Work Text:
The landscape kept rushing past him as Nico rushed through the highway. Probably way over the speed limit, but who cares about details?
Nico had a shitty day and it was reflecting in his driving style.
Well, could you really blame him?
He overslept.
Was late for work.
His cousins got him into trouble in collage.
Then he had to listen to a lecture by his professor.
He’s got a shitload of homework to do.
And now he was running late for dinner with his family.
His father could care less if he was late or not. But his step grandmother… could he call her like this? She would go crazy if he was late and threaten him with a “job” at her farm again. One summer there was more than enough for Nico. This was not an experience he wanted to have again.
But of course his day wasn’t shitty enough. Nico was no mechanic, but he was pretty sure that if your car started to make noises like the Trojan War was held inside it, it was not a good sign.
Cursing, Nico managed to navigate his car to the shoulder of the highway. Annoyed, he messed up his hair, unbuckled his seatbelt and got out of his car. He had no idea what for a car he had, but if he could believe Percy it was a very expensive (at least he knew this fact) and popular car model.
But these facts didn’t help him now because he still had no idea what to do. He went to the hood of his car and saw smoke erupting through the slots between the hood and the car. Hesitantly Nico opened the hood and regret it immediately. A giant cloud of hot smoke hit him directly in the face and he stumbled a few steps back.
“Shit! You’ve gotta be kidding me!”
He came a bit closer to the hood while soothing his warm face with his thankfully always cold hands. The smoke was so thick he couldn’t see anything… but let’s be honest even if he could that wouldn’t help him much because he still had no idea what he had to do.
Nico was a law student and future lawyer not a mechanic.
The sun was already starting to set and Nico was stranded in the middle of nowhere.
Pulling his phone out of his pocket his speed dialed his father to tell him he was going to be late.
“Nico? Where are you?!” his father’s angry voice boomed through the speaker.
“My car broke down. I will be late”
“I don’t care why you are late! But Persephone is being held up at work and Hazel is still in Canada with Frank, so I have to tolerate this woman alone right now! You know how much I hate her!”
“I’ve heard that!” Nico could hear the voice of his father’s mother in law in the background.
“I don’t care!” his father yelled back. “Stupid old hag…”
“I’ve heard that, too!”
“And I still don’t care!” his father sighed before adding “Just hurry up or you will have to visit me in prison for committing homicide.”
With that his father hung up on him. It’s been so many years but the relationship between Hades and Demeter never failed to amuse him. He only hoped that his father was able to hold himself together… not because he cared about ending up in prison (his father was the best lawyer in town, he would probably manage to talk himself out of this situation), but his wife – Nico’s stepmother – Persephone would never forgive him for killing her mother.
Maybe he should google the number of a garage… but who knows how long this will take until they were here. He didn’t need to think very long about this because suddenly a car parked right behind his.
A guy with curly dark hair and an elfish grin on his face stepped out and walked towards Nico. He was not much taller than Nico (and he was already pretty much on the short side) and was wearing clothes that were dirtied with some black liquid. Maybe oil?
“You need help?” asked the stranger and stopped right before Nico.
“No, my car only broke down in the middle of nowhere,” Nico answered and rolled his eyes.
He was already annoyed with the stranger. What was this even for a question? Of course he needed help! There was still smoke raising from his car, how could anyone think that it was ok?!
“What for a coincidence. Today’s your lucky day I guess, amigo! I’m the Super-sized McShizzle, man! I'm Leo Valdez, bad boy supreme who also happens to be a motorcar mechanic,” Leo introduced himself.
“What in hell’s name does McShizzle mean?” asked Nico.
Leo was weird. There was no other way to describe him. Just… weird.
“It can mean whatever you want it to mean…” Leo looked at him with a questioning look in his eyes.
He probably waited for Nico to introduce himself. “Nico.”
“Like I said: It can mean whatever you want it to mean, Nico,” he winked at Nico and went over the hood of his car.
“May I?” he asked but already started to look through the smoke.
“Have fun, not like I could help you anyway…” Nico said.
“Actually you could. I have a tool box in my trunk. Could you get it for me?” asked Leo and tried to fan the smoke away.
After Nico brought him the tool box (or more likely dragged it) he sat down on the ground and pulled his phone out. He didn’t know what he could say to Leo anyway… also he didn’t want to distract him from working on his car.
“I hope you know how lucky you are that I noticed you,” started Leo “It’s dangerous for pretty little boys to be alone out here in the dark.”
Nico wasn’t able to see the smirk on Leo’s face but he was sure it was there!
“I’m not little!” he complained.
Leo chuckled. “Is this the only part of the sentence that bothers you?”
He had to think for a second. “I’m not pretty either!”
His height has always been a sensitive subject for him. While his father was a giant, Nico wasn’t lucky enough to inherit his height… to add more to his misery his cousins were freaking giants, too.
Leo slammed the hood shut. The noise startled Nico and brought his attention back on the other boy.
“All done! It will be fine for a bit, but you should visit a repair shop as fast as you can. It would be a pity to let this car get ruined because you didn’t let a mechanic fix it properly,” Leo explained and started to wipe of the oil from his hands with a handkerchief.
Nico stood up and gave Leo his hand to shake. It seemed to be appropriate in this situation, since Leo fixed his car and everything. “Thanks.”
Leo gave him an elfish grin that made his eyes twinkle. He grabbed Nico’s hand in a firm grip. His hands were warm. Nico wasn’t sure if his hands were always warm or if they were warm because Leo had his hands on a hot motor only seconds ago.
Instead of shaking his hand Leo pulled Nico flush against his chest while his other hand wandered to his backside for a second.
“Remember to come by tomorrow, Nico,” Leo said with a smirk on his face and immediately let go of him.
He rushed to his car, got in and drove off as fast as he could before Nico could even say anything. Nico’s hand wandered to his backside pocket and he pulled a business card out (he was sure it wasn’t there before).
“Bunker 9…” Nico read out loud. A famous car repair shop. Nico knew so much.
Putting the card back into his pocket, Nico wanted to get into his car but stumbled over Leo’s tool box.
“Idiot…” Nico mumbled angrily.
He grabbed the box and carried (dragged) it into his own truck. If he wouldn’t forget, he would bring it over to Bunker 9 tomorrow. For now he had to hurry up and drive home.
Also… Leo said that he should go to a repair shop.