Work Text:
One thing that Jason had learned since he started dating Leo was that he was, in all likelihood, never going to get to drive his boyfriend anywhere. That wasn’t a problem, exactly, seeing as Jason didn’t like driving. Besides, Leo had a thing about driving. Not like Percy and Annabeth, who had to regularly trade off who drove who because they’d get pouty over not having the pleasure of driving their favorite person around. That would have been simple matter of just letting Leo drive everywhere because, again, Jason didn’t really care for driving. Leo said that the best way he had to describe it was being car sick, but that wasn’t quite it, either. His Hephaestus powers just connected him to the mechanics to the engine and there was so much happening just below his feet that it made his skin buzz unpleasantly. If he was driving, he could actually use that information, but as a passenger he was helpless and with his brain already racing like it was, adding the specific gear ratio of the windshield wipers was like pouring juice into a glass that was already full to the brim. So, Jason just let Leo drive wherever he wanted.
Unfortunately, Jason wasn’t in charge of every single second of Leo’s transportation. Some things were just out of his hands, and no, that didn’t bother him even a little bit, why are you asking in that tone? He was super fine and normal about that kind of thing. One thing that fell into that category was public transportation. It was easy enough to avoid in their day-to day lives by just not taking the bus, but they had to get from New York City to California at the beginning and end of every semester, and Festus was deemed off-limits for school drop-offs. This time, Chiron deemed that the railroad was the safest, easiest way to transport two demigods across the country, even if it was horribly slow. This was a very bad thing because Leo was not allowed to drive passenger trains, even if he would do a fantastic job, and there was no one for Jason to challenge to one-on-one combat to give him that right. He had made several insane-sounding phone calls to Amtrak’s underpaid customer service line just to check.
And that was how Jason found himself in the predicament he was in. They’d been assigned to their own private car for the second, much longer leg of their journey, which was a good thing because Leo probably would have thrown up in a stranger’s lap if they’d been forced to spend 45 hours riding in coach after doing it for 19 already. As it stood, there was a non-zero chance that he was going to puke in Jason’s lap, but that was fine. Jason had laid out his rain coat for a reason.
“This sucks,” Leo said for the fifty-third time since they got on the train seven hours ago. He was pale and shivering and covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Jason imagined this was what Leo probably looked like with the flu, if he were capable of doing such a thing. “I hate every second of this torture.”
Just like he had the fifty-two times before, Jason hummed sympathetically and pulled Leo close to kiss his forehead. “I know, sweetheart. I’m sorry you feel bad. We’ll make sure not to go this way ever again, alright?”
“Yeah,” Leo said quietly. Then he pressed his face into Jason’s arm and Jason could feel the way his face was puckered in a frown. “Sorry I’m being like this. This might not actually be so bad for you if you weren’t stuck listening to me be a miserable bitch about it.”
Jason’s lips turned down and his brow furrowed. He thought for a moment, then decided that an even better way to avoid getting puke in his lap was to just put Leo there instead. No crinkly rain coats needed. Leo went very willingly because he’d always been more than happy to get pulled into Jason’s orbit in any way possible, even before they’d started dating. He kissed Leo’s forehead again and tucked him under his chin. “You’re not a miserable bitch.”
Leo snorted into Jason’s neck, which was a warm and wet and very uncomfortable feeling, but Jason didn’t mention it. “I assure you that I am an incredibly miserable bitch right now.”
Jason searched valiantly for an argument, then bit his tongue when he found none. “Okay, fair–” Leo snorted into his neck again and Jason ignored it again “–but I don’t mind.”
Leo went very still in his arms. “You don’t?”
Jason furiously shook his head. “I mean, I mind that you feel bad, that sucks, but I don’t mind that you’re acting like you feel bad. I’m glad that you’re acting like you feel bad.”
“That doesn’t make any sense. Why would you want to be around someone acting like a baby about a train? Why wouldn’t you want me to be normal?”
“Because I’d know you were lying.” Leo went still again, which should have been impossible because he was already still. Apparently, just like he had a second level of ambient movement most people didn’t have, he had secret stillness, too. “If you were acting normally, I’d know you were deliberately hiding feeling bad just for me. I don’t want you to do that. I never want you to do that for anyone, but especially not me.”
“Oh, um.” Leo cleared his throat and twisted around so his face could press even deeper into Jason’s shoulder, which he always did when he was embarrassed. “Thanks, I guess.”
“I’m not just here for the fun parts of being with you,” Jason reminded him gently. “I’m here for all the shitty parts, too.”
Leo huffed out a laugh. “In sickness and in health?”
Leo’s tone was joking, but Jason’s was deathly serious when he answered, “Til death do us part.”
“Dude!” Leo squawked, pulling away from his hiding spot with maroon cheeks. He was so embarrassed that he was physically heating up and Jason was a little worried about him catching fire. There were already sparks in his curls. “You can’t say that to me. I’m literally sixteen.”
“I’m sixteen, too.”
“Yeah, but you’re the most absurdly intense sixteen-year old ever. You don’t count.”
Jason thought that was bullshit and said as much. Leo just laughed at him, so Jason rolled his eyes. Leo settled his weight deeper into Jason’s chest, the tension he’d been carrying since they left New York slowly melting away, and Jason made that one humming/growling noise Leo liked so much because it made his chest vibrate. Leo melted just a bit more, and Jason’s brain recorded it like it was a tactical advantage.
“I wish I had a way to make you feel better,” Jason murmured into Leo’s curls after a few minutes of mostly-silence. As he spoke, he was stroking down Leo’s back, pressing deep into the tissue, and deeper still when Leo arched back into it.
“You already are,” Leo said, and his voice had gone slightly thick and sweet like honey.
“Yeah?”
“Mhm.” Jason ran his hand down the length of Leo’s arm, and Leo just let him pick up his hand and start massaging it with his thumb. “You turn my brain off better than anything.”
Jason chuckled, which made Leo hum happily. “Oh yeah? I didn’t think it was possible to turn your brain off.”
“It’s not, but you come closer than anyone else.”
Jason laughed at that, and Leo hid his grin in Jason’s collar. “Guess I’d better keep this up for the next thirty-eight hours.”
Leo made a revolted sound and shuddered from head to foot. “Don’t remind me how much longer we’re gonna stuck on this torture tube, or I’ll puke on you out of spite.”
“If you do that, you’ll have to either get up to let me change, or spend the rest of the trip sitting in your own barf.”
Leo gagged at both thoughts. “Okay, fine, I’ll puke on you when we get to California.”
“Duly noted,” Jason said pleasantly. Without thinking about it too hard, he let his hand trail back up Leo’s arm and come to rest in his curls. They were always stupidly soft and, without question, one of Jason’s favorite physical features of his boyfriend. He ducked his head and kissed Leo’s temple. “Why don’t we get some sleep?” he suggested. “We got, like, a two-hour nap in Chicago for the layover, but otherwise we’ve been awake for nearly thirty hours.”
“Okay,” Leo agreed easily, and that was how Jason knew he was exhausted. He squirmed a bit to find the comfiest, closest spot on Jason’s chest and sighed happily. “G’Night, Superman.”
“Good night, Houston.”
After that, Leo was conked out in just a few breaths, and Jason felt his chest get tight. Leo slept around exactly two people, himself and Piper, and every time Leo let his guard down so easily just because he knew Jason was watching over him was a gift. A silent testament to how much he’d come to trust and rely on Jason. Each and every snore was practically a badge of honor Jason carefully stitched onto his very soul. He cradled Leo even closer and pressed a kiss to his hair. “I love you.”
Leo stayed asleep, but his soft sigh and subconscious smile meant just as much as any words could.