Work Text:
Hanging upside down had never been especially appealing to Leo, but he would've done it more if he knew how fun the blood rushing to his head was.
For some very odd, very demigod reason there was a set of celestial bronze monkey bars in the middle of Bunker Nine. Leo, being Leo, took the first chance he got to climb on the thing. Which resulted in Piper finding him upside down minutes later.
"What the—" Piper cut herself off as she stepped into the workshop area, gazing jaw dropped at the monkey bars, "where did these come from?"
Leo laughed at how offended she sounded of the monkey bars intrusion into their lovely camp, or maybe he was laughing because of the delirious feeling of blood rushing to his head. Maybe he should get down.
He gripped the bar and held hard as he swung himself down. He let his body swing back and forth before jumping fully to the ground. The monkey bars weren't that tall, but Leo was anything but tall, so he had plenty of room to swing as he pleased.
"This, my friend, is the new addition to the Lava Wall!" He clapped Piper on the shoulder, waving his free hand out to the golden playground equipment.
Piper winced at the mention of the camp activity. "What part of the Lava Wall?"
"We don't know yet," Leo shrugged, "but we're hoping to add some more stuff before attaching it."
Piper didn't look amazingly thrilled about that like Leo had hoped.
"In the meantime," Leo said, holding his elbow out for Piper, "I'm starved. What are you in the mood for, Mr. Clean?"
Piper rolled her eyes and suppressed an obvious groan at the new nickname. "Some peace and quiet, Fireboy."
"I'm not sure if that's on the menu, but maybe they'll have waffles again."
"Gods, I hope so."
*
"Leo?"
Leo hummed, turning to face Piper. "Yeah?"
Piper settled eyes on him. "When did you start calling me Pipes?"
Leo's facial expression was half hidden by his goggles, messy hair, and the oil smudges all over his face. "Dunno," he settled for, shrugging as he did so.
Piper debated on throwing a screw at him. Her thoughts won and Leo yelped when the metal bounced off his current project. "Not an acceptable answer."
Leo sighed, clearly worn out but curious. "Pretty sure I started calling you it in the Wilderness Camp."
Pipers eyebrows popped up. It seemed possible, but both her and Leos memories were still foggy when it came to the past. "Why?"
Leo leaned back in his chair. He was silent for a few seconds before slowly giving his answer. "I think you broke a pipe that was connected to the ventilation in one of the classrooms."
"Is that why it smelled gods awful when we dissected that weird snail thing?"
Leo shook his head. "No, that was just the weird snail thing."
His laugh was the most contagious out of any laugh, and even Piper couldn't deny that.
*
Leo missed the Argo II. He simply wished he had the stupid boat back purely so he could tinker with it. He just wasn't satisfied with the tiny projects camp had for him anymore.
Which is why, when he returned to the Waystation after a week long visit to Camp, he was over the moon when Georgie came to him with a request. Leo was asked to build a miniature Festus. Basically a golden mechanical cat.
Which is also why, two hours later, Leo was surrounded by sparks and flames when Piper Iris messaged him.
He heard Piper cursed, loudly, and jumped back to see the shimmering light.
"Heya, Beauty Queen," Leo grinned, "what do I pleasure of speaking about?"
Piper groaned. "I might hang up just because of your fancy talk."
"No you won't," Leo argued.
"I won't," Piper agreed, "but that's because I need to ask you something, not because you said I wouldn't."
"Uh-huh."
Piper pinched the bridge of her nose and sigh. When she straightened up, Leo could see the pine trees surrounding her.
"How's Oklahoma treating you?" Leo asked.
Piper looked around at the landscape and sighed again. "Good. No more questions from you, I need to ask you something."
"Shoot," Leo told her.
"What was the name that Jason called you?" Leo blinked at Piper until she spoke again. "The one that started with, like, an E or something."
Leo cringed away from the sparkling screen. He knew what it was, of course, but it didn't make his embarrassment die down at all. "Ew, no. Not telling you that."
The sound of footsteps approached Piper and Leo was curious as to why she didn't look worried. Couldn't it have been a monster? Instead, Piper smirked at him. "Fine, I'll have him tell me."
Jason appeared in Leos vision, carrying a stack of wood, glasses slipping down his nose. He smiled, trying and failing to wave his hand while holding the wood. "Hi."
"Jase," Leo exclaimed, "what are you doing in Oklahoma?"
"I may have or may have not gotten kicked out of school." Jason sat down next to Piper, on what Leo now assumed to be a bench of some sort. Maybe they were camping or roasting s'mores over a bonfire. The layout made sense: outside, trees, an orange light on Pipers face that had to have been a fire, and the wood Jason was carrying.
"What for?" Leo picked up a screwdriver and set back to his work. "I couldn't ever possibly imagine Superman himself getting kicked out of school."
Jason rolled his eyes. "Surprisingly, I was late to too many classes."
"Kicked out of school for tardiness," Leo said.
"Maybe it's not surprising, after all." Jason threw a piece of wood in front of him. Yup, Leo was right, there was definitely a fire. "Honestly, the school kind of sucked anyways."
"That still doesn't explain what you're doing in Oklahoma with McQueen over here," Leo paused so he could tugged away a screw that was stuck. "You guys back together?"
Jason shook his head at the same time Piper repeatedly said "No."
"I Iris messaged Piper about it a couple hours after it happened," Jason explained, "and she insisted I stay with her."
Pier shrugged, "I didn't want sparky to be homeless."
"Sounds about right," Leo laughed. "How's Mr. McLean handling your ex living with y'all?"
"He's cool with it," Piper said.
"Now that's surprising," Leos grin widened. He sighed. "Jason Grace, Jase, my guy, in Oklahoma," he said quietly.
"It sounds weird doesn't it?" Jason's asked, and Leo nodded. "I never thought I'd be an Oklahoma type of guy either, but here I am. This place is pretty nice too. I like it here."
"And we're glad you do, but shut up for a second so I can get back to teasing Leo," Piper scolded Jason.
Leo groaned. "What if I just hung up right now."
"I'd waste every drachma I have to call you again and again, and you know it."
Another groan. "Whatever."
"Jason," Piper said, "would you care to tell me that wonderfully awful nickname you use to call Leo? I think it started with an E."
Jasons eyebrows furrowed slightly before his entire face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh, you mean Emily?" He practically yelled.
"Yes," Piper jumped I her seat, "that's the one!"
Leo had put his face on the desk, groaning non-stop. "I regret ever telling you my full name."
"Aw, come on, Emilio's super cute," Jason threw her head back in a laugh as Piper spoke.
"It is not, and I'm suing you both for emotional distress."
"Sure thing, Emily," Jason muttered and another chorus of laughter rippled from the two of them. Leo joined, how could he not?
"You two act as if you don't have awful, embarrassing nicknames too," Leo complained. When Piper and Jason shot each other a look, Leo was confused. "Jason, please tell me you have one for Piper?"
"Well, I did call her Mickey the other day."
Piper smacked him on the arm, "shush!"
"That's golden," Leo laughed, "I'm one hundred percent stealing that."
"Go ahead, take my prized nicknames that took me two seconds to come up with."
"I will, thank you, Jase."
"It's insane that you never call him Jay," Piper noted.
"Jay is your thing, Jase is mine," Leo countered.
Pipers head flicked behind her as sounds of yelling came through the screen. She cursed. "We gotta get to bed. It was nice talking to you."
"You too, Beauty Queen," Leo waved.
Both her and Jason saluted.
"Night, Repair boy," Piper said at the same time Jason said "Goodnight, Captain."
Leo sputtered and laughed so hard he was coughing. "Was that rehearsed?"
Piper didn't respond, only waving to him before swiping through the Iris message.