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Leo hated being cold. Fortunately, his fire powers made it so that being cold wasn’t exactly a frequent problem for him. He could count on one hand the number of times he’d been genuinely cold, and each and every one of those had involved a god or a mythical figure or a monster or something. But not this time.
Well, technically speaking, it did involve a god, but Leo couldn’t really blame him. No, this one was one hundred percent pure, organic, cage-free Valdez Fuckery.
They’d been out on another one of Jason’s little God Quests, this time hunting down the Roman god of purification, a dude named Februus, who could only be found in, you guessed it, February. Granted, that didn’t necessarily mean he had to be somewhere cold – it was currently a balmy 76° in Australia – but Februus had, of course, decided to camp out in the Canadian wilderness. Because of course he did.
But that would have all been fine, genuinely it would have. Leo was no stranger to sleeping in unpleasant places, and, as previously stated, his fire powers kept him from getting cold. In fact, it was pretty great because Jason wasn’t designed for this kind of cold, so Leo got to share a sleeping bag with his darling boyfriend and be cuddled like a space heater with a libido. Februus was going to have his work cut out purifying them when they found his hiding spot.
However, right now Leo wasn’t thinking about any of that because he was cold. More specifically, he was cold and wet and he wanted to die.
It was a stupid mistake. Beyond stupid, really. They’d been walking across what Leo had assumed was a field when he got the bright idea to test and see how his fire would react in that level of cold. He wanted to know if he could heat his body up to the point where he genuinely started steaming, just for the hell of it. Then there had been a strange sound that Leo had never heard before like laser blasters in an old sci-fi movie, Jason’s eyes had gone wide and terrified, and Leo found himself up to his armpits in ice water.
Fortunately, the mistake wasn’t fatal. Between the fire, Nectar, and nature healing Gatorade Hedge made them pack, it was pretty much impossible for Leo to catch hypothermia. Unfortunately, none of that could save him from being absolutely miserable.
Jason had managed to drag him out of the water, then fly them to a nearby cave where he set up the fastest camp of his life, and Leo had been stripped of his damp clothes (in the least sexy way he could imagine) then bundled up in Jason’s spare outfit because Leo’s pack was soaked and even if it wasn’t, he’d just packed jeans and a hoodie. Then, once Leo was dressed and dry, Jason made the warmest camp fire he could manage, and slipped into the sleeping bag right behind Leo, nuzzling Leo’s ears and neck and rubbing his hands everywhere he thought could use a little friction warmth.
“Th-th-this ssssssssucks,” Leo whined through chattering teeth. “W-we’re nnnot even doing the sk-kin to skin thing.”
Jason chuckled and pulled him closer to his chest, which might have been hot if there wasn’t a puffer jacket separating them. “I know, sweetheart.”
“N-No you d-d-don’t,” Leo shot back petulantly.
Jason just kissed his forehead and tucked Leo under his chin. “It’ll be alright. We’ll have hot chocolate soon.”
Leo perked up. “H-Hot chocolate?”
“Don’t get too excited, it’s just a mix,” Jason warned. “Well, actually it’s one of those hot chocolate bombs Piper got us for Christmas, but it kinda got crushed in my bag. Plus, I don’t have any milk, so it’s just water.”
“k-k-k-k-kill me.”
Jason chuckled warmly, way warmer than the world around them, and kissed Leo’s forehead again. “Sorry, but no. You’re not getting out of quest duty that easily.” Leo whined into Jason’s chest, so Jason stuck his hands up the back of Leo’s shirt and started massaging out the tension he found there. “I know, sweetheart.”
“You k-keep sssaying that,” Leo accused. “B-bastard.”
“I keep knowing,” Jason said casually, and Leo resisted the urge to bite him on the tit. It was right there and waiting to be chomped in an un-sexy, punishing way. And also in a sexy, pleasuring way, but Leo was not in the mood. “Look, the hot chocolate is almost done heating up. As soon as you drink a cup to help get your core temperature back up, you can go to sleep, alright? I can already feel your fire waking up, I’m sure you’ll be back to normal come morning.”
Leo grumbled quietly under his breath, but just pressed his face into Jason’s chomp-able pec. “Kay.”
As promised, the hot chocolate was ready within just a few minutes, and the two of them awkwardly shuffled around until they were sitting up next to the fire, still in the sleeping bag, Leo still surrounded by Jason’s warm body. They passed the little pot of hot chocolate between them, seeing as they didn’t have any cups to put it in, and it was surprisingly good for a crushed hot chocolate bomb made with water, not milk. Leo even got to crunch on some chunks of peppermint, making Jason grimace at the noise, which Leo found almost as satisfying as the candy.
The best part of it was that it did actually work. At least a little. Leo was still miserable, of course, but his insides felt the tiniest bit warmer with hot chocolate sloshing around in his tummy. Plus, hot chocolate always made him sleepy, so he burrowed down into Jason’s hold, soaking up as much warmth as he could, and heaved a sigh. “G’night, Superman.”
“Goodnight, Leo. Love you.”
Leo couldn’t help but smile and pressed his face closer. “Love you, too.”
The next morning, Leo woke up warm.