Hate to Love (Valdangelo)

Promise

Leo was looking through Festus's circuits. He'd been a tad bit slower than usual, and Leo wanted to make sure it was just the age of his parts making him so.

Everything seemed just fine, except for a couple of bolts getting loose. He tightened them, said goodnight to the metal dragon head, and headed to his room.

He was dead tired, he could probably sleep for months, if the ship could've been left without him for that long.

He shook his head to try to wake him up a little. It only succeeded in making him slightly dizzy. He stumbled for a second.

He sighed and continued to trek quietly to his room.

His thoughts began to wander.

He thought back to the horror movie they watched. Yes, it terrified him. Yes, he wondered why anyone would make such a thing. Yes, he wondered we he even watched it in the first place. Yes, he wished they never did. But yet, he's still glad Nico put it in.

He found Nico's smell of vanilla comforting, and it took his mind off of the screams of torture from the movie. It helped him relax. He almost felt like falling asleep.

He almost did, but just as sleep pulled him over, Nico poked him several times and told him he turned off the movie.

For some reason that Leo could not explain, he was slightly disappointed that he didn't fall asleep then.

He finally made it to the rooms, cutting off all of his thoughts about the pale Italian.

He reached his hand out to turn the knob to his door. It froze when he heard a bloodcurdling scream.

All signs of exhaustion blew out the metaphorical window as he trained his ears to pinpoint where the scream was coming from.

He ran down to the end of the hallway. It was coming from the guest room.

That's where Nico sleeps. His mind quietly reminded him. He jiggled the knob-it was locked.

The scream stopped. Fear washed over Leo. What if something was in there? What if it got Nico?

Leo was about to ram his shoulder into the door before he remembered the tool belt around his waist. He reached down and pulled out a screwdriver to take the knob off.

It fell with a clang within seconds, and he ran inside. Nico was tossing and turning. He started screaming again, yelling something about not wanting to go back, and begging for someone to not let him fall. There were tears streaming down his cheeks.

Leo was by his side in seconds, trying to wake him up. He shook his shoulders, slapped him, and grabbed a squirt bottle from his belt to pour water over Nico's head.

"Nico! Wake up! It's Leo, wake up!" He yelled as he shook his shoulders more. Nico's eyes snapped open with a giant gasp. Leo let out a breath of relief, and Nico shot up without warning and into Leo's arms. It was Leo's turn to "make the monsters go away."

Leo's shoulder was soon damp with Nico's tears.

"Don't let me fall." Nico sobbed quietly into Leo's shoulder. "Don't let me go back."

Leo's hand found Nico's hair as Hazel burst into the room, the others behind her, wide awake and alert. She smiled faintly, mouthed "Thank you," to Leo, and turned to leave. The rest looked in to see what was going on, and then turned to do the same as Hazel.

Leo turned back to Nico.

"I won't let you fall." He could easily guess what Nico's nightmare was about, by this time. "You're not going back. Not if I can help it."

They stayed like that for a while, Leo whispering words to make Nico feel better as the other calmed.

Leo was pretty sure Nico fell back asleep. He tried to lay the cold boy back down, but his grip was like iron.

"Don't leave me..." Nico whispered. "Don't leave like everyone always does." Leo couldn't handle it anymore. His heart melted, and he whispered back with a slight smile.

"Well, I have to get comfortable, don't I?" Nico loosened his grip on Leo enough to let him lay down next to him.

Leo wrapped his arms around Nico's small frame pulled him close.

"I'll chase away the evil nightmares." He whispered in Nico's ear.

.o0o.o0o.o0o.

Leo woke up much later that morning. The sun was shining, and if there were birds this high up, he was sure they would be chirping.

He forgot were he was for a second, and why Nico was in his arms fast asleep, until the night came rushing back to him.

His promise to Nico.

Speak-more like think-of the devil, Nico groaned and rolled over, so he was now facing Leo.

He looked more like a kid. All creases in his face from glaring at people were gone, and he even had a slight smile on his lips. He was as curled up as he could get with a second person lying next to him. Leo thought it was adorable.

He tried to convince himself that he meant it in a "big brother to little brother" way. Or maybe a "guy to puppy" kind of way.

He also had to admit, that was the best he'd slept in a while. He figured the same for Nico, as the slight bags that were normally under his eyes were fading.

He continued looking down at Nico's sleeping form until his dark eyes fluttered open.

"Morning, sweetheart." Leo said with a grin. Nico gave a sleep-induced glare. It wasn't very threatening. He looked like a tiny puppy trying to take on a person's foot. Adorable.

Nico sat up and rubbed his eyes. Leo sat up after him.

"What time is it?" he asked in a groggy voice. Leo looked at the clock on the wall.

"Almost eight."

Nico groaned and threw himself back down on his pillow. Leo laughed quietly. He grabbed another pillow that fell on the ground and poised to throw it down on Nico.

"Throw it and I kill you." Nico said, his eyes still closed, and Leo dropped the pillow instantly, his grin wiped off his face. It came back a second later.

"Wakey, wakey, Nicito. It's time to get up and live through the day!" Nico groaned and smashed the other pillow on top of his head. Leo laughed. Morning Nico was adorable.

Leo realized he'd been using that word to describe Nico a lot lately. He didn't know why. It's just the first word to come to mind.

Leo stood up and grabbed Nico's arm.

"No, really. You're really skinny, and it's time for breakfast. You need to eat. I will shove a waffle down your throat if I have to. "He added when Nico still didn't make a move to get up.

Leo pulled him up and dragged him to the door. "I'm being serious."

"Fine," Nico groaned.

Leo grinned.

I still got it.