Found Family (HoO, Mortal AU)

WILL SOLACE

"Wanna sit with us?" Piper asked, looking at Annabeth.
"Sure!" Annabeth sat down beside them in the small corner. Will sat.
Leo was playing with some sort of toy car, pushing it back and forth, hitting it off Piper's leg. She looked like it was used to it. Leo still looked familiar, but it was probably Will's imagination.

His accent was somewhat like Will's, though. A southern accent that seemed to fade after a long time of living in another place. Maybe it was just the accent that made Will think he recognised him.
"I know you." Leo said.
"What?"
"No- I didn't notice it the past few years- but I do know you."
"Uhm. Leo are you okay?" Piper said.
"I know you." Will said, which was true. He'd always recognised Leo, even since freshman year.

"Did you live in Texas? You sound Texan." Leo asked.
"Yeah- spent most of the summer there. Need to get the New York accent back," Will cleared his throat. "What's good? I'm trying to tawk like a New Yorker. That's mad. Uhm. Yeah I don't know. Bada bing bada boom."
Annabeth sighed. "Well that was terrible."
"Agreed. Anyway- I grew up in Texas- until I was eight-"
"Where?"
"Austin."
"Same!"
"Small world." Piper said. "But Austin is still a big place."

"Once Will starts talking about Texas he'll never stop." Annabeth muttered.
"Anyway- so I moved after my dad died- but not the time for that. I lived beside my whole family-"
"Ey! I moved after my mom died. And I had a bunch of neighbours- they were cool. There was one the same age as me, then one like a year or two older. I think there was another one. Fletcher? I don't know. Uhm. There was younger ones-"
Piper and Annabeth looked at each other, like they regretted ever meeting the boys.

"Did you just say Fletcher?!"
"Yeah. He was a good bit older-"
"Lee?!"
"Yes!"
"Lee is my cousin- then the one two years older would be Michael- and- that means I'm the neighbour the same age as you- and oh my god Esperanza's son?! Your mom had the workshop right?! And there was a park near our house and you pushed me off the monkey bars and I almost broke my ankle-"

Leo gasped. "And then we had a 'big' fight even though we were like six and our moms had to literally force us to make up and we were best friends- oh my god in elementary school we had that other friend, Cal, and your little cousins, Austin and Kayla! They were like a year younger than us!"

"Yes! Then Cal moved away for a while- she came back when I was twelve and you'd already moved away- but then I moved away like a year and a half later! Remember she was your 'girlfriend'! That was funny-"
"Hey, how come I never heard about any of this?" Piper asked.
Leo pointed at Will. "He was my childhood best friend!"

"I didn't go to school for two weeks after you moved away!" Will said. That was true. No matter what his parents did, he wouldn't move.
"Uhm- wow. So you've been in school together the past four years and haven't realised you were best friends?" Annabeth asked.
"Yup. Pretty much. I tend to forget what people look like." Leo shrugged. "'Cause I'm the only face worth remembering."
Piper sighed. "Sure."

Leo and Will kept talking about their childhood memories, Annabeth and Piper laughing when they heard new stories about their friends. It was strange how nine years after his friend moved away, they somehow found each other in a completely different state. He couldn't believe he didn't realise sooner.

Unfortunately the bell for lunch ended.
"Crap. I have music. I've never even done music- I just didn't wanna do gym." Will sighed.
"I do music," Piper said. "Since I had gym on Monday. Don't worry, it'll be fine!"
"Great. Great. Why didn't I just do gym?"

Annabeth smiled. "I have Technical Graphics. Best subject."
"Same!" Leo grinned. "I mean I'm not big into architecture but-"
"Don't get Annabeth to start talking about architecture." Will muttered.
"Ooh! So one of the places I want to visit is the Hoover Dam-"
"Seven hundred feet tall," Will sighed. "Built in the 1930s."
"Five million cubic acres of water." Annabeth smiled.
"Largest construction project in the United States."
"What?" Piper asked.
"Being best friends with Annabeth will get you to learn a lot about Architecture."

"Alright. I know almost everything about Star Wars and I've never even watched it." Annabeth raised an eyebrow.
"Please watch it?"
"No. Anyway, come on Valdez. We'll be late."
"May the force be with you and all that-" Leo said, before following Annabeth.

Word count: 1439

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A/n: hey hey. Sorry again for not updating for a lil while, school is coming back soon so dreading that evsjshwjshsjsghskshsjsss. Loads of love- Rachael