Found Family (HoO, Mortal AU)

LEO VALDEZ

A/N: yes we be getting a lot of Leo content lately but shush. I seriously need to give Frank and Grover more time ☹️‼️ Honestly it's because they get so little time in the books (Grover deserved better. Forever mad) so their personalities isn't fully developed (I still love their personalities. May or may not kin both of them). So I don't wanna like make them seem out of character, y'know? Anyway,

[LEO VALDEZ]

He spent his last evening in Texas with Cal. It was already dark, seeing it was winter. The sky was filled with stars. Piper would've named every single one. She loved stargazing. She'd tell him the Cherokee stories behind them.

Cal didn't have such an interest. Instead of the stars, she was looking at all the flowers and plants, telling Leo about them. They were in the garden of the Waystation. Everything had been planted by Emmie and Cal. Everything had been made by Jo and Georgina, who both seemed like pretty good mechanics.

"Oh-" Cal saw something wrong with the garden, though it looked completely perfect to Leo. "Stay here. I'll be back in a second-"
She ran off inside, returning only minutes later with pliers. She knelt on the soil- probably getting her jeans dirty. Piper would've had a heart attack.
Leo watched as she cut a weed or something, before standing up.

"Woah, those pliers are way too dull," Leo said.
"You're too dull," Cal rolled her eyes.
"No, seriously. That's dangerous- come on. I'm sharpening these for you before you hurt yourself."
"Really? You're annoying."
"You don't really think that," Leo walked to the side of the Waystation, which was practically Jo's workshop.

Cal crossed her arms, watching Leo as he sharpened the tool- not too much. She could also hurt herself if they were too sharp. In less than two minutes, he handed them back to her.
"Uhm, thanks," she said.
"Hey, wait here a minute," Leo said, picking up more tools. Surely Jo wouldn't mind.

Cal started humming quietly as Leo worked. He could still feel her eyes on him. When he was finished, he handed it to her.
"A rake?" she asked.
"Yeah. Earlier you tried using the big one and almost killed half your plants. So I made you a small one."
"I didn't almost kill them!"
"Well, it could happen. Now you can think of me every time you have to rake leaves." Leo joked.

Cal frowned. "You're leaving tomorrow morning."
"Yeah?"
"Will you come back to Texas?"
"Oh, hell yeah. I can't just leave y'all here." Leo grinned. Cal just watched him for a moment. "Uhm."
"There's someone back home, isn't there?" she asked.
"What?"
"Let's go for a walk."

• • •

Leo had been on so many walks with Cal, he was getting used to the place.
"What did you mean?" he asked.
"There's another girl. Back in New York."
"What? Oh. Oh. Wait, another?"
She shrugged. "Never mind. You have a girlfriend who's waiting for you to come home, don't you?"
"Eh, no. Why?"
"Well, there's someone. Someone you like."
"I wouldn't say like- wait. You do not need to hear about my life story. Why?"

The second he said it, it hit him like a ton of bricks.
"Oh," Leo said. "Uhm, well, there's plenty of people on Team Leo."
"Excuse me?"
"Y'know. Team Leo. The best team there is," he said, trying to joke.
"You're insufferable," Cal sighed. "So, who is the girl you like but don't like."
"It's a long story."
"I love stories."

Leo sat down at the park bench with her. The fact that someone so beautiful could even think of having a crush on him made his mind explode. He was short and scrawny. Cal, one of the most beautiful people Leo had ever seen, liked him. But she wasn't.. What? She wasn't Jason.

"Uhm, well, he's not a girl. Oh, by the way, I'm pansexual."
"Oh- okay."
"Wait- just, please don't tell Will. Or anyone. This is top secret info I'm trusting you with." Leo said.
Cal smiled. "Okay. Wait. Please tell me it isn't Will you've fallen for?"
He burst out laughing. "I love Will but absolutely not. He likes Nico anyway. Everyone knows it. He thinks he's being slick. Kayla and Austin even figured it out and they don't know who Nico is."