Crashing face first into a lake was not how Leo had planned to end his day.
First his best friend not only forgets who he is, but turns out they actually hadn't met before that day; then he had to hold onto a ledge for dear life and a satyr had to save him while Jason kicked ass; then he almost gets kidnapped by some crazy wind guy and overall it was a terrible and amazing day.
The water was freezing, and his trying to hide his 'special' ability kept him from warming himself up. Luckily these people had those cool blowers and his clothes were dry and hair as bouncy as ever in seconds. Although it bothered him a bit when, even after being dry and safe, people kept throwing towels at him and trying to check him for injuries. He had to shake them off and squirm away.
Annabeth was getting shouted at by some blonde Beta about his chariot being destroyed as she tried to pacify him. Then he mentioned something about being claimed. And after some choice words being exchanged with a chick that was most likely the inspiration for Mean Girls, Leo had a flaming hammer over his head; and then he was walking alongside the Beta that had been shouting at Annabeth, Will something.
The tour with Will was amazing. There were weapons and dangerous tools and monsters in the forest. And on the way there, he found out his cabin was cursed! Great, just great. At least it was more comforting than seeing his Tía appear and disappear in camp like an illusion messing with his brain.
Suddenly a smell hit his nose, coming from various directions at once. He stopped and sniffed the air as Will kept talking and walking towards his cabin, not noticing Leo had stopped. The Latino looked around and saw a few faces peeking from some cabins, eyes fixated on him in what could be taken as awe and even hope. He scrunched his nose and shook his head, jogging to fall into step with Will.
The blonde looked at him surprised, just now noticing Leo had stayed behind. "What's wrong dude?"
Leo shrugged. "Nothing. Just a bunch of kids looking at me weird"
Will frowned and looked around, seeing the still peeping campers yelp and hide back inside as soon as he faced them. Realization dawned on his face and a small smile stretched his lips.
"Oh, you're an Omega?" He asked conversationally, grinning at Leo.
Said boy grumbled and shoved his hand in his pockets, kicking a rock on his way. "Yeah? What does that matter anyway?"
"Oh no, no! It's nothing bad, it's great, actually!" Will stopped and carefully laid his hands on Leo's shoulders, looking at him up and down with a practiced clinical look. "You're a dominant, aren't you?"
Leo looked up at him from beneath his curls and growled.
"Perfect!" The blonde cheered, slapping his back a bit too strong. "You arrived just in time!"
"Nuh-uh, no way José. Whatever sick plan you have for me you better make it stop, drop and roll cause I just made it go up in flames" Leo shoved him away and stepped back to make some distance. "Just take me to my cabin, please"
Will looked at him concerned before ruffling his hair and nodding. "Sorry. You're right, I got ahead of myself. Your cabin's over there, Jake can tell you more about it once you're there"
Leo hummed, and followed him in.
He was welcomed by a talking mummy, also known as his cabin counselor and spanking new brother—the spanking part being figurative, of course. Jake did not spank him-Jake seemed like a nice guy; even completely wrapped up in bandages Leo could see how he'd been chosen as counselor. A good Alpha he was glad to have as his brother. But the best part was not the super amazing private room he was given, no; it was the mechanic dragon set loose in the forest. He was so going to catch that.
After the cabin, Will had taken him to the forges to meet the rest of his siblings, who had told him more about the dragon and where it most likely was. Now he just needed to find a chance to make his way into the forest and find it. Monsters or not, a few fireballs could send anything away. He'd practiced with enough stupid alphas through the years he was a runaway.
As he went to follow his siblings out and towards the campfire, he noticed the smell from before again, just stronger this time. Sweeter and heavier, like ripe peaches ready to explode in someone's hand. He turned around, frowning, to come face to face with a bunch of kids his age and younger. Upon seeing Leo's frown, they took a step back almost in unison, some whining at him.
The one who looked older, a brunet boy with glasses, stepped forward, dragging his feet. "Um, I…"
"Speak up, kid" Leo said, a bit louder than he intended. The boy flinched.
"I'm Mitchell. Son of Aphrodite" He said, looking up at Leo fleetingly. "We, uh…you are—I mean, I-I'm so sorry. I'll start over"
Leo glared at him for a moment before his face softened. He sighed and ruffled the boy's hair. Mitchell seemed visibly more relaxed afterward, even a little dazzled. "Tell you what; I'm going to the campfire now. Try to get those words into a sentence and come find me, okay?"
Mitchell nodded fervently, smile bigger and eyes shining. The rest of the group behind him started chattering among themselves, excited as some ran away. Leo turned around after making sure they'd all went their ways and made his way to his siblings.
"Hey Valdez, what's up with the troupe of kids?"
Leo blinked up at Piper, cheeks puffed up from the 's'mores filling them. He swallowed and glanced around, catching sight of the group from before, all huddled together and whispering to each other while occasionally glancing at Leo and grinning. Leo sighed and let his head fall on Piper's lap. The hand petting his hair was instantaneous and greatly appreciated.
"You know the whole deal with Omegas, right? How we subdivide and stuff?"
She shrugged. "Not much. Alphas and Omegas are taught everything about each other; we Betas just get the basics in sex-ed"
"Beauty Queen, I'm from Texas. The only sex-ed I got was a big NO in red marker. Lots of exclamation points. Double underlined. Internet saved my life on that aspect" Leo moved his body to lie more comfortably against her. "Okay, so there are two kinds of Omegas; dominants and submissives. Care to guess which one I am?"
"A little shit like you? I'd say dominant" She laughed, flicking his nose.
Leo chuckled and slapped her hand away playfully. "Ding-ding-ding, we have a winner!" He said, waving his hands. "I'm a dominant, which automatically makes me some sort of 'mom' for subs. The normal thing is that they gravitate towards me, wanting to form a pack with me as the caretaker" He paused to shove another 's'more into his mouth, swallowing quickly. "Now, at my age I should already have a pack, but with all the running away from foster homes, I got used to being alone and never settled down. And I don't know if you noticed but everyone at Wilderness School were Alphas or Betas. Normal Omegas don't get into the kind of messes I do"
"I can believe that"
"The thing is" He continued. "It seems there are only submissives in here, and having such a big number of them together without a dominant tends to make them shyer, so they hide away. They were all looking at me from their cabins when we arrived"
"And it's the first time they get out in weeks, actually" Will sat down next to him, using Leo's legs to prop his plate of biscuits. "We had a dominant, my brother Michael, but he disappeared during the Titan War in Manhattan" His voice got lower at the end, and Leo shot up to sit straight, laying his hand on top of Will's.
"I'm sorry" Leo said softly, almost a whisper as his thumb rubbed Will's hand. The blonde smiled at him gratefully and squeezed his hand back before letting go. Leo stayed close to him, unconsciously warming up to offer better comfort.
Will hummed and leaned a bit closer, letting the warmth soak into his arm. "Thank you. You know, you'd be a good mom"
"Whoa there. I barely know you, dude" Leo laughed, patting his face.
"Not like that" The blonde assured, laughing as well. "I mean, in the pack sense. Since Michael went away…it's been hard for them. They're scared and confused. We have to bring them food to their cabins to make sure they don't starve. Having you here will be good for them"
Leo looked away, silent. He looked at Piper for help. She looked like she agreed with Will, obviously noticing how Leo had switched to comfort Will as soon as he showed signs of stress. It was a good trait in dominants and not even years of isolation had taken it away from him.
The Latino bit his lip and looked at the kids, how they were close enough to feel safe and act like they probably hadn't since the war; happy and confident and interacting with other campers. He felt his gut coil and his hold on Will's hand tightened before letting go.
Piper patted his back softly as he stood and walked towards the group.
Leo fucked up. Big time. This was not part of the plan.
He had meant to just approach the group and have a small chat, maybe get to know them better for future reference. A prophecy had been discussed during the campfire and him, Piper and Jason had agreed on going, and it was at that point that the Omegas had surrounded him and clung so hard Leo thought his shirt would rip apart.
Most of the talking had been done by Leo. Low and slow and soft while the kids listened, lulled into a sense of security by his voice as they cuddled into a pile, watching Leo fumble with his ever-present pipe cleaners. He'd made a little toy out of them for every boy and girl in the group as he asked things about them; how long they'd been there, their godly parents, their hobbies.
He felt really comfortable.
He almost regretted going to bed, but after making a round to drop them one by one in their respective cabins, he'd all but dropped dead asleep on his bed.
The first stage of forming a pack was bonding, and Leo had finished that part in a single night.
He realized this in the middle of breakfast the next day, when Malcolm had hugged him tightly on his way to the Athena cabin and Leo complied easily. The second he was conscious of it, he stopped chewing his cereal and his spoon had clattered against the bowl as it fell from his hand.
He spent the next three days locked up in his room.
It was Nyssa who finally got him out, when no one could stand Jason moping around anymore because Leo wasn't there and they really needed to go out and finish the quest. Also someone mentioned lightly something about Lacy not wanting to leave her bed anymore since Leo wasn't around either. Leo agreed to go out but immediately took off to the forest.
He came back later that night, riding the lost dragon—now almost fully repaired and with shiny new wings—,covered head to toe in oil, dirt and scratches, and sporting a nice new belt around his waist. Not even the fire-spitting dragon was enough to keep away the pile of Omegas that fell on top of him as soon as he slid down from the dragon's neck.
"Oh m gods, where were you!?"
"Are you alright? Every limb in its place?"
"Don't do that, you asshole!"
Will and his siblings had to pry them off Leo to help him get up. Victoria was particularly hard to unlatch but they finally managed. Jason had rushed in to help Leo up, only to have his hand slapped away.
"I can stand up myself, Prince Charming" Leo huffed, dusting his clothes as if the sudden attack had dirtied him more than his finding, fixing and taming a dragon. Just in time a torrent of oil dribbled down the metallic maw, cascading on Leo like a rain of molasses. He didn't look all that off-put by it. "Well then, I got us transport! How about we go free Lady Queen of Whatever so we can get some actual camp experience, hm?"
Piper walked up to them, snorting as she ruffled Leo's curls. "You could've had the experience already if you didn't hole up in your room for half a week"
"Three days are not a half a week, even I know that"
"Well it sure felt like one!"
"Guys, guys!" Jason put a hand on their shoulders, separating them a bit when Leo's upper lip started to draw back in what looked an awful lot like a snarl. "You're both right, and wrong, but we should really get going now. I know Annabeth would like to get her boyfriend back and the sooner we find Hera, the better"
Piper and Leo had turned to look at him as he spoke, a look of deep contemplation in their faces. They stared at each other and seemed to reach a consensus when Piper caught Jason's neck and brought his head down for Leo to deliver a noogie.
"Gods, blondie, you're such a dork!" Piper laughed as Jason struggled in her arms. He finally seemed to give up and laugh as Leo's hands dug into his hair, hissing a bit from the knuckles rubbing his scalp. For such a small boy Leo sure had blacksmith's hands.
"Alright losers, let's get up and going!" Leo said as he released Jason and hurried to climb back on the dragon. "Festus Airlines ready to depart, please buckle your belts and keep all limbs inside the dragon at all times"
"Festus?" Jason snorted as he climbed and helped Piper up. "We're gonna save the Queen of Gods on Happy the dragon?"
"You bet your ass we will!"
Festus' teeth spun in excitement as a tower of flames erupted from his mouth, and with a flap of his new wings they were airborne. Leo managed to cast a last glance at the Omegas that had piled on him not a moment ago, and tried not to acknowledge Malcolm's little wave of goodbye.
He nodded in their direction once, a barely there movement, and the group dissolved.