orenda [leo valdez]

xlvi. Leo's Collection of Grenades

❝you are summer to my winter heart❞

⤷ gemma troy

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Kira was humming a random tune to a song she didn't remember.

She was lying on her back, looking up to the ceiling of the engine room as Leo worked beside her.

He was working in a crawl space, which only fit his upper body, so Kira was left in the company of his butt and down.

Leo was hard at work, and Kira was only there for emotional support. She had gone down after Piper and Hazel had offered to practice with her, to help her sword-fighting. Kira had been begging the girls to practice with her before Tartarus, but she hadn't actually touched her sword since she came back.

"Leo!" Piper's voice rang. "We need you."

Piper appeared in the doorway of the engine room, and Kira picked up a random screwdriver so it looked like she was busy as well.

Leo sighed. "Talk to the pants, Piper! 'Cause the hands are busy!"

Kira smiled. "Yeah Piper. Talk to the pants."

"I am not talking to the pants. Meeting in the mess hall. We're almost at Olympia." Piper said.

"Yeah, fine. I'll be there in a sec." Leo said.

"What are you doing, anyway?"

"Routine maintenance."

"Leo–"

"Hey, while you're out there, do me a favour. I got this itch right below my–"

"Fine, I'm leaving!"

Leo worked for a few more minutes before wriggling out of the crawl space.

He shot a warm grin to Kira, beckoning her to follow. She dropped the screwdriver she was playing with and walked beside him.

They entered his cabin, which had become overrun with scrap and projects.

Kira watched his eyes drift to a bulletin board. She gasped, covering her mouth. "Leo! Where did you get this?"

She made her way to it, there were three drawings hung up. First was his crayon drawing of the ship, second was a charcoal sketch of Kira, and a watercolor picture Kira had done of Leo back in the Wilderness School.

She glanced back at Leo, who looked sheepish. "Uh, the charcoal one Hazel made of you. While you were in..you know. She said it would help me miss you less. It didn't work, but it's nice to look at."

Kira blushed, smiling softly.

"And the watercolor one, it's, uh, a long story."

"What?" Kira asked excitedly. "No, seriously, how long have you had that? That was so long ago, I could show you better ones–"