YOU ARE IN LOVE ↬ leo valdez x reader, book two

1. one look

The only good thing in my life was I had my own bed.
Sure, it belonged to my friend Annabeth who was in the pits of the earth, walking through literal hell, but why not look on the bright side? No more sleeping in close proximity to the dude who kissed me and ghosted me, which shouldn't even be possible.

After it happened, I confronted Piper. Her cheeks had gone red and she shook her head nervously.
"I- no, I didn't teach him the triangle method." she finally composed herself to speak the statement. I scowled and she burst into a squeal. "Okay, maybe I did. He actually did it?"
She called Hazel into her room too and they made me say everything. I rolled my eyes and explained what he did. Hazel fanned herself.

"Oh he likes you!" She grinned.
"It was so out of the blue though." I gulped. They gave each other knowing glances.
"It is so obvious," Piper admitted. "His eyes are practically hearts when you're around."
Hazel nodded. "I don't know how you never knew."
"Why though?"
They both shrugged and Piper sighed. "Boys are a mystery."

"Hard to port!" Nico yelled from the foremast of the flying ship. Back at the helm, Leo yanked the wheel. The Argo II veered left, its aerial oars slashing through the clouds like rows of knives. I gripped the doorway and watched as a huge rock passed so close overhead Hazel that it caused her hair to blow into her face.
The foremast collapsed—sail, spars, and Nico all crashing to the deck. The boulder, roughly the size of a pickup truck, tumbled off into the fog like it had important business elsewhere.
I was really confused on why I walked out to the sound of yelling and now I saw the most familiar sight for a while, which was sad.

"Nico!" Hazel scrambled over to him as Leo brought the ship level.
"I'm fine," Nico muttered, kicking folds of canvas off his legs. She helped him up, and they stumbled to the bow.
"Stupid rock gods!" Leo yelled from the helm. "That's the third time I've had to replace that mast! You think they grow on trees?"

Nico frowned. "Masts are from trees."
"That's not the point!" Leo snatched up one of his controls, rigged from a Nintendo Wii stick, and spun it in a circle. A few feet away, a trapdoor opened in the deck. A Celestial bronze cannon rose. It discharged into the sky, spraying a dozen metal spheres that trailed green fire. It was the loudest thing on this planet, making my eardrums feel like they were being clawed. The spheres grew spikes in midair, like helicopter blades, and hurtled away into the fog. A moment later, a series of explosions crackled across the mountains afar, followed by the outraged roars of mountain gods.

"Ha!" Leo yelled. Another boulder whistled through the air off to their starboard side.
Nico yelled, "Get us out of here!"
Leo muttered some unflattering comments about numina, but he turned the wheel.
"No wonder they hate us." I murmured as I slid my fingers along the wooden railings, trying to avoid the creaks in the stairs.
The engines hummed. Magical rigging lashed itself tight, and the ship tacked to port. The Argo II picked up speed, retreating northwest, as we'd been doing for the past two days. Below us, morning sunlight illuminated the Italian countryside—rolling green hills and golden fields not too different from those in Northern California.

"Well, that was sucktastic," Leo said. "Should I wake the others?" They deserved to stay asleep, since they took the night shift, so I wasn't going to be the one to say yes. I pursed my lips and glanced at Hazel who seemed to be considering it. After a moment of thought, she shook her head.

"They need rest," she said. "We'll have to figure out another way on our own." "Huh." Leo scowled at his monitor. In his tattered work shirt and grease splattered jeans, he looked like he'd just lost a wrestling match with a locomotive. Ever since Percy and Annabeth had fallen into Tartarus, Leo had been working almost nonstop. He'd been acting angrier and even more driven than usual. It was really worrying. Not that I had been all that grateful for his past personality (the not taking things too seriously and constantly cracking jokes). But at least then it was enjoyable to be around him. Now I was just afraid he'd scold me because of my inadequate mechanical skills.