Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 47
aka Caleo uni au
Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…
Chapter summary: Jason and Leo have a talk (and something else happens too)
A/N: Hi, hello! It's been a moment. But here we are again and that's the main thing, right?
Just to remind you of what happened earlier: Leo and Calypso are having some communication issues post a heavy make out session which Calypso stopped abruptly, and Leo is still kind of blaming himself for it.The beginning of this chapter shows the events at the end of ch 45 from Leo's pov.
Enjoy and let me know what you think! :)
Words: 3100+
Genre: romance & hurt/comfort
Warnings: none
previous chapter / AO3
...
*start flashback*
Her silky hair tickled his face when she leaned down to kiss him with those unfairly soft lips. When they stopped to breathe, her calloused fingers swept a strand of his unruly hair to the side. Leo opened his eyes and felt something warm spread all the way to his core as he saw her watching him affectionately. Her eyes were such a dark shade of brown that they almost seemed black in the dim light. As they kept taking each other in, cheeks flushed, bodies pressed against each other, it suddenly occurred to him that this was the most heated their kissing had been since getting together. And he most certainly didn’t mind it.
He asked her to tell him if she wanted to stop, and she promised to do so. Jason – and Leo’s moms - had taught him a long while ago that it was important to listen to your partner’s wishes and Leo could tell that Calypso appreciated his concern because she only deepened the kiss once they were done with their little talk. Her breath felt hot against his skin when she moved to kiss his jaw and neck, her fingers starting to fumble on his shirt, trying to open the top buttons. Only in his wildest dreams – which, if he was honest, he had been seeing more frequently lately – had he dared to go this far with her, maybe because he knew they were both rather reserved when it came to intimacy with another person. But boy, the dreams hadn’t told him that it would be so much more thrilling when it was /actually/ happening.
Her hands and mouth kept exploring him and he supposed he was returning the favor although he really couldn’t be entirely sure of his actions because all of a sudden he felt like he was 15 again, not drunk on alcohol but the girl he had fallen for. The cinnamon scent of her hair reminded him of some happy moments they had shared at Waystation during the Christmas break and her mint flavored kisses implied that she had snuck some breath mints from his tool belt without him noticing, which seemed weirdly hot in his inappropriate mind. The next thing he knew was that she had managed to fully unbutton his white work shirt and was now pulling it off his arms. That made him weirdly conscious of the scars his torso was covered with, but he soon forgot all about them when her lips lightly graced one of them. Their eyes met again and all he could do was to melt into her touch.
Snapping out of his daze long enough to realize that she was still fully dressed, he reached for the hem of her shirt, just briefly stopping to get her approval before removing it. His hands found her sides and he relished the feeling of her warm, soft skin under his fingers as he ran them up and down her waist, getting an approving hum from her. He couldn’t help himself; he stopped to take a better look at her now almost bare upper body and confirmed what he had already known before: his girlfriend was beyond gorgeous. But he didn’t have a lot of time to ponder on that as her lips crashed on his again and her fingers started tapping against the skin on his back. At first he didn’t think it had any specific meaning but soon he realized that she was spelling out a Morse Code; one that he knew particularly well as it was the same one he had sent his mother countless times in the past. The same one he had sometimes tapped to Calypso. He felt like something had gotten stuck in his throat and his eyes were getting blurry but he responded in the way he knew the best: tapping the Morse Code back and kissing her even more fiercely.
He didn’t know how much time had passed since they had started their make out session, but he was vaguely aware of his fingers living a life of their own, testingly fiddling with the waistband of her knickers. That was when the bubble burst. She withdrew from him, crossing her arms to cover her torso a bit, her eyes suddenly horrified as she started to look for her shirt from the floor. “Was it something I did?” Leo blurted out before he could stop himself.
“No. it’s just that… My period started this morning. I’m sorry, I should have let you know way earlier. Guess I let myself get carried away…”
The explanation did have some holes in it, Leo wasn’t stupid, but he decided to not question it aloud for both of their sakes.
“Oh, damn. That sucks. I shouldn’t have encouraged you…” One of his hands was trying to smooth his messy hair a bit while the other one was holding a pillow in front of his lap to cover the rather obvious tent in his pants.
“No, it’s fine. Not your fault,” she claimed but Leo couldn’t help but notice she was still not looking in his direction.
“You OK?” he asked, trying his best to bite back the worry that was threatening to overtake him, but probably failing at it marvelously.
“Yeah,” she claimed. “I just need a moment. It was stupid of me to let this get this far knowing we couldn’t finish it.”
“Hey, don’t blame yourself. It takes two to get to this point,” he said, still quite convinced he had done something wrong even though she wouldn’t admit it. “Um, anyway… I should probably… go cool down a bit. I’ll be back soon.”
He knew she probably wouldn’t be in the room anymore when he would return, but with a heavy heart he rose from the bed and left her alone, mind utterly baffled about what had just happened.
*end flashback*
… “Leo? Earth’s calling Leo Valdez!”
With a startle, Leo returned to the present moment. He was sitting in a car with Jason, having apparently just spaced out big time, getting lost in the memories from a few weeks ago. They boys were on their way to the swimming arena where Percy did most of his training, planning to pick him up from there and finally properly spend time together since they hadn’t been able to do that for several weeks. Even though Leo hadn’t told anyone, not even Calypso, about it, he had been thinking about the incident at Waystation way too much the past few weeks. Specifically, why she had reacted the way she had. The day after the incident Calypso had explained that she had emotionally shut down because of some traumatic past event that she had remembered while with him, but she had refused to elaborate on it. That had left Leo with many questions.
After the stupid argument about Percy they had had the previous fall, Leo had slowly learned to accept that there was no way you could know everything about another person; sometimes you just had to trust. /But Calypso’s hint that the incident was somehow related to her sister’s death had Leo worried; losing your family member was devastating enough on its own but if there was something else, something more… He shuddered just from the thought and he felt worse for her than he had thought was even possible. No wonder Calypso had lost her willingness to keep going with him. He couldn’t blame her one bit.
But still, the two of them had been rather awkward and reserved around each other after that talk. They did talk about normal, everyday things, and there were occasional cheek kisses, small touches and sofa cuddles when they watched something together in their living room, but the effortlessness of those acts had vanished. Every time Leo said something that brought them closer to the topic that they were avoiding to discuss, Calypso seemed to build this invisible barrier between them that was impossible to break. And as much as Leo wanted to respect Calypso’s wishes, seeing her hurt because of her past made him wish there was something he could do to make things better.
Suddenly Leo realized that he still hadn’t reacted to Jason’s ‘Earth’s calling’ and he finally turned towards his friend.
“Uh, yeah. Am here. What’s up?”
“You were just completely spaced out,” Jason simply pointed out while keeping his eyes on the road.
“ADHD, remember? It happens sometimes,” Leo reminded him even though he knew his current reason for spacing out had nothing to do with him being neurodivergent.
“Yep but it’s still pretty unusual for you to remain quiet that long. Is everything OK?” Jason asked.
“Yeah, everything’s fine,” he replied with badly hidden sarcasm. “Just dandy.”
“I don’t think even you believe that.” Jason rolled his eyes.
“Maybe not,” Leo admitted, cringing a bit. “But really, it’s nothing to worry about, it’s just…”
“Yeah?” Jason coaxed when Leo couldn’t decide how to finish the sentence.
“Girl problems, I suppose.” Leo wasn’t sure how Jason would react to that considering his own break up quite recently, but he gave him an understanding nod. “Oh, go on.”
Leo shook his head. “It’s…. I’m just overreacting, as usual.” Then he proceeded to do something he was particularly good at, namely changing the topic: “Anyway, how’s it going with you? Are your profs making you suffer just as much as ours? And how’s the training going?”
“Just got the results from our midterms; they went about how I expected. The training’s been fine but I’m looking forward to being able to do that outdoors again; the weather’s still too cool for that. But Leo,” Jason continued, giving him a pointed glance, “if you think you can distract me by changing the topic, you’re wrong.”
Leo knew that Jason could be just as stubborn as he was when he wanted to so there was no point in trying to argue with him. He stopped to consider the best way to approach the topic (since when had he considered anything, he wondered briefly) before finally answering.
“Well, you probably remember how Calypso and I had some… communication issues in the past. This is kind of related to that.”
“Yeah?” Jason urged him to continue.
“Yeah.” Leo nodded. “She’s not willing to open up about something that is obviously bothering her very much, and I know that I shouldn’t force her to talk about it if she doesn’t want to, but I just feel so helpless. I want to make her feel better but I can’t because she isn’t letting me.”
“That’s a tough one. You’re right that you shouldn’t force her to open up. But if there’s something I learned from my time with Piper, there are a couple of things you can do to make her feel at least a bit better.”
“What are those things, relationship expert Grace?” Leo asked, trying to hide the fact that he was actually rather eager to hear what Jason had in his mind.
“Well, this should be rather obvious but: be there for her. You know, show that you care.”
“And how do I do that?” Leo knew the question sounded kind of silly but he wasn’t known for his tact and he really didn’t want to do something that he’d later regret.
“It doesn’t require grand gestures. Small acts of affirmation are great. Do what you’d usually do with her, specifically things she likes. Show her that you still enjoy her company and want to hang out with her because she might be questioning it. Make her feel included.
“But what if she is trying to restrict the time we spend together?”
Jason thought for a moment. “Respect her wishes, but let her know you are available whenever she wants your company, that you are not going anywhere.”
“Gotcha.” Leo nodded, processing Jason’s words. “Woah, sounds like Piper has taught you a thing or two about girls.”
Jason winced a bit. “Clearly not enough, though, since we’re not together anymore.”
Leo realized that Jason was still blaming himself for the break up. “C’mon, dude. It wasn’t your fault. Sometimes the interests just change… and that’s OK. It doesn’t mean she doesn’t care about you. She asked about you the other day. Said that she’d been wanting to reach you out but she wasn’t sure how you’d feel about it.”
The information did seem to cheer Jason up a bit. “Yeah? I wouldn’t have minded.”
“I know you wouldn’t have. But she seemed to think that maybe it was still too early. Girls…” Leo sighed. “I say we forget about them for the rest of the day and have an excellent guys’ night out.” Jason seemed to approve of that plan, though he questioned: “And what is your idea of an excellent guys’ night out? I’m not sure I wanna find out.”
Leo just grinned. “Pffft, Jason. Have some faith in me. Leo Valdez is always full of /great/ ideas.”
“I’m sure you do,” Jason chuckled, shaking his head.
…
Around 10 minutes later the boys arrived at the swimming arena. Usually, if they picked Percy up from there they would wait outside but it was a press day for Percy meaning it would likely take him longer to be able to leave. That’s why they thought it’d be better to go in to see what was going on.
When Leo and Jason got to the stands, they saw that Percy was still in the pool, having probably been held by the sports reporters before the practice. They sat down to watch and even though they didn’t really understand that much about the sport, they thought that he was looking like he was in his top condition. The rivalry between him and Luke Castellan was going stronger than ever and Leo knew that Percy was doing his all to be able to win Castellan in the world championships.
When Percy noticed them, he gave them a quick wave and rose from the pool, starting to dry himself with a towel.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to be here this late but the media took their time and you know how coach Hedge is.” Percy took a quick look around to check Hedge wasn’t in the hearing distance. “You don’t get a single free minute just because something extra happens. Not that I mind, really; I will never be able to kick Luke’s ass if I don’t work mine off.”
“Is OK; we really want to see you beat that guy next time.” Leo shrugged it off.
“I’ll try to deliver,” Percy replied with a small grin that didn’t quite reach his eyes, though.
“So, how many questions did you get about Annabeth this time?” Leo knew that the media was interested in Percy’s relationship with his girlfriend ever since she had kissed him very publicly after a big win.
“Just one.” Percy rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Although they tried – keyword: tried – to be discreet about it: “You must be happy to have the next competition in your hometown? With your family members – and girlfriend – watching?” I shut their mouths by saying: ‘sure, just like with any other competition where they're at – which is pretty much all of them – this season.’”,
Leo and Jason chuckled at his comment. “They must have loved that.”
“Yep.” Percy smirked. “Anyway, as much fun as it would be to chit chat with you guys here, I, unlike you guys, am only wearing these dam trunks so I’m going to freeze any minute now if I don’t go and change. So, I’ll catch up with you later.”
“Alright, we’ll be waiting in the lobby,” the other two promised.
As Percy disappeared from view, Leo and Jason started walking towards the lobby, getting back to their discussion about the ‘guys’ night out’. Leo was so focused on the conversation that he got confused when he suddenly noticed Jason frowning at a man who was approaching them. Leo thought he seemed vaguely familiar but he didn’t have time to connect the dots before the man spoke in an official tone.
“The arena is off limits for visitors during the training hours. I must ask you to leave.”
“Huh?” Leo glanced at Jason with confusion before addressing the man. “We’re friends of Percy Jackson, the swimmer who was just practicing. He doesn’t mind us being here, he never has…”
“That is the rule. Please leave voluntarily before I call more staff.”
Leo lifted his hands in the air in surrender. “Alright, alright. we’re leaving. Geez. No need to be a jerk about it.”
True to his word, Leo did start heading towards the exit with Jason, still throwing one last angry glance towards the guy who had thrown them out. It suddenly occurred to him that the man didn’t have any signs in his clothes that he indeed was a staff member. He was wearing a suit but the staff he had seen during his earlier visits at this said arena had, as far as he could recall, been wearing the arena’s colors, turquoise and light yellow. Suddenly, he was reminded of a couple of suit wearing men he had seen a few weeks earlier in another town…
Once he had that realization, he registered that he was already outside and the man in question had disappeared from his view. He exchanged confused looks with Jason but before they could talk about what they had just witnessed, they could hear a window opening and a voice coming from behind it: “Friends of Mr. Jackson?”
“Yeah,” the boys confirmed.
“What are you doing out there? It’s supposed to rain heavily any minute now.” Leo looked up and saw that the voice was right; the sky had gone dark while they had been inside.
“Well, someone just kicked us out of the arena,” Leo noted surly.
“Oh?” the voice said. “Sorry about that. We just recently added more security here due to some vandalism… Some of the new guys are, should I say, rather eager… But if your presence is fine for Mr. Jackson, it should be fine for us too.”
“So we’re allowed to come back in?” Jason asked, his eyebrows shooting up.
“Sure. But better use the side door. Don’t wanna get thrown out by the same guy again, right?” the voice joked.
Leo couldn’t help but think that something was weird about the way the ‘staff’ members contradicted each other but he decided that this latter one seemed nicer than the man in black and he also didn’t fancy getting wet. That’s why he didn’t hesitate going in from the side door. Afterwards, he thought he should have seen the red flags, but nothing could have prepared him for what was waiting inside. For mere moments after he and Jason stepped in, his world went blank.
