After being dropped onto the ships deck by Jason, Y/N took a moment to gather herself and try to refocus. She tried to stand, but her legs were completely drained of energy and she only managed to fall back on herself. Unable to move, she looked up to see what the commotion was now breaking out in front of her.

Leo stand there, more vulnerable looking than Y/N had ever seen him. He gripped the sides of his pants so tightly his knuckles were white and his hands shook. His eyes were locked on the wooden deck, completely unable to lift up to face his friends. The twisted look on his face matched with his glassy eyes which radiated pain.

"What—" Percy cursed. "What the hell was that?!"

Annabeth was holding Percy back by the arm from whatever he was about to do.

Though she felt as if she was locked in concrete, Y/N forced through the exhaustion and bravely brought herself to stand.

Was what Leo did right? No. Was he thinking when he did it? No.

But was he deserving of having his friends tear him apart more than he already did to himself? No. Was he such a bad person that he didn't deserve to have anyone stand up for him? Absolutely not.

"Listen," Y/N scowled, now staggering closer towards the others. Everyone eyed her warily. "He screwed up. Hugely, might I add. But do you really think he doesn't know that?"

Percy pursed his lips and shifted his gaze in frustration. So many things were running though his mind and all he wanted to do was scream at Leo until the boy turned to dust. The right words weren't coming to his mouth just yet, but he knew they would soon.

Y/N stood her ground. Seconds felt like hours for Leo as he watched her stand there, face to face with Percy, hair falling into her eyes every so often from the howling wind.

"Leo can't focus past the end of his nose or control himself in the first place, and you're just fuel to his fire!" Percy finally stormed, looking to Leo. "You can't follow the simplest of orders and you always make more problems that the rest of us have to deal with! You're never the one clean up the mess after you make it! Gods you're such—"

"Hey!" Y/N shrilled, her voice cutting right through the wind and slicing everyones ears. "He doesn't feel the effects of what he's done? Look at him! He's afraid and hurt and his chest is caving in with guilt! You cannot tell me he doesn't feel."

"Oh please!" Percy spat. "You hardly know him! You're an outsider. You weren't there when he bombed Camp Jupiter, you weren't—"

"No! No, I wasn't there!" She yelled. "But unlike you, I've listened to him when he talks. And, because of that, I know Camp Jupiter wasn't his fault! Stop using that against him!"

Something about what either Y/N or Percy had said finally set Leo off. In seconds he went from a teary eyed, frail boy to a smouldering force not to be reckoned with. He tore through the crowd which were supposedly his friends and dove below deck, immediately racing off to his room and slamming the door. Countless times in earlier years he had done this, running away from the group in tears after they had all yelled at him for any kind of mistake he made. It wasn't new. But, it was even more devastating than normal because he thought he was past it. Thought he was beyond this walk of shame back to his room after being humiliated.

Y/N and Percy followed him, but were too late. The door was shut before they got there and were only met with smoke bellowing out from beneath the door. That in itself was enough of a sign to let Y/N know that Leo was deeply hurt. Very, very deeply hurt.

"Nice job." Y/N scowled, quickly storming off away from Percy. She left the son of Poseidon there in the hallway which was now flooding with smoke without words. He was now questioning if he'd really overacted to an extent that was irrational. Or, was Y/N just getting to his head, her being new and unpredictable and all? Whatever it was, Percy knew he had some thinking to do. Along with that, possibly an apology to be given to more than one person.

Y/N knew that she couldn't go through the door to talk to Leo unless she wanted to die from smoke inhalation. But, she had a plan in mind that she knew would work. Though Leo made it seem like he wanted and needed to be alone, Y/N knew it was quite the opposite. He needed someone right now to stop his thoughts from spiralling into a dangerous, possibly inescapable place. Before she was here, Y/N doubted anyone actually tried to comfort Leo after he stormed off like this. It broke her heart in a way. The boy saw these people as his family, but she was certain they had never really treated him like it. These were people Leo trusted, and yet they never came to his aid in his darkest moments.

Festus, over the past while, had become a trusted friend of Y/N's. Now restored and with wires that were all in good shape, he had a steady temper and loved to fly. So, Y/N lifted off on Festus, even despite the pleas to stop from Hazel and Piper. She told them to not worry and get everyone to the mess hall until she returned with Leo when he was ready to see them again. Y/N dove over the side of the Argo and slowly flew up to Leo's window where she had Festus set a steady speed so that he kept up with the ship. Riding alongside the window, Y/N could see inside of Leo's room. The bedsheets were now charred and the boy was curled up on his bed, his chest heaving up and down.

Y/N smacked at the window a few times without a care in the world. Leo looked up, his eyes red and puffy, bed sheets being used to wipe away his tears. Making sure it was obvious, Y/N waved Leo over. The look in his eyes faded from stormy and horrific to something a little bit calmer that Y/N couldn't quite describe. Flames which once filled the room and flickered off of his body went out as he began to calm down, slowly breaking free from his obsessive thoughts. ADHD could be a curse like that. It could turn a thought into an inescapable loop where a person played a situation over and over in their head until it exploded. And, with one negative thought, others always flowed in freely, suddenly taking up all the empty space in a mind.

Leo had admitted to it before, all of his overthinking left him feeling lonely and miserable. It was like no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop himself from ruminating over the mistakes he's made in his life.

He head towards the window slowly and hesitantly, opening up the circular window. Smoke filled the air for a moment as it was sucked out of his room. Y/N coughed a few times in disgust but soon recovered herself.

A sad, sympathetic look painted Y/N's features as she scanned Leo over. "Do you want to meet me up on the deck? We should talk."

Leo swallowed hard. "Is anyone up there?"

"No, they're in the mess hall. I told them to stay there until I come and get them." Y/N laughed lightly.

"They actually listened to you?" Leo knit his brows in surprise.

"Somehow," She shrugged. "Now hurry up."

"Okay." He agreed weakly and tiredly, wiping a few more tears away.

There, up on the deck, Y/N landed Festus just as Leo emerged from the stairs. She smiled softly and invited him over to sit with her against the mechanical dragon. The metal was warm and felt pleasant against Y/N's back. With a smug smile, she tossed him a marshmallow.

"Where'd you get these?" He almost laughed, sitting down beside Y/N.

"Found them in my bag earlier. Knew they'd be good for something." She beamed. The girls smile was contagious to Leo. There was nothing that a friends smile and a dose of sugar for his already overly energetic self couldn't fix. Y/N's kindness never failed to amaze him.

"Now, just hear me out. Percy was just blowing off steam." She explained. "Sure, what you did was...not great. But at least your mishap left me able to find out how many monsters there actually were."

"What do you mean?" Leo mumbled through a mouthful of marshmallow.

"Check this out," Y/N pulled out a crumpled piece of paper. "This is the number I counted when Jason and I were spying."

"Right?"

"And," She flipped the paper over. "This was how many poured out of the forests and from inside of tents after you caused a commotion. If it weren't for you, we would've miscounted by at least two hundred."

"Oh wow," Leo huffed. "That makes me feel only a little bit better."

Y/N caught his gaze and smiled. "Maybe it happened for a reason."

Leo nearly choked as he tried to swallow the last bit of his marshmallow. He felt electricity zap through him and he felt totally dazed. "Did you happen for a reason?" He breathed heavily.

Y/N scrunched her brows. "What do you mean?"

"I mean I was meant to meet you that day, wasn't I?"

Y/N scoffed. "That you were meant to kidnap me and take me on the most terrifying taxi ride of my life, not explaining any of it? Yeah. Yeah I think so." She looked down to the floor.

"You know I never hated you." Leo admitted.

"We've been over this, neither did I." She snickered, tossing a small rock at the wall ahead of her. "I was just playing along."

Leo meddled with the hem of his charred shirt. "Thanks for standing up for me like that. I've never had anyone do that." He thanked. What amazed him about the way she'd stood up Percy though, was that she didn't just defend him. She admitted that he had indeed done something stupid and was in the wrong, but still chose to stand by his side.

"No problem," Y/N reassured. "That's what friends do, right?"

"I guess so." He agreed. "Next time you get yourself into some serious trouble, let's hope I'm there because I'm sort of obligated to stand up for you now."

"Mmmm, yep." Y/N nodded. "Is this going to be a constant back and fourth for us? Or is it going to be more like where we built up a credit..."

"Like 'oh, well, I helped you three other times. You just helped me, so now you've only got two more before you pay off your debt!'" Leo finished.

"Exactly!" Y/N threw her arms in the air excitedly. "That's what I was trying to say."

"It sounds alright to me. But how do we keep track?" Leo questioned.

"Oh..." Y/N pondered. "With sharpies!"

The girl held out her hand and Leo already knew what to do. He pulled a marker out of his tool belt and dropped it in her hand. Then, she marked a streak on her arm and smiled.

"You do realize sharpies wash off eventually, right?" Leo taunted her. Luckily for Leo, Y/N took well to his playful banter and never took it personally. He liked that.

"Whatever," She stuck her tongue out. "This will work until we come up with a better, more permanent plan."

"Roger that."