Leo Valdez hadn't been worried about a thing until Nik, his girlfriend's more violent twin, burst into Bunker 9.
"Valdez!" she yelled at him, gasping for breath as she stood outside the door. Leo opened the passage to Bunker 9 and gazed at Nik.
"Hey Nik. What's with the breathless-ness and urgency?" he asked, leaning against the entrance way.
Nik just growled at him, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him out and off on some path.
"Nik, I know I'm awesome, but I belong to Michelle."
Nik rolled her eyes, "This is about Michelle, you flaming idiot."
Leo's eyes widened slightly at that, "Is something wrong?"
Nik rubbed her neck with her free hand, "Kinda…" she said quieter than usual.
Leo pulled his wrist from her grip. "Tell me. What's wrong with my Angel?" now he was mad, when he found the guy that hurt her-
Nik rolled her eyes and faced Leo, "She's been put under some sleeping curse." she cut off Leo's thought.
Michelle Kelley was having the most wonderful dream, it was a constant flow of moments with Leo throughout their whole relationship, ever since they first met.
"The name's Leo Valdez, bad boy supreme."
Michelle rolls her eyes, "Uh-huh, sure. I'm Michelle Kelley."
"Michelle is such a pretty name. And it fits you nicely."
Michelle shakes her head, "Leo…I don't even know you."
Leo takes her hand, and her icy blues gaze into his warm deep brown orbs, "Do you want to?"
Michelle finds herself smiling and nodding, "Actually, yeah." What in Hades was happening to her? What was she doing?
Nik crashed in there, "Chelle! We got a serious problem!"
Then, the scene faded into another one.
Leo was nervous. What the Hades was he supposed to do? Michelle was under some sleeping curse and all he could do was be dragged by the twin of his sweet Michelle.
"Come on Valdez, that guy that helped Jason when you guys first came here, Clovis? Yeah, he's checking her out right now."
Leo's eyes grew wide, "Really? What if he can't sense what happened to her?"
Nik shrugged with one shoulder , "Dunno, hopefully she'll be okay…" Nik was never unsure or so…unconfident…She was scared. She was NEVER scared, and that scared Leo. He gave her a crazy smile.
"C'mon! This is MICHELLE we're talking about here. Tough, strong, a fighter. An angel." he sighed on the last two words. Nik's eyes widened at him, then, they were at the Athena cabin.
"Okay, c'mon Lee, let's see what's up with your girlfriend…"
Michelle's dream continued with the next best moment throughout their whole knowing-each-other stage.
Michelle laughed as she shot an ice beam at Leo's feet. "Who knew a daughter of Athena could control ice?"
Nik smiled as an electric blue bolt of electricity hit Leo's feet, "Or electric blue lightning?" she asked incredulously.
Leo rolled his eyes as he melted his feet, "You guys love to abuse me."
"Well, duh." the twins chimed together.
Percy chose then to challenge the twins and Leo. "Michelle and Leo versus Nik and I." he said.
Michelle scrunched up her nose, "Why me and Valdez?" she asked.
Leo feigned hurt, "What do you have against me, Kelley?" he asked.
Michelle rolled her eyes, ignoring his question. "Besides, fire and ice don't work together." she crosses her arms over her chest.
Nik glanced at Percy, "And water and electricity don't work well either, I could shock you."
Within twenty minutes, Michelle glared at Leo, their wrists had been duct-taped together. "This is all your fault." she muttered to Leo.
Percy and Nik smiled at the two, then high-fived, "I guess electricity and water work better together than fire and ice." Nik laughed.
Michelle and Leo shared a dark smirk, then, cupping their own hands, they pushed all their power at the two, fire and ice combined somewhere in the middle of bursting from their owners hands and hitting their opponents, becoming an explosion that knocked them all off their feet. Which was difficult for Michelle and Leo to get up from. They somehow managed and stood above Percy and Nik.
"Or not." Michelle replied smugly.
Leo laughed, "Ice Queen's got a point."
Michelle whapped him with his own hand on the cheek. "Shut it Fire Lord." she said referencing Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Leo's eyes grew wide, "How did you-"
Michelle cut him off with a smirk, "You left the door open to Bunker 9 yesterday." She whispered, then laughed. Leo blushed, embarrassed.
By now, Percy and Nik were back on their feet. And really confused.
"What are you two talking about?" Nik asked increduously.
Michelle winked at Leo, like, " This is our secret." Then to Nik, she smiled, "Oh, I was just referencing our old favorite T.V. show Nikki, ya know, Avatar?"
Nik nods and blushes, "Oh, right."
Leo had been really thankful.
Leo took a deep breath, then entered the cabin with Nik. Annabeth, Percy, and Clovis, were standing awkwardly around Michelle's bunk. Everyone's eyes swung to Leo.
"Hey guys." he croaked.
Percy gave him a sympathetic smile.
Annabeth's eyes went back to Michelle, "What's wrong with her, exactly?"
Clovis backed away from Michelle's face, "Well, it's hard to explain. The curse could've come from anyone associated with Hypnos or Hecate, though, from how specific it is, it seems like a Hypnos curse to me."
Leo finally spoke up, "So how do we undo it?" he asked through gritted teeth.
The son Hypnos shook his head, "Not sure. As far as I can tell, she's dreaming about everything that went down with you." he pointed at Leo, "I think she's gonna need to go through your whole relationship, then you need to pull a Sleeping Beauty and kiss her awake."
Leo turned red.
Nik burst out laughing. "Michelle's getting her fairytale alright."
Annabeth shook her head, "There has to be a more logical solution."
The baby-cow-boy shook his own head, "Nope, this is the only way I can sense to wake her up."
Leo nodded, "Just let me know when she's done with the dreams."
Percy shot him a real smile, "Chelle's strong, she'll be cool."
Leo nodded. "Yeah, she'll be cool." he repeated, "She is Ice Queen after all." he smirked.
Michelle was still dreaming, and it had to be a dream, because it was too perfect to be anything else.
Michelle was watching the sun set over the Long Island Sound, sitting on the dock, kicking her bare feet in the cooling, calm water. Leo Valdez barely fit next to her on the dock as he came and sat down.
"Sure is pretty tonight, huh?" she asks, watching the sinking sun.
"Yeah, it really is." Leo says, looking at her. Her long light brown hair drifted airily in the evening breeze, her eyes bright in light of the orange setting sun. Leo thought there'd never been anyone more beautiful.
"Just do it! She's only a girl! Whats the worst she can do?"
"Reject you." Muttered his brain.
"Not helping!" he muttered back.
Then, he took the plunge.
"Michelle, I need to tell you something."
Those sparkling, icy eyes turned to him, curious and kind, yet expectant, "Yeah Leo?"
"I really like you."
She smiles brightly, "I like you too, we've become so close in the past few weeks." He noticed she didn't say they'd become "good friends", was this a good sign?
Leo nods, "Yeah, we have, but, I really like you. Like, I like you like you." She doesn't even grimace at his poor choice of words, he'd definitely found a keeper, as long as she liked him, too, that is.
Michelle's eyes widened only slightly before she leaned forward and planted the softest, most innocent kiss Leo could imagine on his lips.
"I like you like you too, Leo." she gave a small giggle.
Leo nodded, "So, uh, you wanna go to the Fourth of July fireworks with me?" he asked, casually putting his arms behind his head, like a cartoon character.
Michelle nodded, then frowned, "Won't you basically be running the fireworks? I mean, not only are you the head Hepheastus counselor, but you love those fireworks."
Leo nods, "Yeah, I know. But I'm sure I can find some time to slip out and be with my girlfriend."
Michelle nods again, smiling, "Then it's settled. I'll see you later." she kisses him innocently once more before pulling herself onto the dock and dashing off for her cabin.
Leo smiles to himself, "Told you it'd work out." he tells his brain as he goes back to his own cabin before curfew.
Leo was getting antsy. Michelle hadn't opened her eyes in the past hour, Clovis was sitting too close to her for Leo's comfort, and everyone was staring at him as he paced. "Shouldn't she be done by now? I mean, we'e only known each other for-"
Nik cut him off, "Six months, at least. That's a lot of time where she could have had any influential time with you."
Clovis placed a hand on her forehead, "Looks like she's just now moving on from you finally asking her out on the docks."
Leo blushed again.
Annabeth's grey eyes zeroed in on her younger half-sister. "Why is she under this spell in the first place?"
The son of Hypnos shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe she angered Aphrodite, and Aphrodite convinced Hypnos to put this specific spell on her? Maybe she's trying to make Michelle realize something…" he trailed off towards the end, looking at Leo. "Did you two fight before this?" he asked. Nik's eyes turned to straight electricity, "For Zeus' sake! This is all because she's thinking of breaking up with you?!" the awake twin gripped her hair. "Aphrodite put my twin sister to sleep because she was gonna screw up one of Aphrodite's fairytales!? That goddess, I swear to Zeus…" the electric blue-eyed twin muttered.
Percy's sea green eyes widened, "Wait, the goddess of love is messing with ANOTHER romance?! Didn't she get enough screwing with The Argo II crew's?" He shook his head in disgust, "Now he's screwing with Chelle's…"
Annabeth looked at Percy like he was stupid, "Seaweed Brain, Leo is part of the Argo II crew, maybe that's why she's screwing up Michelle's love life."
Leo punched his fist into his other hand, "That love goddess is more annoying than Khione." he grumbled.
The Hypnos guy was waving at everyone to shut up, "I think she's coming to her last few dreams. Right now there's a fight, I'm sensing a make-up, then another fight, that should be it."
Leo glared at Clovis, "How much longer should it be then?"
He shrugged, "No way to tell, could be five minutes or forty-five minutes."
"Great. And today's our anniversary. Five months, she's gonna miss all of it…I even had an awesome present. AND IT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH MECHANICS FOR ONCE!" Leo erupted.
Everyone looked at him like he was crazy, "Leo, chill out, she'll wake up before the day is over." Nik assured.
"I hope your right…" he trailed off.
Michelle's sweet dream had ended, and now, she was in the middle of her first fight with Leo. Talk about a nightmare...
"YOU'RE DOING WHAT?!" Michelle exploded.
"DO YOU WANT ME TO DIE?!" Leo responded.
"WHY DID YOU HAVE TO SWEAR ON THAT STUPID RIVER?! NOW YOU'RE GONNA! YOU'RE GONNA-" Michelle cut herself off, bursting into tears. Leo touched her shoulder, she shook him off.
"Leo, you're gonna fall in love with her again! And you'll bring her home, and rub it in my face, and we'll be over, because you fell in love with a damn goddess! Again! And I'll be nothing to you! And we'll be over! And you'll break my heart!" she pulls a charm off her camp necklace, and throws it at Leo, "So let me do it for you." she says before running back to her cabin. Leo barely catches it and looks at the charm. He'd made it for her, for their one-month anniversary. It was an ice shard, a flame sitting upon the ice. On the flame was two letters, M.K. And on the ice was another set of initials, L.V. Stating that he was hers, and she was his. She said she'd treasure it always. Now she was giving it back without a second thought.
Leo's eyes started sweating.
That's right, his eyes were sweating, because Leo Valdez did not cry.
Not even over foolishly losing the girl of his dreams.
He wanted to catch her, but it was almost curfew, and she was already in Cabin Eleven.
Heading back to Cabin Nine, he clutches the charm to his chest, clipping it on his own bead necklace. She'd given him a charm too, but she was horrible with crafts, so she'd gotten his specially designed at a jewelry store. It was a simple flame charm, on the back was the inscription, "Who knew fire and ice were so good when they got together?" And that was a direct quote from Michelle herself. She'd said that shortly after they'd officially gotten together.
Michelle, was acting differently, back at her cabin. Before she went in, she wiped her eyes, cleared her throat, and composed herself, before cheerily stepping over the threshold to the inside of the Athena cabin. Nik had spied it as an act the second she came in, but waited until everyone else was too busy in their late-night projects to climb down to her twin and ask, "What happened?"
Michelle tried so hard to state it matter-of-factly, she'd tried so hard. But her objective point-of-view slowly became subjective, and she burst into quiet tears. Nik just hugged her and let her cry, the angry, older sister glint appearing in her eyes. Nik was only older by ten minutes, but she still felt that protective older sister instinct whenever Michelle got upset.
"I'll kill him." were the older twin's first words as the younger one finished explaining what had happened. Michelle gripped Nik's arm. "No."
"What d'ya mean 'no'?"
"No. You will not fight my battles anymore, Nikki. I know you care, but you have to let me fight this one on my own." the icy-eyed twin smirks in the low-light. "I have to prove I'm just as strong as any other child of Athena. I have to prove I'm worthy to be her child."
"You sound like Annabeth before her solo quest in Rome." Nik remarks, rolling her electric eyes. The older twin removes her tear-stained self from her younger twin sister, and climbs back to her own bunk. She was snoring in seconds.
Michelle's icy eyes glinted in the dark, small tears formed in her eyes, "Leo, you've hurt me so much. I only want you to know that pain…" the sweeter of the twins thought darkly. She wanted him to know what it felt like for the one you love to leave you, both literally and figuratively, for another. He was leaving her for a GODDESS after all. Her high I.Q'ed brain spun with possible candidates, but none seemed good enough to make Leo hurt as much as she did. She nearly growled with the frustration.
"Leo…" she'd sighed dreamily before drifting to sleep.
In the morning she woke up bright and early, intent on squeezing what Leo's plan was out of him. She set off for his cabin. When she found his bed empty, she frowned, and went to Bunker 9.
There, she found Leo, Jason, and Percy. Leo was moving his hands in an animated way, "And then she just explodes that I'm gonna fall for Calypso again! And she gave me back her one-month anniversary gift!" Leo was incredulous.
Jason and Percy shared a pained expression, "Dude," Percy started.
"She kinda has a right to be pissed right?" Jason continued.
Leo nodded slightly, "I guess, yeah. But I'm not in love with Calypso. How could I fall in love with her again, Michelle's pretty cool, ya know?" he seemed to be asking himself more than the boys. Michelle turned from the bunker. disappointed with herself. "How could I think such rude things?! How could I crush him like that?" she asked herself, hugging herself and walking towards the lake.
"Michelle."
Her name was a breath. And the breath was close, hot on her neck, he was almost stepping on her heels.
"Leo." she breathed back. Leo pulled her to him in a hug from behind, and Michelle leaned into him, her eyes shutting blissfully as she soaked in the scent of smoke and grease.
"Grease Monkey." she thought in a blissful, giggly sigh.
"Ice Queen." he breathed aloud. His voice was right in her ear. She held back an involuntary shiver.
"Human Torch." she giggled.
"I'm sorry."
"I'm sorry."
They said it as one. Michelle looked over her shoulder at him, her half-smile lit up the world. Before, everything had seemed dull, lifeless, though the color was there, it was so, un-bright. When he saw that half-smile of hers, all the color whooshed back into the world. Everything was brighter, more saturated, she'd lit up the world in a way he never imagined anyone could.
"Baby," he started, and Michelle grimaced, bracing herself for the silly song about to escape the Boy on Fire's lips. "You light up my world like nobody else." he sang. Michelle cracked an eye open.
"Are you done? Is the horrible music over?"
"Are you insulting my singing voice, Ice Queen?"
"Not at all Fire Lord, it's just your song of choice that I have a high distaste for." she giggled, turning herself so she properly faced him.
"I don't love her Michelle."
"You will. When you see her again." the young ice controller said sadly.
"How could I fall in love with someone else, when I have perfection right in front of me?"
"Leo, she's a goddess, you could fall in love with her if she were turned into a rock." the girl rolls those icy orbs.
"No, because I've got my goddess, right here, in my arms."
"Leo, I-"
"Michelle." there he went, breathing her name in that way that melted her into a puddle.
"What?"
"I love you. No goddess can compare to you. Except maybe Aphrodite, but that's only because she'd look like you." he jokes, he couldn't stop it, the moment was too tense, he need air to breathe.
"I love you, too, Grease Monkey."
"Grease Monkey?! I find that offensive. I'm a Greasy Repair Boy." he says proudly.
"Grease Monkey?"
"Hmm?"
"Just shut up and kiss me you doof."
And he did. He cupped her face in his hands and pulled her face to his. Her fists tugged at his wild curls, and his hands came to a rest at the small of her back. She cupped her hands behind his head and pulled him even closer to her. She was practically standing on his toes at this point, holding herself to Leo, being this close, there were so many right things in that moment.
Until she heard the familiar sound of a throat being cleared.
The two jerked away from each other. Michelle and Leo peered over his shoulder to see Percy and Jason almost gawking at them.
Percy was the first to recover, his mouth forming a straight line. "Well Jason, I'd say they've made up."
Jason just nods, his mouth still flapping open.
Michelle quietly disentangles herself from Leo, and gently closes Jason's mouth.
Jason grimaced his thanks as Michelle walked back over and placed herself back in Leo's arms.
"Boys?" Michelle prodded, knowing the two were going to scold them.
Percy just smiles and shakes his head, "Just don't break her again…Grease Monkey." he mocks.
Leo smirks, "Whatever you say Kelp Head." he remarks.
Jason still can't respond, he's that shocked. He does manage to shakily point at Michelle and say, "But…" then point to Leo and say, "I-I thought…" Percy just rolls his eyes and jerks Jason off by the arm, "I'll explain once the shock has worn off, Grace." he says.
Michelle turns herself back to Leo, "Now, where were we?" she asks.
"I think it was something like this." he pulls her to him, placing her hands gently behind his head, pulling her up onto his toes. He leans his forehead to hers, "I love you Michelle Kelley."
"I love you, too, Leo Valdez. Now shut up an-"
He cut her off by pressing his mouth firmly to hers.
Leo was still pacing. It'd been another half-hour and he didn't know how much longer he could wait. The Hypnos boy pulled his hand from Michelle's forehead, where it had been resting since he'd last spoke. He shook himself all over. "Well THERE'S one thing I never wanted to see." he shivers, then pulls himself together, the only thing that had kept him awake for so long was because he basically fell asleep every time he placed his hand back on Michelle's forehead.
Annabeth and Percy had gone off for the lunch bell. Nik was the only one who refused to leave besides the sleeping Hypnos boy and Leo, who'd also refused to leave her. Speaking of the sleeping Hypnos boy, he stretched and yawned before explaining what was left for Michelle.
"Well, I sense the final fight scene, perhaps another make-ou- I mean, make-up scene, and then you can kiss her awake."
Leo nodded, Jason came in then.
"C'mon dude, you haven't eaten all day, I know Michelle likes you as scrawny as you are, but I think she'd be pretty mad if we didn't make sure you were fed."
Leo crossed his arms over his chest. "I'm not leaving this room."
Jason smirks, "I kinda figured, so I brought you and Nikki here a couple of magical plates and cups." he walks into the cabin and hands each a plate and cup.
Nik's plate immediately fills with shrimp, and her cup fills with some dark brown, syrupy liquid Leo could only identify as Coca-Cola. Non-diet, as she doesn't want to discredit Mr. D's favored drink.
Leo's plate whips up a hamburger and fries, while his cup fills with Cherry Pepsi. Michelle liked Pepsi, so he figured he owed it to her. While they eat, Michelle's final dream is wrapping up.
Michelle couldn't remember why they were fighting again.
"I'm sorry." she said, still having no memory of their previous fight.
"So am I." Leo responds, pulling the shorter brunette to him with a smirk. Michelle matches his smirk and places a gentle, soft kiss on Leo's mouth. He holds her there, and the sweet and gentle kiss slowly escalates into a need, as if her very last breaths of oxygen were in that boy.
Several minutes later the couple pull apart, panting.
"Leo…" Michelle wheezes.
"Yeah?" he asks, almost as out of breath as she.
"I love you."
"I love you too."
After gaining back her breath, Michelle places one last kiss on Leo's temple, before pulling herself from him completely. She felt sweaty, and sticky, and in major need of a shower. She noticed sweat glistening on Leo's forehead, and lets out a puff of ice breath, to cool them.
Leo had finished his lunch, and was now awaiting the pressing doom of whether Michelle would awaken or not. He popped a few breath mints as Clovis pulled his hand from Michelle's forehead for the final time.
"She's done, you have two minutes before the scenes loop again. For now, she's in the dark."
The boy stands up and stumbles to the door, almost falling asleep twice before reaching his own cabin.
Leo takes a deep breath as he steps up to Michelle's bed.
"I'm sorry this happened to you, Angel." he said, before pressing his mouth firmly to hers. All of the anxiety of the previous few hours erupts in all the passion and heartache he'd been holding in all day. Leo puts every last drop of emotion in himself into the kiss that will awaken the girl of his dreams.
When he has to catch his breath, he pulls his face merely centimeters from hers.
"Will she awaken?"
Michelle's eyes shoot open and gaze into familiar deep brown ones.
Her hands immediately grab for his face, pulling it to hers again.
"I knew you'd save me Grease Monkey." she breathes before pulling his mouth to hers again.
Now it was her turn to return all the passion in every molecule in her body.
When they pull apart shortly after, Percy and Annabeth had returned to see them.
Nik is calmly avoiding Michelle's eyes.
And Leo's gazing at her so lovingly that she wants to kiss him again, but she restrains herself, and instead, has him help her stand, and sit on the ground. Nik passes Michelle a cup of water, which she downs vigorously, before stating, "What'd I miss?"
Leo smirks and puts an arm around her shoulders, kissing her temple. "That's a story for another time." he says calmly.
There's a long, loud growl from Michelle's stomach.
"I'm starving, apparently." she states, as if still in a dreamy state.
Everyone laughs nervously as Nik passes her twin a plate.
A pile of shrimp appears and she smiles, "Even when I don't know what I want, the plate does."
