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“Bedtime, mija.” Leo singsongs as he pokes his head into Aurelia’s room. Aurelia looks up from where she’s sprawled out on the floor playing with legos. She pouts.
“Five more minutes?” She pleads. Leo almost falters but she's had a busy day and if she doesn't get to bed soon she'll be cranky all day tomorrow.
“Nope.” He pops the ‘p’. Aurelia gets up without much more complaints, the truest testament that she's tired. “Teeth brushed?” She grins to show him her shiny teeth. “PJs?” She spins for him to show off her nightgown, he claps as she bows. She crawls up into her bed and he tucks her in, placing a kiss to her cheek. “How was your day? Did you have fun?”
Today had been Esperanza's eighth birthday, she had a huge party with all of her school friends. Jason and Leo had been a little worried about Aurelia feeling left out but he had been proven wrong, as Aurelia trailed behind her sister and her friends all day, completely happy to do so.
“Yes!” Aurelia grins. “It was so fun, I can’t wait for my birthday.”
Leo smiles at her. “Five months is a long time.”
“I know, papa. But I want a dragon birthday.”
“Mmkay. We'll talk about it. Bedtime story?” She nods and Leo sits on the edge of the bed beside her. He pulls a book off the shelf, opens it and smiles fondly at Piper’s sprawled handwriting inside the cover. “This one's from Auntie Piper.” He tells her. She nods, already yawning.
He reads, Aurelia's eyes droop but she forces herself to stay awake until the end. He kisses her cheek and tucks the covers around her. “Sweet dreams, mi amor.”
“Night, papa.” She says sleepily. He smiles and smoothes back her soft blonde curls.
He creeps out of her room, shutting the door with a soft click. He pauses outside of Esperanza's door.
“How do you feel about being eight?” Jason is asking her. Leo smiles and leans against the doorframe to watch the two interact. Esperanza is facing away from him and Jason is kneeling at the side of her bed. He’s sure Jason must be aware of his presence, warrior instincts don't just go away when life gets domestic, but Jason makes no indication that he's seen Leo. It makes it all the sweeter to see this moment.
“It's so fun.” Esperanza says to Jason, Leo can hear the grin in her voice. “It's even better than being seven.” Leo almost laughs, because Esperanza swore up and down that seven years old was her favorite age to be.
Jason chuckles. “I'm glad. It'll be a good year. You're growing up so fast, can't you stay eight forever and ever” He kisses her cheek loudly and she laughs and pushes him away.
“You're silly, daddy.” She giggles. “I'm only eight for one year.”
Jason huffs, a smile in his voice. “Yeah, yeah. That'll have to do. Bedtime story?”
She shakes her head. “I'm okay.” She's started to deny bedtime stories in exchange to stay up and hide under her covers reading whatever mystery book Piper sent most recently, which makes sense but it makes Leo's heart clench a little bit. Jason ruffles her hair.
“Okay. Goodnight, my love.”
“Goodnight, daddy. Sweet dreams!” She pulls the covers up to her chin. Jason gets up, heading to the door. He makes eye contact with Leo and gives him a soft smile. He flicks the light off and Esperanza shifts in her bed.
“Wait, can you turn the nightlight on?” She asks, hesitating.
“Of course.” Jason backtracks and flips on the star nightlight. Esperanza sighs in relief and stares at the ceiling. “Just because you're a big kid now doesn't mean you have to give up your nightlights.” He reminds her, they’ve reminded her of this since she turned six and came crying to their room because the dark was too scary but insisted she didn't need a nightlight because she was basically grown up.
“I know. I'm so excited to be eight that I forgot.” Esperanza says softly. Jason presses a kiss to her brown curls.
“I love you, Anza.” Jason says softly, shutting the door behind him.
Leo remembers being eight, everything was so exciting, even accompanying his mom to her boring work became a new space to explore and things to learn.
Well, everything was exciting until she burnt up and he entered the foster system. He still remembers his Aunt Rosa calling him a diablo at his mother's funeral, how everyone just believed her, how his older cousins made fun of him at his mom's funeral. He remembers the first night in a foster home, how the bed was too creaky and the family was nice but he could tell they didn't trust him. He was barely eight too.
Leo pulls himself away from blankly staring at the sign on Esperanza's door that says ANZA'S ROOM IS THE BEST!! with a bunch of doodles and hearts.
He undresses and puts on a pair of sweatpants, there are tears burning his eyes.
“Leo, what's wrong?”
Leo turns to Jason, wiping his eyes and forcing a smile. “Nothing, just exhausted.”
Jason looks unimpressed. “We've been married for almost ten years, you can't lie to me that easily. C'mere.” Leo climbs into bed, allowing Jason to wrap him up in a tight hug. “Talk to me, love.”
The dam breaks and Leo begins to cry into Jason's shoulder. Jason doesn't say anything, just rubs Leo's back comfortingly.
“Eight is so little.” Leo sniffles when his tears have run out enough to allow him to speak.
Jason cards his fingers through Leo's hair. “Don't let Anza hear that.” He jokes. Leo snorts.
“It is.” He insists. “I just started thinking about when I was eight and lost my mom.”
“Oh, Leo…” Jason's fingers still. “That must have been so hard.”
Leo thinks about their daughter, who loves with everything she can and who cares so deeply for everything and everyone. Leo doesn't know where that deep kindness comes from, he and Jason sure don't have it, they couldn’t have it. But Esperanza does and he loves her for it.
“That's not even what got me.” Leo sniffles. “I started thinking about my Aunt Rosa, she called me diablo– the devil– after my mom died. She gave me to the social workers with a smile.How could she?” Leo's voice chokes up again and he sniffles. “Did she know how bad that would be for me?”
Jason makes a soft shushing sound like he does when the girls are upset over something he really can't control. “She's a bad person. You never stood a chance to be loved there.”
The words aren't a comfort but they place some sort of bandaid over Leo's messily healed scars. There was nothing he could have done to make that woman love him. “I wanted to be, though.”
Jason buries his face in Leo's curls. “I know, baby, I know you did and that's okay.”
Leo twists his wedding band. “I can't have been that different from Esperanza, right? I was probably still scared of the dark. I was eight the first time I ran away. Didn't get very far, but still…”
Jason sighs softly. He knows Leo's story, knows about the abusive and/or neglectful foster homes, he knows about Aunt Rosa calling him the devil and how Leo sometimes still woke up from nightmares about a burning workshop and the smell of burning flesh. “You were so little.”
“Don't let Anza hear you say that.” Leo mumbles, he wipes his face and pulls away from Jason. Jason cups Leo's cheek, his eyes full of concern, he thumbs at the tear tracks on Leo's face.
“If I could travel in time, I would give little Leo the biggest hug and tell him everything was going to be okay in the end.” Jason earnestly. “I would tell him that things are hard now but one day he'll have two beautiful little girls who think he can do anything and adore him and they are so lucky to have him. I'm so lucky to have him.”
Leo snorts. “You're so sentimental.”
Jason rolls his eyes at Leo's blatant avoidance of his feelings, another time they’ll talk about how Esperanza and Aurelia aren’t Leo, that they are loved and if, gods forbid, something happens to them, they have a slew of aunts and uncles and at the top of their list is their Auntie Piper and Auntie Shel. But now is not the time for that conversation, Jason wants to comfort him and if that means teasing him a little bit. “You cried both times when your daughters first called you papa.”
Leo pushes Jason lightly. “It's a special moment, Jason. And I don't know why you were so unmoved when they called you dada.”
Jason groans. This isn't the first nor last time they have had this debate. He shakes his head. “It's just baby chatter, they don't have any connection to the words yet.”
“And they always say it to you first.” Leo grumbles playfully. He truly doesn't care but Jason usually gets so worked up when Leo brings this up that it's easy to weaponize against him.
Jason has an arm tucked around Leo and Leo rests his chin onto Jason's chest and looks up at him “I love you, in case I haven't said it enough.”
Jason thinks Leo could say those three words a billion times or once and it would always be enough. “I love you too.” He murmurs in Leo's ear. “I'm serious, I'm so lucky to have you.”
“I really pulled Zeus’s son, Hera's champion, and the Pontifex Maximus of New Rome.” Leo whispers to himself. Jason rolls his eyes.
“Excuse you, I think I pulled you out of the Grand Canyon first.”
Leo grins and bumps their noses together. “I guess we're both lucky then.”
Jason tucks a curl behind Leo's ear. “I guess we are.”
“Mhm, I guess so.”