91. Dirt
Leo knows Reyna is beautiful and entirely out of his league most of the time.
But there are moments that stick out to him where she's stunning. Moments where he literally cannot see anything else because she's there, taking all of his attention.
One of those moments happens on what could possibly be the worst day of Leo's life.
There's nothing but screams.
That's it, all he can hear. Screaming from friends, screaming from enemies, screaming from the gods... Leo is surrounded by screaming and anguish and loss and he's lost amidst it all.
He's standing with his hammer hanging by his side, spinning around helpless because oh gods, there's Travis Stoll laying on the ground and there's blood coming from his temple and he could be dead, Leo doesn't know...
There's Katie, standing over him, tears on her face and he wonders if she feels as helpless as he does because there's so many of them laying hurt and he can't stop and help them.
But he catches a glimpse, as he's looking around, of a brown braid whipping through the air, of a gladius flashing and hitting a chest plate before glancing off.
And her face is covered in dirt and sweat but her eyes are fierce and defiant, her stance confident and he feels something clench in his chest at how brave and beautiful she is.
He turns and raises his hammer, ready to fight some more.
oooOOOooo
Later things are numb.
He's sitting at the fire with his friends and they're all trying so hard to not completely fall apart but it's a fragile thing and some of them are breaking.
Percy, every time he looks around and takes note of who's not there sitting with them. Piper, glancing over her shoulder to talk to people who are no longer there to answer.
Him, staring at the fire, remembering the screams and the bodies and oh Gods-
- he gets up and leaves, ignoring his friends looks and words of protest. He walks up from the campfire and he wanders, searching for something, anything...
He sees Reyna.
She's bandaging Nico's arm and she looks up and meets his eyes and suddenly he knows what he needs.
He walks over and ignores the warning in her eyes, the surprised parting of her lips.
He kisses her, because he needs it.
She kisses back, because she does too.
But then she pulls away and just looks at him, a raised eyebrow and a question in her eyes. "Now, Valdez? Really?"
He's about to reply when he remembers Nico is there, and sees the son of Hades stand up. "Straight people," he mutters seemingly in a daze, before staggering away to Will Solace.
Leo tries to bite back a grin.
It's the first time he's smiled in a week.