A Collection of Seemingly Unconnected Tales

Found

20170527
4:18pm

Nico was on patrol around his covens cottage when he found him. He had heard the sound of someone crying. He followed the sound until he found the source. It came from a small boy huddled against the base of a tree. His knees were pulled up to his chest and he was holding his head in his hands. Nico decided to approach the boy. He slowly walked over to him and kneeled down next to him.

"Hey," Nico said softly, so as not to scare the crying boy. "Are you alright?" The boy stiffened and quickly wiped the tears off his face.

"Of course. Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" Then the boy looked up at Nico. He had flaming red hair and his eyes were a bright fire orange. His ears were pointed and he wore a mischievous smile. Though Nico could tell it was fake. The boy had tear tracks running down his cheek and his eyes were red from crying. He was still leaning up against the tree, so Nico sat next to him.

"Okay. I'm Nico. What's your name?" Nico asked gently.

"Leo." Leo's teeth chattered slightly. Nico couldn't blame him. It had started to rain a little while ago and the wind was freezing. Nico took off his warm jacket and handed it to Leo, who hesitantly took it. He wrapped himself in the jacket that was slightly large on him. He smiled gratefully at Nico.

"My house is just past those trees. Come with me and we'll get you warmed up." Nico offered. "It's freezing out here."

"Why? You barely know me." Leo asked, confused. No one had ever really been this nice to him, besides his family.

"No reason really. Just wanted to help." Nico shrugged. "So, whaddya say?"

"Okay." Leo smiled. A real one this time.

******
20170527
6:49pm

"Nico! Nico! Nico! Nico!"

Leo had only been in Nico's house for two hours and Nico was already regretting inviting him in. (Well, almost.) As soon as Leo had calmed down and brightened up, he had started getting twitchy. Then he got talkative. Extremely talkative. Now, he was bouncing off the walls and giving Nico a migraine.

"What, Leo?" Nico asked, exasperated. Leo stopped jumping up and down and grinned a Nico.

"Let's play a game!" Leo shouted.

"What kind of game?" Nico asked, sighing.

"First, I ask a question, you answer, then you ask a question and then I answer. And it keeps going until we have no more questions." Leo explained.

"Oh. Okay. You start."

"Okay. What's your favorite color? Mine's red." Leo asked. Nico raised an eyebrow.

"Really? Okay then, mine is orange, I think." Nico replied. Leo nodded, then made a 'your turn' gesture. "Why is your hair red?"

"Oh, it's because I'm a Fire Fae." Leo said.

"What's that?" Nico asked. Leo tsk'ed.

"Uh uh uh. That's two questions you have to answer one of mine first." Leo reprimanded. "What's your full name?"

"Do I have to?" Leo nodded and smirked. "Ugh. It's Nicolai di Angelo."

"No middle name?"

"Uh uh uh." Nico mocked. "What's a Fire Fae?"

"Basically it's a type of fae that controls fire. We can use it for almost anything from making things to cooking food to even traveling." Leo explained.

"Cool."

"My question! Is this your house alone or do you live with anyone?" Leo asked, gesturing to the cottage they were in.

"Well, this isn't really my home. It's more like a woodland getaway, you know? So, yes this is mine, but at my home I live with my father, my sister, and the rest of our coven." Nico answered. "What about you? I'm guessing you don't live alone in the woods. Do you live with your family?"

Leo's face dropped. Tears started to well up in his eyes and he hastily tried to wipe them away, but they kept on coming. Nico instantly regretted asking that question. Nico did something he normally wouldn't do. He pulled Leo into a tight hug. Leo buried his face in Nico's shoulder and kept crying. Nico didn't care that his shirt was being ruined, he just wanted happy Leo back.

"Hey, hey, it's okay. I'm sorry I asked. It's okay." Nico tried to be comforting, he just didn't know how. He wrapped Leo tighter in his arms.

"I-I-it's ju-ust.." Leo tried to get out between sobs.

"Hey, shh, you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." Nico told him softly. Leo continued to sob into his shoulder and Nico just rubbed his back soothingly. Eventually, though, Leo's sobs died down and he seemed to have fallen asleep. Nico couldn't move with Leo practically in his lap and he didn't want to wake the poor boy up, so he decided to sleep as well.

Just before sleep finally took him he heard two words whispered.

"Thank you."