One Too Many Heartbreaks

XXVII. 40's Boy (Nico's POV)

Nico sat awkwardly on the ground, watching Leo work. The mechanic built away while Nico sat petting Hope. They had been doing this for the last few hours.

Nico had asked Leo several times if he was mad, to which the reply was always a deadpan "No." But Nico had a hard time believing that. Leo was not the type to be quiet.

"Leo?" Nico asked again, afraid Leo would actually get mad this time.

"Hm?" Leo said without looking up.

"Are you mad at me?"

"No."

Hope meowed nervously. Even as a skeleton she could feel the tension.

"I'm sorry for whatever I did." Nico said.

Leo looked up sharply. Nico hadn't seen that expression since he first came to the cave, four long months ago.

"You can't be sorry if you don't know what you did," Leo said, his voice impossibly softer than his features.

"Tell me then, dammit!" Nico stood, done with wondering. "Get out of your silent cloud and tell me what's wrong with you!"

"I'm mad that you won't tell me what's wrong with you!" Leo yelled.

Nico froze, assuming his default defense. A deadpan, "Nothing."

Leo put his hammer down. "That's a lie! I know there's something wrong! I want to know what it is. I want to know what happened on New Years."

Nico looked up wearily. "You wouldn't get it."

Leo crossed his arms. "Try me."

Nico tugged at his hair, frustrated. "Aaahh, I can't take it! Why are you like that? Why am I like this?"

"Like what?" Leo half yelled.

Nico jerked forward as if pushed by an unseen force and grabbed Leo's suspenders. "I'm not from here." He whispered, his emotion catching in his throat. "I'm not from now. This, this may be okay now. But when I'm from... Ugh, I'm not supposed to like you! It... It's wrong!" Nico felt tears stream down his face.

Leo put his arms on Nico's shoulders.

"Nico!" He said loudly but gently. "I know you're not from here. And I know this is new to you. Hell, it's new to us both." Nico looked up at Leo, thinking of all the times he had seen the Latino hit on girls.

Leo tilted Nico's chin up so that their eyes met. Wrong, wrong, wrong, Nico's brain told his heart as it sped up. His heart didn't listen.

"You know Apollo? He fell in love with Narcissus. Another dude. And Apollo's a god. If you ask me, there ain't (1)nada wrong with having something in common with a god."

Nico thought of a million things that would be awful to have in common with a god, but forgot about them as Leo brushed his hand against Nico's. Nico intertwined their fingers and Leo smiled. "Chico hermoso," he said, and kissed Nico's forehead.

Two more tears streamed down Nico's cheeks. He clenched his fists and said in a shaky voice, "This isn't the forties anymore." More tears, and, trying to convince himself, he repeated, "This isn't the forties anymore."

Nico looked up at Leo and some kind of understanding passed through them. Nico leaned forward and Leo met him halfway, their lips pressing together.

Nico felt Leo's arms around his waist and Nico's fingers went up to run through the mechanic's tangled curls.

This isn't the forties anymore, echoed a voice in Nico's head. Leo chuckled and Nico realized he'd actually said that out loud.

"No, it isn't, (2)precioso," Leo laughed, smiling into another kiss.

Nico smiled too, and put a hand on Leo's chest. "Alright, enough," he said, though he wasn't sure he could disguise the giddiness in his eyes.

Leo took Nico's hand and led him back to the sleeping bags. Hope and Festus were waiting there, and immediately broke into crazy clicks and clacks. Nico asked Leo what Festus was saying, but he refused to answer. Nico did the same with Hope.

Deciding they'd had enough excitement for one day, the boys slept in their own separate sleeping bags, Festus between them like a protective wall. Nico fell asleep eventually, deciding that he couldn't live in the last any longer. As he closed his eyes, he let it all go.