What No One Sees

PTSD

Leo had been having nightmares every night since then, if you could call memories you'd rather forget a nightmare. Jason had been trying his best to help through this, but there was only so much he could do besides offering the same phrases and reassurances that he had from the first night. He considered going to the Hypnos Cabin and asking for help, but he had a feeling that kids who couldn't keep their eyes open would be able give much insight to bad dreams.

With nights becoming a thing to dread, Leo had come up an entire arsenal of things to do instead of sleeping. A lot of it was reliant on whether or not Jason would participate. If he couldn't keep his eyes open, it cut down a lot of things to do and turned the nights back into a place of fear.  

However, if Jason was awake, they would spend the night playing cards or building. Some nights were spent just laying down and talking. Those nights were nice. Leo always felt a warmth in his chest, like when you drink hot cocoa on a cool day and can feel the warmth spreading through your body to your toes and fingers. It was a much better feeling than the terrors in his past. 

The only problem with spending the night talking is that, gradually, the speech becomes less filtered, you become more honest, and things that were better left unsaid are unfortunately spoken. In this case, it was Jason who faced the repercussions of his words. 

As the two boys laid in bed, a thought flicked through his mind and, before he could think anymore, he asked, "Out of the entire Argo II crew, excluding the girls, who would you be most likely to screw?"

Leo made a face at the crude term, but thought for a second. "Festus. Hands down."

A pillow hit him in the side and an interestingly exasperated Jason glared.

"Okay, okay. I'm guessing awesomely crafted machines are not included in this list either."

"I didn't think I needed to be that specific," Jason grumbled and was met with a shrug as Leo thought harder.

"Even if Percy and Annabeth weren't a thing, I think she would still kill me if I screwed her man. To be Frank... well the dude isn't my type. So I guess I would be stuck screwing you." Leo said as if the idea didn't set a flurry of butterflies loose in his stomach.

"No need to sound so enthusiastic," Jason huffed, earning him a laugh from the other. 

"Who would you choose?" Leo asked.

"You," He stated matter-of-factly before mumbling "-isn't that obvious?"

Leo spluttered out what he thought was a thank you, but sounded more like he was choking on his own spit, which wasn't too far from the truth. 

'Why is that obvious and how can he say it so certainly? Honestly, this feels like it could be a confession,'  He shook away the thought, but the damage was already done. His face was a deep shade of crimson and he thanked the gods that this talk was happening in the dark. 

Although Jason laughed at the reaction he got, his fingers fiddled nervously with the blankets. Did he come off too strong? Maybe he should have joked with it. 

"I mean, if I had to choose.." he supplied. It didn't get a reaction and for a brief moment, Jason wondered if he had gone too far. Had he caused unrepairable damage to their friendship?

"Well I am pretty sexy," Leo said finally and there was an audible 'whoosh' of air as the tension melted. The two boys went back to joking, eventually calling it a night and trying to sleep. The conversation not far from eithers mind.