Daughter of Olympus - [Leo Valdez xF!Oc]

I Need Emotional Support

It takes a while to ungoldify Piper, Leo wakes up as soon as he's taken out of the mansion, but Piper has to be dipped into the river. Jason offers to carry her, and Ara knows Piper will hate her for it, but she doesn't let him, Jason's exhausted.

He's in a hurry anyway, he keeps muttering something about a trail only he's able to see. So he gets to work and harnesses the storm spirits with Leo's help while Ara and Hedge try to warm Piper as quickly as possible, but the weather's not helping, so they wrap her in the pelt and a blanket and leave.

Jason finds a cave and decides to stay there. There's no way they'll go through the snowstorm with Piper like this, and it's imperative they bring her back to make sure she's okay. Ara and Jason gather wood and Leo makes a fire.

"Man, why does it feel like you're downplaying what you did?" Leo quibbles after Jason and Ara retell their fight with Lit.

"What do you want us to say? That fireworks went off when we defeated him?" Ara taunts him.

"It's the first time you two fight together and it took what, half a minute? No wonder you were chosen for this quest..."

"You were chosen too," Ara reminds him.

He inches closer to the fire still sulking, Jason and Hedge focus on bringing Piper back. The girl's lips are purple but they're giving her nectar and ambrosia, so she's bound to get better. Ara's hair and feet are damp from the rain, she takes off her shoes with stiff hands, shivering as she gets closer to the campfire.

"Here—" Leo tries to put his blanket around her but she pushes it back. 

"No." She says, too quickly and definitely too harshly.

Leo loses his temper. "Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?" She blinks.

"When I try to do something nice, you act like it's gross."

"I don't do that," she blushes.

"You're a liar."

"I don't think you're gross!" Ara insists, flustered.

Piper sits up gasping. "Oh, god—He turned me to gold!"

"You're okay now," Jason covers her body with a blanket. Ara tightens Nico's jacket around her trying to ignore Leo's resentment.

"L-L-Leo?" Piper coughs. "Ara?"

"Present and un-gold-ified," the boy replies. "I got the precious metal treatment too, but I came out of it faster. Dunno why. We had to dunk you in the river to get you back completely. Tried to dry you off, but... it's really, really cold."

"You've got hypothermia," Jason explains. "We risked as much nectar as we could. Coach Hedge did a little nature magic—"

"Sports medicine. Kind of a hobby of mine. Your breath might smell like wild mushrooms and Gatorade for a few days, but it'll pass. You probably won't die. Probably."

"Just don't kiss any of us," Ara teases her.

Piper's eyes dart briefly to Jason. "How did you beat Midas?"

Jason and Ara tell their story one more time, but Coach interrupts them halfway. "They're being modest. You should've seen them. Hi-yah! Slice! Boom with the lightning!"

"Coach, you didn't even see it," Jason frowns. "You were outside eating the lawn—"

"Then I came in with my club, and we dominated that room. Afterward, I told them, 'Kids, I'm proud of you! If you could just work on your upper body strength—'"