Heroes of Olympus/Magnus Chase Sickfics

Just Breathe

Hello my loves! It's been a minute since I've gotten to sit down and write. Real life has been pretty crazy, in a good way though! I've had this sitting in my wips FOREVER! I can't remember if this was a request or my own brain child, but basically this is a Piper/Leo BrOTP because I need more of these kids in my life, especially after The Burning Maze. I'm still not okay btw. Read on my lovelies and don't forget to let me know what you think in the comments and send any requests or prompt ideas to my inbox!

P.S. THIS WILL CONTAIN MAJOR SPOILERS FOR THE BURNING MAZE!!! YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!!! Also slight canon divergence???

P.P.S. Please don't hate me for the ending! There really isn't a happy way to end something like this.

Trigger Warning: Mention and descriptions of anxiety attack!

Leo rubbed his eyes and sat up. He looked around and saw that he was on the Mclean's couch in their newly unpacked house. 

That meant it wasn't a dream. None of it. 

He glanced down and saw Piper curled up in a mess of blankets on the floor beside him. Piper and her dad, and Leo temporarily, had lived in the new house for almost a month and Piper had yet to make it through a single night in her own room. Every time she'd tried she would wake up screaming from a nightmare. So, she always ended up on the floor beside Leo. 

Leo wanted to wake Piper, he hated being alone with is thoughts since-no. Leo refused to even think the words. No, he would let Piper sleep. The less time she had to be awake was less time that she'd have to think about it.

Leo tiptoed around Piper and into the kitchen to find his shoes. He needed to shut his brain off for a while and the best way to do that was to go work on Festus. Leo spent a lot of time working on Festus now. The dragon was loving the attention, his gears had never turned so smoothly and his bronze metal had never shined so brightly. Still, Leo managed to find something to perfect about Festus every day. 

The sun was just rising into the sky, it must have been about six; Leo hadn't thought to look at the clock on the microwave. He walked through the dewy grass towards the sizable barn behind the house. The Mclean's might have had to downsize, but they had done it in style. He pushed open the barn doors, already hearing Festus whir and click in excitement.

"Hey buddy. I'm glad to see you too." Leo beamed up at the bronze dragon and patted his leg.

"Let's see what we can do with you today." Leo said as he circled Festus trying to find something that would hopefully keep him busy for the next several hours. When he couldn't find anything, Leo felt a little panicked. There was a buzzing that seemed to come from his very sole. It threatened to shake him apart. The only way to stop the buzzing was to ignore it and the only way to ignore it was to dive into something that gave him no time to think about the buzzing. It started in his hands. It was like an itch he couldn't quite scratch. Then he had an idea.

"Festus, wanna go for a ride?"

Festus whirred in excitement and stomped his feet, that was new. Although, Leo supposed it had been a few days since Festus had been able to stretch his wings. He was probably getting cabin fever. Leo pulled himself onto Festus' back, with a little help, and Festus lumbered out of the barn. After a quick stretch of his wings, they were off.

Festus circled for what could have been hours or minutes, Leo tended to lose track of time with him. When they landed back in the Mclean's backyard the sun was further up into the sky. Leo dismounted and inspected Festus. Just as he had hoped, Festus had gathered a nice layer of dust and insects from their flight and Leo now had an excuse to spend all day cleaning Festus.