The Group Chat [Leico Valdangelo]

part thirteen

• Nico •

Two weeks later

Nico was so fucking tired of shamefully hiding his feelings from Leo and his friends. He was itching to tell someone...anyone.

He buried his face into his hands and cried.

Why was he crying?

Sitting in a bathroom stall on the disgusting bathroom floor and crying. Déjà vu.

There was a knock on the bathroom stall door.

"You okay?" Oh god, it was Leo.

"What? I'm fine," Nico lied.

"Nico?"

"Yeah?"

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No."

Leo crawled under the stall door and say across from Nico.

"Hey," Leo said.

"Hi."

Leo looked guilty...like he knew why Nico was crying.

"Please don't cry," Leo mumbled. "Because now I wanna cry." Leo chuckled. "What's on your mind, sunshine?"

"It's nothing..."

"Okay, I'll make you a deal...a secret for a secret."

"What?"

"You tell me something deep and dark about yourself and I'll tell you something deep and dark about me."

"O-Okay."

"I'll go first, yeah?" Leo asked and Nico nodded. "Okay, well, a few years ago, I was at the shop with my mom. She was a mechanic and absolutely loved her job. I liked helping, so I always went with her. Well, one day, she told me she had to go get something from the boiler room."

Nico tensed. He knew where this was going.

"She told me to stay right where I was. Right as she walked in, the door shut. It locked..." Leo trailed off, looking down and playing with something on his shoe. "I heard her scream. Then I smelt the fire. Before I knew it, it was too late.

"The door was closed and locked. She was stuck. I tried to help her, Nico, I did. But I couldn't. I wasn't strong enough-" Leo turned away from Nico, before chuckling and wiping under his eyes. "Look, now you made me a mess."

"Leo, I..." Nico trailed off. "I knew you didn't kill her."

"I did. I was too weak to save her. It was my fault-"

"No. Don't say that. It wasn't your fault," Nico cut him off.

"What about you? Whats your secret?"

"Well..." Nico trailed off. "When I was little, my dads crazy ex-girlfriend tried to kill me and my older sister, Bianca. She failed, but killed my mom..." Nico looked away. "And then, just a few years ago, Bianca was walking home from her friends house...she shouldn't have been, Leo...I wish I would've stopped her. Then she got jumped and-" Nico was cut off by himself sobbing.

"You don't have to finish," Leo whispered. Nico nodded and buried his face into his knees. He felt Leo scoot closer and hug him in an awkward position. They sat like that for a moment, before Nico wrapped his arms around Leo and buried his face into Leo's chest.

Leo just hugged him tighter and rubbed his back softly, humming something Nico couldn't recognize.

"Also...my dad left me for some bitch in Colorado recently," Nico whispered.

"Life's pretty shitty, I guess."

"No kidding."

A bell rang.

"We should probably get to class," Nico suggested.

"Nico, that was the dismissal bell."

"Right. Psh, I knew that."

Leo grinned and got up, helping Nico up.

"We should hang out," Leo said.

"Right now?"

"Why not?"

"Okay."

Leo walked out of the stall, Nico trailing after him.

"Leo! Nico!" a voice called and they both turned to see Ethan Nakamura running at them. "Hey...Luke is spreading a rumor around, saying that you two were in the bathroom doing 'it'."

"The frickle frackle?" Leo asked and Nico snorted. Ethan sighed.

"Yeah, whatever. Now, everyone's believing it and talking behind your backs. Bad things."

"Are they homophobic assholes?"

"Mostly, yeah."

"Great. My favorite," Leo mumbled sarcastically. "Whatever. I'll deal with them tomorrow."

He dragged Nico out of the school and walked along the sidewalk, mumbling angrily to himself.

"You alright?" Nico asked.

"I fucking hate homophobes. I hope they turn gay."

Nico laughed.

"Alrighty."

"No, seriously. I hope one day, the world is about to die because of overpopulation, so they ban straight marriages, and homohobes get mad because 'you can't ban a certain kind of marriage'."

"Oh, the irony would be delicious."

"What's your sexuality?" Leo asked, looking over at Nico.

"Hella gay. You?"

"My sexuality is yes please."

Nico laughed.

"So...just anyone?"

"Nah. I mean, if you're hot I probably wanna date you."

Nico gave Leo a sideways glance.

That saying was kinda familiar...

Oh well.

"Where do you wanna go?" Leo asked.

"Neverland."

"Alright, Wendy, let's go."

"Lead the way, Peter Pan."

ヽ(≧▽≦)ﾉ SO CUTE IM DYING