Many Kinds of Love

Chapter 1

Leo examined the robot before him. 

"So, can you fix it?" Jason, the prince of Olympus asked. 

"You should know by now that I can fix anything." Leo replied, smirking at his best friend. 

Piper, Jason's girlfriend, smiled. She was the daughter of Aphrodite, the most beautiful queen in the land. 

"Festus, screwdriver." Leo said, holding his hand out to Festus, his bronze robot.

Festus' side opened up and he produced a screwdriver that he placed in Leo's palm. "There you are, sir."

"I thought you said that you were just a lowly mechanic. Lowly mechanics can't fix everything." Piper said. 

Leo looked at her before continuing to unscrew the defective robot's panel. 

"Compared to you two, I am a lowly mechanic. I'm just a very famous and talented lowly mechanic that got lucky enough to befriend royalty." Leo replied. 

"If you can fix everything, can you fix a broken heart?" Jason teased. 

"All they have to do is take one look at this smexy person before you and they'll heart will heal and then they'll fall in love all over again. No one can refuse Leo Valdez, the king's son's best friend and fantastic mechanic, right, PIper?" Leo said, winking at Piper. 

Piper rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to reply, when they were interrupted. "TRITON!"

The three friends jumped and looked over at the palace that was behind them. They had been standing in the garden at the moment.

The shout had come from the balcony that was eight feet above them. Leo saw that it was Princess Kelita that had shouted. Triton was underneath the balcony, holding something. Kelita jumped over the balcony and landed on the ground. Triton began to run, with Kelita close on his heels. 

Jason sighed and looked back at Leo. "Sorry about that. I can't wait for this week to be over." Jason said, shaking his head.

"At least they're not stealing your stuff." Piper replied.

"True." Jason admitted.

All of a sudden, Leo was pushed to the ground, causing Piper to gasp. Leo turned and watched as Triton was lifted off of him by the front of his shirt by Festus who's eyes had started to glow. Triton struggled against the robot's grip. "Let go of me, you mechanical abomination."

"What did you just call me, fishbreath?" Festus growled, his hand forming into a fist. Triton's eyes widened in fear and he froze. 

Kelita ran up to them. She picked something up from the ground before she punched Triton. 

"That's what you get for stealing my stuff."

"Leo, are you alright?" Piper asked, looking at him.

Kelita turned her brown eyes onto him. She then held out a pale hand towards him, her white hair falling over her shoulder. "Sorry about that, my brother's a total idiot."

Leo grabbed her hand and she pulled him to his feet. 

"Can someone please tell this crazy thing to let go of me!" Triton yelled. 

"I'd rather not. Is it possible that you could snap his neck?" Kelita requested. 

"I'm rather considering it." Festus agreed. 

"Festus, put him down. He's the son of Poseidon, a prince." Leo said, putting extra emphasis on the word "prince."

Festus released Triton, causing him to fall to the ground on his butt. Festus then wiped his hands together as if getting rid of dirt. Triton got to his feet and with a huff, walked away with his head held high. Kelita shook her head after him. 

"So, what's your name?" Kelita asked, looking back at Leo.

"This is Leo Valdez. He's a friend of ours and the best mechanic in the kingdom besides Hephaestus." Jason said. 

"I've told you a thousand times that I'm just a lowly mechanic." Leo protested. 

"Stop downgrading yourself." Piper argued. 

Kelita had raised one black eyebrow skeptically, her red lips turned up into a smirk. 

"So then I'm guessing this robot is yours?" She asked, motioning to Festus.

Leo nodded. 

"Interesting." She said, her eyes scanning Festus' figure before returning to Leo.

Leo glanced behind her and saw that Percy was silently sneaking up behind her, a sword in his hand. 

"Look out!" Leo yelled. 

Kelita rolled to the side and out of the way as Percy's sword embedded itself in the ground where she had been standing. Leo noticed that Kelita now had an axe in each hand. "Nice try, Percy."

Percy smiled and tapped the sword of his sword, making it transform into a pen. Kelita did the same to her axes, causing them to appear on her middle fingers. 

"He helped you." Percy said, motioning to Leo.

"I knew you were there. You can't sneak up on me." Kelita replied.

Percy wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "Sure, whatever you say lil' sis." 

Leo noticed how Kelita's eyes seemed to sparkle now that Percy was there. Seeing her smile so brightly like that, made his heartbeat quicken. Kelita looked back at Leo.

"I hope to see you at the ball later this week, Leo Valdez." She said, before she and Percy headed back towards the palace. She cast one glance back at him, before continuing on.