Work Text
A month and a half out from their wedding Leo tells Jason he can't give him any more hickies
“I will
not
be a walking bruise in the wedding photos” he insists
“But-” Jason whines, looking like he just got told Santa Claus isn't real “
But
-”
“You can mark me back up after,” Leo nudges, climbing into his fiance's lap in his desk chair “And you can be a
good boy
and hold off till then, right?”
“Yeah,” Jason gives in, easy as always with Leo’s wants, starting to get stars in his eye by the close proximity and touching “Yeah I can be good”
And he has been good, perfect even as the current bruises yellow and fade. Jason might be extra affectionate, but it could also be the coming wedding. The Way Station has been a bustle of activity with the planning and impending date, they are holding the reception there after all.
So more cuddles and smelling and clinginess are expected, and Leo is enjoying it. He's enjoyed planning too, or really the lack thereof. They don't want a ceremony, just the closest family and the judge, but the reception after is going to be an
affair
. The Way Station and its residents offered their gift to be the gathering. All Jason and Leo had to do was send out invitations and remind the moms that Frank is lactose intolerant. They're still part of some of the party planning, or Jason is because he's having more fun with it, Leo is helping cook way too much food.
However, Leo also understands that the no love bites rule bothers Jason a little. Jason can be possessive and protective of who he thinks of as ‘his’ (’pack dynamics’ Piper likes to tease), and that extends
extremely
to Leo and their godkid(s). It's that ferial hindbrain ‘I killed a squirrel with my bare hands and ate it when I was three’ kind of thing. Leo understands that's where the smelling and marking and shit come from, and the fact that Jason doesn't mask that with Leo anymore isn't something he ever takes lightly
But the tux he found with Piper is lace backless and he does
not
want the hickies to show, he already has the staining permanent half-bruises half-scars from getting crushed to death to deal with
It comes to a head three weeks out from the day
They have
finally
gotten a demigod into The House On The Rock in Wisconsin so it can be assessed if it is acting as a temple and, if so, to whom. Jason has gone on a three-day round trip to help with the assessment, most of which needs to happen after hours to keep the mortals from interfering. It's a pain in the ass it being as close to the wedding as it is, but it's a short trip, and Leo is kinda excited to see what snowglobe Jason will bring him back for their growing collection
The trip isn't the issue though, the issue is fucking Johnathan
Johnathan, some fucking blond-ass lanky-ass son of Nike around Leo’s age, has stopped at the Way Station as he passes through. He got in the evening after Jason left, and has decided to stay a few days to “admire the scenery”
The scenery apparently being Leo
It's not like Leo is encouraging it, but he's never been the best at turning people down. For all of being a big flirt, nothing makes him want to run more than being on the receiving end of unwanted attention. He's gotten better about shooting down people trying their hand, especially because his man tends to spark when jealous, but it's exceedingly difficult and brings up all those feelings of inadequacy he's still working through well into his thirties
It always feels like those mean games kids used to play, making friends ask you out on a dare or flirting with you because you're an easy target who is so unloveable that you would take anything. And Leo knows in the rational part of him that he is no longer in the seventh grade and malnourished skinny with shitty hand-me-down clothes and a bad haircut because his current foster family took him to the whitest salon in town. He's thirty-fucking-two and a goddam superhero about to marry another even hotter superhero, like the Incredibles but gay
But seventh-grade Leo is still a part of him, and seventh-grade Leo is having his knee-jerk reaction to the overly pushy flirting and it's making it very hard for thirty-two-year-old Leo to put his foot down instead of avoiding the problem
It probably isn’t helping that Leo isn't wearing his ring. Well, he is, just not on his finger. Because of his work and violent ADHD Leo tends to put it on the chain of his mother's necklace and then forget to put it back on his finger at the end of the day. It's still with him at all times, he just really doesn’t want to have his finger chopped off in a dumb accident or lose it in a bin of washers. Everyone
should
know he’s extremely taken at this point
Or at least he thought, because Johnathan is not letting up. If anything he's getting worse
Leo has a feeling that Johnathan would still press even if he saw them making out. He sure hasn't backed off after Leo told him he has a partner, is cooking for a wedding, and that he is
not interested
. The dude looks to think of it like it is some kind of challenge
Calypso is incredibly pissed on Leo’s behalf. They never would have worked as romantic partners, but partners in crime are another thing altogether. This makes the Titianis very protective of Leo, and while it goes both ways Cal is always way more ready to stab a bitch over stuff like this than Leo is.
“Are you sure you don't want me to step in?” she asks after breakfast the second day “I can bury him in the roof garden, Lit would help”
“Cally it's fine” he insists as he works through the dishes as Cal cleans the stove “I told him to back off”
“And he's not listening,” she presses “He is a guest and you are uncomfortable”
“Exactly, he's a guest he's gonna leave”
“You don't deserve to be uneasy in your home,” she insists “Remember that”
It's creeping towards dinner the day Jason is supposed to get back. Leo is trying to finish up some more detail-oriented projects before they have to fold the WorkShop away for the party, not wanting the delicate mechanisms to get damaged after needing to be moved and stored. Georgie is in the kitchen making herself a snack and helping Calypso brainstorm about the new fabric she's working on, bouncing what weft and fiber would work best to help a kid with static issues in New Rome.
The girls are pleasant background noise as Leo works, setting delicate gears into place through the magnification of his ring light in the crook of where the tables make a corner. He's so in the zone that he doesn't even hear the son of Nike sneak up
“What’tch ya’ working on?” Johnathan asks right in his ear, scaring the shit out of Leo so badly that his tweezers fly out of his hand taking the micro spring he was trying to set with them.
“Hopping Hephestus dude don't
do
that to me” Leo complains, putting his hand on his rabbiting heart as he turns on his stool
“Sorry, sorry,” he doesn't look sorry, the taller man looks like he finds it entertaining to sneak up on people like that, “Thought you heard me”
Obviously, Leo didn't, and he's not really in the mood to engage this guy right now. He spots his lost tweezers by the other man's foot, sliding off the stool to pluck them up.
“You know,” Johnathan continues “You’re real cute when you startle like that”
Somehow he's even closer when Leo straightens up, almost spooking him all over again. Leo backs up a step until his back hits the corner where the benches meet, nowhere else to go
Johnathan pushes forward even closer, propping himself up with an arm on the table right next to Leo’s hip. Leo’s hands go up immediately, trying to put some distance between himself and the other man. The guy is ignoring his body language, just leaning over Leo further with a huge grin
There's a flurry of movement and sound. The scrape of a chair as Calypso rises to help, Georgie’s pissed cry from the kitchen, but first and foremost is Jason bodily pulling the other man off of Leo and planting himself firmly between them
“What the
fuck
do you think you're
doing
!?” Jason snaps furious, the tightly wound tension in Leo’s body easing a micrometer with his fiancee’s appearance
Johnathan, who Jason had all but thrown out of Leo’s bubble, recovers quickly “Hey man,” he tries “I don't think you need to worry ‘bout-”
Jason bites at him, Jonathan only keeping his arm by pulling back in time. Jason’s teeth make a loud
clack
as they snap close around air, staying bared in a wolf-like snarl like he's daring the other blond to try it again
Leo knows this pose on Jason; stance wide, head low, eyes sharp and ahead with teeth bared. He's sparking at his hands, little visible bits of electricity dancing between his fingers as they twitch like he's ready to grab a weapon or just go bare-knuckle, which evers faster.
Jason is ready to fucking kill a man feral style, full-on Titian takedown, and as hot as it is Leo really does need to reel him in before he gets blood on the running resin printer. Fortunately, his moms come to the rescue
“Break it up!” Emmi barks, snatching Johnathan by the neck of his shirt and pulling him out of lethal zapping range. Leo sees his opportunity and grabs Jason by the belt on both sides of his hips so he can't follow
“The hell is going on here?” Jo asks the room from the other side of the saws
“Jason came home and caught the new guy being pushy with Leo” Georgie supplies from the kitchen
“He had him
cornered
” Jason seethes, teeth still flashing
“That dudes fucking
crazy
” Johnathan cries back, pointing at the other blond kinda terrified
“And you are a
guest
,” Emmi replies, hulling him over the red gaffer tape line that shows the edge of the workshop. It puts her between Leo and Jason, telling Leo that his moms are not impressed with the situation “Do not think that the Way Station has not been reporting back to us about your escapades”
“
Escapades
!?”
“Leo told you he was not interested,” Calypso supplies, propping her hip on the big table “Multiple times in fact”
“Has he now!?” Jason interjects, if looks could kill Johnathan would have been cremated in the spot, the air becoming so electrically charged that the static is visible
“
Cielito
” Leo tries, resorting to the pet name he keeps just for them “Cm’mon
mi cielo
it’s okay”
“It's
not
” the blond snaps back, but it's lacking some of the previous heat now
“I'm okay and you're okay” Leo attempts to placate, just wanting out of the situation and to not have a dead idiot on his hands “Let's go and cool down, the moms can take it from here”
It takes a few kisses on Jason’s spine and the visual of the moms tearing Johnathan a new one to convince his man that they can vacate the WorkShop safely. Jason leads him out by the hand, and once they are free of the sphere of elder lesbian tongue-lashing he scoops Leo up in a fireman's carry and stomps off for the hall
“You alright?” Calypso checks as they pass, arms crossed and watching the commotion with satisfaction
“I'm good” Leo reassures “Save us some dinner?” he calls to the kitchen as he's carried off, Georgina boos him
Leo knows it's particularly bad because Jason doesn't bring them to their room, he brings them to his office, heading straight for his nest cave thing under the filing cabinets and throwing Leo into the pile of pillows and papasan before laying on him with a growl.
“Put your ring back on” Jason barks into Leo’s shoulder, not moving his big blond head out of the way to let Leo take it off the chain. Leo gets it eventually, running the back of his knuckles against his fiance's cheek so he can feel that it's on. Jason immediately relaxes incrementally, his glasses digging into Leo’s skin
Leo can tell he really wants to bite him, he can feel bared teeth through his shirt, but Jason is being so
good
about not marking him up. Leo starts in on kissing all over Jason’s head and face, anywhere he can reach, the blond still griping and growling into his shoulder
“You smell wrong” Jason eventually grumbles
“I smell wrong?”
This isn't a new conversation, Jason has a thing about smell that's half left over from his time with Lupa half just his own neurosis. He also has such a weirdly good sense of smell even for a demigod (something Leo finds he shares with the other big three kids, along with extra strength and like night vision or whatever) that when Leo was using unleaded solder when he was making their rings it almost blew his cover. It's endearing, but does involve complaints if Leo changes his shampoo or deodorant without warning.
“He was wearing something” Jason complains upset “You
smell
like it”
“Would taking my shirt off help?” Jason does a growl whine posture that tells Leo it wouldn't hurt before stripping it off him himself in one fluid movement. Leo is able to get his fiance's glasses off before Jason slams himself back into his chest and neck, forcing an ‘oof’ out of him
“Better?” Leo asks, but the tension in his man’s body tells him it's not
Time for scratchies
Scratchies turn into puppy nuzzles, and puppy nuzzles turn into kissing, and slowly but surely Leo is able to convince his man that he's fine and that they're both okay. It works to settle Leo too, the comfort of his Jason being home alleviating his fried nerves from the encounter
“M’ sorry” Jason eventually says, pressing their foreheads together with a dejected sign
“‘Bout what?” Leo asks, feeling better than he has in days now that he gets to bask in the easy affection of his fiancee
“About going all freakazoid on a random dude”
“You mean pulling a jerk off of me who wouldn't take no for an answer?”
“I tried to bite him” Jason pouts
“You almost got him too,” Leo starts playing with Jason’s hair, Cirro has been offering to give him a trim before the wedding and Leo hopes they don't take it down too short “Shame you missed”
“Leo I'm
serious
” Jason hides his face in Leo’s chest and squeezes him a little tighter “I can't just go ferial werewolf man-”
“You'd make
such
a sexy werewolf man”
“-on any person looking at you weird”
“How is cornering me against my workbench ‘looking at me weird’?” he asks genuinely confused “Especially after I've said I was taken like five other times”
“But like,” Jason flounders “Autonomy and shit”
“Baby if you didn't pull him off Cal would have,” Leo admits, really not seeing the issue here “She was already trying to convince me to let her turn him into fertilizer”
Jason whines and grumbles and tries to find more English words about how he's in the wrong about being a gentleman, and that's not really gonna fly in Leo’s book
“Jason,” he interrupts the worry spiral “Your home, so I'm okay”
Jason studies Leo's face to try and find the lie, but Leo knows there isn't one “If you're sure” the blond relents
“I'm sure,” he brushes a lock of blond hair out of his fiancee's face, then starts to run his hands through “Also it's hot when you get all sparky scary at people”
Jason frowns in that cute way he does when he's a bit embarrassed about the ways Leo is thirsty for him “
Shut up
”
“What!? It gets me going” Leo fans himself with his hand to prove the point “That one time you exploded the transformer outside
Nena’s
school,
whooof
”
Jason is a naturally protective person, and people fucking with his puppies brings out this feral part of him that has scared Katie’s school office on more than one occasion. It's very sexy if Leo is to be honest, but he's not a good judge of hotness levels when it comes to his man (at least says Piper, but what does she know)
There's something about Jason biting the head off of school officials with their kid on his hip that does something to Leo, makes him wish he could get knocked up for a split second. He should be reeling his man in, but fuck the public school system and fuck people messing with his kid Jason can eat them for all he cares
And also getting to watch his sweet gentle caring man snap on people, especially
for
Leo and his, something about it makes Leo want to go feral on him in return
“Oh man, and that time you blew out all the lights when that barista wouldn't catch a hint” Leo bites his lip and kicks what he can of his feet like a schoolgirl, Jason may have gotten jumped before they got home after that one “And when you-”
“Okay okay” the blond interrupts peering up at him from his chest “I still don't get it though”
“I like you being all puppy possessive, makes me feel safe” Leo pauses the hair petting to daydream for a moment “And I like that crazed look you get in your eye”
“Crazed look?”
“Oh yeah,” Leo bites his lip again just thinking about it “Makes me wanna get you jealous more”
Jason's brows furrow “Were you trying to make me jealous?”
“No,” Leo goes back to playing with his man’s hair “I know you don't like it, even if you're super sexy when you are”
“I
don't
like it” Jason confirms
“I know,” he presses a reassuring kiss onto his fiancée’s forehead “That's why I don't do it on purpose. But it does make me feel safe and wanted when you get like that”
“Me trying to bite people who are overstepping makes you feel safe?”
“
You
make me feel safe”
“If you’re sure”
“Oh, I'm sure”
Leo plays with his fiancee's hair for a little, feeling content in a way he hasn't since this whole kerfuffle started. Usually this also relaxes Jason into a pre-goo state, but the blond still has this uneasy energy under the skin
“What's up?” Leo asks, clocking Jason’s mood “You're still all upset”
“I wanna bite you”
“I am aware of this yes”
“But also like,” Jason pulls his lips thin in that way he does when he's trying to verbalize some wolf shit into a proper concept “You're not wearing me, and someone was an asshole, so now I'm anxious”
“‘Bout what part?”
“About uh,” Jason's nostrils flare as he works to find his words “About that your mine, I think - no, its uh” he does a little snort through his nose to change the train of thought “I don't know, I guess it just makes me want to marry you harder”
That makes Leo laugh, bursting out of him like a firework with just how much he loves this man. He kisses his fiancee for lack of something else to do with the sudden giddiness, three weeks can't go by fast enough
“I love you,” Leo tells him, there's really nothing else to it “I'm so excited to marry you”
“Wanna do it
now
” Jason whines, pressing kisses across Leo’s collarbones in lieu of marking him up
“Yeah but if we elope our sisters
will
tar and feather us,” he reminds “And I really don't want to see a Thalia and Georgie team up”
Jason shudders at the idea “Gods they would be
horrible
”
“Cm’mon let's go take a shower” Leo suggests instead of the very tempting idea of taking that risk “Bet it will get us smelling right and everything”
And if a shower turns into Leo getting his brains fingered out of him, so fucking be it