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Leo Valdez was walking around the mall with his best friend, Jason Grace, in tow. Neither of them were really looking to buy anything, they were more just walking around for the sake of hanging out. It was a nice break from the chaos going on in their lives at the moment.
It had been hours of the two laughing at dumb advertisements and smelling perfume samples that both of them started to get tired and dehydrated. Leo sat down on the fountain bench with a sigh. “I’m tired,” he groaned.
“Yeah, me too lowkey.. Wanna go get smoothies?” he suggested, gesturing to the food court.
“Sure,” Leo shrugged, pausing in his attempt to steal pennies from the fountain.
In front of the store, there was a chalk sign saying “50% OFF FOR COUPLES”. Leo elbowed Jason. “Pucker up, dude,” he joked, pointing to the sign. Jason laughed and rolled his eyes.
“You wanna split?” He asked changing the subject as he pulled out his wallet.
“Yeah,” Leo replied, also getting out his cash. “Uh-”
“What is it?” Jason asked.
“I only got money for half the price. Maybe if there was a deal for 50% off ....” Leo looked up at Jason half joking half serious.
Jason gave him the blankest stare one could muster. “I am not dealing with your bullshit today bro.” He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“It’s called being resourceful,” Leo scoffed and crossed his arms. “Plus, it’s just for like a couple minutes. Would you rather me shrivel up into a dehydrated carcass?”
Jason threw his hands up with a sigh. “Fine.” “What are you going to order anyway? It’s almost our turn.”
“I dunno, maybe the fruity zesty triple rainbow blast. I think it’s quite fitting for this situation,” Leo joked.
“I despise you.” Jason sighed jokingly.
“That’s no way to speak to your boyfriend, is it?” Leo burst out laughing and Jason stood, arms crossed with a smirk forming on his lips.
Without realizing it the line had slowly dwindled leaving Jason and Leo at the counter to order.
“One pineapple smoothie please,” Jason said to the cashier.
“One fruity zesty triple rainbow blast smoothie please,” Leo smiled, somehow not bursting out laughing while Jason hung his head in disappointment.
The cashier smirked at the ridiculous name: “That’ll be 14 dollars. Cash or card?”
“Actually, we’re a couple, so that’s 50% off.” Leo took Jason’s hand in his. “Also cash please.”
“According to our policy, you two have to kiss to get the discount.” The clerk shrugged, enjoying the spectacle. Leo looked up at Jason, who was staring in shock. Without thinking, Leo leaned up and pressed their lips together quickly and faced the register. The cashier seemed shocked they actually went through with it before saying; “Alright, that's seven dollars then. Can I get a name for the order?”
“Jason.” The taller of the two muttered. The cashier nodded, and the two went to sit down at a table. Both had gone radio silent, but this was especially out of character for Leo. What Jason didn’t realize was that Leo had a crush on him.
Kissing Jason was about the stupidest decision Leo had ever made and that was saying something. The fake dating thing was already pushing it, but he really wanted that smoothie. Leo tried to convince himself that it was worth it, but even after getting his fruity zesty triple rainbow blast, it didn’t help.
Even if Jason just thought Leo was just weird for kissing him, that wasn’t exactly optimal. Any normal person would’ve stopped there and just paid the other back later, but it was evident Leo was nothing close to normal, kissing his long-time crush just for a discount.
“Why did you do that?” Jason groaned with his head in his hands.
“It’s not a big deal” Leo muttered even though it was quite a big deal, especially considering that was his first kiss. His first kiss was pretending to be dating his best friend/crush for a smoothie discount.
“Yes it was dude Piper is gonna be so pissed!”
“Why do you even care? You said you don’t even like her anymore.” Leo took a sip of his smoothie and slouched in his chair. Jason had confided in him a few days ago that he didn’t really love his girlfriend anymore. Their relationship was doomed to fail in all honesty.
“It’s complicated.” Jason muttered.
“She also won’t find out if we don’t tell her and she wouldn’t even care dude.” Leo added.
“It’s not just about Piper. I just can’t tell you.” He sighed exasperated.
“Whatever, let's just go back to windowshopping.” Leo said standing up.
“Agreed.” Jason said following after him begrudgingly.
The two returned back to their usual behavior laughing and talking about their usual dumb topics but the situation lingered and after a prolonged silence Leo brought up what happened at the food court.
“It’s nothing..” Jason stressed. “Just let it go.”
Leo rolled his eyes “It’s clearly something if you’re so tweaked out about it.”
“Fine!” Jason threw his hands up exasperatedly. “I got so freaked out because- I like you.”
Leo looked up at him wide eyed in shock. “YOU? LIKE ME!” He blurted out. Jason started walking faster, his face almost red. “No-no I mean like it’s not bad that you like me I uh- like you too.”
Jason stopped and turned to look at him hopefully “Really?”
Leo looked down, embarrassed. “Yeah.”
“Oh- so like what do we do now?”
“I dunno.” He took the last sip of his smoothie, throwing it into the recycling bin next to them.
“Maybe break up with Piper first”
“Good idea.” Jason sighed. “Before that wanna attempt the claw machines and fail miserably?”
“Yeah.” He smiled and took his hand and walked with him over to the claw machines. The only reason they were holding hands was obviously just to fool the smoothie shop worker. Obviously.