(Published: 8/19/17)

I watched as Nico struggled repeatedly to open his eyes. He was mumbling something, but I couldn't make out what he was saying yet, and the gauze in his mouth wasn't really helping.

"Hey Neeks." I said. "You waking up?"

More mumbling. Although, he did manage to crack his eyes open a little before closing them again. "....sleepy..." he said quietly.

"Yeah, I know you are." I replied with a little laugh. "That's just the medicine they gave you, so you're not in pain."

I wasn't completely sure Nico had heard me, as he was still struggling to open his eyes and keep them open.

"...Perce..?" He asked after a minute. His voice sounded sleepy, and a little higher than normal.

"Yeah?" I asked. Nico seemed to be waking up now, and had a rare, goofy grin spread across his face.

He giggled. "Heyyy..."

I laughed. "Heyyy." I replied jokingly, which only made him laugh more. Pretty soon, we were able to leave, all the while Nico was saying random, silly things. When we finally got into the van, I turned to him and asked. "How you feeling?"

Nico looked at me. "I feel great!" He said, though it was a little hard to understand him with his mouth full of gauze. I laughed, and after a moment, he said. "We should get some McDonalds."

At this point, we were pulling out of the dental offices, and I laughed so hard I almost drove into a pole.

Maybe me being the designated driver wasn't the best idea...

"You can't have McDonalds yet, bud." I said. "Maybe a shake or something, but that's it."

Nico then proceeded to give me the cutest pout ever. Gods, I loved high Neeks. "Whyy?" He asked.

I laughed again. "Because, your mouth is still healing."

He then proceeded to give me a look that simply screamed confusion. After about three minutes, he looked at me with an expression I couldn't read, and said, "There are like, sheep in my mouth..."

I laughed so hard it turned into a cough. Thank the gods I was at a red light. "Okay Neeks." I said.

It didn't take him very long after this to fall asleep, his head at a bit of an awkward angle. I wanted to fix it, but I was driving, and also didn't want to risk waking him up.

As I drove in silence, I couldn't help but notice that Nico had that same peaceful, carefree expression on his slumbering face.

He looked sort of angelic in his sleep, which sure lived up to his name, Di Angelo. I'd always thought that name suited him.

Nico Di Angelo.

Couldn't have picked a better name myself.

It took about half an hour longer to get to my mom's apartment, and Nico hadn't woken yet.

"Hey, Neeks." I said, shaking Nico's shoulder gently. "Time to wake up."

Nico mumbled incoherently, but didn't stir. "Come on, you can sleep again inside. We need to go!"

Finally, I managed to get Nico up and inside the building. Now the only thing I had to do was get him upstairs and into my mom's apartment...

Okay, there my be a small flaw to this whole plan...

"Come on, Neeks." I said. "Time to go up the stairs."

Nico giggled and let me guid him towards the staircase. Overall, it wasn't as bad as it could have been. I mean, we were much slower than we normally would have been, and Nico stumbled every two steps, but, despite the dozen or so near misses, he didn't send us both tumbling down the stairs.

Finally, we managed to make it to my mother's apartment door, where I then dug my key out of my pocket and unlocked the door.

Once inside, I led Nico to the couch, and, checking the instructions I was given, I gave him some more pain medicine. Now that he was more awake again, he sure was a chatterbox.

This is going to be a long night...