Chapter seven. 

[Aiden is a straight-A idiot]

"Funny how

the world could be ending

and I could feel like everything was great

simply because of a single smile."

Many things will stay a blur for Leah from the last few days. She did remember that she'd met Aiden on the thirtieth of March. She also remembered that she had blacked out at least three times studying with him. And lastly, she remembered that she was attacked by a soul-sucking demon called a Sluagh because she had a deathly aura. Yeah. That didn't sound like the best experience, or good news in general.

She and Aiden had researched as to why the Sluagh would attack her, and what the "deathly aura" meant, but there wasn't any information they could use and could access. Maybe there was a whole library on the subject, but that didn't mean there was anything valuable about it on the internet. The closest Aiden got to finding about it was an anti-depressant they could pick up tomorrow if they ordered it before eleven PM today. Needless to say, that wasn't what they were looking for. 

Leah reassumed her position on the couch after getting coffee for her and Aiden, something that had become quite the habit the past few days. 

"So..." Aiden looked up at her, who was currently sitting on the floor while he sipped his coffee. He raised an eyebrow. "So, what?" he imitated. Leah shook her head. "So," she started again, "when are we leaving?" Aiden let out a small sigh. "Ah, yes." He frowned. "Well, you wanna leave tomorrow? Your uncle should be coming back any day now, if I'm correct." Leah tapped the red pencil on her chin. After some hesitation, she nodded. She brought out the map that they'd drawn their route on. 

"So, quick rerun." She stopped for a few seconds before continuing. "We take the train to London, then go through the underwater Tunnel, whatever you call it, to Amsterdam." That earned a grumble, and eventually a little nod from Aiden. He took off where she stopped, shuffling closer to her. 

"Then we take the train to Paris, because we thrive off capital cities and I desperately want to see the Eiffel tower." That earned an appreciative hum from Leah. "Yeah, same, to be honest. I'd love to practice my French." Aiden raised an eyebrow. "You speak French?" he asked incredulously. Leah chuckled. "Yeah, don't seem like the most academic person, right?" She shook her head. "Reason I love my mom; she actually cared about my education, something the American school system clearly did not." She sighed, then picked up the pace. "Let's continue."

Aiden nodded. "Well," he restarted, "once we've passed Paris, we go through to South-East France to Italy, pass through Milan, then Venice-" he paused a bit to take a breath. "And after Italy we travel through Austria, Hungary, and then we advance to Romania, with our first stop being Oradea." 

Oradea was a Romanian city on the border of Hungary. The reason Leah and Aiden picked that particular city was that it was big, both economically and physically. They would then from there on go to Transylvania and scout over there. Aiden tapped the red pencil against his chin. "And where does the newcomer come in place?" he asked Leah. She sighed, threw her head back against the back rest. 

"I thought, 'hey, the Fates must force them to find us, right?' and then I ignored that someone new had to join our little group." Aiden chuckled. "Yeah, sounds like the idiotic thing you'd do." "Hey!" Leah hit him softly with the by now rolled up map, but she couldn't keep a smile from curving onto her face. 

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "You know, it's nice to have someone to work with on this quest," she said softly. Aiden looked at her confused and tensed up. After a minute, seeing as Leah wasn't picking her head up, his body relaxed and he turned his head back to the view from the living room's window. 

"Well," he answered, "it's nice to be on this quest with you." They stayed in silence for a bit. Then Leah looked up at Aiden from his shoulder. "The floor's uncomfortable." 

A heartbeat passed of anxiety: they had a good vibe, did Leah mess it up? 

Aiden chuckled and got up, leaving Leah alone on the floor. He wiped the non-existent dust off his pants and walked over to the kitchen, taking their mugs and refilling them with more coffee. "You wanna pack?" he shouted from the kitchen. 

A grin unfurled on Leah's face, happy to be back to the three-day-and-going norm for them. "Yeah, sure!" she shouted back at him. She picked herself up and stretched out her arms and legs, that had gotten a bit stiff. A yawn escaped from her mouth; that came with not sleeping - or at least sleeping very little. 

"Y'know, I've noticed that you don't really have any clothes with you. So, just checking," Leah stopped to glance at the clock that hung in the hallway, "you're a-okay with stealing-" Aiden corrected her. "Borrowing part-time." Leah rolled her eyes. "Borrowing part-time, sure. But you're good with that, right?" she asked again, walking into the bedroom Aiden had been inhabiting. 

In it she saw the mess that had prior been the guest room. Before, it had been bland: apart from the stray amulet that had been forgotten or the one suit that was hanging from the wardrobe, it seemed like no one had ever inhabited the guest room, which was probably true. 

Now, books and maps laid all over the place. Leah doubted Aiden had been sleeping in the bed, because on it were at least three swords, a stack of books about Romanian mythology, and a flurry of different articles of clothing. 

Aiden nodded, distracted by a pigeon that had landed on the window sill. "What's your favorite movie?" Leah asked as she strode over to the bed and opened the suitcase that she'd picked up from her (or Matthew's) bedroom. 

Aiden hesitated before he spoke. "It's been a while since I've actually watched a movie and paid attention to it, actually," he said. "But I really liked Dead Poet's Society."

Leah couldn't contain her laugh: it came out in little fits of giggles. Aiden looked away from the pigeon and pulled an offended face. 'Why are you laughing? It's a good movie!" Leah had calmed down a bit now, and had her hands on her knees. "No, no," she forced out," it's not like that. It's just that, well, it's a movie about poetry." Aiden caught on the joke and scowled. "And you're like, the epitome of poetry, so it's just kinda typical, y'know?" she asked rhetorically. 

"Yeah, yeah, just wait until I'm able to blackmail you," he mumbled to himself. Leah scoffed lightheartedly. "As if you could ever find the information to blackmail me with. I don't get embarrassed," she proudly said. Aiden squinted his eyes. "Each wall has a weak spot. I'll just have to find yours." "Hey! I am not a wall!"

Aiden got up from the window seat and picked up some clothes. "Whatever you say, flower girl." Flower girl... that was familiar. Huh. Well, if she didn't remember, it mustn't have been that important, Leah thought to herself. 

She watched in concern as Aiden stuffed his clothes into the suitcase. "Have you ever actually folded clothes, Murphy?" she asked him jokingly. Judging the silence and the shame that was radiating off Aiden, Leah assumed he hadn't ever learned to. She was about to make a joke when Aiden spoke. 

"My dad was wealthy; he gave me money instead of affection," he said softly. Oh. "And y'know, I met mom once, but she isn't exactly the type to teach me this type of stuff." Guilt bubbled up in Leah's chest. Not knowing what to do, she pat the boy awkwardly on the back, who was now hunched over the suitcase. 

"Well, I can teach you, if you want," Leah answered finally. She picked up one of his shirts. "You see, you hold it by the corners, and then you fold it like this..." 

As Leah was immersed by explaining him how to fold the shirt, she didn't notice the loving gaze Aiden was aiming at her. A soft smile adorned his face, and he was at peace. Something he hadn't really been since he could remember. 

"Thanks, flower girl," he said under his breath. 

Leah turned to look at him, the folded shirt now put neatly into the suitcase. "Were you even listening?" She hit him on the back of his head. Aiden freaked out, waving his arms everywhere. "AH! Sorry flower girl, could you explain it again?" "I just wasted three minutes of my time, man! Couldn't you have paid attention!" "Blame my ADHD!" 

Leah stayed silent, and Aiden was afraid she'd blow up any second. So his shoulders shagged in relief when she spoke: "Y'know, I do that a lot too. Let's continue." The smile returned on Aiden's face. 

"Yeah. Let's continue."

« »

"How come you get to me an inch taller than me?" Aiden whined. 

Leah had a scowl on her face, looking down at the demigod who was clinging onto her leg like there was no tomorrow. "I worked for this height, man, let it be. Actually, let me be." Aiden scoffed. "No! I also worked hard, but I'm only 5'9! How did you become 5'10?" he asked scornfully. 

Leah shrugged and shook him off her leg. "I don't know, I escaped genetics, I guess. My mom was like, 5'2, but Matthew is like 6'2, so maybe I got it from him." Aiden whined again. "We both know from the family tree painted in the pantry that you're not related by blood, idiot!" Leah blinked. 

"Oh yeah, you're right. Huh. Never thought I'd see the day," she said playfully. 

"Hey!" Aiden shouted, scrambling from the floor and attempting to punch Leah in the shoulder. "I was a straight A student, for your information." Leah looked at them skeptically. "Sure. Whatever lets you sleep at night," she said as she walked into the kitchen to make coffee. 

"Well, it's definitely not you!" Aiden shouted dramatically from the living room, settling in the chair he had claimed a day ago. Leah turned the coffee machine on and returned to the living room. "Of course it's not me, I basically have merged with my insomnia by now." Aiden looked at her, concerned, and took one of her hands in his own. Leah's cheeks heated up. 

"You should see a therapist," Aiden matter-of-factly stated. 

Leah's jaw dropped. Thankfully, she quickly recovered, but Aiden hadn't missed the slight blush that had tinted Leah's ears pink. It made him feel happy, knowing that they had caused it. Little did he know that she was a touch-starved idiot and would blush at any contact at all that didn't come from sibling-like friends. 

"I agree with you, and I raise you," Leah said, snapping Aiden out of his little daze. "We should have a camp therapist. Because y'know, the Second Titan War was less than a year ago, and a lot of kids got killed, got injured, both mentally and physically. I mean, an example is Nico di Angelo. I haven't really met him personally, but he just disappeared multiple times! And he sometimes just shows up, but he's never really at camp. Isn't that weird?" She rambled. Once she realized she'd been rambling, she quickly shut up. Aiden chuckled. "That's rich, coming from you. Didn't you abandon camp to go on a road trip around the US with some lesbians?" he asked slightly salty.

Leah looked at him with a deadpan look. "First of all, most of the Hunters closed themselves off from all relationships. There was this couple that left the Hunters because they wanted to grow old together. They adopted a kid." Aiden hummed. "So they were asexuals?" 

Leah groaned. "Aiden," she dragged out the 'ai' in frustration. "They refuse relationships. That doesn't mean they don't  feel sexual attraction, you idiot," she said matter-of-factly. 

Aiden nodded in understanding. "Oohhhh..." He trailed off as he ran a hand through his hair. "I understand now. So, what? Were the kids at your camp just all jerks? I mean, if you can't have a relationship with any of the girls you went on a roadtrip with, I don't really see why you would go," he said, rather stupidly. 

Leah grumbled something under her breath that Aiden didn't quite catch. She then mustered the best smile she could at the moment, and exclaimed; "I've decided that I'm going to keep you up tonight-" "Like always," Aiden quipped, cutting her announcement. Leah shot him a glare, at which he chuckled and threw an arm around her shoulder. "Anyways," she started sharply, "I've decided that I'm going to teach you about all sexualities, genders and strategies, so you don't make a fool out of yourself and embarrass us again."

"Hey! I'm sorry, but it's not my fault didn't know that nonbinaries could dress - what do you call it - femme too!"

"Yes it is! It is completely your fault! Now sit your ass down, good-knees, or I'll break your godsforsaken kneecaps!"

"Yes ma'am!"