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

Don't Lose Ur Head

It wasn't too often that Nico and Levi had arguments. Sure, little disagreements here and there, but other than that, nothing big really happened.

So, when arguments did happen, they usually escalated pretty quickly .

Levi lets himself collapse onto the couch, his aching muscles begging him to relax for once. Today had been one of those days at work where he just wasn't able to sit down. A massive trauma had come in, which he had been eager to jump on and assist, despite how daunting the situation truly was.

On the other hand, Nico had been tending to a young patient the majority of the day. His mother just happened to be... one of those. Panicky, snappy, rude. Nico managed to smile through it, bearing every small insult and nit-pick the mother threw at him. At one point, he had debated just turning around and denying her and her son of any treatment, simply because of how rude she was being.

So, when Nico had been called in to help assist with the surgery, he was quite visibly vexed. That is where it all started. A few miscommunicated looks and misunderstood words were all that it took to set them off.

Nico joins him on the couch not two minutes later, sitting the opposite end, not paying any attention to Levi. Levi wouldn't admit it out loud, but it hurt to see Nico blatantly ignoring him, despite his best efforts to try and start some sort of conversation.

"So," Levi starts, and he can see Nico shift uncomfortably out of the corner of his eye. He clears his throat and sucks in a deep breath before continuing, "how was the rest of your day? You know, after the surgery?"

Nico scoffs, "Miserable."

It's the toneless way he speaks that forms a pit in Levi's stomach. It's the way he doesn't even bother turning his head to respond, how he doesn't even bother returning the question. It hurts. It stings, just like a newly formed scratch.

That's all he hoped this was. A scratch.

"Yeah, same," Levi replies flatly, "the patient is stable. She should be okay."

"That's good to hear."

Their conversation is so boring, so completely drained of life, that Levi sees no point in exerting effort to carry it on. If Nico wants to act in such a way, then Levi will let him. After a few moments of silence, Levi lets out a sigh, standing from the couch.

It's only then Nico turns his gaze up at Levi, brows knitted together in silent question. Levi says nothing as he disappears off into the bedroom, casually checking his phone as he shuts the door behind him. As much as he wanted to slam it, he didn't. After all, he wouldn't want a noise complaint from the neighbors. Again.

The first time hadn't exactly been his fault.

He slumps on the bed, the evening sun breaking through the blinds as he stares up at his phone, scrolling through his Instagram feed, legs dangling off the end of the bed. It's only when he rolls over onto his front that he realizes that the bed was never made this morning. Damn it.

He continues scrolling mindlessly through his feed, double-tapping a few posts he likes, sending a particularly funny one to Taryn, who replies almost instantly with a laughing emoji.

It another few minutes of silence as he scrolls, and scrolls, and scrolls, until a text causes his phone to chime. The noise breaks the silence so suddenly, it makes Levi startle. He glances up at the notification briefly, seeing it's from Link.

Apparently, Nico wasn't answering his phone, which is often something he neglected to do when he was in a sour mood.

"Urgh," Levi groans to himself, swiping the notification away and rolling off the bed. He opens the bedroom door and sticks his head out, seeing Nico was still where he left him, except the TV was now playing.