Leo shut the entrance to Bunker 9 tight behind him and listened for any evidence of anyone else before he let himself cry. The day had been so overwhelming. It was his mom's birthday. Of course he hadn't mentioned it to anyone at camp but he was really in pain and he knew his friends could tell. He wasn't even all there during building circle this morning. (Yeah, stupid and childish, but one of the best parts of his day.) He took an escape during sword fighting classes and blamed it on a sore wrist to come down here. He cries a lot, almost every time one of his machines dies or fails, but he only really cries like this on two days of the year: His mom's birthday and the day his mom died.
"Come on Leo. Hold it together man. It's been 7 years!" He knew his pep talk was no use. Every year it got worse. Especially when he was out on the run. Since coming to Camp Half-Blood, he'd gotten a lot better at not crying in public. With Bunker 9 as his special place to himself, he decided to save all the tears for when he comes down here. He tried to think of other things, the way Thalia Grace fought or his other new friends here at Camp Half-Blood, but every aspect of his life traced back to his mother's death. He even tried speaking to his dad, with no answer. Typical.
Leo knew the only thing that would calm him down was to make stuff. But what? Annabeth hadn't left any new designs in quite a while and no new weapons were needed. His hands set to work before he figured out what he was doing.
In the end, when he stepped back to admire his work, he knew what his brain had been thinking a long time ago. About 5 hours had passed. He stopped crying 4 and a half hours ago. Laughter is the best medicine? No way, building is the best medicine. Even cures grief. He had made a beautiful three foot long bronze trident which looked beautifully antique but yet new and fresh at the same time. At the bottom of it, a circle was attached with a small plaque that read Percy Jackson in Greek letters. Another statue, a three foot tall flat owl design, the same bronze antique look, with very large eyes, about the same size as the circle on the trident. There were two plaques, one for each eye which read Annabeth and Chase in Greek letters. He had charmed the statues so that when he is feeling sad, Annabeth and Percy will appear in front of him. Not actually there, of course. Scenes will be shown inside the circles of happy times he has spent with them. He hung them on a clear wall so he would always have his friends with him in Bunker 9, as creepy as that may sound. He felt a lot better, good enough to sleep. So Leo decided he'd set to work on making ones for Jason and Piper tomorrow.
He had a feeling he wouldn't be crying much more.