So, hi!
This is written for a prompt competition between me and Ravenpuff4dawin. This one's deadline actually had to extended by two days—it was initially going to be a Soulmate AU, but since I have absolutely no idea how to write romance (and it was my prompt, ironically), we chose a different prompt.
We're not sure how long this will last, at least until it stops sparking joy in ourselves. BUT, here's the fun part! You, the reader(s) decide who the winner is—by the favorites and follows! And if you don't have an account. . . *shrugs helplessly* leave a review, I guess? (Seriously though reviews feed my soul.)
Anywho, enough rambling! Hope you enjoy!
Prompt 1—Ravenpuff4dawin
Character: Leo Valdez
Object: Cheese
Phrase: "It's hunting time, boys."
Phrase: "Your opinion is invalid."
ψ ẙ̶̡͖̮̻͊̐̽̆ę̴̘̃̌̏s̴̢͓̜͔͔͐ ̵͉̗̈́̎̊̚t̶̲̿̏h̷͍̲͒̅̒͘i̴̹̝̾͗͒͂͑͜s̴̖̓̋ ̸̻͔̙̹͋̎̚i̵͉̥͊̈͝͠s̸͇͛̾̾̂ ̴͍̹̼̯̘͆̃͐̊d̵̰͈̭̒̀ȇ̸͈̏͒̕f̷̥̻̭̓į̵̛͉̝͓͓́͐̂͠n̷̙̠͐i̴̲͙̤̪͑t̶͔̯̊̍̀̇̐e̷͕͍̠̩̬͛̐͌l̴̻͕̋ŷ̴͕̔́͠͝ ̸͉̏̔ą̷̳̟͇̰̇̏͊͂ ̸̨͚̲͉̊̿͆v̵̛̝̗̍a̷͍͙͆́̊̈l̶̡̠̲̆̏̓́i̷̲̽̽̈́̕͠ḋ̸̠̋͠ ̴̹̜̥̃l̸͍̦͖̯̬̅̒̄́͝i̷͇̩͙̮͊͛͝ņ̴͍͚͕͐̕ḛ̷͂̌̑̀ ̶̰̥͉͝b̷̼̭̠̩̍͐͆̈́ŗ̵̝̠̊͝͠͝ͅe̶̟͕̩͊̆͠͝à̸̰̺̱̟k̵̯̯̖̹͌̈́̆͝ ̴͇͎̞̐s̴̥̜̭͕̜͑̊̋t̵͍̮̙̋̚y̷̫͙͙̍̆̾̈͋l̵̡̟͖͓̉̕ḛ̵̼̬̖̦̀̀́̀ ̷̨̤̭͍̾͌d̵̡͓͂́̒͘̚o̴͓͍͛̅̃n̷̛̬͚'̵̜̫̲͌ͅͅt̶̙̘̫͗̄̕͘ ̶̻̟͎̜̍͌͊j̴̨̭̭̼̙̄́̓ų̴̟̹͎̦̂̌͘͝d̵̳́̅̕g̸̜̯̥̽̾ͅë̶̢̱̯̝̙́ ̴͈̀̂̏̃̕m̶̜̻̪͈͊͌̍͠͠ē̵̢͇͉
"'It's hunting time, boys'," Leo grinned under his breath, in a semi-terrible Southern accent. He turned the reel of the fishing rod from his position in the trees, the small piece of cheese being carefully lowered down by the thin string attached to the rod. He felt a little bad; the cheese looked quite good. Ah well.
The Hephaestus' cabin rarely made mistakes ever since the curse on their cabin had been broken. Among these very rare occurrences was the bronze mouse. It was just what it sounded like; a bronze-colored metal mouse that had a speed that was much faster than a real mouse. The intended purpose of the bronze mouse was to be a more hands-on alarm clock for those certain cabin members (whom shall remain unnamed) who didn't want to wake up to help out with the latest invention.
However, the mouse seemed to have accidentally been given self-awareness and sentience. Not wanting its assigned purpose of waking up a groggy teenager by running around, just to be captured anyways, the mouse fled the cabin. Thankfully, its sense of direction was still in a work-in-progress, so it had no idea where it was headed. This left someone the job of capturing it.
So Cabin 9 had chosen Leo.
He supposed that it made sense—after all, he was the smallest and most nimble cabin member (except for Harley, but everyone felt bad about asking Harley the youngest cabin member to do it), which meant that he was the most likely to catch it efficiently. He was also fast, what with his years of experience of running away from things.
But oh, how he underestimated the mouse's speed.
It took him what felt like forever to catch up to the mouse, finally managing to hide from him in the trees. Like Leo, the mouse seemed to have exhausted its own motors, sitting down in the patch of grass as it emitted a quiet whirring sound that reminded him of an overloaded laptop—a very old laptop. (In Cabin 9's defense, the theme of the mouse was retro. So cut them a break.)
He had taken a fishing rod from a couple of campers by the lake during his run, not bothering to shout an apology as he sped by. As for the cheese, he took a quick detour to the camp store, which, just so happened to be having a Cheese Day.
He put merged the two, and created his greatest invention yet: The Cheese Rod! The name still needed to be worked out. Lowering cheese down from a fishing rod wasn't exactly the most conventional idea, but in his defense, he'd been running for at least 15 minutes straight and needed a break. Hopefully his half-siblings had thought to give the metal mouse the taste preferences of an actual mouse.
The small cheddar cheese was only an inch above the mouse's head, but the mouse either didn't notice it, or just didn't show its acknowledgement in an effort to get its hunter off its back. Leo made a mental note to tell his half-siblings to not make their inventions so smart.
The cheese was just barely touching the mouse's head now. Leo bit his lip, awaiting the mouse to bite its small metal teeth into the cheese. Any day now…
And the mouse chose that moment to scurry away. Leo cursed, swiftly climbing down from his position in the tree, discarding his fishing rod to the side. Great.
He ran after the mouse in the direction it went, towards the infirmary—which was thankfully nearby. The building was all too familiar to him—Leo had gotten in many accidents during his time at camp (Frank had taken great pleasure in this, and said that Leo was beginning to turn into him. Leo didn't appreciate this.). Hey, this wasn't the first time that Leo had to chase down a haywire invention. (Although usually they broke down sooner. Weird how the "retro" invention was the fastest.)
He ran into the infirmary, slowing down a bit as he got inside to avoid Will yelling at Leo about how lucky he was that he didn't break his legs. The all-white building was mostly empty, its only occupant being a lone red-headed Oracle swinging her feet from one of the cots.
Leo ran up to her. "Hey Rach, you wouldn't happen to have seen a small metal mouse around here, right? About this small? Has an attitude problem?" he asked, gesturing with his hands as he spoke.
Rachel only giggled and tilted her head a bit. "Your opinion is invalid," she replied, still giggling. Leo looked down and just now saw that one of her swinging legs was in a cast, a colorful rainbow having been drawn on it. And judging by the looks of her, Rachel seemed to have been assigned a bit too many painkillers. Leo suppressed a sigh—he wasn't going to be getting any answers from her.
Leo flashed a quick smile at the loopy oracle. "Thanks a lot, Rach!" Rachel giggled again and waved him goodbye.
Leo looked around for the bronze mouse, turning away from Rachel. At first, he'd thought that the mouse had ran away from the building in the time that he was talking to Rachel, but soon he noticed the flash of light coming from the corner of the building.
"Got you," Leo breathed, his slightly maniacal grin coming back. Slowly, he made his way over to the flash of light, stooping down a bit. The presumed mouse had yet to move, and Leo resisted the urge to try to grab it right now.
As soon as he neared the mouse, Will Solace chose that moment to enter the building from wherever he was hiding, making the flash of light scurry away. Leo cursed again, this time much louder as he turned around to face Will.
"Language!" Will reprimanded, managing to draw a snicker from Leo despite his frustration. "Leo, please don't tell me that you're here because you got in another accident."
Leo shook his head. "Nah, but that metal mouse is gonna give me an ulcer if it keeps running away. Don't suppose you could help out?"
Will shook his head, giving Leo an apologetic look. "Sorry, Leo, but I have work to do—our supposed 'mortal painkillers' are both ineffective, and… well, you saw Rachel. I'm going to have to ask Chiron if he'll allow me go to a mortal pharmacy. However, I'm sure there's plenty of other people who would love to help you."
Leo shrugged. "It's fine." He sighed. "Man, I really wish us Hephaestus kids weren't so good at inventing things—what I wouldn't give for that thing to malfunction and break down, or something."
Will chuckled, but stopped as his face went pale when looking down. Leo followed his eyes, and saw the bronze mouse, it failing to get past Will's shoes. Leo let out a triumphant noise. "Yes! It didn't leave! THANK YOU, faulty programming!"
He bent down to grab it. He let out a sigh of relief when he picked it up, the squirming metal rodent struggling to escape. "Not so clever now, eh?"
He grinned at Will, but stopped when he saw the older boy sitting on one of the cots, knees brought up to his chest. His face was still quite pale.
"Hey, you okay?" Leo asked him.
Will nodded, his face regaining some color. "Yeah, it's just…" He gulped. "Do you promise not to tell anyone?"
Leo nodded, eyebrows raised. "What, did you steal Mr. D's cokes or something?"
"What? No!"
"Then what is it?"
Will sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I'm kind of afraid of mice."
Leo didn't hide his smirk. Will Solace, afraid of mice? "Wait, seriously?"
The blonde boy glared at him, fear a distant memory. "Yes, seriously. Can you at least not tell Nico, please? He'd enjoy it way too much—as you are now."
"I won't, don't worry!" Leo swatted his hand, in an attempt to be reassuring.. "Your secret's safe with me."
Will smiled. "Thanks, man." He looked down at himself. "Well, I'm off to the Big House. Shouldn't you get going, also?"
Leo nodded. "Yeah. This little fella just can't wait to get home—right, bud?" He raised the mouse to his eyes, smirking at it. The mouse bit his finger.
"Who programmed that in?" Leo shouted, ignoring Will's laughter.
ψ ẙ̶̡͖̮̻͊̐̽̆ę̴̘̃̌̏s̴̢͓̜͔͔͐ ̵͉̗̈́̎̊̚t̶̲̿̏h̷͍̲͒̅̒͘i̴̹̝̾͗͒͂͑͜s̴̖̓̋ ̸̻͔̙̹͋̎̚i̵͉̥͊̈͝͠s̸͇͛̾̾̂ ̴͍̹̼̯̘͆̃͐̊d̵̰͈̭̒̀ȇ̸͈̏͒̕f̷̥̻̭̓į̵̛͉̝͓͓́͐̂͠n̷̙̠͐i̴̲͙̤̪͑t̶͔̯̊̍̀̇̐e̷͕͍̠̩̬͛̐͌l̴̻͕̋ŷ̴͕̔́͠͝ ̸͉̏̔ą̷̳̟͇̰̇̏͊͂ ̸̨͚̲͉̊̿͆v̵̛̝̗̍a̷͍͙͆́̊̈l̶̡̠̲̆̏̓́i̷̲̽̽̈́̕͠ḋ̸̠̋͠ ̴̹̜̥̃l̸͍̦͖̯̬̅̒̄́͝i̷͇̩͙̮͊͛͝ņ̴͍͚͕͐̕ḛ̷͂̌̑̀ ̶̰̥͉͝b̷̼̭̠̩̍͐͆̈́ŗ̵̝̠̊͝͠͝ͅe̶̟͕̩͊̆͠͝à̸̰̺̱̟k̵̯̯̖̹͌̈́̆͝ ̴͇͎̞̐s̴̥̜̭͕̜͑̊̋t̵͍̮̙̋̚y̷̫͙͙̍̆̾̈͋l̵̡̟͖͓̉̕ḛ̵̼̬̖̦̀̀́̀ ̷̨̤̭͍̾͌d̵̡͓͂́̒͘̚o̴͓͍͛̅̃n̷̛̬͚'̵̜̫̲͌ͅͅt̶̙̘̫͗̄̕͘ ̶̻̟͎̜̍͌͊j̴̨̭̭̼̙̄́̓ų̴̟̹͎̦̂̌͘͝d̵̳́̅̕g̸̜̯̥̽̾ͅë̶̢̱̯̝̙́ ̴͈̀̂̏̃̕m̶̜̻̪͈͊͌̍͠͠ē̵̢͇͉
Sorry for the rushed ending, I had no idea how to end it so I just gave you Leo and Will bonding. Constructive criticism is also appreciated; be nice, though! Please let me know if any of the characters are OOC!
And hey! Be sure to check out my good friend (and competitor) Ravenpuff4dawin! She's awesome!
If you're still here, thanks! Have a great day!
And a cookie—(::)