Okay, we have a pretty eclectic mix of memories this time so I hope you're ready. Thanks to all faves and follows and I hope you enjoy the chapter. Also, the cheerleader is based of TV show cheerleaders and I don't think that all cheerleaders are like that so please don't take offense. I change a word of the song because I don't really want to have swear words in this.
Abigail the Hedgehog : Thank you, I tried to make a mix of different memories to try and cover different aspects of Leo.
Killua minamoto : There should be a lot more angst coming up because, let's face it; Leo had a really hard past. And about the Spanish, thank you for clearing that up, it's nice to learn new things about the language.
QueenofLothlorien : Yep, there will be more tales of our daring Leo running away from other places. And don't worry about it sounding bad, I wouldn't be writing this story if I didn't enjoy seeing him hurt. And thank you for the Ritalin idea as well.
Colinare : Sadly not, I wanted this story to be about the relationships between Leo and the others, not his romance with Calypso, sorry.
SilverStorm116 : Thank you very much but I don't think I'm up to Rick Riordan level.
TeamLeo'sVeryOwnFlinxShipper : The teacher was an ass. And yes, Team Leo forever.
Mexican girl : I'm glad that you find it funny and that you love it.
Elia the Huntress : The bully deserved everything that Leo gave him (and more).
Catsrawesome : Oh, I'm sorry about that. It's just, because Leo lived in so many different places (and given the way he flirts with a lot of people) I thought it was kinda unrealistic that he had never kissed anyone. I should have put that in the beginning though.
AmaebLEO : Thanks for the ideas and for the follow :)
Awesometacos : You will learn more about the girl and there will be some more of Leo singing so I hope you enojy it.
WhiteWinterStar : Maybe after this is finished I will do oneshots with Leo going back to visit some of the characters. Chronologically might have made more sense but I kinda like having them all mixed up :)
Our Mismatched Socks : I know! The teacher's comments were really uncalled for (even though I wrote them).
Disclaimer : Until my name is on the cover, I don't own Percy Jackson. I don't own Nintendo or the song cooler than me either.
Annabeth's P.O.V
As Athena's daughter, Annabeth liked to think that she knew a lot about the things that are important to her. But now she was starting to realise that she had really neglected getting to know Leo. It wasn't that she didn't like him, it's just that their personalities were so different and Leo almost always seemed to be in some form of trouble. Though, thinking about it now, it could just be that Leo was a lot like Percy and she could only handle one dose of loveable stupidity.
Although she hated Hera, she was starting to think that maybe her royal pain in the butt had a point. Look at how much they had already learned about the fire boy. Annabeth had never thought that they had something in common, but that view was rapidly changing. She was contemplating this as the others tormented Leo about the previous video. The next video started up.
A tiny five year old Leo was sitting crossed legged in a small living room. He was tinkering with what looked like a Nintendo DS. His tongue was poking out in concentration, and he was so focused on his project that he didn't notice boy of about ten entering the room. The boy had the same tanned skin as Leo and the same colour hair (though his was a lot straighter than Leo's unruly curls). The broad nose matched the one that had resided on Leo's aunt. So did the cruel light in his eyes.
The boy (Annabeth had identified him as Leo's cousin) watched for a moment then, when Leo had put the DS on the floor with a smile, strode over and tipped him over. Leo landed on his left elbow and tears began to form. As the elder boy inspected the DS.
"Who said that you were allowed to touch my stuff?" The voice was deceptively casual.
"It was broken, Raphael, and I fixed it for you." Leo stuttered slightly as he pushed himself back into a sitting position. Raphael gave him a dark look, before a wicked grin swept over his features.
"MOM LEO'S BEEN MESSING WITH MY STUFF!"His shouting was so unexpected that Leo almost toppled over again. Leo's aunt entered, her mouth twisted into a scowl. She was followed by Leo's mother who, even in something as simple as a black tank top and blue jeans, looked radiant. The women appraised the situation and moved to stand behind their child so Raphael and Rosa facing Leo and Esperanza.
"Mi hermana, can you not keep your child from putting his filthy paws on Raphael's expensive DS?" Rosa's voice was exasperated, though a mocking undertone ran through it. Esperanza bristled.
" The very expensive DS that Raphael broke by throwing at his brother last week?" Esperanza's tone remained polite, despite the bait.
"He did not throw it, he just accidentally let go. And that doesn't give your son a right to mess with it. If you ask me, the lack of a father figure is reflecting poorly on Leo's character." The venom in these words was clear and both Leo and his mother glared at the woman who was trying her best to not look smug. Raphael pulled tongues at Leo.
"I warned you that this would happen. In fact, I told you that if you were going to keep the baby than the only decent thing to do was to get married and yet you refused. Look at what that's gotten you. A terrible job and an undisciplined child." Rosa continued her jibes. Esperanza's fists clenched.
"Oh yes, how dare I not get married and spend the rest of my life in a loveless marriage while only staying with my husband for money. How could I possibly compare my little lion to your perfect angels who break all their stuff and pick on five year olds." Fury leaked into Esperanza's voice as she looked at her shocked sister.
"Come, mijo. We are no longer welcome here." Her hand slipped into Leo's and they walked to the door with their heads held regally in the air. Before they left, Esperanza called one last thing through the door.
"And you should be glad that you don't have to pay for something so expensive to get fixed because my little genius fixed it for you!" The door slammed and Esperanza lay against it for a moment, eyes closed. Leo looked at her worriedly.
"Did I do bad, Mami?" The broken English made his hesitant question even cuter. Esperanza smiled at him, the true smile of a mother.
"No, mijo. What you did was very kind." As they began ambling down the street, Leo turned a slightly devilish (well as devilish as a five year old could be) grin up to his mother.
"I left him a gift as well." His mom gave him a look.
"Nothing to bad I hope." Leo simply shook his head and they continued walking away.
The screen cut back to the living room where Raphael was hesitantly turning his DS on. The DS screen came to life, revealing a picture of Leo smirking and sitting in a room that was obviously Raphael's, holding what looked to be a failed test paper. Raphael's face turned red and the video ended.
"You could fix things as complicated as that at the age of five?" Annabeth was staring at Leo who looked unsure of why he was being asked.
"I am a child of Hephaestus." He replied, shrugging nonchalantly, before pulling out a pad of paper and scribbling on it. Annabeth had figured that Leo was a genius, but to be able to do things like that at five, well, she might just have to reconsider Leo's abilities.
The next image to flicker on was of Leo in his Wilderness school bedroom, glancing around furtively.
Jason looked wary, perhaps because the last time that this bedroom had shown, he had been humiliated.
After assuring himself that no one was around, Leo removed a small bottle of pills. He downed one swiftly, grimacing slightly at the taste. He lashed them back into his drawers and stretched before leaving the room.
Leo winced as the others gave him curious and admittedly suspicious looks.
"Ritalin. I couldn't exactly explain that my ADHD was because I am a Greek demigod and therefore more at home on the battlefield than in a classroom." Annabeth noticed Percy giving Leo a sympathetic look. She had never had too many problems, but Percy had and Leo was beyond even demigod level of ADHD so it was unsurprising that he had been medicated. It was still saddening that Leo had felt the need to hide it from Piper and Jason.
"Why didn't you tell me or Jason?" Piper sounded a little hurt and Leo shifted uncomfortably.
"Well, I really think that you needed to know. I mean, you put up with enough of my annoying tendencies without having to know that I was crazy enough to pills." Leo's voice was joking, but there was something in it that just sounded like self depreciation to Annabeth. From Leo's previous rants, she had realised that Leo didn't have the highest self esteem, but she had thought that they had gotten past this.
"Leo, you aren't crazy." She tried to keep her voice reassuring but Leo gave her a look that implied that Annabeth was crazier than he thought he was.
"And you didn't have to hide that from us, we wouldn't have cared." Jason was giving Leo a look that dared him to contradict him. Leo rolled his eyes.
"Look I know now that you wouldn't have cared about the ADHD thing okay?" Leo seemed to be growing a little agitated, and Annabeth decided that the best way to get this resolved was to keep Leo talking about it.
"But you thought they would care then, right?" Leo sank a little into the couch and his drawing grew more erratic.
"It's not that I would blame them or anything, it's just ... well they were both good looking and smart and didn't seem to really have anything wrong with them. And they were becoming a couple, and I just thought that maybe a hyperactive kid on meds didn't really have a place with them." Leo's confession rang in the ears for a few seconds (Hazel had flinched at the words "have a place").
"Gods, Leo, we weren't just going to turn on you for having ADHD" Jason's voice was horrified, he clearly hadn't realised that Leo felt like that. Piper was also gaping at the short mechanic.
"There's nothing wrong with you, Leo." In response to Piper's words, Leo snorted.
"Seriously Leo, being ADHD isn't a bad thing and it doesn't make you any less of a genius." Percy's words were heartfelt but Leo rolled his eyes.
"Whatever" He muttered, sullenly.
"Leo Valdez, stop sulking right now and listen to your friends," all heads whipped to Annabeth and Leo's gaze was baffled. "You are a lot smarter than you think and if it wasn't for your skill and creativity than we wouldn't be on this quest so stop doubting yourself."
Leo mock saluted and Annabeth felt something inside her relax slightly. She knew that in the time that she had known him, Leo had surpassed a lot of their expectations and she was glad to finally give Leo some praise. With a bit of shame, she realised that she had never really thanked Leo for any of the work he had done for this quest, or for giving her the means to reunite with Percy. She leant over her boyfriend and whispered to Leo :
"And thank you for helping me get Percy back by creating our ship." The warm smile that Leo bestowed upon her was worth the out of character speeches. The next video started before things got too emotional.
Twelve year old Leo was standing on another school stage, though this one was different to the one from the previous video. He was wearing blue jeans, a dark green T-shirt and plain black boots. Next to him, and looking a little uncomfortable, was a stereotypical tv cheerleader. Her skirt was short, her lips were glossed and her blonde hair bounced in a perky ponytail. Leo had his trademark grin as he stepped forward, a head mic resting on his curly, black locks.
"Now for this talent show, I have decided to sing Katie a song to express what all they boys feel when she turns them down." Leo's grin grew as he spoke, and the teachers looked a bit nervous. Katie seemed to think that this would be a tearful love song about how they couldn't live without her as she tossed her ponytail over one shoulder and crossed her arms impatiently. The music started.
"If I could write you a song to make you fall in love, I would already have you up under my arms. I used up all of my tricks, I hope that you like this, but you probably won't, you think you're cooler than me." As Leo sang, you could see Katie's face turn from smug arrogance to shock that Leo was clearly calling her a snob on stage.
"You got designer shades just to hide your face in, and you were them around like you're cooler than me." Leo pulled a pair of sunglasses out of his back pocket and placed them on hi nose, giving a mock superior look to Katie. The audience laughed and the teachers seemed to be debating whether to stop Leo or let him continue his act.
"And you never say hey or remember my name and it's probably cause you think you're cooler than me." From is other pocket, Leo pulled out a name tag which said hello my name is cooler than you and pinned it onto his chest proudly. Katie was starting to look angry.
Leo started dancing around to the music.
"You got your high brow, shoes on your feet, and you were them around like they ain't it. But you don't know the way that you look when your steps make that much noise. Shh." On the word "shh" Leo popped up behind Katie and she jumped slightly.
"I got you all figured out, you need everyone's eyes just to feel seen (Leo gestured to the audience dramatically). Behind your make up, nobody knows who you are, who do you think that you are?" As he sang the question, Leo whipped his sunglasses of and stared at Katie seriously.
The rest of the song was pretty much the same, with Leo occasionally acting like it was a joke, and other times looking completely serious. At the end of the song, Katie had flushed with a mix of embarrassment and anger. Leo looked at her sadly.
"Next time you publicly humiliate someone for asking you out, remember the feeling of having people laugh at you and be a little more compassionate. I didn't do this to make fun of you, I did this so you would understand that no one enjoys being teased." Leo was about to step of the stage (and be massively scolded by his teachers if their angry glares were anything to go by) when Katie grabbed his arm. The audience gasped as the two stared at each other.
Leo was suddenly pulled into a hug, and Katie's face was obviously close enough to the mic to be picked up.
"If you do something like this again, I'll kill you but I'm sorry to anyone I've hurt. I thought that maybe it would be cool to play hard to get and nasty but I didn't think of the people I would be hurting." The hall thundered with applause.
Jason's P.O.V
"Woah, you really taught her something there." Percy sounded amazed that Leo had just sang to a girl about how she acted really snotty and arrogant and she had apologised to him. Jason was a little amazed himself. Leo had not been getting vengeance, he had been trying to help the girl. Leo was shocking them all so much today.
As the others discussed the memory, Jason glanced at Leo's sketchbook and his jaw dropped. Leo was drawing all the people who had been kind in the memories. Leo was in the centre, being held by his mother. Around them were the prophecy demigod and some of Leo's siblings, Jake, Nyssa, Harley. The people from the past were being drawn around them.
Leo noticed him looking and grinned crookedly.
"I'm going to keep adding to this as the videos play, keep my hands busy. But don't tell them." Jason nodded, willing to keep Leo's picture secret until he revealed it to the others.
I hope that you all enjoyed reading this chapter, I'm really honoured by the amount of people who have faved, followed and reviewed. Thank you all, because without your support, this fic probably wouldn't be where it is now, I mean 84 reviews!