Chapter Text
Nico woke up to the sound of a clock bell tolling. His head was pounding before he even opened his eyes, and he groaned when his phone started to ring somewhere near his head.
He looked up to make the noise stop, and when he did, he realized he was in an unfamiliar room - a dorm, if he had to guess, which: gross - and saw a tall blond in a flannel shirt standing with his back to Nico across the room.
Nico sat up and groaned, grinding the heel of his palm into his eye as he tried to fight off his hangover. “Where the hell am I?” he grumbled.
The blond twisted around, smiling brightly at the sight of Nico - it was cute, but at the same time, it kind of made Nico want to barf. Or maybe that was just the hangover. Probably a bit of both.
“Oh, good! You’re awake!” the blond said, far too loudly. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to be woken up for class or not, but I have to head to mine pretty soon, so it’s a good thing you’re up!”
Nico rolled his eyes. Nobody should be so sunshiny so early in the morning. He rolled out of bed, demanding, “Where are my clothes?” as he stood up, realizing he was down to his boxers and in somebody else’s t-shirt.
“Oh! They’re right here,” Sunshine replied, pointing at the folded clothes stacked on his dresser. “I, uh, folded your stuff for you, since, you know, nobody likes wrinkles, right?”
He laughed awkwardly while Nico stepped into his jeans. “Do you have Tylenol?” Nico pulled the shirt off, and Sunshine spun around as though embarrassed to see another guy shirtless.
“Um, sorry, what was that?”
Nico tipped his head back and narrowly held back a groan. “Ty-len-ol,” he enunciated.
“Oh!” Sunshine darted toward his desk, pushing papers aside as he searched for the pill bottle, and then moved to the bookshelf as he continued. “Um, by the way, I’m not sure if you remember my name or not - I mean, you were pretty wasted last night, but, uh, I’m Will. A-ha!” He produced a bottle of Tylenol from somewhere in the bookshelf, and handed it to Nico, who had put on his own shirt.
“Whatever.” Nico took the bottle, shook out two pills, and swallowed them dry as he ignored the bottle of water that Will held out to him. He stepped into his shoes and turned to leave with nothing more than a, “See you,” shot over his shoulder.
“Oh, uh, goodbye,” Will called after him, and Nico stepped into the hall.
Nico avoided his roommates’ pestering about where he’d been the night before, at least until lunch. To be honest, Nico hardly remembered what had happened the night before, but he wasn’t about to tell them about waking up in some guy’s dorm room that morning and ending up late for his morning lecture.
He’d shot down each of his roommates’ questions for most of the meal, but right when he got up to put away his tray, he bumped into somebody, which sent the remainder of his lunch dripping down the front of Nico’s shirt.
“Oh shit, Nico, I’m so sorry,” Will said, and if Nico didn’t appreciate how nice his face was to look at, he might’ve punched him, he was so angry.
“What do you want?” Nico demanded through gritted teeth.
Will dipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out a silver ring. “You left this behind this morning. I’m just bringing it back to you.”
Nico snatched the ring from Will’s hand and slipped it onto his finger, then gave him a look that said, What are you still doing here? When Will didn’t turn and leave, Nico grabbed his backpack and said to his roommates, “Text me about that party. I have to go home and change before my next class.”
“Sorry again!” Will called after him. Nico flipped him off over his shoulder without turning back.
Nico’s roommates had run off to that night’s party, leaving Nico home alone to change before heading out. He usually didn’t have a problem walking across campus at night - he tended to give off the kind of vibe that had people giving him a wide berth on the sidewalk, regardless of the time of day - but something about that night gave him the creeps. Maybe it was something about how quiet the campus was, despite it being a Friday night.
He checked his phone for the address as he took a shortcut through the only wooded part of campus, and ignored the twenty missed calls and unread texts from his father. All he wanted to do was get wasted and forget about his problems until they were far enough in the past that they didn’t matter anymore, and the sooner he got to this party the better.
When he put his phone away in his pocket, he heard a noise, like the snapping of a twig, coming from somewhere behind him. He stopped, turned, and looked, but there was nothing there. He kept walking, only to hear something behind him once again.
“Hello?” he called, but there was no answer. “Percy, if you’re trying to freak me out, it’s not going to work.” Still no response. He kept walking.
He had just made it out of the woods when he saw someone on the path before him wearing a black hoodie, their hood up and back turned toward him.
“Hello?”
The person didn’t move.
“Dude, are you lost or something?” Nico tried again. Still nothing. “Ugh. Whatever.”
Nico walked around them, trying to ignore the spike in his fight or flight response, when he heard the sound of steps on pavement coming toward him. He picked up his pace, but so did the steps behind him. He chanced a look over his shoulder - the person was close, but it was still too dark to see their face.
As soon as Nico looked ahead once more, a hand landed on his shoulder, and something sharp sliced at his side.
“Hey, holy shit!” he shouted, jumping out of their reach. He spotted something glinting in the moonlight - something long and silver, like a butcher’s knife - and he turned and ran at top speed. He tried to call for help, but there was no one around. The knife sliced across his back, and Nico fell forward in pain. He wasn’t able to stand before a hand found his shoulder, rolling him onto his back before the knife was plunged into his chest.