Little Leo {Little!Leo Valdez}

..:2:..

Piper went silent.

Leo waited.

Shaking. His lips trembling as he stared at his best friend who looked at him with clouded eyes and an expressionless face.

When she still hadn't spoken for a couple more seconds, he finally spoke up. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything it's stupid just forget ab-"

"Stupid?" Piper spoke slowly, eyebrows risen and eyes widened slightly.

Reluctantly the Latino nodded. Not entirely sure what he could say to get himself out of this one.

Yet instead of replying in anger like Leo had though, she put a hand over her heart and said with the over dramatics of a Shakespearean actor. "Stupid? Leonardo you are not stupid, for if you were then I would be to! No best friend of mine shall every be stupid!" She paused, pretending to think before whispering. "Except Percy."

Just as Piper had hoped, her friend giggled. But after a few seconds he stoped. "But... you were quiet."

The words had a heavier accent than usual, and were a small bit higher. A good sign that he was slipping.

Keeping her voice light, the child of Aphrodite replied with only a slight bit less dramatics than before. "I was only quiet because I was wondering how I could possibly forget about something as cute as this!"

At her words, a blush coated his cheeks and lips turned to a bright smile.

Just as Piper remembered, being called cute was a major trigger for his little side. It caused him to immediately slip before her eyes. Of course the factor of wanting- no, needing to regress helped as well.

"There's my little one!" She cooed, looking down at the boy.

He smiled shyly, squeezing his eyes before giggling to himself and reaching towards his caregiver and best friend.

Immediately, the Cherokee girl brought Leo into her arms. He wasted no time to nuzzle into her neck and relax into the fingers playing with his hair.

It was only now, with the warm little in her arms, did Piper fully realise how much she'd enjoyed this. Enjoyed being a caregiver for her best friend. The feeling of being needed and seeing her friend so at peace made her chest feel warm and bubbly with happiness.

Leo began to squirm though, fidgeting and making small whines after a few minutes.

Pulling him away and cupping his cheeks with her hands, Piper once again smiled softly at him. "Have you got your paci here?"

An almost lost expression came to his face and his lip began to tremble.

"Oh..." Piper but her lip before coming up with a solution. "We can go shopping soon! I'll buy you everything and anything you want, a way to say sorry to my favourite bestest friend for making him wait so long! How about that?"

Leo's bottom lip poked out as he pouted. "Now?"

A chuckle escaped Pipers lips. "No baby, I'm sorry. It's late, maybe we should get you to bed and if you're good, we can go tomorrow!"

Leo gasped, eyes going wide. "'mowow?"

"Yes, silly billy!"

"'M Leo." He giggled and Piper couldn't help but laugh, making him pout.

"I know, little one." She smiled and poked his bottom lip. "Stop pouting, be happy."

Instead of stopping, Leo giggled mischievously and poured more, struggling to stop a smile.

Piper fake gasped at his actions, dramatically putting her hand to her forehead. "I've been betrayed! Guess I'll have to go shopping by myself tomorrow!"

Leo gasped loudly, immediately stopping his pouting and squishing his friends cheeks. He leaned in super close to hers, their noses touching, a heartbroken look on his face as he whined. "Nooooo..."

Piper grinned. "Now that you're not pouting, you can come with me!" She grinned and bumped their noses. "Boop!"

Leo's face went bright red as a loud giggle escaped him, hands coming up to cover his mouth as he laughed happily.

It all felt like before.

Perfect.