Short chapter, sorry!
"Hey, someone looks human!"
"That's offensive, we ain't human." Louisa slugged him in the arm. Leo laughed. "But I do feel less dead."
"You look less dead." He confirmed. "That was a compliment, don't hit me." He shook his head at her, smiling. "While you were drooling away, we are about ninety percent done."
"Has Shane had a shower? Chris brushed his teeth today? Did Heloise finish breakfast 'n' where's Nyssa?"
"Cluck cluck cluck." Leo smirked, getting elbowed in the ribs for it. "We're fine. Nyssa clucked while you were out. Shane actually smells pretty decent. For once." He added, grinning cheekily. "If my calculations are right, we'll be airborne in, say, ten days?"
"Ten days?"
"Give or take a few hours."
"Nice one, Valdez." She looked up at the Argo II. Leo stood straighter, pride swelling in his chest. "Did you install the hotdog dispenser though?"
"I've got magic plates that can summon any food you want."
"Nah, I want a proper, street vendor style, hotdog dispenser."
"I can kidnap a couple of street vendors for you. I've got my control panel just right, don't make me change it!" He whined. Louisa cooed mockingly, patting his cheek.
"OK, fine. I'll stick with magic plates."
"Aw, you're the best!" He brightened. "Would you like the grand tour?" He offered his arm. "For you, free of charge."
"Oh, that's so sweet of you. Race you to the top." She was gone before Leo could blink, scaling the jungle gym. He scrambled after her, but there was no way he was parkouring his way to the deck. He didn't want to break his neck before the maiden voyage. She was talking to Festus about how slow he was when he finally caught up. "What kept you?"
"Stairs…" He gasped. She laughed. Leo's heart did a little tip-tap dance in his chest, felt his face warm. He passed a hand through his hair, checking for any sporadic flames.
She knew most of the layout anyway, but he talked her through all the little extras they had added in her absence. "Please don't blow the toilets up, but they now have seat-warmers! Three ply as well, you're welcome. And over here," he grabbed her arm, dragging her down the hall, "is my cabin, in case, ya know, you ever need a strapping, devilishly handsome hero."
"Who're ya bunkin' with then?"
"Oh, ha ha." Leo blew a raspberry at her. "Boys this side, girls that side. And, uh, Coach Hedge right here, because he insisted. I stocked it with Chuck Norris, Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee movies, so hopefully he'll be… less Coach." He shrugged. "I don't know, but apparently we need an adult chaperone? Something about teenagers being teenagers, I don't know." He shrugged again and she mimicked. "Ooh, I changed the hatch doors for the stable!" His hand closed around her wrist and she was led down to the very base of the ship. "Look look look!" He gestured wildly. He let go, jumping on the hatch doors. Louisa didn't understand at first. Leo pouted at her lack of enthusiasm, looked at his feet and went "Oh! No, it'll make more sense when we're travelling, but look." He held his hand out to her. She moved over to his side and realised she could see straight down.
"Glass."
"Yep!"
"That seems safe."
"Um, says the girl that fist-fought a Titan when she was nine."
"I knew that was gonna come back."
"Listen, I could drive a bulldozer over these things- and I have- and not even a scratch!" He jumped up and down a few times just to prove a point. "They won't open unless we want them too! Heck, you could get Festus jumping on this and they'll be like, nah man, no open sesame for you, ese!"
"'N' how sure are ya about that?"
"Um, extremely." He rolled his eyes and she slapped his arm.
"What if they smash?"
"Nope! These are even Lou-proof!"
"How?"
"Tiny, superheated bits of celestial bronze, superheated to go clear-ish, mixed in with the glass. We've been throwing all kinds of explosive shit at it and," he shook his head, "not a scratch. Not one. Shane broke three chainsaws, two jackhammers, a digger and about fifty-six mallets of varying sizes on this." He jumped again. "Not a scratch!" He declared victoriously. Louisa stomped her foot. Then the other one. Then she jumped too.
"Challenge accepted." She decided.
"Uh, no, I Lou-proofed it. Don't take that away from me."
"Make me a little bit then, I wanna try."
"Deal, because now I wanna know if you can too. Come see the mess hall! I added a ping-pong table!"