Found Family (HoO, Mortal AU)

PIPER MCLEAN

She and Annabeth waited at the airport. Piper begged Annabeth to come with her so she wouldn't be alone.
"Five minutes until the plane lands!" Piper said, checking the time.
"Are you and Leo going to be able to survive college without each other?"
"Nope."

• • •

Piper hugged Leo the second she saw him.
"Woah," Leo said, hugging her. "I didn't think you'd actually come to greet me."
"I never thought I'd say this but I missed you so, so much."
"I was only away for four and a half days," Leo paused. "But I missed you too. Now carry my suitcase."
"I never agreed to that!"
"Yes, you did." Leo gave her the suitcase. "Hey, Annabeth!"

Annabeth stopped hugging Will. "Hi! How was it?"
"Amazing! Wait, Grover?! HEY, GROVER!"
Piper turned around, seeing Grover with 5 other people. Grover turned at the same time, waving to them. She walked over with Annabeth, Leo and Will.
"Hi, Grover," Annabeth smiled. "I'm guessing Shel is going home today."
"Yeah," Grover said. "Hey, Shel, c'mere. These are my friends. Guys, this is my cousin, Shel."

Honestly, Piper didn't know Grover even had a cousin. They didn't look that alike. She had the same eyes and dark skin as Grover, but the similarities ended there. Shel was taller and her hair was shorter. She was like, insanely pretty.
"Hey," Shel smiled. "Annabeth, Leo, Will and Piper, right?"
"Mhm!" Piper said. "It's nice to meet you."
"Tell us embarrassing Grover childhood stories," Leo whispered.
"Let's not." Grover said.

"As much as I'd love to, my plane is leaving soon."
Piper looked at the plane timetable. The next departure was to Oklahoma.
"You live in Oklahoma?" She asked.
"Yeah," Shel said. "Just outside the city."
"Cool! My family is from Oklahoma. They lived in middle of nowhere, though."
Shel smiled again. She had a sort of lopsided smile, but it was cute. She was about to say something when her parents called her.

"Crap- I gotta go. Hopefully I'll see you all again-"
"See you in a few weeks," Grover said.
Shel ran off.
"A few weeks?" Leo asked. "She's coming back?"
"Nah, I'm going to Oklahoma for Hanukkah."
"Ohh," Will said. "Anyway, what's been happening while we were gone?"
"Not much," Annabeth shrugged.
"Jane got fired!" Piper said.
"Finally!" Leo yelled, causing a few people to look in their direction then look away.
"Other than that literally nothing. It's been boring. Oh, well, Jason is ignoring us more than ever. That includes Reyna." Grover said.

Leo didn't answer to that.
"What a surprise," Will muttered. "I didn't expect him to start ignoring Reyna, though."
"Oh well," Leo walked back over to the rest of Will's family. "He's a fucking asshole anyway."
Annabeth and Piper looked at each other, confused.
"Okay," Piper muttered. "C'mon, Leo. I'll take you home."
"Alright," Leo said, finally taking his suitcase back off Piper. "Thanks, Naomi. I'll see y'all later."

• • •

"So," Leo said, looking out the car window. "Jason just randomly started ignoring all of you?"
"I don't know, it started with ignoring the group chat. He'd still talk to Reyna and for some reason Annabeth. Then he just- stopped. Reyna has been trying to call him but he keeps making excuses. Why?"
He shrugged. "Just curious."

Piper frowned, keeping her eyes on the road. "So, what about that girl? Cal?"
"No matter what Will says, nothing happened. I don't like her like that. She's great, though."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes! Why don't you believe me?"
"I don't know," Piper said. "You just seem kinda- how do I say it? Heartbroken."
"What? Pfft. No one could ever break my heart."

She laughed. "That's true." She stopped the car outside the orphanage. "Are you okay to go in? I know you don't like the place."
"Hey, I gotta see my siblings. Even if I hate it there. Thanks for the lift, love you!"
"See ya later!"

Piper drove back home, radio up full blast. She got home, Tristan was there, which made her much happier. He'd never been at home so much until now. She was still afraid of him getting another job and not having enough time for her for a few months again. That's how she always felt as a child- his career was more important than her. She still felt like that sometimes, but hoped things could change.

Now that Jane was gone, maybe Tristan wouldn't be so busy. If they found a new assistant, which they majorly needed. Piper was okay with helping her dad out until they found one.

She walked inside, setting her car keys on the table.
"Hi, Dad," Piper said, before running upstairs to get ready for school the next day. She could only hope that Jason's sudden ignorance would be gone.

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Word Count: 796

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A/N: wee. Shortest chapter yet, I think. Mostly about Leo AGAIN *gasp* who would have known??? Anyway, I just wanted to post a chapter before going back to school (🙄, yes the day after Halloween) OH! And happy Halloween!!!