The Undoing of My Reality [UNDOING I]

Flashback Now Y'all

Author ==> try to write in 2nd POV for a change

==> Be Leo, one week prior to meeting Luna

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You are now LEO VALDEZ, ONE WEEK PRIOR TO MEETING LUNA. There is one thing going through your mind right now and is that you absolutely need a haircut. This is getting out of control! It's getting caught in your goggles, in clips of metal, it even keeps getting singed on the very often occasion of your nose setting on fire. But NOOOOO. The Aphrodite kids have better things to do than give out free haircuts. Going outside of camp is dangerous, and you are not going to risk throwing this work away for a haircut.

Speaking of work, you remember that your siblings want you to TAKE A FUCKING BREAK FOR ONCE! But they don't understand! This is your life's work, leading up to this moment. You're saving a rare piece of machinery, fixing what once was perfection into something that is NOW perfection. Why, you're fixing up a mecha dragon of course! What else would you be doing? Fixing walkmans? You can do that in a few minutes! That's mere child's play to your genius, which people seem to forget you have.

Don't worry, Leo. At least you and your mother remember how smart you were.

But you aren't going to think about that right now! No, you have a job to do. You have to get these joints working again, and convert the energy source to solar power, and so much more!

But you are interrupted. The door to your forge is knocked upon, HARD. You know exactly who this is. What do they want now?

"Yea?!" You yell through the loud clunks of metal. "One second!" You stand up. Your joints crack, you've been sitting for hours. You open the door to meet the face of Oliver, your sibling.

Oliver runs his fingers through his electric blue hair. He has a giant smile on his face, his eyes wrinkled with happiness. What's got him in a good mood?

"What's got you in a good mood?" You ask, stepping outside and plopping down criss cross. Oliver paces.

"I was asked to take this Demigod to camp next week." They turn to you.

"Mhm?"

"I know her! She's my childhood friend, her name is Luna. I'm so excited! I haven't seen her in years, I'm sure she's worried about me, but still! What a coincidence, Leo. My best friend is A demigod!!"

You listen to them ramble on, and after a pause, you ask the first thing that came to mind.
"Is she cute???"

Your words cause Oliver to glare at you.

"Yes, I'm not letting you flirt with this one! Luna and Will: off limits, Leo!" They wave their hands around.

"I already know Will is off limits, I got an arrow in the arm last time I tried asking her out." It's true! She gave you a wicked scar because of it. All the Apollo kids had a laugh.

They plop down in front of you. "I'm serious, Leo. Please. She's been through a lot, even before we seperated. I'm sure she's even more traumatized than when I left her. I don't know how she would react to someone liking her, or in the off chance that you get together, I don't know how she'll react to a breakup. I can't risk it. I can't."

You lean back, smirking. You've found a loophole in his argument. "Then I wont break up with her."

Oliver doesn't find this funny. He groans. You snicker.

"Fine, fine. No best friend. Off limits. Got it." You hold your hands up in defense, standing up. "But seriously, is she cute?"

"Yes, I already said so."

"What does she look like?"

Oliver's facial expression softens. He must have realized that you weren't going to back down. He sighs, a nostalgic sigh.

"Gorgeous... Leo, you'd have to see for yourself. I remember her hair was this reddish copper, she cut it short when she was twelve and I've never seen it so flattering on someone. Her eyes... Damn. They almost look red, they're so auburn. She's just.. She's shorter than I am! I miss her so much... Gods..." They sigh, and pull their knees up to their chest, burying their face in their knees.

"Oh I see now." You came to a conclusion, but forget an important detail. "You don't want me pining after her because you like her."

Oliver looks up, their face contorted into a "WTF" expression.

"I like guys, Leo."

Right, that. You nod. "Right. Forgot."

Silence falls between you two. You couldn't help but wonder about the trauma Oliver talked about. They normally doesn't regard it like that, their mother died of cancer before they came to Camp. It's the thing you two have in common: using humor and apathy as a coping mechanism to deal with your lack of maternal support. Even you can admit it sometimes.

But... What could Luna have possibly gone through that caused Oliver to warn you about her? Did her mom die too? Where's her dad? Does she have any siblings?

You'd find out later. You have a dragon to fix.

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==> be Leo, one week later.

You are now LEO, ONE WEEK LATER. you have just met LUNA, and you think that gorgeous is an understatement. And short.

Luna is very short.

However you are WORRIED, because you are convinced that she doesn't speak English! She only said one word to you, that you don't understand. You'll have to ask Oliver later about her. Or just talk to her.

But they said she was off limits... Still, you still have that loophole, and another. They didn't say anything about not wanting him to be FRIENDS with Luna, right? You can still be friends with her! She looks like she needs friends anyway.

You look down at the walkman on your desk. Right! You have to fix that. It'll only take a few minutes of tinkering, but the cassette is still in there... Maybe you can take a listen later! Who knows what type of music Luna listens to? You're curious. You take the cassette out; and break the bad boy open.

All it took was swapping out a few parts and a dusting to get the old device as good as new. It works just fine, with no buffers at all now. You even gave it a new finish. You glance back at the white cassette labelled "To Alioluna, love Mom." Is it a good idea if it's from her mom? She didn't seem to have any trouble parting from it, at least from what you can see. It can't hurt to take a listen. You pop it in, plug your earbuds in, and get back to work on Festus, while also listening to some new music.

And it ain't that bad.