Okay guys, here's a slightly longer chapter for ya! At least, compared to the last one lol. Once again sorry for the lack of Leo, though he is mentioned a few times directly and indirectly...

I promise, the Valdangelo will come! :)


Il fuoco di vero amore

4

Nico immediately scrambled to get up, but Percy's stronger grip forced him to remain in place. The sea-green eyes flashed a challenge towards Jason, as if daring him to do something about the situation. Nico was pretty much in a state of shock, breathing rapidly as Percy lazily ran his hands along the son of Hades' cool skin.

"What is going on?" Jason asked, voice strained, after a few moments of staring.

"You gonna stand there forever or close the door? It's getting chilly in here and I'm warming Nico up all by myself," Percy replied with a slow purr, which somehow sparked a change in Jason's shocked-or-enraged demeanor, and he silently closed the door before making his way over to the pile of boys.

Nico half expected him to help him up, thought his reaction was all part of a ruse to help Nico out of this situation without alerting Percy... Or maybe he was upset because he was supposedly the one who knew Nico's secret, and he figured Percy was toying with Nico's feelings as some cruel joke? In fact, Nico still wasn't sure what had gotten in to the older boy, and he wasn't sure if he wanted to find out.

Shut up, of course you do! his inner self chastised, chomping at the bit as the events seemed to unfold as if planned to go this way. Nico's eyes widened as Percy seemed to make eye contact with Jason from behind him, and suddenly pushed him into a sitting position to where Nico was straddling the older demigod. He felt Jason's presence behind him, electric; those muscular arms encircled him completely and Nico forgot how to breathe.

He was still in just a towel. Jason Grace was embracing him. He was straddling Percy Jackson.

That was all it took for Nico's brain to snap into gut reaction mode, and he quickly darkened the room and used the shadows he summoned out of sheer overwhelmed feelings to transport himself back into the bathroom where his old clothes lay scattered on the floor. Breathing heavily, he pulled them on with shaking fingers before replaying the events in his head, trying to understand.

He heard no sound from the other room, which was odd. Bracing himself, he opened the bathroom door and found Percy and Jason sitting casually in an armchair and on the bed shuffling through euros and some maps.

"There you are, Nico! Hurry up, we wanted to go do some sightseeing in order to get a better idea of what to find on this quest," Percy called out with a bright smile.

Nico's eyes narrowed significantly, causing Jason to frown at Percy. If things were normal, Nico would have thought this reaction would have stemmed from Jason's knowledge of his confused feelings for Percy, and that such a smile directed his way was painful for him.

However, things were not normal. Nico still felt Percy's hands all over his skin, Jason's warm breath inching towards the back of his neck, the swirling depths of Percy's eyes pulling him in like a whirlpool... He couldn't have imagined all of that?

He flicked his eyes over to where his sword lay, exactly where it had landed when he fell on Percy. He walked over to it, trying to act casual, and picked it up before strapping it to his side. Not my imagination. Real.

x.X.x.X.x.X.x

They walked about the streets of Paris with caution, as they were once again in the old world and many more unstable dangers could be lurking around than they were used to. Their first stop of course was the Eiffel Tower, since Percy had insisted. They found nothing useful there except for a happy couple of newly engaged individuals who were so lovey-dovey that Nico wanted to vomit.

"Paris really is the city of love," Jason remarked incredulously as he counted the numerous couples handholding and smooching in the area. "We must look like a bunch of freaks."

"Or a really good-looking gay threesome," Percy quipped, flashing a wide grin. Nico immediately turned beet red and swatted him while Jason rolled his eyes. Nico noticed, however, that Percy seemed almost shocked himself that he had said something like that.

"This quest has a lot of love references in it... Where in Paris is love the strongest theme?" Nico muttered, glaring at a happy couple of boys that seemed to be playfully playing footsie at a nearby cafe.

They decided to follow a few of the more touristy couples around and about the city, since they were probably there for a romantic vacation of some sort and were going to make stops at all the cliche places.

As they walked through the Parisian streets, Nico couldn't help but admire the city some more as the architecture and aesthetic of the city gave off this clean, beautiful vibe while in the undertones there was something grungy and gritty coexisting beneath the surface.

They continued along the Seine river it seemed for a while, following hordes of couples loaded down with backpacks and sturdy walking shoes. Eventually they came to a large bridge, where a rather large amount of people were gathered taking pictures. The bridge seemed to be covered in something, as if it were a large hunk of metal rather than a normal perforated structure.

"I think we hit the jackpot," Jason remarked finally before pointing ahead once they got close enough to see it.

The bridge was covered in thousands upon thousands of tiny padlocks, so much so that they merged together to form a solid wall of metal. A few little street vendors with carts full of locks were selling them here and there along the bridge. Couples seemed to be snapping them in place after writing their initials on the trinkets, and then throwing the key into the Seine behind them after a kiss while someone else either filmed it or photographed the experience.

"Love locks, of course! A symbol of eternal love in the City of Love," Nico mused aloud, then drily finishing with "except when the city deems the locks as vandalism and tears them off."

"Why would they do that? I think it's a beautiful idea," Jason said, his voice a bit thick.

"Because they damage the integrity of the bridge, doofus. Love is a burden, dragging down more than you think," he said bitterly. One of the street vendors, a middle aged man with a full beard and pot belly seemed to overhear him before he tutted and rolled his cart over to the three demigods.

"Pah! Silly American, you do not understand true love. You want to lock it in place forever with your boyfriend, yes?" he asked cheerily, gesturing between him and Jason. Nico immediately became flustered.

"He's not my... We're not..." he sputtered.

"Ah but of course, you are with the other dark haired one! Very handsome couple, oui!" the vendor continued, unfazed.

"No! No way! I mean..." Nico's outburst drew Percy's eyes to him, and they seemed genuinely hurt by his dismissal.

"Oh non non! How could I be zees blind! You are ze trio, oui?" the man said, apologetic but with a twinkle in his eye. Nico's face turned an even deeper shade of red, and before he could protest again the man seemed to take his coloring as an answer.

"Take the lock, and keep your love in Paris forever more! Love burns eternal, lock zees flame in place!" the vendor said, before carting off without even asking for payment. Nico was startled, but clutched the cool metal in his hand skeptically. It was a simple silver lock, the key hanging out of it innocuously.

"Well, Nico? You gonna do this or what?" Percy's voice pulled him out of his stupor, and he noticed that the older boy was serious.

"Uh..." was all he managed to stammer before Jason placed his hand over Nico's and helped him turn the key. Percy guided the younger demigod to a spot in the wall of locks where they all three clicked the lock into place.

"It's the perfect representation of us. Over the water, suspended in the sky, made out of the earth and metal. Nico, we just locked your little metal heart into us forever!" Percy said, the seriousness leaving his voice at the last minute and causing Nico to glare at him over his blush.

Love is a burden, dragging me down, he couldn't help but remember this and feel a heavy heart. None of this was right. The man said for him to feel the fire of eternal love as he clicked the lock in place forever, but all he had felt was a bit annoyed and embarrassed. And confused, way confused over his two older friends' behaviors.

"You must exchange the kiss now, yes? And toss the key!" Nico nearly had a stroke as the vendor had returned from his abrupt departure with a disposable camera and motioning for the boys to get closer around their newly placed lock. Nico protested, but two against one was hard to beat out.

Jason and Percy wrapped their arms around him and squashed his smaller form in between them, grinning for the camera which snapped despite Nico's grumpy expression. A bunch of other tourists were smiling and pointing at them, making all sorts of crazy assumptions no doubt. Nico wanted the earth to swallow him up, but as he was standing over water right now that was impossible. I'd just get swallowed by water... Oh Gods. The thought had entered his mind so suddenly and horribly he decided to make eye contact with Percy, the water demigod... He was grinning like an idiot, and Nico was so glad he wasn't telepathic.

"Now kees!" the vendor shouted, and it was echoed by some other bystanders who were watching the abnormal 'triad' performing this supposed act of true love. Nico'd mouth went dry, and suddenly he felt two pairs of lips on both of his cheeks. They kissed him tenderly, surprising him, and the snap of the camera made sure that the moment was captured. Percy then took the key from Nico's clammy hand and tossed it over his shoulder where it landed with a suspiciously loud PLONK in the Seine.

They were met with a few cheers and wolf-whistles, but Nico pulled himself free of the other two before storming off the Pont des Arts with Jason and Percy hot on his heels; Jason had grabbed the camera from the vendor on their way after him.

"Guys, that was NOT funny. You need to stop treating this like a game, okay? I know the prophecy was about me and something about love, but you don't need to make fun of it like this... Jason, you know how hard it is for me to do this." Nico's little outburst occurred immediately after they had cleared the area a bit, with his whirling around to face the both of them so suddenly that they nearly ran into him.

"What do you mean, Jason knows?" Percy suddenly interjected, looking even more incensed than Jason had when he had walked in on their compromising position earlier in the hotel room.

"... I'm gay." Nico decided to be blunt, no excuse hiding it any longer as Percy obviously knew or had guessed, deciding to tease him about it. Either that, or he was an idiot and needed to know where to back off since Nico wasn't the best on to joke around with in any way like Percy had been in the past few hours.

"You are?" Percy seemed genuinely incredulous, before something overcame him a second later and his eyes clouded over with something new. "That suits me just fine," he said in a softer voice, before his hands reached out and tangled themselves firmly in Nico's hair and on his cheeks as he pulled the younger boy in for a deep kiss.

He tasted like salt water, just what Nico always imagined. He was in shock, still not comprehending what was happening save that Percy Jackson was kissing him and it was wonderful... But it wasn't right. He managed to break away, gasping and flushed, before stumbling a bit and landing back into Jason.

"What the fu-" before he could scream obscenities at Percy, however, Jason had twisted Nico's smaller form around slightly and crashed his own lips electrically onto the son of Hades'. Nico let out a muffled sound of surprise before he pushed Jason away too.

"I'm okay with this too," Jason said by way of explanation, and Percy didn't react save but allowing a large grin to spread on his face as the two older demigods looked at Nico.

"Whoa, guys. I'm serious," Nico began, heart beating so frantically he feared it'd explode out of his chest. "Stop making fun of me, we have a quest to worry about... You don't know how much this messes with me," he said honestly. He noticed passersby giving them concerned and curious stares, but he ignored that worry for now.

"We're being serious, Nico. We want you!" the other two said in unison, and Nico took that moment to turn and run at top speed, heart thundering in his chest.

I need to talk to Leo. He'll know what to do, he'll know how to help me...


Okay there we go!

The love locks bridge is of course a real place, and a real tradition there! Do you guys think the locks are considered vandalism?

Leave me a review telling me what you thought, they really do help me stay inspired! :)

Until next chapter!

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