Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson.

Rating: T

Prompt idea: Athenachild101 (THANK YOU)

Synopsis: Leo is slowly starting to find out that he can't hide from the people that he least wants to see. He's just going to have to choose which person to confront, though, and which 'bear to poke'...


Animosity

Part Three: Poking the Bear

Leo was beginning to run out of places to hide.

He had hidden in some pretty embarrassing places in the last twelve hours. Leo had never thought that he would stoop as low as to hide under Jason's bed, or in Piper's closet. He certainly never thought that he'd stoop so low as to hide behind Coach Hedge's massive entertainment set. The grouchy old satyr had ended up coming into the room while Leo was hiding, and he had proceeded to turn on a mixed martial arts fight. Loudly. Leo was still regaining hearing in his left ear.

It was pathetic that, as horrible as all of those things were, none of them were worse than the alternative. When Leo thought of what might have happened if he hadn't hidden… Well, the picture wasn't pretty. He would just leave it at that. Unfortunately, leaving the situation alone wasn't helping. The less he poked the bear, the angrier it seemed to become.

In Leo's defense, he had a good reason for wanting to keep the situation at arm's length. The reason wasn't what someone might have thought, either. It was far more cunning than that.

"Leo Valdez!"

His reason was simple. Annabeth Chase was positively driving him insane.

It wasn't as immature as it sounded- or, if you looked at it from a different perspective, perhaps it was. Leo Valdez hated Percy Jackson, and, in turn, he hated Annabeth Chase. The reasons for this went on and on and on (Leo was fairly certain that you could write an entire book about his intense hatred for the two of them) but, skimming over that fact and returning back to the present, Leo was sick and tired from running from Annabeth Chase. He was at odds with one of his crewmates, and it wasn't helping.

Since the day that Annabeth and Percy had returned from Tartarus, exactly twelve hours ago, Leo had been attempting to keep his distance. His mother had once told him that if he didn't have anything nice to say, than he shouldn't say anything at all. Leo had taken the advice into account every time it truly counted, but he was getting dangerously close to breaking his rule. Being in relatively close quarters with two people that he hated was starting to get on his nerves.

Annabeth had been trying to seek Leo out since she had returned back on board. After getting some much needed TLC with Percy, and a nice, long nap, she had instantly set into overdrive. Leo had known the intense blonde for months now, and he was beginning to realise her antidote for stress: work. Every time Annabeth Chase got worried, she threw herself into a project that she could act on. It worked when Percy was off fraternising with wolves and Romans, and he figured that it was probably working right now, except for one minor roadblock: Leo.

The smart blonde had instantly thrown herself into having a game of Hi-Low with every single person on the board. She wanted to know every antagonising detail about when she was down in hell, from an alleged encounter with Evil Cupid, the Seven Dwarves of Insane Asylums, and even the Incredibly Frightening Creepy Lady They Were Calling Hecate For Some Reason Leo Still Didn't Understand.

Annabeth had tried to talk to Leo, and he had promptly ignored her. For the first six hours, this had worked fine. He had run like a coward, and Annabeth had moved on to other people to bother. Then, of course, she had run out of other people to talk to. Annabeth had moved on to Leo, and was still attempting to talk to him. Leo was trying to avoid her as best as she could.

"Leo!"

He was jarred out of his reverie and back into reality suddenly, snapping out of it in a mere second. Leo was soon brought back down to earth cruelly by a frustrated Annabeth marching across the top deck of the Argo II, straight towards him. Leo could have just been imagining it, but he was fairly sure that he saw flames come out of Annabeth's nostrils.

There was only time for a split-second decision. Leo chose the easiest path: flee. He fled, running as fast as his stick legs would carry him. "Leo!" Annabeth called behind him, her voice clearly frustrated. "Can I please just talk to you for one second?!"

"No!" Leo shouted back behind him, the first word that he had really exchanged with her since they boarded the Argo II. It was pitiful, yes; but the whole situation was pitiful at that point. It was just expected.

He finally ran out of breath at the doorway to the pegasi stables, breathing heavily. Leo listened closely for footsteps, and, finding none, grinned tiredly and collapsed on a hay bale that he had originally put out for the pegasi. Leaning against the wall, he gazed down at the world beneath the glass doors.

From the height that he was at, everything seemed to be crystallised. It was all tiny, and perfect, little squares and circles of land. Houses smaller than Leo's fingernail whizzed by, no more than little white dots. Leo breathed heavily, thinking how out of shape he was. Working on machines, while exhausting, was not the same sort of exhausting as running from an angry daughter of Athena. It was exercise of the mind, not the body.

Leo remembered building the pegasi stables. When he had laid out the plans for the Argo II, he had known how ridiculous they were. He remembered seeing the look on Annabeth's face. When he had first drawn them up, he had thought about Annabeth's reaction a million times. 'Are you insane?' he had pictured her saying. 'Have you completely lost your mind?' Leo smiled briefly; bitterly. Her reaction hadn't been like that at all.

Instead, she had looked up at the three of them- Leo, Piper, and Jason- and just stared at them. Annabeth was completely aware that they were all waiting for her reaction. She seemed to be fumbling for the right words to say, for once in her life. When Leo had looked her in the eyes, he had been surprised by what he saw. Her gray eyes had stared back at him levelly, sadder than he had seen in weeks. Heavier than he had seen in weeks.

She had leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms. "There's a lot of work to do for this ship, Leo," she had said matter-of-factly. "It's a very high-end ship. Lots of amenities." Her index finger traced the outline. "It'll likely take months."

Leo's face reddened. "I know. It's a lot of stuff that we didn't need. I just thought since we would be staying there for a while… well… Sorry."

"Don't be sorry," Annabeth said. "Be ready." She had smiled a little bit. It hadn't been a big smile, or anything crazy, but it had been the first real smile that Leo had seen on her face from the moment that he met her. "There's things that need to be done. If we're going to be building this ship, you had better be ready to haul ass."

Leo smiled briefly, coming back from the memory. Piper, Jason, and he had all stared at Annabeth in shock. She just seemed to enjoy their bewildered silence, smirking smugly. It had taken a split-second for him to decide that he would haul ass. He would get this ship done. It would just take a lot of work.

Of course, not everything had worked out perfectly. There were a few minor delays and things, the pegasi stables being the worst of them. The stables had been a labor of love for Leo, both constructing and drawing them up. He had been thrilled to have a few pegasi underneath his feet, but, as it turned out, they didn't like to be confined. Leo understood that. He didn't like it, but he understood it, and he didn't push, disappointed as he was. It had been a dark day for Leo Valdez, but without the dark days, there wouldn't be any light days.

Someone rapped at the doorway of the stables, startling Leo and making him jump a bit. Leo didn't even look up: he knew exactly who it was. Sighing and wiping his sweaty palms on his shirt, Leo said, "Annabeth, I don't want to talk to you. I'm sorry. I just… I can't right now, okay?"

"It's not Annabeth."

There was a period of time in every middle school student's life when they began to swear. It came tentatively at first, with a few cuss words sprinkled here and there, and then all at once, like a jammed door that you suddenly managed to wedge free. There was a period of time in which the middle school student swore a little too much before returning to the Land of Normal Swearing. Leo had undergone this period in early seventh grade, when he swore like a sailor.

At the time, he had been staying with a conservative, extremely religious Catholic family. This, combined with Leo's fondness for rebellion, was not a good mix. He wasn't suicidal- he made sure to keep the swearing at school and away from home- but the inevitable soon happened. He dropped an f-bomb right in front of Mary Cecilia Hart, his foster mother.

She had dropped the glass pitcher of iced tea that she was filling up.

It had shattered all over the floor, and she had been so furious that Mary had done the only thing that came to mind. She slapped Leo across the face. It had stung, and though Mary had been horrified at what had been done, and had apologised, there was no point. Leo was gone by the next morning. Going, going, gone.

After that day, Leo had sworn never to cuss that badly. And, up until that moment, he kept that promise. He never swore that terribly until right then, when he looked up to the person in the doorway. Instead of meeting the gray eyes that he was expecting, he met a pair of extremely angry green ones.

Leo swore internally, worse than he ever had in his entire life. He swallowed his curses, trying desperately not to let them fly out, but he muttered more than a few under his breath. Percy Jackson's chiseled face remained impassive, a muscle in his jaw twitching.

"Percy," Leo finally made out. The first word that didn't start in f and rhyme with duck. It was the small things in life.

"Valdez," Percy said. The muscle in his jaw continued to twitch, and he crossed his arms, walking into the stables. He stood directly in front of Leo, looking down at him. His face was impassive, though his eyes were boring. Not happy, then, Leo thought, making a mental note.

Leo sighed. "What do you want?" he said crossly. Leo was sick and tired of hiding from stupid Percy Jackson and his stupid girlfriend. He didn't want to talk to either of them. Couldn't they just catch the hint?

"I want to know why you're running away from Annabeth like she's a recently escaped prison ward on a killing spree," Percy said, not missing a beat.

"Awfully specific," Leo commented briefly. "I mean, I can't run away from Annabeth like a long-since escaped prison ward on a stealing spree? What's up with the rules and regulations?"

Percy glared at Leo. He leaned back against the wall, his legs crossed. He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "I'm a pretty stupid person," he said. "I'm going to be honest. I'm especially stupid next to all of you guys, with your big words and fancy thingamajigs. I mean, I hang out with Annabeth a lot, okay? I think I realise that I'm stupid. But… that being said… I'm not dumb, if you know what I mean. Annabeth and I both share one kind of smarts: street smarts. We can both read people pretty well, and while it sometimes takes me a while to realise exactly what I'm reading in a person, I still get it eventually. And, Valdez, you're not exactly making my job difficult." He stared at Leo, his gaze even. "You've been avoiding Annabeth and I like the plague since we got back on this ship. And I want to know why."

"I haven't been avoiding you like the plague," Leo protested weakly. "Or, you know, like recently escaped prison wards on killing sprees. Or long-since escaped prison wards on stealing sprees."

"Don't pull that BS on me, Valdez," Percy said. "I know that you've got some sort of problem with me. When I fell into hell, you were fine with Annabeth and I. When I come out of hell, you treat me like I'm one of the monsters from Tartarus."

Leo crossed his arms. "I have no problem with you whatsoever."

"Prove it."

"What did you just say?" Leo said, furrowing his eyebrows. "‛Prove it'? I'm pretty sure that if I take that crap to anyone else on this boat, they're going to tell us to just get them out and measure them already."

Percy snorted. "Yeah, uh, that's not what I meant, but I wouldn't suggest that, anyway. I have serious doubts in your plan." He glared at Leo. "On another, more relevant note, I'd like to take a moment to say that what I meant by 'prove it' was not to go running off to Annabeth with that crap. I meant that if you want to prove that you don't have anything against Annabeth or me, then you can go ahead and talk to Annabeth. Have that conversation. If you do, then I'll let this whole thing go. If you don't… Well, you better start talking. I'm not liking the clamming up act."

Leo stilled. This was it: the crossroads. He could stuff down his anger even further, or he could bring it bubbling up to the surface. They stared at him like one of those roadway signs, the ones with the arrows. On one way, it said, MUTUAL HATE, and on the other, it said, ONE-SIDED HATE. Then, below, on a third one, it said, NO HATE. The only problem was, there wasn't an arrow to go along with the third sign. Leo could choose to talk to Percy now, or shut it and talk to Annabeth now.

It was a split-second decision regarding which bear to poke, and Leo wasn't liking his odds either way.

Finally, Leo cracked. The anger and hate that he had been holding back all this time finally came out. "Fine!" Leo exploded, throwing up his hands and launching to his feet. "Do you wanna know why I'm angry at you, Percy Jackson? Well, there's actually a lot of reasons. You're a pretty hateable person. And, right now, I don't even care that the word is not in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary. I don't care." His nostrils flared. "But, really, I'm angry at you for one reason. And it's a good one, too." Leo's eyes blazed, and his voice dropped deceptively low. "Ever heard of a place called Ogygia, Percy Jackson?"

Percy froze. "What did you just say?"

"You heard me," Leo said triumphantly. "Ogygia. O-G-Y-G-I-A."

"I know how to spell it," Percy said, glaring fiercely at Leo. "Where did you hear that name?" he said, running a hand through his windblown, jet-black hair.

"From Calypso." Leo crossed his arms. "You're not the only one who met her. I saw her too. And I heard about you." He took a step forward. "You deserted her on that island. You left her on the side of the road, like yesterday's trash."

"You… met… Calypso…" Percy said dumbly.

"Yeah, I did. And I just want to tell you right now: I think you're a jerk. People at camp are always saying how amazing you are, and how awesome, but honestly? I had a little chat with your friend Grover, and I'm thinking you're a wannabe pain in the ass. Seeing you right now, and hearing what you did to Calypso just confirms it."

Percy seemed to snap out of his reverie. He took a step forward, his eyes flashing dangerously. "I would pick and choose your words carefully, Valdez, before you hear the whole story. You can go ahead and take Calypso's side, following her like a lovesick puppy all you want, but it's not going to change the fact that I had two reasons for leaving her. And only one reason to stay."

"Oh, yeah? And what, exactly, were those reasons?" Leo challenged.

"The first reason was this minor complication," Percy said. He tapped the side of his mouth. "Oh, gods, what was it? Things always escape me like this. There was this thing that I had to do when I was fifteen… Oh, yeah, I remember!" He threw up his hands. "There was this Titan, Kronos, and my friend's old crush turned sadistic and evil that I kind of had to deal with. Plus a prophesy that I thought decided my fate. Sorry to inconvenience Calypso."

Leo stared at him. "Sorry about that," he said. "But, see, it turns out, I have a minor quest too. It's called saving the world from Gaea. I left her, too! I had to! But at least I wasn't a giant DB about it!"

"Who says that I was a DB about it? Calypso?" He scoffed. "Please. When we won the Second Titan War, I begged the gods to get her off that godsforsaken island and into the real world, where she belongs." Percy frowned. "They failed." There was obviously something else bothering him about the statement- as if it were a renewed cut, like a scab picked over twice.

"You should have made sure that they did get her off the island!" Leo shouted. "You should have marched up to them. You should have spent every waking second making sure that they got her off that island." His voice broke.

"You don't march up to gods and demand things, Valdez," Percy said, his green eyes flashing. "Now, I don't know how much experience you have, but I've met with almost all the Olympians in close conversations, and, let me tell you, there is no demanding. There is just waiting."

"Waiting." It was a blatant statement, but so laden with accusation that Percy flinched. "You know," Leo said, "I think there's a fine line between waiting and double-checking to make sure that a girl who had fallen for you finished her eternal punishment. My bad." Leo waved his hands. "I have a quest too, Percy. I was just better about handling it. I was sorry."

"No, you were in love with her," Percy said. "There's a fine line between the two, Valdez, and you're on the wrong side of it. Quit with the melodramatics. You're mad because you didn't want to leave someone that you were in love with."

There was nothing for Leo to say after that. Just silence. A long, thick, silence.

"Ah," Percy said quietly. "I've hit the jackpot, then." He took a step forward. "See, the difference between our experiences wasn't all that big. We both had quests. We both had decisions to make. And though we chose the same, we had different feelings about it." Percy took a deep breath. "You're in love with Calypso. I wasn't."

"You were in love with her, too," Leo said. "Don't try and pretend that you weren't."

"I'm not pretending. Remember when I said that I had two reasons for leaving? The first was Kronos." Percy sagged. "The second reason was Annabeth. I was in love with her, not Calypso, and though it was a while before I actually confronted my feelings about Annabeth, it didn't change the fact that I was in love with one of my best friends. I liked Calypso. Yes; I thought she was beautiful. Yes; I thought that she was amazing. But was I in love with her?" Percy shook his head. "No."

"You are pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. You're just trying to cover up the fact that you screwed up with Calypso," Leo said, though the words came out lamely.

"No, I'm not." Percy sighed. "Right before I landed on Ogygia, I… I was about to die. Annabeth kissed me, thinking that I'd never see her again." He looked down, at the ground whizzing below them, impossibly fast, and impossibly surreal. "To this day, I don't know what she was thinking at that moment, and I don't want to know. I like to think that she's stronger than me, and a heck of a lot braver." He didn't meet Leo's eyes. "I don't know why Annabeth likes me. I'm an idiot, and I make way too many mistakes to ever deserve her." Percy finally rose his gaze to meet Leo's. "All I know is that I'm lucky. Really, really lucky. I felt sorry for Calypso. I tried to help her. I'm sorry that I didn't question the gods. I probably should have, somewhere along the line." He laughed bitterly. "Truth is, I've questioned the gods before. It's probably why I landed in hell. It's all their idea of a practical joke. But… if I had to go back… I wouldn't change my actions. I would leave Ogygia. I love somebody else. I love Annabeth. Just like you love Calypso."

Leo gazed at Percy for a long time. There were a million things that he could have said in that one second. See, the thing is, time moved in different speeds for everyone. For some people, they moved incredibly fast. For others, they moved agonisingly slow. For Leo, in that moment, it seemed to be a little bit of both, somehow. Time was racing against him, and yet, he couldn't wait for the second to be over.

"I…" Leo's admission came out throaty, and he cleared his throats. "I'm sorry." He looked down at his hands. The black machine grease never seemed to truly wash out of them, much as he tried. "I… Well… I understand. And I didn't realise that before." Leo looked back at Percy. "I don't really agree with all that you did- I still think that you effed up pretty badly- but… well, I guess…" He trailed off. Taking a deep breath, he said, "I guess that I had better have that talk with Annabeth."

For a moment, Percy's face was blank. Then, slowly, a goofy, lopsided smile spread across Percy's face. "Yeah," Percy said quietly. "I guess that you better."

As Leo walked out of the stables, up the stairs, he remarked on how he probably poked the right bear. Percy put up a pretty scary front, especially when he was fighting monsters, but inside, Leo was pretty sure that Percy was still a little kid. Leo knew exactly why Annabeth loved Percy. From the rumors that Leo had embarrassingly listened into at Camp Half-Blood, he knew that Annabeth's childhood had been… well, less than pleasant. Annabeth had run away at home from seven. She probably grew up way before her time, hence the super-smart, don't-cross-me-if-you-want-to-live attitude. And with Percy, who was a kid, despite the intimidating muscles, scary glare, and hurricane powers, Annabeth probably felt pretty young again. That was probably how it started, anyway.

By the time that he found Annabeth, leaning on the railing on the top deck of the Argo II, looking moodily out, Leo had reached an epiphany. He gently tapped her on her shoulder, clearing his throat. Annabeth pulled back, a quizzical expression on her face. When she saw who it was, she instantly became guarded. "Leo," she said slowly.

"Hey, Annabeth," Leo said. He thought back to what Dana had once said, about a pallet cleanser. Leo envisioned a bowl of coffee beans in front of him, and, metaphorically, took the coffee beans. He took a deep breath. "Look. I'm not mad at you. And I don't hate you, either."

"Well… uh… that's good, I guess," Annabeth said cautiously. "Leo, I just wanted to talk to you for a minute. Where is all of this coming from?"

"Your boyfriend. He kind of talked some sense into me. And gave me a bowl of coffee beans." Leo smiled at his own private joke.

"What?" Annabeth said, clearly confused. "Did you just say that Percy gave you a bowl of coffee beans? Why on earth would he do that? And, more importantly, why didn't he give me a cup of coffee first?" She stifled a yawn. For the first time since she had gotten back onto the Argo II, Leo had a chance to really look at her. He saw the deep purple smudges underneath her eyes, her haggard appearance, and her state.

"No," he said quietly. "We just talked."

"About what?" Annabeth asked, bewildered. "Leo, I'm more than a bit intrigued. I couldn't get you to look at me twenty minutes ago, and now you're all happy-go-lucky. What did he even say?"

"Nothing much," Leo said. "I just poked the right bear." He smiled at her. "You should probably get some sleep. I know that you just took a nap, but you should probably get some more shut-eye." He stuffed his hands into his pockets. "I'm sorry, by the way."

Annabeth blinked. "Well. Thank you, anyway."

And, just like that, all the hate that Leo had been feeling evaporated. See, the thing was, people thought that you could either stuff your anger down, or throw it at somebody. In the course of a day, Leo had done three things with his anger. He had pressed it down, letting it settle on his soul, he had thrown it into Percy Jackson's face, and then he had greeted reality and just let his hate fly away. It was somewhere over Greece by now, just settling on the air. He had poked the right bear. And for now, that was alright.

Leo still thought that Percy had messed up with Calypso. He still thought that Calypso deserved better. But in that moment, floating over Greece in a flying Greek trireme, he figured that some things were worth forgetting, just for a moment. Not forgiving- that would still take some work- but forgetting.

Because, though Leo might not agree with Percy Jackson, at least he understood him.

In that moment, in the midst of forgetting, that was enough.


A/N: Okay. This is WAY too long. I really, really need to start making these chapters shorter :/. I really should have split this chapter, but I couldn't find a good place to split it, so I just had to make do. Oh, well...

Anyway, this concludes this 3-part entry. I hope that you all enjoyed it!

IMPORTANT NOTICE: I want to thank all of you that are giving me prompts. I'm not always a very creative person, and you've given me an opportunity to write much better chapters than I would have written just straining my brain. However, stupid creativity has come back. So, from now on, I'll be doing prompts; I'm just going to be writing prompts every other chapter. The first chapter will be one of my ideas, and then the consecutive chapter will be after that. If anyone has any questions/complaints, please PM me or review! I usually check FanFiction at least every 1-3 days for PMers.

Thank you to reviewers! Please review again!