Heroes of Olympus: After Gaea

Leo

Leo opened an eye, and instantly pain rushed through his body. He wanted to scream, but it felt like his mouth was sewn shut. He couldn't move or talk. He only could wince silently at the pain and hope it would go away.

What happened? He slowly recalled. Calypso booted him away from the sky otherwise his arms would've broke, and Atlas caught him and squeezed him. That pain was nothing like he felt before. It was like his organs were slowly being pushed out of his body. Then, he fell unconscious to the sound of Piper's voice.

Was his body safe? He turned his head, which required a lot of effort, and saw his right arm on a slink. It seemed foreign. He couldn't even feel it.

Well that wasn't worrying.

His left arm seemed to be there, though. But, his chest. His head wouldn't lift up so he couldn't look down, but he only felt numbness in that area. Leo didn't even know if he wanted to see the state he was in. 

He felt exhausted, despite him knowing he slept for ages. Regardless, sleeping felt more like a routine then just if he was tired or not. The exhaustion wasn't in the sleeping sense, it was in the physically draining sense.

Before he drifted off, he turned towards his left arm. It was perfectly okay. However, as he turned to see his arm, on the other side of the blindingly white room was his girlfriend, Calypso.

His Calypso. She was sleeping and her delicate fingers were intertwined with Leo's spider-like ones. As usual, her thick, caramel hair was braided over one shoulder, her timeless face and delicate features seeming to be at rest. But, Leo noticed a white streak in her braid. He recalled Annabeth talking about the one she had years ago. She must've held the sky for a considerate amount of time.

Weakly, he shook his arm that Calypso was holding, hoping it was enough to wake her up. Luckily, it was. She bounced up, her almond eyes opening slowly, and looked at Leo. Her face lit up.

"Leonidas! You're okay!" She grinned, and went to hug him.

"My... ribs..." He managed to say. That reminded him of Nico, the guy that once annoyed him and creeped him out, gave him advice when he needed to. 

"I'm going to get Will!" She smiled.

"You don't need to, I'm here." Will bursted into the room, with the Seven and Nico not too far behind. Soon enough, the room was cramped.

"You worried us for the 2nd time, Leo!" Jason huffed, but patted Leo on the shoulder. 

"Okat, guys, let's not wear Leo out. I still need to tell Leo what's going on with him. You'll be able to check on him through the three weeks he's going to be here."

Everyone murmured a goodbye but Leo looked at Will in alarm. Three weeks? That was much too long for Leo.

Calypso was the last to leave. She planted a kiss on Leo's cheek and walked off.

"Oi. Don't harm Leo." Calypso told Will.

"Don't worry, Cal. Leo's my friend."

Calypso left and closed the door behind her. Will sat at the edge of Leo's bed, holding a clip board as well. He seemed bubbly as usual, but fait bags were starting to emerge, as if he had barely any sleep. It was like Leo was looking in a mirror. Will was fun, bubbly, energetic, but was hiding his anxiety and stress.

"Your girlfriend's scary." Will told him.

"Nah, nothing compared to your boyfriend."

Leo expected a blush or 'no-no-its-not-that-why-would-you-ever-say-that' rubbish, but instead Will just shrugged.

"True."

Leo's mouth hung open. They were together? 

Finally. My gods, the sexual tension between the two was stronger than Katie and Travis.

"Oh, crap. I just forgot that me and Nico haven't told anyone except Percy yet."

"I approve." Leo smiled. He was getting some energy back, but still couldn't move a lot.

"You're not even close with Nico."

"Hey, why'd you say that? Nico's my main guy. My bro. My ride-or-die. Well, that last part is actually true."

Will scoffed and looked back at his clipboard.

"So, you might be wondering what's been happening. Let me finish before you ask questions, cool?"

Leo was going to nod his head, but he couldn't. Instead, he mumbled a yep.

"So, your quest. Hazel rode Festus back to camp, where she carried you. Then, Sabina, who's head doctor when I'm not here, took care of you, after Calypso nearly jumped her for taking too much time."

That's my girl, thought Leo.

"You came with many broken ribs, fractured arm and slightly punctured lung. We took you for surgery, gave you some nectar, the works. You slept for another week."

A week? It felt like 2 hours at most.

"Your ribs are fine, and arm's recovering. What we're concerned about is your lung. It's recovering better than we expected, but we can't let you go anywhere near dust. That's why you're going to be here for another 3 weeks. Just until your lung is perfect."

Leo seriously wanted to protest, but he knew that Will was right. As soon as he would come out, he'd go straight to building. Building equates to dust.

"In my quest, the being? Yep, it was a flipping baby."

"Baby?" Leo blurted out.

"Yep. I had some sort of hallucination, because Nico and Percy never saw a light but I did. They only saw a baby wrapped in cloth."

"That's horrible." Leo frowned.

"Yep. But anyway, Annabeth's fine. Jason and Frank haven't messed up your ship. Festus is relaxing in Bunker 9, which you cannot visit. Sorry."

Leo mumbled curses under his breath and Will laughed heartily. Will's laugh was warm and he seemed to brighten up as he laugh. Looking closer, Will's freckles seemed to brighten up, like car lights.

"Will Solace! Are your freckles brightening up?"

Will stopped and blinked twice.

"Oh, yeah. That happens when I'm happy."

"Very macho."

"Of course it is. Cos a big lad specialises in healing, can heal with his voice and brightens up when he's happy. Thanks dad."

Leo grinned at the son of Apollo. He really felt like he could be good friends with Will. He just never had the time, only properly speaking to him when Will showed him around camp.

"Wait. That means you're getting happy cos of me."

"Well, yeah. You are my friend." Will reminded him, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh my gods. Will is gay for me!"

Will opened his eyes and stared at the son of Hephaestus.

"I mean... I have many fangirls, but fanboy? There's not enough! Now I have you!"

"Um... what are fanboys or girls?" Will enquired.

"I've said too much." Leo shook his head and adjusted his duvet.

"And I'm only gay for Nico Di Angelo. Not you, mister." He laughed. "Well, I'll check up on you tomorrow. There's a remote and movies and stuff. Toilet's there. Bell me if you need me."

Will saluted and left the room, leaving Leo with his thoughts.