The two doors

Side B, part 4 (final).

Gonna leave this for when I'm in a fluffy mood brb.

Everything about waking up is wrong, in a way he can't really wrap his head around until he opens his eyes and makes sense of why he feels so displaced.

He's in the guest room that used to be Leo's when they first moved here, which means the bed's on the wrong side, meaning the light never hits, and it makes the world look too much like the inside of the jar. And he's freezing, like he's been sleeping alone the whole night, somehow without waking up sooner.

When he manages to fight off the panic and confusion, he gets off the bed and hurries outside. He only knows it's daylight by the tell-tale sound of Leo bustling about their kitchen, even if it's missing the humming he's grown so used to.

Like always Leo reacts to him before he can say anything, turning arround like he's going to make a joke. But instead his face shifts into a look of disbelief.

"Darling?"

Somehow, he sounds as though he hasn't seen him in days. Which only confuses him more.

"I... was in your old room"

"Fuck" Leo says

Then he's rushing, turning the kitchen off and jumping over the table before he finds himself encased in warm arms.

"Fuck" Leo repeats into his hair.

It feels like finally being able to breathe, and he heaves as he reaches out to hold Leo closer, to burry himself in the familiar warmth.

"You're back"

It confirms a suspicion he doesn't remember having, and it's marked by Leo pressing a kiss to his temple. Finally, Leo presses their foreheads together, holding him like he's precious.

"I was gone?"

Leo sighs, a hand raising up to cradle his left cheek.

"It's a long story"

Over time, the two of them had built a plan for bad days, both too affected by their life experiences not to have them. Today, he figured, it was less about having a bad day, and more about recovering from one.

Leo's speaks softly as he retells the last few days to him, playing with his hands as though afraid he'll change again. So, he keeps himself close, mushed side-to-side on their couch, and listening closely.

It strikes him as a little odd, a reality where him and Leo existed apart from each other, a world where he looks at Leo Valdez and sees the same as any other person.

"Do you think," Leo asks once he finishes, "that he'll be alright?"

This, he thinks easily, is the exact reason he can't wrap his mind around the idea of not falling for him. Because Leo's always been like this when it most matters, and more frequently as he's gotten more comfortable with their new lives.

"I think," he responds carefully, "that he must have learned what he needed"

Leo nods at this, something hard in his expression, resigned.

"But," he presses, "I can't imagine a world where I wouldn't choose to save you"

Even if the other him felt differently about Leo than he did, he's sure of this much. He might not be Percy, or Jackson, or even Leo himself, but he still doubts he'd pass the opportunity to save someone should it be given to him.

And even if that wasn't truth, he thinks that the brief glimpse at someone who could care as much about him as Leo does would have been more than enough incentive.

Leo turns fully, pulling at their joined hands until there's no option but to tangle themselves together in order to fit.

"For whatever it's worth," he says into his lips, "I'm really glad this is how things worked for us"

There's a lot that goes unsaid in those words, but he takes them regardless.

"Yeah," he answers with absolute certainty, "me too"