Terms and Conditions (valdangelo)

Fondness

Do you ever get like weird waves of specific nostalgia? Because I do.

Hazel only starts joining the annual visit to Bianca's grave when she's old enough to understand what happened.

There are a few changes, considering the new context.

Every year, on the 24th of December, Hades and Nico would visit Bianca's grave, over time Persephone and Hazel joined; Leo had joined a few times too, mostly standing at a respectful distance, giving Nico's step-mom the excuse to stand aside as well, and Nico had though it was because neither of them understood once upon a time. He knows better now, of course.

Leo doesn't like talking about the accident that caused his mother's death, or the years that followed before he was taken in by his father's family; but Nico still knows about it, maybe more than anyone else. So when Leo took him to her grave last year, he'd felt honored; amongst other things. When he said that Bianca and Esperanza would probably become fast ghost friends, something light had settled inside his chest; he had run from it back then.

Now Leo made a point of asking Nico beforehand if he preferred him to step aside during the visit, so he accepted by reminding him of it; it was a little embarrassing, but the way Leo's entire face lit up was more than worth it. He felt momentarily weightless, at the smile that painted Leo's lips; something gentle, and genuine, and private.

They faced the grave together, hands held solidly, fingers tapping a single line of Morse against knuckles. There's no words said, not out loud at least; but the tapping stops and is replaced by a gentle brush of a thumb, and warmth fills his being.

They don't let go of each other, not when they leave the cemetery, nor when they get in the car to drive back; not until they sit down for dinner and have to use their hands for silverware. Leo offers his arms when they go to sleep, no one there to fool, and Nico takes the offer with both hands, greedily drinking in the feeling of safety and warmth.

- .... . -.-- / -.-. ..- -.. -.. .-.. . / .- -. -.. / .. - .----. ... / -.-. ..- - .

Christmas was a weird time for Leo, because he hadn't celebrated it at all since the fire and until last year when Nico stayed in the city, and that had consisted on watching non-Christmas related movies while eating an unhealthy combination of Christmas-only flavors; which had been both really nice and the worst decision. And he knows Nico isn't all that fond of the holyday, but likes the opportunity it gives him to spend time with his family; and Leo can't bring himself to question that logic.

So he thinks he's justifiably surprised when there are two gifts for him, like, he was expecting one of them because Hazel is a softie and gets Leo gifts every year from her and Frank; the second surprises him because everyone else he knows to do gift-giving will only pass their gifts to him when they all get together for New Year's. He thinks himself mature when he manages to suppress his curiosity until everyone else in the household is awake, which makes Nico chuckle but agree that it is very much an accomplishment, when the other finally wakes up that is.

When everyone sits down, Leo comes to the sudden realization that he has no idea what the family surname is because both Hazel and Nico use their mother's surnames, and spends most of the time zoned off running mental circles and trying to remember if he's ever seen Hades' surname even once.

As he spirals down into questioning if Nico and Hazel's dad is even human - he's thinking maybe vampire or the actual Greek god he shares a name with -, the two gifts with his name on them are pushed into his arms, he opens the smallest one to a brand new set of tools, which tells him Frank actually paid attention when he complained about needing to replace his old ones that one time they had to wait for everyone else in the café; it gives him a really nice feeling, as does the holyday card with Hazel's careful handwriting, and then he moves to the next. The second gift is in an actual box, Leo's name written atop in a handwriting he recognizes only slightly, which is no help when he's known most of the people around him for such a long time; he's careful unwrapping, fingers shaking with anticipation, and what he sees leaves him breathless.

Now, the shop he worked on rarely if ever saw anything other than vehicles, because people tended to think that's all they did; Leo couldn't really blame them. However, there were a choice few who did know they did anything mechanical, and those brought old time-y stuff over; so while he had never worked on one, Leo knew very well what the various parts inside this box would shape. He feels eyes on him, and finds Nico looking sheepish, and he's overcome with a rush of feeling; and his mind was made.

He was going to wait until they were back, but then he ran the chance of having their mutual friends keeping them apart, and he couldn't hold back any longer; so here would have to do. Now all Leo needed was a plan to get Nico away from his family so that they could talk without it blowing up their cover.