LEO

~•♡•~

leo watched, almost in disgust, as percy and annabeth clung to each other for dear life, their lips and noses smashed together and their cheeks flaming red as they kissed in the forum.

gods, how he would do anything to kiss aruna like that.

"dude, stop being so hot." aruna muttered.

"ha, why thank you, mamacita-"

"no, seriously. you're smoking." aruna said as she turned around.

"ah, shit!" leo quickly patted out the smoke on his arms, hoping aruna's body shielded the other demigods from noticing.

how embarassing. this was now the second time today that leo started smoking while he imagined aruna was his girlfriend.

percy finally pulled away from annabeth. he said something to her quietly, but midsentence, annabeth grabbed his wrist and judo flipped him onto the pavement.

while other demigods gasped, aruna clapped and triumphantly spun around. leo groaned and spawned five drachmas from his toolbelt, which he'd brought for this exact reason.

"you were betting?" piper gaped.

"yessir, and i always win!" aruna grinned.

"you know, they say that being good at gambling means you have bad luck in romance." piper pointed out.

"i can fix that-"

"shut up, leo. the gringo wishes to speak." aruna muttered.

leo refocused. annabeth was helping percy to his feet, a hungry desire looming in her eyes. jason cleared his throat, and scanned the crowd.

"so yeah... it's good to be back."

he introduced reyna to piper, who looked miffed she hadn't gotten to say the lines she'd been practicing. then, he introduced leo, who grinned and flashed a peace sign.

"oh, and this is aruna." jason clopped a hand on aruna's shoulder.

"hi." was all she said to reyna. unlike everyone else on the forum, aruna was the only one who looked at reyna like she didn't bow down to authority in the slightest, but her face also read, we can be friends, but if you're bossy, there will be bloodshed.

reyna managed a smirk, and nodded.

in recent month, aruna had grown in so many ways, leo had a hard time believing it. she had toned muscles all over her body, when she used to be built like a twig. aruna's body language had changed as well- she somehow seemed more at ease, less frightened than before, while also looking like she was ready to fight a drakon bare-handed. her eyes had a strange new gleam to them, like she actually had a goal in life now. like she'd only ever been drifting before.

leo grinned at her. last august, when he first saw her, he thought, yeah, she's cute. then, when they finally became friends in december, it was, zooweemama! now, she was not only drop dead gorgeous and the most beautiful girl on earth, but she was smokin' hot, and way out of leo's league. more than she ever had been before.

leo concentrated very hard to make sure he wasn't smoking.

"and this is annabeth." jason said. "uh, normally she doesn't judo-flip people."

reyna's eyes sparkled. "you sure you're not a roman, annabeth? or an amazon?"

annabeth held out her hand. "i only attack my boyfriend and aruna like that." she promised. aruna grimaced and leo snickered.

he would never forget when aruna tried to jumpscare annabeth, and got judo-flipped so hard, she just lay in the dirt as though she never wanted to rise again.

reyna shook annabeth's hand firmly. "it seems we have a lot to discuss. centurions!"

a few roman campers hustled forward. two appeared at percy's side. the burly asian guy with a buzzcut was around leo's age. he reminded leo of an oversize panda.

the girl, however, was younger. she was maybe thirteen, with long, curly chestnut hair, golden eyes, and chocolate skin. her cavalry helmet was tucked under her arm.

and she was staring at leo like he was a ghost.

leo looked away, suddenly uncomfortable. he turned to aruna for support, but she was weirdly staring at a line of ants.

"dude?" leo gulped, not wanting to look at the other girl. he sneaked a peak anyway, and she was still staring at him.

"shut up." aruna snapped.

"wha- why?!"

"bob wants to mate with sue, the queen." aruna replied. she had a tendency to create storylines for the random creatures she saw.

leo felt exasperated. "dude, this girl keeps staring-"

"shut up." aruna snapped again. "bob is trying to mate with sue." she repeated.

"everyone wants to fuck the queen, aruna!"

leo said it a little too loud. all conversations immediately ceased, and all eyes were on leo. aruna was snickering as leo's face turned bright red, his eyes wide and embarassed.

jason raised an eyebrow. "dude, what?"

"no!" leo shook his head. "no, not that-"

"you into grannies?" aruna asked, managing a deadpan.

"NO, WE WERE TALKING ABOUT ANTS!"

"you're into ants?" piper joined in. all of the romans looked very confused.

"NO, NO!" leo yelled. "NOT THE ANTS AND NOT THE QUEEN!"

"the queen ant?" jason offered with a grimace. "you are... weird."

"NO! I DO NOT WANT TO FUCK THE QUEEN ANT! BOB DOES!" leo shrieked.

"bob?" percy asked.

"who is bob?" reyna joined in.

"ha! see?!" a white boy with stringy yellow hair shrieked. "bacchus has induced a state of madness for this- this treason!"

"I'M NOT CRAZY! I DON'T WANT TO FUCK THE QUEEN, OR THE ANTS, OR THE QUEEN ANT!" leo wailed.

"but you said everybody wants to fuck the queen." aruna said. "almost like... you... were included in that area-"

"LET ME CLEAR THIS UP!" leo yelled. "I DO NOT WISH TO FUCK ANYTHING NON-HUMAN OR ANYONE NOT AROUND MY AGE!"

"queen-fucker." aruna snickered.

"CALLÁTE, CABRONA!"

reyna, evidently, knew spanish, and looked like she was seriously trying to compose herself. aruna, however, was laughing hysterically.

"AT LEAST I'M NOT A QUEEN-FUCKER!"

"HOW ABOUT YOU DEVIOUSLY LICK MY NUTS?"

"HOW ABOUT I PLANT MY FOOT UP YOUR ASS?"

"HOW ABOUT-"

"HEY!"

annabeth cut in as leo was rolling up his sleeves, and aruna with squaring up. they both turned and stared at annabeth, who was dangerously eyeing them. she waved to the rest of the romans. some were laughing, some were mad, some were confused, and some also looked embarassed.

"she started it." leo made the mistake of pointing at aruna's face, and she promptly bit his finger.

"OW!"

"aruna, no biting." piper warned. "we've talked about this."

"can we move on?" jason sighed. "please excuse dumb and dumber. i promise, they are not the face of the greeks." he rubbed his temples.

reyna looked at aruna and leo, who were still dangerously eyeing each other. leo seemed like he was either about to kiss aruna, or kill her.

he kinda wanted to do the former a lot more than the latter.

"they better behave." reyna said. "follow me."

~•♡•~

leo wished he had an appetite. he was feeling strangely uncomfortable, and doing his best to mask it. the girl that had been next to percy earlier was still looking at him strangely.

aruna, as usual, never lost her appetite. and leo couldn't blame her; the romans knew how to eat.

sets of couches and low tables had been assembled to become the dining area. romans lounged in groups of ten or twenty, talking and chatting and laughing while aurae passed by, bringless endless streams of pizza, sandwiches, cold drinks, chips, and fresh cookies.

blending into the crowd were lares- the purple house ghosts- donning togas and legionnaire armor. fauns (apparently they are vastly different from satyrs) were darting around, panhandling for scraps and money. nearby, children played around the explosive statue of terminus.

reyna, a few officers, and octavian (who returned from burning a teddy bear, because roman gods have an interest in plushies for some reason) joined leo and the members of the argo II, as well as percy jackson and his friends, the bulky baby-faced tank and the creepy girl who seriously was beginning to freak leo out.

leo frowned at aruna as she miraculously chugged an entire Big Red in a matter of seconds. for someone with literal empath abilities, she didn't seem very bothered by the people around her.

but, as leo had come to learn, aruna was becoming disgustingly skilled at masking her emotions. sometimes she was able to joke around with leo, play jumprope with piper, or have eating contests with jason, all while wearing her most common smile- her fake smile, the one leo hated to see- and she would later admit to leo that she'd been having some of the darkest thoughts one could conjure. he was so concerned for her, for the day when she would finally break.

but now, she was chattering with percy jackson and eating a really massive thing mandarin oranges.

"wait, so you can control dreams?" percy asked.

"yessir." aruna saluted.

"how can-"

reyna stood up, and toasted to friendship. several other demigods raised their glasses, and stopped eating as their leader addressed them. her voice, and the sound of aruna slurping up mandarin orange juice carried terrifyingly well.

then, reyna beckoned to jason, and he went through the song and dance of their story- the quest with piper, leo, and aruna to rescue the bovine queen from imprisonment in the wolf house.

"impossible!" octavian broke in. leo grit his teeth, and aruna promptly stopped eating. "that's our most sacred place. if the giants had imprisoned a goddess there-"

"they would have destroyed her." piper said, her voice sauve. "and blamed it on the greeks, and started a war between the camps. now, be quiet and let jason finish."

aruna highfived piper, and jason smiled. reyna looked a little alarmed, and leo could sense drama.

good. he loved drama as long as he wasn't part of it. he turned to aruna, and her eyes were already wide. clearly, they would be talking about this.

jason then waved at aruna, who frowned.

"how about you finish the story?" jason suggested. ever since aruna's blowup in february, he'd been doing his best to include her in things- he'd admitted to leo that he felt like a bad friend.

but, he was including her in the wrong things. aruna meant more like canoeing, or playing monopoly. not speaking in front of several demigods who may or may not end up attacking.

leo knew how socially awkward aruna was.

"um, so that's how we found out and her higness, queen potty sludge." aruna cleared her throat.

"potty sludge?" the asian boy grunted. leo couldn't remember his name- francis? hank?

"long story." leo waved off.

"yeah, so, uh, yeah." aruna was doing her repetitive thing again. "she's like, semi-passed out or something... i dunno, i wasn't really listening-"

annabeth frowned. "runa, we've been talking about this for half a year."

"yeah, and i don't remember about 90% of the year." aruna retorted. "let me finish. so, queen shitface is raising a bunch of monsters from tartarus, and stuff, uh, and is raising giants and stuff. porpoise fear-"

"porphyrion." annabeth corrected in exasperation. she looked at percy like, see what i have to deal with?

"that guy," aruna nodded. "big bad one, leader boy- uh, he said he was retreating to the ancient lands, so for all the less bright ones- the mediterranean."

jason tapped aruna. "maybe don't insult the people we want to bond with?"

"i'll insult whoever i want to insult, jason." ah, now aruna was doing the defensive thing. "he plans on awakening gaea and kill the gods by 'pulling up their roots'. i'm done now. that's all about all you're gonna get from me."

aruna resumed inhaling a croissant.

"that was... colorful." reyna murmured.

"i'm the whole fuckin' rainbow." aruna said with a full mouth.

"congratulations on coming out!" leo grinned.

"i'm not gay." aruna said as she tilted her head.

"i've seen the way you look at me. you're pretty gay." piper piped (heh, leo liked that).

"oh, also the way you look at annabeth." jason intervened.

"wha-"

percy then scooted forward. "you're looking at annabeth?"

"she's out of my league." aruna waved off. "and i guess... she's already dating you."

"you guess?"

"i'm not going to steal your girlfriend." aruna assured. "but like, have you seen her?"

annabeth pinched the bridge of her nose, and percy looked on thoughtfully. leo shifted in his seat, his cheeks a little red.

has aruna ever thought of him like that?

he knew the answer was no. he imagined punching himself in the gut, and saying, you fucking idiot. leo was just the repair boy, and aruna was probably one of the hottest people in the forum at the moment.

"you have a point." percy admitted. he looked at jason. "and you?"

"wha- have you seen piper?!"

"not my type."

"WHAAAAAT?" aruna said in a falsetto. "dude, she's everyone's type."

"and you claim you're not gay." leo snorted.

"oh, don't even. you have a total boy crush on jason-"

"NO I DON'T!"

the greeks kinda murmured a collective yeah, yeah you definitely have a man-crush on jason, and leo admitted perhaps he did. only from an adoration standpoint though, as he was madly in love with aruna.

he verbally said this, and aruna only rolled her eyes. leo didn't understand why she never believed him. several times now, he had declared his love, and she just brushed it off.

again, for someone with empath superpowers, she was a little blind.

"let's... get back on topic." reyna said weirdly, like she was more confused than she ever had been.

"well, gaea's been busy over here, too." percy said. he then recounted his own adventures.

he'd awoken in the wolf house with only one name in mind- annabeth. annabeth looked like she was gonna cry, while aruna looked suddenly very interested in her croissant crumbs.

percy recapped his story about traveling to alaska with hazel and frank, defeating the giant alyconeus, freed the death god thanatos- and then he had to stop because of aruna.

"wait." the girl piped in.

"dude, let him finish." leo muttered.

"no, i'm serious." aruna enforced. "so, he controls death, like, when you die, right?"

percy nodded.

"and hades/pluto controls the dead, right?"

hazel nodded.

"but, the doors of death are still open?"

frank nodded.

"so basically, the power of thanatos has been cancelled out." aruna summed up. "people die, but as long as the doors of death are open, they can come back?"

"yes, essentially." frank nodded. "as long as gaea wants them to come back. if it's someone that doesn't benefit her, she has no reason to bring them back."

aruna nodded thoughtfully, and shoved a whole croissant in her mouth. frank looked at her expectedly, but aruna pointed to something in front of percy.

"pah ah buhah."

"what?" reyna asked.

"she said 'pass the butter'." percy said as he promptly passed the butter.

"ahk ooh."

"no problem."

leo stared at percy. "you understand food-mouth-ese?" leo said, using the name they had given to one of the many languages aruna can speak. she could speak english, spanish, korean, ancient greek, minoan (that was a shocker, but it had to do with her mom being older than the other gods), bovine-ish (cows and bulls were sacred to selene), and food-mouth-ese.

a multilingual queen.

"he understands it because he speaks it, too." annabeth grunted. "but, please. carry on with your story, percy."

percy finally finished with returning the legendary golden eagle of rome to repel an attack by the giant's army.

jason whistled appreciatively once percy finished. "no wonder they made you praetor."

octavian snorted. "which means we now have three praetors! the rules clearly state we can only have two!"

"on the bright side, both jason and i outrank you octavian. so we can both tell you to shut up." percy snapped.

octavian turned as purple as a roman t-shirt, and jason gave percy a fistbump. even reyna managed a smile, but her eyes still looked stormy.

"we'll have to figure out the extra praetor problem later." she said. "right now, we have more serious issues to deal with."

"aht, pea?"

percy passed the salt to aruna, but kept his eyes focused on reyna. "i'll step aside for jason." he said easily. "no biggie."

"no biggie?" this octavian boy was really getting on leo's nerves. "the praetorship of rome is no biggie?"

aruna swallowed and glared at octavian. "didn't percy tell you to shut up?"

octavian snarled. "don't speak to me you little-"

"shut up." percy said.

"no, i dare you to finish that sentence." aruna glowered. octavian looked away, and percy turned to jason.

"you're thalia grace's brother, right? wow, you guys look nothing alike."

"yeah, i noticed. anyway, thanks for helping my camp while i was gone. you did an awesome job."

"back at you." percy nodded.

annabeth kicked his shin, which leo thought was a little overkill. "we should talk about the great prophecy. it sounds like the romans are aware of it?"

reyna nodded. "we call it the prophecy of the eight. octavian, you have it committed to memory?"

"of course." he said. "but, reyna-"

"recite it please. in english, not in latin."

octavian sighed. "eight half-bloods shall answer the call. to storm or fire, the world must fall-"

"flame of the moon to ocean's depth, and foes bear arms to the doors of death." aruna finished. everyone stared at her, except for leo, who had contructed a pinwheel out of taco wrappers and was sticking it into passing wind spirits.

frank, the big kid, sat forward. "i hope you don't mind me asking, but... who is your godly parent?"

"selene." aruna said. "you would know her as luna."

the romans stared in shock. reyna scooted forward, picking up a sudden interest in aruna.

octavian butted in. "lies! luna faded away millenia ago!"

"yeah, well, she didn't." aruna snapped. "because i am here, and if you want proof, i can walk on the wall, blast your ass into the river, or summon a cow."

"cow?" hazel quipped.

"cows, bulls, and mules are sacred to selene." aruna explained. "so i can talk to them and summon them."

"oh." hazel seemed okay with that.

frank then turned to annabeth. "and um, is it true you're a child of min- i mean, athena?"

"yes." annabeth said, looking more guarded. "why is that such a surprise?"

octavian scoffed. "well, if you're really a child of the wisdom goddess-"

"enough." reyna snapped. "annabeth and aruna are who they say they are. they come in peace. besides..." she shot annabeth a strange look. "percy has spoken highly of you."

annabeth glazed over and percy looked down. leo, being dense, chose to ignore it all and resume crafting another pinwheel.

"uh, thanks." annabeth said awkwardly.

reyna snapped her attention to aruna now, who was playing around with leo's pinwheel.

"you are truly a child of luna?"

"selene." aruna corrected. "but yes."

"then, you must know about the prophecy of the stars."

aruna groaned. "dammit, i don't want to talk about that."

octavian snorted. "it is an eons old prophecy concerning you, and you don't want to talk about it?"

"how about we talk about your anorexic build?"

octavian flinched and percy began coughing. aruna shook her head and went back to playing with the pinwheel.

"that prophecy doesn't matter yet." aruna said. "from what i've been able to gather, that particular prophecy has already started, but it won't come into full play for a little while longer. i give it a month or so."

"what makes you so sure?" reyna asked curiously.

"intuition." aruna said. "trust me- the eight demigods are more important right now."

annabeth nodded. "some of the great prophecy is becoming clear. foes bearing arms to the doors of death... that means greeks and romans. we have to combine forces to find those doors."

hazel picked up something next to her plate. leo thought it was some sort of red, shiny rock, but it disappeared into her denim shirt before he could properly assess it.

"my brother, nico, went looking for the doors." she said.

aruna froze.

"wait, di angelo?" aruna asked. "nico di angelo is your brother?"

hazel nodded like it was the most obvious thing in the world. aruna muttered something to herself in korean, but let it go.

"go on." annabeth waved.

"he disappeared." hazel licked her lips. "i'm afraid... i'm not sure, but i think something's happened to him."

"we'll find him." percy assured.

"do you have any of his belongings?" aruna asked.

hazel tilted her head. "like... like what?"

" a shoe, dirty clothes, jewlery, anything." aruna said. "something that he has touched recently, like, right before he left."

"i think he has a few shirts, but why?" hazel asked.

"i can try to find him if i have it." aruna explained. "if i have one of his possessions, i can search for his presence in his dreams."

"if he's dreaming." jason muttered.

leo shook his head rapidly, and jason sheepishly looked down.

hazel looked hopeful. her golden eyes shone, and she nodded eagerly.

"follow me." she said as she rose from her seat.

"you cannot just take this- this graecus scum around our camp!" octavian shrieked.

aruna pointed at him. "you say one more word, you'll be anemic scum on the bottom of my shoe."

and with that, she and hazel left, leaving leo on his own.

~•♡•~

yeah this chapter is the result of an impulsive thought that i figured was moderately funny enough to be published upon editing.