Nothing's ever easy(Leico/Valdangelo)

Chapter 13: Finally-

3rd Person POV

"Ugh! Finally, Paris hath cometh to thy group~!" Leo chanted as he set the sonar on to keep the Argo ll unseen. Despite their current situation, the group was quite happy to arrive in Paris. Sure they'd been there before, but NOW it wasn't on the lines of the whole, 'saving the world' thing.

Nico appeared to be the only one who was having trouble getting his anxiety under control. Leo caught this and tried to reassure him that it'd be okay. Nico weakly agreed as they walked off the ship and into the busy streets.

While Jason and Percy tried to look around as most as their little demi-hearts could, Hazel turned to Nico who was glancing around, trying to keep himself as small as possible,"should we get a place to stay while we're here? It would make sense." Nico agrees and called attention to Annabeth who corralled the boys with the help of Piper.

The teens roamed Paris until a hotel looking place appeared. Leo and Percy were in awe of the delicately that held the decor and how sharp and precise the structures were. But morale seemed to drop when they realized that the desk lady spoke in French. But suddenly moods were soaring when Piper revealed her forgotten secret to speak French, being able to ask for some rooms.

The lady scanned the group of 7 and turned back to Piper, saying something and gesturing to Leo and Nico. Nico caught the gesture, Leo was too busy wondering what they could do for fun. Piper giggled and nodded, replying which made the lady grin and hand her three keys.

Nico had the temptation to pull up Google translate and see just what they were saying, but Piper was already walking away with the rest.

Leo was looking around, quite liking the build of the structures around him, and barely caught the call the lady shot back in withered English, "happy pride!" Leo glanced to the side at Nico, whose face was red and his eyes were round. Leo chuckled and pulled him along to Piper who gave out the keys.

One to Leo and Nico, one to the girls, and one to Jason and Percy. They were confused but Annabeth told them to get over it.

Leo was just excited to see the room. He unlocked it quickly and gasped at how clean and how pretty the room was.

There was a hallway that opened up to the small room. A bed in the middle of the left wall, and a closet taking the right wall. On the wall opposite to the door. There was a balcony with soft, white curtains pulled back from the opening. Before Leo could speak the warmth in his palm suddenly left and Leo whipped to the side, only seeing the chains once more, but this time they were longer, about 3 feet. Nico looked relieved and Leo felt his spirits dampen a bit, only for Nico to speak.

"I think were close by Cupid. It would make sense for the spell to have a less tightened hold now." This confused the Latino as he would've thought it was the other way around, so Nico sighed and explained, "the spell is like a leash. The farther away from it's owner, the tighter the hold. The closer we are to the owner, or the caster, it gives more leeway." THIS made more sense as Leo nodded.

"But what to do now? It's almost sunset." Nico seemed to be deep in thought, wondering the same thing. But Leo had a stupid idea wash over him and he opened his mouth before he thought. "Let's go out. I mean- see if there's any restaurants nearby. I don't wanna wait for the others. It'd be nice to just uh- you know, talk about it together, or at least -erm plan something about our uh- current situation."

Nico shot Leo an amused look but nodded, "sure. Why not?" Leo grinned while he pulled out French currency from the toolbelt, this left Nico bewildered, but he didn't question it.

They quietly slipped out of the room and made their way down the hall to the lobby. Leo pulled on the magic connection and Nico quickened his pace.

Both of them looked around. Looking for a restaurant or even just something nice to catch some food. The duo exchanged some conversation while walking until Leo found a nice, small cafe, with a front porch out and table.

Out of habit he grabbed Nico's hand and tugged them along. The sun was tapping the horizon when they were seated. Turns out Leo had picked an Italian restaurant that just so-happened to be in Paris, so Nico could communicate nicely.

A waiter popped up, asking what they would like. He had an Italian accent like Nico, but Nico's wasn't as thick as the newcomer's. They ordered a meat dish that had pasta wrapped around the side with some garlic bread as a side.

At first Leo and Nico shot into a conversation about their lives growing up and when they found out that they were demigods. When the food arrived the waiter smiled and said, "Godere." Nico gave a small smile and replied.

"Grazie per il pasto," Leo felt that burning again. It waved and lashed in his chest and spread to his face. While his heart sped to every breath. His mind wandered to unknowing places and Leo caught himself surprised when his memory replayed Nico replying in Italian, and Leo feeling a new emotion. One that couldn't be placed quite yet. But before his thoughts could go haywire again, he knocked the side of his head.

Shaking the thoughts away, he caught Nicon with a raised eyebrow. Leo held his hands up in a hurry to cover himself up, "just thinkin'! I'm wondering if Cupid was just bored. Or if he actually had a reason for uh- this." He gestured to the chains while Nico ate a bit, nodding.

"Usually I wouldn't care. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't wondering the same thing." The Italian replied. Leo gave himself a half pat on the back for a quick recovery of intrusive thoughts, "another thing. Is I don't know where we should start looking for Cupid. Not like I want to, but..." Nico muttered the last bit, trailing off at the end and Leo knew what he meant.

Nico rested his cheek in the palm of his hand as Leo took a bite of the small, shared plate. A small breeze rolled through and caught a bit of Nico's hair over his face.

As he curled the rouge strands behind his ear. Leo felt his cheeks burn and his mind melt while Nico huffed in fake-annoyance. Leo snickered causing Nico to flip him off. Leo was more then happy to send the gesture back. After a bit they were pushing the conversation back to other topics. Leo had the current spotlight, and Nico was content with sitting and listening. The son of Hades was secretly taking this moment nicely, he liked being the center of someone's world for a few moments.

"...and I'll tell you. The first and only time I've ever heard the big guy curse. Is when Mrs. O'Leary startled all of us. She jumped out to greet us, and Frank just about jumped out of his goody two-shot. Because he hid behind a hill and yelled, 'holy shit'!" Nico snickered, not believing that Frank Zhang had uttered a curse word, not even one such as 'shit' too.

Leo and Nico played the bill when they were done and decided they weren't ready to go back yet. This time Nico had remembered another cursing scenario.

"Okay, okay. So Jason, Pecy, and I were going 2v1 in the arena one time. Percy and I against Jason. We had just finished and Jason leaned on the weapon rack, having a longsword drop on his foot. It wasn't sharo, and it was only the blunt of the blade. But it was heavy. Jason blurted, 'dammit'. Which led Percy to flip his shit." Leo broke out laughing, catching his ribs during so. A couple people stared, which made Nico anxious. But the sounds of the Latino's laughter was enough to bring him out of it.

"I can't- holy fuck! Sparky? Cursing? That's better then Frank!" Nico had to say it was equally surprising for Jason and Frank. But he nodded along anyways.

However, as they walked along the sidewalk, a voice was heard behind them.

"Leo Valdez. Mr. Di Angelo." The pair turned and Nico felt his familiar anger boil at Cupid's servant. Leo nudged Nico's shoulder.

"Whelp. That answers our question from before..." Nico just nimbly nodded.

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