Hate to Love (Valdangelo)

Horror Movies

Leo continued to hang out with Nico a lot more often after that.

It was only two days after the "tickling incident," as Leo was starting to call it, and the two boys were sitting on the couch, in front of a TV, trying to decide what to watch.

"Why can't we just watch Full House?" Leo asked as he threw his head against the back of the couch. He stared up at the ceiling as Nico have his answer.

"Because, I've seen every episode a couple of times, and they get kind of annoying after a while."

Leo groaned. Why did Nico have to be such a hardheaded person? He couldn't even suffer through at least one episode of Full House for a friend?

Leo turned his head to the side to look at Nico. That was a bad idea, however, for it was right when Nico decided to grace his lips with an evil grin. Leo bolted upright, and slowly scooted a couple inches away from Nico.

"Why the smile?" he asked. His voice shook slightly. Nico could be very scary when he wanted to be.

"Because I know what we're going to watch, and you're not backing down." Leo gulped. When the son of Hades says something like that, the only smart option is to be terrified. Leo is smart. He is terrified.

"What?" he asked, drawing out the word in his fear. Nico got up and walked over to the stack of DVDs. Leo watched as he ran his finger down the titles and picked a black one out. Leo's eyes widened.

"It's not-?" He began to ask, but Nico cut him off with another evil grin. Leo gulped once again. If he was right, it was the latest horror movie. Leo had heard that it made people pee their pants, and that there was some kind of curse with it.

Nico hadn't even put it in, and Leo was ready to pee his pants. Horror movies scared the heck out of him. He used to see bits and pieces of them in some of the foster homes. It scarred him for life. He would never look at dolls and puppets the same way again.

"Uh, Nico?" Leo began warily as he slowly got up from his spot on the couch. "I think I'll just-"

Nico ran over and pushed Leo back down by the shoulders. "Oh, no you don't. You are going to watch it. It's really not that bad."

Nico looked like he was trying to hold back a laugh, and Leo got his "whine" on.

"You're laughing at me!" he almost yelled. Nico's smile got bigger as he tried to defend himself.

"No I'm not!" He started to laugh at the end, though, and that ruined his defensive statement.

"See! You're doing it right now!" Leo was only dimly aware that Nico's hands were still on his shoulders. The back of his mind blamed it on his fear.

Nico's smile grew even more, and he walked away. The lights turned off.

"Not the lights!" Leo complained. He lifted his feet up off of the floor, and pulled his knees up to his chest.

"You're really scared, aren't you?" Nico asked with a slight smile as he sat back down.

"No, I'm just sitting like this because I can't wait to see a unicorn fart rainbows." Leo gave Nico an exasperated look. Nico was smiling again, teeth and all.

I never thought I would actually see him smile, Leo thought. Let alone see him smiling a lot.

"Okay, sure, fine. But seriously, you have to watch this. I'll be here to chase the evil monsters away." He wriggled his fingers. Leo laughed quietly.

"That's reassuring." Leo looked back at the dark screen hesitantly.

Nico obviously noticed; he got up and pressed play.

.o0o.o0o.

It was the worst five minutes Leo had ever experienced. The movie started in a graveyard, and hands popped out of the ground and lunged toward the girl there when they least expected it.

Every time something popped out of the ground, or grabbed at the girl, or anything of that nature, Leo would jump so hard Nico looked over with a grin. Leo covered his eyes every time.

Leo heard chuckling next to him. He moved his fingers so he could see a little sliver and looked at Nico, who sat there, bent over, laughing and holding his stomach.

"It's not funny!" Leo screamed, which only made Nico laugh harder. He soon cooled off enough to talk. He sat up and looked at Leo.

"It's only a couple minutes in, and you look ready to pee your pants."

Leo gave him a blank look.

"Horror movies and I go way back, and it's not in a good way. They scarred me for life, so, you really shouldn't be surprised if I run out of here screaming my head off." Apparently, Nico found the image amusing. He covered his mouth and started to shake slightly. Leo knew he was laughing.

He pushed him over. "Yeah, it's funny now. Just don't start complaining when you have third degree burns."

Nico sat back up. There was still a smile on his face, but he wasn't laughing anymore, thank the gods.

They watched on for another twenty minutes, in which time Leo freaked out repeatedly, and Nico chuckled at Leo every time.

There was one particularly horrifying scene where Leo couldn't handle it anymore, and he threw himself on Nico. His head was on Nico's shoulder, and his arms were around Nico's neck.

"Make the monsters go away," Leo said quietly into his shoulder. Nico was tense, but soon he loosened up and, hesitantly, put his arms around Leo.

"It's okay Leo. It's just a movie. It's special effects. The ones we face everyday are way worse than that." Nico obviously still turned the movie off, though. The screams in the movie cut off abruptly, and Leo doubted it was because the owners of those screams were eaten.

"Leo." Nico poked Leo's head once, twice. "Leo seriously. I know you're not asleep."

"What?" He groaned in reply.

"The movie has been off for a couple of minutes."

"So?"

"Your head is still on my shoulder, and your arms are still around my neck."

Leo felt his face warm. He figured he must've looked a little pink, if it wasn't so dark. He muttered a little "Oh," and sat up.

"Well, it's almost time for me to check how Festus is doing, again, so, I'm just going..." He gestured to the door, saw Nico's head bounce in the small amount of moonlight, and left to go check on his metal friend.