Daughter of Olympus - [Leo Valdez xF!Oc]

Fates' First Mistake Was Giving Me a Body, the Second? A Will

"Nico!"

"Ara!" Lily shouts, running after her friend.

Ara's never compared to her in speed, no matter how good she is at other stuff, so Lily reaches Nico way sooner.

"Don't listen to her!"

The boy looks at the girls with confusion. "What happened?"

"She made a fool of herself," Ara pants and supports both hands on her knees, trying to catch her breath. "Oh, gods, how can you run uphill like that? You're a cyborg or something?"

"You must be thirsty, Neeks, let's go get you something!" Lily tries to take him away.

"Wait," Nico smirks. "Is this boy-related?"

"Yes!"

Lily glares at Nico with determination. "Yesterday Leo used his shirt to clean his face and Ara was staring so hard she walked straight into a wall!"

"Connor heard Leo calling me sunshine," Ara acts like she didn't hear anything. "And he was making fun of us, so he called Lily 'My sweetheart' as a way to mock Leo, but Lily was drinking coffee—"

"He caught me off guard!"

"She spat it all over Connor!" Ara cackles. "Her face was redder than a strawberry!"

Nico never really laughs, but he enjoys hearing their funny stories, especially if they have to do with how they embarrass themselves in front of the guys they like. Ara and Lily rarely fail at stuff, so he thinks it's fair they suck at this.

"I hate you," Lily tries to seize Ara.

Ara sneaks away giggling, she uses Nico as a shield and he stays out of it. Nico moves forward while the girls chase each other around him until they reach the Big House.

"So you two are in your boy-crazy era?" He asks, sitting on the porch steps.

Ara wrinkles her nose. "Is that what this is?"

Lily blushes. "I'm not boy crazy! My brain works just fine, don't compare me to the Aphrodite!"

"You can judge me all you want, but I have a boyfriend and you can't even take a compliment without gagging."

"Lily's just playing the long game, aren't you?" Nico teases her. "I'm sure she'll tell Connor right before they die, so they can spend eternity together."

Ara snorts and Lily raises one fist as if to punch the boy, but he lifts one finger to stop her.

"Attenta, Saggio," he grins. "Don't wanna anger your patron, right?"

"Let me anger him for you, babe," Ara gets up to punch Nico, but Lily trips her.

"Stay away from each other," Lily warns them. "Now's not only my patron I've got to worry about, Nico. Did you know Leo can summon fire?"

"Leo won't fight my battles," Ara states calmly. "Especially when it comes to Nico. Kicking his ass is the highlight of my weekends."

"Likewise, hobbit."

***

We have no problem finding the palace, but Lily keeps glancing back at Cerberus longingly.