One Too Many Heartbreaks

II. Awkward High School Reunion (Leo's POV)

"Percy," Annabeth said. Her voice and face were deadly calm. "How does she know you?" 

Percy's face was even redder than Leo's felt. He stepped in. "This is Calypso," he said quickly. "Long story short, she was stranded on an island for centuries and Percy went there once but nothing happened between them, I'm pretty sure. But you don't have to worry 'cause Calypso's with me now."

There was a really long, awkward silence until Piper stepped forward.

"Okay, guys, let's just take a step back. The most important thing is- Leo's alive! So what's say we go celebrate and worry about everything else later?"

Even though Leo was on her side, he knew Piper's proposal was only being accepted because of her charmspeak. He decided to take advantage.

"So," he said, turning to the guys. "Which of you wants to fight me for Calypso's love first?"

 Everyone groaned, but Leo could see the reluctant smiles on their faces. He spread out his arms in a dramatic flourish. "The captain of the Argo II is back!" 

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Leo threw a sleeping bag on the floor. The rest of the eight (it felt wrong to exclude Nico at this point, even if he did give Leo the creeps) were scattered around the room in their PJs and resting on a random assortment of blankets, sleeping bags, and pillows. 

"Okay, Valdez, spill." Annabeth said, sitting on a blanket on the dark floor. The eight had decided to camp out in Nico's cabin for the night, since it was the only one of their cabins that had only one tenant. The spook was still grumpy about it, but sat near the main circle of demigods. 

"Yeah, Leo, we want the full story," Hazel said. Leo felt especially sorry to her and Frank after finding out that they were too sad to even go back to Camp Jupiter. "What happened after you disappeared?"

Leo sat in front of the group, all eyes trained expectantly on him. He took a deep breath and started from the battle with Gaea. Needless to say, the demigods were up all night. In fact, it was morning now and they were still sitting on the floor, all awake except for (on Hazel's orders) Nico, whom actually looked younger when he slept. Almost peaceful. 

The demigods were talking about nonsense at this point, Leo having finished his story within an hour of starting. But he didn't want to leave the cabin, dark and gloomy as it was. This was one of the only times Leo had really spent with his friends when they weren't worrying about dying any second. 

Unfortunately, the Fates had it out for him. There was a brisk knock on the door. 

Hazel opened the door to a tall blond surfer dude. Probably Apollo cabin, Leo thought. Will looked around the cabin, freezing when he saw Leo. Leo realized his face was set in a deep scowl, and tried to calm his muscles.

"Hey, Hazel," the guy said. "I was just coming to check on Nico..." They all looked at the sleeping boy. Leo couldn't help but notice the red in the blond boy's face. 

"Don't worry, Will, we've got him. I'll make sure he eats." Hazel said. Will nodded and left. 

"I guess that's our cue to get our butts out of here." Leo said dejectedly. He stood, opening the door and placing a foot outside. "Aahh! The sunlight, it burns!" Leo joked, staggering back. That got a few tired laughs, and Leo was in high spirits again. What goes up must come down, he thought as his foot got tangled in a sleeping bag and he actually fell back- right on top of a sleeping Nico. 

"Aaahh! The other boy shouted. Leo tried to stand up, only to result in him falling again, this time bringing Nico down with him. They squirmed, but couldn't seem to get free of each other. Suddenly, Leo's body felt entirely drained of heat- which would have been awful for anyone, but even worse for the boy who was constantly on fire. He heard muffled shouts before the cabin (and the cursed sleeping bag) faded to black.