Chapter Text
Jason and Leo entered the Camp Half-Blood Zeus cabin, idly talking as Jason crossed the room to where his things were, to find his jacket.
“So—wait,” Jason said, to make it clear to Leo that he was engaged in the story he was telling him, “Percy thought that you were the one who drew that on his forehead?”
“Well, it’s not all that wild of an accusation,” Leo laughed, “that is something I would do. Thing is, if I did, I wouldn’t lie about it. Not if I was asked afterwards, anyway.”
“Yeah, but Percy doesn’t know that,” Jason said.
“That’s true, I do look like a liar.”
“Just a bit.” Jason grabbed his jacket from his bunk bed, but tired from training that day, he decided to sit instead of leaving right away. “So how did he find out that it was Travis?”
“Piper had to convince him, I think she used her charmspeak.”
“I feel like I would not need charmspeak to realize that Travis is capable of something like that.”
“Right?” Leo said. “But Percy was really pissed, I guess. When you’re really annoyed like that, things kind of just fly over your head.”
“Sometimes, they fly into your head,” Jason joked, “like a brick.”
“Brick!” Leo remembered with a laugh. “How many times did you get hit with a brick? I forget.”
“I don’t know,” Jason said, “I have brain damage, remember?”
“That’s fair. Between you and me, we probably have one shared brain cell left,” Leo grinned, “you being brain damaged, and me being just plain stupid.”
“Leo,” Jason scolded, “I don’t think you’re stupid.”
“I know, I know. You’re too nice to me, you know that?”
“I’ll stop when you start being nicer to yourself.”
“Oh, good gods,” Leo shook his head in exasperation, but Jason thought he saw his face get a bit warmer in color. “Take your jacket and let’s go.”
Jason stood up, but instead of walking toward the door, he walked toward Leo with his arms outstretched. “Hug first,” he requested, “please.”
“Why?”
“Because I like you, and I don’t like when you talk badly about yourself.”
“Jason, I was joking.”
“I know,” Jason said, “but I still like to give you hugs. If you want them.”
“Alright, Jason,” Leo relented with a sigh, stepping into his best friend’s arms. Jason squeezed him tightly, soaking in the warmth. Despite how much Jason liked hugs, he didn’t get to hug Leo all that often. And Leo always seemed tense, though that could just be because he was anxious.
“Do you not like my hugs?” Jason mumbled, wondering out loud.
“No–I mean, yeah,” Leo replied, a bit muffled, “I do. Like them.”
“You can tell me if you don’t.”
“I do, Jason,” Leo said, tightening his grip, “honest.”
“Oh.”
There was a pause. Neither of them seemed to want to let go. That was fine with Jason.
“Actually, it always seemed like you didn’t want to hug me that much,” Leo said.
Jason was baffled. “Really?”
“Mhm.”
“Leo, you know you can ask me for a hug, right?”
“I didn’t want to make things awkward if you didn’t want to.”
“Aw, Leo,” Jason cried, “I almost always want to. Literally, I have to suppress the urge every single time I see you. I didn’t think you liked hugs or anything.”
“You’re telling me this now?” Leo grumbled with halfhearted outrage.
“I’m sorry,” Jason said sincerely, squeezing Leo tighter and running his fingers up and down his back.
Leo was quiet for a minute. And he was almost still. Jason paused, a bit worried. “Leo?” he called gently.
“Hm?”
“You okay?”
“Wha–uh, yeah,” Leo started to pull away, “yeah, I’m good.”
“You sure?” Jason caught Leo’s shoulders before he could step back.
Leo hesitated, avoiding making eye contact. At least that bit was normal. Jason studied him. He definitely wasn’t telling Jason something…but Jason wasn’t sure it was a bad something.
“Leo,” Jason said softly, “about how often does someone give you a hug?”
“Huh?” Leo seemed confused. “Piper hugs me all the time, why?”
“How often is ‘all the time?’”
“Uh…once or twice a week, maybe? And not very often for uh, that.”
“What’s that?”
“What you…uh…just were doing.” Leo was looking downward, trying to hide his face, but Jason could see that it was red.
“Ohh,” Jason nodded.
“With your hand.”
“Yeah, I got it.”
“Mmhm.”
“Do you want me to do that…more?,”
“Mmm. I don’t…I’m okay. I’m good.”
“Leo, it’s okay,” Jason assured, “I’m not mad at you. I’m not making fun of you, either. I want to help you.”
“Okay.”
“Us demigods can really miss out on things like that,” Jason explained, “like touch. Just regular, nice touch, from other people. It’s not healthy to go a long time without it, so it’s okay if that’s something that you want.”
“Okay,” Leo mumbled.
“I know plenty of other demigods that feel the same way; I do too, sometimes. We have to help each other with it, okay?”
“Okay.”
“Do you need some more hugs right now?”
Leo hesitated, then shook his head.
“Let me rephrase that,” Jason sighed. “Do you want some more hugs?”
Leo stared at him with worried brown eyes, studying his face.
Jason smiled reassuringly, patiently waiting for a reply.
“Can you do the thing from a second ago?” Leo mumbled finally. The small whine in his voice made Jason want to melt.
“Sure thing,” Jason said. He let go of Leo’s shoulders and let him walk into the hug again, squeezing him firmly. Leo pressed his face into the inside of Jason’s shoulder and wrapped his arms around his chest. Once he seemed comfortable, Jason obliged to his request, lightly stroking up and down, up and down, over the fabric of Leo’s faded orange camp T-shirt. Leo went still and quiet again, starting to lean more heavily into Jason’s shoulder, but he was still so tense. Jason rubbed his back for several long minutes, muttering small reassurances, until he noticed Leo starting to shift his weight from standing for too long. Jason stopped again, gently pulling away.
“Wha…?” Came Leo’s noise of protest at having his comfort taken away suddenly.
“Shh, it’s okay,” Jason said softly, “I’m not going anywhere. We’ve just been standing for a long time, do you wanna lie down instead?”
Leo shook his head. “Lie down?”
“Yeah.”
“Like, on a bed?”
“Yep.”
“I don’t know, that seems weird.”
“Does it?”
“Yeah…isn’t that more of a couple thing than a ‘two dudes who are just buddies’ thing?”
“Oh, I see,” Jason said, “Leo, I promise it’s okay. Friends can cuddle too, especially if one of them really needs it. The social norms in movies and TV are all lying to you.”
“...are you sure?”
“Trust me. It’s a perfectly acceptable friendship thing.”
“I’ll have to take your word for it.” Leo mumbled.
“Please do.”
“Okay, Jason,” Leo sighed, “I trust you. Somehow.”
“Thank you. Now, come on.”
It took a few minutes of Jason moving his stuff off of the bed and a small dispute about whether or not to be under the covers, but Jason and Leo managed to find themselves positioned face to face, with Leo’s head about level with Jason’s chest.
“What, uh,” Leo prompted nervously, squirming a bit, “what now?”
“That’s easy,” Jason said, moving closer to put one arm across Leo so he could reach his back, “you don’t need to do anything.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah,” Jason hummed, rubbing Leo’s back with his palm, “just relax.”
“Hey, ah, what if someone finds us here?” Leo sat up, pushing away from Jason.
“No one will come in here, Leo, it’s okay.” Jason assured. “It’s just you and me, you’ll be alright. Please, come back.”
“Are you sure?” Leo asked, hesitantly lying back down.
“Positive, buddy,” Jason said, putting his arm back where it was before, “just relax now. That’s all I want you to do.”
“...do what now?” Leo replied, only half joking.
“Here, listen.” Jason said, keeping his tone soft, and his touch encouraging. “I need you to try to relax. Do you know how to do that? Even if you can’t stop your brain from worrying—like, actually, physically relax, I want you to try. Please; it’s good for you.”
Leo dropped his shoulders, and went unnaturally still as he forced himself to stop squirming, but not much else.
Jason sighed. “That’s a little better,” he said, “but I can still feel you’re really tense—I don’t think stopping yourself from fidgeting is helping.”
“I don’t know how to do it,” Leo said.
“Oh, Leo,” Jason said, pulling him closer, “that’s okay. Just forget it, okay? Don’t worry about doing anything right now.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s okay, shh, you didn’t do anything wrong.” Jason let his fingers linger over a tense spot below Leo’s shoulder blades, making small, light circles.
“This is weird.” Leo observed. “It’s weird for me, at least. I don’t know what I should be doing. I don’t know how to do nothing.”
“Can you just…concentrate on something with your mind?”
“Hm?”
“Like if you just focused on what I’m doing. Where my hands are. What it feels like. What do you like more, or less. Just…being aware.”
“Wait, was I supposed to be thinking about it?”
“Uh, yeah.” Jason’s confusion jarred him out of the soft tone for just a moment.
“Oh. This whole time I’ve been thinking I wasn’t. That makes it easier.”
“Mm, that’s good,” Jason encouraged as he settled back down. He slowed the pace of the gentle rubbing he was doing against Leo’s back, hoping it would be more calming.
“Mhmm.” Leo mumbled.
Jason felt Leo move a little closer. He was smaller than Jason, and very warm, and Jason could feel the little bumps of his spine through the back of his shirt. He ran his fingers directly over them a couple of times, all the way down, and he thought he could feel Leo shiver a little. Leo didn’t make a sound, but Jason made sure he wasn’t uncomfortable in the silence by talking to him in a slow, lazy tone.
It took a long while, but eventually, he did feel Leo relax most of the way. At some point, Jason slid his hand underneath the back of Leo’s shirt to reach the warm skin of his lower back, and Leo didn’t do much more than stir, so Jason’s hand ended up going all the way to reach the bare skin at Leo’s shoulder blade level. As Jason’s fingers idly stroked over the soft patches of skin on Leo’s middle and upper back, he noticed that just slightly, Leo started to twitch—-small twinges in his hands, arms, the muscles on his back. Nothing extreme, just little reactions.
It made sense. His bare skin would have been more sensitive than over his shirt, and without regularly having someone touch him there, it probably felt a bit unfamiliar.
A moment later, as Jason lightly scratched his nails over a soft spot just below the shoulder blades, Leo finally stirred, reacting with a small gasp before mumbling, “...weird.”
“Does that feel weird?”
Leo huffed. “Mhm.”
“Bad weird, or good?” Jason paused, wondering if he should stop.
“Mh, good.”
“Oh, okay,” Jason settled again, continuing with the scritches, “good. Good weird. I’m going to keep doing it then, okay, buddy?”
“Mmh.”
“I’m not going anywhere, either. I won’t stop touching you until you tell me. You can have as much or as little as you want.”
“Hm.”
“Honestly, you’re doing such a great job, too. This stuff takes a lot of trust. Even for someone who’s your best friend.”
“Mhm.”
A quiet pause.
“Wait,” Leo mumbled suddenly, pushing at Jason’s arms.
Jason pulled his hands away, surprised. “What’s wrong?”
Leo sat up, frowning. “Ugh, Grace,” he groaned, “how do you do that?”
Jason sat up too, confused. “I’m sorry, Leo,” he tried, “do what?”
“I don’t know,” Leo chuckled, “but what I do know is that we came here for your jacket, and ended up with your hands in my shirt, and I have no idea how the fuCk you keep doing these things!”
“WHAT things?” Jason laughed, confused.
“Like—” Leo had to catch his breath, “----remember a few weeks ago or whatever where I came to your cabin to talk about a nightmare and I woke up in one of your bunk beds, tucked in with extra pillows?”
“Yeah?” Jason shook his head. “What are you trying to...?”
“And uh, that time I woke up and you were carrying me bridal style to my cabin because I fell asleep in the workshop?”
“Are you talking about me doing things for you?”
“Well, yeah…but like, things you don’t need to do. And also being really feelingsy about it.”
“Like…like a best friend? Like affection??”
“Is THAT what it is?” Leo paused, unsure.
“Yeah, Leo,” Jason smiled, “that’s what it is, goofball.”
“Hm.” Leo stared into space for a few seconds.
Jason waited. When he didn’t move, he prompted,“So---”
“Welp!” Leo finally interrupted, “It’s as good a time as any for you to finally grab your jacket so we can go do something fun.”
“I suppose,” Jason said, standing up to put it on, before following Leo out the door.
“Hey Jason?” Leo said in a low voice as they crossed toward the outside door of Cabin One.
“Yeah, dude?”
“You’re uh,” Leo stepped closer, “you’re not going to tell anyone what we were doing, are you?”
“Of course not, Leo. If anyone asks, I didn’t have my glasses and spent half an hour looking for the jacket that was right in front of me.” Jason winked.
Leo smiled, his shoulders dropping in relief. “Thank you,” he said, “for…for everything.”
“Hey,” Jason said, nudging him gently, “it’s what best friends do.”