Chapter Text
Ulysses dropped out of school because they already knew what they had to learn. At least, that’s what they’d tell you if they asked; the reality, of course, is quite different.
In reality, Ulysses was just a no-good punk with too much time and too little energy to care anymore, and a good relationship to their chemistry teacher, Hades.
Hades was the one who brought Ulysses booze and cigarettes to sell to younger students, which is how the two of them found themselves sitting on a fence near the school, smoking together.
“How old are you actually?” Ulysses asked.
Hades laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know,” they said. “You’ve learned that gender is fake, when will you learn that age is too?”
“True.” Ulysses kept smoking. “But like, seriously, you look 23. How?”
“Maybe I am 23.”
“You’ve been teaching for six years at least.”
“Curiosity isn’t a good look on you, Ulysses.” Hades jumped off the fence and put out their cigarette under their heel. “I need to get back to class. Some of us have a job, you know.”
Ulysses shook their head, but didn’t comment as Hades walked away.
Ulysses was, of course, not unaccustomed to Hades’ antics, nor were they about to question them. Hades was Hades, and they were strange and cryptic and liked burning things, but they were cool and didn’t rat out about the booze or alcohol, and they always had a good story to tell, even if Ulysses never believed any of them.
Ulysses sat around on the fence for a while. There were inevitably some kids with a free period or skipping who’d want to buy a handful of cigarettes or a bottle for the weekend, and that was really what they were here for.
There was one more reason Ulysses stuck around; they knew the truth about Olympia Sixth Form School and its staff. Hades, of course, is better known to us as Ashes O'Reilly, and as for the rest of the teachers, well… They, too, were all immortal.