Of Gods and Goddesses (Leo Valdez x Reader)

XI

Leo pulled out several more wrenches from his tool belt. "Thank the gods you're here. I need you two to unscrew those motors there and coat any cracks and damage with the tar. Hammer it down so that the fixing can stay."

He handed both of them hammers and wrenches before getting consumed in his own work. It felt good to finally be doing something useful on this trip. It didn't even matter if there were a hundred crazy nymphs trying to drown them all. He couldn't help the grin rising on his lips as he worked.

Seconds passed into minutes and minutes into several more minutes. It couldn't have been more than 20 minutes before the most damaged panel was repaired and the other sections in working order.

"Annabeth, Frank. Man the controls above deck and get us out of here. Team Leo will cover us down here."

The two of them gave him a nod before racing out of the room and to the deck. The engine started to hum, that wonderful glorious human of his machine working. He really grinned then as Festus started creaking through the speakers.

"That's right, buddy. Mr. Mchizzle hasn't lost his touch. I did a good job, didn't I."

Festus creaked and clicked, and Leo looked at the speakers a little aghast. "As if you could do any better! You're just a figurehead now. Anyway, I had limited materials."

The oars creaked and groaned as his beautiful boat lifted into the air. Perfect working condition... well, mostly - according to Festus. But it was better than anything he could have asked for. He looked down, only now seeming to realize what a mess he was in.

He was caked in sweat, lime dust, and tar. His T-shirt looked like it had been caught in an escalator and chewed to shreds. The TEAM LEO on his chest now read: AM LEO. That left two things to do. First, clean up and get a new change of clothes. Second, they were in desperate need of a team meeting.

He walked out of the engine room, a crazy grin plastered on his face. Piper seemed to be waiting there for him, a look of concern on her face.

"Meeting in the mess hall, one hour," he said. "Crazy day, huh?"

Piper grinned back. "The craziest. See you one hour then. I'll make sure the word is spread."

Leo thanked her before heading up to his cabin. He had the room closest to the stairs, exactly opposite from Y/n's room. Apparently, Coach Hedge deemed it necessary to put all of the couples as far from each other as possible. Considering that out of the 8 of them, there were 4 couples... Leo could see how thay would make sense.

It didn't take him the full hour to finish getting ready. He replaced his TEAM LEO t-shirt with an orange camp half-blood shirt and kept on his cargo pants and tool belt. The rest of the time was spent checking up on the weapons systems with Festus, the oar mechanisms, and the recently repaired engine.

He made his way up to the main floor from the engine room, already getting a little fidgety. Annabeth stepped out of the far room on the right, a stunned expression on her face. It took Leo a moment to realize that it was Y/n's room. Leo raced over to her just as the door clicked shut.

"What happened? Is she -" Hope and worry filled two corners of his heart. Was she awake, or did things get worse.

Annabeth’s cool grey eyes met his. They didn't seem upset, which was a good thing. More startled than anything. "She's awake. She's just -" her words trailed off, and Leo was left in a moment of panic. She's just what!

The girl sighed. "She's just different. I'm not so sure she's the girl we all remember her - or expected her - to be."

Leo didn't know how to take that as Annabeth walked back down the hall to her room. His mouth felt dry, and his tongue suddenly felt like a dead weight in his mouth. Should he knock on the door? Not knock on the door? His hand hovered over that door for a mere moment before his hand rapped lightly on the wood.

Maybe he was reading into this too much. Annabeth had said she had woken up already. Was she taking long, or did she just not want to answer the door. Without even thinking about it, his hands were fidgeting with a couple screws from his toolbelt. He looked down the hall, and nobody was in the mess hall yet. Maybe he should just go and be the first.

He looked back, and then there she was. With the door ajar, Y/n stood watching him with a bit of shock in her face. Annabeth was right. She did look different. The last time Leo had seen her (and not just in his dreams) had been 8 months ago right after they freed Hera. Now, she had clearly put on a lot of muscle. She was leaner and had the body of a warrior. Her hair was also significantly longer, having it not been cut during the time they'd been apart. But most notably was her eyes. Shining a vibrant gold, they seemed to pierce right into his soul. A part of him knew it had to mean something was wrong, but the other part of him wanted to cry, scream, shout, smile...

Then, he was moving forward, wrapping his arms around Y/n in a hug. It felt so much better when it was real this time. She seemed a little startled at first, but those stiff muscles finally relaxed, and then she was hugging him back. "Gods, I missed you," he said, mumbling into her hair.

She let out a small laugh that seemed to be somewhere between pure joy and relief. "I thought you'd hate me..."

Leo pulled away, a goofy grin on his face. "I almost blew up Rome for you. You're my best friend, I'd never hate you."

"Just friends?" She asked, her golden eyes glimmering with mischief. Leo changed his mind about something being wrong. They completely mesmerized him.

He blushed, putting a hand on the back of his head. What was he supposed to say to that?

"I don't know, yet. But we'll figure it out." He smiled. "Anyways, I've got to give you a tour of the boat. We got a stables and a mess hall that'll remind you just of Camp halfblood. And you'll love the steering mechanisms."

Y/n laughed. She took a moment to wipe away a few tears. "I'm sure I would." She then looked at him, perhaps a little startled with how intently he was staring at her. "Why do you keep looking at me like that? Is there something on my face?"

"No, no. It's just... your eyes. They're different."

She frowned, walking back into her room to a mirror on her dresser. She picked it up, and Leo could see her freeze. He followed her in, glancing over her shoulder as she placed on hand on her face, her eyes glimmering in the light. She looked back at him, sadness in her eyes.

"But hey, I kinda like them," Leo said, trying to cheer her up a little since this must have been the first she'd seen of her eyes, too.

"So, how about that tour, Golden eyes." He offered her his hand. Her hand grasped his own, and he noticed that her hands were nearly as calloused as his.

"What about the meeting?"

Leo wished he could skip it now. But, they really needed to figure out where they were headed next. Especially now that Y/n was finally awake.

"Okay, okay," Leo said. "Maybe it will have to wait until after the meeting. It's about to start anyway."

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Heyo! Been out on vacation and was totally not writing this while waiting in ride lines at Disneyland... on my birthday... lol. Yep, I'm 21 now, an official adult pretty much everywhere. Enjoy this chapter!