safe || leo valdez x oc

fifty-three: the rizzler

LEO

~•♡•~

things went about as well as leo had hoped.

he ended up staying up later than everyone else. aruna was hidden away in her room, stating she was in a bad mood. leo had a feeling it also had to do with that gash she'd received, and he wanted to check on her, but after their fight, leo figured that would go about as well as the vietnam war did.

everyone had eaten dinner way before leo. they'd tried to invite him, but he forced himself to stay at the control panel. now, it was past sundown, and leo was eating a lonely bowl of lucky charms to make himself feel better.

but, he didn't feel very lucky at all.

he entirely regretted everything he'd said. he hadn't meant it, of course. he wondered if annabeth and percy ever had fights like that, or hazel and frank, or piper and jason.

then, he laughed to himself. those guys were all dating.

it's not even like we're dating.

can't have issues if there's no we.

that one stung. leo hung his head, staring at his bowl. he'd eaten all of the marshmallows, leaving the nasty, regular cereal. he put his spoon back in his bowl and stared at it.

a door opened down the hall. he turned his head slightly, watching as aruna quietly closed her room door. she sniffed, making her way opposite of leo, her breathing heavy again. leo watched as she made her way up the stairs, her face hollow, her hands shaking.

okay, now he had to check on her. maybe, while doing so, he could apologize.

he ran up the stairs suddenly. moonlight breached, hitting his skin, glowing faintly in the night. aruna was standing starboard, her hands leaning on the railing. her hair was still in braids, and leo could see that the wound was now puffy, swollen, and red.

infected.

"you um," he cleared his throat as aruna turned to look at him. "you need some ambrosia. it's getting infected."

she turned away. "oh. okay."

"can i join you?"

aruna shrugged, but that seemed to hurt, so she gave him a thumbs up. slowly, leo walked over to join her, maintaining a safe distance of about three feet. close enough to see her face, far enough that she wouldn't be mad at him.

"when i say i don't mean those things..." she started softly, her voice scratchy and hoarse. "i don't mean them at you. i guess... i guess that i mean them about myself, if that makes sense."

leo nodded. "i figured."

"how?"

"because when you do mean things at people," leo started. "everyone can feel it in their soul. like- like a bomb just went off in their chest."

aruna didn't seem to find that amusing. she looked at the night sky, staring at the stars and moon alike. they twinkled like a thousand shards of diamonds, and leo found himself looking at them, too.