Chapter Text
"Do children of Aphrodite always end up with their soulmates the first try?” Leo's sat with a small machine that he's been fiddling with the last few days—Piper isn't really sure what it’s for, or if that matters, not when Leo usually just needs something in his hands to play with.
He's trying to poke the bear right now, she can tell, but she decides to bite, “I'm not sure. It's not like we innately know how soulmates work for everybody, least of all ourselves, but don't you remember what the girls told me when I first came? So many of my siblings play with love for fun. Not even to find their soulmate.”
Leo snorts at that. “Just like Hera,” he points out, and Piper reluctantly nods.
“Mhm.”
It's only been a couple weeks since Piper and Jason got together for real this time, and they've been pretty open in communicating things like, well, not letting goddesses get in their head about it. Figuring out what was real with them, and what wasn't.
They were also figuring out where Leo fit in their story, having all woken up from the same curse together. The last thing they want is for their new-old relationship to get in his head.
Piper had invited him for cake-pops outside of her cabin, simply not mentioning that she and Jason had made them together in an impromptu date of sorts, earlier in the day. He's at training now, and she figured she owed her other best friend some quality time, too. No matter how unbothered the other boy acted, it was worth showing the effort.
“Shit, lost a washer in the grass,” Leo mumbles, suddenly feeling watched by the daughter of Aphrodite while they snack. He searches for the missing piece around him distractedly. Was he being obvious?
Look, Leo isn't jealous. It's just this: one moment, he was on his way to Wilderness Camp with Jason and Piper. The next moment, none of that was true, he's a demigod with fire powers, and his best friends weren't really his best friends. Was he really supposed to accept that in this very next moment, his friends are together again but for real this time? Is he supposed to act like he never felt like the third wheel the first time?
He shared that once with Jason. That was maybe the longest hug the two boys had shared to date. He wonders if the son of Zeus—no, Jupiter—even remembered that now. They have so much to worry about. Maybe he should just be happy for him, and they could all just be friends.
Piper found her space to confide in him, too. They were all becoming close like that, talking about camp and quests to come, about what their lives once were, and about reclaiming their present moment. They talked about soulmates or what any of that could mean after their memories were tampered with. She'd once shared about how unsettling it was to realize everything she had with Jason had been fabricated. How unsettling, even, that their best friendship was fabricated, too. What would it take to maintain a real relationship?
Leo cares about them both; he's only being responsible now, making sure that those uncertainties had no bearing on their newly-forming relationship.
He keeps sucking on the end of his cake-pop stick, cross-legged on the grass next to Piper's camp chair. He doesn't notice that Piper is studying the furrow of his brows, his slight pout.
“You're doing the thing,” Piper mutters under a light laugh, noting how Leo won't make eye contact. “Jealous ADHD gremlin,” she teases, hedging him on.
Leo pointedly ignores this. “Seriously, though, has anything changed? Telepathy things, or even music? Or those dreams, like your dad said he thought he had with your mom,” he offers, pointing his screwdriver at her.
Piper glances at him fondly before taking his used cake-pop stick out of his mouth, replacing it with another to chew on while she thinks.
“No, not really. You know that none of us have been dreaming the same since the quest,” she points out. All three of them have been sharing dreams, but none of them had been thinking much of it since they were all demigod-related. Most studies and folklore on the mental links uniquely formed by souls who were meant to be had not included demigods. Having the same song stuck in your head, hearing another person's voice, feeling their pain, or sharing dreams—that was normal-person stuff. This is uncharted territory.
“I know, I just wanted to check in,” Leo says seriously. “Like, did Hera really break our souls like that, or are we one day gonna be, like… normal,” he shrugged.
Piper gives him a gentle smile, then, nodding. “I'm sure we will be. Aphrodite still has her way, and each of us will probably find our own way of understanding it. I'd say, Hera aside, you can get as close as the Leo Valdez can get to normal,” she teases, elbowing him playfully.
Leo sticks his tongue out at her, flicking the second, finished stick her way, and that was the end of that. His curiosity? Jealousy? Whatever these feelings were, that he had about and for his friends, that was for another day.
“Yeah, yeah… hey, tell Jace I like his cake,” he winks playfully, earning a face from Piper. “And invite me next time!”
With that, he scampers off into his cabin again, thinking out loud about tools and fixes to be made on a certain dragon. These feelings could wait.
The next time Leo thinks about soulmates again is, painfully and ironically, with Jason aboard the Argo II.
Watching Percy and Annabeth's reunion and their dynamic from then on, it was clear to him that soulmates existed even for demigods. Even ones that had Hera's tampering on their lives. He's not sure how often he overhears Annabeth and Piper bond about this, but it's becoming too easy to feel like not only a third wheel, but a fifth wheel aboard the ship. He won't let himself be surprised if he comes to realize he's actually the seventh wheel in the end.
Still, he tries his best to be casual about it. He's sat next to Jason, looking out at open sea. The son of Jupiter's eyes are a mix of the cloudy sky and the open water. Why ruin his chance to revel in it?
“What do you think you and Percy will do, when this is all over?” Leo asks him all of a sudden, and earns a raised brow from Jason. So much for casual.
“What do you mean? I mean… I guess I haven't thought so far as the next monster attack and the next saving-of-the world,” Jason chuckles lightly, flashing him a small, swoon-worthy smile.
“Hey, I'm trying to be positive about both of those things,” Leo elbows him with a grin. “I guess… I've just been thinking about the two camps. What it means now that Percy's back and, I mean, you know he's never leaving Annabeth's side again. What does that mean for you? For the Romans?”
Jason offers him a gentle smile and nudges him back, but in that way that is so uniquely Jason that Leo has to remind himself not to accidentally set his own hair on fire. He does this thing, where he pushes nearly all of his weight onto Leo, but he does so with an even, slow-motion pressure, and it's something so similar to the feeling of falling in love. Or maybe that was just Leo.
Maybe that's the toughest thing to reconcile with right now. It'd be different if this was a platonic jealousy. It would be one thing to feel left on the sidelines as a part of this team, but to be actively in love with Jason Grace was torture.
“The Romans will find another Praetor. They aren't short on child soldiers,” Jason shakes his head, freeing himself from becoming concerned with that.
Leo let out a snort, but he nods. “You'd stay with the Greeks, then?”
“I mean, whatever has to happen, I just know I'm not leaving your side, either,” Jason tells him seriously. “I think I'm… way, way more me here, then I ever was there. You taught me that I'm allowed that.”
Leo offers a small grin back, nodding. “I like real you,” he tells him softly, heart aching because that was only so much of the truth. “You're not just saying that because Percy's your best bro now though, right?” he adds, earning a bark of a laugh from Jason.
“Is he now? I mean, I guess we are cousins,” Jason hums.
“I've been replaced!” Leo sighs dramatically, falling into Jason's lap with a giggle from them both.
Jason smiles fondly down at the other boy, ruffling his hair gently. “Oh, come on. You’ve always been more than just my best bro,” he reminds him. It helps to hear, but it gives Leo way too much hope. Relatively speaking.
“Don't you forget it,” he just huffs and closes his eyes against Jason's touch.
“Right back at you,” Jason says back, and then a small frown is tugging at his lips. He tries for a minute to ignore it. Signals from his soul being interfered with whenever Leo looked at him with that pout.
He gives in and his tone changes all of a sudden, his face fallen, “You haven't come to me since New Rome about what's in your head. And I know there's always something,” he tells him gently.
“You all have enough to worry about,” Leo mumbles dismissively, and swats Jason away from cupping his face. That would simply be too much right now.
“Bullcrap. So do you,” Jason shoots back.
Leo huffs in response. “What did I do to earn a lecture today?”
“Percy gets the nightmares too,” Jason told him, sending a shiver down Leo's spine at the reminder. “Annabeth said they came second to the more normal dreams, but ever since the swap… yeah,” he shrugs.
He sighs when Leo doesn't respond to that for a minute. But what is he supposed to say? What's Jason trying to tell him here? “I'm glad you all have each other,” he settles on that.
Jason sighs, and they both wait a beat.
“I'm saying, you've still got us, too,” Jason says gently. “Piper's there for me for my dreams, yeah. But we both dreamt of a fire last night. I don't think that came from either of us,” he says with a small frown, and Leo freezes.
Shared Wilderness Camp dreams were one thing. They hadn't talked dreams since then.
Leo couldn't bear to hear Jason start to talk about platonic soulmates or whatnot either, though. That wouldn't even begin to encapsulate the labyrinth of feelings he was navigating when it came to the couple.
“Right. Weird. Sorry, I guess,” he fumbles out and begins untangling himself from the other boy.
“Hey, I don't mean for you to-” Jason starts, but Leo won't let him get another word in.
“I need to check on something in the machine room. I was in there earlier and I'm not sure I tightened all the bolts or put my tools away,” he says instead of addressing Jason's comment as he sits up.
“Leo, I'm just saying, you shouldn't be alone-”
“I know how to do this alone,” Leo mumbles, and he walks away. He can't deal with this right now. At least machines are a science. Soulmates sure aren't.
He manages to ignore it for a few more days. The soulmate thing, along with most things outside of keeping up the ship. He at least manages to train, though, ensuring he'd still stay battle-ready. Thanks to the encouragement of none other than fellow resident insomniac on board, Percy Jackson.
Today, Leo takes a break after his early morning training with Percy, later deciding to leave him up to Jason to practice with once breakfast caught his eye and one of his unfinished machines had yet again distracted him.
He's sipping from his water bottle and fiddling with some gears at the table when Piper joins him with her breakfast, a small smile of recognition playing on her face. “Haven't you been working on that since pre-Festus?” she asks, fondness in her tone.
He grins, proud of her for noticing, and nods. “I'm wondering if my fire could weld some of these pieces together for me. The metal's just really stubborn,” he scrunches his nose, eyes narrowed at his little project.
“Makes two of you,” Piper snorts, and Leo rolls his eyes.
“Just here to bother me or do you need something, Drama—I mean Beauty—Queen?”
“Can't a girl say hi to her best friend?” Piper huffs.
“Only if she's not rude!” Leo laughs.
They settle into a satisfied, comfortable silence while Piper chews and Leo works. She's not sure when it happens, but she starts mapping his face while his eyes are fixed on his tools. His sharp edges, soft pout, and concentrated brown eyes that were a window to his inner fire. Delicate but strong hands that understood flame and forge. A tiredness that was wearing on his skin from late nights up and early mornings rising, ever since they boarded the Argo II.
“You already ate?” she asks after clearing half her plate.
“Mhm. Could always steal some of yours, though, it's been a hot minute” Leo responds distractedly, earning a smile and a forkful of hashbrowns for him to bite at.
“You were up early,” Piper notes, studying his eyebags. It couldn't have been his first night sleepless.
“Don't lecture me-”
“I just care about you, dummy,” Piper talks over him, shaking her head.
Leo feels her care for him wash over the words, and he relents with a nod. Damn Aphrodite powers, he decides to blame it on that. “I know. I haven't been wanting to bother you guys, and there's enough on the ship to distract me when I'm up anyways, so…” he trails off and shrugs.
“So you figure it's better to close us off?” Piper raises a brow, and instantly realizes that Leo isn't in the mood for a deep talk. He never is, though, is he? “Just, you know my cabin is across the hall. Jason's is the one over. You're always invited. Even if it's just because you want to, like… play cards or make us your henchmen in the machine room,” she adds with a little smile.
Maybe Piper did still understand him. He nods in agreement.
It's nearly 3AM a couple days after that when Leo wakes up with an absolute shock to his system. He's sweaty, panting, and shaking a little when he wakes up on top of his comforter, which he'd presumably ripped himself free from in his sleep.
He's not sure if he's seeing anything properly, if he's fully awake, when Piper breaks his door open and rushes him into her arms.
He hears a faint, “Shh, shhh. I'm here.” But it's not the voice he'd just dreamt of.
He shakes in her hold, rocking them both as tears flood his vision.
“Did I lose him too? Where is he? Did I lose him?” he sobs, voice gone small. Like he was a child again.
His heart is absolutely shattered in this state, not knowing the line between reality and nightmare. Piper couldn't move him to prove any different, but she knows in her soul what had brought the boy to tears. Feeling his pain as her own, she pushes past it to get to her own charmspeak.
“He's here, he'll be right here as soon as you wake,” she tells him calmly. “You're on the Argo II, Leo, you built it for him, remember? It's safe sailing on the water… Jason's safe and you are, too. He's just in the room over.”
Leo sniffles but he falls into her trance, nodding along to her words. “I-I want him–”
“Here. I'm here,” Jason cut him off, breathless, all but running to join the two on Leo’s bed. It breaks him down into more tears and the son of Hephaestus nods. Jason holds both of them close and Piper gently kisses his temple.
“He'll be okay, he just needs you,” she whispers to her boyfriend.
“I-I dreamt that I… and you…” Leo babbled, wiping his tears on Jason's shirt, and the other boy just nods in understanding.
“I saw,” Jason breathes out, acknowledging the nightmare they'd just shared. “That's why you were avoiding sleep, isn't it? Especially after the last one, with the fire and your…”
“Mom,” Leo finishes with a nod and a whimper. “I'm dangerous. Too dangerous. And broken. Too broken to love,” he mumbles, refusing to meet Jason's eye. Maybe he could acknowledge that their connection was more than platonic and potentially more than one-sided. But what did any of that mean when he was already a burden of a friend? He couldn't bear to be a burden of a lover, too.
Maybe this was confirmation of something more that they shared, all three of them somehow. But what good did that do any of them when Piper's soul link was putting her through the same pain, anxiety, and grieving that he carried every day? What good does it do Jason to witness his own death by fire—a fire that Leo started in this particular nightmare? What does he bring any of them but the pain of knowing that their hearts are tied to his broken soul—that their soulmate was this monster? He would have taken an eternity of jealousy and sidelining to be in their orbit, to never hurt them.
But they're here anyway.
The other boy's jaw was slack and he shook his head firmly. “Absolutely not,” Jason states evenly, cupping Leo's cheek to have him meet his gaze.
“You have two people right here who would do anything for you, Leo,” Piper speaks up with a small frown, a gentle but firm hand on his knee.
“Why won't you let us love you? Let us show you that we do?” Jason whispers against his ear and earns a small whine.
“Because I don't want it to end up hurting any one of us in the end. I care about you guys too much for that. I mean… look at me,” Leo mutters.
Jason and Piper make silent eye contact, undoubtedly having a conversation in their heads about how to handle this when they'd yet to de-escalate the situation. Piper was still feeling emotional aftershocks from the shared emotions across both of her boys. Jason and Leo needed time and space to recover from the fears layered in that nightmare.
“At least let me stay with you tonight,” Jason offers gently, Piper nodding in agreement, and Leo can't say no to that.
“I'll see to you both in the morning before Coach Hedge checks the boys’ rooms,” she sighs in resignation, knowing they shouldn't all get caught at once. Particularly because her presence would be the most incriminating. But also, she figured her boys needed their time together. Still, she doesn't neglect to leave a kiss on each of their cheeks on her way out. “You're okay, Leo. You're perfect, just the way you are,” she whispers, squeezing his hand before getting up and gently closing the door on her way out.
The room is filled with silence broken by Leo's uneven breathing, which Jason is slowly and gently trying to get to pace with his.
They calm down together, Jason adjusting them go be comfortable on the bed. He traces patterns on Leo's arms and wrists with his thumb as he grounds him with his hold.
“Are you sure you two don't hate me for making this so complicated?” Leo whimpers after a moment, and he's doing everything he can to make himself smaller in his bed. Like he could disappear and Jason wouldn't have to worry about a thing anymore.
“Only you could hear the words we love you and interpret it as we hate you, Leo, geez,” Jason shakes his head fondly and kisses Leo's head.
“I'm serious, like–”
“That's enough tonight, okay?” Jason interrupts, and Leo agrees. “We don't have to figure anything out tonight. Just… just know that I was there, I saw and felt all of that with you just now. I know you just need to be held, Leo, love,” he whispers, gently combing his curls.
Leo just nods, and he's quiet for a moment before he speaks up again, in confession, “I don't want this to be gone in the morning.”
Jason laughs softly at that, and turns to face him more properly while they're tangled up, laid down. Leo gives him a face full of confusion and insecurity before the blonde boy responds with, “Are you still gonna be flooding my brain with Taylor Swift in the morning? Because I can guarantee that this is not over for me, as sure as I am that my soul is bound to yours.”
Leo is left speechless at that, and he simply sinks into Jason's arms for the rest of the night, closing his eyes. "I didn't know you could hear in my head like that," he mumbles stubbornly, earning a chuckle from his soulmate.
"I won't make you talk about it more than you want, Leo, but your music choices can be a bit revealing," Jason says, and Leo can hear the fond smile on his face. "I knew it was you."
“You're right. This can be sorted out in the morning."
Jason nods, and he kisses the tip of Leo's nose in a final response. “Goodnight, Leo.”
“Goodnight, Jason,” he yawns back, and before he can overthink it, he adds, “I love you.”