The Wants of a Young Demigod Heart (Nico di Angelo, Leo Valdez x OC)

Magic of Christmas

Leo POV

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I stay up, tossing and turning all night, mainly becasue my stomach feels like crap. When I do finally fall asleep, Noah shakes me violently awake.

"Can you teach me how to turn my bed into a rocket?" 

"Sure!" See, I have no issues teaching people how to solve problems. It's when they ask me to do stuff and then don't bother to check in until I screw something up. At any rate, Noah and I end up blowing up his bed. 

"What did you do?" Merrily bursts into Noah's room to find Noah and I standing slightly guiltily by what used to be a bed. 

"Making a rocket." Merrily rubs her nose. 

"How did this happen?"

"Well," I begin slowly. "I was just minding my own business--"

"BS!" 

"I was!"

"Really?"

"Yes!" Noah nods his head furiously. 

"My grandma is going to kill me!" Merrily moans. 

"No, she won't," I say, waving my hand. "I have a plan."

Merrily sighs in relief. "Oh, thank goodness."

"It involves fire!"

"Absolutely not." Okay, seriously. All I was going to do was inplement an alarm clock that wakes you up by shooting streams of fire. 

"I did the math, and there's only a sixty percent chance of the house burning down," I explain. 

"Only sixty?" Merrily screeches. 

Noah waves his hands in front of his hysterical counsin's face. "Calm down, M. We'll rebuild it."

"You better, and before Grandma finds out," she hisses and storms away. 

"I ship it..." Noah whispers.

Merrily POV

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I can not believe those two thought it would be a good idea to build a rocket, much less inside of a house! I take a few deep breaths and pause outside my room. Seth is still recovering from last night. I left him alone to process things, which was when I heard the explosion from Noah's room. I can hear the shower running, so I tiptoe quietly into my and Ellie's room. Ellie is still sleeping, which I'm very thankful for. Ellie is a fairly light sleeper, so if she didn't wake up, no one else should have either. 

I duck under my covers with a flashlight and continue reading until my grandma knocks on my door to get us up two hours later. I get changed and hurry out to the kitchen where my grandma, Leo, Noah, and Seth are sitting at the bar. Noah and Leo have changed clothes and cleaned up. Seth's eyes are red-rimmed, but he gives me a bright 'good morning' and smile. 

There's a delicious looking spread of food, so I grab a chocolate chip muffin and eggs and bacon and sit down. Leo gives me an awkward sideways grin.

"Good morning, Merrily, how did you sleep?"

"Okay," I reply. "What are we doing today?"

"I was thinking we could take a small trip to Helen," my grandma tells me. "You've heard of it."

"Yeah," I muse, taking a bite of my eggs. "It's a really cute town. Is everyone going?"

"Of course," my grandma replies, as she throws some ham on to a pan. "Including Leo." Leo's head snaps up, his chocolate brown eyes widening in shock.