That Night on December

•𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗧𝘄𝗼•

𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗡𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗢𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 | 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒘𝒐

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They walked up to him slowly, squinting their eyes at him. Then they stopped in their tracks once they were inches away to get a better look at him. Leo stared back at Nico the entire time, a smile forming on his face as soon as they got closer. Leo stepped closer to them at the same time they did. Nico sped up, tears already forming in their eyes.

And before Leo even had a chance to speak, he was already being embraced by Nico. Leo was taken back by surprise and dropped everything he was holding to hug Nico back. His eyes quickly welled up with tears, and the two were left hugging each other tightly. They both stayed in the same position for a few minutes until Leo almost ran out of breath.

"You're squeezing me", he told them. Nico let out a nervous laugh, "Am I?". "Y-you can let g-go of me no-now," Leo said. Nico loosened their grip around him out of concern but didn't back away from him. "Thank you," he chuckled.

Nico chuckled as well and the two were left looking back at each other. "I-I still can't be-believe you're real." Leo chuckled and rolled his eyes at that, "Oh don't start now. You know I'm real. This is exactly what you said to me on my graduation day, and you didn't even tell me you were going to come see me!"

"It was a nice surprise, wasn't it?" "You know I don't like surprises, Nico," Leo replied, facepalming himself. Nico chuckled at that. "But at least I had a great time, thanks to you," Leo said with a smile. Nico smiled back at him before their eyes trailed down to the floor. They caught a glimpse of all of Leo's belongings and gasped in surprise. "Oh crap, I didn't realize I made you drop your things. Sorry about that, I'll get them for you," they quickly said, kneeling down to pick everything up from the ground.

Leo kneeled down with them and placed his hand over theirs to stop them. "It's fine," he said, "It was an accident. I can get them myself." "But-" "No but's. Leave it to me," he demanded, giving them a hard look. He looked at them until they finally gave up and let him pick up his own belongings. "Alright," Leo sighed as he got up from the ground with his bags, "Should we head inside now?" Nico frowned in confusion, "Go inside where?"

"The McDonald's next to you, silly." "Oh." "Jeez, you were the one who told me to come here in the first place!", Leo exclaimed. Nico chuckled at that as the two walked through the entrance. "Alright, where should we sit?", Leo asked, looking around the place. Nico pointed at the table they were sitting in earlier and walked towards there. Leo followed after them and grabbed the chair beside theirs to take a seat. "Ah, we have a nice view of the airport here."

"Yup." Leo turned to face towards Nico, "Are you still hungry? If so, I apologize for making you wait. But since it's my treat, I'll pay for our meals." "You really don't have to." "Yes, I have to," Leo replied, "What do you want to eat?" "A medium sized hamburger with a side of fries." "Anything else?" Nico thought for a moment, "Some sprite?" "I'll have that too. Alright, I'm going to order now."

Before Nico could say anything, Leo got up from his seat and went up to the counter to order for them. They let out a sigh in defeat. They waited for Leo to finish ordering for the two of them and watched as he made his way back to his seat.

Once he sat down, he faced back towards them, "Our food will come in shortly. For now, we'll have to wait." Nico let out a heavy sigh, "But I want to eat already, I'm literally starving." "Too bad." Nico rolled their eyes at that, "Whatever," they said. They remained silent for a moment until their eyes landed on the bags scattered on the ground.

"There was nothing fragile inside those bags, right?", they asked. Leo looked over to the bags on the floor. He shook his head, "No." "What's in those bags?" "Its not important." "Oh really? What are you hiding? Is it something illegal?", Nico stretched their arm out as if trying to reach for the bags. "Nuh uh. Like I said, it's nothing important," Leo replied, moving the bags away. "You're sounding really suspicious right now. Come on, you can tell me."

"No, I won't tell you anything." "Why not?" "Because its not important. I already told you!", Leo said again. Nico chuckled at that, "If its not important then why are you being so secretive?" "I'm not being secretive." "Yeah, right." "Fine, you're right. It is important. But please be patient. I don't want to show you now because I was planning on showing you once we're-" "Here's your order sir," the waitress interrupted.

Nico and Leo watched as the waitress left their order on their table. "Thank you ma'am," Leo thanked her. Nico gave her a small smile to show their gratitude. "It's no problem, enjoy your meals," the waitress said before leaving their table.

Nico and Leo watched as she left then turned back to face each other. "So what were you saying? Go on." "No, eat first." "Whatever." "You said you were hungry so eat your food now. Our little chit chat can wait." Nico chuckled at that before taking a bite out of their hamburger.

"And hurry up because we have to get moving soon", he added. "Alright, alright!", Nico exclaimed between bites, making Leo chuckle a little. He bit into his hamburger and the two remained silent as they ate their meals. Once Leo took the last bite of his hamburger, he looked over to Nico to see them still eating their hamburger and fries. "Jeez, you're a very slow eater." "I didn't know this was an eating contest."

Leo rolled his eyes at that, "You could still try to eat faster." "What's your hurry?" "We need to leave the airport and find a place to stay for the night." "We still have a lot of time left. We could walk around and explore for a bit." "Explore what? The airport?", Leo asked. "No, not the airport. Illinois. I didn't come all the way here from Texas just so we could stay at a hotel." "What even is there to explore here?", Leo sighed.

Nico took their phone out and pressed on the safari icon, where they searched for places to visit in Illinois using the search engine. "Here. Take a look at all of this," they said once the screen loaded up. They showed the screen to Leo as a way to demonstrate. Leo squinted his eyes at the screen as he read through an article listing the top ten must-go-to places in Illinois. "Most of these places are in Chicago," he replied.

"But not all of them." "Do you have any idea where we are?", he asked them. Nico thought for a moment before shrugging, "Nope. No idea." Leo facepalmed himself in response. "Dear lord Nico. May the lord bless you." Nico sighed. "Fine, I don't care where we go but I want to do something fun before we leave and meet up with everyone else", they said, "I want to do something together. Just the two of us."

Leo nodded at that, "Alright, we'll explore Illinois today." Nico grinned in excitement. "But! Just remember, I'm only doing this for you. Because you came from Texas and we haven't seen each other in person for two years." Nico's grin widened even more. "And as much as I don't like to admit this...I missed you a lot...over the past two years." Leo was taken back by surprise when Nico embraced him into a hug for the second time that day. But he didn't complain. He hugged them back.

"God, I missed you so much. You have no idea," Nico said to him, tears stinging their eyes again. "Well damn, you made me cry again. You're going to pay for this." Nico chuckled in response and Leo chuckled along with them as they both wept. They stayed in the same position for a few seconds then pulled away right after. "This is not the time to be sappy. Finish eating your hamburger. Once you're done eating, we'll go anywhere you want to go," he said, "But you have to finish eating first, alright?" Nico looked at him for a few moments before smiling. "Deal."