Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Drew hated the three new kids nearly immediately, and hated even more how quickly they gained popularity. Really, she wouldn’t have minded a new cabin mate if she didn’t decide to dethrone her only a few days after she had arrived. What did she know about the Aphrodite cabin?! She wasn’t there for even a full week, and she decided to take her councilor position away from her in the most humiliating way possible! Oh, and the refusal to take part in the Aphrodite Rite of Passage…! That relationship thing with her and Jason was bound to go wrong one way or another. Drew had managed to get over Jason, anyway. If he was dumb enough to date Piper for longer than a month, which he WAS, that was his fault, and she couldn’t do anything about it to change his mind. Besides, for someone who was hot, Jason had no idea how to act. It was like he was raised by wolves or something. Then, there was that other boy… Leo Valdez. Drew didn’t see him around all that much because unlike Dumpster Queen and her boyfriend, he was working on getting a massive ship ready for their second, grand quest to save the world or something. Quests were honestly a waste of time. Drew felt that Leo should have been doing a lot more than self-isolating inside of that bunker for two people that didn’t even seem to like him all that much. Sure, when she first saw him, she felt he was pretty ugly, but she was sure he could clean up well enough to look decent. Somehow, and for some reason, Drew enjoyed the idea of that.

Maybe that’s why she found herself walking towards the bunker while no one was around. It was after the big bonfire event that everyone usually attended. Drew didn’t see that boy there, or anywhere around camp for the past day or two. Well, she didn’t quite know how long it was since he left his stupid isolation hole. She had other things to do than go check on Piper’s little toy. She was thinking about what Piper had said to her earlier. Miss Movie Star had said that her only hobby was herself, which definitely wasn’t true by a long shot. She had other things to do than glamorize herself. She knew she was fabulous, anyway. No need to spend all day trying to fix perfection! She had taken up the hobby of making jewelry since she did not have a lot of things that fit her taste. She wasn’t emo; she was better than that. She preferred pinks and rose quartzes, as she should! Her mother made the red rose; it was about time her siblings and she wore it like the prize of love it was. So, of course she used plenty of that when she was adding a little extra sparkle to her clothes.

The bunker’s door was ajar, which was probably the only reason why it was visible to her. She stepped into the place rather quickly, making sure none of her bracelets or her necklace got snagged into the door. The first thing she noticed when she walked in was the awful smell of smoke and oil. Drew pulled out some perfume from her small handbag that she took around with her. It was Japanese cherry blossom, a scent she liked a lot. That Christmas-y perfume she had before had fallen out of season a month ago. She sprayed it around her before going further inside.

The entire place was a massive mess, to say the least. The tables around the massive mostly-plaited skeleton of the ship were covered in an extreme amount of blueprints and littered with pens, pencils, erasers, and a few mugs of coffee. Drew could imagine the Hephaestus children crawling around in here, working hard to build that ship, probably filthy with machine liquids. Drew wasn’t even sure if Leo was here or not. Honestly, she was beginning to regret coming here, because her reason was growing increasingly stupid. She didn’t even know this guy, and he was one of Piper’s friends. Why would she want to check on him again? What, to spite Piper? Okay, that probably worked out as a reason, but it was a poor one compared to others…

Well, too late. She could hear someone coming down from the five sixths-covered skeleton of the ship. She sprayed a bit more perfume around her, as it still smelled awful. She didn’t realize Leo was in front of her, so she accidentally sprayed him in the face. Drew stared at him. Leo began to cough and turn away from her, covering his eyes. Drew took one look at him and sprayed a bit more on him. He was smelly. Leo glanced up at her and looked surprised. Drew casually put a strand of hair behind her ears. She felt her necklace shift a bit.

“Woah- Drew! What are you doing here?” Leo asked quickly.

Ah, right. She had just wandered in here to see what he was doing, perhaps to check on him and to annoy Piper. Well, she couldn’t JUST say that. Leo probably wouldn’t like that.

“I was just looking for you, obviously. I need your help with something,” Drew said casually.

“With what?” Leo asked.

Hm, what could she want with him? Oh! Her white, heart-shaped sunglasses needed some bling, to match her necklace of course! She just needed him to help her get those gemstones on the sunglasses without ruining them.

“I need to get some gemstones put on my sunglasses,” Drew replied.

Leo looked like he considered it before shifting back.

“Sorry, no can do. I have the Argo 2 to work on… besides, my beauty queen, Piper-” Leo began.

“Don’t mention her in front of me!” Drew hastily said, feeling rage bloom in her chest from just the mention of her name.

Oh, maybe she shouldn’t have snapped at him.

“Geez! I didn’t know you hated her that much!” Leo shifted away from her.

Leo glanced away, running a dirty hand through his dirty hair. Drew didn’t know how hard it could be for him to keep clean. He was looking away.

“If you don’t, I’ll go tell your cabin mates that you have been skipping out on things to work on the ship,” Drew said.

Leo took her words more seriously. He immediately looked up at her.

“That’s not fair! You can’t do that to me!” Leo complained.

“Then, you’ll help! Simple as that,” Drew shrugged her shoulders.

Leo huffed in annoyance.

“Fine, whatever,” Leo replied.

Drew grinned.

“I assume this will be happening tomorrow. It’s almost time to return to your cabin and sleep,” Drew said.

“Yeah. What time tomorrow?” Leo replied.

“Hm… 11ish,” Drew said.

“Okay,” Leo replied.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then,” Drew said.

Drew turned on her heels and proceeded to go to the door. She glanced back at Leo, who seemed to crawl back to the ship. Oh well. It was on him if he chose to sleep or not.

She felt herself wonder if someone like Piper or Jason was going to come for him and drag him to bed. She felt herself almost hoping someone would, but pushed that hope aside. She didn’t even know why she was going to hang out with him tomorrow, honestly. It was just a spontaneous moment of a sudden desire for his attention alone. How foolish of her! He probably didn’t like her, probably because of Piper and whatever nonsense she stuffed into his brain because she and Piper had a few strifes. Okay, well, maybe they disagreed constantly, but it wasn’t her fault! Piper was a very disagreeable person, if it’s her stupid hair or her awful taste in fashion and makeup. Drew felt her nickname was very suitable for someone like her.

Still, Leo was on her mind when she got back to the cabin. She watched through the window to look at Cabin 7, but didn’t see Leo come back.

…

It was the next day, finally. Aphrodite decided to let her live another day, and she was going to make it everyone’s problem.

Drew got ready, as per usual, making sure to do her makeup perfectly and remembering to take the sunglasses with her. Breakfast went on as per usual, usually beginning with Piper saying something stupid and Drew insulting her because of what she said being stupid. She spent the rest of breakfast eating, like a normal person would do. She saw Leo at breakfast, at least, but she saw Piper come up to him and say something to him.

After that nonsense, Drew was quick to go out of the dinning pavilion and back to the cabin to reapply some lipstick. She left immediately after Piper walked in and rushed over to the bunker quickly, not wasting any time. When she got over to the bunker, the door was open ever so slightly. Leo was above Drew on the catwalks of the Bunker. He seemed to be more tired than before, somehow. It was like he didn’t even sleep.

“Leo! I’m here! Come down!” Drew said.

“In a minute!” Leo replied.

Leo seemed to be doing something up there on the catwalks. The Argo 2 was in the center of the whole Bunker. It grew a bit since she was last there. It seemed like he was building the top of the deck, but there was a large hole inside the side of the ship. There was a ramp leading up to it. Drew could see a bit into the hallway. There was a bed there.

Leo climbed down a ladder to the floor. He approached her.

“So, your sunglasses?” Leo asked.

Drew rummaged in her bag. She pulled them out, along with the gemstones she needed.

“Great. So, I can just take those, and you can come back in like an hour or something,” Leo shrugged.

“Oh… Well, this is an easy task, isn’t it?” Drew asked.

“Yeah. Super easy, why?” Leo replied.

“You wouldn’t mind if I stuck around here, would you?” Drew asked.

“You? In here? Why? Is there something you want from here? I promise, there are no lipgloss shades anywhere in this place,” Leo said.

“Ugh! Is it so bad that I’d like to watch what you’re doing?” Drew asked.

“Oh. No, I guess not,” Leo shrugged.

Leo began to walk to a work table. Drew followed him rather quickly. Leo got to work quickly. Drew took the time to watch him as he worked. His hands moved quickly, yet carefully. He was doing a whole lot better attaching the gemstones to the shades than Drew could ever do, which made her just a little bit envious.

“So, how’s the ship going?” Drew asked.

“Fine,” Leo replied.

Drew tried to suppress the memory of how she asked Annabeth if Leo, Piper, and Jason were even worth saving as she watched Leo work. They probably heard that. Maybe that was why Leo wasn’t talking that much to her. That, and the fact that Piper probably said some nasty shit about her after she got dethroned. After a few moments, Leo was finished.

“Okay… here you go. Anything else you need from me?” Leo asked.

Drew looked at the shades in her hands. She put them on.

“How do I look?” Drew asked.

“Uh, good!” Leo said, giving a thumbs up.

Drew took them off quickly, putting them back in her pocket. That wasn’t enough; Drew needed to look better than just “good”! Well, who wore sunglasses indoors anyway. Leo was still looking at her. At least he wasn’t looking completely away.

“Do you need something, or… I was about to go move some stuff,” Leo said.

“Oh? Do you need help with that?” Drew asked.

“Uh! No! I’m strong!” Leo said.

Drew raised an eyebrow at him.

“Really?” Drew asked.

“Of course I am!” Leo said.

Leo flexed his scrawny arm at her to “prove” it.

“Sure, hon. I’ll watch as you struggle,” Drew giggled.

Leo huffed.

“It’s not like you could help, anyway. Aren’t you too worried about breaking a nail?” Leo asked.

Drew took a quick look at her pink, acrylic nails.

“Also, I was waiting for Piper to come so I could carry some beds, so…” Leo said.

“Well, she isn’t here now, is she? Wouldn’t it be much faster if I helped instead of her?” Drew asked.

“I guess,” Leo shrugged.

“Then, let me,” Drew said.

“Fine, but Piper will not be happy to see you here,” Leo warned.

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll be done by then,” Drew said.

…

It was pretty easy to move all of the things with Leo’s help, and best of all, Drew didn’t break or chip any of her nails while she did it. It took around an hour to move all the desks and beds into the cabins. There weren’t any mishaps, aside from when Leo failed miserably at moving a desk into Annabeth’s room by himself and almost had to be charmspoken into letting Drew help him. It was cute. He was cute. Maybe. Drew was on the fence about why she was doing all this, aside to spite Piper. She just knew that for some reason, it felt really nice.

Drew was surprised that Piper, who was “supposed to be here a half hour ago” didn’t show up throughout the whole hour. It was amusing to Drew that Piper couldn’t keep her promises. If she couldn’t do a little task with one of her friends, how could she run the Aphrodite cabin? Was she too busy with something else? Drew could make time in her day, so why couldn’t she?

As they moved in the last bed, Drew heard the sound of the door to Bunker Nine open. Leo put the bed down quickly and walked over to the temporary exit of the ship. Drew didn’t move, but she eavesdropped as she heard Leo walk down.

“Sup Pipes!” Leo greeted.

“Hey, Leo. I came to help move the beds… so, where are they?” Piper asked.

“Oh, I already got to move them,” Leo replied.

“What?” Piper asked.

“I moved them already, so… I guess you can go back to doing whatever you’ve been doing beforehand,” Leo replied.

“Those beds were too heavy to be moved on your own… Did you get help?” Piper asked.

Drew decided that now would be the best time to make her entrance.

“Yeah, I got help from-” Leo began.

Drew strutted out into view. She immediately saw Piper’s face drop in horror and shock.

“Me. I came first,” Drew said.

“You?!” Piper gasped.

“Yes, since you couldn’t be bothered to go and do it yourself,” Drew replied.

Boy did Drew feel happy to be pissing off Piper. Usually, she would be the one to aggravate her first.

“I was busy with Jason. I was going to when I was done,” Piper said.

“Busy doing what, hon? Staring into his eyes?” Drew asked.

“No! We were just…” Piper trailed off.

“Woah, ladies. If you two are going to fight, get out,” Leo said quickly.

“Leo, did you let her in here? Did she charmspeak you?” Piper demanded.

“Well, no,” Leo said.

“Then how did she get in?” Piper asked.

“The front door,” Leo answered simply.

Drew had to stop herself from giggling. Piper sighed in annoyance.

“Okay, but seriously, she didn’t need to do that charmspeak thing to get in. I let her in,” Leo said.

“Why would you do that?” Piper asked.

“I’m right here, hon. He let me in because you wouldn’t come fast enough,” Drew said.

That wasn’t true, but she was happy to see that Piper was looking even more annoyed than before. Unfortunately, Leo was also looking pretty annoyed at this point, too.

“Could you two not? I should be back to working on the ship,” Leo said.

“Alright, fine,” Piper sighed.

Drew made a move for the exit first.

“Bye Leo! I should be seeing you sooner or later!” Drew said, turning to look at him and wave.

Drew put on her improved sunglasses and walked out the door. She moved over to side for a good moment, making sure she wasn’t in sight.

“Leo…” Piper sighed.

“What is it, Piper?” Leo asked.

“You know how Drew is…” Piper said.

“Yeah. I’ll be careful. Careful is my middle name!” Leo joked.

“Your middle name is-” Piper began.

“Yeah, yeah. Pipes, don’t worry about it! I’m sure she’ll lose interest by tomorrow,” Leo said.

How dare he think she was done with him! She wasn’t!

“I hope so. Well, I’ll be going,” Piper said.

“Alright! Come and visit some time, yeah?” Leo asked.

“I will,” Piper said.

Drew quickly slipped away from the door, hurrying away before Piper could spot her.

No way was she going to leave Leo now, especially now that she knew that her hanging out with Leo annoyed her. So what if Leo knew some of her “cruel” hobbies with other campers? Leo seemed to know what he was dealing with, and he didn’t seem to care. It was up to him if he wanted her to leave her alone.

Besides, he was fun to be around. He was funny. That was another plus.

Chapter Text

So… Drew did a lot during that time before July.

“A lot” meaning, like, a lot.

Okay, firstly, she managed to make three entire couples get together, which was a whole lot of effort and energy spent for an amazing final result of six people being in love. Drew, surprisingly enough, had no plans of trying to get them to break up too! She just left them alone, which was really strange because the game was supposed to be her getting them together and then breaking them up. Whatever. That Ares kid, Nike daughter, Demeter son, Hecate daughter, Dionysus gal, and Hermes daughter were just lucky that time around. After she managed to pull that, people started to take her seriously again, which was perfect. Drew now had a nice circle of people to gossip with and try out makeup styles on. It was also a great distraction from how annoyingly couple-y Jason and Piper were being, which was almost EVERYWHERE. Drew knew it was bad because she herself was saying it, too, never minding the fact that she still hated that stupid furry boy’s and dumpster girl’s guts.

Of course, she’d never say that out loud.

She was worried that it would travel through the grapevine to Leo.

When all of that fun drama and couple stuff got tiring for Drew, she’d leave it all behind and go to the bunker, the only escape of it all. She’d hang out with Leo… watch him work, listen to The Rolling Stones with him, let him talk on and on about his glorious machine and about Festus the dragon head. It didn’t happen all that much, but it still did. Drew didn’t really think that once a week was a lot. Back in the mortal world, she used to do piano lessons once a week, too. Well, she usually spent an hour and a half at said lessons. With Leo, she spent double the amount of time.

So naturally, Drew understood why it was hurting her to watch Leo board the ship with all his friends to leave for the “quest to save the world”, whatever that meant. “Saving the world” could be doing anything. It didn’t help Drew’s worries that she didn’t know how long Leo would be gone, either!

Still, seeing the massive Argo 2 outside of the bunker, shining in the sun, was pretty nice.

Drew stared at it quietly, looking at the mast and the figurehead. She wasn’t supposed to be here, technically, but she really didn’t care. Drew didn’t get all her goodbyes in. She didn’t want to wish Piper, Annabeth, or Jason a good trip; rather, she wanted to see her little mechanic before he left. Everyone was on the ship already, but Drew would rather watch it go than be at dinner. She could go eat later, anyway. Not like she was a camp counselor and HAD to be there.

After what felt like forever, Leo walked onto the deck of the ship, finally. He was whistling quietly. Drew was happy to see him.

“Leoooo!” Drew called for him.

Leo immediately stopped whistling and looked down at her. He ran over to the side of the deck she was closest to, looking down on her.

“Drew? What are you doing here?” Leo asked.

“Just came to see you,” Drew replied.

“Really? I thought you’d want to see Jason,” Leo replied sarcastically.

“Psh, never. I don’t wanna see that furry,” Drew shrugged.

“Don’t say that too loud, he might hear it with his wolf ears,” Leo joked.

Drew giggled. Leo smiled.

“So… you here to wish your final goodbyes?” Leo asked.

“Oh, yes, I am,” Drew nodded.

Leo pulled something out of his toolbelt. It was some kind of rope. He tied it to the railing and pushed it down. Drew raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow at it.

“Might as well come up!” Leo said.

Leo threw the rope down to Drew. She grabbed it before it could hit her and moved closer to the ship. She began to climb up it, making sure she didn’t break her nails or let her shades fall off her head and into the dirt. When she got up, Leo was waiting for her. Drew climbed up onto the deck.

The deck felt so new now that it was in the sun. In all fairness, she did watch the Argo 2’s construction weekly, but it was pretty nice to see it all here in the light. Underneath her, she could hear the faint sound of machinery.

The two stood, facing each other. Leo looked at her, and she stared back.

“So…” Leo began.

Drew stepped closer. Leo didn’t move back.Drew could feel herself becoming more… concerned. The reality of this began to hit her, like rain turning into a downpour.

“Promise to stay alive for me, alright hon?” Drew said.

Leo could die on this quest. He could leave without returning to her.

“I’ll try! Staying alive is one of my favorite things to do,” Leo said.

Drew got closer to him. Leo’s hair began to set on fire a bit.

Well, if Drew wanted to spite Piper, why not do this?

…uh, this was the reason she was still doing this, right? When was the last time she went to go see him again? Drew didn’t remember. Yikes.

Drew pecked Leo on the face. She took a lot of steps back, closer to the rope.

“If you come back, I promise I’ll fix you up a bit, alright?” Drew promised.

Leo seemed absolutely dazed. He just nodded.

Drew blew him a kiss.

“Bye bye, fireboy,” Drew said.

She got to the rope and climbed down it quickly, walking away from the ship and only looking back on it when she was able to see Leo again. He seemed to be ablaze. Drew smiled to herself thinking about him and how flustered he got.

Screw the rules. This was the best goodbye yet. Nobody on that entire ship could top that off.

Chapter Text

Screw the rules. Screw the Argo 2. Screw that stupid grand prophecy. Screw the whole entire quest and the war that came of it. Drew wished that those three new kids never came. She didn’t know that they would cause her so much pain.

Waiting for Leo became harder when a new war was beginning against the Romans. Drew was done with war after that stupid one against Kronos, but this one was worse because they were fighting against demigods and not monsters. The whole month of July was very tense to begin with because everyone else was waiting for Piper and Percy and Jason and Annabeth to return, and if Drew said ANYTHING about them, everyone would turn on her. So, she didn’t. She tried to ignore the fact that everyone was more focused on those four than the builder of the ship. She was surprised that Jason was well liked, even though he acted like a furry from time to time.

Of course, with threats of war came the war itself, and then came the realization of Gaea, the Earth Goddess. Well, that group on Argo 2 came back to go save the world on time and stop Gaea from rising and the world from ending, which was great and all, but Drew wished it didn’t come with such a heavy cost.

Leo. Leo was so fucking stupid. She hated him… She HATED him! Oh GODS, how could he do this to her?! He was supposed to live! Drew didn’t expect him to sacrifice himself to save the world! He was supposed to come back to her so she could use him to continue annoying Piper and Jason, and so she could fulfill her promise of fixing him up like he fixed so many other things. It wasn’t fair…! It should’ve been Jason, or Piper, or just anyone else…! She couldn’t believe some stupid war took away another from her!

Worst of all, it was Piper who told her the news of what had happened to him. Piper. She seemed sad, but she wasn’t sad enough. After she told her, she went over to the campfire to go speak to Jason. Drew wished she could watch Piper burn as she sat with her stupid boyfriend by the stupid campfire in that moment, but she knew it wouldn’t take her pain away, and Jason would probably apprehend her before she even got the chance to do it.

And so, Drew felt that it was over for her and Leo. The game was cut short. Drew left feeling hurt and betrayed by the new “heroes”.

…

Drew could admit to herself that she let herself go a bit after the war. Well, she still showered and made sure to eat when she felt she could eat, but she wasn’t putting enough effort into herself as she should’ve been. She had grieved for around six months after that war. There was no funeral. All his friends seemed to have moved on already or were still grieving in secret. Jason and Piper’s relationship began to struggle and flounder after the war, and they broke up after around three months. That was entertaining to Drew. She smiled upon Piper’s pain and newfound singleness. Jason was left to himself, too, which was also nice. If Jason didn’t dislike her still, she could easily set him up with a mile-long line of girls and gals willing to put aside his furriness for his hunkiness. Meanwhile, Percy and Annabeth left camp to go do whatever in the mortal world. They would show up sometimes, not that Drew cared all that much, but still. Drew was awfully bitter. Every time she went around camp, particularly around the bunker, she remembered the times of her and him together, or how she put in an extra effort to get ready for him and do her makeup just right. She also couldn’t stand eating around Piper because she knew that Piper couldn’t stand Leo and her speaking to each other positively. She just was so mad.

It was one of those cold nights of winter once more where Drew was left alone in her cabin. She really just wanted to be away from Piper, so she went where she was safe and welcome. Also, Drew didn’t like being seen without makeup on or her hair done up. Drew didn't know if she would continue like this until Valentine's day. It was approaching faster than Drew wanted it to. Just twenty more days, and no sign of any dates...

Drew couldn’t help but look outside into camp itself. The night sky was pretty nice at the time, and kids and campers were all over the place. She yawned a bit, wondering if now would be a good time to go to bed or something.

Something metallic gold and shiny came into view from the sky. That most definitely grabbed Drew’s attention, as it began to get closer and closer to the shore of camp. She pressed herself against the window to get a better look at what could possibly be flying towards camp. Two figures on the back of…

Oh! Oh my gods…! Leo! It was him! He had returned after all of this time!

Oh, and there was some other ginger girl with him, who promptly shoved Leo off of HIS dragon and walked off of it. Drew couldn’t hear what was said by said girl, but it seemed to make Leo sad. Said girl walked off. Drew needed to see Leo.

Before she went off, Drew quickly looked in the mirror of her cabin at herself. Her appearance… Oh, no no no. She wasn’t even going to think of walking out there looking like that. Drew grabbed her beauty bag from her chest and immediately got to work on herself to make sure that she looked good enough to see him. After around forty minutes, she felt like she looked good enough. She sprayed some Japanese cherry blossom perfume on herself and quickly ran out of the cabin.

She luckily missed the crowd of campers that swarmed him when he came, but that also meant that she missed him, too. She walked past a lot of campers who were chatting with each other and went over to two of her friends, Cristina from the Ares cabin and Bella from the Demeter cabin.

“Woah, Drew! You seem like you’re back to your regular self,” Bella commented.

“Yes, yes, I know I look fabulous. Where is Leo?” Drew asked.

“He went off after everyone got a good punch in,” Cristina said.

What?

“What? What happened here?” Drew asked.

“After Leo explained himself, Piper gave him a punch to the arm and told him to never do that again, and everyone just followed suit. Even Chiron got one in,” Cristina explained.

…Oh MY GODS. WHY did Piper let that happen? Okay, Drew needed to find him NOW.

“Oh, wow. Anyway, what direction did he go in?” Drew asked.

She was pretending not to care, but she was seething underneath. How could this happen? They should have been thankful he even wanted to return to this camp to begin with.

“Over there,” Bella said, pointing to the direction of the bunker.

“Thanks, gals,” Drew said, smiling.

Drew walked away from them quickly, trying not to look suspicious. She walked in the direction of the bunker quickly, making sure not to trip and fall over the ground. Her outfit was very nice for such a short-notice dress up to see Leo. She was wearing black doc martens loafers, white leg warmers,a black skirt, and a nice, new black puffer jacket that her dad sent her. The only thing that was wrong with her outfit was the stupid orange camp shirt, which she wished she could change its color to pink or white. Oh well, not like it was all that visible with her jacket zipped up to cover it but also show her neck. She had some nice pink earrings and a pink necklace to complete the outfit.

When Drew reached the bunker, it wasn’t there, which meant the door was shut. Drew went over to where she knew the bunker was and knocked on the door. She could feel it was there. All she needed was for her to be let in.

The door opened a bit.

“Festus! No!” Leo said.

Drew grabbed the door and pushed it open wide enough for her to be let inside. Festus was at the door and had pushed it open for her. Leo was standing by Festus, scorning at the dragon. He seemed to be in an awful mood. Drew couldn’t blame him for that. His facial expression immediately changed when he saw her. Drew could feel her emotions take a full hit on her heart, feeling tears of joy form in her eyes as she smiled at him.

“Oh, Leo! You’re here!” Drew said.

Drew immediately threw herself onto him in a hug. Leo tensed up for a moment before hugging back. He felt the same, albeit a bit more scrawny than before. When Drew moved back, she got a better close at him. Leo had longer hair, looked a bit more clean than usual… he had eyebags, and his eyes were a bit puffy…

“Leo, are you alright?” Drew asked.

Oh, his right arm… It was beginning to turn purple with bruising. Drew’s anger with Piper immediately rushed back into her, but she tried to keep her cool for him.

“Yeah, yeah..! Great…” Leo said.

“Your arm is bruised. It needs ambrosia-” Drew began.

“I don’t wanna go out right now,” Leo said.

That was fair.

“Alright then. Don’t you have some here somewhere?” Drew asked.

“Somewhere around here,” Leo shrugged.

Drew looked at him expectantly. She knew something was wrong, and she was just waiting for him to finally say something. Leo looked hurt. She could tell because she was a child of Aphrodite and because she could tell by his face. She’d find a way to get it out of him.

“Leo, is there something wrong?” Drew asked.

“Nah,” Leo shook his head.

Drew raised an eyebrow.

“Maybe?” Leo shrugged.

Drew crossed her arms around her chest. Leo groaned.

“Okay, maybe there is. It’s not your fault, though,” Leo said.

“Is it something to do with that other girl? Who is she?” Drew asked.

“Woah? Are you jealous or something?” Leo joked.

“Depends, Leo. You can never be too sure with a child of Aphrodite,” Drew shrugged.

Leo snorted.

“Well, that girl… Calypso… She just needed me for the ride here, nothing else,” Leo said.

“Anything between you two?” Drew asked.

“Nah, not anymore,” Leo sighed.

Thank the Gods.

“Anything else?” Drew asked.

Leo shrugged.

“Goodie. Now, we can hang out together undisturbed,” Drew smiled.

Leo looked at her suspiciously.

“You aren’t mad that I was gone?” Leo asked.

“I’m just glad that you’re back. You’re staying, right? You better be,” Drew asked.

“‘Course I am. I’m not going anywhere,” Leo said.

“Good,” Drew said.

Drew looked around the bunker, but her eyes fell on Leo. He was still sad-looking, and Drew didn’t mean his appearance. Drew appreciated him, though. He was still kinda cute... Okay, maybe the appearance comment she made in her mind about him was wrong because she really liked looking at him. She was going to have a hard time fulfilling her promise because he looked pretty perfect the way he was.

A tear fell from Leo’s eyes. Drew noticed immediately.

“Oh, Leo..!” Drew gasped.

Leo crumpled over a bit, trying to obscure his face by bending over a bit and rubbing his face with his hands. Festus, who Drew completely forgot about, clicked in surprise. Drew quickly helped him over to the worktables, which had some seating. Festus tried its best to follow them without knocking things over. Festus was absolutely massive, so Drew wasn’t surprised when it did. Leo sat down willingly into one of the chairs. Drew pulled one up to be closer to him. Leo’s crying was quiet. Drew tried her best to comfort him. It was a bit difficult because nobody went to her for comfort when their girlfriend or boyfriend broke up with them.

“I…” Leo began.

“Shhh, hon… It’s okay,” Drew said.

Leo sniffled. He wasn’t an ugly crier, surprisingly, unlike Drew. Drew traced her hand softly on the bruise on his arm.

“I’m not mad at you, I promise,” Drew said.

“It’s not that… It’s just…” Leo began.

He was struggling to speak. Drew tried harder to soothe him.

“Dios mío,” Leo muttered.

Drew felt hurt by him. This wasn’t the first time. She didn’t like the fact that he was crying because it was making her sad. She didn’t hate him. She felt… oh gods. She was going to tartarus for sure.

“Everyone… they…” Leo said.

“I know, Leo. I know. It’s not fair. They shouldn’t have done it,” Drew said.

“Then why did they?!” Leo cried out.

Drew would have loved to say that it was because Piper hit him first, and everyone followed suit, but she didn’t.

“They must’ve been so surprised to see you, is all,” Drew said.

Leo sniffled. He slumped over into her lap. Drew felt her face heat up, and she was suddenly very thankful for her full-coverage foundation. Like she said before, she was sure she was going to tartarus for this.

Drew watched him as he slowly began to doze off. She sighed in relief quietly when he did, hoping that maybe his dreams would be more merciful to him than the rest of the world. Festus went over to the two of them, looking down upon them. Drew looked up at it.

“He fell asleep,” Drew said shortly.

Festus clicked at her. She didn’t really know what it was saying.

“Uh, sure,” Drew shrugged.

Festus went off, which was a relief. She slumped over in the chair she was sitting on. It was kind of uncomfortable because it was made of metal.

Drew began to feel exhaustion seep into her as well. She could just go to her cabin and rest in her bed… eh, no. Too much effort. Besides, Leo was right there. She couldn’t just leave him alone. Drew felt her eyes close and her arms fall downward.

Hold on, why was she putting up with this again? This was Leo, Piper and Jason’s best friend, that she was talking about! She was just doing this to… to… uhhh… Oh, right, to spite Piper…

What part of this was to spite Piper?

Drew couldn’t remember.

Oh, gods.

Oh, gods… NO!

Drew had made a terrible mistake! This wasn’t supposed to go this far! Surely, there was some way to undo this!

Or maybe she should handle this like a grownup.

This whole game was to spite Piper and prove to her that Drew was better than her! This wasn’t meant for Drew to get oh so attached to some scrawny... unconventionally attractive, funny mechanic boy… UGH! Drew needed to snap out of this!

And admit she has it bad.

Drew wanted to scream. She wanted to throw things around and have some kind of fit. How, just HOW could this happen? Drew wasn’t even being genuine, wasn’t she?

Oh yes she was.

Drew was suffering. She didn’t even like Leo.

She tended to swing her feet when she was thinking about him. She always made extra effort to look good for him.

Screw Piper. Screw her and her stupid best friend.

She swoons and sighs. Why deny it?

Drew was in love.

Drew felt like she was going to die.

To die, if Leo didn’t feel the same way as she did.

Chapter Text

Drew awoke quickly from that awful dream-confrontation of herself by herself about herself. She sighed in relief that it was over, but she couldn’t change what it meant to her.

Drew quickly noticed that there was a blanket covering the two of them. It was badly draped, so she assumed that Festus was the one who did it. Drew had no idea what time it was. She would have preferred to not sleep with a face full of makeup, but for Leo…

Alright, she couldn’t lie to herself anymore. She was head-over-heels in love. Drew would be a liar if she didn’t say that she wanted to spend more than just a few minutes with Leo like this, but she needed to make sure that nobody noticed her absence, especially not Bella and Cristina. They were the last two people she spoke to, so they would be questioned first. Drew wasn’t all too concerned about Piper and Jason walking in on them, either, because she assumed they had “better” things to do than this. Also, for all she knew, it could be the early hours of the morning, so really, nobody would be entering here.

Drew slowly shifted off the blanket. She looked down at Leo, who was still on her. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. Drew could almost forget about how Leo was crying before about how everyone hit him. His arm was still uglily bruised from the incident. She made sure to cover that part of his arm with the blanket.

Leo stirred. Drew didn’t know how to react because she didn’t know how he’d react. Drew decided to pretend that she was still asleep by allowing herself to slump over again. She closed her eyes in a way that made it look like she was fully asleep, but she wasn’t. It was a bit hard to see past her eyelashes, which were thick with mascara, but she tried to make it work the best she could. And so, she watched.

Leo shifted upward quickly, letting the blanket Drew set on him fall to the floor. He moved his head off of her lap and sat in the seat she sat him in earlier, rubbing his eyes and looking around. His glance fell on her, and his face heated up to a bright red. He shifted his oversized army fatigue jacket over himself more. He and Drew didn’t even do anything all that romantic- there were a lot more romantic things to do- so he had no reason to be so flustered.

Drew decided that now was a great time to “wake up” so she slowly opened her eyes. Leo flinched back a bit, straightening up and putting his hands in his lap. She stretched a bit and yawned. Drew would definitely need to exfoliate her skin after this so she could make up for the makeup sin she committed. Leo was staring at her like she’d kill him.

“Hm?” Drew looked at him.

“Uh…” Leo mumbled.

“Is there something on my face?” Drew asked.

“No… uh,” Leo shook his head.

Oh, yes. Drew needed to look at herself quickly. She pulled out a pocket mirror from her pocket and looked at herself. Nothing was smudged, but she definitely needed to reapply some lipstick. Drew shut the mirror. Leo stood up from his chair and looked around.

“Where’s Festus??” Leo asked.

“I don’t know,” Drew shrugged.

“Did I turn him off last night..? Oh, no,” Leo groaned.

“What’s wrong?” Drew asked.

“He probably flew off somewhere… or worse, he’s hiding somewhere in here,” Leo said.

“It can’t be that bad. Can’t you just call him?” Drew asked.

“Oh, sure! With my FestusFinder3000- Of course I can’t! He could be anywhere!” Leo complained.

Drew looked around the bunker. She nearly yelped when she saw Festus climbing on the ceiling. Leo looked up. Festus clicked at him.

“Oh, there he is,” Leo said.

“How did he get up there?!” Drew asked.

“I gave him the ability to climb walls. Y’know, like spiderman!” Leo said.

“Oh my gods, Leo,” Drew groaned.

“I know, I’m tragically amazing,” Leo said, grinning like a madman.

There was her Leo.

“I just need to get him down…” Leo said, trailing off.

Drew questioned whether he remembered last night, or if he was trying to suppress said memories. Drew wouldn’t be surprised if it never came up again, as that would probably become a sore spot for Leo. Oh well.

Someone knocked on the door of the bunker. Leo froze. He stared down at Drew.

“I’ll hide,” Drew said.

Leo nodded quickly.

Drew quickly looked around. She chose to hide under a workbench, which was halfway obscured by a panel of steel. Drew could peek out from the workbench past the steel, but could also easily take cover underneath it. Leo ran over to the door and opened it. Piper walked through the door.

“What’s up, Pipes?” Leo greeted.

“Hey, Leo…” Piper greeted back sadly.

Oh, what did she want with him now?

Leo made room for Piper to enter. She walked in, looking around.

“So, what brings you to la casa de Leo?” Leo asked.

“Leo… Don’t even… I came to apologize,” Piper said.

Leo’s cheerful demeanor faded quickly. Piper sighed sadly. Drew’s eye twitched.

“Uh, for what?” Leo asked.

“For last night! What I did was so rude… I didn’t expect everyone to go and hit you on the arm,” Piper said.

She sounded pretty sincere.

“Psh, it’s fine! I’m not a baby. I can take it,” Leo shrugged.

Leo spent the rest of that night crying in her arms. He wasn’t a baby, though.

“Then where were you last night?” Piper asked.

“In here, with Festus,” Leo said.

“Where even is he-” Piper began.

Piper looked up at Festus, crawling around on the ceiling.

“Oh my gods, Leo! Why are you letting him do that?!” Piper gasped.

“I know, genius! It’ll come in handy sooner or later,” Leo said confidently.

“I guess you never change,” Piper shrugged.

“You know it!” Leo grinned.

Piper took another look around the bunker. Leo glanced over to Drew’s hiding spot, and then to Piper.

“So, are we gonna start making up for all the missed time we had together? Maybe tell Frank, Hazel, Percy, and Annabeth that I’m alive and well?” Leo asked.

“Yeah, we will… But, another question,” Piper began.

Oh dear.

“Have you seen Drew anywhere around here? Her friends told me to go look for her here,” Piper said.

“Why did you listen to them?” Leo asked.

“Because some of them are alright people, and I don’t want to let them down. For all I care, Drew is hidden away in the woods telling water nymphs what’s good skincare,” Piper said.

That bitch! She didn’t know any of Drew’s activities outside of rumors, so she had no right to talk about what she could be doing to Leo.

“Uh, no. I haven’t seen her around here. I don’t know why her friends would think she’s here!” Leo lied.

“They told me that she asked where you were, though, and she apparently went in that direction,” Piper brought up.

“Maybe she was going towards archery so she could practice shooting me down from trees when Capture the Flag comes around,” Leo shrugged.

“Leo, the archery range is in the other direction…” Piper said.

“Well, she’s not here! So, you should probably look elsewhere,” Leo said.

Piper stared at him. Leo looked away.

“Well, if she were here, I’d prefer if she got out. Leo, you shouldn't be hanging out with her. She’s a bad person and probably would be a bad influence on you,” Piper said.

“I never said that she was here, Pipes! Nor did I say I was hanging out with her,” Leo said.

“Alright, Leo,” Piper said.

Leo shifted back from her. There was a moment of silence. All that could be heard was Festus moving quietly on the roof.

“You weren’t hanging out with her before the quest, right?” Piper asked.

“No, no! Of course not,” Leo lied.

“Alright,” Piper said.

Piper made a move to leave. She turned around to look at him one last time.

“I’ll see you later, Leo. You should probably come to breakfast before your siblings get worried about you,” Piper said.

“Yeah! I will! Don’t worry about me!” Leo said.

Piper left, leaving the door ajar. Leo went over to it to shut it, and then stepped back from the door. Drew slowly crept out of her hiding spot and walked over to Leo. Before Drew could even say anything, Leo signaled to her to stay quiet. Drew waited for a few moments. Leo shifted over to the door and opened it, looking out of it. He then shut the door.

“Alright… Nothing to worry about,” Leo said.

“Good,” Drew said.

Leo and her stared at each other for a moment.

“So, are we going to discuss last night?” Drew asked.

Leo sighed, running his hands through his messy curls.

“Drew, I don’t know. I don’t even know what to make of that night,” Leo sighed.

“Me neither,” Drew said.

She knew how she felt that night, and what happened during it, but she had no idea what he felt.

“Are we still friends..?” Leo asked.

“Of course we are. You already earned my friendship a year ago,” Drew said.

Drew omitted that she loved him. Leo looked relieved.

“Cool cool cool, okay so…” Leo said.

“We should be heading back to our cabins now,” Drew said.

“Yeah, yeah…” Leo nodded.

Drew pushed open the doors of the bunker. She looked back at Leo.

“My offer still stands, Leo, if things aren’t too awkward for us,” Drew said.

She watched as Leo flushed a bit, and then turned around, walking out. It was very early in the morning, probably around 7:30ish. Drew felt pretty smug, but her feeling soon changed to nervousness.

Piper was her biggest competition to get Leo’s heart. She kept on badmouthing her when she didn’t even know what she was like anymore. Drew did have to admit that being around Leo made her a bit different, somehow. She was less mean to people; people told her that she had become nicer. Piper’s view of her clearly hadn’t changed, though. It wasn’t like Drew could do a lot to change her mind, anyway. If Leo told Piper that he had been hanging out with her, Piper would probably trap Drew inside of the Aphrodite cabin until Leo unfriended her for neglecting their friendship. Well, on a second note, Piper would have to try a lot harder than that. Leo didn’t unfriend her when she almost completely isolated him while he was building the Argo 2. Piper would probably have to talk a LOT of smack about Drew to get Leo away from her, which was ironic because Piper hated Drew for the fact that she was a gossip sometimes. Well, good luck babe. Drew was going to date Leo if it meant Piper had to tear apart camp to stop them.

Besides, Drew was a good percent sure that Leo liked her back. Either that, or she was delusional and Leo was just blushing out of embarrassment.

Chapter Text

Breakfast was where Drew got interrogated, and where Drew lied her way through it. Camp activities included hanging out with Leo. Dinner was where nothing happened. Drew slept peacefully that night, and that was the end of that.

The next day was more interesting, as two romans showed up to camp, completely unwarranted. Why would Romans show up on a Tuesday again? Oh, who cared? Drew didn’t know their names, and she didn’t really care about them all that much either. They were probably the last two of the seven prophecy, and that was all that was important. She saw them at breakfast, when she was trying to enjoy her food while Piper and Lacy yapped to each other moderately loudly. When Piper saw them, she immediately got up and went over to them. The two romans, her, Jason, and Annabeth went over to sit together at the Poseidon table to catch up on whatever was happening in their lives. It didn't take long for Drew to realize that the two Romans were in love with each other, which made the Poseidon table look like one big couple’s table instead of it being dedicated to a God’s children, let alone a big three god. Whatever, not like Drew cared. If it made Piper go away so she could drink her starbucks pink drink with extra strawberries and peach juice in peace, so be it.

When Drew finished up, she got up and began to walk to the exit. When she felt that someone was staring at her, she turned around to the Poseidon table and locked eyes with Piper. Drew calmly waved to them and smiled, and then strutted out. Drew walked over to her cabin quickly so as to not run into more trouble with Piper. She entered, and sat on her bed. Drew looked at her reflection for a good moment, and then at her nails. Hm… It was eighteen days until Valentine's day… nah. It was too far away. She’d do that after the capture the flag game. Besides, they still looked good.

Somehow, she was bored.

Oh, right. Drew had friends. She could just go and hang out with them.

Drew got up quickly and walked out of the cabin. There were a whole lot of activities she could be doing around now, but she knew most of her friends would be around the canoe lake, so she headed there. When she got there, she spotted Cristina, Bella, and the rest, and she quickly joined in on what they were doing.

Drew found herself in a canoe with Bella after a few moments of conversation. When they were in the middle of the lake, Bella and Drew stopped rowing. Drew looked around the canoe lake, looking at everyone who was around them in a boat. Almost immediately, she noticed Jason and Piper in a canoe together, which was strange because they were both exes and Drew would rather die than be caught dead in a canoe with her ex. She then noticed the two romans together, and Percy and Annabeth together. Leo was hanging around on the sidelines, which annoyed Drew.

Drew suddenly got a great idea! Classic her. Drew began to row over to the shore. She looked at Bella, only slightly regretting what she was about to do.

“Hey, Bella. Don’t you want to go canoeing with Cristina?” Drew asked, absolutely laced with charmspeak.

Well, it was a question. She could say no or something.

“Of course I do!” Bella said, immediately getting out of the canoe.

Drew smiled to herself. She got out carefully, so as to not fall out. Drew looked to Leo.

“Oh, Leo! Don’t you want to canoe with me?” Drew asked.

She wasn’t charmspeaking this time. Leo noticed her almost immediately and went over to her.

“Drew, are you sure..? What about my friends?” Leo asked.

“They should be fine with it,” Drew said.

Leo shifted back a bit.

“Pleaseeee?” Drew asked.

Leo caved in. Drew could tell by his facial expression.

“Alright, but you might have to do all the rowing. I gotta save my strength for my next invention!” Leo said.

Leo and Drew got into the canoe. Drew knew that she would be doing all the rowing, but she didn’t care. Annoying Piper was more important than how sore her arms might be. Drew began to row, moving the canoe more into view. She tried her best to pace herself so she wouldn’t break a sweat. Leo also rowed a bit, having a bit of trouble keeping up with Drew’s pace and beginning to sweat. Leo had to regularly wipe sweat off of his face, but he seemed to be enjoying himself because he grinned a bit every time he looked up at her. Drew rowed, getting closer to Piper and Jason’s canoe. The Romans paid no mind to them, but Percy, Annabeth, Jason, and Piper did. Especially Piper. Piper stared at her from her canoe.

“Drew, what are you doing?” Piper asked her.

“Rowing. You should try it sometime, hon,” Drew said, smiling at her.

Piper looked annoyed. Percy looked tempted to use his aquatic powers to knock over their boat, but Leo was in it, which was preventing him from doing anything too extreme.

As Drew was rowing, the paddle began to get stuck in the water. Drew began to struggle rowing. She tried to pull it out of the water, but the surface tension was suddenly too hard to break. Drew tried harder, the canoe beginning to shake as she put all her weight to the side of the boat.

“Drew, be careful, I-” Leo began.

The paddle suddenly flew out of the water. Drew let go at the right time, letting it soar through the air. She readjusted so the canoe wouldn’t tip. Drew shot an angry glare at Percy, who looked pretty smug. Leo huffed. Some poor camper yelled something heinous because they got hit in the head by a paddle, which made everyone take a moment to stare at said camper. It was Clarisse. She seemed to know it was Percy already, which meant that Drew could live another day.

“Damn. I guess that means I have to row us back,” Leo said.

“Oh, don’t worry. I got it,” Drew said, smiling.

Drew reached out for the paddle Leo had. Leo gave her the paddle happily. Drew took an extra moment to hold his hand as he handed it over, and began to row again as Leo sat, happily enjoying avoiding the strenuous activity that was rowing. Drew thought that after all that inventing, Leo would be just a bit stronger. He was probably better with his hands than his arms, and Drew could tell.

It didn’t take too long for the other paddle to meet the same fate as the last. Drew stopped rowing, instead sitting back in the canoe.

“Man,” Leo groaned.

“It’s okay! The water should naturally bring us back to shore. We can wait,” Drew said.

“Alright, whatever you say Queen Drew,” Leo shrugged.

“Queen Drew”?

Oh my gods! Finally! She got a nickname!

The canoe tipped over suddenly, sending both of them into the water. Leo swam up to the surface immediately. Drew, feeling spiteful, decided to go under the canoe and into one of two spots of air to wait. It would cause a bit of panic if Drew didn’t resurface immediately.

After a good moment or two, Drew felt the canoe being moved. She quickly ducked down into the water, going limp and letting herself float upward to the surface. Drew was an amazing actor, so it wouldn’t be TOO hard to pretend that she had some swimming problems.

“Percy! Not cool, man! You took it too far!” Leo yelled.

“She’s faking it!” Piper yelled back.

“Is she?” Leo asked.

Suddenly, Drew spat up water. Drew shifted upward, opening her eyes and glaring at Percy.

“What’s your problem, Percy? Can’t a girl do some canoeing without you throwing a fit?” Drew snapped at him.

The water was gross, now that Drew was thinking about it. Also, it was royally ruining her makeup and hair. Drew was tempted to pull out her mirror, but she was afraid she would further damage it. Leo looked extra scrawny now that his clothes were sticking to his skin, but Drew didn’t mind all that much. The water made his hair look longer.

“You guys were being so… weird together. This isn’t a kissing lake, it’s a canoeing lake,” Percy said.

Drew and Leo exchanged a glance. Drew hoped that Leo wouldn’t be too opposed to kissing her, just anywhere else but here.

“Oh, like YOU’RE one to talk, Perseus. It’s not like everyone here can see how you’ve been staring at Annabeth like you guys haven’t been dating already!” Drew retorted.

Annabeth blushed in embarrassment. Percy stared, dumbstruck. Drew began to swim away to shore, letting Leo pick if he wanted to follow her or not. He did, luckily. The two got out of the waters quickly. Drew pulled her small pocket mirror out and looked at her reflection. She was shocked to see herself looking so disheveled. Leo glanced at her.

“I guess we shouldn’t hang out publicly if Percy and Piper are going to have a problem with it,” Leo said.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t hang out, Leo,” Drew said.

Leo raised an eyebrow.

“We can use the bunker,” Drew suggested.

“Oh, yeah. We can,” Leo said.

Drew put away her mirror.

“I’m going to my cabin. I’ll see you later,” Drew said.

“Alright! See you later,” Leo said.

Drew walked away quickly, going to the Aphrodite cabin. She went inside and grabbed some clothes to change into.

Drew had to spend a decent amount of time drying and fixing her hair, and then fixing her makeup and picking out new accessories for her new outfit. She spent enough time for Piper to finish canoeing and come into the cabin. It was just the two of them, unfortunately, and Piper seemed to want to talk to Drew.

Drew looked up at Piper standing over her as she was putting on a coat of lip gloss.

“What is it, dumpster queen?” Drew demanded.

“Look, Drew, I know what you’re doing,” Piper began.

“Do you?” Drew asked.

Drew checked her appearance in the mirror.

“Look, I know we aren’t on the best terms, but you can’t do this to Leo! He’s my best friend!” Piper said.

“What right do you have to speak on his behalf? You were the one who looked moments away from a temper tantrum because Leo and I were in the same area for a few minutes,” Drew retorted.

“You’re trying to seduce him, and I know it..! I’ve seen what you’ve been doing!” Piper accused.

“You don’t know what seducing even looks like!” Drew replied.

Drew closed her lip gloss. She got up to face Piper.

“If you really want to know how he feels, go ask him yourself,” Drew suggested.

“I can’t, because I know-” Piper began.

“That he’ll support my side of the story, and not yours? Sorry, hon, but you have no domain over this,” Drew said.

Drew pushed past Piper and made a walk to the door.

“This isn’t over, Drew!” Piper said.

“It is,” Drew replied.

“How do you know? I-” Piper began.

“Because I said so, hon!” Drew snapped at her, cutting her off.

Drew opened the door. She shot Piper one last glare before storming off. She didn’t care that those Romans were staring at her as she left, she just needed to get away from Piper so her day wouldn’t be more ruined than it already was.

“Seducing”? Oh, if Drew was doing that, Leo would’ve been hers by last February!

As much as Drew hated to admit it, what Piper said did get under her skin. She didn’t want to seduce Leo into loving her. She wanted him to feel genuine love for her so that it could last for however long Eros himself would let it, whether if it was until they turned eighteen or for the rest of their lives. Somehow, just somehow, Drew wanted the latter option.

Drew was really out of her mind. Genuinely. She didn’t know she could fall this hard for some boy she talked to to spite Piper.

Chapter Text

The next few days had a whole lot of interactions with Leo in front of his friends, and some that were more quiet and private. Drew wouldn’t admit this aloud, but what Piper said to her hit her hard. She didn’t know if what she was doing to Leo was seducing, and she didn’t want to test it. It seemed that Leo’s friends did not like her all too much either, most likely due to Piper’s gossip. It was pissing Drew off that they believed they knew better than Leo himself. It had been nearly six months since they last saw him, and yet, they were still wrapped up in themselves. It was no wonder that Leo complained quietly with slipped-in remarks about how he felt like he was the seventh wheel of the group. He was, but it wasn’t his fault, it was theirs.

February fourteenth rolled around faster than Drew wanted to think. This meant a capture the flag game. For some strange reason, Hazel and Frank, the two Romans, were still around instead of going back to New Rome to do their job. Maybe they stuck around to spend time with Leo. She didn’t know, and she didn’t care.

Drew tried to savor and enjoy all the time before the game. She ate breakfast mindfully, paced around in the Aphrodite cabin, made sure to put extra care in her makeup, watched couples be lovey-dovey and tried to ignore her painful singleness… Anything to stall. Eventually, her time began to run out, though, and before she knew it, it was time.

Drew never liked capture the flag for a few reasons, one being how easy it was to beat up other kids you didn’t like, whether they were in the same cabin as one or not, and blame it on other people or the other team. The other reason was how dangerous and messy the game was. Drew’s main enemies at the moment were Piper, Percy, and probably Annabeth, which left her VERY unsafe. Percy and Annabeth had an excuse to jump her, while Piper could charmspeak others into believing her side. However, Drew did have a feeling that all three of them would probably be too “good moraled” to attack Drew without being provoked but she wasn’t even sure of that saving grace. She’d also rather jump off the Aphrodite cabin and break her legs than have Jason Grace save her from the three of them.

So… what she needed to do was just stay as far away from them as possible.

Easy task for Drew, honestly. Drew was very good at avoiding people when needed.

Well, she thought she was when she entered the forest, moving away from the flag quickly and trying to cover her face with her arm as she went. She had a helmet on, too, so it shouldn’t have been so easy to recognize her. Drew wasn’t planning on going to the blue team’s flag to capture it, rather, she’d rather wait out until it was over. Capture the flag was dangerous, and she didn’t want to get beat up over some stupid game.

Drew moved closer to the forest’s edge, closest to the rocky shore. The sword in her hands was a bit heavy, but she managed well enough with keeping it up. Drew decided to sit down for a moment, trying to ignore the sounds of others running around and the screams. The screams only lightly reminded Drew of the Battle of Manhattan, just a little. Drew glanced in the water’s reflection. She immediately got up when she saw Piper’s reflection approaching behind her.

“What do you want now?” Drew asked.

“Drew, I was being serious when we last spoke,” Piper said.

“I know. I didn’t care,” Drew said.

That was a lie, but Piper didn’t have to know.

“You should care now! I’m not going to let you hurt him!” Piper snapped at her.

“Oh, like you cared before!” Drew retorted.

“What is that supposed to mean..?! Drew, you do know I’ve known him longer than you have!” Piper said.

“Yeah, and who was there for him when he was building the Argo 2?” Drew asked.

“I’m sorry that I can’t spend every waking second with him! He’s my best friend, not my boyfriend!” Piper said.

“Didn’t mean you had to leave him alone. But, don’t worry. I was there,” Drew said, smiling.

Piper slapped Drew across the face. Drew stepped back, away from the water. She turned on Piper. Piper now had her back to the water.

“I’m here now, and that’s what matters. I’m not going to let you seduce him like you do to others,” Piper said.

“Oh, hon, you wouldn’t know seduction if it looked you in the face. Not like you’re worth it, anyway!” Drew insulted.

“I’m a child of Aphrodite, too. I can fight you just as well as anyone else here, maybe better!” Piper said.

“Are you seriously going to fight me instead of helping your friends get the other team’s flag? Get your priorities straight, hon,” Drew sneered.

“You weren’t going to help either!” Piper snapped back.

“Whatever,” Drew shrugged.

Piper stepped closer to Drew.

“What? Do you want to fight or something?” Drew asked.

“Maybe,” Piper said.

Drew shoved Piper. She fell back and fell into the water.

“I’m not interested in fighting you, Piper,” Drew said.

Piper was soaked with water. She got up.

“Coward,” Piper insulted.

“Fighting for no reason isn’t a good look for you, dumpster queen,” Drew insulted back.

Great. Drew’s hanging spot was ruined. She needed to leave, now. Drew turned back and began to walk into the forest. She began to run when she realized Piper was beginning to chase her.

Running through the woods wasn’t the best, especially when she was being chased by Piper. She knew she was a bit faster than Piper, but if Piper caught up to her, Drew would not be able to defeat her. Also, she was one slip away from falling into the dirt, and Drew didn’t want her nails, makeup, clothes, and skin to be ruined while getting beat up on soil that was used by monsters and demigods alike. Also, she was wearing a good pair of shoes! Those were two-hundred dollars, and from her dad! She couldn’t let Piper damage them while she beat her up!

Drew blazed past many campers, trying to avoid colliding with them or a tree as she fled. Piper kept up behind her, but she crashed into someone as she ran, giving Drew more time to get away. Drew did take a moment to look at who she crashed at, and she locked eyes with Percy Jackson, her number two enemy. Drew knew that things were going to get worse, so she hastened her pace. Drew didn’t exactly know where she was in the woods, so she just went in the same direction as she was going before. She could have sworn she saw something blue by Percy, but she just passed it off as a trick of her eye. When she saw a river approaching, she made the choice of quickly crossing it and running to the left of her, leaving the river as dust in her tracks.

Eventually, Drew stopped running to catch her breath and tie her shoes. She felt exhausted, and was pretty sure that Percy and Piper were long gone. Drew bent down to tie her shoes. When she got up, she heard footsteps behind her. Drew held up her sword defensively, looking around her.

“Who’s there?! You’re on the red team’s territory! I have every right to capture you!” Drew threatened into the air.

Percy and Piper emerged from behind the trees. Drew groaned.

“Oh great, you got your little friend to join you in something that’s all in your head,” Drew complained.

“I am in no way little, Drew,” Percy said.

“Right! You’re small minded. That’s why you leave Annabeth to do all the decision making,” Drew retorted.

Percy looked shocked, and then more provoked than before. Alright, maybe insulting a big three kid wasn’t the best idea, but he looked very threatening to Drew.

“What did she tell you, Perseus? Why are you coming to jump me when I have done nothing wrong?” Drew asked.

“Piper told me that you’re trying to hurt one of my friends,” Percy said.

“Yes? Which one? How?” Drew asked.

“Drew, there isn’t-” Piper began.

“Why don’t we be mature and argue this out instead of beating each other, hon,” Drew interrupted.

“You shoved her into the lake,” Percy said.

“After she slapped me across the face!” Drew replied.

“I slapped you because you said I’m not a good friend to Leo!” Piper said.

“You aren’t!” Drew replied.

Percy seemed to be eating this back and forth up. He looked very intrigued. He made no move to stop Piper when she marched over to Drew to face her. Drew stood her ground, feeling a bit more confident in herself than a few moments ago. Piper had backup, but Drew began to feel certain that this would not end with violence. Drew hoped that Percy was mature enough to stop a fight from breaking out.

“What do you know about Leo?! You’re only speaking to him to spite me!” Piper said.

“You’re probably only hanging out with him because you don’t have a girlfriend yet!” Drew insulted.

Drew didn’t know what inspired her to call Piper a lesbian indirectly, but it felt right. She also was probably right based on how Percy’s and Piper’s jaw dropped spontaneously.

“How did you know?!” Percy gasped.

“I- What do you know about me, Drew?!” Piper asked.

“What do you know about me, Piper?! I can change as a person, too!” Drew said.

“How have you changed?!” Piper asked.

“Oh! Plenty of ways! Like, not becoming a bitch like you!” Drew insulted.

Piper slapped Drew across the face again. Drew jumped at Piper, tackling her to the ground. Drew got on top of Piper, but was knocked over by Percy.

“Alright, now I have to step in,” Percy said.

Percy attempted to punch Drew in the stomach, but Drew slid painfully to the side. Her leg was trapped over Piper’s legs and under Percy’s body. Percy shifted around, trying to get off of Drew’s leg. Drew used her free leg to kick him in the chest. It didn’t do much, but it probably hurt a lot. Piper squirmed under the two of them. Percy got off of Drew’s leg, which let Drew get up. She stood up and dusted herself off. Percy moved to stand as well, but Drew kicked him while he was down. Piper grabbed her leg, causing Drew to slip. She felt her other leg kick Piper’s side. Percy looked over her before jumping up to jump on her. Drew rolled away, not having time to care about her clothes getting dirty. She tried to crawl away, but Piper grabbed her leg. Drew ripped her grip off her leg by pulling back. It pulled Piper up. Drew used a tree to quickly stand up. Her leg hurt pretty bad from that encounter. She saw shallow scratch marks on her legs.

“Beating me up isn’t going to change how I feel, Piper!” Drew said.

“It might make you uglier!” Piper retorted.

Impossible. Drew was too hot for a little injury to ruin her looks.

Drew moved to run away again. Percy helped Piper get up. Drew ignored that and continued to run away from the two of them, getting closer to the red team’s flag. She wondered where everyone was, anyway, and why nobody was here to see Piper and Percy bullying Drew.

Drew knew that the two of them were getting too close to her for her to continue to run. She turned around and prepared to fight.

Piper came first. She attempted to hit Drew, but Drew dodged. She wasn’t ready for Piper to make a second punch, so Piper’s second hit hit her painfully on her cupid’s brow. Almost immediately, she began to feel blood on her lips. Drew grabbed Piper’s hair and pulled down. Piper yelped in pain, and she began to claw at Drew’s hands. Drew pulled Piper’s head down so she could knee her in the face. She let go, and she let Piper flinch back so she could make a harder punch to Piper’s face. She hit her eye. Piper kicked Drew in the stomach.

Ow, that hurt a LOT more than Drew imagined.

Drew winced back in pain. Percy came from behind Piper and punched Drew’s side, making her wince back more. She stumbled back in pain. Her lips were probably being stained by her blood at this point. She didn’t know a little punch could cause so much damage to her lips. It hurt more when Percy made another hit to her face, this time to her face. It was like he was trying to punch her teeth in, but the punch wasn’t strong enough. Drew took more steps back, falling over. Percy and Piper stood over Drew.

Suddenly, footsteps began to approach where they were. Percy and Piper looked behind them. Drew looked up.

Her team, the red team, was marching happily, the blue team’s flag in hand. A very angry Annabeth was running over to Percy. Drew spotted Leo coming towards her, too. She also saw Jason, Hazel, and Frank coming over. Drew hastily got up, but her stomach hurt so bad. Leo got there first.

“PERCY! What are you doing?!” Annabeth demanded.

“Pipes, what the hell is going on?” Leo asked.

“Uh, Leo, it’s not what it looks like,” Piper began.

“It’s exactly what it looks like!” Drew said.

Leo looked at his friends, and then at Drew. Annabeth grabbed Percy by the arm and dragged him away. Percy glared at Drew for one last time, and Drew glared back.

Drew couldn’t help but feel angry at Piper and Percy. She also felt bitter that Leo would probably believe them over her. They started it! She didn’t ask to fight them! Drew wiped her lips of blood. It streaked on her arm, along with her lip gloss. Leo looked stressed. He was glancing back and forth between them. Drew knew that Leo didn’t like making decisions like this. He didn’t have any friends before this entire thing, even while he was in the wilderness school.

Drew had to accept it at this point, no matter how much her eyes began to burn. Leo couldn’t afford to lose Piper over her. Piper knew Leo longer. They were better friends than she and Leo were, even if Drew was hoping her and Leo wouldn’t be casual anymore.

“Pipes, why were you…” Leo began.

What?

“Leo, I swear, it was for a good reason. I was trying to protect you,” Piper said.

So, Piper was admitting it. Drew wondered if this would help her case.

“From who? Who do I need protection from? Come on, Pipes! We’ve dealt with worse during the two quests we went on together!” Leo asked.

“From… Leo, I think you know who,” Piper said.

Leo balled his fists. Drew didn’t know what was going on. Jason, Frank, and Hazel looked very confused.

“I’m not five, Piper. I can choose who I spend my time with by myself,” Leo said.

“You’re… Do you seriously believe that Drew-” Piper began.

“I don’t want to hear it, Piper,” Leo said.

Piper looked shocked.

“I’m sorry, I just don’t. Piper, I don’t need you to manage this for me. I know what I’m doing,” Leo said.

Drew took a few more steps back. She glanced down at herself, and noticed ugly purples beginning to form on the leg Piper had grabbed. Drew pulled out a mirror and glanced at her reflection. She nearly dropped the mirror in horror. She looked so… so pathetic! And, it was worse that it was in front of Leo, too! Drew put it away quickly. She needed to go get some nectar and ambrosia, or something like that.

Piper looked like Leo just told her that he’d be pulling another Gaea stunt again. Piper looked like she was going to argue. Drew made her move to leave, choosing to leave them to deal with it by themselves. This wasn’t her business. She didn’t want Leo to make himself choose her or interfere with his decision.

Drew walked alone to the camp infirmary.

Deep down, she wanted Leo to pick her, to disregard what Piper was going to say to him, but she knew it wasn’t possible.

It was like he died all over again.

Chapter Text

The nectar and ambrosia helped heal her rather quickly. Drew was out of the infirmary after a bit of treatment. She was quick to go to the Aphrodite cabin, even if she had no plans of sleeping. She’d rather just go elsewhere and stay up, so she did her makeup and changed clothing before leaving again to go outside.

Drew walked away from the Aphrodite cabin, letting herself wander aimlessly for a good while in the woods. As long as she was away from Piper, she was good.

Alright, that was a lie, but it was better to be away from her.

Drew continued to walk. The air around her was icy and cold. Drew shivered a bit, but temperature didn’t matter when she was as sad as she was.

Somehow, Drew found herself outside the Bunker, the place where Leo and her used to hang out so much in before. The door was ajar, which was how Drew usually entered. There was silence in the bunker. The lights were on. Drew wasn’t sure if anyone was inside, but she was getting really cold at this point and did not want to lose fingers to frostbite.

Drew entered quietly and slowly, shutting the door behind her. The bunker was extremely warm, as if something was on fire inside. Drew remembered how she and Leo made stuff in here, or when Leo opened up to her about the wilderness camp, or when he talked about his mom…

“Nothing hotter than mom issues, am I right?” Leo had said after he told her.

Drew sighed. She glanced around. Before Leo, Drew thought that this place was some ugly scrapyard. Now, it was beautiful to her, despite its messiness. It had such a character to it. The desks… the catwalks… Festus on the ceiling… the workbenches…

Oh, speaking of a workbench… was that lip gloss on one of the benches? And… a dove…??

Drew walked over immediately to investigate it. She hoped this wasn’t some kind of trap. When she got over to the workbench, she was surprised to find that it was, in fact, pink La Mer lip gloss. The robotic dove on the side of the lip gloss was very beautiful. Drew didn’t understand how these things got into the bunker.

Were they… for her?

Drew didn’t even ask for such a thing to be made… Drew applied some of the lip gloss on her lips and took a moment to glance in the mirror. The shade was absolutely perfect… Wait, Drew shouldn’t be greedy. This was probably not for her-

“Hey, Drew…! Happy Valentine’s day, am I right?” Leo greeted Drew from behind.

Drew turned around. She was shocked. What was Leo doing here? Was he not mad with her after Piper? Especially after a possible argument like that! Drew believed that he was swayed on Piper’s side!

“Leo! What are you doing here?” Drew asked.

“Oh, y’know, just… setting up stuff. The usual!” Leo said.

Leo had changed clothes from their last encounter in the woods. He was wearing a white shirt, and suspenders. His usual toolbelt was missing, which was very surprising because he had that at all times with him. His hair was kind of slicked back, too. He was nervous. He had something behind his back. Drew could feel her face heat up.

“I must be in a museum because I’m looking at a work of art,” Leo said, trying to sound confident.

Drew blushed a bit more, even if that pickup line was cheesy as hell. She felt bad for not wearing the best outfit at the moment, but this would do.

“I suppose you are, Leo. Wanna look at this art up close?” Drew asked.

She wasn’t using any charmspeak. Leo began to blush a bit. A few strands of his hair began to light on fire.

“Y-Yeah! You bet! I- uh, I got you flowers, too, hahah…” Leo said.

Leo held out a bouquet of beautiful, deep red roses. They were beautifully made, being made of high-quality paper. They would stay intact forever… How romantic!

“Thank you, Leo… These are absolutely fabulous,” Drew said.

“Hah, only the best for you..!” Leo said.

Drew put them down by the dove.

“So, uh… Since it’s Valentine’s day n’ all, we could like, totally kiss or something, right?” Leo asked.

Drew approached Leo, getting closer. Leo didn’t move back.

“Oh, Leo… Of course we can,” Drew said, smiling.

Drew pulled Leo in by the straps of his suspenders and leaned in for a kiss. Leo moved forward to her. Boy, this was all Drew ever asked for, and more. Leo was a good kisser, surprisingly enough. After a moment, Leo pulled back from her, breathing heavily. He began to catch fire on his face and his hands. The flames only gave more light so Drew could see how beautiful his eyes looked. Leo was trying to put out the flames quickly. Drew was so happy to see him happy.

The dove suddenly began to move. It flapped its wings and took flight, twirling around Drew and Leo and flying above Leo’s head. The dove stalled above him as a miniature firework went off. The firework displayed the message, “Drew + Leo 4ever”. Drew giggled a bit. He was such a dork. Drew wanted to kiss him again.

After a good moment, Leo cooled down.

“Yeah, yeah… I’m amazing,” Leo grinned.

“You are,” Drew said.

Leo heated up again. Drew smiled.

“You really aren’t changed by what Piper said..?” Drew asked.

“Nah, Drew. She’s smart about a lot of things but this. She just doesn’t know you,” Leo said.

Drew raised an eyebrow. Leo looked away.

“Well, she didn’t have to know what was going on… y’know, with us. It was kinda embarrassing to argue with her in front of everyone,” Leo said, shrugging.

“So you…?” Drew asked, hinting to him to continue.

“I told her that it was weird of her to think what we had was romantic, or even a friendship, which is really funny because, well…” Leo trailed off.

“We are dating, right…?” Drew asked.

“Yeah! Yeah! We are!” Leo said, nodding excitedly.

“Well then! Piper doesn’t have to know about us,” Drew said.

“Shouldn’t be too hard, anyway. I just hope she doesn’t get mad if she finds out…” Leo said.

“She should be more accepting, Leo. If she actually knew me, she’d know that I’m a good person,” Drew said.

That was… was that true, now? Oh, Drew didn’t want to lie to Leo. These words seemed to bring Leo great comfort, though, because he smiled.

“Wanna just hang out here a bit? Like always?” Leo asked.

“Of course I do,” Drew said.

…

This time would be different. Ever so different. They were dating now…

And yet, things were the same. Drew had enemies. Leo didn’t. They had to be quiet about it or Leo’s friends would do something about Drew, just like when they were friends. They could only be themselves in this room, in this place. Leo’s second home, and the place that was so strange to a child of Aphrodite…

Well, it wasn’t strange to her. Now it wasn’t.

But it would probably be strange to her friends.

Whomp whomp. Whatever. Drew was friendless after Piper came and stepped all over her throne. She could get everything back over and over again, as long as she was willing. All those people forgot all about her bad deeds eventually. Somehow.

Dear Gods… Drew was a bad person in the past. She didn’t know how on Earth she managed to get Leo to get attached to her all because she was there when nobody else wasn’t. If Piper or Jason or even Annabeth were with Leo, would things be the same, or radically different…? Then again, the same thing could be asked if Drew were better back then. It was fate that it happened. The past couldn’t be fixed or edited, and that was that. If Leo didn’t like her, why would he set up such a show for her and ask her out? On Cupid’s day? That was hopefully evidence of genuine love.

Drew hoped it was. As of right now, they had just watched some film called Coco. Leo had claimed he wasn’t going to cry. That was a lie, but Drew also shed more tears than him so there wasn’t any shame in that. Leo was peacefully dozed off with his head in her lap. Drew found her hands in his hair, lightly playing with them. The couch was comfortable, and the two of them were rather snug and warm in a few blankets. She might as well kick back and doze off like her boyfriend, but her thoughts were keeping her wide awake.

Wonderings and wanderings… Thoughts.

Leo was hers, hers, hers. Piper couldn’t do anything about it. She shouldn’t, in fact, or she’d seem like a bad friend… if she were direct about it. Percy, Annabeth, Jason, those two romans… Oh, and those two… Uh, who were they again? Nico and Will Solace? Ugh, she didn’t care about those two. Nico was only relevant because he began the punch line and made bank on it, that stupid b-

That wasn’t very nice, but Drew didn’t have anything else to go off of him. He probably was a decent guy and Drew just didn’t care to talk to him.

What was relevant was Piper’s influence on them. If she got them to be on her side… Well, it would be over for her. Drew needed to do something about that. Leo was hers…! Piper wasn’t going to take him away from her!

Leo shifted a bit. Drew realized that she was gripping onto his head a bit tightly.

“Huh?” Leo asked.

“Hm?” Drew replied.

Leo shifted closer to her and fell asleep.

Leo. Hers. Leo was hers, and Piper could not do ANYTHING about it. Absolutely not..!

Maybe, there was a solution. Piper didn’t have as much influence on those Romans and Nico and Will as the others… She needed to introduce herself to them before Piper would.

Besides, she’d have to meet his friends eventually! Better to start now.

Chapter Text

It was better to start talking to those Romans now than never. That stayed true. She had the rest of February until they left for their little Roman settlement in California, which gave Drew plenty of time to introduce herself and leave a good impression on them. She could try and do them a favor, or try and “bump into them” to try to make herself look better by helping them with something. Romans liked teamwork, right? She didn’t know what Romans were like, honestly.

Drew was thinking of that after she woke up. Leo was still with her, but he was closer to her than beforehand. She loved it. She hoped Leo loved it as much as she did. Leo woke up, stretching a bit and moving closer. He almost immediately sat up when he realized he was still with Drew, which only pinched Drew’s heart a little bit.

“H-Hey Drew! Uh, how’s it going?” Leo asked.

“Fine, now that you’re up,” Drew replied.

Leo’s face turned a bit red as his hair began to catch on fire a bit. Whoops. Oh well! Drew didn’t mind too much. He was hers, so she felt she could be more of a flirt.

“Uh, breakfast?” Leo asked.

“Oh, right. We should be getting going,” Drew said.

“Yeah.. uh, sorry. My friends may get suspicious, and… well, y’know,” Leo said.

Drew got up. So did Leo.

“We’ll like… do more stuff later, right?” Leo asked.

“We will,” Drew nodded.

“Cool,” Leo nodded.

Leo rushed off, evidently still on the high of no longer being single, especially when he was dating the one and only Drew. It made her feel as confident as it worried her that she had Leo under a spell. She really hated Piper for going for the kill at that moment, but yet again, she hoped that the reason she felt this way was because it was genuine feeling rather than charm.

This was where they were up to now. Drew and Leo were dating in secret. Like some kind of Romeo and Juliet type of situation. She hoped that it wouldn’t escalate to mimic the end of the play itself.

Drew went to her cabin, changed clothes, did her makeup, and left to go eat breakfast. Nobody was looking at her suspiciously, so Drew assumed that Piper had told everyone that she’d vanish for the night again. Percy was kind of glaring at her from the Poseidon table, but Drew didn’t care. She hoped he received some consequence for beating her up. If he did, it would probably be more social than anything because Chiron probably wouldn’t do anything about it. He never did. Percy was the favorite.

Stupid ba-

Anyway, Drew had a very peaceful breakfast. She could’ve confronted Piper in front of everyone and made a massive scene, but Leo wouldn’t have liked that, so she didn’t. Instead, she drank her morning pink drink and left immediately when she finished breakfast.

For once in her life, she actually cared about where those Romans were going, and what they would be doing after breakfast. As it turned out, they seemed to like doing things revolving around exercise. The two Romans decided to start the day with some archery. It wasn’t bad or whatever, it was just that Drew was only okay at the sport. Now, she could’ve waited until the next activity, but she didn’t have the time or patience for that. Piper could’ve been lurking anywhere, most likely places where Drew’s friends didn’t have eyes on.

So, here she was, standing close to them while trying to shoot at the targets, glancing back at them every once in a while to make sure that they didn’t move away.

Now, Drew knew what she was doing at this point. What she needed to do to introduce them to herself was first do them a favor. By doing this, they would be forced to talk to her to be polite. This type of tactic was pretty good for making friends in college or something, but that didn’t matter. They didn’t need to know that this kind of introduction was highly unnatural and entirely planned by Drew.

Drew made sure that she ran out of arrows before the Romans did. When they ran out of arrows, Drew made a faster move to retrieve them from the targets. She moved quickly so that she would have all the arrows. Drew then approached the two Romans. They looked at her with the arrows. They seemed to be in a good mood.

“Hey, do you need some arrows?” Drew asked, trying to be friendly.

“Oh, thank you!” The short Roman said.

Drew nodded and handed each of them some arrows for their quivers.

“Hold on, aren’t you that girl that Piper and Percy… uh, y’know?” The tall Roman asked.

Ugh, that tall one just HAD to mention her sorespot…! Come on, get back on track…

“Oh, haha… don’t mention it. That’s all behind me! I don’t know why they’d do something like that… Crazy, right?” Drew shrugged.

It wasn’t behind her at all. Drew was still pissed about it.

“Yeah. It was pretty unusual for Piper and Percy to do that,” The short Roman agreed.

“Well, your welcome for the arrows. I think I’ll probably be going or something…” Drew began.

“You can stick around with us a bit,” The tall Roman said.

Drew smiled sweetly. Perfect… Yes, yes, Romans, ask sweet little Drew to hang out with you a bit longer. She’d leave a good impression. The best one she could.

“Okay! Then I will… oh, you never mentioned this, but what are your guys’s names?” Drew asked.

“I’m Hazel, and this is my boyfriend, Frank. What’s your name?” Hazel introduced.

Oh, so they were dating… which meant that Leo used to be the only single person on that ship. Drew felt bad for him. She was pretty certain that she’d go absolutely insane if she were trapped among so many couples. Maybe that's why Leo was a bit crazy sometimes. Drew loved it nevertheless.

“I’m Drew,” Drew introduced herself.

“Nice to meet you!” Hazel smiled.

“Nice to meet you too,” Drew said, smiling.

“Do you guys want to continue doing archery, or…” Frank asked.

“I think I’ve had enough for the day. Do you want to check on my horse with me?” Hazel asked.

“You have a horse? What’s its name? That sounds so cool,” Drew asked.

“His name is Arion, and he’s the best horse ever! I’m sure he’d like to see you,” Hazel said.

“I’m coming too to make sure nothing bad happens,” Frank said.

“I’m sure he won’t mind Drew,” Hazel said.

“Uh, you said the same thing about-” Frank began.

“I’m not afraid of a horse. I’m sure he’s friendly,” Drew said quickly.

“Good. Let’s put away the stuff and go,” Hazel said, smiling.

Drew felt that this interaction went perfectly.

It continued to go perfectly throughout the meeting with Arion, Hazel’s horse. Drew learned a lot about that horse as she hung out with the two Romans. It was honestly pretty interesting to learn about them. They were quite different from anyone from Camp Half Blood, yet the same. Really, it was the Roman tattoos that made them stand out the most from everyone. They seemed like really nice people. The horse was nice as well. Drew was beginning to have a feeling that she had somehow got better with handling animals after beginning to hang out with Leo, but she shrugged it off as just some kind of late luck. First Festus, then that strange drawer, then some cats in the woods that weren’t actually cats, and now this horse… Oh well. Drew wasn’t actually concerned about it. What was important was the fact that she had made a workable acquaintanceship with the Romans, and that Hazel seemed to genuinely like her. Hazel was pretty unique in the best way possible. She was somehow born a century ago. She was polite, but she cussed a bit more often than one would think. Frank was this large oaf. They, no offense to them, had this long distance type of relationship going on, but Drew could see how it was working! She was thankful that Leo and her were in similar height range, though, and didn’t need to stand on the tips of his feet while standing on her feet to kiss her. No offense, of course.

“No offense”... it was a phrase that Drew would have never said two years ago…

Drew tried not to think about that as she made her way to the bunker after a long yet fun afternoon with Hazel and Frank. It was two hours to dinner. Drew knew Leo would be in there. She managed to open the door and walked in, looking around. She walked in when she saw that Leo was there, all alone.

“Leo, I’m here!” Drew said, smiling.

“Hey Queen Drew, how’s it going?” Leo asked.

“Oh, good, good… What have you been up to?” Drew replied.

Leo smiled at her. He eagerly led her to his latest contraption and began to explain it to her in great detail. Drew listened to him. She listened until she heard the door open, and someone else walked in. It was the Romans…

“Oh, uh, hey Frank and Hazel! What brings you to my bunker?” Leo asked.

Drew tried to make herself not that noticeable, but it was pretty hard with her simply being herself. She was naturally a very loud character, and she had no plans to ever change that. It wasn’t her fault that pink was a very stand out color!

“Hey Leo! Oh, Drew! You’re here, too!” Hazel said, smiling.

“I didn’t know you were interested in metalworking,” Frank commented.

“It’s my hidden talent,” Drew said, smiling back at them.

She also had a hidden boyfriend who was into metalworking, too! They were talking to him right now, blissfully unaware that she was dating their “resident single” friend. They’d learn later… if later ever came.

“What are you working on now?” Frank asked Leo.

“Just some new thing for Festus,” Leo said, grinning.

“You sure do love that dragon of yours,” Frank commented.

“Yeah! Festus is the best,” Leo said, missing the intent of the comment completely.

Frank glanced at Drew, and then to Leo. What was he… what was that look for?

“Maybe Drew could help with Festus?” Frank offered.

Was this seriously happening? Hazel looked a bit confused, but even she seemed to be understanding it better than Drew, somehow. Leo glanced at Drew for a moment before back at his friends.

“Yeah, I could. You’d be fine with that, right?” Leo asked.

“Of course,” Drew nodded.

Someone else opened the door. It was Piper, of course, showing up at an inconvenient time. Classic Piper. Drew prepared mentally for another argument. She didn’t know if the Romans could appease her or not, but she assumed that they couldn’t.

“Frank, Hazel! Are you guys coming to dinner-” Piper began.

She stopped when she locked eyes with Drew. Drew held her ground.

“What are you doing here, Drew?” Piper asked.

“Oh, me? I was just helping your friends. Nothing big,” Drew said.

Provoking Piper by saying the truth sounded entertaining, but kind of self-sabotaging… She had a good reason for this! She needed the three of them to see her best side. If she showed that Piper was being unreasonable about her and Leo, she’d possibly be able to show that she’s a good person and worth hanging out with.

“I thought you didn’t like working with machines?” Piper asked.

“Oh, Piper, you don’t know me that well. I’m full of hidden surprises. I’ve done metalworking for a while now… I think since last February,” Drew said.

All of what she said was true. The whole reason she got more into it was due to Leo, however. That could be omitted, for now.

“Was Leo teaching you how to do metalworking?” Piper asked.

Drew glanced at Leo, who glanced back at her. Frank and Hazel looked at them.

“Yeah, pretty much. Don’t worry, Pipes, it didn’t affect the Argo 2 too much,” Leo said.

“You two already know each other?” Frank asked.

“Why didn’t you introduce her to us? Leo, we were worried you had no friends aside from us!” Hazel said.

What? Didn’t Leo have other friends aside from the other six? Well, if she could say that Percy was Leo’s friend to begin with… If he wasn’t that left… oh. Five friends and one girlfriend. Yikes.

Uh! That was okay! Drew could just introduce Leo to some of her friends! Surely, he’d get along with some of them. Leo really needed to leave the bunker more often. She was pretty sure plenty of people would love to hang out with him, especially due to his status as one of the seven heroes of the prophecy.

“Hazel, you didn’t have to worry about that! Stop embarrassing me…!” Leo said quickly.

Piper stared at Drew, and then at Leo. She was having very mixed emotions of what was going on right now.

“Pipes, why did you come in here anyway?” Leo asked.

“Percy and Annabeth wanted to show us some sea animals that came close to shore, but I guess you three are busy?” Piper asked.

“We can come!” Hazel said.

“Can we bring Drew, or…” Leo began.

Uh. Drew? With Percy and Piper? As much as Drew loved Leo, she wasn’t willing to put her life in danger.

“I’m good. I’m going to go back to my cabin,” Drew said.

Drew walked past Piper, Hazel, Frank, and Leo before they could object. She moved swiftly. It was still daylight when she got outside, but she didn’t care all that much. When she got to the cabin, she sat on her bed and thought.

Today was a good day for her. She made two new friends.

Today was a bad day. She realized how much she had changed as a person. How had she not noticed that her personality was shifting so much? She didn’t really notice when she had lost her interest in breaking up the couples she made. She didn’t notice when her friend group began to change slowly, with new campers coming in and old ones leaving. When did she start caring how others felt? Why? Was this… Leo’s doing? Was this a good thing? How was he manipulating her?! She was the child of Aphrodite! She should’ve noticed!

Or… no… Was he a good influence on her?

What did “good influence” even mean, honestly? Any influence was good or bad depending on the person. Leo had his flaws. He didn’t take care of himself enough. His skin desperately needed moisturizer with how many times he got covered with machine oil and other disgusting fluids. He didn’t know when or where to stop. He worried too much about others and too little about himself. For gods’ sake, he killed himself for his friends who didn’t even bother to help him with the Argo 2 or hang out with him! He isolated himself when he got angry, too. Drew had to make the move to even begin hanging out with him. Well, then again, he did become more active, but that was all because of Drew herself rubbing off on him in the best way possible. Leo didn’t need to change at all, otherwise from those things. He was funny, really smart, kind, and the best gift giver ever.

Was Drew the one that needed to change?

No way… right? Drew was fine the way she was. She had plenty of friends who said she was kind, great with uniting people, cunning, polite, a great gift giver, and had amazing taste.

But could she say the same about herself from a year ago…?

That was what terrified Drew. The idea that she was a bad person…

And what if she still was? So what? Who cared…
Who cared, but Leo? Drew didn’t want to be bad to Leo!

Oh dear gods, she was tying herself up into knots for that boy! What had Eros done to her?! She was going crazy with her love for him! Oh, Gods, what was she to do?!

Chapter Text

The thoughts she was left with from yesterday remained haunting as ever through the next three days. Despite that, Drew tried to act as normal as possible. Leo seemed to be as happy as ever, as he was beginning to rekindle his relationship with the Romans since his death. Drew was becoming a major part of this, and the Romans seemed to genuinely like her. The four hung out nearly every day. If Drew weren’t with them, she was with her friends. Piper seemed to let this slide, mostly because she had other things to do. Percy and Annabeth randomly left camp. Drew was relieved. Drew never had such a good month at camp like this! She had quite literally everything she could have wanted. She was well-liked, had Leo, and had a lot of friends. Soon enough, her thoughts of panic were suppressed to a whisper in the back of her mind. She had changed, but she had changed to be better. To be better than Piper, at least.

The thoughts of distress that she was changed against her will slipped out of her mind slowly but surely, and February grew closer to its end. Sooner than Drew could imagine, the Romans would be leaving soon to run their camp. They wouldn’t be returning until March or April. There wasn’t a defined date yet, and they said that they would only come if there was some kind of emergency. Drew found out that they were the leaders of the Roman camp only four days before they were going to leave.

The third-to-last day they were staying in Camp Half-Blood was when Drew received something from them.

Breakfast started like no other day. Drew ate leisurely before she left for the bunker with Leo. Nobody saw them together, but that was how it always was. The two entered the bunker together and chatted about some generic camp things. Soon enough, the Romans showed up to third and fourth wheel them. They were a bit later than usual, but Drew didn’t care. What they had was more important. Frank was holding two envelopes, evidently for them. They then left the bunker, leaving Leo and Drew with their letters. Drew and Leo opened them up together and were surprised to discover a handwritten offer to go to New Rome for a week. It would be the two of them sharing a small cottage. Drew noticed that Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Nico, and Will would be coming too, also living close to them.

The idea excited her. Drew just had to go. Leo agreed.

After dinner, the two separately told the Romans that they would take up their offer. They were told to pack a bag and prepare to go on the same day the Romans were departing. Everyone else who was invited chose to attend.

According to the Romans, the trip was diplomatic. The Romans needed to improve relations with the Greeks, so the best way to go about that was to introduce some to Romans. Then, some Romans would be temporarily put into the Greek camp just as they were. It was really a smart way to have friends over to hang out with between work.

So, that’s why Drew found herself being taken to the Roman camp with Leo and all his friends. She was choosing to not say much and keep to herself at the moment. She rather observed the people around her.

Leo was engrossed in a group conversation with the main six. He was making a few jokes here and there, and generally enjoying himself and the atmosphere. Will and Nico were having their own little private conversation. They were probably talking about MythoMagic or something. Drew didn’t care. She was comfortable.

By the time they pulled up to the Roman camp, it was dark. The only reason why they managed to have such fast travel was due to the car being hit with a little magic to make it go much faster. Still, it was a while.

Drew was first to step out of the car. Leo moved next, standing next to her, and his friends followed them out. They got their stuff from the car and let it drive off. Drew chose to carry one of Leo’s bags. New Rome was very beautiful. Drew had only heard of this place, but she had never entered it before.

The Romans led them into the heart of the camp, taking time to show them everything that was to offer. Drew could see the other Romans staring at them as they went along. Drew had no interest in joining their little army, but she respected the effort put into this camp by all of the kids and adults here. She assumed that she would possibly get a free pass from joining the military because she was dating Leo. That was assuming if they went to college together, and Drew could only hope that would happen.

Frank and Hazel concluded the tour of camp by leading them to their cottages, where they’d spend their week. The cottages looked very nice, but they were somewhat small. There were only four. Drew was relieved to have a small break from walking. She hoped she could have a moment to change out of that tacky orange shirt and into something better. It wasn’t fitting with her outfit at all! She had a much better top that would fit her white jeans and pink shades.

“Here are the cabins that you all will be staying at,” Hazel said.

“There are only four houses and eight of us,” Nico pointed out almost immediately.

“Well, that’s because you’ll have to share. It shouldn’t be too bad,” Frank said, shrugging.

Nico, Will, Piper, and Percy all looked over at Drew. She had heard loud and clear what was said. She was glancing at Leo. He looked over at all of his friends, seemingly forgetting that he was no longer the seventh wheel of the group.

“I call Annabeth to share with me,” Percy said immediately.

Cool. Drew didn’t care. What she cared about was how Piper and him were going to react to her and Leo sharing a private space. Actually… Fuck them. Piper could go stay with her ex. This trip was supposed to be fun. Drew was going to make the most of it.

“I suppose we should share a cabin, Leo… We are the only single ones here,” Drew said.

Piper looked shocked.

“No way. Drew, no-” Piper began.

“What’s wrong with that?” Hazel asked.

“Yeah, Piper? What’s wrong with that?” Drew asked, playing dumb.

“You- You… I broke up with Jason… so, we should share the room together. Boys with boys and girls with girls,” Piper said.

“But, we already do that in the Aphrodite cabin. Didn’t you say you don’t like my perfume?” Drew asked.

That was true. Piper told Drew a few times that she should spray her Japanese Cherry Blossom perfume outside of the cabin because it “stinked up the place”. Drew was being mindful, obviously! She also didn’t want to be that close to Piper at all times.

“Pipes, it’s fine! I won’t die,” Leo said, shrugging.

Annabeth eyed the two of them suspiciously, as if she were trying to figure out if Drew had plans to murder Leo. Drew felt that she should be minding her business and keeping her boyfriend on a shorter leash, but that was just Drew’s opinion. Piper glared at Drew. She smiled back, as per usual. Piper groaned, handed Jason her things, and Annabeth and her walked away. Drew had a feeling, but ignored it.

Leo moved to the door of the cabin to the far left. Drew followed him with her stuff and his one bag. Leo opened the door with his free hand. The cottage itself was very beautiful. There was a nice living room with a couch, armchair, and coffee table, a small kitchen, and two other doors. Drew assumed that one led to the bathroom and the other led to the bedroom.

“We claim this cottage. Tell us if anything else is happening today!” Drew said.

Drew shut the door immediately. Leo put down his bag on the couch. Drew could just feel Piper’s annoyance radiate from outside, and she suddenly wished to be as far from her as possible. Drew separated Leo’s bag from her arms and quickly found her way into the bedroom. There were two single beds on the opposite ends of the room and two wardrobes. She claimed the left bed and put both her bags on it. She unpacked some of her clothes and put them into the closet. She then got the top she wanted to wear from her bag and put it on. Leo seemed busy doing something else at the moment, most likely using the bathroom based on the sound of the water faucet coming from the room next to her.

Drew walked out into the living room. Leo exited the bathroom. Only just now did Drew notice a piece of paper on the coffee table. She went to pick it up as Leo moved to grab his bag and unpack. Drew read the letter.

It was a list of scheduled activities for the week. Apparently, tonight was supposed to be a fireworks ceremony to welcome the Greeks.

Drew didn’t see that for the Romans back at Camp Half-Blood, but then again, Camp Half-Blood was more accepting of campers going in and out, so she supposed it was fine. Someone knocked on the door. Drew put down the paper and went to open it. It was Jason.

“What is it?” Drew asked.

“Just wanted to talk to my bro. Is he busy?” Jason said.

Leo looked out from the bedroom.

“Wassup, Jason? What do you wanna talk about?” Leo asked.

“Uhhh…” Jason began.

Drew made room. Leo approached Jason. The two of them left the cottage. Drew groaned in annoyance. So much for even bothering with Jason. Only Leo could get through with him.

Drew took a moment to look at the paper again.

Fireworks… Fireworks, huh? Where were they going to get those from?

The door opened. Leo walked in again, seeming as happy as he was before. Drew felt happy that her Leo was happy and smiling.

“What did Jason have to say?” Drew asked.

“Jason said we have an hour to unpack, and then we can make some fireworks for the celebration that’s happening today. It’s supposed to be a gift from the Greeks to the Romans or something like that,” Leo said, shrugging.

“Do you know how to make them?” Drew asked.

“Yeah! I can show you,” Leo said.

“I’d love to see how,” Drew said, smiling.

Leo smiled, and his hair caught on fire a bit. Drew giggled.

“Not now, though- we gotta- uh, unpack!” Leo said.

“Then we will,” Drew said.

…

The path to New Rome’s workshop was short and gave a great view to the camp. Leo tried his best to ignore the glares he got from a few Romans. Apparently, he had bombed the camp while he was possessed. Drew didn’t care in the slightest. That was their problem. Leo wasn’t possessed now.

The workshop they had was considerably smaller than the bunker. Drew mentally complained about it, but it honestly just reminded her of how great it was to have a massive workshop. Leo seemed to be pretty happy about this place. He was exploring the area, checking out all the tools and what the place had to offer. Drew looked around for the gunpowder. When she found it, she moved it to a workbench. Leo walked over with another kind of powder. Drew glanced over, and something very shiny caught her eye.

Drew approached it. It seemed to have caught Leo’s eye as well.

Drew went over to pick it up. She looked at it. It looked like a ring set of some kind… Drew felt it would’ve looked better on Leo’s hand.

“What’s that?” Leo asked.

“I’m not sure… I think it would look nice on you, though,” Drew said.

She stepped closer to Leo. Leo took a look at it for a moment before freezing up. He stared at the rings, and then back at her. He suddenly looked very nervous.

“Drew, I uh, like your offer, but… uhm,” Leo began.

“What’s wrong with them?” Drew asked.

Leo suddenly slapped them to the ground. They hit the floor quickly. Before Drew had time to react, a massive golden net ensnared the rings. It was large enough to fit two people, but it seemed thin enough to be impossible to get out without outside help… wait.

“Was that… was that a trap? How did you know?” Drew asked.

Leo went over to the netting. He held it up.

“Holy Hephaestus. I think this is the same netting he used to trap your mom and Ares,” Leo said.

No wonder they had an hour to wait. It was probably Piper and Annabeth who set up that trap! They were probably waiting for them to cry for help.

Was Drew going to bring this accusation up with Leo, though?

No. Drew, despite honestly hating Piper at this point, would rather not be a bad girlfriend and cause strife between the two. It was up to Leo to wonder who did it.

“Why would anyone want to do this?” Drew asked, playing dumb.

“It’s probably just some Roman prank,” Leo said, shrugging.

Drew let Leo shrug it off.

“So, the fireworks?” Leo asked.

There were much better things to be worried about, anyway! Drew wanted to make fireworks with Leo, and that is what was going to happen whether Piper and Annabeth liked it or not! As Drew worked on the fireworks with him, her suspicions were confirmed when she saw Piper glance in through the crack of the door. Drew didn’t say anything to her. She rather has her actions speak louder. Drew moved closer to Leo and put her arm around him, smiling. She could see the rage on Piper’s face from just the way her eyes looked.

Drew may have changed a lot, but her appetite for spite never shrunk.

Chapter Text

When the fireworks were finished, Drew and Leo exited the workshop and headed back to their cabin. Drew didn’t know what kind of schedule the Romans followed, but she needed to find out soon enough or she and Leo would miss dinner. Drew opened the door to the cabin first before Leo went in. Everything was exactly how they had left it. Drew went over to the paper that was still on the coffee table, rereading it. So, dinner was supposed to be in- Drew glanced at the clock, and then back at the list- an hour. That gave Drew more time to clean herself up from what she had done today and talk to Leo about whatever came to mind. Goodie.

Leo walked up to her to peek over her shoulder so he could look at the list, too. He seemed to read it pretty quickly.

“It says there’s a free spot on… is that Monday or…?” Leo began.

Drew read the plan for Monday.

“Yeah, Monday… Nothing to do at night,” Drew began.

Leo looked at Drew. Drew looked at Leo.

“So… A dinner? Together?” Leo offered.

“Oh! Yes, yes!” Drew nodded excitedly.

That was probably going to be the better thing to do at this camp. No offense to the Romans, but a romantic dinner with Leo sounded better than watching war games any day.

“But, how will we-” Drew began.

“Don’t even worry about it! I have some funds for it, trust me,” Leo said.

“Oh, really?” Drew asked teasingly, raising an eyebrow.

“Just let me spoil you, babygirl,” Leo said.

Drew giggled a bit at that nickname.

“Alright, I’ll trust you,” Drew said.

Leo grinned. Drew smiled back at him. She put down the paper and walked into the bedroom, leaving Leo to himself for a moment. She needed to change into something else for this. Her original clothes were a bit stained from the dye she used to color the fireworks… ugh, she regretted wearing that cute top. She should’ve used it for something better… Maybe the date? Nah, too casual and cute. For the restaurant date, she’d need something more fancy and appealing. That was tomorrow’s tomorrow. She had time to think of what outfit she’d wear and what accessories she’d wear with it. Right now was more important, anyway.

Hold on…

Drew glanced around at the beds. They were too far apart. Drew didn’t remember seeing Leo enter the bedrooms, so…

Drew casually and quietly began to move the beds together, making sure to not allow them to scratch across the floor. She put the pillows together and made sure that the comforters and blankets weren’t stuck between the mattresses and bed frames. When that was done, Drew went back to picking out her outfit. She gave herself plenty to pick from when it came to clothes, so it wasn’t just a simple decision.

Drew settled with something after a long moment of thinking. Some nice ugs would be season appropriate, and would pair well with some bell bottom jeans… a nice, cute pink top, and a nice light pink overcoat over that. Oh! And some rose quartz earrings. And a simple, gold bracelet. It was a good outfit for watching fireworks.

Drew walked out quickly. Leo had cleaned up a bit from making fireworks, but he was still in the same outfit as before. Drew didn’t mind. She glanced at the clock.

Oh. They needed to leave soon. That was fine.

“Leo, are you ready?” Drew asked casually.

Leo was staring at her. Drew didn’t mind. She shifted a bit so she was giving him more to look at. Drew liked that his attention was on her.

“Uh… yeah. Yeah! Let’s go,” Leo said, nodding.

“Good,” Drew said, smiling.

Drew moved to walk out the door. Leo followed close behind her. She opened the door, walking out. Where the fireworks were going to happen wasn’t all that far from where these cabins were. They were supposed to be done over a lake, and Drew was pretty sure that there was some kind of hill near that lake…

…

…There was a hill by that lake. Her and Leo were sitting on it. Some kind Roman had provided them with a blanket to sit on since they would be sitting on the grass to watch the fireworks. They had made it in time to avoid the crowds. Leo wanted to sit somewhere more secluded, and Drew allowed them to. The fireworks began with Drew’s, which was a very basic orange one. Then, it moved on to the purple one Leo made, and then the one they had made together, which was orange and purple. Everyone seemed very enchanted by the display. Nobody was paying any attention to the two of them, which was amazing.

Drew could see the others from where Leo and she sat. Annabeth and Percy were closest to the waters. Percy was all over Annabeth, almost like he wanted to merge with her or something. This made Drew feel much better about her having her hand on Leo’s. Piper and Jason sat together in a friendly way. There was some distance between them. Frank and Hazel were close together, somewhat hugging each other while they watched the fireworks. It looked a bit difficult to do that considering Frank being much taller than Hazel, but they made it work. Drew was happy that Leo and she were at similar heights.

It was amazing watching their handiwork.

“You’re so talented, Leo…” Drew complimented.

She didn’t even put a thought to it. She just said it, letting her love-struck mind work for her instead of actually thinking.

Leo heated up. Drew gladly took his warmth. She was getting cold, anyway. That jacket she had on did almost nothing for this kind of chilly weather.

“Hah, I know right?” Leo said.

“I mean it,” Drew said.

Leo heated up some more. Drew moved closer to him. They were midway through their show. They had made a lot of fireworks with the time given. Besides, there were some others that weren’t made by them. They were expected to do the intro and the finale. Drew didn’t care that the reason why they did the finale was to probably “let the bomber vent out his desires” or some nonsense like that. She was sure that Leo and her work was going to blow everyone away.

Leo held her hand more firmly. Drew moved closer. Leo did the same. Drew felt her heart flutter.

“Couldn’t have done all this myself,” Leo said.

“I suppose we’re both geniuses, then,” Drew said.

Leo giggled, probably feeling jittery from all the attention Drew was giving to him. Drew paused for a moment, wondering if they were being too public with their affections, but when she noticed that Percy and Annabeth were now trying to merge their faces together, she felt pretty modest with what she was doing to Leo.

“What she was doing to Leo”… Oh, when she phrased it like that, she felt like she was seducing him… Oh, fuck Piper. She had gotten into her head.

Well, to be sure she wasn’t seducing him, she would let Leo make a move if he wanted more from her.

The fireworks continued onward, flashing beautiful scenes of Camp Jupiter, and a few scenes of Camp Half-Blood. Leo moved closer to her. Their hands were now fully together. Leo moved his arm around her shoulders cautiously, perhaps fearing that she wouldn’t want him to do that. Drew readily accepted his affections and got up close. He was so warm. It was perfect. He was perfect. If there weren’t people around, she’d kiss him.

Leo looked at her, his face dropping for a moment. Drew felt concerned. She looked over the crowd, checking to see if Piper or any of his friends were coming towards them. They weren’t.

“What’s wrong, Leo?” Drew asked.

“Nothing. Just enjoy the fireworks,” Leo said quickly.

Drew stared at him until his face broke into what he was really feeling.

“Something’s wrong,” Drew said.

“Yeah… It’s not you, though, I promise,” Leo said.

“Then what is it?” Drew asked.

If this was about that one girl that Leo had come off of Festus with, Drew was going to-

“Piper… y’know, her…” Leo sighed

Oh. It was just Piper.

“She doesn’t like you, and…” Leo trailed off.

Drew didn’t like Piper back. She was her barrier.

“I don’t know how it’ll look in the future… I gotta tell her eventually, right?” Leo said.

Drew didn’t want her to know. She knew Piper would throw a fit about them and try to get them to break up. Piper was the last person Drew wanted to deal with. If she weren’t so busy with talking to other girls right now, Piper would probably be trying to get all up in Leo’s business and take up all his time so he couldn’t hang out with Drew.

“What does your future look like?” Drew asked.

Leo looked up at the fireworks for a moment, and then back at Drew.

“It’s a bit early for future plans, right?” Leo asked.

“Oh, no! It’s fine. I like a guy with ambitions. You think you would get a job here as a mechanic, and I would be a housewife?” Drew suggested.

Drew was just throwing that out there. She didn’t exactly mean that. Leo seemed to have other plans, however. Drew had a second to hope that it wouldn’t be her being a stay at home mom.

“Nah, we could start our own shop,” Leo said.

“What? As in… a ‘Leo and Drew’s Garage’ type thing?” Drew asked.

Leo’s eyes lit up. He had to let go of Drew’s hand and hold his arms away from her because they immediately lit up in bright flames.

“Yeah! Yeah! Like that!” Leo said excitedly.

Drew felt her heart rush.

“That sounds wonderful,” Drew said.

She could make something of herself… with him. With her perfect boyfriend. Drew… Well, Leo had roped her into making things with him. If she could do that for the rest of her life…

Oh, that would be perfect..!

Leo tried his best to put out the flames on his arms. When he managed, he kept them away from Drew so as to not burn her. It was pretty surprising that no accidents had happened yet, and Drew planned to keep it that way.

The fireworks were commencing into their final sequence. Many colors illuminated the night’s sky. It grew a bit colder. Drew moved closer to Leo. Leo moved closer to her.

“But what will we do about Piper?” Leo asked.

“I don’t think she’s ready to know,” Drew said.

“Alrighty,” Leo nodded.

The last of the fireworks went off. Many cheered. Some even clapped. Drew and Leo stayed huddled together until the end.

Truth be told, Drew had no plans of ever telling Piper about them, but since Leo was telling her that they had to, she’d consider. As much as she wanted to do this on her own terms, Drew felt worried that there was a higher chance they’d be found out first.

Especially when she noticed Annabeth staring at the two of them for a moment, just as they were leaving. Leo’s arm was around Drew’s shoulders, and if Annabeth had sharp enough eyes, she could likely see their hands touching.

Drew hated Annabeth in that moment.

Chapter Text

After the fireworks, it was all fun for Drew. It was paradise to sleep next to Leo. He even held onto her! Oh, how cute of him! And, better yet, he didn’t seem uncomfortable about it…!

The morning began wonderfully. It was Sunday, which was the one break day of the Romans, not that this mattered, but it meant that more of them would be lingering around or something. Oh well! That was their thing. Drew started off the morning getting ready with Leo. Breakfast was amazing, mostly because Drew could choose what she wanted to have instead of having to pick out from whatever Camp Half-Blood had that day.

The plan was for everyone to go on a hike together. Unfortunately, Drew couldn’t opt out of this one because Piper and Annabeth insisted on her coming with them. Drew was sure something bad would happen to her here. The two girls seemed to have some kind of plan that everyone was oblivious to. Drew wasn’t going to let them get away with anything, though. That was why she chose to put on her one and only pair of good running shoes and tie her hair into two loose ponytails that hung in front of her rather than at the back. It would be annoying that they would kind of chafe around in her face if she had to run, but it would give less for the two of them to grab onto, unless they somehow grabbed her by the back of the head.

Otherwise, her outfit was a simple pair of blue jeans, long socks to prevent ticks from biting her ankles, a nice pink top, and a different, more tight pink overcoat. She could look absolutely hot and protect herself from ticks. They were no joke, and Drew knew that from watching her friends get bit and almost contract lyme disease from those demonic bugs.

So… A hike! How fun. Drew didn’t know they had hiking trails around here. She wished they didn’t have hiking trails.

They were farther away from camp, but technically still in its borders. Drew had heard some things about how pretty California hiking trails could be, but she wasn’t too sure if that was true or not. She was supposed to “find out for herself” or something. Drew wasn’t really a big nature fan, if one couldn’t tell. Ironic, when coming from a camp in the woods, but it was true.

The hike was led by Frank and Hazel. There was hope for Drew yet.

The beginning of the trail was pretty easy for everyone, as it was on flat terrain. There were a lot of trees. It didn’t look all that pretty because it was snowless at the beginning of March. Drew didn’t have any comments. She avoided getting rocks in her shoes, and she avoided Piper, Annabeth, and Percy too. She made sure to stay around Leo, Frank, and Hazel. Those two boys, Nico and Will, were serving as some kind of barrier between her and the three. Drew could feel Piper’s glare burning her, but she pretended not to notice. She even struck up some wonderfully friendly conversation between Frank and Hazel about Camp Jupiter. It was slightly interesting to Drew. Hazel and Frank seemed happy here, so that was what mattered.

The hike went uphill overtime. Leo lost his breath eventually and fell back. Drew was quick to stop with him. When the group readjusted, they were in the back. Drew was very close to the three people she was trying to avoid, so she went behind Leo. The three of them now had to genuinely face forward instead of just glare at Drew and the sun, which was pretty good.

At the end of the hike, they found themselves on the summit of Temple Hill. Drew didn’t know that this was where they were being led, but she didn’t mind. Unfortunately, this caused Leo to rush over to Jason and get him to show him all of the temple work he did. Drew didn’t mind that Leo was friends with Jason. She kind of forgot about Jason, anyway. The main problem was that she was now basically defenseless.

The temples were nevertheless beautiful. When Drew noticed a temple to Venus, the Roman version of her mother, Aphrodite, she rushed inside immediately.

The temple was warm and cozy. A large mural of Venus on her shell was in the back of the room, being the most prominent thing of all. Her altar, which was massive and grand, stood in front of it. There were many offerings of many things, ranging from jewelry to foods to smaller statues of Venus herself. In the center of the room was the eternal flame, which burned bright. There were many internal pillars on the left and right. Drew chose to go closest to the eternal flame.

Drew heard three people walk in behind her.

She turned around to face them. She stared Piper dead in the eye. Piper stared back. Drew wondered if she would have to charm her way out of this.

“Look, Drew, I just want to-” Piper began.

“Really having fun with this, aren’t you? Why are you so obsessive, Piper?” Drew asked meanly.

Piper seemed to falter for a moment. Drew was quick to abuse this.

“What? Do you have a crush on Leo? Is that why you want me to leave him alone? Am I competition to you?” Drew asked meanly.

Piper looked embarrassed. Percy took a moment to look back at her. She glared at him, quickly shaking her head to convey that she didn’t like Leo like that.

“Your ass has as much of a chance with him as I do, Drew,” Piper said.

That was ironic. If Drew weren’t in genuine danger or weren’t trying to hide her relationship from Piper, she’d laugh at her. She had to resist cracking a grin.

“Not like that matters. If you knew that, you wouldn’t be doing this,” Drew said.

Piper glared at Drew. Drew glared back.

“Come on, Annabeth. Be reasonable. Do you really want to attack a child of Aphrodite in her mother’s temple?” Drew asked.

Annabeth hesitated for a moment. Drew prepared herself.

“Just leave me alone, just for today,” Drew said, heavily lacing her voice with charmspeak.

Annabeth and Percy were immediately hit. It was extremely effective, of course. Piper stared at Drew for a moment. Drew was heavily relying on the possibility that Piper was unwilling to use her charmspeak abilities on her own friends. She waited.

Annabeth and Percy walked out of the temple. Piper remained.

“You…!” Piper gasped.

“If you’re going to play dirty, I will too. It goes both ways, honey,” Drew said.

Piper gasped in offense. Drew rolled her eyes at her. Piper stormed out of the temple immediately, taking defeat like a champ. Drew was very happy with herself. She happily walked out of Venus’s temple. Now that she wasn’t in active danger, she could actually enjoy looking at the Gods’ and Goddesses’ temples. It was pretty interesting that New Rome didn’t separate people based on what God or Goddess was their parent, anyway. The reason they had less places to honor the Gods and Goddesses was probably why they didn’t separate the kids on parentage, anyway. Of course, Jason had to change that. That was probably the reason why he was still single. Oh well! Not like Drew could care!

…

The day passed easily after Drew’s little charmspeak thing. The hike back was much easier than the hike there because they were going downhill. Drew stuck with Leo, Hazel, and Frank as they went down. Annabeth and Percy stayed to themselves. Drew caught Piper speaking to Nico and Will, but she felt that it wasn’t important enough to eavesdrop on. Besides, Nico didn’t seem to care and Will only looked mildly interested. However, Drew could have sworn to see their expressions change after Piper mentioned something… It was probably just her imagination or a trick of the light. Who knew and who genuinely cared?

Dinner was nice. The food was pretty good, but Drew was pretty sure that the food at the restaurant Leo was taking her to tomorrow would be better. Besides, what did Venti know about cooking? Drew was pretty sure a human or demigod could do better.

After dinner, everyone went inside their cabins for the night. When Leo and Drew entered, Drew locked the door. Leo casually sat on the couch and looked at the activity plans for tomorrow. Drew sat next to him. Leo seemed to realize something.

“Hey… Drew, random question, but, weren’t you with Piper, Percy, and Annabeth in your mom’s temple earlier?” Leo asked.

“Oh, I was. What about it?” Drew asked.

“Why did they walk out? I thought you guys… well, y’know,” Leo said.

“Oh, uh… well, Leo…” Drew sputtered.

Leo looked at her intently. Drew glanced away from him, debating whether to tell the truth or not. Well… if she lied, things could get complicated…

“Leo… I’m not very proud of what I did,” Drew began.

Was she not proud of what she did? Well, no, not really, but then again, how else was she supposed to deal with them? Normal ways of persuasion wouldn’t work.

“Promise you won’t get mad, okay?” Drew said.

Leo thought for a moment.

“Okay, I won’t. So, what happened?” Leo asked.

“I had to charmspeak your friends out so they wouldn’t attack me,” Drew confessed.

Leo looked shocked. He nearly caught fire.

“WHAT?!” Leo gasped.

“You said you wouldn’t get mad!” Drew said.

Leo rushed to cool himself down. His facial expression was changing too quickly for Drew to make a proper guess on what he was feeling.

“I can’t believe them!” Leo said.

Leo was on her side again? Drew didn’t know if she should have been surprised at this.

“I think they’re getting suspicious of us,” Drew said.

“You think I don't know that?” Leo asked.

“No, I was sure you did. I just wanted to say it,” Drew said.

Leo sighed. He slumped over defeatedly, burying his face in his hands. Drew carefully put a hand on his back. He flinched for a second, which nearly killed Drew internally.

“We’re going to have to tell them soon,” Leo sighed.

“Not now, but soon. I think tensions between me and Piper are too high,” Drew said.

“But when?” Leo groaned.

“Soon,” Drew said.

Leo didn’t seem to like that answer. Drew didn’t know what time would be a good time. They had discussed this yesterday briefly. Drew supposed that now that Leo knew about Piper and her viciousness, he didn’t want to risk his friendship with her by keeping secrets. She still didn’t want to tell her, ever. If Piper was going to throw a fit every single time Drew and Leo were next to each other, maybe it was better that she’d not be told until she could suck it up and deal with them. She still didn’t know what kind of girl Drew was, and that was probably the problem.

Leo had probably thought about this too. Drew didn’t want him to know that she hated his friend’s guts.

Gods, was it so hard for Piper to accept love? She was a child of Aphrodite, and she still didn’t know how love worked or how to feel any. Honestly, with how Piper was acting, she shouldn’t be running the Aphrodite cabin. She couldn’t just pick and choose which relationships were worthy! It was better to see how they progressed, and then try and break it up if it was toxic. Drew was pretty sure that Leo and her relationship wasn’t toxic. Drew loved Leo and tried her best to show it in the ways she could, and Leo did the same in his own unique and dorky way. Drew was dating him because he was a dork, not to spite Piper!

Then again… that was why she even hung out with him to begin with. To spite Piper. She herself was shocked at how serious this had gotten with Leo. It wasn’t serious at first. Leo and her were just an extremely rare case of how hanging out with people to spite another person could bloom into a romance. Piper wasn’t at fault for thinking that Drew was out to break his heart. It was just so dam frustrating that she couldn’t understand that she was being genuine!

“She does have a reason for what she thinks about me,” Drew brought up.

Leo looked at her.

“You’re different than some stupid perception,” Leo said.

Drew didn’t even know if Leo knew that their relationship only started out of spite.

If Piper brought that up… Drew would be done for.

And that was horrifying to her.

It would absolutely destroy Leo’s glass heart. Drew knew he could never recover from that.

All her hard work of trying to get Leo out of his shell and into her arms would be nothing. Drew would be proof for Leo that Leo was unlovable and worthless to anyone who couldn’t use him. She didn’t want him to think that. Leo was so wonderful and talented in every way. If Leo put in effort to get his curls more defined and dressed better, Drew was pretty sure every girl and some boys in camp would be slobbering for him at their knees. Plus, her efforts made him feel more comfortable to get closer with those Romans, Frank and Hazel. He never mentioned why they were awkward with each other in the first place, but she was pretty sure it had something to do with the Argo quest.

“This isn’t gonna be something that makes us break up, right..?” Leo asked.

“No! Never. I’m sure you and I can deal with Piper. I’m being careful because I wouldn’t want Piper to do something drastic,” Drew said.

“Oh, I get it,” Leo said, nodding.

Drew hoped him saying he got it was a good thing. Well, Drew needed to get Leo to stop worrying somehow. An idea popped into her mind.

“What if we told Frank and Hazel first?” Drew suggested.

Leo thought about it for a good moment. He looked at her, and then at the floor.

“That… Yeah! Great idea, Drew!” Leo nodded.

Drew wouldn’t mind telling the Romans about their relationship. Frank and Hazel seemed sensible enough. She just needed to make sure to tell them not to tell the others.

“We should tell them tomorrow,” Leo said.

“Okay,” Drew nodded.

It was settled. Frank and Hazel would be the first to know. Drew hoped that that would work out for them pretty well.

Drew could only hope that this would work out in the way that she imagined it to. She didn’t think that Frank and Hazel were the type to rat out other people, anyway, so it was probably very likely that this would go according to plan.

Drew could only wait until tomorrow to find out, though.

Chapter Text

The morning started off as the second one did. Amazing. Drew and Leo got ready together, and they had breakfast sitting next to each other. Drew tried to ignore the stares coming from Piper, Nico, and Will as she and Leo ate their food. The Romans were back to their usual training, which meant that there would be less around, especially at night. That meant that Drew and Leo could have their little moment together in the restaurant in peace.

The activity of this day was shorter than yesterday’s hike, which was a big relief. It was supposed to be a “Guess the Deity” trivia activity. Drew immediately knew that Annabeth would win this, but she still attended because Leo wanted to attend with his friends. Drew was correct, naturally. Amnabeth won, only because she could list the more uncommon Gods and Goddesses, like the God of cheesemaking and bees. Whatever. Drew didn’t care. She was looking forward to tonight, not the day. The game took an entire two hours. When the game ended, Leo remembered what they had decided to do the day before. Drew was almost hoping that he didn’t, but she had to tell them eventually.

Leo and Drew were quick to follow Frank and Hazel as they left for the weapon shed. The two apparently wanted to do sparing with each other, which wasn’t exactly the most romantic thing to do, but Drew wasn’t one to judge. Okay, well, she was. People just said that to make themselves feel better about being judgemental. Honestly, Frank and Hazel were already built enough. They didn’t need to flex on everyone by going off to work out some more. Whatever.

“Hey big guy!” Leo greeted Frank.

“I didn’t know you wanted to come along,” Frank said.

“Nah. I’m already buff enough, as you can tell,” Leo began, joking.

No he wasn’t. Drew still loved him anyway.

“I… uh, I wanted to tell you two something,” Leo said.

Drew would take over from here.

“What’s wrong?” Hazel asked.

“Nothing really… Well, if you’re not Piper,” Drew said.

“Does Piper have a problem with you?” Frank asked Drew.

“Yes,” Drew said sadly.

It was clear as day. If Frank didn’t have his head in the clouds and looked down for once, he could see it!

Woah, that was mean. Drew just felt annoyed with Frank, and she supposed that insult came from insulting his height more than anything. Then again, nobody needed to know that she thought that. There were inside thoughts and outside thoughts.

“Why?” Frank asked.

“I would love to get into that, but we should take this somewhere more private first,” Drew recommended.

“Alright. Nobody is in the weapon shed, so we’ll go there,” Hazel said.

The four began to walk. Drew had managed that pretty well. All she needed was Leo to begin the conversation. Just because things were going well now didn’t mean that they would be going as well later. She hoped that Piper, Annabeth, or Percy wouldn’t get themselves in this.

The four entered the shed quickly. Hazel shut the door behind her and locked it. That made Drew only a bit nervous. Who would feel safe trapped in a small room with a bunch of weapons?

“So… Why does Piper not like you?” Hazel asked.

“Me and Piper got off to a rough start, to say the least,” Drew began.

There was a very specific way she had to word this in order to look good to Hazel and Frank while not visibly insulting Piper. As tempting as it was to insult Piper, Drew couldn’t. She would hurt Leo’s feelings, and she really wanted to look like a good friend… no, girlfriend, to Frank and Hazel.

“She overheard some rumors about me from camp, and she bought into them,” Drew continued.

Drew watched their reactions. Frank looked interested, and Hazel looked sympathetic. They were both still-

“You were a bit of a baddie,” Leo joked.

Drew laughed quickly. Frank and Hazel did as well, luckily.

“I get that. I… I kinda was a bit mean too,” Frank said.

Thank the ENTIRE PANTHEON.

“Yeah, I was mean to them at first. I was stressed because Percy was missing and because of the new prophecy,” Drew said more honestly.

The two looked very understanding. Frank was nodding along. Drew hoped that Frank hadn’t said anything to Leo, now that he mentioned that he used to be mean. It was probably when he was a middle schooler or something. This time, she had no right to judge.

“Piper dethroned me from my camp counselor position, which doesn’t really help us,” Drew said.

“Well, then, we met each other,” Leo began.

Frank and Hazel nodded along.

“Piper didn’t approve of our friendship, so she probably won’t-” Drew began.

“You two are dating?!” Hazel gasped.

“Yes, we are, Hazel. Don’t we look cute together?” Drew asked.

“I thought that you two had a crush on each other,” Frank said.

“How long have you two been dating? Leo, I’m so happy that you finally have a girlfriend!” Hazel chirped.

“We’ve been dating for over a month,” Leo said.

“And you didn’t tell us?” Hazel asked.

“We were afraid that Piper would try and break us up… We were also worried that you two wouldn’t approve,” Drew said.

“We’re fine with it,” Frank said.

“Very much so!” Hazel said, nodding enthusiastically.

Drew felt that it was a bit weird why Hazel was so excited about them dating. What was so special? Oh, her resident single friend finally bagged a baddie. Now what?

Leo looked at Drew with a look of “I’ll explain later”, which was good. Drew needed some context.

“We were actually planning on doing something together tonight... You two won’t say anything, right?” Drew asked.

“No,” Frank and Hazel said at the same time.

“Goodie. That’s all we really had to say,” Drew concluded.

Drew moved to the door, unlocking it.

“What are you two going to do now?” Hazel asked.

“I gotta go over to the workshop. I think I forgot something there,” Leo said.

He did? That was strange. He usually wasn’t one for misplacing things… Well, then again, even he wasn’t perfect, and all of them were more likely to do that because of everyone’s collective ADHD. Except for Frank. He was lactose intolerant. Loser.

“I’ll go to New Rome with you,” Drew said.

“Yes, you should. The outdoor gardens are really beautiful,” Hazel recommended.

That was subjective. Drew would be the one to decide that.

“I will!” Drew nodded.

Leo and Drew walked away from the weapon shed, taking the road to New Rome. When they were a fair enough distance from the weapon shed, Leo explained to her why Hazel seemed so happy about them dating.

Drew didn’t know that Hazel was born in the 1930s-1940s. That came to her as a big surprise, but it made a lot more things about Hazel make sense. Drew didn’t need Leo to continue to explain to her why their dating was a big thing for Hazel. Drew knew that in that time period, interracial love and marriage were seen as taboo and wrong. She supposed that Hazel seeing her, a Japanese woman, with Leo, a Spanish man, made her see more clearly that there were no longer heavy social and legal laws on love, and made her happy. Drew understood. She couldn’t imagine not being able to date Leo because of their race. The only thing stopping Drew and Leo being more public was Piper, Percy, and Annabeth, which were more temporary problems.

At the very least, everything went perfectly. Hazel and Frank approved, which meant that Drew had won over two of the eight people with them. Drew, Leo, Frank, and Hazel outnumbered Percy, Annabeth, and Piper by one. Drew hadn’t put any thought towards Jason and those other two people, but she hoped that she wouldn’t have to. She wasn’t sure about that, though.

Nico and Will were giving a strange look to both herself and Leo. It was as if they were looking for something on them. Drew had no idea what Piper said to them, but whatever it was couldn’t be good. If Will and Nico were on Piper’s side, her side would be outnumbered by one, and it would be easy for them to sway Jason.

Drew really didn’t want them apart. She just wanted to love Leo. If anyone was ripping them apart, it was Piper herself. That was ironic because she was claiming that Drew wanted to rip Leo’s heart apart.

Either way, Drew had to keep an eye out. She might as well avoid Will and Nico, just to be safe. Who knew what they were told or what Piper was plotting…

...

...When the two of them entered New Rome, Leo was quick to guide her to the gardens’ entrance and then go off on his own way. Drew enjoyed the garden greatly, but she couldn’t help but feel that someone was watching her from the darkness. It was almost driving her mad.

Rosalind tried not to care, though. The gardens were very vast and beautiful despite the fact that it was winter and there was nothing in bloom at this time. There were plenty of fountains and statues to look at and enjoy. Of course, all of them were Roman, which reminded Drew that she was around 3000 miles from home, but whatever. Drew wasn’t the type of girl to go and get herself homesick and wail about it. That was probably something her siblings did.

Eventually, the feeling that someone was watching her fleeted. Drew felt relieved for some time before getting irritated that there was a chance someone watched her in this garden. Not like she could prove it… probably.

After a good hour or two, Leo came back to her. He was smiling genuinely.

“Leo! You’re back!” Drew said.

“Yeah… I just needed to get something done,” Leo said.

Oooh… Selfishly, Drew wondered if he made her something. Leo probably had something else to do, though. He said he had forgotten something there, anyway.

“So, the next activity?” Leo asked.

“Oh, yes… that… what was it again?” Drew asked.

“I don’t know. What time is it?” Leo asked in return.

Uh. Whoops.

She supposed both of them had lost track of time at the same time… did that mean that they were late for some kind of activity or something-

“LEO!” Piper called.

Shit! It was her of all people!

Leo looked at her quickly. Drew ducked behind a pillar. Leo looked very nervous.

“LEO! I saw you go in here! Why are you avoiding us?!” Piper called for him.

“Woah! Calm down!” Leo called back.

Leo was about to rush off to find her, but she found him first. Drew could only tell that by hearing Piper’s footsteps. They sounded mixed with another person’s, though, which meant someone else was here…

Drew dared to peek from behind the pillar. It was Jason Grace. Great… Why did it have to be him of all people?

“Sorry Pipes… lost track of time,” Leo apologized.

“It’s been three hours… You missed the mythomagic trivia,” Jason said.

Whomp whomp. Drew was pretty sure Frank would win that one. He said once that he played that game a lot.

“Sorry man,” Leo apologized.

“What are you doing here anyway?” Jason asked.

“I just got distracted. So, what’s happening now?” Leo said, rushing to change the subject.

“Leo…” Jason began softly.

Drew wasn’t able to hear what was happening around Leo. There was a pause, then some footsteps.

“I’m worried about you. You’re being distant,” Jason said.

He was being distant? Really? It felt like the other way around. Jason was being distant. Leo was socializing just fine. If anything, he spent just as much time with his machines as with Frank and Hazel. Besides, Leo wasn’t always alone with his machines. He had her to be with and work with. If Jason, Piper, Annabeth, and Percy just bothered to lift a damn finger…

“Distant? What are you talking about bro? I’m always with you guys!” Leo said.

Drew heard a slight pause.

“Look, Leo, I’m just worried,” Piper said.

She just wanted control. She didn’t want to risk Drew the she-devil hanging out with her precious and stupid Leo who definitely didn’t know what was good for him.

“Pipes, no need to worry. Seriously. What am I, your son?” Leo joked.

Piper huffed.

“So, what’s happening now? Is there some other activity?” Leo asked.

“No. There’s some free time from now until dinner,” Jason said.

“Oh, about that… you guys wouldn’t freak out if I said I wasn’t going to dinner, right?” Leo asked.

“What? Why?” Jason asked.

“I just gotta do something. No need to worry,” Leo said.

“Does this have something to do with Drew?” Piper asked.

“What?” Jason asked.

Did Jason not notice anything that was happening around him or something? Was he blind?

“What does Drew have to do with him?” Jason asked Piper.

“Uh, nothing! Nothing at all. I don’t know why she came anyway,” Leo lied heavily.

Drew was smart enough to know that he was lying. Drew came because he loved her and wanted some time with her. That was why.

“Alright…” Piper said.

“Can we get going? Frank said that he wanted to see you,” Jason said.

“Yeah, sure! Just, in a minute… What time is it again?” Leo asked.

There was a pause.

“It’s… 4:38,” Jason said.

“Alright! I’ll go to Frank in a moment,” Leo said.

“Why not now?” Piper asked.

“Uh… because…” Leo began.

Oh no. He seemed to have run out of lies.

“Leo… did you break something here?” Jason said suspiciously.

There was a pause.

“Leo!” Jason gasped.

“It’s not my fault, I swear!” Leo said.

“You’re still fighting the bomber allegations,” Jason said.

“Hey, I’m a pretty explosive person with an even hotter personality. Can you blame them?” Leo joked.

“Let’s just go. I don’t want the Romans to find out. If they see us here, they’ll want to check out what’s happening,” Jason sighed.

There were more footsteps.

“I’ll see you later, bro!” Jason said.

“Bye!” Leo said.

Piper probably waved goodbye.

Drew waited, counting in her mind. When she got to twenty, she moved.

Leo was waiting for her. He put his finger to his lips. They waited a bit longer until the two of them were one hundred percent sure that the coast was clear. Leo let out a big sigh of relief.

“Alright… We have time to get ready,” Leo said.

Oh! Oh yes! For the restaurant! Drew was so excited.

“Drew, I’m so sorry-” Leo began.

“Oh Leo, I’m no fool. I know you didn’t mean what you said back there,” Drew said.

“Right! Good…” Leo sighed in relief.

Leo swept his hands on his pants. They lightly stained his pants with black.

“We have about an hour and a half until the reservation, I think,” Leo said.

“You made a reservation?” Drew asked.

“Only the best for you, Queen Drew,” Leo said, grinning.

Drew felt her face flush a little.

“So, uh, yeah,” Leo concluded.

“I suppose we should go then. I’ll need some time to get ready,” Drew said.

Men didn’t take as much time to get ready as women did. Drew was pretty sure that Leo wouldn’t be running late.

“Yeah. I’m sure Frank won’t take too long. The place is called Bonum Cibum. It’s that one that we saw while going to the trivia game,” Leo said.

That one?

“That one? Leo…” Drew gasped.

“Don’t even worry about it. I call you ‘queen’ for a reason. Plus, I can afford it,” Leo said.

Drew felt her face heat up. Her heart jumped with excitement. Drew would certainly need to get dressed up for this. She hoped that she had brought something to fit the occasion. Drew usually packed for almost anything, so surely she had something classy to wear… Not too fancy, but definitely better than something to wear on the street.

“I’ll see you tonight,” Leo said.

Drew was absolutely thrilled. She couldn’t wait.

Chapter Text

Drew had spent the last hour and a half getting ready for her date. First was the outfit. She decided to wear a nice white halter top and a somewhat short pink skirt. Over the top, she wore a light pink fur coat. Yes, she had packed that with the rest of her stuff. It was too good to keep home as she didn’t want her siblings to get their hands on it. She didn’t actually expect to use it! Anyway, to make sure that she didn’t get cold or something, she wore sheer stockings and a good looking pair of white knee high boots. Yes, she also took those with her. As she said before, she didn’t want ANY of her good clothing to be even looked at by her siblings. This stuff was all hers! No one else's!

As for makeup, Drew did some basic stuff, nothing too major. She wore the lipgloss Leo gave to her. Drew was honestly more concerned about her hair and accessories.

For this, she decided to keep her hair down, but she made sure to add some waves to it. It turned out very well, luckily. For jewelry, Drew decided to do rose quartz studs and a nice golden bracelet. It was that or white quartz earrings and a white quartz bracelet, or pearl earrings with a pearl bracelet. It was a hard choice, but Drew was happy with what she had picked out. Since Drew kept her hair down, she decided to put in a pink headband that matched her skirt. The last thing she grabbed was a small white purse. In that purse she had the lipgloss she used for her lips and a hand mirror.

And with that, she was done. The reservation was at five. All Drew needed to do was get to the restaurant without being seen by Piper, Annabeth, or Percy. If they saw her, they’d definitely have some questions as to what Drew was doing. Luckily, it would get dark soon. Drew was sure that she would be hidden enough by a veil of darkness. Besides, she had her charmspeak. She could always charm them into shutting up about it.

At 5:53, Drew left the little cabin Leo and her had to get to the restaurant. It wasn’t too much of a far walk to the place. Drew was very much sure that she could get there in time. She would have to walk up a little, but it was worth it.

Drew walked from the cabins to the main city part of New Rome. The sun was close to setting. Its light shone on the many buildings and statues. There were some people out, most of them focused on getting from one point to another. A lot of people were in restaurants. Nobody looked at Drew the wrong way. A few glanced at her. Drew couldn’t blame them.

Just as she was about to get to the corner that the restaurant was at, Drew spotted Piper lurking with Nico and Will around its corner. Immediately, Drew ducked out of view into an alleyway. They were walking down the sidewalk that she was going down. Drew’s heart raced. She hoped that they didn’t spot her. Drew watched as they walked past the alleyway they were in, waiting until they had fully passed her by. Once they did, Drew slipped out. She took a moment to look at herself in her mirror before she entered. Drew felt someone look at her, but she passed it off.

The restaurant's outside was grand and beautiful, but its interior was a lot more fancy. There was a strong purple and gold theme throughout. The door frames were arched with roman design going around it. The floor was pale marble tiles and the walls were just marble. There were grand pillars that acted as supports for the restaurant’s roof. Drew’s outfit fit in perfectly with what the other guests wore.

Drew glanced around for a moment, looking for Leo. A hostess walked up to her.

“Hello. Do you have a reservation?” The hostess asked.

Before Drew could speak, someone came up from behind her.

“She’s with me,” Leo said.

Drew looked behind herself. She looked at Leo.

Leo was… oh… oh my Gods… Leo was so handsome…

Leo was wearing a deep crimson button up, paired well with a black suit vest. He wore black slacks and a matching crimson belt. He wore simple black dress flats. He had a similar gold bracelet on as she did, and he wore a gold chain.

His hair was beautiful. He had finally taken the time to do his curls and they were fantastic. Drew couldn’t emphasize how beautiful he looked.

And Drew was supposed to be the one “seducing” Leo. Leo had her under his own kind of fiery enchantment and Drew was head over heels mesmerized.

“What’s the name of the reservation?” The hostess asked.

“Leo Valdez,” Leo said.

The hostess went behind the counter for a moment. Leo and Drew locked eyes. Leo’s face heated up immediately. The two of them snapped out of it when the hostess returned.

“Okay! Let me lead you two to your table…” The hostess said.

The two followed the hostess. The hostess led them to the outdoor area of the restaurant. Most likely by magic, the outside area was well heated and toasty. It was very well decorated, and it overlooked the river of Camp Jupiter and New Rome. The sun had begun to set. The hostess sat them in a more secluded area, just by the view. Drew took her coat off. The two sat down. The hostess left quickly, leaving them to themselves.

Drew and Leo looked at each other. Drew was in love, truly.

“So, what do you think…?” Leo asked nervously.

“It’s perfect…! Where did you find the funds for this…?” Drew said.

“I saved a little here and there from adventuring… y’know, the usual,” Leo said.

Drew nodded.

“You look great, by the way,” Leo said.

“You too, Leo,” Drew replied.

Leo’s hair caught fire. He quickly put it out. Drew was struggling to contain herself.

A waiter came and put two menus on the table. The waiter then walked off.

It took the two of them a moment to realize that something happened. Drew glanced at the menu for a moment, looking at what they had to offer. Everything looked pretty good… oh, she’d have that. Yeah. It wasn’t too expensive, and it was something good. Drew wasn’t all that hungry, honestly. Besides, it was up to Leo if he wanted to have dessert here, if she even needed that. He was being so good to her by taking her here.

The waiter came back. Drew and Leo put in their food and drink orders. The waiter left.

“New Rome has been great to us,” Drew said.

“Yeah, it has been,” Leo nodded.

Leo and Drew looked over the lake. It shimmered in the moonlight.

“Are you thinking about going here for college?” Leo asked.

“If you are, I will. I wouldn’t mind being away for too long,” Drew said.

“I wouldn’t mind it either, especially when I have you on my side,” Leo said.

Drew smiled at that notion. The waiter came back with their drinks. Drew felt obligated to thank the waiter, so she did.

“I will always be by your side, of course! Where else would I be?” Drew said.

“Ahh, who knows! Maybe somewhere in Canada,” Leo joked.

“Oh, no way… I would never. Never!” Drew said.

“I wonder how Frank would feel about that,” Leo said.

“He can go back to Canada with his girl if he so pleases,” Drew said.

The waiter came with their food. The two of them began to eat. Leo had very good table manners. His mom probably taught him so. Drew wasn’t taught by her father how to eat, rather by the nanny. She wished she was as close to her dad as Leo was to his mom. Even while they were eating, Drew couldn’t help but admire him for all that he was. He was talented, funny, and fantastic…

And to think that she was, at first, only in this to spite Piper. Oh, she couldn’t help but repeat this in her mind over and over again.

She was being genuine…

She had been genuine to him slowly but surely, when things didn’t seem like a game to her anymore. She had been even more genuine ever since she fully realized how alone he was. Just like her. Everyone liked him, nobody loved him. Everyone liked Drew, nobody loved Drew. Everyone had gotten over his death so quickly. Everyone but her… her and Jason, but all she could see was her grief. If she had died, no one would miss her like Leo, just as she had grieved for him. Leo was hers to love and hers to protect, wasn’t he?

Leo was looking at her nervously. Drew looked at him.

“All of this isn’t too much, right?” Leo asked.

Leo glanced around nervously. Drew looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

Well, now thinking about it, for a first date, this was a lot… ughhhhh… Why were both of them overcomplicating things?

“Leo, don’t worry about it,” Drew said.

“Okay,” Leo said.

There was a moment of silence.

“Can we kiss now, or-” Leo began.

Drew was waiting for this all night. She shifted over the table, desperately, almost. She was being genuine. She was!

The two made contact. Drew held Leo’s hand. He squeezed tightly, and Drew reciprocated.

When they broke, Leo still looked nervous. Drew was beginning to stress a little.

“Thanks,” Leo said.

Leo went back to his food. Drew tried to as well. She tried to do so the best that she could. Eventually, she couldn’t wait anymore.

“Leo, are you feeling alright…?” Drew asked, trying to be soft.

“I… I’m good,” Leo said.

“We can leave, if you want to. I wouldn’t mind at all. I just want you to be comfortable,” Drew said.

“No, no, it’s fine, it’s fine,” Leo insisted.

“Leo…” Drew began.

“I’m good, Drew. Are you good? Haha…” Leo said, deflecting.

Drew just looked at him. It wasn’t hard to do so. Leo shifted around, his arms igniting themselves on and off with every twist and turn of his feelings. Drew decided to give him some space. She took the last bite of her food. The waiter returned. Leo collected himself enough to ask for the check, implying that he did want to leave. The waiter took their plates and cups. When the waiter left, Leo sighed.

“I… uh,” Leo began.

Drew gave him time. She waited.

“I’m not doing this in vain, right?” Leo asked.

What?!

“No, no! Leo, I love you…! Why would you-” Drew began.

Drew needed to watch her tongue.

“Why… Oh Leo, I am being genuine… I wish I told you this more often,” Drew sighed.

Leo shifted in his seat. Drew felt her feelings get a hold of her throat. Her heart raced with stress.

How could she? How could Leo not know?

“I love everything about you, Leo…!” Drew said.

Leo seemed unconvinced. Drew looked at him firmly. She reached her hands over the table to hold his. Her heart took control of her, her mind taking a backseat.

“I love the silly jokes you make… the way you light up a room, literally and metaphorically… your talents… Just seeing you makes me so happy. I want you to know this like I do,” Drew said.

Leo was beginning to sniffle a little. The both of them were trying not to make a scene. They were in public, after all. They couldn’t just profess their love to each other.

“Hah, you’re making me feel,” Leo said awkwardly.

“I hope so,” Drew replied.

Leo moved in for a kiss. Drew reciprocated.

Leo wiped his eyes and laughed nervously. Drew smiled a little, sweating.

“We really are new to this, aren’t we?” Drew asked.

“Yeah. You must be surprised that someone like me doesn’t have any prior experience, huh?” Leo joked.

At this point, it was all her heart.

“I’m surprised I don’t have to beat women off with a stick,” Drew said.

Wow, that was something off her chest. Leo better like this. Drew was pouring her heart out for him to drink.

Leo began to laugh. Drew laughed with him.

“I really don’t have anything to worry about, right?” Leo asked.

“No, Leo. Never,” Drew promised.

Leo sighed in relief. They let go.

Plot conveniently, the waiter returned with the bill. Leo procured cash from his pockets and covered the bill. The waiter took it, thanked him, and went off.

“I, er, made you something,” Leo said.

He did?! Oh Gods among her! She really was getting spoiled!

“You did? Oh, Leo,” Drew gasped.

Leo pulled out something from his pocket. He held it up for her to look at. It was… a necklace. It was so beautiful. It was a rose quartz heart necklace. There seemed to be a slot in it, making room for…

“I made it for you… Uh, so we can have something to remind each other of each other,” Leo said.

He held it up with one hand. In his other hand, he produced a sword necklace.

“Pretty cool, right? I know, super genius,” Leo said.

“It’s perfect! Oh, Leo, you are too good to me!” Drew said.

Leo’s hands were getting close to lighting up. Drew took it and put it on. It was quite easy for her. The craftsmanship was fantastic. Leo was flustered. Drew put his necklace on him. He nearly lit up. Drew giggled.

He was always so easy to get flustered.

The two of them stood up.

“Let’s go back to the cabin,” Leo said.

“Yes. Let’s go,” Drew said.

And so, they went.

And under the moonlight, Drew kissed him once more.

She felt as if perhaps the moon was watching them as they did it. The moon had no eyes, though… so someone witnessed…

No, no way. Drew was sure of it.

Chapter Text

By the time they had returned, it was around 9:00.

Admittedly, the two of them had gotten sidetracked as they went home. They decided to visit the lake they had looked at, and they visited the sunflower garden by the lake. They spent some time there together. Leo seemed to accept Drew’s reassurances for good, and Leo assured Drew that she was being genuine. He didn’t actually tell her, but it was just by the way she felt around him. Nothing mattered but him. Not his stupid friends, not Frank or Hazel, not either camp, not even both of their shared and separate scars.

Drew was very happy with how the night went, but was also exhausted. Leo seemed equally as drained, so the two of them got ready for bed and went to sleep… or, at least, they tried to.

Drew was just about done with getting ready for bed when someone banged on their door. By then, it was 10:00. Leo was somehow asleep by then. At this moment, Drew was nowhere near presentable. She had finished brushing her teeth, she had her hair in a braid and out of her face, and she was wearing her silk pjs. Did she mention that she was doing some well deserved skincare? Her face was her most important feature! She had to make sure it was moisturized or she’d get acne. Drew learned that the hard way. Luckily, she had one of those korean facemasks her father’s secretary recommended to her. She literally couldn’t be bothered, so she ignored the first few bangs.

She only decided to investigate when she heard five more. Drew walked to the door quickly. She opened it. Drew hoped that this was important. If not, Drew would simply slam the door in their face… unless it was Hazel or Frank. Then, she’d hear them out.

…oh.

Ah great. It was Piper.

“What do yo-” Drew began.

Piper lunged at her.

Drew shrieked loudly. She scampered away from her. Piper seemed to be out for her blood, however, and she moved to make another attack.

“What the fuck do YOU want from ME?!” Drew shrieked.

“You fucking WHORE!” Piper cried.

“OH? I’M the WHORE? I’m not a mirror, hon!” Drew retorted.

Piper scrambled for a moment to look at something to throw at her. She landed on the shoes Drew left on the shoe mat. Piper tossed her shoes at her. Drew dodged with ease.

“What did I do this time?!” Drew asked, trying to find reason in Piper’s temper tantrum.

“You- You lied!” Piper began.

Piper picked up the shoe mat. She threw it at Drew, who easily dodged that. It flopped to the floor embarrassingly.

“And? Is lying now an offense punishable by death? Hm?” Drew said.

Drew took more steps back. Piper pursued.

“You seduced him! You…!” Piper said.

“I didn’t seduce anyone, hon,” Drew said.

“You kissed him! On the lips!” Piper accused.

Wh… what?

How did she find that out?!

Drew had made sure Piper didn’t see her going to the restaurant! Piper didn’t follow her in, either! She was nowhere to be seen the whole night after she entered the restaurant!

“I did? When, Piper, when?!” Drew asked, playing dumb.

“Don’t play dumb with me! You did it at the lake!” Piper said.

Oh Gods. She got caught.

Drew took a moment to look behind Piper. Those two… those two fucking homos that Drew couldn’t remember the names of!

“So what?! Leo liked it!” Drew said.

Piper moved to slap Drew, but Drew caught her hand. She shoved her back.

“Did you send Tweedledee and Tweedledum to spy on us?!” Drew questioned.

The two homos looked very offended. Drew hoped they choked on their offense.

“I- well-” Piper began.

“What? Is Leo an unruly five year old to you?! He’s seventeen, and so are you! You should know better than to pull this shit! Shame on you!” Drew cried in indignation.

“YOU should know better than to pull this! You’re only doing this to spite me!” Piper said.

“I am NOT. Don’t ever mistake it, hon, because-” Drew began.

Piper made another attack at Drew, seeming to have recovered from Drew’s previous defense. She smacked Drew in the chest, hurting a lot. Drew probably couldn’t pull such a move on Piper, as she had nothing to hit. Drew meant that in the most offensive way possible, by the way.

Anyway, because she got hit, Drew fell on the back of the couch. She rolled painfully on it, her legs nearly smacking the coffee table and her facemask being pulled forcefully off her face. Drew groaned in pain. Piper moved in front of the couch to continue her fighting. Drew moved off the couch immediately, rolling onto the ground. Piper tried to flip the coffee table on her, but it didn’t work as Piper wanted it to. She swiftly got up. The two homos entered the house to get a better view of what was happening.

“-I am actually capable of managing my friends and my relationships at the same time!” Drew finished.

Piper charged at Drew. Drew’s hands rushed to the closest item to her, which happened to be a vase. Drew ungracefully threw the vase at Piper, smashing it on impact. Piper was unfortunately unphased and unhurt. Drew fled closer to the corner. Piper backed her into it. Drew could only sourly glare at her. Piper got the upper hand on her once more.

“What now, dumpster queen? Did you think this part through? What do you-” Drew began.

Drew had to duck down to avoid getting punched in the face by Piper. Piper’s punch was so hard that it caused a crack in the wall.

The door to the bedroom suddenly slammed open. There was a strong aroma of smoke.

Piper spun on her heels, which was probably the most graceful thing she was capable of. Drew looked up to see her boy, her precious Leo. His hands and arms were burning up to his forearms. He was panting, taking deep breaths.

“Piper,” Leo said sharply but nervously.

His voice trembled.

“Leo,” Piper said back weakly.

The two homos backed off, finally realizing that this was something that they should not dig their noses into, hopefully.

“Piper, please, stop it,” Leo ordered nervously.

“Leo, I can’t. I can’t stand here and watch you keep spiraling,” Piper said.

“This isn’t spiraling,” Leo said.

Piper approached Leo slowly. Drew got up. Her chest burned with pain, both physical and emotional. This shouldn’t be happening to him. Not now.

“Leo, she… she doesn’t love you, Leo,” Piper said.

Drew felt her face contort. Rage burned through her blood. She held her wrist, trying to keep a grip on herself. She wouldn’t throw her fists. She wasn’t strong enough, and her pretty face wasn’t meant for fighting.

“Yes, she does,” Leo said.

“No, she doesn’t. She only hung out with you before all this, before the Argo 2, because she-” Piper began.

“I know,” Leo said.

“What?” Drew asked aloud.

“I knew… and I didn’t care. I let it happen,” Leo said.

“You hurt y-” Piper began.

Leo raised his hand to get her to shut up.

“Don’t phrase it like that…! I’m not hurting myself! You’re hurting me, Piper!” Leo said.

Drew was dumbfounded. She froze in shock, staring at the two of them. Her heartbeat roared in her ears. The silence was extremely loud after what he said. Piper stared at him with the same shock.

Drew glanced at the door frame.

The homos… they decided to get the others in on this too. Annabeth and Percy and Jason stood. They seemed to have heard it too.

Now, Piper was facing the heat.

“I…? No, no, Leo… I want to protect you,” Piper said.

“You don’t have to!” Leo said sharply.

Piper moved closer. Leo moved away. He was glaring at her, choking back tears.

“I know how to socialize. I know how to speak to other people. You don’t need to do anything,” Leo said.

Drew stared. Everyone was staring at him.

Did Drew baby him, too?

Drew’s heart raced with fear. She never considered that for a second. She was just being herself.

Well… what qualifies as babying? Okay… Drew needed to think quickly. Drew-

“Drew treats me normally, so, why can’t you?” Leo asked.

Piper stuttered for a moment. She slowly turned to look Drew in the eyes. Drew stared back. She tried to be as brave as possible, glaring at her.

“This all could’ve been avoided, you know! If you didn’t send your spies, we would’ve told you on our own time,” Drew said.

“You would have never said anything! You didn’t want your plot to be spoiled!” Piper snapped back.

“THERE IS NO PLOT,” Drew snapped louder.

Silence fell.

“Dear Gods, you really don’t change, do you? You’re probably just as immature as you were in sixth grade. So let me enlighten you, quickly, Piper, there is no game. There is nothing to lose for the two of us, either. If anyone’s losing, it’s you,” Drew began.

“People like you don’t change, Drew. You’re being as mean now as you were before,” Piper retorted.

That may never go away. Drew was always a “mean” person. But love was mean. Love could be cruel. But Drew… she wasn’t as cruel as she was before. Leo had softened her up because he deserved kindness. Drew knew how to hold her tongue and think now. Somewhat. She was still very worked up. The whole rule of “don’t insult your boyfriend’s best friend” went straight out the window. Drew needed to be mean.

“Because, YOU started it. You chose to have a problem. You chose to fight me in the woods. And now, YOU are choosing to ruin this diplomatic vacation because you believe Leo can’t manage himself,” Drew berated, pointing her finger at Piper every time she said “you”.

“Are you two dating?!” Percy blurted out.

Drew looked at him, then at Leo. Leo nodded slightly.

“Yeah, we are. Aren’t we a cute couple?” Drew asked sweetly.

Percy and Annabeth gasped loudly.

“How long has this been going on?!” Annabeth asked.

“Since Valentine's Day,” Leo answered.

Percy and Annabeth gasped loudly again.

Piper looked around, shocked.

“All those things you said… Leo…! You lied!” Piper pointed out.

“You would have never approved!” Leo retorted.

“No, I wouldn't, because I know Drew!” Piper said.

“You don’t know her the way I do,” Leo replied.

“Yes I-” Piper began.

“What’s going on here? It’s almost ele-”

Drew looked at the door. It was… Oh, great. It was Frank and Hazel.

“Do you know that Leo and Drew are dating?!” Piper asked.

Hazel and Frank looked at Piper, confused.

“Yes? They told us after the game of trivia… what did you do?!” Hazel gasped.

“Leo, why are you on fire? What happened to the cabin?” Frank asked.

Leo glanced at his arms. He hastily put himself out by flapping his arms. Piper stepped away from the damage. Drew finally got out of the corner. She stood by Leo. Leo was happy that she did this.

“I can explain…” Piper began.

“Yes, please do. Explain to them how you barged in and started attacking me, Piper. I’m sure they’ll understand why you did that,” Drew continued.

“I wasn’t thinking straight!” Piper said quickly as a lousy defense.

“Which one of you punched the wall?” Hazel asked.

Drew looked at Piper. Piper scratched the back of her head nervously.

Frank groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose. Hazel sighed sadly.

“I can’t believe that people are still against interracial relationships… I thought society was better than this… I thought you all were better than this,” Hazel said.

“Hon, no, it’s not that,” Drew said quickly.

“It’s the fact that it’s Drew. Frank, Hazel, you don’t understand,” Piper began.

“Ah, yes. You chose to badmouth me now. Right in front of me, too! How kind of you, Piper,” Drew said.

“I…” Piper began.

Percy moved to Piper’s defense, but Annabeth stopped him. Drew could still see Nico and Will in the background. They saw everything, so they were involved too.

“Just get the hell out,” Drew ordered.

Piper shot Drew one last glare before walking out of the house. Drew walked to the door. She glanced at Hazel and Frank. The two approached them.

“Go think about what you all did,” Hazel said to the five.

Drew let the two in. She shut the door behind them. Leo seemed tense still. Frank surveyed the damage carefully, looking over everything.

“Everything was caused by Piper, except for the vase. I threw that at her,” Drew said truthfully.

“I can believe that,” Hazel said.

Frank went to the coffee table. He set it right. Leo picked up everything from the floor and put it back on the table. Drew quickly harvested the facemask from the couch and threw it in the trash. Hazel put the shoemat back, and put the shoes back on the mat as well. Drew moved to the vase shards.

“That vase…” Frank began.

“...can be fixed. I’ll make the cracks look like a design choice,” Drew finished.

Hazel rummaged for a second for a dustpan and broom. When she found both, Hazel held the dustpan for Drew to sweep up the shards into. Leo got a plastic bag and let Hazel dump the shards in. He put the closed plastic bag on the counter. The four then sat on the couch. Drew sighed in relief. They stayed silent for a moment before Frank spoke up.

“So… Drew, what happened?” Frank asked.

“Piper showed up at my door just before I was about to go to bed. She barged in and started throwing stuff at me, yelling at me about the same things you probably heard from her before,” Drew explained.

“Was she actually trying to hurt you?” Frank asked.

“Yes. She punched me in the chest,” Drew nodded.

Leo sighed sadly.

“I heard it all. I thought I was having a nightmare or something… but nah… the second I walk in, you and Piper are just screaming at each other,” Leo said.

That backed up her side of the story at least.

Frank sat back on the couch. He seemed as annoyed about this as they were. Hazel was saddened. Leo was saddened already. Drew felt like she was the only one who wasn’t saddened about this. She was just annoyed.

“I was mean in the past. I used to do some things that make me seem to be a bad person, but I have stopped,” Drew said.

“I get that, Drew. I really do. I guess both of us used to be bullies,” Frank said.

Drew felt as if her mother and the Erotes had blessed her, somehow. Drew couldn’t ask for a more supportive guy right now. Thanks, Frank.

“I don’t think she’ll change her mind any time soon,” Leo groaned.

“It’s… this is awful. I don’t know what would’ve happened if we didn’t step in,” Hazel said.

“Me neither,” Drew nodded.

“You two always could stick around in Camp Jupiter a bit longer. Just for now, until things cool down for good,” Frank suggested.

“I would love to,” Drew began.

Not yet. No, she would not love to. Drew had only warmed up to this place, not begun to like it.

“But, I have friends back in Camp Half Blood,” Drew finished, declining.

“Yeah…” Leo nodded.

“Makes sense. Our offer is always open, though,” Hazel said.

“We’ll be there for you two. Especially you, Leo,” Frank said.

Drew had a feeling that Frank was referencing the fact that Leo was a dork. Leo smiled a little, which made Drew so happy.

“I’ll try and be there for you too, big guy,” Leo replied.

Frank pat Leo softly on the back. Leo grinned. The four of them stood up. They separated, going to their respective partners.

“We’ll be going to bed now. We’ll see you two tomorrow at breakfast,” Hazel said.

“Bye!” Drew and Leo waved.

The two exited. Leo sighed.

“At least everyone knows now,” Leo said.

“I’m sorry for being so mean to her. She’s your friend…” Drew apologized.

Deep down, Drew felt hardly sorry for what she did. She just felt bad about the fact that Leo was there to witness it. She also hated that he had to hear his girlfriend and his girl best friend fight.

“You don’t have to apologize. Let’s just go to bed and see what happens tomorrow,” Leo said.

Leo didn’t have to tell her twice. She simply nodded, and the two headed to their shared bed.

Drew was relieved that she didn’t get broken up with, but now, she supposed that she had to watch her back.

She never realized that it would be so hard for her to date Leo. Out of all the things that could stop her, never before all this did she think that Piper herself would be so involved in trying to ruin her love life.

Piper needed a girlfriend. Maybe that would make her calm down. Maybe it would get her to get off of Drew’s ass.

Who knew!

All Drew needed to know was that Leo loved her, and he very much did.

Chapter Text

Drew woke up the next morning unscathed. The house wasn’t broken into and everything was normal. Drew made sure to check. It was as if last night had never happened at all. Of course, though, the effects of last night were still noticeable. Drew woke up and felt nervous. Leo seemed very stressed. They both decided to take things slowly this morning. Drew didn’t want to stress him.

When Drew and Leo came to breakfast, all were gone but Frank and Hazel. Frank and Hazel seemed to be waiting for them, strangely enough. Drew and Leo sat down with them. Leo glanced at Drew.

“So… uh, you hear anything from the others?” Leo asked.

“No, nothing. I haven’t seen them all morning,” Frank said.

Drew looked at Hazel.

“Me neither,” Hazel sighed, shaking her head.

Drew ate a spoonful of her yogurt parfait. She had decided that today was a good day to take it easy, so she had added some extra chocolate drizzle to hers. The wind spirits that had made her food took “extra” as “a lot”, but she didn’t mind. It made the strawberries and granola sweeter.

“They may have slept in today,” Drew suggested.

“Probably,” Frank nodded.

All of them had quietly acknowledged that last night was a stressful night for everyone. Maybe Piper needed some extra beauty sleep because she was tired from making a fool out of herself in front of her best friend.

“Is there any morning activity?” Drew asked.

“No,” Frank said.

“Well, that just gives me more time to fix the vase,” Drew said.

“How will you fix it, anyway?” Leo asked.

“I’ll piece the cracks together with some glue, then paint over the cracks with some shiny paint,” Drew explained.

“Like… Kintsugi? You mentioned something sounding like that to me before,” Leo said.

“Yes! That!” Drew said, nodding.

She knew it sounded typical that she, the Japanese one, would use her culture to fix it, but come on! She had seen the result of pottery and porcelain fixed like this. Who could blame her if her culture had the right idea? It basically was her idea at that point. Besides, the fact that this was the vase that Drew threw at Piper really added to its history and personal value. She wondered if Piper got a bruise from that vase. She didn’t exactly see where it landed, but she hoped that it hit her face.

Drew ate some more of her breakfast, feeling spiteful.

“Me and Hazel are going to run some drills this morning,” Frank said.

“Busy day for you two, then,” Leo said, grinning.

Hazel nodded.

The four of them finished their breakfast. Leo stood up first. He nearly got assaulted by a plate of breakfast tacos. Drew and Leo quickly left before another food item would attack them, waving goodbye to Hazel and Frank.

When they were outside of the breakfast hall, Leo let out a pained sigh. Drew glanced at him.

“What’s wrong?” Drew asked.

“I don’t know what will happen now,” Leo sighed.

“With what?” Drew asked.

“With… with everyone! What’s going to happen if we run into the others?! Is one of them just going to– oh, I don’t know– attack on the spot?” Leo said.

“Leo, I’m sure they wouldn’t,” Drew assured.

Not in front of him, at least. Drew knew that for sure from all of Piper’s little ambushes. It was getting weird that she was able to count how many times that this happened. If she had a nickel for every time that Piper attacked her and Leo walked in on it, she’d have two nickels… Oh, wrong example. Still, it was weird that it happened twice. That would probably change if Piper didn’t get her act together.

“Let’s just go. I’m sure we won’t see them,” Drew said.

Now that she said that, they probably were going to see them.

Leo seemed to buy into her comfort, probably because it felt better to just lie to himself. The two of them made their way to their cabin. Leo opened the door first. He and Drew walked in. Drew grabbed the bag of shards. Leo went into the bathroom. Drew went over to the table to look at the activity sheet. Apparently, today, they were supposed to walk around the aqueduct with the others. Drew wasn’t sure if they were going to attend that now. What a waste of a plan.

Leo came out of the bathroom. The two made their way into New Rome, going to their usual spot in the workshop. Leo opened the door for Drew. Drew pecked him on the cheek for that. She got to her usual workbench. Leo was flustered. Drew was pretty sure that mending this vase wouldn’t take too long…

…Drew was just adding some finishing touches of paint to the vase when the door of the workshop opened suddenly. Leo, who was working on what seemed to be some metal flowers, snapped his head up.

“Will? What are you doing here?” Leo asked.

“I came to apologize for last night’s happenings,” Will said.

The other one was behind Will, hiding in his shadow. Will nudged him with the heel of his foot. The other one showed his face. Leo raised his eyebrows.

“An apology from Death Breath? Must be our lucky day,” Leo bantered.

“I only followed him because I had to,” the other one said.

“Oh, pay no mind to Nico. He’s just a little ball of darkness,” Will said.

Drew cringed internally after hearing such a nickname. The other one, Nico, was a son of Hades, someone who could probably level this entire workshop, not some “ball of darkness”. Well, at least, he probably could. Drew had seen more impressive things from Hazel, so she assumed he could do something similar. Maybe so, maybe not. She hoped she wouldn’t have to find out.

“We were paid to do what we did, you see. We didn’t mean no harm,” Will said.

Piper paid them to do this? How greedy was Nico? How rich was Piper? Mr. McLean hadn’t been making any new movies recently, so where did this funding come from?

Leo looked a bit sour at Will and Nico. He still kept up a happy expression, but Drew could tell that he was pissed.

“Right…” Leo nodded.

Drew stepped closer.

“Is that all you have to say?” Drew asked.

She hoped it was. Drew needed a moment to digest the fact that Piper had paid off Nico and Will to spy on them. That was immensely creepy. Who was Piper to get in the way of love?

“Piper wants to speak with you, Leo,” Nico said.

“Gotcha. I’ll do that later,” Leo said.

“No, she means now,” Nico said.

“She can wait a little bit, can’t she?” Leo asked.

Nico groaned. Will sighed. The two of them left the workshop.

Leo groaned, rubbing his temples together. If they brought Piper here, Drew would make the first move. She’d grab that vase and hurl it at Piper before she could throw anything at her first.

“At least they apologized, I guess?” Leo muttered.

“I can’t believe them,” Drew complained.

“I can’t believe them either,” Leo agreed.

Drew held the vase in her hands, looking at the gold. She set it down. She looked at Leo’s progress. The scraps of metal had turned into beautiful golden roses. Drew put them in the vase carefully. Leo grinned when he saw it.

“Where do you think we should put this?” Leo asked.

“We could put it in the bunker. I worry that it would be stolen if it were put in my cabin,” Drew said.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was,” Leo said.

The door opened again. Leo groaned quietly. It was Piper, Nico, and Will. They looked… remorseful. Drew didn’t know where this was going. How did they get here so quickly? Nico had left a moment ago… unless Piper was stalking outside of this workshop the whole time.

“Leo,” Piper said.

“Pipes,” Leo replied.

“Piper,” Drew said.

Piper ignored her, naturally.

“Leo, I came to-” Piper began.

“To apologize?” Leo interrupted.

“Yes, to apologize,” Piper said.

“Are Annabeth and Percy coming too?” Leo asked.

“Yes,” Piper nodded.

Piper sighed. Drew was intrigued on what she was going to say. Annabeth and Percy came, just as expected. Piper got closer to them, as if being around them would protect her from Leo and Drew’s wrath.

“Leo,” Annabeth and Percy said.

Leo looked visibly irritated.

“I can’t believe all of you. I thought you guys would be better than this,” Leo said.

“Leo, don’t get mad-” Percy began.

“You two literally fought in two wars but draw the line at me being happy? What the hell, man?” Leo snapped.

“And, where is Jason?” Piper asked.

“He didn’t get involved-” Annabeth began.

“Because he, HE, knew better, didn’t he?” Drew asked.

Annabeth balled her fists. Drew glanced over at the vase and flowers, wondering when she’d have to use those.

“He shouldn’t have to get involved in this, anyway,” Piper said between gritted teeth.

Drew just loved to see her anger. It made her feel better about what had happened.

“This will be something to laugh about later, man. No hard feelings,” Percy said.

“Yeah, yeah,” Leo nodded.

“We are sorry for trying to interfere. We will let you guys continue doing whatever you all are doing,” Annabeth said.

“‘Let us’? Gee, since when did you care?” Leo asked, raising an eyebrow.

Annabeth groaned in annoyance. Drew felt he had a point. Leo, however, felt bad.

“Chill, Annie, I’m just joking!” Leo said quickly.

Piper sighed quietly. Everyone looked relieved, somehow. It was as if Leo and Drew had actually said the words “we forgive you”. This was pissing Drew off.

“We’ll see you later, alright?” Piper said.

“Sure, sure,” Leo nodded.

They began to leave, Piper looking back at Drew one last time before shutting the door. The annoyance was palatable. Drew turned to look at Leo, who was running his hands through his hair and sighing.

“How did you forgive them so easily?” Drew asked.

“Sometimes people make stupid choices, y’know? I don’t get people as well as I do machines,” Leo said.

Drew looked at his face shifting, his mind probably hopping from one thing to the next.

“I’ve known Piper for a while. They’re coming from a good place… or whatever that means to them. You can’t exactly drop people like them when you have a deep history,” Leo explained.

So… oh. That was why. It made perfect sense, honestly. The Argo 2 expedition, no matter how pointless Drew believed quests to be, was probably the most dangerous and stressful thing that any of them had ever done in their lives. The whole world unfortunately relied on a bunch of teenagers. Drew wondered how many times Leo had to risk his life for people like Percy and Annabeth. Hazel and Frank, she could understand, the rest? Psh. Drew wouldn’t.

These thoughts were probably why Drew was still a “mean” girl. She wasn’t selfless like then. She wasn’t kind like them. She didn’t trust people openly. Her strengths came from her tongue, not her fists.

But when Drew looked at Leo, she was reminded about the good parts of her. She could care about people. She could trust people. She defended who she liked and was loyal.

She could love.

“But, hey. I still have you, and that’s what matters,” Leo said.

She could be loved.

“We won against them, didn’t we?” Drew asked.

She could be loved by others.

“Of course we did, because… we love each other,” Angelise said.

She could love others.

That was what being a child of Aphrodite was about, wasn’t it?

Their greatest strength was to be able to love others. Drew loved Leo despite every little thing. Drew loved Leo even when he was stressed or nervous. Drew loved Leo when he struggled to give love to her.

And maybe, that made her equal Piper. Even though she had accomplished more than Drew could imagine. Even if Piper was stronger than Drew both physically and mentally. Drew knew what it meant to be a child of Aphrodite. It wasn’t about being pretty or loving pink, oh, Drew already loved pink and being pretty before she was claimed.

It was about love.

That was what Aphrodite herself stood for.

And, if Drew could fulfill that, Drew could do anything she put her mind to.

So, Drew and Leo had won. Drew felt she had won for realizing this, at this moment.

And when Drew outstretched her arms and Leo came to them gladly, Drew felt like a queen.

Things were going to be better than good. They would be wonderful.