Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Today was a hard day for Leo. Or more like, for Leo’s surroundings, he himself was fine. He had just gotten back from bowling (and winning five times in a row) with Piper and Jason all evening, both of whom had very strange tension between them. Oh yeah, Jason. He was there because of Piper, who she had initially asked out first but then begged Leo to join them right after. Weirdly, she never even made the effort to flirt or hang out with him at all.  

Leo was definitely no expert in love, but he figured if you ever wanted a partner, talking to them—alone, with no extra company—would be the first step. However, it ended up being Leo, who filled in the awkward silence throughout the hang out.  

At first, he had no idea why he had agreed to come along. He did complain about how it was most likely going to be him being the third wheel the whole time while they were too busy flirting or doing whatever super-attractive couples did during dates. But she seemed too desperate for him to turn her favor down, so he tagged along.  

It wasn’t even that bad, in fact, he was having most of the fun with Jason anyway. He noticed how Piper barely got to talk to the guy after a few rounds of absolutely demolishing the jock at bowling, so he decided to make up an excuse saying he’d go ask for more rounds.  

He thought it was quite a masterplan and while waiting to be attended he snuck a glance at the two but noticed they weren’t even talking at all. Piper had suddenly gotten shy, or rather awkward. Leo didn’t know this was how she’d get when having a crush. It’s not like they ever talked about boys anyway, since they both never really bothered talking about that kind of stuff. It was more fighting about how to beat each other at Mario Kart, and other dumb conversations he couldn’t remember. He didn’t know what else to do to help. As he got back with extra fries, his best friend immediately left for the bathroom, leaving him alone with the perfect golden boy Jason Grace. He suddenly felt sweaty. 

He had the urge to quickly google how to talk with freakishly tall and popular high school kids to at least start a conversation, however he ended up not needing to when Jason was the one to interrupt the awkward silence this time. Leo found out it was easier for him when Piper was around.  

“So, how do you and Piper know each other?”  

They were both sitting on the couch in their bowling area, Leo had his legs a bit separate having the bowl of fries in between them. He could feel Jason’s gaze on him, but he feared that if he looked back, the boy would notice his sudden anxiety.  

It wasn’t that he had trouble speaking to people, his job practically depended on that, he always believed he could easily guess customer’s mood and body language when entering the store, so he’d know how to approach them and give them what they needed. It was what his mother mostly praised him for. But now, he was starting to think it was easier for him to approach customers at the shop than an intimidatingly attractive guy his age, because there was more of a routine for it, he knew what they went in for and what he could get them, but he had no idea what Jason was going in for talking to him, and what Leo could get him out of the conversation. 

“We became friends three years ago when we met at the Wilderness Camp” Leo shrugged, holding the bowl of fries in his hands with a tighter grip. He heard nothing back which made him finally face the other, who had an unreadable face.  

“Oh, it’s uhm, a summer camp that’s in the middle of the woods somewhere, they had us do challenging and extraordinarily tiring activities to ‘prepare us for the real world-’”  

“No, I know what that is!” Jason interrupted. “Sorry, I just... I went there too” 

Leo blinked, “You did?”  

“Yeah, I had also briefly met Piper there, actually” He blushed. And that’s when it finally clicked in Leo’s brain, the reason why Jason was talking and being incredibly nice to him for no reason. He knew what he could give him: info on Piper.  

But Leo spoke too fast to process what he was saying, “Really? Piper never mentioned you” Right after, he tried not to cringe at his mistake. Jason seemed unfazed, but that could have been because he wasn’t getting the response he wanted.  

“I mean... now that you mention it. She did come up to me once and talked about a guy!” He tried to save it, but he still couldn’t tell whether Jason was pleased or not. 

“She did?”  

“Oh, yeah! I think that was totally you, man” Well, that wasn’t a complete lie. Piper had come up to Leo mentioning boys, but not in the way people expected girls to talk about guys. Instead of talking, she was mostly complaining.  

During summer camp, it had been hell for the two of them, it became the reason why they got along so well together. They both had felt like outcasts. Leo was up hiding in a tree house he had made, just outside the dormitories, working on tiny projects using sticks and mud as the main material, with a few extra parts he had found (or stole) around the perimeter of the place, when a girl had climbed and scared the fire out of him—which was literal, he was working with a blowtorch. Don’t ask how he got his hands on one.  

He remembers that memory very well, they both realized they were escaping from people who never even bothered to include them or get to know them, so, they got to know each other instead. He smiled before continuing his lie to Jason.  

“Saying something about a very handsome and ‘jocky’ guy who caught her attention”  

He heard a giggle coming from his side. It seemed like the blue eyed was blushing, even though he was doing a terrible job trying to cover it up with his hand. Very big, veiny hand.   

“You think I’m handsome?” Leo had to immediately turn the other way to stop his cheeks from burning up as well. Fuck, had he worded it wrong?  

“No! Did I say that? I meant Piper; she thinks that, not me. Definitely not me, you’re alright, I guess. But she is the one who has a crush on you, like she was the one who invited you here, right? Not me.” He basically had faced his back towards the jock, while the other was laughing.  

All Leo could think of was how Jason was definitely going to tell all his other popular friends about his dumb mistake and how incredibly awkward he is. Like Percy Jackson, Annabeth Chase, Grover Underwood and even his sister Thalia Grace. Oh , Thalia Grace was going to think he was a fool!  

“Relax, I’m teasing. Of course, she was the one who invited me” Jason softly reassured.  

His voice was surprisingly calming, even though Leo’s insides still felt like they were about to explode out of embarrassment, Jason’s hand on his shoulder made him untense his shoulders and make him turn to him once more. “Although, I’m glad you came along. I am having fun with you. And Piper”  

Jason’s eyes were flashing. As in, quite literally looked like they had lightning inside of them, and Leo couldn’t look away, ironic since flashing lights usually make you turn away after blinding you, but not this time.  

“You are?” Leo murmured. He didn’t mean for it to come out that way; however, it had astonished him how sincere Jason sounded. How he truly meant he liked having Leo around, when he was nothing like his other cooler friends. 

“Yeah” Jason let go, almost as if he were whispering. Yet, he quickly cleared his throat and tried again. “Yeah. Yes. I don’t usually go out like this... with friends. So, it’s been nice”  

Leo finally blinked. Coming back from that weird trance. Man, no wonder Jason had everyone at his feet, he was too mesmerizing. “Wait what? Don’t you hang out regularly with the cool- I mean, you know, your totally normal and ordinary friends Annabeth, Percy and Grover...”  

“Those are Thalia’s friends. I know them, and although Percy does talk to me a bit more, they are their own group, I’d hate to be a bother and rather let Thalia have her own thing.”  

He was a caring brother, selfless and hot? Piper was lucky, Leo thought to himself.  

“So, you don’t have your own thing?” Jason shook his head in response.  

That was something Leo could empathize with. For a long time, he felt like he never had his own thing . A nice group of friends, an original personality— and not something he’d pick up from movies or shows—a place of belonging, but these past years, being closer to Piper and learning how to open up more to his mom, have taught him that he in fact has had his own thing, he just needed to build it.  

Having Piper as a friend was the first step, he has never told her this exactly, but when she found out Leo liked spending his free time on weird little projects, her excitement made him realize that he was actually dang good with that. And when his mom and her had met for the first time, Esperanza had greeted her with open arms, immediately welcoming the brunette to the family. Family. Something Leo never realized he had right in front of him. Even though he loved his mother to death, he had taken her for granted, she was the most supportive mother out there, luckily, she was still around for him to appreciate her more. Which started with explaining his inventions to her, then opening up about small problems he usually would have looked up to fix but instead asked for her help, and lastly, he mentioned briefly how odd he had felt at school and at summer camp. Since then, he stopped going to camp and Esperanza gave him a place at the shop so he could have free space to tinker with mechanical stuff and to work on his projects. 

It still surprised him how much one person coming into his life had made a huge difference. Of course, not everything magically repaired itself. But he has felt the happiest he has had in, well, a long time. If Jason was feeling at least the slightest similarity to what he felt, he was glad Piper had come into his life too. And he’d be glad to also help Jason in the same way. 

“I guess you could say that” Jason winced, ever so slightly, but Leo noticed.  

Leo tugged Jason closer by the neck with his arm, making their heads clash just a bit before saying, “Well, you be glad you have us now! We can be your own thing.” He flashed a cheeky smile and a wink.  

Jason tried to turn his head in the middle of his laughter but failed to do so as Leo’s grip was tightening by the second. “No, we are our own thing” He managed to say, right before Piper had come back, giddier than before.  

“Okay boys, what are we doing sitting around? Get up and let me beat ‘cha!” She sang as she got her bowling ball first.  

Leo let his grip lose from Jason’s neck to quickly get up from his seat to Piper. “Excuse you? I was the one winning!” 

Piper chuckled, “Uh huh, was . My turn now.”  

“That’s not how that works!”  

From his seat, Jason stared at the two for a second before getting up to join the round. But Leo could feel his gaze on him especially, even while completely facing his back towards the other. And he continued feeling it the whole time they were there.   

- 

Back at the Mclean residence, the two best friends were having a sleepover after hanging out with Jason. Piper had actually suggested the other to join them as well, which made Leo a bit nervous for a second. The other kindly declined, saying his mother would be arriving soon. The Mexican hated how relieved he felt, maybe his people skills were drained from the whole hangout.  

At Piper’s way too big of a room, they were sprawled on the floor with music blasting at top volume. Piper was flipping through a horoscope magazine, and Leo was toying with a Rubik's cube he had found on the girl’s bedside table. Frustration started the grow the longer it was taking him to solve it, although he had never cared for it as much, it currently was distracting his worries about Piper.  

He let out a groan that sounded more like a growl, which made his best friend look at her side.  

“Give it up Repair boy, you’ll never be like Annabeth” she joked, but Leo won’t lie that it damaged a bit of his ego.  

“I’m not trying to be like smart perfect Annabeth Chase; I don’t care that she solved it in one minute”   

“Yeah, right,” she sat up, crossing her legs and placing the magazine on top of her thighs. “This week you should focus less on other people’s stories and rather write your own ” she recited. 

The brunette almost felt called out, but quickly noticed she was reading his star sign on the magazine and could not have possibly gotten into his head. Thank god.  

“Hmph, what does the Leo one say?”  

“You’re not a Leo, though” Piper deadpanned.  

“Hello? I am literally the ultimate Leo?”   

Piper rolled her eyes, “You’re such an idiot. Besides, Percy Jackson is a Leo,” she paused for a second, probably reading what it had to say. “Him and Annabeth’s are pretty compatible, they really are a perfect pair, huh?  

Her voice sounded more tense as she read. Maybe she was craving a relationship like theirs, perhaps that was why she had invited Jason over too. But what Leo couldn’t understand was why she was almost self-sabotaging her chances with him, that wasn’t like her. Or so, he thought.  

“Like you and Jason, right?” Leo scooted closer to her, “What’s his sign?” 

She sighed before signaling it on the page, then trailed the finger to the compatibility chart, where in fact, they weren’t. Really, star sign magazine? Now is not the time to be an asshole.   

Leo threw it across the room. “Who cares what stupid printed pages have to say? To me, it sounds like he really likes you!”  

Piper bit her lower lip and turned her gaze towards the ground. Leo hated how he wasn’t good at comforting people. He was so used to knowing what to say to customers because he was working with stuff he was experienced with, but he didn’t know anything about feelings or emotions, especially how to deal with them. That was a Piper thing. And she couldn’t do much in this situation because she was now the one who needed help; it wasn’t fair for her to have a friend like Leo who dealt with stuff like this over jokes and distractions.  

Piper brought her legs to her chest and hugged them, “You really think so?” She sounded unsure, and very unlike herself. It killed him. 

“Yes! Dude, of course! We talked a bit when you left for the restroom, about you,” said Leo. 

“You guys talked the whole time” She added. Leo winced.  

“Yes, you’re right, and I’m so sorry. I promise, I won't let my bromance with Jason come between the two of you, ever again” That made her chuckle, and Leo mentally let out a sigh of relief. 

“It’s okay, I don’t care”  

“No, but you clearly do” Leo nudged her with his knee. She nudged back with her shoulder. That has become a bit of an inside love-language. Signaling they were good without explicitly saying anything. They were usually bad with words, so they had that to communicate better, and all of it was most likely Leo’s fault.  

“Not about that. I just... I think I’m sure of something,” She faced her best friend. “Feelings-wise, but it’s not something particularly I’m proud of.”  

Leo raised his brow. Whoever had given him the trait of making everything into a joke in the creation of his personality, he hopes is in rotting. “Oh... Pipes, I’m flattered, but I’m not interested. You’re pretty or whatever, but I prefer mean girls”  

Both of them snorted. Piper punched him in the arm, hard enough for him to knock it off, yet not too rough to hurt him.  

“Idiot” She giggled, but despite his attempts, she still seemed to be upset about something. He felt hopeless for a second, before he remembered there was a pretty good speaker inside the room which was connected to the phone on his side. 

It was Piper’s, but he knew the password, and she was still engrossed in her own thoughts to notice. As he unlocked the screen, he stood up to walk towards her bed—which caught the girl’s attention. He took off his shoes while scrolling through a few songs, until he found the perfect one. Dancing Queen by ABBA started playing, the sound vibrating through the walls, he wouldn’t be surprised if even the neighbors could hear. 

He turned to her as he dropped the phone on the carpet and gave her a grin. He figured he looked a bit silly given her reaction, but at least he had gotten her to smile. For real this time. 

Leo curled his finger, suggesting her to come over, then stood on the bed. “Come on! This is your song!” He reached out his hand for her to grab.  

She took it. “You mean your song. The one you can’t stop singing every day?”  

“I mean our song. Wasn’t this the one that was playing when I found you stalking me at my treehouse?” Leo teased.  

“Calm yourself, I wasn’t stalking anybody. But yes. It was the one the girls were playing in their room.” As she got on the bed, just like Leo, she started to also copy the way he kept jumping and wiggling his body as a terrible attempt to dance. They both looked stupid.  

At one point they held hands to not have any of them fall in between their jumps; the bed wasn’t as big, and the carpet floor wasn’t as soft for them to not get hurt.  

“Well, then, thank you Drew Tanaka for doing one good thing right, and keeping your cabin window open, introducing me to the greatest song in the history of worlds” Leo joked, still holding hands with Piper while they both jumped to the rhythm of the music.  

She let out another laugh and Leo noticed how she was enjoying herself finally. Which has been the goal he’d been trying to accomplish throughout the whole day. 

Her eyes seemed to be glowing instead of being watery, like they had been moments ago. Maybe this is what she needed, a healthy distraction from her mind, God knows Leo could understand that. He gave himself a pat on the back for cheering her up; all he ever wanted was for everything to be alright. Stress free. Especially for her to be alright, you would catch him dead if he ever admit this, but Piper must be one of the prettiest girls he’s ever met—not in a he’s attracted to her way, more like a pretty painting in a museum you could admire—and even though she was pretty in every sense, she was the most when her smile was beaming the brightest.  

They managed to balance themselves on top of the bed to a point where there was no need to use each other for support. So, they continued dancing freely as if the room had turned into an 80s themed disco. Leo was feeling the music, in a way; it had also been helping him out of his thoughts, whichever they were—at this point he had too many. Suddenly, Piper interrupted.  

She took a breath, then blurted out, “I think... I like girls.” At that same moment, she had stopped pushing her feet to jump more on the mattress.  

“Oh. Wow. Well, same!” Her best friend responded as he did not stop bouncing, making this whole moment less serious than it could have been. 

She did not continue bouncing and for a second Leo hadn’t grasped what exactly had been said and what he had answered. Then, he abruptly stopped too.  

“Wait- huh?” He stared at her. “Why are you looking at me like that?” 

Piper squinted her eyes, almost as if she were expecting him to act like a totally different person. Which he hoped wasn’t what she thought of him.  

“You’re... not ‘gonna ask me any questions?”  

Leo cocked a brow, “Questions for what?”  

“I’m gay, Leo?” She tried one more time. Leo nodded. 

“Yeah, that’s what liking girls means,” he blinked for a second. “No wait, not for me though. For you, ‘cause you’re a girl. Hold on, this is sounding kind of strange. Let me start-”  

Piper burst out laughing, letting her back fall on top of the bed leaving Leo, the only one standing, more confused.  

“Oh my god, thank you for not making this serious.” she said, still laughing and even wiping small tears off her eyes. Leo couldn’t help but think for a moment she could’ve been laughing at him.  

“Is this why... you were ignoring Jason the whole day?” Leo finally sat down crisscrossed, on the opposite side of her. She eventually joined him too, after calming herself down. 

“Yes! And I was so nervous about what you’d think of me if I cancelled and explained the reason, so that’s why I invited you along—to make this less awkward.” She started rambling.  

“So, why did you invite him in the first place?” Leo asked. He felt sort of bad for Jason at that moment. First, he had expected to go on a date with a super chill girl to later find out that her scrawny best friend would tag along. Leo could smell the disappointment. Then, turns out that the cool girl was in fact awesome because she was gay this whole time.  

Leo bit his lip in a shrug. Piper also seemed ashamed over the situation. It took her a while to give a reasonable answer, but it seemed like there was nothing she could add.  

“I don’t really know. I feel terrible, I do. I guess, I somehow felt pressured? He kept coming up to me at school wanting to get to know me, and that would’ve been fine if everyone around us wouldn’t have noticed too. The next thing I knew, was that word had gotten out that we liked each other.” It was apparent she was not proud of how all went down, he could never blame her, especially now hearing the full story.  

But Leo noticed how in some way, he at last got Piper to confess what had been going on with her lately, so he took that as a win. 

“I’m sure he’ll understand. To be honest, I feel like he’s the type of guy to not even hurt a fly. Or be that type of person to flip a bug back around that's been belly-up on the floor.”  

Piper snorted. “Wouldn’t surprise me.”  

They maintained comfortable silence—apart from the music still playing in the background—for a few more minutes, until Piper’s dad knocked on the door saying that take-out had arrived. The two got up and headed towards the table, but before they could get there, Piper grabbed Leo by the arm, stopping him in his tracks.  

“Hey, thanks, by the way.” She smiled. The suddenness made Leo not respond as quickly as he hoped to, thus Piper continued.  

“I meant it when I said that it mattered to me what you’d think. So, thanks for making this easy” 

“Why?” Leo caught himself asking.  

“Because you’re my best friend, silly.” She chuckled, then left to go help out her dad set the table. 

The simplicity of ordering food from independent restaurants around the neighborhood instead of hiring a cook was one of the things he most appreciated about the McLeans. Even their house was simple—although it was two times bigger than his one-story apartment, it didn't have that much unnecessary fancy stuff, the only unusual props they’d have lying around, were the ones Mr. McLean had used in his productions and kept as a souvenir. Piper could’ve been an entitled, stuck-up rich girl who’d brag about having a famous parent, but instead she turned out to be the complete opposite. Even when she did care about what people thought of her, it’d only be from those who she cherished the most—and Leo was happy to be one of them.  

Leo didn’t spend long pondering about his best friend’s confession, it really wasn’t his business and didn’t bother him at all. But, the sudden revelation was in fact something that caught him off guard, how on a random week day the picture was clearer for her—but of course, he’d never understand. At least, he could guess how that would feel like, and support her through it.  

Now he wasn’t as guilty for spending too much time with Jason, he could think freely about their interactions, and sleep well dreaming about him.  

Wait, what?  

Chapter Text

Jason should’ve brought a jacket. He also should’ve brought more chips to share, and maybe even extra sodas in case the ones they had at the bowling alley were not the flavors his new friends liked. Man. New friends. Jason couldn't remember how long it’d been since he’s had one of those. At least real ones.  

He considered the people he played basketball with, peers more than friends. They were never interested in making up conversation or getting to know him at all. Of course, he’d occasionally share a laugh or so when anyone would say something remotely funny, but he always felt like he needed to push himself to belong. After all, it was his mother’s idea to join the team.  

His “friend group” —if you could even call it his—were actually his older sister’s friends. They became closer to him because of the amount of time they’d spend at his house ever since they were all children. To reiterate, they were not his friends, he’d just occasionally take a ride to school with them along with Thalia, every now and then join them at the movies, but he’d eat with his basketball teammates and spend his free periods at the library catching up with schoolwork.  

To Jason, friends came and went. He had always wondered how had Thalia done it; how had she kept Annabeth, Percy and Grover for so long? He remembers the first time her oldest friend Luke had left so suddenly without even saying goodbye. In that moment he thought, this is it, the cycle was about to start for her, like how it did for me. Alternatively, her three other friends only started coming over more frequently after and started to even grow their social circle with more people as time went on. Maybe he was the problem. He never intended to be a loner.  

Luckily, that’s never how everyone viewed him, being how he chats with too many people through the halls because for some reason, he was cool to them—but not cool enough to just stay a few more minutes instead of leaving the second they got what they wanted—and was titled as one of the popular kids: the captain of the Olympus High School basketball team, the ladies' man and charmer to all the teachers, yet no one cared enough to stick around.  

Jason was terrified, thanks to his inexperience of being a friend—as sad as that sounded—he had no clue what to say or do in social gatherings with people he had never fully met. To make it worse, he thought he’d just test the waters and accept Piper’s invitation to hangout, figured how they had previously known each other through camp and was now in most of his classes, but it turned out she had also invited her best friend, Leo Valdez. Just his luck.   

Okay, maybe he was exaggerating. Leo was never the problem. It was him and the embarrassing feelings he had for the other. Concerned at how he would introduce himself and have the other genuinely like him—maybe not the same as how Jason likes him, but close enough for the two of them to be friends.  

Leo was such an energetic person, but he kept close to his friends, rarely joining in with large groups of people. Jason always noticed how he was more himself in his element, like when he’d make his lab experiments explode due to his curious mind, or when he’d be the first to finish his math projects and even ask for something more challenging. As far as Jason could see, Leo went through life like he was sailing on a boat he had made himself, happy to go wherever the wind would take him. Jason absolutely loved that. So, his situation basically was: How could a person like Leo click with a person like Jason? 

Jason, who felt the need to prepare everything ahead precisely or else he’d ruin the expectations of everyone else. The option to sail through life as freely was never there because he could get ahead of himself and disappoint his parents, classmates, teachers and coach if he finally did all the things he truly wished to do. The wind wouldn’t control his path; he had to be the one controlling them.  

When his feelings for Leo started developing, his mind would begin to wonder whether if he and Leo ever became a thing, would he be able to catch up? What if Jason is fast but not brave enough? Perhaps as friends it wouldn’t be so bad, he’d enjoy watching from a distance but still at some range continue being in his life.  

He liked Leo, a lot more than he could even admit to himself. Somehow this silly ball of energy had caught a jock’s attention by just being in the same class together without saying a word.  

But he was a coward.  

He couldn’t explain this reason to Piper when he almost denied the idea of inviting her best friend to their hangout, because he basically would’ve outed himself to her. Instead, he shrugged and nodded, burying everything down.  

He doesn't regret keeping quiet. They in fact got along. A bit too well. Maybe it was Leo’s nature to make everyone around him feel included even after they had met that same day. Perhaps it was his acquaintance with Piper that helped him get closer to Leo, which could’ve been the real reason he talked to her in the first place. Nonetheless, he enjoyed both Leo and Piper’s company in the end, they really did make him feel like this wasn’t the first time they’d hung out together.  

Even if he was freezing outside, waiting for his mother to pick him up—he really should have brought a jacket—for the first time, he looked forward to going to school the next day and felt a certain type of warmth in his chest.  

Usually, his days at school were a routine for him, it’s not like he ever avoided school, but he didn’t think any day would be different from the other. But now, the following day became exciting, he wanted to see them again, talk to them for more than just a few seconds. Hopefully they felt the same way he did.  

His thoughts were interrupted by the shrieking of a car parking in front of him. As he got in, he immediately noticed how his sister wasn’t in the front seat, so he took the spot.  

The car ride was quiet, his mother didn’t like playing music, and he had forgotten his headphones as well. However, that was the usual, until she decided to suddenly have interest in her child’s life. 

“Piper, correct?” She spoke. Eyes focused on the road and her grip was strong onto the wheel, like it always was.  

Jason took a while to respond, verifying if the voice he’d just heard didn’t come from somewhere else instead of his mother’s.  

“Hm?”  

“That’s her name? Mclean’s kid. A handsome one he is, I bet she’s very beautiful too.” She tried smiling, perhaps in an attempt to tease him. Though he wasn’t having it, not only was it definitely not in her mother’s nature to tease, but she was insinuating something way far off. But he couldn’t blame her, he’s never opened up for her to know anything about her son.  

Everyone at school had thought the same as she did. Even Leo must have gotten that idea: Piper Mclean and Jason Grace, The Power Couple. Nonetheless, all their interactions had been merely platonic, at least Jason hoped he didn’t give off the wrong idea to her, he’d feel terrible.  

“Yes, she’s pretty.” He agreed and didn’t want to seem rude by only answering with a dry response, so he continued, “I had a lot of fun.” If you even cared.   

Beryl Grace looked unfazed, still too focused on the road ahead. As always, he didn’t care either. He didn’t want to risk her discomfort by turning on the radio, so he settled in staring out the car window till’ he got home.  

His sister on the other hand, was extremely interested in his night. His bedroom door was busted open with a kick; she had her night bonnet on and a black tank top with lightning rod shorts, ready for bed, yet she must’ve heard her brother come home before snoozing.  

“Tell. Me. Everything.” She insisted, flopping on top of his bed next to where he was sat with his legs crossed. He felt his cheeks flush, it was embarrassing how she was acting as if he had just come back from a first date or a night out at the club when in reality, it was just his first day out with a group of friends that weren’t Thalia and the rest.  

He felt pathetic, but he swallowed his self-pity down. “You’re so dramatic.” He rolled his eyes, pretending to act bothered, however he felt relieved that at least someone in this house cared about his day.  

She didn’t give a comeback; she only raised her brow as if saying Well?  

He gave in. “Well, I had fun. I think they are one of the most fun people I’ve met—no offense to your friends-” 

“Hold on. Who’d you go with?” Right. He forgot to mention Leo as a plus one. He was too excited and nervous all together when he found out.  

“ Piper and her friend Leo Valdez. They’re both in a few of my classes. Leo joined in at the last minute; they were very chill. I think... they want to hang out more.” Every time he’d speak, he sounded more and more like a total loser who had no friends. Which was at most true, but he hated sounding like one. It seemed like her sister didn’t mind, although she did look confused. 

“Huh. I thought you were going on a date.” she hesitated.  

“Wait- A date? That was not a date” He felt his heart pulse rush.  

“Dude, I heard you were going on a date with Piper. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed,” she paused. “I’m glad it went great, though. I haven’t seen you come home this happy since we were kids.” Thalia sounded sincere, and just like Jason, couldn’t hide the growing smile on her face, as if his were infectious.  

He mumbled a “thanks” before getting lost in his own thoughts. Suddenly, he went back to his subtle conversations with Leo, wondering if he unknowingly embarrassed himself and now perhaps Leo was thinking: “Man, that was a weird guy.” instead of “He could be a nice friend to have around.” All he ever wanted was to—at the very least—be his friend, but the only thing he didn’t know the answer to was how to be Leo Valdez’s friend. It wasn’t that the boy was unapproachable, it was just his own nerves simply betraying him. No other conversation he’d have with other people would nerve him this much, due to never having a connection with any of the students who’d approach him—so, Leo being the only one who never did was frying his brain. Maybe that’s what got his attention, how the only person in the room that didn’t care about him, made him care.  

Worst of all, Leo wasn’t even a guy who thought he was better than Jason, which could’ve explained why he never bothered talking to him. All this time he was in his own little world, unaware that the guy who everyone was intrigued by, wanted so badly to talk to him and him only. Jason wanted to know what was on his mind. What troubling thought would make him bite the eraser off his pencil so hard when sketching. What music was he drumming to with his fingers in the middle of class. How could he finish a project so easily but be the last to turn in a test.  

Jason was incredibly glad people didn’t actually care about him, because only then would they notice how much he’d stare at Leo during class, free periods, lunch and even after school when he’d leave on his skateboard or Piper’s car.  

“I should have known.” His sister brought him back to reality. He looked back at her confused; her face looked like she had finally cracked a case that never sat right with her. Then she held his hand, gently as if she were about to spill some saddening news.  

That took him so off guard that the only thing he could react with was a weird sound which came out like: “ A-whah?”   

“Jase, you should’ve told me” Hence his last thought being Leo, his mind was leading towards, she knows. He started to panic 

“I don’t...” 

“If me and the gang have ever made you feel left out, I am so sorry, I didn’t think it mattered that much to you—you’d usually be on your own but I thought it was your choice, not anything else.” she started to apologize. Immediately, Jason stopped her.  

“No, it’s okay really,” Even when it wasn’t, his sister was not at fault. “You’re right, I choose to spend some alone time. But now, I think hanging out with Piper and Leo won’t be so bad” That seemed to ease her nerves a bit, her shoulders untensed and gave him a warm smile. 

“Well, I’m glad to hear that” she said. Although, her gaze drifted a bit before she respoke, “How about we go out to eat after school, just us?”  

“Yeah?” Jason asked. 

“Yeah!” Her smile gleamed brighter, “Unless you are too busy being a nerd or something” she teased, but wasn’t wrong.  

“No- I’d love to!” He didn’t want to seem too excited about the invite. It was his sister after all; he sees her every day either at home or at school. However, they never hang out together as much as he’d hope so.  

When she left his room, he laid on his back happier than most of his nights. Usually, he’d stay awake for a few more hours simply staring at the ceiling. Never having much to think about, except this night was different. His mind brought him straight to Leo Valdez, of course. Who he had finally talked to, stared at his light freckles on his face finally proving they were real, captured the spark in eyes in his memories, got to know him at least one percent more and best of all, befriended him. Not even his worries about whether he had said something wrong could distract his mind and shut down his excitement. Except when his phone buzzed with an Instagram notification: 

@valdez.inator started following you.  

There was no way. Jason squealed like a seven-year-old kid finally getting his favorite toy from the store. Jason never keeps track of who follows him on Instagram, except for Leo, he knew the boy never bothered on following him, until now. That meant he did it. He at last got his attention, and he wasn’t planning on letting it go.  

Leo’s account only had about 50 followers, his bio was a phrase: “handsome mechanic ‘now on duty’” and under it was what Jason assumed to be a song lyric he couldn’t recognize. The profile icon was the most unflattering picture of him, yet Jason didn’t care: Leo was taking a bite out of a hotdog with too many toppings on, wearing silver-colored glasses that looked more like biker goggles.  

Jason requested, thinking it would be accepted the following day at school given how late it was. Yet, he got proven wrong once again—Leo’s definitely unpredictable. It was almost twelve in the morning on a school night, and the other was still awake. Or maybe that was normal for a guy like him, whatever it could be, he was glad he could know more about that soon. He would get to know a deeper part of him that’s always been a mystery to Jason, like why’s he so determined on some things more than others. Where does he spend the rest of his days after school? Is he listening to music or podcasts when he has his headphones on everywhere he goes? All the little things no one would bother paying attention to, he was eager to know about.  

Because of how fast Leo had accepted his follow request, Jason did a quick scroll through his page just to see his posts and a glimpse of his social media life. They were all pictures with or of Piper and rarely any selfies, except for goofy ones where his face wouldn’t stick out as much. There were more pictures of the sky or random objects of the outdoors than anything. Jason didn’t dare to click on any of the posts or stay for too long just in case he’d accidently leave a like on one of them. He did, however, look through his story highlights, which were two: one titled with a wrench emoji and the other titled “fam stuff”.  

Jason figured the one called “fam stuff” was about his family. He decided to look at that one first and was so glad he did. The first picture to pop up was of a younger Leo—probably around the age of thirteen—next to Piper, they were side by side making a strange looking pose standing with both their legs wide open and making a terrible face you probably wouldn’t see Piper doing in the present day. Jason realized that must have been one of the times they went to Wilderness Camp—Jason had only gone once because of his sister, except she chose to stay, and he didn’t because their mom thought there was no need for him to assist anymore. The next few other stories were videos of his mom either cooking or fixing a car engine—which Jason admired—when suddenly a mischievous Leo behind the camera would yell, scaring his poor mom following a string of laughter and what Jason could guess, curses in Spanish. He laughed along, almost as if he were in the moment with them too but quickly stopped himself. 

He didn’t realize how long he would pause some of the following stories just to see if he could catch a glimpse of Leo’s face. Until he stumbled upon the next highlight, the one titled with a wrench emoji. That one was filled with mechanical artifacts which Jason later on caught were Leo’s own inventions. Jason’s head started spinning, he never would have guessed Leo created such things as a hobby, yet at the same time, he should have. The boy was smart, Jason knew that; he shouldn’t have been surprised to see he’d put his great intelligence onto something so great, except he was proud more than anything. He wished they were closer than they actually were so he could respond with overwhelming praises without the other being weirded out over the sudden interaction.  

Leo was becoming even more perfect by the second, and that was with just a brief—not so brief—stalk of his Instagram page. The jock was about to finally settle to bed after so much lurking when he accidentally refreshed the app to see that his crush had posted a recent story just a few minutes ago. Jason obviously clicked on it, not caring whether he’d be the first to see it, as his curiosity got the best of him. It was a video, Leo, once again behind the camera, recording Chinese food that was set in front of him on the table, then panning to a girl walking towards one of the seats next to him mid slurp of her noodles while Leo would zoom in and out on her face. Jason upped the volume to see if there was any audio just to be greeted with his voice singing painfully out of tune the song “Dancing Queen” by ABBA. Yet, Jason couldn’t hold back a snort. 

“Come on, Pipes. ‘Ya know the lyrics!” he chimed. Piper—as he once again zoomed in and out of her face—rolled her eyes at him.  

“I’m gonna kick you out of my house” she said with zero genuine in her words.  

Leo then zoomed out one more time to pan to the Tristan McLean just across the table from him, also enjoying his noodles that they must have ordered from an independent restaurant. Jason had to press his thumb over the screen to pause the video ‘cus What the fuck? He knew that was Piper’s dad, basically everyone in school did, but still, he wasn’t prepared for him to appear so casually on his crushes’ Instagram story.  

“Tristan, you enjoy my singing, right?” He called him by his first name. No “Mr. McLean”. Not even a “Sir”. Jason’s cheeks got so burned up, he feared he might’ve gotten a fever cause of not bringing a jacket earlier that night.  

Tristan McLean responded with a happy grin and a nod, and that’s how the Instagram story ended. Jason sighed, taking in how basically his old celebrity crush and recent school crush were in the same room together. Believe it or not, he did try to not think about it too hard. Despite his efforts, he ended up dreaming of Leo and him eating some Chinese noodles.  

Chapter Text

His time spent at the mechanic shop has always been ten times better than doing whatever he did at school. Leo began spending his time at the shop when he was ten, although he didn’t start working there until he was fourteen, hence the majority of what his ten-year-old self would do was greet customers and direct them towards the shop. But when discovering what tinkering with leftover parts on his mother’s workbench was instead of focusing on homework, Esperanza Valdez agreed to supervise and teach him the basics. As time went on, Leo officially took over the register and helped with any repairs that weren’t too dangerous—his mother’s only condition.  

He also promised to not get too distracted by work and slack off on schoolwork. He wasn’t the best with paying attention and remembering his list of after-school chores but, he found a way to get all of that done during school hours so he could have the rest of the day free, and anything that would take longer, he’d complete it at the shop but at least he had made previous progress.  

Tiny Leo would always dream about owning a workshop exactly like how his mother did, so of course now that he was a part of it, it’d be foolish to let something such as education get in the way. 

The day at the shop was calm, not many customers came in and mostly they needed repairs for their cars, so they’d go through the garage. Per usual, Leo was tinkering with his projects and playing his music through the built-in speakers of the shop—his mom allowed this as long as it was PG-friendly and the volume was on a moderate level. He had no issue with that, he worked best with the music not being too loud while he waited for anyone to come in, usually it’d be small upgrades to mechanisms they’d have lying around.  

He was humming along to the song “Lento” by Julieta Venegas, as he was hyper focused on the contraption he had in his hands, it was an antient wall clock he was determined on adding gears to, which according to him would make it “aesthetically pleasing”. When suddenly, the tiny bell rang from the entrance, notifying a new customer coming in.   

A not so tall woman walked in, wearing a tight black leather jacket and pants with metalic chains hanging from them, jingling as she stepped closer. Leo could guarantee it was a woman by just hearing her footsteps—or perhaps because she shouted “Hello?” as she went through the door.  

“Over here!” the teenage mechanic yelled from the counter, swiftly pushing away the clock carefully to not ruin the progress he had made, “Pardon me ‘mam. ‘Don’t want to keep you waiting. Tell me, what can I-” 

His mouth went shut right as he turned to face her. She chuckled, “Cute.” Then chewed on her mint scented gum, the smell was just strong enough for him to notice.  

“Thalia.” He mouthed. Then he cleared his throat, “I mean, hey- Hello, what- uh- What's up?” He attempted to prop his elbow on the counter to have his hand support his chin but pathetically missed and almost landed face first onto the glass if it hadn’t been for his other hand saving the day.  

“Saw this was a mechanic shop.” She started.  

“That it is!” 

“My bike needs repairing,” she gestured her head back to the entrance, “It’s right out there.” 

Leo nodded, hoping his facial expression wasn’t as unprofessional as his rapid beating heart. She was just as intimidating as he guessed she would be up close. He and Piper would see her and the other guys from afar. Typically, he never cared for the separate groups at school and their status quos, they were not only pointless but boring, everyone should just not give a fuck and talk to whoever they want. However, Thalia seemed like one of the coolest people he’d ever seen in his life, their first interaction was what determined it: thirteen-year-old Leo tried a pickup line he had searched up on the internet then was met with an eyeroll and a scoff from the most bad-ass punk kid at school. The smitten mechanic had even bought black eyeliner to catch her attention yet ended up gifting it to Piper once he realized he wasn’t as desperate to do that for a crush.  

And Piper, well, she understood as much; she would always say how fun it’d be having Annabeth Chase as a friend especially. Yet this confused Leo, as she ultimately had a better chance of having them accept her as part of the group than him. Piper was pretty, charismatic and everyone notices her when she passes by the hallway, Leo barely got the attention of a fly, and his jokes don’t exactly land well, either they get lost in space or explode midair making it rain fire and metal parts everywhere. But somehow, Piper still sticks by his side, which he greatly appreciates or else he’d be incredibly bored throughout his day.  

Leo’s mouth had suddenly gotten dry staring at Thalia Grace, it almost took him an embarrassingly amount of time to respond when his mother thankfully came into the room, saving his sorry ass.  

Esperanza took over once Thalia expressed that she needed her bike repaired, she didn’t know what exactly was wrong with it so both of them went outside to verify the issue. Leo stayed back, not trusting himself in avoiding looking like a fool, even though he’s had his fair share in fixing motors and engines, he lacked in the “talking to attractive girls” department.  

Yet of course, luck wasn’t always on his side. After a few minutes, his mom along with Thalia, came back inside.  

“Leo, mijo, you’re gonna have to take this one, a truck just pulled over and I’m going to need an extra hand.” And with that she left after briefly explaining the issue with the bike, as if she hadn’t just dropped a nuclear bomb onto his dignity.  

Obviously, Leo couldn’t have denied, what else was he doing apart from tinkering with a random old clock? Plus, it was sadly his obligation as an employee. He nodded and told Thalia to bring in the bike to the garage, except she responded with “Oh, Jase already got that.” 

As Leo went through the door that connects the garage with the shop, he saw him. Jason Grace, Thalia’s younger brother, and his newfound friend. Which was still weird as hell. The guy was wearing his usual purple hoodie—that Leo unironically noticed he wore a lot—layering a black jacket over it, he was taking off his motorcycle helmet and suddenly Leo had forgotten how to take a step further.  

“No way,” Leo grinned as the other noticed him. “I never would have guessed you’d be a bad boy leather jacket type!” 

Jason oddly flinched as he heard Leo come up to him. The mechanic felt a bit bad but was still a bit shocked to say anything else other than a bad joke.  

“Leo?” Jason let the helmet hit the ground.  

Thalia intervened, brushing off the interaction between the two. “Well, repair boy, can you do your thing?” She nudged him on the shoulder with her own, and Leo turned his face the other way to hide his heated cheeks. He gave out a grin and got to work.  

Luckily, it was a simple repairment that took no longer than an hour. The siblings took a seat on the bench at the waiting area, which was inconveniently facing directly towards where Leo was working, but in order to do his job well, he needed to ignore that. Not only was it challenging to do, but his mom was no help either, she came by for a split moment just to tease him about Thalia—curse Piper for blurting it out that one time during dinner—he tried to make up a quick lie about leaving the stove on, in which she did not fall for in the slightest yet got the message to leave him alone.  

Once back at the register, he had to also charge for the service. Leo did not want to even think about how visibly sweaty and nervous he looked. Thank God Thalia never mentioned it once. Strangely, yet not so strangely, Jason didn’t really make conversation with him either, but he guessed it was to let Leo work in peace, and he thanked him for that in his brain. Although, he would be lying if he said that didn’t disappoint him. Despite his awkwardness, Jason’s company would've been nice to have.  

Jason went back to park the motorcycle outside—which was still something Leo needed time to process—while he finished up at the register. Right when Thalia was about to leave, Leo couldn’t hold in his curiosity. 

“Since when did, uh, Jason know how to drive a bike?” Thalia turned to him again, raising a brow.  

“Oh, he doesn’t, I never let him go near my baby,” she scoffed, “But I guess today is an exception. Which means I have to check on him immediately, you just fixed the dang thing, I don’t want to risk it.” Then she sprinted off. Leo couldn’t hold back a soft chuckle.  

He caught himself walking over the entrance too right when Thalia left. Through the glass door he saw the two siblings adjusting their helmets. Thalia was already on the front of the bike and Jason was sitting behind her. Their dark toned skin glistened because of the sun set, muscles flexed as they were fixing up their gear which made Leo look back and forth between the two, suddenly noticing their strong similarities, like their eyes and how they both bite their lower lip when focused on something—in this case testing if the bike was okay—Thalia was maneuvering the hand clutch precisely while her brother readjusted his helmet carefully over and over again as if it were his first time riding a motorcycle and had to be extra careful. Leo was so entranced by the brother and sister duo until he noticed what was going on. And so did his mom. 

He flinched and stepped away from the door as he heard her snort next to him. “Jesus, Ma, warn a guy when you sneak up on him!” He readjusted his work uniform. 

“So, I finally got to meet the infamous Thalia Grace, she seems... edgy”  

“Mom, don’t say that.” Leo gave her an incredulous look, to which she laughed at.  

“What? She is!”  

He ignored his embarrassing mother and went back to the counter knowing she was going to follow him as well.  

“Okay, okay. Give me some credit, I didn’t even say anything bad!” The mother replied to her son’s pout, hanging her rag which was previously on her waist, over her shoulder.  

“It’s not what you said, it’s exactly what you didn’t—or what you meant!” He brought back the old clock he was working on to distract himself from his mom’s gaze.  

“Ay, ya, you’re just being dramatic now.”  

“Your face speaks louder than words, ma. Your eyes are so obvious, anybody could guess what you think at any second!” He got slapped in the head with the rag.  

“No andes de contestón” She replied before leaving him alone with his old clock and thoughts, mainly his thoughts.  

Never in a million years would he have believed that he would have a full conversation with Thalia Grace, better yet, fix her damn bike! Alright, maybe they didn’t say much to each other, and he was pretty sure he wasn’t the most flattering looking person during—he tried not to think about how sweaty he must’ve certainly been, for his own good—, but even after thinking over the scene repeatedly, this was the luckiest he could’ve gotten.  

Sparks suddenly coming out of the clock he was working on cut off his daydreaming and brought Leo back to reality. And maybe it was for the best, since his mind was starting to trail off to that little moment he had staring at the two siblings through the glass door, he couldn’t decipher at that moment what that might’ve implied apart from the fact that seeing goody-goody Jason on a dark night colored motorcycle was, without a doubt, a scene he never imagined to see. Leo was definitely going to tease him about that the next day at school.  

The mechanic looked back at the monstrosity he was probably creating due to getting a bit too distracted by his thoughts, only to hear ticking and find gears moving alongside the perfectly functional clock hands. It made Leo’s cheeks rise with a proud grin. He took his phone out of his back pocket to record his success, once uploaded to his Instagram story, he felt the familiar warm sensation in his gut after finishing a long overdue project. The next thing was to find a place for it, but that was the least of his priorities.  

Think of the devil, Jason was the first to see and like the post. Leo left him a quick message teasing him about the bike, not being able to wait a single night to do it in person, then called Esperanza over to look at his finished product.  

For a second, it had seemed like Thalia coming to the store must have been some sort of good luck charm, except Leo hardly ever believed in that—it was mostly a Piper thing that seemingly rubbed off on him at one point—however, there was something that kept him up at night in bed, so he settled with the easiest answer, surely his dumb infatuation with the badass punk rocker girl and not her gorgeous loving dork of a brother.