#Leo is constantly switching between wanting to impress the older kids

[pezhead]

The age difference between 10 and 12 or 13 can seem massive to children of those ages, even if it isn't actually that big. Do Casey, April and Karai consider Leo in their peer group or as more of a little brother type figure? How does Leo feel about not being the oldest? 2012 Leo is kinda bossy (affectionate) and very much likes to be in control - is this an issue when he is younger than his human friends?

Leo definitely falls into the little brother category, because you're right. Kids think 2 years is massive. But they also enjoy including him in their peer group because this is Casey, Karai, and April we're talking about. All three are misfits with few to no friends, so they eagerly attach themselves to the boys despite the age gaps. Leo becomes an honorary big kid simply because he's the only one they can convince Splinter to let outside of the lair. Like, into the sewer tunnels or along the subway tracks (though Casey and Karai have zero issue taking Leo to the surface in secret, and while April won't encourage this, she won't stop them either). Leo doesn't care about them being older except when they try to boss him or his baby brothers around (he's pretty possessive of his lil bros and can get real snippy if he feels one of the older kids are overstepping their bounds).

[greatbigbellies]

New anonymous commission story! This is another hyperpregnant slice of life piece, about a couple of boys who find out that they can conceive additional babies mid-pregnancy which will grow to catch up to the largest sibling, resulting in rapid growth for one of the husbands! Contains hyperpregnancy, tmpreg, some weight gain and lactation, mild belly worship, and allusions to sex.

Leo sat in the passenger seat of he and Marko’s sedan, his boyfriend behind the wheel. The pair sat in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. They’d received some… rather shocking news from Leo’s most recent doctors appointment. All three babies were fine, all perfectly healthy... but that was precisely the point, all THREE were healthy. At three months in, Leo was at the tail end of his first trimester, and when he started, there was supposedly only one in his womb. Then a few weeks ago, they were suddenly expecting fraternal twins. Then finally, today, triplets, all inexplicably at the same stage of growth.

“What’s going through you mind, hon?” Marko finally asked, breaking the silence. Leo brushed a few brown, fluffy hairs out of his face with one hand, and held his tummy protectively with the other. “I’m just… I’m floored we’re having three kids! I’m just… confused I guess? Like we were set with one for a while… and then two… and now…” Leo trailed off. Marko squinted in concentration as he thought of how to word his theory. “I… think I know the pattern… I don’t think it’s a matter of the doctors just mysteriously being unable to count…” Leo could tell where this was going. “You mean…” Marko nodded. “Think about it? There was the night we conceived after the party… that’s one. Then there was minigolf night...” Marko began listing off. Leo nodded, “Yeah, Minigolf was fun, we need to do that again sometime,” Leo smiled. Marko raised an eyebrow, “Like… just the minigolf, or what came after too?” 

Leo turned to him and batted his eyelashes, “I dunno, can you get another hole in one?” Marko felt himself start to blush. He was typically the more dominant one, but Leo knew how to push his buttons. “Besides, I wanna test your theory. See if I wake up with four tomorrow,” Marko was now no longer ‘starting to blush’ and was instead outright blushing. “Are you teasing me, or are you serious? Cause our turn to go golfing comes up in two blocks,” Leo put his hand in Marko’s shoulder, leaned over, and said “put another baby in me,”

Marko smiled mischievously, eager to relive their minigolf date. “But! If I win you gotta buy me a sundae. The babies want hot fudge,” Leo teased. Marko’s grin widened. “Nah hon, I’m gonna get a hole in one, beat your ass at minigolf, buy you TWO sundaes, watch you eat them, then we’ll fuck like there ain’t no tomorrow,” he said, wearing his confident smile proudly. Now it was Leo’s turn to blush, turning away and putting his hands over his mouth and cheeks. “Fuck, I hate it when you get all assertive like that,” he said through his hands. Marko laughed. “No you don’t, you little bottom!” Leo erupted in laughter himself, his adorable, irregular laugh like music to Marko’s ears.

“I mean… in fairness, you’re too competitive to lose on purpose, but too much of a gentleman to let a pregnant guy go hungry,” the praise elicited another more subtle blush from Marko, two ran his hand through his short, black undercut. “I mean… you need lots of calcium for the babies. There’s milk in ice cream so, like… it’s good for you right now?” Marko stumbled to his point. Leo chucked and lifted the hem of his beige sweater up to his chest, exposing his tiny first trimester tummy, looking ever so slightly pudgy from being 3 months along. Marko’s blush shifted to a deeper red and he tried to focus on the road, but was a sucker for Leo’s belly. “You’re going to get so big with four babies,” he said, his voice just slightly quivering in anticipation.

“Why stop at four?” asked Leo. “Are you serious?” replied Marko. “100%. We’ve talked about this before. We both love…” he gestured to his bare tummy, “THIS. We both have decided to take on fatherhood, why not just… shoot for the moon?” he put his shirt back down. Marko pulled into “Albatross Minigolf” and put the car in park, looking very seriously at Leo. “That’s going to be really hard on your body,” “I know,” “We’ll need a bigger car,” “I know,” “We’ll need a bigger APARTMENT!” “Marko… we’ll be fine! We only get to really do this once, lets make the most of it!” said Leo reassuringly. Marko wasn’t sure if “this” meant pregnancy, parenthood, or life in general, but he didn’t care. He kissed Leo on the lips, beyond excited to watch his boyfriend grow huge with his babies.

He got out of the car and ran around to the other side to get the door for Leo. He was more than prepared to dote on the man, already deciding he’d get Leo THREE sundaes after minigolf. After all, they’d need some calories to burn.

3 months later

Now six months along, and swollen with large sextuplets, Leo was solidly what one would call ‘very, VERY pregnant’. His usual button up flannel shirts had grown tighter and tighter until they wouldn’t button. While the pair did like the belly out, unbuttoned shirt look, Leo preferred to be more modest when in public. As the temperature dropped due to the coming of autumn, Leo had switched to his larger sweatshirts to remain covered, and even those didn’t really do the job anymore. Now looking overdue with quads, he waddled through the Willowbrook Square Mall wearing that same beige sweater he wore during minigolf night, once two sizes too big, now pulled tight over his bump and only reaching just above his navel.

To cover his lower belly, he wore a supportive belly band to help redistribute the weight of his womb and provide some modesty. Unfortunately for Leo, but much to Marko’s delight, the top hem of the belly belt and bottom hem of the shirt couldn’t quite meet, resulting in a cheeky strip of exposed tummy, complete with his popped navel peeking out.

Leo’s belly swayed slowly back and forth as he waddled next to Marko, squeezing his hand. He absolutely loved being so pregnant, but he tended to get colder feet in public. He was a sight to behold, and people weren’t shy about staring at his impressive bump. “I think that lady has intentionally hopped from store to store to keep me in view,” whispered Leo meekly, “She just keeps watching me, it’s weird,” “Bet she’s jealous of how great you look,” chuckled Marko. “Marko! I’m serious!” Leo hissed, “I like being this big but I don’t like being the center of attention!”

Marko raised an eyebrow, not liking his boyfriend being nervous. “I can talk to her if you’d like?” Leo shook his head, “Nono, I don’t want confrontation, I just want… honestly I just want a milkshake…” he said as cravings shifted his focus to his empty stomach. With each added baby to his womb, his appetite grew stronger, even as the amount of room in his smooshed digestive system grew smaller. Marko swiftly steered the pair toward the food court, knowing exactly what to get him.

Leo wasn’t much of a foodie before pregnancy, but getting knocked up had not only expanded his palette, but increased his appetite to the point Marko was constantly feeding him. He had actually become something of a good cook, and really enjoyed feeding Leo. As a result of his new caloric intake, Leo has began to physically soften with time, his thighs and ass become pillowier, and for the first time in his life, he had love handles. Marko took this as a point of pride, that his cooking was good enough to make someone a little pudgy. Of course, the constant flow of ice cream treats certainly didn’t hurt either.

“Any preferences, dear?” Marko asked as he helped Leo ease into a chair, which had to be pulled away form the table to make enough room for the belly. “Where you buying?” He asked. Marko tilted his head toward one of the chain restaurants in the court, “Sonic has the biggest shakes here, and I know you like car-” “Carmel oreo please,” grinned Leo. Marko’s heart flittered a little bit at Leo’s innocent smile, still in the honeymoon phase even after being together for so long. He nodded and made his way toward the Sonic, leaving Leo to sit and rest his aching feet.

He placed his hands on the top shelf of his belly, and scanned the food court. He was semi-used to being stared at by this point. Being visibly trans, being in a visibly gay relationship, hell, even his nose ring got glares from older folks. But this felt different, it wasn’t him they were stealing glances of, it was his belly. He felt a draft blow across the sliver of exposed skin between his sweater and belly belt, and felt a little self conscious. To make matters worse, the woman who had been stalking him made a b-line and was actually approaching him. He considered getting up and moving, but knew he’d reached the point in size and weight were he really needed Mareko’s help to do anything quickly.

“Excuse me!” she said, Leo braced for the worst. “I’m sorry, I know I’ve been following you around, we’ve made eye contact like 4 times, but I really need to ask you something,” she continued. Poor Leo grimaced and prepared for the worst. What invasive question would he have to answer this time? She took a seat at his table, sitting across from him. She made eye contact and seemed very direct, something Leo wasn’t super crazy about.

“So my friend is pregnant, and she’s carrying decuplets, and she’s really starting to struggle with her size… where did you get that tummy support thing?” Leo blinked, feeling like an overhyped bandaid was just painlessly torn off. “Oh, uh, there’s a place across town that sells maternity wear, called ‘twins n’ up’, and the owner makes their own stuff. They, uh, they custom made it for me,” he answered. The lady nodded intently and made several notes on her phone.

“Is this lady bothering you, hon?” asked Marko as he returned with 32 ounces of creamy milkshake. “No, actually she was just asking me about this!” Leo pulled the hem of his supporting belt, letting it snap back against is belly. “I swear I’m not trying to harass your husband, he’s just the first person i’ve seen who is as pregnant is my friend and I wanted to know where he got his clothes. I’ll leave you guys alone now, thank you!” she said to Marko, offering her seat to him. Marko’s protective nature made him a little cautious of the woman’s intentions, but she seemed harmless enough. “Take care!” smiled Leo as she left. Marko sat across from him, and handed him the milkshake.

Marko chuckled, “I guess we look like husbands now?” Leo took a long, indulgent sip of his shake, basking in the sugaryness of it all. “I mean, we are growing our family quite a bit,” he patted his tummy, “I think it’s a fair assumption we’re married,” Marko considered the situation for a moment and realized, yeah, it WAS a fair assumption they be married, or at least engaged… maybe it was near time he brought assumption to reality…

3 more months later

Marko and Leo were currently no longer boyfriends. Rather, they were fiances! Marko popped the question privately after a very fun and successful baby shower, and Leo immediately said yes. Some tears of happiness were shed, celebratory cake was consumed, and more babies were added to Leo’s ever swelling womb later that night. Things were progressing smoothly for the expecting couple as they’d moved from their old smaller apartment to a larger, open floor house. 

Now 9 months pregnant with thirteen babies, Leo was a sight to behold. His belly was permanently bared, no wardrobe in the country able to cover his bump. Through some luck, good genes, and lots of cocoa butter, he’d managed to avoid any stretchmarks, but his navel was thoroughly popped. While he’d started the pregnancy off on the skinny side, Marko’s endless flow of food had made sure baby weight accumulated, and now everything from his legs to his chest was growing. The only part of him that didn’t seem to gain any weight was his face, which was still lithe and adorable. His fluffy brown hair had only grown fluffier and fuller with the prenatal vitamins he was taking. He had to lose his blonde highlight though, as the babies could absorb chemicals through hair exposure, strangely enough.

Marko had been hard at work unpacking their whole life into this new house, as Leo had grown too large to really do much besides be doted on, which Marko was fine with. He’d set up their bedroom, and taken the doors off their hinges and removed the doorframes to buy Leo just a few precious weeks of being able to travel through doorways. At the rate they were going, they would need every inch of their open floorplan just for Leo’s titanic tummy.

Leo’s belly now held not only tredecuplets, but enough amniotic fluid to stay full and spherical. He was clocking in at around 300 lbs, and just under half of that was belly. Through the help of Marko, Leo could still walk… but getting up and down was a challenge. Leo’s belly was beyond bigger around than he was tall, and there were substantial portions where he could no longer reach. That didn’t stop the couple from conceiving more though. Even at thirteen full and pregnant beyond words, the couple still had plans for more. Call it some kind of hedonism, but Leo loved being bred and growing ever more massive, and Marko loved to watch. 

Even now, well into January, large snowflakes lazily falling outside, the pair were together, warm and happy. Leo had basically outgrown the couch at this point, his belly more wide than the cushions were deep. Instead, they had splurged on an electric recliner which was situated facing slightly to the right of the television, so that Leo could lay back in a reclined position, but only had to turn his head to see the TV, since he couldn’t see past his own tummy straight on at this point. Strong visible kicks could be seen occasionally poking out of his tightly stretched skin, often in places out of view from Leo himself. 

He sat, laid back in his large, cushy recliner, eating some chinese takeout Marko had picked up for him. He set the styrofoam container on his chest, idly scooping noodles into his waiting mouth. A chow mein noodle fell into his cleavage, something he didn’t have 6 months ago, and he picked it out with his chop sticks, hoping Marko didn’t notice him miss his mouth.

Marko didn’t notice, too enarmored with his future husband’s massive midriff. He got to see it every day, and yet every day he somehow loved it more. His hands were almost always touching it, only off of the bump when cooking or otherwise doing housework. He knew this had to be hard for Leo, being so massive and carrying so many, so Marko worked hard to do his part. Anything Leo wanted, he got. Specific foods, foot rubs, new clothes, a bigger belly… all of it was hand delivered by Marko himself. For being the more dominant of the pairing, he’d become something of a servant as Leo grew closer to immobility.

Right now, Marko had a dining room chair pulled up next to Leo, and was working cocoa butter into the side of his tummy, working slowly to both be gentile and maximize his time spent touching it. It amazed him how no matter his size, or how many were in there, his overburdened belly still had just a little give to it. Leo smiled, watching his partner be just engrossed with his tummy. “You have such a hopeless belly kink,” he chuckled. “Hmmm? Me?” Marko said, almost missing the question cause he was staring at the belly. “Yes you! Even before I got knocked up you liked touching me there! Who’s hands were on my tummy when we made out the first time?” Marko blushed. “I mean, yeah mine... but also who was so eager he got close enough that our glasses hooked on themselves? Who was so willing he whispered how he wanted a ‘baby in him right then and there?’,” Marko teased. 

Leo was the one blushing now, thinking back to one of their first dates. Little did he know just HOW MANY babies would be put in him later in life. “Is it… bad I still want you to put a baby in me?” he said, embarrassed by his own words and avoiding eye contact. Marko set aside the cocoa butter and stood up, taking a good look at the tummy that lay before him. “No… I don’t think it’s bad… but I wonder if there’s room in that belly for any more?” he teased, pressing the tips of his fingers into Leo’s exposed tummy.

“Oh come on Mark, don’t make me beg, you said you’d take care of me?” Leo teased right back, deepening his finance’s blush. “Hmmm…” he rested the side of his head on the front end of Leo’s belly, listening to the ambient, living sounds from inside. “It SOUNDS pretty full, can one guy get any more pregnant?” Leo crossed his arms and mock-pouted. “I won’t ever find out if you keep talking...” Marko leaned over Leo, casting a shadow across his face. “So you’re ready for number 14?” he grinned. Leo wrapped his hand around the back of Marko’s head and pulled him in for a kiss before whispering, “Why stop there?”

Another 3 months later

Marko had needed to make some calls. He had a few contacts with the fabrication industry, and knew some guys always willing to help him out. Now a year pregnant, and full of 20 babies, Leo no longer fit standard furniture. He was simply too large and heavy for traditional couches and chairs. Instead, Marko’s friends had put their heads together, and fashioned him a special, form fitting lounge chair, with a sturdy metal frame and soft, satiny cushions. They even thought ahead and made certain parts of it adjustable to accommodate for his growing size. And growing he was. Now beyond overdue, the growth of his still healthy brood pushed his body to new maximums. Leo often joked about how his womb would need its own zipcode soon.

Leo buttoned his shirt back up, setting the pumping apparatus on the table next to him. He’d had to start pumping his milk, or his breasts would begin leaking on their own, and frankly, he didn't want colostrum on his plaid flannels. “Hon, could you put that in the fridge?” he asked, pointing at the bottles of milk he’d produced. Marko ran his hand along the circumference of Leo’s belly as he moved past him, slightly tickling Leo in the process. He took the bottles and placed them in the fridge before circling back. “How’re you feeling honey?” he asked. “Big. Pregnant. Massive, really,” Leo answered. “Just how you like it?” Marko replied. Leo grinned, “Yeeeaaahhh,”

Marko placed his hands firmly on the expanse of pale, pregnant skin, and started kissing. Leo squirmed on his throne of pregnancy as his husband moved slowly up his belly toward his face. Marko gave him a deep, passionate kiss on the lips, causing Leo’s breath to shake slightly. “You love me so much,” he said in his quivering voice. “I”m so massive and pregnant and huge and round and you adore me like this.” he continued, getting a little emotional. “Of course I do,” replied Marko, giving his lovely husband a side-hug. “You’re my person, and you’re carrying a lot of persons, just for me, and that’s not easy. And I appreciate it. And I want you to know that I love you, both for doing that and for just being you!” Said Marko tenderly. Leo teared up a little, reaching out for another hug. Marko obliged, Leo wiping a couple tears on Marko’s 80’s style denim button-up.

“I couldn’t do all this without you, y’know… all… THIS!” Leo gestured to his astounding belly, which nudged with movement slightly in response. “You shouldn’t ever have to, babe. That’s why we have each other,” The two shared a tender silence, Marko rocking back and forth slowly. Leo sniffed and shook his head, “Augh, sorry. Pregnancy hormones… y’know… make me all emotional.” he said. “You’re allowed to be emotional, babe,” reassured Marko. “I know…” nodded Leo. 

Leo’s tummy rumbled and Marko chuckled, “You also get emotional when you’re hungry…” he pointed out. Leo laughed his bubbly, infectious laugh. “Yeah, I can’t argue with that… lemme see… the babies want…” he paused, “Potato soup!” Marko nodded, making his way to the kitchen to cook a huge batch. “Anything for you, my love,”

[winryofresembool]

Things We Lost in the Fire, ch 4

aka Caleo uni au

Fic summary: Calypso starts studying at a new university, but to her annoyance her new flatmate is a loud mouthed mechanic who also likes to sneak his dog in whenever. But as she learns to know him better, she realizes they might have more in common than what she first thought. Eventually, even the darkest secrets come out…

Chapter summary: Leo makes a deal with Piper and Jason.

A/N:  Time to introduce more characters! I'm currently reading The Burning Maze (yeah, wish me luck) so I'm not gonna lie, I'm feeling for Jason and Piper more than before and that will probably show in this fic too. But worry not, no body is dying in my story (yet). Anyways, I had a lot of fun with this chapter and Leo's pov and I hope it shows! As usual, thanks to the lovely Cris for noticing my silly mistakes! Feedback would be really loved as it's the only way for me to know what you guys think of this (and it really motivates me!)

Characters in this ch: Leo, Piper, Jason

Words: 2100+

Genre: romance & hurt/comfort (in the future chapters)

Warnings: none

previous chapter / next chapter / AO3

...

“You know, when you told me you’d be moving out of our flat, I didn’t realize you’d be switching our modest mancave to… basically a mansion.” Leo whistled. He was visiting Jason and his girlfriend Piper’s new home for the first time, only to find out that the place was a new two-floor, 5-bedroom house with a big yard and a garage. Leo knew Piper’s dad was a famous movie star but even so, he couldn’t help but be surprised by the size and the fanciness of the place.

“Yeah,” Jason agreed, ruffling his short, spiky hair awkwardly. He knew about Leo’s background, the part about no biological parents and having to live on the streets for weeks between different foster homes until the police finally picked him and made him go to another family. That’s why Jason didn’t like to make a big number of living in such a place and about the fact that both his and Piper’s dads were rich and well known. As a matter of fact, Jason has moved away from his childhood home already at 16, living with his sister Thalia and working after school to pay for his living because he didn’t get along with his father well. Having Piper’s dad fund the new place had not been an easy thing to swallow for him and Jason swore that once he had gotten a job, he would pay him back. “I told Piper’s dad that we’d be perfectly happy with something smaller, but he refused to listen,” he told Leo too.

“Must be pretty great to have a father like that,” Leo mumbled under his breath, and Jason didn’t miss the tone of his voice.

“I know what it sounds like, but believe me, both of us have had our own issues with our parents.” It wasn’t a lie. Jason’s mother had died of a severe illness when he was young, and his father had always expected him to take over his business when he got older. However, Jason had never wanted that, which led to a huge argument and his father telling him he’d disown him entirely if Jason didn’t listen to him. 

Piper’s dad again was almost never home, being busy with his work, and her mother had left her family when she was a young kid. Piper had visited her occasionally until her teenage years, but these days she only saw her about once a year. From what Piper had heard, she was constantly running after new men and busy with her beauty business. All that meant that Piper was basically raised by a nanny, and she was suspecting that her dad had gotten the house mainly out of regret. 

Either way, even though Jason and Piper’s experiences hadn’t been quite as traumatic as Leo’s, perhaps the problematic family backgrounds had been an important uniting factor for the three of them when they learned to know each other. It was also a big reason why Leo wasn’t actually bitter towards his friends about this new luxury. He knew they deserved to have good things in their lives after what they had gone through.

“Yeah, I know,” Leo replied to Jason. “Don’t worry man, I was just surprised, that’s all. Now you have some space to invite Uncle Leo over sometimes too, right?”

“As long as you remember to pull your head from your machine clouds sometimes,” Jason jabbed back. “It’s been a while since I’ve heard anything from you. How are things going?”

“Busy busy,” Leo answered. “You know, the usual: the profs being a huge pain in my ass, people lining up to get me to fix their things that in reality would take them like 3 minutes to fix and… oh, I have a new flatmate.”

“You do?” Jason asked curiously. “What’s he like?”

“First of all, she’s a she and it’s a long story so I’d prefer to tell it when Piper is hearing it too so I don’t have to tell it twice,” Leo said, so that Jason wouldn’t ask more questions. The blonde boy simply nodded and gestured towards the entrance of the house. After that he gave Leo a quick tour on the first floor. 

“You have this much space here and no workshop? Holy Hephaestus, dude, you need to sort out your priorities!” Leo exclaimed once he had seen most of it. 

“Hephaestus? That’s a new one,” Jason said with amusement. 

“Yeah, well… my new flatmate is into Greek mythology… and Hephaestus is the god of blacksmiths… so that’s kinda cool,” Leo explained as nonchalantly as possible. 

 “Yeah, but did you really pay attention to the mythology lessons? I thought you only care about sciences and handicrafts,” Jason pointed out.

“Fine, you got me. Everything I know about Greek mythology is through my childhood nanny.” Jason couldn’t help but snort at that. 

Leo had to admit he was rather impressed by what he had seen even though the house was still lacking a workshop. Besides, Jason had already promised the guest room would be open for him any time he wanted, which was an offer he would definitely be using soon enough.

“Hi, Leo!” a brown haired girl greeted him happily as soon as he reached the living room. 

“Pipes, hi!” Leo greeted back, throwing her a high five as was their usual habit every time they met. “Would your dad be willing to buy me a place too so I could move away from that old, dusty building?”

“He’s a nice guy, Leo, but he has his limits too,” Piper noted, knowing that Leo wasn’t asking seriously. “Trust me, Jason and I don’t like owing him either. But I thought you liked it in your current flat? What’s the issue?”

“I guess it just isn’t quite the same without you guys hanging out there all the time,” Leo shrugged. “And my new flatmate seems to think after 10 PM is not an appropriate time to fix people’s machines. Go figure.”

“Yeah, why would anyone want to sleep at night?” Piper replied sarcastically but then smiled at him. “So, you do have a new flatmate?”

“Yeah,” Leo nodded, not elaborating more.

Jason couldn’t help but tease a bit: “And it’s a girl and he refused to tell me anything about her.”

“Oh,” Piper said, a curious gleaming in her eyes, “Is that so, Leo?”

Leo punched Jason on his bicep, which however only made him laugh. “Your boyfriend here is changing facts. I only told him that I’d like to tell the full story when you’re hearing it too because I don’t care about going through it any more times than necessary.”

“You’re being quite grumpy about it, though,” Jason retorted. “C’mon, we’re curious.”

“Fine.” Leo sighed. “Her name is Calypso and she’s a history student,” he said simply.

“Wow, I feel I basically know her already,” Piper replied sarcastically. “There must be something else too,” she urged with an encouraging tone that usually never failed to make Leo talk. “What about the long story?”

Suddenly Leo blurted the whole story from their meeting to her cold attitude to Festus breaking Calypso’s desk and to him fixing it and finally cracking her shell a bit. Not much, Leo felt, but at least she greeted him now when they were in the common area at the same time and didn’t seem quite as angry at him anymore. She had even smiled at him the other day. Briefly. Leo tried to shake that thought out of his head. Damn it, why did he always have a thing for girls who were way out of his league (and who hated his guts)?

“Tough luck, man,” Jason said when Leo finished his story. “Maybe she will come around, though.”

Piper, who was very good at reading people’s emotions, though, reacted quite differently.

“Try to think about it from her point of view. She has, based on what you just said, just moved to a new town where she knows no one, and then the first person she meets was – don’t take this as an offense - maybe a bit different than what she expected and then he also breaks what little she owns… I’d probably be pissed off too. So instead of firing back – if she’s still angry – you could try a different approach. You know, actually being nice to her and not making jokes at inappropriate moments.”

Leo frowned. “Hey! It wasn’t like I was intentionally trying to be rude or break anything! I did apologize and fix the desk! She just makes it so easy to be snarky sometimes…”

“Have you really tried to get to know her, though?” Piper asked. “She could be happy if you showed some actual interest in her.”

Leo blushed a bit at the word ‘interest��. “I’m really not so sure about that… To me she seems the happiest when I just let her be.”

“But you’re gonna live together for a while, you can’t just avoid her forever,” Piper pointed out.

“I hate it when you’re right, beauty queen,” Leo rolled his eyes at her. Jason decided to change the topic.

“Hey, how about a card game? If Leo wins, we’ll let you withdraw into your tinkering cave for one more week. If you lose, then we are challenging you to talk to her within the next 24 hours.”

“Sounds like a pretty unfair deal,” Leo muttered. “But knowing you guys you won’t be giving me a choice. However, if I win, I demand to get to live here from next Friday to Sunday, free food and foot massages included.”

“I’m not gonna touch your dirty feet!” Jason protested.

“But if I’m gonna have to talk to her either way, I feel it’s a fair deal.” Leo grinned as if he had won already. 

“Alright. You can spend here even a whole week if you want and we will buy your food BUT we are not gonna massage your feet,” Piper tried to compromise.

“Bummer. I was really looking forward to that. But fine, I’ll accept the deal.” Leo shook both Piper and Jason’s hands to seal it. “Now, let me show you what a real card master can do!”

…

Leo turned out to be an amazing card mixer (his hands always fiddled with something so he had definitely practiced card mixing too) and a good strategist (his main strategy was trying to distract his opponents with bad jokes) but Piper and Jason weren’t bad either. After playing for over 30 minutes, the winner still hadn’t been decided so the trio decided to go all in, the next round would decide the winner.

Piper dealt the cards this time, Leo and Jason taking theirs. A wild grin spreading to Leo’s face when he checked his cards.

“Woah. Sorry, Grace, but I’m afraid I won this game.”

“Is that so, Valdez?” Jason asked, rather confidently as well. Leo glanced at him with confusion only for a moment before he smashed his cards on the table.

“Quads!” he exclaimed happily as he spread the cards on the table for the others to see. Jason’s mouth twitched.

“Not bad, Repair Boy,” the blonde boy said, using the nickname Piper had come up with. “But I’m afraid that won’t win this.”

He showed his cards, revealing five hearts, numbers 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Leo’s face paled a bit and the grin disappeared.

“Straight flush! That’s impossible!” he yelped.

“It’s not!” Piper said. “But don’t worry, I think this is a win for both of us. We don’t have to buy your food and you get to stop being stubborn a bit faster. C’mon, this could be a good thing. You might have formed your opinion on her too fast.”

“Hmmph. But fine. I’ll talk to her. Tomorrow. Today, my pride has been wounded.”

Jason and Piper both muffled their giggles. Not much later, Leo decided to go home as he supposedly had homework to finish (in reality, he had already finished his physics exercises in class while bored of listening to the professor talk about something that was way too obvious to him) but the other two knew he was simply making excuses. When Leo had decided he didn’t want to do something, it was /really/ hard to get him to do it, because he was that stubborn. And clearly talking with that girl was one of those things.

Once Jason and Piper had waved Leo goodbye and watched him strut farther on the road, Piper asked quietly: “Should we have told him that the dealer may have been a bit partial and she’s also good at card tricks?”

“Nah, let him think it was a fair game. Otherwise we’ll never hear the end of it.”

“Yeah, you’re right there,” Piper admitted and the two burst into laughter.