Leo

My exact words were "do you want to go out for dinner?"

Not my wisest choice of words. Because he's, he was cute, and maybe I liked him.

But for fucks sake, Leo, it's like 6 hours after reuniting with him. You just found out he was gay. You have 3 years to catch up on. Just relax.

He did a double take and answered before I could clarify what I was initially trying to do. Just go and eat dinner. Nothing like romantic or sexual about it.

Winston smiled at me after he realized what I said and kind of let off a small giggle.

"Yeah," Winston agreed to the date anyways. "That sounds like a lot of fun. Come on, I know the perfect place that won't kill your wallet!"

And then we were holding hands as he walked me to this place down the road. A little American place. Like it has bar food but it's not a bar because there's no alcohol. Instead they serve variations of punch and pop. They have a physical bar there, though. We opted for a booth, though.

After getting our menus, it was mostly silent. But like this was natural to him and it amazed me. The whole flirting thing I can do. But like making a move when you're dating is where I get really nervous and suck at doing it first.

Here we are, though. Loosely holding hands, mostly by the intertwining of our fingers, in a restaurant.

Let me tell you, though. This dude could fucking eat. I thought Frank ate a lot of food.

I was wrong.

But he was really smooth, and it made me really flustered. I took the bus with him because Percy lives in the same neighborhood that he was staying in. And so it makes sense. Everyone was still at Percy's.

This bitch kissed my cheek as a goodbye, telling me he had a lot of fun.

I texted, making sure the others were still there before I got there. They were waiting.

I literally screamed.

"What happened?" Of course, Piper wanted to know.

"So the dude who like dragged me away," I explained to them. "His name is Winston. We were friends when I was with my last foster family. His cousin was getting married, he didn't trust his sister. I wouldn't either when it came to clothes. But like I found out that he was gay and he lives with his aunt because his parents were kind of yours, Percy, and he was fine with it. I had to describe camp to him without telling him about the gods and that was hard..apparently he fucking knew I was bi. I guess he knew when we were younger."

I paused for a moment.

"But after lunch, it was getting late and I was hungry. So I was going to ask him if he wanted to get some food. If he wanted to eat. And it came out like I was asking him out, by accident, and before I could correct myself he accepted it. And then we went to this really cool non-alcoholic bar and he was smooth as shit and it was frustrating as hell because he was socially awkward when we were younger and not me."

My friends. My closest friends.

They laughed at me.

Suddenly I got a text.

Winston 😘: Hey, I added my number into your phone. What are you doing next Saturday from 6-whenever you pass out? 😘

Why is he so good at this? It's slowly killing me from the inside out. Just kill me now.

"Did he text you?" Jason knew this look as well as I fucking knew it.

I choked out a yes.

•••
Winston

I was dying inside, but it all good. I think he might like me so I'm not totally in the dark? I really hope so.

Shut up, I got this crush on Leo a long ass time ago. And then it went away. And then I saw him today and just went 'well fuck' because it's back in action. He's still a lovable dork.

But my sister was going on and on about one of his friends. She didn't know it was Leo, just she saw one of Leo's friends and she wants him. He was hot. They were.

Leo's lucky. I mean, he has me. But he's lucky to have such hot friends.

Of course she wanted me to find out if this friend was single. So I texted him, first asking about the wedding date for my cousin. If he was like free because it's my dad's family and they're a bunch of assholes that I don't want to be around.

And then I like described the dude.

Me: He was one of the taller ones, darker hair, def. White. Low-key looked like a troublemaker, maybe a skater?

Valdez 😘: yeah... I got bad news for Winona.
Valdez 😘: first of all, you're asking about Percy. As much as I can agree that he's hot and probably was a trouble maker in high school, he's the dudes birthday we we're celebrating. He's 19, so there's that. And uh... He's got a boyfriend already. And if you try to wreck them, you're fucking dead. Nico's like the only reason Percy hasn't killed himself. He tried once. Nico fucking got him out of that. They've like been dating ever since.
Valdez 😘: So yeah
Valdez 😘: Can I ask why your name has 😘 next to it? You put it in my phone.

Me: cause I'm a fucking gay ass boy that's why
Me: also that's the only way I know how to like flirt so yeah
Me: I can do anything but flirt

Valdez 😘: funny, I'm the other way around
Valdez 😘: wait...
Valdez 😘: what's my name in your phone?

I sent him a screenshot and he enjoyed that, I think.

That was when my aunt got back and of course my sister started to peg me because she went with friends when we separated. I went with a random guy.

My sister lives with us, yeah. She's pan, but she's really shown more interest in guys and trans guys.

So she also got kicked into aunt Lena's place.

"Um, he wasn't a random guy." I insisted. "at first I thought he was a worker and then I realized he wasn't and then I recognized him and we hung out."

"Win," Lena said, looking at me. "As much as you want somebody to like mean what Leo did to you—"

"Ehhh," I stopped before she got too depressing for me. I like got depression when Leo ran away. He was my best friend. It hurt when he left. Especially when I came out and my parents figured I liked him and they kicked me out. "Let me finish."

I made sure they wouldn't interrupt me before going on with my explanation.

"So I was unsure at first, but he recognized me almost like right away." I told my sister and aunt. "Because it's been years. But it was him, it was Leo. I asked him like 200 questions because I wanted to fucking make sure. He's been in New York for like 2 years. It's a weird situation, I really don't understand it. But he's here. In the city."

"Really!?" Both of them jumped at that and I told them most of what Leo told me. He was on the street for a while before an orphanage found him and sent him to school. He was like attacked at the school so he left for New York.

He's been here ever since. Enjoys it.

Well duh they invited him over for the night. They were excited, and I honestly don't mind more time around him. I told them about the unexpected date. It turned out really nice.

Everything went great and I woke up in the middle of the night because this bitch hogs blankets. But I found out why.

He was having a hardcore nightmare. And I think someone was like dying in it.

Hardcore.

We actually woke him up and he seemed a little confused as he looked at the time.

"It's like 5 in the morning," he told us. "What's going on?"

"You were..." My aunt said, taking it better than the rest of us. "You were having like a night terror or something. We uh... Are you okay?"

"What?  Of course." Leo insisted, giving her a smile. "I get them all the time. Don't worry."

"Why..." I started off. "Why do you have nightmares? We're you like... Trauma or...?"

Leo shrugged.

"I mean, all of my friends should probably go to therapy," he remarked. "But none of us do. I mean, that shit's expensive. The camp covers some things, and it'll cover like meds and whatever. But we don't have a therapy center so like that's on us and it's expensive so none of us go."

We all shared a look of concern.

"Leo," we informed him. "That's not healthy."

"Mhm."

We ended up staying awake and we ate breakfast together. Which went well.

And then we got a knock on the door, right around 6:30. Which resulted in my aunt telling us to go to our rooms, and us not listening.

These guys came in and both Leo and Lena just kind of stopped and had this 'oh shit' moment.

Like they knew these people. They were kind of scary, in my opinion. Intimidating.

"Dad," Lena said which was kind of weird considering Lena said she didn't know her dad. "Hi. What can I... What brings you here so early?"

They gave Lena a look that they didn't want to listen to her and their attention drifted to Leo. And suddenly Leo had respect for authority. Which he never used to have.

"Leo Valdez."

"Sir." It was so fast, it made me worry. He was constraining himself.

"Where were you this morning?"

He got a confused expression and broke out of shell.

"I was excused from camp for 24 hours," Leo told them very directly. "I was sleeping until 5:30. There couldn't have been an incident in in the last 20 hours."

"Well there was," Leo's expression fell and his body relaxed. "They need you there immediately. Until further notice you will be monitored. Only your speech, don't worry. And you will not be allowed to leave unless you are coming to us. Grab your belongings and go. Now."