madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-scrawny mf with a cool hair style-

Teqi did not like the plan. At all. Of course, she couldn't say that though, but the guy she liked was having a makeover while she was trying really hard to still be angry with him. It was anger or crying, so she just pretended to be stabbing him in her head. It didn't work. She still wanted to kiss him. She stood to the side eating a tin of breath mints while Hazel drew skulls on Leo's arms and wrote hot stuff in thick black marker.

"Don't put them on, you'll get big circles on your forehead." Teqi told him, her teeth nearly cracking on the mints, but she hadn't eaten anything since half a piece of garlic bread for lunch, so they were all she had.

Leo grumbled about her being 'bossy' but he left the goggles around his neck. He rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, Teqi was glad he didn't have any muscles, because otherwise she wouldn't be able to pull her eyes away.

Leo reached for a tub of machine oil, and tried to rub it in his hair. Teqi slapped it out of his hands, "We're going for hot, not Professor Snape. I still don't know why you get to do this, gender stereotypes..."

Hazel shrugged, handing the black marker back, "You both can, but what in the world are you thinking?" She sounded pretty flustered when Leo flexed his non-existent muscles. "I try not to think," Leo admitted. "It interferes with being nuts. Just concentrate on moving that Celestial bronze. Echo, you ready?"

"Ready," she said.

Leo looked at Teqi cautiously, and she rolled her eyes, but followed him as he strutted back toward the pond. "Leo is the coolest!" he shouted, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Leo is the coolest!" Echo shouted back, following behind them and getting lost in the boulders.

"Yeah, baby, check me out!"

"Check me out!" Echo said.

"Make way for the king!"

"The king!"

"Narcissus is weak!"

"Weak!"

"Also, he's an asshole!"

The crowd of nymphs scattered in surprise. Leo shooed them away as if they were bothering him. "No autographs, girls. I know you want some Leo time, but I'm way too cool. You better just hang around that ugly dweeb Narcissus. He's lame!"

"Lame!" Echo said with enthusiasm, Teqi copying her.

The nymphs muttered angrily, jostling to see who the people insulting Narcissus.

"What are you talking about?" one demanded, marching forward.

"You're lame," said another, a pretty pathetic comeback, but at least she was sticking up for herself.

Leo had the nymphs' attention, if only because they were stunned; but Narcissus was still fixed on his own reflection. They would have to get him to look up for more than just second. Teqi started pulling at the sleeves on her thin hoodie.

"You know how ugly Narcissus is?" Leo asked the crowd, looking at his nails, which were bitten down so far there wasn't any white left on them. "He's so ugly, when he was born his mama thought he was a backward centaur—with a horse butt for a face."

Some of the nymphs gasped. Narcissus frowned, as though he was vaguely aware of a gnat buzzing around his head.

"You know why his bow has cobwebs?" Leo continued, licking his lips. "He uses it to hunt for dates, but he can't find one!"