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4ce-of-2pades · 27 days

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Here’s a short Heroes of Olympus fic inspired by that one part in Harry Potter where Ron gets love potion-ed and then poisoned immediately afterwards. Fun times.

This takes place after TLH, during the months at CHB spent building the Argo 2. Main characters are Leo and Jason. I headcanon Leo as aroace. :)

(I don’t post a lot of writing so I dunno what else to say here. Enjoy!)

“Leo? Why are you in my cabin?” Jason walked over to Leo, who sat cross-legged on Jason’s bed, staring down at something in his lap.

It took Leo a second to respond. “Wanted to talk to you about… something. I dunno. Not important.”

Leo’s voice sounded low, almost sleepy. This, paired with the fact that he sat completely still, unnerved Jason. It wasn’t like Leo to be this subdued.

“Are you okay?” Jason asked. “If something’s wrong… you can talk to me if you want to. Or—“

“Wrong?” Leo asked, looking up at Jason with confusion. “There’s never been less wrong with me.” He broke into a wide, sappy smile. “I’m in love, Jason.”

Jason stared at his friend for a solid ten seconds before bursting into peals of laughter. “Y—you had me…” he wheezed, “for a second…”

Jason’s laughter cut off as Leo stood swiftly and shoved him backwards, almost making him fall over. “Don’t laugh at me,” Leo warned, his voice suddenly thick with anger. “It’s not a joke.” Wisps of flame were dancing through his hair.

“Woah, hey, wait!” Jason put his hands out in surrender. “Calm down! I’m sorry! I just thought… I mean, it’s been a while since you’ve said anything like that. You told me—“

“I was wrong, Jason!” Leo snapped. “I was a fool! I didn’t know anything! I was just confused and making things up! But I’m not confused anymore. Everything’s perfect now.” His face once again took on a dreamy expression.

Jason frowned at Leo’s words. The phrasing didn’t sit well with him, but he let it go. “Okay then. Who’s the girl? Or guy? Or…”

“The most gorgeous girl at camp,” Leo sighed. “Drew Tanaka…”

Jason almost choked on his own spit. Now he knew something weird was happening. A change of identity was one thing. A crush on Drew Tanaka was another beast entirely, and a far less benign one. Leo knew by now what a viper she was on the inside. So why would he suddenly be obsessing over her, of all people?

For the first time, Jason noticed what Leo had been staring at when he had first found him. A slightly crumpled heart-shaped box, sitting on Jason’s bed with all the innocence of a deadly red scorpion sunning itself on a rock. Jason’s chest tightened, though whether from fear or anger he couldn’t be sure.

“How dare she,” Jason muttered. He stormed over and snatched the box off his bed. Leo flinched, then tried frantically to take it back from him. Jason ignored Leo’s protests and held the box high out of his reach. “She gave this to you?” Jason demanded. “Drew gave you these chocolates?”

“Yes! They were a gift! Give them back!” Leo leapt onto Jason’s bed, then launched himself into the air, almost managing to snatch the box back from Jason. As it was, he knocked it out of Jason’s hand, and it fell to the floor with a crunch of cardboard. Jason stared as Leo gingerly picked up the lid and ran his fingers sadly along a new crease in its surface.

“It’s empty,” Jason said, dumbfounded. “There aren’t even any chocolates left.”

“She signed her name on the top,” Leo murmured, hugging the beat-up cardboard. “She has such lovely handwriting…”

Lovely handwriting. Whatever was happening to Leo, it had an iron grip on him.

“Leo,” Jason began carefully, “I know you won’t believe me, but this isn’t real. You’re under some kind of spell.”

“Yeah,” Leo sighed happily, “The spell of love…”

“Literally that!” Jason said. “That’s not a good thing! She’s manipulating you, Leo! Messing around with your mind!”

“Oh, she can mess around with me anytime,” Leo said, in a tone that made Jason flush at the implication.

Clearly Jason wasn’t getting anywhere trying to reason with Leo. He needed to break this spell himself, and to do that, he needed to understand it. He asked Leo, “When did you start feeling this way? When you ate the chocolate, or when you first saw Drew today? Did she say anything weird?”

“Er, well… Actually she told me to give these to you for her.” Leo had the decency to look guilty as he explained. “And I was looking for you, ‘cause I thought you’d want the chocolate, but like, you’ve already got a girl, and you and Piper are pretty much soulmates, so I didn’t think you cared if I had a few pieces, and um…” Leo gripped the empty chocolate box tightly. “Look, you don’t like Drew, right? You’ll tell her that, right? So she’ll stop thinking you’re so awesome? Perfect Jason. She’ll never notice me next to you. What makes you so great anyway?” Leo’s hair began to ignite again as his face drew into a scowl.

“What makes me so great is what a great wingman I am!” Jason said quickly, thinking on his feet. “Look, stay here, and I’ll go turn Drew down… then turn her on to you!” He ended the line with a shaky thumbs-up and cringed, already regretting the quip.

Leo brightened immediately. “Really? Thanks, man!” He dropped to a seat on the floor, legs crossed, and gazed up at Jason with the open hopefulness of a dog waiting to be thrown a stick.

Jason sighed, and left his cabin to go find Drew. And give her a piece of his mind.

—

“A love potion? Seriously? You’re that disgusting?”

Drew batted her eyelashes mischievously at Jason and leaned against the doorway of her cabin. She didn’t seem too surprised that he wasn’t worshiping the ground at her feet. “I don’t have the slightest idea what you mean,” she said, tilting her head to the side.

“Right. Because Leo’s gone from zero attraction to head-over-heels for you in five minutes flat by pure coincidence.” Jason growled quietly at the back of his throat, a wolfish habit he had never managed to lose. “What did you put in the chocolates, and how do you reverse it? And don’t play dumb again.”

“If you’re expecting a recipe, you’ll be disappointed,” Drew said, smirking. “All you need to know is that those chocolates were made with lots. Of. Love.” She made two fingers walk up Jason’s chest, punctuating the last word by poking him right over his heart.

Jason stepped back from her quickly. “Even if I wasn’t in love with Piper, I’d never love you. And I wouldn’t eat anything you gave me, even if you did send Leo as a Trojan horse.” Jason knew Annabeth would have something to say about such a historically inaccurate reference, but luckily she wasn’t around to complain.

Drew giggled. “Oh, Leo. My consolation prize, if I couldn’t capture you. I’m not surprised he ate all the chocolate before you even saw it. I figured he probably would.”

“Why did you use Leo?” Jason asked. “I thought you didn’t like him. Why play with him like this?”

“Honestly, darling, he was due for a bit of love. You can’t tell me he didn’t need the help.”

“He didn’t.”

“Well he certainly doesn’t anymore,” Drew said brightly. “All fixed! Though it’s a shame he’s found his heart only to get it broken…”

Jason growled again, this time loud enough for Drew to hear. Her exquisite expression soured slightly.

“I’m sick of talking to you,” Jason said, his voice as hard and sharp as a knife. “But if Leo’s not back to normal soon, you better believe I’ll find you.” Jason narrowed his eyes. “Never do this again,” he said, deathly quiet, “to anyone.” He then turned quickly and stalked away.

Drew stared after Jason for a moment, eyes wide in shock. Then she shook her head slightly, scoffed, and swept back into her cabin.

—

“Lou Ellen?” Jason called out, “Are you in there? I come unarmed!” Jason stood outside the Hecate cabin, several yards away from the door and hopefully well out of range of any magical traps that might be set around the building. The Hecate cabin wasn’t the only place a camper could risk setting off something dangerous, but it’s traps definitely had the strangest effects, and the most difficult to get rid of.

The door swung open at once, revealing not Lou Ellen, but a tall guy with long blond hair, a quiver of arrows slung over one shoulder, and a bright smile straight out of a toothpaste commercial. Given his supernatural good looks, Jason figured he was either a god, or Lou Ellen had been experimenting with cosmetic spells.

“Jason Grace,” the stranger declared cheerfully.

“Lord Apollo?” Jason phrased it as a question, though he was already fairly certain of the stranger’s identity.

“Lord Apollo,” the man repeated, clearly pleased. “I love it when people add the ‘Lord.’ You should really be calling me ‘Lord’ too, Lou Ellen, or perhaps I’ll stop gracing you with the gift of my glorious wisdom.”

“You promise?” Lou Ellen’s face appeared in the doorway, her expression stony. She peered out at Jason and raised an eyebrow. “You. You need me to work magic for you.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah,” Jason said. “I’m prepared to pay.”

“You better be,” Lou Ellen said. “Can you bottle lightning?”

“Uh… I can summon lightning. I don’t know about bottling it…”

“I bet you’re wondering, Jason,” Apollo interjected, “what I am doing in the Hecate cabin, and at your Camp as a whole, without even any fanfare or celebration to announce my presence.”

Jason thought it might be a bad idea to answer no.

“You see,” Apollo continued, “Lou Ellen here cast a musical spell, calling out to the many forces sensitive to such powers, and I just knew she was searching for my counsel.”

Behind Apollo, Lou Ellen shook her head and mouthed no.

“I was more than happy to come guide this young hero and instruct her on my vast knowledge of music, and magic, and healing arts, and current Olympian fashion trends, and…”

Lou Ellen made a talking motion with her hand, and rolled her eyes. Jason had to stifle a laugh.

“What do you need?” Lou Ellen asked Jason. Apollo stopped his speech, looking mildly irritated that he was no longer the center of attention.

“I need you to break a curse, or a spell, or something like that,” Jason explained. “Drew did something to a box of chocolates that made them like a love potion, and Leo ate them, so now he’s infatuated with her. Can you get him back to normal?”

“Ah, the old love-inducing-chocolates technique,” Apollo said fondly, before Lou Ellen could respond. “Classic. It does tend to wear off eventually, you know. Usually.”

“I’m not going to wait for ‘eventually.’” Jason said. “I won’t let Leo suffer through this any longer than he has to.”

“‘Suffer,’” Apollo scoffed. “Really. What’s so bad about a little love?”

Jason laughed dryly. “Hardly a ‘little,’ Lord Apollo. Last time I checked on him, he seemed about ready to tear down the door and chase after her. It’s getting sort of scary.”

Apollo frowned at this. “Oh. Well. Um…” He blinked a few times, then set his shoulders, his face solemn. “It is decided then! I will answer your plea for my help, and release Leo from this spell, so that he will be free once again to express his true feelings!”

“Um, actually Lord Apollo—“ Jason started.

“Never fear!” Apollo interrupted. “I require no repayment for my aid! I will not ask you to undertake a long and difficult quest, nor spend several decades of your life as my personal servant, nor—“

“I really think this calls for magical cure, and Lou—“

“Yes! I, the lord of healing, will cure this magic! I see now why the Fates have guided me here today! I know just the antidote for this romantic malady! Come with me, Jason, we don’t have time to chit-chat!”

“My thoughts exactly,” Lou Ellen said, nudging Apollo out from her cabin’s doorway. She gave Jason an amused grin.

“But… Lou Ellen…” Jason said desperately.

“Good luck, guys!” Lou Ellen chimed. She giggled and slammed her cabin door shut in Jason and Apollo’s faces.

—

“Drew?” Leo’s grin fell apart as he scanned the interior of Cabin 7 and realized that Drew was nowhere to be seen. Just to be sure, he dropped to the floor and peered under the row of cots lining one wall, and tried to look behind a wooden cabinet full of medical equipment. Jason imagined it wouldn’t be long before Leo started searching inside the instrument cases in the more musically-themed areas of the cabin. Or under the floorboards.

“Jason, you said Drew would be here.” Leo looked utterly distraught, but thankfully he hadn’t swung into anger just yet. “Where is she? Am I early? Or late? Did she change her mind? Did I do something she didn’t like? Jason, how can I fix it? I’ll do anything for her.”

Jason was grateful the Apollo cabin was, apart from the two of them, empty, all of its members either out at activities or absent from camp entirely. He had the feeling Leo would look back on this whole episode with embarrassment, assuming he remembered it, so the less people around to gawk at him, the better.

“Jason,” Leo said, his tone becoming dangerous, “you told me Drew would be here.” Jason figured Leo’s artificially heightened emotions were about to flip back to fiery anger, and he was starting to regret skipping the Medea SPF 5000. Even if he did hate the coconut scent.

Before things could escalate any further, Apollo materialized next to Leo and led him away with a hand on his shoulder. If Leo was surprised to see an Olympian god standing at his side, he didn’t show it. “Now Leo,” Apollo said smoothly, “Jason only meant that you would need to come here before you see Drew. You need to get ready, so you can make a good first impression. Haven’t you ever had a girlfriend before?”

Leo shook his head, suddenly abashed.

“Sit here.” Apollo pushed Leo onto one of the medical cots, and Leo immediately swung his feet up and sat cross-legged atop the blankets. “Be patient for a minute, and Jason and I will prepare something special for you.” He winked.

“Something that’ll make Drew like me?” Leo asked.

“Yes,” Apollo said. “Didn’t I just say that? Try to keep up.”

Apollo then led Jason a few steps away, their backs turned to Leo, and said gravely, “I see now what you mean, Jason. This is all too terribly familiar. But I’ve learned a few tricks over the centuries for this sort of thing, so hopefully this will end better than last time.”

“Last time?” Jason asked.

“Don’t worry about it,” Apollo said quickly.

He pulled out a thin briefcase, seemingly from nowhere, and set it on a nearby table. As he opened it, a cluttered collection of bottles and vials spilled into view, far more than could possibly have fit in a bag of that size and shape. If Mary Poppins had turned to mad science, her endless bag of equipment couldn’t have been any stranger.

Apollo took a crystal bowl from the briefcase, set it on the table, and immediately began pouring into it the contents of one vial after another, with a speed and precision that suggested he had concocted this exact same potion innumerable times before—though Jason found that unlikely. Although the ingredients appeared suspect—a sprinkle of luminescent powder and precisely thirteen stirs with a golden spoon struck Jason as more theatrical magic than medical procedure—Jason trusted Apollo to know his way around a cure. Even if he did spend the duration of its concoction praising his own name and deeds under his breath. In verse. Jason wondered if he even realized he was doing it.

Jason glanced back at Leo, and found that his friend was still, to Jason’s great surprise, being patient. The ease with which the small demigod waited, completely motionless, not so much as shifting his gaze from Apollo and his potionmaking, unnerved Jason. Anyone who had known Leo longer than five minutes could see that something was wrong. Compared to his usual frenetic energy, he looked like a corpse.

Jason turned back to Apollo just in time to watch him add in a splash of glowing green liquid that looked like radioactive limeade, causing the color of the crystal bowl’s contents to sour into that of a swamp. A small puff of noxious green smoke rose from the surface of the liquid, like an evil potion in a cartoon. Jason half expected the murky smoke to form into the shape of a skull.

“Excellent!” Apollo exclaimed with a broad smile.

“…is it?” Jason asked dubiously. He grimaced at the scent rising from the bowl. “Lord Apollo, this won’t hurt Leo, will it? You’re sure it will work?”

“Ah,” Apollo said, “Now those are two entirely different questions. Will it hurt? Well, heartbreak always hurts, no matter the cause of the love in the first place, and exorcizing a spell so deep-seated in Leo’s psyche… well, it’s bound to damage a few things on the way out. If you’ve got to drag a bull through a china shop, you’re going to end up with a lot of broken plates. So to speak.”

“I’m not sure I like that metaphor.”

Apollo waved a hand, coming dangerously close to knocking over a nearby bottle. “Don’t worry so much. It will work. I’m Apollo. And Leo’s a sturdy little demigod, I’m sure his mind will be just fine, more or less. We can do some damage control after we get that spell removed. First things first though.” Apollo selected a small vial from among those on the table, and tapped a drop of pale pink liquid into the bowl. Immediately, the thick green sludge faded into a clean liquid that shined with the colors of a sunset.

“Wow.” Jason whistled appreciatively.

“Purely cosmetic, that last addition,” Apollo admitted, “but I find that patients tend to be averse to cures that look like toxic goo. Strangely enough.” He strode back to Leo and offered the crystal bowl. “I’m going to need you to drink this,” he said.

“Why?” Leo asked. “What is it?

“It’s a magical makeover potion,” Apollo lied cheerfully. “Anyone can put on a nice set of clothes or eat some breath mints, but only this will transform you completely into the best version of yourself. Taken in full dosage, everything from your looks to your personality will change to that which your beloved Drew would find most appealing.”

It sent a jolt of sadness through Jason’s heart to see just how quickly and eagerly Leo snatched the potion from Apollo and gulped it down.

Leo wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, then gazed into the reflective surface of the bowl, as if hoping to see his reflection change in real time. Jason glanced at Apollo, uneasy.

“How long does this take to work?” Jason whispered.

“Oh, I’d say about—“

Apollo was interrupted by the sound of shattering crystal. He and Jason turned quickly back to Leo, who had just thrown the empty potion bowl across the room. He stood for a moment, staring at the broken pieces along the far wall, shaking like he’d just carried the weight of the sky.

“I,” Leo uttered, “Hate her. So much.” He dropped back to a seat on the edge of the cot, burying his face in his hands.

Apollo clapped his hands gleefully, exclaiming, “All cured! How wonderful of me! You’re welcome, by the way.”

Jason didn’t spare a second to join Apollo in congratulating himself. He sat on the cot beside Leo, who was doubled over like he was in physical pain.

“Hey,” Jason said. “How do you feel?”

Leo groaned. “Hacked.”

“Excuse me?”

“Hijacked. Remote controlled. Reprogramed. My head hurts. I wanna go home. What time is it? I’m sorry. Wayward functions… stuck, stuck, stuck…”

Jason looked up at Apollo, who just shrugged as if to say broken plates.

“Leo,” Jason said carefully, “do you remember what happened?”

“Unfortunately.” Leo grimaced, still gripping his head tightly like he was trying to keep his skull from falling apart. “Gods, I can’t help think stop what? I’m sorry. Everything’s too light. Mmmmmmm try turning me off and on again. Always works…” he trailed off into incoherent murmuring.

“Apollo! Can’t you do something?” Jason demanded. Apollo seemed taken aback at the intensity in Jason’s voice.

“Believe me or not, he’s actually doing better than I anticipated,” Apollo said. “The best thing really is to just let him reset. A little rest, a little nectar and ambrosia, and his mind will repair all those pesky little gaps on its own. Good as new.”

Apollo crossed the room to Cabin 7’s main store of medical supplies, and from a high cupboard retrieved a large Tupperware bin, a plastic kool-aid pitcher, and a small orange mug with Camp Half Blood’s logo all but chipped off of its surface. As he returned, Jason could see that the pitcher was filled with shimmering nectar. Apollo filled the mug about halfway, then nudged it gently against Leo’s arm until he took it, holding it tightly with both hands as if afraid he would drop it.

As Leo silently sipped the nectar, Apollo struggled violently with the Tupperware box. “Lucky you,” he told Leo, “these seem to be brand new batches. Freshest nectar and ambrosia this place has seen in a month, I’ll bet.” Apollo frowned as he looked down at the box. “Unlucky me, nobody bothered to remove this ambrosia from its packaging in anticipation of my arrival. I detest this infernal plastic containment. Even the most valiant effort could not—“

Leo coughed loudly, dropping the mug and spilling nectar across the cabin’s floor. Jason barely managed to wrap his arms around Leo and keep him from dropping to the ground, but just as quickly, he pulled his hands away, letting Leo fall back on the cot, unconscious.

“He’s hot!” Jason exclaimed, checking his hands for burns and wincing as he moved his fingers.

Apollo tilted his head to the side, squinting at Leo. “Mm, I don’t see it. But I suppose if you’re into the scrawny look…”

“Literal temperature, Apollo!” Jason snapped, “Focus! He’s starting to catch fire.”

“Oh,” Apollo said. “Oh no. That’s not good.”

“It’s okay actually, he does that a lot,” Jason started to say, but Apollo stopped him.

“I know about Leo’s fire. This is something else entirely. I don’t understand how this could have happened. There was no way he could overdose so quickly, not on the amount I gave him. Does he have a particular sensitivity, do you know? Allergies perhaps?”

“What, you think the nectar caused this?” Jason asked. But already he could see it. While Leo’s fire usually manifested in loud shades of orange and red, the flames rolling over his skin now were a delicate gold, shimmering with otherworldly pinpricks of light. And beneath the flames, Leo’s skin was beginning to burn. Leo never burned. “Oh gods,” Jason whispered. Something was going horrifically wrong.

Oblivious to Jason’s mounting panic, Apollo continued to muse to himself. “With his natural resistance to fire, I predict he should last longer than most, but given that this fire is of an entirely different origin, and a divine one at that… Well I suppose he could pull through, even from this stage, though he’d be the first. I’m actually rather curious…”

Jason had heard horror stories of too much nectar or ambrosia incinerating demigods alive, but had hoped never to see it happen. Yet here he stood, helpless, watching his best friend dying slowly before him, divine fire consuming him from the inside out.

“APOLLO!” Jason screamed, “DO SOMETHING!”

Apollo flinched, then rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “I could say a few words? Though I didn’t really know him all that well. I would rather just send flowers…”

Jason ran to Leo’s side, forcing himself close to the heat of the flames. “LEO!” He yelled. There was no response from Leo, except a slight twitching of his eyelids, but Jason had to believe Leo was listening. Apollo would be no help now, and for all Jason’s skills, he was useless in the face of illness and fire. There was no time to run for help. The only person who had even a chance of saving Leo was Leo.

Jason wished he could charmspeak like Piper, but he just had to hope that his own voice and his own words would be enough to get through to Leo. It was a fragile hope, but it was all he had.

“Leo!” Jason imagined a wall of power behind his voice, pushing his words forward and making them into reality. “You will not die like this! You will not die in fire! You can’t! You are fire, blazing and strong! You are far more powerful than these tiny golden flames! They don’t destroy you, they fuel you!”

Leo showed no sign of having heard Jason, but the golden flames started to dim ever so slightly. Tendrils of bold orange and red began to creep around his form, chasing away the searing light around them.

Jason’s heart leapt. “Leo!” He called out again, “You are unpredictable! You break unmovable rules and invent solutions no one ever thought possible! This isn’t a death sentence, it’s a challenge, and you can solve it!” More and more of the golden flames were consumed by Leo’s fire, which was growing stronger, reaching higher. Jason braced himself against the heat, but did not take even one step away from his friend. “You’ve almost done it, Leo! You’re brilliant! Keep going! FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE!”

Leo’s fire erupted in a blast of orange flames, filling the room and knocking Jason backwards, searing his skin. When Jason opened his eyes, he found himself slumped against the far wall, his body stinging painfully from head to toe. But he was still alive. As quickly as he could manage, he got to his feet and staggered through overturned beds and tables towards Leo, who was still sprawled out on the now very blackened and burnt medical cot. There was no sign of either the golden flames or Leo’s own fire. Leo’s eyes were still closed, and he was still covered in burns that mirrored Jason’s own, but his chest rose and fell regularly. He was breathing. He was alive.

“I just knew he would make it!” Apollo materialized next to Jason, beaming. He made a show of pulling the cot’s charred, disintegrating blanket over Leo, tucking him in like a child at bedtime.

Jason glared daggers at Apollo. The god put a hand to his chest, offended. “Well what could you expect me to do about it? If I interfered with some huge miracle every time a mortal was dying, well… I would be in major trouble, to put it plainly. You don’t know how bad Zeus’s punishments can be.” He spared Leo a glance. “How was I supposed to know it wasn’t actually his time to go?”

“Um, you’re the god of prophecy?” Jason shot back.

Apollo paused. “Right. Well.” He looked Jason up and down, taking in his burns, and shook his head. “Everyone needs medical attention today. No rest for the talented.” He picked up the pitcher of nectar from where it had fallen in the blast of fire, and held it out to Jason, shaking its remaining contents. “Nectar?”

“You’re kidding,” Jason said.

“What, do you have an allergy too?”

“No, and neither does Leo! Look, Apollo—“ Jason stopped himself, took a deep breath, and continued in a calmer tone. “Lord Apollo, I think it’s more likely that there is something wrong with the nectar itself, and possibly the ambrosia. Could it have been poisoned? Or made more potent somehow, so it’s easier to overdose?”

“Jason,” Apollo began condescendingly, “for someone to have tampered with the nectar and ambrosia, never mind in such a way that I could not detect it, is—“

“Possible.” Jason said firmly. “It’s possible. I won’t risk anyone else on the chance this was a fluke. You said this nectar and ambrosia was from a ‘new batch,’ right? We need to take it all back, from the whole camp, before anyone else is exposed. We’ll find someone who can, I don’t know, study it. Find out what’s wrong with it.”

“I think you’re overreacting, Jason,” Apollo said.

“Leo almost died,” Jason said. He shook his head. “A stupid, cruel prank almost led to Leo’s death. If this was anyone but Leo, they would already be dead. Lord Apollo, you are the god of medicine. You work to keep people alive and well. Someone or something is threatening our campers’ lives by turning our greatest tool for healing against us. If you don’t take this seriously, who will?”

Apollo stared at Jason for a moment before responding. “I will speak with Chiron.” He made to leave the cabin.

“And the ambrosia and nectar?”

Apollo snapped his fingers. “Done. All of it is far out of anyone’s access but mine now.”

Jason glanced back at the overturned table, and saw that the pitcher and Tupperware box were gone, along with the mess of broken bottles and vials that Apollo had used to concoct his initial remedy.

“If you’ll excuse me,” Apollo said loftily, “I have a very important discussion to get to.” He vanished in an instant, not even bothering to use the door.

Jason relaxed for the first time in hours, shrinking about an inch shorter with the change in posture. Finally, hopefully, this whole mess was over. He sat again on the edge of Leo’s cot, causing a small puff of ash to rise up. He set a hand on the blanket, inches away from one of Leo’s, too worried over his burns to actually touch him.

Jason heard shouting from outside; no doubt nearby campers were running to inspect the cause of the explosion, which had probably been heard halfway across camp. Jason wasn’t looking forward to explaining to the Apollo campers how their cabin had gotten torched, especially when it had involved their father. Hopefully they would be too concerned over Jason and Leo’s injuries to start blaming them.

Jason felt Leo’s hand slip into his own, a weak grip on just a few of his fingers. Jason ignored the sting of his burns and held Leo’s hand back.

“I’m sorry,” Jason said. “This whole thing was awful to begin with, and now the problem’s been blown way out of proportion. You almost—“ He stopped himself, then tried for a laugh. “Heh. Those were some pretty terrible chocolates, huh?”

“…am I broken?” Leo mumbled.

“No,” Jason said. “No, you’ve never been broken, Leo. Everything’s okay now. All fixed.”

(I have no idea what the explanation is behind the messed-up nectar and ambrosia. It only exists to parallel Ron’s poisoning, from the inspiring story. If you want to know what happens next, tough luck. That’s Apollo and Chiron’s problem now. Jason and Leo get a break.)

#riordanverse #heroes of olympus #hoo jason #hoo leo #jason grace #leo valdez #fanfiction #percy jackson #hoo drew #hoo apollo #pjo apollo #I wrote Drew and Lou Ellen from memory so if their personalities are off than oops #I know having the aroace character get love potioned looks bad on paper #but I want to stress again that this is Not A Good Thing

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