

He assessed the situation. Hazel had mentioned Frank being a sleep hugger and he realised now she was not joking. Frank must have reached out in the night and grabbed not only Leo, but also Hazel as well. Leo was fully pressed against Frank, lying almost entirely on top of him, Leo’s back to Franks stomach. Frank was breathing softly against Leo’s neck which spread a fierce blush across Leo’s face and up his ears.

Worse, lay Hazel almost on top of him. Frank had one hand on her waist pulling her closer and squishing Leo between them. Her silk hair wrap lying right in the middle of his chest, their hands still intertwined between them.

He really should have felt out of place sandwiched between a happy couple, but he felt like he was so supposed to be there, which made him feel all light, which made him feel all stupid because he knew he wasn’t.

Can’t hurt to make the most of it. He supposed, mostly for his own benefit and snuggled further in. He kind of maybe watched Hazel as she slept, in the normal non-creepy way.

Gods, she was pretty.

Her skin was smooth and kind of glowy in the way that made him want to run his fingers over it forever. She had long fluttery eyelashes and an adorable round face. Her lips were round and perfect and sometimes when he said something really stupid they would stretch into the most beautiful smile that would make his insides warm. She had long slender fingers that he imagined running up and down over his skin, gently scratching through his hair. Her chest rose and fell and she slept and he remembered how it felt to hold her hips that day they had danced together, and then he remembered that it was about 8:30 in the morning and therefore much too early to be thinking like that.

As he watched, she slowly blinked her eyes open and rolled over and away from him. She rubbed her eyes, hauled herself up and stretched. Whether she didn’t notice him or simply didn’t care, she did not react at all to his being there, just waddling off to the bathroom to brush her teeth.

He rolled around to where she had been lying and glanced over at Frank.

His face was rather cute when he slept, even though he had lost weight, he still had adorable round cheeks. He stretched one of his arms absentmindedly and lLeo watched the muscle ripple under smooth tan skin, and he turned red remembering all the times Frank had lifted him up so easily. His broad shoulders curled over where Leo had been laying and one of his forearms lay outstretched towards him and Leo stared at the veins that ran across them. That’s a weird thing to find hot right? He thought to himself, but he kept staring. He remembered when he had been a little scared of Frank, but he knew now that Frank's preference in activities was giving hugs rather than crushing skulls.

He lay watching Frank for a while until Hazel came plodding out of the bathroom, toothbrush in hand. He pushed away from Frank a little awkwardly and was about to say something about the night before, thank you or maybe sorry, but Hazel spoke before he could.

“Wake Frank up, we’re heading to the mainland today.”

Then she marched out of the room.

He watched carefully as she left before turning to Franks sleeping form and shoving him a few times.

He flopped onto his back with a groan.

“G’morning” he rumbled.

Fucking hell. That was a morning voice. Leo tried not to shiver.

“Morning baby” Said Hazel, strolling back into the room.

She bent down gently for a kiss and Leo watched them for a bit before remembering that that was a really weird thing to do.

As she walked by Leo, she put a hand in his hair to ruffle it and gave him a quick scratch on the head, which he craned to receive.

“Feeling better?” She asked. He shrugged.

“Alright, we have an hour to get ready, you boys better hurry up”

Frank groaned.