obsidian black ● jason grace

nights,

 Leo woke up in the Engine Room to the sound of clanging.

No one else seemed to have noticed, probably because they were all asleep and Leo had soundproofed their rooms: a mechanic's touch. Silently, he crept towards the armory, fire blazing from his right palm.

Daria's voice rang out before he was even in view. The words were said sarcastically, without bite. "Don't tell me you're planning on burning me again, you fire wielding maniac."

He stuck half his body inside past the door frame. "How did you hear me?"

She shrugged, her hair falling messily on her face like she'd just woken up. Come to think of it, maybe she had. Her face was pale and there were deep purple circles beneath her eyes. "You're hot. I could feel the vibrations. Sorry for waking you up, I was just," she gestured to the sword in her hand. It looked like she was preparing to spar when she had knocked over one of the metal dummies.

He stretched his neck, "don't worry about it. I was curled up in the Engine Room anyway."

"Is that a mechanic thing?" Daria asked, softly cleaning up her mess. "Like when Frank sleeps as a dog?"

"More of an idiot thing," he walked a bit further into the room, leaning against the wall and yawning. "What about you? Couldn't sleep?"

"Yeah," she muttered, rubbing at her eyes.

It was clear that there was more to the story, and Piper had trained him to press. "Jason snore or something?" He asked her, trying to keep the conversation casual.

"Or something," she agreed, standing. "You should get some sleep. We've got to leave in," she checked the clock on the wall. "Four hours."

Leo hesitated. He knew a dismissal when he heard one. "Come on, don't you want to talk to someone? You can practice your Spanish on me."

Daria looked like she was contemplating it, weighing out how much Leo would annoy her and how much she didn't want to be alone. "Okay," she tapped her rings together, sheathing her sword. "Alright."

So they talked. For four hours. Leo could feel his own stress alleviating: in the beginning they talked about Tartarus, exchanged apologies that Leo didn't deserve, gossiped about Jason, but they ended with Leo moaning about his lack of a love life. 'Leo tienes quince, por favor cálmate' and Daria rambling about poetry. She wanted to write a book, maybe like the Iliad, about her life.

'Isn't that a bit on the nose?' Leo asked.

Daria smirked. 'An autobiography,' she suggested. 'So I don't seem so narcissistic.'

Leo shivered. 'If you turn out like Narcissus, would that make Jason Echo?'

He didn't even realize how long they'd been talking until Frank crossed the doorway. The son of Mars did a double-take, and then backtracked to look at them through the open door. "Have you two been here all night?"

Daria frowned, "what time is it?"

Frank adjusted his quiver. "Six-thirty. I'm about to go take watch."

Leo turned to Daria, who looked even more surprised than he felt. "Then I guess we have. Though, we should get moving. We land soon." By then, Frank had left, shaking his head as he went.

"You know," Leo said nervously. Even though they had been chatting for hours, he still felt nervous when he suggested something to Daria Jackson. "I'm on night duty the next few days, if you ever want to..."

"Do this again?" She finished, a smile on her mouth that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'd like that actually."

He nodded back lamely. "Well, uh, guess I'll see you in a bit then."