this entire story arc was born from my undying love for valgrace, and also my love for charlie/notyourleo, who had a birthday recently! happy belated birthday charlie! hope you enjoy like the story!

prompt: cramming until 3 in the morning and having to sleep over at each others house AU

summary: Jason has just very recently come to terms with the fact that he is so, so very not straight, and he's kind of in love with this guy, but he doesn't know how to tell him. At least not without screwing something up.

"Hey Leo," Jason started, trying to stifle a yawn as he turned a page in his textbook. "Did you get to number twelve yet?"

Behind him, Leo groaned from his spot on the bed. Jason didn't even bother to turn around as he heard his friend shift on the mattress, and the sound of papers sliding off of the bed and down to the floor.

"Nah," Leo croaked behind him, and from his long pause and jumbled speech, Jason could tell that he had fallen asleep. "Not yet." Jason spun around just in time to see him rub his eyes, his curly hair sticking up all over the place and slightly matted to one side. "Wha' time is it?"

"Um." Jason glanced down at his watch. "About two."

Leo scrubbed at his eyes vigorously, his knuckles pale. "Ugh - okay. Lemme…lemme get back to work."

As Leo yawned and gathered his bearings, Jason turned back to his work, chewing at his lip as he absently poked the eraser of his pencil into his cheek and flipped another age in his textbook.

He heard Leo unzip his backpack behind him. Jason quickly flipped to a fresh page in his notebook, because the one he had been writing on was pretty much covered in doodles of Leo. He bit down harder on his lip, trying not to think about how rosy Leo's cheeks were when he first woke up, or how his hair glowed like a halo in the light of the lamp, or how pink his lips were, and how just the sight of Leo lying on his bed was enough to make him shiver. Jason was wrecked, honestly. But this wasn't a date, or anything like one. This was was just him, helping Leo study for their midterms, and that was that. Nothing else. Nothing more, no matter how much he wanted it to be.

The springs in Jason's mattress groaned, and he heard the soft pad of Leo's footsteps on the wooden floor behind him. Jason stilled, and was about to turn to ask Leo where he was going when Leo suddenly appeared over his shoulder, practically breathing down his neck.

Jason stiffened. Leo squinted at his notes, hopefully unaware of how much Jason was freaking out in his head.

"You sure number five's right?" he asked in a probing tone, and Jason's had just parted his lips to blurt out an answer when Leo took a second look and made another face. "Oh, wait - it is. My bad. I forgot to change the four to a negative, damn. Can I use this?"

He plucked the pencil out of Jason's hand, not bothering to wait for an answer.

"Thanks. Anyways, I could use some coffee." Leo ground the eraser of Jason's pencil onto his paper as if his life depended on it. "You have some downstairs?"

"I really don't think you need any," said Jason because, wow, had Leo only been up for five minutes? How was he this alert?

"Sure I do," Leo replied, looking down at his paper in satisfaction before writing down his revised answer. "If I don't get some, I'll probably crash into your bed again, which is, like, totally impolite. Plus, I gotta drive home soon, so - "

"Drive? It's super late, man. It's unsafe to go out now."

"Well, I won't leave now, but when I do go, I'll guess I'll just scrape up some change and grab a shitty cup from McDonald's and - "

"Stay the night with me."

Jason had said it so sudden and so loudly that the only thoughts going on in his head were Was that gay? Well I mean it was - and like, I am, but I mean - did that sound gay? Did he catch on to me? Is he even straight?

But then Leo just blinked in surprise, closing his Calc book as he tucked Jason's pencil behind his ear. "Oh, uh, sure, yeah. Thanks. Am I on the floor?"

Jason stared at him. No, he thought. You are on the bed. With me. Both you and I. On my bed. All night. Alone.

"No," he blurted, and he cursed himself for sounding so, well...eager. "I mean, I am. I'll sleep on the floor." He rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans and smiled a crooked grin. "Aw, c'mon Valdez, have more faith. I know how to treat my guests."

Leo grinned. "Silly me, lo siento." Then he split his textbook back open and went back to studying, like the conversation didn't even happen, and like Jason hadn't even had a mental breakdown while he contemplated how gay his actions were.

Jason went back to freaking out in silence, staring at his textbook while his frantic brain began taking the information on the page and making it spin and whirl around in his vision, instantly becoming unintelligible madness. Maybe this wasn't a good idea. Maybe he should have just let Leo drink the shitty McFreakin' coffee from down the block and then sent him on his way. If Jason was getting this distracted just by thinking about him staying the whole night, then how the hell was he going to react when he actually did?

He tried to focus on his notes once more, but when that didn't work out, he slammed his book shut, making Leo jump.

"Um," he squeaked when Leo raised his eyebrows at him. "Sorry. I - I wasn't feeling Calculus anymore."

Leo snorted, mirth dancing in his chocolate brown eyes. "Same." Then turned back down to his book, scribbling furiously with a highlighter.

Jason took a few steadying breaths, some in, then out. He checked his watch. It was two forty seven in the morning.

"Are you tired yet?" He asked Leo, and while he didn't exactly sound like it, Jason could see the slump in Leo's shoulders, and the languid way he flipped through pages, even though he seemed to be working as intently as he could.

"Kinda," Leo answered truthfully, and then he yawned in confirmation. "You want to call it a night?"

"We don't have to," Jason offered as he chewed his lip, even though they kind of did. Tests started at eight tomorrow, and if they stayed up any longer, then they probably weren't going to get much more than four hours of sleep.

"What do you wanna do?" Leo asked, shutting his book, which was good, because it meant that he had Leo's attention. While Leo rubbed his eyes again, Jason slipped his notebook into his backpack and slid it over to a corner so it would be out of the way.

"We could play videogames," he offered, holding up one of the controllers that he kept in a bin under his bed. "Or something else, if you don't want to. Or we could watch Friends, since you like it so much." Leo grinned slightly at that, almost a little wistfully. "Or American Horror Story, whatever you want."

"I'd loooove to procrastinate sleep with you, honestly," Leo said in a rapidly dazed voice, "But I'm gonna have to turn you down. Estoy muy cansado. I'm gonna hit the hay."

Jason nodded curtly. "Okay. Me too, I guess."

Leo shoved his stuff off of Jason's bed, getting all close and cuddly with the pillows. Jason tried to stop his heart from beating so fast as he slid out of his jeans, opening his drawer to pull out his pajama pants as Leo sighed contently across the room.

Jason started to slide his pants on and was busy focusing on not turning around when Leo asked, "Can I borrow a pair?"

Jason glanced over his shoulder. Leo was staring at him, slightly wide-eyed.

"Um," Jason's voice cracked, and he winced at himself as he pulled out a pair of plaid pajama pants. "They might be kind of big, but…" he tossed them over.

Leo caught them, not looking Jason in the eye. "Thanks."

The two of the settled into things. Jason was just about to turn off the light and head into the hall to get some blankets from the closet when Leo spoke up once more.

"Um - Jace...you sure you wanna sleep on the floor? I mean, it looks kind of uncomfortable…and I kind of feel bad for kicking you out of your own bed, so - "

Jason turned back to him, shaking his head in earnest. "It's not a problem. Just...catch some sleep for me, will you?" He turned off the light and stepped out into the hall, and something in his chest fluttered, because there was no way in hell Leo was sleeping on that floor, not when Jason cared about him so much, or when he thought he deserved the best, and wouldn't settle for him having anything less.

He had his hand on the doorknob when Leo said: "You could sleep with me."

Jason's mouth went dry. He spun around, and Leo's eyes were as wide as saucers. They regarded each other in a few seconds of intensely awkward blushing before Leo finally composed himself and stammered out a reply.

" - In the bed! Sleep with me in the bed, as in share, not like - um - anything else, haha, yeah!" He let out a nervous laugh and scooted over on the mattress, hastily making Jason some room. "Heh, yeah, that came out wrong."

"No, no, it's - it's fine." Jason ran a hand along his face. Leo was really, really sending him mixed messages right now. Smiling, Jason let his shoulders sag and exhaled a deep breath, his cheeks still slightly heated. "Um...thanks."

He crawled into that bed so fast that anyone else would have found it suspicious.

Leo shifted further to the other side of the bed, but he was warm, and Jason couldn't help but find himself drawing closer to him, even after that entire awkward situation that had unfolded just moments before. It pained him to notice Leo moving away, but after a while Leo started moving a little closer, too, until they were only a few inches apart and their limbs bumped together. Jason took shallow breaths, feeling hot and bothered and really awkward (which was an ongoing trend, it seemed) - but once some time had passed, and Jason had settled properly under the red, white and blue Captain America bed sheets, he started to calm down. His breaths came regularly, his heart rate slowed, and he found his eyes sliding closed at times, signaling that sleep was near. Next to him, Leo took deep and counted breaths. Leo had his back turned to him, so Jason couldn't see his face, but watching the rise and fall of his small form calmed him, and as the time ticked by on the alarm clock across the room, he found himself more and more at ease.

It was nearly three fifteen in the morning, and Jason, being laden with sleep, moved so close to Leo that he could practically smell the homey scent of grease and motor oil. The only indication that Leo was still awake was the stiffness of his shoulders when Jason snaked an arm around them, pulling him close.

"G'night." he muttered sleepily, his speech yawned and his eyelids turning to lead.

Leo relaxed, moving closer before snuggling into Jason. "Night, Jace."

It was nothing but sweet dreams from there.