Hey, this is my first story for the Percy Jackson/heroes of Olympus series and it is about my adorable favourite character Leo who I feel has the worst luck on board the Argo! I get the feeling that the others don't know him as well as they should so here is my way of getting Leo a little more recognition. It is set somewhere in the Mark of Athena before they reach Rome. Leo has not met Calypso (the other canon pairings will be mentioned but I prefer to keep this story about their bonds with Leo so there wont be too much lovey-dovey stuff). Nico is not on the ship (feel free to make up any reason for that it is just enough of a pain to control seven demigods).

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters as our troll lord Rick Riordan happens to be the only one to enjoy this privilege.

Leo's P.O.V

It had been a pretty ordinary day aboard his spanking hot Argo ll, though ever since he had found out about the fact that he was a half Greek demigod, his definition of the word ordinary had changed considerably. See, in the past, ordinary would have meant that he had escaped from another foster home and was now sitting in a sewer hoping to avoid child services. Now an ordinary day consisted of at least two monster attacks - and that was just before lunch. He had spent most of the day at the helm talking to Festus in the unique creak and squeak language that he had come to value. Though it hurt like hell-fire (he snorted internally at that thought because the concept of fire hurting him anyway but emotionally was largely foreign and he wasn't touching upon that topic right now) to see the previously glorious bronze dragon stuck to the front of his boat. His friends hadn't seemed to realise just how much that loss had truly effected him which sadly enough wasn't to much of a surprise as Leo was used to his friends not noticing his true feelings. With that depressing thought bouncing around his curly-haired head, he rose from where he had been sitting on the deck and stretched, feeling the soothing weight of his tool belt fastened around his slim hips. No more depressing thoughts, he mentally scolded himself. It was his turn to make tea tonight due to Hazel's idea of a meal every Friday that had to be cooked by one of the crew members. This had quickly turned into a let Leo, Hazel, Piper and Annabeth cook the food while we stay back in fear of more culinary disasters routine. The other three had been banned from the kitchen after some pretty horrendous crimes against cooking and the only four demigods who had a semi-decent cooking ability had decided to take over the schedule before someone got food poisoning. Leo sighed as he turned and walked towards the kitchen, trying to ignore the faint echoes of "seventh wheel" that had been roaring around his head like the motorbike that Nemesis had been riding. He failed.

Hera's P.O.V

The goddess frowned as she observed the young captain of the Argo ll. She had noticed that the son of Hephaestus was not quite understood by the rest of her heroes and (though she loathed to admit it) she did have a soft spot for the boy who she had been training practically since birth to become one of her chosen few. It was annoying to see the way the other demigods often ignored the boy, to caught up in their romantic liaisons. The goddess' frown deepened and most creatures of Olympus carefully avoided the queen as she contemplated ways to rectify the situation. After all, these children were needed (and she was glad that her husband could not hear this) and they needed them united. Suddenly Hera realised that there was a way for the demigods to get to know the small fire user better. Hera rose and the frown turned into a mush more terrifying smile, and anyone who had withstood the previous expression now scrambled away with utmost haste. Hera had a plan. And woe betide anybody who got in the way of her new little scheme.

General P.O.V

Seven demigods had gathered to sample a taste of Leo's fine cuisine. Most did not know how he had learned to cook this well, but they chose to ignore this fact in favour of actually eating the delicious meal that their resident joker had prepared for them. Coach Hedge had already eaten and was currently making sure that nothing attacked the ship while the heroes ate. Frank and Percy were discussing the unusual relations that they had (and he fact that one of these relations was a horse while the other was a cyclops really sums up how that conversation was going), Jason and Annabeth were comparing the tactics used by the Greeks and the tactics used by the Romans and Piper was trying to explain to Hazel that, no jedi was not an actual religion and that Leo simply though he was a lot funnier than he actually was while said prankster tried not to joke on his own paella (he had made sure that piper's had stayed strictly vegetarian but he loved sharing a little bit of his culture with his team mates) at the fact that poor, naive hazel had actually believed him. The atmosphere was warm and Leo had managed to push down the thoughts that had been plaguing him earlier and was just enjoying the fact that he was actually sitting down to have a meal with people he cared about, when a bright flash enveloped everybody in the room and they slowly lost their grip on conciousness.

When all of the seven had woken up, they found themselves in a plain room with white walls, a basic beige carpet, an extended couch that looked big enough for all of them to sit on comfortably and a large flat screen TV. As they rapidly scanned the room, they also took a quick inventory and found that they still had all of there weapons (Leo still had his tool belt) which was odd because most monsters didn't leave them with a means of fighting back. Or provide an awesome telly. For a few moments everyone stood ready for battle and waiting for the latest monster/megalomaniac follower of Gaia to spring up and attack them. It was a surprise then when instead of an enemy, Hera appeared (though some of them questioned whether or not they would have preferred an attack over a visit fro the goddess who had royally screwed up a lot of their lives).

"What in the name of Hades are you doing here?" Annabeth spat at one of her least favourite goddesses.

"Ah child of Athena, I had forgotten how unpleasant it was to be in your presence, however, despite how much I enjoy your petty insults, I am here for a very serious reason".

At these words, all the demigods stiffened.

"Hey Tia, I think that we have all had enough of your serious reasons so if you'll excuse me, I have a boat to pilot".

Leo crossed his arms and glared up at Hera who shook her head at the boy's insolence. However, she reminded herself that it was for a good cause and decided to inform her champions of what they were doing there.

"I have gathered the seven of you here today because you are to be the champions of the gods and to this you need to be a true team. Yet, through your incessant need to be with your respective girlfriend or boyfriend, you have neglected a key member of your team. I feel that you simply do not know Leo Valdez enough to complete your mission well, therefore you will stay here watching moments of his life."

Hera smiled, satisfied that her good deed of the year had been fulfilled and she could now go back to Olympus and try and avoid her husbands wrath for communicating with the children. At Hera's words a chorus of protests rang out, with the loudest coming from a very frazzled Leo.

"We don't have the time to-"

"We can't do that-"

"Invasion of privacy-"

"No freaking way!"

All heads whipped to the (literally) steaming Latino as his hands balled into fists at his sides and small flames flickered in his dark hair.

"No freaking way," he repeated softly "and besides, how in the name of Hades are we even here and don't we have a quest with a very short expiration date to fulfil soon? You know, stopping the end of the world, taking selfies over our vanquished enemies, that sort of thing." At this Piper, Annabeth and Hazel shook their heads while Percy and Jason looked amused and Frank was just startled that Leo knew a word as big as vanquished that wasn't related to anything mechanical. Hera simply smiled.

"I am a goddess and the wife of Zeus, the king of Olympus, many beings owe me favours. I have had time changed so that a whole day in this room is simply a minute outside, you can still complete your quest on time."

"Wait, why have you never called this favour in before," Percy fumed "that could have been really helpful when we were trying to destroy Kronos!"

"Foolish son of Poseidon, when we are fighting beings as ancient as the titans, magic such as this would be of no use. Anyway, you will learn about the boy and your team shall grow stronger. I am not offering you a choice here so settle down and perhaps you might actually get to know Valdez properly." With a final glare, Hera disappeared from he room, leaving seven shocked demigods. After some choice cussing in a wide variety of languages, they realised that if Hera wanted them to sit down and watch this home movie of Leo's life the they would. Frank was the first to sit on the couch - with Hazel following swiftly after. Eventually all were seated in this order from left to right: Frank, Hazel, Annabeth, Percy, Leo Jason and Piper. Percy and Jason were trying to avoid being burnt by the enraged mechanic as he muttered curses in what they assumed was Spanish under his breath and fiddled with something inside of his toolbelt. And then the telly flickered to life.

So feel free to leave me a review, but don't bother sending flames as I have a favourite character who is impervious to fire and I'm not afraid to unleash him.