A/N: I'm on a roll.

I'm not sure if this is going to be a multi-chapter story or not. If it's going to be, I hope it'll turn out alright. If not, then I guess this would at least be a part of the beginning of Caleo stories out there.

Percy Jackson & The Olympians/The Heroes of Olympus

Title: We're Not Sure What This Is But Let's Call It Partnership

Summary: Leo and Calypso's Garage: Auto Repair and Mechanical Monsters is now open for business. Fruits and vegetables sold separately. – Leo/Calypso. Spoilers for The House of Hades.

Disclaimer: I own nothing save for this story. Please don't sue.

~0~

An eyebrow shoots up and disappears to the hairline. "You're saying you're twenty-six?"

"And a half. Twenty-six and half."

"Twenty-six and half?" the cheerful man behind the desk intones. "You look nothin' like a twenty-six-year-old."

"That's because I'm a twenty-six-and-a-half-year-old," Leo replies.

The man – named Mr. Allan P. McCormick based on the glass plate situated neatly on the desk next to a hideous potted plant – breathes out a heavy sigh. "Well, you do look too young to be a mechanic."

Yes, yes I am. "Must be the moisturizer."

"Huh."

"Are there any problems with the permit, sir?" The person beside Leo, a golden-brown haired woman with dark eyes set in a pale, heart-shaped face, asks.

Mr. McCormick shakes his head. "No, I ain't got no problem. Just a few questions."

Well, damn. "Shoot." Leo smiles.

He turns to the girl, shooting a lame finger at her. "Born on March 14, 1995. Twenty-seven-years-old. Name is uhh, Calypso? Calypso Pana – Panguha –"

"Panghubazan," she corrects him simply. "Calypso Panghubazan."

Leo tries his best not to guffaw. After weeks of fighting over a proper surname – she was downright amazed that a plastic contraption that could respond to her touch and fit on the palm of her hand could give her anything she asked for under 0.26 seconds, much to Leo's exasperation and amusement –, Calypso picked an obscure one after finding a photo of a beautiful 30s South American actress in Google images.

"I want this one," he remembers Calypso say with finality.

It took a couple of minutes for his laughter to die down. "Why?"

"I do not know." She shrugged. "But it sounds like royalty."

McCormick grins. "Half-Latina? Last name's a damn mouthful if you don't mind me saying, miss. You two staying together? Living together?"

"Uhh, yes, sir. That's the idea," Calypso answers.

"Personal data sheet don't say nothing that you two are married," he announces with a nonchalant shrug, inadvertently scratching the huge mole on his cheek.

"We are not married. Sir."

"Boyfriend and girlfriend then?"

"No," Leo and Calypso react in unison.

"We are a – uh, we're a – "

"We're business partners," Calypso finishes for him. "We came here to Baltimore because we are interested in opening up our own business, Mr. McCormick. The time seems right."

Mr. McCormick lets out a throaty laugh. "Business partners, huh? Is that what the kids call it these days? My my, then consider my questions answered. For prying, I sincerely apologize. Protocol for first timers." He winks as he stamps the seal onto the papers and slides it to them. "Sure hope that business of yours would whip up a couple of goodies, eh? Godspeed Mr. Valdez and Ms. Panghababa. You're damn right this time's a good time."

~0~

"LEONARDO ALONZO VALDEZ! YOU GET DOWN HERE RIGHT THIS SECOND OR YOU ARE A DEAD MA – "

"Coming!" Leo licks the ink from the edges of the blueprints and scrambles to replace the torn, rickety shirt that the banshee downstairs hates with passion. He fastens the blueprints under his arm while popping his head into the hole of the white v-neck shirt he wore a day before yesterday and makes a run towards the doorknob. He lets out a huff. Trust Calypso to scream out his name and wake up the neighbors within a mile radius before dawn breaks.

Leo almost trips on the last steps of the stairs. "W-what is it?" he manages to say, almost out of breath.

Calypso puts up a flyer that Leo recognizes. He remembers taping it up on the front yesterday. "Care to explain this?"

Leo groans irritably. She interrupts his four o' clock brainstorming for a couple of throws on Leo's marketing. Again. For the fourth time in a row. He rubs his eye. "I don't see anything wrong with – "

"Free pudding for every $500 worth of service?" Calypso's tone is incredulous. "Are you nu – "

"Come on. Everybody loves pudding!"

She frowns. "There is no way this thing is going to market the shop. Besides, I abhor pudding."

"No offense, Cal, but everyone from this era loves pudding."

"I am not going to make that gooey, brown monstrosity! And what the Hades is this? Free minced pork and lettuce for a full car refurbish? That is – "

"Hey!" Leo interjects, trying for a sweet smile. "That's very reasonable, man. Look how much we're going to charge for every tinker, not to mention the cost of the leather car seats – "

Calypso shakes her head. "You are not going to put up ads that would have my cooking promote the shop."

This woman is unbelievable! Leo screams in his head. Not even the good ol' Valdez charm works on this caramel-haired behemoth. Of course. "Well," he sighs, opting for another tactic. "What do you want to do?"

She tells him animatedly, and Leo immediately blanches. "You want to sell plants."

"Yes."

"In an auto-repair shop."

"That is correct."

"I'll be swapping turbo kits while you hand over daisies?"

"We will be selling them, not giving them away," Calypso insists. "Besides, it will be good money."

"I dunno." Leo really doesn't know. The gods really didn't give much of a damn when the battle with Mother Earth came to an end – all they knew was that they won with a little help from the wimpy demigods (whoop-de-doo and hurrah, good job to you guys but sorry, no drachmas) when really, all the immortals did was prance around and made sure their hair looked good while they kicked Gaea's ass. All Zeus accounted to him was a small townhouse in Baltimore and Atlas' immortal daughter, and Hephaestus and Athena took pity on Leo and gave him a couple of tools to start his longtime dream with. The problem with Baltimore is that it is an unfamiliar territory to a Valdez, and that the number of people interested in planting a couple of shrubs ranges between zero and none.

"But why plants? I mean, you could always cook. Set up a joint catering business or something. People are always hungry. I am always hungry. Remember that stew we had last night? I have to say it, girl. Dora's backpack says delicioso."

"I do not know of this Dora of which you speak."

"She's a famous Spanish explorer with a monkey and a talking bag. But listen – "

"I will cook for you, Leo, but I will not cook for anybody else." Before Leo's eyes could widen, the girl backtracks. "I meant to say, I consider the food I make to be really special. It just… feels inappropriate when I cook for strangers."

"Well, you gave Percy a flower. Plants must be special, too." Uh-oh.

She glares at him full-on, and Leo feels a little tremor on his knees. His face flushes. He hits himself mentally for the jumping jacks his heart is doing and the stirring in his stomach. Now is not the time.

"We do not talk about that," she snaps.

"Oh," he replies weakly. "Okay."

Silence. They stare at each other for a few seconds.

"Umm," the girl starts. "So is it okay?"

Fuck it. "Yeah, why not? I guess it could work. You're the one who'd be selling them, after all. You'd do great." Leo clears his throat. "Unless you pull that stunt you did a few days ago, I think we'd be alright."

Calypso aims for a punch on his gut and miserably misses. She grimaces. "You were insufferable. Still are. You deserve to be impaled with a shovel."

Leo laughs. This girl and her threats.

"Is that –" Calypso's nose wrinkles as she takes a step closer to him. "Is that the same shirt you were wearing the day before?"

Surprised, Leo glances down at his torso and says, "Uhh, the day before the day before actually. Why?"

"It smells. You smell." She inches forward and grabs a fistful of his shirt. "You know how much I hate it when you recycle your clothes, Leo. Gods, I have made you a plethora of fireproof shirts and trousers but you – " She pulls the hem, ignoring Leo's loud protests, standing on her toes as she propels the cloth upward. "Manage to reek every time. Like a snake shedding its skin every hour. Disgusting! How can you – "

Calypso stops shortly, an uncharacteristic squeak escapes from her throat and Leo looks at her as her face began to flame. She takes a few steps back and shoots her nose in the air indignantly.

What is with this woman? Leo grumbles.

Calypso throws his shirt on his bare chest with much force. "Put it back on!" she shouts angrily.

"Huh? You just ripped it off from m –"

"I said put the shirt back on!" Her face is turning into a nice shade of burgundy now. "Put the shirt on! Now!"

Confused, Leo inserts his right arm into the hole. "Jeez, woman! I don't know what's with you! Do you always pluck off shirts from guys and screech at them to put it back on? By the gods, I don't know how Odysseus or Percy put up with you." When Leo's head resurfaces, he finds Calypso turning away, her oh-so-perfectly-slender back facing him. Great. "It's on now, hag. No need to worry."

"J-ju-just take them off later when I'm not in the room and put them in the hamper," she mumbles.

Leo shakes his head. "Whatever." He waves his hand. "I'm going up."

"Ugh. You are the most infuriating person I have ever met!"

"Right back at ya, Sunshine," he snickers as he heads for the stairs. And to think they've only been living together for eight days. This girl is going to make his eternity fly by like a year hanged in a tree. "Right back at ya."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed. Thanks for reading and please leave your thoughts by pressing the review button!