Red Roses 》Valdangelo 》Book 1 (COMPLETED)

▫🔸➡ Leo ⬅🔸▫

This chapter is dedicated to iWearThe_Crown, for her AMAZAWESOME fanart of this story (picture above)!!! Thanks, love, it's readers like you who make this worth wild.

"Leo, you have a visitor, Nico di Angelo. Would you like to see him?"

My ears were ringing, but I understood the nurse just fine. "Yes, please, ma'am."

After the door closed, it reopened, and a boy my age wearing all black entered. Without a word and quite calmly, he grabbed a chair and pulled it to my bedside, and took a seat in it.

I looked at him. He looked awful. His eyes were red, from what looked like hours of crying. His nose was tinted, too. He looked a bit shaky. His hair was unruly, tangled in a couple spots.

"Hey, Leo." he said, voice nearly hoarse. I heaved and sniffed, so grateful he was here with me.

"Hey, Neeks." I sniffed and put on my regular smile. This made him smile.

"I like your smile." I state, wanting to reach out and touch his face, but my brace was holding me back.

Nico looked at my broken leg and my sprained ankle. His eyes traveled to the bandages and patches on my chest, and the tubes through me near my heart. His eyebrows furrowed, like he was about to cry, and his nose crinkled (in such a cute way), his cheeks moving too. He looked at my dislocated shoulder.

"I'm such a mess." I state, looking at him fully, not really knowing myself if I was joking or exclaiming. I decided I wasn't joking.

"So much has happened to me. It's like I'm a rag doll in the trash, passed from one torturer to the next. I feel like this pain is endless. Like I'm a mistake. I've done so many things I regret. And I keep running, running and running and running until my legs give out below me. Like I'm running from reality. From what I really am. Or I'm running from a black hole, but it's inside of me. Like there's no escape. I'm broken. I shouldn't be able to smile through this pain...it's the worst that I can."

I looked up at Nico again, realizing my gaze had lowered. He was speechless, was shocked. I saw flashes of pain fly in his eyes. I probably shouldn't be telling him this, he didn't need to carry this weight too, but... I need to tell somebody. I began telling him about it all, from the very beginning.

"Mom said Dad was a good person. He was kind, and funny. But, he left before I was born. Mom always said he would come back some day, but I never stayed long enough... There was this one night... I was a kid. I started a fire. Mom was locked in a room. I-I tried to save her! She screamed, she needed help! I tried, but the doorknob burned! I-I killed her. I was called a monster, a treaturous devil, by my own family, and rejected. Everyone blamed me, myself more than them. I was put in a foster home. But I ran away, home to home. I didn't find love. I was beaten, or I didn't fit in. Sometimes they made me steal. They made me steal. So I ran away from the entire system. Not caring at all anymore. And the weight of everything else...everything that's too much to explain, it's the weight of a million warriors. It's no wonder why I crumple. It's no question why I smile all day but cry myself to nightmares when the sun goes down. I.... I'm a mistake. I'm a mess. I'm useless. All I want to do is fix things, but all I really do is break them. Even myself."

At the end of my extensively long speech, I was crying. Nico was speechless, still. Still shocked. But he grabbed my good hand and wiped my cheeks. I looked in his eyes, no question they held pain too. Pain from more then this. But also surprise, for better or worse. He holds a lot of surprises.

"Leo, you..." he trailed off, sighing and resting his arm on me while playing with my hair. "Why is it that everyone I love break? Why do I lose everyone?"

He looks down with anger, the eyes of an uncontrollable beast. "WHY DO I HAVE TO LIVE LIKE THIS?!"

I stare wide-eyed at him. Live like what? Tell me... "GAH!" he cries, bending his head down. He starts sobbing.

I want to say something, but I choose otherwise.

His head snaps up at me. "Look at me, and listen." he demands intimidatingly, his teeth still closed as he talked.

"You listening?!" I nod, nearly crying. "Good. First off, you're NOT a mistake! You're not that big of a mess! Don't be so selfish and self-centered! There's always worse out there. You're perfect, Valdez! Don't you dare think otherwise! You keep me living. And secondly..." he looks at me, angry. But then his eyes grow wide. His eyes grow watery. And he glances at my heart.

And then he crashes. He sobs, harder and louder then ever before. He rests his head on my good shoulder, his hand still in my hair unconsciously.

"I'm so sorry!" he cries through tears. "You don't deserve this!"

I close my eyes tightly. Stop it, Nico, you're breaking my heart! What's left of it.

I lean my head against his, "Sh, sh, sh. It's okay, baby. Hush. Hush. Everything may not be okay... but like you said, it could be worse. Calm down. I'm right here."

He continues sobbing, "I'm such a mess, not you. You feel pain, but... Leo, tell me about your pain. I need to know."

I sniff, nodding, rubbing his head with mine. "People think they know me. My smiles and my jokes... for some, it's how they cope, but for me it's how I hide. I didn't want you to know. You need me more than I need you. I'm just....worthless on my own. I'm been through too much!" My voice finally cracked, and I closed my eyes.

"Thank you. Now get some rest." Nico moved his head, my head now cold where we touched. My eyes stayed closed, I needed to sleep. Hopefully Nico would be here when I wake.

A/N Nico thinks he's a mess. Leo thinks he's a mess. But, let's be honest here; I'M the mess.
This didn't make you cry, did it? It was PATHETIC, wasn't it?
Well, I apologize. Look, the next chapter is going to be better, I am more determined then ever. It has to be.
And I'm so, so sorry.
Just tell me if I should rewrite this chapter, I will 100% do it and with joy.
Just...yeah.
Anyways, thanks for baring through the cringiness. I'm sorry that this chapter sucker so much.
I think I'm definitely going to do a rewrite, or an alternate chapter.
See you next update :*