"This vessel- this vessel is a lie, a shapeshifting beast, a lesson in fluidity."

-Unknown

The administration of the university turned a blind eye when it came to aftermath of any of the more religious holidays that the students of Veritas were made to celebrate. It was an open secret that those who worked hard, played hard, and none exemplified this more than students blowing off any extraneous steam on the Feast of Stolen Fire. A festival meant to represent innovation, progress, quickly devolved into a bacchanal that few could disperse without the use of godly power.

And that was how Nico di Angelo ended up on the rough, unvarnished wooden bar top in the Promethean Hall with its head student licking a body shot out of his navel.

It had been an embarrassingly long time since he'd gotten, well, anything, and he was fighting the urge to moan at the feeling of a tongue on him where there hadn't been one in years. The head student was attractive enough: a Hermes legacy that spent more of his time mouthing off when he should have been deep in his studies, with dark hair and dark eyes that Nico found enticing. His name was Matthew something, or was it Mason? Wilson? Wyatt?

He found he didn't much care, not when he connected his lips to that devilish tongue minutes later and was dragged onto the dance floor.

Being drunk was always an odd sensation to Nico. He drank often, but became drunk very rarely, and always had Leo on hand to steady him. He'd lost Leo hours ago in the crush of people that descended on the Prom's ballroom with speakers and bottles to carry the festivities deep into the night. Likely, he was off with Rachel in a shadowy alcove somewhere, like many of the revelers were. Like he would be if the boy he was kissing now (Andrew? Anderson? What was his name again—) had half a mind to drag him there.

Nico had half a mind to do it himself.

He pressed himself up against his dance partner, not even hearing whatever music was pulsing through the charmed speakers as their hips met. He had his fingers sound in the collar of his shirt, rumpled and buttons undone from the debauchery after he put the ceremonial brazier down and the feast ended. He was taller than Nico, his lips chapped. He smelled like tobacco and amber and the smoke from Prometheus's fire; like the promise of a night that Nico would be allowed to forget, but would leave him with a pleasant memory of fingers and tongues and wanting.

Nico lost his jacket somewhere in the hallway of the Prom— no bother, he'd come back for it one day. He dreaded having to see the head boy of the hall again in the process, but perhaps he could wring another night of pleasure out of it. His name was Antoni, wasn't it? Or Grigoriy. Maybe it was Sasha.

Gods, he needed to get laid. Then he wouldn't be worrying about these things anymore.

They didn't even make it to the stairs. He was pushed up against the shadow of the railing and there were hands everywhere (could a Hermes legacy mutate their limbs? If so, he'd have a few additional requests).

"Fuck—" Nico gasped when a hand reached beneath the button of his trousers. His head hit the wood of the crevice next to the stairs, his eyes screwed shut. He wound his fingers in the soft locks of Michael's? Yuri's? hair and tugged. The boy went down to his knees and looked up at Nico with all the trust in the world.

"Di Angelo!"

The sharp sound of Will Solace's yell echoed through the hallway. Nico pressed his lips together and gave the hair of the head student a sharp tug when he started to open his lips. He shook his head and guided his hands towards the button of Nico's trousers again in the hopes of continuing their business in silence.

"Nico," hissed Will.

Nico groaned. Trust Will Solace to rid him of an erection on the sluttiest day of the winter. It must have been loud enough to get the attention of Will's furiously good hearing, because the flop of golden hair peeked over the railing of the stairs.

"There you are," he said brightly.

Nico glared up at him. The head student was still on his knees, hands paused at the half-undone front of Nico's trousers. He doesn't relinquish his hold on his hair.

"Hey, Tom," Will waved to the boy on his knees.

Tom. That was his name. Fuck.

"What do you want?" Nico asked flatly. "As you can see, I'm a bit busy."

"You said you were going to introduce me to Percy."

Nico rolled his eyes. "That's what you wanted to ask from me?" He shook his head, far too drunk for this. "Unless you're going to suck my dick like Tom here, get the fuck out of my way. I'll introduce you to my fucking cousin on a night where I'm not going to get laid, Solace."

Will wrinkled his nose. "Vulgar. And a bad sport about it. How do you think Tom feels when you refer to him like that?"

"He probably feels like I'm about to fuck him into an oblivion so deep that he'll get to meet Prometheus himself." Nico growled and tugged on Tom's hair for good measure. "Unlike you, who will be fucked into next week because I will beat your gods-damned ass if you don't let me come down our prestigious head student's throat."

Will turned pink. "Well. When you put it that way… As you were, di Angelo."

Nico nodded curtly. "I appreciate the fucking off, Solace."

He heard Will's unsteady, stumbling steps as he left them to it and breathed a sigh of relief. Alcohol made him belligerent, but at least it didn't make him sad. He pulled Tom up to standing.

"Now," Nico leaned in close enough to bite a kiss from his lips. He drew blood. "Where were we?"

He woke up with a cleave down the middle of his skull in the bed of someone he didn't recognize. Nico blinked and the world shifted into focus. It was that damned Promethean head student. He was in the Prom, in the nicest room in the entire hall, and Tom the Prom Head was busy giving him head. Promptly.

What a welcome back to grounds.

The Feast of Stolen Fire was always a mixed bag of strange and wonderful, but in his hangover-addled mind, Nico couldn't help but think it was a very, very good holiday that he should celebrate much more often. He thought of the cold of his room back at the tower and shivered, his hand finding Tom's hair and carding his fingers through it.

"Morning," he murmured with a soft grunt as he adjusted himself in Tom's mouth. "Never knew the Promethean students were so… accommodating."

Tom pulled off him with a snicker. "You're not too shabby yourself, di Angelo. I don't think I'll be walking straight today."

Nico chuckled and let his eyes slip shut as Tom resumed his work. Soft sighs escaped his mouth despite the headache rearing its head. His voice was fuzzy and dreamy. "I— ah!— live to serve."

He sank into a lovely state of relaxation, floating as if buoyed by an unseen force on the tides. Nico had a vague recollection of fingers and lips and tongues from the night before; something wonderful and flattering that would keep him in a good mood for the rest of the day at the very least. Tom was decent, his standards were fairly low to begin with, and a warm body next to him was infinitely better than a cold one.

That is, until his phone rang.

"What?" he asked sharply into the receiver.

"Sorry, just doing a wellness check," came the somewhat hungover voice of Leo Valdez. "You disappeared and didn't come back to your tower last night."

Nico rolled his eyes, his breath hitching when Tom began to suck. "Put two and two together, genius. I slept in someone else's bed last night."

"Congratulations," Leo said sarcastically. "I'm guessing it went well?"

He grunted. "Yeah. Still there."

Leo swore. "You're not fucking some guy while on the phone to me, are you?"

Nico looked at Tom, who raised an eyebrow. "Uh, no."

Technically, that was true.

Leo sighed. "Don't scare me like that, alright? Rachel was worried about you when you didn't show up for the feast and your face was all messed up—" He paused. "Just— if you're in any kind of deep shit, I can help, yeah?"

Nico bit his cheek and scrubbed a hand over his face. "Yeah… I know. I'll try to be a little less… frightening next time."

"Good." Leo tried his best to switch to a more cheerful tone. "Is he hot? This mystery guy?"

Nico looked down at tom and tugged on the hair at the nape of his neck. It earned him a quick squeeze of his cock that almost had him whining. "Yeah. He is."

Silence came from the other end of the phone. "He's blowing you, isn't he?"

Nico reddened. "Uh—"

"Gods fucking dammit."

The receiver went silent. Nico put the phone down and turned his attention towards Tom. He stroked over Tom's cheek where the outline of his cock left an imprint that he could no longer ignore.

"Relax your throat for me," Nico murmured and shifted his hands down to grasp him lightly enough to hold his head steady. "Deep breath."

He left the Promethean a few hours later, sated and boneless as he meandered his way back across grounds to his house. A shower would do him well, and a nap until the sun slipped behind the mountain and his head cleared enough to focus on something other than the stray thoughts whizzing past his psyche. He'd nibbled on a square of ambrosia before leaving and the worst of the bruising on his face had disappeared, but his ribs still ached. He couldn't tell if that was from the beating or from him exacerbating his injuries during his late night activities. Alcohol was a wonder of a numbing agent when imbibed, but it left his system quicker than he'd like to admit.

The weak sunlight hit his face and warmed it. He could melt into it if he let himself.

His phone vibrated and try as he might to ignore it, it vibrated a second and third time. He had half of a mind to throw it into the lake as he passed by on his way to the tower, but opened the messages with a scowl all the same.

Solace: Eidolon haven't been seen on grounds in a handful of decades.

Solace: According to the archives, that is. Not sure how up to date that is.

Solace: We need a "ghostly shade or spiritual impression of a previous life" reporting system. Instances of ghosts are plentiful around here.

Nico shook his head and went to reply.

Nico: when did you have any time at all to start researching this

Solace: When you were getting your dick sucked. Say hello to Tom for me.

Nico: touche

Nico: he's sleeping it off right now. somehow, you didn't come up

Solace: Pity. Many find my presence quite scintillating.

Nico: did you find anything other than decades-old reports of a few shades or ?

Solace: You have a gift for conversation, you know that?

Nico: yes

Solace: Nothing yet. You'll have to wine and dine me for more. My research skills don't come cheap, di Angelo.

Nico: fine

Nico: i'm meeting up with my cousins tomorrow night. i'll make the necessary intros and you can stop chomping at the bit

Solace: Not even your father? Boring.

Nico: again, chomping

Nico: you have to work up to being invited in front of him

Nico: play your cards right and i'll bring you to a family dinner

Solace: Delightful!

Nico: if you enjoy being fed to the wolves

Solace: I am not shy when it comes to danger.

Solace: What's our cover for me meeting your cousins?

Nico: uh that you're my friend

Nico: ? why would we need a cover

Solace: I'm not exactly part of your friend group. They'll have questions.

Nico: trust me, they're not smart enough for that

Solace: They're Symposium members.

Nico: that means nothing. honors students are worse when it comes to common sense

Solace: You could say we're dating.

Nico: very slick, solace

Solace: Pardon?

Nico: just chill. we don't need a scheme for me to say hey this is will solace he's a suck-up who wants to be a big boy

Solace: I sincerely hope you won't introduce me to your family like that. Whatever will they think when the wedding comes around?

Nico: i hate you.

Nico: i'm going to go sleep for a million years. see you later

Solace: Promise?

Nico: no.

He ran into a tree while texting. That was now two broken noses due to one Will Solace.

He remembered a conversation he'd had with his sister on a sunny June afternoon. He couldn't remember why it was sunny, or when the sun had finally broken the clouds, but she was in her first year of university and her first year of their fathers' patronage. He remembered her changing, the shadows underneath her eyes growing longer and deeper. He remembers her fire going out.

Bianca laid back on the bare top of a picnic table to lay in the sun as if she could absorb its rays like a plant. She looked like a painting like always, too abstract to be real.

"It's hard," she said. "It's harder than I thought it'd be."

Nico couldn't understand it at the time. He had no comprehension of the rigor that was demanded of Veritas students. There was a reason they were the most prestigious of the godly universities, and it was incomprehensible to those who weren't mired in the expectations at the time. Even a lifetime of peering at the students through a window gave him only the haziest of understandings.

"What can I do?" Nico asked.

Bianca sat up on her elbows. She sighed. Her eyes were unfocused as they gazed out at a different horizon. "Nothing."

He nodded and settled in beside her. "Then that's what I'll do."

He remembered thinking she looked like someone else at the time, like another being had inhabited her body. He'd been told people changed when they left the house, that they tried on different ways of living that may seem foreign to those who knew them. But this felt different.

He remembered her different. He remembered her whole.

In his memory, Nico sat with his sister until Persephone called them in for dinner and they pretended to enjoy themselves with their new family. In his dream, he turned to the side to observe her, a view he never dared to take before.

If he had just leaned back a little further, if he had just looked in her eyes a little deeper, he would have seen the strings behind them. He would have seen the hand with its talons deep in her back, its wrist slick with her blood.

He would have seen the beginning of the end.

He dreamt of chattering teeth, divested from their original bodies as they clattered to the ground in a dusty pile. They talked, they whispered, they screamed. They knew things that Nico himself could only just begin to comprehend. They bit into his ankles and embedded themselves deep.

He dreamt of hands holding eyes, of sockets dark as voids and tongues bright as suns. He dreamt of it all, and when he woke, he forgot.

Now.

The voice scorched his mind and he opened his eyes. He knows he learned something important, that he dreamt of something essential, but the pieces burned away with the voice. Something inside his skull hammered and pounded. He groaned in pain.

"Can you do something about this?" He asked, indicating his headache.

I am not a healer.

He sighed. "Fine. What do you do?"

He could almost feel it shrug.

I am your patron.

"I get that. Care to give me any more information?"

You're a clever one. Figure it out.

Nico swore under his breath. Just his luck, it seemed. The gods were nothing if not unhelpful. He tugged on something vaguely presentable and ran a hand through his hair to put it back in order. For all his posturing about not caring about his image in the public, he wanted to at least look good enough to be desired. He could be hated and wanted in the same breath; that was enough for him.

Nico shoved his foot into one of his boots when a knock sounded at the door.

"Coming!" He hobbled over to the door, the second shoe half-on, and opened it to an amused Leo Valdez.

"Ready?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.

Nico tugged the boot on fully and did up the laces. He grabbed for a jacket. "Now I am."

"Good. Rachel is waiting in the car with the heat running. It's cold as balls out." Leo pushed his hands deep into his pockets.

"Oh—" Nico snapped his jacket shut. "Can we pick someone up on the way?"

Leo narrowed his eyes. "Who?"

Nico chewed on his bottom lip. "Well—"

And that is how Nico ended up in the back of Festus with Rachel Elizabeth Dare separating him and Will Solace like a deeply disturbed orange cat. She'd moved from her position in the front seat to the middle without a single word. The buckling of her seat belt was thunderous. She seemed to have a telepathic conversation with Leo as they awaited Will's presence.

"Hello all," Will said as he entered the car. "Lovely to meet you. I'm Will."

His smile was too bright. Nico could feel another headache coming on. Leo and Rachel murmured their greetings as they peeled out of the parking lot in front of Will's hall and started off towards town.

Will made eye contact with Nico over Rachel's head and raised an eyebrow. As if sensing blood in the water, Rachel turned to look at Nico with a sharp glare. Nico pressed himself against the car door. He really needed to get better friends.

The ride to the bar was blessedly short and Nico spilled out of Festus and onto the pavement to a rush of arctic air. They were somewhere in town that Percy liked, it being his turn to pick the bar, and the only space available was outdoors on the smoking patio. Percy was already there, gathered around a table with Annabeth and Jason with a smattering of beers. He waved them over.

"Nic!" Percy's cheerful grin stretched the length of his face.

Nico found it hard not to return his cousin's smile. He clapped Percy on the back. "Hey, man. How's it been?"

"Same old, same old." He pressed a beer into Nico's hands. "Busy with thesis shit, but hanging in there. Proposals due soon."

"Yours is great." Annabeth patted him on the shoulder.

"Wow, if she's giving you compliments, it must be crazy good," Leo said, swiping the beer from Nico and replaced it with a glass of ouzo that he knows he prefers.

Nico took it with a short thanks and brought his jacket closer around him. It was colder out than he'd realized and the heaters dotting the patio didn't seem to be working at all. Leo lit a cigarette and shared it with Nico. The tiny bit of flame helped.

Percy shrugged. "Just some environmental sea magic ideas. Nothing too revolutionary."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Don't be modest about it."

He ruffled her hair affectionately and pressed a kiss to her forehead. Pulling away, he noticed Will hovering on the edge of the table and indicated him with his chin. "Hey. Don't think we've met."

Nico blinked and pulled Will closer. "This is Will Solace. He's doing some new studies in the School of Shadows."

"Right on." Percy nodded and leaned over to shake Will's hand.

"He broke Nico's nose," Leo said with a snicker. "Twice."

"What?" Percy said at the same time Will went, "Twice?"

"It's not a big deal." Nico rolled his eyes.

"When did the second time happen?" Will turned his focus onto Nico and looked him over for injuries.

Nico attempted to bat his hands away. "When we were texting yesterday," he mumbled. "It's fine. I took some ambrosia for it."

Will flicked Nico's fingers and brought his own hands closer to feel over Nico's face. Nico rolled his eyes but eventually relented.

"You don't have to," Nico said in an attempt to get Will to be casual about it.

"You are more trouble than you're worth sometimes," Will muttered, his fingers smoothing over the bridge of Nico's nose. A spot within it warmed and twinged in pain. "Hairline fracture is all that's left. It's fixed now."

Nico made a face and huffed. The warmth left him and he shivered.

"Thank you is typically what people say in these kinds of situations," Will raised an eyebrow at him expectantly.

Nico leveled a glare at him. "Thanks, Solace."

A grin broke over Will's face. "Any time, trouble."

Gods give me strength, Nico thought to himself.

Leo and Percy exchanged a look ripe with meaning.

"He's helping me with some research," Will said as a continuation of his introduction. "I'm not typically here to break his nose. Although more of that can be arranged, if you so choose."

"Research." Leo nodded. "What kind?"

Will gestured for the glass of ouzo in Nico's hand and he gave it over with a bit of a scoff. He took a sip. "I'm a life magic grad and doing research on shades. Who better to help than the Prince of the Dead, eh?"

The way he looked at Nico made him decidedly uncomfortable, but he couldn't quite put a finger on which way. He grabbed his drink back.

"Cool." Percy nodded. "Apollo kid, right?"

"Descendant, but yeah."

Will and Percy stepped off to chat about their respective studies as Nico sipped his ouzo. His fingers began to grow cold around the glass in the winter air and he was content to simply sit and listen to the conversations happening around him as he let his mind go hazy and flat. He was broken out of his reverie by a scarf being draped around his neck. He turned to see Will Solace stealing his drink again.

"Stop it." Nico scowled.

"You've been shivering since you got here," Will said, matter-of-fact. He drained the rest of the ouzo. "Want another one of these?"

"Only if you get your own drink," Nico said.

Will shrugged. "Not making any promises."

Nico reluctantly wrapped the scarf around his neck. It smelled like cedar and sunshine, just as warm as he imagined Will Solace would be. He hated that it helped ward off the chill.

"So." Percy cleared his throat. "You and Will Solace."

"Shut up," Nico muttered back.

"Not judging, not at all," Percy replied. "Has he met Hades yet?"

"Nope," Nico said. "Dad's never met any of my… friends."

Gods, he can't believe he's going along with this.

"He seems nice." Percy crossed his arms. "A little pretentious, maybe."

Nico snorted. "Try a lot pretentious."

Percy smiled and tugged on the scarf around Nico's neck. "He likes you. I may be one half of a whole idiot, but even I can see that."

"Does that imply that Annabeth is the other half of the idiot?" A smile threatened at Nico's lips.

Percy nudged him. "Be nice."

"I'm trying." Nico snickered to himself.

Will reappeared with two drinks: a red wine for himself and another ouzo for Nico. "Your refreshments, di Angelo."

"Thanks." Nico took the ouzo and drank. "You kept your promise."

Will shrugged. "I was feeling charitable. Besides, I'm more of a red wine man, myself."

Nico scowled. "Then why take my drink?"

"It was there. And you're frightfully easy to rile up. Just a dark little ball of trouble."

He wanted to rip the cocksure smile clean off Will's face.

"I'm not paying you back for this drink," he said.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Will slung an arm around Nico and leaned in to whisper in his ear. His breath licked against Nico's ear. "Am I selling it well enough?"

Nico's cheeks reddened. "I would say you're doing a little too well."

He could feel Will's smile from inches away. Lips collided with Nico's temple and left as soon as they came. "Good. I need to look good if I'm going to join the Symposium."

Nico endured the arm around his shoulders, the tingle that traveled down his spine from Will's quick peck. He tried to steel himself— he'd just gotten some a day ago. Get it together, di Angelo. "Is that your goal? Become tapped to join Symposium after getting a Big Three patronage?"

Will hummed in thought. "Among other things."

"Symposium is just a circle-jerk of assholes who like getting drunk and feeling important." Nico sipped his ouzo to distract himself.

"My two favourite things." Will's chuckle was dark and enticing. "Besides, weren't you going to join last year before… well, everything?"

Nico stilled. "If I had taken my father's patronage, sure. I won't now. I don't want anything to do with glorifying this institution."

"Suit yourself." Will leaned on him for a moment and drank his wine. He looked down at Nico's fingers where they were slowly turning blue and sighed. "Put on my gloves or you'll lose a finger out here. Seriously, do you ever dress appropriately for the weather?"

Nico gave him a look. "I'm fine, Solace."

Will put his glass down on the table and dug into his pocket. "Here, I brought extra."

"No."

"Put on the damn gloves, Nico."

"Gods, are you always this annoying?"

"Yes, now put on the gloves or face my wrath."

"Fine." Nico snatched the gloves from Will's hands with a huff. "Happy now?"

Will observed him with a sly smile, one that felt like victory. "Absolutely."

Nico glowered. His cousins observed them with a critical eye. Whatever swirled in the air felt like a challenge he hadn't agreed to.

Game, set, match.