Virgils POV

We were all tense, not knowing what awaited us just down the road.

I knew that Roman was right about us needing new outfits to blend in with the new environment that we were soon going to be in, but that didn't mean I had to be happy about it. I was pretty uncomfortable not wearing my hoodie, since I always had it on it was kinda like my safe place, I guess.

I drummed my fingers anxiously on the pommel of my sword but I was determined to find out what was causing the magical output. And if whatever it is took Patton, I was more than ready to kick some godly ass.

"What's the name of this nightclub anyway?" Roman asked, as we could hear pounding music coming from around the block. "It sounds like quite a party already."

"It's called Pandemonium, the most popular venue for large gatherings." Logan answered as he flattened his hair down into his usual style.

"Ugh. Even the name sounds too chaotic for comfort." I groaned. "It literally has 'demon' in the name!"

Finally, we turned the corner to see a long very long line of people waiting to go into a dark purple and black nightclub with neon red letters lit up above the entrance. I inhaled sharply at the sight of so many people.

"Now there's the problem of getting in," Roman began, looking around. "They're not going to let in three minors without an adult."

"Leave it to me." Logan assured.

He led us through the crowded area and up to the bouncer that was letting people through.

"Where do you three think you're going?" The bouncer said in a gravelly voice as he blocked the entrance. "Run away from your babysitter didja?"

I rolled my eyes, but Logan stepped forward and snapped his fingers once, a clear and abnormally loud noise. The bouncers eyes glazed over.

"We're on the list. We're allowed in and you will tell no one that we were here." Logan told him quietly so no one except us could hear his words. "Okay?"

The bouncer nodded in a daze then straightened up and moved to the side to let us through.

What the hell was that? Could demigods mind control people?

"He manipulated the Mist." Roman, who must've noticed my confusion, provided to me. "A little trick Chiron taught him. I've only ever seen him do it a couple times though."

Remembering that the Mist is kinda like the veil that stops normal mortals from seeing all the monsters and stuff, I just nodded and turned to look at the room we had entered. There was a bar on the side where a few stragglers sat and there were tables chairs scattered around the room, about half of them occupied. Most people were crammed onto the dance floor as a song I couldn't make out played over the big speakers at the front.

I hated this already.

There were way too many people, too many voices, the stench of alcohol was almost nauseating  and the music was pounding in my head. I didn't even have my hoodie to give me at least a bit of comfort.

We all decided to spread out to try and find what had brought us here in the first place so pretty soon, Roman and Logan were out of my sight, lost in the sea of dancing bodies.

I sighed and searched all around the first floor, every hallway and closed door, but found nothing but the occasional drunk partygoer.

Since my friends were taking the other two floors, I had nothing left to do. So I just leaned against one of the walls and thought about nothing as I tried not to look at the bright colourful lights that were flashing around the room. But soon, my moment was interrupted, and not by anyone that I wanted to be interrupted by.

Two girls stumbled up to me that looked around my age, they probably used fake IDs to get in. One had blonde hair and one had brown, but they were both wearing tight clothes and a lot of makeup. I knew that this wasn't going to be a nice encounter.

"Heyyyy cutie." The blonde one slurred, very obviously drunk. "I'm Bridget and this is my friend Jessica."

The brown haired one waved as she teetered on her feet. I just nodded awkwardly and said nothing. I tried to ignore them but they weren't having it. The girls both moved so they were standing against the same wall I was leaning against.

"Strong and silent, huh?" The one named Jessica said, seeming to struggle to stay upright. "What's your name?"

"Virgil." I answered shortly, hoping that they would get the hint that I wasn't even slightly interested. But, of course, that didn't happen.

They only moved closer.

"I've never heard that name before, sounds fancy." Bridget said in a breathy voice.

"Uh... thanks I guess." Was my reluctant response. "Listen, you two aren't really my type."

They looked at each other confused, as if they had never been rejected before.

"What do you mean?" Jessica asked.

"Well, I'm gay for a start."

The confusion melted off of their faces and was replaced with matching mischievous looks.

They pressed closer to me, uncomfortably close. 

"You probably just haven't met the right girl yet." Bridget said as she tried to lace her arms around the back of my neck, but I caught her arms before she could.

"No, that's really not-"

"There you are Virgil!" The voice of my saving grace called out. I turned my head to see Roman strutting his way over.

"Oh thank the gods." I whispered in relief as he reached us and...draped an arm around my shoulders? What was he doing? I looked at him in confusion but he just gave me a look that said 'just go with it'.

"Ooh who's this?" Jessica exclaimed, twirling a piece of hair around her finger.

Roman gave her a charming smile, but I could tell it was pretty fake.

"I'm Roman." He introduced himself. The girls stumbled to say their names but Roman cut them off before they could. "Yeah I don't really care about your names. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to take my boyfriend and leave."

Holy shit, he just called me his boyfriend

I knew that it was just part of an act, but my face heated up anyway. I'm sure that I was as red as goddamn Vision from Avengers: Age Of Ultron but either Roman didn't notice or pretended not to. 

He grabbed my arm and pulled me away from them and onto the dance floor.

"Come on! I love this song!" Roman called over the noise.

Romans POV

Thank the gods I had showed up when I did.

I had finished searching the second floor to no avail, only to come downstairs to see my favourite purple haired boy looking incredibly uncomfortable as two mortal girls shamelessly hit on him. So like the knight in shining armour I am, I swooped in and saved my prince. Seeing those girls pressed against him like that made me irrationally...angry.

But definitely not jealous. Roman Garcia doesn't get jealous.

The strange feeling that had settled in my chest as we had approached the city had increased ten-fold as soon as we stepped into the nightclub and I just knew that I knew what was causing it, but I just couldn't put my finger on it. That very feeling is what motivated me to drag Virgil onto the dance floor when I heard the first notes of 'You Should See Me In A Crown' play over the speakers.

Bite my tongue, bide my time

Wearing a warning sign, wait 'til the world is mine

I swayed to the song as it wasn't fast in tempo yet. Virgil looked like he wasn't sure what to do.

Visions I vandalize

Cold in my kingdom size

Fell for those ocean eyes

"C'mon Virge! Get into it!" I told him. I grabbed his arms and jumped with him as the beat dropped.

You should see me in a crown

I'm gonna run this nothing town

Watch me make 'em bow

One by one, one

One by one

Virgil laughed, a noise more beautiful than anything I've ever heard, and I swung him around.

You should see me in a crown

Your silence is my favourite sound

Watch me make 'em bow

One by one by, one

One by, one by (one)

Virgil stumbled and I caught him around the waist before he fell.

Count my cards, watch them fall

Blood on a marble floor

I like the way they all

Scream

I pulled him back up and looked at him. Was he blushing, or was that just the coloured lights above?

Tell me which one is worse

Living or dying first

Sleeping inside a hearse

I don't dream

He wrapped his arms around the back of my neck slowly, as if waiting for me to stop him. I didn't.

You say

Come over baby

I think you're pretty

The lights were reflected in Virgils eyes, making the irises seem to burst into a million colours.

I'm okay

The odd feeling in my chest seemed to take me over.

I'm not your baby

I leaned in closer to the son of Hades, feeling out of control.

If you think I'm pretty

Just before our faces met, the ceiling above us opened and glitter rained down on us. Among the loud cheers from the surrounding mortals, Virgil broke out of his trance and tried to cover his head.

You should see me in a crown

I'm gonna run this nothing town 

Watch me make 'em bow

One by one by, one

One by one by

"Oh gods" Virgil grumbled. "Why did it have to be glitter?"

I laughed, glad that I hadn't messed up our... friendship?

The feeling in my chest had receded slightly.

You should see me in a crown

Your silence is my favourite sound

Watch me make 'em bow

One by one by, one

One by one by (one)

I jolted slightly as I finally realized what that feeling was. I began to pull Virgil out of the crowd and towards the stairs to the other levels.

"Virge, I think I know what the source of the magic is!"

"What?" Virgil exclaimed. "How?"

I shook my head.

"Just trust me on this."

Crown

I'm gonna run this nothing town

Watch me make 'em bow

We rushed up the stairs to the third floor and busted through the doors.

I managed to see Logan sitting on a rather expensive leather couch looking distressed before an iron sword was pointed at my throat.

One by one by, one

One by one by 

In a split second, Virgil had unsheathed his sword and had it raised to block the other blade. I would've been very touched if I wasn't frozen.

You should see me in a crown

Your silence is my favourite  sound

Watch me make 'em bow

"I like this one. He's got spunk." Said the deep voice of the man holding the sword. He had black hair and matching sunglasses over his eyes.

"Oh, lower that silly thing!" Spoke the voice of a woman somewhere.

One by one by, one

The man lowered his blade.

Virgil kept his face stony as if he didn't have tons of glitter in his hair and he swept his eyes around the room. His arm dropped a bit as he saw the woman stretched out on a couch on the opposite side of the room. I followed his eyes.

One by one by (one)

I sighed.

"Hello Mother."

Virgils POV

Wait so that's Aphrodite, the goddess of love?

Oh shit.

Why is this an 'oh shit' moment you may ask? Well according to basically everyone, Aphrodite takes the form of what ever is closest to your idea of ultimate beauty is, your concept of perfection. And laid out across a couch in front of me, was an exact copy of Roman-goddamn-Garcia.

No, she has got to be playing a trick on me.

I kept turning my head from the real Roman next to me, to the fake-Roman on the other side of the room. Real-Roman had a bit of sweat on his forehead from dancing and glitter on his face and all in his hair while the Aphrodite version didn't. I could see slight things that definitely told me that Aphrodite wasn't my Roman. She must've missed those details.

Regardless, this is definitely not good.

I looked over to Logan who was staring at Aphrodite with something close to heartbreak. I realized that he might be seeing the goddess as Patton, since anyone could see that they're in love. Poor guy.

Aphrodite smiled at her son.

"Lovely to see you again Roman."

"I should've known that it would be you." Roman responded, crossing his arms. I couldn't help wonder what he saw his mother as... maybe he could see her real form? "That was you I've been feeling ever since the gryphons, wasn't it?"

Aphrodite raised her arms in a sort of graceful shrug.

"I had to keep an eye on you somehow, had I not? Out of all my children, you seem to get into the most trouble. Except maybe your twin." She replied lightly. Then she looked at me and Roman with and amused look. "And inflicting my... influence, on you downstairs was simply for entertainment."

Roman and I glanced at each other, then looked away quickly. My face heated up in utter embarrassment.

I felt like a colossal idiot. Of course Roman wouldn't come close to kissing me with his own free will! I'm just a useless excuse of a demigod that couldn't even stand up to his own foster parents in 10 whole years, along with having zero redeeming qualities! Why would I think for even a second that he might...

"Why'd you bring us here anyway?" I snapped at Aphrodite bitterly. "What do you want?"

"I'd watch your mouth if I were you, brat!" The sunglasses man threatened.

"Oh what-ever, Tony Stark wannabe." I waved my hand at him. My sentence was met with blank stares as I looked around at all of them. "I waste my best material on you guys."

"To answer your question Virgil," Aphrodite began, sitting up straight. "I actually brought your quest here so I could talk to you."

The room was silent. Aphrodite looked as if she expected me to thank her for the honour of her presence or something. I obviously didn't give her what she wanted.

"Really? Are you actually serious right now?" I said in disbelief as she looked at me, surprised. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Logan trying to tell me to shut up but I ignored him. 

"You're telling me that you sidetracked our quest to save Patton, one of our best friends, Logans boyfriend, from some mysterious being so you could, what, gossip?"

Roman put a hand on my shoulder to calm me down, but I was too embarrassed to even look at him so I pushed it off.

"Well we're here now so say what you want to say so we can get going." I finished, stuffing my hands in the pockets of my jeans. God I miss my hoodie...

"I believe her intention is to speak with you, specifically, Virgil." Logan told me.

I hesitated for a second.

"Fine."

I sat down on the same couch as Logan, avoiding looking at Roman and Aphrodite, who still looked like him, because there's a pretty high chance that I'd start to cry if I did. And crying in front of two Olympians probably isn't a good move.

"Ares, be a dear would you?" Aphrodite asked the sunglasses man.

He nodded, led Logan and Roman out into the hallway, and closed the door behind them.

I could tell the goddess was staring at me but I couldn't look at her as long as she still looked like Roman.

"Could you like, change your form or something?" Then I added meekly "Please?"

She hummed in agreement and went I looked up she looked like a Hollywood actress instead. This relaxed me a bit. I knew I'd have to face Roman eventually, but I needed a second.

"I get the feeling that you're not too fond of me." Aphrodite observed.

"Oh really? Where'd you get that idea?" I said sarcastically, resting my chin on my hand. The goddess was still just looking at me.

I sighed.

"It's just, I could've lived with some or any love in literally my entire life and you seem to be too keen on helping me out then. So what's special about now?"

Aphrodite leaned back into her original lounging position that looked straight out of a renaissance painting.

"Well you know how it is." She voiced. "Once demigods know what they are, monsters come running. I just had to let your life run its course."

I rolled my eyes.

Let my life run its course? Oh yeah, that's a great excuse for seeing a kid being abused and doing nothing about it. Wow, don't you just love these gods we're supposed to worship?

"Enough about that," The goddess clapped. "Lets talk romance. Are there any ladies in the picture."

I just raised an eyebrow and leaned towards her.

"Please, tell me every aspect of my personality that made you think I'm straight so I can change it immediately."

She gave a little laugh. It sounded kind of like Roman's, but with less, Roman. 

Im not exactly a wordsmith, okay?

"Oh I was just making sure." She threw her long black hair over her shoulder. "What about boys then? Anyone in mind?"

My face went pink.

"I'm pretty sure you know the answer to that." I muttered, looking at the ground.

"Yes," She smiled knowingly. "You do not hide your feelings for my son very well. Although, perhaps it's only clear to me."

I groaned and shrank down in my seat.

"Is it really that obvious?" 

She smiled once more.

"It may be, to all except Roman."

I sighed and ruffled my hair, expelling a shower of glitter I had forgotten about. That of course, reminded me of what had happened on the dance floor.

I usually would've been completely freaking out with all of the people around, but being with Roman made it so so much easier. I remembered how he caught me from falling and leaned in so close I could count every hidden freckle on his face. I remembered his warm arms around me and his radiant smile lifting my mood instantly, and a part of me wished I couldn't recall it so vividly.

"Well, there's no way in Tartarus that he likes me back so there's no point in freaking out about it." I said flatly. There can be time for a breakdown in private. "Is that all you needed?"

"I'm afraid your love-life was only part of the reason for my visit." Aphrodite answered. "I believe I can help in locating your friend Patton."

That got my attention.

"Really?" I asked, sitting up. "What do you know?"

"I do not know his exact location, but I know who will." She waved her hand and a piece of paper appeared in her fingers. "Her name is Aletheia, a minor goddess. You can find her at this address. If anyone knows of your friends whereabouts, it's her."

She handed me the paper. Written in elegant handwriting was:

Pisgah National Forest, North Carolina 

I looked back up at Romans mother confused.

"But... this is just the name of a forest? Its not an address-"

Completely off-topic, Aphrodite interrupted me.

"Oh I do love an interesting love story! Patton disappears, leaving behind a barely still-together Logan behind, so tragic. Of course, all four of you boys have caught my attention in your stories!"

"Um, we're people actually. Not stories." I pointed out as I folded up the paper and slid it into my pocket. Aphrodite just kept going as if I hadn't said anything.

"And then there's you and Roman, oh! What a marvellous story ahead of you! I've given it my personal touch and I absolutely adore a story with twists!"

"Wait a second-"

But she stood up, probably choosing to ignore my protest.

"You best be on your way. Feel free to stay for the party! But I don't get the feeling that it's your kind of scene."

"None of this is my kind of 'scene'" I mumbled under my breath.

I followed her to the door, but just as she placed a hand on the doorknob, she went:

"Oh! I almost forgot." She looked at me with a serious and kind of sympathetic expression, like she knew something I didn't. "My children can often be more... passionate than is required in some situations, but Roman is one of my favourites. Whatever dumb things he may do in the future, just remember that his heart is in the right place okay?"

I hesitated, but nodded. I didn't really want to consider the implications of that.

"Lovely!" She said brightly, her moment of seriousness over. Then she pulled open the door fluidly and let me go through it.

Logan and Roman joined my side, Roman keeping his distance, probably because he didn't want me to get the wrong idea... again. Or maybe it was because he hated me now. Who knows?

"Goodbye Virgil!" Aphrodite called after us. "Remember what we talked about!" Then she and Ares ducked right back into the room.

"So, what did you converse about?" Logan asked.

I replayed our meeting in my head and let my eyes stray to Roman for a split second. He was looking away from me. I sighed quietly.

"Not much really." I pulled my eyes back to in front of me again. "I'll tell you all about it when we get back to the room."

I had a lot to think about.

AN- All comments are read and appreciated <3

I tried a new format with the incorporation of the song! I want to do it a few more times in this story so I hope you guys liked it.

This ones longer than usual because I start high school tomorrow and im a l r e a d y stressed, so that doesn't bode well for my update schedule (as if I have one)

Well its 1:40am here so I should probably go to sleep now...

Hope you're all staying hydrated!

Fun Fact: Roman lives in LA with Remus and his dad, and is secretly really good at surfing

I hope you enjoyed :)