Chapter Text
(JASONS POV)
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BEEP! BEEP!
Jason jumped slightly, slamming the off button on his alarm.Gods, he needed to change his alarm sound. Still reaching over his bedside table, he fumbled around, grabbing his glasses and shoving them on his face. He groaned, stumbling out of bed and dragging himself towards his closet. Just great, I barely got any sleep last night and we have about 10 tests today! He thought. Jason flipped through his hangers, looking for something comfortable to wear. He settled on a purple shirt, some random pair of sweats, and a zip up hoodie. Good enough.
As Jason was brushing his teeth, he heard his phone buzz. He grabbed his phone with one hand, annoyed at first that someone would text him this early, but he softened when he saw it was Leo.
Hot stuff: hey man yoy neddamride to schol (;
You: Dude i can barely tell what you just said
You: But yeah, my car is still being repaired
Hot stuff: Dam mecanixz dont nkow hwo to fix shti
You: Mhm bet you could do so much better
Hot stuff: Hye Im a godo mechanis!!
Jason laughed, closing his phone and shoving it in his pocket. He knew Leo was right, he is better than those random store mechanics. After Leo had gotten his car, a used Toyota Tacoma, he modified the shit out of it. Anything crazy you would want your car to have, Leo could make that happen. Honestly, if you asked him to, Leo could make an entire flying warship in less than a year.
Jason quickly finished brushing his teeth, attempted to fix his hair in the mirror (with no luck), and grabbed an apple from the kitchen. He bit down on the apple, shoving his books and study papers into his backpack.
When the front door opened, a gust of late winter air attacked Jason in the face. Early March should not be this cold. However, living in New York, the weather got pretty extreme. Ranging from highs to lows, it almost never settled.
Enough about the weather, because right in front of Jason was Leo Valdez, walking up the stairs to Jason's house's front porch. “Hey man,” Leo looked Jason up and down. “How many hours of sleep did you get? You look like hell.”
Jason scoffed. “About 3. I have not been able to sleep lately.”
“Same, honestly” Leo thought for a moment, staring at some random place below Jason’s nose. Do I have something on my face? He thought. Because he couldn't be… Jason, Leo is straight.
Oh, right! Almost forgot to mention. Ever since they were 12, Jason has had a crush on Leo. He hated to admit it sometimes, and he usually blocked it out. But he couldn’t completely deny the flutter in his chest when he saw Leo focused on a project, or how he always found himself staring instead of paying attention in class. And secretly, Jason always wished Leo liked him back. He wished he could tell Leo the truth, about him and Piper, and how he felt, but Leo just wouldn't understand. And Jason knew Leo was straight. It was obvious, with how much he flirted with girls. That made Jason afraid, not about coming out, but that Leo would hate him, wouldn’t want to be his friend, wouldn’t feel the same way about him… the list goes on and on.
But, in the mornings, Jason allowed himself to wonder. It was the time of day where they could just blame everything on not being awake, or fuzzy memory. So, Jason thought of millions of things. What would happen if he told Leo, what Leo meant when his gaze lingered on Jason longer than it should. And, later in the day, Jason would know it was nothing. They had been friends forever, and this wasn’t unusual. But, in the mornings, alone, especially when they are alone, Jason actually has time to think.
Back to reality, out of his thoughts, Jason and Leo were getting into Leo's car. He named it Festus, for some reason. Pretty unique name for a car.
Leo was a good driver. You would expect someone like him to break 50 traffic rules, but all that mechanics stuff must make for a good driver. His hands were comfortable on the steering wheel, Jason didn't know why he noticed that, and all his movements were smooth. It was like he was psychic, he stopped immediately at every red light, knew when was the best time to turn, and calmly stopped every time some grandma didn’t notice the red light. So, every time Leo drove them to school, it was pretty chill. Jason and Leo blabbed about some rumors going around, etcetera etcetera. Jason laughed at some of Leo’s terrible jokes, and all was good.
When they made it to school, Piper ran up to Jason and they walked to class together. Leo was in his first class with Nico, their other friend, and Nico’s crush, Will. They keep trying to get Nico to confess, but Nico doesn't want to get rejected. Although, it's completely obvious Will likes him back. Piper and Jason got the same teacher for their first class, so every day they walked together. And yes, to answer your question, they are “dating”. It’s more like a gay-lesbian solidarity, but nobody needs to know that. Everyone at school ships them, and their parents aren’t the most supportive people ever, so they decided to fake date as long as they could stand it. And they are best friends, obviously, so they got free excuses to hang out, by just saying they are going out on a date or something.
So, there Jason sat, in homeroom, too scared to tell his friend he likes him, and pretending to be in a relationship with his best friend.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thank goodness Piper and Jason lived in the same neighborhood, because Jason does not think he could survive riding with Leo both to and from school, especially with the fact that Leo usually drives his girlfriend Calypso home. Yes, girlfriend.
“So how was school?” Piper asked, glancing at Jason
“It was pretty average,” Jason replied.
“You have seemed down lately, what's going on?”
Oh, trust me, you don't wanna know. Maybe it has something to do with the fact I have liked my best friend for years and now he has some stupid girlfriend and I have to pretend everything is fine when it's really not and-
“Nothing. Just… thinking.” Jason sighed. This is great.
The rest of the walk was pretty quiet, every few minutes Piper would bring up something with her other friends or that one girl Shel she hung out with alot, but otherwise, the only sound was their feet walking across the pavement, windchimes, and the occasional dog bark or children screaming. When Jason finally got home, he grabbed dinner and immediately went upstairs. He tossed his backpack down on his bed, grabbing a few things to study. He hated studying, like most teens, but even though it was boring, Jason also found it calming. Wow, shocker.
Halfway through studying, Jason got a phone call. He picked up his phone, pushing his papers and books to the side of his desk. He checked the contact calling him.
Hot stuff. Leo.
Jason smiled slightly. He accepted the call. “Hey, Leo.” He said, grinning. Thankfully Leo couldn't see him through the phone screen. He would probably make some weird comment.
“Jason! Whatcha doing?” Leo's voice said through the phone speakers.
“Studying, how about you?” Jason set down his phone, sitting back in his chair. He was not gonna get back to studying anytime soon.
“Just sitting. Boring, ya know?” Leo sighed dramatically on the other side of the phone.
“Mhmm” Jason stared up at the ceiling. “How are things with Calypso?” Jason hated himself for asking that. He really didn't want to hear about Leo's girlfriend.
“Oh, yeah, things are good. We are going on a date to the arcade this Saturday!” Leo sounded like he was smiling. Which, of course, Jason was happy for.
“That's great!”
“Yeah, I still can't believe it. Me, Leo Valdez, with Calypso. Especially because she's on the cheer team and all that.”
“Mhm.” Jason remembered when Leo first told him and Piper about his crush on Calypso. It was 3 months ago, after winter break. They were at their lunch table, talking about their winter breaks. Piper brought up the topic of crushes, because she and Jason had just begun fake dating 1 month ago, on December 3rd, and Leo kept going on about how he was the third wheel.
“Come on Leo! There is no way you don't have a crush at the moment.” Piper smiled, taking a bite of her apple.
“Well, there's this one girl on the cheer team. You guys probably know her. Her name is Calypso.” Leo seemed suspiciously interested in the mushy school lunch beans.
“Wait, like that one redhead? The one who had a crush on Percy before he got with Annabeth?” Jason asked.
“Yeah, her.”
Looking back on it, it seemed different from the other times Leo talked about his crushes. Like, he was less enthusiastic or something. Maybe it just had to do with the fact winter break had just ended. Now, he and Calypso were together, and Leo was happy. And because Leo was happy, so was Jason.
He wished he could tell Leo that he and Piper were just fake dating, and he wished Leo also felt the same, but Jason knew that wasn't possible. He came to terms with that awhile ago. Well, except in the mornings. But he didn't need to go back into that train of thought. Jason sat up, starting to put his things away.
“Jason,” Leo sounded tired. He was probably just about to go to sleep. It was pretty late, based on the fact the clock read the numbers 11:47. “tell me you're not still studying.”
Jason paused. “...Define still.”
“Okay, it's practically midnight, if you don't get enough sleep again you might actually explode.” Leo sounded concerned, even though he was joking.
“Sorry, sorry, but my grades don't just come from nowhere.” Jason smiled.
“They will be coming from nowhere if you have no more brain from studying until the next day!” Leo laughed, which made Jason laugh. “Seriously, man, you gotta get some sleep.”
“Yeah, yeah. I'm putting away my stuff right now.” Jason grabbed the rest of his papers. He put them in his backpack, zipping it up and setting it on the floor. “So other than that date with Calypso you got any plans-”
“Sleep, Jason.”
“Fine. Goodnight, Leo.”
“Goodnight, Jason.” And he hung up.
Jason changed into pajamas quickly, brushing his teeth and using the restroom before climbing into bed. He turned off his bedside light, and, to nobody's surprise, could not fall asleep. He tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable position. He sighed. He looked out his window, to see it was raining lightly. He watched the streets being soaked, water forming a little river on the sides of the road. It was peaceful at night. Less cars. Less noise. Jason turned back around, getting up. He tiptoed down the hallway, to the kitchen. Carefully, he poured a glass of water, taking a few sips. He sat down on one of the kitchen chairs, thinking.
After a few minutes, Jason was finally tired. The clock read 12:32 am, and Jason really didn't want to be up any later. He refilled the glass, just in case, and walked back toward his bedroom. He shut the door behind him, climbing back into bed. Finally, his mind cleared and he fell asleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
2:08 am.
That was the time when Jason got a text from Leo.
Hot stuff: Jsaon u up?
You: Yeah, you alright?
Hot stuff: I cnat fall aslepp.
Jason stared at the screen. After a second he started typing.
You: Clearly.
Three dots. Typing.
Hot stuff: Im suffrinh ober her grce dont b rude
Jason laughed, quietly. He started typing again.
You: Nightmares again?
Jason sat, waiting for a reply. The three dots appeared. Typing. Then vanished. They came back, typing, and vanished again. Finally Leo’s message appeared.
Hot stuff: nha
Hot stuff: jus… thikning.
Jason sighed. Something was definitely wrong. He sat back against his pillow, beginning to type again.
You: That's new.
Hot stuff: jezz gace, you’re rlly on fire tonihgt.
You: It's 2 am. You're texting me at 2 am, what do you expect?
Hot stuff: idk
A pause. Three dots. Disappear. Three dots again. Disappear. Jason counted that the three dots disappeared and reappeared a total of 6 times before the message was sent.
Hot stuff: you were the first person I thought of
Jason smiled despite himself. His heart pounded. He stared at his phone, thumbs hovering over the keys. He typed.
You: I see you're using correct spelling now.
Hot stuff: mhm
Typing. Jason watched the three dots disappear and reappear. 4 times.
Hot stuff: cals alseep
Hot stuff: figureed id bother yuo instead
Jason stared at the words. Calypso is asleep. Jason is the first person he thought of. Leo can’t sleep. Jason is the first person he thought of.
You: I don't mind.
Hot stuff: ou lov when i bothrr you
Jason shook his head, smiling. I do, he thought. That's the problem.
You: So, what are you thinking about?
Hot stuff: Normal 2am thnings. Life. Daeth.
Jason stared at the screen. He smiles, but he knows Leo.
You: Tell the truth.
Hot stuff: ok thrapist
Three dots. 7 times.
Hot stuff: do uyo ever feel like poeple will get sick fo you
Three dots. 2 times. Typing.
Hot stuff: like
Hot stuff: ppl will relize im loud
Hot stuff: nd annoying
Hot stuff: adn to much
Jason stares at the screen, frowning. He starts to type. He deletes his message. He types again. Delete. Type.
You: Leo. Nobody thinks that.
Hot stuff: Sriously. If u could u wuld mute me right
Jason sighs. He thinks a second. He looks around, before turning back toward his phone. He begins to type. Delete. Type. Send.
You: I like when you text me.
You: You're my favorite notification
Jason debates why he sent that. Leo probably thinks he’s crazy. After a minute, the three dots appear. Another message pops up.
Hot stuff: thats sd but thank u
Jason's heartbeat quickens. It wasn't weird. Just… sad.
Hot stuff: I told u to slep earler
You: I did.. For like 2 minutes.
Hot stuff: nigtmares?
You: A little
A second. Two. Three. Jason gets to 18 before Leo replies.
Hot stuff: wana talk abt it
Jason hesitates. Yes. He does. But he can’t. His fingers almost betray himself, almost writing something entirely too honest. Instead he settles on:
You: I’m okay. I have you distracting me.
Jason stares at their conversation while waiting for Leo to reply. It's 2:29 now. He was not supposed to be up this late.
Hot stuff: ty for ansering
You: Of course, I don't mind.
Hot stuff: yh but ou always anwser.
There's a pause. Jason counts the amount of times the three dots come. This time it's 12.
Hot stuff: its easier to talk to you
Jason's heart hammers in his chest. His cheeks heat up. He wonders if Leo can hear his heart through the screen. Jason starts typing. He reads over his message. Delete. Type. Send.
You: Leo, if you ever need to talk, just text me. I don't mind being woken up.
Jason stares at the screen. Three dots. They disappear and reappear.
Hot stuff: me too
Jason smiles softly. He wishes he could see Leo, at that moment.
You: Try to sleep.
Hot stuff: onky if u do
You: Deal.
Jason stares at the screen. He almost puts his phone away before he sees a message from Leo.
Hot stuff: jason
You: Yup?
Hot stuff: ty for bieng there.
Jason hesitates before responding
You: Always.
Jason stares at his screen. He goes back to the contacts list, staring at Leo’s contact name. Hot stuff. He thinks about changing it, to something normal like how Pipers is Pipes and Percys is Perc.
…He doesn't.