Requested by: middlemachine08
It was your second day here at camp, and you had been cooped up in the arts and crafts forges since the second you had found out that there was a piano in there. You had learnt to play the piano at a very young age, and you couldn’t get enough of it, it brought you happiness when your world was being torn apart by some stupid gods. The rooms were empty for most of the time, which gave you lots of time to practise without being embarrassed. You were currently practising Islamey by Mily Balakirev, and that was when he came in. You noticed him straight away, mostly because he was shirtless, and had grime smeared all over him. He looked like he hadn’t had a shower in weeks. He smiled, and it instantly lit up the whole room. “That was beautiful. What was it called?” You mumbled “Islamey” quietly, looking down at the keys. You weren’t much of a talker. The next thing you knew, he was walking over to you, sitting down at the small stool beside you, asking if you could play it again. You shrugged, why not? You started from the very beginning, hitting each note whilst praying to all the gods in Mount Olympus that you wouldn’t screw up, for the sake of the hot guy sitting next to you. Fortunately, it all went smoothly, and you stopped playing around a quarter way through. “Why’d you stop?” you laughed. “It’s a 10 minute piece.” His face scrunched up. “So? I don’t care if it was an hour long, I wanna hear you play.” You smiled at the thought of someone like him sitting alone with you for an hour, and started to play from where you left off, looking over at Leo to see him completely entranced by the music. When you had finally finished, he looked up at you and outstretched his hand. “I’m Leo Valdez.” “I’m Y/N Y/L/N.”
“How long have you been here, Y/N? I would think that I’d remember such a pretty face.” You didn’t usually get compliments, especially from guys as good looking as Leo, and you hoped that the blush you felt wasn’t too visible. “I’ve only been here a couple of days, but I’ve been in this room most of the time.” “That explains it. Have you had a tour of the camp yet?” You shook your head and he took your hand before pulling you off the stool and running outside. The rest of the day was spent walking around camp with Leo talking about each place in great detail. The sun was just starting to set when Leo suddenly started jumping around like a maniac. “I’ve just had the best idea.” You laughed and shook your head at his lunacy, but were eager to know about his idea, so you gestured for him to carry on. “Play at the campfire” he said simply, as if you knew what the campfire was. He probably saw the confused look on your face and decided to explain. “We hold a campfire every evening, and everyone sings and dances and stuff. If I told Chiron how beautifully you play, I'm positive we would let you.” You weren’t great with crowds, and were always scared of how they would react, but if it meant making Leo happy, you were up for it. You nodded your head and he saw the anxiety that was building up, so he placed a hand on your cheek. “Unless you don't want to.” You realised that the only way you could get closer to him was to do it, so you just nodded your head again and his face lit up. You were amazed how fast he ran to the Big House, and you just sat down on the spot, wondering what would happen if you backed out now.
You were an idiot, why hadn’t you backed out? You were sat on the same piano stool, in front of the piano you had grown rather fond of, but instead of the arts and crafts room being empty, it was now completely full of campers. Leo was sitting in the middle of them, his head on fire to represent the campfire, a huge smile on his face. You shut your eyes for a moment and started playing ‘Payphone’ by Maroon 5 as soon as you opened them, letting your mind focus on the keys instead of the people surrounding you. You didn’t realise that a bunch of Apollo campers had started to sing along. You couldn’t help but smile and continued playing, hoping that the rest of the campers were enjoying it as much as the Apollo kids.
Once you had finished, there was a moment of silence before everyone started clapping at once, a roar filling the usually quiet room. You stood up and bowed awkwardly, before Leo did something very unexpected. He stood up and shushed the crowd, and when everything was silent, he announced that he had an important question to ask you. You scrunched up your eyebrows, confused, what could he possibly have to ask you that needed the whole crowd’s attention? He lit a flame in his hand, and placed it by the hem of his sleeveless shirt. It quickly caught fire, and started to burn away. As the last of it was turned to ashes, you finally concentrated on the words written carefully on his chest. Your eyes became wide as you read the message. ‘Y/N, will you go out with me?’ You could only imagine how big your smile was as you nodded and ran over to hug him, sharing a sweet kiss that was the first of many.
