Better As A Team (Heroes of Olympus/Lorien Legacies Crossover Fanfic)

Chapter 7

Leo's POV:

After Max and I break from our hug, I ask her, "So, the others want me in the mess hall?" I have nothing else to say, surprisingly. I really like this girl. But I know if I confess it, Percy will somehow find out and throw me overboard my own ship.

Max nods her head and I start to turn around. "Are you coming?"

"Nah. I'll just hang in Percy's room," she answers, which sort of upsets me.

"Your room, not just Percy's," I correct, then walk to the mess hall. When I arrive, everyone's looking at me like I did something horribly wrong.

"What?" I ask.

Everyone mutters 'Nothing' and continue with whatever they were talking about in the first place.

They start discussing about what will happen when we arrive in Rome. I'm not listening, I'm just thinking about Max. How can I get her to like me? Maybe I can help her out with something? Maybe she has a bad past that I can help her forget? I'm pretty good with the 'bad past' part. I've experienced a bad past myself.

"Leo," Annabeth calls out to me and I jerk my head upright, startled.

"Yeah?" I ask. I look at Annabeth and her stormy gray eyes dart from me to Piper just once. I look at Piper, confused.

"Follow me. I need to ask you something." Piper orders, almost smirking. I glance at the others and they all just shrug their shoulders. I sigh, get up, and follow Piper towards Percy and Max's room, where we stop in the middle of the hall. In a low voice she asks, "Do you like her?"

I'm in shock at the question. "Who?" I ask her. She rolls her eyes and playfully punches my arm.

"Max," Piper says like it's the most obvious thing in the world. I stare at her in shock.

"M-Max?" I stutter. Piper nods her head yes. I look behind me at the door that's separating Max and I.

I look back at Piper with a straight face, but I'm actually trying hard not to smile. Finally, someone finds out! I'm not surprised that it's Piper who found out about my crush on Max, she is a daughter of Aphrodite, after all.

"Uh...Yeah, a-a little bit..." I scratch the back of my head for the hundredth time now.

Piper smiles widely. She spins me around to face the door to Percy and Max's room. "Then go get her!" Piper exclaims happily, pushing me closer to the door. I hold my breath, then knock on the door. Well, I'm about to. I turn to Piper again to ask some questions. I've never had a real girlfriend before, I don't know what girls like Max like exactly.

"What do I say to her?" I ask Piper frantically.

Piper rolls her eyes at me again. "Ask her out," Piper answers, shrugging her shoulders.

She's kidding, right?

"I met Max yesterday, I don't think I should just jump into it," I reply. I've hit on many girls, but none like Max. I don't want to ruin what we have between each other, which is very little, really. I don't even know if she likes me back or not.

Piper stares at me for a long time. "What? You're Leo effin' Valdez, and you're now not jumping into something? This quest has changed you. A lot," Piper replies and starts to walk away.

"Wait, no, it's just...Max isn't just some other girl out there. She's...different...somehow. And in a good way," I jump in. Piper stares at me for the hundredth time.

"You really like Max, don't you?" She asks me. I nod my head yes like it's the last time I will.

Piper sighs. "Well, to make Max like you, you're going to have to really talk to her, make her laugh, compliment her, and make her feel, I don't know, important, I guess."

"What do you mean, 'make her feel important'? She is important," I reply quickly.

"Then let her know it," Piper adds in, and pushes me closer to the door again. I sigh, and this time, actually knock on the door.

A second later, the door swings open to reveal Max standing in the doorway, still wearing the necklace I gave her earlier today. I smile at her, and she smiles back. She notices Piper standing a few feet away, anxiously waiting for the good stuff to start kicking in.

"Hey, Leo. Hey Piper," Max waves at Piper and Pipes waves back.

"So...um, Max, I uh..." I remember what Piper told me a minute ago- talk to her. About what, though? I'm going to skip that one for now.

Make her laugh. Oh, that's easy for me. I can make people burst out laughing in a matter of seconds.

But I can't seem to find the right words. What is wrong with me today?

Next!

Piper said to compliment her, but I don't know what to compliment her on. Her eyes? I'm not very good at complimenting so.....Next!

Make her feel important. But how? Do I tell her she's important? No, that would be too obvious. I don't know, but I don't think Piper would agree.

Maybe I should impress her?

I'm pretty sure she's just a bit impressed by my fire and the necklace already, but I should impress her to the maximum.

Next!

"One sec, I think I heard Percy call us," I lie, then walk away, grabbing Piper's wrist and dragging her with me.

Piper looks at me like I'm an idiot. "What was that?"

"I don't know, I need help. I just couldn't find the right words..." I say shyly. I grab a few wires from my magical tool belt and start fiddling with them.

"You're going to take a long time to fix, Leo. Alright, first thing, you should talk to her about, I don't know, her past. Now go," Piper pushes me towards Max and I'm face-to-face with her again.

I shove the wires back in my tool belt. "Uh, let's try that again," I start. Talk about her past. Simple.

"Yeah." Max purses her lips. Did I do something wrong?

"Here, let's go in the room. Let's just talk." I lead Max into the room, taking a final glance at Piper and giving her a thumbs up before shutting the door closed behind Max and I.

If I start a conversation with Max about her past, does that mean I'll have to talk about my past, too?

She'll definitely be impressed after this.

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