Piper struggles with the heavy box of tools gathered in her arms. It's a lazy summer afternoon, and campers are milling about, catching up with old friends, taking advantage of the little moment of peace in their ever-changing world. Piper finds herself heading down to Bunker 9, even though the tools were meant for the forges. Maybe she wants another look at the Cabin 9's weapons, or perhaps she could go and have some quality reminiscing time with her old buddy, Festus the Masthead. Whatever the reason, she feels a strong tug in her gut and a quiet voice in her head to take the detour down.
When she gets there, she is surprised to see a lone figure, hunched over stacks of blue paper and several empty coffee cups. She isn't sure what to do with the tools, and she doesn't want to disturb the burly frame-the guy looks like he wouldn't hesitate to sock her in the face if she accidentally messes him up-but she can't stand around forever. She pauses for the slightest second, puts on her ditzy 'Aphrodite Girl' face, and opens her mouth.
"Excuse me," she mentally slaps herself. It comes out as bare whisper. She quietly clears her throat and tries again.
"Excuse me." This time she barks it out like an order. Shit, Piper thinks, he's going to kill me. She wants to take it back, to apologize, but he's already swiveling around in his chair, so she meets his eyes with a determined expression, ready to punch or scream or-
"Piper?" And Piper feels all her nervousness melting away, all her fierceness gone, replaced with relief.
"Leo." He has an easygoing smile on, and she feels it spread to her face as well. It's not the usual crooked grin she's used to, but it sets her at ease. He's lounging in his chair, out of the shadows, and she sees that he's not as muscular (or as scary) as she thought.
"There are some tools here that Annabeth told me to bring over, and I wasn't sure if they belonged in the forges or what, uh…but yeah…" she trails off as he comes to stand before her. "Um…" Since when was Leo half a foot taller than her? She remembers him clearly in Greece being a good four inches below her neck, because she was always yanking him back by the collar, or smacking him upside the head. He grins down and her, obviously delighted with the new turn of events, so she scowls and shoves the toolbox at him.
"Here," she grumbles, and he reached for the handle. Watch and out are the next words on her lips, but they die away as he easily swipes the tools from her hands as if it's a box of doughnuts, not metal. She rubs her sore arms and feels like screaming. What happened to that short, scrawny little ball of trouble she knew? Instead, he's been replaced by this tall, ripped-she glances over his body. No, she decides, he's may have muscles, but he's still thin.
"So…how are you, Piper?" His voice interrupts her thoughts. It's deeper and more gruff, and he's starting to sound like all his older brothers. Ah...puberty. She plops down on the table.
"What," she smirks, "no Beauty Queen?" And 'how are you?' she mentally adds. Why so formal?
He shrugs, uncomfortable. "Didn't want to sound too rude. I know you don't like that nickname that much." She stares at him, mouth open.
"Since when does that matter?" She laughs it off, but inside she feels a bit hurt. Leo was the guy who joked around and made fun-usually not the kid who worries for your feelings. He shrugs again, and she fights the urge to roll her eyes. "It's just me, Leo. Gods, you can relax!"
"I know," he says, "I just haven't seen you in a while. I don't think we've talked, face to face like this, since…I dunno…Greece?" This time she feels her eyes roll all the way up to high heaven.
"I'm sure we've had SOME encounters after that," she waves him off, and is surprised to hear him laugh. It's a low sound, and it seems to fill the room with warmth. She finds herself laughing as well. He gets up and sits next to her, and she beams up at him, then frowns. She lifts one hand to touch his face-and pulls back quickly.
"Leo…is that…do you…shave?" She can't keep the disbelief out of her voice. Sweet, innocent Leo, with the baby face, shaves? He blushes and faces the floor. She can see him bob his head at the slightest inclination. "Even Percy Jackson doesn't shave!"
"It comes with the package, being a Hephaestus kid and all," he explains, and his face is still burning. "We all, well, the guys I mean, we all sort of…mature earlier, I guess. Most of my older brothers already have beards and everything, so…I just figure it's a matter of time before I start looking like the Latino Santa." She shakes her head at the irony. From elf to Clause… An awkward silence settles over them. Leo looks at the floor, the table, the chair-anything but Piper's face. She has to do something to break the tension, so she fishes around in her pocket and brings forth two crudely shaped lumps of crystal.
"What's that?" He asks her, and she is pleased to have caught his attention.
"Jason made them for me, for Valentine's Day." Leo looks pretty confused, so she holds them up to her ears. "They're earrings, Valdez." She can see he is trying not to grin, but it's fine. She knows they're horrible, even she didn't know what they were when Jason gave them to her, and she's the daughter of the goddess of love and beauty! Piper quietly waits for Leo to make some remark about how Jason wouldn't know forging if it electrocuted his butt, but at the last minute he coughs and composes himself.
"They're nice. That was a, uh, sweet thing for him to do…" He's even more uncomfortable than before, and he sits with a rigid stiffness she's never seen on him. Before she can ask why he's acting all prim and proper, Nyssa flies into the room. His face instantly lights up, and Piper suddenly feels slightly jealous. He didn't smile like that when I walked in, did he?
"Yo, Stone! How goes it, chica?" Nyssa frowns, but Piper can see a smile playing on her lips.
"I said don't call me that, Valdez. I am not as emotionless as a stone!" Leo throws a cocky grin in her direction.
"So?" It's a cheeky remark, full of sassiness, and Piper thinks of her own words, a few minutes ago. 'Since when does that matter?' "Listen, Piper here just brought us a motherload of tools, so the question in mind is…Where in Hades to these fuckers go?" That's the Leo Piper remembers from Wilderness School, from rescuing Hera, from everything-full to tip of his curls with attitude.
"Up there," Nyssa gestures in the general vicinity of the shelves on the wall. Leo pushes past her, deliberately bumping her shoulder, and eases himself past Piper. He accidentally bumps her knee and she is met with many 'I'm sorry's and 'Are you okay's She brushes him off with an 'I'm fine'. He is careful not to touch any part of her when he comes back, as if she's some demonic time bomb, but he jabs his hand in Nyssa's side and cracks up when she yelps. It is then that Piper knows that she is too late.
It is true-ever since the seven got back from Greece with Nico, she found herself spending less and less time with a certain son of Hephaestus. She focused a lot of her time cleaning up her cabin mates (siblings, but she didn't like to get too attached to them), and building up a relationship with Jason. Maybe she felt Leo was a third wheel, but she knew deep down she had purposely cut him out of her life. She is surprised he didn't deck her onto the floor the moment she walked into Bunker 9. She glances over at Leo, engaged in a 'Keep the wrench away from Nyssa', and sighs. You left him when he had no one, she reminds herself, and now he has his own family. Slowly, she eases herself off the counter and sneaks out the back door. Right as she's about to close it-she can see Jason waving to her at the top of the hill-Leo catches her. She is secretly overjoyed when his eyes fill with sadness and confusion, but soon that is taken over by a mischievous glint.
"Hey!" He calls, and Piper stares at him. "Catch you later…Booty Queen." She doesn't mind when Nyssa bursts into laughter as he playfully waggles his butt in her direction in a poor imitation of Shakira. She sticks her tongue out at him as the door slams shut, and as she jogs up to her boyfriend, one last thought goes through her head.
Maybe it's not too late after all.