embers (leo valdez x reader)

4. spill the tea sis

You got ready, getting dressed in a red tank top, some shorts, and your sneakers. Percy drove you to camp, and after ruffling your hair and leaving you with Jason at the entrance, he left.

Jason smiled. "Here for Leo?"

"Maybe," you said. "But don't tell my brother? He and Mom are being weird right now."

Jason nodded. "Can do. Probably."

"Hey!" Connor Stoll yelled in the distance. "Is that Percy Jackson's little sister?"

"Yeah, it's me," you said. That's how you were known around here. Percy Jackson's little sister. Even though you were the same age.

Connor walked over. "Where's Percy?"

"Just me today," you said. "Sorry to disappoint."

"Oh, I wasn't-- it's just that you're never here when Percy isn't," Connor said.

You smiled softly. "Yeah, I was just here to hang out with my friend."

"Cool," Connor said. "I can take you there, if you want."

"That's kinda what Jason's for," you laughed softly.

Connor shrugged. "Sure. See you around."

He walked off.

"That's the most he's talked to me in my life," you muttered to Jason.

Jason smiled. "Alright, so I'm assuming Leo's in Bunker 9, so we're going there first."

"Sounds good," you said.

You took a little walk to Bunker 9, and heard rustling inside. "Is that Leo?"

"Yeah," Jason said.

The two of you went inside.

"Leo!" Jason said.

Leo turned around to see you.

"Hey," he said nervously, his eyes running over you. "I was just... y'know. Working. And stuff."

Jason cleared his throat. "I'm gonna go, I have stuff to do. You two have fun."

He left.

You leaned against the wall. "Hey."

"Hey," he said. "Sorry, I'm just, uh- what's up?"

You shrugged. "Nothing, I just figured I'd stop by."

He nodded.

"Now that I'm here, I have no idea what we're gonna talk about," you laughed.

"Me neither," Leo admitted. "What do you do when you're not eating pizza and getting kicked out of Walmart?"

"Read," you said. "Listen to music. Hang out with my family."

"How about your friends?" he asked.

"I don't really have any," you replied. "I'd like to say I'm friends with my brother's friends, I guess."

"Well, I'm your friend," Leo shrugged, smiling at you from his chair. "It's the least I can do, after last night."

You awkwardly smiled at him.

"Thanks, by the way," he said. "I needed that last night. You didn't have to do that, though."

"Don't mention it," you said. "And I did have to. We're friends, remember?"

Leo smiled. "Yeah. Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Have you ever been dumped before?" he asked. "Sorry, that's kind of a bad question."

You smiled. "It's no problem, and, no. I've never really been in a relationship."

Sure, you'd had crushes and stuff, but it never worked. No one ever liked you back. It was fine, though, you were still pretty young.

Leo's eyes widened. "That has to be by choice, there's no way you've never been in a relationship."

"I haven't," you said. "And not by choice, people just don't like me like that, I guess."

Leo furrowed his eyebrows. "There is no hope for the rest of us."

You didn't know what that meant, but your heart rate sped up for some reason.

"There's hope for you," you said softly. "I-I mean, any girl would be lucky..."

You trailed off. He looked up at you from his chair and smirked.

You perched yourself on a chair in the room. "Not to bring up bad feelings, but what was she like? Your ex, I mean."

He stopped and blinked.

"I'm sorry," you said, furrowing your eyebrows and looking at the floor. "That was rude, I shouldn't have asked that. You don't have to answer."

"No, no," Leo said, playing with his gears. "You should probably know, I guess. We're friends. She, uh, you probably know by now that my ex is Calypso."

You nodded.

"She, uh," Leo smiled sadly. "She was pretty, and she hated me. The only time I ever loved someone hating me was when it was her."

You frowned. "I'm sorry."

"Not your fault," Leo said. "You're not the one who ripped my heart out."

One of the gears melted in his hand. He dropped it on the floor.

"Hey, I just wanna apologize," you said, walking over to him. "And I wanna say that you are way too good to be crying over some girl."

"I appreciate it," Leo said. "But she wasn't just some girl to me. She was... more than that. I loved her a lot."

You wished someone loved you like that. Nobody's ever even liked you like that.

You walked over to Leo and sat on the arm of his chair. You looked down at him and wrapped your arms around him. He hugged you back.

"I wanna do something," you said, smiling. "So, I never got the teenager experience of helping a friend with their breakup, so... do you wanna have, like, a sleepover? Kinda?"

Leo blinked. "Huh?"

"We can watch movies and eat ice cream and do stuff like that!" you said.

He smiled. "Are you sure?"

"Yes!" you said. "Pack your things and get ready, you're coming to my house. I gotta go visit someone."

After a while of asking around, you ended up in a little room. You walked in.

"Rachel Elizabeth Dare!" you announced. She whipped around.

She smiled. "(Y/N) Blofis."

"Fancy seeing you here," you said. You looked around the room. "Love what you've done with the place. Paintings abound."

She hugged you. "I've missed you. It's been a while."

"It has," you said. "We said we were gonna text, but then we didn't."

She shrugged. "You're here now. Is Percy with you?"

You shook your head. "Just me this time. So..."

You collapsed on a chair. "Catch me up on everything."