A/N: This is the last update for this round guys, hope you like it! There are Author Notes for this chapter and the next few down the bottom. SUPER LONG CHAPTER AHEAD I THINK!
*crosses fingers frantically*
As always, thanks for every review, read, follow or favourite and enjoy! :D
Shy
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
The first time Calypso heard the horn, signalling the homecoming of returning heroes, her neck nearly cracked with how quickly she turned.
It was the day after Rachel had collapsed. After leaving the Big House, Annabeth had fearlessly taken on the role of explaining the situation in general terms to the other campers (Calypso heard her utter the phrase "No, Calypso didn't have anything to do with it" more than once) while she returned to the Oracle Cave to clear space for Rachel, prepare her bed and hungrily search for the missing sketchpad with no luck.
"So you have no idea where you put it?" Calypso asked yet again as she examined each of Rachel's cluttered shelves. The morning was cool and noisy outside; the wind picked up the leaves and shuffled them around the forest floor like playing cards.
"I told you, I don't even remember getting out of bed." The heiress told her, stretching her arms as best she could. She still felt weakened from the incident and Chiron had been quite clear in his demand for her to stay in bed while she recovered.
Calypso had checked every inch of Rachel's cave but it was as if the missing pages had disappeared entirely. She strained her memory to recall any other details but the only image she remembered was a blurred image of Rachel in her pyjama shorts and tank top, carrying the pad under her arm and wandering from her bed, gaze focused on something far away.
"Why do you want to find it so badly anyway?" Rachel asked, sighing with boredom.
The ex-goddess paused. "It could be help us find out what the Oracle was trying to say." She said, carefully. She didn't want to put the idea that Rachel's sleepwalking wasn't because of the Oracle in her head yet. The only other options were that it was Rachel herself or something else making her do it. Neither of which were pleasant possibilities.
"Well if I remember anything, I'll tell you." The redhead said, grumpily. She didn't like being confined to bed even though she admitted she was feeling too weak to walk around freely.
Calypso retreated from the lowest shelf she'd been poking about, forcing herself to smile. "Until then, you can tell me about this…television screen." She proposed, running a finger along the thin plastic and glass device that had erupted from the foot of Rachel's bed, much like in Leo's room.
"No." The redhead had said, simply, snacking on some kind of veggie chip from a plastic bag.
Calypso tilted her head, confused. "I beg your pardon?"
"No. Go back to the fields with Miranda." Rachel ordered, imperiously.
"Rachel, you collapsed." She said slowly. "You had a vision that nearly caused your brain to combust, the Oracle has apparently gone mad and you're confined to bed."
"So?"
"So?" Calypso spluttered, eyes wide and astonished. "So you'll need help! You'll need company-!"
"Not yours I won't." Rachel retorted immediately. "You've taken too many steps forward to take two backward now, Titan girl."
She rolled her eyes fully then. "Firstly, that sounds like a riddle and you're being needlessly cryptic. Cut it out. And secondly, I'm a Titan's child, not a Titan."
"Semantics." The Oracle waved a hand dismissively and Calypso had never been reminded more of the old Greek queens, the beautiful ones who would lay on their day beds, surrounded by attendants and demand golden bodied youths to serve them sweet meats and fruits all day. With her paled complexion and wildly un-brushed hair, she was hardly the visual embodiment of the manicured, decadent ruler but her dismissal held the same tone.
Until Calypso spied the smirk growing on her lips and the illusion was immediately shattered. "I won't be your excuse to hide away in here again." Rachel told her, frankly. "So go on. I'll be fine, honestly. I think getting some sketching done on my new project might ease the headaches anyway. Maybe the Oracle was just looking for a better outlet."
"But-" she protested, weakly.
Rachel waved her off again. "And if I remember where I put my stupid book, I'll tell you. Now go."
With a great deal of complaining, Calypso had reluctantly left her friend to her own devices and made her way to the strawberry fields. Miranda had welcomed her with a short smile and a request for help in the north section for the morning.
When she heard it, she was working in the fields, her hands encrusted with rich earth and the occasional tiny cut from where she'd nicked herself with a trowel or the shears. Gardening was slightly different in a mortal form. Her skin wasn't quite as impenetrable as she was used to. It was quiet, the gentle hum of wildlife around her interspersed with chatter. She'd been working for hours, worrying her lip and mindlessly letting the power seep from her fingertips.
While she enjoyed having something to do around other campers, her thoughts were far away from the work this time: they rested with Rachel and the Oracle's bizarre behaviour, with Annabeth's forgiveness and plans to find the missing sketchpad but maybe most of all with Leo and how she had no idea when he might come back to her. She snorted to herself at that in a most unladylike fashion: here she was, yet again, waiting on a hero.
At least I know this one will be back, she let herself smile slightly. I can follow him this time if he doesn't. She decided not to mention the idea to Leo: he might decide to make her chase him just to get under her skin.
She hated to admit to missing him. It was ridiculous considering how long they'd spent apart but she was still furious with Dionysus for trying to separate them for such petty reasons. She missed the sound of his laugh and his constant motion beside her and the way his dark skin turned ever so slightly pink when she said I love you.
(She would never ever admit it but a teeny part of her wanted to hear him call her Sunshine again. Badly.)
With everything that was going on- with Rachel and Percy and Annabeth and Piper- she was beginning to feel as though the only person she really wanted to discuss it with, the only person she wanted to spill all her suspicions to was far away on some possible fatal mission.
"Stupid hero." She muttered under her breath. Whose idea was it to indulge Dionysus' silly little plot?
Oh. That's right. Hers.
Koios and Krios help her, she came up with some truly stupid ideas sometimes.
"Uh…Calypso? I think that one's grown enough." Laura's voice snapped her out of her thoughts in a snap and her magic paused. Glancing down, Calypso blinked at the astonishingly large size of the berries growing on the vine she was tending. She plucked one and raised a brow at the apple-sized fruit, sending Laura a guilty glance.
"Sorry?" she said, sheepishly as she set the enormous fruit by her side.
"Distracted today huh?" Laura observed with a giggle. At thirteen, the girl was slightly too young to have been heavily involved in the Second Titan War and harboured much less suspicion toward Calypso than some of the others. It seemed the way of Demeter's children to scrutinise newcomers but once they saw her ability with the harvest, they seemed to warily accept her among them.
"A little." Calypso lifted her shoulder, helplessly. An idea struck her and she paused for a second before starting on the next vine. "Laura, do you happen to know what a train is?"
The freckled girl snickered. "Of course I do. Why?"
"How long does it take to travel between this…Chicago and the camp on one of these trains?" her mouth wrapped around the unfamiliar words with a slight hesitance.
Utterly relaxed, Laura shrugged. "A day maybe? I don't know, I don't travel much outside of back home to my Dad."
"A day?" Calypso's brows shot up like a cartoon.
Laura seemed amused by her outrage. "Probably little longer if you're travelling with a lot of people. Why?"
"He's gone and killed himself then." She snapped, exasperatedly. "Here I am, thinking it will take weeks for him to arrive and all it takes is a day? For Rhea's sake, he should have been back by now. He's done something stupid, I just know it."
"Oh, you mean Leo?" Gareth interjected with a laugh.
"Do you know of any other ridiculously stupid demigods?" Calypso mumbled, disgruntled with the new information. She wasn't sure if she was irritated or worried but she was already worrying about so much else that irritation seemed like a nice change of pace.
"He'll probably be back soon." Gareth consoled, offhandedly. "I mean, sometimes people don't come home for months."
"Knowing Leo, he'll have managed to mess something up so badly it'll take him a year." She growled. "I knew I should've tried to go with him. Irresponsible, stubborn, stupid-"
The loud low blaring caught her off guard. At the sound of it, she froze in her place, eyes darting to the nearest camper. Different horns meant different things but her heart was suddenly swooping in her chest with hope at the sound of this one.
When Laura and Gareth's eyes immediately flitted towards Half-Blood Hill, Calypso allowed her gaze to dart there also, her hair flying about her face as she did. The light haired Demeter's daughter grinned at Calypso's eagerness. "I guess your stupid boyfriend's back after all." She said, teasingly.
The figures on the horizon were tiny but to her, they might as well have had illuminated signs levitating above their heads. "Yes he is." She breathed back, a small part of her sighing in relief while the rest of her hummed with excitement. She stood from the strawberry fields and peeled off her gloves.
"Where are you going?" Miranda complained, knee deep in towing berries when she passed by. "We've got work to do."
"Leo's back." Gareth called out to her with another chuckle and the demigod rolled her eyes, having heard all the gossip already.
"Fine. But you better be back here tomorrow morning to work properly." She chided firmly.
Calypso barely nodded before she turned toward Half-Blood Hill in a light jog. She made it just as the group was nearing the camp border and she could hear Coach Hedge's boasting from a distance. And just like that, there he was. Her returning hero, her Wonder Boy, back from the strange city on the horizon, with his tool belt around his waist, hammer in hand and hair speckled with…cheese?
"I cracked its skull open!" the grizzled satyr rambled on as a few stray campers paused to greet Leo and the new campers back.
"It was a gelatinous cheese demon, Coach." Leo pointed out, rolling his eyes. He looked tired. Had he been sleeping? Eating? Logically, she tried to remind herself that Leo had taken care of himself long before he met her but a sneaky voice in her head simply retorted well he hasn't been doing a very good job of it has he? She was about to call out to him when she realised, as his gaze scanned across the campers to his right, that he hadn't seen her yet. "It didn't really have a skull to crack." He added, his voice rough but amused.
Using every ounce of her stealth, Calypso crept behind the group and suddenly locked her arms around her demigod's neck tightly. "Gelatinous cheese demon huh?" she purred in his ear when he tensed reflexively. "You do get into fun when I'm not around don't you, Wonder Boy?"
His grin exploded across his face when he recognised her voice. "Chicago's pizza tried to eat me." Leo complained in reply, his hands covering hers tightly. "I had to do something to avenge my poor starving taste buds."
She couldn't contain her eye roll but feeling his warm skin beneath her palms was giving her a head rush and she couldn't find it in her to argue too much with him. For now, at least.
"Welcome home, hero." She kissed his cheek almost shyly and let go, letting him turn and hug her back. She was practically vibrating with joy from having him so close to her again. "Damocles and I missed you." She'd talked to the little elephant about Leo when she was particularly lonely and she swore it seemed like it could understand her sometimes.
"Who in Hades is Damocles?" Leo growled, his grin immediately soured. Gods above, he was gone a week and some douchey-named moron was moving in on his girl-?
Calypso let out a bark of laughter and winked, looping her arms around his neck again to brush kisses against his cheek and further down where the collar of his shirt revealed the smooth tanned flesh of his neck. "I'll show you later on. For now, you should probably introduce the children to Chiron."
When she pulled away Leo looked sort of concussed, his hands settled around her waist. She could feel the heat through her clothes. "What children?" he mumbled, studying the shape of her mouth instead.
"I'm not a child!" the girl snarled, looking somewhat alarmed by the camp's buildings and demigods wandering around. The boy stayed silent, taking everything in with enormous pale green eyes. "What's going on? Who's that? Where did all this stuff come from?"
Sensing the questions were loathe to finish any time soon, she sighed. "Maybe later?" Calypso proposed.
Leo closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he released his girlfriend, reluctantly. She stood close to him anyway, the heat still curling off his skin. She'd missed it more than she'd realised.
"Don't listen to the midget." He told Calypso but his tone was humoured.
"I told you I'm not a midget." She snapped before turning on Calypso with sceptical eyes. "Who are you?"
"My name is Calypso," the former goddess replied, amused herself by the girl's boldness. She wore a tatty jacket and jeans, a crudely made knife tucked into her waistband. She would've been intimidating if she hadn't been quite so short, even for her age. The boy was even shorter than she was but far skinnier and wary-eyed. "And you are?"
"Daisy Bones." the girl muttered, reluctantly. "This is Michael."
Calypso nearly let out a laugh. Daisy. A pretty, light, cheery name. She didn't think it was possible for someone to look less like their title suggested. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood, Daisy and Michael."
"That's Chiron's job." Leo pointed out. "Or are you running for camp manager now? I'll support you and play trophy boyfriend if necessary but you'll have to deal with Mr D for, like, ever."
She sighed as though mock-pained. "I'd forgotten how much you talk."
"You missed it." Leo said gleefully in response.
"What are you?" Daisy cut in, brashly, her expression intensely distrustful. "A half-blood like this loser?" she elbowed Leo's side here and the son of Hephaestus tussled her hair in retaliation.
Calypso had grown so used to people around camp knowing who she was that she simply shrugged. "I am a godling now, like you." It seemed like a neat way to put it for two newcomers.
"Now?" Michael suddenly spoke, seeming curious but sceptical. Perhaps not so neat after all.
"I was a goddess." She admitted, carefully. "But no longer."
Their eyes widened in unison.
Leo looked absolutely gleeful. "You didn't believe me!" he told them mockingly. "Gods aren't real, they said. You're crazy, they said. Leave us alone or I'll stab you, they said-"
"I'll stab you now if you don't shut up." Daisy grunted, her pretty face distorted by a scowl Calypso suddenly recognised.
"And now I'm right!" he crowed as Chiron approached, a few campers following after him. Calypso rolled her eyes and nudged him hard.
"Quiet, Wonder Boy." She said under her breath.
Leo scowled, indignantly. "They started it!"
"They're children." She pointed out, wryly.
"I said I'm not a child." Daisy repeated, angrily but even she quietened when Chiron arrived in his wheelchair so as not to frighten the new campers too badly.
Leo made the introductions since Coach Hedge was busily bragging to some poor kid who hadn't gotten away fast enough. Well, introductions according to Leo. "This is Munchkin and the Wee One." He told Chiron in a cheerful voice, ignoring Daisy's outraged expression.
"That's not my name!"
"I saved your butts, your names are whatever I say they are." Leo replied, unconcerned.
Calypso rolled her eyes. "You are the very embodiment of a warm welcome, Wonder Boy."
The little girl held her head high even after kicking Leo's shin (hard) and spoke directly to Chiron. "Daisy Bronston and Michael Lake. Sir." She added, as an afterthought, talking loudly over Leo's whining about camp abuse.
"Delivered safe and sound, as per usual." Coach Hedge stated loudly as he finally released the demigod he'd been ranting to.
"More or less safe and sound." Leo corrected with a wince.
"Less safe." Daisy chimed in immediately.
"Much less safe." Michael agreed.
"Gods you two suck." Leo hissed but the demigods seemed utterly unaffected by the retort. In fact, both of them looked rather pleased with themselves.
Calypso thought she might've spotted a hint of a smile in the centaur's eyes but he maintained an impression of calm authority. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. I trust Leo and Coach Hedge have at least informed you about what you are?"
Hedge snorted. "I left it up to Valdez while I made sure he wasn't dying from poison."
Calypso choked on her breath. "Poison?" she echoed, eyes wide. "What in Hades-?"
"Maybe later?" Leo repeated her words from earlier with a sheepish tone.
Michael shrugged in response to Chiron's question, uncomfortable before all the people present. His pale eyes flitted between them rapidly. "He was sketchy on the details."
"That sounds like Leo." Chiron muttered, dryly. "I'd invite you to watch our orientation film then, it may well…enlighten some of the encounters you've faced so far." He held his hand out in a welcoming gesture for them to come closer.
The next few steps were watched with keen interest by the amassed crowd and it wasn't until Leo discreetly pointed out the low stone border that encompassed the camp grounds that Calypso realised the children hadn't yet passed over the threshold to camp. Leo had briefly mentioned at some point about the agreement with the gods to acknowledge their children upon their entry although she'd never seen it in person.
It seemed a little ridiculous that the gods had to be forced to recognise their children. After all, in her time, sons and daughters of gods were revered and beloved by the masses and their parents alike. It saddened her to think that the gods had slipped in that respect, into a relationship of abandonment and absence.
She remained curious, as was Leo to see where these two would fit but she couldn't precisely recall anyone explaining how the 'claiming' occured. Daisy walked forward first, oblivious to the curious looks and as she passed over the low border, the campers held their breath waiting…
For…nothing…?
Several minutes passed and some of the campers exchanged confused glances. Coach Hedge wasn't nearly so discreet. "What in all of Pan kind of a claiming was that?" he heckled with a scowl.
"What's going on?" Daisy questioned, suspiciously, her hand straying to the makeshift dagger at her side. "What's a claiming?"
Chiron's brow furrowed but he covered his confusion quickly. "Nothing at all. Please, you and your friend look as though you've had a long journey. We'll…discuss things further at the Big House." When Michael followed his friend, the campers waited again with seemingly no response.
"What's meant to happen?" Calypso murmured to Leo who shook his head, confused.
"I- I don't know, a big holographic symbol from memory. I was kind of freaked out by mine." He admitted with a shrug.
Before she could speak any further, Chiron began to roll back towards the Big House and the kids turned to Leo nervously. "Well?" Daisy asked, demandingly. "Aren't you coming loser?"
"I gotta go say hello to my dragon and kill some guy named Damocles," Leo joked and then nodded toward the Big House with a wide grin. "Go on, Chiron's great. And the film's a bundle of laughs."
"It's a comedy?" Michael asked, curiously.
Leo snorted. "Sadly, no. It's just hilarious once you've been here a while. Don't worry, you can trust Chiron." Despite his jovial expression, the last few words came out in a sombre tone that seemed to comfort the children a little. "I'll meet up with you later to make sure you haven't been strangle by grape vines." He added.
"Grape vines?" Daisy echoed, doubtfully.
Leo winced. "There'll be a pudgy fat guy in a ridiculous printed shirt in the Big House. He's not my biggest fan so I'll hang back. Try not to make him mad. Or if you do, just make sure you can run fast. Other than that, you'll do fine."
With one last nod, the pair of them followed the centaur at a distance. Calypso smiled quietly. "You've probably confused them terribly." She chided.
"They'll figure it out. Smart kids. If he had grey eyes, I'd say Mickey was an Athena kid." Leo replied as he carried his pack toward camp.
"I don't know about the boy but that girl is a daughter of Ares." Calypso said, frankly. "She has the same glare."
"Noticed that huh?" Leo sighed. "It's weird they weren't claimed. Kids are always claimed when they pass over the border."
Several of the campers had seemed troubled and Calypso could guess why: if the campers went unclaimed for too much longer, it looked like the gods were reneging on their deal. The promise to recognise their progeny was critical to the function of the camp and its inhabitants, to their trust in their immortal family.
"The gods need to fix it and soon." She told him, sombrely. "Resentment towards them will only grow otherwise."
"I hear that. Maybe it's just a glitch though." Leo muttered back, casting a quick glance at the dispersing crowd. "Until then…" A smirk spread across his mouth as he looped his hand through hers and tugged her suddenly away from the rest of the campers.
"Where are we going?" she called out with a smile, following him along into the trees, finally pausing just beyond the tree line of the woods near the climbing walls. Once he was certain they were alone (and that the tree they were leaned against was not a dryad), Leo let his grip loosen on her wrist, tracing the lines on her palm instead.
"Hey." He greeted, turning slightly pink.
Calypso smirked in reply. "Well hello."
"Sorry about that," he muttered, bashfully. "I just wanted to say hello to you. In private, I mean."
"Hmm. That sounds like a very sensible decision." She teased, barely even controlling her fingers as they tripped their way up his throat to play with the wild frizzy curls on the nape of his neck.
Leo shivered slightly in response and his hands looped around her waist, ever so gently, like he was sort of terrified of breaking her in some way. Calypso sort of liked the way he touched her like he wanted to be absolutely sure it was what she wanted, even though she liked to touch him like he was everything she could ask for.
"For you maybe." He told her when she brushed her lips to his, enjoying the heady rush of sparks fluttering beneath her skin. "Now I'm not so sure how sensible it is for me."
"You're doubting your decision to be alone with me?" she giggled, unable to help herself as he threw her mock-stern glance.
"Well we are out here, all alone. You could easily take advantage of my sensitive demeanour and innocent virtue." He told her in a sombre tone that was utterly betrayed by the wicked twinkling glint in his eyes.
She couldn't contain her snort as she tugged him down to kiss her again. "You? Innocent? Oh hero, what it must be like to live inside that head of yours." She murmured into his mouth as her fingers tangled against his hair and his hands hesitantly pulled her closer to him. She could interrogate him about the poison and how long it had taken him to come back to her and every little detail about his quest later. For now, all she wanted to do was kiss him until they were breathless.
A few moments later though, Leo's brow furrowed slightly and he pulled his head away, glancing out towards the camp and deeper into the forest. "What was…?"
"There's no one else but us, Wonder Boy." She told him, letting her nails run down his throat so lightly that he twitched.
"Nope, just you and me Sunshine." he muttered back, suddenly preoccupied with tracing her shoulder blades through her t-shirt.
"Stop calling me that." She half whined, half demanded with a scowl.
"And risk going a day without seeing your forehead crinkle like that?" he muttered back with a grin. "Never." In her head, she decided she was going to knock that damn grin off his face one day.
She sort of lost track of how long they stayed there, greeting each other. In truth, they had known each other for such little time, had been in each other's company for even less time: Calypso found she was enjoying getting to know what made her stupid Wonder Boy tick. Like when she curled her fingers against his scalp and he bit down on her bottom lip ever so slightly or how even when he was touching her, his hands fidgeted slightly and his weight rocked from foot to foot.
She was just discerning whether she could elicit a moan if she tilted her head to just the right angle (spoiler alert: she could indeed) when Leo pulled away with a frown. "Jason?" he said in a confused tone. Heady excitement melted into surprise, then realisation, which was quickly followed by frustration, and Calypso finally sagged her head against his shoulder with a low whine at being interrupted by the noise off to her left.
"Now," she panted out instead, her lips swollen and one hand still grabbing his shirt. "Is a really poor time to discuss your apparent taste for men, Leo Valdez."
"What?" his attention snapped back toward her, eyes bulging. "I don't- I mean, that's not- I didn't mean it like that!"
"You just said another boy's name in the middle of kissing me." She pointed out, concealing her smirk. His flustered expression was enough reason to keep teasing him and hell, it was one way to wipe that grin off his face.
"I didn't mean Jason, I just- I mean there's nothing wrong with- it's just- I'm not-" he spluttered, expression becoming steadily more panicked until Calypso couldn't restrain her laughter any longer and exploded into hysterical cackles.
Leo scowled at her, his face pink in the cheeks despite his tan. "You are a mean girlfriend, Sunshine." he told her, pouting.
"You make it far to easy for me, hero." She replied, snickering. "And you know if you want to discuss-"
He smashed his mouth against hers and swallowed her giggles. "There will be no discussing that." He told her firmly.
"You're sure?" she said, innocently. "There's absolutely nothing shameful in experimentation or preferring the company of me-"
"Do I have to kiss you again?" Leo demanded, his voice tight and entirely flustered at the words coming out of his girlfriend's mouth. Words like experimentation which made his stomach drop and his head fog up with all kinds of images.
"Maybe." She said in a singsong kind of tone. "You're pretty cute when you're rattled."
He snorted and leaned his forehead to hers. "I'm not into Jason." He told her frankly.
She thought about asking about his interest in men in general but his face was already bright red and any more teasing might actually make him combust. Gods knew it was a possibility. "Good because I don't share." She said, smoothing down the collar of his shirt.
"What I meant was thatI could hear Jason." Leo clarified, pointedly before pausing and twisting his neck to look towards the climbing wall. "And Percy too, I think."
Sure enough when she listened hard, the sound of laughter flitted across a passing breeze to her ear and she sighed at the disturbance.
Calypso clutched his face to hers for one last brief kiss (which still felt like lightning bolts scattered beneath her flesh) and grabbed his wrist, tugging him towards the walls. "Well come on then. I guess your virtue is safe another day." She added in a mocking voice.
Soon they came to the climbing wall where Cabin 6's silvery grey flag poked out of the ground alongside Cabin 12's red and purple banner, signalling their allotted turn at the activity. It seemed, unsurprisingly, that Athena was kicking Dionsysus' butt at the lava flows. And high up on the wall was a very familiar head of curly blonde hair moving quickly between perches. Percy and Jason sat at the base of the wall near to the rest of the Cabin 6 kids, roaring with laughter while Annabeth continued climbing, her rival still much lower but putting up a good fight.
Leo grinned at the sight of his friends, back from New Rome early. "What, you make her climb your walls for you now, Percy?" he called out.
The son of Poseidon turned around and smiled back, nudging Jason who turned as well. Calypso didn't have much experience talking with the former praetor but he wasn't nearly so terrifying as his girlfriend or the demigod currently climbing the lava erupting frame. Thinking of it that way, Calypso felt reasonably calm as they approached, especially with Leo's big mouth leading the conversation.
"So we heard you nearly got swallowed by a pizza, Valdez." Jason called out to him, snickering.
"Hedge runs his mouth." Leo complained. "And it was a terrifying grime demon that happened to live in the drains of a pizzeria!"
"Only you would find a species of demon that supposed to be nearly impossible to stumble on." Calypso told him, rolling her eyes while subtly scanning him for injuries. She hadn't encountered any while they were…occupied…but she couldn't seem to stop herself from checking now. He had a couple of scratches and strange circular rashes over his arms and despite the faint odour of burning cheese, he seemed fine to her. Nevertheless, Calypso resolved to get his quest in full detail, just to be certain.
Both boys stood, greeting one another with welcoming grins, slight wrestling and slaps on the back, the same sort of overt displays of 'friendly' aggression that had been popular from her time. Men, it appeared, never changed no matter what century you were in. Instead, Calypso looked up at the wall.
"Why were you laughing?" she asked. She exchanged a quick look with Percy and the demigod's face went blank, then hesitant before breaking into a small smile. The whole exchange wasn't missed by Leo who cursed himself for forgetting that Percy and Annabeth being back meant Calypso would've had to face them alone. But things seemed to have gone…okay.
(Neither one of them was tearing the other's guts out with a rusted spork, so Leo decided to count the encounter as a win.)
"One of Castor's new brothers told Annabeth she couldn't climb the wall cause she was a girl." Percy said simply, his voice neutral but not unfriendly.
"Is he suicidal?" Leo asked, seriously.
"Nah, just a new kid that Dionysus sent for personally. It's blatant favouritism." Jason muttered, watching Annabeth scale the enormous wall with agility. "Thinks he's better than everyone else because his dad's camp director. Annabeth is correcting him."
Calypso and Leo winced in unison. "How badly has she maimed him so far?"
"He's only 'accidentally' slipped into the lava twice." Percy complimented, idly. "Which is probably a new record. Usually he'd be at the bottom in a pile of shattered bones by now."
Just as he spoke, the Dionysus kid suddenly "lost" his grip [which had nothing to do with Annabeth's foot in his face] and "slipped" [or her fist in his ribs] clean off the climbing wall with a loud yelp.
Standing amongst his friends with the girl he'd been dreaming of for months finally holding his hand and watching some pipsqueak son of a grape seed whining about cheating tactics, Leo sighed nostalgically. "Man, I missed camp."
A/N: Flustered!Leo is my favourite, although I do feel the need to point out that Leo wasn't uncomfortable with or grossed out by the thought of being gay, he was just surprised and flustered at Calypso teasing him about theoretically liking Jason. Which he doesn't but if he did, that would be cool, if not canon. Just wanted to clear that up in case there was any confusion.
I know, I know, you all have your suspicions about who Michael's parent is but I swear, I have a good reason for continuing the suspense. In the meantime, I'm absolutely loving your thoughts and theories, they're awesome to read although only one of you has gotten it right so far ;)
Anyway! Hope you enjoyed these last few chapters and I hope to have a new chapter up soon-ish. The next few updates should hopefully include:
-a gang meeting about Rachel's incident
-more clues about her mysterious vision
-aaaand a particular moment some of you have been asking me for, THE FIRST DATE ;)
Thankyou for reading guys and have a wonderful week!
Shy