little lion man.

❝ it doesn’t matter how many times you tell the joke ❞

                      ❝ its not going to be anymore funny than it was three minutes ago. ❞

                              ' so? i find it funny.

           by her father’s name, hazel wanted to be so much            more upset with leo valdez  than she already was.            not only had he asked her for her help to aid in his            suicide mission      (which, in essence, was really            what he did), but then — since the cure  obviously            worked immediately — he’d stayed away.  let them            all believe he’d died — let     hazel & frank believe            that they were the ones who   caused  his death by            agreeing to          that        stupid             plan of his.      hazel had    so many reasons      to hate leo;   and she was still      incredibly     upset with him &      his actions.    but she couldn’t.      hate him;      not fully.        she      could still scold & fuss, though.                           ’ you’re…such an ass sometimes.                             busy with what? something more                             important than lettin’ your friends                             know           "hey, i’m not dead" ? ‘       she was  shouting  and   weeping       at the same time,               so hazel       doubted the clarity of the message.       but she knew leo would get the gist.

                                             he knows it was stupid,             && possibly a                                              bit selfish,           but he had to stay away from                                              the camp,     at least for a while.     festus had                                              still been     slightly broken from      the whole                                              exploding nonsense,         && he and calypso                                              still had to get from ogygia to the mortal world.

            ' -- figuring   out  how  to   get  from  an  island  in   the               literal middle of nowhere to the coast is one reason. '

                                             gods. all that time away from camp he spent                                              wondering what his friends would do if -- no,                                              when he came back,         &&         here he is                                              experiencing it && gods he feels like such a                                              shitty                                                           friend.

                                 Percy is much too hungry to come up with                                anything half-way decent in the comedy                                department. So he settles for a hollow threat                                instead, still with his arms around his stomach.

                                                                               ”Don’t call me that, Flameo Hottman.”

                      &&   he stifles a laugh but barely stifles the grin                       that overcomes his      ( surprisingly handsome,                       if he does say so himself ) features. sure, percy                       was hungry && all but how could leo resist this                       perfect chance to poke        &&        prod at him?

    “E-Exploded? Geez, didn’t think that could cause       something that extreme, honestly…”         Muttering under her breath, the girl brings a hand to scratch         the back of her head in embarrassment. Mei had never         been all too clumsy as to actually cause something that huge         of a catastrophe, there were just little moments that had her         get a little ahead of herself, causing incidents such as this.      “Sheesh, er, if ya don’t mind me askin’ what was        that thing, anyway? I mean, it honestly… Didn’t        look like it could even do something like that…”

                   ' then maybe        you should've        thought it                      through before you picked it up all willy-nilly. '

                                              he's really kinda regretting snapping at her, but                                               if the sphere had done one of it's wacky numbers                                               and started attacking her, or exploded -- well, he'd                                               have mortal blood  on his hands, and that's not                                               something a demigod wants.

                 his hand holding hers is all the proof hazel  needed.                  through it, she can feel his pulse,       the heat of the                  fire that’s always burning beneath his skin.        he’s                  dirty and sooty, as always, and she’s pretty sure it’s                  that little bit of normalcy that pushes hazel over  the                  brink and sends a     sudden gush of tears down her                  cheeks. she manages to choke back the first sob —                  but              only               just                          barely.        ’ you’re such an idiot, valdez.          how can you do that? show          up like it’s nothing, like          comin’ back from the dead          is like comin’ home from a          vacation? ’                                anger. the second stage of grief.                                funny, how it shows up after leo                                shows up   —   very much alive.

                          &&    his facade crumbles away just as quickly                           as it was put up. hazel crying       --      it wasn't                           something he thought she'd do. but he's been                           around calypso the past few weeks,  &&    that                           obviously has to affect the     way he's seen his                           friends           in           his           mind's           eye. 

          ' it's a cruddy move,   i know. i feel like             schist for coming back this late.   i've             just been .  .  . really busy working on             something.   i had a promise to fulfill. '

Percy stumbled onto the deck of the Argo 2 and began grumbling, hands clutching his stomach.

      ” Tell me you have actual           meat somewhere? “

                               &&             leo just grins like he knows                                something percy doesn't           (which                                he probably does      ;;      he definitely                                knows that percy doesn't know any bit                                of spanish in the least,   which is a bit                                depressing,                   to say the least.)

                  it’s so surreal she has to force herself to keep breathing;                   hazel could hardly believe what her eyes were telling her                   was obviously true — that leo wasn’t dead, and he was                   here and alive and she and nico had been wrong.      but                   because her emotions were in such a chaotic mess and                   she should’ve been happy,   hazel could only stare and                   reach out to touch his face.          she needed that proof.  ’ —but…you died, leo… ‘                        her voice broke around the word ‘died.’                        this    whole thing    was unbelievable,                        even                      for                       leo.

                               &&  he forces himself to put on a facade  ;;  lips turn                                upwards in an almost obviously faked grin    &&   he                                manages to rock slightly on his heels, soot covered                                hands sneaking up    &&     snatching her own hand                                before it could reach is face.     gods of olympus,  he                                had missed her.     he missed all of his friends. and                                that makes his death even   more painful than it had                                been        than               when               it        happened.