#[[ Rick is being petty in the second part ]] | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mortytheestallion · 4 years ago

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tasting glass

Part 2 Part 3

Rating: 18+ (No minors); explicit

Wordcount: 1.6k

Warnings: Rick Sanchez x F!Reader, angst, implied age gap, unprotected sex, daddy kink

A/N: Hello I’m back from the dead, I know I’ve been lacking on both fandoms but my hyperfixations have died. In honor of season 5 here’s a new little mini-series I’m challenging myself to this summer! This takes place in between episodes 2 and 3!

The summer heat was humid and sticky as Rick finished his latest project. The sweltering seemed to permeate the garage just the same with the door opened or closed, and with Beth and Jerry’s latest fight reaching its peak, he decided hiding away was his best bet.

Rick and the heat did not get along well, something that translated to the rest of the family, it felt as though he was fending off Summer and Morty with a stick. Their boredom was not his problem though, he had much better things to do. The thought of slipping away had plagued his mind for the last few hours, but the fever of the summer seemed to make his mind feel like syrup.

“What I wouldn’t fucking give for a pool right now?” Rick murmured to himself, his brow furrowing at the reminder of his own sticky misery. The sky bathed the house in a silky red with the sun slipping down under the horizon. He took another sip from his flask, turning to lean on the workbench.

He heaved a deep sigh as his phone caught the corner of his eye, you were ignoring him, and in true Rick fashion he had taken that in stride. His eyes narrowed unconsciously as he thought about it, his empty hand tightening into a fist. He didn’t fucking need you.

He didn’t need anybody.

Beth’s shrill voice cut through the air followed by some thuds and an “Ow!” from Jerry. That earned an eye roll from Rick and while he wouldn’t mind going in there and tearing them a new one, it was too much work. Morty was breathing down his neck about letting them be, that they were happy. He had scoffed when Morty said that, it was bullshit and he wouldn’t be surprised if someone wanted another divorce in the next 6 months.

Nonetheless, he was stuck in this stuffy house with his family’s bullshit to avoid your bullshit and he was starting to feel suffocated. Why did he give a shit if you were mad, fuck if you wanted to play that game so would he. Maybe it was the liquor he had just downed but it really didn't take much to get Rick riled up. And you knew that.

He could feel the anger blooming in his chest, he wasn’t some fucking teenager in a petty fight with some dumb, little girlfriend. Suddenly he was hot with anger and before he knew it, a portal was in the center of the floor and he was walking through. Damned be his new fibermesh epidermis defense, and fuck his family, always asking him for shit.

One foot through he stopped and thought of you briefly softening, he had been pretty rough on you lately. You called, he declined. You showed up, he went out the nearest portal. He had really only been around lately to take care of his own needs.

A particularly loud curse from inside the house brought him right back to his original train of thought, he was the smartest man in the universe, he didn’t need to take crap from you. You should be thanking him for his presence in your life.

“You have some fucking nerve.”

You shrieked as Rick pulled back the shower curtain. A cold shower was one of the better ways to fend off the heat with the air conditioner broken, especially since Rick had moaned, groaned, and wormed his way out of fixing it.

“What the fuck are you doing?” You hissed as he climbed in fully clothed, his brow in a prominent V-shape, lids half mast. It would have been comical in any other situation, his lanky body struggling to fit in your small shower, an almost bored expression on his face as the water drenched his clothes.

“Me?” Rick scoffed, and narrowed his eyes at you. He began to lose his composure a bit, having your wet naked body in front of him.

“Yes, you. You can’t just barge in here unannounced anymore Rick. I’m not some toy you can pick up when you’re bored and throw it away when you’re not.”

He feigned a hurt look, shrugged the now soaked coat from his shoulders. “I have enough toys, sweetheart, if you were one you’d know.”

That earned a huff from you, it had been a long day and the last thing you needed was Rick’s bullshit. Turning back to face the water, you rinsed the rest of the soap off of you, jumping slightly as his arms snaked their way around your waist.

“C’mon,” he murmured, pressing kisses to your shoulder, you could feel the hard press of cold denim against your ass as he ground into you, “you know you can’t refuse my huge dynamite penis.”

That earned a snort from you, the hard shell of anger cracking slightly. “You’re not off that easy, Rick. You’ve been a huge asshole lately, even more than usual.”

His hands came up to massage your breasts, the feeling amplified by the cold water. You let out a low moan as he latched his mouth to the sweet spot on your neck while one hand tweaked your nipple, and the other snuck its way down to stroke your fluttering core.

“S-shit baby you can’t still —is this all for me?” You could feel his wolfish grin against the back of your neck, and in return you arched your back more to grind against his erection. His long fingers trace through your folds as he removes his other hand to undo his belt, you feel the tight heat in your lower belly as you gush around his fingers.

“Fuck,” Rick murmurs, stopping his motions momentarily to land a hard smack on your ass. You bite back a whine, wanting to maintain some semblance of composure, despite him being knuckle-deep in you. His fingers suddenly press against something deep and spongy within you, your knees buckle as you lurch forward, the unexpected waves of pleasure shivers down your body. Rick lets out another curse, his arm darting out to grip your waist, surely you would’ve fallen face-first into the wall had he not been holding you up.

He inhales sharply as you clench around his fingers, whispering good girl into your neck as you ride it out. He eases out of you, your juices dripping down your thighs, the feeling coupled with the uncomfortable chill of the water makes you shudder.

“You’re a dirty little slut,” you tense again as he aligns himself to your entrance, still a little sensitive from your release, “beg me baby, I-I want to hear you.”

You mewl as he pushes into you, the stretch rides the line of pleasure and pain, Rick barely gives you enough time to get used to it before he bucks his hips and grips your jaw as a warning, “Beg.”

“Please, Rick, I want — I want you to fuck me,” your voice comes out whiny making you wince a bit, but it seems to please Rick as he sets a deep pace, biting into your neck hard enough it's sure to leave a mark.

You can’t help but arch your back even further, this seems to please him as he releases his bite on your neck, “Someone’s eager, y-you can’t seem to get enough of my dick can you?” You moan in response, snaking a hand down to rub the tender bundle of nerves.

You clench at the contact, leading Rick to fasten his pace, his hand moving to tighten around your neck.

“You’re my — you’re daddy’s good girl aren’t you? Can’t get enough of m-my monster cock, you wanna come don’t you? Don’t fucking dare, not until I say so.”

All you can manage is incoherent moans with the occasional Rick! thrown in, you’re too cockdumb to be embarrassed or angry anymore. Rick has his way of getting out of trouble, especially with you.

His brutal pace coupled with your own fingers becomes too much for you as you near your second orgasm, Rick seemed to egg you on as his own fingers replaced yours, you could feel your stomach tightening as your release began to stir in the peak of your stomach.

“Come on my dick, baby, let the neighbors hear you scream my name.”

The pleasure washes over you in waves, your pussy clenching hard around his dick, he thrusts with wild abandon chasing his own release. You can feel him rut against your sensitive walls, riding your post-orgasmic haze. He spills inside you a few moments later letting out a string of expletives in true Rick fashion. You feel yourself stir again slightly as you feel him fill you up, but Rick extracts himself from you gracelessly.

Coming back to your senses you rinse the mixture of juices off your legs, much to Rick’s distaste, and turn off the water. You shiver from being drenched for so long, side-eyeing Rick as he avoids your gaze.

“You’re dripping on my floor,” you murmur, he stands there uncomfortably, it's not lost on you that his portal gun has returned to his hand.

“Well, I-I should go.”

“Typical.”

Rick can feel the anger simmer low in his belly at your dig, “What do you mean typical?”

“Well let’s see Rick, you show up angry and unannounced, seduce me in my show—” “I didn’t seduce you! And —and frankly, I resent the accusation!” “And now you’re leaving with no explanation. This isn’t sustainable long term, Rick.”

“And what makes you think I want to be here long term,” He regrets the words as soon as they leave his mouth, a hurt look flashes across your face before it's replaced with anger.

“Come on, baby, I-I didn’t mean it.”

He reaches out for you and you jerk backwards, “Your family may have taken you back, but I’m not this time Rick.”

He opens his mouth, but you cut him off, “Just go, it’s what you’re best at.”

Rage blinds him as he shoots a portal to the floor, “Don’t — I’m not coming back this time.”

“I know you're not.” And with that he’s gone.

#rick sanchez #rick sanchez x reader #Rick Sanchez/reader #rick sanchez smut #tw daddy kink #rick sanchez x you

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lukaherehelp · 1 year ago

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They haven't arrived to the series yet. Nico will be soon but Will will take a while, HOWEVER, I also did for a second thought that it was more warm and cold, dark and light dynamics because... Well, obvious reasons, Nico himself in the book points it out pretty soon:

" Maybe is true that opposites attract, because Nico didn't know anyone has opposite to him as Will. And yet, it had been a year. One year together. Nico had a real boyfriend. "

Or as the author Rick Riordan describes them himself in an interview:

" Nico and Will are soulmates of equal brightness, no matter how different or far away they seem from one another. "

However, looking back at your descriptions of the colors, they both fall perfectly on the Black and Yellow descriptions (with Will falling slightly into orange, visually mostly due to him almost always wearing the Half-Blood Camp's t-shirt).

Will

William "Will" Andrew Solace, head counselor of Apollo's Cabin and prominent healer in Camp Half-Blood. Also, Nico's "Significant Annoyance" (nickname given by Nico)

He's really cheerful, always wanting to make Nico laugh and feel comfortable, and is a beacon of clarity in most situations, due to his powers as Apollo's son (he can literally glow like the sun), but also due to him being a healer. He leans into the orange with how communicative he is in general, but specially in his relationship with Nico, and visually he's almost always wearing the orange Half-Blood Camp's t-shirt.

The only "bad" trait as a potential Yellow Yal is his cautiousness, but it shows more as a side effect of his healer status, his that type of doctor that would beg or even fight you to make sure you stay in bed so you can heal properly.

The books also describes Will as a "different" type of Apollo's children due to, not only how much he looks like his godly father compared to others:

but also because most of his children thrive with music and excel in their archery skills, while Will is not bad at neither, but it isn't much more of a stronger point for him as it could be for other Non-Apollo children.

His healing and sun related powers seem to be his strongest point and also what differences him from his other paternal half-siblings.

two of his siblings, Austin Lake and Kayla Knowles.

Nico

Niccolò "Nico" di Angelo, the italian "Death Boy", "Mr Dark Lord" and "Debbie Downer" (nicknames given by Will)

Nico, on the other half, falls more into the negatives of a Black Brooder: introduced as a mysterious character at the beginning of the book series, Nico has turned out to be a highly pessimistic and sometimes arrogant boy, in a more abrasive manner than true arrogance from his part.

He is extremely protective of those whom he cares about, which feeds more into his pessimistic nature when bad things happen to them, like loosing his full sister Bianca di Angelo, one of Artemis's Huntress, which is something that by the point I'm currently at in this book, is still one of his PTSD triggers.

Bianca di Angelo, Nico's beloved older sister.

Something that you might find amusing: from her (her ghost actually), we learn that Nico's "fatal flaw" is how much he holds grudges, leading to not wanting help or not asking to be saved in deadly situations because he simply doesn't like someone.

Petty, this kid is literally the King of Petty.

Long story short:

They do seem to be a warm and cold, light and dark couple. But that's what Black and Yellow is inheritably: a ray of sunlight beaming upon a deep hole of darkness.

Credit: all art by @viria for the Rick Riordan's website.

I was thinking about the black brooder and yellow yal romance because of @respectthepetty while I was getting prepared to read the latest book I've bought and, as I was reaching for the it, I just realized: Nico di Angelo and Will Solace from Percy Jackson.

The son of Hades and the son of Apollo. Like, even the fuckin cover screams it:

#the colors mean things #yellow and black were meant for each other #there's a reason why in graphic design they work as the most versatile and sticking pair #their full contrast always peaks everyone's attention

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thefanficmonster · 4 years ago

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Hey, I'm the 3word anon! I guess to make this easier, you call call me 📚🌻

I just wanted to say that you did an amazing job! I loved reading what you've done! You said that you wanted more words so here it is your next words: tradition, needle and tribute

Love, 📚🌻

I'm so glad you liked it dear 📚🌻 ! I absolutely love this challenge and I don't think I'll ever get tired of it hehe. Hope you enjoy this one too!

Freedom

Pairing: Rick Flag x Reader (Female)

Warnings: Swearing, Mentions of drug use, Mentions of injury Spoiler Free 😊

Genre: Romance, Humor

“Flag, I have someone coming on-board with you.“ Waller’s voice comes in through the radio of the jet colonel Rick Flag was about to take off with, taking the Suicide Squad on their newly assigned mission.

He rolls his eyes, engine of the jet roaring to signal it’s ready to lose contact with the ground and rise up into the skies - much like Rick, who’s already fed up with the Squad’s members who are explicitly annoying and pesky today, promising him a ton of headaches in the near future. With that in mind, these news Waller has given him so suddenly, he’s not particularly excited to welcome another lunatic on the jet. Another lunatic to deal with.

“Who the hell are you sending? Don’t you think my hands are already full enough?!“ He yells at the top of his lungs in order for his voice to overpower the engine’s loudness.

“I’m here to help you, you ungrateful piece of shit!“ This voice, familiar voice, doesn’t emerge from the radio, instead it’s coming from right behind him and is equally as strained as his due to the loud, ear-bleeding surroundings.

Before Rick can even comprehend the presence of another person, said person gets seated on the copilot’s seat, equipping a pair of headphones so the two can communicate without pushing their lungs to the brink of giving out.

“What the hell are you doing here, L/N?“ He asks, his eyes unable to hide even a little bit of the confusion that the girl’s presence has brought upon him.

Contrary to his seriousness and shock, the girl gives him a bright, almost teasing smile, “Oh come on, Flag. I have a soft spot for you, you know, I like helping you.“ She tilts her head ever so slightly, “And I don’t feel like giving Waller the pleasure of detonating this bomb at the back of my neck.“

“Thought so.“ He scoffs, watching Y/N’s movements out of the corner of his eye as she straps herself in.

She rolls her eyes, cracking her knuckles before turning to him, deciding to pick up on this petty war, just to make matters worse for Rick and more amusing for herself, “Aren’t you gonna shoot me? I mean, it’s our tradition.”

Rick cringes, recalling the exact event - or rather events, plural - she’s referring to: the night he arrested her and a few others, all henchmen of the Joker. Unlike her co-workers however, Y/N put up one hell of a fight while those fuckers chose flight. Their decision didn’t get them far while hers led her to the hospital wing of the Belle Reve prison, a bullet in her side fired at her by colonel Flag. Seeing the report files on the altercation, Waller immediately knew the girl was something else and recruited her for the Suicide Squad.

Unfortunately, her first instinct when her eyes first landed upon the colonel was to pounce at him, despite her low chances of succeeding in her intentions considering there were guards and soldiers literally everywhere, all with guns ready to fire. Yet still, Flag was the one who shot her yet again, this time less dangerously close to fatal.

Yeah, she has a right to be pissed and a right to call it their tradition, but it’s also safe to say that their dynamic has improved. They went on to go on a few more missions together without any complications or unwanted altercations. Sure, there were snide remarks and petty comments here and there, but those could be considered compliments when compared to the shootings.

“When are you gonna let that go?“ Rick snaps, his eyes remaining fixated ahead while the jet slowly ascends, “I got you off the streets. I freed you from that psychopath. The last thing you should be is mad!”

There is a long pause between the two, leading Rick to sneak a glance at his co-pilot. She appears to be deep in thought, staring ahead much like he’s supposed to be doing right now. She doesn’t seem like she’s conjuring up a sarcastic response which would be totally up her alley, but oddly enough she seems to be genuinely thinking about what he said. He starts feeling a bit shitty for having snapped at her like that - she wasn’t completely wrong to keep rubbing it in his face, she did suffer two gunshot wounds from him, after all.

“I’m not mad.“ Y/N finally speaks up, not sparing him as much as a look, “I’m grateful. The Joker isn’t the only thing I was trying to escape. One half the day I was doing his dirty work, the other half I had a needle stuck in my arm or was out cold in a drug induced half-coma.“ This time she does turn to take in the expression change that’s happened on his face and she seems pleased with the shock and confusion she sees. “Bet you didn’t know that, did ya?“ Contemplating her next move for a second, she plays with the belts of her bulletproof vest and gear before seemingly deciding on what to do. Her fingers quickly undo the belts and buttons of the gear that’s covering her torso, removing the strong and dense protective material to expose the skin of her side where there’s a scar where she had to have surgery to get the bullet removed. Around the scar there’s a tattoo of a peculiar looking flower, masking the line as a part of itself, “I got that tattoo as a reminder of that night. A tribute to more than one freedom coming to me at once.” She quickly readjusts her gear, and slumps into the seat with a sigh of a deflating balloon. “No longer a slave, no longer an addict. Though, addicts are slaves too - slaves to our own brain’s dependency on a substance that’s destroying us.”

Rick is at a loss for words. He wasn’t expecting that, never did he think Y/N was an addict as well prior to being a henchwoman and then a prisoner. That’s probably due to the fact that she’s always been in a great physical shape, ready to take on the enemy whenever and wherever. “Damn, fucking hell, I’m sorry you had to go through that, Y/N...“ He really doesn’t know what’s there to say when he now feels even shittier than he did before.

He almost jumps out of his skin when he feels her hand on his bicep, “I would still be going through it if it wasn’t for you. In fact, come to think of it, I should apologize for pouncing at you like that when all you did was do me a favor.” She giggles quietly before adding, “But I won’t.”

He too allows himself a small laugh, “I wasn’t expecting you to.“

Of course he wasn’t, he’s come to know her well. And he also knows it’s nothing personal - Y/N is simply not the type of girl who apologizes. That he can stomach, but imagining his co-pilot seat unoccupied on the way back from this mission he cannot.

Damn it, Flag. God fucking damn you, you’ve done it again haven’t you, he asks himself, knowing the answer perfectly well already.

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selfshippinglover · 2 years ago

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Afterglow and ME! with Rick?

Wahh more anons attack! Yeahh let's keep this train going baybeee <3 Thank yoou :)

Afterglow:Do you and your f/o fight often? How do you and your f/o apologize to each other? Who apologizes first?

Rick is uhhh, an emotionally volatile person so fighting is inevitable unfortunately. Though it's something I accepted as a part of the Rick package deal, it's still quite rough and I end up hurt and worried most of the time. That said, I'm first to apologize 3/4ths of the time because of this. He's really petty about shit and can hold a grudge eternally so he only really steps up when drunk or very emotional.(which usually happen to be at the same time ,dsgkjbgbkjds)

I apologize in words and actions if he'll accept them while he mostly apologizes with actions. Letting me lead an adventure, picking up merchandise I've really wanted, books, a day at blitz and chips, whatever he can at three time. (so like, three days at earliest afterwards)

ME!:What do you love the most about your f/o? What do they love the most about you?

Wow, the most? And only one thing? If it's really only down to that then I gotta go with his commitment to fixing shit and/or doing the right thing when it's actually there. Like, if Rick wants something to happen it will no matter what the cost. I admire the lengths he'll go to make people like Morty and Summer happy :)

Rick would never admit to this but he's actually really happy with and even jealous of my commitment to the world and putting good into it. Like, he grew out of his "hero phase" as he calls it years ago, gets shit on for doing the right thing constantly, and struggles with finding anything to feel good about in the universe in general. But then here I am still doing as much good as I can no matter what the universe and its beings may retaliate with. He wishes he could feel that hopeful again. (second would be emotional openess which he's also jealous of lowkey)

#Multidimensional Lovesickness #poor guy just misses not being disillussioned with life #the trauma has really screwwed up his perception of reality and killed his drive to do better #only hsi family can bring that out in him now #he feels bad for it #but also doesn't feel that he deserves to be seen as good either

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heresathreebee · 4 years ago

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KINKTOBER DAY 8 Seduction

Rick Flag X Reader smut

Tag(s): 18+ | 1.6k words | oral female receiving, teasing, ndercover, drinking, unedited

AN: reader has base 17 skill in slight of hand

You're his target. A cat burglar who has taken something of too high a value to risk losing. That's why Waller is sending him in with an unusual ask.

"Seduce the target, steal the necklace, bring it back."

This is not the colonel's skill set and Waller seems to be banking on the fact that he's handsome but this is a terrible idea. You can't hustle a hustler and you can't burgle a professional burglar. He doesn't even know if you're dangerous that is how blind he is going into his mission.

Backup is literally just two idiots and Cleo in the same room. Peacemaker is bad at acting natural (literally staring at you at all times), but Dubois is too casual (taking drinks and chatting up the elite guests just to try take them down a peg and frankly he's just making enemies at this point).

Rick is feeling kind of fucked on this one.

He catches your eye in a moment of weakness (his, not yours). He's downing his third champagne flute out of nervousness when he notices you notice him with his flute basically upside down. He clears his throat in embarrassment.

"I'm… uh… not familiar with these types of parties…"

You smile almost kindly at him. He's been tugging at his tie all night– you saw him across the room. "Need some air?"

You offer your arm to him and he hesitantly takes it. Rick can hear Waller in his comm sighing 'fucking finally' because he has been at this party for almost an hour unable to get close to you. You take him outside to a balcony with a wrought iron french style railing.

"Thanks," Rick sighs.

It's not the most dignified move of his mission, but he's with you isn't he? You offer your drink and he declines. "Nervous, dear? Whatever for?"

Rick shifts his weight and does some quick thinking on the spot. "Babysitting gigs aren't really my thing."

"Oh?," you chuckle, "and who might you be babysitting? Is it the little girl in the french satin or the blond Eye of Sauron?"

Jesus of course you noticed Peacemaker. At least you didn't notice Dubois (yet). "Both. The young lady is my boss' daughter, and the um, the Watcher is a coworker."

"Security detail?"

"Something like that, we're not used to low profiles, you might say."

You laugh and polish off your drink. That's when he notices your neck. The gleaming, fat jewels of the British monarchy, just dangling from your neck above a tasteful dress bodice.

You give him your name. Like your actual name, not one of your dozens of aliases. "And you are?"

"Charmed and unfortunately on the clock," he replies, "stop me if I'm being too forward but would you like to go out for a drink another night?"

"What are you doing?!," Waller cursed, "she's wearing it, Flag, get it now!"

What is she mad at him for this time– sticking to the plan?? They're supposed to get the necklace undetected and they sent the soldier to do it, not a pickpocket. The plan was to smooze it up until they could find someone with a modicum of decorum at petty theft. Stealing from the world's greatest jewel thief.

Flag elects to ignore her. You, for your part, seem disappointed by his decision. "Are you sure you can't slip away for a minute? Sauron seems like he's pretty much got it covered."

Just then the sound of shouting and lots and lots and lots of glass shattering rose from beyond the french balcony doors. You looked over his shoulder but he knows it's one of his idiots.

"That man just knocked aaaalll of those crystal wine glasses down from the tower..."

"That," Rick sighed, "would be my boss."

Dubois is a fucking mess, that's how they finally caught him. Challenged him to a drinking game to dull his senses then arrested his drunk ass and threw him in Belle Reeve.

Rick feels your hand slip inside his jacket– not to lift something but to feel him– a second before your very nice body pressed to the front of his suit. He looked at you with a poorly disguised anticipation for what you might do or say next.

You gave him a pouting lip. "You're really gonna leave a girl hanging, mystery security guy?"

Rick bit his lip in thought. He knows what Waller wants him to do but it feels wrong. At least you're attractive and maybe he can justify it because you're one of the 'bad guys.'

"My name is Rick," he replies, "and I guess I'm not going anywhere fast."

"Oh yes you are," you reply with excitement. "You! Are coming with me."

"Where?"

"Somewhere private, handsome. We're not the only ones on this balcony." You take him by the hand and drag him to the end of the balcony. He panics and grabs your other hand when you climb over the railing. "Relax baby, I need to grab a key. Keep a lookout, will you?"

He watches you scuttle away, the long skirt of your gown whipping around your ankles as you disappear. Cool, now he's an accessory to a crime you're committing. There's no way the room will be yours.

You come back and dangle a key marked 500. He helps you climb back onto the correct side of the railing and you both take an elevator to the penthouse floor. 500 turns out to be the porter's room adjacent to the penthouse suite to your disappointment.

"Let's not push our luck," Rick reasons.

God, was really about to do this? Is this where his career had taken him? To a penthouse with a notorious jewel thief and his boss in his ear about to witness an intense undercover moment of intimacy?

When did Rick Flag become fucking James Bond?

You snatch the device from his ear and submerge it in a glass of scotch on the vanity. "No interruptions. No exceptions."

Well… at least he can find some enjoyment now. Rick allows you to work his suit off piece by piece. You seem to savor every layer that comes off, bringing him closer and closer to being laid bare before you. The feeling of being… admired, almost worshipped so openly strikes him unexpectedly.

When you free the last button of his shirt he cups your cheeks and kisses you tenderly. You seem to melt beneath his attention, molding your body with his and breathing him in.

It doesn't feel wrong like before. He was worried about feeling like he was using you but… this is different. Rick slides the gown from your shoulders and works your dress off you. To say your underthings were sparse is pretty accurate and in an instant you stand before his kneeling figure in nothing but a thong and a necklace.

Oh fuck the necklace thats why ue was here!

"You should take that off too, I'd hate for something to happen to it while we're… you know," he winks.

You laugh, "oh honey, this is an eagle clasp– I need a whole fucking tool to take it off and I do not have that on me right now."

You finger one of the shiny off white jewels and say, "you are right though… need to protect it from getting damaged…"

Rick's not sure how but you trick him into agreeing to be tied to the headboard naked as the day he was born. Once the ties are secured you sit your cute butt right over his chest.

"Comfortable?"

Rick nods his head. His heart's pounding and he's convinced you can feel it against your clothed core. You seem to revel in the control you have over him and there's a part of him that hopes you use it to the fullest extent.

"I'm gonna ride that pretty face, baby." You leaned back casually and Rick jumps when your hand wraps around his cock roughly. "And then I'm going to fuck you raw. Sound good?"

Rick nods, unable to stop himself from bucking into your hand. The first taste of your pussy is like a drug, he eagerly laps at your clit, his hips rocking into nothing as he thinks about how good you're going to feel around his cock.

Your moans are going to be the soundtrack to every wet dream he has for years to come and the feeling of your thighs crushing his head fills him with pride.

"Jesus, Mary, Joseph…"

You're one step away from crossing yourself– this man eats pussy like it's his job. What would he be like if you let him use his hands…? No! No, you have other plans.

Your pussy leaves wet streaks on his chest as you climb down his body. Rick is on the verge of begging for you to go faster, to fuck him like you own him (he has completely forgotten the mission at this point).

And just when you're about to slide his schlong in your dripping heat–

Peacemaker breaks the door down.

Amanda Waller scolds the entire team in a limo ride home. Dubois and Cleo are asleep, Peacemaker fuming silently and very intent to avoid looking at his CO, and Rick– well Rick is distracted trying to keep himself covered with a blanket. No low profile, Rick didn't get to come, and they didn't have the necklace.

He did get a kiss goodbye and the ornament from your hair as a token. He twirls it in his hand and shows it to Cleo, elbowing her awake.

"Hm?" Cleo rubs the sleep from her eyes and examines it. "Oh! This is fermoir. You use it to fasten and unfasten the clasp of the Toussaint."

Rick looks at it again. "She said she didn't have it…"

"Clearly she lied," Peacemaker grumbles.

Cleo looks around at everybody. "Umm, Mr Flag sir? Do you realize you're wearing the necklace?"

"I'm what??" Sure enough, Rick reaches for his neck and well how did he not notice that.

#kinktober #three bees writing #rick flag x reader #colonel rick flag #🐝🐝🐝✒

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theolympusfiles · 4 years ago

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rereading the PJO and HoO - part one: the lightning thief

before i start, all italicized parts are from the lightning thief by rick riordan. they're not my words and these are not my characters. my thoughts are the only thing that are mine :)

• "mom, you're coming too." her face was pale, her eyes as sad as when she looked at the ocean. "no!" i shouted, you are coming with me. help me carry grover". - the first(ish) appearance of percy's fatal flaw! i love the early establisment, especially because it helps foreshadow to the sea of monsters when fatal flaws are formally introduced.

• "that's -" "pasiphae's son," my mother said. "i wish i'd known how badly they wanted to kill you." - sally is underappreciated. she's smart as hell and clearly took the time to research demigods. yes, she was a little bit selfish with keeping percy out of the loop and not sending him to camp. but can you blame her? she lost all of her family and if she sent percy to CHB at an early age, that most nearly means she won't see him often (he'll attract monsters because he's aware of his status as a demigod and will most likely be at camp full-time). but sally ensured that she knew enough about the demigod world to protect percy because she knew that her selfishness would come with consequences. best mom.

• i was crying, calling for my mother, but i held on to grover - i wasn't going to let him go. - percy's first loss as a demigod and i am broken. honestly, so sad to think of, especially knowing all the losses he'll face in the future books. this line is also his fatal flaw showing once again (refer to first bulletpoint)

• "it (america) is the great power of the west. and so olympus is here. and we are here." - if olympus follows the west, where would the next location be? obviously, america is still a big powerhouse in terms of western civilization but that's not going to last. my bet is south korea but who knows? would love a fanfic on this tbh

• "the truth is, i can't be dead. you see, eons ago the gods granted my wish. i could continue the work i loved. i could be a teacher of heroes as long as humanity needed me. i gained so much from that wish... and i gave up so much. but i'm still here, so i can only assume i'm still needed." - how will it be decided that he's not needed? honestly, can't imagine CHB without him but chiron also deserves retirement

• i started to understand luke's bitterness and how he seemed to resent his father, hermes so okay, maybe gods had important things to do. but couldn't they call once in a while, or thunder or something? - percy has always showed some hesitance when accepting the demigod world, so i wasn't really surprised to see doubts like this pop up, especially with luke's influence. i'd think most demigods feel this way, luke and percy are just the ones who exhibit it the most in the series. i'm really interested in the parallels between the two and i'm looking forward to reading more and examining them

• "during the winter solstice, at the last council of the gods, zeus and poseidon had an argument. the usual nonsense: 'mother rhea always liked you best', 'air disasters are more spectacular than sea disasters', etc. - despite the fact that the gods are all-powerful beings, i appreciate the petty sibling spats that are mentioned briefly

• "so let me get this straight," i said. "i'm supposed to go to the underworld and confront the world of the dead." "check," chiron said. "find the most powerful weapon in the universe." "check." "and get it back to olympus before the summer solstice in ten days." "that's about right." i looked at grover, who gulped down the ace of heaers. "did i mention that maine is very nice this time of year?" he asked weakly. - this would be perfect for those 30 second trailers

• "gee," i said feigning surprise. "who else would be stupid enough to volunteer for a q uest like this?" the air shimmered behind chiron. annabeth became visible, stuffing her yankees cap into her back pocket. - the way he knows her pretty well already, i-

• the truth was, i didn't care about retrieving zeus' lightning bolt, or saving the world, or even helping my father out of trouble. - early on, we see from the get go that percy has a dislike for the gods. it's small mentions like this that really gets me thinking. he never really showed any dislike of the gods when he first arrived at camp (understandable) but he was hopeful for his father. it wasn't until luke planted the seed into his head that these thoughts came to light. i love this little detail, especially as we know that towards the end, luke does seem to think he can turn percy against the gods. his plan backfired a little bit on him in the end but like i said before, the parallels between luke and percy are so glaring. riordan definitely thought it out extensively

• do not be a pawn of the olympians, my dear. you would be better off as a statue - this is said to percy by medusa and again, feeds into his dislike of the gods. i wonder if monsters have some opinion on this. most would probably hate the gods but i wonder what their stance is on demigods. we know that they work with them (see kronos' army). the real enemy for monsters are the gods, the demigods killing them are just pawns to the gods so maybe that's how some monsters see them

• "so, what's your status?" luke asked me. "chiron will be sorry he missed you." i told him pretty much everything, including my dreams. it felt so good to see him, to feel like i was back at camp even for a few minutes, that i didn't even realize how long i had talked to him until the beeper went off on the spray machine. - there's no doubt that percy really considered luke a friend. he wasn't hesitant to tell luke about his dreams, something that he didn't share with annabeth or grover until later on the book. luke was a sort of mentor to percy and it was conveyed pretty well through their interactions, which makes his betrayal even more heartbreaking

• "you think you'll ever try living with your dad again?" she wouldn't meet my eyes. "please. i'm not into self-inflicted pain." - my heart breaks for annabeth and her relationship with her father. i've read most of the riordanverse books and the growth in annabeth's relationship with her family is definitely something i'm looking forward to watch grow as i make my way through the books again

• i looked over at the desk and saw a girl sitting there, also wearing a straitjacket - so i never paid the dreams any mind but now that i think about it, they're really good for analysis. for example, the straitjacket could mean something like the gods are keeping them restrained. maybe i'm overthinking it or have been analyzing text too much in AP english but i think that the dreams are worth some deeper thinking

• i pretended not to see annabeth wipe a tear from her cheek as she listened to the mournful keening of cerberus in the distance, longing for his new friend - i need to see annabeth play with cerberus again D:

• i turned and faced my mother. i desperately wanted to sacrifice myself and the last pearl on her, but i knew what she would say. she would never allow it. i had to get the bolt back to olympus and tell zeus the truth. i had to stop the war. - percy's growth as a character really shines through here. the lightning thief is a pretty short book and the journey they took was less than 2 weeks but despite that percy's grown immensely as a character. his goal was always to save his mother but in the end, he sacrificed her because he knew it was his duty to save olympus and i respect that

• "you have made an enemy, godling," he told me. "you have sealed your fate. every time you raise your blade in battle, everytime you hope for success, you will feel my curse. beware, perseus jackson. beware." - ares cursed percy to be unsuccesful in battle but does his curse ever take effect? i don't recall any mention of this curse later on the series. obviously, percy is the main character and a really good swordfighter but the curse might have affected some battles right? but then again riordan has a lot of plotholes so i wouldn't put too much thought in it

• i knew dionysus must've filled it out, because he stubbornly insisted on getting my name wrong. - i've always accepted the fact that dionysus called the demigods by their wrong name for humor. but what if it's deeper? what if it's a way to put some space between him and the demigods, just as an extra precaution so he won't get attached. or it could be a ploy to showcase that he's more powerful than them and that they are beneath him, which is why he doesn't need to know their name. i like the former headcanon more though :P

• i opened my eyes. i was propped up in bed in the sickroom of the big house, my right hand bandaged like a club. argus stood guard in the corner. annabeth sat next to me, holding my nectar glass and dabbing a washcloth on my forehead. "here we are again," i said. - the parallel

well, that's everything i had notes on. overall, i liked rereading it. i really do miss this series and i'm finding my love for it be rekindled by rereading. i miss the humor of the early books (i could literally make a whole post of underrated lines). the last time i read the series in its whole was when i was 7 and now that i'm 16, i have more thoughts and can analyze the story better. also loved seeing baby percabeth as they're my OTP. i'm excited to continue with the series. to the sea of monsters!

#Percy Jackson and the Olympians #PJO #Pjato/hoo #reading #rereading #books #Greek Mythology #percy jackson #annabeth chase #luke castellan #Grover underwood #analysis #the lightning thief #pjo series

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pollylynn · 4 years ago

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Title: Ambition WC: 900 Episode: Knockdown (3 x 13)

He’s not the mystery he’s supposed to be solving. That’s for the best, it seems. He wouldn’t be good at it if the last few months are anything to go by. He has been wildly lacking in the introspection department, even for him.

He’d like to say he’s been drifting along, that the path of least resistance has simply been too attractive. But that wouldn’t stand up in the box. That wouldn’t even stand up to the tap tap tap of a patrol cop’s flashlight on a car window. He hasn’t been drifting. He has been—until very lately—clinging to his relationship with Gina, and under the least aggressive questioning by the greenest of rookies, he’d find himself required to confess that there’s an unsavory Doctor Motorcycle Boy–related motive there. She is with Josh, so he might as well . . .

But might as well is behind him. It’s step in the right direction. It’s one critical thread he’s given a firm tug, but he’s not sure how much closer he is to unraveling the mystery of what it is he’s doing.

He knows what he wants. Even with his talent for keeping secrets from himself, there’s never been much mystery there. In broad strokes, he wants magic. He wants her. But that truth, however fundamental, raises more questions than it answers. He hasn't allowed himself to think about what it means—what it really means to want her. He has drifted on that score. He has kept the simplest, most superficial meaning out of the corner of his eye and simply assumed the inevitable would happen in its own time—she’d be one of his conquests, he’d be one of hers.

He’s paid for drifting like that. He’s missed his chance once, twice, who knows how many times. He’s found himself in exile for a lack of curiosity so profound it shades into sin, apparently. And for all the pain of that, he might still be drifting even now. He wants her. His answer has not exactly evolved, and the universe seems annoyed by that. The universe seems to want to know what he intends to do about it.

So it sends a shot through the plate glass of the diner window. It takes the life of John Raglan and presents him with the horror of that instant when he thinks it’s her blood. The universe sends its messenger in the unlikely form of Martha Rodgers, who tells him it’s time to be honest with himself. It’s not in his wheelhouse. See above, re: introspection.

Is it drifting when he shows up on her shiny new doorstep with a fistful of stall-tactic flowers? He doesn’t know. He could be there to tell her it’s not about the books. He could be there to help her with the case. It could go any one of a number of ways, right up until the moment he hears himself utter the dread name of Josh. He utters the dread name not once, but twice.

It would be nice if that were pure pettiness—if he were simply being smug about who is there and who isn’t, who knows what and who doesn’t. It would almost be comforting, but he thinks it’s a kind of answer to what it means to want her. He thinks the veil is parted, if only for a moment, when he asks, not once, but twice, because he doesn’t want he by halves. He doesn’t want this to be some surrender to impulse, riddled with guilt and doomed to fail.

So invoking the name of Doctor Motorcycle Boy, twice, might be a kind of answer, and still his tongue is tied when the universe escalates and sends her—Kate herself—as a second messenger

She asks why he keeps coming back. She calls him Rick, and he sidesteps. But maybe that’s an answer, too. Maybe it’s a flash of insight that it’s not the universe who has sent her with this burning question, but instead it’s whatever’s lurking in the universe’s basement. Some dark element may know she is spiraling, and her instinct is to push the world away. The question might require an answer she’s in no way ready to hear right now. Wanting her might mean treading carefully.

But the universe seems to think that’s a cop out. The universe has other plans. It snatches up the boys they both love like family, and it’s up to him to come up with a dumb plan. She says she’s up for it. She says she’s game, and he wraps his arm around her. She wraps her arm around him, and when that doesn’t work, desperate times . . .

He kisses her. It’s such an inadequate string of syllables. He kisses her with all the sweetness and passion and longing he’s kept shut up in a part of his heart that seldom sees the light of day. He kisses her and it’s frantic and desperate and life and death. But it’s also a moment of tremendous clarity, calm, certainty..

He wants her. There’s no mystery any longer about what that might mean. He doesn’t know what he’ll do about it. He doesn’t know what he can do. She is with Josh. She is spiraling. But he can be here. He can have her back, Always. He can be careful and patient and anything else she needs. He wants her.

A/N: You know what does not lack morphousness? Castle's desire to have Beckett's Bebes. This story, however—no morphousness.

images via homeofthenutty

#Castle #Caskett #Castle: Season 3 #Castle: Knockdown #Kate Beckett #Richard Castle #Martha Rodgers #Josh Davidson #Gina Cowell #Gina Griffin #Fic #Fanfic #Fanfiction #Fan Fic #Fan Fiction #Writing #Tell Me More

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vaguely-concerned · 5 years ago

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The Mandalorian Chapter 15 reactions; *nobby nobbs voice* ‘s all gone a bit percychological, sir

- so from both chapter 6 and now this: rick famuyiwa is incredible at portraying prolonged discomfort and tension (and also at getting din’s endless love for that baby across through the stress of being separated from him. this is the very first episode with no baby in it at all, isn’t it? wow that’s a heartbreaking milestone to reach im crying)

I liked this episode SO MUCH but I had to pause it pretty often and take a breather because it all made me so viscerally uncomfortable on din’s behalf -- not just the armour and having to take the helmet off and be seen for the (almost, ilu IG-11) first time in decades, people keep touching him in this episode when he clearly doesn’t want them to but can’t stop it and it makes me want to claw my own skin off in sympathy, it’s so awful. that’s really neat film making to manage to keep that tension steady almost all the way through!!!

honestly this episode felt a little bit like psychological horror, with the cheering storm troopers and din in the wrong armour and clearly not digging it and there’s the palpable absence of baby and that ever present dread of being Perceived when you’re not ready for it; everything’s turned upside down from how it should be. and it’s playing with that discomfort both in the main character and in us, the audience, in having the familiar be made unfamiliar and also introducing these questions that shake up everything (that feeling you get of ‘but... if it’s not the helmet, and not the armour, but there’s his face, but we’ve only seen that face once before so it’s still basically new to us, is this... is this still him. is this still Dad’ (oooh I wonder if we’re... sort of getting some of the ??? the baby would be feeling about it too?) we’ve all imprinted on that t-shaped visor like little baby birds, and this was a very clever episode to break us out of that and start to really get used to the thought of him having several faces that are real simultaneously, in a way, and not just a voice. it’s all very smart and interesting and I’m sure I’ll have a lot of incoherent thoughts about this in the weeks to come lol)

- the actual reason din can’t take off the helmet is that if people were able to see his wide confused puppy eyes they would no longer find it in themselves to send him on long arduous side missions and would help him immediately just so he’d feel better, and that would rob us of like 80% of the content for this show

mayfeld in this episode: clearly a casualty of this. he literally sees one glimpse of the vulnerability there and then within five seconds goes on to materialize a few redeeming character traits after being a complete jackass for an episode and a half. (I mean. he was 100% still an imperial so I’m a bit ‘hm.’ about how easily especially cara let him off the hook, but with the way it was set up I guess it would have been quite shitty of them to just throw him back in prison so I mean I GUESS. I would be endlessly grateful someone got my awkward bff out of there alive and well too I suppose)

- I actually think din’s sense/integrity of self has gotten so much stronger and more resilient (though probably still quite fragile pls handle with care precious cargo within); if this had happened in the first season I think it might honestly just have killed him (and if it weren’t for IG-11 it probably would have lol)

- can you beLIEVE din is so bad at lying that they literally should plan for contingencies over it fjkasdlhfskajdhfsdj

- very grateful for the scene with the spear throw that’s basically there to reassure us ‘uh-huh, he absolutely knows how to use it, don’t worry about that part at least’

I want to make a whole post about that fight scene, though, it’s just so GOOD! there’s so much storytelling and characterization in it! even out of the armour din has some real hand to hand MOVES!! he clearly came out of that aching all over, he can barely get back in his seat!!!

- so what I’m mainly taking away from this is that din absolutely cuts his own hair and you know what? he does a good job considering the conditions he has to work under, I love him

I still find it so goddamn darling that he meticulously maintains that little mustache/stubble combo under there even when there’s every reason to believe no one will ever see it

I suppose we can also gather that he did not ask cobb about whatever insane feat of magic he’s come up with to avoid helmet hair, but I don’t care looking a bit frazzled and tousled is exactly right for him (he’s so put together when he’s in the armour and a MESS when he’s out of it and I l o v e it)

- boba fett is honestly so fucking hot in this I don’t know what to do with myself haha. he’s so CALM and CALCULATED and COLLECTED in his newly painted armour and he’s GOT THIS and he made that ‘I’ve got one of those faces. one of jango’s many, many, many faces’ joke and he’s so thicc now, he looks like he could easily lift me over his head with one hand and he’s just quietly steady and undramatically supportive and sdalfhsdjhfsa

- ...din does know who the clone troopers were, right. I mean of course he does. he has to. but does he though. I’m sure he does and just wasn’t thinking.

- no matter how stressful it was I’m still really grateful that in the end taking the helmet off was something din got to do himself -- it’s under some duress, but it’s still his choice and for the sake of the baby, and almost in two more manageable steps between putting on the storm trooper gear for a different helmet before taking it off altogether. it’s not something done to him by gideon, for example, that would be. so much yuckier and worse. he still has that control and agency intact, even if it’s been tested really hard, and now gideon doing that doesn’t hold the exact same nightmarish power anymore because there’s already a little space opened in din’s mind for different things it can mean, if you see what I mean. I’m not sure I see what I mean actually I just have a lot of feelings haha. so I guess thank you mayfeld for being decent about it and helping him towards that realization that he can still be himself outside these really really inflexible structures he’s set up around himself for like. stability and keeping himself upright for a really long time, and that even someone halfway decent won’t disrespect the boundaries he still has about it at any given moment. man there’s a lot in this episode isn’t there

- the sigh din gave when he saw even more pirates coming and knew he had to get back up... never has a single moment in cinema better captured how I feel about being alive. most relatable man in the world din djarin

- it was really cruel of them to make me listen to din’s dead bleak voice say ‘the child is gone’ again, it wrecks my heart every goddamn time

- again... I wish carano wasn’t Like That in real life because the cara & fennec scenes should have been everything I could ever dream. ah well fennec was still wonderful and if I just allow myself to think in-universe for a few seconds it was really touching that din would entrust cara with his entire armour, that’s some prime BrOTP energy right there

I love that we got two female characters who were just allies and working together, no competition or nothin’. listen the bar is low but it’s nice to see something actually leap gracefully over it as well lol

- this was one of those with some pretty big open plot holes (why, exactly, would a scan of a completely unknown face be helpful to get into this classified system lol), but a) I don’t care, the emotional storyline was so sound it doesn’t really matter and b) eh handwave handwave let’s say mayfeld programmed that little stick with the good shit and overrode the code saying there needed to be an identity match within the system, it’s all fine

- I know I joke a lot about this but din really is one of the most relatable characters I’ve ever had. just watching him struggle with eye contact and going pretty much nonverbal under enough stress is like. wow a bit close to home there could we, perhaps, nOT?? (honestly though these are trauma/anxiety things I really don’t see portrayed a lot, especially in protagonists, it’s so odd but healing to see it in a character I love and who’s EXTREMELY competent in many other settings)

- din repeating gideon’s speech back to him word for word (except for the crucial detail that he calls grogu ‘him’ instead of ‘it’ 😭😭😭) and saying nothing else is truly Everything. I’ve said some stuff about din’s deliberate and thoughtful relationship to language in the past and this is such an amazing example of it; he’s remembered that pitch perfect all this time, he’s kept it around in his head and mulled it over and then redeployed it to change the meaning of it completely from dehumanization to love. can you. can you even imagine. and it’s yet another example of his hilarious wonderful petty streak and I can never get enough of it fasjhdfkjalhs

- din always noticing the children first and foremost Y_______Y (the kids running by is the only thing you see him sort of acknowledge when he’s walking into the covert in season 1 too)

- please... please I just need him to be able to hold that baby against his chest all safe and sound and okay again I can’t it’s........ hh

NO SEASON END CLIFF HANGER ON THIS I AM B E G G I N G YOU

- I would be having some thoughts about how much space there actually is on slave 1 and what that might mean (do not kill boba again please don’t kill him again), but honestly there’s only ‘GET BABY’ hours in here now, I can’t speculate about anything

#star wars #the mandalorian #the mandalorian spoilers #the mandalorian meta #this is an episode in the 'wow that was awesome but I need to go lie down in a quiet room for a while afterwards' tradition lol

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words-with-wren · 5 years ago

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you’ll be alright, no one can hurt you now

Words: 3,500ish

Fandom: Tangled the Series

Characters: Varian, Eugene, Rapunzel, Ruddiger (also Pascal make an appearance)

Warnings: minor whump (I keep putting Varian through it i’m not sorry), flashbacks, probably bad portrayal of PTSD

___

“So what, exactly, is this amazing new job you have?” Varian asked. He was sitting on a barrel in the armoury, Ruddiger dozing in his lap. The armoury was not Varian’s favourite place in the castle, to say the least, but Eugene had invited him along while he got ready and Varian wasn’t going to say no to a Team Awesome adventure, as small though it was.

Something heavy hit the ground around the corner where Eugene was getting changed. A muffled curse followed, Eugene muttering something under his breath. There was a moment of silence, in which Varian smiled fondly and stroked Ruddiger’s ears.

“Uh, yeah, fancy new job - as captain of the guard I have the prestigious honour of standing by and looking fancy while the important boatload of people comes in from Ingvarr.”

Varian couldn’t help but smile at the way he spoke - he clearly wasn't that keen on the job opportunity.

“You’ll be great at it, isn’t standing around looking fancy what you do most of the day anyway?”

“Ha!” Eugene shot back from behind the wall, and Varian grinned again. “I’ll have you know it’s taken a lot of effort to look this fancy.”

A pair of guards marched passed the door and Varian shifted to watch them, suddenly on edge. He slipped off the barrel, relocating a slightly grumpy Ruddiger to his shoulder and stepped a little closer towards the wall Eugene was behind.

“So, why exactly, did we need to come down here? Are you not fancy enough already?” he asked, forcing himself to relax. There wasn’t anything to be nervous about - he just didn’t like this part of the castle.

“Kid I am always fancy enough,” Eugene said, sounding almost offended. Varian rolled his eyes with a grin. “However, as captain of the guard, I have the ability to… dress up a little.” He stepped out into view and Varian froze.

It wasn’t that he was surprised - he had suspected this was why they had come down here in the first place. It was more the sudden wave of memories and emotions that seeing Eugene in the guard uniform brought back.

Cold, stone walls. Cruel faces, hard blows, pushes, kicks, hungry days and endless nights. Gold metal, flashing off the dim light that shone through his tiny window. Red fabric, red like the blood he found on his hands sometimes.

He was breathing quickly, frozen, unable to move, unable to properly think. Somehow, it was worse seeing Eugene in their uniform. Eugene was comfort, friendship, home, happiness. The guards were hard, cruel, pain, loneliness. He couldn’t connect the two in his mind and seeing Eugene in the armour made him feel sick.

And yet Eugene stood before him, the sparkling gold chest plate of the Corona guard shining on his chest. And Varian froze, the achingly familiar expression of hardness and emotionlessness settling on his face instinctively.

“Kid?” Eugene asked, taking a hesitant step forward. He hadn’t missed the panic that flashed across Varian’s face before being replaced with a carefully schooled expression that betrayed nothing. Ruddiger chattered nervously, gently butting Varian’s cheek. Varian, as though he wasn’t aware of what he was doing, pulled Ruddiger down, hugging him close, watching Eugene with an expression he didn’t like.

“Do I really look that bad?” Eugene asked, keeping his voice light. He took a step forward but Varian flinched, stepping back quickly and Eugene froze. “Hey, it’s alright kid.” He crouched, trying to make himself seem less threatening, unsure what exactly had Varian so spooked.

“I -” Varian began, his voice shaky.

“It’s just Eugene,” he tried to tell himself, but the armour in front of him brought back too many memories, too many long faded bruises and hopeless nights. “Eugene wouldn’t hurt me.”

But the guards would. And standing in front of him was a guard.

“Varian, talk to me buddy,” Eugene's voice was even and Varian took a shaky breath, pressing his face into Ruddiger’s fur.

“It’s just Eugene,” he told himself again.

“Everything alright, captain?”

The voice sent a rush of panic through him, nausea rising for a moment. He knew that voice - it had been directed towards him many times. The scornful, mocking, cruel voice of one of the guards who had frequented him while he was in prison.

(For a moment, he was back, the walls drawing in around him, the helplessness weighing on him again and he couldn’t breathe.)

“Everything is fine, Rick,” Eugene said, his voice hard. He didn’t stand, looking past Varian’s slightly shaking form. He had butted heads with the man a few times since becoming captain - Rick was one of the vocal guard members who were not a fan of having a former criminal become captain of the guard.

He had also, from memory, run into him from time to time while running as Flynn Rider. None of the interactions had been pleasant. And from the way Varian was shaking, the boy had a similar experience.

“Are you sure? Because I can deal with him, if you want me to.” There was an air of smugness about Rick, as though he knew Eugene couldn’t do anything to him. Realistically, he was right - even as captain, there was only so much Eugene could do. Especially with half the guard waiting for him to fail.

A small whimper escaped from Varian at the words and he took an uncertain step towards Eugene. He was holding Ruddiger so tightly, Eugene wondered briefly if he was hurting the animal, but Ruddiger wasn’t complaining, pressing his face into Varian’s chin in a comforting gesture.

Eugene stood slowly, not missing the slight flinch the movement drew from Varian. He was beginning to piece the picture together - Corona was infamous for its mistreatment of criminals after Rapunzel had been taken. Eugene himself had experienced abuse at the hands of the Corona guard on the few occasions they had managed to catch him.

He had just been a petty thief. Varian had been a traitor. Had kidnapped the queen and threatened Corona’s beloved princess.

A slow flame of anger began burning in Eugene’s chest as the thoughts flashed through his mind in a second. Varian was standing between himself and Rick, shivering slightly, holding Ruddiger tight and Eugene clenched his fists.

“I think you should leave,” he said, struggling to keep his voice under control. Rick eyed him for a long moment and then smirked.

“And what are you going to do, Rider. Criminals sticking together, I see.” He spat the last, taking a threatening step forward.

Varian felt fear clench at his chest and he took a step back, towards the comforting presence of Eugene. But the flash of gold from Eugene’s uniform caught the corner of his eye and he bit his lip, trying to not to show emotion.

And then a hand was placed on his shoulder and Varian couldn’t handle it anymore. Terror shot through him, the memories of all the beatings and pain and fear and hopelessness overwhelming him. He couldn't breathe for a moment - he had to move, to get away from the gold armour and the sneers. The memories of that darkness. He had to run. He shoved back against the hand on his shoulder, needing to get away before the beatings began, before the pain returned.

He barely knew where he was going, just that he had to run, had to get away, had to find somewhere safe. Ruddiger was warm in his arms and he buried his face in the raccoon’s fur, hot tears leaking from his eyes as he ran.

A part of him hated that he was running. Hated that he was running from Eugene. But the wild, animal fear and panic overtook him and he ran.

Eugene raised his hand with an internal curse - Varian usually loved touch, loved casual hands on his shoulder or hair ruffles. But clearly this had been too much and Eugene berated himself for not seeing that.

Rick let out a short laugh as Varian bolted from the room.

“Looks like you caught him in another crime. What was he doing this time? Sabotaging the water?”

He laughed as though it were funny and Eugene fought down the urge to punch him. He forced his anger back with effort, clenching his fists by his side and quickly leaving the room.

“We’re going to have a talk later,” he said as he left, his voice sharp. Rick only laughed again, and Eugene tried not to let that get to him.

Varian had vanished, and Eugene tried not to let worry take over. He took a shaky breath and decided that was probably for the best - however he had spooked Varian to begin with, he probably wasn’t the best person to be tracking down the kid.

He didn’t even knock as he pushed open the door to Rapunzel’s room. She looked up in surprise as he entered, lowering the brush she was running through her hair.

“Eugene, what’s wrong?” she asked, instantly sensing his concern. He let out a long breath, pacing the room.

“I lost the kid,” he muttered. “He spooked, or something and… just ran.”

“Varian?” Rapunzel asked, and Eugene nodded, stopping in the middle of the room and playing with the glove on one hand.

“I’m not sure what exactly it was,” he said. “Bad memories… something. Rick didn’t help,” he added darkly. “But I don’t think I’m the best person to be looking for him right now.”

“I’ll find him,” Rapunzel said, without hesitation. She placed the brush down and stood and Eugene couldn’t help but feel relieved, even though he knew she would help. He reached out to take her hand, moving hair out of her face with his other hand. “If the ambassador arrives before I find him -”

“I’ll cover for you, don’t worry,” he said, holding her hands with his. She smiled, reaching up to kiss him quickly. “Thanks, Sunshine,” he said as she pulled away, Pascal bounding up her dress onto her shoulder.

“I’ll find him, don’t worry,” Rapunzel said as she left the room. Eugene let out a long breath as she left, running a hand through his hair and forcing himself to breathe.

Pascal chirped in Rapunzel’s ear as she moved quickly through the halls, trying to guess where Varian might be hiding. She was vaguely aware of the greetings from various guards and maids in the halls as she made her way towards Varian’s lab. Each greeting she returned, but her heart wasn’t in it, concern for her friend growing.

“Varian?” she called, knocking lightly in the laboratory door. There was no answer, so she pushed it open slowly.

The room was empty, a complicated pattern of pipes and jars set up on the table, messy notes scribble along the walls. Rapunzel stepped into the room, flicking off the flame that was burning under a vial of some bubbling blue chemical (that really didn’t seem safe) and turning to take in the whole room.

“Varian?” she called. Pascal crawled down her dress to examine under the table, in case he was hiding there. There was no answer, and Rapunzel frowned, worried. Pascal bounded back to her and she bent to pick him up, lifting her back to her shoulder. “Where could he be?” she muttered. Pascal shrugged.

Eugene had said something had spooked him, it was likely he would find somewhere to hide. She mentally ran through a checklist of places, rejecting a few (there would be too many people in the kitchen, he couldn’t climb like Pascal, he was much larger than Pascal) and finally began to move through the castle.

It was the third place she looked that she finally found him. The linen cupboard on the second floor, curled up on the bottom shelf so small she almost missed him when she opened the door. Ruddiger caught her attention, trilling softly.

She settled on her knees, bending down to see him. He was curled in a tight ball, clutching Ruddigier, his face turned away from her.

“Varian?” she asked quietly. He took a shaky breath and looked up, a clearly forced smile on his face.

“Oh, uh, he-hey, princess,” he said, rubbing a hand across his face. “Uh, sorry I was just..”

Rapunzel resisted the urge to haul him into a hug - he seemed raw, fragile and she wasn’t sure if that would help or make things worse. Instead, she shifted, sitting cross-legged and smiled.

“It’s okay,” she said. “You want to talk?”

He hesitated, looking down at Ruddiger and running a hand through the raccoon’s fur.

“I don’t know,” he said finally, not looking up.

“How about a hug then?” Rapunzel asked. He looked up finally, a small real smile on his face.

“Yeah, I could go for that,” he said. Rapunzel didn’t hesitate any longer, reaching into the cupboard and pulling him into her arms. He relaxed into her, Ruddiger pressed in between them. For a long time, she stayed like that, holding him, and slowly, she became aware that he was crying, his shoulders shaking silently.

“Varian?” she asked, burying a hand in his hair. He pulled back, sitting on the edge of the shelf and looking down. His eyes were wet and he ran a hand through Ruddiger’s fur, not meeting her eyes.

“Sorry,” he muttered, blinking a few times. Rapunzel leaned forward, laying a hand on his shoulder.

“Don’t be,” she said quietly.

“I just…” He wrapped a hand around himself, the other still buried in Ruddiger’s fur. “I saw Eugene in that uniform and… eh-heh. It brought back bad memories.” He looked up, meeting her eyes for a second and then dropping his. “Is… I mean… Eugene, he’s…” He trailed off, unable to find the words.

“Eugene understands,” she said quietly. “And he doesn’t blame you - no one does.” She shifted, standing and holding out a hand. “Want to find somewhere more comfortable to talk about it? Besides,” she added, a slight grin in her voice, “we want to get away before Old Lady Crowley finds us in her linens - she’ll make us wash them all.”

That got a small smile out of Varian. He hesitated a moment, then took her hand and let her pull him up. Ruddiger bounded onto his shoulder as Rapunzel led him back towards her room, his hand still firmly grasped in hers.

They were settled on Rapunzel’s bed when there was a soft knock at the door, and Eugene’s face appeared. Relief washed across his face as he caught sight of Varian.

“You found him,” he said, the relief clear in his voice. “I’ll… leave you to it, then.” He began to close the door but Varian stopped him before he left fully.

“No!” he called. “No, I… I mean… you don’t have too.” He rubbed Ruddiger’s fur between his fingers, forcing a small smile. Eugene seemed relieved at the invitation, stepping into the room.

To Varian’s relief, he was no longer wearing the uniform. He crossed the room, settling on the bed a little apart from them, concern clear on his face. But no accusation. No blame, and Varian was grateful for that.

Unable to take the distance between them anymore, Varian moved across the bed, wrapping his arms around Eugene and hugging him tightly. For a moment, Eugene reacted in surprise, then he returned the embrace, rubbing Varian’s back.

“Sorry,” Varian whispered.

“Hey, don’t be kiddo,” Eugene said. Varian pulled back with a smile and Rapunzel shifted closer to them.

“You want to talk?” Rapunzel asked, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. Ruddiger bounded back into his lap and suddenly, nestled between Rapunzel and Eugene, Varian realised he did want to talk.

He hadn’t spoken to anyone about what that year had been like. Hadn’t shown anyone except Ruddiger how much it had worn away at him, how much it had chipped him down and exhausted him. It had seemed too dark, too hard to revisit.

But Eugene’s arm around him was strong, Rapunzel’s warm. They were both watching him, unaccusingly, unpitying, just lovingly. Ruddiger purred softly, giving him the strength he needed to talk.

He talked. He told them about the anger, about the rage he felt towards everyone who had betrayed him. He told them about the cold cell, about the prison food, about the long nights, the loneliness. He told them about the guards, how they accused him, beat him, starved him. (He felt Eugene’s fist clench behind his back, saw Rapunzel’s face harden, knew they were angry, but not at him.)

He told them about the darkness, about the coldness, about the hopelessness. He told them about way they slowly chipped away at everything that made him who he was, turned him into a shell of anger and hurt and brokenness.

He told them about Andrew, about the false hope he had grasped at. He told them about how he had clung to the Saporians like a lifeline, how he had internalised every comment, how he had seen no other way out. He told them how he had broken, and for a moment, he broke again in their arms.

They held him for a long time after he finished. They held him and let him cry, warm and safe in their arms.

“I’m sorry,” Rapunzel said softly, and there was a weight to her words that told Varian she meant more than just what had happened after he had been arrested. Varian leaned forward and took her hand, leaning into her. He had long ago forgiven her for that night.

“It wasn’t your fault,” he said quietly, his voice raw with emotions.

“It still shouldn’t have happened.” Eugene’s voice was hard when he spoke and there was a dangerous light in his eyes.

“Maybe it should have,” Varian whispered, half hoping they didn’t hear him. That was his deepest fear, the thought that haunted him at night. That he deserved what had happened after everything he had done.

“Don’t say that,” Rapunzel said. She gently cupped his face in her hands, lifting his chin so he looked up and her. “Don’t ever say that.”

“The things I did…” Varian couldn’t meet her eyes. Sometimes, when he was laughing with Eugene or experimenting with Rapunzel, it felt like a distant dream, all that anger and fear and rage. The things he had done, the bonds he had broken, the people he had betrayed.

Sometimes, it felt like only a few days since it had happened and he was starkly reminded of the monster he had become.

“Hey,” Eugene said, rubbing a hand along Varian’s back. “Yeah, you did some bad things. But you were scared, and you were alone. I’m sorry we weren’t there for you.”

“Eugene’s right,” Rapunzel said, and Varian looked up at her. “And whatever the case, no one should have to go through what you did.” Something in her expression hardened. “And I intend to have a long talk with my father about that.”

Varian leaned back into her embrace, closing his eyes and for a moment, letting himself be loved.

A soft knock on the door and the queen’s voice interrupted them.

“Rapunzel, honey - the ambassador is nearly here, you’re needed.”

Eugene and Rapunzel exchanged a look over Varian’s head, silent communication passing between them.

“You should go,” Varian said before their silent conversation had finished, before Rapunzel had a chance to insist she stay. Because she would - he could see it in her eyes. She would stay because last time she hadn’t. He pushed himself up, leaving Rapunzel’s embrace a little reluctantly. “Your kingdom needs you. I’ll be alright.”

“I’ll stay,” Eugene said quietly, laying a hand on Varian’s shoulder, and Varian couldn’t help but be a little relieved. As important as Rapunzel being there for her kingdom was, he didn’t really want to be alone at the moment.

“Thank you,” Rapunzel said. She slipped off the bed, glancing in the mirror to check she was presentable. “And Varian,” she added as she left the room, Pascal on her shoulder. “If you ever need to talk, or even just a hug-”

“I know. Thank you,” Varian said, smiling slightly. She returned the smile, slipping out of the room.

Eugene slung an arm around Varian’s shoulder and the boy leaned into him, Ruddiger warm in his lap.

“How’re feeling, kiddo?” Eugene asked quietly.

“Honestly? Tired,” Varian admitted. “But… good. Thank you for listening.”

“Anytime.” A long, comfortable silence filled the room, and then Eugene spoke up again. “Hey, maybe you can help me redesign the guard uniform.”

“Huh?” Varian shifted, looking up at him. “You don’t have to-”

“Neh, uniform’s kinda ugly anyway. Besides, blue is much more my colour.”

“You can’t just… change the guard uniforms. For me,” Varian said, an almost laugh in his voice. Eugene gently shoved him, grinning.

“Why not? I’m the captain of the guard now, I can do what I want.”

“Careful you don’t abuse your power,” Varian said, shouldering him back. Eugene grinned, ruffling his hair.

“I would never.”

If, a few days later, a number of guards found themselves out of a job - Rick included - no one would accuse Eugene of abusing his power.

#tangled the series #tts #rapunzel's tangled adventure #rta #tangled #varian #eugene fitzherbert #rapunzel #team awesome #ruddiger #hurt/comfort #whump #hugs

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leofiat-bunny · 4 years ago

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DSN Ep 6 Liveblog

In so early there's a connection error 😅

PART 1

Poor baby. Wraps you in blankets

"Lose the mind, lose the game" - yeah, I thought as much

We know he's an asshole but is he actually still interested in Fiat/upsetting Fiat or is this purely a tactic? Horrid either way, it just changes whether he has any intention on continuing post match.

Unpopular opinion I know, but I do enjoy the friend scenes. (I just wish Tho would cool it with the grossness)

Love Fiat making this choice. Though if they can sub 2 out, they should sub out Leo too... or just Leo, since he's the one Curly is actually targetting. (I agree with @tamipuff, not calling him King. This show has a Queen, no king.)

And Leo wants to reassure Fiat, that he CAN play the game he wants to, that Curly WON'T take this away. And he can't.

Ok, I winced at the score, then realised that I don't know how big that gap actually is in practical terms. 😂

I'm actually finding this difficult to watch... can I just absorb the knowledge and move onto the next fluffy scene? Sunshine and flowers sound nice.

Ok, I like the way they did that. Not Leo's jealousy making him deck the guy mid match, but elbow him out the way (which I'm pretty sure is a genuine foul) and Curly playing it up to make sure it gets called on.

I love Natsu being like "oh, I am totally not leaving you alone right now" (or alone with a mad-at-himself Leo)

I second that plan! Papa can sort it! 😂

Good Aek. They're mostly curious (not that I blame them)

Except it's totally not. Baby. 😥🤗

So Natsu didn't follow Fiat, she made sure Leo did. She's a good girl. 😘

Oh. Okay, remember ep 4. I could be totally wrong about where I think this is going.

PART 2

Sweetie, please get out from under the arch that appears to be about to lose a... tilely thing. I think it's light wood, but even so, please? 🙏

Yeah, that's where I thought this was going.

Appreciate that it wasn't jealousy making him so mad, but rage that he coerced Fiat. (The first game it would have been a potent mix of shock, hurt - even if he didn't have romantic feelings for Fiat, he still would have hated him going with his "rival" -, and jealousy.)

Not sure giving Leon keys was the BEST idea you've ever had Leo. Oh. No it's the 2nd family home, he had keys before Leo ever moved in. 🤦‍♀️

(Why did they have a 2nd home so close to the first? Did they buy it for the boys to go to uni before they ended up leaving the country or something?)

Smart is very pretty.

Dirty victory Lovely, very much not a clean one.

Well... he has eyes, it's not exactly difficult to tell.

😲 They have now independently admitted to Leo that they like each other. I was sure they wouldn't even with arms twisted. (Fiat's was being so willing to include Leon in his SHORT list of people he cared about)

Also, seems Leon doesn't hold resentment like I thought he would. Then again, he doesn't resent Leo either - it seems one of his best traits is an uncomplicated joy for seeing the ones he loves be happy and successful.

... I appear to be making up for last week. Guesswork was a lot closer so far this week 👀

PART 3

That seems to be a thing the vet would have told you about earlier?

Er... choosing to believe that was a plural "you" (in "what he did to you" when Rick is addressing Leo)

Sweetie... I like you wanting to become a better person but... Curly is NOT YOUR FAULT

Hm. So. On the one hand growing out of being the person who tries to get someone to confess by dating other people and chases after a taken man? Good thing. "Growing out of" being who you ARE - which is a dramatic, emotional person who gets into petty fights with his brother in law? Bad thing. We'll see which you mean I guess.

"But I need time" Well that's hopeful. Not some dramatic 180 due to masking that can't last but actually thinking things through and figuring out what you don't like about yourself.

"Your mum" Huh. Ok.

"I'll do everything you say" TPE 😉

Puppy.

PART 4

I'm really getting to like Leon but I'm still very meh about Pob.

Well that was one hell of an introduction. 🤣

Looks like Grace comes back next ep.

Personally I really liked that ep, but I have a feeling other people won't 😅

#don't say no liveblog #don't say no ep 6 #leofiat

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notfeelingthyaster · 5 years ago

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Imagine (Son of Hades! Percy; Godswapped! Big Three's kids (6/7) or (11/12)

House of Hades Pt.2 - In the Argo II

Hello darlings! Before reading this, there's at least other 11 parts - and I almost had to divide this into two - check on the masterpost - but don't be sad is ending :(

First - I have no idea if I'll divide Blood of Olympus in two because I hate the climax Rick wrote - so probably? Also not sure if I'll need an epilogue - we're not delving into TOA, though.

Second - I'll keep writing! I have a handful of ideas that I want to do next - and the next AU will have Female! Percy - so keep logging in!

Check on the warnings before proceeding, and good reading :))

To say that things are tense in the Argo II is downplaying the major depression the ship seemed to be sunk in since Perseus fell.

Leo and, surprisingly, Nico are the only ones who are able to get anything done in the first couple of days, but they aren't fooling anyone - the white eyes of the son of Zeus seem to be every day a little more bloodshot, and more than one fire happens without no explanation.

Annabeth didn't stop crying for a second - even throughout Will's examination of her and her brother - for at least 12 hours. Then she crashed for another 12 hours - and when Annabeth woke up, she was enraged.

She is going to bring the damned statue back to Camp - and then she will kick her mother's ass. That's her best friend, not collateral damage.

And when her dumbass of a best friend comes back, Annabeth is going to kick his ass too. How dare he fall - for her, not even his closest friend - into freaking Tartarus?

Frank is devastated - he and Piper are coping by planning the future - how they can spend the summer at Camp and live in Nova Roma, how they'll visit Perseus if he decides to go to college in the mortal world. It feels a little like denial.

Hazel and Jason are coping in the totally opposite way. Where Leo and Nico are fueling themselves with determination, Annabeth is anger personified and the other two went in the road of negation - they're both in a deep state of panic.

The sea became too dangerous to travel - the tides answering to Jason's turbulent emotions - and any metal on board keeps exploding or becoming so fueled with energy that no one but Nico and Hazel can touch it.

They pray together - for Neptune, Jupiter, Pluto, Letum, any god that Perseus ever helped (a lot of them) - for his protection. Jason holds evening prayers - just like in Nova Roma - and they offer anything, everything, for Percy to be alive. Everyone goes.

Except for Will, who is in a whole other league. The moment that he arrived at Camp, Percy was the one to settle him, and calm him, and take care of him. It was a side of him no other person in this ship had ever seen - Nico got in Camp in the worst timing possible, and all the others were pretty independent when they met Perseus.

But Will remembers - the nights with hot chocolate, Percy's warm sweaters, a pair of blue gloves messing his hair, the anxiety when the boy left for school, just for him to keep IMing Will every evening - and he misses Percy.

After the Labyrinth, the war, the losses, they reconnected - the prejudices against Percy's parentage long gone - and it felt like nothing ever changed.

It was Percy who helped him coming out for his mother. It was Percy that held Will after he lost Sibele - a daughter of Momus - to her injuries. It was Percy, always Percy.

Percy is much more of a father then Apollo - and much better as a brother then some of Will's siblings. So Will just locks himself up in his infirmary - and grieves. It's weird in such a hard mission to remember that Will is just fifteen and that he is a veteran of war.

The mood lingers, even when they start fighting regularly against the Apennines - and isn't this a whole other mess.

The mountain spirits are pissed - because Hades/Pluto and his wife are really pissed. It's Malcolm - the only one with a phone and a good connection to the internet - that tells them that the world started having earthquakes every few days.

The mortals are confused because most of these are not even close to the tectonic plates - and none of those cause turmoil at the sea. It's just Hades - mightly pissed his only son is beyond even his reach.

Three days in fighting the Ourae - who don't like having their mountains shaken over and over again - the sky also starts thundering. Coincidentally, it's July 30th - they've been traveling for twenty-two days - which also marks Thesmophoria - the greek festival of harvest.

But, alas, nothing is blooming. Persephone is as dangerous as her husband - and Demeter seems to follow her daughter's lead. With the Earth corrupted - the crops aren't growing.

Jason doesn't blame his matron - he is not really happy himself. Besides praying for Perseus' safety, he spends most of his days in patrol against boulders and rocks of all things.

Leo barely sleeps - too busy keeping the ship from falling apart - and Nico is, most of the time, right behind him keeping the ship steady. They try using canons and fail miserably. There's no way to fight against mountains - it's like Dom Quixote fighting against the windmills.

The others, even Will, rotate between fighting rocks and sleeping. Four days after Thesmophoria, Leo decides it's enough, turns the ship around, and solves to not cross the Apennines.

He just hopes Perseus can last another seven days.

Hazel - the only one awake, because this is supposed to be her patrol and Leo finds her the most reasonable out of all their friends, who would probably insist on keep fighting the freaking mountains - is praying. Like always.

Leo doesn't know how he feels about praying. His extended family was very catholic - they prayed for a god that they couldn't see or touch. But Leo met the gods - or, if Annabeth is to be believed, one set of them - and he doesn't like them.

They're petty children who have no care for the fate of their children - the ones who fight for them, go on their errands, keep them alive, y'know. Leo doesn't want to praise them. He doesn't think they deserve it.

But Hazel's prayers are answered when her venti, Tempest, appears aboard. Hazel tells Leo to go on without her - she'll be back soon.

He is concerned for her - like always. Of all new people, Leo seems to be the closest to her - his overall cheeriness and electric behavior are endearing to her, a light in these dark times. Sometimes, his smile makes her flush - just like Frank's did and still does.

Hazel mounts Tempest and the venti takes her, through mountains and hills, to a door. There's mist curling at her ankles and a chill in her spine.

She isn't very thrilled by meeting Trivia - Hazel heard stories of her greek son by Perseus, who seemed to hold the guy in high standard, but she knows gods. The goddess of magic wants something.

Trivia is an imposing woman - taller than Hazel, she has the same midnight skin as Perseus, though hers looks purple-ish, and her eyes are entire universes - stars bloom in her irises and twin moons rise in her pupils.

The goddess is fickle - she seems to be there and not, at the same time. Ghostly. There's three of them, then one, then five.

Trivia beacons to the daughter of Jupiter and she follows, the cursed little girl she is. The goddess offers her three options: Perseus, prone in the ground as she, Leo, and Annabeth battle an invisible foe, the two demigod installments at war, or the Argo II.

Hazel chooses the Argo II, but she promises herself, and the goddess, that she will save Perseus, and that no demigod blood will be spilled by other demigod's hand. Not again.

She will learn how to control the Mist. But Trivia is very mistaken if she thinks Hazel is going to become her acolyte. She remembers well what happened last time - she died.

The Argo II is traveling without much hassle - when they're crossing Monte Falterona, in the Campigna National Park, they are attacked by a new mountain spirit - and this one talks.

"Get Pluto his brat back, you useless halflings!"

Like the boulders the immortal is throwing at them will help. Leo screams this back at the mountain, who is not impressed at all.

Their next foe is in San Marino - a chimera. Most popular knowledge is wrong about those monsters: chimeras are not just goat-lion-snake mixes. They are an amalgamation of any three or more animals.

This one, in particular, is a very... candid mix of a Pyrenean chamois, a monk-seal, a mouflon, and a goose. Not very lethal or hazardous - just very angry. It's the first time they hear Annabeth laugh since Perseus fell.

While Malcolm is chasing and being chased around by an evil goat-goose-seal-weirdass deer chimera that he is fending off with an encyclopedia, the others can't even bring themselves to help. It's ridiculous - the thing is not even big. It's just ugly and it sounds like a honking clown.

Eventually, they get around to killing the clown chimera - it honks as it vanishes - and following route to Bologna. Frank tries to mutate to the chimera during the travel - to different levels of failure - which makes everyone laugh.

Thanks to their two encounters, the crew gets to Bologna at two in the afternoon.

Frank can't help counting the days as they pass him by. He is not the only one - he can see Annabeth muttering the time every now and then - but it feels like a countdown. Can Perseus survive one more week in Tartarus?

Even with the pressing worry for his lost friend, he can't stop thinking about Hazel and Leo. The two of them are thick as thieves - and Frank wants in.

But he knows it's wrong - Leo is a boy. Hazel is younger. Leo bares a power that could kill him. Hazel is his best friend. They're two people. - but he sees them flirting and can't keep his eyes to himself.

It's wrong. Soldiers aren't supposed to date men. Men who dated men are prostitutes, entertainers. Less. And two people at the same time? Outside of a bedroom? Preposterous.

Frank wishes he was more like Perseus. Perseus is all about duty: he would eventually marry Reyna. Or Annabeth, or other pretty and intelligent warrior, and have two point five kids with a picket fence.

But no. Here he is - midday, they are stopping for lunch, and he can't keep his eyes off Leo and Hazel - who are quietly chatting in the other end of the long table.

Frank ponders what would they think. Would the two be repulsed? Would they laugh at him? He can deal with laughter. Their disgust, however, would cut his heart in half.

Nico is in a very similar, and yet completely different, situation. He has been in love - or as close as love could be when you never dated the person - with Perseus Jackson.

He knows it's okay to be gay - he is friends with Will and Jake. He lives on CHB since he was a pre-teen. Perseus himself was - is - queer.

But the thing is, he'll never have a chance with him. Not the chance he is longing for gods know how long. He failed Perseus yet again - he let the demigod fall.

Perseus can have anyone. Perfect Annabeth Chase, Shrewd Reyna Arellano, Magic Alabaster Torrington, anyone. And he wouldn't have a problem with that - no. The problem is that he can't make a choice. Because he is in Tartarus.

Because Nico. Let. Him. Fall.

He isn't even sure if he let Perseus fall on purpose. A part of his mind knew someone would have to go. It was always meant to be Perseus. Did he purposefully let him go?

The rational part of his mind knew that if he tried to fly them off, all he would accomplish is falling into Tartarus with Perseus, probably dragging Annabeth with them.

But the guilt creeps into his heart - again, yet again, Perseus suffers for something he did or failed to do. He can't sleep. He doesn't know how anyone can eat.

A rock for him in these difficult times has been Jason. The son of Neptune seems to be as affected as Hazel or Annabeth - but Nico would never be able to rely on them.

Hazel has her own problems - a lot of them since Trivia appeared - and Annabeth is a painful reminder of everything Nico is unable to have.

Jason, however, is different. They had dreams of each other - something about their conquests, Nico didn't pay attention - and that apparently brought them close. Jason, differently from Annabeth, isn't a competition. He isn't vying for Percy's attention and love.

He is just a close friend - like Nico pretends to be most of the time - incredibly worried about the son of Hades. Nico would tell Jason about how he feels - but the militar roman's sensibilities might not be adjusted to the greeks' freedom yet.

Nico, however, is also not the only one with heart problems. Piper finds himself entranced by Annabeth Chase - even when she knows, she knows because of her powers, that Annabeth is painfully straight.

And Piper knows it's not love - it's the heat of the upcoming war and the hormones of being cooped up with just other teenagers for twenty days. She sees the blossoms of young lovers everywhere.

The yearning between Leo, Hazel, and Frank; Nico and Jason unconsciously sharing long-term crushes on Perseus; Will missing Jake and his parental figure;

She wishes she was more like Malcolm. Malcolm is asexual - besides being the only other transexual person on board.

Before this war spiked from nothing, the boy was just back from his mission for Hermaphroditus - a two-month search for a missing choker. He is still adapting to his body - it's bigger and broader and he doesn't have to wear a binder. Piper thinks it's amazing - he tells her it isn't that easy.

It's not a slow transition. One second your body is something - and then it isn't. One morning, the demigod caught him holding a red binder in his hands. Sometimes, she sees a shot of testosterone tucked in his pocket.

One day, he was a boy stuck in a girl's body. Then, he wasn't anymore. He has the body he dreamed of for forever - and it's difficult accepting it. Malcolm tells her is not exactly body dysphoria - is just difficult to conciliate.

Piper thinks after this, she'll get her body. After all of this, she deserves it - her body, all hers, with boobs and a killer jawline. Maybe then, it'll be easier to like girls as well. Maybe then, she'll shave half of her head and get a piercing. And maybe, a couple of tattoos.

But while this doesn't happen, she is whining to her asexual friend about her crush in his sister. Malcolm crushes her with logic - "Annabeth has only shown interest in men. She might be bi or pan or even a lesbian, but the odds aren't on your favor" - and she tries to put the blonde out of her mind.

Lunch, however, is a little ridiculous for her. As a daughter of love herself, that table is such a mess of yearning and pining and infatuations.

Malcolm seems to be the only rational - but even he is a little flushed. Piper totally saw that picture of Mitchell in his drawer last week.

She couldn't blame him really - her brother is hot. All demigods are - in very different ways of course, but their godly blood made them more or less otherworldly compared to mortals. Didn't matter their ethnicity, their gender, if they're disabled or not - they are all hot.

Piper, however, doesn't spend all her time freaking over hot people. She is a teenager with a friend who has a good connection to the internet, so she does that a lot - but most of her time these days is looking at Katoptris.

She's waiting for a vision of Perseus. Anything - just proof that he is alive, that he hasn't curled in a ball on whatever is the ground down there and went mad.

It doesn't come. She is looking at this ridiculous lunch table, eating vegetarian burgers, and waiting. Just as it seems like her dagger starts glowing gold - two monkey twins sweep down and steal it. And Leo's tool belt and Archimedes' Sphere.

Piper is really pissed. She wants this mission to end - she wants to find Perseus and stop Gaea, and that's her magical item. It's important. So she and Leo go after the twin monkeys.

Using one of the armory's javelin - for lack of a better option - they sprint over roofs and marketplaces. Bologna is a beautiful city - but they have no time.

They corner the twin monkeys, get their things back - and some things pertaining to a god of harvest - Triptolemus. Perhaps if they make an offer to him, Demeter and Persephone will be more cooperative. Maybe Persephone will be able to calm her husband.

Piper really doubts it. If she learned anything in the nineteen days she traveled with Perseus, is that he calls Persephone "Kore" or "Mater". The only other person he refers to with such open childish joy is his own mother, Sally.

The guy IMed both of them twice a week - enough that Piper knows their voices. While Hades isn't high in the demigod's list of people, his wife seemed to be at least number #2.

But they go back to the ship and relay their plan anyway. They set route to Venice. In the hour that it takes them to get there, they're delayed twice: once by the personification of River Ádige - which enabled them to pass until Jason helped with a small problem - and then by a couple of ventis - which Hazel sent off.

Frank, Annabeth, Hazel and Nico venture into the drowned city - Piper declines to go, saying that she is waiting for Katoptris to cooperate - being Nico the only one who actually speaks Italian in the ship.

The city is infested with anteater-like herbivorous monsters called katoplebones, which are pointedly not from the Greek pantheon. It's pretty rare for monsters to cross pantheons - and the Egyptians are pretty good in keeping them under lock and key - but sometimes, this happens.

They aren't capacitated to deal with those. Annabeth has half a mind to call the Kanes and demand an explanation. Pretty sure they were possessed by the gods to avoid this kind of situation.

She doesn't have much time to think - Hazel is quickly overwhelmed by the poisonous breath of the cows. Of course - is there anything in Egypt that isn't connected to snakes?

They find Triptolemus - who is not thrilled with their presence. Demeter - his mistress - and her daughter are distraught by Perseus' missing status - and he blames Annabeth and Nico for it.

Annabeth tries to persuade him - after all, they have Jason on board, and he is blessed by Ceres. Triptolemus - a very greek god - is not swayed.

"Your trickster words shall not fool me, daughter of Athena."

That's how Annabeth became a rosemary bush - good for memory and brainpower. Nico, when he tried to fight back, became a corn crop.

Mars is whispering in Frank's mind - he is not really fond of his father but uses his help to kill the evil Egyptian cows and get a python for the god's chariot.

He can't let Hazel die. He can't see the light go off her eyes - to see the same pain reflected in Leo's eyes. But Frank is so using Nico's stunt as a corn plant as blackmail material later. Not with Annabeth thought - she would stab him.

Triptolemus, pleased, turns Nico and Annabeth back to human and heals Hazel. Then, he tells them they have to eat barley cakes - so they can survive the poison needed to enter the house of the dead.

Proceeding south down the Adriatic toward Greece, a journey that should take about half a day, the crew of the Argo II is first accosted in Koper - a city on the coast of Slovenia - by four monocerus in the middle of the night.

Monocerus, in Leo's very succinct explanation, are "evil unicorns with big feet that can't fly and shouldn't be in a flying ship".

Whoever, the monsters apparently don't care where they should or not be - and Annabeth - still reeling for her time as rosemary - takes two of them out, keeping the horns as a prize. Nico takes one, who is so beat that leaves nothing, and Malcolm kills one with a handgun.

It's not the most practical weapon, because celestial bronze is not that easy to fabricate/find/obtain - so to use it in bullets that will explode and render it unusable it's kind of a desperate - but it's the first thing he could get - Malcolm's double tessen was being repaired by Leo.

Because yes - not only was the twenty years old able to fight with normal blades, he also fights with freaking fans made of iron.

After the run-in with the evil unicorns - Annabeth looks really cool covered in gold blood and curved silver horns in her hands - they proceed across Croatia.

It goes well for about thirty minutes - in Zadar, they cross paths with Sciron. Sciron is a bandit and outlaw, who - for some reason, is assisted by a giant predatory sea turtle.

While Hazel tricks him into throwing himself off the cliff using her new-discovered Mist, Jason talks to the turtle. It says its name is Chelone - that it's the turtle who took Aphrodite Ourania from the depths of the sea to the shores of Cythera - when she was still young, with remains of other goddesses in her anima - Innana and Ishtar.

He convinces the turtle to stop killing people - mainly by saying that he should hunt elsewhere, deeper onto the sea. It may become a problem for his father, but Jason has bigger issues right now.

They go to sleep, and Hazel dreams. She expects any god to come - but who comes to her is none other than Pluto and his wife, Proserpina.

Proserpina is shrouded in black, and her eyes are not green - but yellowish, like dead leaves. She talks - and tells Hazel that the Doors of Death are in the bottom of the Necromanteion - her powers over metal energy would guide her - and will be guarded by Pasiphae, vengeful of Pluto - and, by default, Perseus - for the lack of punishment for Minos.

Her husband is a silent presence by her side. He is not in mourning... probably. It's difficult to tell, as he is always in black. But his eyes hold a weight easy for Hazel to understand - he just lost a son to the abyss. No matter that Perseus might be alive - he wouldn't get back whole and safe.

Proserpina ends her dream by telling her to wake up Piper - the goddess is putting all her strength to send a vision of Perseus to Katoptris - they need one much more than her, seeing that they are able to interfere.

What Piper sees don't tell them a lot - Perseus seems mostly okay, with some sort of companion that Nico says it might be Iapetus, a brand new scar over his face and a bad limp.

It's the last they'll see of him until their eventual meeting face to face, but it gives them hope.

Annabeth herself has a dream - a dream that the Romans give the statue to the greeks. She sends an iris message to Rachel - so she can meet personally with Reyna.

Reyna, on the other side of the world, mounts her pegasus, Scipio, and leaves. Not only her co-praetor is in freaking Tartarus, but they are on the verge of two simultaneous wars. They need peace.

As soon as she is out of the roman range, however, she sends an iris message to Jason - telling him to go to their hero's place of rest - she had a vision from Mars. That she will meet them in Greece. Jason tells Leo to set course for Split, in Croatia. There's a roman scepter there.

Of all of them, the most capacitated for this mission are Frank and Jason, who are both educated Romans, and Nico, who can fly - a very good power to have in unstable ruins.

They're confronted by Favonious, who takes them to his master, Cupid, in Dalmatia. Nothing good can come of talking to the personification of love - such an old concept that the god has been reborn twice.

"Well, well, well"

"What do we have here?"

Jason falls onto the ground - "You think you found true love, haven't you? But alas, I was where you last expected me" - and he hates love, for that single moment.

"I shall give you what you want, Romans, if each of you is able to tell me - who do you love the most?"

Nico trembles - guilt is a difficult pill to swallow - and Frank visibly wants to bolt out of there.

"Oh, are you afraid? But there's no hiding in the face of true love"

Jason - always the brave one - gives a look at Frank. His friend never met the greeks. He might hate Jason after this.

But they need this scepter.

"Perseus Jackson"

Two heads whips in his direction - one unbelievingly, and the other distressed.

"Ah, love crafted in dreams - the perfect mix between me and my wife. Tell me, Jason Grace, was it bad when he looked upon you and saw naught but a myth?"

A laugh creeps upon Jason's spine, and he turns around. His blade hits something hard, and he is on the floor again.

"Such luck, to be able to even graze love. Perhaps yours is the purest of all - not yet tainted by failures and mistakes. On that note, why don't you go next, Nico di Angelo?"

Nico shivers - he... they have no time for that. That is unnecessary drama - to cause unnecessary problems.

A memory rushes to the front of Jason's mind - that quick chat with Reyna in Nova Roma. "The blond girl, Di Angelo"

Nico loves Perseus. It rushes to Jason now - the way that the younger boy stared adoringly at the son of Hades. The drunkness of his lovesick gaze. The despair when Perseus fell.

"Tell them Nico di Angelo" Cupid prompts "Tell them all about your guilt, your mistakes, the way you let him down, again and again, and again."

Nico floats a little off the ground. It's years of pain and sorrow that won't bring Perseus back.

"Will you fly off yet again, in the face of rivalry? Will you be my next servant - just like Favonious, consumed by jealousy, Nico di Angelo?"

Jason sees the memories. Nico screaming at Perseus. Grover reluctantly telling him about their adventures. The way he betrayed Percy - and a dozen more scenes he never saw from Nico's perspective, only Percy's, that made him unable to speak.

"It's okay Nico... I.... I get it."

It's painful to utter these words - it's almost like he is giving up Perseus. But they have a war to get through - and then, when the other demigod is back, they can figure this out.

"P-Perseus Jackson"

And then it's Frank's turn. But Frank is as pale as a ghost - he seems to be close to vomiting.

"It's a costly thing isn't it, looking at the true face of love. Now it's the turn of the brave son of Mars. Will you tell your friends easily, or shall you be a coward like the son of Zeus?"

Frank doesn't talk. Jason doesn't understand why - it's Hazel, isn't it? Is it because of Nico? He mentions talking to the son of Zeus, but Di Angelo doesn't look at him - the Cupid knew very well how to play his game.

"Come on. Tell them - tell them of whom you think before you sleep and who dominates your first thoughts every morning."

"You don't scare me"

"Oh, I scare you very, very much. Face me. Be honest."

"H-Hazel. Levesque."

"That's just half my question, little half-blood. If you want to lead the roman legions, you must answer it fully."

"I love H-Hazel. She is the one I think before I sleep and when I wake up."

"Still hiding. You're not strong enough, Frank Zhang."

Frank tries to charge at the wind, but it just mocks him. It's weird seeing Frank crying - it looks like the world is crumbling at his feet.

Jason, yet again, doesn't understand. Nico is also confused - he looks between the Romans as if he never saw any of them before. But then it dawns on the son of Zeus.

"Not only my sister. That's why you keep gazing at them, isn't it?"

All the fighting and denial leave Frank at once. His sword clangs in the ground.

"I love both Hazel and Leo. Together." He spits out, still trembling. "That's the truth. Are you happy now?"

"I wouldn't say Love always makes you happy. It can make you incredibly sad, sometimes. But you have faced it now. It's the only true way to conquer me."

Cupid appears - in a flash of white wings. It might be the god Jason hates the most - his eyes seem to penetrate his very soul. There's a scepter in his hand.

"Only a true child of Mars Ultor can yield it. It's your destiny, Frank Zhang."

Then he promptly disappears. The demigods look at each other - there's a flurry of emotions deep inside their chests. Frank looked at both of them, waiting for an attack, or for them to start fighting.

"No one has to know" He starts "I'm s-so-..."

He doesn't end. There are copious tears rolling through his face - his cheeks are a deep shade of red. A sob escapes his throat.

"P-please, p-pleased-don't t-te-tell anyone." Frank sobs, and it's such a jarring sight that both Nico and Jason rally to reassure him, leaving their own issues aside.

"There's nothing wrong with loving two people at once. No one will have a problem with it, Frank - fuck, this isn't Nova Roma. Most of us are greek."

"Hazel would hate me though. This is unnatural- I- I can't."

"You don't know that. Hazel loves you, Frank"

But the son of Mars just keeps crying until they both promise not to tell another soul what they saw. It's enough for the weird atmosphere to return.

Midway in the trek back to the ship - a six-hour walk - Nico is too riled up to safely fly with two people and none of them being too fond of air right now - Frank summons enough power to ask the question.

"So... uh... hm... Perseus?... like, uh, I can see the appeal-... but... both?... forget I asked, just....uh oh, sorry."

Jason and Nico pointedly avoid looking at each other. It's very bizarre - Jason knows a lot about Perseus, but now he knows Perseus also from Nico's perspective - and this is all messy.

They go back to the ship, relay to Annabeth that they got the scepter, and immediately go back to their cabins - to cry, to scream, to think.

It's been a day and a half - and they're still eleven hours off Epirus. Leo is pissed - because not only their three heavy-hitters are pissed at something and won't communicate, and they're of course.

Emerging from the infirmary for something other than to eat and mend people is finally Will - at least. He takes patrol in place of Nico - the boy quietly mumbled at his friend that they had a run-in with Cupid. Will can imagine how that went.

He doesn't have a clue about Frank - but Jason and Nico? They have the same long-lasting crush on Perseus - everyone on board knows that. Except, apparently, for each other. And Perseus - because his mentor/kind of brother/bother figure is a dumbass.

When they're passing through the coast of Albany, they're attacked by Khione - who is still very pissed her ex-lover's son doesn't want to spend eternity frozen with her. Leo ends up being sent away - for the distress of both Hazel and Frank and the anger of his best friends, Piper and Jason.

Piper ends up stabbing Khione - while Frank transforms into the giant dragon and burns her - making her unable to freeze them. Eventually, she runs away.

Leo, however, wakes up on an island. There's a sad girl at his side - she is using a modern blue dress, and there's a crown of black flowers upon her head.

"You were not the one I was expecting."

The son of Hephaestus wants to scream. Well, he didn't want to be whatever here is either! But her face is so sad - her gaze down to her bare feet. She seemed to be crying. He settles for asking who is her.

"I... I am sorry. My name is Calypso. This is Ogygia."

It startles him. Mainly because he has heard this name before around camp - wasn't she supposed to be freed?

"What happened to you?"

The immortal girl relays her tale - how she got freed for a year, and then the war started. The gods - Zeus - didn't trust her not to turn against them. So they locked her up - she was not the only one. Leto, Themis, Rhea - good titans or their offspring. Locked away.

She, after a year of freedom that Perseus got her, was back into her old shackles. Calypso is waiting for him for months now - but she thinks he forgot her.

So Leo tells her what happened - the bits he knows anyway. Juno/Hera, Nova Roma, the mission. Calypso seems calmer. They stay together for a while - friends it seems.

Calypso tells him about her year - about how she wanted to explore the world. She tells him she wanted to join Artemis' hunt - but, courtesy of Odysseys, she is no maiden.

He tells her about Hazel and Frank, Perseus, and the love hexagons he doesn't even know he is in - omitting the part that he is now in Tartarus. They talk about Festus - Calypso tells him about how his father is good to hear - how he came to visit, sometimes.

A week passes, maybe a week and a half. Leo vows to take Calypso off the island once the war ends, and she believes - once, a hero as brave as Leo made her the same promise, and stuck with it through the end.

In Cancun, Africa, Jason and Nico are having daily audiences with Auster, the Roman god of the south wind, in connection with the Seven being able to proceed on their way to Epirus - seeing that their ship is all broken and they have no Leo.

Auster is indolent and seems increasingly disinclined to cooperate with Jason and Nico: he dislikes the son of Zeus, and the wind never had a good relationship with the sea. Annabeth also tries her hand at it - but it's rebuffed at every turn. Piper is prohibited from entering the palace because of her magic voice.

Jason and Nico - even though they aren't speaking to each other - have for a long time admitted they don't fit completely at either camp. Jason is still too militar for CHB. Nico is too old for CHB. Both are too free with their personal lives for Nova Roma.

Auster agrees to meet with them and tells them to commit to one side - greek or roman. They deny it - they're both. The gods are both, they have been thrust in a war of both sides, they commune with gods on both aspects and they ask them to run errands for both pantheons. They have the right to be both.

Auster is not happy with this - mainly because he believes they should keep the sides separated. But it's the first time Nico and Jason agree on something - and they fight together for it. No god has the right to define those petty things when the demigods are fighting their war.

Auster merges with his greek counterpart Notus - an amalgamation of both his carefree and his militar side - and sends The Seven on their way when coerced by the threat of a hurricane and a typhoon.

He sends them to Valletta, Malta, where they find the Argo II fully repaired and in the harbor. In the port, on a small cafe, there's Leo - sitting and raging internally against the gods, who once again, fucked up something.

They trade stories, and Leo just rages more. He isn't sure how Perseus didn't ally himself with Kronos in the first war if that was the bullshit he had to deal with every day.

First Khione, then Zeus locking Calypso up, then this Notus guy - they are a week and a half late. Is Perseus still alive after nineteen days in the Pit? Is he sane? Did he tried to get out - and they weren't there?

It's with a shocking gasp from Annabeth that they realize that Perseus's birthday is in three days. They have been traveling together for thirty-seven days now - and they have to get Perseus out of Tartarus before the 18th, at least. Is the minimum.

It takes them a day to get to Epirus. There are enough monsters in their way to start a menagerie - Gaea is actively trying to stall them, so there must be a reason. Perseus might be alive.

Arriving at the Necromanteion, which they learn is just a very fancy name for catacombs, Hazel, Frank, Leo, Annabeth, Will, and Piper descend into the ruins, leaving Nico and Jason - who are both completely useless under the earth - behind with Malcolm - who, since Arachne, is pretty much claustrophobic.

They eat the barley cakes to protect themselves against the toxic potion they must drink in order to enter the temple. It's difficult to swallow poison - it burns as it goes down.

The mist tries to confuse them at every turn - Hazel diverts it. Her power over metal energy guides them - she can feel the basis of the building, way down where they are.

Katoptris burns in Piper's hand. It shows her Perseus' face - he looks cadaveric, shrouded in death. Sometimes he flickers, like a ghost - but he is alive, and heading to the Doors just like they are.

It's enough to spur them forward. Perseus is doing the same journey - from a much difficult side. They will meet in the middle.

Earthquakes strike the caverns, making part of the floor collapse. In a side, Piper and Will, surrounded by monsters in all sides. In the other, Frank, Leo, Hazel and Annabeth. The son of Mars doesn't think twice - the scepter.

He uses the Scepter of Diocletian to summon ghostly Roman soldiers, and as a Legatus Legionis, he does have the power to command all of them. It would be more controlled if he was Praetor, but the actual Praetor is Perseus, and so, in his absence, Frank will have to do.

The tunnel collapses. Hazel. Leo. They might be dead - but Frank can't panic right now. They are alive. They will protect each other, they have Annabeth Chase with them. Hazel controls the mist - everything will be just fine.

Anger grew in his chest. Those are his friends, his... his loved ones. This freaking ruin don't get to kill them before Frank summons enough courage to submit himself to the ridiculousness of telling them.

Hazel wants to cry - they left Frank behind. He might be dead - they might be all dead. Leo isn't much better. For all that Zhang seems to hate him, his infatuation with the Canadian never disappeared.

Annabeth however, is practical. She tells them Frank will be fine - the guy can transform into a dragon. Or a chimera. Probably a poisonous one, after the stunt in Venice. He has an army - it's okay.

Pasiphae is a bitch. Leo hates the woman - she reminds him of Aunt Rosa. Or Juno. Or Lady Muddy herself. He and Annabeth let Hazel do the majority of the talking - but both of them bristle as the Doors shake.

An unauthorized presence. Perseus actually did it - they have twelve minutes, in accord to Annabeth - who Leo knows better than to doubt - to open the Doors. Or he is dead, lost forever.

"It's a pity Gaea needs a son of the Earth and a daughter of the Sea... But none of you are children of the Underworld or the ocean, are you? Not even the acolyte of Trivia."

Everything indicates that she'll open the door herself - but Annabeth can't risk she whisking Perseus away to Gaea before they can reach him. So she sneaks past with her cap while they fight.

Pasiphae goes down to Hazel's illusions. Annabeth opens the Doors, before cutting the chains as Hazel and Leo distract Clytius. Perseus stumbles out, a giant tiger in his heels.

Leo didn't think he would ever see a harsher picture. The tall boy was still muscular - but gaunt as if he hadn't eaten since the fall. There were scars everywhere.

He couldn't look more - Clytius is threatening Perseus, but both Annabeth and the tiger stay in his way. Trivia appears - but they aren't truly winning until Piper, Will, and Frank are able to reach them through Hazel's magic.

Will goes immediately to Perseus' side - there's panic in his eyes. Leo can't see much this far - he hopes the son of Hades isn't dead. Piper and Frank fight alongside them. Annabeth is still hovering protectively over her best friend's prone body.

There's not much need for help - between Hazel and Trivia, the bulk of Clytius powers are unusable. The shared power of Piper (love is never where you expect it), Frank (and his undead soldiers), a very angry Annabeth, and Leo is just overkill.

They win. Will is feeding Perseus ambrosia - there's something really wrong because there are tear tracks in the blonde's face. Leo comes closer - their friends follow.

Perseus is destroyed. He looks like he has been through hell - there's a scar crossing his face and his eyes are sunken in. But that's not where it stops.

Leo's gaze goes down, to the ragged clothes that are barely recognizable - the sweatpants he was convinced to wear to go underground, the once-green sweater - and sees what is missing.

Where Perseus' leg once was, there's a metal one. The boy is curled in the fetal position - his metal leg sticks out like a sore thumb, and it looks like he might cry if he wasn't so dehydrated. The tiger nudges its head against the boy's leg and growls at them, but it doesn't attack.

"I... I can't touch him. I touched him and he started panicking... I... We have to take him back to the ship. He is stable, but..."

Frank picks up Perseus in a bride-carry - a month ago, he wouldn't be able to do it. But now, he is stronger - and Perseus must weight ninety pounds wet.

The tiger follows - when they cross to the daylight, they can see it's not a normal tiger. Annabeth - with a distraught look in her face - tells them it's a skeleton tiger. Probably a saber-tooth.

They go back on board - Piper goes up to call Nico, so he can fly Perseus into the ship. He does, but the expression in his face is so crushing Leo almost wishes they had delayed it by destroying property and landing the ship on the street.

The mood of the ship is yet again somber. No one wants to leave the infirmary - but Will forces them to rotate, so as to not overwhelm Perseus. Hypocrite - he is living in there.

Leo, Malcolm, and Piper - the least close to Percy, even though they are friends - let the others take the bulk of the shifts. Annabeth, Nico, and Jason almost get into blows about it - she wins on the fact that she knows Perseus longer.

It's difficult to IM both Rachel - who is a minute away from depression since he fell - and Lady Persephone. It's even harder to tell Sally - they leave the task to Annabeth.

They harbor for two days, waiting for Reyna. She appears from the sky during dinnertime - her horse has to be euthanized almost immediately after a run with the spirit mountains.

They talk - and end up deciding that she will take the statue back to Camp with Malcolm, the most resourceful out of them. Percy would be the logical solution - taking him out of Gaea's reach - but the son of Hades would probably be unable to shadow travel so soon.

While this happens, the others will set course to Athens - to stop Gaea and destroy the Giants. For now, they eat.

Midway through their meal, Will comes into the board - everyone knows what it means. Perseus is awake - on his birthday to boot. They take their food to the infirmary - to see the boy looking at the ceiling.

He gives them a faint smile, but no one misses the way he curls into himself any time there's someone a little too close. Perseus relays his tale - it's heavily edited, Annabeth can tell.

But he tells them about the leg - but not how he lost it - about the tiger - the name is Small Bob, but he doesn't talk about Bob - and about the firewater - but not how he got the injuries.

Small Bob never leaves Perseus's side. The demigod insists that he wants to go outside - he ate enough ambrosia and drank enough nectar that even some of his scars are gone. Not the one in his face though. Will let him go - but Annabeth thinks that he just asked out of courtesy.

He doesn't have green eyes anymore - they darkened to a point they can't distinguish his pupil. They observe as he sits calmly in the deck, metal leg sticking out, and strokes the head of the tiger, who is acting more or less like a giant house cat.

None of them miss the tracks of tears across his face, or the look he gives the night sky - it's bittersweet.

"Bob says hello"

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mamourland · 5 years ago

Text

Kissing Prompts #3 & #23 - Magnum/Higgins

Prompt #3: A breathy demand: “Kiss me” - and what the other person does to respond.

Prompt #23: A kiss that tastes of the food/dessert/beverage they are eating/drinking.

Rating: G

The Ohana gang was at La Mariana for evening drinks to celebrate, well no one could remember what was the occasion exactly, but they were glad to spend some time together. Everyone had been so busy lately that they haven’t seen a lot of each other for the past month.

Magnum stood up from his seat.

“Higgy, would you come help me with the drinks? I’m buying the next round to celebrate the solve of our latest case.”

Juliet slurped noisily the last of her cocktail from her straw as their eyes met.

‘How many drinks did she have? Two, or three?’, Magnum thought.

Not that she seemed drunk. If there was something about Higgins it was that she could hold her own in a drinking contest. Both Rick and TC could attest to that. For his part, he wasn’t even brave enough to challenge her. And, as she stood up to join him, he noticed that her steps were perfectly steady, even in these insane heels.

“What’s with you, Magnum? You buying drinks for everyone seems a bit out of character.”, she teased him when they waited to make eye contact with Jeremy, the bartender, once they were at the counter.

The P.I feigned being hurt by her words.

“What? I can’t buy a round of drinks for my best friends? You think I’m that petty?”

She leaned one elbow on the counter to mimic his posture and face him. Magnum nodded at Jeremy when he saw them and gestured a circle with his index finger to indicate he wanted the same order as before.

“No, not petty, just your usual moocher.”, she told him with a shrug, a huge smile etched on her face.

He chuckled. Typical Higgins, making fun of him always owing money to his friends when he knew she didn’t really mean it. He was about to reply when he suddenly saw her face fall. Her breath hitched and her eyes widened slightly when she caught sight of something behind him, near the entrance of the bar.

He didn’t have time to ask her what was wrong before she gripped his upper arm and closed most of distance between their bodies.

“Quick, Magnum! Kiss me!”, she whispered breathlessly like she was on the verge of panicking.

“Whaaa….”

She didn’t let him finish his thought before she pressed her closed lips against his. At first, he felt frozen, not really sure how to react. Surely, something was going on because Higgins wasn’t one to invade his personal space, let alone kiss him. She wasn’t even that drunk to blame this behavior on the alcohol.

He didn’t know he had been waiting all along for this kiss to happen before now, when he felt their mouths fused together. He felt a pang in his stomach at the realization.

He relaxed, not aware at first, that he had been so tense, wrapped his arms loosely around her waist so she could still break out of the embrace if she was feeling uncomfortable. However, she did quite the opposite since she opened her lips slowly to tease him with the tip of her tongue.

He granted her access to the inside of his mouth and, as soon as their tongues mingled, he identified the sweet taste of pineapple and coconut from her Piña Colada cocktail she had earlier.

She grabbed the back of his neck and pushed the length of her body against his.

He moaned his appreciation and forgot all about his surroundings. People and the music all around him disappeared, only Juliet and her soft, delicious lips were on the forefront of his mind.

A few seconds or half an hour later, it was difficult to be more precise when his brain was as scrambled as it was, someone next to them loudly cleared their throat and Magnum remembered they were at La Mariana.

They reluctantly detached their lips and when they opened their eyes, Higgins’ pupils were so dilated in arousal that Magnum thought about forgetting the person bothered by their PDA to pin her against the counter and kiss her some more.

Unfortunately, the troubled man responsible for their break didn’t stop there.

“Juliet?”, he asked.

It was amazing how, with just one word, he could convey his state of mind - hopeful and yet devastated at the same time.

Higgins briefly closed her eyes and took a deep breath to recoup. At the same time, Jeremy slammed a bucket full of ice and beer bottles in front of Magnum and, when the P.I turned his head to look at him, the bartender addressed him a smirk and a waggle of his eyebrows.

Oh God, they made out in front of everyone, hadn’t they?

“Steven!”, Juliet exclaimed and he could tell she didn’t mean the enthusiasm she put behind the name.

She disengaged herself from his embrace to face the man and Magnum deplored the loss of her body against his.

“I thought it was you but I wasn’t sure since I couldn’t really see your face.”, the mystery man sarcastically declared as he eyed Thomas.

‘Steven’ was taller than Magnum by a couple of inches but was as thin a string. His hair was dark blond and cut properly. He was dressed in a neatly pressed light blue shirt, that was enhancing his assorted eyes, and beige slacks but both items were at least two sizes too big and the poor man was swimming in them. He seemed to be in his late thirties. He was quite unremarkable, so much that Magnum wouldn’t have been able to point him out in a line-up if he had to.

Juliet sensed the tension between the two men and took the lead in the conversation.

“Oh, I’m sorry! Steven, this is my boyfriend Thomas.” She looked at Magnum, her eyes silently telling him to go along her little story. “Thomas, this is Steven, you know the nice bank manager I told you about the other day.”

“Steven, yes of course!”. He extended his hand to shake Steven’s hand who tried but failed to crush the P.I’s fingers.

Boosted by the win against the bank manager, Thomas took his role as Juliet’s boyfriend a little too seriously when he wrapped one arm around her shoulders and pulled her to his side. She stumbled into him and he knew he would pay for that later, but he couldn’t help it, he was having too much fun. If she demanded that he kissed her in front of her bank manager, there must be quite a story there.

“What can we do for you Steven?”, he asked smugly.

“Oh, I just came to say hello to Juliet and maybe ask her if she saw any other unusual activity on her bank account.”, he babbled nervously.

Magnum frowned.

“You had suspicious activity on your bank account, babe?”

Juliet couldn’t help herself as she rolled her eyes at the moniker.

“Yes, Honey Bear. Remember I told you the other day?”, she smiled sweetly when she uttered the ridiculous endearing term. “But you were in front of a baseball game so I guess you weren’t listening to me.”, she sighed.

Magnum debated between wanting to up the game of the silliest nicknames they could find for each other or just laughing at the absurdity of the situation.

“I’m always listening to you, Sugar Plum. You’re the most interesting person I know”, he crooned as he gazed at her lovingly.

Higgins cleared her throat before turning to face Steven again.

“No, it’s ok. All is good now. Thank you for your help the other day.”

The bank manager beamed as if he was told his birthday and Christmas came on the same day this year. Magnum guessed the man developed quite a crush on Higgins and she was trying to escape his advances by making him play her boyfriend. The P.I swore to himself he would follow her the next time she went to the bank. There was no way he would let this schmuck think he had the slightest chance with Juliet.

“It’s no trouble really. It’s my job.”

“Well, it was nice running into you, Steve.”, Magnum declared as he tried to end this conversation as soon as possible.

“It’s Steven, actually.”, the bank manager corrected.

“My bad.”, Thomas said, not sounding sorry at all.

“Have a good evening, Steven. And I’ll call you if I see something suspicious.”, Juliet told him politely.

With that, the blond man took his leave and exited the bar.

As soon as he was out of sight, Juliet extricated herself from his embrace and punched his arm hard.

“Ouch! What was that for?”, he complained loudly.

“You didn’t have to take advantage of the situation.”, she scolded him.

“Oh, that’s rich! I believe it was you who begged me to kiss you and then literally assaulted me!”

“Get over yourself, Magnum, it was just a tiny kiss.”, she stated, lifting her chin in defiance.

He scoffed.

“A tiny kiss you say? How come I know exactly what your cocktail tasted like then? Don’t tell me you kissed your grandmother like that, Higgy?”, he chuckled.

Juliet’s face reddened at his words and Magnum held back a grin. Apparently she enjoyed their lip-lock as much as he did. This piece of information pleased him immensely.

“I guess I got caught up in the moment.”, she said in a low voice, trying to justify herself.

Magnum bend over slightly so their faces were inches apart.

“Don’t worry, Higgy, I liked it too and believe me, we’ll do it again soon.”, he assured her in a smooth voice.

With that, he left her flabbergasted as he grabbed the bucket of beers and joined the rest of the Ohana who were all laughing at their misadventure except for Kumu who was watching them with a knowing smile.

#magnum PI #magnum x higgins #magnum fic #Thomas Magnum #juliet higgins #miggy #miggy fic #kissing prompt #fanfic #fanfiction

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