#valdare

She was at the top of the cliff, admiring the sky and its colors, paintbrush in hand, and a look of concentration on her face. Leo was there too, smiling but empty handed.

He was looking at her. She knew it. He loved to do that. That must have been what attracted her to him first : how he looked at her like a work of art, rather than the crazy artist seemingly on the verge of killing everyone in the room, if only with terrifying prophecies or a blue hairbrush.

And all it took to ruin this beautiful moment was one off comment.

"Orange is such a pretty color. I can't believe no god claimed it as their trademark."

That in itself was okay. But she never should have continued.

"Well, that way I can make it mine."

The rest of the conversation was blurry but I was sure it was stupid.

All I remembered was that it ended with a handshake and a stolen kiss. And after that started an entire week of handling his stunts.

Gods know I tried to let it slide. I tried keeping it low. But that's impossible. Not with Leo.

And slowly but surely, the silence of peace turned into a silence before the storm. And everyone at camp could feel it.

Some tried to reason with us : "But colors belong to everyone."

"Orange suits you both."

"Maybe try different shades of it."

"...You do realize that everyone in CHB wears orange ?"

They were missing the point !

It's not about the color. It's not about them. It's not even about us arguing because there was no argument !

Actually we love each other even more during stupid squabbles like this.

No. It's about rendering the person we loved to listen to the most in this world speechless.

And by the end of the week, he was. Not just him, but the whole camp.

Had I thought this through ? Yes. Had I realized the terrible consequences it could have ? Yes. Did I still value the joy of imagining Leo's happy and proud smile seeing my work above them ? Also yes.

And he did not disappoint. The spark in his eyes and the way his lips curved in a clear way to hold his laughter back was enough to let mine slide. He soon followed my lead.

So here I was, running across Camp, Leo on my toes, both using the chaos to hide ourselves as much as possible. But surely running in the opposite direction of everyone must have attracted the attention of one or two campers. Especially when it was 'Dare & Valdez' doing so.

I used to wonder why campers put it in that order. As if I was the worst troublemaker of the pair. But running away from the Big House and a Dionysus covered in orange paint, I think I started to understand.

Leo was holding onto my hand as if his life depended on it. Which honestly probably did trusting the God of wine's cries of outrage.

Coming from him who never used another voice than one full of tiredness and disinterest, yes, it was meant to be scary.

But as we were finally away enough to not hear or see any form of life, Leo suddenly took the lead to guide us toward the woods.

If I didn't trust him that much, I would have planted my heels in the ground to insist on leading them where I first intended, my cave. I was more than strong enough to do so. But I complied, quickly understanding his plan.

***

"We should be safe here." He said as he activated the last lock on the massive door. "You truly believe what you're saying ?" "Not in the slightest, babe."

The bunker 9 was an obvious place for us to hide in, but no one would ever be able to get into it before Leo said so. So it would do for now.

We were in complete darkness before he enlightened his hand, letting me exclusive view on his proud grin, pointy ears, soft eyes and shiny curls.

How long was it since the last time I drew him ? Too long. I had to get back to it quick.

I was so entranced with my idea that I barely noticed his smugness as he was finding the interruptor right before light burst into the whole bunker.

The cute bastard. I couldn't help but think when all the usually white and yellow light turned out to be of a soft and not as blinding orange.

"Nice attempt at overstepping me. I think it easily deserves a second place." I wasn't about to let him think he won even for a second.

"The winner had to prove orange was theirs. My bunker. My orange light bulbs. My color."

The artist in me overtook the other parts of my brain once more at his words. He does look even better bathed in this colored light.

I tried to focus on something, else, looking around as if I didn't already know everything about this place that I had drawn so many times. But when I brought my eyes back on him, I was surprised to see him look at me, though more my whole me, rather than my eyes or even face.

And as I studied his look for a second, I knew he must have seen it around me too, this aura.

And with one last shared look, everything was said. Yes. Orange was our color. Orange was love's true color.

Without another word I went to grab the snacks Leo always put in the top drawer while I heard him lay a blanket down and turn the cracked TV on.

"Splatoon ?" Bless Hephaestus and Esperanza Valdez for bringing to this world the first demigod ever capable of allowing us access to video games.

"I'm gonna kick you ass." "And I'm gonna paint yours."

And with that, we both sat down, cuddling, as if dozens of kids with superpowers weren't after us. Who cares ? She just had to pretend a prophecy told her to do so. That wouldn't be the first time.

Yes it was stupid. Everyone knew that and the two of them even more. But they didn't care. They loved being stupid. They missed being stupid. And thanks the gods who put them in this hardship of a life, they also gave them each other. Making sure the orange fire and the orange tempest would never be apart.