"Come on Leo, stay light on your feet!" Jason called.
"That doesn't mean doing jumping jacks!" Percy joined in as the two boys watched Leo from the side of the sword-fighting arena. Leo wiped the sweat from his eyes and glared at his opponent, a young boy from the Hermes Cabin.
"That the best you got?" he grunted at the boy, slicing at him desperately. The boy laughed and effortlessly knocked his sword aside, jabbing at Leo's exposed ribcage. Leo stumbled backwards, tripping over his own sword and went flying. The Hermes kid chortled and advanced, eager to turn Leo into a pincushion.
"Damn it" Leo growled and punched his fist into the ground, sending out a wave of fire that made the Hermes kid shriek and scramble backwards, his blade glowing red in the extreme heat.
"Quit it Leo!" Percy shouted, making water spring from the ground and douse Leo's flames. Leo stood, shaking out his tired arms.
"Sorry guys, don't worry the fire was under control, I was just sick of losing."
Jason helped the Hermes kid to his feet, who immediately ran away before Leo could apologize.
"And there goes the last camper willing to train with you" Jason sighed.
"Good riddance, he was a bully."
"He was twelve" Percy pointed out.
"Well the sun was in my eyes."
"It's overcast" Jason sighed.
"Well there was a bird looking at me."
"First time for everything" Percy grinned, Jason laughed and the two high-fived.
"Shut it the both of you, I've got a girlfriend!"
"Yeah, sorry Leo, we know" Percy punched Leo lightly in the arm.
"Seriously though man, if you're sick of sword-fighting we can quit, you're a great fighter even without a sword," Jason pointed out.
Leo shook his head "no, I want to learn, it's a good skill to have…and I've got this design for a sword made of lava that would be beyond awesome if I knew how to use it."
"Can I-" Percy began.
"No, it's mine" Leo cut him off.
"In that case we'd better keep training. Why don't you spar me and Percy can give you advice from the side?" Leo groaned and nodded.
Half an hour passed, with Jason and Percy taking turns at sparring Leo and giving him advice. Leo was just on the point of calling it a day when three girls walked into the sword-fighting arena. It was Annabeth, Piper and Calypso.
"Hello ladies!" Leo waved exaggeratedly before being knocked down by Percy.
"Stay focused," he reprimanded "no matter what" he glanced at Annabeth in a way that suggested even he couldn't stay entirely focused when his girlfriend was watching.
"What're you all doing here?" Jason walked over to the girls "getting some extra training in before capture the flag?"
"They're going to need it, with Zeus and Poseidon teaming up" Percy and Jason fist bumped.
Annabeth rolled her eyes "no Seaweed Brain, we just heard you two were training Leo and thought it'd be interesting to watch, and see if he wants to learn from someone who actually knows what they're doing" she smirked at Percy.
"I think we're getting on just fine thanks," Percy snorted, "if you need a lesson too though, let me know."
"Oh come on, with your training Leo probably figures out which way round the sword is supposed to go by stabbing someone and seeing how much they swear at him."
"As fun as it is to listen to you guys be adorable" Piper tugged on Annabeth's arm "we should let the guys get back to training, their bromance is clearly blossoming." The two girls went to the side of the arena, where they sat with folded arms and raised eyebrows.
Calypso just paused to help Leo to his feet and give him a quick peck on the cheek before trotting over to sit next to her friends.
"Come on man" Jason patted Leo's back "ignore them, I'll spar with you."
The girls watched with amusement as Leo did his best to swordfight, for a guy who was so talented with intricate pieces of machinery he seemed to make waving what was essentially a metal stick around look incredibly difficult. He would block too high, let his sword swing by his side, be thrown off balance by the smallest motion of his opponents. Percy and Jason clearly weren't working very hard, smacking Leo with the flat of their blades to correct him and shouting advice from the sidelines. It was extremely entertaining. Finally though, Leo seemed to exhaust himself, which became evident when he stopped focusing on his strikes and started coming up with funny words to shout while stabbing at Jason.
"Killer-bazingo-samurai-slash!" he screamed, shooting an exaggerated swipe at Jason before theatrically summersaulting backwards when Jason retaliated.
"Calypso, my sweet flower, prithee, where for art though?" Calypso laughed and ran over to Leo.
"What's up Leo?" She crouched by his side.
"Thank the gods you are here, I can feel my lifeblood seeping away from me, the world grows dark!"
"It's only four in the afternoon."
"Ah, the hour of my demise, the wise woman said it would be so!"
"The only wisdom you've come into contact with recently is when Annabeth knocked you down for calling the Hoover Dam nothing but a speed bump for determined salmon."
"But she made fun of the Big Bang Theory! I mean, pray do not remind me of my past indiscretions, just let me pass quietly into the night, like an owl's sigh!"
"Right, sure Leo, no problem. Does that mean that you don't want to have a Friends marathon later?"
Leo paused for a moment before sitting up and declaring "all better!" he sprang to his feet and grinned at Percy and Jason "thanks for the training guys, same time tomorrow?" they laughed and nodded. Leo tried to put his arm around Calypso but she shoved him away.
"No way, you stink!"
"That's why I'm training."
"I mean you need a shower."
"Oh right. Then we can have a Friends marathon?" Calypso nodded and Leo ran off shouting "to the showers!" Calypso, running after him laughingly.
Percy turned to Jason "we calling it a day?"
"I suppose, unless you want a quick sparring session Jackson?" Percy grinned.
"You're on Grace."
Piper and Annabeth glanced at each other "this should be interesting" they agreed.
The two boys circled each other, so similar and yet so different. One was taller and more muscular, the other an inch shorter and of a slimmer build. One was blond with blue eyes; one was dark-haired with green eyes. But at the same time, they shared a presence, the sense that they had seen things, done things, were capable of things no one else could imagine. They were both covered with faded scars, evidence of their many victories, and each watched the other with the same wariness with which two fine stags appraise each other with before a duel. It also has to be noted that they were both also very nice to look at when shirtless- extremely toned and well muscled, bodies strong and tanned after years of training.
Nico reflected on this as he and Will sat next to Piper and Annabeth on the bench at the side of the sword-fighting arena. The two girls glanced at them.
"What are you two doing here?"
"We heard there was a show" Will grinned.
"Yeah, Will insisted that we come see what's going on" Nico smirked at his boyfriend.
"Don't even try that Nic, you heard Percy and Jason were sparring and just had to mention it to me just as we happened to be passing by the sword-fighting arena."
"Well, I just thought it'd be good to see some skilled fighters after watching you trying to teach the Demeter cabin archery."
"Sure, whatever you want to tell yourself. By the way, why are they shirtless?" Will turned to Annabeth.
"They thought armor would slow them down too much, and this way it's less likely that they'll accidentally skewer each other, it'll help them be more careful."
"That or they just want to put on a show" Piper chuckled. She caught Jason's eye and he winked, before focusing entirely on Percy again.
Suddenly, without either of them seeming to make the first move, they were sparring, swords gleaming and dancing as the boys moved almost faster than Piper thought possible. They flipped through the air and slashed at each other's legs and jabbed at the other one's torso. Each time it looked certain that one of them would be killed, they would dart to one side, or block out of no where or duck or jump or do a million other things so quickly and instinctively it almost looked choreographed. Neither seemed able to get an edge up on the other, they matched one another strike for strike, each time one scored a point by stopping their sword millimeters from the other's neck or check, the other one would almost immediately get the point back with a complicated maneuver or daring faint. This went on for ten minutes. Then twenty. Then thirty. Eventually forty minutes had passed without either gaining an advantage, Nico and Will had got bored and wandered off. Finally though they stopped, blades at each other's throats, seeming to agree that that was enough. They high-fived and went over to the girls, who had stopped really paying attention and were discussing some ancient Greek book Annabeth had recommended to Piper.
"You guys done? About time!" Piper yawned.
"You guys didn't have to wait" Jason pointed out.
"Yeah, well, someone had to be here to make sure you didn't decide to tear the planet apart just to beat each other."
"What? We're better than that." Percy objected. Annabeth shot him a look "ok, well we're used to each other now, now we can just spar without accidentally flooding the Dining Hall or blowing down Ares Cabin with a hurricane."
"Chiron will be so happy, he can finally stop keeping life preservers all over camp."
"Progress has been made" Jason agreed.
"Any way, we should all get moving if we're going to be on time for dinner, and then Reyna, Hazel and Frank should be arriving from Camp Jupiter. Also, Leo's insisting that we have a party tomorrow in Bunker 9 to celebrate the Romans coming to visit" Piper pointed out.
"Should be fun" Percy grinned "as long as no one tries to play shag, marry kill gods version again, I'm pretty sure it was Ares who made me turn anything I touch into bullets for a whole day.
The four friends laughed and set off towards their respective cabins, as a peaceful night started to settle over Camp Half-Blood.