the least I could do - leo x gn! child of ares! winchester reader
pairing: leo x gn!winchester!child of ares reader, sam and dean + sibling!child of ares reader
genre: adventure, angsty fluff, emotional fluff, intense romance to sweet romance
summary: when an untimely death presents an opportunity, you find a way to right a long since forgotten wrong in the universe. the person you helped will be really greatful, if they ever find out.
warnings: spoilers for heroes of olympus and s2e1 of supernatural, abandoning and lying to your friends at the best possible time for good cause, bad news call in the middle of the night, near death, actual death but not gratuitiously, not cheating death per se but more swapping things around, killing demons but not the hosts, brief meeting with hades, you tote an unconsious person around for a few days but they’re resting so it’s fine, a sudden fully consentual kiss/makeout, awkward relationship with your estranged brothers sam and dean, you go on a hunting trip with sam and dean, I think that’s it?????
wc: 5k
Motels aren’t an unfamiliar environment to you. What is an unfamiliar situation however, is debating which of your friends you should tell that you’re leaving. Who would let you sneak away the easiest. Connor is not a morning person, so it’s possible he’d agree with whatever you say just to let him go back to sleep - but as a son of Hermes, he can smell trouble a mile away. Nyssa… you know would be harder to fool. She was temporary head of the Hephaestus cabin for so long, she’s too responsible not to ask follow up questions. You don’t know what it is about her, but you can never lie to her. She’s like that intuitive older sister who knows all your tells.
You hedge your bets and decide on Connor.
Before you say anything, though, you run through your mental checklist to make sure your plan is solid. You fight off the guilt of what you're about to do, reminding yourself this is the best solution - the only solution where everyone can be happy. That’s all you want.
It’s still dark outside, really late at night. You set the clocks ahead so it looked like early morning. You walk over to Connor, and nudge his shoulder.
“Hey... there’s a gas station down the road, I’m going to pick up a few things.”
He blinks at you, bleary eyed, but you’re already across the room. You make a quiet motion, pointing to Nyssa, who’s still asleep. You shoot him a thumbs up, and you’re out the door. You wait a second, peek through the slightly parted blinds, and see he’s still in bed. Thank gods. You hop in the car, reminding yourself the camp van is coming to pick them up this afternoon. You stop at the gas station, getting two coffees, and keep driving. You pull out your phone and redial the most recent call. Your brother. Not your godly half sibling, but your mortal brother. One of them, at least. You take deep breaths as you drive to the address of the hospital he gave you.
Ringing…
Ringing…
He finally picks up.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Sam,” your heart is racing, and you know your hands are shaking in spite of clutching the wheel to the point of near pain, “it’s me. I’m on my way to the hospital. Just… hold on for a little while - and don’t do anything stupid, especially don’t let dad do anything stupid.”
“I’ll try. Let me know when you get here.”
“Yeah,” you breathe, wishing you had a ‘Talking to your estranged brother while your other estranged brother is on the brink of death for dummies’ book. “I got you a coffee.” You finish.
“... Thanks. I could really use it.”
An emotional eternity later, you finally reach the hospital. As soon as you find him in the hall, you hug him. You don’t care that he’s as tall as a moose or that you barely know each other. When someone is going through shit like this, they need a hug.
“How’s Dean?” you ask. You can almost feel Sam’s stomach drop.
“... He’s not great. I think Dad’s already-” he looks up as a few nurses pass, choosing his words carefully, “done something reckless.”
You stare at the ground, processing this. Making sure you’re doing the right thing. You steady yourself with a breath, pulling him into Dean’s room.
“Listen, Sam. I… have a plan. I don’t think I can save everyone, but I can make sure that Dean is okay, and make sure Dad is… happy.” His eyes narrow. He knows this is coming; once you make a contract with a demon, there’s no reversing it. He tells you this.
“I’m not going to reverse anything,” you think ahead to your plans for later today, “per se, just… redirect a few things? Look I don’t have time to go into detail right now, but please, just trust me. I promise after today I’ll explain everything to you and Dean, all the stuff I didn’t tell you. And at least some of the stuff Dad didn’t tell you.”
He weighs his options, knowing he really doesn’t have any. He sighs.
“What’s the plan?”
You both know your dad is a highly coveted soul for demons, especially with all the literal and metaphorical escapes from death he’s made. He won’t agree to go anywhere until he can say goodbye to his kids - all of them. That’s where you come in. Once you see your dad, the demon will try to take him away, probably in the basement of the hospital. Sam will come down and interrupt them, you’ll come down swinging, and Sam will high tail it out of there to help Dean.
The part you didn’t mention is the delivery you have to make afterwards. It’s more of an exchange, but who’s counting?
Before you go to see your dad, you turn to Sam.
“Do you have any holy water?” you ask, brow furrowing.
“Of course,” he replies, handing you a bottle. You take out your sword from its hilt on your hip, unscrewing the pommel from the grip to use a feature you had hoped to never inaugurate. Pouring the holy water into the channel traditionally used for poison, you can feel Sam’s bewildered gaze on the back of your neck.
“What- how the hell did you get that past security?”
You let out a small exasperated breath, making sure to secure everything back in place.
“I mean… you didn’t notice it until now, right?”
“Yeah…”
“Neither did the metal detectors.” you answer curtly. You steel yourself with a breath, knowing it’s now or never, and head for your dad’s hospital room.
Everything is going according to plan. You saw your dad, he excused himself and went to the basement, you and Sam followed, and now here you are, about to signal to Sam to jump in.
“Make sure to act shocked, like you didn’t know he was doing this,” you whisper, and he nods. You touch the rope in your pocket, a gift from your other dad, and hope it can magically bind monsters from the Christian pantheon too. You listen at the door, cueing him once the timing is right. He bursts in through the doors.
You press your back against the wall, listening for the right time to jump in.
Hold…
Hold…
Now.
You run in, all your rage funneled into charging at the demon.
“SAM GO!”
Your dad, already half dead, begs you to get out, but you focus all your energy on slicing the demon shitless.
It sends a psychic shockwave your way, and you counter with a hard swing of your sword. It seems to be at least a little effective, as the demon recoils. You step forward, and it lunges at you. Your adrenaline is crazy, keeping you on your toes and locked on your goal. You roll and dodge, landing in a kneel.
Swinging around, you launch yourself at the demon, landing a good hit. It falls to the ground, hissing and wailing. It looks up at you, black eyes terrified. With no hesitation, you go in for the kill. You stab your sword through its heart, and slice across its neck. Relief floods you as the body drops to the floor, black smoke shooting up and out of sight. You drop down and check for a pulse.
“Sam!”
He runs back in.
“Get this guy upstairs - he’s still breathing, his pulse is steady.” Sam follows you request, eyes flared in bewilderment.
“How did you get rid of the demon without killing the host? He should be in way worse shape.”
Pulling out your rope, you tie it around the misty gold form.
“I-” you don’t have time for this right now, “Tomorrow. I’ll tell you everything tomorrow, I have to go.”
You start to run, but stop as you remember something Nyssa had said. You turn back to him.
“How long does a patent last?”
“What?” Scribbling down some information on a napkin, you hand it to him.
“I need you to find out everything you can about this, please Sam, call me as soon as you have something. It’s really important.”
“Uh- yeah, sure.” he agrees, and you’re out the door.
The drive from South Dakota to Vegas should have been 18, 19 hours, but you’re able to call in a favor or two and speed things up. The party pony you meet up with in the woods gets you there in no time, and even though the shipping is hernia inducing, you get your car dropped off not long after via Hermes. Your adrenaline is so intense, you don’t really realize how far you’ve come until you’re standing in front of Hades himself. Did you have to break in a little? Yeah. But that doesn’t matter right now.
“How dare you invade my throne room.” he booms, voice sending bad chills through your whole body. You hold up the rope, glowing soul still attached to it, not breaking eye contact.
“I’m here to make a trade.”
He looks at you, shaken by the value of your leverage.
“I give you what you want, you let me take something from your lost and found. You’ll be in Ares’ favor during whatever trouble’s on the horizon, you get to give a really tired person peace, and I take a lingering problem off your hands. It’s a win-win.”
Persephone’s hand rests on top of his.
“And what would that be?” she asks, kind and gentle, her presence immediately easing the tension in the room.
Within the hour, you’re sitting behind the wheel of your car again, driving back towards South Dakota, the person in your passenger seat still unconscious. Your throat is tight as the radio plays lightly. You’re not out of the woods until she wakes up. You keep repeating that to yourself in an attempt to fight off the bizarre euphoria that you’re actually pulling this off. Of all the dangerous, stupid, unnecissary shit you’ve done, this is easily the worst. You take another countless breath to steady yourself, and your phone rings. Thank gods.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Sam.” Thank gods.
“And Dean,” a weary voice calls.
Thank gods.
“We looked into that patent you asked about.”
“And?” you ask, breath bated.
“It goes up for auction at the end of next week, but no one seems to know anything about it.”
You let out a relieved laugh.
“Yes. Yes, yes, yes! Thank you so much guys.” You make a mental note of that, continuing, “Look, I’ll be back in South Dakota by tomorrow, can I meet you at Bobby’s to… talk? There’s some stuff I haven’t told you yet that I should.”
There’s silence on the other end. Sam answers first.
“Yeah.”
“Great, I need Bobby’s help with something, too, so… I’ll call you when I get there. See you soon.” They say bye and you hang up.
You can’t help but glance over at the woman in your passenger seat every few seconds, even though you know she won’t wake up for two or three days. That’s what Hades said.
You turn the radio up and keep driving.
By the time you finally, finally get to Bobby’s house, Dean is much happier to see you than Sam is.
“Who’s your friend?” Dean smirks, looking at the woman still asleep in your car.
“She has a kid my age.” You reply.
“Gotcha.” Dean answers, immediately squashing all interest.
Bobby meets you outside.
“So, you’re John’s other kid.”
“Yup, that’s me,” you reply, “the other kid. Could you give me a hand?”
You drag the still unconscious woman out of your car, and into Bobby’s house, placing her gently on a couch.
“I promise this isn’t as bad as it looks, she’s just had… a really long day.”
“I’ve been there,” he replies, and you can tell he’s studying you, looking for traces of your dad.
“You know, you remind me of someone else. An old friend of John’s.” Sam and Dean look intrigued.
“They met at a hunter bar a long time ago. Some chucklehead tried to pick a fight with your dad, and this mysterious stranger swoops in and breaks it up, beats the crap out of the guy. His buddy tries to ambush the guy and your dad kicked his ass. Guess it impressed him; they went on one hunt together and never saw each other again. Turns out they fought in the same war, too. I think John always hoped they’d cross paths again some day.”
Yup. That’s your dad. Your godly dad, at least. You stare at the ground, trying to act natural.
“Listen to me, rambling on. So anyway, what’s this favor you need?” Bobby asks.
“And what’s this secret you said you’d tell us?” Sam asks skeptically. You weigh your options, and decide it’s best to tell them all at once.
“Let’s go sit down - does anyone want some coffee, or maybe vodka before we start?”
“That bad?” Dean laughs. He sees the seriousness in your eyes. “Oh…”
You take another breath and begin the explanation.
A while later, you sit across from them, exactly like you started.
“So, the good news is that dad - John is in Elysium. The good place. Depending on how things go, he might even be offered a place with my father- my other... dad... Ares. Up on Olympus. Pretty much the best place you can end up…” you trail off.
You wait for something, anything from the three people sitting across from you. Bobby scratches his chin.
“Huh.” He says. Then after another long silence, “So, what’s with her?” pointing to the woman, still asleep on the couch.
“She… was-” how should you phrase this? “...put in time out, unfairly. For a very long time. And by giving Dad a good ending, I was able to get her out.”
More silence. You can tell they’re processing everything you told them. Who wouldn’t need to? You just expanded their whole world view. You turn your attention to Bobby.
“I need id for her. She’s been legally dead for a little less than ten years.” Bobby’s brow furrows. He stands up abruptly.
“Right.”
A while later, you leave with a box of documents and you’re on the road again. Bobby asks for a postcard from camp, and Sam and Dean make you promise to call them when you get there okay. Dean hugs you one more time before you leave.
“Hey, and if any… medusas or something-”
“Medusa was a person, not a breed.” Sam corrects.
“Well, she IS a person, but she’s… not a threat anymore.” You reply, thinking back to the first time you met Percy.
“Whatever. Any creepy crawlies try to come for you, you just send ‘em my way.” You laugh and agree.
You promise to talk to Chiron about getting them celestial bronze daggers with canals for holy water. In your terrible fight with the demon, you’d inadvertently found a good way to exorcise demons without hurting the host, since celestial bronze doesn’t hurt mortals, so that’s something.
You’re half way through Pennsylvania when she finally wakes up. She seems disoriented, but not scared. You look over, and breathe a sigh of relief.
“Hi,” you start, introducing yourself. You catch her up on what happened to her, where you’re going, and what she missed. By the time you’re done, you’re in New York, and the butterflies in your stomach are almost painful.
“... I talked with a friend and got you an apartment in the Bronx, so you’ll be close to camp. You’ll also be able to find some good jobs in that area too, so things should go pretty smoothly. Plus, part of the deal was getting you set up, getting things back to normal, so hopefully everyone will adjust pretty quickly. This is the last week of camp, so I figured it would be good to give you some time to get everything set up, don’t want too many changes at once, you know?”
She nods.
“Good call.”
You pull up to an apartment building, and hand her the file box.
“All of your papers and documents are in here, along with the paperwork for your patent and a few other things. Here’s the key, it should be on the top floor.” You hand her the key and she accepts it. She’s quiet for a second, then looks at you, misty eyed.
“I don’t know how I can possibly thank you for everything you’ve done for us.” You look down, then back up at her.
“I just want you guys to be happy. None of that should have happened, and I had a chance to make things better, so I took it. Just enjoy everything, have the life you deserve.”
She leans over the box, hugging you tight.
“He’s lucky to have you.” she says, and you can tell she’s teary. Who wouldn’t be?
You rub her back, and thank her, eventually pulling apart. You hand her a tissue.
“Oh, before you go,” you start, turning back to her, “can you not tell him I did this? I don’t want him to feel like he owes me anything, I really just want you guys to be happy. No strings attached.”
She smiles and agrees, waving at you before entering the building. Once she’s inside, you lean back against the seat. Now you have to face everyone at camp after going MIA for almost four days, and explain to Chiron what’s going to happen at the end of the week.
You’re definitely going to need a coffee.
You finally arrive back at camp, and head straight for the big house. Knocking on his office door, you enter when Chiron tells you to come in.
“Hi…” you say meekly. He almost drops his coffee cup. “Before you chew me out, which I totally deserve, I have to tell you something.”
He pinches the bridge of his nose.
“Sit down…”
At least an hour later, you’ve finally finished telling him everything. You hand him a piece of paper.
“Here’s her number. I figure you’d want to arrange a later pick up once everyone else is gone. You know, give them some time for family stuff.”
If you didn’t know better you’d think he’s holding back a smile.
“Can you just tell him that the gods brought her back to reward him for all his service and stuff? I mean he literally died and came back for them. It’s plausible.”
“I… suppose it can be arranged. I’ll call her to coordinate now.” You start to stand up, and he continues, “However,” you stop in your tracks, “don’t think we’re done discussing this. Once you’re fully recuperated, expect an extensive conversation about your actions.”
“Yes, sir.” you say, knowing there was no way to avoid this. Right before you close the door, you hear him call your name softly.
“I am so, so proud of you. Excellent job.” Your cheeks heat up, and you look down. You nod once, and head out.
Now to face the wrath of your worried friends.
“I’m telling you guys,” you say again, sitting on the steps of the arena surrounded by your friends, “my half brothers got into a crash. I got a call at the gas station and left to check on them. It wasn’t too far and I just forgot to tell someone, I was a little preoccupied. I’m sorry I went rogue and scared everyone, I’m okay, and they’re okay.”
After more concerned berating from your friends, it’s finally time for dinner. You pray the last four days of summer will go quickly and uneventfully.
You’re somewhat right. The sudden shift back to normalcy makes the days go by almost impossibly slowly. You’re worried your friends have noticed you avoiding them more than usual. Mark, your half brother, approaches you on the last day.
“You’re being weird, man,” he rips up a handful of grass, “spill.”
You look away, fighting an exasperated laugh.
“I… can’t.” He gives you an incredulous look. “It’s not mine to tell.” you say definitively. He stares you down one more time, making sure you’re not being a martyr.
“Okay. If you do want to talk about anything, you know where to find me.”
“Thanks.” you mutter, grateful for the support.
You don’t know how much longer you can avoid your friends, how much longer you can keep this a secret, how much longer until the wait for the fated drop off is done.
Eventually, it finally rolls around. It’s finally the last day of summer, after the pick ups.
Thursday. 5pm.
You’re at the forges with a couple other people, waiting to pick up your sword, trying really hard not to be weird around Leo or Nyssa. You still feel bad for lying to her. You’re starting to get impatient when Chiron approaches, asking to talk to Leo in the big house. He shrugs at Nyssa, following Chiron. You tell Lou Ellen you forgot something, and to save your place in line. You hide in your cabin until a while later, when you see Chiron lead Leo out onto the porch. He points back towards the rest of camp, and Leo starts to head back to the forges. You grab a broken spear and run back, beating him there by a little bit. Most of the other people have left already, so Nyssa looks up at you.
“Hey, Sherman asked me if I could drop this off. It’s in pretty bad shape.” you hand her the spear, and start discussing what needs to be done, when she looks up, concerned. Leo’s standing in front of you, tears streaming down his face, smiling. She’s about to ask what happened, but he beats her to it.
“They brought her back.” He doesn’t need to say who. You turn to Nyssa.
“I’m gonna,” you point inside, “this seems like family stuff.” She thanks you quietly, and hugs him. He tries to explain through sobs that it was some reward for his service to the gods in the war, a gift for all his suffering, but he gives up halfway through. You stand inside the forges, trying to act like you can’t hear Leo sobbing excitedly onto her shoulders.
Once he’s calmed down a little, Nyssa asks gently, “So, are you going with her now that camp is over?” She hands him a couple tissues from her pocket, and he nods.
“She got an apartment in the Bronx, and-” his throat is tight, and she hugs him again. You stay inside, trying to look like you knew none of this. She hugs him again, offering to help him pack. You assume he agrees, because they’re both gone a minute later. You pass by cabin nine a little while later, and Nyssa and her siblings are talking about everything that happened in the last few hours.
That night, lying in bed, you breathe a sigh of relief. You did it. You pulled it off.
Before you know it, it’s almost thanksgiving. Sam and Dean have been checking on you periodically, but today’s call was a little different. They asked if you want to go on a hunt with them. You agree, and they tell you they’ll be there in a few days to pick you up, then you’re all heading up to Vermont. Chiron agrees, since it’s the start of thanksgiving break and they’re family, that they can take you away for a while. As long as you promise to be safe, and not pull any more stunts. You agree, knowing what he’s referencing.
You’re packing in your cabin when Ruby, your half sister, enters.
“Hey, someone’s here to see you…” she trails off as Leo enters, staring at you. It’s silent, and tense.
“...Ruby, can we have the room?” She nods and leaves, miming that she’ll be nearby if you need backup.
The door closes and it’s just the two of you. After a long, painful silence, he finally says something.
“...Why?”
Oh gods. He knows what you did.
“U-uh,” you sputter, realizing you don’t have an answer.
“Why me? Why would you do everything you did… for me?” Is he mad? He looks baffled. You’re not sure at what. Maybe you can play this off, maybe he doesn’t know for sure it was you.
“I don’t-”
“Why did you bring my mom back?”
Shit.
The truth flies out of your mouth before you can think, and you know it makes no sense even as you say it.
“It was the least I could do.”
His gaze intensifies.
“I asked Nyssa why you seemed so sad lately and she told me what happened and it reminded me of what happened to Percy’s mom so I figured it was worth a shot, so I asked her more questions - don’t be mad at her, I was the one prying -” gods, you know your rambling, but you can’t stop, “and when my brother called and said my dad was dying, I realized I might be able to-”
He closes the distance between you suddenly, hands on your cheek and the back of your neck. It’s only when he presses his lips to yours in a warm, passionate kiss that you relax, realizing he’s not trying to fight. Stupid Ares instincts. Your brain catches up, and you pull him close, kissing him back.
You couldn’t deny that you’ve been drawn to Leo since you first saw him. Because of the stupid prohecy, you avoided him for two reasons; you didn’t think he knew you existed, and you didn’t want to get attached to him - or Jason for that matter - just in case.
Here you are now making out with him in your cabin. You both back up, and he pins you against the wall. A hand comes down, squeezing your waist, as you deepen the kiss. You’re surprised at how long it goes on, very pleasantly surprised, until you both finally pull away. He rests his forehead on yours, panting.
“You… are-”
Someone calls your name from outside the door.
“Someone’s here to pick you up!” You recognize the voice as a satyr, one of Grover’s friends. You fumble for a response, brain still going haywire.
“Y- uh, yeah! One sec, I’ll be out in a minute!”
“Okay!” she calls cheerfully. You listen as her hoofbeats retreat. You breathe a sigh of relief, then feel Leo’s hand on your cheek, guiding you to look back up at him.
“I was going to say,” Leo starts again, this time cut off by Shane.
“Ey, Leo! Hurry up, Harley’s really excited to see you!” This time it’s Leo’s turn to reply exasperatedly.
“I’ll be there in a sec, man!” You let out a breathy laugh, still tingly and a little disoriented.
“I guess we should,” you trail off, nodding to your half packed duffle bag. You expect him to agree, but instead he looks you dead in the eyes, and rubs his thumb over your cheek, his other hand squeezing your waist.
“I want to see you again.”
You start to sputter out the start of ten different questions, and he continues, “We barely know each other. I was on that nightmare of a quest, then I spent all my time building the Argo II, then we were back on another quest, then by the time I actually got to be at camp, you left on that quest with Nyssa and Connor.” You agree, and he continues.
“We barely know each other, and you still did gods know what to get my mom back.” You glance away, face warm, and he cranes his head to meet your eyes.
“I want to know you.”
“I want to know you too.” You’re not sure how you choke it out without sounding like an idiot, but you do.
Another loud knock on your door, followed by Dean’s voice.
“Hey kid, come on! We gotta get going!”
You pull apart from Leo more reluctantly than you’ve done anything in your life, and shove the rest of the stuff you laid out into your bag.
“I’m coming, calm down!”
You turn to Leo and whisper, “I’m going on a hunting trip with my brothers, I’ll iris message you on the last day of thanksgiving break.”
He agrees, and right before you leave, he catches you in another kiss. It’s shorter than the ones before, but still full of warmth and intention.
“Don’t do anything stupid.” he says quietly, and you nod.
You open the door, exiting with your brothers so there’s no chance of them seeing you in there with Leo. The last thing you need is questions as to why you look so disheveled. You walk out of camp with them towards the impala.
You don’t notice Sam glance back at your cabin, watching Leo leave. He looks at you and Dean arguing over what music to play, and decides not to say anything. For now, at least.
As excited as you are to clear a whole small New England town of a pool of shadow people, you also find yourself more and more excited as the last day of thanksgiving break approaches.
You don’t know it at the time, but Leo is just as excited, too. He makes a promise to himself that the next time you’re together in person, he’s going to sweep you off your feet.
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