This story is not related to Papi or The Price We Must Pay in any way. Originally, I was gonna include Leo's automaton arm from TPWMP, but thought against it in the end. Sorry.
Anyway, to all Liper fans: Sorry, this is not a Liper story. Just a Leo/Piper sibling love. I really like their close friend status in the series and think that Leo accepts Piper as his annoying older sister in a way. I got hit with that kind of feeling, and it would not leave me alone. So, I bring to you the pile of unicorn poo that is this story. Not my best work...
Honestly, there are not enough 'sick Leo' stories out there, so I thought I'd contribute one more to the fandom.
Please no flames. I'm not a fire-user, so they actually do hurt.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
Piper knocked on the door of the Hephaestus Cabin. A light snow was falling outside, making her shiver slightly under her heavy coat and scarf. Her mittens didn't help with the holding of her box. She had almost dropped it on the way over.
It was Christmas Day—more accurately, it was 9:37 PM Christmas Day.
Like last year, Camp Half-Blood as a whole didn't celebrate the Christian Holiday, but many individual campers still gave each other presents and drank eggnog in good spirits. Piper and Jason had spent the day together throwing snowballs at each other, kissing under 'randomly placed' mistletoe, exchanging handmade gifts, listening to cheesy Christmas music, etc. It was a fantastic day, and Piper was really excited about the whole day.
However, there was an obvious missing piece in the otherwise-perfect day.
Leo.
Last year, Piper and Jason had dragged Leo out of Bunker Nine to share some memories before they had to face the realities of the upcoming war. He had needed it, what with working so hard on the Argo II and almost having it blow up and such. This year, Piper had been so preoccupied with Jason and sharing romantic moments on a double date with Percy and Annabeth that she had forgotten about the poor son of Hephaestus.
He must feel so left out, she wondered. We're such terrible friends if we just forget about him like this!
Piper knocked on the door again. Half the camp was already asleep, including Jason, but Piper was determined to see Leo before the day was over and give him his present.
A bleary-eyed Jake Mason answered the door. He rubbed his eyes and yawned, "Piper? What do you want?"
Normally, the Hephaestus Cabin would have been wide awake until the wee hours of the morning. Holidays, even ones Greeks didn't normally celebrate, were their days off where they could sleep and do nothing.
"Sorry for bothering you," Piper apologized. "But is Leo in there? I forgot to give him this." She held up the box wrapped in red paper with a gold bow on top.
Jake flinched. "Uh, yeah…Leo's here, but he's…uh…"
"What's wrong?"
Jake sighed. "Leo's not doin' too good at the moment."
Oh no, she thought. Now I feel even worse! He's probably feeling so upset about being ignored all day!
"Let me apologize to him," she offered. "I shouldn't have…"
"Apologize?" Jake asked incredulously. "Why? You're not the one to blame for getting him sick!"
Piper froze. It took her a minute to comprehend that statement.
"Leo…is sick?"
That question right there was like saying 'Greek and Roman gods are real' to mortals. It sounded impossible!
Leo Valdez did not 'get sick'. Insomnia, maybe—but not sick. His internal fire pretty much burned up the invading germs before they could do any real damage. Even when he and Piper had been de-gold-ified in Omaha, he hadn't even gotten a sniffle.
And yet, here Jake Mason was telling her Leo was sick!
"What's he got?" she asked.
"A little flu bug," he said, shrugging. Then, at Piper's sad expression, he waved his hands in exasperation. "It's his own fault! Leo was so absorbed in one of his projects that he went without sleeping for a long time. He hasn't been eating either. We confronted him about it, but he said he had to keep going. So, Nyssa and I went to the Hecate Cabin to get a sleeping spell. They said the spell might have side-effects. Apparently, a powerful flu that can take down fire-users is one of them."
Piper shook her head. She could sense which project was taking up so much of Leo's life.
The astrolabe.
When Leo had confronted Piper and Jason about Calypso and his promise a little bit after the war, he had said the astrolabe was giving him some trouble concerning some sort of crystal installation. They offered some help, but he politely turned it down, saying he'll ask for help when he moved on to rebuilding Festus. "The astrolabe is my problem," he had said. "I can get it, don't worry."
"Let me in, Jake," she said. "I still wanna see him."
Jake nodded and led her inside. He knocked his foot on the floor twice and shouted, "Need the stairs for Bunk 1A!"
Stairs appeared in the middle of the floor. Piper gasped. She had heard rumors that Cabin Nine had their own rooms but never believed them. She felt slightly jealous, mostly because she would have loved not having to share a space with Drew.
"Emergency staircase for when our bunks break." Jake pointed to the staircase. Piper didn't know what he meant by 'bunks break' but didn't ask. "That'll lead you into his room. He's been coughing like crazy and puking every few hours."
"Yuck," was all Piper had said before she descended the staircase.
She stopped in the doorway, muttering "Oh my gods" under her breath.
Leo's room was pretty much the Hurricane Katrina disaster area x 1000. Normal teenage boys had their floors littered with dirty clothes and random stuff. Not Leo. He had bronze scraps, tools, various blueprints, random projects, clothes—clean as well as dirty—and an assortment of junk food that could possibly feed a small country littering the floor. Piper was deathly afraid that she would hurt herself if she wasn't wearing shoes. And even with shoes on she felt dread.
She located Leo's bed, high above the disaster zone. In it, a lump of blankets sat, trembling.
Piper steeled herself and picked her way across the room. It was slow going, but she finally carved out a decent path among the rubble. She looked down at the lump of blankets.
The only thing visible from the lump was Leo's head, and even then Piper could barely recognize him.
Leo was pale—like, almost Nico di Angelo pale. His normally bouncy curly hair was plastered to his head, weighed down by sweat. There were dark circles under his eyes and his face seemed gaunt. Piper now realized why the blankets were trembling; though he was sweating, Leo was obviously freezing. That was new to Piper. Leo could go toe-to-toe with Khione the ice queen without feeling the least bit cold. But give the guy the flu and he was suddenly more susceptible to cold.
Piper shook his shoulder (at least, she thought it was his shoulder under the multiple layers of blankets) and gently cooed, "Leo. Leo, it's Piper. Wake up, please?"
After a few attempts, the son of Hephaestus finally stirred. He opened a bloodshot eye and it slowly focused on her. "Hmmm?" was all he managed.
"Sorry for waking you," she said. "But I just wanted to say I'm sorry…"
Leo scrunched his eyebrows together. "For…what?" Gods, he sounded terrible. His voice was so deep and scratchy, Piper swore he could do a really good impression of Zeus.
"For ignoring you all day. I feel like a jerk." Piper let her head hang in shame. "I didn't even know you were sick on one of the happiest days of the year!"
Leo coughed and sniffled before saying something. "I told Nyssa…to not tell you guys. It's not...your fault…"
"But I still ignored you! I only just thought about you and Christmas Day is almost over!"
"So…?"
Piper gaped at him. "Well…I just feel horrible about it! We've been through so much together and what do the rest of us do? We ignore you!"
Under the blankets, Leo shrugged. "Not like…I was in a 'hanging out'…kind of mood…" He yawned, but it was abruptly cut off by a coughing fit. At the end of it, Leo took a handkerchief out of nowhere and blew his nose. Piper couldn't help but notice the white cloth came away from his nose greener than Shrek. He groaned.
"Do you want some water?" Piper asked.
"Please…?" Another coughing fit seized him.
Piper pulled the cornucopia from under her jacket (it was a great source of Christmas pudding, which she shared with Jason). She let it fill with water.
Leo struggled to sit up. His blankets slipped down and landed around his skinny hips. Piper tried to ignore how bone-thin he looked, but her sisterly instincts kicked in.
"When was the last time you ate, Leo?"
Leo took the cornucopia and slowly sipped some water. He was shivering again. Piper took pity and draped the blankets back over his skeletal shoulders. He smiled up at her.
"Sorry…I wasn't really…paying attention," Leo rasped. He sniffled. "I forgot a few meals…"
Piper slapped the back of his head. "A few? I highly doubt that." She gazed at the shoulder that poked its way out again when the blankets began to fall once more. I guess him throwing up didn't help any either…
Leo's eyes suddenly widened and he turned pale. Piper barely had time to react before he grabbed a doggie bag from his tool belt (on his bedside table) and retched.
Only, considering his state, all he retched was the water he just drank. Afterwards, he kept dry-heaving for a few minutes. Piper hated that sound and wished Leo had a mute button. It was awful.
Finally, he groaned and shoved the water-filled bag back into the belt, never to be seen again. He sank back down and lay in a tight ball on the bed. "Thanks for…the water…anyway…" he managed.
"It's okay, Leo," she said in a soothing voice. "But for future reference, if you're having trouble with keeping that promise to Calypso…just ask me or Jason for help. It won't kill you. And you'd avoid situations like this," she joked.
Leo huffed out a laugh. "I'll keep that in mind." His eyes were narrowing, lids closing. Piper took this as a hint and set the box down on his table. She knew he'd open it eventually.
She bent down and kissed the son of Hephaestus on the forehead. It didn't mean anything; Just a sisterly kiss to let him know he wasn't alone. Leo was her brother—he wasn't related by blood, but was still her annoying little brother that just happened to stumble into her life. He knew that, and accepted the title happily when she brought it up.
Leo smiled before burrowing into his blankets again. The blanket shook hard when he began another coughing fit. Piper stroked his side one last time before carefully making her way through his obstacle course of a room.
At the doorway, she looked back. Leo was in the same position he had been in when she arrived. Only his curly hair, plastered with sweat, was visible through the multiple layers of blankets.
She sighed. "Merry Christmas, Leo," she said sadly. "Get well soon."
-One week later/New Year's Eve 11:55 PM-
Piper forced herself to stay awake. She was lying in bed, curled up in a few blankets, trying so very hard to keep her cracker-and-water New Year's dinner down in her stomach. She hadn't gotten sick in a long while, so this bout of flu had hit her pretty hard.
It was all Leo's fault!
That stupid flu he had gotten from the Hecate spell was apparently contagious. Leo had spread it to half the Hephaestus Cabin, Jason (who had visited him the day after Christmas), and Piper. Because Jason was the stupid Roman he was, he had gone out when he should have been resting and spread it to Percy via sneeze-in-the-face—who gave it to Annabeth via kiss and Clarisse La Rue just 'because'. Piper had a feeling that was more of a revenge against her than anything else. What she had done to deserve the flu, Piper hadn't the foggiest.
Anyway, here she was: sick with the flu in bed on New Year's Eve. The rest of her cabin had gone out and joined the party that was happening in camp. The campers all decided to celebrate New Year's and have their own ball-dropping ceremony in the middle of the Omega of the cabins. Piper wanted to join in, but she was still trying to get over the sickness. It was on the down-slope now, but she had been hoping to be better by now. No such luck...
"Stupid Leo…" she groaned. She sniffled, trying to stay awake. If she couldn't join in the celebrations, she'd at least stay up until the next year arrived. It was—literally—the least she could do.
The door to her cabin opened. She looked up and almost laughed. Speak of the devil…
Leo Valdez stood in the doorway, his hands behind his back. He looked like a two-year-old that had just gotten a time-out, an 'I'm sorry' look written clearly on his face.
"Hey, Beauty Queen," he rasped. Being the originator of the flu, he was still recovering, but now (at least) he wasn't contagious. He just had a sore throat and a slight cough to get over.
"You suck," she mumbled. "I hate you."
He smirked slightly. "Sorry my X-mas present to you was giving you the flu. I didn't mean for that to happen…"
"Go away." She wasn't really mad at him. She could never stay mad at her adopted brother. But he made it so easy sometimes.
Leo walked over and crouched down next to her bed. "I'm really sorry, Pipes," he said, giving her a puppy-dog-eyes look. "Please forgive me?"
"Pardon?" Piper asked. "Forgive you for what exactly? I can't seem to recall…"
Leo rolled his eyes and sighed. "For…going overboard and not paying attention to my clearly stupid health decisions, which resulted in me getting sick, which resulted in you getting sick…And for not asking you or Jason for help when I need it…"
"Apology accepted," Piper said. She smiled. A sudden raspy cough from her made him step back a pace.
Leo came closer when she was safe to approach again. "You want some water?"
"Trying to keep down what I've already got, thanks," she said. "Plus I just had some."
"Just trying to repay you for Christmas Day." He smiled. "And thanks for that visit. I did kinda need it."
Piper had to think back on what she said. Oh, the whole 'ignoring him' thing! "Look, Leo…I'm really sorry we ignored you like that—"
He waved it off. "No, it's fine. It's not your fault I haven't been hanging out recently. That's me being anti-social. Totally not your fault!"
"But still—"
"Nope," he interrupted. "Don't worry about it. I'm okay, really!" He grinned. Piper actually felt like this grin was real, not like the usual happy mask he wore.
"Okay," she accepted. Then she noticed a particular article of clothing he was wearing. "Leo…are you wearing the scarf?"
Leo looked down at the scarf that was loosely wrapped around his neck. It was a long red scarf with gold and bronze weaved into a fire design. It almost looked like it was on fire. He grinned. "Of course! Thanks for the Christmas present, Piper. I love it!"
She was grateful for that. Piper had spent a long time knitting that scarf and had even added a Hecate Cabin-purchased fireproof charm (flu bug not included).
Suddenly, the noise outside got louder. The crowd of demigods all started chanting in unison.
"FIVE…FOUR…THREE…TWO…ONE…HAPPY NEW YEAR!"
Leo gave a weak whoop and twirled his finger in the air. Piper did the same.
"Finally," she said. "Now I can get some sleep…"
Leo chuckled. "Then I'll just go. I at least wanted to give you someone to share New Year's with since Jason is still bedridden. Happy New Year, Beauty Queen."
Piper nodded. "Happy New Year, Repair Boy." She paused to yawn. "You're a good friend, Leo."
"Nope," he said, making the 'p' pop.
Piper was about to ask what he meant when he suddenly kissed the top of her forehead. He smiled down at her.
"I'm a good brother."
Leo stood up, placed something on her bedside table, and left without another word.
Piper sat up slightly to get a better look.
It was a sheet of bronze no bigger than a postcard. A very detailed carving of Leo, Jason and Piper was engraved into the sheet. Piper and Jason were close to each other while Leo stood a little way off, making a peace sign and grinning like a madman. Piper remembered that moment. It was a little bit after the quest to save Hera. They had taken the picture just before Leo started construction on the Argo II. As far as she knew, the picture was still hanging up, framed, on one of the walls of the Argo, where most of the memory pictures went.
She spotted the note below the trio. Engraved in very bad handwriting that would have made a five-year-old cringe was MERRY X-MAS, SIS!
A sticky note was below that. The slightly better handwriting on the note read:
Sorry for the late present. I was kinda busy (cough). Get well soon, Beauty Queen.
~Your best bud in the whole wide world and most annoying brother
Supreme Commander Leo Valdez!
Piper smiled. "Thanks, Leo," she mumbled before sinking into her blankets and finally falling asleep.
A/N: There. I did it! I wrote a little Piper/Leo friendship drabble! :D I love reading it, but gods is it hard to write! :P
Hope you enjoyed it. Til next time, guys!