Chapter Text
« Jason’s POV »
Jason had no trouble fitting in. He had blond hair, bright blue eyes, the kind of look that said, 'I'm basic, and I'm also popular.' He played lacrosse, and he was well-liked. He was even dating one of the girls in the cheerleading squad, Teagan Mathias, who was well-known throughout the entire school, and was as recognizable as a full moon on an empty sky. Jason and Teagan had been dating for six months now, which is much longer than pretty much all of Teagan's Football flings she’s had. It’s longer than some of Jason’s relationships. Except for one he will never move on from. Leo Valdez.
See, Jason fit into the main cliché of popular kids, but he didn’t belong. And Jason was a prime example of that. Being gay didn’t make you weird, it just made people not like you. It wasn’t common to be gay at the school they went to, so if you happened to be gay, people would… avoid you, to put it straight. Jason tried as hard as he could to hide the fact he was gay. Some of the kids he was friends with did know that he was gay; but he always told them something like ‘it was a phase!’ Or ‘That was a while ago.’ And that usually seemed to get them off his back. But it wasn’t a phase, and it wasn’t awhile ago either. Jason didn’t even like Teagan, he was just dating her to get some allegations off his back about him still being gay. He did feel bad for her (only a bit because she probably didn’t like him back), and that was fine by him.
Jason had been dating Teagan for five months. Jason came up to Teagan and asked her to be his girlfriend five months ago. He broke up with Leo five months ago. He caught Leo cheating on him five months ago. He ran away crying five months ago. Still, he would never forget how happy he was with Leo, how free he felt with Leo. Now, he hated Leo. He would never feel that happiness again that he felt with Leo. He still felt happy, yeah. But with Leo? Happiness felt different. It felt like a tree sprouting new life in a beautiful world. It felt good. He didn’t think that the person who made him feel the happiest could make him the saddest.
« REWIND »
It was a Wednesday, August 27th. School just started. Jason and Leo had already been dating for a while, in fact, Jason was on his way to give Leo an anniversary gift. It was a small bag. It had one of the corny boxes of chocolates shaped like hearts, a stuffed kangaroo (Leo really liked kangaroos for some odd reason), and a note that said ‘I love you! Happy 1 year anniversary!’One year. That’s how long they’d been dating. They’ve been dating since the start of 9th grade. Jason didn’t think they’d last this long. He thought they would break up from a stupid fight, or they would decide to stay as friends and keep their relationship platonic. But one year? Jason was proud. He hummed a tune to ‘(Nice Dream)’ by RadioHead as he walked down the sidewalk to Leo’s house, occasionally stepping in puddles from a previous rain that occurred an hour or two before he left.
Leo lived in one of those basic neighborhoods, a suburban middle class one with houses that looked similar on the outside. That’s even by the means of decorations. Most houses have the same type of gardens, same chairs in the front porch, it’s all surreal. Sometimes Jason will look around for houses that have unique decorations. It’s a fun game to pass time. He turns on the next street and can see Leo’s house a few houses down. Jason unconsciously starts walking a bit faster. Maybe because he’s excited, maybe he’s just nervous. It’s hard to tell with Jason. All of his emotions look the same sometimes. He jumps over a puddle and takes the final steps until he’s at Leo’s driveway. He clutched the handle of the gift bag tighter as he walked up to the house. His palms are sweaty. What if Leo doesn’t like the gift? What if he laughs at it? No, Jason stops that thought, he will like it.
Jason walks up to the door. He knocks once. Then twice. No response. Leo always told him, ‘if I don’t answer the door after two knocks, just go inside.’ Leo was always chill in that way, he didn’t care much what Jason did as long as it wasn’t killing or hurting someone. He opened the door. Leo had a nice house. It was just him and his mom there, so it was never very loud besides a record player in the dining room that usually played a Fleetwood Mac album. He slipped off his shoes and walked through the house. He turned to the hallway where his bedroom was.. The door was closed but light seeped through from beneath the door, like a discovery begging to be found. His hand hovered over the door knob, he could hear talking. Leo and some unrecognizable voice. But it was a man. Maybe Leo just had friends over. He turned the door knob slowly and opened it. He stepped inside the bedroom. Smiling, excited and nervous.
“Hey babe! Happy an-” He paused. His eyes widened. He was right. Leo did have a friend over just not in the way he expected at all. There on Leo’s bed, a guy from their school was on top of Leo, his shirt off and his pants were unzipped. Under him, Leo was sweaty, and in a similar state, except his shirt was on, and his hair was messy.
“Babe!” Leo said, a panicked tone in his voice. As if he was a little kid getting caught staying up past their bed time. Jason was too shocked to speak. He was too shocked to move. He was too shocked to drop the gift out of shock. He just stands there, his tear ducts start to fill up, and before he knows it, he starts crying. He stumbles backward a bit before running out, tears in his eyes. Leo doesn’t run after him. He doesn’t even yell to try to stop even. He throws his shoes on, the tears blurring his vision make him feel as if he’s staring out a car window covered in dew from rain. As soon as his shoes are on, he runs out of the house, slamming the door behind him. Jason runs down the sidewalk. Not wanting Leo to catch him if he even decides to run after him - which he won’t - because he just can’t deal with looking at him. Leo cheated on him on their anniversary! They didn’t have to say it, but that day, both Jason & Leo knew that was the day they would break up. No conversation had to happen, No giant fight that would hurt both of them. Just that one event signed it off. The end of a relationship Jason would never escape from, even as he ran home, tears falling down his face.
«***»
Jason walked down the school hallway with Teagan, holding her hand. She was talking about some drama going on with the cheerleading team.
“And Marrisa just blatantly made fun of her! Like sorry Marrisa that not everyone’s hair is as good as yours! Like she needs to get a grip!” She complains. Jason nods silently. He can barely keep up with it… He can only remember their names most the time, and even then he has to ask himself ‘who’s that again?’ It got tiring, but he didn’t mind listening to her. He never had to talk, so it gave him room to think about stuff. He’ll think about his grades, lacrosse, or stuff of on social media. But sometimes, sometimes, Leo will cross his mind. Leo, the one who cheated on him. Leo, the one who moved on just as easily as he did. Jason always noticed Leo when saw him. He looked at him, but Leo never looked back. He was busy. Too busy to look Jason’s way. Let him know he remembers Jason and feels guilty; but no. That will never happen. Jason hates that, but he can’t blame them. Maybe that’s just what happens when you cheat on someone. You don’t care about them anymore. Another thing that hurt Jason was how happy Leo looked. He was always smiling or laughing, like nothing happened. It looked like he had really moved on. He didn’t care about Jason anymore. He probably forgot all about him. And Jason hated that. Jason hated Leo. Jason hated anyone that was friends with Leo. Jason really hated Octavian.
Octavian was Leo’s boyfriend. They had only been dating for two months, but Leo seemed so… comfortable around him. They were like sugar and spice, sun and moon. They fit together well. Not because they were alike, but in the way that they were so different they just matched. Leo joked around to be funny, but was a chill and nice guy when you got to know him. Octavian, on the other hand, joked around to be rude and had a sharp tongue. It’s a wonder how he and Leo are dating. Jason hated it. Jason thought that Octavian was a stuck up, rude person who only cared about himself. And even though Jason hated Leo, he wished Leo would get a better boyfriend.
“Hey! Hey! Are you listening?” Jason snaps back to reality as Teagan yells in his ear. Jason rubs his ear, as if that would get rid of the ringing tone she left.
“Yeah, I’m listening babe.” Jason said, turning to look at her. Sometimes, Teagan looks at him as if Jason’s a strange ugly creature. Her eyes look disgusted, she always has a scowl on her face, and her nose scrunches up. It annoys him but he has to push it aside. He has to push everything she does aside or else she’ll start a giant argument. She pushed her brown hair out of her face and puts hand on his chest.
“Well listen better. You're staring off in space looking like you just got possessed.” She says, cocking her eyebrow. “Come on, I have to go to my locker. Then we’ll go to your place.” Teagan says without any approval from him as she starts walking again, Jason following soon after to catch up with her. That’s another thing she does. She never asks what Jason wants to do. It’s always what Teagan wants to do. He didn’t even know they were going to his house until now. Jason thinks it’s bullshit sometimes, but he just puts up with it. Just like he always does. Puts up with Teagan. Teagan only continues talking until they reach her locker. And she stops to open it, grabbing her bag, putting her stuff in it. Teagan is one of those people that decorate and organize their lockers even though you’re barely going to use it. It has a pink fluffy square of carpet on the bottom, and a black wall paper with glitter on the walls. She even has one of those little shelves you can break down in it. She shuts her locker and turns to look at Jason. “Come on, let’s go to your locker.” She says as she grabs his hand and starts walking. Luckily, Jason’s locker wasn’t that far away, so he didn’t have to hold her hand for long. He opened his locker and got his bag. As soon as he closed it. Teagan started walking out the school, giving Jason no choice but to follow.