leo valdez x reader (book 2)

Changed?

She hated bullying.

That was it. It irked Leo that he didn't know more. The name (Y/N) tugged at something at the back of his mind. Every time it seemed to be on the tip of his tongue, it slipped away from him like an animal that didn't want to be caught.

This whole thing was quite new to Leo, because, being a widely-known heartthrob, it was usually other people that were chasing after him and wanting to know more about him - not the other way around. Leo didn't know if this new camper was magic, but it sure began to feel that way.

Finally, after nearly a month of sitting around, Leo planned on confronting (Y/N) himself once and for all.

. . .

(Y/N)

(Y/N) was having a bad day.

It wasn't like anything terrible happened to her that made her feel like absolute shit - on the contrary, her morning and afternoon were rather quaint, full of laughter and giggles and kicking (B/F/N)'s ass during training. (Y/N) just seemed to be having one of those moments where she thought everything and anything that went wrong in life was her fault and that she was an absolute failure to her friends and family and distant relatives and the old lady at the supermarket down the street who tried to sell her a can of Diet Coke.

So, to vent out her frustrations, she snuck out of the (G/P) cabin as soon as it got dark and went to the arena, hoping that maybe the harpies wouldn't happen to see her out of her bed after curfew and that she wouldn't be turned into tomorrow morning's breakfast.

The air outside was bitingly cold - which was strange, considering the fact that the weather at camp was typically sunny and warm. The wind cut into (Y/N)'s flesh like knives and whipped her hair back and forth across her face. Her eyes watered as she assumed a proper fighting stance and threw a satisfying punch to the first training dummy.

(Y/N) lost all track of time as she bounded from target to target, her mind a tangled mess of worries and doubts and insecurities and anxiety and stress from her tiring day, and then she began to think frantically, Did I remember to close the door? What if someone breaks in? What if the patrol finds me? What if everyone hates me? What if I get eaten alive by harpies? What if -

Her vision blurry from the wind and her brain occupied with millions of thoughts going around and around in her head like a never-ending carousel, she kneed what she presumed was the next dummy and kicked it with the flat of her foot, sending it sprawling to the floor below.

The "dummy" landed on the ground with a muffled thump and groaned.

It took ten whole seconds for (Y/N)'s brain to process that a) dummies were not supposed to make noises and b) they definitely weren't supposed to be able to move, which is what the thing seemed to be doing now, wrapping its arms around its stomach and curling into a fetal position with another groan.

Then the idea of (Y/N) not fully paying attention and maybe sort of kind of possibly killing another human being occurred to her, and she instantly felt a wave of guilt and remorse as she bent over to help the someone, who was still lying helplessly in the dirt.

"Oh my gods," (Y/N) said hurriedly, "I am so, so sorry. Are you ok?"

The someone didn't move. (Y/N) began to panic and said, "Oh no, are you hurt? I should probably go and get help - "