Nico walked down the sidewalk, with his shades on his head. He held his bag close to his hip as he turned down a corner and hit some girl square in the chest. Nico felt the oxygen get knocked from his chest as he stumbled, blindly, backwards. He finally found his grounding and looked at who had he run into.
A girl stood staring back at him, her eyes wide and her hair framed around her face. It was brown with golden streaks that were curled around her face which only enhanced her beauty. She was wearing a white floral dress with a white pin in her hair. Nico immediately recognized the girl and deliberately wiped all emotion from his voice before he spoke.
"Calypso." The girl squinted at him and then a smile crossed her face.
"Nico! I haven't seen you in weeks, man," she said, beginning to bring him into a hug but then thinking better of it. Nico nodded and readjusted his shirt and bag.
"Sorry I ran into you," he told her. She smiled again and shrugged.
"It's no problem. You're not going to the garage are you?" she asked, her perfectly tailored eyebrows forming a crease in her forehead. Nico nodded.
"Yeah, I am, actually. Leo told me to meet him there." Calypso's face fell as her ears tinged with pink.
"Hmm," she noted as she looked away from Nico. "He's been avoiding me, then. He told me that he wasn't going to be there at all today." Nico forcefully kept his eyes from rolling. He really didn't care for Calypso, and he never understood why Leo did. She was gorgeous, yes, but she was very needy and manipulative. If she wanted you, she needed you to want her twice as much, even if it meant giving up something. Besides, she wasn't necessarily a nice person to begin with, so her neediness did not do well in Nico's book. He thought back to his Half blood days as he remembered having the same thoughts when Percy started to fall for her.
A pang filled his chest almost immediately, and Nico took in a sharp breath. Suddenly, green eyes and black hair filled his brain and he blinked them away with embarrassment. He then focused back on Calypso and snapped to attention when he realized that he had not responded.
"Well," he started, "you know Leo can be busy. Besides, it's not like you are dating him. I guess he just doesn't worry about worrying about you anymore. I know I wouldn't." The last sentence was lost as Calypso scoffed and turned red.
"You know what, Nico DiAngelo, you are just as mean and brooding and bitter as the day I met you." She glared at him and stormed past him. "Hope you have a great time at Percy's tomorrow," she nearly screamed as she turned behind the corner. Nico's eyes widened in amused shock as Calypso's smell of flowers and soil filled his nose. He chuckled to himself and shrugged away the comment and started walking down the street towards the garage.
When he reached the garage, the silver garage door was halfway down. Nico sighed as he ducked under it into a dimly lit room that reeked of machine oil and gas. Nico stood all the way up and was met with a shiny red car sitting in the middle of the room. Nico saw a pair of tanned legs sticking out the side of it and Nico laughed to himself.
"Leo?" he called out. He heard a bang and then the clatter of a fallen pipe, closely followed by a Spanish curse. Nico laughed aloud and walked to where the legs were and bent down. He peeked under the car and saw Leo lying on his back, his blue overall arms tied around his waist.
Leo slid out with a push, and glared at Nico as he stood up. His overalls were streaked with black oil and his white tank top was soaked in sweat. His tool belt looked nastier than ever as it held on to Leo's small frame. He rubbed his hand on his head and rolled his eyes at Nico.
"You can't just scare a man that's under a car like that, dude. I could've died." Nico nodded with a smirk on his lips.
"Should've, could've, would've...Didn't," he said. Leo reached to hit him but Nico easily sidestepped his arm. Leo rolled his eyes again and wiped his hands on his shirt, leaving a nasty greasy stain. He walked past him to the tool table and glanced at his phone.
"AND, you're early, you punctual little pedazo de mierda." Nico stepped back in mock shock.
"Did you just call me a piece of shit, in Spanish?" Leo stepped out of his overalls and grabbed for his cargo pants hanging on a nail above the tool table. He glanced at Nico with a smirk.
"Maybe. Maybe not. It's not like you can actually speak Spanish."
"I speak Italian. It's close enough." Leo made a face and slipped the shorts on and took off the tank, letting it fall into a crumpled pile on the floor.
Nico tried, he really did, not to look at Leo's tanned torso, the sweat adding a glossy shine to his thin frame. He had a ghost of abs on his stomach and black curly hair that trailed from his belly button to further beyond. As he turned around to reach for his t shirt, his back muscles rippled throughout his body, obviously making themselves known. His thin biceps, thin they may be, were decorated with firm muscles and Nico nodded to himself as he took in Leo's half naked appearance.
Then Leo was pulling the green t shirt over his head and the view was gone along with Nico's wandering eyes. Nico made a point to look at the tool table as Leo turned around. Nico looked back at him with raised eyebrows.
"You ready?" Nico asked him, his voice embarrassingly rougher than expected. Leo smirked as he stepped over the dirty pile at his feet to where he was less than a foot away from Nico's face.
Nico willed the blood not to rush to his cheeks as he stared, confused, into Leo's eyes. Leo was still wearing that silly grin, a little bit of his cheek smeared with oil.
"What're you-" Nico started. Leo bent down and reached for something next to Nico's leg. Nico looked down and stepped back. Leo showed him a pair of black converse and shook them in front of his face.
"Just getting my shoes. Damn, Nico, relax," he laughed. Nico squinted his eyes at him.
"You know how I feel about personal space."
Leo shrugged and slipped his shoes on.
"You ready?"
"I'm waiting on you, idiot," Nico said, annoyed, and turned around to walk out of the garage. Leo grabbed his phone and followed behind him, locking the chain to the garage door once they were out. Nico turned to him as he slid his shades down his face.
"Now, where are we going?" Leo turned to him and smiled.
"Just follow me, okay," he told him as he turned left and started walking down the sidewalk. Nico followed behind.
"You want to know who I just saw?" Nico asked Leo. Leo glanced back with a raised eyebrow.
"Who?"
"Oh, the one and only, Calypso." Leo scoffed and thrust his hands into his pockets.
"God, what did she want?"
"You, naturally. She thinks you're avoiding her."
"Because I am. Glad to know she's observant." Nico laughed and fell in step with Leo, his bag softly banging on his side.
"If you don't mind me asking-"
"I do." Nico closed his mouth with a small smack. He knew that when Leo was determined not to speak about something, no one on Earth could make him. He'd expertly change the subject or shut down completely. Nico shrugged and looked up at the sky with a sigh.
There wasn't a cloud in sight and the sun shone beautifully down.
"Today is gorgeous, don't ya think," Leo asked him. Nico nodded in agreement.
They walked in silence for a few minutes as Nico followed behind Leo, not really sure where they were headed. After about ten minutes, Leo started to slow down and stopped in front of a restaurant with the smell of food leaking out of it.
Nico looked up at the building. It was sunken between two other buildings and the words 'Eduardo's Cocina' were on the front. The building was older than the ones that flanked it and smaller, too, with the faded blue letters on the front, hanging on for dear life, by their hinges. Nico looked at Leo with raised eyebrows. Leo just smiled quietly and held the door open. Nico figured any place that smelled as godly as 'Eduardo's Cocina' couldn't be that bad, and walked in.
I'm coming home
I'm coming home
Inside, it was extremely busy, with many Spanish looking people walking and talking all around. Nico looked around in shock. The restaurant wasn't very big but that fact didn't seem to matter. Red and green booths were pushed up against the walls and in the middle were various wooden tables and chairs that didn't quite match. On the far wall was a bar of some sorts with a door on the end of it where many people were flying in and out of with hot trays of food.
"Whoa," Nico breathed as he took in the sight and smell. The food smelled delicious and Nico felt his stomach growl with anticipation. Leo glanced at him with a smirk as they walked towards the man standing behind a podium of sorts.
The man was young, maybe a little older than Leo, and was wearing a nice button down shirt and slacks. He had curly brown hair that was cut into a hipster style where the edges and sides were nearly shaved off but the top part was flowing freely from his head. His skin was a milky almond color and his eyes were a dark brown.
When the man spotted Leo, a smile lit up his face as he side stepped around the podium and pulled Leo into a hug. Leo immediately hugged back, his smile stretching farther across his face.
"Julio!" Leo said happily, as he pulled away. The boy named Julio pulled away and clapped Leo on the shoulder.
Back where I belong
I've never felt so strong eh
"Leo! It's been too long, my friend," he said with a heavy Texas accent. Leo smiled at him and then motioned to Nico who awkwardly stepped forward.
"This is my friend. I wanted to show him the place. He's extremely uncultured." Julio laughed and held out his hand for him to shake. Nico swallowed hard and gripped his bag closer to him. Leo saw the subtle movement and got Julio's attention.
"Yeah, my friend has a thing about physical contact." Julio smiled happily.
"No worries!" He turned back to Nico. "What is your name, friend?"
"diAngelo." Julio's eyes lit up.
"Aah. Angel. You don't look.." he made various hand gestures. Nico smirked and nodded.
"No, I'm Italian." Julio nodded.
"I see, I see. Well, I am glad Leo has brought you here. This is my dad's place." Nico nodded.
"Your dad's name is Eduardo, I take it." Julio laughed and looked at Leo.
"I like diAngelo." Leo raised his eyebrows and nodded.
"Oh trust me, that's a first." Nico rolled his eyes and turned to Leo.
"Bite me, Valdez."
"Valdez! Now, that's a name I haven't heard in a long time!" boomed a voice from behind Julio.
tell the World I'm coming home
Julio turned around with a smile as a man in a chef's hat and apron appeared. He was an old tan man, with sunken holes in his face. When he smiled, many lines appeared around his eyes and around his mouth, mapping out his face. His hair was a silvery black that was shortly cut and he had silver stubble on his cheeks.
Leo looked at the man and suddenly his face grew very solemn. He cast away his eyes as the man walked towards him.
"Eduardo," Leo muttered, as Julio failed miserably at containing his laughter. Nico started to laugh. The man looked down at Leo with a serious face and his hands on his hips.
"Now, this cannot be Leo Valdez because Leo Valdez was sixteen last time I saw him and I know Leo Valdez did not wait five years until he came back to see me." Leo looked up at him with a weak smile and shrugged.
"I was busy?" He said it as a question.
"Come here, son." Eduardo shook his head and then pulled him into a hug. Leo slowly wrapped his arms around him. Julio stood there smiling at them. Finally they pulled away and Eduardo grabbed Leo's ear. Leo immediately started to scream. "Now, next time you take five years to see me again, Voy a hacer mucho más que sólo pellizcar este oído , ¿me entiendes ?" Leo stared up at the man and grabbed his ear.
"Well, what're you going to do?" he asked. Eduardo smiled.
"You, my friend, do not want to know." Leo quivered and then smiled as he went back to stand next to Nico.
"So," Julio started, "now that that's over. Can I get you all a table." Leo's face dropped as he begrudgingly shook his head.
"I actually didn't come for the food," he said, looking at Eduardo. A look of understanding past over Eduardo's face as he motioned for Leo and Nico to follow him.
been a long time coming, been a long time coming
"I got it from here, Julio. Get back to work." Julio smiled and waved and turned back to the desk.
Nico and Leo followed Eduardo throughout the restaurant to the back through the door. The door led to the kitchen, naturally. There were over a dozen men and women in the back preparing various dishes of food. When Eduardo entered the kitchen, everyone said, 'hola, jefe' and Eduardo nodded back with a smile. At the back of the kitchen, in the right corner, was a locked door that opened to a set of stairs that went up. Eduardo fished out a key from his apron pocket and unlocked it.
"It's all up there, Leo," he told him. Eduardo pressed the key into Leo's palm. "Take all the time that you need." Leo's hand closed around the key and he looked at Eduardo with big eyes.
Let the rain wash away all the pain of yesterday
I know my kingdom awaits and they've forgiven my mistakes
"Thank you," he nearly whispered. Eduardo smiled and clasped Leo on the shoulder as he turned away. Nico turned to Leo.
"What's up there?" Nico asked. Leo turned to him with a forced smile.
"My past."
I'm coming home, I'm coming home
tell the World I'm coming…home
~I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE SONGS USED IN THIS CHAPTER~
~NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED~
