No Strings Attached

10

Leo's POV:

If anyone were to ask me what I loved most about Y/N and mine's friendship, my answer might surprise them. It's not the fact that when we talk the rest of the world becomes trivial, it's not the fact we can confide our deepest fears into each other, it's not even the fact that our sense of humor blends perfectly. No, it's the silence.

It's the silence that can hang between us without it being uncomfortable.

The only other person that I've ever felt this at home with during our silences was with my mom. Working with her in her workshop, sometimes hours passed without us saying anything, except for her asking me to hand her the occasional tool. Those moments are some of my happiest memories with her.

But that changed after that night. Silences became unbearable, my ears would ring and the earth lad-, I mean Gaea's voice would echo in my head, making me relive the worst night of my life. So I would fill the silences from then on. Always talking, always joking.

But then Y/N barged into my world, quite literally, and the quiet suddenly didn't seem so bad anymore.

I'll never forget the day we met:

I was running late to dinner. I had told the rest of my cabin to go on ahead without me, I had some stuff to figure out. In retrospect that was pretty stupid of me, considering how it was my first day here and I didn't know where anything was yet. I just followed the sound of conversation and eventually located the dining pavilion. But not before having a less-than-pleasant encounter with a certain daughter of Aphrodite.

I immediately recognized her, Drew. She hadn't even spared me a second glance when we crash landed into the lake, even going as far as to question if we were so much as worth the hassle, but now she was here preventing me from getting to dinner.

"So, Hephaestus huh? I should've figured, you inherited your daddy's good looks I see," she snorted at her own joke, "I bet your mom must've been real desperate if she fell for him."

"Hey, don't ta-" I tried to shut her up, no one gets to speak about my mom like that, but after she uttered a simple 'shut up' it was as if all words left my throat, my mind slightly hazing over and making me unable to speak.

"Speaking of pathetic; that girl that was with you, the ratty one, are she and Jason a thing?" Ah, so that's what this was all about. I felt myself about to answer, against my own will, but a hand on my arm and a loud voice next to me snapped me out of it.

"Seriously Drew? Insulting someone and using your charmspeak to keep them from talking back? Now that is pathetic! Why the fuck did your mom bless you with it anyways, it's not like you deserve it. I mean, have you ever used it for anything else than your own gain?" Drew stood there, mouth opening and closing like a fish out of water.

"Besides, at least Hephaestus goes for people with personality, your dad was probably just slightly above average looking. I mean, the gods can fuck whoever they want, I can't be bothered to care, but please don't act so high and mighty when you and I both know that around 8 new Aphrodite kids pop up every year and only 1 or 2 for Hephaestus. If anything, his mom must've been really special if he fell for her." A crimson blush was now spread all over Drew's face, mouth still hanging open but no sound coming out. I myself could also feel some heat in my cheeks as a complete stranger defended me, and my mom, so fiercely.

"How dare you, you, you-" fuming doesn't even begin to describe how angry she was, starting to mumble something in ancient Greek. Wait, why can I understand ancient Greek? Oh right, godly parent and stuff...

She took her hand off my arm, some of the haziness from before returning to my brain, but quickly disappearing again as both of her hands returned to me again, covering my ears this time. A piercing whistle, although muffled by her hands, effectively shut her up though. Drew let out a frustrated huff and angerly stormed off, hands holding her head.