A/N: Solace family chapter!!!
First pov: Leo. Logical.
[LEO VALDEZ]
"Are planes scary?" He asked Will for the hundredth time. He had been on a plane before, going from Texas to Alaska, but he didn't remember it. He couldn't remember much about the horrible weeks after his mother's death.
"No, they aren't. Trust me." Will said. They were sitting beside each other, Will in the middle. Naomi was on the other side of him. Lee and Michael were sitting in the row in front of them, beside a random woman, who Lee was trying to flirt with while Michael told him to shut up.
"Okay, okay. Y'know I used to want to be a pilot. I hyper-fixated on planes when I was like- seven, I think."
"I remember," Will said. "You would never shut up about them."
"Yeah, because they were so cool!"
It was two days before Thanksgiving. Leo couldn't wait to go to Texas, there was so much he wanted to do. See Cal, visit his mom's grave, go to their old house.
"So," Lee said, giving up with flirting. "If we started right now, we could watch the bee movie twice, with time to spare."
"Or we could watch Star Wars," Will muttered.
"Neither. Please." Michael said.
"'According to all known laws of aviation,'" Lee quoted.
"Will, please swap seats with me. Please." Michael said.
• • •
The journey was thankfully alright, though Leo was still relieved when it landed. Probably because he was forced into watching Star Wars edits (he refused to watch the actual movies). Will was such a nerd.
"Diana should be here to collect us," Naomi said, walking out of the airport.
"My favourite aunt," Lee smiled.
"Thanks," Naomi elbowed him.
"-after you, of course!"
It didn't take them long to find Diana. She looked older than Lee, although Leo knew she was actually younger. She had the same facial features as Will, Michael and Lee, only her hair and eyes were darker. Her skin was less tanned, too. Otherwise, you could tell she was a Solace.
The main difference was their personalities. Out of the Solaces Leo had met, they were all confident, annoying, funny dumbasses. Diana was a whole lot more serious. Leo stood awkwardly while they had their short reunion.
"No way you got a job as a teacher!" Diana said to Lee, before hugging him. "'Ey, Michael. College still sucks? Good to see you, Will. Got out of the Star Wars phase?"
"It is not a phase-"
• • •
The drive from the airport was super noisy. Lee, Michael, Will and Leo all had to squeeze into the backseat.
"I nominate Lee to sit in the trunk." Michael said.
Another thing Leo noticed about the Solace family was their sun tattoos. Lee had one on his ankle (which Leo noticed because Lee was wearing sandals in middle of November, for some reason). Michael had one on his neck, Naomi had one behind her ear, Diane had one on her right wrist and a moon on her left.
"Yo, what's up with the suns?" he asked.
"There's only one. It's a really big hot thing in the sky," Will said sarcastically.
"No shit. I mean the tattoos."
"Oh. It's kinda a tradition, I guess. We usually get them as soon as we turn eighteen. Well, I got mine when I was twelve." Will said.
"Wait- you have a tattoo?!" Leo asked.
"Oh, yeah. Forgot to mention that. On my left pectoral. Mom was hella mad."
"Don't remind me," Naomi muttered.
Diana stopped the car after a relatively long drive. "We're here. Thank God."
Everyone else jumped out before the car even stopped moving. Leo got out, feeling kind of nervous. He was grateful Will invited him, but he wasn't a part of the family in any way.
[WILL SOLACE]
He was so glad to be back home. Kayla and Austin both come running at him at the same time, hugging him straight away. Just like every time, he almost cried. Will looked over to Leo, who looked pretty awkward. Kayla followed his gaze.
"Leo Valdez!" she grinned. "I'm still mad at you for breaking the head of my barbie doll."
Leo laughed. "I forgot about that! Anyway, hi Kayla, Austin. It's good to see you."
"You're telling me you two have been in school with each other for four years and didn't notice until this year?" Austin asked.
"Yup," Will said.
"You two are dumb as fuck." Kayla nodded.
"Yup," Will repeated. "Anyway, I'm loving the green."
Will had seen pictures, but Kayla had recently died the bottom of her short ginger hair with a shock of bright green.
"Thanks. It was so Austin would stop calling me Ed Sheeran. Didn't work." Kayla crossed her arms.
"Oooover the castle on the hillll." Austin whispered.
Will looked over to Lee and Michael, who were having their reunion with the younger cousins.
"I gotta say hi to the rest of the fam," Will said. "Be right back."
He walked over to Jerry, Gracie and Yan.
"It's me, your favourite cousin!" Will said. "Woah, you've got so tall, buddy." He patted Jerry's head.
"Is that one Leo?" Yan asked, pointing over to Leo.
"Oh, yeah. Come say hi."
"Hi, kids," Leo smiled. "I'm Leo."
"This is Yan, Gracie and Jerry." Will pointed to each of them. "Yan and Gracie are twelve, Jerry is eleven."
"Ohh, yeah!" Leo said. "I remember the day Jerry's dads adopted him. He's the British one, right?"
Will nodded. "From London, yeah. Yan and Gracie were both adopted the year before."
Gracie gasped dramatically. "I'm adopted?!"
"Ohh no. You were not supposed to find out this way." Will joked.
"Okay, okay. This is getting confusing," Leo said. "So who all are siblings?"
Will took a deep breath. "Me, Michael and Lee are all only children, plus we weren't adopted. Austin is Gracie's brother and both of them were adopted. They have two moms, by the way. Kayla, Yan and Jerry are siblings. They have two dads. And they're also adopted. But that's okay, we're all Solaces!"
Leo frowned. "Okay. I'm totally not lost."
"Good!" Will said.
Leo facepalmed. "That was sarcasm."
[KAYLA KNOWLES]
It was great to have the whole family together again. She walked with Will, telling him all the gossip from school, while Austin showed Leo around.
"So, how come you don't have any news from your school? New York is like a real weird place," Kayla said.
Will shrugged. "I mean, same thing as usual. Oh, well I surprisingly made some new friends."
"Like Leo. Who else?"
"Oh y'know. There's like 12 of us. Pretty big group. Also I delivered a baby." Will said casually.
"You told me about that five million times. But twelve?!"
"Yeah. Me, Percy, Jason, Reyna, Rachel, Frank, Annabeth, Leo, Piper, Hazel, Grover and Nico. And yeah, Piper is Tristan McLean's daughter."
Kayla hit Will's arm. "Shut up. No way. You just forgot to mention that to us?!"
"Yeah," Will shrugged.
"And who's Nico. Why'd you say his name like that?"
"Uh, one of my friends."
"Oookay."
Leo started walking beside them. "Will, your little cousins are terrifying. Especially Yan."
Kayla laughed. "Trust me, I know. They're my sibling. How do you think I feel?"
"They're non-binary?" Leo asked.
"Oh, yeah," Kayla nodded. "I know you might think 12 is a pretty young age to know how you identify, but it's not."
"Nah, it's cool."
[AUSTIN LAKE]
"So, how's college?" He asked Michael, walking into the Yew's house with him.
"Shit. So boring. So many assignments." Michael said. "So expensive."
Austin couldn't help but laugh. "That must suck."
"Don't laugh. You'll have to go through college at some point."
"Not if I become a famous musician." Austin shrugged.
"Good point. Being in New York is pretty cool though. I don't know why Will hates it."
"Neither. I guess there's a lot of reasons."
Michael nodded. "Is he okay? I mean, you and Kayla are much closer with him. I just get worried about him around this time of the year. More so around Christmas, though."
"I don't know," Austin said. "He's always pretended to be happy, so it's hard to tell."
"Mm-hm," Michael agreed. "Just keep an eye on him."
[LEO VALDEZ]
"Hey, uhm, I don't want to be rude but is it alright if I go for a walk? I just wanna- y'know, stop by the graveyard."
That wasn't the only reason Leo wanted to go. He wanted Will to be able to have a proper conversation with his family without having to worry about Leo.
"Oh, yeah, sure," Will said. "Do you want me to go with you? I can drive you there?"
"Thanks, but don't worry about it."
• • •
The walk was longer than he remembered. He'd only been to his mother's grave once and that was at her funeral. He stopped at a shop, buying flowers. He kept seeing people he recognised, but couldn't remember their names. A few of them looked at him, as if trying to think who it was, before continuing shopping.
Leo left the shop and kept walking, feeling ridiculous holding flowers. A short, lost, Latino Texan who's been living in New York for ages.
He heard the church bells and knew he was close. Once he got to the graveyard, he felt a whole lot weirder.
The worst part was that he didn't know where his mother's grave was. It had been so long. He looked at all the names, trying to find it. He saw Will's dad's grave and decided to lay a few of the flowers on it. Then he saw the name on a nearby headstone.
Esperanza Valdez.
He didn't expect it, but the second he laid his eyes on it he burst into tears. He expected it to be overgrown with dead flowers but it looked clean. There were loads of bunches of fresh flowers. Even after nine years, there were still people who cared.
Leo put down the flowers he bought then read the headstone.
Esperanza Valdez
Loving Mother, Sister, Daughter & Friend.
He didn't know how long he stayed there, crying and talking to his mother. It was weird. She wasn't going to answer him but he still wanted to talk to her. He told her everything. About Piper, school, his friends, Jason, the Solaces. Everything he could think of.
He noticed the sun starting to set and knew he had to go.
"Adios, Mom. I'll be back tomorrow. Promesa."
• • •
He was walking back when he bumped into Will.
"Oh, there you are. I was getting worried. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, sorry, just needed some time," Leo said.
"I understand."
"Thanks for bringing me here. I mean, letting me stay with your family. Thank you."
Will smiled. "No worries."
Leo stopped in his tracks. "Is that the Waystation?!" he asked, looking at the cafe.
Will nodded. "Yeah."
"Does Cal's moms still own that place? They lived upstairs, right."
"Jo and Emmie, yeah."
"Can we go in?! Cal might be there!" Leo grinned.
"Uhm, well- it's been a long time since I talked to her. The year she moved back my life was pretty busy. Then I moved away the next year. We haven't talked since. It just might be awkward."
Leo rolled his eyes. "Come on. I haven't seen her in what? Ten years? We gotta see her again."
"Okay, fine. But we aren't staying for long."
[WILL SOLACE]
He walked behind Leo into the Waystation. It was a pretty big cafe, Will used to spend a lot of time there as a little kid. The first person he recognised was Emmie, standing at the cash register. She looked older than when Will had last seen her.
Leo practically ran to her. "Hi!"
Will followed him. "Please calm down-"
"Hello, boys," Emmie smiled. "No way. You're Lee, aren't you?"
"Nope," he shook his head. "Will."
"No way. You've gotten so tall. And you-" she looked over to Leo. "JO!"
Leo flinched. "No, actually I'm-"
Jo walked over to her wife. "Yes, dear? Oh- oh my God. Leo Valdez?!"
"That's me."
"I- you've gotten so grown up."
"You too," Leo said.
Will buried his face in his hands. "That's not what you're supposed to say."
"Oops, anyway, hi I'm Leo Valdez."
"Oh wow. It's been so long since we've seen you. How are you?" Jo said. She looked completely shocked.
"Y'know, I'm good. I live in New York now. It's okay. Is Cal here?"
"Oh- yeah. She's upstairs. I'll go get her," Emmie smiled.
[LEO VALDEZ]
He was expecting Cal to be excited to see him. He was not expecting her to be completely unimpressed.
"You?" Cal said, crossing her arms. For a minute, Leo didn't think it was actually her. She looked so different. In a good way.
She was wearing a white blouse and jeans, with a pink ski jacket. Her caramel brown hair was in a braid, but a little strand kept falling in her face. She had almond eyes and one of those faces that just seemed timeless.
Leo said something real smart like. "Uh- wha- yuh- me."
Jo cleared her throat. "Why don't you all go take a table. Would any of you like anything to eat or drink?"
Cal rolled her eyes at her mom. "Fine."
The three of them sat down together.
"So," Leo said. "It's good to see you again."
"Leo Valdez." Cal said. Nothing else. Just his name.
"That's me."
"I didn't think I'd ever see you again."
"Same. I moved to Alaska then eventually to New York. Then Will and I found each other. We were in school together since freshman year but we didn't notice."
Cal's eyes widened. "You were in school together all this time and didn't notice?!"
"Yep," Will whispered.
"How stupid are you?!"
"Very," Leo said.
Will's phone started ringing. "Oh no. That's Austin. We better get going." He stood up quickly, as if he wanted to go. "Come on, Leo-"
"It's okay, you can head back." Leo said.
"Well- I probably shouldn't just leave you-"
"I know my way back. Don't worry. Spend some time with your family while I'm not there to annoy you."
"You're not annoying-" Will said.
"I try very hard to annoy. Don't insult my ability to annoy!"
Will laughed. "Okay- uhm. Well, bye. I'll see you later."
He left quickly, leaving just Leo and Cal.
"What's up with him?" Leo asked.
"I was hoping you could tell me that," Cal said. Leo just shrugged.
"Never mind. Do you want to go for a walk?" she asked, standing up.
"Yeah, let's go."
[WILL SOLACE]
Thank God Austin rang him when he did. Will didn't mind hanging out with Cal, he just knew that he wouldn't want to leave if he got attached to Texas again. That's why he invited Leo. At least Leo would go back go New York, too. Unlike most of his friends in Texas. So he ignored them, apart from his family, of course.
[CAL]
Leo Valdez showing up at her home was something she didn't expect at all. She was kind of happy to see him, though.
They walked down the street. It was getting cold and dark, so Cal pulled her ski jacket closer to her.
"So, living in New York. How is it?"
Leo shrugged. "Okay. Pretty different to Texas, but I'm used to it."
"I- do you have a family yet?" Cal asked.
"Nope. Well, I live in an orphanage. The closest thing I have to a family is my best friend, Piper and her dad."
A lot of people believed Cal was adopted but that wasn't the case. She was Emmie's daughter. Jo was her stepmother, but had always been one of Cal's parental figures.
"When we moved back to Texas from Indianapolis, my moms adopted my little sister, Georgina. She's seven now."
Leo was pretty quiet. He'd changed since Cal saw him last, though that was obvious. It had been ten years. He was surprisingly good looking, even though he was short, scrawny and annoying.
They stopped by a lake, sitting on one of the benches together, talking. Leo was telling her all about New York and his friends. She couldn't believe he was still as funny as he used to be. For the first time in a while, she laughed until her ribs hurt.
"I better take you back to the Waystation," Leo said after at least an hour. "Your moms might get worried."
Cal and Leo walked back, now talking about their childhood memories with each other.
Leo stopped outside the cafe.
"You'll visit before going back to New York, won't you?" Cal asked.
"Of course. I'll visit tomorrow. Probably not on Thanksgiving. But the day after! Then.. we're leaving again. Wait, don't you have like Snapchat or a phone number or-"
"Nope," Cal said. "I don't understand all that."
"Then I'll buy a messenger pigeon!" Leo grinned.
"Oh, shut up and goodnight."
"Night! See you tomorrow!"
[LEO VALDEZ]
He walked home with a spring in his step. Still being friends with Cal made him feel great. He made it back to the houses- six of them, all right beside each other. The Fletchers, The Yews, Will's old house, which was know Diana's, The Lakes, The Knowles' and their grandparents' house, which was the biggest. He wasn't sure where Will would be, but judging from the noise coming from the grandparents' house, he guessed they were all in there.
He went into the house, most of the noise coming from what Leo guessed was the lounge. He walked in, most of the family there. All the cousins, aunts, uncles, their spouses and the two grandparents were in the house, but some of them were in the kitchen or other rooms. They seemed to be having some sort of a game night.
"You're back," Will said, moving over to Leo could sit beside him and Gracie. "How was it?"
"How was what? I mean, we just went for a walk and talked."
"Ooookay," Will said with a small smile.
Thankfully, the house was massive. There were 21 people in it, including Leo. They were a great family, though, even if Yan and Jerry were constantly fighting, or Mr Fletcher and Mr Yew wouldn't stop having arm wrestles.
• • •
Everyone started heading back home. Leo, Will and Naomi were staying in Will's old house. There were enough rooms for each of them, including Diana. Leo talked to Will in his room for a while, telling him all about his time with Cal.
Will just kept laughing. "You totally like her. Again."
"What?!" Leo shouted. "No! She's just a good friend. She lives in Texas, anyway. We live in New York."
"I'm telling our friends!" Will teased.
"Oh don't you dare!" Leo laughed.
Will started typing into the group chat. Leo was going to tackle Will for the phone to delete the message. He genuinely didn't like Cal like that. Then he thought about Jason seeing the message. Letting Jason know that he didn't own Leo just because he kissed him twice was exactly what Leo wanted to do.
"Aaaand," Will said. "Send. Oops. Sent."
Leo just laughed, checking his own phone.
Will's Fans
Willsol: Update, haven't even been in Texas for a day. Leo has already found a girl.
Queenmclean: WHAT WJA WHAT HWAT WHAT WHAT ELABORATE??
Queenmclean: ANSWER ANSWER
Queenmclean: LEOOOO?!?
Wisegirl: AYOOO WHAT
Willsol: woah, Annabeth, username change?
Wisegirl: THATS NOT IMPORTANT RN?
Redare: NAH AINT NO WAYYY
Supersizedmcshizzle: jealous, Rachel 🙄
Queenmclean: LEO VALDEZ STOP IGNORING ME
Seaweedbrain: Go Leo go!!
Gmanunderwood: THIS IS SO FUNNY AND RANDOM WHAT???
Fzhang: LITERALLY WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?
Levesque~Hazel: FRFRFR WHY ARE WE ALL SCREAMING?
Nicodia: *turns off notification*
Nicodia: nah but what??? Tell us everything.
Reynaavila: Tan orgulloso de ti Leo❤️
Seaweedbrain: GOOGLE TRANSLATE EXISTS
Seaweedbrain: nvm it just says you're proud. I thought it was a super secret message.
The first thing Leo noticed was that Jason was the only person who didn't reply. He got distracted by Piper ringing him numerous times, though.
He answered after the fourth time.
"LEO!!!" Piper screamed into her phone.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. We were joking. She's just a friend! Tell her Will."
"Yup. Just a friend. Totally." Will whispered.
"Anyway," Leo said, to both Will and Piper. "I'm gonna go to bed now. Night!"
He hung up the phone and talked to Will for another few minutes before going into the spare room. His other friends were still spamming the group chat. Leo seen the chats being read by Jason, but Jason didn't even send one message. Leo put down his phone and went to sleep. Jason didn't care how he felt, so he didn't care how Jason felt.
———
Word Count: 3462
———
A/N: solace family ❤️❤️
I didn't know what to name this chapter since there's multiple POVS. I know 90% of it is about Cal but shush. I'm not very creative with chapter names.