nick ♱⃓

You went to school at New Rome near Camp Jupiter, and Leo stayed at Camp Half-blood by himself.

Everything was good between you two till it was the week you left. Leo was a mess—A heartbroken mess. He cried, begged, and pleaded with you to not go off to New Rome, or at least not without him, but you had to do what was best for you.

So you left.

Then, when fall hit a year later, you came back. Leo was more than pleased.

New Rome was a lonely place. Sure, there were plenty of demigods surrounding you in all classes and just… everywhere. But none of them were Leo.

So, you two decided to rekindle an old flame. Leo always did have a thing for fire, anyways.

You were lying in bed—Leo’s bed, inside the Hephaestus cabin. All of his siblings were already out, despite how early it was.

How much of a pain it would be, for you to leave the warmest bed you’ve ever known.

Leo nuzzled into your neck. You had tried to get up, moving the blanket off of you and more on to him, but Leo just wrapped his arms around you tighter. He was squeezing your waist so, so tightly.

“Mmph, nooo… just stay here.” Leo whined. So he was awake.

And you listened. How could you not? with that sweet, cinnamon-y smell mixed with the smell of just boy that Leo carried, you just couldn’t get up.

“You saying ‘five more minutes,’ will turn into five hours, Valdez.” you told him. He just shrugged. “What’s the point of sleeping in anyway?”

Leo hummed, not giving you a verbal reply.

The quiet wasn’t good on your mind, not in this setting. The less Leo talked, the more your thoughts consumed you—all you could think about was how the only heart you were breaking by doing this was your own. Sleeping in half the day, just for what—old times sake?

“Leo..” You sighed, bringing a hand up to wipe your eyes. “This is a bad idea. this whole thing was a horrible idea.”

He knew you were right, and he hated that.

“Shut up,” That was all Leo said. ‘Shut up.’ You knew that he didn’t like thinking about it either—about how all of this was temporary, how none of it would truly mean anything in the end.

Leo sat up in bed, shaking his head to get the curls out of his face. You used to brush the curls out of his face for him.

“You’re cold.” He was right, considering you had given him the blanket from when you tried to get up. "

You're cold," Leo murmured again, like it was an argument, like he could fix everything just by saying it enough.

He shifted, tugging the blanket higher around you shoulders and curling into you tighter, offering every bit of warmth he had. his palm pressed gently against your back—warm and rough.

"Don't care if this is temporary," he whispered. "It still means something."

And you couldn’t argue with that. You moved your head to the side, allowing Leo to muzzle into your neck.

Jason. fucking. Grace. The son of Jupiter.

You knew your crush on him wasn’t going to go anywhere. After all, water and electricity and/or lighting don’t mix very well. But you simply couldn’t help yourself.

The way he was just so kind to his friends, he’s responsible (—Which is hard to find in a teenage boy.,) His eyes, his blond hair, his smile… and, oh, you can't forget that little scar on his lips.

Well, going back to the Camp activity of canoeing, here you were at the bottom of the Camp Half-blood lake, talking to some other Naiads. Until the shadow of a canoe slowly moved around the lake before settling right above you and your friends. How annoying.

Except what you didn’t know was that your admiring-from-a-far-impossible-to-get crush was with two of his friends, sitting on the canoe that was casting the shadow above you and your fellow Naiads.

Then the canoe began to shake and tilt, causing ripples in the water, disrupting the usually calm lake. Oh boy. Then the canoe flipped completely over, sending three unsuspecting demigods— Leo Valdez, Piper Mclean, and Jason Grace—over the edge of it and into the lake.

Oh, gods, one of them was jason.

What bad timing! you didn’t even have your hair done or anything! Oh… and in the midst of him panicking he locked eyes with you. Something you’d never understand is how a boy, a boy like him, could be so perfect. You quickly looked away from his gaze.

Then you looked back at him, remembering that he could very well be drowning. And by how he looked, you assumed that he in fact was drowning—Or at least was coming close to drowning. You just had to save him, this could be your only chance to communicate with him! Oh, and the fact that he could die.

You tried your best to scoop him in your arms and swim him up to the surface, but considering he was a pretty big guy for being what, fifteen, sixteen years old? You whip your head around, causing the water to make little ripples, towards the other few Naiads in the lake, silently signaling for their help with bringing him to the surface.

Thankfully, the Naiads obliged and swam over to help you lift Jason to the grass, at least to the best of their abilities. As you all resurface, Jason gasping for air, he looks directly at you for a moment, then he snapped his gaze away.

“Uhh.. Thanks,” He said breathlessly.

You can feel your face reddening at his gratitude. You don’t think you have ever swam back to the bottom of the lake so fast before this very moment.

Later on in the day—Night, actually. You were at the top of the lake by yourself, elbows resting on the grass as the rest of your body other than your upper torso was submerged in the lake, your head in your hands. What were you thinking about? Well, the interaction with Jason, of course!

And then like magic, you heard the footsteps that matched his. Did he really sneak off from the campfire to come over to the lake?! Oh yes, yes he did.

“Hey, uh…” You almost immediately recognized his voice. “Thanks for saving me earlier.” Jason sounded slightly embarrassed. You nodded in reply. “I um, accidentally flipped the canoe.” Your eyes widened slightly in amusement, he even got a little laugh out of you.

“Really?” You reply back.

“Yeah, i’m not to sure how.”