Imagine this.
You've never been the popular one. You didn't really have a large group of friends. You minded your own business.
One day, you arrived at camp, just a few days before another boy one year older than you. Dark hair, sea green eyes, a complete mess sometimes.
You became his friend. Not as close as Grover or Annabeth was to him, but he knew you.
When the camp learned of his godly parent, when he seemed to be a misfit, you stayed by his side. He seems to have forgotten that.
He went on quests, and soon enough you met two others. He drifted from you. He had all his attention on finding Annabeth and bickering with Thalia.
Nico was younger than you, but you watched out for him when his sister left and never came back. Then he left camp, and so on. You know the story.
When Percy went missing, you were one of the ones who was extremely worried. You constantly offered Annabeth help to find him, but she said you were too inexperienced. That was the nice way of pushing you away.
One time, she came back with three demigods, none of them Percy. You were extremely disappointed. You weren't very close to him, but he was your only friend.
You met Jason and Piper, but didn't get very close.
Leo.....was a different story.
He came in swinging, making jokes and being so....happy.
You got annoyed because you were currently stressing over finding Percy. No one else was very close to you or had known you as long. Even though you weren't very close, you were slightly clingy. Again, Percy was your only friend.
One day, Leo was pestering you, determined to make you laugh. You snapped at him.
"Just go away, Leo! I'm not going to laugh at any of your stupid jokes! My life is bad enough, I don't need more people crowding me trying to make me happy! I won't be happy! The day I get my only friend back, the day everyone stops shoving me aside, I'll be happy!"
He stared at you in shock. But instead of apologizing or getting upset, he did something you'll never forget.
He hugged you.
The line that caught his ear, the one that stood out, was "the day everyone stops shoving me aside, I'll be happy."
He understood so much from that one sentence.
And that's where it started.
You see, you had Percy, as a friend. But he had Grover as a best friend, and Annabeth as a girlfriend. Nico had almost been like a little brother, but he didn't see you or talk to you anymore.
Piper and Jason had each other, and didn't talk to you much.
Percy always had your back, but once they came back with him, he spent all his time with Annabeth and his new friends. They'd gone through something....tough together, and are inseparable.
Even Leo got along well with his siblings. He started to build things in a Bunker he found. He understands machines better than people, so that's where he spent most of his time.
He'd talk to you still, though, never leaving you completely alone, and that's how you learned he met someone while he and the others went on their long quest.
It broke your heart. He was the only one who noticed your desperate struggle to fit in, to be noticed, to stop being put at the bottom of everyone's list of importance. To stop being pushed aside.
You were always there for everyone around you. You've helped Will in the infirmary. You've reminded Nico he isn't alone. You were the first one to tell Piper how amazing she was for standing up to Drew. You even helped Jason with Piper.
Most of all, you comforted Leo. Any time he needed it. He was like the 'seventh wheel' on the quest, yet you reminded him how important he was to the quest and everyone on it.
He did the same for you. When you were last picked in capture the flag, he'd make faces at the captains and tell you he'd pick you first. He'd make you little things from scrap metal. He loudly compliment something you made in arts and crafts, saying it was the best he saw, just to cheer you up. He'd be your shoulder to cry on every time you needed it.
He made you so happy, like no one else did. No one else cared for you like this. No one else seemed to put you first.
And then he blew up in the sky.
He died, and left you.
He died for Calypso.
He'd left you for Calypso.
For someone he'd met once and made a promise to. Someone who barely knew him.
And after so long, so many tears shed, so many prayers to every god and goddess you knew to bring him back, your prayers were answered.
You saw him first. He was flying on Festus, but he wasn't alone.
Before the other campers could get to him, you watched him climb down from his dragon. He turned around, grabbed who you knew could only be Calypso by the waist and helped her down. They were both smiling.
You saw the look in their eyes, and you couldn't stand it.
Leo saw you just before you turned and pushed your way through the crowd of campers. You pushed through, still in hearing range long enough for him to announce his new girlfriend. You ran.
And you fell to your knees in the woods, and cried. Leo became one of them.
The ones that left you. That forgot you because they were too distracted by everyone else.
They had each other. Percy and Annabeth, Hazel and Frank, Jason and Piper. Now Leo and Calypso.
You never cried, except with Leo. No matter how hard it got, you held your tears. The only times you cried was in front of Leo, but those times were short lived. You'd wipe the tears away and move on. But now the tears flowed freely.
You never thought you deserved the attention everyone else got. You always thought it was something wrong with you. They were real heroes. Who were you?
You were the one who was everyone's sorta friend. You volunteered to help at the imfimary and in the strawberry fields. You helped the wounded campers get to medical help. You helped the Ares kids put their boar head back up when the Stolls knocked it down. You helped the Stolls plan a few pranks, but helped return stolen items they took.
Yet, you were in the background. Just another friendly face that no one knew.
You pulled out two familair photos from your pocket, worn out from being folded and refolded.
The first was of you and Leo in his bunker. Someone had taken the picture with one of the few cameras at camp. He was working on something at a workbench. You sat on a stool across from him, your right arm rest in along the edge of the table. You both had big grins, like a laugh frozen in time. He had a sparkle in his eyes, looking at you.
You remembered that day. You'd said something funny, and you both cracked up. The photo reminded you of countless late night talks, jokes, movie nights, pranks, and moments when he just held you when you had a bad day. You had those a lot, but after knowing Leo for a while, you didn't have nearly as many. You felt as if you were his number one priority at the time. He understood you like no other. He stood up for you. He made you feel special, he made you feel like you were worth it for once.
You smiled before looking at the next photo. It was of you, Leo, Piper, Jason, Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, and Frank. You stood in a line, arms around each other, smiling at the camera.
Leo had an arm around you, but you couldn't see it in the photo.
Because you were cut out before it was even printed.
Why? Because they wanted a picture of the seven, not the seven and their tag along nobody. You looked at it to remind yourself that you can try harder. You can try harder to be accepted.
"(Y/n)? Are you ok?"
You wiped away the tears and put away the pictures before standing up and facing Nico. You haven't talked to him in so long, you're glad he still remembers you.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"No, you're not. What's wrong?"
You smiled internally. When Nico was actually around, he cared for you. Not as much as Leo had, but still. And he's around more often now that he's got Will.
"It's..."
"It's Leo, isn't it?" You held back the water in your eyes.
"How'd you know?"
"I saw you when Leo arrived. I know that look. That mix between anger and hopelessness. I've felt it. Take it from someone who knows, try to move on. I did, I found Will."
"Yes, but that's because Percy really isn't your type. You two just don't go together like that. Me and Leo..... He took care of me. He helped me. He was there when others weren't. I... I actually thought that......"
Nico stepped forward and wrapped his arms around your shoulders. "I know." Even he knew you and Leo had chemistry. He also knew Leo was too stupid to notice. "You need to talk to him. He was wondering where you were. Be strong. Face him like nothing happened."
You nodded into his chest. When your tears were dry, you thanked Nico and left to find Leo.
When you saw people were in line punching him, you smirked.
You got in line. Once you reached him, you made him stand up from where he sat next to the witch (aka Calypso).
He did so hesitantly. "Why?"
"Because your arm will bruise after all this punching. I want to leave my own bruise, on the other arm. Turn."
He turned. All the anger and depression you held back came flying out in one punch to his shoulder.
"Ow! Geez! Heh, guess I deserved that, huh? Maybe I should've told you where I went..."
"I knew where you went. I found your plans in your Bunker. I prayed you'd come back. Now, I'm not so sure I should have."
With that, you turned on your heel and walked off. Leo stood there, confused, holding his arm. That isn't how he wanted his reunion with you to be.
But you felt so good doing it.
And then you felt bad.
Why should you be upset with him? So what he found a girl. Someone who hadn't known him half as long as you did. What made you so special that he couldn't find anyone else? You got more deflated the more you thought about it. You were being selfish.
When you reappeared in public, Nico got upset. He knew you were a mess because of Leo. So every chance he got, he glared at Leo. Leo was already a little scared of him, this was making it worse. For all the times you acted like Nico's older sister when his real one left, he was returning the favor.
Finally, one day, Leo found you alone in your usual spot in the woods, by a big tree.
As was normal, you were looking at the photos. A silent tear rolled down your cheek. That was an improvement, only one tear. Nico had left to visit Hazel, so you felt more alone than ever.
"(Y/n)?" Leo stuttered. You hadn't seemed very happy with him since he got back, even though you'd faked a smile around him and still attempted talking to him.
The tear had already dried, so you stuck the photos in your back pocket. You didn't notice when they fell out as you stood up.
"Hey, Leo. What's up?"
"You've seemed really upset, and I wanted to ask you why --" he reached out to touch your arm, the way he always used to to comfort you. You flinched away. He looked hurt. "Did something happen while I was gone? Or did I do something? (Y/n), what's wrong? What's wrong with my flor preciosa?"
That was his nickname for you. "Precious flower."
"Am I?"
"What?"
"Am I your flor preciosa anymore?"
"Of course....?" He begins to look worried.
"To answer your question, yes. Something happened when you were gone. You know what happened? I was heart broken. I was devastated, hopeless, depressed, broken. I thought you were dead. I prayed to every single god and goddess to bring you back. Then, when I gathered the strength to go back to the bunker that holds so many memories, I found your plans. Hard to read, difficult to understand, but I've known you long enough to know what they meant. And then I prayed harder, because I knew there was a chance you were still alive, even if it was because you were rushing to a girl's aid. But then you came back. And you didn't come back alone. I was still alone, but you weren't. Just like with everyone else, I was pushed aside. You didn't come find me, you sent Nico. You didn't even care enough anymore to look for me yourself. So yes, something happened while you were gone, and yes you did something when you came back."
You stalked past him out of the woods. You spent the rest of the night listening to Lulluby by Nickleback.
Leo reached down and looked at the pictures you'd held. He was still angry they cut you out of that photo.... And then he saw the other. He remembers that day. You'd compared the Aphrodite cabin to a flock of sparkley pink flamingos. You'd said they even sound like squawking birds when they migrate in groups and gossip. That was also the day he'd made you a bronze flower made of many rows of delicate petals, and started calling you his flor preciosa.
He smiled at the memory, but it disappeared when he realized that you were crying over it, and remembered what you just said. He'd been spending all his time with Calypso, not one second with you until now.
What have I done?