S C H M I C O || A collection of short stories

What Comes and Goes

Levi took Link's advice to heart. He took it in, remembered it, pondered over it. Link was right; Nico needed space to grieve, he needed his own time to come to terms with what he had caused. When he was ready, Nico could come to Levi. All Levi could do to help him now was give him the space he needed, despite the fact he wanted nothing more than to just tell Nico that it was okay.

Levi understood that he had been too pushy with trying to help. Perhaps he had been just a tad bit overbearing on Nico? Of course, he meant it all with good intentions, it just didn't quite come across that way. He never meant for it to come across like he was trying to make it about himself. That was the very last thing he wanted to do.

It hurt. It hurt when Nico had snapped at him. That was his way of telling Levi to back off, Levi understood that, but it still hurt and it still wasn't okay. Levi knew Nico better than that. When Levi truly thought about it, an apology wasn't what was important right now. What was important was helping Nico in any way he could. Levi knew that Nico would have to forgive himself for what he did before he could even think about anything else.

A week passed before they properly spoke again. It still wasn't any easier for Nico to think about Josh, nor was it easier to relive those memories every time he walked through the hospital doors. However, he was ready to talk. He just didn't know how. He didn't know how he could approach Levi, after almost two weeks of them not talking, and ask him for help.

Nico had never wanted Levi to see him like this. He had never wanted Levi to see him crumble and fall in the way he did. It was mortifying to him. Nico was meant to be the perfect guy; no faults, no flaws, no mistakes. Super confident, talented, strong, amazing. Then, Josh happened. Now, he didn't quite know who he was.

Failure had never been an option. It had been drilled into him from a young age from everyone around him that failure was not an option. That failure was bad. That mistakes did nothing but make you flawed. 

Little did he know, mistakes and failure were the key steps to success.

A timid knock on the door snaps Nico back into reality, the door swinging open just two seconds later. A familiar face pops around the side of the door.

"Hey," It was Levi. Nico wants to smile at him, wants so desperately to rush up to him and wrap his arms around him. He can't bring himself to do that. "Link said you needed me for something," Levi squeezed through the gap in the door, keeping his back to the wall as he closed the door behind him. He waits for a moment, rocking on the balls of his feet before he speaks up again. "Said I'd find you here."

Nico knows they aren't exactly meant to be in here- regardless, he needs somewhere to talk to Levi where they aren't going to be interrupted. So, here it was, a quaint little conference room which was only ever used for meetings once or twice a year.

"Yeah. You're going to want to sit." Nico leans back in the chair he is perched in, using his hand to gesture to the many other chairs which Levi could take. Still, he takes the one closest to Nico.

Levi is cautious as he sits, the look on his face saying everything he wasn't. Worry, fear, concern. Levi thinks that he has done something wrong. He worries he is going to hear those words he is dreading. The words that make his stomach churn whenever he thinks about them coming from Nico. "Are we- Are you, okay?"

Nico pauses, takes a moment to really think. Then, he lets out a heavy sigh as he shakes his head, lips pressed together in a tight line. "No."

"Okay," Levi sighs out, slumping back in his seat, hands resting in his lap. "Do you want to talk about it? Are you ready to talk about it?"

Nico shakes his head, swallows down the lump forming in his throat. "I don't think I'll ever be ready to talk about it, in all honesty. I just- I know I can't keep dwelling on it. I know I need to talk to someone before it drives me insane."