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"Aha! There you are!"

Leo jumped at the sudden voice coming from behind him. Both him and Percy automatically turned at the noise, and immediately got caught on the handcuffs linking them together. Percy chuckled a bit, and they shifted around awkwardly to see none other than Nyssa marching toward them.

She came to a stop in front of them. "I've been looking for you!" she all but scolded, shaking a finger admonishingly in Leo's face.

Leo blinked in confusion. "You have?"

"Of course! I wanted to grab you before one of your other friends stole you again. Come on, you're eating at the Hephaestus table tonight."

"Oh uh," Percy began. "Actually, I think Frank was supposed to have him next?"

Leo didn't move a muscle, but he inwardly flinched at those words. Have him next. Like he was some sort of obligation that had to be passed around like a terrible disease.

You're just a burden. You're not important and you never have been. It would be better for everyone if you-

He was shocked from his thoughts when Nyssa suddenly wheeled on Percy. "Oh don't get me started on you. I don't care how many times you've saved the world, you are not stealing my brother away from me any longer. I mean, first you guys steal him at every meal, and then you take him away from our cabin at night, so we don't even get to see him then! All we've got is when he comes to the forges to work on stuff, and he won't even talk to us then," she said, shooting a glare in Leo's direction.

Leo winced for real this time. He hadn't meant to neglect his siblings, really he hadn't. All his other friends were just so worried that they had essentially kidnapped him at all times, making it hard to spend time with Nyssa and the others. Though he guessed that was Nyssa's point.

"Not that I blame you, Leo," Nyssa quickly assured him, as if she could sense the guilt steadily rising in him. "It's this fool's fault for not thinking to write any of your actual siblings into the schedule," she said, jabbing Percy in the chest with an accusatory finger.

Percy stared down at Nyssa, a bewildered look on his face. "Ummm... I wasn't like, in charge of that, really. I mean, it was more of a group effort... thing... Mostly led by Annabeth..." His voice trailed off. He seemed confused as to how to respond to the short but tough girl in front of him. As far as Leo knew, the two had never even interacted before.

"I don't care. Just hand over my brother, and we'll call it even."

Percy blinked a few times against the weight of Nyssa's stare.

A few minutes later as Leo and Nyssa left Percy behind on the path, Leo thought he heard a, "Man, that girl is scary," coming from behind them, and he couldn't help but smirk a little.

The two demigods walked to the dining pavilion in a comfortable silence. Leo hadn't expected this sudden change of plans, but he didn't mind it either. The details of these pointless days hardly seemed to matter.

Oh wait. He wasn't supposed to think like that anymore.

Well, it's true, isn't it?

The entire Hephaestus group seemed to light up when they saw him approaching, and Leo flushed with embarrassment.

They're probably just happy to see Nyssa. No one cares about you.

"Leo!" Jake called cheerfully as Nyssa and Leo slid onto the bench across from him. "It's so good to see you again."

"Oh," Leo said eloquently. "Uh, sorry. I've been..." he trailed off. What was there to say? He hadn't exactly been busy, per se.

"No worries, man," Jake said with an easy smile. "I get it."

Leo nodded gratefully, then looked down at the table to avoid the gazes of Jake and his other siblings. His view suddenly changed as a plate of food was slid in front of him. He glanced up quickly to see Christopher giving him a gentle smile before turning back to his conversation with Shane.

He looked back down at the provided plate, unsure whether to feel grateful or anxious. He was obviously touched that his siblings seemed to care so much, as ridiculous as that was, but the thought of eating made him feel sick. He tried to avoid it when possible, though he hadn't been very successful lately, much to his chagrin. His friends had been watching him oh so carefully.

He had to laugh when he saw the contents of the meal, though. There were the familiar strawberries, but they were accompanied by a heap of broccoli and a pile of chicken nuggets.

Leo peeked over at the Hades table where Hazel and Nico sat. Though Nico usually sat at the Apollo table, he had been sitting with Hazel while she was here, presumably so she wouldn't have to be alone. After all, it wasn't as though Hazel had a doctor's note.

The two were in the middle of some conversation. Hazel seemed tired, but cheerful enough. Nico was watching her talk with a soft smile on his face that Leo suspected was reserved for just a few special people.

Leo just hoped that Hazel was enjoying her chicken nuggets.

He turned back to his own plate with a sigh. But before he could start pushing his food around his plate in a way that made it sort of seem like food was disappearing, he heard a loud yell.

"Leo!"

He looked up to see Harley running around the table, a massive grin on his face. He skidded to halt next to Leo. "I haven't seen you in forever!" the boy complained.

Leo felt guilt course through him at the sight of his brother. Of course he looked fine, but that didn't mean he had never been hurt in the first place.

That never would've happened if you'd just killed yourself right the first time. And now you think you can just decide to live? Think again.

"Harley," Nyssa said in a warning tone, and Leo shot her a confused look. She didn't notice. "What did I tell you about giving Leo some space?" she asked lowly.

Harley visibly deflated. "I know," he mumbled, scuffing his foot against the ground. "But I thought... I mean, he's right here," he said, shooting Leo a longing look. Leo practically melted at the sight.

"You bet I am," Leo said with a wide grin. "And you're right. It has been forever, which is simply unacceptable!" He sent a pointed glare in Nyssa's direction, and she shifted uncomfortably.

"How about you go grab your food, and you can sit next to me, okay?"

Harley nodded eagerly before taking off again.

Leo immediately turned on Nyssa. "Hey, what gives? You've been keeping him away from me?"

She doesn't trust you. She knows you're going to hurt him again.

Nyssa's face fell. "I... I just thought it would be for the best."

See? I told you so.

"Why?" Leo asked, trying to keep the hurt out of his voice. "He's my brother. I want to see him."

"He's just a kid!" she responded in a hushed but urgent voice. "I didn't know how he'd react. I don't know what he'll say or do, and I don't want you to get hurt. I just thought... I thought it'd be safer this way. I'm sorry, Leo," she said, somewhat desperately.

Leo supposed that made some sort of sense. But that didn't mean that he liked it.

He didn't get to reply though because at that moment Harley came running back, plate in hand. Leo smiled as Harley squished himself onto the edge of the bench next to him. The kid eagerly attacked his chicken nuggets, looking incredibly cheerful.

"By the way, buddy, how are you doing? I heard you got a bit hurt a while back."

Leo kept his voice casual and relaxed, but his question still seemed to ring loudly around the table, and the siblings within earshot fell into a nervous silence.

Harley looked up from his chicken nuggets. "Huh?"

"From... you know," Leo managed, though his cool facade was beginning to falter. "The fire."

"Oh!" Harley's face lit up in understanding. "I'm all good. Ambrosia got me all fixed up easy peasy." Then he turned back to his nuggets, as if it wasn't a big deal.

As if it hadn't been eating Leo up inside for days.

"Can I see?"

Harley looked confused at the quiet question. "See what?"

"The..." Leo hesitated. "The burns."

Harley frowned, shaking his head slowly. "There's nothing to see. They all healed up just fine."

"Oh."

Leo wasn't sure how to respond to that. So... Harley really was fine, then? It was okay?

Lost in thought, he absently picked up a strawberry and started nibbling on it.

This doesn't change anything. You still hurt him. And stop eating that, you don't deserve it.

Leo dropped the strawberry with a slight flinch. Nyssa shot him a concerned look, and Leo gave her an apparently unconvincing smile in response.

"Please eat," she murmured softly.

Leo gulped. He wanted to try, at least for Nyssa's sake, but the thought made him feel ill.

He wanted to bury his head in his hands and groan loudly at his predicament, but that probably would be too obvious. So he just poked at his broccoli with his fork and tried to pretend that it wasn't all completely pointless.

Oh. There went his depressing thoughts again.

Nyssa's voice suddenly rang out clearly from next to him. "Harley, eat your broccoli," she admonished.

Harley pouted. "I don't wanna!" he whined. "It's gross!"

"It's good for you," Nyssa countered.

"I don't care!"

Leo decided to jump in.

"Come on, little dude, if you don't eat your veggies, you won't grow up to be all big and strong! You want to be big and strong, right?"

Harley considered Leo's words carefully. "You should eat more vegetables," he said matter-of-factly.

Leo felt Nyssa wince next to him, and he saw Jake's grimace from across the table.

Leo burst into laughter.

"Wow, you really gotta call me out like that, huh?" he teased. "Fine, fine, you're right of course." He quickly scanned Harley's plate to see how many pieces of broccoli he had. Maybe like ten? Leo could work with that.

"How about this. For every three pieces of broccoli you eat, I'll eat one of mine."

Harley thought about that for a second, then frowned. "That doesn't make sense. It should be an equal trade."

Oh right. He forgot how smart the kid was. That could be a problem.

"Well..." he stammered. Oh, great. Now what? He couldn't agree to that deal, no way. But Harley didn't seem to get that.

But as the table settled into an uncomfortable silence, Harley clearly caught on. He narrowed his eyes, leaning in to whisper to Leo conspiratorially.

"This is one of those... sad things, isn't it? One of those things Nyssa keeps telling me to leave alone?"

Leo looked into the eyes of his eight year old brother who didn't know any better and nodded.

He hated himself just a little bit more for killing some of the innocence that Harley had left.

Harley nodded, determined, and began scarfing down his broccoli at breakneck speed. He quickly cleared his plate and jumped to his feet.

"I'm going to go get more," he announced, before turning and scampering off.

Leo stared after him, already starting to regret this entire mess.

Jake snickered at his obvious distress, but Nyssa took pity on him.

"Here, I'll take yours."

Leo was scraping his broccoli onto her plate before she was even finished speaking, which turned out to be a mistake.

"-on the condition that you eat chicken nuggets instead."

Leo froze, scowling. "Hey!"

Nyssa shrugged unapologetically. "Obviously I'd prefer if you ate both," she said with an accusatory glance, "but I don't think that's going to happen. And I think you need protein more than you need broccoli."

Leo considered his options. Well, his broccoli was already halfway gone. He might as well commit to it now.

"Fine," he grumbled, depositing the rest of the broccoli.

By the time Harley got back, plate completely covered with the vegetable, Leo had managed to choke down one chicken nugget. Harley frowned when he saw Leo's plate.

"Hey! All your broccoli's gone already!"

Leo managed a weak smile. "Oh yeah, bud. You inspired me. You're awesome."

Harley seemed happy about that. He didn't complain once as he hacked at way at his broccoli, smiling at Leo the entire time.

And for every three pieces Harley ate, Leo forced himself to eat another piece of chicken, trying desperately to ignore the voice screaming at him that he didn't deserve it.

Sorry for the short chapter, I hope you enjoyed it regardless. :)