Seek {Superhero AU} - Ending 1

20: Your Secret's Safe With Me

Luke's eyes are aflame with fury, and his hands are clenched into fists at his sides. I'm expecting him to hit me—I mean, I'm kind of poking a bear here—but instead he just turns on his heel to face Leo again. Without looking back at me, he says "You don't know what you're talking about, Solace."

"I know what I'm seeing," I argue. And then something unsettling occurs to me—if he's such a bully, why won't he punch me? Why does the whole school believe he's a nice person? Why is Leo the only person that Luke ever targets?

"This is more complicated than you know," Travis says, and he's glaring at me. "More complicated than you could ever understand."

"Try me," I say exhaustedly. I mean, I've dealt with some pretty complicated shit in the last few weeks—deadly chemical murderers, for one. I don't think anything is beyond my comprehension at this point. I've heard it all.

Luke stands right in front of Leo again. They stare each other down. Leo's cheek is bruised—that's new. Luke probably did that before I got here. Angrily, I stride forward until I break past Travis and Conner, putting myself in the circle with Leo and glaring at Luke.

"You need to back off," I spit. "You have no right to hurt anyone."

Something tells me that they won't hurt Leo while I'm right next to him. Maybe it's the mere fact that they know my phone in my pocket is probably recording—but somehow, this feels deeper than that. They don't want to hurt me—they will only ever target Leo.

"Fine," Luke finally agrees, his eyes still glued to Leo's face, "but your little boyfriend here can't protect you forever, Nico."

It comes like a punch to the gut. Luke, Conner, and Travis are starting to file out of the room, and my body is frozen. My head is pounding.

Did I just hear that correctly?

I spin in place and yell at the back of Luke's head, "Wait!"

Leo tries to grab my shoulder. "Hey—drop it. They're leaving, so there's no need to stir things up over a comment about us being boyfriends. It's fine."

Luke stops anyway, surprised. He looks back at me with a look that says, 'What is happening right now?' But I can't help it. I have to know—I have to hear him say it again. Maybe I misheard.

"What did you just call him?" I ask Luke.

Luke blinks. "Um...his name?"

"Which is what?"

Leo suddenly looks very nervous beside me. "Will—"

Meanwhile, Conner and Travis are looking at me like I'm crazy. I'm sure they're thinking it's weird that I've been walking this guy to class every hour, protecting him from their cruelty, and never managed to learn his name. Luke is staring at me like I'm the biggest idiot he's ever seen. Then, he says slowly, "That's Nico di Angelo. Can I go now, or do you have other stupid questions for me?"

Slowly, I slowly turn my head to look at Nico, who kind of looks like he wants to die right now. "Oh, that is so very interesting. Yes, you can go, Luke. Leave us alone from now on, or I really will get you suspended."

I'm not looking at Luke and his brothers anymore, but I hear their murmuring and footsteps disappear down the hall.

I grab Nico by the front of his sweatshirt and drag him out of the classroom. This is not a conversation we can have in front of any of the school cameras—I don't know if they have audio or not, but I would rather no one find out what I'm about to say to Nico.

"Will, I'm so sorry," Nico pleads as I drag him outside to the front lawn. Not good enough—there are cameras here, too. I think there's a park a block away; we'll walk there.