Fix You (Percy Jackson Fanfiction) (boyxboy)

Good as New

Just a bit of personal advice: don't startle a demi-god.

Smoke rose from a newly blasted hole in the wall just inches above Nyssa who sat sprawled, her hands up in defense and her face frozen in horror. She'd climbed down into bunker 9 to check on the Hephaestus Cabin Counselor only to find him asleep on a massive chariot. When she saw the youth lying in such an awkward position with tear tracks trailed over the ugly red scratches from his harpy encounter, she couldn't help, but be had moved. She had reached out to carry the scrawny boy to his bunk when he awoke with a start. Leo had jerked up yelled out and shot flame right at Nyssa. If she had been any less agile she would have been fried chicken.

"Oh gods. I'm so sorry. Nyssa," Leo slurred as the cobwebs cleared from his mind. When he saw his terrified friend he cursed. "Are you hurt? I didn't know, I didn't mean to. What have I done?" He began to ramble, but Nyssa regained her composure, straightened her red bandanna, and slowly made her way toward the fire-bender. Grasping his wrists firmly she caught Leo's eyes. "I'm. fine. It's alright," she paused for a moment taking in his wounded face once more. His eyes looked haunted. She softened her tone. "Are... are you okay Leo? You haven't left the bunker for almost two days. People are talking. We're worried about you man."

Leo looked away, but she persisted. "Come on back to the cabins. Get some sleep, grab some food. You can even check on Nico." For a moment as she spoke Nyssa thought she'd convinced him, but for some reason when she mentioned Nico his eyes filled with hurt before losing life altogether.

"No, I'm good. I'm working on... stuff."

Nyssa huffed and stamped her foot. "You're exasperating! You were passed out on a chariot, in the middle of a project! Do you have any clue how dangerous that is? Leo! What is going on? Please talk to me. Let me care."

Leo tried to respond in anger, but his voice caught in his throat and he found himself choking back a sob. When Nyssa saw the emotion rise she stepped forward. "Oh Leo," she whispered. "Come here."

Typically Nyssa scared the crap out of Leo. She could beat him to a pulp with no problem. But that also meant she could be quite the mama bear. He lunged forward and buried his face in her shoulder as the sobs overtook him. In the back of his mind he couldn't help but think he'd spent far too much time crying as of late. But the grief had finally reached an all-time high and the dams broke.

Sometime later the two sat on the floor of the bunker. Leo's head was in Nyssa's lap as she absently played with the unruly mop on his head. His sobs had subsided and he'd been staring off into nowhere for a few minutes.

"You gonna tell me what's going on or do I have to beat it out of you? Is it Nico? Did he do something, say something? Did he hurt you Leo?"

Leo shook his head urgently. "No, no he didn't do anything. It's me. It's, it's always me."

Nyssa didn't like where this was going. The boy needed some sense talked into him.

"Leo, I don't know what happened, but I need you to know that you're not a failure. You're important and valued. Do you understand that?"

Leo fidgeted, his hands had found some scraps on the floor and were fiddling with them.

"Nyssa, I'm cursed. You don't get it. I'm-," but he didn't get to finish.

"Cursed? You wanna talk about curses huh? Welcome to the Hephaestus Cabin where everybody is cursed!" she spat. "I told you once, Leo that I don't believe in curses. If that's the label you want then fine. But let me tell you just a little bit about my curse. Right before you met me I had broken 28 bones in the span of two months on 13 different occasions. For the first time in my life, the one thing I could go to in order to escape my hell of a life was stolen from me. I couldn't fix it. I couldn't build anything."

"I lost my brother when I was 5 to a car accident that I'm certain wasn't a drunk driver. It was a monster. I had just begun to move on because I'd been taken in by my new big brother Charles Beckendorf. But of course he had to go get blown up on a cruise ship. I'd started to recover from that when I discovered the reason he died was because his girlfriend had betrayed the camp. And to top it all off, as I was attempting to get over that this 'curse' took full force on our cabin. Don't talk to me about curses as if you're alone Leo! Welcome to Camp Half-Blood where everybody sucks at life. Have you even spoken to Nico about his past? Have you asked him about his curse? Cause we all have one. Trust me."

She wrapped up her rant and took a deep breath. Leo had sat up at this point and was hugging his knees and resting his chin on top of them. "I'm sorry... I wasn't thinking. It's just so hard sometimes."

Nyssa pulled him into a hug. "I know Leo. I know."

When his eyes started to droop she tried to arouse him, but it was too late. He'd overexerted himself.

Nyssa pulled Leo into her strong arms and began to make her way back to their cabin. When they hit the clearing Piper and a few other campers caught sight of them and ran up concerned.

"What happened is he okay?" asked Piper frantically with a panicked Harley hustling behind her. He looked so small and scared. Like he was about to lose another counselor. Nyssa smiled and nodded.

"Everything's fine. He just worked himself too hard. A little R&R and he'll be good as new."