𝕱𝖗𝖎𝖊𝖓𝖉𝖑𝖞 𝖋𝖎𝖗𝖊 - a Leo Valdez slowburn

Chapter seventeen

Chapter seventeen. 

[Two out-casts and a mafia boss]

"When you start thinking of what you haven't done,

you really how infinitely miniscule you truly are."

The remaining time of the trip was... interesting. 

Leah and Aiden chose to take the bus to Venice from Milan, seeing that the train tickets were more expensive and they'd gotten sick of trains in general. They called ("oh sorry, IriS mEssaGeD", Aiden had corrected themselves) the people at Camp Half-Blood and the Hunters quite some times, resulting in Aiden being scolded and Leah being praised. 

"Clear favoritism," Aiden stated after he sipped from his water bottle he'd refilled at the hotel. Leah snorted. "You just let me fall into a coma and put my life in the hands of a Celtic goddess who healed me with drugs," she replied, snickering. "I wouldn't exactly call that responsible." "I had to! And besides, Will agreed it would-" "Could," Leah corrected him. They rolled their eyes. "Could work," he grumbled. 

They'd already dropped off their stuff at their hotel in Oradea, leaving Venice in the dust. "Because we-" "don't have time to lose," Leah cut them off with an eye roll, then elbowed him in the ribs. "Come on, I already know, you told me before." She pointed at a café across the street.

"You want coffee?" Aiden shrugged. "Sure," they replied, "why not?" Leah nodded in satisfaction, grabbing his hand and dragging him across. "Exactly." 

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Aiden stirred the sugar tiredly into his coffee. 

"What is..." they squinted, then perked up. "Your favorite color?" he asked out of the blue [you see what I did there 'color' 'blue' hahahahaha please take all electronics away from me-]. Leah raised an eyebrow. "What's yours?" she asked suspiciously. 

"Green. Yours?"

"Which green, Aiden?" Aiden scrunched up their nose, annoyed, then huffed dramatically. "Sage green, flower girl," he replied lazily, slinging their arm around her shoulder. Leah closed her eyes and hummed. "Yeah, that's a nice color." She rested her head on Aiden's shoulder. "My favorite would be..." She yawned and sipped her coffee. "Wine red?" Aiden held back a laugh. 

"Hey! Why are you laughing?" She asked, an offended pout on her face. "No reason," they wheezed out. "It's just-" he waved with his hand, "red is such an aggressive color. And I mean, you're-" Leah got up from Aiden's shoulder and hit them on the head. "I am not aggressive!" "You're just proving my point!" 

"Fine," Leah agreed. "I might be aggressive." "Might is an understatement if I've ever heard one," Aiden snickered. Leah glared at them. "Shut up, poet boy," she hissed. 

Aiden shut up. 

"Anyway," she continued, "wine red's a pretty color. Also, blood is often wine red." She had an innocent smile on her face. "Do with that information what you will." Aiden's eyes had widened. "What do you MEAN dO witH thAt infOrmaTion whAt yOu wiLl-" His voice cracked in almost every word, Leah noticed. "Exactly what I said is what I meant. Do with it what you will." She changed the subject.

"We haven't really done stuff like this," she thought out loud. Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Wanna play twenty-one questions?" they asked the other demigod. Leah nodded. "Sure. What do you wanna start with?" "What's your favorite animal?" Leah squinted in thought. "Uh... maybe wolves?" Aiden closed his eyes. "I see that," he commented.