Beauty from Pain (Leico/Valdangelo)

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Chapter 6: Home

Short chapter because I don't want to finish this story...

Nico-centered chapter. Next chapter is Leo I promise.

I'll try and update again I'm the next few days.

Nico

"Remember this is only temporary..." Piper reminded us again, "I'm not made of money."

"Yeah, only your dad is." Leo smirked and her and she scowled in return.

"Don't make me regret this, Valdez."

"Yeah shut it, Valdez." I turned to Piper, "Thank you so much for this, Piper." I smiled at her but it came out strained. She was still kind of a stranger no matter how nice she was. I liked her but didn't trust her like I did with Leo.

Piper smiled at me genuinely and Leo and I set off out of camp, it was still really early so no one was awake yet. Piper had scribbled down the directions to the apartment she had rented for us. I didn't specifically know how rich this girl was, but if she could afford to rent her friend an apartment, I assumed her family was loaded as hell.

Walking to the apartment was not possible so we had to catch the bus (bus money courtesy of Piper). The bus ride was long and tedious. Leo kept asking stupid questions because apparently if we were going to live together we had to be more acquainted.

"How old are you?"

"Uh, 17."

"How old are you, really?"

"16..."

"You don't sound so sure."

"16 in a couple of months."

"So you're 15?" I rolled my eyes. I knew I was a lot younger than him.

"So what? How old are you?"

"18 in a couple of months..."

"So you're 17." I mocked him

He rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded extremely similar to, "Shut up."

He continued asking stupid questions like, "Favourite colour?" Black. "Favourite band?" Fall Out Boy. "Favourite tv show?" Game of Thrones.

Eventually, the questions escalated into more personal subjects.

"Have you ever had a boyfriend?" Leo asked.

I blushed. No guy has ever paid me any attention. Not that it'd be different with girls. No one's ever paid me any attention. I've always been the outsider, even before my sister died. I always stayed with her. Her friends were nice, most of them. She never had any boyfriends or friends who were boys. She only hung out with girls. When I told her I liked boys the way I was supposed to like girls she told me all boys were disgusting, except me because she loved me. She loved me.

"No."

"Really?" Leo looked genuinely surprised, "An attractive boy like you?" He playfully punched my shoulder and I pursed my lips.

He was making this very difficult. I can't love him, he doesn't love me. I can't love him he doesn't love me. I'm not allowed to.

When Leo noticed I wasn't going to reply he moved on, "Who was the last guy you... Liked?"

I went beet red and looked away. I stammered and settled to looking out the window counting the houses we passed to calm me down.

1...

2...

3...

"C'mon, Nico, who? Do I know him?"

4, 5, 6, 7.

"Was it someone in our cabin?"

8! 9!

"Yeah." I spat nervously and didn't turn to look at him.

"Who?"

"Percy." I said the first name that came to mind. Percy was definitely the most attractive guy in our cabin. Apart from Leo. Percy would definitely be the cutest boyfriend...

Apart from Leo.

"What? Are you for real? Percy's a kelp head."

"What?"

"He's so stupid."

"You sound jealous?" I smirked at him and it was his turn to turn red.

"Am not."

"Am too."

"Am- I am older than you. You do what I say. Respect your elders." He huffed and we stayed in a comfortable silence after that.

When we reached our stop we walked to the complex and surprisingly enough, we didn't have to fill out any paperwork. It had already been "taken care of". I mentally thanked Piper and we walked off to our apartment.

our apartment.

I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from smiling and squealing like a 12 year old girl.

"Compose yourself, Nico" I scolded myself for being so immature.

Leo stopped abruptly and I ran straight into him. "This is it." He said, unlocking the door.

When we took our first steps into the apartment. It wasn't what I was expecting. It had one bedroom, a small kitchen and a closet (or was that the bathroom?). There was dirt and dust on the ground that looked like fog when we walked on it. The paint on the walls were pealing, revealing the ugly brown wooden planks behind the white paint.

"This place is a dump." Leo stated.