Jason walked into a cafe in New Rome, followed by Nico. Jason glanced back at the small boy, who looked once at the tiny baby Cupids' that were posed around the shop and the hearts that hung from the ceiling.

He saw Nico's face shutter down and the boy tucked his face against his chest, staring pointedly at the ground.

Jason thought back to the meeting with Cupid, and everything that had happened and he nudged Nico with his shoulder gently.

"You okay?" He muttered, and Nico glanced up at Jason through his eyelashes, nodding.

Jason frowned at the boy's down-turned head and ordered his coffee for him, before leading him to one of the corner booths.

"So, I have an idea." Jason started, leaning over the table conspirationally, with a smile on his face.

Nico looked up, as Jason described his plan. A slow smile spread across his face.

"Let's do it."

000ooo000

That night, a figure dressed in black walked out of the shadows and into the light of street lamp, outside the dining room in Camp Jupiter.

"Come on, Neeks." he muttered under his breath, gloved hands rubbing against each other in a nervous tic and to keep warm in the cold night air.

As if he had heard him, a much smaller boy walked literally out of the shadows, and tapped the other teenager on the shoulder.

"Are you ready?" he asked, a tone in his voice that said 'You can back out, if you want' but the taller boy spun and grinned, white teeth shining in a shadowed face, and gave a double thumbs up.

"I was born ready!" he joked and, side-by-side the two boys walked down the street together.

000ooo000

Jason nudged Nico, pointing up at one of the trees, which had little fabric heart strung upon it.

"Can you get up there?" He asked him, meaning for the boy to climb, and not shadow-travel which, of course, was what he did.

Nico yanked the string of hearts down from the tree, and winding it around his hand, pulled it from the next tree as well.

New Rome really went all out with Valentine's day, Jason thought as he kicked through a paper mache Cupid. He looked over at Nico who seemed to be trying to hang another Cupid with a length of hearts on string.

"Hey Neeks, let's not traumatize any kids here." He called over softly, and Nico looked up at him guilty, before untying the unfortunate Cupid.

A few hours later, and several ruined Valentine's decorations later, Nico and Jason looked at their work.

Jason pulled a paper heart out of Nico's messy hair and the smaller boy smiled.

"Well," Jason said, quietly. "I, for one, feel better after all that."

Nico smiled, and it wasn't harsh, or forced like all the other smiles Jason saw him do.

"Serves that prick right," he all but spat, and Jason smiled, and reached out for Nico's shoulder.

"You're getting angry now, somebody needs to sleep." He joked and Nico pulled a face.

"I'll take you back to your room?" He offered, and with a nod from Jason, they vanished into the shadows.

000ooo000

The next day, there was mild disappointment over the wrecked Valentine's day decorations. The entire Seven were in Camp Jupiter for the weekend, Percabeth looking for different college courses they could take, and as of this moment they were in the Praetor house, with Jason making pancakes and Frank attempting to help.

Annabeth looked over at Jason and Nico, the latter was sitting on the kitchen table next to Jason and eating the sugar out of the pot, her eyebrow raised.

"Apparently a lot of Valentine's decorations were ruined last night," she starts, and everyone looks around at her, and then to Nico and Jason, and even Leo, who was dozing with his head on his arms turned his bleary eyed gaze to them. The two of them had filled the rest of the team in on what had happened with Cupid, minusing the forced coming out, simply saying that he'd been an absolute dick and by the shaken look Nico had had in his face for the following weeks, they believed him. Nico had come out to everyone else at separate times and with Jason promising to help him if anyone got pissed.

"It wasn't us." Jason said, with a sheepish smile at the exact moment Nico leapt off the table, one hand punching the air in an act that was the most happiest and active the Seven had seen him do, in a while.

"We have no regrets!"

Warning: No matter how alone you are this Valentine's do not go around your town and rip down the Valentine's decorations. Or if you do, don't blame me.

I hope you enjoyed, and that you have a good Valentine's (even if it's lying in bed, eating ice-cream and watching shitty movies (ahem, what I'm doing) or if you're going on a date or out or whatever)

As my best friend said, 'Spend it with your two best friends. Ben and Jerry. (It's an ice-cream brand, by the way)

Fez.