Trigger warning: Slight blood, swearing (just assume that nearly every chapter from here on out will have swearing)

Romans POV

Everything had gone so quickly.

One second I was admiring the angelic sleeping form of Virgil, watching in a daze as his bangs rustled with every soft breath of his, and the next I was being dragged out of the bus and into the air.

I had thrashed around in a panic and yelled at the creature until-

"Stop moving you idiot!" I looked up to see the ever so charming Virgil... on the back of a gryphon?! I swear, this boy is going to give me a heart attack. "If you fall from this height your pretty face will be turned in to mulch!"

I should've been shaken at the thought of what a hard fall it would be, but all I could think was:

He called me pretty

I was so shocked (or 'shook' as Virgil would say. He told us about the term on the train) that I went still.

Virgil took his hands off of his steed like a madman and unsheathed his sword. The gryphon holding me nervously attempted to fly away from the purple haired Demigod.

"Oh no you don't!" He said as he maneuvered the gryphon he was riding closer to my attacker and stabbed through it, leaving a dark substance that dripped to the ground. Having nothing to keep me aloft, I began to plummet down fast. Before I could scream, I felt a warm hand wrap around mine and pull me up.

Virgil looked over me with a slightly panicky look in his eyes.

"You, Virgil August," I began, trying to catch my breath. "Are insane."

The little shit just shrugged and said

"Tell me something I don't know."

Then he turned around to attempt to land the flying beast we were sat upon. I looked down to see Logan fighting off half a dozen gryphons with his staff but by the time our monsters claws touched the ground, they had all been reduced to piles of feathers.

Virgil had hopped off already and I was about to follow him when the gryphon we had just been riding launched into the air once more. Since I was only halfway on, I tumbled right off with a surprised yell. A graceful tumble of course.

I braced myself for the impact of the ground, but it never came. Instead I looked up into a pair of violet eyes.

He steadied me onto my feet.

"Would now be a bad time to make a "I just fell for you" joke?" I said to Virgil with a wink.

His face went bright red.

"I uh...um...uh..." He stuttered adorably. Then he turned around quickly and stumbled over to where our bags had fallen.

Not at all with the grace of a demigod that had just rode a flying lion/eagle hybrid 20 metres in the air without so much as a flinch. Must be the adrenaline fading or something. I shrugged as Logan approached me, wiping his brow.

"Are you injured?" He inquired as he surveyed any visible skin. "If you had fallen from such an altitude it quite possibly could have been lethal."

"I'm okay. And yeah, Virgil already pointed that out." I replied glancing over to where Virgil was beginning to make his way back over to us. "Although I have to admit, I like your wording better."

"So do we have any idea why-" Virgil began, but I cut him off when I noticed the redness gathering on his face and neck.

"Virgil! You got scratched!" I jumped forward and moved his hair aside so I could see the cuts easier.

The cuts weren't too deep, but gryphon claws aren't exactly clean and they were bleeding a lot so I knew we had to clean them up.

"Logan, can you go grab the first aid stuff from your bag?"

He nodded and went to go collect what I asked for.

Virgil touched one of the slices on his forehead with two fingers and brought them to his eye level to look at the blood on them.

"It's no big deal, I've had way worse." He said nonchalantly. I looked at him, shocked that he could be taking this so casually. I wrapped my hand with my jacket sleeve and applied pressure on the worst scratch that was on his neck.

"You mean, with the dracaena attack?" I asked slowly.

His eyes widened slightly as if he said something he hadn't meant to, and hyper focussed on his blood covered finger.

"Uh, yeah, that." He said.

Before I could ask him what I wanted to, Logan came back with his first aid kit and he took over cleaning the wounds and bandaging them.

Something was going on with Virgil. I don't want to doubt his character, but it seems like he's hiding something. And I really really want to find out what it is.

"Are you experiencing an above average amount of pain, Virgil?" Logan asked.

"No, I'm fine." He answered. Then he looked around. "Where do we go from here? We're too far from the bus station to go back and Columbus is still a dozen kilometres away."

I hoisted my backpack up on my shoulder.

"Guess we're walking."

We made our way back to the highway and started our trek to our destination. 

The light morning sun had morphed into a scorching mid-day blaze. Doused in sweat, I had removed my letterman jacket and tied it around my waist. This quest was not the luxurious, courageous adventure I had hoped for, but at least there was one bright side to nearly getting heatstroke on the side of the road.

Virgil, being Virgil, hadn't taken off his hoodie, but he had rolled up his sleeves and unzipped the front of his hoodie. Needless to say, it was the opposite of an ugly sight.

Although, with every step we took to get closer to Columbus, an unsettling feeling throbbed in my chest. It was familiar and yet unfamiliar all at once and I couldn't quite put my finger on where it was coming from, but I knew that something would definitely be waiting for us at our destination.

"How close are we?" Virgil complained. "I'm too pale for this shit. I'm gonna burst into flames any second."

"Language." Logan chided as he surveyed the map in his hands and compared it with the land around us.

Virgils head snapped up in the way it only does when he senses a pop culture reference.

"Logan did you just-"

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Logan responded, barely looking at him. I however, having known Logan for years, could tell he was messing with Virgil and had to try not to crack a smile.

Virgil groaned in frustration and flopped down on to the grass. I laughed at him.

"No but seriously," I said, turning back to the son of Athena. "How close are we? Because Virge is right, he's way too pale to be in the sun this long."

"Thats only okay when I say it!" Virgil exclaimed from the ground, raising his hand to point at me for a moment before he dropped it back down. 

"We're not too far. Only a few minutes away from where the magic energy is strongest." Logan answered, ignoring our antics and folding his map back up. "This way."

"Ugh. Zeus kill me now." Virgil muttered as he pushed himself up. We all looked up at the sky as thunder rolled across it. "Joke! I was joking! Don't do that."

The thunder dissipated and I rolled my eyes as Virgil fell in stride with me and Logan.

"You should really be more careful with names you know." I said to him. "Names have power."

"Fake news." Virgil responded. "Names are just meaningless noises we've been trained to respond too."

That stopped me and Logan in our tracks.

"Holy shit dude." I whispered.

Logans eyes were wide and he seemed to be struggling to form a complete sentence.

I swore I heard Virgil say something like "Logan.exe has stopped working." under his breath.

"Okay buddy, don't think about it too much." I said as I pulled Logan behind me.

"But-but if...if..." The raven haired boy stammered.

"Nope! Just push the thought away! Virgil, you broke him, you fix him."

"Okay fine, um..." Virgil thought for a second, probably looking for a distraction. "So where is the magic energy coming from? A spooky warehouse? A secret, abandoned, underground cavern?"

"Oh uh," Logan seemed to snap out of his existential daze when asked a question he could answer. "Actually, no. It's emanating from a rather popular nightclub. I believe there's a large party going on tonight."

I laughed as the anti-social introverted emo demigod next to me screamed in frustration.

"OH COME ON!"

Virgils POV

Of course. Of fucking course.

The gods must be messing with me at this point. First they let me exist, then they let Patton be taken, then they made me, the LEAST qualified person for the job, lead a quest. And now they're sending me to a crowded club, probably to battle some monster, and I'll probably end up making a fool of myself in front of Roman.

Whatever is waiting for us in that nightclub is about to be on the receiving end of an angry emo's wrath.

By the time we reached the city, the sun was beginning to lower and we decided to try and get a room somewhere for the night. After I took a shower and threw on a different pair of black ripped jeans and a grey shirt I had nothing to do until the party started. So while Logan took stock of what we all had packed, I stared wistfully at the paper on the wall that said the wifi password. How was I supposed to live without Tumblr?

I fell back on the bed as the bathroom door swung open.

"Hey Nerdy Wolverine," Roman said, seemingly oblivious to the fact that he was wearing only a towel. "Pass me my bag, would you?"

I was the embodiment of Gay Panic™ as I attempted to tear my eyes away from Roman, but my body clearly didn't feel like cooperating. 

Logan finally noticed my crisis as he smirked and tossed Roman the bag he needed. Roman disappeared back into the bathroom.

The room was silent.

"Not. A. Word." I growled to Logan and shoved a pillow over my face, he raised his hands in mock surrender. I wonder if Logan would stop me if I tried to end my suffering in this moment...

The quiet continued for a second, until

"Virgil.exe has stopped working." 

I threw my pillow at him.

I stared at the ceiling in my own despair until Roman emerged from the bathroom once more. Fortunately, he was fully clothed. Unfortunately, He was gorgeous.

His chocolate locks were curled slightly, he had a small amount of glitter on his cheeks and his eyeliner was on point. He was wearing a deep red collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up and black jeans.

Holy shit I'm so gay

I was so distracted that I didn't even register that someone had asked me a question until I noticed my two friends staring at me.

"Sorry, what?"

Roman sighed.

"I said, do you guys really think you're going out like that?"

I looked down at my black and grey outfit, then at I looked at Logan's, which was his usual black polo and blue tie. We looked at each other confused and slightly wary.

"Um, yes?" I replied.

Roman pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You guys are so lucky I'm here. How would you survive without me?." He muttered but then look up at up with a sort of cliche sparkle in his eye. "Okay, luckily for you, I brought a lot of clothes. I'm sure I can find something for you."

Uh oh.

"Logan, you can go first!" Roman clapped excitedly.

"But why? I'm sure these garments will suffice." Logan asked, still confused.

Roman rolled his eyes.

"It's about blending in, Poindexter." He said as he rummaged through his bag, found what he was looking for, and pushed Logan into the bathroom with the new outfit. "Plus it's fun."

As we waited for my doom- I mean, for Roman to choose an outfit for me, I decided to make only one request.

"I get that I'm not getting out of this," Roman shrugged. "But at least make a way to conceal my sword, okay?"

"Well obviously." He said, turning to me. "I incorporated my sheath into my outfit as well."

He stood up and placed his hand on his sheath that contained his throwing knives. The design that had convinced me it was covered by denim rippled and disappeared to reveal a simple leather sheath.

"Well that's just cheating." I responded.

"Maybe." He shrugged. "But its an Aphrodite charm so I say it's fair game."

I chuckled before Logan stepped out to reveal the clothes Roman had given him.

It was a black t-shirt with a navy blue jacket open on top, complete with black jeans.

"It looks great!" Roman exclaimed.

"Yes, I suppose this is...satisfactory." Logan stated as he adjusted his glasses.

"Yeah, and you even kept his colour scheme." I agreed. "Not bad, Princey."

Then he grinned at me.

"Oh gods." I sighed heavily. "Okay! Fine! Lets get it over with."

He shoved a pile of clothes into my arms and pushed me into the bathroom.

Maybe this wouldn't be too bad?

I thought that until I put on what he gave me and looked in the mirror.

No, the clothes aren't bad. They just look terrible on me.

It was a dark purple collared shirt with black ripped jeans and a black beanie. I hate this already. 

Why did I let him talk me into this?

Oh wait, I know why.

I groaned quietly and facepalmed because this is what my life is now. I sighed and opened the door to the main room.

"I mean, you might be right, but-" Roman broke off when he looked at me. "Woah."

I flushed. Is it really that bad?

"I- I mean, wow Virge. You look great!" Roman spluttered.

"Yes I do admit, it does seem to go with your aesthetic." Logan observed.

"Now for your weapon." Roman began, snapping back to reality. "Fasten the belt of your scabbard through the belt loops,"

I did as he said.

"Good. And now to make it invisible just double-tap the side of your leg. Double-tap again to make it visible again." 

I tried it, and it worked.

"Cool!" I marvelled.

"Okay, now just-" Roman stepped up to me and started messing with my hair.

"Hey!"

"Done with that." he said proudly. Then he undid the top two buttons of my shirt.

My internal monologue was basically:

holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshit

"Now you're done!" Roman finished as if literally nothing just happened. I let out a breath I didn't know I had been holding.

"Unless you guys want a little bit of makeup?" Roman offered with a sideways smile.

I stared at him.

"If you even come near me with that, I'll stab you."

"Worth a shot."

After that, we laced up our shoes, double-checked our weapons, and left the room.

No going back now.

AN-  All comments are read and appreciated <3

This one is kinda filler but I had so much fun writing this it's kinda sad😂

I hope you liked it though and there's going to be some strong Prinxiety content in the next chapter or two. It'll be great (hopefully, idk I can't see the future)

I hope any of my followers that live in Florida, P.R., or surrounding areas are staying safe! Good luck to all of you!!

School starts for me in three days. Kill me now.

Fun fact: Patton taught Roman how to play guitar. Virgil also knows how to play the drums

I hope you enjoyed :)