No But The Hunger Games Really Said "what Do You Hate More- The Atrocities Or The People Who Commit Them

barty is the biggest astrophysics nerd. like he can and will talk for hours and hours about black holes, and the history and expansion of the universe, and dark energy, and einstein's cosmological theories, and t=0, and the formation of galaxies, and and and

like tell me he didn't dream of working for nasa and had notebooks upon notebooks filled with equations and diagrams TELL ME

this is literally canon already

Okay but Evan with selective mutism, is this a thing people hc? Like as a kid he'd go everywhere with Pandora, who learned how to tell what he wanted to say from the look in his eyes. It got easier as they got older but for years she was the only one who could understand the intricacies of the tiny movements of his face until one day she found some scrawny loud ass boy having a one-sided conversation with Evan and left them to it.

I want to shut up forever but I’m always thinking of more dumb shit to say

jason's last words being to leo "don't do this, we have to stay together" and leo's last words to jason being "when are you going to trust me? i love you", fuck they should've met again but they didn't and they can't im so upset at that literally being the last time they speak to each other and leo blows up in flames and jason loses his grip on the air, storm and fire at the same time but yeah "we HAVE to stay together" and "WHEN are you going to trust me?", this never happens like this never happens fuck... like that's all they wanted through the books, that is LITERALLY their arcs, jason wanted something that stuck and something he understood, and leo was misunderstood and cast aside. but asking WHEN will we stay together? HAVE you trusted me? and the thing is, they did this from their very first quest!!!!! they made sure that it was just them in it no matter what set them apart or against each other but also that they trusted each other so much with the very private parts of their lives, like they saw things of each other that piper didn't even know, had conversations she never heard... and for it to end in jason's pov watching leo, and all they say is "we have to stay together" "when are you going to trust me" and of course the fucking final words of "i love you" fuck fuck fuck

they match each others freak (me when)

Regulus, to the first years: There are only three rules in the Slytherin tower: The lake is off limits, never piss of Mcgonagall, and Barty Crouch Junior is a HOME WRECKING WHORE

Barty, from across the room: BITCH

My full Valgrace fic recs list

contains a mix of fluff smut and angst remember to always read tags !

Roommate Arrangement (Valgrace) by SevenKookies ( https://web.archive.org/web/20240529212758/https://archiveofourown.org/works/54710974/chapters/138657211)

Four idiots and four more idiots by PhoBOS_34 ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/57872989/chapters/147309475 )

A Lifetime From the Hunt by thatonefandomjumper ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/51232267/chapters/129453724 )

fall of grace by jasegrace ( https://archiveofourown.org/series/3991375 )

Uno Más by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/55664305 )

a grace period by Viva la Leo Valdez ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/54242536/chapters/137360470 )

a velociraptor's silly little valgrace fics by anon ( https://archiveofourown.org/sehttps://archiveofourown.org/works/51902923ries/3964135 )

i don't know what I'm waiting for by dirtysoupgirl ( https://archiveofourown.org/series/4038883 )

the medic problem by sapphsol ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/54124165 )

training wheels by ethannku ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/50542930 )

Storm and Fire - Valgrace by moonsappho ( https://archiveofourown.org/series/3479536 )

don't have the right name or the right looks but i have twice the heart by somerdaye ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/3619743 )

Of First Kisses and Burnt Lips by sunkelles ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/819714 )

Things I Wish You'd Never Asked by undead_dinosaur ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/51902923 )

sparks in storms by dirtandbugs ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/52489324/chapters/132785581 )

the last great american dynasty by takeimi ( https://archiveofourown.org/series/3902683 )

you're my best friend (and I love you so much) by rubyredketchup ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/29903322 )

Set Your Fire on Me by sleepingwhore ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/34098787?view_adult=true )

Rebuilding Rome (With Help From You) by Squippy ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/45289897)

A Graceful Death, and Reunion by MangoandAppleChase ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/45548599/chapters/114611899 )

Flame on! By Caora ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/55817026 )

You’d Have to Stop the World Just to Stop the Feeling by HuntingRays ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/58193518 )

Will Gives Demigods Shots, I Want To Kill Him by HuntingRays ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/57076183 )

I Gave A Second Chance To Cupid (Just Kidding!) by HuntingRays ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/56037433 )

S-Class by HuntingRays ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/55833547 )

The Archer by HuntingRays ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/55755847 )

The Moment by queer_alienbean ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/55938742 )

Kitchens and Kisses by AceFangirlLani ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/56876998 )

Engines and Explosions by AceFangirlLani (  https://archiveofourown.org/works/56686174 )

The Heroes of Juno by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/54202792/chapters/137250442 )

Manic Pixie Dream Leo by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/57040054 )

I've Missed Your Big Dumb Face by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/54040966 )

Runaways by Verose1234 ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/53909425/chapters/136454752 )

Valgrace Good Future by Ottpop (  https://archiveofourown.org/series/4113400 )

fall from grace, fall for grace by anon ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/54436744/chapters/137900197 )

seize the day by restinreeses ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/44861305/chapters/112874230)

follow you by amhras ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/28993044 )

Remember This Not by MaskedKing631 (https://archiveofourown.org/works/36584068/chapters/91245061 )

meet me at our spot by ethannku ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/34137139/chapters/84933631 )

a "short" story by pipermclean ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/10434213 )

hopeless case by restinresses ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/45419149 )

Strawberries in the Field by moonssappho ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/57056323/chapters/145107268 )

The Ebb and Flow (Of the List of Things That I Don't Know) by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/59893960 )

Small Town Affair by manygeese ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/59885428/chapters/152772709 )

august slipped away like a moment in time by clowningstar19 ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/59762137/chapters/152436793 )

being with you makes the flame burn good by gumtoof ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/31593176/chapters/78172310 )

You said, "Baby, no attachment" by Urmumitykins ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/59301340/chapters/151238689 )

Moments Together by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/60940348 )

Crisis of Rome by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/60916228/chapters/155606725 )

heartbeat under the floorboards intensifies by buoyantsaturn ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/43616394 )

"and playing video games" by SummerHome ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/61998850 ) 

And ease thy soul with slumber bright by QueenJunoTheGreat ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/62185138 )

worth fighting for by jankwritten ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/62460739 )

this will be updated as time goes on so I'll probably pin it to my blog :)

and of course shameless self promo: I have like 23 valgrace fics I'm just gonna put a short one shot here

Forever and a Bit by IWannaScreamEureka ( https://archiveofourown.org/works/59005273 )

(Also all the people that had said yes to the earlier post I made: @lazyscarhead @clevertimemachinepolice @siimplyapril @katiefromcabin7 )

jace was so sure from the jump that izzy would get bored of simon. of course she would. that's the way izzy operated right? date a boy until he stopped being interesting. move on. izzy was too interesting for any boy anyway, and some ridiculous mundane? please. give her two weeks max.

funny, though, how that .. never happened. izzy never got bored. but it was never about getting bored. not really. even if that's what she told her brothers, even if that's what she told herself. the boredom came not because there wasn't more to uncover but because she refused to get close enough to see the more. the things that make a man interesting, that make him tick. she refused to let her own more be seen too, but all the interesting stuff is already on the outside right? a man could never get bored of isabelle lightwood. so she has to tire of them. otherwise she risks getting too close. otherwise she risks opening her heart.

and simon.. simon just kept surprising her. the thing about someone who is so unassuming to begin with is that they have the tendency to keep proving you wrong. and simon doesn't hide anything either. he shoots a skylight. he bites a vampire. hell, he becomes a vampire! he's funny and he's kind and he pays attention. he's not like the guys izzy has dated because they wear their interesting on the outside. they make it possible for izzy not to have to dig any deeper. but simon is just an open book that once izzy flipped the first page she found she couldn't manage to look up from.

izzy was never going to get bored of simon. no matter what jace said. no matter what izzy definitely thought at the beginning as well. because how could she? he's simon.

Aaaaaaaalllrighty everyone!!!!!! It's TIME!!!!!!! Let's fucking gooooooo!!!!!!! I am sososososososo excited to share @lost-trio-week with you all!!!! It's going to be SO much fun and I am thrilled beyond words! People's wonderful creations are already rolling in and I love each and every one of them SO much!!! YAYAYAYAYYAYAY!!!!

So, without any more delay, I'd like to present my day one fic: We Are Not Shining Stars (We Are Who We Are)

(CW: Implied/Referenced Child Abuse)

"Now, I’m gonna find your file. Seeing as someone won’t even tell me when his birthday is, I at least want that much. Assuming you didn’t delete it already, that is.” Eventually, Piper found his file and started her deep-dive, obviously disappointed at the barren field of information before her. She started reading off things about Leo that he obviously already knew (apparently, his birthday made him a Cancer. He didn’t know what that meant, really, but it was bitingly ironic) while Leo gasped in mock shock over her revelations and tinkered with a little wind-up toy. Then Piper got quiet for a moment, and giggled out her little mischievous giggle, which immediately put Leo on high alert. He squinted at her suspiciously. “What’d you find?” “Something weird,” she reported, still giggling. “They have the wrong name down for you on one of these documents.” He rolled his eyes, and looked back at his project, expecting her to come up with some dumb little nickname that would stick for about a week before they both got bored of it. “Yeah? And what name do they have?” “Emilio.” *** Piper learns a secret she was never meant to know. Lost Trio Week 2024 - Day One: Wilderness/Nicknames

Part 2 of Carry On (Wilderness School Fics)

To say that Dylan was a pain was more than a little bit of an understatement. You’d think that being in a school as big as Wilderness would have meant that you wouldn’t really cross paths with any one particular person too often, but Dylan somehow managed to surpass all expectations. He wasn’t actually in too many of Piper and Leo’s classes, but he found a way to bump into them in the halls almost every period, and he certainly made an effort to be as awful as possible in the little time he had with them.

His worst offense, by far, was the history class he shared with the both of them. Piper and Leo sat next to one another, like they did in every class they shared, and Dylan had made himself right at home in the desk directly behind them.  Considering his penchant for running his mouth, especially about Piper, and the teacher’s disinterest in stopping him, especially when it was about Piper, it was clear that Piper and Leo would have to take matters into their own hands. Leo had originally suggested tricking the teacher into abandoning him next time they went on a field trip, but Piper had given him one of those looks and he’d begrudgingly agreed to a solution that didn’t involve bodily harm. Again. 

The solution had come one afternoon when they were hanging out in the library and Leo had poked around for a bit on one of the computers he definitely wasn’t allowed on, then asked Piper if she had any grades she wanted him to change for her.

She squinted at him, then at his computer screen. “Wait, are you hacked into the school’s computer system? How’d you do that? Don’t you need to use, like, a super computer or something?”

Leo decided that going over all of her incorrect ideas about what “hacking” meant was probably a waste of time, so he just shrugged. “Just the grade books. The actual interesting stuff like personal records and junk is only really accessible on an admin computer. I mean, I could get to it from here, but it would require a lot of work.”

She arched her eyebrows at him. “And how, exactly, do you know that?” Instead of answering, he just winked and tapped the side of his nose, so she rolled her eyes. “Fine, whatever. Don’t tell me.”

“Wasn’t planning on it!” he chirped back at her.

After a moment, she gave him a curious look. “Can you change schedules from what you have there?”

Leo shook his head. “Nah, that’s all gonna be on that main system. This one is specifically easy to get into because the teachers need to be able to access it from home. There’s no need for them to access schedules and stuff, so that’s gonna be more secure.”

“Do you–” She cut herself off and thought for a moment while she sucked her teeth. “Do you think we could use that to get rid of Dylan?”

“What? You mean like mobster ‘Ay, let’s get ridda this guy’ or–”

“No, I just mean, like… changing his schedule? Just swap his math and history so we don’t have to deal with him any more.”

Leo hummed in thought. “What about P.E.? You wanna swap him out of that class, too?”

Piper weighed her options very carefully before shaking her head. “Nah. If it’s just the one class, that could be, like, a system error or something. If we go around changing a bunch of his classes, people might look into it. Besides, I think Coach Hedge hates Dylan, so we don’t really have to deal with him, so long as he’s around.”

Leo nodded in agreement. Hedge claimed that it was just because Dylan was on the track team and he needed to be in top form, but any time Dylan even tried to talk to Piper and Leo during PE, Hedge popped up out of thin air, blowing on his whistle until he was purple, and ordering Dylan to run another two laps. “Alright. Well, we’re gonna have to break into the headmaster’s office. I might be able to do it if we can only get access to the front desk, but it will be harder.”

“Wanna do it Thursday?” Piper suggested. “Mr. Thomas is supposed to be on hall monitor duty that night.”

Leo agreed, and together they started plotting. Leo was once again struck dumb by the breathtaking lack of security at this particular correctional facility. Sure, they had some of the harshest, meanest punishments they could get away with before someone (rightfully) accused them of child abuse, but they apparently had little to no interest in trying to stop anyone from breaking the rules. There weren’t even proper security guards, though most of the teachers were armed with school-supplied hand tasers. Instead, the night watch was taken on by a series of teachers all taking their turns to roam the halls until the sun rose up over the far distant horizon. Mr. Thomas was a wry, skittish sort of man that really had no business surviving in a place like this, but still managed to have the longest tenure of almost any of the staff. Still, he struggled to stay awake during his own lessons, dry-erase marker hanging limply in one hand and coffee cup clutched desperately in the other, so it was no surprise to anyone that he often “rested his eyes” when it was his turn to patrol the halls. Students weren’t supposed to know the rotation schedule, but, well. Piper certainly had her ways.

That Thursday night, Leo picked the lock on their dorm room door, and they silently crept through the many empty halls of Wilderness School, all the way down to the first floor where the headmaster’s office was. Breaking into those rooms had been even easier than breaking out of their dorm, so before too long Leo was sat in front of Dylan’s daily schedule, and with a few clicks Dylan’s 10:00 math class was swapped with his 2:00 history class, and emails were sent out to both teachers and student alerting them of the “sudden but necessary” change. 

“You said this has everyone’s personal records on it, right?” Piper asked, peering over his shoulder once he was done. He nodded and she grinned at him. “Cool. I wanna check yours out. I’m gonna find out what you’re hiding, Valdez.”

Leo scoffed loudly and rolled away, giving her free reign. “Be my guest. You’re not gonna find anything interesting.”

She raised her eyebrows at him. “You ran away six times, and you think there’s nothing interesting in your file?”

“I didn’t say that,” he corrected, grinning like a shark. “I just said you wouldn’t find it.”

She laughed at him, the sound bright and loud in the cramped office. “Whatever. Get out of my way; I wanna do some snooping.”

Leo got up and offered the chair to her, bowing obnoxiously. “Your throne, my lady.”

“Why thank you, my good sir,” she replied, equally obnoxious, as she took her seat. “Now, I’m gonna find your file. Seeing as someone won’t even tell me when his birthday is, I at least want that much. Assuming you didn’t delete it already, that is.”

Leo shrugged. He hadn’t gotten rid of stuff like his birthday and social security number from his file, but he didn’t really think that mattered all that much. He got rid of the important things, like why he’d gone into the foster system to begin with, or why he’d been removed from some of those awful places before he even had the chance to run away. Anything that mattered. Anything that tied him back to that little house in Texas and the choking smoke of a burning warehouse. He was past all that now. Keep moving forward, a gnarled old lady’s voice said in the back of his mind. Be quick and be clever, but always keep moving. He figured the past couldn’t catch him if he never let it exist in the first place. 

Eventually, Piper found his file and started her deep-dive, obviously disappointed at the barren field of information before her. She started reading off things about Leo that he obviously already knew (apparently, his birthday made him a Cancer. He didn’t know what that meant, really, but it was bitingly ironic) while Leo gasped in mock shock over her revelations and tinkered with a little wind-up toy he’d been working on. 

Then Piper got quiet for a moment, and giggled out her little mischievous giggle, which immediately put Leo on high alert. He squinted at her suspiciously. “Pipes? What’d you find?”

“Something weird,” she reported, still giggling. “They have the wrong name down for you on one of these documents.”

He rolled his eyes, and looked back at his project, expecting her to come up with some dumb little nickname that would stick for about a week before they both got bored of it. “Yeah? And what name do they have?”

“Emilio.”

 Immediately, the world stood still. He was four years old and that name was being sung to him while he clapped his hands in front of a fire truck birthday cake. He was five years old, laughing hysterically as he ran away from the mess he’d made and the sound of that name shouted after him on its own laugh. He was six years old and he was being told that all the teachers and kids at school were going to call him Leo, but he would always know what name was on his heart. He was seven years old and that name was sitting warm on his shoulders as stories about what an amazing life he would get to live were told to him in hushed whispers. He was eight years old and that name was being tapped out in Morse Code as his mamá told him how much she loved him for the very last time. 

“Don’t say that name,” he snapped. “Don’t ever say that name in front of me again, do you understand?”

Piper reared back, clearly startled. Her gaze flicked over Leo’s face, but he just continued to scowl death at her. He’d had this fight before, and he’d won it every time. He wasn’t afraid to have it again, even if he didn’t want to. She narrowed her eyes at him and very obviously sucked her teeth, preparing her interrogation.

Then she shrugged, turned back to the computer, and continued casually clicking around. “Okay. Hey, did you know that Macy’s middle name is Lucille? It’s like her parents wanted her to cause problems.”

Leo felt a bit like he’d been kicked in the chest by a horse, and if he hadn't been sitting down, he probably would have fallen on his butt. “What?”

“Yeah,” she said casually. “I mean, Lucille is a fine enough name, I guess, but it’s a really shitty middle name. Especially combined with Macy. Macy Lucille Milton. Bleh.”

“You’re just saying that because you hate her,” Leo said automatically. He shook his head. “I don’t mean that. I went all Incredible Hulk on you because you said some random name and your response is ‘okay?’”

She furrowed her brow at him. “Do you… want me to get all bent out of shape about it?”

“Uh, no. I guess not,” Leo stammered. “I just… was expecting you to?”

Piper shrugged. “We all have our secrets.” She offered him one of those grins he knew so well and a handshake. “You don’t quiz me about my relationship with my mom, and I pretend that the school didn’t mess up your file. Deal?”

“I– Yeah, deal,” Leo agreed, shaking her hand. He still felt a bit like he’d been spun around one too many times, and he could feel the adrenaline coursing through his veins from where he’d been geared up for a fight. 

She gave him a real smile then, all the playfulness gone and replaced with gentle, cautious affection. “Cool. Now show me how to send emails to the teachers from this account. I’ve got an idea.”

Leo’s eyebrows shot up and a grin curled over his mouth. “Oh? Do tell.”

“Not until you show me how to get to the email.”

They stayed in the office for probably longer than was advisable, only cutting the mission of mischief short when Mr. Thomas shuffled by, apparently having napped for long enough. They crept back to their dorm, and when they were back safely behind their locked door, they broke out into giggles, beyond pleased with themselves. 

“Ugh, I’m so gonna sleep through English tomorrow,” Piper whined, flinging herself on the bed. 

“You say that like you wouldn’t have slept through it after a full night’s sleep,” Leo accused, picking one of her socks up off the floor and throwing it at her. Piper let out some comically loud snores to avoid answering him, and he rolled his eyes, climbing into his own bed. 

Unbidden, the name came to the front of his mind. Piper hadn’t said it right. She’d pronounced it fine, but it still sounded wrong in her mouth. Her accent rounded out weird parts, and her tone had that nasally Valley Girl kick to it. That name was supposed to be said with a warm, rich voice. It was supposed to sound like laughter and feel like being wrapped up in a hug. It wasn’t supposed to be a slap in the face. 

He still felt a little bad about snapping at Piper, though. She didn’t know, couldn’t know. She’d been joking around one second, only for Leo to flip a switch on her out of nowhere. He could perfectly picture the way she’d stared at him in wide-eyed shock, and how her features had been tinged with the slightest bit of hurt. He wouldn’t have been able to really fault her if she’d been angry with him, demanding answers, but she hadn’t. She just shrugged and accepted it, more than happy to meet Leo where he was at.  She always did that. It didn’t matter how much Leo snarled at her or how bristly and defensive he got, she always stepped back and opened her arms, ready to give Leo the space he needed to go running back to her when he was ready. He curled up in a little ball and pressed his forehead to his knees. “Piper?”

“Yeah, Leo?” she replied immediately, every ounce of the exhaustion she’d been complaining about moments before gone. 

He pressed closer to his knees. “I’m sorry I yelled at you.”

There was a beat of silence, and then he felt Piper crawl into the bed next to him and press up against his side. “You don’t have to apologize. I get it.”

“No you don’t. There’s literally no way for you to get it.”

“Okay, I don’t get it,” she conceded. “Not really. But I get that it upset you, and I get that you don’t wanna talk about why. And that’s all I really need to get, I think.”

Leo chewed his bottom lip until he thought it would bleed. “Leo’s a nickname my mom gave me to tell the teachers and kids at school instead of using my real name.”

“Yeah?” Piper prompted gently. “Do you like it?”

Leo shrugged. “It’s not bad. It never felt quite right though.”

“Then how come you use it?” Leo squeezed his eyes shut and took in a deep, heaving breath, and Piper started gently stroking his back. “You don’t have to tell me, if you don’t want to.”

He knew he didn’t have to. Piper wouldn’t push. She never pushed. Which is exactly why she was the one person on the planet he wanted to tell everything to.

“My mom was the last person who used my real name,” he said quietly. “Everyone else called me Leo, but she used my full name every time.”

Piper hummed softly, and he could hear the gentle smile in her voice when she said, “That sounds nice.”

“Yeah. I’m–” He cut himself off with a little choking noise, and Piper pressed that much closer. “I’m scared I’m gonna forget what it sounded like coming from her if other people use it.”

“Leo,” Piper breathed before finally wrapping him up in a hug. He clung to her, fists clenched in the back of her dumb Hello Kitty shirt. He didn’t cry, not really, but he did tremble from head to toe as she held him. After a moment, her voice whispered in his ear, “You may not like the name Leo, but I do. It’s the name of my best friend.”

Leo chuckled softly in the crook of her neck. “Yeah? I guess it’s not all bad, then.”

Piper didn’t say that name right. There was no one on Earth who could anymore. But maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing after all. She said Leo right. When she said Leo, it sounded like a smirk curling over lips and peanut butter and marshmallow sandwiches shared when no one would even look at him. It sounded like stupid pranks and stolen Pokemon games and staying up past curfew to watch the stars. It sounded like the sort of kindness and acceptance he thought he’d never deserve again. 

It sounded like his name. 

The Tumblr link thing won't work so have an ugly ass hyperlink, I GUESS

Alrighty! It's time to ring in the new year, and I think it's only appropriate that my first post of the year is HoJ! :D @demigod-shenanigans and I were talking about what scenes I should do from MoA and we talked about Charleston and Jason not really remembering (or really even knowing) what happened there with Reyna but he DOES know that his best friend kinda got weird and distant, so he's got all this anxiety about Piper going to talk to that very same entity. Instead, I wrote this. Sorry, bestie <3

Now, may I present LEO Takes a Tumble: A Mark of Athena Scene

As Leo fell once again, he realized that he hadn't been scared when he was falling before. He hadn't been scared because he knew Jason was there and he knew with every fiber of his being that Jason would catch him. Jason wouldn't let him fall. But now they were both falling, and Leo wasn't really sure whose job it was to catch Jason. *** Leo free falls to his certain death. This is only really about half as dramatic as it should be.

As Leo fell through the air following Frank ‘Butterfingers’ Zhang’s spectacular performance (seriously, how did a giant eagle manage to drop him? Leo was suspicious of a deliberate attempt on his life) his only thought was a deep, heart-aching regret at the thought of the salsa he'd made the night before. It had been good right after he'd finished it, obviously, but after a night of letting it rest? Of letting all those flavors marry and meld? There wasn't much that could beat that. But now he'd never get to have it because Frank had gone and dropped him right above a demigod free-for-all throwdown. Somehow, the crew of the Argo II was managing to hold their own against the platoon of soldiers who'd attacked them, which was honestly a little embarrassing for the Romans, come to think of it. 

Before he could think too much about that, he was tackled in midair and brought in close to a remarkably familiar chest. He looked up to see Jason, all of his features sharpened with concentration, and he couldn't help but bite his lower lip in a grin and waggle his eyebrows. “Well, if it isn't the one and only Superman himself. Come here often?”

“Focusing right now,” Jason chided, ignoring the pink on his cheeks. “Be quiet.”

“You know me, Mr. Serious here. I'm practically stoic.”

Jason scoffed. “Yeah right.”

Unfortunately, even that brief moment of distraction was enough to sign the warrant on their certain doom. There was an explosion in the air right in front of them (Leo blamed Hedge) and Jason didn't have time to react. He didn't drop Leo, but he did lose control of the winds and the two of them were suddenly tumbling through the air like abandoned dolls. 

As Leo fell once again, he realized that he hadn't been scared when he was falling before. He hadn't been scared because he knew Jason was there and he knew with every fiber of his being that Jason would catch him. Jason wouldn't let him fall. But now they were both falling, and Leo wasn't really sure whose job it was to catch Jason. 

“Jason! Hey, man! Can you hear me?” Jason just continued to stare at nothing with that same dazed expression on his face, so Leo squirmed one of his hands out from where it was crushed between their chests and gently smacked Jason’s cheek until blue met brown. “Wake up, Jason!”

Jason blinked hard a few times to focus his vision, and when he did his eyes widened in terror at the sight of what Leo assumed was the rapidly approaching ground beneath them. “Hang on! This is gonna get rough!” he ordered over the sharp whistling in Leo’s ears. Then he tucked Leo’s head under his chin and squeezed him tight right as a powerful gust of wind slammed into them from the side. 

Leo clung tight to Jason, hands fisted in the front of his shirt, as the two of them tumbled through the air like one of Leo's failed projects. They were headed straight for a nearby hill, which Leo assumed was Jason’s plan, and Leo braced himself for a very hard landing, followed by getting squashed into a pancake by 230 pounds of solid Roman demigod muscle. Only, that didn't happen. The landing was hard, even harder than Leo had originally assumed it would be, but at the last second, Jason jerked in midair, making sure he hit the ground first. They rolled a few times, which did definitely squeeze the air out of Leo’s lungs but left him otherwise unharmed, until they settled with Jason sprawled out flat on his back and Leo on top of him.

Leo blinked hard a few times to get the stars out of his eyes before his attention turned to Jason. He was lying there, completely still with his eyes closed, and Leo was horribly reminded of the sight of him in the infirmary bed after New Rome. Panic welled in the back of his throat and he started smacking his cheek again, a little harder than he had in the air. “Jace? Jace, you there? C’mon, man, please? Houston to Superman: Come in, Superman!”

“Superman to Houston: Stop hitting me, please,” Jason groaned, weakly batting Leo's hand away from his face.

Leo didn't care. He grabbed both of Jason’s cheeks up in his hands and gave him an absolutely blinding smile. “Jace!”

Jason just smiled back at him for a moment before his eyes went wide and he sat straight up, forcing Leo to sit up with him. His hands started patting Leo down before he desperately raked his fingers through Leo’s hair and cupped his hands around his jaw. “Leo! Oh my gods! Are you okay?”

“I'm Gucci, bro,” Leo grinned through his forced fish face. Jason just wrapped him up in a hug so tight, Leo couldn't help but wonder if they were going to start their free fall again. He frowned when Jason started trembling. “Jace? Are you okay?”

“You were falling,” Jason muttered quietly from where his face was hidden in Leo’s shoulder. “I don't like watching you fall.”

Leo felt his heart twinge in sympathy, and he patted the back of Jason’s head. “Hey, man, don't sweat it. I never do. I've got my own personal Superman to Lois Lane me when I need him, remember? He'd never let me fall too bad.”

Jason huffed out a quiet chuckle before he emerged. He carefully pushed Leo off of his lap and got to his feet so he could scowl down at the demigods fighting below. “Dammit. This is not how I planned for this to go.”

Leo’s eyebrows shot up. “Yeah? How did you plan it? Were you looking for a hot date down in Charleston? Gonna hold somebody's hand while you walk them through the fort and gush about Civil War battle formations?”

Jason flushed maroon and he scowled at Leo, which just made him grin. “Shut up.”

“It's okay, buddy,” Leo comforted, patting him on the arm. “Next time we find a historical site, you can hold my hand and tell me stuff I won't listen to, if you can't find a real date.”

Somehow, Jason got even redder. “Shut up.”

Leo mimed zipping his lips, and Jason rolled his eyes. “Come on,  Houston. We need to get back to the ship.” He held out his arm like he was offering Leo a side hug. “You ready?”

“For you, Superman? Always,” Leo grinned as he took up his position. Jason's arm wrapped around him, and they shot off into the sky.