Welcome To Leo World (Leo Valdez x Reader)

A Best Friend Kind Of Love

{A/N}

Chapter dedicated to @ZariaValdez. Hope you like it!

. . .

We all love our best friend, don't we? It's that relationship where you two fight over food and just end up smashing it in each other's faces later on, texting until two o'clock in the morning arguing about where watermelon came from, and end up the next day screaming at each other about how tired you made the other and just solve everything with a warm hug.

Well, my best friend love for Leo Valdez, was the exact opposite, because this love was a different kind. It was the kind that made you stutter whenever the other came near you, it made your face instantly turn crimson at the sight of their smile, to feel the slightest touch of their skin on yours. My love for Leo, was a best friend crush kind of love. I was definitely head over heels for the boy on fire, and he had absolutely no clue.

As days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months, a tiny obstacle started to get in my way of loving Leo. And its name was Calypso. Yes, the immortal goddess people. Now Leo did rescue her from the island, but never because he loved her, he pitied her. I could understand why, she had that whole "damsel in distress" act going on. When they both returned Chiron was nice enough to let her stay at camp, but the problem was that she started following Drew around. An immortal goddess plus a prissy child of Aphrodite? Not a good combination.

Calypso soon turned into the Queen of Bitches. She was nasty, rude, and thought she was so much better than everyone else. The thing that really ticked me off most besides her moving in on Leo, was how heartless she was. I mean, she pushed poor little Harley into the lake when all he did was tap her elbow to get her attention! Harley couldn't even swim! Calypso claimed that he had ruined her outfit with his greasy little hands and that was what did it in for me, I absolutely hated her from that day on.

"Zaria? You okay? You look like you're about to fight that piece of chocolate in your hand." Leo laughed snapping me out of my thoughts. I looked up and blushed, the scowl I didn't know I had been wearing vanishing.

"Oh, no, I-I was just thinking."

"About what?" Leo asked biting into his chocolate bar. We sat next to each other on the beach, the sun starting to set on the horizon painting a beautiful summer evening.

I shrugged at him, nibbling on my piece of candy. "Stuff, nothing I really need to talk about."

"Okay then, although I was kinda hoping to see you fight that chocolate bar."

He chuckled and I laughed bumping his shoulder with mine. "Only you would take joy in seeing a girl battle candy."

"I think every guy takes joy in seeing girls fight candy. Especially when they're in nothing but bikinis." Leo wiggled his eyebrows at me, I simply responded by rolling my eyes.

We both sat in comfortable silence, a cool breeze sweeping away the mugginess of the day. The shores soft sand tickled my bare legs as I dug my feet into it, making little mounds up to my ankles. Leo absentmindedly drew pictures in the sand, his finger dragging along in no particular way to create little doodles that had no shape or form. This was the kind of the moments I loved most, we didn't even have to talk to enjoy each other, we just had to sit beside one another. The silence was always comfortable and never dull, because unspoken words were left in the air for us to decipher.

"Hey Zaria?" Leo said after a while.

I turned to him, hugging my knees to my chest. "Yeah?"

The son of Hephaestus scratched the back of his neck, eyes fixed on a point in the sand. "I've been meaning to tell you something, and-,"