Chapter Text
He’d been breathing in the all too familiar fog in Hades so long, he was starting to forgot what fresh air tasted like.
His thoughts twisted and turned over one another. The exhaustion made it impossible to keep up with them. Good. At least that meant they couldn’t drive him insane anymore… That’s the exact reason he’d come here in the first place. The past weeks had been rough. More than rough... Not anything he hadn’t dealt with before, though. It’d be fine.
He knew himself well enough to know what to do by now. If living got too complicated, he just ran to death for comfort. Ironically, being among the dead was the only time he actually felt alive anyway.
He ran his hand along the rocky wall as he walked past the abyss. The only thing between it and him was a narrow, uneven path. When the path widened into a large plateau littered by jagged boulders, he finally took a break. Crap. A dead end… He’d have to walk all the way back.
A deep sigh escaped him. It was his own fault, no matter how he looked at it. He’d been wandering aimlessly. Completely unprepared. He walked a bit further and looked over the edge, into the bleak darkness that was Tartarus.
He’d gone quite far today. How long had today been? Maybe even more than a day… Maybe multiple… He couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept. He’d ran out of things to eat a while back too. That meant he would need to go to the surface again soon. His stomach churned. The thought of going back to normal life felt so… abnormal.
He’d wait a little longer. Just a little.
He sat down and rested his back against a particularly large rock. Then closed his eyes for a bit.
Without rhyme or reason, he was back on the balcony at the hotel. Logan’s hands gripped the railing next to him tightly.
“Are you going to punch me or kiss me?” he heard himself ask.
Bloodlust took over. He felt himself grin defiantly as he stared into Logan’s eyes. They were blazing. He was probably angrier than he’d ever seen him before.
Logan ripped his hands away from the railing and put them around Nico’s throat. Tightly. If he didn’t do anything, he’d kill him. He gripped Logan’s wrists with his hands. As he did, Logan’s grip let up. Nico ran his hands up, over his.
Bloodlust shifted into something… Different. Logan’s expression shifted with it. It was still fiery… but mostly just… Heated.
Nico froze up as Logan slowly leaned in, until-!
He felt like he was drowning.
Holy fucking shit!
He fought back as much as he could, hitting the stone behind him hard with his back. It felt like he'd crashed down into himself all the way from outer space. Bugs swarmed wildly in his stomach, nauseating him to the core. His body was on fire. He gripped his chest with his hand and bent forward, pressing his forehead against his knees. He finally managed to gasp for air.
It took ages to get his breathing back under control.
What a fucking nightmare. This turning up in dreams thing wasn’t supposed to be a trade off… He forced himself to calm down, slowly but surely. Whatever. It was just a dream. It didn't mean anything. Even if it did, he wasn't going to try to find out what.
He pushed all of this mayhem far into the back of his mind and shelved it. All the way on the top shelf, hidden out of sight. Hopefully never to be seen again.
He got up.
No matter how bad he’d been feeling before his little nap, it was a shadow compared to how he felt now. Deep didn’t even begin to describe the pit that shame and misery had dug into his soul, they had burrowed a hole right through it... He straightened up, turned back to the direction he’d come from and took a step. Only to freeze solid on the spot.
He stared into a veiled face, just inches away from his. He could barely make out the features underneath the mourning shroud and long, black stringy strands of hair, but what he could make out was too much to handle. The gaunt, ghastly pale face of a woman gaped back at him. Her mouth twisted in a horrified, silent cry. Eyes dark, bloodshot, and hollow, opened so wide, it was like she didn’t have eyelids at all. Tears ran down in an endless stream, dripping off of her chin in an uneven rhythm.
A scream burled up inside his chest, but it never came out, caged in behind his ribs. He wasn’t able to breathe. Even as he managed to slowly turn his face away, his eyes stayed locked onto hers. Her stare was mesmerising, all encompassing. Before he knew it, tears streamed down his own face too. Anguish sickened him to the core.
“Who…?!” his chest squeezed out painfully.
The face wailed out a hollow laugh, loudly and mournfully. “Oh… but you know me, boy… You know me so well…” it whimpered at him.
He didn’t. He had no idea.
Shaking his head weakly, he took a step back, eyes still fixed on hers. The woman followed. He took another. As did she. He took two.
She reached up her arm. He stared down at her trembling finger. With a stab of her long sharp nail, she reached his stomach. Right into it. She slowly and painfully dragged her finger up, towards his heart.
He couldn’t explain it, he just knew… If she’d reach it, he’d die. His chest slowly twisted in on itself. He grasped at it, as he jolted backwards, out of her reach. She slowly drifted even closer.
“You may call me… Oyzis…” she whispered, heavy and quiet, like a final breath. “Attempting to resist me is futile…”.
In a panic he stepped back further… Into nothing.
She gazed down on him as he fell, her toes curling over the edge. While falling, he realized he felt relieved. The growing distance between him and the shrouded figure offered him respite, no matter the cost. He closed his eyes and turned his face to get away from her once and for all. The relief didn’t last long, as he crashed into the ground. So hard that he couldn’t make a sound.
Deafening ringing in his ears brought him back to his senses. Searing pain bound all his bones and muscles tightly.
He took a sharp breath and forced himself to move. To his shock, he could. He could move everything. Not well… But, no broken bones it seemed. He got to his knees. Blood dripped down onto the ground, in a small puddle. From where? He felt. It was difficult. Everything was still numb.
His head, he realized, as he pulled back a hand covered in blood. Lot’s of it. He felt it stream down, maybe more endless than the tears had been. Its warmth washed over him, almost soothing. Comforting. He closed his eyes, then almost toppled over.
No.
He willed himself back upright.
This was bad. If he didn't figure something out right now, he wouldn’t make it. This was a very, very bad time to take a nap. He got himself to his feet. But, was he going to have enough energy to get himself out of here? Where would he even go?
His thoughts were starting to become erratic, he couldn't focus. He dropped to one knee.
Well, time's up. Do or die.
He forced himself up and practically fell into the shadows. The familiar cold and quiet whispers, though draining, greeted him like an old friend. He had no idea how long they took him, or where they took him.
He hit something before the whispers even fully stopped. Whatever it was grunted loudly when he did. Probably someone then, Nico still managed to figure.
Whoever it was fell with him, and mostly broke his fall. They hit the ground with a loud bang. The sound spiked Nico's splitting headache. He couldn't move. He almost couldn't breathe. Whoever was under him shifted quickly.
“What the-!” Nico heard a familiar voice choke.
He could feel the vibrations of the voice through his whole body. Nico already had his eyes closed, but he clenched them shut harder as the noises around him came over him in a wave of nausea. He let out a gasp.
A hand clung onto his back. He heard the sound of a higher pitched voice slightly further away, screaming a question, he couldn't make out what it was.
“He's bleeding!” the familiar voice boomed in response.
Another hand, on the back of his head this time. Everything turned over, way too fast. Enough. Nico couldn't hold on anymore. He let go of his consciousness. It washed away instantly. He was nowhere now, lost in nothingness.
He felt something cool and wet press against his forehead. Nico sighed at the relief. An intense sting put an abrupt stop to that.
Ow! His hand shot up to push whatever it was away. Before he could reach it, his wrist got caught in a firm grip and pressed down next to him.
“Don't touch that” he heard the same familiar voice from earlier say. It was stern, but a lot more calm than before. It made him a little curious. Curious enough to try to stay awake and find out who it was.
A figure slowly blurred into clear view. Dark blonde, choppy haircut. Sharp jawline, clenched even sharper. Intense amber eyes, in deep concentration.
Ah. He knew that guy!
He stared up at Logan sitting at his side, one arm stretched out to wipe something on Nico's face.
A strange mix of emotions presented themselves one by one. He couldn't keep up with them, let alone unpack any of them. With a deep exhale he let them go.
Neither of them said anything. Logan was clearly very interested in whatever it was that he was doing to him. Nico watched him with equal interest.
For just a moment Logan glanced down and met his eyes. The corners of his lips curled up in a faint smirk when he got back to his task. “What's so funny?” he asked.
Huh? What did he mean?
Oh.
Nico realized he was grinning like an idiot... He swallowed and tried to regain control of his face.
“You got hit pretty hard, huh?” Logan asked flatly. He threw the cloth aside and stuck something to Nico's forehead, right on the source of the stinging sensation.
Nico nodded, then groaned at what he did to himself.
Yeah… it hurts like hell, but it's gonna be fine. He vaguely registered himself saying that out loud. It had sounded like background noise. Apparently it hadn't been very reassuring.
“What?!” Logan asked. He sounded far from calm all of a sudden.
Nico blinked at his sudden intense stare. Logan looked easily as worried as he'd sounded, disturbed almost. Crap?
Logan shook his head a little. “I don't-? You're speaking Italian, bud” he concluded with a strong undertone of desperation.
Oh. Oops.
Nico's head was spinning. He had a hard time keeping his breathing under control. Such a hard time, he didn’t manage to.
He felt Logan shift, putting down a hand next to Nico's face. Logan bent over him and put his other hand on Nico's chin. He looked closely into his eyes, even deeper than before. Checking for something…? “Look at me for a bit, okay?”.
Nico swallowed, wide eyed.
Yeah. Okay. He could do that.
Despite the worry, Logan's irises looked so sunny. Nico kept his eyes locked on them as the warm, stern hand on his chin tilted his face from side to side a few times. Logan seemed happy enough with the result and let go of him.
“Hm, your brain is not completely broken…” he muttered under his breath.
Ah. Good. Nico did feel like things were slowly starting to make a little more sense. He tried to scan Logan's face. His expression was hard to read. It seemed tense. He had an angry looking red mark on his face, under his eye. It didn't look too bad, but painful enough. Nico wondered if he did that when he fell on top of him…
“You good?” Logan asked carefully.
“Never better” Nico forced out hoarsely. He propped himself up with his lower arms.
Everything around him started to make a little more sense from this angle. He was in a bed, he now realized. Then, with a jolt, he realized something else.
“You undressed me?!” Nico shouted in disbelief.
Logan snorted. “My guy, you were absolutely drenched in blood!”.
Nico glanced down and noticed blood stains smeared across Logan's clothes, proving his claims for him. Black Flag was only still barely visible on his previously white shirt. Nico huffed in mild amazement at the sheer size of the stains.
Logan's expression got deadly serious, maybe even irritated. “You scared the shit out of me, by the way… I thought you were dying”.
The guilt and embarrassment lurking in the back of Nico’s mind finally hit him head on.
Out of all the places he could have picked… All the people he could have gone to...
He threw the covers off of himself and stood up. His head protested when he tried to take in his surroundings. He’d have to manage without them. He didn’t care for them anyway. “Where's my stuff?” he asked firmly.
Logan stood up, facing him. He stuck out an arm to block him. “Nico”.
Huh? He never called him by his name.
“Hold up, you-”.
Nico swayed. His ears rang. It felt like he got hit with a bucket of cold water. His eyes clenched shut. He couldn't keep himself upright. Apparently Logan had noticed that too, because when Nico opened his eyes he found out he was pressed against him.
He gasped for air. It didn't work. Logan's tight grip around his waist squeezed out whatever breath he had left. Nico shoved both hands against his upper arms and pushed as hard as he could. Logan didn't budge. Nico only managed to drag his cheek off of his shoulder and push their chests apart.
Not far enough! He pushed harder! Further!
The iron grip around his waist tightened even more, only allowing him to bend himself backwards. Unable to stop it, his head fell back. He groaned at the confusing discomfort of everything being almost upside down, grasping onto Logan's arms. Logan relented at that. He slid an arm up. Nico felt his arm slide up between his shoulder blades and a warm hand press to the back of his neck. In one fluent motion the world was right side up again.
Nico blinked at the two very displeased looking little fires right in front of him. They narrowed and flashed downward.
“Okay, you drama queen. Calm down already…”.
He felt himself get lowered to the ground a bit, the grip around his waist moved. Finally! He drew in a sharp breath. His knees got pushed aside and an arm hooked under his upper legs. The world tilted on its side again as he went back up.
Wait. No. “Stop!” Nico protested.
Gods! He'd somehow managed to make this even more embarrassing.
The warmth from Logan's hand under his neck and the heat on his face mixed together into something so unbearably uncomfortable, it made him squirm. That only made it worse, almost literally rubbing it in.
“Put me down” he demanded, glaring up at Logan. It sounded a lot less threatening than he'd hoped.
Based on his expression, Logan agreed. “Are you going to stay down if I do?” he asked, obviously not amused “I really don’t feel like doing this again”.
Logan's hands tightened their grip ever so slightly, a clear warning. Nico realized there was no way he was going to win this. He hid his face under his hand.
“Yeah…” he conceded. He'd sounded pathetic.
Logan jutted one knee on the bed and lowered him down. He firmly pulled the covers back over him, like a statement. Nico moved his hand up to his forehead, revealing his shameful look.
Logan had his arms crossed. His expression was stern, angry even. Until a hint of pity flashed through. “Damn it, Spooky…” he grumbled.
Fuck. He sounded disappointed… This was the worst.
He could practically hear the inevitable ‘What are you doing?’ already. He didn't have an answer, so he wasn't going to wait for it.
In a last attempt at defiance Nico scoffed. “You know, I could be out of here like that” he snapped his fingers “You can't stop me”.
Logan raised an eyebrow, unimpressed. “In your underwear…?”.
Checkmate.
Nico’s last shred of pride shattered. An amused smile crept onto Logan's face. Nico turned away from it, to look at the ceiling for comfort.
“Okay look, you came here for help. So, just let us help you” Logan demanded, there was a plea in there. “You'll get your stuff back once it's clean and you've had some sleep”.
The guilt came rushing back. Nico tried not to cry. Fuck. That would be the only thing that could make this even worse!
The door quietly opened a crack, Gwen's face peering through. “How is he?” She whispered.
Logan turned to her. “Awake… Stupid… So about halfway back to normal, I’d say” he grumbled.
Gwen opened the door and stepped in, revealing her fluffy pink bathrobe. Her eyes quickly found Nico on the bed. “Hiya, Nicky! Who's up for a smoothie?” she beamed brightly at him, holding up a large glass with a very suspicious looking substance. “It's made with whatever fruit I could find in the kitchen” she declared proudly.
Nico grimaced.
“~It's got loads of painkillers in it~” she encouraged in a sing song voice, shaking the glass slightly.
Nico raised his eyebrows. That did catch his interest. His pounding head made a very convincing argument. “Thanks Gwen” he said with a guilty smile “that would be great”.
She walked over and put it on the bedside table. She bent down and quickly checked the bandaid on his forehead. “I tied your face back together. Hope you don’t mind” she chuckled.
Nico pursed his lips. “Sorry for all the trouble…”.
Gwen rubbed his shoulder and winked. “No trouble at all, sweetie. It’s my job. I do it all the time!”. She gave them one last look over before she turned to the door. “Okay boys, Imma go get some sleep. G'night” she chimed. “Nicky, I’ll come check on you later!”.
“You really don’t-!". Have to…
Nico’s sentence got chopped in half by a sharp smile from the doorway. Her eyes flickered a scorchingly stern blue. She winked his mouth back shut, and closed the door behind her.
“Night, Gwen. Thanks for your help” Logan sent along with her. He turned back to Nico. “Right, uh, I'll be over in Mark's room” he mumbled, gesturing to the hallway. “Night”.
He turned around.
Guilt made a move. Nico grabbed his wrist. Logan shot him a surprised look over his shoulder.
“Hey, thank you… I, uh... I'm really so-” Nico stammered.
Logan quickly faced away and slipped his hand free. He put it up, gesturing to Nico to stop. “Don't worry about it. You're fine”. His tone was hard to dissect. Polite? Sad? Annoyed?... Tired, was all that clearly came through.
Nico watched him walk out the door, leaving it cracked open. He sighed, then shoved his hands over his eyes. Why? Why did he do this to himself? To both of them.
He sat himself up and downed the whole smoothie in one go. A shudder waved over him. He had no feelings left to feel. The mattress greeted his back when he toppled over. It seemed happy he returned, feeling like it was trying to press around him.
The faint smell of blood lingered. He tried not to focus on it and found something else. A warm smell. Wood tones. Maybe some pine. Pinewood? His thoughts stopped making sense. The strings keeping his consciousness together snapped one by one. He was too numb to dream.
Nico woke up to something rustling, feeling like Gwen's magic potion had knocked him out for a hundred years. More rustling. There was movement close by. Next to him? He glanced over groggily, eyes half closed. Gods, it was so bright. He almost couldn’t see-!
He shot up, horror dulling most of the pain.
Logan stood in the middle of the room, half naked, casually pulling up the zipper on a pair of black cargo pants.
“What the hell are you doing?! Why are you naked?!” Nico shouted.
“Pf! Not even close, you prude. I'm more covered than you are, anyway” Logan scoffed. “Besides” he went on, barely looking at Nico “This is my room, you know? Where all my stuff is. Like clothes. I would have kept what I had on, but there was blood all over them”.
Right. Last night was coming back to him. Regretfully…
He tried to look literally anywhere else, but somehow that made it even more awkward. He watched Logan rummage through his drawer, taking his time, apparently with something specific in mind.
Nico could see he had just taken a shower. His usually gravity defying hair was hanging down over his eyebrows, dripping. Logan pushed it back, out of his face. A few strands rebelled, falling right back.
Nico was surprised to see that without his usual intimidating scowl and get up, Logan actually had some boyish charm to him. Annoyingly, you could even call him classically handsome. Some people could. Not Nico, obviously.
He noticed water drip down onto his upper arm. The droplet followed the shape of his bicep as it slid down. It was safe to assume that Logan would be in good shape, he was a son of the God of war after all. But Nico had never actually given that much thought. Logan usually hid most of himself under his baggy shirts… Without any baggy shirts, Nico could see the muscles on his torso were clearly defined. Despite that, Logan still had a lean build. In the light of the warm morning sun, gleaming with the remains of his shower earlier, you could almost mistake him for a son of Apollo. He was just ever so slightly more… Rugged looking.
“Healed pretty nicely, huh?” Logan asked suddenly, finally pulling a shirt from his drawer.
Crap!
Nico tried to keep a poker face.
Logan lifted his elbow and looked down just about where Nico's eyes had last lingered. Nico quickly looked closer. The two faint scars on his abdomen where the manticore stung him were only slightly lighter than the rest of his skin.
Right!
“Yeah” Nico replied “You almost can't see them anymore”. Seriously…
Now that he actually paid attention to them, he noticed Logan actually had a fairly impressive collection of scars all over his body. Most of them faded, presumably from quite a while ago.
Logan traced his thumb over the line of tooth marks on his right shoulder. “These are going to stick around for a bit, but I barely feel em at this point. Even the bone's pretty much fully healed. Yan's a genius”.
“Hm, she sure is” Nico agreed without hesitation.
Logan threw on his shirt. He looked at Nico's forehead. Nico noticed the red mark under his eye had turned into a dark bruise. It pretty much confirmed it happened last night… His stomach turned a little.
“How are you feeling?” Logan asked.
Nico thought about it. His head still hurt badly, but it was a shadow of last night. “A lot better, not great”.
Logan grabbed something from the drawer. “Good enough to get up and eat something?” he asked.
“Yeah, should be fine” Nico willed himself.
Logan tossed a t-shirt in his face, it fell in his lap. “There's pants in here”. He tapped on the drawer under the one he'd just closed.
“Did I… do that to your face?” Nico asked, gesturing at the mark.
Logan grinned. “Yeah, I guess you finally managed to land a good hit” he mused.
Nico was about to apologize when Logan turned around. “Kitchen is at the end of the hall” he said as he walked out the room.
Nico watched the open door for a few seconds, annoyed and embarrassed. He hadn't even let him apologize… He probably didn't think he would, he realized. Shame crept over him. He took a deep breath. He'd apologize later. First things first.
He held up the t-shirt. The faded image of the mask from Scream silently shrieked at him. Could be worse. He wrestled it on. Probably even baggier than it would be on Logan, but not as bad as he'd expected. He grabbed the first pair of pants he could find. While pulling them on, something dark red beckoned him from the corner of his eye.
An electric guitar leaned casually against the side of the drawer. A thin layer of dust dulled the gleam of the sunlight. A series of deep, deliberate scratches revealed a glimpse of its wooden entrails. He tilted his head, slowly exhaling to fend off the accompanying spike in nausea.
‘THIS MACHINE KILLS FASCISTS ‘ the guitar declared in loud, angry looking carving.
Ha…
His eyes pulled away from it as he moved to the door.
When he walked into the kitchen the sunlight hurt his eyes, making him cringe.
“Morning, Nicky!” he heard Gwen greet him from somewhere in the brightness.
“Morning…” he groaned back.
The brightness finally let up a little and he discovered the table. He dropped down in a seat next to Logan.
“Help yourself!” Gwen offered cheerfully from the other side of the table.
“Thanks Gwen”. He poured himself some coffee and took a sip as he watched Logan bite off an impressive chunk of toast. “Huh. Didn't take you for someone who chews with their mouth closed” Nico pretended to wonder.
Logan looked at him. He stopped chewing like he was about to say something, then seemingly realized that would prove Nico's point. He opted to kick Nico in the leg instead.
“Be nice” Gwen warned.
“Sorry” they replied in unison.
Gwen smiled proudly. Logan looked her over, lingering on her lack of plate.
“You're not eating anything?” he asked.
Gwen smiled. “Nope. This princess is going out for breakfast. My prince charming will arrive shortly”.
As she finished her sentence there was a short, polite series of knocks on the door.
“Speak of the devil~!” she chimed. “Come in!” Gwen shouted at the door.
The door opened carefully, revealing a remarkably pretty young woman. Her long dark hair slipped off her shoulder as she peered around the door. Her large, chocolate brown, almond shaped eyes quickly scanned the room from under her bangs. They found Gwen first.
The young woman smiled brightly, revealing two perfect dimples in her cheeks. Gwen smiled brightly in return.
“Morning, Val!” she shouted.
“Good morning” Val returned quietly with a slight sing-song tone.
Her eyes went over to Logan. Nico was surprised to see them light up.
“Hey, Val” Logan offered, his tone a little awkward.
Her smile brightened as she was about to reply, then she noticed Nico. She glanced down a little, her brow furrowed in clear surprise. Crap. He was wearing his clothes… Would she really think something might have happened? Who was she? His girlfriend?
Nico smiled as casually as he could. “Hi” he offered.
She smiled weakly. She glanced to Logan then back to him.
“Nico” Nico upped his offer.
She held up a hand. “Valentina, nice to meet you”. Despite her polite tone, it obviously wasn't. “Are you-? I'm, uh, Gwen's friend” she quickly cut herself off.
Before he could say anything she dialed the brightness in her smile right back up. She turned to Gwen, shook her head a little and pointed to the outside with both hands. “Tay's still in the car! I'll wait outside!” she hastily made her escape.
“You don't want-?” Gwen tried.
The door shut.
Nico looked over to Gwen carefully. Gwen pouted at the door. He didn't understand what just happened, but it was bad, and quite possibly his fault somehow. “Sorry” he offered up carefully.
Gwen turned her pout to him, raising an eyebrow. “Hm?” she let out. “No, Nicky! It's not you!” she reassured. She shot Logan an annoyed look. Nico watched him sink into his chair a little deeper under its weight. “It's him! He’s making it his mission to ruin my life by frenching all my friends, getting his cooties all over them!” Gwen huffed with a little hurt shining through her tone.
“Hey! That’s not fair! Taylor kissed me! And I've talked to Valentina, she knows it isn't going anywhere” Logan defended himself.
Gwen snorted “Right, then why does she keep making eyes at you?”.
“I can't help that...” Logan whined. He wiggled his knee.
“You can and you will! You need to have another talk with her!” Gwen demanded, pointing a warning finger at him. “And you. Need. To. Stop. Doing. This.” stabbing the finger at him with each word.
She grabbed her coat and purse and walked out the door.
“Stop slutshaming me!” Logan yelled after her.
Nico made an awkward face. “She actually seems pretty upset” he said, almost a question.
“Yeah… I messed up…” Logan leaned even further back “She has a thing for Taylor, but I didn't know that back then…”. He grimaced.
Oh…! So, Gwen's-?
Nico heard Logan’s fingers rap on the underside of the table. He almost felt bad for him. Almost. “So what's the deal with you and that girl just now?” he asked outright.
“Valentina? She's just a friend” Logan explained, almost curtly.
“Gwen doesn't seem to think so. Honestly… Valentina doesn't seem to either…” Nico pondered, stirring the pot a little more.
“Yeah, that wasn't really the plan…” Logan admitted a bit painfully, sadly even. Nico found himself surprised by that reaction. He figured he was either going to catch Logan being a dog or a hopeless romantic. This actually seemed sensitive…
“So… you're not into the whole ‘really attractive woman’ thing she has going on?” Nico asked carefully.
Logan grinned. “Course I am, but only platonically”.
Nico grinned back. So he was being a dog.
Logan seemed to think for a bit. “No, that's not the problem…” he started, cocking his head to the side. “She's a rose petals and candles type of girl” he shrugged indifferently. “Nothing wrong with that, but I'm more of a ropes and bitemarks type of guy” he concluded with a dirty smile.
Nico's cheeks caught fire at the sudden crudeness. He was definitely being a dog. He let out an exaggerated gag. “Careful, or you'll turn me straight…” he warned.
Logan laughed loudly.
Nico wondered to himself. “If your “interests” are so different, why'd you go after her in the first place?” he asked sincerely.
Logan turned a little frustrated. “I don't really know… And I didn't ‘go after her’... I mean, it's no excuse, but... I was in a really bad place. She was there for me… She's so comfortable to be around. Things just kind of happened. I thought we were just messing around”. Frustration turned back to sadness. “If I'd known she was actually into me, I never would have! I'm just not used to people wanting more than… You know… It never even crossed my mind. If only she'd told me before…”. He bounced his knee a few times. “She's really nice. Too nice. I'm not. I can't hold back all the time. She'd never survive me, especially not how I am now…”. He stopped his knee and bowed his head. Seemingly ashamed of himself.
Nico shifted a little. This was getting a bit too real. He was about to say something when Logan picked himself back up.
“Once she gets over it, she'll find someone way better. Guys are crazy about her, she can pick whoever she likes”.
Nico smirked. “Except you, I guess”.
Logan side-eyed him. “Did you not listen to my whole speech just now?”.
Nico smirked wider. “I'm kinda relieved. I thought I got you in trouble there for a second. She definitely noticed your clothes on me”.
He expected Logan to get pissed off about the implication. Maybe he intended for him to.
“So you do care about me. That's so cute” Logan mused, exaggerating a touched expression. He reached out and gently tapped the tiny skull hanging from Nico's earring. Nico rolled his eyes when Logan snickered.
“Nah, if she has questions for me, she should just ask. I've been pretty clear”.
Nico hummed in something resembling agreement and took another sip of coffee. Logan crossed his arms and leaned on them, looking at him intently. Nico felt his eyes burn into him. They actually managed to stir up some nerves inside of him this time.
“So… What happened to you?”.
Nico froze. Oyzis’ eyes opened wide behind his own, sending a painful chill down his body. He quickly clenched them shut. “I really don't want to talk about it…”.
Logan shifted a little. “Okay…” he sighed. He reached out over the table and slowly dragged a plate in front of Nico.
Nico’s stomach churned at the sight of the two pieces of toast. Logan leaned in a bit closer, his stare burning deeper and deeper.
“No thanks” Nico quickly replied, sounding more nervous than he realized.
Logan narrowed his eyes. “You've got to eat something” he said sternly.
“I can't. Not yet” Nico almost pleaded.
Logan rapped his fingers against the table. “Dude, It's been over twelve hours. We're not going through all this trouble to patch you up just to let you starve to death”.
Crap. Right in the soul.
“Sorry” he muttered. Double crap. Why did he sound so shaky? So emotional.
“That’s not-” Logan cut himself off with a sigh. “Look, Spooky, it's fine. But if you just eat something, anything, you'll feel better” he negotiated. He sounded reassuring, if a little frustrated.
Nico almost fell for it. But toast had quickly turned into the bane of his existence somehow. He looked up at Logan. There was that worried look again, through the faint scowl. He should really stop looking at him like that… It didn't suit him. Nico took a deep breath and struggled his way through a few bites. His body fought back valiantly, twisting and wringing inside with each chew and swallow.
After he managed to finish off the evil pieces of bread he almost laid his head on the table. But that would be admitting defeat… He got up to resist the table's charm. Why was he so exhausted?
Now that he was up he suddenly felt a little dizzy. Alright, a lot dizzy. His head complained loudly and painfully. He closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead. Trying to control his breathing wasn't really working out. What was normal breathing like again?
He looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Logan held up a glass of water for him. He took it and downed it. That was slightly better, but not nearly good enough. “Thanks” he muttered.
Logan quickly stole the empty glass back from him. “Sure…”.
He felt Logan's hand sway a little against him… Wait, no… That wasn't right…
“Hey, love your ambition, but you should probably go back to bed” Logan stated, giving his shoulder a squeeze.
Nico thought about it. Tried to. Man, thinking was hard right now… “Yeah” he relented. “Maybe”.
Logan didn't let go. “Need help?” he offered.
Fuck no! No more of that. Nico shook his head and pulled free. He staggered back into the hallway, trying desperately not to bump into anything. He could feel Logan's eyes burn holes in his back until he closed the door.
Gods. What a fucking mess…
It was unbearably hot all of a sudden. He tried to pull free from his clothes. He only managed to get the shirt off before he dropped down onto the bed. How could the bed feel so heavy? He was on top of it for crying out loud! And how could it already be this freezing cold now?
Ah!
He jolted as his legs got adjusted with a shove. Panic set in when the covers came down on him, trapping him in place with their surprising weight. He couldn't even open his eyes, let alone fight whatever was happening. A warm hand pressed onto his head, urging him to stop moving.
“Hey. Calm down. Just go to sleep” a nice, soothing voice told him.
Yeah. Alright. Good idea. He exhaled deeply and let go of all tension. Off he went. Somewhere very far.
It took a while to return. He was still mostly asleep when he picked up on quiet whispering around him. It barely reached his consciousness.
He vaguely heard a higher voice ask something. A lower voice responded. “Not really. Poor bastard almost fainted on me earlier. Barely made it to bed…”. Its tone was serious. Somehow it was still comforting to listen to.
The higher voice asked another question before the lower voice responded once again. “A little cold, but he's breathing normally”.
The mattress sunk heavily behind his back. Soft, slender fingers carefully moved his hair out of his face.
The higher voice was a lot closer this time. “~Awww. He's so cuuute~” it cooed quietly, still barely audible. A hand lightly and tenderly ran through his hair. “Don't you just wanna cradle him and-?”.
The higher voice got cut off by the lower voice. “Stop harassing him, or I'm kicking you out”. It was more of a hiss than a whisper.
“Nuhuh. My house. You can eat shit” the higher voice whispered back defiantly.
“My bed” the lower voice retorted even more defiantly.
“~Lucky you~” the other mused quietly.
“ Okay, stop. I mean it… Either give him the water or get out ”.
The hand moved to his shoulder and shook it carefully, but pressingly enough to actually wake him up. Gwen's voice was a lot louder now, not even remotely subtle anymore. “Nicky? Buddy? You need to drink some water”.
The half of Nico that had still been asleep groaned in protest.
“Please? Just a little. I'll leave you alone after. Promise” she bargained.
Nico pressed his hand onto the mattress and pushed himself up. As he opened his eyes, he winced a little at the light. He sat up and ran the palm of his hand over his face. Gwen placed a glass of water in it when he lowered it back down. Nico gave her a grateful, if a little dissatisfied smile. He took a few sips. It woke him up a bit. “So, how many years was I gone for?” he asked, kinda dreading the answer.
“About five hours” Logan replied.
Damn. That was long.
“Feel any better?” he asked.
Nico looked at him. He hadn't really thought about that yet. Now that he did… Yeah. A lot better, actually. Good, even! Well… Almost… “I feel pretty decent, actually!” he replied, quickly finishing his water and turning to sit next to Gwen.
She gave him a happy smile and pinched his cheek. “Great! I'll fix up some food!”. She strutted out the door before he had the chance to reply.
He closed his mouth and pursed his lips. Turning to look at Logan, he got a faint smile in return. “Have you been here the whole time…?” Nico asked warily.
Logan's smile turned into a devious grin. “Well, this is my room. I don't get why you keep being so surprised to see me here…”.
Nico huffed and grabbed the small pile of fabric he recognized as his shirt from the floor. Well, Logan's shirt. “And people say I'm a creep” he said accusatorily.
“People say that?” Logan asked. Next to the confusion he actually sounded a bit offended. It was honestly a little touching.
Nico wasn’t prepared for it at all. “Well, not to my face” he quickly assured. “Usually…” he added as he hastily pulled the t-shirt back on.
Logan groaned in disapproval. “I mean… You're a little edgy” he weighed. “But from one ‘bad boy’ to another, you're way too anxious and polite to be creepy. You haven't stopped apologizing since you got here” he snickered.
A smile crept onto Nico's face. Logan smiled back at him, a bit smug, but Nico didn't mind somehow.
“And no, by the way. I haven't been here the whole time. But, I have creeped on you a few times to make sure you weren't dead”.
Nico's face heated up a bit. “Thank you” he said quickly. He looked to the ground in embarrassment at how much he meant that. “And sorry. About all this…”.
“It's fine” Logan said with some genuine warmth.
Nico looked at his smile. The bruise glared at him. “I'm sorry about your face”.
Logan huffed at the ceiling and grinned at him. “It's. Fine.” he groaned. “Can you please stop now?”.
Nico grinned in embarrassment. “Right, sorry”. He didn't catch it in time. Nico sucked in his lips.
Logan's chuckle made him crack up a little. “What happened to you, man? Did you get brain damage? I'm starting to miss our fights…”.
Nico pursed his lips. Fighting was definitely better than this awkward hell he'd forced them all into… Yeah, alright. He really missed their crazy bitch fights. Too many fond memories to choose from. One in particular. He didn't know why. “Right, like on the balcony? When you were about to punch me in the face?” Nico threw at him.
“I wasn't going to punch you!” Logan defended, clearly actually offended.
Good start. Just like old times.
Nico raised an eyebrow. “Oh, so you were going to make out with me?” he quipped. He could feel himself step over the line as he did it. Something far and deep in the back of his mind fell off a shelf, spilling everywhere. Oh, fuck… Fuck! He braced himself.
Logan's annoyed expression turned devious. “I told you not to start anything you can't finish, didn't I?” he asked with an exaggerated seductive voice. He went in for the kill with a wink.
Oh! Heat hit Nico's face. Oh… No…! He swallowed in embarrassment.
Logan laughed at him. “See? Like right now! Why do you joke about things that make yourself uncomfortable?”.
Yeah. Good question. Nico got up and held up his hands in an offer. “What can I say? I'm an enigma…”.
Logan seemed to weigh that statement. He shrugged in agreement. Then pursed his lips and seemingly decided it wasn't good enough after all. “What do the numbers in your tattoo mean?”.
Huh? When did he see that? It’s on the back of his shoulder! Oh, right… He’d been practically naked almost the whole time he'd been here… And Logan had cleaned him up… Thank the Gods he'd missed that… “Why?” Nico asked in return.
“Just seemed like it meant something. I get the keys, they’re a Hades thing, right? But, only one has numbers in it”.
Nico smiled faintly. Without thinking about it he ran his hand over where the crossed keys should be hidden under his shirt. “Yeah, they’re a symbol for locking away the souls of the dead in the underworld… Two keys, one for me, one for my sister…”.
Logan visibly realized the touchyness of the subject. “Ah... I shouldn't have-” he began.
“Don’t worry about it” Nico interjected. Subconsciously, he moved towards the door a bit.
“Nice gesture though. Looks cool too” Logan said.
“Thanks…” Nico breathed. He looked down. The Scream mask yelled at him to change the subject. “So you like horror movies, huh?” He asked.
“You're surprised I'm into violent movies?”. Logan asked, a little taken aback. “Even you should know me better by now, Spooky”.
Touché.
“Eh, you got me there. I should have figured you'd like Scream. That's probably one of the dumbest in the genre, and that's a low bar” Nico jabbed.
“What? No way! It's mostly satire! It's supposed to be corny, how do you not get that?” Logan asked with fake outrage, his grin gave him away. “You don't deserve to wear that. Take it off.”
He gave the shirt a short, firm tug by its hem. Nico called his bluff.
“Should've vetted me before you threw it at me” Nico said, gripping Logan's hand with a menacing smile.
Suddenly they were in a standoff. He probably should have known better than to goad him.
“Oh. So we're going to do this the hard way, huh?” Logan threatened, obviously amused. Nico could feel his wrist tense up in his hand as Logan tightened his grip on the fabric.
He could still go back, Nico realized. He grinned. “Don't oversell yourself”. Nico added his other hand.
Logan's other hand shot out in a threatening movement. He shoved it flat onto the wall right behind Nico's head with a slam, then pushed Nico against the wall. Nico clicked his tongue at the annoying warm feeling of the back of Logan's hand pressed against the back of his head. The fact that he was obviously being careful with him in his own crude way was damn frustrating.
They looked into each other’s eyes. Logan's grip loosened a bit. A pensive look hid behind his smug grin.
Nico suppressed a shudder. Gods, those eyes were intense. He-!
“What are you trying to prove, old man?”. Logan always knew how to diffuse a situation, in the most aggravating way possible.
Nico returned a sly smile. “I hope you're not feeling sorry for me. I thought you said you missed this”.
The corner of Logan's mouth twitched. With a worrying lack of resistance he pulled the shirt up to Nico's chin. Nico tried his best to shove his hand back down, trembling at the effort. Crap. He was way less recovered than he thought he was.
Gwen opened the door. “What's going on in here?” she asked loudly, clearly annoyed. She took in the scene. Both stared at her. She covered her eyes with her hand and walked out the door backwards, her lips a long straight line. “Play safe!” she yelled at them, closing the door. “And stop tearing my house down!” she added with exasperation.
Logan tore his hands off of him. Nico pulled the shirt down with both hands. They avoided eye contact for a while, stewing in the embarrassment.
Then Nico cracked, not managing to suppress a laugh. “This is on you”. He kicked Logan’s leg.
“Your clothes better dry quickly” Logan warned with an annoyed smile.
Nico felt a little uncomfortable as Logan looked at him, seemingly thinking to himself. “Okay, Mr movie snob, what is up to your standards?”.
Nico didn't need to think long. “Nosferatu. The original” he answered. It was the first movie he'd ever seen, even before moving to America. It had completely blown his mind. He'd never seen a hyena before.
Logan raised his eyebrows. “Old school!... I should have figured…” he said, pointing at Nico. “That is a good movie. I'll give you that” he added with a half smile. “But, mostly funny… Not even remotely scary”.
Ha! Try telling that to eight year old Nico. Age restricted movies weren't a thing in nineteen forty.
Nico grinned. “Yeah? You're scared of the killer from Scream?” he quipped.
Logan snorted and leaned back a little. “Of course not”. Arrogance dripped off his voice. “If I were in Scream, I'd get right in there and-”. He made a stabbing motion with his hand. “I'd be the first guy to fucking die…”.
Nico laughed. He couldn't help it. That was not the reaction he’d expected at all. He pursed his lips and crossed his arms. “I did like Scream” he admitted begrudgingly, raising one shoulder. “Because it's dumb…” he added with an eye roll.
Logan gave him a bright smile, a flicker of warm flames flashing through his eyes. “Alright, that's good enough for me. You can keep that on” he said, punching Nico in the stomach just slightly too hard.
He heard loud tinkering somewhere further inside the house. A chair scraped over tiles. A few footsteps.
“Dinner’s ready!” Gwen shouted from the same direction.
Logan nodded at him. “Well, you heard the boss…”.
Yep. That was a fitting name for Gwen. Not ‘boss’ as in bossy, but ‘boss’ as watchful and in control. And she was a great boss. Her patients were lucky.
Nico was lucky too. Gwen wasn’t just a great boss, she was also a great cook. And it wasn’t even just because he hadn’t had a home cooked meal in… Months… Hm.
Gwen was eager though, trying to get him to eat as much as possible. A third serving was a little much, even for the best cook.
“Sorry, Gwen. I can’t” he held up his hands to keep her serving spoon at bay.
She pouted, but relented, then turned her attention to her next victim.
Logan pulled back his plate. “I’ll throw up. I swear to the fucking Gods…”.
Gwen piled the remaining rations onto Mark’s plate then leaned back in her chair, very pleased with herself.
Logan yawned, catching her attention. They had a silent staring contest. Nico shifted a little as their expressions slowly soured… Until Gwen leaned forward onto her elbows, frowning at Logan. “You know…? You haven't touched your guitar since you moved in... I can't believe I'm about to say this, but I miss when you'd wake us up in the middle of the night with your loud music, or when you'd sing”.
Logan looked closed off, but there was an air of sorrow around him.
Mark laughed, there was a little awkwardness to it. “More like scream. No way that counts as singing”.
Logan responded with an attempt at a menacing smile. It looked forced. “I still scream plenty around here. No need to miss that”. He got up and made his way towards the back door, sliding his fingers along the table as he walked by. They all watched him close the door with a loud thud.
Gwen turned on Mark, furious. Her eyes blazed in a cold blue fire. Nico guessed all Ares’ children were alike that way. She snapped at Mark, punching him in the shoulder. “Why do you always need to make a joke out of everything?! I almost had him!”.
Mark hissed at the impact of the punch. “I know! My bad. The tension got to me…” . He sighed. “But Gwen, you've tried this so many times! He never budges! Half the time you make it worse, and he freaks out! If you wanna start this again, do it when I'm not around!”
Mark got up and opened the door to the hallway. “You know I'm bad at this stuff” he added with an annoyed look. He left the door open as he stomped up the stairs.
“We're all bad at this stuff!” Gwen yelled angrily at the open door. “Gods, these freaking… men!” she growled through gritted teeth. She slapped the table like it offended her. Then she looked at Nico. “Sorry, Nicky. No offense”.
Nico smiled. “Oh, but I completely agree with you. I'm not any better”.
Gwen smiled back. “Well, you're still here… Thanks for that”. She laid her head down on the table, spreading her arms over it dramatically. “I'm so sick of this” she sighed. “I don't know what to do. I don't know what to say…”. She grimaced. “Maybe Mark's right. I should probably back off…” She looked even more sad than earlier. “I'm just worried about him” she whispered.
Nico frowned. He patted Gwen on her shoulder. “You're doing everything you can”.
She looked up at him and smiled half heartedly.
“I'll go check on him”. Nico offered her a reassuring smile.
Gwen grinned, sticking out her fist for a fist bump. He returned it.
“You're the best Nicky. Don't die out there!” she cheered.
Nico opened the door quietly. He walked in on Logan smoking, rapping his fingers against the wood of the porch fence. He had his back turned to him. Nico thought about what to say for a while.
Wow, he really was bad at this. Much worse than he thought.
“So you sing, huh?” he asked.
Logan turned to look at him. “Nah, Mark's right. I pretty much just shout over music. I can't sing for shit”. He smiled a humourless smile, then turned back around and kept quiet.
Come on, man. I'm trying here… Time to get a little more personal.
“So Mark's not why you ran away then?” Nico asked, more confrontational.
Logan didn't turn around this time. “Figured I'd stop bumming everybody out for a while, that's all”. He obviously tried to sound indifferent. It wasn't convincing.
“I don't think it worked” Nico said to Logan's back. He tried to keep sounding as casual as possible.
“You're probably right” Logan said a little heavily, pretty obviously depressed at this point.
Gods. He somehow kept making this worse. He mentally prepared himself to beg Gwen for forgiveness later.
“How, uh… Are you-?” Nico started.
He got interrupted by a loud rasping noise.
Nico looked down. He noticed what seemed to be an animated blob of ink rub against Logan’s leg. Logan bent down and petted what Nico now realized was a heavy set, scruffy black cat. One of its ears practically gone and a noticeable kink in its tail.
In typical Logan fashion he went about showing affection in a way that could only be described as indelicate. Based on the strange guttural sound the cat made, with which it seemed to attempt purring, it didn’t mind one bit.
“Who’s your feral friend?” Nico asked, a little amused.
“This little guy is Crazy Butch. The first time he and I met, he bit me and I called him something slightly different… But, that was a little impolite, so when that name stuck I changed one letter to make it a bit more family friendly.” Logan explained, practically kneading Crazy Butch like a piece of dough. “You are a Crazy Butch. Aren’t you?” he murmured.
Crazy butch rasped something in approval. He squirmed a little. Then suddenly he swatted, pulling his one ear back. Logan tore his hand away right before it struck, obviously anticipating something like this might happen.
“Yeah, you are!” He chuckled.
Crazy Butch casually laid down on Logan’s foot, like he hadn’t just declared war a second ago.
“Gotta respect a man with boundaries” Logan said matter of factly.
Nico couldn’t help being a little touched, apparently he hadn’t expected Logan to be able to keep his cool around someone, or something, so volatile. Logan slowly pulled his foot out from under Butch, walking over and reaching under a bench next to the door. He pulled out a box of cat food.
“I know what you’re really here for…”.
Butch started circling him, rasping loudly. He dove in face first the second the kibbles hit the floor, chewing messily. Logan gave him some firm taps on the back, right above the tail.
Nico chuckled.
“What?”. Logan glanced at him, raising an eyebrow.
Nico shook his head a little “Nothing. Just didn’t expect you to get along so well with a cat. A mean one at that”.
Logan let out a hum “People always assume I’m a dog person. And I mean, I've got nothing against dogs, but… Dogs are messy, loud and needy. Just doesn't really work for me”.
Nico raised an eyebrow, gesturing at Butch.
Logan frowned “Yeah, okay… So Butch is going through a hard time and needs a little help. But he’s a tough little bastard, and he deserves some credit for that.” Logan shot him a slightly embarrassed look. “Butch and I spent a lot of long nights here together the past few months… I guess he helped me a little too. We’re pretty similar that way. Just two damaged idiots, aren’t we…?”.
Butch took Logan's hand in his paws and started Butchering it. Logan let him.
Nico felt stupid. He should have figured.
Butch climbed on top of Logan’s knee.
“Crazy Butch isn't so bad. I think he's just a little misunderstood” Nico heard himself say.
Logan looked up at him, surprised. He gave him a half smile. Nico watched Logan mess with Butch in his lap. His expression was so warm it was almost unsettling. Nico smiled as Logan snickered to himself.
“He's so stupid, though…” he murmured.
Nico's smile turned into a smirk. Uhuh… took the words right out of my mouth…
Logan turned to him, Butch fighting his hand tooth and nail. “He reminds me of you” he mused.
Nico's eye twitched. “Does he now?” he asked venomously.
Logan started to grin, but stopped himself. He lowered his eyebrows. “You're shivering” he concluded.
He was?
He was...
“And you're really pale” Logan added, getting up.
Come to think of it. He did feel a little… Pale?
“I'm just a little tired” Nico reassured.
“Yeah, okay. Let's go inside” Logan offered, opening the door. He looked at Nico expectantly. Right. Yeah. That seemed alright. Nico walked through the door and looked at the hallway.
“You going to bed?” Logan asked.
Nico glanced at the clock. What time was it? Eleven?
Half past seven…
Yeah, no…
Logan needed to back off with all this patronizing crap. He was much better than this morning. He wasn't as dizzy. He just had a bad headache, some nausea… And some severe dizzyness… “Not yet” he muttered.
“Okay” Logan replied casually. Nico watched him walk over to the living room. Ha. What was he supposed to do now?
“You staying over there?” Logan asked loudly from the other room. He sounded like he was trying not to laugh.
Well now he didn’t want to anymore! “No…!” Nico answered defiantly.
Gwen’s giggle sounded from somewhere in the other room. He made his way over and dropped down heavily on the other side of the couch. Logan looked at him with a smug little smile. Nico closed his eyes in annoyance and laid his head back on the backrest, trying not to pay any attention to it. He got a little too comfortable doing so…
He jolted up before he could doze off. Not good enough. He got up. “I gotta go…!” he said intensely. A little more intensely than he wanted to. But, all intensity of it was well deserved. He'd taken advantage of them long enough. He felt bad already, staying longer would only make it worse.
Logan shifted, giving him a wary look. He was about to say something when Gwen did instead.
“No” she said sternly. “You obviously have a concussion. You're not leaving”.
Nico huffed in exasperation, sticking out his hands. Gwen crossed her arms, staring him down from her chair on the other side of the room.
“Gwen. I'm really grateful, seriously. But you can't just keep me here”.
Small blue flames lit up in her eyes. “You know I can, and I will”.
He put up his hands, trying to de-escalate a little. “I'm fine” he lied.
She gave him a look so sceptical it bordered on angry.
“I'll get my stuff. Thank you for cleaning it-”.
She briskly got up and walked into the kitchen. Nico looked at Logan, seemingly as confused as he was. He got up and followed after her, just in time to see her go outside.
What?
He took a few uncertain steps into the kitchen. Before he had time to figure out what she was up to she walked back in, his shirt in hand. She smacked it down in the sink, grabbed her coffee mug and carefully emptied it all over it.
What the hell?!
Nico threw up his hands, staring at her in disbelief. He slowly lowered his hands to his sides when she smirked at him, eyes still glowing an evil bright blue.
“There” she said with a devilish smile. “Guess I’ll have to clean it again”. She grabbed the coffee soaked clump, smacked some coffee out of it and then happily strutted off with it into the hallway. Nico followed her with his eyes as she did. He turned to stare at Logan, now standing in the doorway. He opened his mouth, then shook his head.
Logan leaned back and grinned at him. “Yeah” he shrugged. “She's got a big heart, but it's made out of stone” he added dryly.
Nico finally managed to find some words. “She's holding it hostage…” he muttered, more in defeat than frustration. “That has to be illegal!” he added, gesturing to where she went.
Logan snickered. “I mean, you did break into her house in the middle of the night. Let's not get too technical here”. He walked closer, suddenly a lot more serious. “Besides, she's not wrong. You still look like shit” he mocked. The concerned undertone only made it worse.
Nico sighed. “How long are you guys going to trap me here?”.
Logan cocked his head. “Depends, I guess. Probably, until you're no longer dying. With the way you take care of yourself, could be forever”. He jabbed Nico in the stomach accusatorily.
Nico pursed his lips. “By tomorrow I'm abandoning that shirt. She can burn it for all I care” he threatened.
Logan gave him an annoyed but amused look. “Yeah? You're just going to straight up refuse to learn anything from this?” he asked.
Nico gave him a smug little smile in return. “I don't do learning through reward and punishment. I'm the self-study type”.
Logan grinned. “Ah… What's the difference between that and being proudly stubborn? I don't think I see it”.
Ha… There was a huge difference…
Probably…
Nico's smug smile shriveled and died.
“Look man, you're really hurt. You could have died. And you've tried to fight off any type of help we offered here... I'm telling you, you wouldn't have made it on your own”.
Logan had no business being this patronizing all the time. What the fuck did he know, anyway? Nico was about to ask when Logan continued.
“Even you know that deep down. That's why you came here”.
It shut Nico up instantly. His face burned. Why did he come here? He looked away.
Logan nudged him with his foot. “Stop being so embarrassed. And stop apologizing while you're at it. I keep telling you it's fine. It's more than fine, actually. It's good to let people help you”.
Nico's embarrassment turned to irritation. He knew he was right, but still. Logan was being a massive hypocrite. “Well with all due respect, which is none, it's not like you're much better at that” he spat at him. “I've had to knock you out to stop you from killing yourself and you keep avoiding Gwen when she tries to talk to you”.
Logan's eyes flashed an angry orange. “That first one was just as stupid of you as it was of me” he hissed. He reigned himself in a bit. “The second one's fair. It's just… I'm not used to just… Not being able to say how I feel. But, when it comes to this, my body won't let me for some reason… I don't get it… It scares the crap out of me… And not just me. I hate what it does to the people around me”.
He looked downright miserable. All the fire was gone. Nico kinda missed it… Guilt punched him. He remembered the night on the balcony. It had been more than intense. “I'm sorry. That wasn't fair” Nico offered sincerely. “I know you're really trying”.
Logan smiled faintly.
Nico shifted uncomfortably. “You're probably right… Thanks for not letting me kill myself, anyway” he finally relented.
Logan's smile lit up. Damn him and his stupid honesty! It was almost impossible to out-manoeuvre.
“Well, you're right too. I shouldn't be such a fucking coward... And, don't worry about it. I'm honestly glad to help”.
A warm feeling killed most of Nico’s annoyance and embarrassment.
“Gwen definitely is too. She really likes you” Logan added.
Nico smiled. He believed that. Gwen was so nice. The past few days she had reminded him of long ago. Over ten years ago. Damn… had it already been that long? He wondered how Bianca’s new life was faring. Not Bianca anymore now, of course… Gods, he missed her… and he missed-!
“You're really lucky to have her” Nico quickly flung out, stopping himself before the guilt and shame could fully reach him. “I hope you realize that” he added, as a well meaning warning.
“Oh, you bet I do. Every single day” Logan promised.
Nico smiled, a little painfully.
Logan smiled back, a little pitifully. “Right. Your sister… You must really miss her…”.
Nico took a deep breath. “Every single day…” he promised in turn.
Logan stopped smiling, leaving the pitiful.
Nico quickly crossed his arms to shield himself from it. “I have another sister…” he accidentally shared. Crap, how could he let that slip?!
Logan instantly looked more hopeful. All false hope, of course. Poor guy.
“Oh, don't worry. I ruined that too” Nico joked, forgetting the punchline.
Logan furrowed his brow, confused, but seemingly not ready to abandon hope yet.
Nico was starting to get a little frustrated. “When I said I ghosted everyone a few years back, I did mean everyone” he reassured, not a shred of enthusiasm left.
Logan furrowed his brow deeper, adding some frustration of his own. “So, just… Go see her?” he offered.
“No way!” Nico scoffed, almost angry at this point. “I can't do that to her! It's been way too long! There's no way she wants to see me after what I did!”.
Logan pursed his lips and shook his head. “I don't believe that. I bet she misses you just as much” he countered, arms crossed.
Nico rolled his eyes and sighed extra dramatically. You simple, simple man… You can't just un-ghost people! That's like… The whole point of it! “You know? For such a hardass, you're kinda naive”.
Logan grinned a little sourly. “Nah, you're just bitter as fuck”.
Nico grinned back, as bitterly as he could. “It's an acquired taste… Your palette just isn’t refined enough to appreciate it” he shrugged.
Logan's grin lost just a touch of acidity. “Wrong, you fancy bitch. I’ll eat anything”.
Was that… Supposed to be reassuring…?
“What?!” Nico asked, trying not to laugh.
“I’m not scared of you. Whatever you’ve got, I can handle it. Easy” Logan explained, gently punching him in the stomach trying to prove it.
Now Nico did laugh. “Oh, right! Like back at the cabin!”.
Logan grinned through his offense. “Hey! I did pretty well before I got poisoned! Besides, I’ve managed to keep you under control since yesterday, haven’t I?!”.
Nico threw up his hands, more offended. “I’ve got a concussion!”.
Logan pointed at him triumphantically. “Ha! Gotcha! You’re not fucking fine at all!”.
Nico pointed back at him in a warning. He wagged his finger a little, trying to think of what to say. “... I’m leaving tomorrow! I’ll be fine enough by then!”.
Logan shoved his finger aside. “Yeah, yeah. I heard you the first time”.
Gwen walked by with an amused sigh.
Nico pursed his lips. This evening was going to be way too long… At least his headache was just background noise at this point…
“Uh, Gwen? Would it be alright if I used your shower?” he heard himself ask. Yeah. It had been more than a day and he was still finding traces of dried blood. That seemed like a good enough idea.
Gwen stopped in her tracks and turned around, seemingly not agreeing at all. She eyed him with concern. “I don't know, Nicky... Any other time, yes, of course. But… you still don't seem very steady”. She gave him a painfully apologetic look. “Would you be okay with some help…? It's nothing I haven't seen…”.
Nico gave her a shocked and then equally painfully apologetic look back. Logan leaned against the doorframe, revelling in all the awkwardness. His smile made it obvious he was enjoying the show a bit too much.
Gwen, seemingly agreeing, turned to him with a stern look. She narrowed her eyes, then looked back to Nico. “Would it be easier if it was a guy?” she asked completely seriously, openly declaring a two-front war.
Dropping that bomb put an immediate stop to Logan’s revelling. He stared at Nico. His blank expression said more than words ever could. Nico stared back easily just as blank, wholeheartedly agreeing. Well, a blank expression, aside from all the fiery red undoubtedly spreading across it…
Logan was the first to violate the ceasefire. And not fighting for the right side… “Well… probably isn't anything I haven't seen either…” he reasoned without any enthusiasm, apparently conscripted in Gwen's troops now. “I've seen most of it by now anyway…” he added in a cowardly ambush of Nico’s homefront.
Nico had neither the arsenal nor strategic advantages to adequately strike back. “Uh…” he mustered weakly.
“It would be a pretty stupid way to die, dude… Even for you” Logan went on, moving in for a decisive victory.
Nico shook his head refusing to capitulate to terrorist demands. “I like my chances… Better than instantly dying of shame anyway!” he retorted, throwing up a hand in refusal.
“Well, not by much!” Logan quipped back, noticeably annoyed now.
Fucking hell, you moron!
This had to be the most awkward stalemate Nico had ever been in… And for some reason, instead of just giving up, Logan seemed very determined to put an end to it in the only way they'd both lose… Nico glared at him for his betrayal. Gwen was about to interfere when Nico came up with a genius solution. He held up two hands in a declaration of peace.
“I'll just sit on the ground” he made as a final offer, a very desperate one.
All three stayed quiet, mulling the treaty over. Logan and Gwen had a silent conversation, narrowing their eyes at each other. Nico’s eyes darted from one to the other, awaiting their answer breathlessly.
Gwen finally nodded. “Yes, okay... It's the first door to the right” she relented. “But call me if you need help!”.
Nico quickly made his escape to the hallway.
“And don't lock the door!” Gwen warned loudly.
Nico didn't answer. After slamming the door shut behind him, he paused and felt the lock. He clicked his tongue and let go of it. Fine, but he was going to whine about it the whole time and nobody could stop him!
He turned on the shower and pulled his clothes off. Well, Logan's clothes. He dumped them in a pile on the ground. Where they belonged! He smiled defiantly to himself. Then realized he'd now have to put himself in his place too…
Luckily, he noticed the shower was still ice cold before he did. He quickly turned the temperature up, then sat down heavily underneath the stream anyway. The water slowly heated up.
Gods… This had been a terrible day. He'd hated it. He'd especially hated that everyone was so nice to him. Why couldn’t they hate him for being such a burden? Not even a little bit? Not even Logan…? No, if anything, the more difficult he was, the nicer they were… All out of pity. All because he can't even take care of himself properly…
He cursed himself for living a shit enough life that this wasn't even close to the worst day he'd ever had. A quiet, joyless laugh escaped him. Thankfully he couldn't tell if the water streaming over him contained any tears… He washed his face extra well just to be sure.
The urge to curl up and just stay under the shower forever was strong. He was stronger. He finished up and dragged himself out. Getting up had been harder than he wanted, but he’d managed.
He caught his reflection in the mirror and scowled at himself. There he is, the guy ruining my fucking life… He wiped the wet hair from his face. Guess he did look pale...
He didn’t even bother getting dressed all the way. No use pretending he could stay up any longer.
A chair scraped loudly in the kitchen as soon as he stepped through the door. He turned to see Gwen, hands still on the dinner table, looking at him expectantly.
He stuck up a thumb.
“I’m going to bed…” he said flatly.
He’d tried not to sound too dejected. Based on Gwen’s sad little smile, it hadn’t worked. He quickly crossed over to Logan’s room, tossed the clothes down onto the floor, then tossed himself down onto the bed.
Nico woke up to frantic footsteps leaping down the stairs. By the time he'd turned over, he heard the door in the kitchen getting flung open. He sat up.
Quarter past three.
He knew who that was…
Was he going to check on him? He kinda wanted to. But, would Logan want him to? He was so bad at this. He hadn’t been much help earlier. Besides, last time on the balcony he’d really, really intruded on him. Way further than either of them were comfortable with. Of course, at the time he hadn't really cared much about that. They weren’t exactly on friendly terms back then.
He fidgeted with his ring a little, then threw the covers off and got up.
Fuck it. They'd both just have to deal with it, like it or not. He felt around the ground for his shirt, not finding anything. After giving up the search, he made his way over to the kitchen. He paused in front of the open door.
Last chance to back out.
He pushed himself through the doorway.
They stared at each other, probably equally surprised. Nico inhaled sharply and quickly turned around.
Logan let out a short wet laugh. “What are you doing?” he asked breathlessly.
Nico tried to make sense of it out loud. “You're crying. I didn't think you wanted me to see…” he almost asked. He turned around warily.
Logan grinned through the tears. “What? That I'm human?” he asked. His voice was still a little shaky, but it didn't take away from the amusement. “Well… Half human anyway” he added, wiping a hand down his face.
Nico just stared at him as he took a long drag from his cigarette. This wasn't what he was expecting. What was he expecting…?
“Didn't mean to wake you up…” Logan exhaled apologetically. Most of the amusement from earlier had drained away. Luckily, so had the tears. Man, he looked tired...
“I got my eight hours in a little early” Nico offered. It was true, anyway.
They half smiled at each other.
Nico gestured at him, trying to get to the point. “Are you, uh… Do you need… Anything?” he tried, putting his hands out in an offering gesture.
Logan looked from one hand to the other, then gave him a devious looking side eye. “Are you offering me a hug?” he asked smugly.
Nico instantly clenched his hands shut. “No”. Right? He panicked a little.
Logan chuckled at his expression. “Don't worry. I'm just messing with you. I know you hate emotions” he said with a reassuring smile. The warm flicker in his eyes showed he meant it. “And no, I don't need anything. Never takes very long”. He finished his cigarette and pushed it out against the wall. “I'll go back to bed in a minute”. He got up close, giving him another smug look. “So should you. You look tired”.
Nico huffed. I am the one who looks tired?! He was about to tell him off when Logan reached out and ran a hand over his shoulder.
“Thanks for worrying”. His eyes still glowed warm as he said it. His hand lingered for a short while as he made his way back inside. “Night” he left behind.
“Yeah…” Nico replied weakly. He stared straight ahead, at nothing in particular, his hand hovered over where Logan's had been just a second ago. He quickly turned it into a fist and shook his head wildly. He really shouldn’t have done that. He closed his eyes and moved his fist to his forehead.
Right. How could he forget? He waited out the faint wave of nausea.
Still, this was nothing compared to yesterday.
Using just muscle memory, he navigated the darkness. What a weird night. Whatever… He had a concussion, and Logan was clearly going through something.
Don't think too much about it.
Just because they hadn't tried to kill each other didn't mean they were going to be friends all of a sudden.
They really shouldn't be, anyway.
He sighed as he sat down on the bed. As he pulled the covers all the way over himself, he rolled over.
So stop thinking about it!
He really needed to get out of here tomorrow. Gwen could try whatever she wanted, he wasn't going to let it work this time.
He thought of a hundred different strategies to counter her before he fell asleep.
The next time he opened his eyes, everything was bright. Only mildly too bright this time, he realized with a smile. Getting up, he found his own pants on the dresser, neatly folded. He gratefully slipped them on. The lack of his own shirt guided him to Logan’s, thankfully for the last time…
Logan smirked at him as he walked into the brightness of the kitchen. “Hey! I see your whole ‘sickly Victorian child’ vibe is gone” he declared with some enthusiasm.
Nico smirked back. “Yeah! I’m probably in the best shape I’ve been in eighty years, actually!” he declared himself. He turned to Gwen. “Gwen, I think-”.
She kicked a chair back for him. “Eat!” she ordered.
He pursed his lips, then sat down and did what he was told. Gwen looked on sternly, but happily.
He smiled over his empty plate, very expectantly. Gwen got up, put her hand on his chin and tilted his face carefully. She efficiently removed the bandaid from his forehead, he tried his best not to show how sensitive it still was. After giving the cut a stern look, she looked into his eyes and smiled.
“Still just as handsome as before. I think I did pretty well” she concluded with a bright blue glow. She quickly replaced the bandaid, giving it a little tap light as air with her finger.
“I don’t know how to thank you” he said with a guilty smile.
She chuckled. “You don’t have to. Just promise to be more careful”.
Nico nodded, much to her approval
“Okay, you’re officially discharged!” she declared, clapping theatrically. “I’ll release your property”. She strutted off into the hallway.
Nico sighed in relief. Finally! He locked eyes with Logan. He put up another guilty smile.
Logan smirked and narrowed his eyes a little. “If you’re going to apologize again…”.
Nico put up his hands in surrender. “I wouldn’t dare”. He returned his smirk.
“Nicky…?” Gwen started carefully.
He turned to see her holding up his shirt.
“I’m afraid your shirt didn’t make it…”. She stuck one of her hands through a big, vertical tear in the fabric. Right through the Bauhaus logo… “Sorry, guess I didn’t see it before. It was all clumped together with all the blood on it…”. She handed it to him. “And coffee…” she added with some guilt.
He looked it over. Yeah, that was a pretty big hole. Right next to the centre. Not one he’d be able to get away with.
“Heh. Thanks anyway, Gwen…” he said a little absentmindedly, running his hand over the fabric.
Guess that was another shirt down. He was starting to run out. Time to stop this habit of getting clawed at, he couldn’t afford it. A sigh escaped. This one was one of his favourites too...
Logan tugged at the sleeve of his shirt. Well, Logan’s shirt. “You can keep that” he said casually. “Suits you better anyway” he added.
Liar.
Nico glanced down to escape his eyes.
Ha. Logan's pants must be fireproof...
He felt his stomach turn a little. Logan was only trying to be cordial. But that was kind of the problem. He hated how much he had had to rely on him the past few days. They weren’t exactly friends. Wearing his clothes this long had been awkward enough. He didn’t really have much of a choice though, he didn’t have a spare on him. Leaving half naked would be even worse, right…? Right...
“Thanks” he managed.
Gwen grinned. “Aw, Logan you’re so cute sometimes!”. She punched him in the arm for emphasis.
Logan glared at her.
“I’m just so proud of you. My little brother is a true gentleman” she mused.
“Okay, bye” Logan huffed out. He got up and quickly retreated into the hallway towards his room.
Gwen giggled as he slammed the door. “Sorry, couldn’t help it” she said. Her apologetic tone didn’t match her mischievous smile.
Nico half smiled. Gwen was almost as cruel as she was sweet. “I should get on my way…” he started. “Thank you so much for, well, for everything. I really owe you”.
Gwen stuck out her arms. Nico took a while to process. She let out an amused sigh and wrapped her arms around him. “You’re welcome” she squeezed into him. “Come back any time, Nicky”.
Nico heated up. He squeezed her back. “Tell Logan thanks too” he muttered. He patted her back and wriggled out of her embrace.
“Sure!” Gwen chirped a little too excited.
When he saw her eyes glimmer, he knew he was going to regret that. Whatever. She could gloat all she wanted. She earned it.
He shrugged on his coat, grabbed his bag and walked up to the door. They gave each other one last smile before he walked out. He paused outside, hand still on the handle. It wasn’t that late yet, not over there at least… Should he? What was he on about? Of course, he should. He should have months ago… Years ago… It would only become harder the longer he waited.
He stepped into the shadows.
He stepped out into a hallway. His heartbeat took over all thoughts. He just moved. One of the doors stood out. A very familiar one. He hesitated before he knocked, then did it anyway.
The wait was excruciating.
Someone opened the door.
Hazel’s surprised expression turned to downright shock. They just stared at each other for a second. She cried out and jumped on him, stumbling as she did. He did his best to catch her. He didn’t really need to, her grip on him was so strong she would have dragged him with her to the floor even if he hadn’t.
He felt his eyes well up when she started sobbing.
“I’m sorry” was all he could muster.
She gripped him even tighter.
Frank eyed them carefully from the crack in the door, smiling even more carefully when their eyes met.
It could have been hours by the time she managed to calm down. She sat in front of him, took a deep breath and wiped her hair from her face. She nodded at him, seemingly trying to reclaim some control of the situation. “So… How have you been?” she asked way too affected to even come close to casual.
Nico smiled weakly. He never knew how to answer that question, he usually tried not to think about it. For a second, he considered throwing out his usual lie. It wouldn’t be fair. “... Bad” he managed, sounding easily as affected as she had.
Great… Now they were both sobbing.