Shake it off

chapter eighteen

He liked Leo now too. Even with his shorter hair and upbeat personality that made his heart thump in his chest. And now Leo Valdez with a bubbly nature and happiness that only Nico knew was fake. And that still troublemaking attitude.

He was a changing person.

Nicos phone rang out.

"Seriously?" Leo said, handing it to him. "Just that normal ringtone, you piece of white bread."

Nico laughed a little under his breathe and grabbed it.

"Um, hello? Is this Nico?"

Nico listened to the sound of a middle aged woman's voice. It was kind and soft. "Yeah, this is him." his heart pounded in his chest. He didn't know why, but this call sounded really important. 

"Oh, good. Sweetheart, Percy couldn't get a hold of Leo and-"

Nico rolled his eyes. Of course it wasn't for him.

"We found Leo's dad."

Nico felt his breath thin out.

He locked eyes with Leo, who couldn't hear a peep from the phone. The edges if his eyelids felt stretched with his widening. When he opened his mouth his couldn't breathe. Leo hated his dad for leaving him and his mother. He told Nico more times than he could count how hard he would punch him in the face.

Leo seemed to recognize the obvious surprise on Nico's face. "What is it?"

"Um, I- well-"  he felt as though his throat kept cutting him off.

Leo gestured for him to say it. He felt heat rise to his face as they locked eyes. Black against brown.

He swallowed hard. "Percy and his mom found your dad."

Leo laughed. "Jesus, you've gotta be kidding me."

He shook his head. And Leo's smile dropped.

--

Leo opened the door to the Jackson household. He looked Percy straight in the eyes and said, "What the actual fuck."

Percy walked over and kissed his forehead. "We didn't mean to, I promise."

Leo almost didn't care. He felt betrayed. He had no intentions of ever hearing about that asshole ever again. "Percy, I hate him so much. So much. He left us when I was little and we needed him most. I swear-!"

Percy grabbed his waist and kissed him. Leo felt heat rise to his cheeks. He pushed Percy away. He couldn't have him distract him from the task at hand. Things couldn't just be fixed with a fucking kiss. "What the fuck?!" Leo gasped out. "Percy Jackson I am under so much fucking stress." tears fell down his face like rain droplets and he couldn't stop them. "You can't just- ugh!"

"I'm sorry, Leo but I don't know what to do." Percy ran his fingers through his hair. "He messaged my mom out of no where. Apparently they used to be childhood friends. He saw that one picture of me and you on her page and said he wanted to see you."

"Hey!" Nico said. Leo momentarily forgot he was there. He walked straight up to Percy, and grabbed him by his shirt collar. He slammed his back into the wall. "You fucking prick. You're screwing up everything. It was all fine until you started bullshit."

Let it be said that Nico di Angelo is very scary. His black jacket, with his hood up, and his teeth grit. He looked like he was going to murder Percy Jackson happily and get away with it. And Percy look honestly terrified. Nico looked at him from beneath his black hair with his piercing dark eyes.

Leo put a hand on his shoulder and felt him unstiffen. "Its okay, Nic."

Nico let him go. And glared at him from under his hood.

"I-uh," Percy scratched the back of his neck. "I'm sorry for making you mad."

Leo took a deep breath. The real question was: does he want to see his dad? Did he even want to talk to him?

Percy smiled and took Leo's hand. Nico gave him his most reassuring look. "Leo, we support you completely." Nico stated.

Either way he wanted to talk to him anyways to get information on his mom. But that's all it would be. He didn't want to get his own emotions tied up into it. He needed to find his mother's murderer and that's all it was.

He just didn't know if he could. He was going to say he would anyways. "Okay, I'll see him. And I'm going to go over there so that I can leave if we need to."

"We're going with you too, you know that, right?" Percy kissed the palm of his hand.

Nico visibly looked away. "I'm going too."

Leo grinned big and proud. "Thanks so much!"