Tumblr Stories, Headcannons, and AUs{PJO/HoO}

Broken

"What's up?"

Leo glanced up from where his head lay in his hands to see his friend, Nico, sit down next to him.

"Be careful, you're starting to sound like Percy, being all concerned and shit," Leo gave a half-smile, but it lacked his usual flare, so Nico only smacked his shoulder half-heartedly.

"Leo," Nico said, a warning tone in his voice. Leo hardly ever heard him use that tone unless he was getting people out of his business- he supposed it worked just as well when he wanted to get into other people's business. Leo had met Annabeth, and as a result, Percy and Nico and a bunch of his other best friends, three years ago (had it really been that long?) and he was still finding out about Nico. The boy- man, now, aged 20- was secretive, and it wasn't Leo's business to pry, though apparently Nico had taken it upon himself to make prying his business.

Leo just sighed heavily. "Well... I like something, but I shouldn't, but I can't stop, 'cause I don't want to, even if I should, and... it's just stupid."

He felt Nico hesitantly put his hand on Leo's shoulder, and Leo's breath hitched slightly, and suddenly tears were streaming down his face. Nico preferred to avoid contact, but even he could tell that Leo, a very tactile person, really needed some right then.

"It's not illegal?"

Leo was a little confused as to why Nico was interrogating, but he took a deep breath to answer anyway. "No. No, it's not, but a vague possibilty of illegality at the end."

Nico frowned slightly at Leo, partially because he was confused, but mostly because he was worried. "Illegality isn't a word, you know," he said drily. "And what do you mean?"

"Like... a slight but possible outcome is illegal."

"Is it to do with your hacking into government databases?"

Leo started, almost fell over, and stared at Nico in shock, before shaking his head. He knew who'd spilled the beans. "Fucking Percy..."

"I'd hope that the thing you like isn't 'fucking Percy', Annabeth wouldn't be best pleased."

Leo snorted, head in his hands again, but he did hesitate slightly before replying. "Understatement, she'd murder me and they'd never find my body."

Nico said nothing for a moment, filing away the hesitation for now. "And is it going to hurt anyone?"

Leo laughed bitterly, startling Nico. "No. Just me. Just the fucking repair boy that's good for a laugh but not for a second thought. Just the fucking spare button no one ever wants 'cause the others are all on the coat." He began to laugh quietly, completely hysterical, hands falling to his lap. Nico didn't really know what to think- Leo was more broken, more unstable than he'd thought.

He wanted to help, but he didn't know how, and that was the problem.

Leo must have taken Nico's lack of speech as confirmation, as he stopped, a mad smile still hanging on his face. "The fucker no one wants," he decided.

"But what if some one did want you...?" Nico asked quietly, not looking at him. He wanted to smack himself- how would bringing his own fucked up feeling into this make it anything but worse?

Leo's eyes still swam with tears as they directed themselves towards the younger man, suddenly realising that he wasn't so neat and proper as he normally was, heavy bags under his eyes, stubble on his chin (Leo didn't know he could even grow a beard), and long dark hair a mess.

Nico turned away from Leo, voice dropping but still audible. "What would you do then?"

"Ask them when they got that concussion," he said, but his voice sounded strange, almost strangled, and he seemed unsure.

"And if they didn't have one?"

Leo had no answer for that.

"Why won't you believe...?" Nico asked, and his voice broke.

"No one wants a broken person," Leo said, unsure but still exhausted, as if he'd been asked the question a hundred times before.

"Like attracts like," Nico said dejectedly, in a distracted way that made it seem like he was quoting something, and Leo stiffened, possibly remembering Percy vividly describing Nico's 'emo years', or maybe realising the implications of it.

Nico continued, quoting again. "I'll try to fix you if you let me," he almost sung it, but not quite, saying it with reverence as if he all but worshipped the song it came from.

"I thought it was 'kiss', not 'fix'," Leo mumbled, as what Nico was suggesting dawned on him.

"If you'd prefer it that way, then it can be changed," Nico said, a tentatively cheeky smile forming on his face, despite his bundle of nerves.

You've fucked it up, they told him, but he ignore them in favour of turning slightly, eyes trained of Leo's face in an attempt to see the reaction (and get out of the way if need be), biting his lip.

There was silence for almost an entire minute before Leo reacted. He let out a breath, like he had held it for that minute, and a small but entirely real smile lit up his face a little.

"Yeah," he said at last. "Yeah, I'd like that."

//

I don't even know. It was supposed to be kind of cheesy-sad and vaguely based on Sheryl Crow's 'If It Makes You Happy' but look at it! I'm not really happy with this, I don't think I've done the two of them justice, so if you think of a way I could improve it, please tell me. If it helps, Leo hesitated because 'fucking Percy' would be gay and he's not sure how to deal with being gay or bisexual or whatever he is (he doesn't understand the labels and he doesn't understand what he's going through, he gets attraction but he's still kind of iffy, like 'isn't that wrong'). And now I'm just rambling so I'll shut up.

Oh, and could someone tell me how to put this under a 'read more'?