I was in a mood. WARNING: self harming, blood kink, alcohol abuse, mentions of domestic violence, stripper au, mentions of past gang involvment, READ AT YOUR OWN RISK: TRIGGER WARNING im literally warning you right now so no complaining in the reviews.

Jason met Nico while laying, beaten and bloody, in a dumpster down an abandoned alley.

His head peeked over the top of the garbage bin, and he smirked down at the pathetic blonde in the trash. Reaching down, he grabbed Jason's hand and pulled him up, grunting slightly at the effort.

"It can only get worse from here." He laughed, his white teeth gleaming in the night like a cats.

"I think you mean, it can only get better from here." Jason corrected, coughing up blood into his hand.

As he retched onto the sidewalk, he missed the glimmer of mischief in Nico's eyes and the way he regarded the blonde as prey.

"No I don't."

Nico took Jason to a strip club.

He brought him around the back and sat him down, asked him questions and listened patiently as Jason described how he had ended up in the dumpster.

"So, they aren't looking for you anymore?"

"No, I was kicked out, remember."

"But, are you sure?"

"Yes."

"And no one else knows where you are? No family, no friends?"

"I told you, I don't have anyone anymore."

Nico pondered this for a second, his dark eyes staring intently into Jason's. They were hypnotizing, so black that you couldn't tell the pupil away from the iris. His eyelashes were long and curly, like angel wings, and the black eyeliner he had smudged along his lower lash line made his eyes even more distracting,

Jason figured that was the point. To distract.

Finally, Nico's lip twitched, and Jason saw his fang like teeth.

"Perfect."

"What's your name?"

"Jason Grace."

"You wont be needing the Grace anymore."

"What's yours?"

He had paused for a long time, regarding Jason with a smirk on his face.

"Nico. My name is Nico."

He had been told to watch, to observe, the dancers and how they did their business.

Soon, he would be doing it too.

So he watched as 'Death Angel' was called on stage.

Nico.

Jason watched as he danced around the pole, spinning and flicking his hips, the other strippers grinding against him. He watched as the audience reacted, men and women calling his stage name, whispering to waiters and waitresses about the mysterious dancer.

Suddenly, he was aware of Nico watching him.

Nico smirking at him and licking his lips softly, sticking a finger in his mouth and sucking, his moan audible across the room.

Jason was embarrassed to say it turned him on. And Nico knew it.

He watched Nico get lost in the music, his eyes closed, allowing the other dancers to do as they pleased. His lips were parted and his movements were lazy, a girl sucked on his neck and a man moved up and down against his body, his mouth leading the way.

When the dance was finished, Nico had sauntered over to him, ignoring the hands that tried to grab at his ass.

"What did you think?"

"It was...interesting."

Nico snickered and pressed himself closer to Jason. He was much shorter than the blonde, so he had to stand on his toes to whisper into his ear.

"Think you could do that?"

"No." Jason whispered back, trying to ignore the chills that spread across his skin when Nico spoke in that tone.

"Good." he said, his tongue darting across Jason's neck. The blondes breath faltered and clenched his fists, trying to control his urge to kiss Nico, right then and there.

"I prefer you watching."

Jason had learned of Nico's lover a week later.

He was working at the bar, watching Nico dance, something he knew the dark eyed boy enjoyed. Nico found it entertaining while he was onstage, to make his movements so erotic that even some of the audience began to blush. He found it even more amusing, to watch Jason's reactions.

So while he was being handcuffed to the pole, one man making out with him fiercely, another slowly undressing him, Jason choose to look at anything except that.

A man sitting at the bar ended up holding his attention. He seemed annoyed watching Nico on stage, taking deep sips from his beer bottle, and tapping his finger rapidly against the table. When a women sitting next to him commented on Death Angel's flexibility, he had whipped around to stare at her.

"Why don't you keep those comments to yourself."

His hair was long and dark, falling to his shoulders, and he was dressed in an expensive looking suit and tie. His face was handsome but harsh, almost taking away from his beauty, and his eyes stared intently at the stage. He kept scoffing and muttering things to himself under his breath. It made Jason wonder what his problem was.

When the performance had ended, Nico began walking over to the bar, and Jason hoped the man wouldn't make any direct comments to him. Jason was surprised though, when Nico immediately went over to the him, ignoring the blonde entirely.

"There you are." The man growled, grabbing the younger boys head and drawing him in for a possessive kiss. It lasted for a while, the man obviously wanted everyone to see them making out, proving who the boy belonged to him. When they finally parted, Nico scowled and wiped his hand across his mouth. The older man pulled him against him, wrapping a hand possessively around his waist, the other on his beer bottle.

"How was your day?" Nico asked timidly, leaning into the older mans touch.

"When are you going to quit this job?" The man demanded, ignoring the question entirely.

"I have a contract."

"I hate you working here, all these people staring at you…"

"I know, Eros."

It occurred to Jason that this was another side of Nico he had never seen before. So far he had been wild and sexy, completely in control of everyone else, uncaring, and distant. With this man, Eros, he was small and quiet, insecure, embarrassed.

"Are you really that much of a slut that you enjoy all this attention? God, you are, aren't you? No wonder your family abandoned you, couldn't stand to be around such a whore." Eros leered. Nico stayed quiet, fiddling with his thumbs.

"Look at me!" Eros snapped, grabbing Nico's chin and forcing him to look. They stared at each other for a minute, before Eros sighed.

"C'mon, lets go."

Placing money on the table, Eros took Nico's hand and led him out of the bar.

Nico walked in the next day, an hour before opening. He came and watched Jason clean wine glasses, not saying anything.

"If you don't mind me asking, who was that man you were with yesterday?" Jason finally said, looking up to watch Nico's reaction.

He smirked, "Is somebody jealous?"

Jason didn't say anything.

"I met him last year, we've been dating ever since."

"Dating?"

"Yes, dating. Why, do you have a problem with that?"

"No, its just that you act...different around him."

A sad smile crossed Nico's face as he shrugged, standing up from his bar stool.

"I act different around everyone."

When he walked away, Jason knew it wasn't accident, when he made a point of showing the large purple hickies scattered across his neck and collarbone.

Jason had never seen scars as deep as Nico's.

They were all over his wrists, criss crossing patterns of pain.

They sat on Jason's bed when Nico had showed him how.

Showed him how to hold the blade, the right angle, what veins to hit or avoid, how deep to go, how long for.

"It helps." Nico had promised.

And Jason had believed him.

Nico loved to watch the blood fall down Jason's wrists.

"One more time." He had asked.

He had licked at it with his tongue, all down Jason's wrist until his lips were stained with red.

"Wanna try?"

Jason didn't really want to.

But somehow he ended up with Nico's pricked finger in his mouth, sucking on the blood that welded up beneath his skin.

If he was honest, it didn't taste good.

But Nico loved it.

The metallic taste on your tongue and the way it made you feel so dirty.

It was addicting.

Jason was hooked.

They had sex for the first time on a tuesday.

Nico had followed Jason to his room.

Closed the door and locked it.

Pressed himself against Jason and stared at him with the most serious expression.

"Take me."

So Jason did.

His hands shook as he took off the black skull shirt, the tight pants, the thong he was still wearing from his costume.

He licked along the visible veins on his arms, chest, and wrists.

Kissed the scars on his back.

Nico's dark eyes watched him. Encouraged him to touch wherever he wanted, wherever Nico wanted.

"What about Eros?" Jason had whispered, lips inches away from Nico's.

"He doesn't have to know."

Jason tried to make love to him, but Nico wanted to be fucked.

"Harder, Jason." He panted, his eyes critically watching the blonde.

Slamming into him, Jason flushed with pride when he heard Nico moan.

Not a fake moan he saved for the audience, or one to tease Jason with, but a raw moan that almost made Jason cum after just starting.

"That's it." Nico whispered, throwing his head back and moaning louder as Jason continued to pound into him, going and faster and harder at Nico's pleas.

He was shaking by the time Jason came, his cock impossibly hard, his eyes closed in bliss.

'So good, Jason." He breathed out, a smirk passing quickly across his face. "So good."

Jason watched Nico with a new form of fascination when he danced on stage.

He empathized with Eros now, knowing what it was like to watch what was yours be touched by so many others.

He tried to ignore the jealousy.

But when Nico left the club for the night, Jason knew who he was with.

And when he spent the night in Jason's bed, he couldn't help but think that him and Eros were hearing the same moans and screams.

The only one really winning in this situation was Nico.

That was all forgotten though, with Nico's mouth stretched over his cock. Bobbing his head, up, down, up, down, licking his slit and tasting the precum there. He would always look up to meet Jason's eye, smirking despite the fact he had a dick in his mouth.

He seemed to enjoy it, like it relaxed him.

When Jason came, Nico swallowed it all with a peaceful expression on his face.

Like he did it all the time.

And Jason was suddenly reminded that Nico did do it all the time.

Months passed of this.

The constant routine of nights at the club.

Nico danced.

People got drunk.

Eros would come and take Nico home.

People would hit on Jason.

Sometimes he would flirt back.

Jason and Nico would fuck.

Then cut.

Over and over again.

Strippers came and went.

Nico stayed.

So Jason stayed.

They never fought, Nico wouldn't allow it.

He would sigh whenever Jason brought up a problem.

"It's not a big deal."

"You're over reacting."

"Shut up, Jason."

"I was kidding."

"I'm not talking about this."

It wasn't healthy.

But nothing Jason or Nico had ever done was healthy.

Eros did find out about the affair.

Nico didn't come in one day.

And when he did finally come, things changed.

He had a large bruise on his face, marks on his neck that looked suspiciously like hands, new scars on his wrist, rope burn on his arms and ankles.

He didn't even look for Jason, instead walked straight to the managers office.

Eros stood by the door, watching the bar with a scowl on his face.

Jason didn't dare come out.

When Nico returned he had slip of paper in his hand. He walked over to Eros with his head lowered, and allowed himself to be led out.

It was a week later when Jason saw Nico again.

He came to the bar during what used to be his signature routine.

They got someone else to do it.

"Hey." He said simply, sitting at a bar stool.

Jason stared at him, at the boy who a year ago had dragged him out of that dumpster. The boy who had built him up and broken him down, messed with his head, sucked his dick, cut his wrist, toyed with him, and honestly, ruined his life.

"What happened to you?" Jason whispered.

Nico's smirk returned, a look Jason was familiar with.

"I'm leaving town."

"With Eros?"

Nico didn't respond.

"I'm not asking you to come with me." He said finally.

"I know."

A month later, Jason somehow ended up back in that dumpster.

The same one.

His wrists were raw, his throat on fire, his mind fuzzy.

The only thing he could feel was the glass beer bottle in his hand.

Something that had fucked him up almost as bad as Nico did.

He hadn't seemed sorry saying goodbye.

It made Jason wonder how many times Nico had done that.

Found a stranger and made them his own, cheated on Eros, who Jason had discovered had been seeing Nico for much longer than a year.

Took that stranger and molded him into something else, changed him for the worst.

That's who Nico was.

A slut.

A manipulator.

A ghost.

He was toxic.

And Jason had been drugged on his fumes.