The first thing Leo Valdez saw when he woke up was Harley, still in his pajamas, jumping up and down on his bed, with the rest of his siblings looking at both of them in amusement. They were gathered around his bed like they had been waiting for a while, a few of them were even yawning and trying to stay awake.

"Good morning Leo," Harley sang and finally stopped jumping. "We have something for you." The kid's smile was so contagious that Leo couldn't help but grin back.

Nyssa tossed him a parsel wrapped in silver and bronze foil. "Here you go cabin leader." She gave him a small smile.

Leo stumbled after the parcel and caught it.

He stared at it, wondering why his siblings would go through all the trouble giving him a present.

Jake laughed, apparently amused by Leo's reaction. He leaned on one of his crutches and nudged him with the other one. "Just open it."

"What is this?" Leo asked turning it around with his hand.

"You'll find out when you open it," a guy who was sturdier and taller than him said. What was his name again? Carlos? Carly? Chris... Christopher!

He unwrapped the gift slowly, half expecting it to be some kind of prank. What he got was a weird looking pair of metal goggles. It was bronze and had a dial on the right side, labeled with something that was written in ancient greek. There were a few buttons and small levers here and there that it looked like one of those futuristic mechanical tools he saw once on tv. The thing was so... Hephaestus-ish.

He tried it on and was surprised at how comfortable it was. Most of the goggles he had worn before were either too small, too large, or painful to wear. This one was just comfortable.

"Thanks, I guess." He played around with the dial. "But what the heck is this for?"

"It's like our way of welcoming you into the family," Jake answered and gave him a cheeky grin. "We didn't have time to give it to you yesterday when you showed us Bunker 9."

"We all have one, actually." Nyssa brought out hers, which was silver. "It's like our signature item. You can't be a Hephaestus kid without it."

One by one, they all brought out their own goggles, all 14 of them.

Shane, though, brought out a pair of sunglasses.

"Oops," he answered sheepishly, "I forgot to change it back." He turned the dial and the metal pieces folded into each other to form back into a pair of white goggles.

"I still don't see how useful that form is," a redhead said, frowning at her own pair of goggles. "The sunglasses form is only useful when the sun's hot, eh."

"It helps make us look cool," Shane said and scowled at her. "But it's not like you care much for outer looks."

"Yep," the girl answered with a bored look. "I don't."

That seemed to settle the argument and Shane went back to admiring his reflection on the goggles's glass.

Leo looked at his own pair of goggles and turned the dial. It expanded and transformed into one of those weilding masks his mom used to use before.

"Cool."

"It can turn into a lot of things too," Harley said, bobbing up and down making his bed bounce around again. "It can, like, make an object appear closer or farther which helps make all of those small parts and, and, you can adjust the shading. It can turn into all kinds of goggles like a diving mask, infrared goggles, 3d glasses, blowtorch goggles, aviator goggles, motorcycle goggles, night vision goggles, it also has an anti-fog ability which is really co-."

Nyssa clasped his mouth with her hand. "What Harley means to say is that it can turn into a lot of things and has a lot of tools that makes forging or creating new things easier."

As soon as she removed her hand from Harley's mouth, the hyperactive boy began talking again. "-ol. But if you like you want to make a design of steampunk goggles like Diana did with hers you can do that too all you have to do is learn how to install and make the goggles adjust to it."

Harley took in a deep breath and was about to open his mouth to say more when Jake stopped him.

"I think he gets it Harley." He ruffled the younger boy's hair affectionately.

Leo turned the dial again and marveled at how it transformed from a weilding mask into a pair of night vision goggles.

"Who made this?"

"It's a group effort, actually," Jake answered with a shrug. "When you think it needs something, you suggest it during our nightly meetings. Then in the morning, we'll install and forge it into our handy dandy goggles."

"Wait, we have nightly meetings?"

"Just before we go to bed." Seeing Leo's guilty and worried look Jake reassured him, "don't worry, you looked tired last night so we decided not to wake you up." Jake paused for a moment and added, "it was Charles who suggested the goggles."

There was an awkward silence that made Leo feel slightly uncomfortable. There was that name again; Charles Beckendorf. It was obvious that his siblings missed the guy a lot. Leo had only been in the cabin for less than three days and yet hearing about the guy made him wish that he had arrived in camp earlier. He sounded like the type of big brother everybody wanted.

"Thanks for the gift," he said again and cracked a grin. "Can this thing turn into a Darth Vader mask too?"

Nobody laughed, but at least a few of them smiled. Did that mean his siblings actually had a sense of humor?

Robert, a big-boned American guy who seemed to hate all humans who weren't his siblings, sighed. "Is this happy little reunion over? We still need to change our clothes and head to the dining hall." He gestured towards their clothes, most of which were pajamas or night clothes.

Ren, an 11 year old Japanese with black hair and eyes, glanced at Leo and smiled. "Welcome to the family onii-san." The small boy sat on his bed to activate the buttons to go into his bunker.

Soon, his other siblings followed and greeted him before going into their own bunkers.

"Welcome to our dysfunctional family mi fratello."

"I hope you get used to this crazy family, Leo."

"Hey Leo! I'll show you the best spots for setting up traps and stuff!"

"Leo, do you watch transformers? Oh, well, we'll talk about it later and welcome to our messed up family bro!"

"I hope you behave mi hermano pequeño, I don't like it when the cabin is dirty."

Once they were gone, Leo went down into his own bunker.

There was something warm crawling into Leo chest as he looked at his new pair of goggles.

It had been a long time since anyone considered him as family. His own relatives from his mother's side had abandoned him. None of them wanted to take care of a fire child. He had felt so hurt and alone that time that he rarely ever let himself open up to others.

But his sibling's simple gestures somehow made him want to cry. They greeted him so warmly like what his mother used to do. That was stupid because they weren't his mother.

But they were family.

His family.

He grinned and wiped away some oncoming tears. He had to change his clothes quickly. He didn't want to make them wait.

Family.

Somehow, that word didn't sound as painful as it was before.

Hm... :/ I'm still not used in writing in Leo's POV.

Hello! Yes, I'm alive. Yes, I'm bored. Anyway, I need to work on my writing skills so if you guys spot some mistakes and mishap or just want to criticize my writing, feel free.

This is just something that came into my mind because there are too few Leo family fanfiction out there.

Feel free to ask me if you have any questions.

If you want to add your OC into the picture, feel free. Just PM me about it, alright?

Also, if you guys have any suggestion, I'll be happy to include it into the story.

Next chapter will come soon. Hopefully.