Quiet Whispers- a Valgrace story

Leo - 6 -

Leo woke up to Jason's snores.
For a moment, he was confused. Why was someone in his bed?
But then he remembered everything.
Jason coming into his room in the middle of the night.
Jason holding him when he cried.
Jason settling down beside him to sleep.
Leo sat up in bed, rubbing at his eyes. Beside him, Jason was curled up into a ball, still snoring every breath.
Normally,  Leo would have laughed if he had found out any of his friends snored so loudly. But... With Jason... It was actually sort of charming. It was almost soothing, hearing his snoring. It was constant, and made Leo want to cuddle up beside him again.
But... No. He had work to do. He had a half dozen repairs to start on. He had to fix the plumbing, which Percy has ruined (seriously, who destroys plumbing when they're angry?). Plus, there was the ever present duty of trying to get them half across the world before dirt lady woke up.
Yeah, that made his stress skyrocket to a million. He needed every minute he could get, if he planned to save the world like he was supposed to.
Leo crawled over Jason, who grunted in his sleep. He managed to climb off the bed without waking him.
He riffled around his room, trying to find clean clothes. Well, somewhat clean anyways. For him, clean meant that it 1) had been washed in the last week, and 2) had five or less oil stains.
He managed to find a red t shirt and some jeans. He was just slipping on his boots when Jason woke up.
The son of Zeus yawned loudly, blue eyes opening. His hair was a total mess, sticking up in odd ways on his head.
Leo snickered.
"Morning, sleeping beauty. Want me to wake you up with a kiss?"
Jason's eyes widened and he blushed.
"U-Uh, no thanks. How late is it?"
"About 4."
Jason groaned, falling back into the mattress.
"Ugh, what? You seriously wake up this early?" Jason pulled the covers over his head, snuggling into Leo's pillow.
Leo tied his boots, and stood up.
"Yup. I've got a dozen things to do, and only an hour or two to do them. " Leo turned back to him and smiled. Jason looked awfully cute sleeping in his bed , under his blankets. "You go back to sleep, Jay. I can tell you need your beauty sleep."
Jason came up from under the covers, frowning. He shook his head.
"no, I'm fine. I'll get up with you." Jason began to get out of bed.
"What? No, that's fine- really, I don't need company, I've got Festus-"
Jason rubbed at his eyes, standing up. He had slept in his shoes (who does that???) .
"I'm coming along Leo. There's no stopping me." Jason looked at him and gave a sleepy grin. " Plus, I act pretty dumb when I'm tired. I'll be very entertaining."
Leo frowned.
" Jeez, Jay, I'll feel bad if I make you come along with me to do repairs. Especially since you stayed up with me last night..." Leo stopped, his cheeks going red. He looked down at his shoes. " I didn't think you'd wanna be around me, after I told you that... That thing..."
Jason looked at him blankly. Then he smiled sadly.
"Leo, I might be dumb, but I'm not that dumb. I'd never ditch you just because you've gone through some rough times. I mean, really, how many times have you been there for me when I needed to talk? I want to be there for you too. Even if it means getting up with you to do dumb repairs before the sun has risen."
Leo gazed at him, flabbergasted. He... He really cares about me. He almost started to cry despite himself. He couldn't remember anybody talking to him like this, so honestly, so lovingly, since his mom had died. In fact, Jason reminded him of her, just slightly. The thought made him feel slightly sad- but also happy.
Really happy.
Leo laughed softly. He grabbed his tool belt from where it was laid on his dresser.
Wrapping it around his waist, he looked to Jason and smiled.
"Well, come on then, pikachu. Let's get to work!" He started to walk out the door, but Jason laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Hold up a sec."
Leo turned back to Jason. He felt nervous.
"W-What's up?"
Jason smiled.
"If you wanna talk or anything... I'm here. Okay?" His eyes were as blue and clear as water. They seemed to look past Leo's outer shell- the one that joked and hid his pain- into the real him, the one that he tried to hard to hide. But his eyes weren't judging- just honest. Just full of compassion and caring.
It made Leo want to kiss him, more than anything else in the world.
"Okay. T-Thanks."
The two headed outside Leo's room, the moon still shining low in the sky.