Bird With a Broken Wing {Valdangelo}

- 01 -

Nico's POV

The darkness overwhelmed me.  I could barely breathe.  I heard the voices whispering.  My heart was barely beating.  A few seconds later, I open my eyes.  I had no idea where I was.  I saw someone standing in the corner.

“Leo?” I whispered.

“Yeah, It’s me, bud,” Leo whispered softly as he approached the edge of the bed.

“Wh-What happened?” I asked in a hushed voice.

“I don’t know, Piper dragged your half-dead body here,” He whispered softly.

To tell the truth I had had a crush on Leo, But how could I not?  His curly, brown hair was perfect.  With his caramel colored skin, his perfect red-brown eyes, it’s hard not to fall in love.

“Earth to Nico, earth to Nico,” I heard Leo say.  “Are you still there?”

 “Oh, um, yeah,” I replied awkwardly.  “Sorry, uh, about that, I was just thinking.”  At that moment, I felt like the dumbest person on the planet. I made one of the most overused excuses in the book, AND I’m 99% sure that I just made a complete fool of myself.  

    “Nico, are you okay?” Leo suddenly asked. “Your face is kind of a bright red.”

“I, um, uh....” I managed to say. Darn it, Nico, say something! I scolded myself. I kept trying to think of a good excuse for my blushing, but nothing came to me. I was about to make a fool of myself AGAIN. Right at that moment, I either wanted to go hide somewhere or curl up into a ball and die. Suddenly, I came up with a lame excuse I hoped Leo would buy.

    “I-I’m...uh...not feeling too well after being, y’know, half-dead,” I lied as I began to feel sweat coming down my forehead.

When I looked back at Leo, he looked very, very skeptical about the answer I had given.  I suddenly had the idea to shadow travel out of this very awkward situation, but I realized it wouldn’t be a good idea because of the state I was in.

“You’re lying,” Leo said.

“What makes you think that?” I asked.

“I don’t know, maybe the fact that you won’t look me in the eyes, you’re sweating like a pig, and you won’t leave that skull ring of your’s alone,” Leo said sarcastically.

I didn’t know what to say.  The love of my life was standing in front of face, and all he could do was criticize me.

“I didn’t mean to be rude,” Leo said.

“Don’t worry, I take criticism easily,” I responded.

“To be honest, the only reason I said all that stuff was because-” Leo was cut off by the dinner bell.