A/N: Piper doesn't annoy me like Jason. She's actually a pretty cool character for the most part. So here's some interaction between her and Leo! PLATONIC I DON'T SHIP THEM EWWW. Kay? C:
"Hey, Leo... Are you happy?" Piper asked him, sitting with him in the field near Thalia's tree and leaning back to rest her elbows in the grass. He glanced up from his flower train after a beat of silence and smiled distractedly.
"Sorry, didn't catch that. Whatcha say?"
She scowled at him, but it was playful, and she nudged his shoulder with hers. "Come on, Leo, I want to make sure I ask you this at least once, and I want a real answer. Are you happy here?"
She wanted to be sure, because she'd never forgotten the expression on his face when kids around him talked about "home". She'd never forgotten the stories he'd tell of nights spent in parks, or dumpsters, or sewers, of the lighthearted way he'd illuminate his desire to never have a family again. He'd joke and smile and laugh and her heart would break each time.
And if this camp was another place for him like all those foster homes had been, he would run. Her heart ached at the thought of losing him, so she asked, and watched, and waited for his answer.
He blinked at her, brown eyes wide and unassuming, still working the flower stems together with skilled fingers. His sudden smile was disarming and so much warmer than the sunlight. "Why wouldn't I be?"
It was an evasive answer, but he reached over to lay the circle of flowers on her head, brushing a strand of hair out of her eyes as he did so, and she forgot to press her question. He sat back and tilted his head in a way that melted her heart; the morning sunlight made the tips of his curls look gold.
"Very pretty," he said with that open honesty she adored so much, and stood. "I'll see you at lunch, Piper. I gotta go open the bunker for everyone." He brushed a few strands of grass from his palms, smiled, and turned away without another word.
She watched him go, sitting in the grass- in her pajamas, with her hair all messed up, no make-up on, with flowers in her hair- and felt beautiful. Then panic flooded her thoughts as she realized he got away from the question-
I need to know he's happy. If he runs- he's too good at disappearing. We might never get him back.
The thought of life without Leo- which more and more seemed to be a legitimate future, the farther away he drifted- set her teetering on the brink of despair. She surged to her feet, flowers remaining intact in their circlet around her head- because if Leo built it, there's no way it'd break- and started to call out-
"Leo!"
She drew up short, and watched Leo throw out his arms in time to catch an enthusiastic hug from a little boy she recognized as one of his siblings. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but Leo stooped a little to be on equal eye-level as the boy gushed to him excitedly, and brushed the hair out of his eyes like they'd been brothers for years. He straightened when the boy grabbed his hand and started to tug him on toward the camp, and glanced back at Piper.
His smile was sweet and slow and reminded her of warm honey.
Words were unnecessary. She watched him go, feeling light.
Because he was happy.
