Arsonist's Lullabye ──── Leo Valdez

𝟏𝟒: 𝐂𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬

─────𝐕𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝.

That could be the best part of Leo's life story. Vincent kept staying with him. Vincent didn't want to leave him. Yay! A small part of Leo's brain was overjoyed. 

They watched Jason and Piper look at them a few times, hesitating on the stairs before they disappeared from view, following after the ice princess. 

"She's hot," Leo said once he was sure she was out of earshot. 

"Hot?" Cal frowned, "Khione will kill you for that."

"I meant in a more... nevermind" Leo turned to Vincent who was examining the frozen curtains, "What are you doing?"

"Crunchy curtains" Vincent shrugged. Leo couldn't get over his duality. A moment ago, he had been threatening Cal and now he was focusing on frozen, stiff curtains.

"You smell" Calais told them helpfully, "Valet service?" 

"You guys have valet service?" Vincent raised an eyebrow (raise both eyebrows, show off). "Cool, can I get my clothes cleaned? I only have one other pair of everything and I'm just now realizing I should have at least packed more underwear"

Leo snorted. He missed Vincent's blurting. He truly said anything and everything that was on his mind. 

Cal was pretty fun when he wasn't threatening them, as Leo discovered. He led them through different hallways inside the hotel. Leo had never been somewhere this fancy. Everywhere he looked, there was something expensive. 

The hallways were lined with art that probably cost more than anything Leo had ever owned, and even the cleaning service people were better dressed than the two demigods Cal led through the hallways.

Eventually, they ended up in a huge closet while Cal stayed outside. He instructed them to give their clothes and the valet service would bring them back cleaned and steamed.

As soon as the door closed, Leo regretted it. 

Sure, he was happy to be alone with Vince again. And sure, getting his clothes cleaned meant the ice princess— Khione would pay a little more attention to him. But at the same time, they had just let themselves be locked in a room by a Boread. Not their best moment. Whoops.

"It's not locked," Vincent told him, like he was reading his mind. "Plus, I have my sword, doofus. If anything goes sideways, don't worry, I'll protect you, princesa."

Leo groaned. He really regretted teaching Vincent spanish. 

"So, what do we do now?" Leo asked him. 

"Give the hockey guy our clothes, duh." Vincent began stripping. 

No, seriously. 

He took off his denim jacket which had seen better days. Then he started tugging off his t-shirt, the fabric catching on his elbows halfway through. 

It wasn't ice cold in the supply closet or whatever that room was where Cal had stuffed them for the time being. There were a few shelves of cleaning equipment, but also a reasonable amount of space. Fucking rich people closet. Leo grew up sleeping on cold hard pavement and if this is what a closet looked like to some people, he was going to lose his mind.

Even though there was enough space for the two of them, Leo bumped into a shelf when he took in a sharp breath and walked back. The wooden shelf dug into his shoulder blades, but all he could focus on was the boy in front of him.