Anti-Hero || Leo Valdez

33 - Pat Drops an Angst Bomb

By morning, Leo had been completely accepted by Lou Ellen and Cecil into the friend group. Via had known that her friends would like him, and Will and Nico were already friends with him, so she wasn't surprised.

However, there was something strange going on. Throughout the day, Will, Lou Ellen, and Cecil all seemed to have agreed to push Via and Leo together at any given chance. It started at breakfast when Via had originally intended to sit between Lou and Will like she had last night. But before she had a chance, Cecil dived for Will's previous spot and plopped himself down in it. Via expected Will to protest, but he casually sat down on the other side of the table next to Nico. Then Lou shoved Leo into her previous spot and sat down across from Via on Nico's other side.

Via stared at them in confusion, then frowned as she realized Nico had stolen her favorite spot.

Lucky bastard.

There was an awkward silence. Cecil couldn't stand awkward silences, so Via shouldn't have been surprised when he said, "SO!" in a loud voice, but she was startled and jumped like the rest of them. After allowing them a couple seconds to recover, Cecil continued, "Pretty chill schedule today, amirite?"

"Yeah," Leo agreed. "We're pretty much done welding Festus' parts back together, so really all that's left is to rebuild him. Should be done by the end of the day."

"Wow, you're gonna be able to do it in four to five hours?" Lou Ellen asked, impressed.

Leo frowned slightly, cocking his head. The gesture made him look like a puppy. "Five hours? Uh... last time I checked, there are, like, twelve hours until curfew."

"Yeah, and we have the dinner time of a freakin' nursing home," Cecil told him with a grin. "Which means if you're planning on skipping the campfire, you only have two hours after lunch and afternoon activities and two or three hours after dinner. Ergo, four to five hours."

"Did you say afternoon activities?" Leo said.

"Uh, yeah," Via said. "Did you forget about those? It's not the weekend anymore, so we have a schedule now."

"Huh." Leo took a thoughtful bite of Froot Loops. "Never really did those while I was here earlier."

"Probably because Chiron had you focus all your time and attention on the Argo II," Lou said. "Seeing as it was a huge quest to fulfil the next Great Prophecy, it was probably more important than arts and crafts and capture the flag."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"Wait," Nico said, pointing at Leo, "You're telling me that no one made you do capture the flag for eight months?"

"I mean, I did a couple when I could catch a break — "

"But no one made you."

"Uh —"

Will elbowed his boyfriend. "No one made you, either."

"You kept badgering me about it and telling me that Chiron said I had to participate and side with Apollo that one time!"

"That's because he was trying to find ways to hang out with you, Captain Oblivious," Lou said. "He had a big-ass crush on you, remember?"

"Oh, right," Nico muttered, looking down at his plate. Via saw between the gaps in his long bangs that his face was pink. She'd never seen Nico flustered, but the sight was pretty funny.

"Anyway," she spoke up, deciding to be merciful and taking the attention off him despite him stealing her spot. "Leo, now that you're not working on something for a big quest anymore, you have to participate in camp activities."