"H-hey," said Nico's unforgettable, kindred spirit in a warm, slightly shaky voice, still making eye contact with Nico through his reflection.
"You're part of my imagination," Nico said steadily, squeezing his eyes shut to turn his already impaired focus away from the mirror.
"You're not real. This is just a hallucination that my mind made up to fuck with me."
A warm, steady hand gently touched his left shoulder and Nico jumped, cursing, as he whipped around at the sudden contact. At long last he had somehow come face to face with, extremely coincidentally, the same man who had been plaguing his mind ever since the moment they met.
"I'm sorry for scaring you," the blonde replied sheepishly from behind Nico, withdrawing his hand and the warmth that came with it. "I didn't mean to, I-... I had to talk to you."
Hallucinations don't stutter, Nico thought, the endearing nervousness melting his otherwise stoic composure.
The cool air in the bathroom made Nico's perceived temperature difference that much more noticeable, causing him to involuntarily shiver. His hallucinations had never been… warm.
"You're… not a hallucination," Nico concluded, clenching his jaw as he drew in a shaky breath, having just barely avoided another intoxicated breakdown in a public bathroom. He furrowed his brow, not understanding how he ended up in this situation if it wasn't all in his head.
"What are you doing here?" Nico muttered, breaking eye contact with the other man in favor of looking at the floor instead. He gripped the edge of the sink he had been leaning against, feeling the cold in his fingers begin to bring him back to reality.
"I-, well it's, a bit of a story," the other man replied quickly, rushing into his next few sentences as he leaned in towards Nico.
"But none of that matters right now – why I noticed the situation, or why I was even here in the first place. Whatever you do, do not finish that drink at your table."
"What?" Nico cleverly articulated, squinting his eyes. "Why not? It's my drink?"
"I saw the guy you led to your booth pour something into the glass."
Dread quickly settled in, momentarily clearing the smog of Nico's otherwise incapacitated mind, and he looked down at himself, hands clamming up, unseen, from the newly induced anxiety. He swallowed, mouth gone dry, as he realized that, again, he could have been so close to being-
No. You're not going to get into that piece of your trauma right now.
He shook his pitch-black locks, trying to clear his mind. The other man seemed to have taken Nico's reaction as one of suspicion or denial, and quickly verbally backtracked.
"I'm sorry," he quickly stuttered out, backing away from Nico, realizing how close they were standing. "I know you probably don't believe me, but I just wanted to look out for you-"
"No. I believe you," Nico curtly replied, eyes tracing the simple monochrome tile pattern on the floor as he wiped his damp palms on his pants. "This isn't my first time around the block."
"But, why are you even doing this? What's in it for you?" Nico asked. Dark brown eyes sharply flicked up into the gaze of sky blues, and the blonde drew in a shaky breath, chest fluttering from an unknown emotion. Was it fear? Worry? Attraction? Some combination of the three?
"You could have just as easily gone up to one of the bartenders or bouncers and said something," Nico continued. "Why come to me? You don't even know me."
"I-I just," the blonde stuttered, "I guess I just wanted a reason to actually talk to you."
Time and time again, Nico had heard similar variations of the phrase. It hadn't taken very long for him to recognize that it was the classic code for (rather courteously) trying to get into Nico's pants. Not that he really minded though, as he sized up his new nightly prospect.
Suspicious brown eyes raked over the other's appearance, taking in everything from the thin layer of sweat glistening on well-defined collarbones to the light pink blush dusting freckled cheeks. While the baggy flannel covering most of his upper body obscured definition, the telltale signs of musculature were visible in his legs, lightly straining against the dark denim of his jeans. Long, wavy, dirty blonde hair just barely swept against his shoulders in the back, framing his cheekbones in the front.
Nico admitted to himself that, upon a second, closer inspection, that the stranger he had so luckily run into again was truly built like a Greek god. Despite defined under-eye bags and gaunt, sharp shadows carved by the starvation that Nico was much too familiar with, there was still an undeniable, abiding sense of unwavering fortitude in his very existence. It was like looking at an uncut gemstone, the true beauty and potential yet to have been made real to an outside observer.
"You know, on second thought," the dark-haired man finally said, "I could… potentially change my plans for the night." He lowered his lashes, lifting his chin as he displayed the little smirk he practiced in the mirror (or, more frequently, his front camera) every night before rejoining the bustling nightlife in the city.
"I- ah," the blonde stuttered out, flushing an absolutely delectable shade of crimson as Nico greedily drank in the other's flustered demeanor. It had been so long since he'd gotten such a fresh reaction out of someone, and it was becoming ridiculously addicting.
Nico pushed himself off the sink counter, any suspicion inhibited by the new overwhelming desire for conquest. Slowly, as if stalking his way down a catwalk, he approached the taller man, before finally reaching out, at much less than arm's length, to gently run his slender fingers down the blonde's biceps. Nico relished the beautifully audible sound of the other's dry swallow as Nico wrapped his hands around cloth-covered triceps, looking up through long ebony lashes to lock eyes with the blonde once more.
"What's your name, love?" Nico finally thought to ask, the rush of a new catch starting to invigorate his drive to move and mingle. The process of pushing and pulling, hooking them on his attention before pulling away, slowly luring them into Nico's territory.
"W-Will," The blonde gasped out, flushing an even brighter shade of red from the overwhelmingly close proximity, but thankful that the conversation had finally shifted to something he knew how to reply to.
"Will Solace."
"Will," Nico corrected, subtle Italian accent shining through in the lilt of his voice. "Last names mean nothing to me. I'm Nico. Nice to meet you."
Leaning in until they were chest to chest, Nico slid his hands down to Will's waist. Nico whispered, "Why don't you come out to the dance floor with me so I can… get to know you a little better?"
Nico cocked his head to the side, giving Will a moment to process, before picking himself back up and pushing the bathroom door open, subtly swaying his hips every step of the way. Nico glanced back at the closed door and then headed back towards the bar, where Pollux was watching him with a concerned expression.
"Oi, Nico," Pollux said, motioning Nico over. Nico quirked an eyebrow before approaching the counter, eyes flitting back to the unmoving bathroom door in curiosity.
"Yeah, what's up?" Nico nonchalantly replied, attention shifting back to the bartender.
"Are you feeling okay?" Pollux immediately asked, looking Nico up and down. "Any blurred vision, sudden fatigue, disorientation?"
"Uh, yeah, from the alcohol, why?" Nico's brows furrowed as he read the bartender's face, worry lines etched deep into a usually carefree and upbeat demeanor. It finally occurred to Nico that Pollux's reason was the same as Will's reason for confronting him in the bathroom.
"Did Will come to talk to you too?" Nico asked seriously, dropping the lighthearted demeanor that he normally embodied in the present space of the club.
Pollux nodded, loose curls bouncing with the motion. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Nico.
"It's fine," Nico drawled out, trying to reassure the concerned bartender. "I haven't touched the drink since I left it. It's such a waste of a daiquiri though."
"Want another one to make up for it?" Pollux asked, reaching for the rum once more.
Nico shook his head, pursing his lips. "I'd rather not have another rerun of what just happened."
Eying the bottle of rum as Pollux set it back on the counter with a clink, Nico added, "Maybe I'll take you up on it later though."
A small commotion from the back of the establishment stirred Nico's attention, and he saw a small circle of people standing by what looked like Nico's booth.
"Do you know what's going on over there?" Nico inquired, squinting to try to make out more in the dim lighting.
"Oh, that?" Pollux half-heartedly gestured towards the bouncer that was now watching someone climb out of the booth onto his feet. It was the same man that had just been... very up close and personal with Nico.
A shudder of both repulsion and relief ran down Nico's spine, knowing that he had narrowly avoided a situation where he could have wound up on the front page of the local newspaper. And not quite in the way an aspiring musician wanted to be.
"I let Beckendorf know that the son of a bitch is no longer welcome here if there were any drugs found on him, so I guess that bastard failed the test."
A surge of reprieve rushed over Nico as he felt the incident from years ago lessen its weight on his spirit. While that man from the past would likely never be seen again, knowing that at least one person who tried to follow in those footsteps would be brought to justice subtly dampened the repressed rage and anguish that Nico carried from day to day.
As the bouncer walked Nico's almost-captor past the bar and towards the door, the other man, sweat dripping down his forehead, glared daggers at the pair standing across from each other at the bar.
Nico said nothing, the buzz from his earlier drinks fading away as he returned the glare with an icy leer of his own. The two locked eyes for a brief moment before his briefly-made acquaintance was escorted out of the establishment.
"Well, that was tense," the bartender commented cheekily to Nico, the latter rolling his eyes. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed the bathroom door being pulled open, harsh artificial lighting spilling out onto the floor.
Very little time passed before Nico once again locked eyes with Will, but this time there was much more distance between them. Will immediately flushed a delicious shade of pink upon noticing Nico, who was subconsciously licking his lips.
"I guess that's my cue to venture back out there," Nico whispered, slyly picking up Pollux's free hand and planting a light kiss on the back of his hand before backing away towards the throng of dancing people.
"Oh, you shameless flirt," Pollux replied playfully, pretending to wipe off his hand. "Too bad I'm batting for the other team," he added with a crooked smile, aware of the other blonde, frozen in front of the bathroom door, who had witnessed the brief interaction.
Nico watched from the edge of the crowd as Will continued to stand in front of the bathroom, stiff as a board, his expression lost in the darkness of the room.
Smiling mischievously, Nico drew up the corner of his mouth in a small smirk and beckoned for Will to follow him as Nico was swallowed into the chaos of the partying crowd.