#artem-ace

“Oh good, Leo, you’re here,” Jason greets him. “I was thinking of making some cookies to bring to Percy and Annabeth’s house tomorrow for the party. Can you read out some of the measurements for me?”

Leo picks up the recipe and gives instructions to Jason, who dumps different kinds of ingredients together in a bowl. He passes it off to Leo after, which he soon realizes was a mistake. The younger boy stirs the bowl with a little too much force and Jason watches in horror as most of it comes flying out, dirtying both the counter and the floor.

He forces Leo to clean the mess as he takes the bowl back to finish up himself.

“Alright,” Jason says, looking at what they have so far. It’s not the best batch of cookies he’s seen but they’ll have to do. “Now let’s put these in the oven.”

“Or I could just warm them up with my hands,” Leo grins, producing a small flame in his palms. Jason promptly ignores his comment.

While they wait for the timer to go off, they decide to make a few more to use up the remaining ingredients. They’re working more efficiently this time, each tackling different parts of the process. Sometimes, absentmindedly, Leo will hum a tune that has Jason pausing, taking in the calm atmosphere around them and smiling.

Once the first batch of cookies is done, he puts on a pair of mittens and takes out the tray before setting it on the counter. He places the new ones they made into the oven and starts the timer again.

When Jason turns back around, he finds that the tray of cookies is mostly empty, save for a few crumbs left on the tin foil sheet. He frowns, crossing his arms across his chest and raising an eyebrow in silent question at the brown-haired boy in front of him.

Leo only smiles back guiltily through bites of cookie dough.

In retrospect, Jason should’ve known that baking with Leo could never turn out well.

ii.

When nighttime settles in, the two of them head to bed fairly early. Once Jason gets comfortable under the covers, he falls asleep almost instantly, worn out from their cookie baking misfortunes earlier that day. Leo, however, lies in bed wide awake, only one thing occupying his mind on this Christmas Eve: presents.

Quietly, he shifts the blanket off himself and gets up from the bed they share. After making sure that he didn’t wake up his boyfriend, Leo tiptoes down the stairs to the living room where their small Christmas tree is set up. The soft glow from the tree and ornaments provides just enough light for him to navigate himself around a few stray items scattered on the floor without tripping.

On the ground now, the mechanic scans the labels on the presents for his name. He figures that since it’s so close to Christmas day already, having a little peek at the gift he’s going to receive won’t cause any harm. Just one look.

The minute he lifts up a present from under the tree, a blaring alarm rings throughout the house. He winces at the sudden sound. Not a second later, the living room light flickers on, exposing Leo in the act of his crime.

“Well, well,” Jason clicks his tongue in disapproval, leaning against the wall, one leg crossed over the other. His hair is still disheveled from having just woken up. “What do you have to say for yourself, Valdez?”

Leo frowns. This is not how he had planned this to go. “Did you boobytrap the presents?”

The blond simply shrugs. “I had to take precautions so that you wouldn’t ruin the surprise. Like what happened last year.”

“Okay, but just a one peek? Don’t tell me you aren’t curious about your present either.” He holds out Jason’s present, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

“Step away from the tree, Leo.”

He sighs. “Alright, alright…”

iii.

The alarm rings at exactly nine in the morning and Jason opens his eyes to sunlight filtering through the blinds, into their bedroom. He takes a few moments to adjust to the brightness, blinking the sleep away, before turning over to Leo, who is still snoring softly beside him.

“Wake up,” he murmurs, tapping the younger boy gently on the shoulder. “We need to start getting ready for the party.”

Leo groans and shuffles around under the blanket for a while before settling down again, batting away Jason’s hand and muttering, “No thanks.”

“It’s not a suggestion,” Jason replies, chuckling. “Come on, we need to get up or else we’ll be late.”

The brown-haired boy finally opens his eyes and makes a show of pouting dramatically. “But I’m still tired. I’m to tired to be alive right now. I’ll just fall asleep again at the party once we get there.”

Jason frowns. “That’s because you were up in the middle of the night trying to open your present when you weren’t supposed to.”

“Please?” Leo asks, not even denying the truth at this point. “Just a few more minutes?”

The way Leo is looking at him, eyes still heavy with sleep and hair seemingly glowing under the sun’s rays, has Jason’s face softening as he settles back under the covers. “Fine,” he sighs, and it’s not like he could have ever resisted the request coming from his boyfriend in the first place.

Leo grins at the small victory and snuggles up against him a little closer.

(Later, they will be the last ones to get to the party.