Leo Valdez One-Shot Book

Tattoo

   Leo didn't know why they were all that surprised, to be honest. Sure it probably wasn't like him and his goofy outgoing personality but that way the room went completely silent was too hilarious to ignore.

   And Maybe it was the horrible comedic timing Leo was cursed with for whatever reason, or maybe it was just how out of the blue everything seemed to be that made it so he was smiling and giggling like a madman to himself for the remainder of the hour.

   but none of this changed the fact that he had a Tattoo, and that everyone now knew.

   Perhaps spaghetti with chunky marinara sauce on a moving (Insert flying) Boat was not the best food choice in hindsight. yet now the consequences were too apparent to ignore, so like most things in life, Leo would have to suck it up and deal with it.

   a particular span of turbulence had managed to convince his pasta that Leo's face would look as good as a celebrity's after having a chat with his personal make-up artist if it was covering his head from eyeballs to chin. Yes, his face flung forward and yes, everyone except him had managed to catch themselves (though to give him some credit to spare his sinking pride he was the only one currently eating and sitting down at a table, the others had opted on the kitchen counter and if you were as small as Hazel, in a cupboard under the sink)

   with a piehole now filled with more food than saliva Leo looked up, avoiding the gazes of the others with a deadpan look, glaring at the Apollo cabin projected on the wall with much more intensity and ferocity than most likely needed.

   slowly, the sauce began dripping down his neck and onto his baby blue work shirt, no doubt staining it for the rest of Leo's (admittedly in all likelihood short) lifespan.

   Piper - in a desperate attempt to help regain Leo's contentment - got up and with a snickering face held her hand out gesturing for Leo's shirt. "Here, let me wash that for you. go clean off your face"

   Leo made his way over to the sink and reached for a paper towel, taking into careful consideration not to drip deep red into Hazel's hair. wiping his face clean he then reached for the hem of his shirt and yanked it above and over his head, revealing tan skin and a lean scrawny figure.

   however, it also revealed something a little more . . . human-made?

   "Hey, I think there's something on your shoulder," Frank Zhang said, of course causing everyone to stare. "oh this?" Leo pointed to a mark of black stretching from his shoulder down to his shoulder blade.

   on his appendage was an anchor, a deep colour, black through and through, and attached to it through a chain was a star, glowing bright and mostly hollow, except for cross-hatching layering the sides, as if pulling you in.

   "It's a tattoo" he then, -not thinking it was a big deal- got back to trying to wash marinara out of his eyelids. "You . . . have a tattoo?" "yeah Pipes, why?" Leo said, flicking his hands around in doing so spraying water all around the walls of the sink. "you . . . have a tattoo? wh-why"

   Leo looked back smirking, "why?" he repeated.

   Piper took a shot at her defence, "Well, I mean, it's not really like you- y'know? like- out of all of us here I would expect like- Percy or Annabeth to have a tattoo heck maybe even Jason or- or like if I didn't know you guys Frank. it y'know, doesn't really suit your or- shoot! no that came out wrong- like- you don't seem like the type of person to-" 

   "Pipes! You going to give yourself an aneurysm!" he ultimately failed at sniffling a laugh. Hazel popped her head out and said "So why do you have a tattoo?"

   Leo regained his rightful place at the table and sighed, "Back when I lived on the streets I met-" "Wait you were homeless?" "yes Frank, I was homeless, I met a kid, they became like- my number one y'know, helped steal and just- kept me company. they ran away too, lost their parents in a shooting and were abandoned by their grandparents when they came out as non-binary. the-" "whats non-binary"

   Leo frowned, once again interrupted. "it's when you don't identify as either a male nor a female" Hazel's eyebrows clashed together, not quite understanding, but motioning to go on nonetheless.

   "The anchor represents the loss of a loved one, but more so the fact that I'm still here, and grounded, and that even though they were gone I'm ok. the sun and the moon are signs of friendship" Leo stated.

   "and the moon?" asked Jason, "I have the sun, Finn Has the Moon" Frank hummed, "cool name"

   "so together it would mean "bonded or came to be through the loss of a mourned one" Which is exactly what happened. Or it would be "friendship grounded through separation" Which would be perfectly plausible as well." Leo summed up. "but now I'm gonna go get a shirt on!"

   sooner than any one body could get a sound out closer than that of a sentence than a reduced gurgle Leo had already booked it out of the kitchen in his quest to find a top.

   "so... Who didn't belive him at first?" Percy said. everyone's hands shot up.

   Hello! Human beans! tis I! Back from the dead! yeah uh- sorry this took so long, like all the rest of them too, not too happy with this one, started out fine but I'm not quite as good with dialogue as a whole but I'm trying. I think I'll have around thirty five or so chapters then I have some other projects I'm really exited for! Well, thank you for tuning in, but I have to tune out for now. Take care and see you soon! Panwake! out!