Chapter Text
2009 | Pula, Croatia
Leo had never had his hands tied. Sure, he had been cuffed and arrested, but never the old-way with ropes and marine knots.
It had been exactly four hours, sixteen minutes, and thirty-five seconds since Minos and his men took control over the ship. Leo had his Wii remote shoved up his boxers and digging in places it shouldn't, but that little piece of plastic was the only way to control the ship. He had to hide it somehow, and in the midst of the chaos his underwear had been the only place he thought was safe(ish, unless the men decided to stick their hands in there, which he doubted but you never know).
The seven were all on their knees, a choice of guns that probably belonged to a museum shoved into the back of their heads if they dared to do as little as look up. The boys and the girls were on either sides, bunched up like trash as Minos tightened the rope around Percy's feet.
Leo wasn't sure what Minos was doing or what kind of artifact he had, but it was messing with all of their powers. Percy's mouth was dry like he hadn't drank a glass of water in days, Jason's breaths were shallow like he had been kicked in the chest, Hazel's jewels flickered in and out of existence like they were a glitch in life itself, Piper had a growing bruise around her mouth aside from already groaning in pain every few minutes, Frank and Annabeth we better not even mention because there are no words to express how horrifying their states were. But who clearly had it the worst was Nico, tied to the mast like taxidermy, like a prize to be displayed. The shadows in a twenty meter radius of him moved like vines and looked to grip at whoever's feet they could, Nico's breath was uneven and he looked like he was desperately trying to keep his tears to himself, which was odd because since when did Nico cry? On top of being already groggy from the drip liquid and his earlier dissociation, Nico looked terrified.
What the fuck was that, by the way?
“Well.” Minos clasped his hands and looked at the horizon, the sun was setting down in the distance, slowly bleeding into the night and promising their demise. If Leo didn't know better, he would have thought Minos was the kind of teacher that let you sleep during class and did games every week to make school more bearable. “Mother Gaia should have sent Κίρκη and her minions to pick you little rascals up by now, and this is becoming rather… monotonous, isn't it?”
The men nodded eagerly, and even from the corner of his eyes he could see how Percy's eyes widened with terror, strained to the floor like he had lived this kind of thing before and knew better than to disobey. Maybe he had, but knowing Percy the answer was probably yes.
“So… who shall be the first?” Minos said and looked at each and one of them. Nobody drifted their gaze away from the flooring of the helm. “Not one of you is brave enough to go first and be the greatest hero amongst heroes? No? Then I suppose I shall choose”
He took a look around, taking his sweet time to carefully choose his champion. Piper couldn't hold it in anymore and let out a choked sob of pain. Leo's blood ran cold and Minos’ eyes landed on her. He couldn't see his face, but the slowness of his steps made it clear he had found his prey.
“Her. To the center” He said and his men moved like poodles, grabbing Piper by the hair and dragging her to the center of the helm. Leo dared to look up. This time, there wasn't a man pointing a gun at him, it was almost as if they wanted them to watch.
Minos crouched down, tilting Piper's chin up to make her meet his gaze. “Piper McLean, are you now?” He said and tightened his grip on her face at her resistance. “Daughter of Aphrodite, charmspeaker and… beautiful long hair”
He threaded his fingers through it, almost tenderly, almost kind. It was pin straight and somewhere around her hipline, slightly tangled from sleep and a few days of bedriddance. He tightened his grip once he reached the middle of it and pulled up tight enough to nearly have her hanging off it. She yelled in pain and sobbed out pleadings as she watched him draw out a knife.
“No, no no no, wait, please, please–”
“I have heard your people value this a lot, the length of hair, it would be a shame if it was all just… gone in the blink of an eye, wouldn't it?” Minos said and tightened his grip in a mock ponytail, putting the knife at the base of his fist and close to the root. Leo's stomach churned, so he spoke before he even had time to think.
“I'll go! Just– don't touch her!”
Minos’ hand stilled just as it was drawing back to cut. His expression turned sweet, disgusting if you compared it to his actions.
“Very well” He said and sheathed the knife. He made a gesture with his hands and the men dragged Piper back. “Brave child, perhaps… Jason Grace?”
Leo could have corrected him, he could have said something, but maybe the confusion the man had could spare his own life. So he nodded without looking at Jason. He couldn't look at him and be this selfish. “Yes, sir”
The men grabbed him by the shoulders and hastily dropped him at Minos’ feet. The man was even paler up-close, his greying hair was tangled, his shirt read I heart Valencia and his pants had a blue and white checkered pattern, both clearly stolen from some souvenir store in Spain. He shouldn't have been that scary, but he was willing to send 14 kids to their deaths every year, what did one more at his own hand have to do against that?
“Son of Jupiter, praetor of New Rome, doing anything for his little girlfriend. You're… thinner than I would have expected” The man said, grabbing him by the face and forcefully poking at his bruised nose. It took everything in Leo to keep composed. It took everything in Leo to lower his body heat. It also took everything in Leo to not spit at his feet, he knew he was scrawny, but seriously? That's the first thing this man notices? “though I suppose you must be light in order to soar the skies properly”
“Piper is my crewmate before she is my girlfriend” He said, trying his best to replicate the calm and composed Jason he knew despite his own panic.
“Ah, honour over love. That adds up, I suppose” The man said and let go of his face, crouching in front of him with a smile. “You have lots of potential, child. You could rule the earth and lead armies of soldiers, you could live like a God! You may even choose to spare your woman. All you would have to do is join us”
Leo's saliva felt like paste and his throat was as dry as a desert. Minos’ choice of words made him want to scream, to spit at his sandals or to accept, betray his friends and give in, join the Godess that killed his mother so he wouldn't meet the same fate. He didn't. “I would sooner die than betray Rome”
Minos stayed silent for a few seconds, then grabbed him by the hair and tilted his head up enough to make his neck ache. “Insolent child… you're lucky you must live, but you don't need all your limbs to live. Androgeus, do as you please”
And with that, Minos drew his knife and handed it to his son, who pushed Leo to his stomach (now the Wii control was digging in places it really shouldn't) and grabbed his tied hands, forcing one of them open and placing the knife over his index with a wicked smile. Tears prickled at Leo's eyes and he prayed to whatever God there was left listening that his finger's life would end in a more dignified way than this (even if Leo's dignity had been left somewhere between Texas and Virginia).
The slash of the blade against his skin stung more than it should have, a kind of pain that travelled up his bones and shook him to the core. That was no regular blade, that was–
“Perseus’ hārpe” Nico mumbled from somewhere that felt both too close and too far away. The knife had a name –kind of– meaning its significance must be great.
So Leo did the most insensible thing he had done all evening.
He gripped the blade and released all the pent-up heat he had gathered. Leo went from cool as a breeze on a warm summer evening to a burning blaze recently pulled out of the fire.
The sword turned a blueish kind of hue and his blood carbonized the moment it left his body, giving Leo enough time to burn his bounds and break free. Leo wasn't going to be the reason Gaia awakened, he wasn't going to be some kind of sick exchange currency, and he definitely wasn't going to let Minos even touch a hair on the head of anyone on crew.
With shaky hands and wavering steps, he imagined these un-dead people were no other than Gaia herself. So with a blast of fire he let out all the rage and grief and pain he had felt for the last 7 years. The flames became a dazzling shade of blue Leo had never seen his hands produce, but the moment they left them, the men and Minos were nothing more than ash.
No scream, no yell, no pain, just ash.
Leo didn't let himself think what he had done, with sweat on his forehead and knees so wobbly he nearly fell, he crawled to the sword and began freeing his friends.
Nico looked a lot more sober when he started untying him, the rope that was holding him to the mast was thicker, much more resistant than the one his bounds had been made out of.
The son of Hades toppled to the floor, his legs giving up under his weight as he breathed heavily. The shadows at their feet became more erratic, clawing at things and people that would never feel them, and Nico just… curled up into a ball. His legs beneath himself, his hands on his hair, and his head tucked against his legs. It was hard to believe this was the terrifying son of Hades and not just a scared kid.
Why was Nico so terrified of Minos?
And there was that dilemma again, to comfort or to not comfort. Nico had been unreceptive to little touches before, even in the short span of the few weeks he had been on the Argo it had been made clear the boy didn't enjoy physical contact, but the (exactly three) times Leo had tried, he hadn't shoved him off. Okay, maybe he did avoid him for three days straight, but the point still stands.
To comfort or to not comfort…
He grabbed the blade and cut Jason's cuffs, holding out the blade for him. “Sorry for impersonating you, Superman, though I have to admit being you wasn't very fun” he said, though his voice betrayed everything but humor. “free the rest, yeah?”
“How did you do that?” Jason asked as he grabbed the hārpe (wasn't that an instrument?) and patted the floor for his glasses. “The fire, I mean. It burnt the tip of my hair and I wasn't even close”
When he found them, he looked down at Leo expectantly, but he didn't have an answer. He wasn't sure how he had done that. So he just shrugged and feigned nonchalance. “See? Aside from handsome I am also a valuable asset” He said and slipped on his best smile, trying not to think about the ash that once was men. He dug his hands in his boxers and pulled out the Wii controler. “What? they were looking for it and no man wants to touch another man's balls. Unless you're gay but… you get my point”
Jason's expression broke into a smile “Glad you're okay, Leo”
The moment Jason turned around to free Percy, Leo managed to stand up, swaying like a baby deer taking its first steps, and walked up to Nico by grabbing the railing as support. He lowered himself down again and just stared for a few seconds.
Nico was softly rocking himself, swaying back and forth as he tugged at his hair and dug his nails into his scalp. His face was buried in his legs, his hair hiding the bit of his face there could have been seen and his whole body pulled tight.
“Nico”
No answer.
A beat.
“Nico it’s okay, it’s over”
Again, no answer.
Back when he was in Wilderness school, aside from staying in the school itself, the court ordered a weekly group therapy meeting with teens his age. One day, one of the kids did something similar, it was because someone out in the street had lit a firecracker and it had exploded loudly, spooking the kid out of this plane. The term started with a t, but Leo had been so out of his depth that day he didn't even register what the therapist was saying.
This must be because of something that happened. Aside from the obvious kidnapping. Duh. Stupid Leo.
“Nico, he's gone” Leo said and put his hands over Nico's (he still felt feverishly warm, but that wasn't the point now), trying to stop him from pulling at his hair. “you're safe, we're safe”
Nico swatted his hand away and slightly lifted his head.
Leo had never been an enthusiast of the arts, but the expression the boy's face held was worth being displayed in a museum. His eyes held the terror of Ivan the Terrible and his son and the anger of the fallen angel. For a second, Leo feared that anger was directed towards him, but the glare his eyes held was just that, a look, wrath not towards Leo but at life itself.
“You're safe, with me and with Hazel and with everyone” Leo found himself saying, his voice quiet, like talking to an easily spooked animal.
Nico didn't reply, but his eyes gathered with tears. This wasn't the Nico he knew, but maybe it was the facet of his being the son of Hades had kept hidden long enough to just explode under extreme circumstances.
“Come on, don't cry” Leo said with a small sad chuckle. “You're such a pretty crier Aphrodite might just come down from Olympus to jinx you only out of envy. We've had enough with one attack, haven't we?”
Nico stared at Leo with confusion on his face. No more Lucifer, no more Ivan the Terrible, only utter confusion that no painting could convey.
Leo cleared his throat and looked away, drawing his hand back and instead choosing to look at the rest. Jason was lastly freeing Hazel, Piper and Percy were trying to snap Annabeth and Frank out of whatever trance they were on. Their heads were lulled back and their eyes were a milky white, rolled to the back of their heads.
“I'll be okay, mhm? Thank you, by the way, for saving me and Hazel earlier and… stuff” Leo said and reached out, hovering a few centimeters over Nico's tearstreaked face.
To comfort or to not comfort.
He withdrew his hand and looked at Nico in the eyes. “Nico. Say something” Leo pleaded with a sad smile. Nico only stared again. It would have been better if he punched him in the face.
Anything.
But nothing happened.
It never did.
That night, they had all decided to sleep in the mess hall, sitting in tired silence that soon turned into Hazel's snores (you would think it was Frank, but no that girl snored like a 6’9 bald father after three beers)(yes the bald part is important) at no later than eight pm.
They were all tired, the weight of what had just happened lingered in the air along with the strange effects Minos’ arrival had brought. No matter how much water Percy drank, he needed more. No matter how many deep breaths Jason took, he still couldn't breathe properly. No matter how much Piper tried, the moment she opened her mouth to speak the bruise around it worsened. No matter how much willpower Annabeth had, her body wouldn't respond from the chest down.
It was useless. All useless.
The curse lingered, and they didn't know why.
Leo laid on his sleeping bag, his body sizzling every time even a drop of sweat landed on his forehead. He felt like a hot pan. And he didn't mean hot pansexuals (he wished he meant that). He knew he had a fever, he could feel it, but he would sooner die than admit that unlike his companions, this odd curse was sickening him.
He toyed with the blade. Perseus’ hārpe, he had learnt. Under normal circumstances, he would have joked and said something like ‘damn Percy, didn't know you were a musician’, but not even he had the energy to waste his breath on something so stupid.
“I think it's the sword”
Leo turned his head to the side, and he was met with the image of Annabeth's curls, her head propped on a pillow and looking at him.
“Yeah?” He whispered back, looking around to see if they had woken up someone. Clear. He moved closer, holding the blade and looking at it. “It isn't all that to be honest, aside from looking like its bent”
“Perseus used it to slay Medusa, it–” she blew the hair off her face “– doesn't have any magical properties in mythology, but… Minos mentioned Circe earlier, so maybe she enchanted it with some kind of curse”
Leo hummed in understanding and turned it around, watching the way the moonlight flickered on the metal. It was an odd thing, really. Annabeth was one of Leo's best friends, and seeing her like that, bound to a bed simply because of some curse… it was weird.
“Maybe it's sucking our powers” Leo whispered and then softly shook his head. “Nah. I can still use my powers, it wouldn't make sense”
“Yeah, but you're the one holding it” Annabeth replied and blew her hair away again, huffing out in annoyance. “Can you tie my hair up, please? Or at least get it out of my face, I can't talk with it like this”
Leo stood still for a couple of seconds. He could burn her if he touched her. He couldn't just do that, so he slowly sat up and set the sword down, rummaging through his toolbelt.
Gloves, any gloves, he thought except nylon, maybe. Or plastic ones in general. Please?
Some kind of fabric materialized in his hand, so he took it out and he was met with… gardening gloves. Used gardening gloves with brown stains so big they looked like he had taken a shit and wiped his ass with them.
What.
He took a deep breath in and put his blanket on his exposed neck, putting on the gloves and breathing out.
“Hair tie's on my left wrist, I think” She whispered as he sat her up and rested her head on his shoulder.
Hair tie was, in fact, not on her left wrist.
He started gathering up her hair, listening to her as she spoke.
“What I mean is, it's messing with all our powers” She whispered and hissed when his fingers caught in a knot. “I mean, you were a furnace, Percy is dehydrated, Jason can't catch enough air to breathe, Piper can't speak, Nico can't control his shadows, Hazel's jewels keep flickering, Frank has been stuck in the glow between shifts for the last hour, and then there's… me, my brain has basically forgotten how locomotive functions work. Pyrokinesis, hydrokinesis, aereokinesis, charmspeak, umbrakinesis, crystallokinesis, metamorphosis, and… well, my agility and intelligence, they both come from my mother. It all adds up”
“I understood maybe half of what you said” He whispered as he finished tying it. “But yeah, I get it, let’s just destroy destroy the sword then”
Annabeth shook her head as he lowered her back down. “Thank you, the hair was really driving me insane– While that might seem like the obvious answer, I think it would be dangerous to just.. break it or something” She said and sighed. “if we destroy it then maybe we won't be able to recover our powers”
“Wait” Leo said and leaned back on his sleeping bag. “You said were. I am still a furnace, at least I feel like one”
“You're just a bit above your normal warmth, Leo,” She said and stared back at the ceiling. “Like Leo kind of warm, after that blast of fire you had you went back to… how are you, by the way? You had a rough day”
“Leo kind of warm, wow, crazy explanation ” Leo said and chuckled softly, clearing his throat awkwardly and staring at the ceiling, hoping she wouldn't ask again. “I am still really hot, like sizzling level of hot. Did you lose temperature perception too–?”
“I lost all my bodily functions, Valdez”
She seemed to get the memo.
“Then you don't know I'm normal warm, genius.”
Then a thought occurred to him. (Bad stuff)
“So, if all bodily functions are gone, can you pee or do you need a drainer?” He whispered with a wide, mischievous grin “And shit? Can you shit or do you need a plunger?”
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Annabeth groaned in disgust, but the smile on her face made it worth it.
“Will you two just keep quiet—?” Nico said a bit too loudly sitting upright like a vampire rising from its coffin. His eyes were strained on them, but once they fell on Annabeth's fading grin and Leo's hand in her arm, his expression only darkened. “Gods”
And with that, Nico stood up and promptly left the room, the room buzzing with the silence of his angry departure. Leo got to his feet nearly immediately, but when he looked back at Annabeth, he was found with that same dilemma. On one hand, Annabeth had some great points, on another, somethingin his chest pulled him to his feet without question, making him want nothing more than to bolt after Nico.
He looked bavk at Annabeth, and instead of mirrored confusion, she offtered a quiet nod and a mouthed 'Go.'
Leo didn't need to be told twice.
2009 | Mediterranean sea
“Dude,” Leo grabbed Nico's arm and he swatted his hand away. He wanted to scream, to fall to his knees and ask what it is that he did to be shrugged off. But how could he? Nico didn't want him. The words got stuck at the tip of his tongue and his hands shook with confusion. “Why– Did I do something wrong?”
The shadows grew wilder, crawling up Nico's feet, almost as if to reach his neck and choke him to death.
“No” Nico replied curtly, leaning over the railing with his arms crossed, clearly shaking but doing his best to hide it. “leave me alone”
“Neeks–”
“Stop calling me that! How many times do I have to repeat myself?!” Nico whipped around, staring at Leo with unshed tears in his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to make him laugh again, let those curious eyes he had while walking through the streets return to his face, see even a sliver of a smile. He could beg for it. Nico walked further down starport, and Leo followed.
“I'm sorry! I still don't get why you're so mad that me and Annabeth were talking, I'm sorry we were loud, okay?” He said and walked up quicker to intercept his pace. “What is this really about?”
Nico stilled, staring at him for a couple beats. Time seemed to slow down, the murmur of the waves became nothing more than white noise, and the only sound in the world was the air going in and out of Nico's noise with each rise of his chest.
“I–” Nico started, sighing shakily and trying to keep his head up, but his glassy eyes gave away exactly the opposite message he was trying to convey. “Why are you like this?”
That made Leo still in exchange.
“You could have chosen everyone in the world to fall for and you choose her? There are thousands of girls out there and you choose her?”
The knot on his throat tightened and for a second Leo felt like someone had ripped his heart out of his chest. Which was stupid, because he never had any property over him. Nico didn't like him, hell Nico probably wasn't like that at all. Leo was just wistful. And sinful. Disgusting. Shameful.
“Oh” Leo mumbled and rubbed his neck, looking away. He tried to swallow the knot in his throat unsuccessfully, and his eyes stung no matter how much he blinked. “She's all yours, Nico, I'm not trying anything with her. But… she has a boyfriend dude, you should probably lay off the possessive outbursts because if Percy hears–”
“I don't like Annabeth, for God's sake!”
Oh.
Oh.
“it's just-- she has friends who love and value her, she's smart, she's pretty, Percy loves her, and you– I thought I was special” Nico furiously wiped his eyes with a frustrated sob, laughing maniacally even by Leo's standars. “I thought you treated me like that because I was special, but I was just being stupid, like always. And then he appears out of nowhere, but I thought he was gone, I thought he was gone for good and that he would never come after me again but–”
Leo reached out and grabbed Nico, bringing him into a slightly forceful hug. “You don't get it! You don't get what it's like! Was I born to suffer? Am I going to be the odd one my whole life? Why? Why, why, why, why, why” Nico fought back, but with each passing second he melted more and more into it, sobbing louder.
“Nico, breathe” Leo said softly, hand hovering awkwardly over his head, until he settled on the nape of his neck. It was cold, colder than average at least, like a dip in the Atlantic after hours of sunbathing, like pool showers in the middle of August, like the bite of the autumn cold when you refused to carry a jacket. Leo wanted nothing more than to press his face into the crook and just breathe in. “Breathe with me”
Leo did an exaggerated pair of breaths, waiting for Nico to mimic. The minutes passed and he seemed to be much more calm, though his voice still shook every few words.
“We all love you, okay?” Leo whispered.
“Not enough to save me” Nico replied, his voice broken and his breathing quick against Leo's shoulder, desperately trying to level it up but just ending up panicking further. “You were all ready to just leave–”
“No joda– When are you going to understand that we all wanted to save you but it was reckless to do it?” Leo said and pulled away just enough to look at him. Leo had had more outbursts in the past three weeks than in his whole fifteen years of life. Blame it on the stress, on the weight of the world, on the quest; but truth is –and will always be– that Leo had simply lost his footing when he met Nico.
A kiss, a dream, a whisper in his ear, a gaze he can't tear away from a sliver of exposed skin. That's what Leo was now. That's what Leo has always been. He has never been a half-hearted friend, much less lover.
But the way Nico stared at him, eyes wide and lips parted, his skin shiny from tears and growing redder by the second, it made him still like he had met Medusa's eyes. He was attacked with a need to just close the distance and kiss his tears away, mold into one being until he wasn't sure when one ended and the other started.
Nico.
He must have uttered that word in a thousand tones, a thousand voices, conveyed a thousand feelings with that little four letter word. World. Leo keeps thinking world instead of word, and maybe that's not too far off from what he wants to say.
What is wrong with him?
Leo swallowed thickly, his eyes narrowing softly and his shoulders tensing, fully expecting a shove and a dismissal, but all Nico did was stare. Again. Gods, he hated that. He started detangling himself, and Leo resigned into thinking that this was all he was ever going to get. Nico didn't do vulnerability, he would never willingly let himself fall apart like he had today, and even if his words had been more than confusing, Leo could never be sure.
Was he ever going to be sure?
Probably not.
But when all hope was priced and sold, Nico's fingers lingered in Leo's forearm for a hot second, at war with himself, and he fully melted into the embrace, returning to Leo's arms like a warrior after a lost battle.
“The visions are going to be the end of us, and if it isn't then the prophecy of the seven will” He whispered in Leo's ear, swallowing the tears away without success. “you are aware of that, right?”
“You are allowed to enjoy something without thinking about when it's going to end” He whispered back, even if he didn't apply his own advice to himself most of the time.
“Leo” Nico barely mumbled, pulling away just enough to look at him. “You don't get it”
“Then make me get it! I'm easily trained” Leo replied, and sighed softly. This wasn't bro distance, they were close enough to share a breath and it was making Leo severely nervous.
‘Easily trained? Who says that? Oh my gods, I'm so stupid. Literally shut up for a week, Leo’
“I–” Nico stopped talking and breathing altogether, his fingers tightening on Leo's pyjamas and furrowing his eyebrows. “You're going to die and I'm going to be alone again”
Leo's heart stopped for a hot second.
The sight of his mother surrounded by flames of his own doing, sobbing her heart out and screaming at him to just go flashed through his eyes like second nature. The first two years of foster care, of wishing he could be adopted to just be dropped within the month, of spending whole evenings in the orphanage praying to God he would have a good family, of the loneliness it brough– it all crashed into him like an ongoing train.
He knew that abandonment.
He had lived it.
He lucidly remembers being around nine, spit landing on his face and his beheaded teddy bear clutched to his face as his foster father shouted at him for crying. Leo had learnt to grow up before he was meant to, doing things he didn't enjoy simply to fit in. Being ten and an immigrant was hard as it was, but being an orphan made every single thing in the world seem like a personal attack.
His knuckles raw, his face bruised, spit mixed with blood as he went for the second round. Wasn't it obvious how much he hurted? How he hunted others for sport so nobody would realize he was prey too?
Leo had been left to fend for himself enough times to learn that people would leave, inevitably, he just didn't think Nico had that feeling too.
He didn't want him to feel that way because of him.
Physician's cure New plan. Urgent!!
“I'm not going to die, Ne– Nico” He, against all common sense, knocked their foreheads together.
“To storm or fire the world must fall” Nico recited softly, not pulling away yet and instead tracing Leo's cheek with melancholic (and widely hesitant) touch. His fingertips were cold, the feeling almost forcing Leo to lean into it. “That's death, it has to be”
“It can mean a thousand things. No idea what those things are, but my point still stands” Leo mumbled, his eyes half-lidded and his breathing quiet. “If we forget about imminent death and stuff, this is nice”
“You really like that word, don't you? Imminent” Nico's fingers ever so slightly brushed over his undereye.
Nico's throat bobbed along a thick swallow, his eyes dropping to places that made Leo's skin tingle as the boy lifted his forehead away from his. A breath away, their skin tingling with eachother's sighs. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand, tilting his head up in the slightest. His fingers found the nape of Nico's neck, and he tangled them in his black curls, fisting it with maybe a bit too much force.
This was it. This was the moment Nico tilted his head and then--
Nothing
Well, not nothing, but not what he expected.
He pried Leo's hand away from his hair, and Leo was sure he fucked up. He tried to pull away, embarrassed he had misread the situation, but Nico held it tighter, with shaky hands of his own.
Leo watched almost in slow motion as Nico brought it up to his lips. His warm breath fanned over his palm, his eyes never leaving Leo's, as he pressed a kiss that lingered a few seconds too long on the center of his palm. It sent a shock through Leo's whole body, making his eyes flutter shut. An embarrassing (and involuntary) sigh evolved into a sound from the back of his throat, raw and primal, a kind of warmth he had never known pooling in his gut uncomfortably. To say it didn't take everything in him to not beg for more would be an understatement– in all honesty, given the chance, Leo would have gotten on his knees for half of the same affection. This was more than just romantic, and while Leo had imagined something harsher, filled with sharp tugs of hair and shoves against walls, he had never tasted something sweeter.
Nico let go and with wide eyes and rosy cheeks, almost surprised at what he had done. He pulled away and looked at Leo's hand like it was its fault, the fled the scene in a flustered hurry, leaving Leo in desperate need of a cool off.
Had that just happened?