To Riordanlover16- I love her friends too! XD I'm off today, I will be prepping more chapters!
Jessica came to get them. The boys had settled their debate, as she had said. Louisa rolled her eyes at this and followed her mother out. Leo wasn't far behind, moving slowly and carefully. Bradley had fallen asleep on him, his little hands gripping Leo's shirt. Leo didn't have the heart to make him let go, so resigned himself to his fate instead.
He heard Mikey inhale sharply as he came out, looking up to see him grab Connor by the arm and yank him closer. He whispered behind his hand into Connor's ear, nodding madly when done. Louisa marched over and shooed them apart.
"Stop it," she warned. "You ain't nothin' but trouble."
"Says you," Connor shot back smoothly. "I think you hold the record."
"Yeah, well, that's different."
"Is it now?" Louisa nodded resolutely. Connor laced his fingers on his stomach, humming in thought. Louisa crossed her arms and stared down at him. "We reached a conclusion," Connor said boldly. Leo noticed he was being watched, looking left to see Dylan eyeballing him. He stuck his tongue out, more to make himself feel better than anything else, and Dylan huffed a laugh, the corner of his mouth tipping up.
Connor nodded solemnly. Louisa tapped her foot twice. "We like Leo," Connor announced. "We won't pick on him."
"Thanks," Louisa deadpanned.
"Won't pick on me?" Leo echoed. Mikey sprung up next to him, grinning impishly. "You guys don't make any sense."
"It's a need-to-know basis," Mikey remarked. He tipped his head, listening to Bradley's soft snores. He noticed the hands clinging to Leo's shirt, wrinkling his nose. "You've stolen my nibling."
"I think he stole me."
"Mmph. Well, I suppose it helps in a way."
"It does?"
"Yes. I'm stealing Lou for a girls' night."
"You are?"
"You are?" Louisa asked at the same time. "Nah, I'm… I'm good."
"Mm-mm." Mikey shook his head. "You need a girls' night." Louisa grimaced. Leo started to ask something, Mikey pre-empting him. "Gender is a manmade construct. I can and will call a girls' night when I see fit, especially," he stressed, frowning at Louisa, "as I've got everyone else on board."
"What?"
"Yep. Annabeth, Piper, Hazel, Reyna. I did try and get Lizzie, but she's not in the country and I did try and get Estelle as well, but it's a school night, so…" He shrugged. Louisa stared at him. She glanced at Leo, at Bradley, then at her mom. Jessica smiled.
"You need a night off, Lou. Go and have some fun. We can watch the mite for tonight."
"But—"
"Do as you're told," Jessica warned. Leo blinked. Louisa had definitely learnt most if not all of her scariness from this woman. Louisa hesitated. Jessica stared at her, silently daring her to challenge her. Louisa wisely stayed quiet.
Storm moved up to her rider, bobbing her head. She huffed air in Louisa's face, nudged her shoulder with her nose. Louisa reached up, patting the mare's neck.
Mikey bounced over, looping their arms.
"No way out of it," he beamed. "It's all booked, all planned, everyone's ready."
"What's all booked? What's all planned?"
"Ah ah! You'll have to wait and see!"
"But Bradley—"
"Will be fine. Dylan and Connor are staying here, but we all know no-one messes with Jessica and gets away with it."
"I'll stay too," Leo offered, seeing her hesitate more. He didn't feel he had much choice in the matter, captured by Bradley's impossibly small hands for the foreseeable future. "Doesn't hurt to have a demigod on board," he added quickly as her three friends grinned at him in a smug, knowing way.
"Plus, Harvey is coming back," Jessica added. "Two demigods. Leo's security and Harvey's magic. Bradley will be perfectly safe, Lou, I promise. Not to mention," she unclasped the charm from her necklace and swung her bat demonstratively, "this."
"Pack a bag, Lou-Lou!" Mikey cackled delightedly. "Tis girls' night!" He hauled her away, in one of his excited tirades and not letting her get a word in edgeways.
Leo looked round at movement. Dylan and Connor were standing, both watching him. Dylan cracked his knuckles. Connor motioned to him and Dylan folded his arms instead.
"Hi," Leo said uncertainly. "Uh… guess I'm here for the night."
"Good," Dylan said. "You're on diaper duty."
Mikey was a whirlwind, sweeping Louisa and a bag for the night out, blowing kisses to the others. Jessica watched from the window, seeing him bundle her into Annabeth's car. Storm was at her shoulder, watching as well. She snuffled Jessica's face. The pegasus had promised to stay in for the night and, once the car pulled away, she moved away.
"Why are you following me?" Leo asked.
"She's not following you," Jessica said. "She's following the baby." Storm whickered in agreement. Bradley had woken up and Leo was pacing with him now, easing him back to sleep. Storm was at his heels, standing still when he turned and then followed him again. Leo tested this and walked around the living room, circling the seating. She quickened her pace, snorting in warning.
"Interesting," he said. He stopped and looked back. Storm glared at him defiantly. Leo held the baby out and she sniffed the blankets, ear flicking. Content, she nodded her head in a clear sign— keep walking.
Leo was a clever man and obeyed.
He was aware Dylan and Connor were watching him carefully, though they pulled back a bit when he handed Bradley over to Jessica. They were still doing so when Harvey arrived about an hour later. A tall man, tan, a bit on the skinny side. He had messy dark hair and deep brown eyes behind black square glasses. He definitely looked like a teacher to Leo, a smart white shirt under a knitted blue jumper, and black smart trousers. It didn't help that the boys greeted him as 'Mr. Becks'.
"I haven't taught you for more than a decade. Call me Harvey."
"That's weird though."
"Mikey calls me Harvey."
"He's weird though."
"Yeah, I can't… can't argue with that. Who's this?"
"Leo, sir." Leo stuck his hand out. "Leo Valdez."
"Ah. I've heard of you. Hephaestus's son, right?" Leo nodded and Harvey grinned, shaking his hand enthusiastically, oblivious to the machinery grease. "I heard all about that ship you built. Wish I could have seen it. Is it true you died? The physician's cure, is it true?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Marvellous!" Harvey beamed at him, adjusting his glasses for a closer look. He was still shaking Leo's hand. "Did your ship really turn into a dragon?"
"Yeah, he's… he's that suitcase over there. He's sleeping."
"Harv, give him his hand back." That was Jessica, laughing. Harvey looked down, laughing as well before freeing Leo. "Sorry, Leo. The Seven have been a big fascination of his, but he's only really met Percy and Annabeth."
"You're a fire-user, aren't you?"
"Yes."
"Can I see?" Leo dutifully set his hand on fire. Harvey looked as if all his Christmases had come at once. "A rare gift!" Leo extinguished his hand, smiling uncertainly. A gift. A curse. He didn't say anything, not wanting to burst this man's bubble. "I'm a son of Hecate," Harvey told him. "I'm rather good at magic, if I do say so myself. Jessica told me you're working with some new technology, something that can see through the Mist?"
"And stuff that can make it too," Jessica added. "Leo, you'd better show him before his head explodes."
"Yeah, sure. Uh, this way."
Harvey had as many questions for him as Connor did, but all of them were magic-based rather than technology-based. Leo did his best to answer, trying to call on what Hazel had told him about the Mist. He settled with explaining his blueprints to Harvey instead, pulling them from his toolbelt. Hazel had been kind enough to annotate his work as well, leaving reminders for him about the Mist.
"Genius!" Harvey beamed. "Oh, this is genius!"
"Oh, watch out!" Dylan called. "Leo's going to get a gold star, isn't he, sir?"
"I won't say no to a gold star," Leo admitted. "Don't think I ever got one."
Harvey gave him a whole sheet of gold stars at that, though where he produced them from, Leo couldn't say.
With Harvey's help, Leo took Festus out and up to the roof. The suitcase unfolded easily and neatly, growing and expanding beyond what it would appear to. With much clicking and clanking, the dragon grew before them. His ruby eyes lit up and he whirred in greeting, lowering his head to nudge Leo. Harvey stared up at him, mouth open, eyes shining.
With a nod from Leo, he ran his hands over the dragon's plating. He examined the wings, the claws, the length of the tail. Festus clicked at Leo, head tilted questioningly.
"This is Harvey," Leo said. "Jessica's boyfriend. Son of Hecate and, uh, apparently a big fan."
Of me?
"Of us, I think, buddy."
I like him.
"You like the attention."
That too.
They were taking turns sleeping that night, always two of them on watch at any given moment. Bradley was in his crib with Storm sleeping next to it. Leo had left Festus on the roof, the dragon taking his guard duty very seriously. He wanted to impress Harvey even more and get one of those gold stars for himself, so he took his new role very seriously. Leo hoped the neighbours would see him as a particularly large pigeon and not question why said pigeon blew flames at anything that moved.
Leo was on first watch with Connor. Dylan and Harvey would take over and then Leo and Jessica, so that there was always a demigod in the pair. Leo was keeping a close eye on his security measures, having linked it all to a portable tablet. He had installed most of the cameras on his plan, including one in Bradley's crib. This was the one he kept coming back to, making sure the infant still slept. He could see Storm in the background, the shuffle of her wings and the occasional lift of her head as she checked on the baby herself.
He could feel Connor's gaze on the top of his head. He ignored it for as long as he could, flicking through the camera cycle a few more times before relenting. He looked up.
"What?"
"Just keeping an eye out."
"On me?"
"Hmm."
"I thought you agreed not to pick on me?"
"I'm not picking. I'm observing."
"Is this what you were all talking about earlier? Are you observing me?"
"Yes." Leo had to hand it to him; Connor was honest, blunt and simply so. His gaze was still sharp with intelligence, studying Leo like he was a most intriguing specimen under a microscope. Leo made a mental note to introduce him to Annabeth. "You want to know why, don't you?"
"I'm very confused by you three, so yes."
"Nothing to be confused about," Connor shrugged a shoulder. "Essentially we're Lou's standards."
"What?"
"Well, if you don't meet our standards, you certainly won't meet Lou's."
"Standards," Leo repeated cautiously. "As in…"
"Mikey is crazy. No question about it, he's completely off his rocker. But he knows what he's talking about." Leo still wasn't following, so he kept quiet, hoping more would be revealed. Connor looked him over again before continuing. "Mikey took one look at you and he knew. You love Lou, don't you?"
Leo felt his face flame up, was sure his hair had too. Connor kept his expression neutral, attention unwavering. "It's OK," Connor assured. "Lou loves you too. She just can't admit that to herself right now." Leo's mind span and he had to take a moment, rubbing at his eyes.
"What?" he said. "What do you mean? Is this… a joke?"
"No, no joke. Lou's just… obviously with everything she's been through, she's… shutting herself away. We know our Lou, we know when she's hurting." Connor, seeing Leo didn't believe him, smiled simply. "Lou's like our sister. We've known each other since forever, grew up together. She told us about the demigod stuff early on and we've been through a lot together. So, we know what she needs when she gets bad, when everything gets bad."
"And things are bad," Leo mumbled. "Really bad."
"Mm. I don't know everything. Do you?"
"I know…" Leo hesitated. "Not a lot, but… the basics, I guess."
"Mm-hm. She dotes on Bradley, I can see that much. But…"
"She shouldn't have had to go through that. No-one should."
"No," Connor agreed. "If she wants to talk about it with us, she will. When she's ready, if she's ready. That's her decision. We're just here to remind her she's safe now. We're family and we stick together and…" Connor fixed him with that sharp steely look. "And she wants you to be a part of it."
"How—?"
"I've spent years learning to understand Lou when she doesn't make any sense. I can read her quite well."
"So, why—?"
"Why you?"
"Well, no. Yeah. I mean… I'm still really confused, I'm sorry."
"Mikey knew you immediately. Lou talks to him more than us and he's always been very good at helping her understand her emotions. He knows how she feels, even if she's not there yet herself, and he knows how you feel. He's good at reading people like that. Dylan," Connor pressed on before Leo could say anything, "tends to take a more… relaxed approach. He watches from afar. Makes the odd comment, the odd jibe. He was watching you, watching to see what you were like. You get on well with Jessica, you get on well with Storm and you're getting on rather well with Bradley. You're not just focusing on Lou. You're accepting all aspects of her life."
"Are you guys, like, psychologists or something?"
"No. Just good friends."
"So, this what you were all whispering about earlier?"
"Yes."
"What about you then? What's your… input?"
"You're clever. Loyal. Brave. Did you really die?"
"Yeah, it… hurt."
"You were the first one to get past Jessica when Lou got back. Even Mikey couldn't do it. And you're still here. Your dragon is on the roof, your dragon."
"Festus."
"Which, Harvey says, means 'happy'."
"Happy the dragon. It's a good name."
"And you're doing all this work around the place as well. You didn't press Lou for details. You accepted she was hurt and scared and had a newborn to look after and you got to work."
"Is that why you were asking so many questions?"
"Partly. I was genuinely interested in what you were doing and if you still want me to help I will." Connor leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Leo, answer me something. Honestly."
"OK." Leo figured Connor would know regardless, so good these mortals were at reading him. They were a sneaky clever bunch, strangely attuned to the goings-on. He was still confused, but this conversation was… giving him hope? A small, tiny kindling of something hopeful, something… almost dreamlike in quality.
Surreal though. He felt spied on. Connor's sharp eyes made him feel like he was being dissected. He wondered if Louisa had also been picked apart under those eyes.
"Leo," Connor said, drawing his attention back in. "Why Lou?"
Leo blinked.
Connor stared him down. "Honestly, Leo. Don't lie to me." Leo shook his head; he wouldn't. "So, why Lou?"
"Why not Lou?"
"What do you mean?"
What did he mean?
"It's always been Lou." His mouth spoke before his brain realised. He sat a moment, thinking. "It has always been Lou."
Connor stared at him a minute longer, expression unreadable. Leo kept his mouth shut, staring back. Was he supposed to say something else?
After a tense, long while, Connor sat back. He folded his arms.
"OK," he said. Leo frowned.
"OK?"
"OK."
"I don't understand."
Connor smiled a slow, wide grin.
"You asked what my input was. Well, my input is more straightforward. Mikey covers the emotional aspect; Dylan covers the wider aspect and I cover… you."
"I'm an aspect?"
"Yes."
"You observe and then… ask the aspect?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
"I want to see what's under the surface. Don't look so worried, Leo. We're all in agreement."
"For what?"
"You've met our standards."
"Right?"
"Which means you've met Lou's standards as well. Or… will do. One day. She needs time." Leo nodded. Connor itched his neck. "Don't do anything different. She needs you exactly as you are. Also, Dylan will set you on fire if you upset her."
"I… can't burn."
"He'll find a way."
"I will." Leo startled. Dylan stood behind him, balancing a double-headed axe in his hands. He had found one of the weapon caches. "Consider yourself warned, Tinkerbell. Lou deserves only the best and we will make sure she gets it."
Leo considered the axe. He considered the young man holding it.
"Tinkerbell?"
Dylan's grip tightened on the weapon, the leather wrap creaking under his fingers. He bared his teeth in a part-grin, part-snarl.
"Don't make me hurt you."
Leo looked over at Connor. Connor sat with his fingers steepled beneath his chin. He smiled grimly when Leo caught his eye, tipping his chin up a fraction.
"I wouldn't recommend it. He's quite deft with an axe."