#empousa

They approached the dingy club a bit late into the party but decided it was fashionably late and it didn't matter.

What they didn't know when they walked up to the door was this was a couples party only. You had to enter with a romantic partner, or you wouldn't be allowed in.

At the door, the large bouncer looked between the two. He was a little taller than Jason and ridiculously bigger than Nico. Jason wondered how Nico didn't look scared at all of this giant.

"Are you two involved?" the bouncer asked, pulling his stereotypical sunglasses down. Jason tilted his head. "What?" "This is couples night. Are you two together?"

Jason hesitated. 'I wish' he thought to himself. In truth, he'd caught feelings for Nico ever since their Cupid incident.

"Yes," Nico responded confidently, smiling and taking Jason's hand. Jason felt his face flush, but he tried his best to hide it so they could keep the act up.

The bouncer moved aside, letting them pass. As soon as they were out of his sight, Nico released his hand. Jason missed the sensation too much to say.

He looked down at Nico, realizing his face was just as red. It occurred to him that he had never seen Nico flustered like that. It was kind of cute.

They entered the party, bright lights, and a million too-fancy people shoved into a room. They almost split up before remembering that this was for couples, and it would likely break the act if they separated. 

Jason leaned down to Nico to whisper to him. "What should we do?" "We should talk to random couples. See if we can find this monster before this goes on any longer." "How much effort are you going to put into selling this?" "Don't get your hopes up, sparky," Nico laughed.

They walked off towards a small group of mismatched couples talking and laughing. Nico analyzed all of them sharply, trying to locate whichever seemed the most suspicious.

His eyes landed on one woman, locking his interest on her. She had animalistic eyes, and the man she was with didn't really seem all there. Almost like he was under a spell.

"How did you two meet?" a kind-looking woman asked the two, snapping Nico out of his thoughts.

Nico smiled and rested his hand on Jason's arm. "Go ahead, tell them, babe." He prodded a shit-eating grin on his face at the annoyance in Jason's eyes. He was hoping Nico would make something up, and not call him babe ever again. It made his heart tighten to hear the sweet nickname leave his mouth without there being any meaning behind it.

"Well," Jason started, deciding making something up would be too difficult and to just tell the truth. The truth Nico didn't know.  "We met in a large group of mutual friends.  I thought he was really brave and kind and I wanted to get closer to him. Of course, he had his walls up, but I cared about him enough to break them down. After that we just...clicked." Jason muttered the last part, as it was the only part untrue. He wished this was real. He wanted it to be real so badly.

Jason looked down to see Nico's face was flushed red, again. He wondered if maybe Nico never knew all that, but needed to. 

Jason pushed the thought away, deciding it was all in his head. 

While everyone was distracted, talking about how cute the two of them were together and feeding Jason's delusions, their suspect slipped away. Nico quickly asked someone else something that would get a long, wispy answer, and grabbed Jason before slipping away.

Jason watched as Nico weaved the two between crowds, eyes locked on who he was pursuing. Jason also watched as Nico's hand slipped down to his, his wrist not being enough hold to get them through the crowds.

Finally, they cornered the monster in a dead-end hallway.

She turned, letting her true monster form out. An empousa stood in front of them, her dress torn and wings somehow even more battered.

She jumped to fly away, but at the same time, Jason did.

Nico pulled his spare knife to finish her off, but she wriggled out of Jason's grip enough to start to get away, effectively tearing his rental suit.

Nico shadow traveled to cut her off, letting Jason grab her again so her could stab her with his stygian iron knife, deciding the sword would be dangerous with Jason right behind her.

She clawed at him, scratching his neck, but Nico managed to get his knife through her flailing arms, letting her disintegrate into Jason's arms.

Jason sneezed. "Ew, empousa flakes." "Gross, dude," Nico laughed, covered in monster blood. 

Jason looked around before spotting an exit door to the balcony blocked off by some boxes and leading Nico over. They couldn't just walk through the front door how they were. 

They decided to take a breather to let Chiron know their mission was successful and calm down after the fight.

They sat in silence for a second, before Nico cleared his throat. "What you said in there, was that...fake? I mean, did you mean it?" He asked anxiously. he looked over at Jason's blank face and shook his head before starting to backtrack. "No, no!" Jason interjected, watching surprise light up Nico's face. "I really did mean all that. That's just how I see you, Nico. You are brave...and I care about you."

Nico's face flushed again, but his mouth turned up into a warm smile. He looked away, and briefly afterward, Jason felt Nico's cold hand lay over his own.

"Nico, there's no one else out here. There's no need to-" "I know."

Jason smiled at him, feeling Nico lean his head against his shoulder. 

Maybe it was a good thing Jason went on this quest.

This is also on AO3: