Leo was fired up. The past few weeks, he had been able to talk nonstop with his idol, Tony Stark. And how could he not be his idol? The guy was a tech genius, crazy rich, and had a great sense of humor. It had been a little strange at first, being in the same vicinity as the man who had corner-stoned the technology and science industry. Half of the things Leo tinkered with were Stark tech. He wasn't sure how his magic tool belt had access to that kind of stuff, but he was over the moon that it did.
Leo totally wasn't fangirling inside.
Secondly, he had steadily become friends with Peter Parker (who was also freaking Spider-Man!). It felt nice to be able to talk to someone else besides Annabeth freely about science and his technological whims. He seemed genuinely interested in all of Leo's mini projects, and Leo was interested in his. The two of them together were a force to be reckoned with. Peter also told him that his best friend, Ned Leeds, was a computer whiz. He could hack into almost anything. Nerds gotta stick together, right?
A good friend that Leo could confide in completely had been something he had sorely been missing since Jason's death. Piper was great and all, and always was, but she was very withdrawn nowadays. She preferred to spend time with her father in Oklahoma (which was totally valid) rather than at Camp Half-Blood with her fellow demigods. It was her way of coping. The bottom line is that she wasn't always there for Leo—not that Leo needed her to be. He was his own man. He could handle everything.
Other than her, he hadn't grown super close with those on the Argo II. Hazel and Frank were great, but there was still always a remnant of tension from his great-grandfather scenario, and Frank still sometimes seemed to think Leo had it out for him (Which was totally not true. Leo poked fun at everyone). Plus, they were all the way in California. Annabeth could be so serious, making it hard for Leo to get through a conversation without a withering glare being directed towards him. Percy was too otherworldly. Too powerful. Too alien. It never sat right with Leo. Jason had sometimes seemed that way too, but everything seemed easier with him. He was far more level-headed than Percy, and obviously, Leo had known him longer.
And now, Jason was gone forever. No getting him back.
Death was a strange thing. In Leo's experience, it seemed to fluctuate. In some cases, it was permanent. His mom stayed dead. But in other instances, it was easily reversible. Hazel was brought back without much ruckus. Leo was resurrected within mere moments of his untimely demise. Frank's piece of firewood had burned, but Zhang had escaped his fate. The near-death experiences his friends had racked up seemed to prove death didn't have a true hold on any of them.
One part of him believed that he could bring Jason back. Nico could revive him. He could kidnap him from Elysium if necessary. But any time the notion popped up in Leo's head, he felt guilty. Nico had spoken to Jason's soul. He was at peace. He was living his best afterlife in the paradise of Elysium. But it just didn't seem fair. Why did Leo not get a happy ending? Why did no demigods get happy endings? The ultimate part of their story only seemed to end with one thing: pain and suffering, either mental or physical.
But Leo digressed. He had to admit that having someone to talk to was nice. Even if their conversations felt a little treacherous when they reached uncomfortable topics—Jason, the war, Peter's parent's deaths, Leo's mom's death, his strained relationship with his father, rather unsavory fights Peter had gone through, et cetera et cetera. The list went on. If their talks reached any one of those iffy points (neither of them really had any idea on how their talks transitioned into them), one of them immediately tried to turn it around to something else, which Leo was eternally grateful for. He was not (never) in the mood to talk about those kinds of things.
It felt more reassuring when his trauma was left unsaid, below the surface. Human interactions were very strange, especially when it delved into subjects about grief and coping and... all of that disgusting emotionally wrecking stuff. Leo had said it before and he'd say it again: machines were far easier to understand than people. (Why was it so hard for him to just be a normal human being?)
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