Chapter Text
By the time the seven decided to actually visit Rome as tourists, Hedge had died.
Well, not really. He’d jumped off the Argo II as soon as he heard the plan to go canoeing in Venice. Piper suggested they go look for him, but Jason just looked at her with a solemn expression and shook his head.
“He left on a mission,” Jason had said, which was entirely an assumption. “Let him fulfill it.”
No one argued.
Leo sort of felt bad for the goatman. It wasn't like they disliked him, no. On the contrary. None of the demigods would admit it, but they all felt a little safer knowing a raging maniac was on board. And he wasn’t exactly a father figure, per se, but his advice came in handy when you were, in fact, facing down bloodthirsty zombie-kraken hybrids. It has happened a small handful of times before they began yelling like Coach told them they should. Worked like a charm.
Maybe Leo's convincing himself he'd survive if he jumped down there with him. He'd much rather bellyflop into the Adriatic from a thousand miles above than go canoeing. In Venice.
“You’re being dramatic, repair boy,” Piper says, when he’s forced to admit his disapproval. She can be quite a pest when needed to.
He's too busy making a few repairs in the cloth of the sails to glare at her for the nickname. It's too hot outside for this conversation. He leans back after a minute of silence, legs straddling the mast while he surveys his handiwork. Piper can catch him if he falls, right?
Annoyingly, she starts pacing around him. Guess not, then.
“It's not even all that bad! We’ll get to see, like. The canals. Have actual nonmagic food for once.”
He groans, but internally. He'd never make the mistake of complaining to her face.
“Do I have to?" He says, taking care to make his tone normal. "I mean. You guys, you all can go, I'll stay up here. With um, the ship. With Festus.”
She looks at him, unimpressed. Her hands are on her hips, on the waist of those baggy jeans shorts that reach her knees. Leo wonders if he could borrow those sometime.
“I know you know Festus can take care of himself and the ship while we’re gone.” She reaches a hand to help Leo down, which he accepts, jumping down. “It's only for three nights, that's all.”
Leo’s head swivels fast enough that he gets a bit light headed.
“Three nights? For what? We would– we can go through the whole city in an hour, for gods’ sake. I–” he gestures around, a bit ridiculous. “I need to do repairs and things!”
A sigh, long and hard. Piper pinches the bridge of her nose.
“It's the minimum time we can stay at the hotel, okay? I really tried to see if they could accommodate us, but the receptionist was really apologetic and said no.”
At her honest tone, Leo feels slightly guilty. Her father's paying for all of this. He's already made the bookings. A good friend would shut the fuck up and do whatever Piper said.
Still, the thought of being out of his own space for three nights by himself is more than daunting. It's suffocating, filling his chest with lead. He coughs.
Piper sounds a bit tired, when she asks, “Could you please tell me why you really want to stay back? If it's just Argo II, then we’ll come here for lunch everyday.” Leo squints suspiciously. “You can tinker to your heart's content, okay?”
God, it's like he's a child. No, Piper, I cannot go on a trip that you're so generously taking me on because I'm too attached to my material belongings and am lying to your face. Yep. Perfectly moral.
He sighs, running a hand through his hair. “It's not. Well, it's not just the ship and Festus.” The words get stuck in his throat like they always do when he talks about the war. “You realize it'll be our first time we’ll be visiting, since after, you know?”
He still can't bring himself to talk about Gaea, after all this time. Couldn't imagine how it would've been like to see both wars, within a decade of each other. Something to thank the gods for.
Piper looks almost the same as he feels. “Yeah,” she says softly. “It will be.”
She links their hands together.
“But maybe it will be a different place, when it's just us. The real us, not the demigods we were reduced to.”
He smiles at her, at the little ways she sneaks her affection for him into their interactions. So long as Piper McLean is on this planet, he can't say he's unloved. And for love, you sacrifice. He’ll sacrifice his comfort so Piper and the rest of the seven can have a good time.
Festus starts whining mechanically, breaking Leo out of his reverie. Jason floats back onto the main deck, hair wind-touseled and purple Camp Jupiter shirt wrinkling, this way and that, as the air around him smoothly lets him land.
He’d gone outside to sort of scope out the danger, as well as find a park for them to keep the Argo II over. His glasses were crooked. Air resistance must have made them move around. How well can he see without his glasses? Leo should build him a goggle alternative.
Jason walks up to the two of them, noticing Leo’s uncertain smile and their interlinked fingers, and grins to himself.
Pulling up behind Piper, he wraps his hands around where her own were just a few minutes ago, resting his chin on her shoulder.
“Talking him into joining us, again?”
“Woah, woah, woah,” Leo says, an easy smirk on his face now. “If I'd known this were a threesome invitation, I'd never hesitate, but–”
Piper punches his arm lightly, and he laughs, happy the situation dissolved into giggles. It's easier that way.
Jason looks at him, like he's saying, but seriously, about the trip?
Leo's gotten scarily good at reading the other boy. It's almost uncanny, when Jason does say it.
Leo leans against the mast, pretending to consider it. Or maybe actually considering it. But he could never say no to his two best friends, so the answer was a given.
“Alright,” he says, dusting himself off. “But we video call Festus and Buford every second hour. Deal?”
Convincing Frank was an altogether different ordeal.
The son of Mars fought those gods-forsaken kettlebops or whatever on those same streets just a year ago. He was all by himself, too; Hazel and Nico don't know much more about it than anyone on the Argo does, just that Frank returned taller and much more buff than he left.
Italy, though it had been such a pain in the ass during the quest, didn't exactly need much selling. It was a beautiful, beautiful place, full of history and rich culture, a bit away from the gods and more about the people. Though the instinctual Greek part of him felt uneasy roaming (ha!) through streets that were tread by old roman heroes, he did feel this sense of familiarity because of their brief trip last year. It's not a negative feeling, yet.
Frank Zhang sleeps as a cat, Leo finds, when Jason shoves him into the common room during the afternoon hours. He'd said something about Frank listening to Leo more than anyone, which Leo knew to be a complete lie, but only because Hazel was busy helping Percy out with restocking the Medbay after Hedge apparently raided them.
He approaches the lounge chair, cautious to not wake Frank up. It's old and leather, vinted from somewhere only Chiron knows; Leo begged him to switch out the marble benches for something more comfortable and was met with an array of random pieces of furniture to fit into his precious ship.
His precious ship, which he'll be leaving all alone and unmanned above a city full of ghosts. He sighs.
The sound startles Frank the Cat, waking him. Leo watches as he stretches out, paws flexing, before he transforms into human Frank subconsciously. He's been getting good at that, shape shifting.
Leo sits down next to him without saying anything, on the arm of the chair. Frank still stretches, cracking his neck, unbothered by Leo's presence. It surprises him how quickly they've gotten used to each other.
“What's wrong?” Frank asks. Worried, like he always is, except now it's for good reason.
Leo laughs at his sleepy voice. “Guess where Pipes is taking us.”
“I don't know,” he says, rubbing his eyes. “Where are we, France? The Ritz?”
“Pretty sure that's in London.”
“I'm not playing the guessing game,” Frank says, and then guesses, “Denmark?”
“Nope,” Leo chuckles. “Boating. Venice.”
Suddenly, Frank is awake and aware, eyes wide and a bit offended.
“Absolutely not. There's no way.”
Took the words right out of Leo’s mouth.
“That's what I told them!” He throws his hands up, making it obvious that he's on Frank's side. “Three whole nights in that city, gods above.”
“Horrible place, full of, I don't even know, farming.” He shakes his head. “So we’re not going, right?”
“Well…”
“Leo.”
“Come on, Frankie. Do it for your friends. Compromise."
Frank's scowl deepens at his words.
“Isn't the whole point of this vacation that we don't have to do anything?” He relaxes a little, but is still understandably apprehensive. “And don't tell me about compromise when it's Venice we're talking about.”
Leo feels guilty, again, which he's coming to realize is a bad habit he's developed over the years.
“I'm sorry, man, I– you don't have to go if you don't wanna. Trust me, I'll talk everyone out of it and we can all go to Russia or wherever. I was gonna do that in the first place, y’know, convince them, but.”
Frank gives him a look that reads, well why didn't you?
Leo sighs. “Piper seemed so excited, though. And Percy and Annabeth have never been. I think everyone wants to come back to see what they've saved, to like. Reclaim it. I don't know. It's fine, none of us did what you did down there, so.”
There's a small silence. Frank rubs his eyes, before leaning his head on Leo's arm, considering. Weighing whether it'll be worth it if it's with friends. He's not selfish for not wanting to go; there's nothing better on the ground that they don't have up on their trusty ship. Leo has never blamed the son of Mars for anything, ever, even back when they weren't the best of friends. He's not starting now.
“You didn't see what happened,” Frank said into Leo's arm. “No one was there with me. Hazel got poisoned pretty badly. I thought…” he stops himself. “I was scared.”
“I know, man, I know,” Leo says, because he has assumed. Remembers thinking about it, thinking about how Frank came back; partly out of envy, but also out of concern. No one gets blessed easily.
“Nico got turned into a corn plant,” Frank muses. Leo does a spit take.
“He what!? And you didn't tell me!?’
“He made me promise to keep my mouth shut, so you didn't hear it from me.”
Leo laughs, winding his arm around Frank's shoulder by reflex. It's a surreal image, honestly; the formidable son of the underworld king, prince of the dead and damned, turned into raw popcorn. Hilarious.
Frank says, after their giggles subside into small exhales, “Why didn't you want to go?”
“Hm?”
“Why didn't you want to go to Venice? Wouldn't you like all the architecture or something?”
It's really sweet how Frank tries to keep up with everyone's interests, despite how often he gets them mixed up. Credit where credit is due.
“No, that's, uh. Athena-kid stuff, I don't really care for any of it.” Which wasn't a complete lie, but he definitely did appreciate architecture with good engineering.
Frank looks at him, like he's trying to gauge something. Suddenly, he's blushing, like he remembered something he's embarrassed about.
“Yeah, definitely, sure. You worried about the ship, then?” He coughs.
Leo gives him a look of concern, before affirming, “Yeah, the weather gave it some wear. Thought I'd have time to fix it, but.”
“Yeah, yes, that's cool.” He looks as if he can't help himself when he asks, “How's, um. How's Percy?”
That is a weird question. Where'd Percy come from?
“He's fine, I'm assuming? Why?”
Frank looks like he'd be anywhere else at that moment.
“No reason, um.” He tugs at his collar. “When are we leaving again?”
“Everyone, c'mere and say bye to Festus!” Piper yelled as soon as everyone was up on the main deck. Packing wasn't all that tedious; they'd hardly touched the bags they'd brought from home for any of their non-camp half blood merchandise. Neon orange wasn't a great colour if they were aiming to not draw attention.
For the first time in a while, it was just so they wouldn't be caught in tourist scams, and not because they would die horrible gruesome deaths at the hands of a monster were they noticed. Leo wonders when the bare minimum became something sacred.
Everyone was dressed in smart casual, a term Leo picked up from Piper (right after the daughter of Aphrodite stopped beating herself up over using it; the phrases appeared in her head without any input, just like the summer-spring collections of brands like Tommy Hilfiger).
Hazel and Frank were matching, the son of Mars donning the same floral print of Hazel’s skirt on his button down. Leo did tease him about it, while Annabeth and Jason surveyed the ship to see if they left behind anything important. An elbow jab to the ribs that hurt, seriously, Frank, made him stop giggling about it.
Percy was leaning against the railing, waiting on Annabeth, maybe. He fiddled with the phone Leo made for him– same as for all the seven, untraceable by monsters, decked out with free WiFi (was that legal? He didn't know) and a Demigod messaging app with a UI he was rather proud of designing. The only difference was that his was blue.
“Bye-bye, big guy,” Hazel said to the dragon figurehead, laughing as he twisted his head all the way down to nuzzle into her hand. She may be his favorite, Leo feared. Or she was manipulating the celestial bronze with her powers. Obviously the latter.
Frank stood by, looking anxious and awkward. When is he not? He keeps looking back to where Percy is standing, and straightens a bit to look past him to the staircase that leads downstairs when the son of Poseidon walks up to the hull and says a quick goodbye to the dragon.
Leo may or may not be a bit more dramatic in his farewell. Jason drags him away without looking at him, winds tugging at his clothes until he finally lets go of the bronze neck of his beloved pet.
The ladder is thrown off the side of the ship, and the demigods climb down without much fanfare. They don't need to hurry, in the middle of the island as they are. As per Annabeth’s meticulously planned itinerary, they were headed to Murano first. The glass island.
Leo was the last to climb down, accidentally losing his footing because he was too busy staring at the ship’s oars mechanically rotating in the air. The familiar thrum of machinery and gears was lost to the venetian air. Leo tried to breathe through a wave of worry and panic.
Then the smell of the beach reaches him. They're surrounded by buildings, not at all near the ocean, but it washes over Leo. Grounds him. He turns around to see Percy with a soft smile directed at Annabeth as she holds a map in front of the six of them.
He feels himself smiling a little, too, because that is adorable.There's still the usual pull of envy in gut– almost the same feeling as when Hazel and Frank are being cute together. As much as he'd like to claim his nights spent with Percy made him jealous or resentful of Annabeth, it just wasn't true. The earth was round, the sky was blue, and Percy and Annabeth were in love. A truth.
“– because we don't have a booking with the boat guys just yet,” Annabeth continues, barely guised excitement making her move her hands around more than usual. “but I'm trusting Piper to help us out with that. Until the evening, though, we walk the city. Any questions?”
Thankfully, there were none. Annabeth clapped her hands together, starting to walk along the walkway to the museum that they were going to, apparently. Piper caught up with her pretty quick, stringing their arms together. They almost looked like normal teenage girls on vacation, in their bright and airy summer dresses.
Leo watched them walk by, arms wrapped around himself. He's feeling a bit chilly in his Henley, despite the sunlight. Gods, it's almost like the Eidolon that made him attack camp Jupiter, the kind of desperate cold. He summons small flames into his closed palms and under his hair.
Percy and Jason almost bump into Leo from where he was frozen on the walkway, the shadows of the buildings giving way as they walk further and reach the warm golden of the sunshine.
They're laughing about something.
“Hey, Leo,” Percy says, smiling wide and giggling like a child. “Guess what happened to Nico when he was here last time.”
That makes Leo let out a laugh too, remembering what Frank told him.
“Corn plant?”
The son of Poseidon laughed harder, eyes watering.
“Frank told you, too?”
“Not fair,” Jason grumbled. “I'm basically the kid's best friend. How did I find out after you both?”
“Gotta be devoted to playing the gossip game, my friend,” said Leo. They walked onward, though slowly. “Seriously, though. If it were me, I'd be something way cooler than a corn plant. Like a cactus or something.”
“Cacti aren't cool. Venus flytraps, however, are cool as hell,” Jason said, still upset he found out after Leo.
“First of all, trust me, I've been to hell, it's not a cool place,” Percy said. It was so casual, Leo almost didn't notice the mention of his trip to the depths of the underworld. “Second, have we considered flowers? I raise you a waterlily.”
Leo snorts. “Anything but a corn plant.”
They walk into the shadows of more buildings, except the shadow in front of Leo solidifies into a pale, ghostlike figure.
Leo lets out a manly shriek. He may or may not have used Jason as a human shield.
The 15 year old son of Hades, apparently shadow travelling with them all the way to Venice, cracked his neck twice. Nico di Angelo.
“Nico,” Leo said, backing away.
“Nico!” Jason yelled, throwing his hands up in a what a small world! gesture before tugging Nico into a hug.
The younger one smiled, and it seemed to stretch away from the bone of his skull. Leo shivered. The cold had left his body, solidified in its human form, but the general uneasiness around Nico remained.
He never really liked Nico, back when the war happened. He seemed too closed off to everyone for them to be sure of his motives. Hazel told Leo about Bianca, about how Nico used to blame Percy for her death. The son of the god of the dead, with a reason to betray. Leo couldn't have risked trusting him.
Now, though, as he sees Percy hug him and animatedly tell him about their first week on vacation, eagerly listening to every word about things back at camp, he feels stupid. Nico had done so much to help them, used his power to the absolute limit. Plus, he liked mythomagic, which wasn't all that different from Pokemon. They owed quite a bit to the kid.
Even though they weren't what Leo would call friends, he's sure Nico got a kick out of messing with him. It would be hilarious, the way he didn't even notice Nico swirling in the shadows around him, but right now, it only tightened the grasp of anxiety in his mind.
Percy nudged him with his shoulder.
“You good, hot stuff?”
Leo realizes Nico said something to him, while he was staring at the ground. Jason was looking at him weird too.
“Huh?”
Nico looked like he was suppressing a smile. “I asked if you have anything else to say about a specific staple crop?”
Leo gulped, feeling how the cold made his hands tingly, flames extinguished. Lead fills in his chest.
“Nothing.” It sounds like it was punched out of him.
The tingling stops, like the shadows had receded. Leo lets out a breath.
Hazel comes running up to them, barely expressing surprise at her brother just standing there. How long had Nico been traveling with them?
Hazel’s not even out of breath despite the long jog from where Piper and Annabeth had been, far ahead of them.
“You're gonna make us late. Come on, catch up!”
Before they'd even considered coming down here, Leo had had enough nights by himself to address the elephant in the room.
Percy Jackson. Hero of Olympus. Apparent adopter of strays.
There was something wrong in the way Leo was was percieving the events as they happened. This could be blamed on his lack of sleep and/or caffeine. After all, what did Percy really do? Bring Leo to his bed when the former was almost begging him to steer away from his room? Make him food? Ask him to sleep near when he was under the influence, and probably at weird terms with his girlfriend?
That's all normal behavior, nothing with romantic or malicious intent. His behavior with Jason could be considered far more scandalous; half of camp thought they were both dating Piper and eachother, before Leo had to make an awkward announcement during a campfire.
Percy’s own attitude with Frank, even, could be held in close comparison. Or even Jason and him. Its already a standard practice to be cuddling and being touchy with the people you're basically trauma bonded with, in the demigod world.
Leo himself doesn't think any of this is implying something, nor does he want it to. Percy's a friend. Now a close friend, because he likes Leo. More than he did back when they had that conversation while fighting with Nike. That time in the engine room was probably just an olive branch.
Or a Trojan horse. Leo's not stupid. He knows why they'd kept their distance for the quest. Obviously the fact that he'd bombed New Rome, but also because of a goddess Percy knew. Calypso.
Leo had had boarded the Argo II for the second time, heartbroken. His girlfriend, the aforementioned goddess Calypso, had broken up with him. Again. This time, for good.
He’d felt bad about it. Heavy, sluggish in his work. Like the roof had crumbled and he’d been left in the rubble. It wasn't anything new; people came and left from his life easily, and had been doing so since he was a kid. The problem was that Leo felt it coming. Was relieved, in a way, which he beat himself up about.
The prophecy said he'd die, get resurrected, and have his happy ending. Why was it so short lived, then? His whole life was for the war with Gaea. What comes after?
Long story short, he’s been dealing with a gaping, Calypso-sized hole in his being that he doesn't talk to anyone about. Not even Hazel, who he tells everything. Maybe that's why he was being clingy to anyone who gave him attention. The fact that it was Percy was a coincidence.
Leo doesn't think about that too hard. Or about anything else, until Hedge went overboard.
Just a coincidence. But the fates never did let that happen, did they?
The Murano Glass museum is as colourful as the rest of the island, unsurprisingly. After having lost Annabeth, Piper, and Frank, the rest of the seven took an embarrassing amount of time looking for the entrance. By the time they make it (Hazel has a knack for navigation, apparently), it's only ten minutes to five. The receptionist at the ticket counter glares at them rudely, hands them their tickets without pausing her geometry dash (Leo recognizes the music).
Inside the place is even more ornate. Glass is everywhere, who would have guessed. The domed roofs were very Italian, tasteful. It's weird how he's seen more of the outside of them than inside– monster chases usually didn't leave time for sightseeing.
The chandeliers were different for every room of the gallery, and the colour, size, and shape of each of the exhibits differed from one another in a way that makes Leo a bit dizzy. They find Piper and Frank looking at glass bottles, the way they curve like they're defying gravity.
Annabeth stands with her back to them, looking at a pedestal with glass bells on them. She's barely moving, but Leo can see her arms crossed around herself. She's probably zoning out again. Is it his place to go check?
Percy immediately goes up to her. Leo distantly hears his sandals squeak in the quiet of the museum, and he turns to see something Jason was showing the three of them, something blue and old.
As they walked further, they sort of regrouped. Leo kept close to both Piper and Jason, trying to keep something familiar around himself. He's still on edge, like there's something he's preoccupied with.
Annabeth snaps out of her daze when she sees Nico, instantly happy. Frank gives Hazel a small peck before taking her hand, showing her glass sculptures, without a doubt repeating everything Annabeth told him about them to impress his girlfriend.
He takes a shaky breath, wishing he had a hoodie around him. His hands feel cold again, and he looks over to Nico to check if he's doing something. He finds him talking with Annabeth like he never does with anyone else; awed, excited, bashful.
The big sculptures are nice too. Nothing too difficult to make, or to shape, but it's something done without divine intervention. That's interesting enough on its own.
They stop in front of a big sculpture of glass skulls, bones, and snakes; arranged in a sort of hanging from the ceiling. Frank takes out his digi-cam, snapping a few photos. Percy and Jason whisper something to Nico, to which he smiles. Leo wishes they'd move on already.
Piper reaches for his hand, which makes him give her a wide eyed look. He wasn't even being annoying and obvious about his discomfort. Why did she feel the need to do that?
Turns out she's not even looking at him. Her sight is fixed on a man in the next huge room, molding something red and hot with gloves and some specialized pliers. Jacks, his brain supplies. Super helpful with tool names, that head of his.
“Leo, look! He's actually blowing glass!”
Unbelievable. Daughter of Aphrodite, hero of Olympus. A girl who's seen godly and human miracles alike. Impressed by glowing sand.
He lets himself be pulled along, while the rest of them follow. Slower, because Frank keeps pausing for photos. Only Hazel seems happy about indulging him.
Tools and glass pieces litter the floor, in true studio fashion. It almost looks like his workshop, the corner where the guy sits. Glass, shiny and malleable, looks like it is going to topple to the floor on that stick of his, but the man keeps spinning it just at the right moment, changing its center of gravity with ease.
It almost looks edible, like one of those Turkish ice creams. Or maybe even candy, like the place where Percy's mom got them free sweets when they all visited. In a way, it looked like fire, being molded into a shape.
A ship. The man was making a ship, oars and sails and all. The glass looked too much like fire. Hera, his Tia Callida, would make him shapes in the fire, unburnt. She put him inside fire without knowing his powers. And when she found out, it was probably when his mom–
Annabeth bumps into him, mumbling a small sorry with a genuine smile. Annabeth Chase. Hated by Hera. He can hear Nico’s voice, the weird bass of it, the lilt of his words slightly foreign. Piper has let go of his hand.
It's all too much, all together. He tried– really, he tried to not make a big deal. But there's nothing for him to do here. There's nothing for him to do here, heart of the Romans, the city of the goddess Venus. She'd never taken a specific liking to him, but Leo knows how ruthless love can be.
He's breathing weird. No one's looking at him. Good, they shouldn't.
“I'm, uh, just gonna. Go for a walk while you guys watch,” he says, already slipping away. “Need the air.”
Piper gives him a petulant look.
“Come on, he's going to tell us about the different types of glass making next!”
Has the man mentioned that before? Leo didn't hear him.
“Just for a minute, Pipes.” He flashes her a smile.
“Okay,” she says, reluctant. She adds, “be back quickly or I'll tell the man you're breaking their stuff.”
She was kidding. Leo's glad he knew her long enough. Someone else could have mistaken that as an actual threat. Was it an actual threat?
He scurries off to the less crowded part of the area, even though this late in April there were already just a few tourists wandering around. The walls were falling, and there was rubble, and Leo was walking.
He doesn't know where he's going, just knows that his mind is too loud for anything and he's dissociating. For some reason, this time he's all alone again.
He wishes Calypso was here.