The two doors

Side AB, part 1.

He doesn't remember falling asleep but he knows he's waking up, faintly he thinks about warm arms carrying him, but isn't sure which universe they might have belonged in. And then he notices the rocking.

He heaves, the world tilting in its axis in front of his very eyes, and stumbles into the wooden floor holding onto metallic walls, and staring at the off-grey cot he was just in. And the ground is still rocking.

Familiar humming slowly fills the room, with approaching footsteps, and the sound of something being tossed around.

"Shit, fuck!"

Familiar as it is, the voice sounds different enough that he turns around, at the same time whatever Leo had been tossing around falls to the ground. And there Leo is, crouching to pick up the screwdriver giving him the strongest feeling of de-ja-vu ever.

Only, it's not de-ja-vu, because as Leo gets back up, he looks younger, skinnier, less sleep derived, and missing half of his visible scars. It's probably weird that he's so sure of how many he normally has.

Leo, on his part, blinks at him owlishly.

"You're not supposed to be up yet"

And he thinks 'shit, fuck' is exactly right because this has happened before, he's heard these exact words from this exact Leo.

The thought sends him stumbling back, and landing sitting in the cot, hearing Leo let out another expletive, this time in Spanish. And then he's right there, at his side.

"You good?"

He swallows around the feeling of epiphany suddenly clambering to his throat.

"You look like a kid"

Leo, cleverer than even he gives himself credit for, immediately tilt his head to the side and asks.

"Did you like, get stuck on a prophetic dream or something?"

Somehow, despite how likely that suggestion sounds, he knows different.

"More like I time traveled"

Unsurprisingly, this is met with skepticism from Leo, not that he can really blame him, all things considered. So he insists.

"I was in the future"

Leo makes a face, lifting his hands up so the palms face him.

"Chill"

He exhales slowly, trying to slow his heartbeat.

"I need to know what day it is"

Leo looks quickly side to side before looking back at him.

"Like, literally or contextually?"

And the way he says it is so much like the Leo he got to know that he can't help but laugh.

"Both if you could"

Leo looks at him like he's grown a second head, probably because he's still smiling, but his face is flushed, so it can't look that bad.

"So, it's still June, and we recently lost Annabeth and Percy"

He takes that in, considering, thinking about the two futures he saw, and the differences.

"You haven't fallen yet"

Leo blinks at him.

"To Tartarus?"

A smile paints itself on his face, given Leo's reaction, though, it's probably a little crazed.

"To Ogygia"

It feels so obvious, so stupid. He had wondered, while he was in the second world, what exactly he could've saved Leo from that resulted in everything changing.

Of course!

It's the fall, the promise!

There needs to be an oath, sure, but both Leo and himself had given their words when Percy and Annabeth fell, both swearing things that could very well cost them their lives. There didn't need to be an actual death.

Otherwise, the death cure would've never taken, would've never worked.

"Uhm, so, are you here to like, stop me from ending wherever that is?"

Leo does a hand motion that reminds him of that time Piper forced him to watch the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. And he wonders if maybe she had just been missing Leo back then.

"It's more complicated than that"

Leo makes a face.

"When is it not?"

He turns around dramatically and sits down in the what's left of the cot. Whatever it was that Leo wanted to say, however seems to change course.

"Dude you're freezing!"

And then there are warm hands on his face, hands he hadn't realized he missed until right that second. Because his Leo was tactile, but the other Leo avoided touching him.

So, because him telling Leo about the time-travel is already making things different, he figures what the hell, and leans into it with a smile.

"Stop being cute, I'm trying to do something here"

Leo lights on fire, his entire expression nothing short of priceless. Oh, he thinks privately, this will be fun.