Love You
.-..- - -...-. / -.- - - - -..-
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When they first meet him, girls can't help but fall just a little bit in love with Leo Valdez, even if they'll never admit it.
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Piper meets him in a full classroom filled with empty threats. Behave, or else. Do your homework, or else. Shut up, or else.
It's her first day. She takes a seat up the front because the bitches in the back aren't all that appealing. To her left is an empty desk graffitied with obscenities and to her right is a Latino guy with pointed ears and a smile that makes her check if her wallet is still safely inside her pocket. He meets her eye as soon as she sits down, tapping his fingers on the desk in some kind of rhythm.
The teacher ducks out halfway through the lesson for a respite, and the class immediately collapses into conversation. Piper stays awkwardly in her seat until a tapping on her arm makes her startle and turn. The Latino guy has pulled his chair close to hers and it giving her that crazy grin. He keeps tapping on her arm and she doesn't move to stop him.
"Is that Morse code?"
The guy's grin widens. "Yeah, actually."
"What's it say?"
He taps the message again. "The name's Leo."
Piper cracks a smile. "Piper."
"D'you want me to teach you?" At her nod, Leo scoots the tiniest bit closer. "Try this." She watches closely and then echoes his movements. "Perfect," he says, sounding surprised. "You're a natural, Pipes."
"What did I say?"
At that moment the teacher comes back in and orders for quiet. Leo returns to his desk with a lot of grinning and scraping of his chair legs on the wooden floor. After he has been sufficiently told off, he looks over at Piper and winks. "Love you," he whispers. "That's what you said."
She doesn't even think to contradict him.
::
Annabeth meets him on a deserted skywalk as he lies staring at the sky. She's here for Percy, she's always here for Percy, but instead she gets Jason, Piper and him. She can't help but think it's an unfair exchange.
He's lying on the concrete looking severely rumpled, like the wind has picked him up, given him a good scrubbing down and then thrown him into a storm system to see how long it'll take until he reaches the other side. She helps him onto the chariot and can feel his trembling limbs. Right before Butch tells the pegasi to get going she kneels down beside him and sighs.
"Get a grip, please?"
He looks at her. "Easy for you to say," he grumbles. "Whatever. I'm Leo."
"Whatever," she echoes, standing and shaking her head. She misses Percy more than ever. He was always great with the new kids. She thinks about what he'd do right now and sighs. She turns back around to Leo. "Annabeth," she says softly, but he hears.
"Pretty name." He's grinning as he stands and moves beside her.
"I'd hold on if I were you." Her words come too late as the chariot lurches into the sky and Leo staggers backwards into Butch. With his arms flailing and that expression of surprise on his face, he reminds her so much of Percy she has to smile. He notices and grins warily back.
"Thanks for the warning. I'm definitely feeling the love."
Funnily enough, she is too.
::
Khione meets him in her palace of ice. She refuses him entry. "Not you, Leo Valdez." He freezes in his path. His eyes are warm like flames and she feels like she's melting. She hates it.
"Why not?"
"You cannot be in the presence of my father. Fire and ice - it would not be wise."
To her surprise, he agrees, though his friends are not so forthcoming. "It's fine, guys," he says, and tries for a smile. In a way, Khione admires his bravery. In another way, she is glad he will be staying far from her. And in yet another way, she is disappointed he won't be by her side.
"You will be safe," she says to him, and when he stares back with such crippling admiration in his gaze she takes a step backwards. She is not used to this affection. She tries not to like it.
With a sweep of her dress she leaves Leo Valdez behind. He is not worth her time, or at least, that's what she tries to tell herself.
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Thalia meets him in a cave that reeks with the stench of blood and flames. At first she's a little frightened of him (not that she'd ever admit it in a million years), because he's kind of smoking - in the totally literal sense - and she can tell he's a powerful demigod. Not that that's ever put her off before, but there's something about Leo Valdez that makes her squirm.
She's a little on the horrified side of the spectrum when Jason suggests Leo stick around while they chat, but she doesn't complain.
"So," Leo says, "The Hunters of Artemis. This whole 'not dating' thing - is that like always, or more of a seasonal thing, or what?" She just stares at him. If that's his best pick up line, then she's not surprised he doesn't have a girlfriend. She drops her gaze to the copper wires he's fiddling with and watches in amazement as he twists them around into the shape of a miniature metal wolf.
He notices her watching and slips the wolf into his tool belt, cheeks flaming slightly. She wants to ask him if she could have it, but she can't force the question from her lips. Instead she focuses on Jason. It's easier that way.
The conversation continues, Leo chiming in from time to time to advertise how awesome he is. It's annoying, but Thalia also has to bite back laughter whenever he speaks. Leo reminds her of Luke in the early days - the better days - and it makes her feel sad, though maybe a little hopeful as well.
Thalia reminds herself that she's a Huntress. And that's the way it has to be.
(But she can't help but feel a small flame ignite in her heart when he looks at her with that infuriating smile dancing on his lips. She just tries to ignore it.)
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Reyna meets him as she is prepared for war. They don't speak to each other that first time, nor do they really even just look. She is focused on Jason, after all - and the girl Annabeth. Not the repair boy with his long pianist's fingers and that perpetual upward curve to his lips. No, not him at all.
He sits close by during the meal and doesn't say much. This surprises her, because she'd pinned him from the start as a chatterbox. It seems she was wrong.
He eats slowly and quietly, fiddling, always fiddling, with bits and bobs and odds and ends from the tool belt he wears. It should be frustrating, that constant movement in the corner of her eye, but she instead finds it comforting. A steady rhythm in the angry seas of her thoughts, because she waited so long for Jason to return and now he has, but not alone, and that girl Piper is insufferable in her beauty and Reyna's heart feels like a hot mess.
But Leo is there, always there, like a shadow in her peripheral vision she can never quite grasp. She admires his ability to be a presence, at the same time as just being white noise. Over the course of the conversation, though he rarely contributes, she comes to like what he has to say and the way he says it. She likes them all, actually - Leo, Jason, Annabeth, Piper (maybe not Piper) - but with Leo it is something different. It is something more.
That is, until he blows up Camp Jupiter and all she feels is betrayed. She should never have let him worm his way inside her heart.
(But at the same time she doesn't regret it in the slightest.)
::
Hazel meets him properly on the Argo II and he makes her world spin. He is Sammy, but then he's Leo, then he's a blend between the two or a stranger she's never seen before in her life. He looks at her curiously, that same quirk to his eyebrows that's so familiar yet so foreign, and it takes every ounce of her constitution not to run and hide.
She knows Frank senses that something's amiss, and even though he knows about Sammy and is just as confused as she is, he can't possibly know how she's feeling. She feels a tug on her heartstrings whenever Leo walks by, and as much as it pains her to see the hurt on Frank's face when he notices, it feels so impossibly good at the same time.
Sammy. He is Sammy. Her hero.
And she loves him more with each passing beat of her heart. (But she loves Frank too and now there's a problem.) But he's Leo, not Sammy, and she shouldn't feel this way.
(But she does, oh gods, how she does, and she knows that it will never go away.)
::
When they first meet him, girls can't help but fall just a little bit in love with Leo Valdez, even if they'll never admit it. But only one girl sticks around.
::
Reyna finds him alone after the battle. His face is tired, the cheekbones prominent and the eyes red and shadowed. There is no smile on his lips.
"Leo?"
He turns toward her, his eyes raking her from head to toe and taking in the shredded purple cape, burnt armour and twisted sword. "Reyna," he rasps, his own clothes looking the worse for wear. She sits down beside him.
"We won," she says simply, staring steadfastly out to the horizon.
"Guess we did."
"And we're alive."
"We are." She looks at him and brushes a lock of hair from his forehead. "You're not angry at me?" he whispers against her touch.
"Why would I be?"
"Well, I may be misremembering, but I have a vague recollection of blowing up your home."
"Oh, that." Reyna lets a smile slide around from her eyes to her lips. "It needed redecorating anyway." She starts slightly as Leo's hand drops to rest on her thigh. It taps out a rhythm she recognises.
.-..- - -...-. / -.- - - - -..-
"Love you," she murmurs, and grins.
"You know Morse code?" Leo sounds incredulous.
"Obviously." Reyna lets out a light laugh and signals back. -.- - - - - ..- / - - - - - - - You too. Leo sighs softly as his hand finds Reyna's, clasping her fingers tightly in his own and squeezing. Love you.
Reyna's hot mess of a heart stills like the ocean becalmed. Love you.
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Author's Note: I've been wanting to do something like this for a while. Because, seriously, if I met Leo, I'd throw myself at his feet and scream I'm not worthy! I do think Reyna and him belong together, though. They're the odd ones out, and they fit. I hope you liked it. Please, please, please review. I've been getting less and less lately, and it's starting to bum me out. (Also, the Morse code stuffed up and I had to put spaces between all the dashes, so that's why it looks stupid. Sorry.)
ALSO, IMPORTANT. My story a love affair, of sorts has been nominated for a Phoenix Award in the Best Romance category. Voting period begins on February 10, 2013, at Fanmortals (fanmortals . weebly .com {forward slash} votingcategories . html). Thank you to infinity and beyond whoever nominated me. My heart would explode if you all voted for me, or even if you just thought about voting, just a little. Thank you. xx