Another Leico fic

|chapter 4| sleeplessness = a pissed sister

NICO

the child of the underworld sits on a stack of tool boxes as Leo fiddles with a project, the duo occasionally talking before falling into bouts of silence.

it's been nearly a week since Leo lead him to the Bunker, nearly everyday, they eat breakfast together, train for about two hours and then go here, and hangout, then eat dinner, skip campfire to sleep and then around the AM hours one or the other will go to the campfire to wait for the other, then they spend their time talking and then either go to the Bunker or back to bed.

Leo asks Nico after a while "why are you hanging out with me?" he doesn't beat around the bush with the question, since they got past any uncertainty.

Nico answers "why not? your pretty much the only person that wants to spend time with me."

the fire user frowns at his contraption and asks him "what about Hazel?"

Nico shrugs answering indifferently "she's busy jumping between New Rome and here, plus Frank. why not hangout with her?"

Leo purses his lips answering "I remind her too much of Sammy."

this is a name Nico has yet to hear, he tries remembering if he just forgot it but comes up empty and as if reading his mind says "he was Hazel's crush in her first life, and he later became my grandfather, I look exactly like him." Nico nods, Leo holds out his hand asking "the short fillips head screws."

Nico grabs a small handful of said item and hands them over asking "why do you need these?" Leo begins going into a detailed explanation of his project, "-so yeah, this needs to be done by tomorrow... if I pull an all-nighter then I should be able to do it."

Nico frowns, this would be the third night in a row that Leo has stayed up all night completing projects, not only for Nyssa but Chiron, and Malcolm as well. Nico asks "and when do you plan on sleeping?"

Leo stops and thinks for a few seconds before saying "umm... what day is it? right, Thursday.. so Saturday or Sunday, I still have a few things I need to complete."

Nico's eyes widen and he can feel the disbelief and worry rise in the pit of his stomach as Leo goes back to building the project and Nico demands "what?! why can't someone else do it!?"

Leo glances back at him saying "the Hephaestus cabin has capture the flag and Nyssa already has enough on her plate, fourteen kids and all."

Nico glowers at the back of Leo's head, but doesn't argue. he doesn't know what all Nyssa has to deal with but Leo has yet to sleep for three days in a row and isn't planning on sleeping for another two.

he asks Leo "and what do you plan on doing when the hallucinations and paranoia kicks in?" Leo laughs answering as he continues to assemble the contraption "and who says it's hasn't already?" while he can tell Leo is kidding, this only worries him further.

~~~~~~~~~~~time skip by Jake from state farm... no? not funny? ok, I'll see myself out~~~~

Nico walks into the Bunker, he'd fallen asleep in the Bunker and woken up in his cabin. he feels bad for giving into sleep when Leo hasn't slept in so long.

walking in a hall he stops short of entering Leo's workshop when he hears Nyssa's angry tone "-you didn't even finish it and decided to take a nap! honestly, Leo, I'm getting tired of this. I asked for one thing, Valdez!" he steps behind a stack of crates as Nyssa storms out of the room and down the halls. as soon as she's out of sight he hears soft crying coming from the room.

walking into the room, he sees a few tears make their way down Leo's hallow cheeks as he sits in his chair, the project sitting completed on the bench.

Nico can feel a flare of anger at Leo's tears. walking over he doesn't hesitate to crouch down in front of the boy and pulling him into a hug. he tell him softly, "this isn't your fault, Leo." Leo doesn't answer, burying his face in Nico's neck.

after a while Leo pulls away and Nico sits down on a crate not even arms reach away from the scrawny boy. Leo whispers "I fell asleep, it was only ten minutes but she found me and I finished it but she's mad..."

Nico shakes his head, Nyssa is now on his shit list. he tells him "it's isn't your fault, you worked your ass off. she shouldn't be mad. does she know how long it's been since you've slept?"

Leo shakes his head 'no' saying "your the only one... I don't sleep in the cabin much..."

this catches his attention and he asks "why not?" Leo chews his bottom lip, the bags under his eyes clearly there. "I have nightmares, I wake up screaming. they don't sleep if I'm there."

Nico's heart sinks, he knows what that's like. he asks Leo "if you want, you could stay in my cabin with me, it's not much to look at but it's only me there most of the time. my dad won't mind." Leo looks at him for a long time, his head tilted to the side like a puppy he eventually nods.