Leo Valdez Fluff And One-Shots

Charmspeak

"Hi." You said, smiling softly at the girl. "It's nice to meet you, Piper."
"You're the first person to think so." Piper muttered, shooting a glance at your siblings who were all keeping their distance.
"Yeah, sorry about them." You said sheepishly. "They can be a bit..."
"Vain, stuck-up, obnoxious, full of themselves?" Piper suggested.
You grinned. "I was going to say bitchy, but yeah, those work too." You lowered your voice. "They're not all that bad, but obviously you met Drew, and she definitely doesn't portray the children of Aphrodite too well."
"Why don't you guys get a different cabin leader? That's what she is, right?"
"Senior counselor." You corrected. "It's not that easy. Drew's the oldest, and she can charmspeak, so even if we tried to elect someone else, she could just charm us into voting for her again."
"Anyways," You started, changing the subject away from your bratty sister. "You can have the bunk next to mine, if you want. Everyone kind of...avoids me, since, well," You gestured at yourself.
You wore no makeup, plain black skinny jeans, a dark blue Doctor Who t-shirt, and bright blue Converse. Your __h/c__ hair was loose and slightly messy, partially obscured by a grey beanie. To top it all off, you had glasses. Which in the Aphrodite cabin was practically the worst thing you could have. Everyone else that needed glasses had gotten contacts, but you kind of refused to. Contacts were difficult to put in, and to be quite honest, you just liked how you looked with glasses.
"I don't really look or act like a daughter of Aphrodite." You said with a shrug. "So they've kind of disowned me."
"That's...wow, that's harsh. But, on a side note, I feel like we're gonna be great friends."
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Leo sat with the Hephaestus cabin during dinner and he glanced over at the Aphrodite table, trying to find Piper. What he found was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen.
She had __short/medium/long__ __h/c__ hair, and she was talking animatedly with Piper, and she was honestly the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
He wanted to introduce himself, but he didn't think he was allowed to go to a different table.
Eh, Leo thought, shrugging. He abandoned his plate, crossing over to the Aphrodite table, which elicited quite a lot of gasps from others at the Aphrodite table.
You blinked when the boy crouched down next to you, startled at being so close to someone. You weren't much of a people person, and the close proximity was strange to you.
The boy's eyes were a deep, chocolatey brown, and his hair was black and curly. His face was mischievous looking, maybe it was his pointed chin, or maybe it was the hint of trouble that sparkled in his eyes, but you were extremely intrigued.
You said something really articulate. "Um, hi?"
The boy grinned. "Hi. I'm Leo."
"__y-y/n__." You stuttered, blushing as your siblings started to giggle at you.
"A beautiful name for a beautiful girl." Leo said thoughtfully.
"Oh my god." Piper groaned from beside you. "That was the worst. Seriously Leo, that was the cheesiest yet."
Leo shrugged, still smiling. Then he realized that you still seemed extremely self-conscious, because the Hephaestus table and the rest of the Aphrodite table were still staring at the interaction between the two of you curiously.
"Hey, do you, maybe, wanna go on a walk?" Leo offered, holding a hand out to you. You nodded gratefully, pushing your plate away and standing up. You waved goodbye to Piper as you followed Leo out of the pavilion.
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"So," You said, breaking the silence as you walked. "Why exactly are you talking to me?"
Leo glanced over at you, and almost forgot to respond. He still wasn't used to how pretty you were. "I, uh, you seem cool?"
You blinked in surprise. "Really? My siblings despise me."
"Why?"
"My clothes, for one. They hate that I don't wear fancy clothes. And these," You said, plucking your glasses off and peering at them.
"Can I see them?" Leo asked, and you nodded, handing them over. He placed them on his face and pushed them up on his nose. He looked at you. "Oh my god, you are so blind."
"Oh wow, I had no idea." You said blankly.
Leo stared at you.
You winced. "Sorry, that was mean, wasn't it?"
"No, that was...you are secretly funny."
"It's not really a secret; most people just don't bother trying to get to know me." You responded, shrugging. And then something else dawned on you. "Did you just intentionally quote The Princess and the Frog?"
"That depends, would you still think I was cool if I said yes?"
"Who said I ever thought you were cool?" You teased.
Leo gaped at you. "Everyone thinks I'm cool!"
You laughed, and Leo was positive that if someone were to bottle up your laugh and sell it as a cure for cancer, it would work.
"But yes, I would still think you were cool. Actually," You said thoughtfully, knitting your eyebrows together. "I would think you were a lot cooler. Disney movies are freaking awesome."
Leo was convinced that you were his soul mate.
You realized that Leo still had your glasses, stepping closer to him to get them back. Leo's heart started pounding, and he would've been shocked if you couldn't hear it.
You tugged your glasses off of his nose, putting them back on.
Leo opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Drew bounded over to you.
"Hey, Leoser." Piper sneered at Leo, before she turned to you. "I need to speak with you."
You glanced over at Leo, frowning. "Right now?"
Drew huffed. "Yes, right now, why else would I have come over here?"
You sighed. "I'm sorry, Leo. I'll talk to you later."
You smiled apologetically at him as Drew led you away.
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"What are you doing, talking to that, that, thing?" Drew exclaimed after she had led you back to the Aphrodite cabin.
"First off, he's not a thing, he's a human being, and his name is Leo. Secondly, I fail to see why who I talk to matters to you?"
"You are my sister," Drew managed to get out between clenched teeth. "And I refuse to have you interacting with people from the Hephaestus cabin. They always smell like smoke which will make you smell like smoke, and then the entire cabin will smell like smoke."
"Silena was your sister too, and you didn't stop her from dating Charlie."
"I tried! She wouldn't listen to me!" Drew said indignantly. "And you seem to be forgetting that you are even more my sister than anyone else in this cabin, if you are seen...interacting with people from the Hephaestus cabin, then they'll think they can interact with me."
"Just because we have the same father as well as the same mother, that does not make you more my sister than anyone. You have never treated me like your sister; you've ignored me, teased me, and denied that we were even from the same cabin too many times to count, and you have absolutely no right to claim that you are my sister now.
And oh, boo hoo, I'm sorry that people from the Hephaestus cabin might not live up to your 'expectations' but Leo is nice to me! And if you don't want to talk to them or him or me, don't. It's honestly as simple as that." You spoke calmly, but there was a steel edge to your voice.
You turned on your heel, preparing to storm from the cabin, when Drew spoke up.
"I really didn't want to have to do this, but if you insist."
"Do what?" You asked, glancing back around.
Drew was smirking evilly. "Oh, you'll find out. If I were you, I'd keep an eye on that boy you're so fond of."
You rolled your eyes and exited the cabin, but you couldn't deny that Drew's words had put you on edge. She could charmspeak; what if she convinced Leo to hate you?
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You knocked on the door to the Hephaestus cabin, hoping that Leo wasn't asleep yet.
"Hi, what can I do for ya?" A boy asked, smiling slightly at you. His hair was dark like Leo's, but his eyes were a pale grey.
"Do you know where Leo is?" You asked politely.
"Lemme check." The boy said, popping his head back into the cabin. You heard him shouting to his siblings and a few muffled responses before the boy stuck his head back out. "Not sure, he's not in here. I'd look around, it's his first day here, he's probably exploring." The boy suggested.
"Thanks." You said, smiling back at the boy before you walked away from the Hephaestus cabin and started looking for Leo. You had no idea where he'd be, but wandered down to the lake since that was the first place you went on your first day.
The only thing you could see were the Naiads and you frowned, trying to think of where else he would've gone. The forest maybe? Campers weren't actually supposed to go into the forest, it was full of dangerous things, but you thought that Leo was probably just curious enough to go inside.
You took a deep breath, tugging off the leather cord that hung around your neck and pulling your knife out of its sheath. If you were going into the forest, you wanted some form of protection.
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Leo was working on rewiring the dragon when he heard the sound of branches breaking, looking away from the dragon and towards a clump of trees.
He climbed off the dragon, holding his palm out and lighting it until there were flames licking their way up his fingers.
He approached the trees, holding his hand out for light, and if needed, protection. He was definitely not prepared when you burst out of the trees.
"Leo!" You said, extremely relieved as you hid behind him and wrapped your arms around his waist.
"What are you doing?" Leo asked, turning his head and raising an eyebrow at you.
"It was really dark out there and I forgot to bring a light." You muttered sheepishly, turning away from his gaze.
"Why were you out there in the first place?"
"I was looking for you. After Drew and I left, she told me that she didn't want me to be friends with you because people from the Hephaestus cabin 'always smell like smoke, which will make you smell like smoke and then the entire cabin will smell like smoke'. But I basically told her to shove it, because you're the first person that's been nice to me, and I tried to leave, but then she said something that made me think she's either going to charmspeak you into hating me or into making you like her." You said in one breath, blushing slightly near the end.
Of course he was free to like Drew if he wanted, she was gorgeous, no one could deny that, but she was just too mean and cruel to be with someone like Leo.
"I'm confused; why would she want to charm me into liking her? She's made it pretty clear that she despises me."
Your blush deepened. "Probably because she knows that it'll bother me if you start liking her."
"Why would it bother you?" Leo asked, eyes twinkling mischievously as he turned around to face you completely.
"Because, I am, uh, she's-" You spluttered, trying to come up with something that didn't make you admit that you thought Leo was really cute. "I know that she's my sister and everything, but she's really rude and I think that you deserve better than that." You managed to get out. You abruptly changed the subject as you remembered something. "Hey, wasn't your hand on fire when I first got here?"
You could visibly see the change in Leo. The smile dropped off his face, his eyes lost their sparkle, his face just visibly got more closed off.
"No, I was holding a match, but I dropped it." Leo explained, very unconvincingly.
You sighed, but didn't press any farther. You had only known him for a day, and if he didn't want to tell you something, you couldn't blame him.
"Hey, Leo?" You said quietly.
"What?" Leo asked, his demeanor brightening up a little when he realized that you were dropping the subject.
"If Drew talks to you, just, don't listen to her, okay? Stuff your fingers in your ears if you have to, but please, don't let her talk to you. She'll probably charmspeak you into hating me."
"Trust me, I don't think there's anything she could possibly do that could make me hate you."
A pink blush dusted your cheeks, and you couldn't help the smile that blossomed across your face.
Leo decided that it was his goal in life was to make you blush as much as possible, because you looked absolutely adorable whenever it happened.
"So," You said after a moment. "What's with the metal dragon?"
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You didn't end up back in the Aphrodite cabin until extremely late, as you and Leo had talked for hours; about the dragon, about your pasts, about your friends, about your favorite TV shows, about anything and everything you could think of.
When you finally did decide it was time to go to bed, Leo walked you to your cabin. You gave him a hug, but neither of you wanted to end it, so it lasted for a solid minute.
"Leo," You said, sleepy and barely coherent.
"Hmm?" He asked, nuzzling his nose into your hair.
"I need to go to bed."
"I know." He said, pulling away reluctantly. He smiled at you. "I'll see you tomorrow. Sweet dreams."
"Night, love." You said, without even realizing what you had just called him. You waved goodnight as you entered your cabin, getting ready for bed quickly before flopping down on your bunk. Leo had certainly realized, and he stared after you for a good three minutes before he could get his legs to start working again.
It wasn't until after you were lying under your covers, your mind an inch away from sleep, when you realized what you said.
"....Crap." You muttered to yourself, burying your head into your pillow with a groan.
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For the next couple of days, everything was fine. Drew went about her business as usual, and you and Leo spent more time together, talking and just getting to know each other.
You and Leo had a ton in common, the biggest thing being that you were both huge geeks. Leo and you both loved Doctor Who, and Leo showed you his (very impressive, I might add) collection of figurines. He had made them all out of metal, and he had several in the shape of the TARDIS, a few Daleks and even a couple of Cybermen. Leo promised to make you some someday.
Everything was going so well between you and Leo that you were almost starting to believe Drew wasn't going to do anything to mess it up.
Almost.
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"Wake up, sleepyhead." Drew singsonged into your ear, eagerly waiting for you to get up.
You glared up at her. "Why are you in such a good mood?"
She grinned. "You'll see. Come on, get up."
Your heart sunk as you climbed out of bed, slipping into the bathroom and brushing your teeth and hair before throwing on some jeans and a __f/c__ sweater. You stepped into your black combat boots, zipping them up before following Drew out of the cabin.
Leo, who had been eating breakfast at the Hephaestus table, came bounding over to Drew, smiling widely.
"Honey Drew Melon!" He said, pecking her lips, much to your surprise and Drew's annoyance.
"Drew, what did you do?" You asked, staring in disbelief at Leo.
"Just had a little 'chat' with Leo." Drew said, her eyes glittering maliciously.
You bit your lip, trying hard to not cry. "You couldn't...you couldn't just let me have one person for myself, could you? I liked him. Is that what you want to hear? I liked him, and now he likes you, and there's nothing I can do about it. Are you happy now?" You asked, brushing past her and storming into the forest.
You were sick of Drew always getting everything she wanted.
Didn't you deserve to be happy too?
You had only known Leo for a couple of days, and you knew that you still had a lot to learn about him, but no one had ever made you feel the way he had, or looked at you like you were some beautiful puzzle that he couldn't wait to figure out.
He was special.
As a daughter of Aphrodite, this was something that you knew with absolute certainty. Whether he was going to be just your friend or something more, you knew that you and Leo would be around each other for a long, long time.
Or at least, you had known it. You weren't so sure anymore. Drew might've just taken that away from you with a flip of her hair and a bat of her eyelashes.
The thing that angered you the most was that Drew held no romantic feelings for Leo. She had charmed her way into his heart purely out of spite for you. What kind of a sister did that?
"Hey, __y/n__?" Leo asked quietly, stepping carefully into the forest. You glanced around in surprise. You hadn't thought that Drew would release him so quickly.
"Leo." You greeted stiffly. "What are you doing here?"
Leo studied you, trying to figure out why you were being so distant. "What's wrong?"
You sighed. "What do you think?"
Leo shrugged before understanding blossomed on his face. "Drew."
"Bingo. She already charmspoke to you." You said, unable to hide the annoyance in your voice. "And oh, you called her Honey Drew Melon."
"Seriously? That's hilarious. Honey Drew Melon is genius."
You shook your head at him. "Leo, no. Just, no."
"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say someone's a little jealous."
"I am not jealous of Drew." You disagreed, crossing your arms stubbornly.
"I never said that you were jealous of Drew. I just said that you were jealous."
"Then what am I supposedly jealous of?" You asked, arching an eyebrow at him.
"Maybe you're jealous because," You were surprised to hear that Leo's voice was nervous and not as confident as usual. "You like me?"
You didn't say anything for a good ten seconds, and you could tell that it was making Leo even more nervous than he already was.
"Or, you know, maybe you're just jealous because you want a cool nickname too." Leo suggested, shrugging nonchalantly.
"Nope, you had it right the first time." You finally spoke up, grinning as the color returned to Leo's face.
"Okay, that was evil. You practically gave me a heart attack." Leo said, sticking his tongue out at you.
"At least I didn't kiss your sister." You muttered.
"That is not fair; she practically used the Force on me!" Leo said indignantly.
You shuffled closer to Leo. "Leo, I'm just teasing. But in the future, can you refrain from kissing any of my siblings?"
"On one condition."
"Oh? And that is?"
"You refrain from kissing my siblings too. Or, you know, anyone else that you find attractive."
"I would imagine that you are not included in the 'not allowed to kiss' category, right?"
Leo blushed the tiniest bit. "Right."
"Good." You said, stepping forward so that your bodies were separated by just a few inches. You hooked a hand around Leo's neck, gently pulling him down so that you could peck his lips. It was electric.
The moment his lips touched yours, you knew you'd never want to kiss anyone else again. Leo's lips were soft and warm, and an odd feeling spread from the spot where your lips touched into your brain, all over your body, making you feel fuzzy and just plain happy.
You pulled away after a moment, keeping your hand tangled in the hairs at the base of his neck. Leo opened his eyes slowly, his mind hazy.
"That was...wow. You're a much better kisser than Drew."
"You're the first and probably the only person to ever say that, so thank you." You said, smiling at him. "You're not too bad yourself."
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You had somehow completely forgotten that Piper, Leo, and Jason were only staying at camp for a couple days while Leo worked on fixing the mechanical dragon the Hephaestus cabin had built ages ago, and now that it was fixed, he and the others would be leaving for their quest.
And you were kind of freaking out, and going all mother hen on all three of them.
Piper was your sister, by far one of your favorite siblings, and Leo was, well, the first person you had ever kissed, and Jason, you didn't really know him that well but he was friends with Leo and Piper so you figured that kind of made you friends by default.
"Do you have everything?" You asked Piper for the billionth time.
"Yes, __y/n__." Piper said, rolling her eyes at you.
"Are you sure?"
"Leo, will you come calm __y/n__ down?" Piper called up to the dragon, where Leo was adjusting a few gears.
"In a second!" Leo called back, twirling a screwdriver before sliding down the length of the dragon like it was a slide and landing gracefully beside you.
"Are you doing okay?" Leo asked gently, and even though you nodded, he could see that your eyes were slightly watery.
"I'm sorry. I know I'm getting way too worked up about this, we've only known each other for, what? A week?"
"Ten days, actually." Leo interrupted, correcting you. And oh my gods he was counting the days and if that wasn't the sweetest thing ever then grass isn't green. You looked at him in awe before you continued.
"But it just...it feels like so much longer." And you weren't lying or exaggerating at all when you said that. Every night after the first night you had met Leo was spent with him, talking and telling jokes and discussing what movies were awesome and what ones sucked.
You were falling for him, hard, and you knew that when he left, your life would go back to the same way it was before. Drew and your other siblings would ignore you, just like everyone had back when you went to regular school.
At least at Camp Half-Blood you had Annabeth and Percy and Grover and Nico to hang out with, but, wait, no, you didn't. Percy was missing, Grover and Nico were looking for Percy, and Annabeth was going to leave to look for Percy shortly after Leo and Piper and Jason left.
You were going to be all alone again.
And it was that thought that made the tears finally spill. "Sorry," You said, sniffling and drying your eyes with your sleeve. "It's just- I'm going to be all alone again." You briefly explained to him how the few friends you had managed to make were gone, or would be leaving soon.
Leo shook his head, smiling softly at you. "As long as I'm breathing, you'll never be alone again." He reached into his tool belt and pulled out a small grey hair clip shaped like a TARDIS. It was made of some type of metal, pewter, maybe, and it was absolutely beautiful.
He leaned in close to you, sliding it into your hair, his fingers brushing against your forehead.
"There's a little switch on the side," Leo said, guiding your fingers to a small notch on one of the TARDIS' doors. "And if you get lonely and wanna talk, you just flip the switch to on and it will alert this earpiece," Leo tapped the earpiece that you just now noticed was on his left ear. "And then, assuming I'm not in serious danger, we can talk."
"You...you're amazing." You said, lightly skimming your fingers over the clip before throwing your arms around Leo. "Thank you for this, thank you for existing, just, thank you for everything."
Leo smiled, wrapping his arms around your waist and pulling you as close as humanly possible. You wiggled out of his grasp after a moment, glancing over at Piper and Jason who were waiting patiently on Festus, the giant metal dragon. You smiled sadly, stepping closer to Leo and pressing a quick kiss to his lips.
"Please, come back in one piece, mon cher." You murmured, running a hand through his curls.
"Woah, you speak French?" Leo asked in surprise, raising an eyebrow.
You nodded. "It's the language of love, so all of Aphrodite's children know how to speak it."
"That's wicked cool." Leo said excitedly, and he was so cute when he was excited and it just kind of suddenly hit you that he really was leaving on a dangerous quest, with no experience and no guide.
"Seriously though, come back in one piece, all right, Valdez?"
Leo nodded. "I will."
"Good." You pressed another kiss to his cheek. "Now go save us a goddess so you can get back here sooner."
Leo grinned and saluted you. "Yes, ma'am." He waved as he clambered onto Festus, landing smoothly in the driver's seat.
Piper and Jason waved as Leo got the dragon to start flying, and within seconds, they were too far up for you to see anymore.
You sighed. You knew that he had to go on the quest, but you were going to miss him. You were going to miss everyone. All your friends were gone, and- your thoughts were interrupted.
You heard the sound of static and glanced around, trying to find the source of the noise when Leo's voice came out, clear as a bell, from your hairclip.
"I miss youuuuu." Leo said, and you could literally hear the frown on his face.
You couldn't help but smile. Maybe all your friends weren't really gone after all.
(Though Leo was definitely more than a friend.)