All's Fair In Love And War

Something New

"I'm. So. Bored!" Lou complained, flopping down across my lap.

"Lou, get off!" I shoved at her.

"Reyna, entertain me!"

"You're worse than a cat." Gwen commented.

The daughter of Tr-Hecate. She was a daughter of Hecate-the daughter of Hecate didn't look up. "Thank you."

"Get off." I pushed her onto the floor.

"Ugh, Reyna!" She whined.

"Ugh, Lou!" I whined back.

"Ugh, both of you shut up." Gwen flicked a piece of an eraser at me. I grabbed her sketchbook and turned it over to look at it.

"Give that back!"

"Nope! These are really good." I flipped through the book. "How do you get the color so flawless?"

"Magic." Gwen shrugged. I raised an eyebrow, asking for explanation.

"Daughter of Arcus. I have some control over color, using light and rainbows."

"Cool!" Now Lou was sitting up, engaged in the conversation. "Can you show me?"

Gwen poked my shirt, turning it a bright red.

"Why am I the test subject? Lou asked!"

"You were closer."

"Change it back."

Gwen rolled her eyes and fixed my shirt, the crimson color bleeding away and leaving a light purple.

"Thanks, Gwen."

"'Course." Gwen looked over my shoulder. "Hi Nico!"

"Hey, Gwen. Reyna, you busy?"

I turned to look at him. "Not at the moment, what's up?"

Nico shrugged. "Nothing, just wanted to know if you'd be up to a little adventure."

"Well, I was going to hang out with Gwen and Lou-"

"Go on, we'll keep each other company." Gwen urged, shooting me a wink when Nico glanced off to the side, looking at something over in the corner of the room.

I shot her a dirty look, but stood up. "Alright, what did you have in mind."

Nico grabbed my hand and pulled me into a shadow without answering.

"What the Pluto, di Angelo!" We had appeared on top of a building. The wind whipped my braid across my face and ripped at my loose tank top.

"Sorry! Wrong place!" Instead of grabbing my hand again, Nico just clamped his hand down on my shoulder and we disappeared again.

"Ah, there we go."

"How in Jupiter's name did you miss this place?" I asked.

Nico went red in the shadowy lighting. "Shut up."

We were in the lobby of some sort of gaming place. Machines whirred on all sides and over against the wall, there was a counter with prizes hung behind it.

"So why are we here?"

"I needed someone who could keep up." Nico started dragging me towards the counter.

"What can I do for you?" The girl behind the counter asked, smiling at us.

"Two for the arena." Nico pulled a gold card from his back pocket and plopped it down on the counter.

The girl took the card and looked at it, then examined Nico suspiciously. "Where did you get this?"

"It's my dad's. Go ahead, ring it up. Hadrien di Angelo."

The girl slid the card through the slot and read the computer screen. "Alright, Mr. di Angelo. Cassi!" She turned to the other girl working, a bleach-blonde chick with too much makeup who seemed more interested in her phone than her surroundings. "Two for the arena, get them the stuff!"

"Whatever." Cassi didn't look up as she meandered into the back room. The girl helping us sighed.

"Sorry about her. It might take a little while."

"We can wait." Nico promised her with a smile.

"Seriously, Nico, what are we doing?" I asked as the girl moved to help a little boy who was holding a fistful of tickets.

"You'll see." I punched his shoulder. "Ow!"

The Cassi girl came through the door again, carrying two duffel bags.

As she reached the counter, she gave Nico a once over. "No charge." She plopped the bags down.

"I already paid." Nico said.

"Well I can fix that." Cassi leaned on the counter, exposing more than enough cleavage through her undone button down uniform and batting her eyelashes.

"Uh..." Nico seemed thrown off by this turn of events.

I rolled my eyes and wrapped my arm around his waist. "C'mon babe, I want to get started."

Cassi's eyes narrowed at me and she stood up again. "Never mind."

Another small kid ran up to the counter and Cassi walked over to help him with a sigh.

"Okay, what's going on?" I asked as Nico unzipped the bags and began to dig through them.

He turned around with a grin, holding two very strange looking guns.

"Laser Tag."

-------------------------------

"I win!" I began jumping up and down.

Nico and I had entered the arena, working together to methodically take down everyone else. They had been good sports about it, staying to watch us as we decimated everyone, only to have to fight each other in the end.

Nico had shot the last opponent, a boy of about eighteen who looked miffed to be beaten by two teens younger than him. Realizing what was next, I had dashed into the labyrinth of an arena.

Finding Nico had been relatively easy. As quiet as he was, he was a gangly teenage boy.

"Yeah yeah, now help me up!" Nico complained.

"Hmm...Nope!" I grinned and ran out of the arena, pulling my vest off as I did. I dumped the equipment on the counter and weaved through the room, throwing open the door and starting down the hallway.

A weight hit my back and my vision went black as we disappeared from where we were. As I hit the ground, soft carpet under me, Nico began to tickle me.

How had he found that out?! I shrieked with laughter while trying to shove him off, or at least wriggle free.

"Oh, you're going nowhere!" Nico pinned me down and continued his torture.

I gave up and just curled into a ball, laughing hysterically.

Nico continued to tickle me, crouching on the ground next to me to get a better angle. Before I could stop myself, my foot flew up and connected with his nose.

I froze as Nico fell backwards so he was lying flat against the floor.

"Ooooow." He whined thickly, his hands clamped over his nose.

I burst out laughing again.

[A/N bromance!]