PJO/HoO Around the Campfire

Chapter 30: The Truth

August 15, 2021

When Leo woke up the first thing to cross his mind was the fact that he was lying on the ground, someone had an arm underneath his head like a pillow, and their other arm around his waist.

And that person was Connor, who hadn't felt his arm in about half an hour but wasn't complaining about it because he knew Leo needed the sleep.

Leo sat up and stretched his arms up to the sky, trying to get the knot out of his back.

Connor laughed lightly and said, "good morning,
lo—" He cut himself off before he could finish the word. He couldn't, not yet.

Connor sat up and continued talking before Leo could question why he had stopped so abrupt before. "Did you sleep well? Are you ready to talk about what happened last night? I really think you should talk about it, it might help to release some pressure, or something."

Leo held a hand up to cover Connor's mouth, "hun, you are talking way too fast, I just woke up, give me a minute." Leo took a dramatic deep breath in but couldn't stop himself from laughing as he let it out. "I did sleep well, thanks for asking."

"Good... I'm glad." He waited a moment to see if Leo would answer any of his other questions before pestering him about it. "Can we please talk about it?"

Leo looked like he wanted to object, run away, fake his death and leave the country... anything but talk about this. But he did eventually steel his nerves and nod his agreement. It would probably help, right?

"I just, I hate thinking about it. I said some things that I didn't want to say."

"You didn't want to say them, but were they true?"

Leo didn't say anything.

"Huh, so you said something to Piper that was probably brutally honest? And I take it that didn't go over well?"

"It wasn't even brutally honest, it was just brutal. I didn't need to say it, I should have just let her deal with it on her own, I know she knows on some level. She was just trying to help me, be there for me. Be my friend, and I messed up." Leo's voice sounded like he was on the verge of tears but he held them in, he already cried and if he wanted to explain this to Connor he needed to be intelligible.

"I don't think you're in the wrong here. I mean it's clear that Piper and Jason's relationship needs—"

"How did you know that was what this was about?"

"Are you kidding? Piper came out of the bathroom and started making out with Jason like she had something to prove. That alone doesn't bode well for their relationship."

"Regardless of if I was right or not, I shouldn't have said it."

'Maybe not, but you can't change the past so you have to deal with it now. And, I don't know if you know this but, running away from your problems, won't fix them."

"I know, I know. "

"And even if you're a little scared to face them, you know that you have people who will love and support you no matter what you do. They will love you even when they hate you."

Leo dropped his face into his hands and let out a muffled scream. "I just..." He didn't move his head so his words came out muffled too, "I just hate myself for the way I acted, and the way I just kept thinking throughout the whole thing, 'does this mean I won't get to stay with her during the year?'. That's what I keep thinking about, I hate that I was thinking about that instead of thinking about how I was hurting her."

"That is a valid concern, you know, you deserve to know where you're going to be living. And, hey, worst case scenario you stay here with me, right?"

That made Leo laugh and look up at Connor. He hugged him so fiercely they threatened to fall back onto the ground.

Connor led Leo through the woods to Bunker 9 and Leo opened the door. They figured it would be safer there, less coyotes to fight at least.

"I know I said you have to face your problems for them to go away, but... you don't have to do it right away. I'm sure they'll still be there in a few hours."

"Oh, I'm sure," Leo said with a smirk.

Leo was now in the lead, being the one who knew bunker 9 the best, he led Connor towards a living room area and sat them both down on the couch.

They were sitting with one leg on the couch each, the other dangling over the edge, so they were facing each other.

"Hey, um... I did have something I wanted to talk to you about."

"Yeah, of course, go ahead." Leo brought his other leg up so he was sitting cross-legged with his back to the arm rest.

"I think it's important for you to know this, because we're... whatever it is we are. It's important to me that you know this if we're going to be doing this." He motioned wildly between them.

Leo said nothing but laughed a little and nodded at Connor to go on.

"I'm asexual."

"Oh, okay." No one said anything for a moment while Leo processed the new information. "Are you willing to answer a few questions for me?"

"Of course, go ahead."

"Um, okay, so..." Leo thought for a moment on how exactly to phrase it. Then he said, "I was wondering how that affects your relationships, specifically ours?"

"I'm homoromantic asexual. For me that means I like boys romantically but I'm sexually attracted to no one."

"Alright."

"That's not to say I'm repulsed by sex, I'm not actually sure where I stand there yet. But I'm not sexually attracted to you. Or anybody. I am romantically attracted to you though, and I really enjoy kissing you." While Connor said the last part he looked down at his lap, they hadn't actually talked about what their relationship was.

They smiled at each other for a beat before Leo leaned forward and kissed Connor. It was a quick kiss but it conveyed everything it needed to in that moment. Leo moved his head so his lips were positioned right next to Connor's ear. "Just so you know, I completely accept you and this doesn't change the way I see you at all."

Connor didn't hesitate to pull Leo up so that he could kiss him again, and again. Then pulled back so he could whisper, "Thank you so much, love."

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