Judgmental (a Percy Jackson AU)

A Heart of Ice

      "Leo," Khione called from the bedroom.

     Leo put down the picture of a dragon he had sketched down. He made his way to the bedroom, trying to avoid the glass shattered on the ground. Khione had broken another goblet in a fit of anger earlier and Leo knew it was best to wait a few hours before cleaning it up. If Leo was right, that time was soon.

    He breathed in and shuffled into the bedroom slowly and cautiously. Khione was sitting on the bed on a pile of plush pillows. Her dark hair fell past her shoulders and her brown eyes were fixed on Leo. She smiled and Leo felt the familiar twist in his chest. She was as beautiful as ice ⁠— and just as cold.

    "Leo," she said, her voice as soft as snow. "Come sit down beside me."

    Leo did as she said and as she stroked his hair, he thought of the first time they had met. He had been walking home from work when he saw a woman standing outside of a smoking car pulled over next to the curb. Leo had gone over to investigate what was happening and when he learned that her car had broken down, he checked it out and fixed it. Khione had been grateful and invited him to her house for dinner. They soon started dating.

    At first, Khione had seemed like a snow angel, but like any snow angel, she was colder than she looked. She started with words. She rebuked Leo for small things like forgetting to leave his shoes by the door and leaving out his shampoo. She constantly accused Leo of being unfaithful and monitored his phone before she finally took it away.

    Suspicion and words bred violence. The first time was when Leo tried to adopt a dog from the streets that he had named Festus. Khione had been livid and her words left him as bruised and battered as her fists did. Sometimes, Leo wondered why he stayed. Part of him was afraid that Khione was the only one who would ever love him. After his mother died in a fire when he was seven, Leo had lived in many foster homes and some of them were abusive while others were neglectful.

   The other reason Leo didn't leave was Khione herself. She could be as cold as ice or as soft as snow. Leo let her hold her in her arms because her love was the one thing keeping him going, though it was the very thing tearing him apart.

***

    Leo arrived at Pickleman's early. He had always wanted to open his own garage, but he hadn't been able to get into college. It wasn't that Leo was dumb; he was a smart man, but he had been shuffled from foster home to foster home so many times in high school that his education was as uniform as a patchwork quilt and his grades were lower than his paycheck.

     He was wiping down the counter when two customers arrived. Leo smiled at the blonde man and brunette woman. They both looked like Leo felt: as if they were trying to hold everything together.

    "What would you like today?" Leo asked.

 They ordered a cheese pizza to split. Leo took the order back to Calypso, the cook at Pickleman's, and the two of them started to prepare the pizza.

    "How are things going?" Calypso asked.

   "Ah, you know how things are," Leo said. "Khione loves a Bad Boy Supreme like me."

   Calypso giggled as she put the pizza into the oven. When she laughed, her dark eyes sparkled and Leo was struck by how much she looked like a sun: warm and beautiful. No, he thought, I cannot think that; I have a girlfriend and I must be faithful for her.

   "How long have you two been together?" Calypso asked.

   "Two years," Leo answered, thinking of how the blows had only started in the last six months.

   "You two are such a cute couple," Calypso said. 

  "We are," Leo said, hoping that one day Khione would be as kind as she used to be.

  The pizza finished and Leo brought it out the his customers. The brunette woman was speaking in a heavy French accent and the blonde man smiled as she spoke. After Leo delivered the pizza, he noticed that the woman ate slowly while the man wolfed down the pizza. 

    "We make good pizza," Leo said.

    "Yeah, we're a good team," Calypso remarked.

    Leo just wished that Khione and he could be as effective lovers as Calypso and he were coworkers.