Summary: In which Nico and Leo discover their similarities over cans of diet Pepsi.
A/N A random idea that came to me after finishing MoA. Sorry if the characters are OOC. (This was a spurt of inspiration that only lasted an hour, I'm afraid. It will definitely not reach my usual standards.)
Anything Percy Jackson related is not mine.
Leo wipes the beads of sweat that are dribbling down his face with his grease-stained sleeve. He admits that all this work is tons of responsibility, but the ship needs to be in top condition when they head to the Doors. Regular maintenance checks, upgrades to the boat, fixing broken parts, trying to incorporate the spheres to make it all fit, without having to completely tear apart the Argo and building it up again...
It doesn't help that Annabeth, the only other person besides him who has a basic knowledge about machinery, is gone. His hands clench and unclench the screwdriver between his trembling fingers. Gone in an instant. Just like his mama.
The screw clatters onto the floor with a miniscule clink, but Jason hears it anyways. The room was quiet to begin with.
Jason turns to look at him with those piercing blue eyes that seem to stare right through him and his pitiful lies. "Dude, are you okay? You don't look so good. You've been working on this for days- when's the last time you slept, anyways? Go take a break or something."
Leo grunts, lowering his hands so that those... eyes can't see the shaking. "As if I'd go to sleep to let you watch over my baby. Fat chance." It was supposed to come out as a light-hearted joke but his sleep-deprived state turns it into a hiss. Jason's eyes don't harden, but soften instead. (Curse his understanding personality.)
A hand catches him off guard and manages to pry his screwdriver away from him. Leo struggles to get it back, to grasp it, to hold on to the work that's keeping him sane-
"Get some rest."
Jason's words hurt. They're not the words of a suggestion, but rather, a harsh command. A hush falls over them, only broken when Leo draws back. He hurries to build up his playful demeanor once more.
"Fine, but I'm blaming you if I wake up and the ship's become a monster's snack, or something like that."
The other demigod shrugs, a suspicious glint in his eye at Leo's sudden change in mood. "Sounds fair. Better than me having to drag your butt to a bed after you manage to black out from exhaustion."
"As if," Leo says, exiting the room. After closing the door behind him, he ponders about where to go. He doesn't want to mingle with any of the others, not now, anyways. He just needs a little time to himself. For a moment, he actually considers the idea of sleep, but the thought is gone as quickly as it had come. His ADHD mind unexpectedly jumps to other matters it considers important, like how messy his hair iss. Or how dark the bags under his eyes are. To calm these thoughts, he goes to the nearest sink and splashes some water on his face. The feeling refreshes him a bit (ironic, considering he was the fire summoner) and manages to chase his drowsiness away.
Having finished taking care of that problem, he concludes that he needs some fresh air to get his blood flowing again. Now that his head was more rational, as rational as his head could be anyways, he confesses Jason did have a point. It is nice to get out of that cramped room with the stench of oil floating about in the air.
The stables are the best choice for a fresh source of oxygen.
On the way, he grabs a half-dozen pack of diet Pepsi (he wonders who had put them there *winedudecough*) and, pleased with his choice of beverage, proceedes to the stables. If you could call them that.
Leo seriously has no idea what he was thinking when he had built the place. He isn't surprised to see it empty, as it always is, as he walks in.
At least, that's what he thinks. So when a voice suddenly says, "Hey," in a very casual manner, no one can blame poor Leo for jumping about a foot into the air.
When he realizes it's only Nico, he's almost ashamed that he lost his cool like that. In front of someone who is younger than him.
But though Leo has gone up against varieties of monsters in all shapes and sizes, he's never met anything that unnerves him as much as this kid does. And it isn't just about his deadly heritage (that was a joke, you should be laughing), but just something about him. Like his pale skin that almost looks like moonlight. Or the fact he can blend into the shadows so perfectly that Leo couldn't even see him, even though he's not even trying to hide himself. Maybe the feeling that he radiates, the feeling you get when you feel cornered, like a wild animal.
"Hey."
The voice, too. It sounds like it's concealing...something beneath its depths. Leo calls this, 'chocolate poison'. He takes a brave bite out of the liquid-y center.
"Mind if I sit here?"
Nico shrugs, and gestures for the Latino boy to sit down. Leo hesitates for a second, wondering if he should run, come up with an excuse, or something. But that seems stupid, since he's the one who asked if he could sit. He imagines himself saying, Oops, sorry, thought you were Hazel for a second there. I'll just go now. It's ridiculous.
Leo pops a can of Pepsi and takes a swig out of it, then pops another and offers it to Nico, who hesitantly accepts.
"You're a Pepsi person, huh?" Nico comments, tracing the edge of the can with one slender finger. "I'm more of a Coka-Cola person."
Leo grins. "I used to be too, but this stuff saved both you and me. Never doubt the power of Pepsi."
Nico shoots him a confused look, but after a brief staring contest with the can in his hands, realization dawns on his pale features. "Oh, you mean...oh."
The voice has a bit of a bitter note at the end, and Leo suddenly grasps the fact that, the memory of being kidnapped by giants was not a very good experience for Nico. "Oh, man, I'm..."
Nico raises a hand, signaling that Leo should shut his mouth. A tense moment of no words passes between them. Even though Leo's been with Nico for a couple of weeks now, he's never seen much of the boy. Part of the reason involving him being cramped up in one room all day and night. But he notices that the son of Hades looks drastically better than when he had first seen him. The skin is no longer sticking to bone, or outlining the skinny frame of the body. But the haunted look of a tortured person, one that was plagued with unimaginable terrors still hasn't gone away.
Taking all of this into consideration, Leo sums it up with three words.
"You look better."
The edges of Nico's mouth goes up, and Leo sees that he's smiling. "Well, you're the only person who's noticed it, besides Hazel. I guess that's my fault, since I haven't been involved with the social stuff. But your friends are avoiding me too." Nico drops the empty can onto the floor and waits for the hollow thunk to disappear completely before saying, "I guess I've never been good with people."
A twinge of sympathy runs across Leo's heart and he lets his can drop to the floor as well. "I understand. I've never been too great with people, either. We Hephaestus children prefer to play with robots rather than organic life forms." To prove his point, he grabs some random pieces of wires out of his toolbelt and assembles a small automated plane in seconds. "Or maybe I'm just special." A small ball of fire glows to life and dances between the palms of his hands before sizzling out again. Nico raises a surprised eyebrow but doesn't comment. Leo suspects the demigod's seen more miraculous things, being from the Underworld and all.
Leo pops another can and hold it out in Nico's direction, and this time, the other boy doesn't even hesitate when he takes it.
"Some people just don't realize how awesome we are," Leo drawls lazily, taking another gulp of freshly-opened Pepsi.
There's a sudden shift in Nico's features. "We? Since when did you and I become a we?"
"Just now, I guess. Ever since we agreed that organic life forms are too much trouble compared to machinery and Pepsi."
"I don't know," Nico's smile grows. "I still say I'm a Coca-Cola person."
"Your loss, then."
Leo takes another gulp keeping his eye on Nico the whole time with eyes that say, 'you're such a fool for not drinking this liquid of pure awesomeness' all over them. Nico rolls his eyes and decides the ceiling is better for staring than Leo's face is.
"According to Hazel, she says you're the outgoing type. Funny, and all that. You don't seem like the person who doesn't fit well with people. She said it was almost as if you didn't have a worry in the world."
If only you knew.
Leo bites his bottom lip, wondering why he's spilling all his secrets to this dark, mysterious boy that is Nico. He gets a sense of comfort from the boy. He supposes it's because he's talking to someone who understands a bit about his situation. It's nice to talk to someone about it, and discuss it. He finds himself trusting Nico to listen.
Weird. Wasn't it him who said that Nico wasn't trustworthy, way back when?
"Not that easy, actually. Kinda lost my mom to ol' dirt face."
Nico's face turns grim. At least it didn't turn sympathetic. Leo thinks.
"Sorry," the pale boy mutters. Leo waves a lazy hand, chasing the words away.
"Don't worry about it. I'm getting over it, being a demigod and all."
Leo smiles, trying to cover the dark memories with a cheerful demeanor. But, as expected, Nico isn't falling for a flimsy mask like this one.
"I lost my mom too."
"Demigods can never get a happy ending, huh?" Leo laughs bitterly, and takes another swig out of the can. "Sorry to hear that, man."
"It's okay. It was a long time ago, after all."
He wonders what would be considered 'a long time', but he doesn't ask Nico to elaborate. Nico's head swerves to face him once more in anticipation of that next question. But it never comes. Dark hair is swept away from black abysses when Nico runs his fingers through his hair, placing the can of Pepsi next to him for just a moment before gripping it again, as if the hard metal was some kind of lifeline.
"I've been thinking lately. Ever since I got trapped in that stupid jar, or whatever. Why are demigods so reckless? Anyone could see we don't even have a chance of winning, but yet, we... no, you fight."
"Aren't you fighting too?"
Nico shakes his head. "Percy... he wanted to kill me, once." A flash of shock jolts through Leo, which Nico sees. "No, no, I meant, briefly. Because I did something really, really selfish. I'm not like you all. I don't think I would be able to sacrifice myself for..." Nico trails off, and continues somewhere else. "...I've never belonged. All demigods don't belong in the mortal world, that's for sure, but they belong with each other. But I don't get along anywhere. Except the underworld, that is, but that's only because of my father. I sometimes feel like an extra wheel no one needs, you know?"
Leo remembers things. Emotions, mostly, that almost make him lose his grip on the can he's holding. Memories. They hurt, but there's a small glimmer of determination in there. He throws as much of that determination he can in his next words. "I used to think that too, you know. When Nemesis said it. When she said it. But I'm not. My friends will always need me, and I'll always need them. I've realized that. I used to think that we were wheels, a part of one big wagon, but..."
You've helped me realized we're not.
"We're a mobile. We balance each other, and we support each other. Without one, all the others will tip over. That's why we sacrifice ourselves for others. Maybe some part in our crazy, demigod mind knows this, even if we ourselves don't. I think you're part of our mobile, Nico."
There's a long pause. Red starts to creep onto Leo's face when he realizes how stupid he must've sounded. He attempts to make up for it by backing it up with, "Wow, I sound like a friggin philosopher, don't I?"
Nico seems to ponder this seriously, which Leo is surprised by. It was just a crazy idea that sprouted up into his head, wasn't it? "That was stupid, wasn't it?"
"No. No, it wasn't," Nico says. "Actually, I like it. The mobile thing. I'd like to be a part of the mobile."
Relieved that it didn't sound totally ridiculous, Leo grins broadly and declares, "Well, I guess. But I say our mobile motto will be 'All hail the great and mighty Leo!'."
Nico rolls his eyes. "You know what you taught me today?"
"What?"
"Pepsi isn't that bad after all."
The hollow echo of two cans clinking against each other resonates around the room.
A/N Hope you enjoyed!~