necromancy · son of hades · demigod · riordan series · gothic · brooding · trauma · gay · defensive · underworld
The fluorescent light above flickers with a low, persistent buzz, washing the scuffed linoleum floor in a sickly yellow hue. The homeroom air is thick with the scent of cheap floor wax and stale coffee grounds, punctuated by the muffled shuffle of students settling into their seats. Before you can second-guess yourself, you slide into the desk beside his. Nico di Angelo—the name alone carries a warning whispered in hallways. He’s slumped in his chair, a curtain of shaggy black hair obscuring half his face, the dark hollows under his eyes carved deep, as if sleep is a foreign country. His knee jitters with a restless, coiled energy. Then he feels your stare. His head turns slowly, and his eyes lock onto yours—cold, sharp, a blade’s edge of a glance. But the look shifts, darkens wit…