More Than You Know (Oneshots)

Unwanted Connections

LEO POV

I had been on edge practically the entire day and, by the time night came, the jittery feeling in my chest just wouldn't buzz off.

It all started after Jason and I were practicing fighting. I knew I would mostly be manning the ship and working the controls from up here (Flamin' Hot, Bad Boy, Supreme Commander Of Argo II Baby!!), but Jason wanted me to be ready just in case I would have to do any face to face fighting.

I knew it shouldn't have been horrible. I was using a hammer, hoping that my natural gifts with it would somehow relay to fighting as well, and we were just parrying. Problem is, Jason was just doing ALL the wrong moves.

Everything was wrong.

Sometimes he would do little things that made me stumble or get hyper alert yet unfocused at the same time. He would do something that knocks me off guard and then slam the flat side of his weapon onto me and just declare me "dead" and make me start all over again.

Of course I joked it off and continued, but the feeling never left.

At some point, Percy started to watch our little fighting session and he was giving me an odd look. I saw some level of sadness in his eyes as he watched me fight. I don't know why, but that made me squirmish as well.

What did Percy know? Why was he looking at me that way?

Percy eventually called Jason over and asked him to help him out elsewhere, ridding me of all this stupid teaching.

I carried on the rest of the day as if nothing had happened, but I found myself recoiling inward, keeping away from the rest of the team and just wanting to isolate myself.

"Hey Leo, come on man," Piper said from the doorway. "You missed lunch. I thought you were going to come after we called your name like 3 times but you never showed up you doofus! You need food!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. YOU can say that but this man here, I ain't got time for food. And I fixed myself a taco while I was there!" I replied sarcastically.

"Of course you did," she exclaimed, rolling her eyes. She still grabbed me by the forearm and dragged me over to the dining hall so that I could have a proper meal with, you know, actual human beings.

Everyone was just lounging around in the area, casually talking about monsters, fighting, and war as if it was second nature (to be honest though, it was second nature, which that, in itself, is kind of sad). I came and sat down and asked the cool magic plate to make a hamburger appear. I was happily munching on it when I caught Percy sneaking me a glance every few seconds, even though he was listening to Annabeth rant about architecture and some weird stuff she found on her Daedalus Laptop that she hoped she could activate if ever needed during the war. I don't know where he was getting at, but it was starting to get weird, dude. Like come on, I know I'm hot and all, but you can be subtle about it!

I knew it was more than that though.

He had questions. But more so than questions, he had something else in his expression that I couldn't quite place.

So finally, nighttime came and the weird feeling in my chest still hasn't gone away. I went back to my room to go to sleep, but I was just sitting on my bed, my fingers fidgeting on a pipe string helicopter that I would build, launch and make fly for a few feet, then disassemble and redo. I was doing that over and over and over again until I finally heard a knock on my door.

"Beauty Queen just go away, some of us actually try to sleep at night! I shouted out, thinking that it was Piper trying to disturb me at midnight. Then I heard a deep chuckle that obviously did NOT come from Piper.