Disclaimer: I own nothing.
(A/N) Yeah, I'm worried that the characters are a little OOC and I'm worrried this sucks so if you could review that'd be greatly appreciated. Title comes from the song 'Heaven Can Wait' by We The Kings. I was inspired to write this after reading too young, too crazy by Astoria Goode. You should check it out.
Edit: Separated the dialogue into separate paragraphs for smoother reading. Fixed a mistake at the end.
You loved her first.
That's all you can think as you watch Piper's smile falter when Jason sets foot on the shore of the Roman camp and some random blonde chick runs up to him and flings her arms around him.
You met her first. You were the one who defended her the first time the other students mocked her Cherokee heritage. You were the one who became her friend when nobody else talked to her. You were the one who watched her fall for Jason, hoping she'd fall for you instead. You were the one who watched her heart break just a little bit when all those memories turned out to be false. You had to watch as she fell for him all over again.
And now you're the one who has to worry about Piper's heart shattering.
(You hope children of Hephaestus can fix hearts as well as machines.)
.
You sidle up next to her as she stares out the window of the Roman equivalent of the Big House. You follow her line of vision and your gaze falls on Jason and the blonde chick from earlier (Reyna) talking and laughing as if they had never been separated.
You don't know what to tell her. It feels wrong to crack a joke but you don't know what else to do (you don't know what else you're good for), so you just stand there silently, hoping that your presence is enough to make her feel better.
"I don't know how to feel," she whispers sadly after a few minutes of what was the loudest silence you've ever heard. Your mind reels. That isn't something Piper says. She has a wall built out of confidence and determination and Piper-ness surrounding her; she isn't supposed to show weakness. But then it dawns on you that Jason (not you) is the chink in her armor.
So you decide to be a supportive best friend and ask her "What do you mean?" She sighs. (You can't help but think that she should be lighting up the room with her smile).
"I mean...I should be happy for Jason. He's back where he belongs. And he obviously has her to make him happy. So why do I feel like punching somebody?" she says.
"Because you're Piper and enjoy punching people?" you respond in an attempt to cut the tension. She chuckles weakly. But the heavy feeling in the air remains.
The silence returns. You've never liked the silence (not since the quiet that followed your mom's death) so you decide to cheer her up. (It's what you're here for after all- and for nothing else.) "Come on Pipes. Shouldn't you be going around and spreading your Beauty Queen awesomeness to these guys? They don't seem to do anything but train," you tell her, trying again to cheer her up. She lets out another sigh.
You decide to go back to staring out the window. Jason and Reyna are gone. You feel a stab of anger towards Jason for just ditching the two of you. You think he could've been a little nicer about it. A 'see you later' would've been nice. At the very least, he could've prepared Piper for Reyna. But no. Instead he let you all show up and suddenly find out he's best friends with a girl who's obviously in love with him without any warning for Piper.
Being the awesome person that you are (...right?), you decide to take Piper's mind off of things.
"Come on Beauty Queen. No use moping around. Let's go see if these Romans have any cool buildings worthy of our awesomeness," you tell her. You try to do the puppy-dog eyes for good measure but apparently you look hilarious because next thing you know, Piper's laughing as if nothing was wrong with the world.
"Sure, Leo. Why not?" she answers as she grabs your wrist and drags you out the door.
(You can't help but hope that maybe there will be a Piper&Leo after all.)
.
You walk aimlessly around the camp side-by-side for a few minutes when she suggests going to the beach. You nod your agreement and the two of you make your way there together, your arms brushing the whole way there.
You find out that it was a bad idea to go to the beach as you see Jason and Reyna sitting next to each other on the sand. They appear to be in deep conversation and their hands are practically intertwined. Piper stiffens. You glance at her out of the corner of your eye and you notice that her fists are clenched and her lower lip is trembling. You hate seeing her this way.
"I'm sorry," you blurt out. Piper turns to look at you.
"Why?" she asks in a slightly shaky voice.
"Because...This whole situation sucks. Big time," you reply.
"I know. It's just not fair, you know? I thought he liked me and that we'd be boyfriend and girlfriend,"-you scowl slightly-"But then all of this happens with Reyna and I feel wrong taking him away from her and I just don't know what to do!" she shouts the last part and stomps her foot.
So now it's Angry Piper, you think. Well at least Angry Piper is familiar territory.
You take hold of her hand and lead her down the beach; you take her away from the Roman boy who's unknowingly breaking her heart, away from the stress of being a demigod, away from her problems.
You find a quiet spot that's far from all the hustle and bustle of the Roman camp. You both plop down on the warm sand. Piper seems out of it like her mind's a million miles away and there's a frown etched on her face. You decide to distract her. You complain about the hot afternoon sun; tell her about the greatest pranks you pulled prior to meeting her; listen to her tell you Cherokee legends her dad told her when she was a little girl.
As the conversation continues, she relaxes. There's a faint smile on her lips and there's no worry in her eyes. She laughs at all your jokes, regardless of how lame they are. She stands up and brushes the sand off her jeans. She starts walking towards the shoreline. Your eyebrows knit together in confusion as you get up and follow her.
After a couple of minutes of you trying to throw sand in her hair and her running away, you both reach the shoreline. Piper kicks off her black Converse, rolls up her pant legs and jumps in the knee-high water, effectively soaking the front of your jeans in a rather unfortunate place. She giggles. You smile at the sound of it.
"All right, Beauty Queen, two can play that game," you say as you jump in the water without bothering to take off your sneakers or rolling up your pant legs. Piper shrinks away from you as you jump again in the water and she's wet from head to toe.
"Leo!" she scolds you as if she didn't just do the same to you.
"What? Is Beauty Queen afraid to get her precious hair wet?" you tease.
That's when Normal Piper comes back fully. "Oh, it's on, Valdez. You're gonna regret saying that," she says playfully.
"Oh wow, you called me by my last name. How intimidating. Am I supposed to start trembling?" you mock. Piper narrows her eyes and splashes you. You splash back. She splashes you again. This causes a splash war to break out.
"Is that all you got?" you challenge. She pauses, water dripping from her braid. You realize you're both soaked from head to toe. She smirks and the familiar Piper twinkle finds its way back to her eyes.
"Actually, Leo...I was just warming up." she tells you. She purposely gets closer to you and she stops when she's thisclose to you. Your breath hitches and she smirks. For a split second, you're afraid that she knows how you really feel about her.
"Do you remember what they taught us in one of our first sword fighting lessons?" she whispers as if somebody might actually hear them. You nod mutely.
"They taught us," she continues "to never be off your guard." She takes advantage of your confusion and pushes you. You fall in the water and now you're completely soaked. You look up at her bewildered, wondering when in Hades she became so devious.
"I win!" she manages to say as she laughs at you.
You shake your head as if she's done something unforgivable to you. (But really, she could do anything to you and you'd always forgive her without a second thought.) As she gloats over her victory, you quietly sit up and quick as lightning, you grab her arm and pull her down. She yelps as she hits the cold seawater face-first. She sputters as she flails around, trying to sit up straight.
"Try not to drown in this knee-high water," you mock. She props herself up on her elbows long enough to glare at you but a wave reaches the two of you and sends her back down. You can't hold in your laughter as you offer her your hand and she brings herself to a sitting positon. She scowls at you.
"Not funny, Leo." You laugh at the irritated yet somewhat amused expression on her face.
"Yes it was and you know it," you respond. She chuckles.
"Okay, so maybe it was," she concedes.
She drags herself out of the water and you follow her out. She plops down on the sand, a few feet away from the shoreline and you sit next to her, a trail of water showing your path. She twists the hem of her soaked Camp-Half Blood T-shirt and wrings it. She leans on your shoulder as she yanks her black Converse back on. She stays there even after her shoes are back on.
It's just you and Piper sitting there as you watch the tide come in but there's nowhere else you'd rather be right now.
(You can't help but think that this is how it should've been between the two of you all along.)
.
You wake up the next day in a room in the Roman Big House. You rub the sleep out of your eyes and you sit up. You scan the room that you're sharing with the Stoll brothers, Clarisse, Annabeth, Piper, a son of Apollo, a daughter of Demeter, and a daughter of Hecate (some of the people chosen to visit the Roman camp but how the Stoll brothers got chosen, you'll never know). You're the only one in there and you assume everybody else already woke up.
As you walk downstairs, you start thinking about the events of the previous day. Things seemed...different. But in a good way. You think that maybe you can help her move on from Jason. You lazily make your way to the dining hall as you plan your next contraption. Maybe a new sword for the weapons supply or a shield, you think.
When you finally reach the dining hall (theirs is situated near a lake) and you're relieved to see it's not empty. There's a few nymphs cleaning the tables and a few campers still finishing their breakfast. You head over to the serving line and help yourself to some toast and scrambled eggs. You stand there looking for a familiar face and you find Piper sitting by herself with an empty plate in front of her. You take a seat in front of her and she smiles.
"Hey," she greets you.
"Hey. Have I missed anything?" you ask.
"No. Lupa, Chiron, everyone that came with us, and some Roman campers are discussing the trip. I hope it's going well," she says as she grimaces.
"What happened?" you ask. "Clarisse and some daughter of Ares got in a big fight. They almost killed each other. Jason and Percy had to pry them off each other." she answers, frowning as she mentions Jason. You hate that it hurts her so much to be losing him. It's even sadder that she never had him in the first place.
She sighs and her frown deepens. "Come on. Turn that frown upside down. Or else I might have to subject you to another lame saying," you joke. She gives you a genuine smile. You notice that it looks a lot like the ones she gives Jason.
You start scarfing down your breakfast and Piper gives you a perplexed look.
"Why so hungry all of a sudden?" she inquires.
"I wanna get to the meeting. I don't wanna miss another fight. Besides, that nymph's glaring daggers at me. I think she's mad at me for getting crumbs all over this once clean table," you reply and she laughs.
"That nymph? The one who's like a whole foot shorter than us and looks like she wouldn't hurt a fly?" she asks incredulously as she points at the nymph in question.
The pretty nymph is about four and a half feet tall, is wearing a girly green dress similar to the ones the dryads at Camp Half-Blood wear, and is staring at you like she'd like to stab you with a tree branch.
"Hey, she's scary! Besides, it's the pretty ones you gotta watch out for," you retort with a wink and she blushes. You smile at this.
You finish your breakfast in record time. You and Piper get up and the nymph who was glaring at you pushes past you to clean the wooden table. "Told you she hates me," you mutter. Piper tries to hold back her laugh but ends up snorting.
"Real lady-like," you tease her. She thumps your arm. Not like you didn't see it coming.
"Let's just go," she tells you as she grabs your wrist and begins dragging you to the Roman Big House.
You try not to blush as her fingers find their way to yours.
.
The meeting is a blur. All you pay attention to is Lupa agreeing to help the Greeks and Piper's hand holding yours under the long rectangular table.
.
You and Piper are among the last to leave the meeting. Also among the last are Jason and Reyna. Piper stiffens and tightens her grip on your hand as the two of you brush past Jason. You still like Jason but you can't help but grin a little at his somewhat stunned expression when he sees you&Piper. You notice he isn't holding Reyna's hand as you expected.
He still looks at Piper the same way. But you ignore that. Instead you make Piper laugh by commenting on Mandy's (the girl who tried to kill Clarisse) bad attitude. You can feel Jason's eyes on the two of you as you head to the training arena for another meeting Chiron and Lupa called to inform the Romans of the alliance.
(It's nice to not be overshadowed by Jason for once.)
.
Piper halts as you're halfway to the training arena. She turns to you with a mischievous sparkle in her pretty color-changing eyes. "Let's not go to the meeting. We already know what they're going to say so why bother?" You mull this over. She has a point.
"So, what are we going to do? Commit a crime? Annoy somebody? Run with scissors?" you ask. She grins slyly.
"We are going to," she pauses for dramatic effect (she's definitely a child of Aphrodite) "the forest." She says this as if this is the most dangerous thing somebody could do.
"Wow, the forest. How adventurous." you mock.
She scowls at you. "Hey, the forest is fun. At least we won't be bothered by anybody," she says in a lame attempt to defend herself.
"Whatever. To the forest of doom!" you say as you grandly point towards the woods. She shakes her head as if that was a lame joke but you see the smile she's fighting back. You're happy to see her lose that fight.
You grab her hand (she doesn't pull away) and together you make your way to the forest. (It's nothing special but the person next to you is.) You traipse around, occasionally annoying a dryad by stepping on her roots. She's smiling the whole time. You feel a weight lift off your chest as you realize that she's not moping around over Jason anymore (she hasn't even so much as mentioned him) and it's thanks to your awesome ways.
"Why are we here anyways?" you ask after a few minutes of a comfortable silence. Piper shrugs.
"I just really didn't wanna go to that meeting," she replies. She grins slyly.
"And there's something else I wanna do..." You're about to ask what she's talking about but her lips are on yours before you can even get the words out.
Not that you have a problem with it.
.
It's four days later and you're kind of like boyfriend and girlfriend. You haven't talked about it. It's more like you silently agreed to it. You hold hands and talk. You go everywhere together. You even kiss a few times.
Neither one of you has talked much to Jason. He's sort of avoiding you and spending all his time with Reyna. You don't hate him (who could hate the golden boy?) but things are somewhat awkward, considering you technically took his almost but not really girlfriend. But he had his chance, now it's your turn.
Besides, he has Reyna. They're not together but you expect they will be soon. You hopes they do get together because then you can go back to being best friends.
(You quite like the sound of Jason&Leo&Piper with Piper's name next to you.)
.
A couple of days later, you're onboard the Argos II. You're the first one there and you're checking to make sure all your supplies are onboard the ship. You're about to go below deck when you hear two familiar voices on the dock: Piper and Jason. You tell yourself that it's no big deal, friends talk.
But you can't stop yourself from peering over the railing to see what they're doing. You can't hear what they're saying but Piper looks somewhat nervous. Jason tells her something and she laughs. You wonder where Reyna is.
You hurry away from the railing when they start making their way up the gangplank. You pretend to fiddle with some riggings. You hear Piper's laughter ring through the air as Jason says something funny. You can't help but think that being the comedian is your job. (It's all you have to stand out.)
You turn around as they walk up to you. Piper's smiling at him the way she's been smiling at you for the last few days. You study them for a few seconds and Piper blushes, looking slightly guilty.
"What's up, guys?" you ask casually. Jason shrugs.
"Nothing," he answers. Piper stays silent.
"Well, I have a lot of stuff to take care of. So if you guys don't mind..." you say as you make a motion for them to leave.
"Okay," Jason answers, sounding somewhat confused. You look at Piper. You notice the way she's looking at Jason. The way she used to look at him. The way she's been looking at you for the past few days. (She's falling for him again.)
You sigh as you realize you're going to be the third wheel, shunted off to the side again. You're the sidekick and Jason's the hero and the hero always gets the girl. You should've known better than to expect otherwise.
(It's going to be Leo&Jason&Piper again and isn't that the way it should be.)