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Leo would do anything, and by anything, he meant anything, to be skinny. 

He watched as his siblings made their way over to the dining hall. Whispering amongst them. Would it be a barbecue today? Pasta? Pizza? Would they take custom orders for once? 

The bright blue, sunny sky seemed dull to him. It was the middle of summer, and Camp Half Blood was in full swing. Campers laughed between themselves, sharing inside jokes and memories that they would hold forever. They climbed the lava wall and missed the bullseye in archery training. None of them had to worry about how they looked. They were perfect, beautiful people who were strong, fit and healthy. Unlike him. He wasn’t strong. Wasn’t beautiful. His personality was shot to shit. The least he could be was skinny. 

Leo’s lungs couldn’t seem to get enough air. They were heading to the dining room. 

Where there would be food. 

His siblings’ laughs faded into the background. He’d managed to avoid breakfast and lunch today. Yesterday he had failed, being forced to attend lunch and dinner with Nyssa when she’d caught him hiding in the bunker. He’d evaded, tried to tell her he just got wrapped up with his projects, and she had just rolled her eyes and waved her arm in a come on, sort of way, meaning Leo had to follow if he didn’t want to raise suspicions. 

Sweat slicked down his back, not just from the beating of the cruel, hot sun, but purely because he and his siblings were going to eat. Together. In the dining hall. He would have to open his mouth and force whatever crap they lay on the table and he had to pretend to like it. 

He was going to throw up. 

He watched Jake and Harvey in front of him, having the absolute time of their lives. Each step bouncing. Jake pushed Harvey gently, causing him to stumble a bit onto the grass, where Harvey fell with a clomp, before proceeding to burst into laughter and throw grass at his older brother. 

Leo gulped down the knot in his throat, hoping that dinner would be light and easy today. Something that he would be able to keep down without issues. Something that wouldn’t make his stomach bulge to the size of a hot air balloon… 

In between laughs, Jake looked up to where Leo was watching them, and responded to Leo’s weak smile with another weak, almost concerned smile of his own. He nodded at him, in a you ok? Kind of way, and narrowed his eyes when Leo nodded. 

He could feel his hands shaking. He really, really didn’t want to go to dinner. The frog in his throat was back, and it was interconnected somehow with his beating, sickening heart. 

As they made their way inside the hall, too quickly in Leo’s opinion, they really should’ve stopped to smell the roses along the way, Leo’s nausea intensified when he realised what they were serving for dinner, carbs. 

Well, not exactly, but Italian food was pretty much only that. 

The smell of the pizza and pasta made its way up Leo’s nose, and he resisted the urge to run away, and throw up behind the building. He was fine, he just didn’t want to be there. 

So fine he could burst into tears. 

The mechanic took a deep breath and sat himself along the table, filling up his plate with an assortment of buttered spaghetti, margarita pizza and mozzarella sticks, before pushing past the throngs of, far too many, people and sacrificing more than half of it to his dear-old-dad. 

There wasn’t much he liked about his father, but one of them was that he took most of his food. 

Hands still shaking and stomach churning, he resituated himself down at the Hephaestus table with his siblings, and daintily began to pick at his food. 

Now, normally, in these types of situations, when Leo was anxious, or freaking out about something or other, he would take his mind off it by telling some jokes, being an asshole, or just being so loud that he not only drowned out his own thoughts, but every one else’s too. 

But for some reason, even the mere thought of speaking surrounded by all these calories, would cause him to scream, slam his head against the table, burst into tears and puke, in whichever order. As if the calories could enter his system and set up base just by opening his mouth. 

His stomach was doing backflips, over and over again as he stared at the monstrosities in his plate. 

For Hades’ sake he defeated Gaea and couldn’t even eat mozzarella sticks. 

He felt Jake elbow his side, “what’s wrong?” He whispered, inspecting a piece of penne carbonara before popping it into his mouth, side eyeing him. 

Leo gave him a nervous smile, spiders in his stomach, “what do you mean?” He asked, pushing more food around. 

Jake gestured to the food with his eyes, “you’re not eating.” He observed. 

“Oh.” Leo’s voice wobbled. He was so good at hiding it. “Nah, man I ate it all on the way back from the fire.” Lie. Big fucking lie. “And I had a big lunch so I’m just crashing.” 

His stomach rumbled, hopefully not loud enough for Jake to hear. 

Still chewing on his pasta, Jake furrowed his eyebrows “Interesting. Hey, Nyssa?” He called over, getting the attention of his older sister, who raised a brow at him. “Was Leo at lunch? I can’t remember.” 

Nyssa eyed the food in the middle of the table, before settling for a slice of capriciosia pizza, “nope, or breakfast.” She went back to her conversation with Henry. 

Leo pursed his lips, and tried to swallow down the frog in his throat, again, it wasn’t going away. He’d been caught. 

He felt Jake’s eyes boring into his neck, “ok, so you’re lying.” He said with great cadence, “so I’m gonna assume you’re lying about eating the food on the way from the fire as well. So what’s wrong?” He was insistent, Leo would give him that. 

He just shook his head, “not feeling well.” He admitted. Still lying, but easier to prove.

Jason took a bite of disgusting pizza, “so why’d you lie?” He interrogated. 

Leo took a deep breath, trying to settle the growing spiders in his chest. “I didn’t want you to worry.” He took a bite of his pasta. It was creamy, bacony, fatty, disgusting. Leo wanted to spit it out. He didn’t though, which caused his nausea to increase tenfold, and his breathing to become ragged, but he couldn’t let Jake see that something was wrong, then he might force him to eat something properly. 

When Leo turned to look at him, he saw the concern on his brother’s face. Concern for what? He was eating! He was fine, he just didn’t want to get fat, and be stupid, annoying, ugly and fat. Skinny was the one thing he had. 

But Jake just shook his head, “just try to eat a little bit at least.” He said, turning his attention back to his food. 

And Leo turned his attention back to his.  

When he looked at his food, it felt as if his vision was beginning to tunnel, and that the pasta he just ate was about to come up again. 

“Sure, man.” He replied, crushing some of the pasta underneath his fork. 

—

“Want some?” Jason offered, leaning the bag of buttery rainbow popcorn Leo’s way. They were sitting on a bench facing the strawberry farms, underneath a big old tree that provided enough shade in the summer sun. 

Leo’s stomach churned, and he could feel bile up his throat, “no thanks.” He responded, turning back to the mini invention that he was making. He didn’t really know what it was, but it had wings of some sort, and, well… that was as far as he’d gotten. 

Jason shrugged and dived his hand back into the greasy packet. Leo could practically feel the calories crawling off it and jumping onto his skin. 

He’d been really good lately. After his moment with Jake in the dining room, he’d been extra cautious about eating in front of him, and when he did, he made sure to put a show of it. 

He’d avoided foods with the most carbs, obviously, and stuck to things like fruits and vegetables that wouldn’t fatten him up too much. On nights where salads were served, he always asked a nymph if he could get one with the dressing on the side, to make sure there wasn’t too much oil in it. 

And honestly? He’d been feeling great. Ish. The blubber on his stomach was harder to get rid of. He’d tried planks, weighted ab workouts (shoutout monster-proof Youtube), sit ups, pull ups, everything. It was still there. But luckily he had noticed the blubber on his arms, face and legs lessening. It was still too much but it was getting there. 

He had kind of found it harder to concentrate, but that was the price he had to pay he guessed. 

“Leo?” Jason asked. 

“Hmm?” Leo turned his face back up to Jason, who was looking at him expectedly. Shit had he asked him something? 

When Leo just gave him a confused smile, Jason rolled his eyes, “Piper’s birthday.” He said, “picnic?” 

Picnic. 

“Picnic!” Leo feigned excitement, “for Piper’s birthday, sounds good hermano.” Ants crawled along his stomach. 

Picnics meant food. 

Picnics meant people. 

Food and people. 

Together. 

He had to remind himself that he wasn’t currently at the picnic, and that he didn’t need to eat anything then and there. 

He felt his jaw start to clatter. 

Leo cleared his throat. “What type of picnic?” A disgusting, fat one, with too much sugar that would sit in his stomach for ever and ever, making him a disgusting piece of shit. 

They would all sit there, under the beautiful sun, while everyone watched him shove his face with sweets and sugar, and they would realise that he had eaten more than any of them ever could, and that he was a greedy, selfish, pathetic little pig. 

Jason shrugged, “dunno. S’mores or something? Strawberries.” He gestured to the farms, “plenty of those.” 

It felt like an elephant was sitting on Leo’s chest. 

“Who’ll be there?” He croaked out, before coughing. Gods, this weight…

Jason downed some more popcorn, “why?” He asked, offering the bag again. 

When Leo shook his head, Jason kept the bag there and looked to the bag in a take some way. 

Well, who was Leo to say no? 

The Latino took a piece of bright blue popcorn. It was filled with artificial colours and flavours, and he popped it into his mouth, feeling queasy when the sheer amount of sugar exploded in his mouth. It was so sweet, so buttery, that Leo felt like he was eating a buttered up circus clown, who had just eaten an entire bag of sugar. 

“Just one?” Jason prompted, leaving the bag in front of Leo. 

Leo just shook his head, careful not too hard lest he throw up. “Nah, big lunch.” He replied, putting the invention that he was holding next to him and beginning to pick at his nails. 

The son of Jupiter continued to eat, “I thought you just came from the bunker?” 

Ah, that’s right, Jason had met Leo straight after lunch, which he hadn’t gone to. 

“Uh..” Fuck, fuck, fuck. “I ate earlier. Knew I wanted to finish up my project before I came to meet you.” 

Jason furrowed his brows and rifled through the pack, “you couldn’t finish then eat lunch?” 

Leo let out a nervous laugh, “yeah I don’t know man.” 

“I’m confused.” Jason replied, “I thought the harpies didn’t serve anything before designated meal times?” 

Leo looked up to his friend, who was giving him a knowing look. His story wasn’t adding up and Jason knew it. 

The mechanic cleared his throat again, nervously, “so who’ll be at the picnic?” He asked, hoping Jason would take the hint. 

Giving him a raised eyebrow, Jason offered the popcorn bag to Leo again, who declined, “just our friends, probably, unless Piper makes a new bestie all of a sudden.” 

Oh ok, just their friends. 

Just everyone that Leo couldn’t afford to lose. 

Great. 

The elephant was growing, and Leo kept coughing as it slowly started sitting on his throat. 

Jason gave him a worried look and opened his mouth to say something just as Hazel began to walk up to them. She and Frank would be visiting for the next few weeks, because apparently, saving the world from a massive prophecy was exhausting, and if he was being honest, they both deserved a break before going back to being praetors. 

“Hey guys!” She waved cheerfully, sitting herself on the grass opposite their bench, “I can’t find anyone and I feel like company. What’cha doing?” She asked, her smile radiating more than the sun. 

Leo kept picking at his nails, “Piper’s birthday. Jason here wants to do a picnic!” He said, with exaggerated excitement. “Isn’t that just swell?” 

Jason furrowed his brows, but didn’t say anything in response before offering the popcorn bag to Hazel, who gasped in excitement before taking a fistful of rainbow, sugary goodness.

“Thank you! Oh gods, I love this stuff! It’s so bad but I live for it!” She said, giving Leo a cheeky smile, “did you have some?” She asked him. 

All the contents of his stomach were going to forcibly exit at some point. 

Jason turned his gaze on him, with his brows raised, almost asking yeah Leo, did you have some?

So Leo gave Hazel his best smile and calmly said, “yeah I had a couple.” Ignoring Jason’s scoff. 

Hazel gave her former praetor a quizzical look, "What was that?” She asked, popping some popcorn in her mouth. 

Jason pulled out a pink popcorn and put it in his mouth, “he had one. Specifically.” He offered her the bag again. 

Taking some, Hazel gave Leo a look. “Aren’t you starving though? I didn’t see you at breakfast this morning? Although, you probably just ate at lunch–” 

“Actually no.” Jason butted in. Leo gave him a glare as if to say shut up, shut up, but Jason kept going. “Apparently, he ate before lunch.” 

Hazel guffawed, which he’d never seen her do. They knew he was lying, he could feel the nausea make its way up his throat, feel his hands shaking and shaking, it was suddenly very hot. “They don’t do lunch before lunch. How’d you do it?” She asked him, turning to him for an answer. 

Leo’s teeth were clattering so much he wasn’t sure he could even speak. 

Jason turned to him again, “yeah, man.” He knowingly ate some more popcorn. “How’d you do it?” He incited, fully well knowing that Leo didn’t.  

Both were looking at him expectantly. 

Both were expecting different things. 

“I stole it.” He found himself blurting. 

He didn’t really know why he said that, other than the fact that it was the only way for him to get out of this without exposing everything he had been working towards. Why would he lie about going to lunch if he wasn’t hiding something? 

Hazel raised her eyebrows and laughed, Jason raised his eyebrows and glared. 

“You did not!” Hazel laughed, raising her hand to her mouth in disbelief and looking to Jason to confirm if he did or did not. 

“You did not.” Jason said, a bit more deadpan, but still disguising his lack of belief as disbelief. 

Oh gods, what the hell had he gotten himself into? 

He just exaggerated a shrug, feeling sweat beading down his back. A flush of heat swept over him in a panic. Liar, liar, liar. “I was hungry?” He wasn’t hungry. He was never really hungry. He hated food. He hated it. 

Hazel and Jason shared a look, he didn’t really know what look, but they shared a look. 

They knew he was a lying freak. 

A fat, lying freak. 

He shuffled his shirt forward so they couldn’t see his bulging stomach.

Jason gave Hazel the rest of the bag, and she began eating again, “will you steal food for Piper’s picnic?” She asked innocently, polishing off the bag. 

Jason raised a suspicious eyebrow. 

Leo just smiled and shook his head, “no, no, those days are behind me.” He smiled broadly and gave a dramatic sweep of his hand across his forehead, like a fainting woman in the old movies. “I best be moving forward.” 

Hazel chuckled at him, and tipped the bag up to her mouth, getting the last few crumbs. If he ate that much, he wouldn’t even be able to cover his stomach with his shirt. 

While she was distracted, Jason gave him a deadpan look, and mouthed: really?

Leo just gave him his obnoxious smile, and shrugged, as if he was so, so innocent. 

When Hazel put her head back down again, she said to them, “I’m thinking of getting her some stuffed animals, what do you guys think?” 

Jason gave him a look, they would talk about this later. 

Not if he couldn’t catch him. 

Leo gave her his best smile, “stuffed animals sound great for Piper.” 

—

It was a Thursday afternoon, and for whatever reason he had been roped into sword play with the rest of the seven, Nico and Will. 

He didn’t know why anyone would ever do this shit for fun. It was hot, exhausting, and the little fan inside the arena barely worked. 

Fanning himself with a piece of paper he had found on the side of the arena, he turned to Piper, who was sharpening her dagger. Klirina, or something like that. Klorissa? Katarina?

Whatever. 

“How long do you think this is going to take?” He asked, sweat dripping down his face, despite the light clothing he was wearing. 

She turned to him, in an exhausted trance, and he fanned her with his piece of paper, “dunno.” She said, leaning into the breeze, “hopefully not long, I need AC.” 

He just nodded and started fanning his oversized Camp Half Blood t-shirt. 

Ok, well, it wasn’t usually oversized, but in the past few days it had become that. He was honestly proud of how he was able to go down a size so quickly. His collarbones were now on display, showing everyone just how disciplined he was, and he now had to create a new hole in his belt so that his pants wouldn’t fall down, which would be embarrassing to the extreme. 

The blubber on his stomach was still there though… 

He adjusted his shirt. 

Despite all the heat, and the sweaty people in the room, arguing about who should go first, (or actually maybe because of it. Leo didn’t know), he couldn’t concentrate on any of it. There was a sort of…haze, clouding his vision and deafening his ears. 

Piper said something to him, along the lines of blank hazza si yoo ranna oh hm

“Leo?! Are you listening?” She called out, snapping her fingers in front of his face. 

He blinked, trying to shake the fuzzy feeling in his brain, “huh?” He replied, still fanning her. 

Piper clicked her tongue, “Frank’s asking if you wanna go with him?” 

Leo blinked again, harsher this time, his eyes were tilting. 

“Sure.” He agreed, regretting it instantly. His legs felt weak, his arms even weaker. There was no way he would be able to stay standing for that long. 

Suddenly, a banana appeared in front of him, causing him to startle, held by the one and only, Percy Jackson. “Fuel for the duel.” He said, putting the banana closer to his friend, proud of the rhyme he just came up with. 

Nausea welled in Leo’s stomach, and he shook his head, “nah I’m ok, man.” He waved the banana away. 

But Percy didn’t let up, looking him up and down. Not in a judgemental way, it was more… 

Fear. 

“Gotta eat, man.” He said, a bit more quieter, worried lines on his face, pushing the banana closer to Leo. “You sure you wanna do it? You don’t have to.” 

Leo looked to Piper, hoping she would take his hint and tell Percy to beat it. 

But instead, she nodded, and flicked her eyes to the banana. Oh gods. 

He cleared his throat, stupid elephant was back. The audacity. 

He hated bananas. 

He gave Percy his widest smile that he could muster, and muttered a quiet “thanks” before taking the banana. 

Now, he assumed that Percy would leave so that he could ‘eat’ in peace, before his turn. 

But instead, the stupidly loyal older boy, sat down next to Piper, and took over fanning not just her, but himself too. 

However, Leo wasn’t even mad about them stealing his breeze, he was too concentrated on the banana. 

The banana he could barely see, because for some reason his vision was getting murkier and murkier. He was really tired, and had been working on some stuff in the bunker all of last night. 

He also only had like, one slice of toast this morning, and it was currently 3 in the afternoon. 

Hm. 

Oh well. 

He fiddled with the banana, hoping, waiting for Frank to finish what he was doing so he could start the duel. Not that he actually wanted to fight, he just really hated bananas. 

At that moment, Frank was talking to Hazel and getting his sword ready. They weren’t going to do full armour, it was too hot, so they were just saying that first to draw (a little bit) of blood won. No need to maim each other. 

Although it was hot, Leo felt his teeth clattering as the banana sat in his hand. 

Looking back to Percy and Piper, his teeth started clattering more, because they were watching him. Looking expectantly. 

Gotta eat man. Percy had said. 

Did they know? 

No. Of course they didn’t. There was nothing to know.

Jaw shaking, he opened his mouth and asked, “are we sure bananas are the best pre-fight food? Like personally, I love a good…uh, taco?” 

Percy and Piper just side eyed each other, before Percy said, “bananas are great before a fight, bro. Lots of potassium, I think.” He looked to Piper to confirm, who nodded and patted his knee like a proud mother. He smiled and repeated, “potassium.” 

Leo gave a nervous, wobbly smile back, eyeing the potassium. 

Surely they didn’t know. 

“Leo!” Frank called, “you ready?” 

Hell yeah he was. 

“Oops, sorry gotta go.” He mumbled before tossing the banana onto the floor and joining Frank. 

Frank gave him a smile, before then a confused look, “where’s your weapon?” 

Leo’s legs were wobbly. He really wished he was still sitting down. “Ah, right. Weapon.” He didn’t care about the weapon. At least he wasn’t being pressured into eating a stupid banana anymore. 

After picking up a random sword off the shelf. One he didn’t even test, he made his way back over to Frank, who gave him a look of alarm. “You good?” He asked, worry lacing his voice. 

This again? “Yeah, why?” He asked, irritated. People really needed to stop asking him that. Couldn’t they see he was fine? 

Frank just kept giving him that alarmed look, “you’re really pale.” He noted. 

Leo rolled his eyes. “I’m Mexican.” He bitterly replied, his vision was tunneling, and he resisted the urge to find his balance. 

A look of exacerbation washed out Frank’s face. “Leo, I’m serious. If you’re not feeling well you don’t have to do this.” 

When Leo didn’t reply, just inspected his sword, Frank innocently asked, “have you–” 

“If you ask me if I’ve eaten I will burn your stupid piece of wood.” He snapped. Oof that was harsh. 

Blinking hard, he realised the rest of the room was watching. Nico and Will, who had been very quiet, literally snapped their heads around from the conversation they were in to gape at him. 

Frank was taken aback. He had hurt him. “Leo–” 

“Just shut up.” He snapped again. He was really strengthening his friendships that day wasn’t he? Such a great friend. 

The world tilted, and he stepped to the side to keep balance. Big mistake. 

“Leo.” Annabeth called out, rising from her seat next to Jason, “how about we take a break?” She extended her arm for him to grab onto.

He had given himself away. 

Stupid, stupid, stupid. 

He brushed her arm aside, adjusting his shirt as it fell off his shoulders. “I’m fine.” He said abruptly. “Super duper.” 

His stomach clenched, sending a sharp pain throughout his body. He wasn’t really feeling super duper. They couldn’t know that. 

The world tilted again, but this time he didn’t balance himself well enough. 

And fell to the floor. 

His vision turned blue around the edges, and everyone seemed as if they were from the movie Avatar. But it was fine, he would get up. 

But he couldn’t. His legs refused to cooperate, dragging him back down to the cold hard floor of the sword fighting arena. He may have hit his head on the way down again, he couldn’t tell, he was content to just lie there for eternity. 

His ears were ringing. A persistent high pitched sound that drowned out the rest of the world, and blinded his blue vision to a single point in front of him, making it harder to breathe.

Frank and Will crouched in front of him. They were talking. Leo didn’t know what they were saying. 

The world was silent. It was loud but silent. 

Everyone was a smurf for some reason, with black trimming around the edges of his vision.  

The elephant had stuck itself onto his chest, he tried to take in ragged breaths but he couldn’t. They were stuck, begging for a way out, a way to escape from his chest, but they couldn’t. 

His chest and stomach tightened further, and it felt as if he had been stabbed repeatedly by Frank’s sword, over and over again. He felt a guttural force out of his mouth, but he couldn’t hear anything. He felt like he was screaming, crying for the pain to end, for his sight to restore, but he couldn’t even tell if he was. 

He was going to die. 

That he was sure of. 

Die a painful death. 

Just like his mother.

His beautiful, beautiful mother. Who would still be alive if it weren’t for him.  

And then… 

As soon as it had come. 

It went away.

The world turned back to its regular colours. 

He could hear things again. 

First thing he heard was: 

“Does he want the banana?” 

Gods, Percy. 

“I’m fine.” He rasped out, gasping for breath. He was still on the floor, but he used his arms to prop his head up, allowing him to shift his weight to his legs and sitting on his knees. “I’m fine.” He reiterated. 

“The hell you are.” Jason yelled, next to him, Leo realised. When did he get there? “What was that?” He desperately asked, helping Leo balance by holding up his arm when he started to sway. 

Leo was still very fuzzy, and tired, he was really, really tired, and his body felt compelled to listen to gravity again. If Jason wasn’t there next to him, he wasn’t sure he wouldn’t fall back down onto the fall. 

“I’m fine.” He repeated, “I’m good.” He was not good, his chest was still hurting, and he felt like he was ready to burst into tears at any moment. He could feel the burning behind his eyes and nose intensify, so he kept his head down so they wouldn’t come to light. 

Also to avoid everybody’s gazes. 

The whole room had gone completely silent, and were watching him with intense, and worried gazes. 

How on earth would he explain this? 

Jason, Piper, Will and Frank were looking at him intensely, waiting for his excuse, and for that excuse to fall apart so they could call him out for his lack of…caloric consumption. He was a deer in headlights, with a wolf hiding in the grass behind him. 

He took another breath, and shook off Jason’s arm, “I didn’t sleep much last night.” He eventually said, rubbing his eyes and, not really, feigning exhaustion, “sorry.” 

But his friends just kept looking at him, “when did you eat last?” Piper quietly asked, but loud enough for people to hear though. 

Leo gave her his best cheeky smile, “I ate at lunch beauty queen, what do you mean?” It was a shit smile, considering he still had a faint outline of blue in his vision. 

This time it was Will’s turn to speak up, “don’t lie, Leo. Answer the question.” He wasn’t convinced, or taking Leo’s bullshit. 

“I’m not lying.” He pleaded, hoping they would just take the hint and leave him alone. Let him regain his strength so he could go and retreat into the bunker. Please. He couldn’t be there anymore, he needed to get away from the prying eyes and their suspicion of him. He couldn’t take it. 

Nico stood over Will’s shoulder, looking down on Leo, “your life force is weakening, Leo–” 

“Shut up, no it’s not.” Leo snapped, his heart racing, he felt bad because a small part of him knew it was true. He hadn’t built anything in at least a week, he couldn’t concentrate, and now he couldn’t even stand for a few minutes without falling. 

Nico glowered at him, “you weren’t at lunch. I was looking for you.” What did that mean? Why was he looking for him? What? 

“He wasn’t at breakfast, either.” Annabeth said, leaning against the wall to his right, “and Jake told me you haven’t been eating at dinner either, even when you go.” 

Leo scoffed, little snitch. 

He put his head back onto the floor, it was suddenly very cold in the room, and he found himself shivering. 

Jason wrapped an arm around him, while Frank asked, “when did you last eat a full meal, man?” 

The Latino looked up from the floor, tears had started trailing down, making his face slick and sticky. “I don’t know.” He whispered, making eye contact with Percy, who was standing behind Frank, next to Hazel. The son of Poseidon gave him a sad smile, “good job.” He whispered, before winking at Leo. 

Leo didn’t return the wink, didn’t smile, just let the tears run down his face. 

He felt Hazel kneel down next to him, and when he turned to her she had a devastated smile on her face as tears reached their way to her lips. "How about,” she softly said, grabbing his hand, “we head to the infirmary, and we can keep talking there?” She turned to the group, looking for their agreement, which they all happily gave. 

But Leo shook his head, “I’m fine.” He said again. They didn’t believe him. He shivered from the cold, the fan was really doing overtime. 

He noticed the sweat on Hazel’s forehead, on everyone’s faces. Ok, so maybe he was the only one cold. As if on cue, Jason started rubbing his hand up and down Leo’s arm, almost as a way to bring warmth to his body, it didn’t work very well but Leo appreciated the thought. 

Without a word, Jason and Hazel began lifting Leo up by the arms, and helped him regain his balance while he walked. He assumed they were taking him to the infirmary, which he was too weak to protest, unfortunately. If they gave him like ten minutes and he’d have been able to run away.

Jason gasped as he lifted Leo. 

“Yeah, I know, I’m fat.” Leo said dismissively. Slightly feeling guilty that his friend had to carry him. Feeling completely embarrassed that he had to be carried at all. 

Jason’s head snapped towards him “What?” He yelled out, a shocked and horrified expression marking his face. 

What? 

What did he say? 

“Leo, you are way, way too light for your age. That’s why I’m shocked. You are most definitely not fat.” Jason incredulously replied, eyes wide in disbelief. 

Hmm, yeah. 

Whatever. 

—

He stared at the sandwich in front of him. 

Leo was sitting on a bed in the infirmary. Curtains closed, and only with Will, Jason and Piper sitting with him. 

When he’d first arrived, Jason and Nyssa had been there waiting for him. Jake had been crying, and had rushed over to him, fussing and asking “why didn’t you tell me? I knew something was off, I should’ve intervened,” blah blah and more sappy stuff like that. 

He had hugged Leo, which had been quite nice, he had to admit. 

Nyssa had just sat there, and told Leo he should’ve come to her, and that was basically it. 

She seemed almost mad at him. 

He really hoped she wasn’t.  

But anyways, once everyone had crowded into the infirmary, he decided he in fact didn’t want to be in a room with everyone, interrogating him about carbs and pasta. 

So he waited for the perfect moment, when everyone was too busy sorting out whatever they were gonna do with him. He waited until nobody had eyes on him, and he had slowly but surely wiggled his way out of Hazel’s grip, that he ran into the bathroom and locked the door. 

Yay. He was alone. 

He still found it hard to breathe, and he did take the opportunity to rest his weakened legs for a whole three seconds before there was knocking on the door. 

“Leo?” Hazel’s tentative voice wafted through the bathroom, “you ok?” 

Peachy. He tried, and failed to suck in a breath. Stupid elephant. 

He could sense the shadows in the small bathroom shifting, but he just moved his head down in between his raised knees, and allowed for the sobs to escape his lips. 

Nico sat down awkwardly next to him, before even more awkwardly started to rub his hand up and down Leo’s back as he cried. 

Stupid food. He didn’t even need it anyways! Sure, he’d had a little event, in front of everyone, but that happens to everyone sometimes. But now everyone was outside, waiting for him, wanting to talk to him and help him feel better. 

The elephant grew three sizes bigger, and the spiders in his stomach came back, along with the cramps that he felt in the arena. Crying was gonna give him killer abs. 

Everyone knew. They would force him to eat disgusting, horrible food. Food that would sit in his stomach and force his body to expand to sizes he didn’t even want to consider. They would shovel the food down his throat until he was ‘better’, and even when he rejected it, even when his body wouldn’t be able to handle it, they would force more down. 

All the carbs and calories in camp would be sitting at the bottom of his stomach, forever, and ever, and he would never be able to lose it. They had him under close watch now, he would never get away with it. They’d catch him. If he hid food, if he avoided it, they would clock it, faster than he could ever blink. 

He would get fat. He would lose the one thing he had. 

He couldn’t be stupid, ugly, an asshole, and fat. He just couldn’t. Who was he if he wasn’t not at least one of those things? He couldn’t be smarter. He couldn’t change his personality, no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he acted like other people. And he definitely couldn’t change his face, he was too poor for plastic surgery. 

Who would he even be if he gained weight? 

“Hey–hey look at me.” Nico prompted, pausing his hand on Leo’s back. 

Leo turned his horrifying face towards the boy. He wasn’t really fully sure why he was there. They had never been close, truthfully, Leo had always found Nico to be a bit weird, but Nico probably thought that about him anyway so who cared. 

Nico smiled at him, probably an attempt to cheer him up. It didn’t work. “I get it.” He said, nervously. 

Leo scoffed. “Frank already said that to me before, get your own line.” 

Nico chuckled at his response, “ok, well, let me rephrase that. I’ve been where you are.” 

Leo cocked a brow, “oh yeah? What are your thoughts on paella?” He prompted, hoping that Nico wouldn’t press him for his own thoughts. 

The death kid let out a breath and made a show of being deep in thought, “it’s fine.” He concluded. “Makes me feel sick.” 

Leo made a wha’d’ya know? expression, turned out they had the same opinions. 

Nico smacked his lips, “I eat it though.” He continued, taking a pause and starting to look intensely at the super interesting sink, “I can shadow travel again.” 

Leo gave him a confused expression, “couldn’t you always?” He curiously asked. 

The boy nodded, “yeah, and then I couldn’t. Not enough fuel.” He shrugged. “Will helped me with that. He’s good.” Nico turned back to Leo. “Couldn’t you always tinker?” 

Leo snorted, “Not like Tinkerbell, but yeah I make things.” 

“Made.” Nico corrected, “you can’t concentrate, because you aren’t eating.” 

Whelp, got him there. 

“It’s fine.” Leo responded automatically, “the quest is done, I don’t need to make things.” Tears rolled down his face. 

Nico tilted his head, “don’t you want to though?” 

Leo thought about it. It didn’t take much thought. Yeah. Yeah he really did. He loved it. 

He missed it. 

He nodded, probably the only truthful thing he’d said all day. 

Then, there was a knock on the door, “hey guys.” Will. “So, I don’t know what’s going on in there, but just so you know I can actually unlock this door at any time. So nothing too crazy!” 

The two boys in the bathroom just chuckled in response. At least they hadn’t forced Leo out of there, that was something. 

“Don’t you…” Leo started. He struggled to find the words. Didn’t he want to stay skinny? Didn’t he get fat? Didn’t he hate himself? “Miss it?” 

Nico gave a guilty smile and nodded, “yeah. I was so scared, man. But…you know, it was for the better I guess. I have energy, I have cognitive abilities now. What’s a few more pounds in exchange for that?” He asked, looking back at Leo. 

Leo thought about it. 

What was being alive in exchange for being skinny? 

Well… 

“Seems like a high price.” He admitted, sinking his face back into his knees in shame. 

Nico just resumed his hand on Leo’s back. “Yeah, it is, isn't it?” He said wistfully, staring at the wall. “We should go back out. Will’s not kidding when he says he’ll unlock the door.” 

Leo smiled, face still wet. “How’d you find that out?” 

Nico shivered, “don’t ask.” 

At Leo’s laugh, real genuine laugh, Nico knocked on the door to let Will know they were done. 

And so now Leo was there. 

In an infirmary bed with a sandwich in front of him. 

It was chicken. He didn’t really like chicken. Actually, in fairness he didn’t really like anything. 

It was a decent sized sandwich. Wholemeal bread, with the crust on. It wasn’t super fresh, because it was crumbing a bit around the edges. The chicken looked dry, it was slightly burnt around the edges and was thick in the middle. When it was thicker that meant they left it on longer to make sure it cooked properly, meaning the rest of it was probably overcooked. Not very nice. It was topped with lettuce, mayo, cheddar cheese and some tomatoes. The lettuce and tomatoes looked freshly cut. They had gotten a whole new one for him, for him to waste, and whoever made it wasn’t shy with the mayo, it was drizzled everywhere, and he knew that once he picked it up it would spill everywhere. The cheese…it looked like cheese. Hard to tell the freshness from cheese. He couldn’t see any mould so he assumed it was fine. 

“Just a couple bites.” Jason urged, giving him an encouraging smile. It was sickening. He had been working hard to suppress the nausea he got when he saw food, but now that Jason had spoken, his attention had been drawn away, and, well, now he felt sick. 

He felt his throat closing up. It would refuse to let anything in. The sandwich was too big, too thick, and he knew that it would just be heavy in his stomach. His mouth started salivating, not from hunger, but from queasyness. His mouth wouldn’t be able to handle anything in it. Especially something big. Preferably, nothing, but that didn’t seem to be an option. Smaller bites would make it easier to chew, easier to swallow and easier on his stomach. 

“Come on, you can do it.” Piper encouraged, filling up a glass of water for him, which he gladly took. 

He felt full just looking at this monstrosity. His face was still tacky with tears, and he could feel fresh ones just waiting to boil over, waiting to expose him over a sandwich. If he took too big of a bite, it would feel like he was choking, if he took too small a bite, they would make him take a bigger one. It was a very, very fine line. 

He fiddled with his fingers, picked at his nails, and crossed and uncrossed his legs repeatedly. He just couldn’t get comfortable. 

“Is this too much?” Jason asked, watching him. 

Tears raced down Leo’s face, and he let out a ragged breath and scratched his arms. “Yeah.” He cried, feeling his nose clog up almost immediately. 

Will reached his hand out to Piper, who handed him a knife from the tray that she had on the bed side table next to her, and he cut the sandwich in half. “Better?” He asked, hope evident in his voice. 

It wasn’t in one piece anymore, but still. 

Leo’s stomach turned, he shook his head no. “I can’t.” He sobbed out. 

Will adjusted his position to face Leo more, scooting Jason a bit further out of the way, “how come?” He gently asked, taking Leo’s hands so he would stop scratching himself. 

The Latino could feel a headache coming, probably from all the crying. He really just wanted to lie down. “I feel sick.” He admitted, feeling undeserving of the sympathy eliciting from Will’s eyes. 

“Like, food sick, or sick sick?” He asked, gesturing to the food and Leo’s body respectively. 

“Sick sick.” Leo replied. He was so nervous he could throw up then and there. 

Will opened one of the drawers in the table next to him and pulled out a thermometer, “like a cold? A fever?” He checked his temperature, “or…” He pulled the thermometer back and showed Leo his regular temperature, “nerves?” 

Leo sniffled, “nerves.” He said quietly. 

Will gave him a sweet smile, “that’s food sick, Leo. And it’s perfectly treatable.” 

Leo took a sip of the beautiful, fat free water, as Will cut up his sandwich halves into quarters and put one of them onto a separate plate. “Try this.” He said, moving the rest of the sandwich away from him. 

The mechanic looked at the array of textures on the plate, and asked, “do I have to eat it together?” 

Hope flared in Will’s eyes, “no, no not at all! We can have deconstructed chicken sandwich if you like?” 

When Leo nodded, Will went straight to work, lining up each ingredient onto the plate. 

Gods, he felt like such a child. Eating a deconstructed sandwich. 

The first thing he reached for was the tomato, when he took it he looked at the rest of them and gestured to the rest of the sandwich, “have some.” He invited, and watched as they all took their own piece of tomato before he took a bite. 

It was gross, slimy, wet and so unbearably tomato. 

“So, Leo.” Piper started, “if you were a bird what bird would you be?” 

Leo looked at her in confusion as he took a tiny bite of the tomato. “Huh?” 

“I’d be a pelican.” She decided, finishing off her tomato. “Jason?” 

Jason chewed on his piece, “bald eagle.” He said proudly, giving a smug smirk in Piper’s direction. 

Will rolled his eyes, “of course you’d say that, mister praetor. I’d be a rainbow lorikeet.” He gave Leo a smile, as if to say mine’s the best one. 

“Is that ‘cause you’re gay?” Piper asked bluntly, giving Will a taunting smile. 

Will stuck his tongue out, “ha ha. Very funny Piper. There’s a reason you aren’t a daughter of the god of funny jokes you know.”

To that, Leo laughed, “burn, Piper.” 

“Shut up.” She said, putting the lettuce into his hand, “you didn’t even answer the question. I’ll answer it for you. You’re a pigeon cause you’re annoying.” 

Leo gaped at her, not even realising he’d finished the tomato. “You did not.” 

“Oh yes I did.” 

“You can’t say that to him, he’s in the infirmary!” Jason protested. 

“Just cause he’s in the infirmary doesn’t mean he isn’t still annoying.” She counterprotested. 

“No making fun of the patient.” Will mockingly scolded, wagging a finger in a no no no manner. 

His face was still tacky, and Leo took sips of water in between each bite, but he still found himself laughing. “Unfair.” He managed to get out. The lettuce tasted weird, he felt his nausea rising. 

He gagged, and Will jumped up to grab the basin next to the bed. “You ok?” He asked, panic in his voice. 

“The lettuc–” He was cut off by another gag. 

Will nodded frantically, “ok, that’s fine how about we move on to the chicken” 

When Leo shook his head, Will sat back down and met Leo at eye level, “you know what I’m going to say, right?” 

Leo nodded, he didn’t want another lecture that day. 

So he regained himself, and gave Jason and Piper, who looked at him with pained, sympathetic looks, the best smile he could give, and started nibbling away at the crumbly, dry ass chicken. 

Piper and Jason attempted to keep joking with him, and he tried to keep joking with them. 

But he knew they were pretty shaken up. 

He’d ruined the meal. 

So he accepted his fate as a pigeon, and just tried to get through it. 

—

The Bunker was the only place in a twenty mile radius where Leo didn’t feel like he was trapped in a cage just an inch too small. 

Sure, his friends had let him do whatever he wanted to do, and they didn’t really treat him any different from before all of this had started. 

But they were always there. 

Always watching. 

Making sure he ate. Monitored what he ate. Made ‘plans’ with him about what he would eat. Made sure he didn’t sneak the food away. Didn’t let him go to the bathroom straight away by himself. And definitely didn’t let him skip any meals. 

It felt like an understatement to say just how incredibly exhausted he was. 

He had somehow managed to escape his friends’ watchful gazes and head to his bunker, and so far, nobody had seemed to follow him. 

Lucky him. 

In all honesty, he kind of missed the days with Gaia and the prophecy of seven, because at least his friends weren’t watching him so closely, and probably would’ve let all of this slide in order to continue with their quest.

Leo shivered at the emptiness in the bunker. It was the middle of summer still, but he couldn’t seem to shake his frozen bones into thawing, even with his fire powers. 

Speaking of… 

Fueling all of his concentration, Leo held his hand up in front of his face, funneling all of his attention into it. He’d tried this for the past few days, with no success. 

Each finger got a moment to itself, where Leo pictured the fire in his veins spreading to it, where the flames inside of him would lick his skin clean of all the dirt on it. The flames that had coursed through his body since he was a baby. The flames that were gifted to him by his dad, Hephaestus. The flames that had killed Gaia.

The same flames that had killed his mom. 

He imagined all the energy from his core. Bright blue and orange sparks of energy, originating in his heart, trailing each vein and wrapping themselves over each and every cell. 

Allowed for all of his ambitions and grievances to go with it. 

And then…

Embers. 

The Latino groaned in frustration at his efforts. All of that poetic bullshit and he’d only been able to sprout a few embers? Unbelievable. 

“Having fun?” Leo jumped at Nico’s voice emerging from the shadows, and groaned again when he revealed himself. 

“Couldn’t even give me half an hour?” He teased, tucking his hand back into his pocket. 

Nico just shrugged, “you disappeared half an hour before dinner…so…” he dragged the ‘o’.

Leo chuckled grimly. Classic, they didn’t trust him. “I was gonna come, you know? To dinner.” 

Nico gave him a knowing look. “Right.” He said bluntly, gesturing to Leo’s hidden hand. “Not working?” 

Leo shook his head, and grimaced when Nico said, “wonder why.” 

“Can you just leave me alone?” He implored, turning to Nico. “I’m around you guys all fucking day, I need some time.” He said, walking over to an old machine that he never really got around to finishing. It was meant to be a portable closet that could easily fold into a suitcase. Perfect for quests, because whoever was going wouldn’t have to stay in the same manky clothes the whole time. It was actually going really well… 

Well, that was until he stopped building. 

Fun times. 

Nico followed him over and eyed the invention, “sure, but, you’re not well.” He said. “A mental illness is still an illness, you know?” 

Leo fiddled with the door handle of the closet. “Ill people still deserve alone time.” 

“Not if the illness is dangerous when they’re alone.” 

To that, Leo paused. “What are you implying?” He asked, an irritated tone circling his words. 

But Nico didn’t back up. “I mean, these things tend to…worsen, when people are by themselves. We’re just looking out for you.” 

“So you don’t trust me?” 

“No, we trust you.” Nico emphasised. “Just not your brain.” 

Leo gave a menacing smile, “same thing, Death Boy.” 

But Nico just returned that smile, “I don’t think you want to die.” 

“Excuse me?” 

“I don’t think you want to die.” He repeated. “I think consciously, you like your life right now, and you wanna keep living it.”

When he didn’t continue, Leo waved him on, “and? I know you wanna keep going. No need for a dramatic pause.” 

Nico studied him, “But your subconscious does. Why else starve yourself when the only way this will end is in death?” 

Leo rolled his eyes. “Of course you’re gonna be the one to talk about death.” He reached up and dusted the shelves. Geez, how long’d it been since he’d been in the bunker? “I get it, emo dude, I’m sick, I’m mentally insane, I’m disgusting. But I’m not suicidal.” He said, allowing Nico’s concerned look to wash over him. “I just…wanted some control over my life.” He found himself saying. 

Huh. He didn’t know that. 

But Nico just cocked his head, “why?” He pressed. 

Should he tell him? 

Ah well, he was already in deep shit. 

“I ran away from like, six foster homes, dude. None of them good, by the way.” He shuddered. He didn’t really want to think about them, but for some reason, tears still found their way into his eyes without permission. Rude. “I didn’t have any friends. All the other kids in the homes and at school thought I was weird. Didn’t want anything to do with me.” 

He refused to look at the son of Hades as the tears trailed down his face. “They called me stupid, ugly, an asshole. Everything. But never fat. The one thing they never called me was fat. Scrawny? Sure. But that was intentional, because it was something that I created, that I could change if I really wanted to. I couldn’t change anything else. Couldn’t bring my mom back, or have anybody love me…” His voice cracked. He looked at Nico, who was just staring at him blankly, as if he was processing. 

“But I could be skinny. I could refuse the food, or just…not seek it out, when I was on the streets. And now…” He turned to Nico, who was staring at him very intently, “that’s all being taken away from me. The one constant in my life and it’s gone. So, sorry that I wanted half an hour in a place…” he waved to the Bunker surrounding them, “that I actually feel comfortable in.” 

Nico just kept staring at him, lost for words. “I’m sorry.” He eventually let out, quietly. “I had no idea.” 

Leo slammed the door to the closet, letting the rest of the dust fester, “yeah, well. Now ya do.” He walked towards the bunker door, “come on, we’ll be late for dinner.” He mumbled, leading them out the door, and into the hell hole dining room. 

But before he made it very far, Nico grabbed his wrist, halting him. 

“You don’t need to do this anymore.” The son of Hades said, a serious yet empathetic look on his face. “The reason you felt you needed it was because your life was so…’ he struggled to find the words, “..unstable. But now..” He led Leo outside and pointed to the campers outside, who were all laughing amongst each other under the sun, “now this is your life, Valdez. This is your new constant. This is what you need to focus on, on what you should center your life around, because your life of running and foster homes is, like…over, dude. It’s done. Like forever. You don’t really need your eating disorder anymore, man.” 

Leo just stared at him, mind completely blank. Except for… “it’s not an eating disorder.” 

Nico gave him a look as if to say, seriously, don’t test me right now. 

Leo just sighed in response, “what’d you have to be so profound for, man? I can’t argue with profoundness, I'm too tired.” 

Death boy just gave him a smile, “get some food into you and maybe you can form a thought.” 

This fuckwit. 

Leo smiled back, a real, genuine smile, probably his first one in a while, and said, “please, I could beat you on my last breath.” 

Nico just rolled his eyes and shucked his arm over Leo’s shoulder, “let’s not let it get to that, yeah?” 

Leo gave his best impish shrug and said, “sure.” 

But his friend just gave him that look again, “promise me.” 

Should he? 

He couldn’t really promise that, could he? They were demigods after all. 

The Latino gave a more sober grin, “promise.” He quietly said. 

—

Leo woke up in his bed in Cabin 9. Still feeling the curry in his stomach from the night before. 

It was Piper’s birthday. 

Which Leo was looking forward to so much. 

He was looking forward to it so much he might just drown himself in the lake. Or the beach. He hadn’t really decided yet. 

Because Piper’s birthday meant a big, happy, group picnic. 

A group picnic. 

Which was a picnic with the whole group. 

Wasn’t that just so much fun?

Leo was very sure he was overreacting. He knew he was. It was just gonna be the nine of them, eating chocolate covered strawberries and sitting under the sun. Gossiping and reminiscing on the (good parts) of the Argo II quest. The parts where they were just teens that weren’t being attacked by monsters (it was like five minutes, but better than nothing). 

But he just couldn’t get his heart to slow down, or for his chest to loosen up. 

He thought about stuffing his face with smores, or his friends making him stuff his face with smores. The gooey and sickenly sweet mixture of chocolate and marshmallows would take up too much space in his mouth. It would make him gag, block his airways and be too big for it to stay there. The sugar would be trapped, forever, and choke him until he was forced to swallow it. Leaving a giant heap of goo in his stomach, causing it to bulge. Make him look gluttenous, fat, selfish. 

He rolled over in his bed, curling in on himself, before he threw on his nearest clothes and made his way out of his cabin. 

He hadn’t realised how early (late?) it was. Indigo still streaked the sky as the horizon painted itself purple, with stars flickering in the night sky. Almost like they were waving to him. 

He didn’t deserve their kindness. He was horrible. 

Careful as not to alert the harpies, he attempted, and failed, to clean himself up, as he made his way to the only cabin that he could think to go to at that moment. He didn’t want to be the one to ruin Piper’s birthday. She didn’t deserve that. 

But he could feel his heat beating in his throat. 

Passing the Apollo and Areas cabins, he made his way up to Cabin 1. Jason’s room. 

Leo stared at the golden door in front of him. He felt stupid, quite frankly. What was he doing? It was the middle of the night and he was about to disrupt his best friend’s sleep to what? Cry? He could do that by himself. 

Which, ironically, he started to do at that moment. 

Tears rolling down his face, he made to turn away and head back to his cabin, when the door creaked open, and Percy’s face popped out. 

Leo did a double take. Percy? 

The son of Poseidon squinted at him and whispered, “what are you doing here?” 

Leo pointed at himself incredulously. “Me? What are you doing here?” He whisper/shouted. 

Percy just shrugged, “prank. Hey, are you crying?” 

Suddenly, Leo’s face felt very dry. “What kind of prank?” He asked. 

Percy smirked and looked back to make sure Jason wasn’t awake before leaning into him. “I’m covering his room with water pouches, so when he wakes up and runs into one, it bursts and explodes onto him.” 

The Latino tilted his head curiously. “Why?” 

Percy shrugged again, “I dunno. Bored?”

“It’s the middle of the night!” 

“And? You’re here too!” Percy pointed out. “And, you never answered my question. Why are you crying?” 

When Jason stirred, Percy just rolled his eyes and flicked on the lights, causing Jason to thrash awake. “Wha–wha–who–wha?” 

Leading Leo inside, Percy just drenched Jason in water. “Wakey wakey.” He said in a flat tone. 

Soaked, Jason shook his head like a dog, causing water to spray over Leo and Percy. Percy didn’t care as much. “What are you guys doing? It’s three in the morning!” Jason said, shucking off his wet blanket. 

Percy pointed to Leo. “He’s crying.” 

Leo pointed to Percy. “I had nothing to do with this.” 

Jason still looked very confused, but he just sighed and got out of his bed. “Give me five minutes.” He sleepily said, before lugging his way to the bathroom. 

Percy and Leo stood in a somewhat awkward silence while the sound of Jason’s shower turned on. 

Percy, of course, didn’t like silence. 

He put his hand in front of Leo in a as you were sort of way. “Speak. Trauma dump.” 

Leo looked anxiously towards the bathroom door. The water had stopped at least. “You seem grumpy.” He pointed out. 

Percy nodded, “it’s three in the morning.” 

“You were here before me!” 

Percy smiled proudly. “Yeah, I know.” 

Jason finally made his way out of the bathroom, a towel still being used to dry his hair, as he sat on one of the dry beds. “Ok.” He said. “Why are you here?” He turned to Percy. 

Percy gave a smile that definitely would’ve made whatever teachers he used to have shit their pants. “Prank.” He said, gesturing around the room. 

Jason nodded like this was a regular occurrence. Which, Leo realised, it probably was. 

“Ok. Now, why are you here?” He looked to Leo. 

Leo’s face was tacky from all the old tears. “I’m freaking out.”

To that, Jason just nodded again. “Ok. Yeah, fair. Why?” He asked. 

Leo just looked at him plainly. “Piper’s picnic.” 

“You’re freaking out about the picnic?” Jason inquired, still rubbing sleep out of his eyes. 

When Leo nodded in response, Percy put his hand up like a school child. “Isn’t the picnic in like, seven hours or something? Why are you freaking out now?” 

The Latino gulped, nervous. “I don’t know.” He admitted, “I just am.” 

Jason bowed his head in exhaustion, and gestured for the two boys to sit down. Leo sat next to Jason, Percy sat on the floor. 

“What specifically though?” Jason pressed. “Cause we can’t help if we don’t know.” 

The mechanic could feel his nose and eyes burn, and the tears welling up in his eyes. “It makes me feel sick.” He sobbed out, the tears bursting out of him. “The thought of putting all that food in me just makes me feel horrible.” 

Despite the early morning, Jason’s face was just riddled with sympathy, and he pulled him into a hug with a “come ‘ere.” 

So Leo just let himself cry into his friend’s shoulder as he rubbed his back. 

He could feel Percy sit himself behind Leo and could hear his friends whispering as he cried. 

“Would you feel better…” Percy started, “if you helped pick what’s at the picnic? That way you’d have some control over it. Nico talked to us the other day, told us some stuff you mentioned. And we know! We know we shouldn’t be talking behind your back, man, but, this is like, the most you’ve opened up so much. Would that help?” 

Leo looked up from Jason’s shoulder, his face sticky and uncomfortable. “Nico told you?” 

Jason ran his fingers in Leo’s hair as Leo felt his temperature rising. Everything felt extremely hot all of a sudden, and he could feel nausea rising in his stomach. His breaths became more laboured as the heat just kept on rising. 

“Hey–hey don’t panic.” Jason softly said, “take deep breaths, alright? We just want what’s best for you.” 

But he couldn’t. His breaths were trapped, begging for a way out. He could have thrown up all over Jason and Percy, and the heat inside of him was just growing, growing, growing. Soon he might even be able to catch on fire. 

That was until he suddenly found himself being drenched in ice cold water. 

Percy gave him a guilty look, “feel better?” He asked, perfectly dry.

Leo spat out some water as he began to shiver. He was still nauseous, but he wasn’t super hot anymore, at least. “Are you just gonna drench everyone tonight?” He asked, shaking his head. 

Percy gave him a smile and sat back down on the floor. “Sorry.” He said sheepishly. 

After a brief silence, Leo asked, “have you all been talking about me behind my back?” 

At Jason’s guilty expression, more tears rolled down Leo’s face. “We’re so, so sorry, Leo. We just needed to know anything that we possibly could to be able to help you. He didn’t tell us anything super personal, just that this is a…control thing.” 

Percy wiggled over to Leo and placed his hand on Leo’s knee, drying him instanrly, earning him a sniffly chuckle. “We know this is, like, super scary for you man. But we’re right here, and we can help you make everything seem more in control. We can start by having you pick the food. With Piper, of course.” 

Leo nodded, “just no smores, please.” 

Jason and Percy gave him a confused look, “that’s very specific.” Jason said, “but you also do know that even if it’s there, you don’t have to eat it, right?” 

“But, you know, we’ll make sure you have something. You can’t have nothing.” Percy interjected, “but, you know, we’re not gonna force you to eat something you hate.” 

“What is it about smores?” Jason asked. 

Leo sniffled, “they’re just…so big, and sugary, and fatty.” 

“What’s wrong with that?” Percy pressed. 

“It's fatty.”’ Leo said bluntly. It was pretty obvious in his opinion. “I can’t do that to myself. Who would I be?”

Jason rewrapped his arm around Leo. “You’d be smart.” 

“And kind.” Percy interjected. 

“And funny.” Jason shook his shoulder. 

“And our friend. Dude, we couldn’t care less about your weight, or your looks. We just care about you. That you’re, like, healthy, and not starving yourself.” 

Leo could feel his throat thickening with tears. “I’m not any of that though. I’m not much.” 

“Hey!” 

“What?” 

His friends yelled simultaneously. 

Leo looked at them confused, “well, I mean–” 

“Just stop.” Percy held his hand up. “You’re stressing us out.” 

“Wha–” 

“Do you know what happens if you don’t eat?” Percy interrupted, ignoring Jason’s shut up look. 

Leo considered his question. He hadn’t really considered it very much. He knew he could die. That food was literally fuel and necessary to keep him alive. He remembered the pains in his chest from the sword fighting, the worried looks, the dizziness. 

He just shrugged, prompting Percy to let out a sign and continue. “Everything that you’ve ever worked for will be for nothing. Fighting the war. Building the Argo II. All of it. You’d be dead, man. And even if you don’t die, you, like, permanently ruin any ability to have a proper future that you’re actually proud of. You’ll just be sick.” 

When Leo didn’t respond, Percy just let out an exasperated sigh, when Jason said, “you want to be a mechanic, right?” 

Leo nodded, then Jason said, “you can’t do that if you don’t eat. Even if you’re alive, you won’t be able to think, to lift things–” 

“You’ll have heart problems for the rest of your life!” Percy butted in. 

“And you’d be in and out of doctors appointments, hospitals, and clinics forever.” Jason continued, shooting Percy a glare at his tone. 

Leo could feel his heart beating faster in his chest, “I don’t want to die.” He whispered, letting Jason see the truth in his eyes, after all his lies. 

“But you will–” 

“Percy!” 

“I’m just saying!” Percy threw his hands up in surrender, “sometimes fear is a good motivator. You didn’t survive monsters and Gaea and prophecies to back down to this. Come on, man.” 

“That’s not helpful.” Jason chastised. “We need to be supportive, not scary.” 

“So then what is helpful?” Percy cried. “Cause, man, everytime we ask you, you shy away, or just say ‘I don’t know’, that’s not helpful.” 

Leo truly didn’t know what to say to this, Percy was being truthful, he knew this, but it didn’t mean he liked it any more.

Jason bore his blue eyes into his. People with big blue eyes were kind of scary, Leo couldn’t lie. It was like they had laser vision right into your soul. “How can we help?” He gently asked, “because as happy as I am that you came to us, it does nothing if we don’t actually know what you need.” 

Tears made their way into Leo’s eyes and down his face, “I just need you there.” He admitted, “when I’m eating. I just need you there.” 

He looked towards Percy first, whose face was drenched with…sympathy, and understanding. He then turned to Jason, who just smiled and said, “can do, bro. Can do.” 

—

The next morning, after Leo and Percy had both been kicked out of Jason’s cabin and had gone back to sleep in their own, Nyssa had insisted that she walk Leo to Piper’s picnic. Half, he suspected, because she wanted to interrogate him, and half, because she saw him crying that morning. 

He was so busy looking at the ground and avoiding her gaze, that he completely missed what she’d said. 

“Leo?” 

“Yeah?”

“Why didn’t you talk to me?” She asked. She still had that same stony expression and tone that she did in the infirmary. From what he’d gathered, she didn’t seem super mad. Maybe a little, but he wasn’t sure if she was more mad at him or herself. 

He shrugged and mumbled, “it wasn’t a big deal.” 

“But it was.” She stated, stopping in her tracks. “You could’ve died.” 

When she didn’t say more, Leo stepped closer to her, “I didn’t want to…” 

“Very convincing.” 

“But I didn’t! I don’t!” He sighed, throwing his hands in the air. “I can’t keep having this same conversation, over and over–” 

“Well, maybe if you put in effort into some sort of recovery, people might not believe that you do.” 

“I am!” 

“How?” She pressed. “Because I haven’t seen you do it.” 

Leo shifted his feet into the grass, creating a foot-sized hole. “I went to Jason’s cabin last night to talk.” At Nyssa’s happily surprised look, he elaborated, “it was really weird. Percy was doing a prank, and…yeah. It was weird. But, I went.” 

Nyssa gave him a small smile, “good. I’m glad.” She said softly, and continued walking, the conversation seemingly done. 

But Leo didn’t keep walking. “Are you mad at me?” He asked. 

His older sister turned on her heels, facing him. “Sorry?” 

The Latino dug his heels further into the ground, “in the infirmary you seemed…mad. Are you mad at me?” 

Sadness washed over his sister’s face, as she walked back over to him and lent him her arm, which he took. “I could never be mad.” She said plainly, “I’m just…so sorry.” 

He gave her a confused look. Sorry? About what? All of this was his fault, his illness. It wasn’t like she put this upon him. 

She looked at him and patted his arm, “I’m sorry you have to go through this. You don’t deserve it.” 

Leo blinked in surprise, but before he could reply, he saw Piper waving at him in the distance. “Talk later?” He offered, and let go of her arm. 

He didn’t really want to think about the words that she had said just then, but as he made his way over to his friends, he couldn’t help it. 

Didn’t he deserve this?

He literally brought this upon himself, so wouldn’t he deserve the struggles of climbing out of a grave that he dug for himself? 

He tried his best to push those thoughts out of his mind, because as he got closer, he saw the birthday girl even better.

She had messy hot pink glitter smeared over her face, (definitely not there by choice), and a plastic golden tiara that read birthday girl on it. She was still wearing her basic t-shirt and jeans combination, and was sitting on a picnic rug surrounded by all their friends, minus Annabeth and Percy, but she looked beautiful as ever. 

“Leo!” She called out, not bothering to get up as he approached, and instead, deigned to let him crouch over to give her a hug. 

He messed up her hair, “happy birthday! Love the fit.” He teased, moving to sit next to Jason and Frank, all while trying not to step on anybody else. 

As he walked away she reached to swat him, and grumbled when he had escaped her too quickly. “Thanks.” She deadpanned, giving him a teasing side eye. 

Sitting down on the scratchy blanket, Leo said his hellos, and managed to sneak a quick look at the centre of the blanket, so subtly that his friends wouldn’t know what it was that he was looking for. 

There wasn’t any food there. Yet. That’s probably where Percy and Annabeth were. 

They were getting the food to eat. 

Jason elbowed him, interrupting his spiraling thoughts. “You good?” He asked, he knew he wasn’t, but he was giving Leo an opportunity to be honest with him. 

Leo shook his head, and felt his stomach churn when he spotted Percy and Annabeth, arms filled with baskets and bags, coming closer from the distance. 

If Leo didn’t have an eating disorder, he would have marvelled at the amount of food and the variety of it in the basket. Inside it were chocolate covered strawberries, ingredients for smores, crackers, an assortment of cheeses, dips, candy, bread, butter, cakes and deli meats. If he didn’t have an eating disorder, he would have been staring at it in awe like everyone else. 

Unfortunately for him, he did. 

He had one, and it was kind of fucking up his life right now. 

In fairness though, his life was always kind of fucked up. 

He thought back to what Nyssa said just then, about how he didn’t deserve it. How he didn’t deserve to have an eating disorder. It was weird, he’d never actually considered the bad things that have happened in his life to be bad, just kind of…unfortunate. 

As everyone made way to grab something from the basket once it was laid down, Leo felt his bones freeze. This was his one shot to appear normal again, for the attention to be solely on Piper for her birthday, and for him to fade back into the shadows, like he had on the Argo II. 

And yet. 

No matter what signals he sent to his brain to move, his arms refused to cooperate. He almost felt like he did when he was possessed by the eidolon, like he was shouting MOVE in his brain, but his body was simply out of his control. 

Didn’t he deserve this? 

He supposed his life would be that much easier if he didn’t. 

For example, if he didn’t, he might actually be able to enjoy his best friend’s picnic, and actually use the time to connect with her and make memories and actually properly celebrate her. If he didn’t, he might be able to let each day pass, and enjoy the time that he was spending here at camp, without constantly worrying about his next meal, or his body, or anything related to food and weight. 

Gods, maybe he didn’t actually deserve this. 

What a thought. 

Maybe the bad things that happened to him were just bad. Maybe it wasn’t always a question of deservedness and karma or any of that bullshit and maybe it was just bad. 

It was shitty. This whole situation was shitty and he didn’t deserve it. 

Despite his bones yelling at him. And despite the fact that he could feel his stomach lurching in his throat, Leo leaned over and was the first to grab some ingredients to make a smore. 

Ignoring all the amazed looks his friends were giving each other, he thought back to his conversation with Nico that he’d had in the bunker. 

He needed to put in the effort. In the sense that if he actually wanted the love and loyalty from his current friends that he’d been looking for for his entire life after his Mom’s death, in the form on foster parents who hated him, kids who pretended to be his best friends only to make fun of him when he didn’t even realise it and crushes that would never amount to anything more, then he would have to get over his ridiculous hurdle. 

Leo picked at the s'more that he’d made himself. It was a big one, and he knew that once he bit into it the chocolate and marshmallow would go all over his fingers and probably fall out of the cracker. He knew it would get on his face and the sugar would cause him to crash later on. The marshmallow was raw though, as they didn’t have a fire on them, which made the smore a bit more vertical than he would have liked. 

Leo fanned at his shirt, covering his stomach and what it would become. 

Maybe if he had more energy, he could actually make a fire himself for his marshmallow. 

Taking a deep, deep breath, he took a bite. 

At the end of the day, Percy was also right. Even if he somehow survived by not eating, it wouldn’t be a life actually worth living. 

The s’more was sticky in his mouth. It was sweet. Honestly? It was everything he hoped it wouldn’t be.

The Latino kept his head down, not willing to risk looking at his friends, lest the queasiness come back as soon as he’s reminded of their presence. He swallowed and took another bite. 

Gods, it was awful. Truly, truly awful. He kept going. 

About a minute later, give or take, he’d eaten around half the s’more. 

Finally looking up, his friends were in their own private conversations. Piper had somehow acquired a toy fairy wand, and was waving it around casting spells on each of their friends around the circle. Mostly on Frank to get him to pass her more strawberries. 

Percy, Will and Hazel were in a deep would-you-rather-thon with their current question asking if they would rather have fingers the size of legs, or legs the size of fingers. Hazel and Will were arguing that having legs the size of fingers meant that you could just use a wheelchair, or get prosthetic legs to put over them. Percy was arguing at fingers the size of legs meant you could walk on your hands, as well as kick people at the same time. Nothing out of the ordinary there. 

Everyone else was kind of just in and out of fluid conversations. Drama, gossip, conspiracies, grievances. 

Nobody cared about him and his stupid s’more. 

Leo honestly wasn’t sure what to make of that. 

Placing the second half of the s’more onto Jason’s plate, Leo excused himself on the account of having sticky fingers and made his way over to the lake to wash his hands. A very normal excuse to get away. Perfectly acceptable. Nobody even argued with him. 

Leo didn’t even register the walk to the lake. There were trees, grass, bushes, he didn’t really know. Some sun. Nothing nobody would expect in a magical forest. 

He knelt at the edge of the lake and looked at his reflection in the water. It was ripply, definitely not very clear, and it was mostly obscured by rocks. 

Deciding to pretend he didn’t see the annoyed water nymphs as he washed the chocolate off his fingers, Leo also decided to pretend he wasn’t startled to hear Annabeth’s voice from behind him. 

“You know, food isn’t just about survival.” 

Raising a brow, he turned to look at her, before continuing to try and get the chocolate out of his knuckles. “Oh yeah? What’s it about, then?” He pried, hoping she would just yap while he could zone out some more. 

Kneeling next to him along the edge of the lake, Annabeth joined him in peering into the water. “Culture.” She said, bumping his shoulder with hers. “Connection.” 

When he didn’t respond, and instead splashed more water onto his hand and scrubbed, she continued. “You were very brave back there, Percy and I noticed.” 

Ugh, she wasn’t going to just lecture him while he zoned out. She wanted an answer. 

Leo scoffed, and used his thumb nail to get under his other nails. “Yeah, so brave, eating a s’more. I’m a hero to kids everywhere.” He huffed sarcastically. 

The architect watched the water some more. “Yeah yeah, be sarcastic, but small steps like that lead to bigger ones, which means you’ll be more present at lunch and dinner. Make some actual memories.” When he didn’t respond again, she shifted her position so that she was looking at him. “When you see tacos what do you think of?” 

Leo paused his scrubbing to look at the clouds. What did he think of? Carbs, fat, oil. “My mom.” He responded, allowing a faint smile to wash over him. Remembering how she’d dance in the kitchen with him as they prepped the tortillas. She would put on the Rolling Stones on an old record player, and make a game out of who could make the most tortillas. In the end, she usually ended up with most of the batter on her apron, and him with it in his hair. 

Based on Annabeth’s smile, he’d answered correctly. “Exactly.” She said, “If food was just about nutrients, or survival, we’d just eat bricks filled with all the vitamins and nutrients we need. No flavour, nothing.” She raised a brow at him, and he nodded. “But things like s’mores, and tacos, they create memories, they allow us to make connections with people outside of words and actions. Don’t deprive yourself of that.” 

She had made a good point. 

Leo sniffled as some dust and dirt made its way up his nose, and he ceased his scrubbing. “Do I deserve this?” He asked her. Allowing the question he had been asking himself to spill out of his mouth. 

He turned to her, and she tilted her head with a warm smile on her face. And to think that he had found her intimidating once upon a time (ehk, he was kidding himself, he still did), “not by a long shot.” She said, before gesturing for her to hug him. "No one does.” 

Leo leaned into her hug, but not before making a disagreeing sound. 

She chuckled, “what? Who do you think deserves anorexia?” 

Leo leaned out of the hug, giving an exaggerated shrug and confused look. “Maybe Gaia? And Hera?” At her look of disbelief, he gave her a small smile, “maybe?” 

And to that, she just chuckled again, and pulled him back into the hug, “sure, ok. Hera and Gaia can have anorexia, and deserve it.” 

She then suddenly pulled back from the hug and looked to the sky. “Hear that bitch? You deserve it!” She yelled. 

Putting his hand over her mouth and redirecting her attention back to him, Leo said frantically, “yeah ok, love the enthusiasm, but I’ve just found a reason to get better, OK? No need to get smited by the Queen of the Gods.” 

Annabeth rolled her eyes, before sighing as Leo removed the hand. “Fine. I guess that’s a good reason.” She admitted, before playfully smacking his knee. “Come on, the others are probably wondering what happened to us. They might think some monsters got through the barrier again.” 

Slightly chuckling, Leo allowed himself the help that the daughter of Athena offered with her hand and lifted himself off the ground. He dusted himself off, but just before he went to leave, he felt Annabeth’s hand on his shoulder, causing him to turn back.

“You know,” she said, “in thirty years you won’t remember the calories or the weight, you’ll just remember the picnic.” 

Leo rolled his eyes, “we’re demigods, you can’t guarantee thirty years.” 

Her smile grew and she patted him on the shoulder, “exactly. Don’t waste whatever time you have worrying about something that’s meant to be enjoyable.” She then walked away, leaving Leo left in a stunned silence. 

Who knew the daughter of the goddess of wisdom was actually smart? 

—

In the past three weeks Leo had found that he had actually been trying. 

Albeit, trying did include setbacks, but the mechanic found that actually having motivation to recover made it easier to actually do so. 

For example, ordinarily, chocolate cake is not something that he would even consider touching, let alone actually putting in his plate and then his mouth. 

However, these past few weeks had been anything but ordinary, and kind of reminded him that he in fact didn’t want to die. So therefore if he didn’t want to die he shouldn’t do things that would actively kill him (good advice from Percy). 

In all honesty, there were some days where Leo felt like locking himself in the bunker, yelling fuck it and just letting himself go. He had done so much in his life already. What more did he need to do? He’d already completed a prophecy, gone on a (hopefully) once in a lifetime trip around the globe with other superpowered half-human half-god specimens, fought countless monsters and giants, defeated literal mother earth, and on top of that built a replica ship of the original Argo that the original Jason sailed on. Leo genuinely didn’t know what else he could offer to the gods and the general population around him. Sometimes it felt like it would just be easier to let himself waste away in that bunker, watch all the fat on his arms burn off and see his ribs itching to break through his skin, until finally, there would be nothing. 

Cause he’d be dead, if that wasn’t obvious. 

He told Percy that once when they were sitting in the infirmary, who was in after concussing himself after butting heads with Grover, and the older boy had just hit him slightly on the head before grabbing him a plate of carbonara from the dining hall. It wasn’t necessarily helpful, but it was sweet. 

Now, Leo was in that same bed, Percy was long gone, but Frank and Hazel weren’t, and neither was this chocolate cake in front of him. They were sitting on the foot of the bed, having brought three plates of chocolate cake for them all to eat. 

He sniffled, the weather was beginning to turn, and he could feel a cold coming on. “It looks good.” He said to them, watching as they dug into their own slices. Hazel, being her oh-so-loving self, had managed to convince the kitchen harpies to sneak her a couple of slices of the chocolate cake. Leo wasn’t sure anyone had ever done that, then again, he wasn’t sure anyone had really spoken to the kitchen harpies. 

Frank nodded as he dug his fork into his slice, chocolate still spread on his lips, “so good man. Eat some.” He popped a bite into his mouth. 

Leo grabbed the fork that Hazel had set beside him and pressed it into the cake. The texture seemed good, it was soft to press into, but it wasn’t too moist, meaning it wouldn’t be too sweet, and the chocolate icing between the cake layers was thin enough that it wouldn’t overpower his senses, but not so thin that it would make the cake dry and flakey. 

Leo made sure to spread an even amount of cake and icing onto his fork before he put it in his mouth. Unsurprisingly, it was very chocolatey, and very sweet. So sweet he could feel his mouth begging for a sip of water almost immediately. 

He chugged a glass of water from the glass next to him. “It’s too sweet.” He concluded, putting the plate down. “Is there anything else?” He was trying, he really was. He didn’t want to be the mentally ill friend who spent their whole life in hospitals and doctor’s appointments. But the cake was too sweet. 

Hazel raised her brow at him. “You love sweets. At the start of the quest you ate a whole bunch of sweets.” 

“That was different.” He pointed out, pushing the plate further away. He would take anything else. A burger, some pasta, a steak. He would so much prefer to eat a full plate of any type of curry or rice dish than this cake. 

“How?” Frank asked him, almost halfway done. He really seemed to love chocolate cake.

Leo shrugged, “I needed energy?” He pushed the plate even further away, almost knocking it off the bed. “Look, trust me, I’ll eat something, just…something else?” 

Hazel shook her head, and smacked Frank as he dug his fork into her plate. “You need energy now.” She stated, licking icing off her lips. 

“Yeah, but, I didn’t have an option on the Argo…” 

“Bullshit!” Frank cut in. “You had options, and now you don’t.” 

At Leo’s sniffling and shuffling, Frank patted his knee, while Hazel dragged the cake back towards him. “This is a part of recovery, man. It sucks but you gotta do it.” 

Hazel pressed his fork back into his hand. “You can do this. You’ve done much harder before, and you’re still here. You will survive this.” 

The mechanic blew an exasperated raspberry through his lips. He could really go for some chinese food right now. “Can we negotiate?” He pleaded sheepishly. 

Frank gave him a knowing smile and patted him on the knee before going back to his own slice. “Have…” he looked to Hazel for confirmation, “half?” At her nod, for she couldn’t speak with a mouth full of cake, he confirmed, “have half. Drink water if it's sweet.” 

Half. 

Ok, half was ok. He could do half. 

Maybe. 

It was really sweet though. 

Leo dug his fork back into the chocolate goo and took another bite, trying not to gag at the sugar that exploded in his mouth. 

Frank passed him some more water, his face marred with an uncomfortable expression, like he had to say something that he didn’t really want to say, but definitely had to. “Look, dude, I’m not good with all these…emotions at stuff, but…” He took a deep breath. “We’re really proud of you.” 

Hazel gave Frank a sweet smile as she nodded. “It’s true. The fact that you haven’t run away now tells us how much you’re trying, Leo. It’s only going to get better.” 

Some of the tension in Frank’s face seemed to lessen after that, and he offered a warm smile. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. You’re doing good.” 

Leo’s nose began to burn as his eyes watered up. He sniffled, prompting both Frank and Hazel to grab one of his hands. “It’s just cake.” She whispered, rubbing circles into the back of his hand with her thumb. “And we’re right here.” 

She continued to whisper encouragements as he cried, only pausing to grab him a tissue occasionally, before she let go of his hand and placed the fork back into it. “You’re ok.” She reminded him, sitting herself next to him and wrapping her arm around his shoulders. 

Eventually, after a while of them just sitting on the bed and eating cake, Leo found that he had, in fact, eaten half. He’d even been shocked to find that the chocolatey-ness had actually grown on him. Turns out when you haven’t eaten sweet things for a while, it can be a bit of a shock to your senses. 

Frank took a bite out of Leo’s plate, after finishing his own and attempting to finish Hazel’s (she could be very strong when it came to people trying to steal her desserts). “Did you like it?” He asked innocently. 

Leo’s face was sticky with tears, his hands even more so, but he nodded. “I did, actually.” He admitted. 

Frank smacked his lips together, “how did it taste?” 

“What do you mean?” 

“Like…was it too sweet, like you said?” 

“I mean, it tasted like chocolate…” 

Frank gave him an annoyed expression and just took another bite. “Not what I meant.” He said with a mouth full of food.

Leo looked to Hazel, who was trying not to laugh. “I’m not sure what else he expects chocolate cake to taste like.” 

She chuckled and linked her arm with his. “Cinnamon?” 

Leo nodded, pretending to think about that answer. “I think so too.” He concluded, and chuckled as Frank rolled his eyes. “Shut up.” He said, stuffing the cake into his mouth. 

“Dearest madam, how do you put up with this?” The mechanic asked dramatically, waving his hand towards the older boy, “a man enslaved by what modern scholars refer to as cake.” 

Hazel dramatically fanned her face as she replied, “why sir, I couldn’t tell you if I tried. There’s something so devilishly tempting about a man that can’t seem to escape the pull of cake.” 

She leaned over and wiped some icing from Frank’s cheek, earning a smile and a soft laugh. “Laugh it up!” He yelled, scraping the plate, “but I’m the one here who got more cake.”  

—

“You good?” Jason asked anxiously, setting down the bowl of curry in front of him. It was butter chicken, the white people version, meaning it was just spicy enough that you could confidently say you were eating Indian food, but not so spicy that you actually were. 

Leo, Nico and Jason were sitting in the same spot that Leo and Jason had been sitting with Hazel all those weeks ago. This spot had become almost a safe spot between Jason and Leo, and they occasionally had a guest come sit with them. Most of the time it was Piper, but today she was busy, which prompted Nico to come sit with them instead, under the guise of “he had nothing to do”. 

Leo nodded towards Jason, and took a bite from the bowl. He had been getting a lot better at eating lately, meaning he’d been having at least two meals a day. He didn’t necessarily finish them all, or made it through all of them without tears, but he ate them.  

Nico picked at his own bowl, his attention focused on Leo. “How have you been feeling lately? Built anything?” 

Leo shook his head no, and he watched Jason from the corner of his eye as he watched him eat. “No, but maybe soon.” 

Jason swallowed the mouthful he had. “What are you gonna build first?” He asked, already scooping more up with his fork. 

Leo popped another forkful into his mouth, he was starting to feel sick. The thing about weight gain, especially if you didn’t want to gain weight, was that you had to eat beyond your appetite, and feel bloated about 90% of the time. The Latino shuffled his shift forward, trying to hide his flubber. “I have a portable closet that I started working on, but never finished.” He swallowed, “good for quests.” 

A deafening silence overtook them, and Leo kept his head down as he ate his butter chicken. It was alright. Heavy on the stomach. 

He could just feel Jason and Nico exchanging looks, before Jason nudged him in the arm. “Tell us a joke.” 

Leo looked up with a confused expression. “Huh?” 

Nico piped up. “Hell yeah, dude, tell us a joke.” 

Leo ate another mouthful. “I thought my jokes were annoying?” 

Jason shrugged, “they are, but still…tell us one.” 

The Latino put his fork down and stared into the distance. What was a funny joke? He used to make them all the time, especially on the Argo II. Nothing like imminent danger and a threat to the entire world and everyone and everything you’ve ever known and love to bring out some dark humor. However, that period was long gone, (thank the gods, or actually, thank him, for defeating gaia, the gods were useless). In all honesty though, he couldn’t really think of anything to joke about, the past little bit hadn’t left him much time to think of any. 

“Why didn’t the toilet paper cross the road?” He asked, grimacing. This was gonna be a terrible joke. 

Nico and Jason took a second to think, before they both shrugged. 

Leo sniffled, his cold was coming on strong. “It got stuck in the crack.” Ha ha. So funny. Kill him now. 

Jason and Nico let out some small chuckles. “That’s funny.” Nico admitted. 

Leo rolled his eyes and began picking at his food again. “Yeah, sure. So funny.” 

Nico reached over Jason and patted Leo on his knee. His hand was so cold, he could feel it through his jeans. “You’ll get it back. Give it time.” He said, nodding. 

To that, Leo gave him a smile. He wouldn’t mind getting some energy back. Or actually being able to connect with his friends, instead of them worrying about what he was eating or if he was eating all the time. “I’m trying.” He admitted, scraping through the last of his meal. 

After about five more minutes under the tree, which meant the sun had begun to set a bit, creating highlights through the leaves, like little spotlights on a stage that couldn’t pick a main character to focus on, Leo turned to Nico and Jason, who had been deep in conversation about some camp gossip. “Do you guys want dessert?” He asked, his heart beating in his chest. He didn’t want dessert. At all. 

Jason whipped his head around to face Leo in excitement. “Oh hell yeah.” He yelled, the biggest twinkle in his eyes. “I could go for anything honestly! Cheesecake? Tiramisu? Gods, I think there’s some leftover ice cream from last night..” 

“I don’t like ice-cream–” Nico butted it. 

“Shut up.” Jason interrupted, holding up his hand to Nico’s face. “Not interested. Cake? You want some cake?” He energetically asked Leo. 

No. Cake sounded awful. He could just remember the chocolate cake that Hazel and Frank had essentially forced down his throat the other night.

He nodded. “Cake sounds good.” 

—

About 10 kg later, Leo was actually starting to feel good about life. 

Turns out, not being a walking skeleton actually has some positives to it. For example, he could think! Woah! He liked thinking. It meant he was witty again, smart, and he could actually respond in conversations with his friends, without them being immediately worried. 

It also meant that he could build again, which, to be completely honest, he’d forgotten how much he’d missed. That portable closet in the bunker? He’d finally finished it, he called it the walk-a-closet (shit name, but, he was more creative in terms of actually creating things, not particularly in naming them). Essentially, it used the same foldable technology that he originally used on Festus in his quest with Jason and Piper, which allowed for such a big item to fold into a portable briefcase, which would make it so much easier for demigods to bring essential items on a quest, and to not lose it. Backpacks could only carry so much, and more often than not, got lost. 

He remembered one day where he brought Piper in to help him out to make it, because the rest of the Hepheastus kids were busy with other things, and for the first time in a really long time, not only did he know what he was doing, but he actually knew more than her, and didn’t need to take a break every few minutes just to figure out what he was doing. 

He’d been doing weekly check-ins with Will, because apparently, eating disorders needed to be monitored, just in case it decided to try and destroy his life again. So far, it was a slow, but steady recovery. 

Occasionally, of course, he had set backs, as everyone always did with whatever struggles they had. There was one day where he and Annabeth had a bit of a screaming match in the infirmary, over some tacos. Fun day. 

But for now, he was sitting with his friends in the dining hall, playing cards. It wasn’t technically a meal time, so the gods didn’t smite them for sitting at a table all together, but they did manage to swipe some chips and candy from the kitchen without the harpies knowing. He took a dorito out of the bag and crunched on it. 

Leo looked down at his cards, he had a queen of hearts, two twos and an ace of spades. In the middle of the table, lay eight spoons. He had no clue if his cards were any good or not. He had no idea what they were even playing. 

“Does everyone get the rules?” Frank asked, “we can do a practice round?” 

To that, everyone nodded. “What’s this game called?” Percy asked, rearranging his cards. 

“Spoons.” Frank replied, gesturing to the middle of the table. 

“Ok, great, but why are there eight spoons when there’s nine of us?” He asked, scratching his head. 

Annabeth, who was sitting next to him, shook her head. “That’s the aim of the game, seaweed brain. Get four of the same card, grab a spoon. If you notice somebody else grabbing a spoon you have to grab one too. The person who doesn’t get one in time is out.” 

Piper raised her hand, “how do we get the cards?” 

Frank exacerbately raised his hands. “Did anyone listen? I just explained.” 

When everyone shook their heads, Frank just sighed. “Let’s do a practice round, you’ll learn.” 

Still munching on the doritos, Leo slowly learned how to play spoons. It was pretty simple, the deck of cards got passed around, and you aimed for four of the same cards, then once the first person grabbed a spoon, it was a race for everyone else to grab it. Frank just didn’t know how to explain it. 

Leo let out a yell as he got four twos, and he lunged to grab a spoon from the middle of the table. Practice round was over. The stakes in this game were very real. 

A second later, hands went flying, people yelled and chips were knocked off the table. Hazel and Jason grabbed the final spoon together, and were arm wrestling to determine who would stay in the game. “Let go!” Hazel would shout. “Give it!” Jason would shout back, tugging the spoon back towards him. Hazel eventually won, of course. 

At some point in the confusion, Percy, who sat next to him, offered Leo a reece’s piece, which Leo gladly took, causing Percy to give him a kind wink, before he turned his attention back to the game. 

A couple of rounds later, Leo had been knocked out of the game, and it was now between Frank and Annabeth, which would be interesting, because they were the only ones really paying attention to the game itself. 

The room held its breath as the two of them passed the deck of cards. Nico even seemed to be shifting the shadows, almost so that it would create a spotlight on the two of them, causing Will to glare at him. 

Leo jumped as Annabeth slammed the deck down and grabbed the final spoon, causing Frank to throw down his cards in annoyance. While she cheered and accepted everyone’s polite applause, Frank just sarcastically held out his hand, bluntly saying: “yes, fine, good game. You win.” With a smile though, he packed up the cards, “beginner’s luck.” He taunted, snatching the cards out of her hands. She didn’t seem to mind though, as she held her kitchen spoon up like it was an F1 trophy. 

“Life is a race and I’m the winner!” She yelled, bowing down like a showman at the end of a circus to the rest of the table. “Thank you. Thank you for the applause.” 

Leo laughed at the ridiculousness of it all. About a month ago, he wouldn’t have even had the energy to be sitting at this table, or to understand the rules of the game. Insane. 

He fiddled with his shirt so that no one could see his growing stomach. He might have energy, but he also had quite a bit of fat on him, although Will was trying very hard to shift his mindset. Whatever, at least he was eating more. 

He felt Percy tap him lightly on his side, he raised a brow. You good? He seemed to be asking him. 

Leo gave him a smile and nodded, taking another dorito from the bag. He felt his breath hitch as he had another one, and could feel the nausea creeping up, but he was ok. 

Percy nodded and gave him a smile, before turning his attention back to his girlfriend. He jumped out of his chair, before picking her up from behind and lifting her into the air Lion King style, allowing her to whoop and celebrate even more. 

Frank slammed the newly shuffled deck of cards on the table. “Rematch!” He yelled, already handing out the cards. “Spoons in the middle!” 

Everyone handed back their collected spoons to the centre of the table, before inspecting their cards. Leo had a three of hearts, a four of spades, a king of spades and a nine of diamonds. Hmm. 

Continuing to play and eat the doritos, Leo couldn’t help but laugh at all the shenanigans, like when Nico and Will didn’t realise they had too many cards, and were trying for the impossible five of a kind. 

It seemed that recovery did seem to be worth it. 

He would get there. However eventually.