Leo

Leo yelped as another vine wrapped around his ankles, causing him to fall on his face. He cursed and struggled to get back up. Stupid Demeter kids. Bad enough that a thousand-ton sword and shield were weighing him down already.

His body ached from the strain of holding the weapons and being beat up by other campers. The grip of the plants loosened and he heard giggling from behind the trees.

This sort of thing happened every single time he played Capture the Flag. It was really starting to annoy him now. He got up and brushed himself off, glaring in their direction. He dropped his heavy sword and shield and pulled a few things out of his tool belt. His mind went on auto-pilot, as it often did when he was building something. He grinned evilly as he finished the device. It was a miniature helicopter – similar to the one he launched into the grand canyon the day he came to Camp Half-Blood.

After attatching a little "present" to his creation, he launched the copter towards the demeter kids. A few moments later, he heard a strangled gasp from behind the trees. That was his que. Leo covered his ears and ran.

KABOOM.

He laughed as the forest exploded behind him and the smoking Demeter kids cursed at him in Ancient Greek. He'd left his sword and shield, but he didn't care. He decided it had been a good idea to sneak some greek fire into the game.

Leo heard running water – the creek, the border between the two halves of the forest. He couldn't help feeling good about himself – for the first time, he'd actually managed to get to his post without getting killed.

Wait…

That was really sad.

He wondered what he would do if he actually had to defend the border. The chances were slim, but after what happened with the Demeter kids, he didn't want to get ridiculed again.

No Greek fire left, so that wasn't an option. He pulled out a large hammer from his tool belt, but he knew it wouldn't do much good against other magic weapons.

Leo absentmindedly started tinkering with a few pieces of scrap metal, trying to think of a plan, when he heard a rustling noise in the bushes. He tensed and tightened his grip on his hammer. Nothing happened for the next few moments, and he wondered if he'd imagined the noise. Suddenly, a blur of red and gold sprang from the bushes and pinned him to the ground. He didn't even have time to scream.

He was going to fight back, until he recognized who was on top of him. "M-Mel?"

bang, bang, bang.

"Whatdid you just call me?" The angry redhead said, her golden pistol smoking. Leo's ears rang. He tried not to think about the bullet holes in the ground next to his head. "Sorry, Jeez!" He protested, "What are you doing here?" Melody smirked, pleased with having caught him off-guard. "We're on opposite teams," she said, "I'm on my way to steal your flag, stupid."

Leo then realized just how long he hadn't seen Melody for. Well, sometimes he found himself looking at her from a distance, which really annoyed him, but he hadn't actually talked to her face-to-face since their quest ended.

Now he could see that she had changed a quite bit – her firey red hair had grown longer, so her bangs slightly hid one of her bright blue eyes. It looked kind of cute that way…

Stop that, he scolded himself.

She had gotten taller and leaner. She wore a black vest over her orange Camp T-shirt and torn bleached jeans. She smiled smugly, but he could see the sadness and uncertainty hidden behind her mask of confidence.

Leo had vaguely noticed that last part before, but… was it his imagination, or was he sensing more of that insecurity now? There was also something else that she seemed to be hiding, but Leo couldn't pinpoint it.

Leo frowned. Why was he thinking about all these things, anyway? Melody had surely forgotten about him by now. Sure, they'd known each other pretty well, but… After running away from foster homes all his life, he'd developed a tendancy not to dwell on past friendships.

"The flag is over on the other side of the river," Leo said nonchalantly. Melody stood up and brushed some imaginary dust off of her clothes. "Your team is obviously losing, so I have some time to kill."

She studied his face as if trying to think of where to shoot him next.

Then, to Leo's surprise, Melody looked away and blushed.

"Why don't you talk to me anymore?" She blurted.

He wasn't sure he'd heard her right.

"Excuse me?"

Her face flushed pure red. "I… I mean… because when we were on that quest…" She stuttered, "We talked a lot and… I was starting to think of you as a… you know… friend… so…" Her voice caught on the last word, and she turned away, finding a very interesting spot to stare at on a nearby tree.

For once, Leo couldn't find anything to say. Honestly, he really had thought she'd forgotten about him a long time ago.

He had tried over and over again to try and put Melody in the past, like he'd done with all his other friends at the foster homes. Keep moving was his motto. But for some reason, with her, it was different. He'd never been able to forget her.

And to know that Melody felt the same way, it made Leo feel genuinely happy.

He rose to his feet and cautiously laid a hand on Melody's shoulder. She flinched at his touch.

"I'm sorry," he said, "I shouldn't have shut you out like that. I'm used to moving on quickly, especially with friendships."

Melody lowered her head. "I remember. You told me. The foster homes. That's why, isn't it?" She hesitated for a moment. "So you did forget about me, then?"

Leo shook his head. "No. You were different. I don't know why, but I couldn't leave you in the past like I did with everyone else."

She blushed. "Oh."

He felt his face growing hot, too. He didn't quite mean for it to sound that way…

Melody shifted uncomfortably. "A-Anyway, shouldn't you be trying to get the flag right now?" He said, trying to change the subject. Melody's eyes widened.

She muttered a curse in Ancient Greek and jumped towards the creek. Just as she was about to disappear from sight, she smiled slightly in Leo's direction. He returned the smile and waved. He thought he caught her blush again as she turned and disappeared into the trees.

At that moment, he'd completely forgotten that they were supposed to be enemies.

Melody

As she ran through the woods towards the banner, Melody had never felt happier in her life. She was vaguely aware that she was supposed to get the flag back to her base, but most of that was completely blotted out by complete ecstasy.

She still felt the lingering touch of Leo's fingers on her shoulder. They would start talking again now, Melody was sure of it. And then, maybe one day they could even become a couple…

Melody nearly had to hold back a squeal at that thought. She knew she must already be grinning like an idiot. She would have to thank Will properly when Capture the Flag was over.

Melody almost ran straight into the banner. The only reason why that didn't happen was because the person who was guarding it yelped and aimed a crossbow at her.

She was immediately jolted back to reality. She ducked and rolled, avoiding the arrow that would have otherwise given her a free navel piercing. She came up on one knee, aimed her gun, and pulled the trigger. The bullet intentionally grazed the side of the his helmet. The guard fell on his rear and tried to steady his vibrating helmet while Melody swiftly grabbed the banner and ran back in the direction she had come.

More enemies had caught up with her by then. She had to get through a dozen campers before she'd even made it halfway back to the border. Suddenly, a metalic glint caught her eye. Trip wire, she barely had time to think, before she jumped and avoided it by an inch. She landed, and two spears flew past where her head had been a second ago.

Melody cursed and began to run faster, now keeping an eye out for more traps. In the span of thirty seconds, she narrowly avoided five spears, two trip wires, and intercepted about a bajillion arrows with her gun as she continued to sprint towards the border.

She wondered if Leo would try to interfere. He'd let her go before, but maybe only because he was distracted by what had happened, too.

Melody hoped he wouldn't.

Leo was amazingly talented at building things, and he'd had more than enough time to whip up some amazing trap for her by now.

An arrow grazed her cheek while she was lost in thought, and she felt something warm trickling down her cheek.

She jumped over yet another trip wire, and almost landed on top of a Greek fire bomb. Were they even allowed to use those?

The river was in sight now. Melody frowned. She couldn't see Leo. She looked for a trap of some sort, but she couldn't see anything. A volley of flaming arrows flew towards her, and she intercepted all except one, of which more than lightly grazed her left shoulder. Searing pain erupted in her arm, but she literally bit the bullet and tried to ignore it. She was completely exhausted from her run, but she put in her final burst of energy and jumped straight over the river.

Melody expected something terrible to happen. She anticipated an explosion, a harpoon, another volley of arrows, a volley of exploding harpoons – something to knock her out of the air and leave her at the mercy of the enemy.

But nothing happened.

She landed safely on her feet, back in friendly territory. She looked down at the banner in her hands. The red banner with a boar emblem shimmered and turned pure gold, with a lyre – her dad's symbol – in the center.

For a few moments, everything was silent. It had all happened so quickly, the facts took some time to register into her mind.

Then, her team burst into cheers.

Several dozen campers gathered around her and lifted her into the air. She stared at the now golden flag as they they carried her back to the camp. Then, pure euphoria filled her to the brim – she raised the flag and joined in the cheering. First Leo, now this. Melody couldn't believe her luck today. She laughed and waved her flag in the air rapidly. She probably looked like a little kid, but she didn't care. This was the best moment of her life.

After all the commotion ended and her adrenaline had faded away, Melody began to look for Leo.

She should have lost. She was sure of it. Leo was more than capable of rigging a trap that could have caught her.

Leo had let her win.

The thought drained all the remaining enthusiasm from Melody and replaced it with rage. How dare he? She despised it when an opponent went easy on her. Even as a possible token of friendship. She scanned the near-empty pavillion and found him standing near the campfire, having what appeared to be a serious conversation with someone.

Melody stormed up to him and prepared to launch an epic flying side-kick of vengeance.

"…You tell me what to do then, Piper. I can't keep denying it any more."

She froze. Piper? Was he talking to another girl? Slowly, she crept behind a nearby tree and listened to their conversation.

"Well, you've got to tell her how you feel," A voice said, "There's no other solution."

Melody's heart dropped into her stomach. Leo Valdez already liked someone. Her insides began to tie itself into knots.

"You're asking the impossible," he sighed, taking out random pieces of junk from his tool belt and fiddling with it the way she'd seen him do so many times.

"Leo Valdez, I've seen you build a giant warship, single-handedly kill three cyclopses, and save the world more than once. And you're telling me that asking out one girl is impossible?"

"This is different," Leo insisted. "I'm not good at dealing with people. Girls especially. I wouldn't know what to say."

"In that case, I'll help you," Piper said.

Leo frowned. "And how would you do that, exactly?" He asked slowly.

Piper laughed. "Who do you think you're talking to, Valdez?"

Melody had had enough. She had no desire to keep on listening to the conversation now.

Furiously wiping tears out of her eyes, she ran back to her cabin.

I hope you enjoyed chapter 2! I'm a slow writer, sorry for the delay. :P

I tried to make the transition of P. more obvious, though i don't know if I succeeded...

There will be more OC characters and ships and LEMONS in later chapters :D

Thanks for reading, and Happy Halloween! :D

Please feel free to post reviews, I'm open to any criticism. I would like to know if there's anything I can improve.