Anon: all i need is for leo being afraid of heights after the whole ghea thing and jason taking him flying as a date in his arms and they just float above the camp or city and be gay

for that one anon. Idk, im not really sure if i totally did this right, but i tried! anyway, here you go

naturally, beta'd by the illustrious charlie as per usual (even though it took days but that's not any of my business *sips tea*)

disclaimer: i do not own pjo and/or any of its characters

Leo totally would've smacked Jason for this. He swears. In fact, the only reason why he's not doing it right now is because he's kind of busy, you know, holding on for dear life. He settles for the pacifist route though and hugs Jason tightly to avoid falling and possibly dying. He probably looks like a screeching squirrel trying to hold onto a branch, but jesuschristJasonwhy?

Jason shifts a little, and Leo curses under his breath. "I swear to every god out there, if you don't put me down right now," he whisper-yells, squeezing his eyes shut.

Jason chuckles. "Leo. We haven't even gone anywhere. You can open your eyes now."

After a long moment of silence (mourning the death of his dignity), Leo finally opens his eyes and is only slightly relieved to see that his feet are still touching the ground. Whoops.

He looks up at Jason, who raises an eyebrow and rolls his eyes. "Okay, but you're the worst person in the world."

"Come on," Jason replies. He scoops Leo up like he weighs nothing. "It's getting late, and you've been working all day."

Leo squawks, with limbs flying. "Put me down! Jason Grace put me down!"

"What?" Jason shoots up with a burst of air making a huge WHOOSH!, acting (poorly) as if he can't hear Leo's screams nor feel the pounding on his chest. "Leo -Leo, stop screaming - I've got you, I promise, jeez."

"You're a real piece of work." Leo feels an impending drumming in his chest. His stomach flip flops and his palms feel slippery. He is not doing this again. Not after everything, not after all he's done.

Jason's going to kill him. He'll run into an airplane or something, and drop Leo. There's no way this can go well. Leo's voice sounds steady enough, but he can detect the hidden crack in his voice as he says, "Don't you dare drop me."

"Have some faith in me," Jason's voice is somehow perfectly clear, even amidst the rushing wind blowing in Leo's face. "Open your eyes, it's scarier with them closed."

"No way." Leo balls his hands into fists, curling them into Jason's t-shirt. "Put me down. Now."

Jason sighs, and in a few quick moments, Leo's back on the safe ground. Okay, so maybe they're not in the safe and protected grounds of Camp Half-Blood, but at least (based on what Leo can see) they're still near the populated area of New York City. It could be worse, right?

"Please don't kiss the ground," Jason says. "It's not that serious."

"Christ, Jay." Leo's voice is muffled by grass. He isn't exactly kissing it, per say, but he's definitely not planning on leaving the ground anytime soon. To be honest, he should break up with Jason, and just marry the security that is the floor beneath his feet. The floor wouldn't take him on surprise flights, to say the least. "Next time you pull that, I will break your arms."

"You're too abusive." Jason glances at the setting sun. "I had a date planned. It was going to be romantic."

Leo stands up and pokes at Jason's chest. "Really? Because let me tell you, it is so not romantic to get pulled into some crazy plot that will literally scare the heebie jeebies out of you, just because your boyfriend doesn't understand personal boundaries."

"Whoa," Jason's concerned. "I didn't know you were so averse to flying. I'll slow down if you want."

"Gah!" Leo throws his hands in the air. "Just take me home, Superman."

Jason sighs, taking Leo up to shoot off through the air again. It's after five minutes of silence when Leo peers out and down below. Tiny dots of people and blocks of cars beep and bustle through the late afternoon. Leo blinks because the tops of buildings are just out of reach, but he's flying away from them and not towards them. He's not falling, which is an improvement, he thinks.

Jason stops on top of a bridge. It's the Brooklyn Bridge, one of the oldest bridges in NYC (even better, America). Leo would love to take the blueprints for it and mess around with them, but he's too busy wondering why Jason is making them stay at the top.

"Crap," Jason touches the top of a pillar and lets Leo go. Leo stares at the table and two chairs, covered with a nice red and white checkered tablecloth and plates. There's a candle wick sitting in the center next to a white vase of carnations. There's a small family of pigeons sitting on the table.

Jason runs at them, making wild motions with his hands. "Go away birds!" He makes loud bird noises that sound more like a chicken than a pigeon.

"Oh my gods," Leo snorts because it's a bit thoughtful but Jason's a bit ridiculous. Cute though, very cute. "This isn't too bad."

Jason's face is red from exertion when the birds fly away. "I didn't know you didn't like heights."

"No," Leo feels a little queasy because he can kind of feel the bridge swaying underneath him. It's very subtle, but he can imagine the entire bridge giving out from below his feet. He plasters on a grin. "It's kind of cool."

"Kind of cool?" Jason repeats a little unsure of himself. He blinks, before nodding, and a satisfied smile slides on his face. "Cool. That's cool."

Leo shifts back and forth, bouncing from one foot to the other. He's feeling really uncomfortable standing so close to the ledge, and he really just wants to sit down. "Sooo, what's on the menu for today?"

"Oh, yeah," Jason leads them to the table. He brandishes a platter from under the table and lifts up its silver cover. "A New York classic. Hot dogs and pretzels."

"Dude," Leo eyes the food. "Hot dogs are so gay."

"How are hot dogs gay?" Jason seems like he's expected this. He also has Coke bottles, except they're the unique ones that say "Share a Coke with" and then a name on the wrapper. Their names are on them - it's actually pretty nice. "You say that like you're not gay."

"How are hot dogs not gay?" Leo mumbles. An airplane flies overhead, loud and intrusive, but it's not something Leo's bothered by. He keeps his eyes on the food and Jason, keeping himself focused on anything else except for the water that would be so easy to fall towards. He has to keep wiping the sweat from his hands and swallow to remind himself that he's okay. It's working really well, obviously.

"What's up?" Jason questions after they finish eating. Jason's sitting at the edge kicking his feet, while Leo sits a little bit behind him. The sun's already set, leaving them with only the bright lights shining from busy streets and the candles still burning on the table. "Why don't you like being up here?"

"I do like it," Leo insists, even though they both can tell he's lying.

Jason turns to look at him. "Stop it. You've been all nervous all night. Do you want to just go?"

"No," Leo says truthfully. He's not the only one in the relationship, and he knows Jason's in his element right now. Leo can't take that away from Jason, even if it's at his own discomfort. "I'm having fun."

"Why don't you like heights?" the blond asks, confusion clear on his face. "When we were on the Argo, we flew all the time. Hell, even with my messed up memories of Wilderness, you've jumped off the roof a few times."

"That was dumb," Leo remembers that time because he had broken his arm in three places. It's bittersweet, though, because Leo knows that Jason hadn't actually been there to see him at the nurse's office completely high off of pain meds. "It's cause I'm a Hephaestus child. Fire and all that, we like to stick to the ground. There's no fire in the sky, buddy."

"The sun?"

"There's no fire in the sky, buddy," Leo repeats, mostly because he doesn't want to dignify that with a response. He sighs and shrugs. "I dunno man, maybe it's because of the whole thing that happened last summer? Y'know. The, uh. The dying thing. Not exactly my top ten things to do in August."

"Minerva." Leo assumes that's some type of curse similar to the Holy Hera's he hears at camp. "I'm sorry, Leo, I didn't know."

"Nah it's fine," Leo says. "I'm alive now, so..."

"No, it's not fine," Jason says affirmatively. "I should've thought about something like that. Sometimes I get nightmares, and I wasn't even injured. You literally died. Of course, there's something left over."

"Jason." Leo's eyes focus in on Jason's. "Chill out. I'll get over it. It's not that bad when I'm here."

"You threatened to break my arms."

Leo's mouth twists into something that vaguely feels like a smile. "In all fairness, I did tell you to take me back to camp. Twice, and you ignored me both times. I think I was a little more than justified."

Jason's face heats up, and he scratches the back of his head. "Sorry about that. I just really wanted to go on a date with you. You've been all cooped up recently, you know? I feel like whenever I see you, you're always either in your cabin or the forges."

"Fair enough," Leo leans in, his lips brushing against Jason's. "But next time you pull that crap, I will not hesitate to destroy you, Jason Grace."

"Noted," Jason whispers softly, tilting his head. He smells like Axe and funky hot dog presses his lips down firmly, following the motions of Jason's slightly less confident ones.

"We should probably head back." Jason winces when he hears the sound of wings rustling. A pigeon sits on the ledge, staring curiously at the duo. "It's pretty late."

Leo looks up at the twinkling stars. "Yeah. I guess."

Jason heaves him up yet again, bridal style. This time, Leo doesn't close his eyes. The city is pretty cool to look at night. The bright lights and the hum of movement have a certain appeal to it, and Leo wonders if he can replicate it some way for the campers who aren't as lucky as him. Not everyone can have a flying boyfriend, after all.

"You better not drop me."

"Wouldn't dream of it." And Leo grins because yeah, okay, Jason's got him.

hope you have a good day! :)))