Asphodels (Valdangelo)

Crossed wires

One day I will sit down and write a proper story for the Under!AU, like actually get down and dirty with the complexity of that particular idea; and when I do it'll be all over for you guys.

Jason is, by all possible accounts, lost for what exactly he's getting into; which is not a first by any measure of the word. So here he is, watching as water gets died red from a flower his friend coughed into existence; and somehow that's not even the weirdest thing to ever happen to him.

The flower has thin petals, each with a red line right in the middle, leading from the tips to the center, otherwise white as snow; somehow Jason finds it eerie, but that might have to do with where it came from. Identifying it, however, is decidedly not his area, though he knows a very short list of flowers it isn't off the top of his head; so he needs help, but he can't be obvious about it.

It boils down to what he sees when he first tries to approach Leo about it, and now that he's seen it's that more obvious that he's sick; skin pale-ish, eyes sunken, noticeable bones, and a sort of tired energy hanging around him like a ball chain. He catches him only once, as he's taken to locking himself in the engine room, where no one without some sort of heat resistance can get him; he's speaking to Hazel softly, sees him mouthing words too quickly to be read, both of them looking grim.

Jason knows then that whatever this is, it isn't something Leo wants broadcasted, something he would probably have none of them know if the option was available; and he feels inclined to allow him this one secret, though he doesn't quite understand why. Still, he finds a way to get his answers without raising suspicions, even when the person he would've wanted to ask isn't there to answer.

Pipper looks at the plant like someone a lot more superstitious would look at a murder of crows, the same level of wariness; so Jason is already worried.

"That's an asphodel, where did you get that?"

Weirdly, the name rings a bell on Jason's head, but there's something blocking the information he needs, so he asks for clarification.

"Asphodel?"

Pipper gives him a very done look, Jason worries a little more.

"Underworld flower, focus Jason"

He gets a very vivid image of Nico holding onto an empty plate, while Leo serves him soup from the pot he'd just finished cooking, vibrant like the fire Jason knows he can wield, but that Leo so rarely uses.

"Uhm Asclepius, long story, I have to go"

He's off before she can make any protest, taking the flower with him and throwing it off the ship at the first chance. His mind is racing, and he only knows two things, one Leo is cursed, and two, it has something to do with Nico.

Leo isn't stupid, or at the very least, he likes to believe he isn't stupid; sure, he's done and said some very stupid shit, he's human, but he's not an idiot all the time. So he notices Jason starting to act weird with him, and then, he notices Jason acting weird around Nico; and those two changes tell him that Jason must know something.

He can't know everything, because there has to be some truth to what Hera/Juno fed Leo about him, so Jason must be the type to try and help someone in need; and since he hasn't approached Leo on how to get rid of the curse, or worse, to tell him to confess, he can't possibly know everything. Which means that Leo starts avoiding being alone with him, more than he usually would, glad that it won't be all that noticeable.

He wants to deal with the Hanahaki thing on his own terms, thank you very much, it was bad enough that Nico knows, of all people; Leo doesn't mind Hazel, because she's been nothing but understanding, and hasn't pushed Leo any though she could've. Not that Nico has pushed him either, but he's the cause of the curse, and Leo has no idea already; really, he's playing with luck, and it's a wonder he hasn't lost yet.

But then, Nico is also probably grieving his own crush, and though Leo would love to comfort him directly, he doesn't trust himself not to give anything away; he is jealous, of course, but he's a lot angrier, he thinks, because Nico deserves to be loved by someone he loves back. Leo hopes Nico lets go of that eventually, hypocritical as that thought is, because if he's going to die of unrequited love, then he wants the boy he loves to be actually happy; particularly when he knows his death will affect him.

Leo doesn't like thinking about it very much, the fact that his days are numbered, or about the options he has for saving himself; he knows what dying will cause, or thinks he knows. Hazel would cry for sure, this he's certain off; and he likes to believe he's important enough to Nico for his death to hurt him, but that's not a thought he likes to entertain either.

He hopes whatever he promises is somehow connected to the war being won; a world where the people he's come to care so much about are alive and well... that is worth dying for.

Nico notices something he doesn't think he was meant to notice, or rather something he had noticed but hadn't really gave much thought to until something made him. Leo is good at hiding things after all, and Nico isn't immune to this ability even when he's been trusted with so much; granted, he doesn't think Leo kept this secret on purpose.

Leo is avoiding Jason and Piper, or actually, has been avoiding them both for a while, but it's become a lot more obvious now that there are two less people on the ship. And Nico knows there has to be a reason for it, because by how Leo speaks of them, he considers both good friends.

So he spies a little, aided by the shadows, who seem more than happy to allow him; and Nico finds they act sort of like Anabeth and Percy back when their relationship was new, which is something Nico remember as though it happened yesterday.

Leo's talked with him about Piper, about a friendship he still isn't sure was real, who was made to believe she dated Jason; just like Leo had been made to believe Jason was his best friend. He knows how the fact that the two have more or less pushed him aside in order to figure this out hurt Leo, though he hadn't said anything about it, because he took advantage of it to hide better; out of everyone in the ship, Leo's confessed, they're the last two people he'd want finding out.

But Leo doesn't talk about Jason, not really, despite him also being part of the group who had their memories messed with; only when absolutely necessary. And Nico can only think it makes sense, because Jason fits the only description Leo's given him of the boy that's killing him; and Leo's relationship with Piper explains why he's been so adamant in hiding it.

It also explains why Leo refuses any healing that would affect his memory of the boy, because Jason is Leo's link to the demigod world, the only reason he found Camp half-blood instead of staying on the run until either the system caught him again, or a monster did.

He doesn't tell Leo he knows, because he figures there's a reason Leo's so insistent on using pronouns; and Nico thinks himself similar to Leo, maybe dangerously so.