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Leo came into the dorm room he and Jason shared for the nth time that day. Between classes, lunch, and whatever else Leo did, he always came back around to see his boyfriend.
“Jason?” Leo called out, poking his head around the room. “Jason? Are you home?”
Jason sighed quietly. “In here,” he replied from the small kitchen— if you could even call it that.
“Oh, are you cooking?” Leo asked quietly,leaning to see what he was making.
Jason stared at Leo. “You sound stupid,” he laughed quietly. “What else would I be doing? I’m not just standing over the stove for fun.”
Leo nodded with a small, self-deprecating smile. “Yeah, sorry, you’re right. I— um, I bought takeout, because yesterday you seemed really tired— I just wanted to make things easier for you, and—“
“Nobody asked you to do that,” Jason interjected dismissively, turning back towards the stove.
Leo swallowed the growing lump in his throat. “I just wanted to help!” He defended himself weakly.
“I know, I know. But you always try to help, and you almost never do. I’m already cooking, so just put it in the fridge. I don’t want it.”
Leo nodded quietly, walking to the small fridge and putting the bag of Chinese food he had bought inside. After shutting the door, he walked back over to the stove and sat down on the counter about a foot away from it, leaning forward to avoid the cabinets above him.
“Just ask me next time, okay? So I don’t start cooking.” Jason added, stirring the pot of… something. He still hadn’t told Leo.
“Okay?” He reiterated, waiting for a reply.
Leo looked up at him suddenly, as if snapped out of a trance. “Okay.”
“Good,” Jason sighed, placing a heavy hand on Leo’s thigh.
After a deep breath and a long moment of silence, Leo hopped off of the counter. “I’m all gross from reverse engineering today, so I think I’m gonna take a shower before dinner.” Leo hesitated, as if trying to gauge a reaction. “You don’t mind, right?”
“Yeah, go ahead.” Jason said, looking at the digital clock on the stove. “Don’t take forever, though, alright? Dinner’ll be ready in about 20 minutes.”
Leo nodded. “Alright.”
With that, Leo walked off towards the bathroom with quiet footsteps. He opened the door and clicked it shut softly, and a moment later, Jason heard the shower running.
He stared down at the pot of soup he was making. He didn’t think he had been particularly harsh with Leo, but he’d be lying if he said he didn’t see how his boyfriend’s smile faltered.
He was always just so sensitive. He took everything to heart, always reading too much into simple words.
All Jason had been trying to do was to get him to understand, that was it.
Jason’s eyes unfocused as he swam through his thoughts, only pulled from them when he heard the soft sound of Leo’s footsteps.
He turned towards him, allowing his eyes to soften but not his expression. “Took you long enough,” he joked, grabbing him by the hip perhaps a bit more harshly than he should’ve and pulling him into an embrace. “You hungry?”
Leo sighed into Jason’s shirt. “Sure.”
Jason made both of them bowls and they sat down to eat together. It was the same as every other night, small conversation between bites of food.
“Oh, by the way, Piper texted me earlier,” Leo started speaking with a mouthful of steak. “She wanted me to come over to hang tomorrow.”
Jason's expression changed almost imperceptibly. “Tomorrow?” He asked after swallowing.
“Yeah,” Leo confirmed, nodding slightly and swallowing the food in his mouth.
“Oh, I thought we were going to study.”
Leo blinked, trying to remember if Jason had said that. He did have a tendency to lose his thoughts, and he didn’t exactly have a tidy memory. “We were?”
Jason stared at him for a moment before looking back down at his food. “It’s fine,” he sighed. “Go have fun.”
“No, no, I can stay here.” Leo blurted out quickly.” Piper’ll understand.”
Jason looked at Leo, unblinking. “You don’t have to.”
“I know, I just—”
Jason interjected. “Leo, do whatever you want.”
Leo met his eyes for a few moments. “I want to stay with you, we can study at the library.”
Jason broke into a small smile. “Okay, good. We can go out and get coffee too, if you want.”
Leo nodded, taking another bite. “Yeah, sounds great. I’ll text Piper after dinner.”
And with that, the two fell into a silence that was slightly uncomfortable, as it always was between them, for reasons neither could place.
After dinner, Leo found his bag and pulled his phone out of it before settling down next to Jason on the couch. He swiped down to Piper’s contact and texted her.
’hey, sorry girl, can’t make it tm. i have plans w jase’
’oh okok,,,, wyd tmr then?’
’we’re studying for midterms together’
’oh shit!!!! i need to study too. any chance i can come along?’
’waitwaitwait let me ask jason’
Leo looked up from his phone to Jason. “Uhh, hey? Jase? I told Piper that we’re gonna study together tomorrow, and she asked if she could tag along.” He worried at his lip slightly. “Is that okay with you?”
Jason practically shrugged Leo off of him. “It was supposed to be like a date.”
Leo was now sitting up straight, no longer leaning against him. “Oh, okay,” he accepted, beginning to type on his phone to respond to Piper.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Jason exclaimed, standing up. “I’m talking to you, put your phone down.”
Leo tried finishing his message, but Jason hit his phone out of his hand. “Stop. Look at me.”
Leo’s head snapped up to Jason, his eyes wide and his hands shaky. “No, no stop, stop it, I’m sorry—“
Jason took a step back. “Gods, Leo. I’m not gonna hurt you. You’re so dramatic.”
Leo’s gaze fell as he listened to Jason lecture him for what felt like hours, even though it was only ten minutes. He tuned most of it out and just blamed himself.
This was what always happened to him. He was used to it by now. So used to it, in fact, that the only time he truly felt loved was when cruelty was inflicted on him.
He was brought back to memories of himself at seven years old, locked in a closet for a week with nothing but a loaf of bread and the clothes he was wearing. That was his first foster home, and he was so happy to finally have a family for the first time. He hardly even noticed their cruelty until it had gotten to that point.
Then, at eight, in his next home, he was beaten half to death almost every night. At nine, he was hardly fed. At ten, he was raped more times than he could count. More and more horrible things piled onto him until he finally arrived at Camp Half-Blood, but at that point, the damage had been done.
He hadn’t even realized he’d begun crying until Jason picked him up and started carrying him to bed, whispering apologies into his hair.
“Sorry I lost my temper, I just— you’ve just been getting on my nerves all night. I tried to keep my cool. I’m sorry.”
Leo nodded into his chest. “N-no, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”