madness and ecstasy // leo valdez

-oh yeah, it's all coming together (insert kronk face)-

last chapter ! ! !

and quick note, the next chapter which is the whole aesthetic bit for the next book will be published on Saturday because I have lots of drawing to do for it 🫣

<3

"Look," Will turned to Leo. "We gotta wait a bit or this will all hurt her head, so I'll IM tomorrow and see what the story is. Hopefully."

"Hopefully?"

Will's expression wavered. Maybe it did physically as well, but the rainbow mist around his profile shimmered and he cursed. "It's... it's pretty bad over here, but we're holding up. The romans haven't attacked yet, so we're building defences. Racheal's trying to get a truce, but Reyna's left, she should get to you guys pretty soon, so there's no one to stop that noodle looking boy."

"Hazel's on lookout now," Leo said. "For when Reyna arrives."

Will nodded. "I-

He rolled his eyes and turned away, the interaction obviously fading for him first, and then he was gone, leaving wobbly air and a sleepy looking Teqi.

Leo held his breath. He didn't need to, she most likely wouldn't flinch if he began screaming, but he was scared. Not of Teqi, she wouldn't hurt him, at least not on purpose [he couldn't vouch for how emotionally scarred he would be if she decided she didn't care to remember him], but mainly of what was going to happen next.

She sat for a moment, staring out the porthole at the dusty sky, the remnants of the sunset gone, and now it was just a not light not dark sort of blue. She probably wasn't seeing it.

"Are you okay?"

Leo yelled at himself internally, but he quickly realised he'd have to reschedule it because Teqi turned around squinting at him through her eye not hidden by leather. He'd missed the purple, even if there wasn't a lot behind it right now.

Her gaze slid past him into nothing.

Leo smiled, "it's okay."

Teqi's knuckles turned white, her hands shaking. It wasn't the fearful kind; it was more like she'd gotten arthritis in Tartarus or something of the sort.

Leo wanted to wrap her in his arms and cry, but he settled for sitting beside her quietly instead. She was still wearing his oversized army jacket, but he doubted she realised she even had a body to wear one right now.

"You don't have to do anything," he reassured her. Just in case she was listening. A few tears dribbled down her laser cut cheek. "Everyone's gone now."

She looked down at the imprint of her body that had made an odd-shaped mould in the duvet, and then to the whale shark teddy she'd brought back from that horrid trip to the aquarium.

Leo had nearly lost her then. She'd been taken, driven away all chained up and powerless, and he thought about that every time he saw the shark.

But he also thought about how she'd ran straight to him, offering up her handcuffs for him to break because she trusted him with that, bringing along a present because he'd mentioned liking whale sharks exactly once, about seven months ago.

Then Teqi curled back into her spot, her eye fluttering shut. Maybe with relief.

She would've looked peaceful, but her face was still tightened with pain and discomfort while she remembered everything.

Peaceful wasn't really Teqi's thing.

Leo wanted to think she was relieved; he'd given it to her. He'd told her that she didn't have to do anything, she didn't owe anyone a reaction to their pain. She hardly knew them right now. She didn't have a performance to give, or hurt to show openly, and he wanted her to know that.

He wasn't expecting a kiss, he didn't even really want one right now, he just wanted her to rest. He was giving her permission to do nothing. He imagined no one had before.

Leo watched as she shifted a bit. The vines growing from the pot plants were down to the floor, thick with bright leaves and weighed down by fruit of the vine, but they'd grown still, like her.

But then she was reaching out, and he felt some things he didn't realise he could feel.

Her shaking fingers wrapped around his beltloops.

He grinned, feeling the small weight against his side. Of course she had, after days and weeks and months and lifetimes of him grabbing her sleeve and holding her beltloops and hiding behind her, sometimes jokingly, sometimes raw, she'd returned the favour.

Because Leo had made sure that Teqi knew she didn't have to do anything, especially not for him, but Teqi had gone done it anyways.

What an overachiever.

He grinned down at her, feeling a tug in his heart to lay down and sleep with her, but he had to be awake right now. He was on guard; he was keeping her safe. He pushed back a strand of dirty hair and tried not to move as her chest rose and fell lightly beneath his jacket.

Teqi's lips moved as her forehead rested near his thigh, and Leo only just caught the whispered word.

"Warmer."

...guys

GUYS!!!!

OH MY GOD

<3