LEO'S POV

My eyes fluttered open as the late afternoon sun filtered in through the porthole in my room, bathing everything in a deep orange glow.

I sat up groggily, wondering how long I was out. Wiping sleep from my eyes, I lumbered out of bed and threw a shirt on. Judging by my own smell, the first thing that I should do is shower, but instead I decided to shuffle out of my room and head to the engine room. There were sure to be tons of repairs that still needed to be done and who else but a child of Hephaestus to fix them?

"At least I'm rested enough to be able to work through the night," I mumbled and opened the oil streaked door titled ENGINE ROOM.

When I entered, my first surprise came from the blaring electronic music bouncing off the high ceiling. I was especially surprised at this since I didn't build any speakers in this part of the ship. I recognized the sick nasty beats of RL Grime's 5th Halloween mix resounding throughout the engine room. A golden platter from the dining hall was also strewn across one of the work tables with a variety of half eaten food scattered about.

"What the-?" My confusion was cut off by a sudden slamming sound as a steel pipe flew out from the steamy abyss before me and crashed onto the work table 6 inches from me. The pipe smashed into the dinner plate and sent eggs and who knows what else flying all over me.

"Ayee!" A high pitched voice enthused before a fuse box was thrown in my direction, and I had to duck to avoid permanent brain damage.

"What the hell?!" I demanded. "Who the heck is in here jamming this admittedly great music and throwing all my shit around?!"

"Leo?!"

I heard some scrambling before a figure appears against the steamy atmosphere. As they approached, I saw a girl with golden blonde hair and caramel skin. Black oil streaked all over her arms, legs, and on her face. She wore short overalls and a black crop top with thick worker gloves and combat boots. She was covered in sweat and filth, but she shot me a winning smile.

"Hey, sleepy head, it's about time!"

I couldn't help but smile. "Peri, what the hell are you doing down here? And where's this music coming from?"

She laughed like I had just said something ridiculous. "I'm fixing the ship, duh, what's it look like? And it was actually pretty easy to turn some of the busted up parts into a sound system. We can communicate with Festus from down here, too now!"

My eyebrows rose in awe. "Whoa that's pretty cool. You think we can do that in every part of the ship?"

Peri walked to a nearby worktable and gestured for me to look at the scattered blueprints. There was a crudely drawn design for an interconnected comm system for the ship detailed in crayons.

"I'm way ahead of you on that," she beamed proudly. "Though you'd probably do a better job with the designs haha I can't draw."

I shook my head with excitement. "No way these are great! I can get to work on this right now."

"You really think so?" She smiled, and her cheeks looked rosy when I nodded. "Cool."

Peri and I sat on the wooden worktable as she told me what she had worked on today. I started to feel bad when she said she fixed the stabilizer and some other things while all I had done was sleep.

"Well, I'm here and ready to work now!" I said confidently, reaching into my tool belt for a screwdriver and wrench.

She grinned and fist pumped. "Oh yea the Dynamic Duo are back at it again!"

I helped her finish repairing some of the bronze plates and pipes in the engine room before starting on a new project. We worked in comfortable silence which was only broken to tell an occasional joke or ask about our work. I never thought I'd be able to be this at ease with someone let alone someone who was so interested in the same things that I was.

Every so often I would steal a glance at her and just stare in awe and wonder. She was amazing. She was perfect and imperfect. I was starting to think that I didn't just like her and instead my feelings were deeper. I loved the way she bit her pretty ass lips when she worked or how she always rubbed oil on her face and how cute she looked when she was confused. I loved everything about her. So I guess that means that I love-

My thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of the dinner bell above us. My stomach growled ferociously as if it had just remembered that it hadn't eaten today.

Peri shot up. "Ooh dinner time~! Come on, Leo, we can finish this up later."

I was gonna reply, but when she grabbed my hand and began tugging me out the door my voice died in my throat. Oh no she's holding my hand it's probably all sweaty and clammy and-

"I'm so hungryyyy," she whined as we made our way upstairs.

I snorted. "What else is new."

Peri shoved me playfully. "Shut up, Valdez!"

My heart fluttered. As long as I could keep seeing that mischievous grin...

The entire crew gathered for dinner, chatting and eating as casually as we could under the circumstances. Peri sat to my left, and Piper sat on my right next to Jason.

Piper sniffed and made a disgusted face. "P. U. what smells like dirty demigod doodoo?" She leaned into my chest and took a whiff. "Oh, Leo, you reek!"

I took a big bite of my burrito, unfazed. "Girl, that is the delicious scent of a hardworking demigod. Learn to love it."

Jason snorted. "Weren't you sleep, like, all damn day?"

Percy laughed heartily. "Hey man, give him a break." He waggled his eyebrows at Annabeth. "We can't all smell like a fresh ocean breeze."

Hazel touched her chin thoughtfully. "Ocean breeze? I think you're more of a fresh ocean sleaze, Percy."

The table erupted in raucous laughter. "Holy shit!" Peri struggled between breaths. "You might need to jump into the sea to relieve yourself of that burn!"

- ONE HOUR LATER -

Okay maybe Piper was right. I did smell pretty funky.

I went to my room to get some clothes to wear although I didn't feel very sleepy yet. I picked out a plain red tee and some basketball shorts before heading out the door. To my surprise, Peri came out of her room at the same time also carrying clothes and a towel.

I raised a brow at her. "Shower?"

"Mhmm," a thought crossed her pretty little head and then she dashed off. "I call first!"

I raced after her. "Oh come on, let's be adults about this!"

"Eww hiss hiss adults!" She slammed the bathroom door behind her, successfully locking me out. Damn!

I grinned devilishly, trying one more time. "Well, shit, how about I jump in there with you? Ya know, save a little water?"

I heard her scoff and mutter something indistinguishable. "What? Come on, Peri, lemme shower with you pleaseeee?"

"WHAT WAS THAT, VALDEZ?"

"Oh shit! Nothing, Coach!"

I should probably start running now.