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manygeese · 3 months ago

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wrote something valgrace again. you can’t stop me I’m a supervillain

~*~

It was a cool summer morning at Camp Half-Blood. The birds were singing, Apollo was riding his chariot across the blue sky, and- wait, was that screaming?

If it was, Jason didn’t hear it. He had just woken up in the Zeus cabin, groggy and grumpy. Usually, he would have been up hours ago, but he had stayed up late with Leo last night. The other boy had been planning something, but Jason didn’t quite catch what it was, as he may or may not have been staring at Leo’s lips.

Oh, who was he kidding. Jason had definitely been staring at Leo’s lips and he had a big, devastating crush on him. Honestly, he should’ve known sooner; with all that time spent laughing at stupid jokes, listening to passionate rants about screwdrivers, and helping assemble mechanic animals, you’d think he would’ve clued in weeks ago.

There was the screaming again. The Stolls must have hidden a speaker somewhere in the cabin. Jason dismissed it, pulled the covers back up, and turned on his side to face the wall.

What he couldn’t dismiss was the voice whispering in his ear. “Jason.”

Jason sat up like he was waking up from a nightmare, only relaxing once he saw who was talking. “Oh my Gods, Leo, why are you here?”

Leo shushed him. “We talked about this last night! I need to hide. Did you clear out enough room under your bed like we planned?” His eyes darted around frantically, but he still had a bright grin on.

Shit. This was what he got for having a stupid crush. “Sorry, I forgot.”

“Damn,” Leo mumbled. “Well. Get out of the bed.”

“Huh?”

“I need to hide somewhere, and since I can’t be under your bed, I’ll have to be on it.”

Jason obeyed, getting up and standing around awkwardly after Leo shimmied under the covers.

“Well? What are you waiting for?” Leo peeked up over the blanket and gestured to the spot next to him.

Jason blushed. This was, once again, what he got for having a stupid crush. He accepted his fate with a sigh and got back in the bed. Trying to look casual, he picked up a book from under his bed and started to read.

He felt Leo cuddle closer to his side. “Hide me better, Superman.”

This was what he got for having a stupid freaking crush.

Jason was snapped out of his reverie by Piper bursting into the room. “Jason Norman Grace.”

“Piper Ethel McLean.”

“Where’d you find that name- the 1940 census?”

“I feel like we’re ignoring the fact that you just called me Norman.”

“Do I look like an eighty year old, Norman?”

“Not particularly.”

“Then do not call me Ethel.” She had murder in her eyes, so he was compelled to listen.

“Alright,” he relented, closing his book with one hand. “What’s the matter, Pipes?”

She groaned and tapped her foot impatiently. “Do you have any idea where Leo is?”

Jason made a deliberate attempt not to look to his left, where the boy in question was lying still. Luckily, from where Piper was standing, she couldn’t see the lump next to him in bed. “No. Why?”

“Did you not hear the screaming coming from the Aphrodite cabin?” She gestured outside exasperatedly. “The little shit activated a glitter bomb in there and it got Drew. It’s gonna take a blessing from Aphrodite to get all the sparkles out of her hair.” She crossed her arms and breathed out a laugh. “I mean, I’m proud of him, but I’m also contractually obligated to find him and bring him in for execution.”

Jason hummed thoughtfully. “Try Bunker Nine.”

She shot some finger guns at him. “Thanks, Norman!” She darted out of the door, presumably to find Leo and kick his ass.

“No problem,” he called after her. After he was sure she was out of hearing distance, he elbowed Leo in where he estimated his ribs would be. “They’re gonna kill you, you know that, right?” He hissed.

Leo giggled and popped his head out from under the comforter. “I’m prepared to sacrifice myself to defend the honor of my cabin,” he said as he saluted.

“What’d they ever do to you?”

Leo rolled his eyes and sat up. “Do you ever listen to Piper and I when we gossip? Seriously. This has been going on for weeks.”

“Sorry,” he said truthfully. “I’ll listen next time.”

“It’s okay, man.” Leo patted him on the shoulder. “Basically, at the start of Summer, the Aphrodite cabin stole Jake’s screwdriver. I know it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but Jake really loves that fucking screwdriver, so we weren’t gonna let it slide.”

He went on and on- about how he and his siblings had retaliated by stealing Mitchell’s hairbrush, how the Aphrodite cabin teamed up with the Hermes cabin to paint the forge pink, and how the Hephaestus cabin melted down their rival’s jewelry to make an evil barbie that dyed people’s hair barf green and spat acid. After they released it into the other cabin, Lacy had walked around looking like a deep sea creature all week.

But the biggest prank so far was the one the Aphrodite cabin pulled last week. They had snuck into the forge when everybody was sleeping and rearranged every single tool they had. When the children of Hephaestus got there early in the morning, they couldn’t find any of the right tools and spent five hours putting them back in the way they were used to.

“There’s gonna be multiple stages- this is why we had to stay up so late last night- and the glitter bombs were only the first. Notice how I said glitter bombs, plural.” Leo grinned mischievously. Jason couldn’t help but return it.

“But where are you gonna hide out all day?” Jason asked. “I think they’re getting out the guillotine right now.”

Leo laughed. “Nyssa and the others have been battening down the hatches ever since Aphrodite’s last stunt. There’s a code on the door now, Celestial Bronze covers on the windows, and bear traps in front of every possible entrance. It’s practically a bomb shelter now! Once the final stage of the plan is in motion, I’ll be able to take cover in there with little to no resistance.”

Jason furrowed his brow. “But where will you be until then?”

Leo snuggled back into the sheets. “I think you already know the answer to that, Jace.”

~*~

The second stage of the plan involved more screaming.

“There it is,” Leo noted, waking up from his nap. “The paint sprinklers.”

Jason looked at him incredulously. “The paint sprinklers?”

“We replaced the water in the pipes with thinned paint early this morning. The plan was for Harley to sneak in while the enemy’s at the lake, light an itty bitty fire to activate the fire prevention systems, and the endgame is a cabin covered in acrylic.”

Leo’s hair was smushed adorably into his face, pillow lines on his cheek. The late morning light filtered through the sunroof and lit up the frizzy edges of his curls. It made him look like a bronze statue or an angel.

Whoops. That was lovesick Jason talking, not… actually, he was fairly certain every part of Jason was lovesick Jason now.

“Uh. Um. When will the third stage be… commencing?” Jason stammered eloquently.

“You’ll know,” Leo answered ominously, nodding with certainty. “Trust me. You’ll know.”

~*~

It was 7:30 in the evening and Leo had been in the Zeus cabin all day.

Piper had been in and out every so often, asking after Leo, getting increasingly frustrated yet amused.

“Norman. I am begging you. Please tell me where Leo is,” She implored while they ate dinner. Leo had skipped to avoid being caught by the camp-wide manhunt.

“I’m telling you Ethel, I have no idea,” he lied straight through his teeth.

When he got back, Leo greeted him with a big smile. “Hey, Superman! How was dinner? Any warrants out for my arrest?”

“It was good. Most of the Aphrodite cabin wasn’t there. They were standing watch instead,” he said, tossing a protein bar and a bag of potato chips at the other boy. “Got these for you.”

Leo caught the bag, but the bar hit him lightly in the forehead. “Aw, thanks, man. You didn’t have to do that.”

Jason was about to respond when another round of screaming erupted from outside. When he peeked out of the window, it was utter chaos.

For once, it wasn’t the Aphrodite cabin doing the screaming. It was everybody else. Lacy was serenading a Demeter kid, who was awkwardly enjoying it. Mitchell was gazing lovingly at some other boy from the bushes. Drew tackled Clarisse to the ground and declared her undying love to her. The rest of them chased random campers around like they were piranhas. Oddly enough, their eyes were all pink.

“Aerosolized love potion. Temporary, but potent,” Leo explained when he saw Jason’s confused and horrified look. He shuffled out of bed and pulled two gas masks out of his belt, handing one to Jason. “Take this if you want to live.”

Jason handled it awkwardly. “Why do I need this? I’m staying here.”

Leo laughed as he put on his mask. “You’re coming with me, man. Unless you wanna be executed as a traitor?”

Jason shook his head.

“Then you need it. It serves two purposes- one, keeps you from breathing too much of the love potion in, and two, keeps your face hidden so they don’t fall for you.” He took the mask Jason was holding out of his hands, then putting it on for him.

Leo laced his hand in Jason’s, leading him to the doorway with his free hand on the handle. “We’re gonna need to book it as soon as we’re out there, got it? On three.” Jason nodded.

“One.” Drew yelled in the background.

“Two.” Something crashed. Maybe a window?

“Three!” The door flew open, and the two boys ran straight towards the Hephaestus cabin through the chaos. Leo hopped over a lamenting son of Aphrodite, while Jason nearly tripped on the poor guy. He muttered an apology as he was pulled along to the cabin porch.

Leo punched in a code next to the bank safe door, which both unlocked it and disabled the giant bear trap in front of it. All the same, Jason stepped over it apprehensively.

The door clanged shut behind them as they entered the cabin, shutting them in with Nyssa and Jake, who were there to greet them. He watched as Leo took off his mask, shaking out his hair like a wet dog. It still looked amazing.

Leo turned his eyes to Jason, a small smirk gracing his face. He wordlessly helped him take off his mask. Honestly, Jason had forgotten he had it on.

A scoff made him painfully aware that Leo’s siblings were in the room. “Leo,” Nyssa sighed, “why’d you bring boy wonder?”

“He’s an accomplice. Once Piper finds out he hid me all day, there’s gonna be a manhunt for him, too.”

“Fine, but he’s staying in your room,” Jake said with a wink. Leo blushed a pretty shade of sunset orange, but nodded.

Nyssa got up and pulled on a string, which made all the lights turn off. “Alright, everybody,” she announced, “it’s tinker time. Retire to your bedrooms. Come up with some prank ideas in case Aphrodite doesn’t accept defeat. Have fun.”

Leo pushed some buttons on the wall, which brought up a human-sized capsule. He gestured towards it as it popped open, revealing a bed, a fridge, and even a TV. “After you, my lady.”

Jason blushed, although it was probably more rosey pink than the warm red Leo had on. Gods, why was he still thinking about that?

He clambered into the bed, which began to lower into a bigger room underground. There was a cork board taking up a whole wall, with sticky notes and Polaroids tacked onto it. A desk was in the corner, with scattered blueprints all over it, plus several notebooks labeled “LEO VALDEZ’S AWESOME IDEAS”.

As soon as he got out of the bed, it rose back up and returned with Leo. He scooted off the mattress nonchalantly. “Um, so, this is my room. Make yourself at home.”

~*~

It was the middle of the night and Jason was trying, unsuccessfully, to sleep.

Leo had been tinkering and scribbling in his notebook all night, with a small lamp on in the corner of the desk. Meanwhile, Jason took up nearly the whole bed, even when he laid on his side.

“Hey, Leo,” Jason whispered, getting up to lean on his elbows, facing the other boy. “Go to bed.”

Leo eyed him warily. “No, no! Um, you can have the bed, man,” he laughed nervously. Jason could see the bags under his eyes.

Jason sighed and got up, approaching Leo silently. He scooped Leo up and carried him to the bed.

“Jason? What are you doing?” Leo whined, wrapping his arms around Jason’s neck anyways.

“We’re going to bed,” Jason stated, lying back down on his side and hugging Leo close, even as he squirmed. Jason just shut his eyes, trying to fall asleep, but he got the feeling of being watched.

Sure enough, when he opened one of his eyes back up to check on the other boy, he was met with big, brown eyes with a foreign feeling behind them. “Hey, Leo.”

“Hey, Jason.” A tired smile grew on Leo’s face. “Can I tell you something?”

Jason nodded.

“I think I love you.”

Jason’s eyes widened.

“I know it’s weird, and kinda coming out of left field, but you’re. You’re just… so nice and kind and thoughtful and amazing. Y’know?”

Jason’s breath quickened.

“I couldn’t’ve had this much fun today without you. Or planned it, either. Whenever I’m with you, you make me want to be better. To do better and to make better stuff and all that.”

Jason could feel his heart racing. Could Leo feel it? He hoped he could.

“Sorry. Um, I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t have brought it up. It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way. Probably breathed in some of that love potion, huh?”

Jason was hit by the undeniable urge to wax poetic about Leo’s eyes, his hair, his crooked grin, the way he lit up when he got an idea, or how his voice sounded when he rambled. So he did.

“Does… does this mean-”

“That I love you too? Yeah, Leo, it does.”

Jason had a feeling that he wouldn’t wake up groggy or grumpy the next morning, as long as he had Leo in his arms.

#leo valdez #jason grace #valgrace #piper mclean #drew tanaka #lacy pjo #mitchell pjo #heroes of olympus #nyssa barrera #jake mason #harley pjo #aphrodite cabin #hephaestus cabin #percy jackson and the olympians #heroes of olympus fanfic #fanfic

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