It should have been another typical day. It was a first.

I was heading to Bunker Nine to see Leo, as usual. I was carrying the usual thing: a book, a bag of Cheeto Puffs, and a couple of Cokes. Outside food was against the rules, but I knew a kid in the Hermes cabin who could sneak all sorts of stuff in for a couple of golden drachmas.

When I got to Bunker Nine, I saw that Leo was in the lit forge cleaning it out, his entire body was engulfed in flames. Just an average Tuesday in the life of Leo Valdez.

"Howzit Leo?" I yelled, hoping to be heard over the roar of the flames. "I hope you like Cheetos cause–AAAAH!"

The fire around Leo had died out, revealing him to be only in his boxers shorts (that I may or may not have gotten a good look of).

I cupped my hands over my eyes, and everything in my arms spilled onto the floor. A coke exploded and started to spray all over the place. "Dude!"

Leo didn't seem to notice. "What's wrong with–"

"Y-your clothes!"

I imagined the confused look on Leo's face before he figured out he was almost naked. He swore in Spanish, and I heard a series of drawers opening.

"I thought you said that your clothes were flame proof!" I said.

"Usually they are!" Leo insisted. "If I focus on them being flame proof."

My cheeks were burning. After an eternity, I asked, "Is it safe to look up now?"

He groaned. "Yes."

Slowly, I looked at him. Leo had a blue work apron on that was three sizes too big for him.

Y'know, it would've been hilarious if it weren't so embarrassing.

"Kai," Leo said. "I need you to go to my cabin and get me some new clothes."

"You want me to just waltz right into cabin nine and rummage through your drawers?" My face heated up even more. "No, wait! I didn't mean your drawers drawers. I meant—"

"Just talk to Nysaa. She'll understand. I hope."

Of course. Just ask Nyssa. I would have thought of that simple plan easily if not for the fact that the image Leo in his underwear was permanently seared into my brain.

Although, not a bad image to have...

Pervert.

Bite me.

"Okay," I said. "I'll be right back. You just stay here."

Leo gave me a funny look. "Trust me. I'm not going anywhere."

Compared to what happened earlier in Bunker Nine, asking Nyssa to get some of Leo's clothes from cabin nine wasn't so bad. The look she gave me was puzzled to say the least. Nyssa knew about my crush on Leo, so I had to reassure her that I wasn't building some weird shrine to him in my cabin, a la Helga Pataki.

I picked out the clothes that were sitting at the top. I couldn't find a belt so I grabbed some suspenders that were sitting next to his socks. Thank the gods I didn't have to pick out his underwear, too. I decided to grab an extra shirt and pair of pants just in case this ever happened again.

Back in Bunker Nine, Leo changed back into clothes and I clean the spilled coke. I let Leo have the last one even though it was a little dented, but I figured he'd be thirsty after spending all that time in the forges.

When we finished, we just sat across from each other at the work table in silence, eating Cheeto Puffs and avoiding eye contact. You would've needed a magic sword to cut through the awkward tension that hung in the air.

"You can look me in the eye again," I said, breaking the silence.

"I was just about to say the same thing to you."

I sighed. "Look, Leo. You don't have to be embarrassed. Y'know… the same thing happened to me once."

Leo nearly choked on his coke. "Seriously?"

I flushed. "Yeah, only I was in a bath towel and wearing so much make-up even hooker clowns would say that it was excessive. Plus I was in front of way more people, like a quarter of the camp."

He snorted. "How on earth did that happen?"

"It's not important."

"Hold on. You can't bring that up and not explain."

"The point is that we should just forget about this and never speak of this again," I said. "Like ever."

"I second that."

A moment of silenced past again until I said, "But I gotta ask... Charazard print? Really?"

Leo tossed the bag of Cheetos at my face. "Shut up, Fischer."