Taunt Me

I'm Tired Off Losing!

I wish I could explain this feeling. I wish everyone could forgive me for feeling the way I do. I wish I wasn't going to be the disgrace in my father's eyes when he finds out. I wish the gods didn't know everything. Those nosy sons of—

That's what my life has turned into, wishes, because nothing can be real. I can't really hold him in my arms, or wipe the oil off his cheek in a loving way. I can't even kiss him! I hate that Aphrodite is taunting me like this! It's like I'm a homeless puppy dog seeing a giant steak being held in front of me then saying "No Jake, you can't eat that. Now be a good boy and stare while we give it to someone else."

I'm a nice guy. I helped win the Titan war. I took the counselor position after Beckendorf died. I build weapons in the forages for campers. Why does everything have to turn out so bad for me? I'm not just talking about my full body cast after the bronze dragon incident either. Everything in my life is messed up.

Why don't we start with the most obvious? Will Solace is trying to convince me I'm gay. I mean, I've always liked girls, I know I'm straight. He just won't drop it though. I mean, Will's my best friend and all but I don't see him like that. The only problem is that I don't want to break Will's heart because he's an even better guy than me! So, I just go with it. I hate stringing him along but I don't know what else to do that won't hurt him!

Now let's move on to my biggest problem, the one I'm cursing Aphrodite about.

I'm in love with Leo Valdez, my half brother.

Don't even start. I'm still not gay. I don't like guys, just Leo. With him, it's different. It's like I can't help but love him. I know Will's the same—since he's always talking about it. It pisses me off sometimes, but I can't act on my jealousy because I know what Will's response will be.

"Jake!" I looked up and saw Leo running over to me. He leaped into the air, hitting me. We both slammed into the ground, Leo laying on top of me.

"What the—" Before I could finish, my work station exploded. "Oh," was all I managed to get out before I realized that would have put me into another body cast. Or it could have blown my face off. Neither option was good. After the initial shock left I realized Leo was still laying on me. "Uh."

Leo looked down, realized what was going on, and pushed up to sit on the floor next to me. "Sorry," he muttered, his face turning read and hair steaming. I thought it was adorable. "Sorry Jake. Just didn't want you to, you know, get your face blown off. That would be bad."

I couldn't help myself. "Why?" I smirked. "You'd be sad not to see my pretty face around anymore?"

Surprisingly, Leo's face turned even redder and some fires started in his hair. "Yeah, something like that," he stumbled. He ran a hand through his hair, unsuccessfully trying to put of the fires.

I just smirked, trying to hide the blush on my cheeks. "Here," I reached forward and patted some of the fires out of his hair. "There," I smiled, letting my calloused hand slowly run through his curly black hair, "All gone."

The fires started again. "Thanks," he said, his cheeks turning a deep shade of red. "I'm gonna, I'm gonna go now."

With that, the item of my attraction stood and headed back to his work station, then took a last minute turn and ran out the door. I couldn't stop my eyes as they watch his beside walking away from me. It felt like Leo was taunting me, even though I knew he was too nice for that. Besides, he doesn't even know about my crush on him.

The next day one of the camp vans broke down. Chiron sent Leo and I to go fix it. Being the good campers we are, or I am, both of us agreed and grabbed our tool boxes. Well, Leo grabbed his magic tool belt, I grabbed my tool box.

Leo practically skipped down the hill. He seemed back to his normal self after my near explosion yesterday. "We need to get you a tool belt," the fire user told me as my box clanged. "That box is too loud." He turned around and began skipping backwards, grinning lopsided at me.

I rolled my eyes. "Leo, I won't be able to fit all my tools in a belt," I tried to explain, in a teasing way.

"I have twice the number of tools as you and they fit in my belt," he began skipping around me, all giddy like.

I rolled my eyes. "Yours is a magic tool belt Leo," I tried to explain, but that didn't drop his happiness whatsoever. He just shrugged before running the rest of the way to the van and jumping on the hood.

"Come on Jake!" The builder yelled, sprawled out on the hood. "Let's get this done with so I can get back to my project!"

I chuckled. Leo was so cute when he was like this. "You have to get off the hood," I grinned at him. After he was standing on the ground, I popped the hood open and got to work. Leo was right beside me, making suggestions the whole time.

An hour and a few tools later, the two of us were heading back to the big house. We had easily discovered the problem. Fixing it was another story entirely. Most of our time was spent pulling wires and plugging things back in, trying to discover the older car's works. After we'd got that done it was easy to fix everything.

"I love working on cars," Leo admitted, catching my attention. He wasn't skipping around anymore, instead his ADHD brain was calm, letting him walk beside me instead of spin around me. "It reminds me of when I was in the machine shop with my mom." The fire user's voice took on a sad tone, his dark hair creating a shadow over his eyes.

I couldn't stop the way I reacted, I wouldn't even if I could. My hand reached out and took his. "I'm sorry about what happen to her," I barely whispered, not looking at his face. "From the way you talk about her, she was a good person. I never got why bad things happened to good people."

We had stopped moving and when I looked up, I saw why. Leo stood completely still, silent tears following down his cheeks. He wiped them away with the back of his hand, smearing motor oil on them. "I don't get it either Jake," he chocked. I could stop myself. I pulled the smaller boy to my chest and hugged him.

I don't care if he's my brother. I wouldn't care if we were full, blood brothers. I wasn't going to let Leo cry like this. I wondered how I would reach if I wasn't crushing on Leo like this? I would have probably just patted him on the back with an 'It's okay buddy. These horrible things happen all the time' like the good big brother he was.

"Good big brother," I sighed, hating the taste of it. Luckily, Leo hadn't heard me.

He pulled back, wiping his eyes again. "Thanks Jake," he gave me one of those amazing lopsided smiles. "You're one of the best people I've ever meant."

I stared at that lopsided smile I loved so much—on that face that looked so soft, on those lips I craved to kiss. I just couldn't look away. Before I knew what was happening, I could feel our lips touching. Heat on heat. Fire on fire. I didn't stop to think as I wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling his body closer to mine. I could feel his warm hands against my chest, trying to push me away. My mind wouldn't let me stop though. My head—the other one—said that it wouldn't quiet down until it was happy.

Eventually, my lungs forced me to pull back, gasping for the sweet air. I moved my brown eyes to stare at Leo, who was staring forward at my chest. Little fires had formed in his hair and I guessed his cheeks were ablaze as well. When he didn't speak, I knew I would have too. "I'm sorry," my voice very whispered. "I know, something's wrong for me, for loving my brother, but I can't help it. I'm tired of everything being out of reach, I just need a taste of the good life."

"Jake," finally came Leo's breathless voice.

"Yeah?" It was what I dreaded to hear, I just knew it.

"This all my fault," he squealed. "I just couldn't stop myself. You've always been such a good friend to me and you'd always helped me with my inventions and stuff. Plus, yesterday, when I was laying on top of you, well, that pushed me over the edge. I practically ran out of Bunker 9 because I didn't want people to know the affect you had on me." Leo lifted his chocolate brown eyes to meet mine. "Then, now, when you were holding me, I couldn't stop myself. I had to take the chance. I know it's wrong and I'm sorry."

I couldn't stop it, I laughed. Leo stared at me, confused. That just made me laugh harder. "You didn't hear a word I said, huh?" I asked, suspecting this much. His face went a shade darker as he nodded. I laughed again. "Leo. Listen to me. Okay?"

"Okay," the fire user said. "I'm still sorry."

"Please stop and listen," I said, taking a deep breath. "It's not your fault this happen. I mean, trust me, I'm thrilled it did, but you're not the cause. You see, I'm in love with you. My body and heart didn't seem to care that we're both children of Hephaestus, it wouldn't let me love anyone else. And, as horrible as it sounds, I've been wanting you for months now."

There was a spark in Leo's eyes I'd never seen before. Then, he giggled. He giggled uncontrollably. I tried to speak up, but Leo's giggles were too loud. The fire user grabbed my shoulders and pushed me to the ground, landing to where he straddled my waist. "Life has a way of bringing strange people together, huh?" Leo asked, still giggling. He lowered his head and licked my neck. "Jake?"

"Mhm?" I moaned as his tongue trailed up and down my neck.

"What was it they said about the gods?" He asked, licking in my ear. "About their DNA? The reason why it's okay to date kids of other gods?"

"Uh," my mind went blank. I felt hot hands traveling down my sides, on my stomach above the hem of my pants. That sparked something. "The gods don't have DNA," I remembered.

I could feel Leo's smile against my neck. "Good, that means we share no DNA with each other, correct?" His teeth nibbled on a spot on my throat, making my hips jerk in response. I nodded, thinking that was what he wanted. "Good. So, we'll be continuing this affair?"

"Seriously?" I asked, pushing him back. Leo nodded. "Alright then. If we're going to call it an affair then let's try not to get caught, shall we?"

"Of course," Leo laughed, rolling his eyes.

I smirked, feeling one step ahead of my new lover. "Then let's not start this on Half-blood Hill, where any camper can some over and see us."

Leo's face went blank, as if he couldn't believe he didn't notice where they were. "Jake?"

"Yeah?"

"Stop being cocky. It doesn't look good on you," the fire user said, before planting another kiss on my lips.

Thanks Aphrodite. I thought. Now don't go bragging about this and let Hephaestus find out about it.


You know, as I wrote this I realized I've been reading to much twincest(Ouran High School Host Club). I'm really horrible. I can't stop these stories from coming out. Anyways, thanks for reading and please review. But, if you're going to tell me this is disgusting and I have a sick mind for putting "brothers" together, don't bother. I already know.

Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it!

~Goddess of the Multiverses