Author's Note: Yeah, so...still pretty locked up on my other stories. I figured I'd do something out of the ordinary to try and spark some sort of chain reaction in my brain that will hopefully result in some inspiration. This was what happened. I'm not sure what I think about it right now, so I'll post it before I get second thoughts.

Warnings: This is probably the most cracked-out pairing I've ever come up with. It was written in the span of one hour, with two potty breaks and one snack time-out. You have been warned.

Disclaimer: Ha. That's funny, that you think I own Rick Riordan's intellectual property. You should do stand-up.

Sometimes, Your Smile Can Be the Source of Your Joy

It was a fine day which dawned on Camp Half-Blood. The smells of the warming strawberry fields wafted across the canoe lake, and the climbing wall was just getting into the groove of things, spouting a few fiery pebbles as it prepared itself for the day. Surprisingly, none of the campers themselves could be seen in the regular places; the sword-fighting arena, the basketball hoops, the fire pit, the Amphitheater, and the Big House were all devoid of life, casting the camp's usual haunts in an eerie silence.

In the forests surrounding the camp, on the other hand, it was a different story altogether. The demigods of Camp Half-Blood were readying themselves to face their mortal enemies in a clash which would put all conflict to an end for the rest of eternity...or at least until the Hunters of Artemis next came around for a game of Capture the Flag.

All through the woods, the sounds of mock-war echoed against the old bark, bouncing off stones and foliage as swords flashed and arrows with boxing-glove-heads whizzed this way and that. All in all, it was a great way to blow off steam after the nightmare that was the second Gigantomachia.

It had been one of those by-the-skin-of-the-teeth victories, requiring the combined might of Percy Jackson, Jason Grace, and Leo Valdez to send the Earth Mother back to dreamland, and the three boys in question had nearly died from exhaustion afterward. But they'd gotten a hero's welcome upon returning.

Or at least Percy and Jason had. They were both important figures at Camp Half-Blood and praetors of the Legion, and the storm they'd cooked up during their last stand against Gaea had been felt as far away as India, so they were bound to be the unwitting magnets for adulation and praise. On the other hand, there was Leo, head counselor of Cabin Nine and that's pretty much it. The inferno that had finished off the job Percy and Jason had begun hadn't been all that big or bright, which was probably why nobody outside the task force sent to the Doors of Death even considered his involvement in taking down the insane titaness.

Leo grunted as he wiped the sweat from his brow and continued cranking a bolt into place on his most crucial project to date. When he was satisfied that it could go no tighter, he stepped back and admired his handiwork.

In the frantic fighting in Epirus, the Argo II had done its final duty when Leo had steered it into the Doors of Death to get the gargantuan gateways to close, and the first thing which had been destroyed was Festus the masthead. Now that he had the time, Leo was creating an automaton dragon in his fallen mount's honor, with all the bells and whistles he could think of.

Now, as he gazed at his creation, he couldn't help but feel a bit of pride at the work he'd done with his own two hands. The mighty construct was easily twenty feet long, and taller than many cyclopes at the shoulder, with with bright bronze and gold scales covering most of the inner gears and wiring (he was still working on the flight surfaces for the wings and tail). Its eyes, which would be installed as soon as he finished the optic programming, would be sapphires as big around as his head (Thank you, Hazel, Leo thought dryly), and its claws and teeth were made of a new alloy Leo had been working on he called mythril.

"Dammit, Leo Valdez, you are one brilliant son of a gun," he said to himself as his eyes inspected the automaton for anything he might have missed.

"Well, you certainly are modest," a sharp, dry voice noted from near the entrance to Bunker Nine.

Turning his head a bit, Leo had to muster up all his willpower to stop his jaw from dropping and his eyes from popping out of his skull. There at the door stood what had to be the most gorgeous girl he'd ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on. Her auburn hair was pinned to the back of her head, leaving a few wisps to fall into striking silver eyes, complimented by the silver Hunter's jacket and pale complexion.

Wait...back-track, Leo. Hunter's jacket...

It was a good thing that he hadn't had a chance to get his hopes up higher, because Leo felt yet another flash of infatuation burn through him, and this girl was in the same league as all the others whom he'd fallen (hard) for over the years. Hell, this girl was probably light-years beyond Thalia, or Hazel, or even Khione, and most definitely light-centuries out of his grasp.

Think of something to say, Valdez, he thought to himself. Quit standing there like an idiot, gawking.

"Er...well, um, I-I'm making it to honor an old friend," he finally managed to say, "and any praise I give myself is really going to him?" You didn't sound so sure of yourself there, Leo. Come on, you can do better than that.

But the girl didn't seem to be put off by his idiot-speak. Rather, she seemed almost amused, in that dispassionate way she had about her. "And who was this friend of yours?"

Turning back to the mech, Leo answered, "He was an automaton, too. A dragon like this one. But he was more than that, y'know? Had an intelligence about him that I know for a fact outmatches a few demigods here, probably smarter than I am. He saved my life a lot of times, actually. The last time, he saved me and Jason and Piper from a storm of laser fire, but he didn't make it out, and I promised that I'd rebuild him if I ever got the chance."

By the time he was finished, Leo had become lost in thoughts of Festus, and hadn't noticed that the girl had walked up to stand next to him until she spoke up at his shoulder, causing him to jump and drop the wrench he'd been holding. "A commendable task," she said, nodding once. "Is this why you do not partake of the game of Capture the Flag?"

Leo snorted. "Stuff like that's for people like Jason and Annabeth. I'm just the guy who fixes broken armor or hacks your boyfriend's Facebook account. What about you? Why aren't you out there shooting boxing gloves at my camp-mates? I thought it was every Hunter's favorite pass-time?" The corners of the girl's mouth twitched and pulled up until she had an absolutely breath-taking (in Leo's opinion) smile, even if it was miniscule. "And she smiles!"

"Yes, I do smile," the girl replied with a half-glare. "I simply do not find everything and anything amusing enough."

"So you need a reason to smile?" Leo wondered incredulously. "I mean, yeah, sometimes smiling isn't the proper reaction in some situations, but...well, my mother used to tell me, 'Sometimes, your joy is the source of your smile, but sometimes, mijito, your smile can be the source of your joy.'" Leo grinned wistfully as he turned his gaze to the girl. "I always used to be baffled by it when I was younger, but when she died...well, sometimes I had to smile so I didn't cry, but even then the smiling made me feel just a little better."

The girl was quiet for a bit, pondering on his words, and he hoped he hadn't made himself sound too sappy, but then she gave him a smile that practically blinded him with its beauty, and he noticed that she had dimples and that her cold icy eyes became pools of molten silver when she smiled. "Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, something beautiful," she said, and a memory sparked in Leo's brain.

"That was Mother Teresa, wasn't it?" he asked. "My mom loved quoting her."

"Your mother sounds like a wise woman," the girl replied with a bob of the head. "She raised a boy who isn't entirely repulsive."

Leo's grin became a smirk. "From a Hunter, I'll take that as a compliment. How long have you been in the Hunt, anyway?"

"For a very long time," she answered vaguely. "Since the beginning, in fact."

"Then you know Artemis pretty well, then?"

"Better than anyone," she responded, the beginnings of her own sly smile coming to her lovely face.

"Do you..." Leo began, and as his courage faltered, he bolstered it with thoughts of himself facing down the Mother of All Big Bads and continued, "Do you think she'd turn me into a jackelope if I told you that you have a beautiful smile?"

The Hunter's stunned face was enough for Leo to count it as a victory, even if he'd probably never get a chance to talk to her again. The gobsmacked expression quickly morphed to one of suspicion and mistrust.

"I believe that is a very possible outcome," she practically hissed. "You may not be altogether horrible, Leo Valdez, but you are still a man, and therefore you are prone to the same curse of infidelity all of your gender are."

"Infidelity?" Leo very nearly laughed. "Honey, I'd need someone to actually want to be in a relationship with me in order to be unfaithful, and unfortunately, I can't see that happening anytime soon." It was a sore subject for the self-proclaimed 'Seventh Wheel' (he'd taken Nemesis' title for him and rolled with it, pardon the pun). Everyone was having fun with their better half while Leo was left out in the cold. Not that he blamed anyone for their happiness, he wasn't that jaded and hard-hearted (Lord no!), but it was hard not to feel a tinge of bitterness at the way it all turned out.

"I don't understand," the Hunter finally admitted.

"Let me clear it up for you, sister. I'm Leo Valdez, the mechanic, the sidekick, the one that didn't get the girl. I catch on fire when I get excited or nervous, I can't keep my fingers still for a freakin' second, and the only thing I'll ever be remembered for is as the guy who almost burned New Rome to the ground. I don't think any girl would ever want to fall in love with someone like me, let alone two! At least any chick screwed up enough to take me in won't have to deal with me cheating on her because, even if I was a jerkass and had any desire to do something like that, no other woman would have me!" He chuckled sourly. "So you can see why infidelity will never be an issue for me, huh?"

She was silent for a long while, as if debating with herself. Leo took the time to set a few of the finished scales into their housing on the frame of 'Festus 2' (working title), thinking how much he'd screwed up by blurting out all of his stupid feelings of insecurity. Then again, Piper always was on his back about sharing his emotions with other people. Who knows, maybe this would turn out for the better? Or at least not end with him as a jackalope.

Finally, the girl lifted her head and caught his gaze with her eyes. Gosh, they were so silver. Come to think of it, Leo had never seen that shade on any other person in the world, the closest being Annabeth's cloudy gray. This girl's seemed to shine with an almost ethereal, divine glow, like moonbeams...

Wait...

While he was busy putting the pieces together in his head, the girl stepped up close to him, searching his eyes for something. "You are not like other males, Leo Valdez," she said. "There is a sadness about you, a soul-rending heartache which has forced you to become strong. I understand that Gaea and Hera have made your life as miserable as it is."

Leo was unable to respond, mesmerized as he was by those pools of silver. "I also recall my Hunters telling tales of your battle against that abominable snow bitch, Khione," here, the Hunter's expression grew pinched, as though she'd tasted something sour. "And then there's the whole debacle with Nemesis, too. You have had bad luck in your run-ins with goddesses."

Understatement of the century, Leo thought, but he was too anxious to voice it, seeing as how he might be talking to...

"Let me assure you that not all of us are that bad," she continued, moving even closer, right up into Leo's bubble of personal space. "After all, you might be just the man I've been waiting for all these millenia."

And that just about confirmed it. Leo felt his head getting fuzzy at the close proximity between himself and this vision of beauty. Her face was so near to his that it dominated his line of sight, it was all he could see, and then...bliss.

Her lips were so soft, and the kiss so hesitant that he was reluctant to move lest he frighten her away like a grazing doe or a delicate hummingbird. But then, maybe she wanted to be chased a little, because where was the fun in that? So, mustering up all the bravery he'd shown facing down Gaea, Leo pressed their lips more firmly together as his arms encircled her waist.

It was a chaste first kiss, not filled with passion or lust, but with uncertain feelings too fragile and tender to be ruined with such coarse emotion, and when it was over, Leo immediately wanted more. He quashed down that particular urge, wondering how many seconds (or hours, or sunlit days) had passed, and when he opened his eyes he was met with her moonlight eyes.

When her forehead touched his gently, and he was sure she wasn't going to disintegrate him horribly, he grinned cheekily, and asked, "D'ya think Artemis is going to turn me into a jackelope after that?"

With a matching smirk, Artemis the Hunter answered, "I just might, Leo Valdez, so stay on your toes."

And that, my friends, is how Leo found his girl and lived happily ever after...at least, until Apollo got wind of it.

After-Action Report: Well, there you have it! The very first Leo/Artemis ship fic ever. If you liked it, please review so I can thank you. If you disliked it, please review and tell me why. If you just wanna talk, please review and we can chat. But seriously, if you read this...REVIEW! FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS DECENT, REVIEW!