Chapter Text
Lines crinkled against the prince's face, evidence of an often tight-knit brow, stress lined on skin that should've been too young to carry it. His tired eyes fixed his sister, Thalia Grace, in a glare.
"Why," Jason started. "Did you bring a jester to my room?" He wasn't in the mood for his sister's antics.
Thalia beamed at him, her usual mischievous grin spread across her face. It made her quite popular with suitors, though she couldn't seem to care less. She poked the jester's cheek with an archery-worn finger, who shifted in the room nervously. He was cute, Jason supposed. His hair was written in cursive curlicues, and sandy freckles glittered on his cheeks.
"Isn't he adorable? This is Leo, your new personal court jester!"
The newly introduced Leo smiled at her words. It seemed as soon as he was given a cue, his nervousness masked itself away. "And here I thought I'd get to hang out with the pretty princess." He slowly drags his eyes up and down the prince, a lazy grin forming as he sighed. Jason felt exposed, like hot fire ants were crawling across his skin. "Seems I've been downgraded."
Jason flushed red with embarrassment. "I don't need a distraction. I have responsibilities!" He continued to ignore the brightly colored boy standing in the middle of his room.
"No, you need a break. You're going to be just as bad as Zeus if you keep up this obsession with your work." She scolded, then lowered her voice so only he could hear. "Besides, you could use a friend."
He knew he couldn't argue with Thalia, no matter how much he wanted to protest. So he was dedicated to his role, what was wrong with that? It should be a good thing he worked so hard, he would have to take over the throne some day. That wasn't a light burden to carry.
"I don't need this."
"Too bad, baby bro. Give him a chance, he's sweet." She neglected to mention the fact she'd met him on the streets, as he was busking for coin. The crowd had gathered thickly around him as he tossed witty remarks and scathing comments that would've made any royal bite their tongue in fury. He was the perfect match to lighten her tense brother up.
After the show was over, and the street-dirtied teen was pouring coins from his hat into his bag, Thalia approached him. Upon seeing the princess, he immediately straightened, face wide with panic.
"Princess! I was just packing up, I know the town square isn't meant for shows, but I-"
She cut him off. "How'd you like a job in the castle, beanstalk?"
He stared at her, seemingly unable to tell if the offer is a joke.
"Full room and board, food, and weekly pay. You've got a smart mouth."
With an uneasy smile, he rubs the back of his neck. "Never gotten that as a compliment before."
"What do you say, court jester?"
Leo sort of wishes he hadn't taken the offer now. Well, there was no way he could've turned it down in the first place. Food and shelter was hard to come by, and royal pay was really nice. But he felt stupid in his red checkered outfit, adorned with ruffles and a frilly collar. It was too tight around his waist, and billowed around his limbs.
Then again, he totally rocked the look.
His eyes caught onto Jason again, who was looking at him directly for the first time since he'd stepped in the room. It was less like the blonde was staring at him and more like he was looking through him.
"It's nice to meet you, Leo." The prince said, a note of defeat tinting his authoritative voice.
"I'll leave you two to it." Thalia smiled and ruffled her brother's hair before leaving the room, giving Leo a reassuring pat on the head.
The brunette teetered back and forth on his toes, swinging his weight while the other studied him. With a grin, he yanked the paperboy-esk hat off of the prince's head, much to his protest, and slipped it over his curls. "Nice ensemble ya got here, chico. Pretty dapper." Leo's imitations of Jason's stern, take-no-BS face was on point.
"Whatever my sister's paying you, I'll put up double for you to go away." He scowled and reached for his hat, but the other boy was much more agile than previously expected. Like a pesky bug, he dipped and darted around, giggles echoing until it was eventually snatched off his head. "Stop being a nuisance! I have a job to do here."
For a second, Jason saw hurt dance across his newly appointed jester's face, before it was quickly replaced with a rosy smile. "So do I, and it looks like I'm getting more done than you. Get back to work, pretty boy."
"I'm this close to throwing you out of that window."
While he was, in fact, failing at his job of making Jason laugh, Leo was annoying him greatly. He saw this as a win. "Do it." He challenged, grin spreading.
"You're insane. My sister picked an insane person to accompany me."
"The sane ones are booooring ." It was obvious the comment was directed towards Jason.
Instead of shoving this cherry tomato of a jester out into the hall like he wanted to, Jason simply ignored the comment and turned back to his work. Like any good king would do. He settled his hat back onto his head and flipped through his paperback. The text listed something unfocusable, long paragraphs of overly wordy history and family lines. It was quite boring, yet vital information for a soon to be ruler.
He heard Leo settle into his bed. "Get off of my bed." Jason muttered without looking up, tapping a pencil to his lips.
"This thing is so soft ." His eyes dip shut against the sheets, humming happily.
"Mhmm." It was clear the only thing Jason was paying attention to at the moment was his work.
"Cozy." Leo looked over, eyes twinkling.
"Mhmm."
"Say mhmm again if I get to have your bed."
"Mhmm."
Leo cackled and buried himself further into the sheets. The boisterous laughter finally caught Jason's attention, who looked over with confusion. "What?"
"It's okay, Princey. We can share." Leo moved to ruffle his blond hair, not unlike how you'd pet a cat. It was softer than he expected, though he really shouldn't have expected anything different. He supposed he was just used to his own hair texture, rough and dirty and tangled at the base.
The prince froze. Confusion was suddenly the only word in his dictionary, because he couldn't think of much else to be. This affection was out of the ordinary for Jason Grace. The most physical contact he got with others included rough handshakes or sisterly acts of love (such as noogies or punches that served as greetings) from Thalia. This person barely knew him. They'd met only minutes ago, so why was he acting so differently?
He frowned. "Don't touch my hair." Jason growled, though no malice was present. It felt nice, if he was being honest.
It was a good thing then that Leo was excellent at ignoring commands. He reached to scoot himself upwards, planting his hands in blonde locks. When the jester began to run his hands through it, humming a silly, nonsensical tune, Jason was already putty in his hands. Frozen like a deer in headlights, his eyes begin to dip with the soothing and repetitive motion, before they snapped open again. This sense of security was wrong.
"I said , don't touch my hair." Jason repeated, sharper this time as he wrapped his hand around that stupidly ruffled sleeve. No one gets to win him over this easily. He won't be tempted by head pats.
He was already practically as obedient as a dog to his kingdom, but he drew the line at being treated like one from an inhabitant.
Leo frowned at the grip on his wrist, attempting to shrug the prince off. "Okay, okay, I get the message." With one last look of annoyance, he's freed. "Jeez, your sister wasn't kidding. You really do suck." He teases once more, falling back onto the plush mattress, finally quiet.
Jason finds the jester's presence somehow distracting as he's left to his work, finally accomplishing his intended goal. He's only doing what he's supposed to, so why does he feel like he messed something up?