#( i’m not exactly sure if this is what annabeth says in english

[witchywriterlythings]

All Apart of Something's Game

Chapter Two: No One Bullies My Family But Me

I know what my mom might have wanted me to do. She didn’t like when I ran away from things. But monsters attacked, Annabeth was here for some reason, and Tyson was panicking. He’d never dealt with any other monsters before, not after the sphinx. 

Speaking of Annabeth, she was waiting for us down the street. She pulled Tyson and me off the sidewalk just as a fire truck screamed past, heading for Meriwether Prep. “Where’d you find him?” she demanded, pointing at Tyson.

I will admit to being a bit animalistic in my possesiveness of my friends and if it was under different circumstances, I might have hugged her and checked over her injuries. But I’d just been attacked by cannibal giants, Tyson was my brother, and all Annabeth could do was glare at him like he was the problem.

It wasn’t like I could actually tell her that middle bit though, not without questions, so I settled for, “He’s my friend.”

“Is he homeless?”

 “What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don’t you ask him?”

She looked surprised. “He can talk?”

“I can talk,” Tyson admitted as he shifted under her atttention. “You are pretty.”

“Ah! Gross!” Annabeth stepped away from him like he had just thrown up or something. 

I growled lowly and stepped between them, keeping Tyson behind me. “Leave him alone,” I hissed warningly. I didn’t want to have to choose between them, not when I wasn’t sure who I would side with. When she raised her hands to show she was backing off, I turned to check Tyson over for injuries. 

“‘m okay,” he promised and showed me his palms. “The fire no hurt me.” 

“Of course not,” Annabeth muttered like he was an idiot and I shot her another look. She of course ignored me and I was starting to remember how annoying she could be. “I’m surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around.”

“Is that what they were? Back in the gym. Laistry-what?”

“Laistrygonians. They’re a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I’ve never seen them as far south as New York before.”

 “Laistry—I can’t even say that. What would you call them in English?”

She thought about it for a moment. “Canadians,” she decided. I snorted and she grinned cheekily before her face went serious again. “Now come on, we have to get out of here.”

“I don’t think the police will be after me, I mean maybe for a witness statement? I think I did a good job of…”

“That’s the least of our problems,” she interrupted me. Which was honestly kind of fair. “Have you been having the dreams?”

“The dreams … about Grover?”

Her face turned pale. “Grover? No, what about Grover?”

“He was getting chased by something, something I couldn’t…he was in Florida.” I tried to put my thoughts together and told her about my dream. Tyson patted my head to comfort me and I resolutely ignored him. He was also doing it because he was taller and he could. 

“Why? What were you dreaming about?” I asked. 

Her eyes looked stormy, like her mind was racing a million miles an hour. “Camp,” she said at last. “Big trouble at camp.”

“What about camp? My mom was going to talk to me about something tonight.”

“I don’t know exactly. Something’s wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks?”

I shook my head. “None all year … until today.”

“None? But how …” Her eyes drifted to Tyson. “Oh.”

Oh. So Annabeth knew what Tyson was then, which I guess explained a bi of her behavior, but at the same time he had just saved my life so I was still a bit annoyed. “Look, I get that he’s big but he’s really funny and my friend, so I don’t get why you’re so…” 

“Percy, you don’t get it okay, he’s…” 

“He’s what? There’s nothing wrong with him.” I crossed my arms and she did it back, flexing just to show off how much bigger her arms were than mine. I had let my training slip a little over the school year, mostly because my mom said no weapons training in the apartment. 

Annabeth rolled her eyes. “He’s not…you know what, we don’t have time for this, we have to get going.” 

“No! You can’t keep talking about him like he’s not here and not explain why you’re being a jerk.” 

A siren wailed. A police car raced past our alley.

“We don’t have time for this,” Annabeth said. “We’ll talk in the taxi.”

“A taxi all the way to camp?” I said. “You know how much money—”

 “Trust me.”

I hesitated. She was acting so weird but if camp really was in danger…“Tyson is coming too.” 

“Yeah.” Annabeth looked grim. “We definitely need to take him. Now come on.”

 I didn’t like the way she said that, as if Tyson were a big disease we needed to get to the hospital, but I followed her down the alley.

 “Here.” Annabeth stopped us on the corner of Thomas and Trimble. She fished around in her backpack, her tongue sticking out slightly from between her teeth. “I hope I have one left.” She was even worse than I’d realized at first. Her chin was cut. She smelled like wet soil and decaying leaves, and not just because of the ones stuck in her matted hair. That was going to be a pain to fix. She was also scared. Really scared. 

 “What are you looking for?” I asked.

All around us, sirens wailed. No doubt Matt Sloan had given them a statement by now. He’d probably twisted the story around so that Tyson and I were the bloodthirsty cannibals, but I still had a little hope I had done enough to convince them it wasn’t my fault.

 “Found one. Thank the gods.” Annabeth pulled out a drachma. 

“Annabeth, New York taxi drivers won’t take that,” I reminded her. “Who are we catching a ride with?”

”Stêthi,” she shouted in Ancient Greek. “Ô hárma diabolês!” Stop, Chariot of Damnation!

I took a step back as the words washed over me and made my skin crawl with their prickling. That didn’t exactly make me feel real excited about whatever her plan was.

She threw her coin into the street, but instead of clattering on the asphalt, the drachma sank right through and disappeared.

Then, just where the coin had fallen, the asphalt darkened. It melted into a rectangular pool about the size of a parking space—bubbling red liquid like blood. Then a car erupted from the ooze.

I couldn’t stop a growl from the back of my throat coming through, which made Tyson reach out to hold my hand. The whole thing radiated power. Old power, but not old in the way my father was old. As if it had always been old, was born old. I know children of Wisdom are supposed to make good plans, but I was starting to doubt that. 

The passenger window rolled down, and an old woman stuck her head out. She had a mop of grizzled hair covering her eyes, and she spoke in a weird mumbling way, like she’d just left the dentist after a shot of Novocain. “Passage? Passage?”

“Three to Camp Half-Blood,” Annabeth said. She opened the cab’s back door and waved at me to get in, like it was perfectly fine.

“Ach!” the old woman screeched. “We don’t take his kind!” She pointed a bony finger at me, barring her gums. “Or the other one.”

 “Extra pay,” Annabeth promised, though she glanced at me uncertainly. “Three more drachma on arrival.”

“Done!” the woman screamed and pulled herself back into the window and rolled it back up.

I shoved Tyson in the car first, knowing on turns he would squish whoever was next to him and that Annabeth would probably have something to say about sitting next to him. I squeezed in the middle. Annabeth crawled in last.

Of the three sisters in the front seat, the one driving said, “Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!” She floored the accelerator, and my head slammed against the backrest. 

The drivers argued back and forth, naming each other with each ease even as their power started flooding the taxi and swirling like their smoke around our feet. I pulled mine up for a second, before deciding having them flat on whatever counted as the floor was better than balancing on my tail the whole ride. 

Next to me, Tyson groaned and grabbed the seat. “Not feeling so good.” 

“Oh, man,” I said, because I’d seen Tyson get carsick before and it was terrifying to say the least. “Hang in there, big guy. Anybody got a garbage bag or something?” This is why we never took taxi’s.

That and they were for tourists who didn’t know better. If you could walk, you walked. If you could take the subway, take the subway. Who drove in the city? 

I looked over at Annabeth, who was hanging on for dear life, and I gave her a why-did-you-do-this-to-me-you-lived-on-the-streets-for-almost-a-year-you-should-know-better look. 

She rolled her eyes at me because of course she did. “Hey,” she said, “Gray Sisters Taxi is the fastest way to camp.”

“We’ve had famous people in this cab!” the sister on the right exclaimed. “Jason! You remember him?”

 “Don’t remind me!” the driver wailed, swerving to avoid a group of cosplayers trying to use the crosswalk. “And we didn’t have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!”

“Give me the tooth!” the one on the end tried to grab at the driver's mouth, but she was swatted away. The one in the middle looked so tired and for a second I related so hard.

It only took a second before she was brought into the fight, the others demanding the eye they shared between them. “No!” the one in the middle screeched. “You had it yesterday!”

 “But I’m driving, you old hag!”

“Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!”

We swerved at seventy miles an hour and boy was I glad I was in the middle as I slammed into Tyson. If I had been on the other side, I would have been a bug on the windshield. We shot up the Williamsburg Bridge at seventy miles an hour, the three sisters slapping at each other as they tried to grab at each other's faces. With their hair flying and their mouths open, screaming at each other, I refused to look out any of the windows since clearly our driver wasn’t either. 

The one with the eye managed to steal the tooth from the driver and shoved it in her mouth triumphantly. 

The car swerved towards the edge of the bridge, cars honking and swears ringing through the air. I wasn’t sure if it was because of our taxi or it was just a typical day for everyone. 

“‘Ivit back! ‘Ivit back!” the driver screeched.

“You’re going to die, if anyone’s interested! I don’t think anyone else would survive falling off a bridge!” I mean. Tyson might and it’s not like I’d ever let Annabeth die. But it would still really suck.

“The Gray Sisters know what they’re doing. They’re really very wise,” Annabeth tried to assure me. It really should have worked, coming from a daughter of wisdom. 

Yeah. It didn’t. 

The one on the right grinned, showing off her newly acquired tooth. “Of course we’re wise! We know things!”

“How late the subway is going to make you!” the driver bragged, still hitting her sister. “The capital of Tuvalu!”

Funafuti, my brain provided for some reason. How I knew that, I have no idea. Maybe it sank? 

 “The location you seek!” the middle one added before flinching back. 

Her sisters pummeled her from either side, screaming, “Be quiet! Be quiet! He didn’t even ask yet!”

“What location? What do—?”

“Nothing! You aren’t seeking anything, just as you said!” 

 “Tell me.”

“No!” they all screamed. 

What followed…was NOT my fault, no matter what Annabeth says. The sisters, in their arguing, actually ended up fighting each other and flinging their eye into the back seat with us. Which meant no one driving could see. 

NOT my fault! 

She’s totally right about what came next though.

I picked up the eye. 

“Nice boy!” the driver cried, as if she could still see me through it. “Give it back!”

“Not until you tell me. What is the location I seek?”

“No time!” the middle sister cried. “Accelerating!”

I refused to look out the window, knowing I would see something that might make this harder for me. I needed it. I needed to know what they meant, it sang with power and something wild. 

“Percy! The cab will explode into a million pieces and us along with it! Give them back the eye,” Annabeth demanded. I ignored her. 

I grinned sharply even though they couldn’t see. “Tyson, roll down the window.”

“No!”

Tyson, even nauseous and trying not to shower us in vomit, listened to me. 

“30, 31, 75, 12!” they screamed.

The numbers settled on me like an itch in my skin. I knew what that meant, I did, but I didn't understand. I know that it’s a location, that I need to find something, but I was missing something and I hated it. “Where is that? What do they mean!”

“That’s all we can tell you,” the one on the right screeched. “Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!” 

She wasn’t wrong, I could see the road turning to dirt and the trees were thinning towards the hill, except Thalia’s in the distance. 

 “Percy!” Annabeth said more urgently. “Give them the eye now!”

I decided listening to Annabeth was probably the best idea, since she tended to be right more often than not. By a lot. It was really annoying sometimes. I tossed the eye to the driver.

 The old lady snatched it up, pushed it into her eye socket like somebody putting in a contact lens, and blinked. “Whoa!” She slammed on the brakes. The taxi spun four or five times in a cloud of smoke and squealed to a halt in the middle of the farm road at the base of Half-Blood Hill.

Tyson belched loudly, thankfully having opened his door too. “Better now.”

I groaned from my bruised arms. “Do we pay now?” 

“Out! Out!” the sisters cried instead. 

“Let’s go,” Annabeth said determinedly.

I crawled out of the cab after her, only to be slammed with the smell of rotten eggs and singed hair. It was like being back with Smelly Gabe and I growled automatically, my hair standing up on end. 

It wasn’t hard to find the source. Why was it always bulls?

On the list of mythological things I hated, trios of old ladies were at the top. But bulls? Oh bulls were a close second. I had to fight Pasiphae’s son getting to camp and it almost killed my mother. For that alone they really should be at the top of my list.

Maybe after this fight, they’d officially be at the top. Two bulls, bronze ones the size of elephants, and breathing fire were rampaging the hill. 

Our drivers sped away the second we were free from the cab, not even waiting for the extra drachmas they’d been promised. They just left us on the side of the road, Annabeth with nothing but her backpack and knife, Tyson and me still in our burned-up tie-dyed gym clothes.

 “Oh, fuck,” Annabeth said she looked over the battle. If it wasn’t so dire, I might have gasped at her language. 

The bulls were ranging all over the hill, even around the back side of the pine tree. Even before Thalia’s sacrifice, the border around camp was strong enough to handle most monsters, except those sent by the Gods themselves. For the bulls to be crossing the border, the entirety of the camp’s defenses had to be failing. 

Ten campers in full armor were trying their best to defend the border, but they were mostly running around and trying not to die. All except one. 

 “Border patrol, to me!” A girl’s voice called—gruff and familiar.

Clarisse.

“We have to help her,” Annabeth said as she pulled her knife from…somewhere.

Normally, rushing to Clarisse’s aid would not have been high on my “to do” list. She was one of the biggest bullies at camp. The first time we’d met she tried to introduce my head to a toilet. She was also a daughter of War, and I had a very serious disagreement with her father last summer. She hates me because she thinks I humiliated her dad. Totally not projecting because I beat her during that one fight, my first Capture the Flag. I went to therapy for a little while because my mom was willing to try anything when I was younger, but then the therapist tried to eat us, so no more therapy.

No matter what my feelings about her, or more accurately her feelings about me, she was in trouble. Her armor was charred. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull’s shoulder.

I uncapped my ballpoint pen, my sword blazing to life in my hand. It didn’t feel as right as my claws, but it was still better than every other weapon I’d tried. “Tyson, stay here. I don’t want you taking any more chances.”

“No!” Annabeth said. “We need him.”

I stared at her. “He can’t, he’s just a…”

  “Percy,” she snapped, “do you know what those are up there? The Colchis bulls, made by Hephaestus himself. We can’t fight them without Medea’s Sunscreen SPF 50,000. We’ll get burned to a crisp.”Annabeth rummaged through her backpack and cursed. “I had a jar of tropical coconut scent sitting on my night-stand at home. Why didn’t I bring it?”

“I don’t know what that is, but he is staying out of this. Tyson, stay back.” I raised my sword. “I’m going in.”

“Percy! I—” He tried to protest, but I was already running up the hill.

Clarisse was calling for the others to get in phalanx formation, with the few who were listening lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, locking their shields to form an ox-hide—and-bronze wall, their spears bristling over the top like porcupine quills.

Annabeth went for the campers who were too busy trying to avoid one of the bulls attacks to join them, probably hoping to allow more to join Clarisse since she didn’t have a shield to do it herself. She taunted one of the bulls into chasing her, then turned invisible, completely confusing the monster. 

I was close enough to start seeing who was under the helmets, but I forced my brain to focus on the danger. None of the campers seemed to notice me, all of their attention on the enemy in front of them. 

 “Hold the line!” Clarisse ordered her warriors.

Even if I didn’t like her, I had to admit that I saw a lot more of her father’s older form in her than the new one I had met on my quest last summer. She was brave and looked like she was born to wear Greek battle armor, born to lead an army. 

But she didn’t have an army. She had six campers. 

There was a shout as the bull chasing after Annabeth lost interest, turning instead towards Clarisse as the biggest threat. 

I didn’t dare say anything to distract her. I yelled for Bull Number Two, growling loudly enough that it actually hesitated. 

Bull Number One slammed into the phalanx, forcing them back an inch but still bouncing off their shields. It roared in anger and blasted some of the heroes with its fiery breath. Their shields melted right off their arms. They dropped their weapons and ran as Bull Number Two closed in on Clarisse for the kill.

I lunged towards her, grabbing the straps of her armor. I dragged her out of the way just as Bull Number One freight-trained past. I gave it a good swipe with Riptide and cut a huge gash in its flank, but the monster just creaked and groaned and kept on going.

My scales bubbled to the surface before I could stop them, the heat radiating off the stupid things melting my mask right off my arms. I hissed from the pain, but I had to get Clarisse to safety even if she was cursing me the whole time. 

I dropped her in a heap next to the pine tree and turned to face the bulls. We were the only line of defense between them and the camp at our backs, and I refused to let it fall.

Annabeth was taking over for Clarisse and trying to get the campers to spread out and keep the bulls distracted. Even with their injuries, they could still run. 

However, both bulls only had eyes for me. Did they know what I was? Did they know I was their biggest threat? I longed to unleash my rage on them but even if I saved camp like that, I might lose it. For now, I had to fight like the rest of them.

So, fighting with a sword it was. I lunged at the closest one but it blew flames at me. I rolled aside, still managing to slash with my sword and lop off part of the monster’s snout. I landed hard on my right shoulder, my hand spasaming from the pain and forcing me to drop Riptide. 

The other bull was drawing closer.

Annabeth shouted, “Tyson, help him!”

“NO!” I roared. He was a baby.

Tyson wailed “Can’t—get—through!” as he tried his hardest to get past the border. 

“I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!

Tyson was probably a five year old. Maybe six, at most. My mom didn’t know much but she prayed to her old boyfriend for answers since it was easier for him to answer her than me. My father would come instead and we needed someone in the know. 

His age was all I could think about as he barreled towards me, yelling my name and diving between me and the bull. He reached out as if to shove it away. 

It unleashed a nuclear firestorm.

“Tyson!” I screamed, the earth shaking beneath me with the force of it.

The blast swirled around him like a red tornado and I knew if he was dead, the bulls would go back to where they came from ruined. 

But when the fire died, there he was. Completely unharmed. Even his clothes, thank the Gods. The bull must’ve been caught off guard, because before it could unleash a second blast, Tyson balled his fists and slammed them into the bull’s face. “BAD COW!”

Annabeth ran over to check on me, a canteen of nectar in her hands that she must have stashed in her backpack before she left her dad’s. 

 “The other bull?” I asked.

Clarisse was just finishing with it, the remains of her spear in it’s joints as it spun in circles. She pulled off her helmet, catching sight of us quickly and marched toward us. 

“Clarisse,” Annabeth said, before anything could escalate,“you’ve got wounded campers.”

That stopped her in her tracks. No matter who they were, Clarisse cared more for the soldiers under her command than her own siblings. “I’ll be back,” she growled, and turned on her heel to storm away.

I checked over Tyson as best I could. “Mom is going to kill you when she finds out.”

Tyson looked down like he was embarrassed. “I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you.”

“My fault,” Annabeth said. “I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save you. Otherwise, you would’ve died.”

“Let him cross the boundary line?’” I asked. “But—”

“Percy,” she said, “have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean … in the face. Ignore the Mist, and really look at him.”

I stared at her for a second before it finally hit me. I couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped me. “You think…?”

“I know it’s hard, but you have to know what he is.” Annabeth glanced at him with disgust, though a little less than before which was progress I guess. “I need you to look at him. Please.”

I shook my head. “What do you think I’m going to see? I know Tyson, I know who he is and you really need to stop treating him like…” I tried to come up with something to say that wouldn’t also make Tyson cry. 

Tyson shuffled next to me and I reached out to pat his arm. “Your friend is upset. I do something wrong?”

“No, buddy, she’s just—”

“He’s a kyklopes, Percy! Why do you think he was able to survive the fire?” She sniffed. “He's a baby, by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn’t get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson’s one of the homeless orphans.”

 “One of?”

“They’re in almost all the big cities,” Annabeth said distastefully. “They’re…mistakes, Percy. Children of nature spirits and gods—well, one god in particular, usually. No one wants them. They get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets. I don’t know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you. We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do.”

“What do you mean, let him decide? Why wouldn’t Tyson be able to stay?” I decided to ignore how she was treating him for now, it would just get us nowhere and I needed answers. 

Annbeth pressed her palms to her eyes for a second and huffed a breath before putting on her serious face. “Percy, he’s a mon—” 

"I know, Annabeth!” I know interrupting is rude, but I refused to let her call my brother a monster. “I have always known Tyson wasn't human." I paused to rub my eyes, trying not to cry in frustration and exhaustion. "I know he’s a kyklopes. I’m not stupid.”

She took a step back like I’d slapped her. "But…" she said, “then why—”

Clarisse stomping back towards us interrupted whatever Annabeth was going to say. She wiped the soot off her forehead, glaring at me like even that was my fault. “Jackson, if you can stand, get up. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what’s happened.”

“Who?” I asked, feeling a twinge in my stomach but not much else. He must not have been important.

“The activities director,” Clarisse said impatiently.

Annabeth’s head snapped towards her in a fashion so similar to Nico, I was both concerned for her neck and wondering if she was more interesting than I originally thought. “Chiron is the activities director. And where’s Argus? He’s head of security. He should be here.”

Clarisse made a sour face. “Argus got fired. You two have been gone too long. Things are changing.”

“What happened?” I growled, trying to keep my temper in check as I grew frustrated with the lack of information.

”That happened,” Clarisse snapped. She pointed to Thalia’s tree.

When the daughter of justice had died, her father had for once attempted to do something good and turned her into a tree, housing what was left of her spirit and immortalized her sacrifice. Thalia’s spirit reinforced the magic borders of the camp, protecting it from monsters, just as she had protected her friends. The pine had been here ever since, strong and healthy.

But now, its needles were yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. And suddenly it hit me how sick everything smelled. The very land was making me dizzy, the air made my throat itchy, and the water was far too still. 

Three feet off the ground, there was a puncture wound in the trunk oozing something sticky and dark green that dripped slowly onto the needles. 

I wanted to vomit. 

The magical borders were failing because Thalia’s tree was dying.

Someone had poisoned it. And I was pretty sure I knew who. 

You know that feeling of dizziness that happens when you stand up too fast and the whole world tilts a little bit? The entirety of our walk through camp felt like like. Instead of playing basketball on the court by the Big House, counselors and satyrs were stockpiling weapons in the tool shed. Dryads armed with bows and arrows talked nervously at the edge of the woods. I could feel the naiads moving around the lake, as restless as the others. 

We made our way to the Big House, I recognized a lot of kids from last summer. Nobody stopped to talk. Most just walked grimly past and carried on with their duties—running messages, toting swords to sharpen on the grinding wheels. The camp felt like a military school. And believe me, I know. I’ve been kicked out of a couple.

None of that mattered to Tyson. 

My little brother was amazed by everything we walked by, constantly asking, “whasthat?!” so fast his words slurred. Growing up on the streets of Manhattan, the most grass he’d ever seen was Central Park. It wasn’t a surprise he was so fascinated with the pegasi, or the cabins. He looked at me in awe when I pointed to ours. “You … have a cabin? Do you live with friends in the cabin?”

“Not right now, but maybe you can stay with me. We’ll have to talk to Chiron about it, okay?” I could hear Annabeth suck in a breath next to me. I didn’t understand her problem. “He’s a kentaur and he helps run the camp. If he’s in the Big House, he might be in his wheelchair though. It’s magic.” 

Tyson perked up. “Magic?”

I grinned. “Come on, just remember to ask nicely.” 

When we got to the Big House, we found Chiron in his apartment, listening to his favorite 1960s lounge music while he packed his saddlebags. As soon as we saw him, Tyson froze. 

“Pony!” he cried in total rapture. He’d been obsessed with horses ever since my mom had taken us to central park during winter break. Most of them were pretty skittish around him, but for some reason one of the mares decided he was a foal and refused to leave him alone the entire time we were there. The police officer on her back was hilariously confused.

Chiron turned, and his offended expression was almost as funny if I’m honest. “I beg your pardon?”

Annabeth ran up and hugged him. “Chiron, what’s happening? You’re not … leaving?” Her voice was shaky. Chiron was like a father to her, since her family situation was…tense, I guess you could say.

Chiron ruffled her hair, the only one who could do so without losing a hand, and gave her the kind of smile my mom gave Tyson. “Hello, child. And Percy, my goodness. You’ve grown over the year!”

Why did adults always say that? I swallowed that thought down. “Clarisse said you were … you were …”

Chiron quickly explained what had occurred as best he could, packing up his things as he talked. He sighed, “some in Olympus do not trust me now, under the circumstances.”

“What circumstances?” I asked.

Chiron’s face darkened and he turned away from us, turning off his boombox.

Tyson was still staring at Chiron in amazement, shuffling again andreaching out a hand before pulling it back. “Pony?”

Chiron sniffed. “My dear young Cyclops! I am a kentaur. ”

“Chiron,” I said, trying to get his attention again. “What’s happening to the tree? How do we heal it?”

He shook his head sadly. “Thalia’s tree has been infected…some venom even I have never seen. It must have come from a monster quite deep in the pits of Tartarus, something old and too tired to try returning.”

“Then we know who’s responsible. The Crooked-One.” 

“Do not speak of him, not here. Not now.”

“But last summer he tried to cause a civil war in Olympus! This has to be his idea. He’d get Luke to do it, you have to know that.”

“Perhaps,” Chiron said. “But I fear I am being held responsible because I did not prevent it and I cannot cure it. Lord Zeus still refuses to acknowledge that the titan lord may be rising and so…The tree has only a few weeks of life left.” He went to say something but stopped himself.

“What? What were you thinking?” Annabeth asked.

“No,” Chiron said softly, shaking his head. “A foolish thought. The whole valley is feeling the shock of the poison. The magical borders are deteriorating. The camp itself is dying. Only one source of magic would be strong enough to reverse the poison, and it was lost centuries ago.”

“What is it?” I asked. “We’ll go find it!” 

Chiron closed his saddlebag. He pressed the stop button on his boom box. Then he turned and rested his hand on my shoulder, looking me straight in the eyes. “Percy, you must promise me that you will not act rashly. I told your mother I did not want you to come here at all this summer. It’s much too dangerous.”

“Why?”

He ignored me. Typical of adults. “But now that you are here, stay here. Train hard. Learn to fight. But do not leave.”

“Why?” I asked again. “I want to do something! I can’t just let the borders fail. The whole camp will be—”

“Overrun by monsters,” Chiron said. “Yes, I fear so. But you must not let yourself be baited into hasty action! This could be a trap of the titan lord. Remember last summer! He almost took your life.” 

“Luke was the one here. Wherever the titan lord is, he’s still licking his wounds and letting others do his dirty work.” I went to say something else but then I saw Annabeth’s face and clicked my jaw shut. 

She was trying hard not to cry. 

I felt like shit for mentioning Luke. 

Chiron brushed a tear from her cheek. “Stay with Percy, child,” he told her. “Keep him safe.”

“Hey! I do fine,” I protested, but neither of them looked at me. 

“Chiron …” Annabeth said. “You told me the gods made you immortal only so long as you were needed to train heroes. If they dismiss you from camp—” Her eyes teared up and I could practically feel her panic at the thought.

“Swear you will do your best to keep Percy from danger,” he insisted instead of answering her very reasonable question. “Swear upon the River Styx.”

My mind blanked. One moment I was next to Chiron, and then suddenly I was between him and Annabeth, half crouched as a mix between a hiss and a growl came from my throat like it didn’t know how human it wanted to be. 

The power behind those words, that demand—I finally understood what it might feel like for a human to fall to the bottom of the ocean. The very air around us was heavier than a building, both gone from beneath my feet and crushing me from all sides. 

Asking anyone to swear that was a threat. And Annabeth, Annabeth was mine. Mine to protect, my friend. To demand she keep me from danger was like asking her to take my place and I would rather die. 

“Percy?” She wasn’t scared. Confused, maybe. 

Chiron was watching me with the skittishness of an animal facing an unknown predator. So at least he wasn’t confused. He might not know what I was, he was far too young for that, but he was at least starting to understand I wasn’t just a son of the Sea God. “Very well,” he said. “Please keep an eye on each other in my absence. I go to visit my wild kinsmen in the Everglades. It’s possible they know of some cure for the poisoned tree that I have forgotten. In any event, I will stay in exile until this matter is resolved—” He glanced towards me and his legs shuffled slightly, his tail swishing faster. “—one way or another.”

Annabeth took this change in conversation as well as she could. She put a hand over her mouth to pretend she wasn’t sobbing. 

Chiron patted her shoulder awkwardly and I never related to him more. What do you do when girls cry? I can’t just give her a peanut butter sandwich, right? “There, now, child. I must entrust your safety to Mr. D and the new activities director. Perhaps they won’t destroy the camp quite as quickly as I fear.”

A conch horn blew across the valley. It was time for the campers to assemble for dinner—and for Chiron to leave. 

He sighed as he looked out the window for a second, dramatic to the end, and then turned back to us. “I will contact your mother, Percy, and let her know you’re safe. No doubt she’ll be worried by now. Just remember my warning! You are in grave danger.”

When aren’t I? I thought saltily.

Tyson called after him as he moved down the hall, “Pony! Don’t go!”

I realized I’d forgotten to tell Chiron about my dream of Grover. I wanted to rip my hair out in frustration, nothing was like it was supposed to be!

Tyson started bawling almost as bad as Annabeth. I tried to tell them that things would be okay, but I didn’t believe it. I really wished I had some peanut butter. 

<Prev Master Post Next>

[athinakori]

As for acting against my mother, why not? She sent me here to die, didn't she? The last time I saw her, in New York, she basically disowned me.

😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

[kookie-doughs]

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS: Voyage

Percy Jackson X Reader

Another year passed and now they're back as the camp needs them.

Chapter 2: Taxi Of Death

Annabeth was waiting for us in an alley down Church Street. She pulled Tyson and me off the sidewalk just as a fire truck screamed past, heading for Meriwether Prep.

"Where'd you find him?" she demanded, pointing at Tyson.

Now, under different circumstances, I would've been really happy to see her. We'd made our peace last summer, despite the fact that her mom was Athena and didn't get along with my dad. I'd missed Annabeth probably more than I wanted to admit.

But I'd just been attacked by cannibal giants, Tyson had saved my life three or four times, and all Annabeth could do was glare at him like he was the problem.

"He's my friend," I told her.

"Is he homeless?"

"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"

She looked surprised. "He can talk?"

"I talk," Tyson admitted. "You are pretty."

"Ah! Gross!" Annabeth stepped away from him.

I couldn't believe she was being so rude. I was about to call her out when a smack was heard.

"Do NOT be rude." An assertive voice from behind Annabeth echoed.

Y/N came out from the shadows riding a dog that was bigger than the hellhound that had attacked me in camp when I got claimed. She looked pretty much the same from her photo if not more mature. Her clothes were different as well, but she still had the knife and headband on her.

"That hurts!" Annabeth hissed.

"And it'll hurt more if you continue to be rude. He helped Percy, he deserves credit."

Remembering what happened to Tyson, I examined his hands, which I was sure must've been badly scorched by the flaming dodge balls, but they looked fine—grimy and scarred, with dirty fingernails the size of potato chips—but they always looked like that. "Tyson," I said in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."

"Of course not," Annabeth muttered.

"I'm surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around." Y/N chuckled looking at Tyson.

Tyson seemed fascinated by Y/N's dog. He was hesitant to touch it until Y/N took his hand and brought it to D/N's head.

"Annabeth," I said, "what is she talking about? Laistry-what?"

"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. Odysseus ran into them once, but I've never seen them as far south as New York before."

"Laistry—I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Canadians," she decided. "Now come on, we have to get out of here."

"The police'll be after me."

"That's the least of our problems," she said. "Have you been having the dreams?"

"The dreams... about Grover?"

Their face turned pale. "Grover? No, what about Grover?"

I told them my dream. "Why? What were you dreaming about?"

Annabeth's eyes looked stormy, like her mind was racing a million miles an hour.

"Camp," she said at last. "Big trouble at camp."

"My mom was saying the same thing! But what kind of trouble?"

"I don't know exactly. Something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. Have you had a lot of attacks? Either of you?"

Y/N looked on the ground and shrugged.

I shook my head. "None all year... until today."

"None? But how..." Her eyes drifted to Tyson. "Oh."

"What do you mean, 'oh'?"

Tyson raised his hand like he was still in class. "Canadians in the gym called Percy something... Son of the Sea God?"

Annabeth, Y/N and I exchanged looks.

I didn't know how I could explain, but I figured Tyson deserved the truth after almost getting killed.

"Big guy," I said, "you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena—"

"Yes," Tyson said.

"Well... those gods are still alive. They kind of follow Western Civilization around, living in the strongest countries , so like now they're in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals.

Kids called half-bloods."

"Yes," Tyson said, like he was still waiting for me to get to the point.

"Uh, well, Annabeth, Y/N and I are half-bloods," I said. "We're like... heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."

"Yes."

I stared at him. He didn't seem surprised or confused by what I was telling him, which surprised and confused me. "So... you believe me?"

Tyson nodded. "But you are... Son of the Sea God?"

"Yeah," I admitted. "My dad is Poseidon."

Tyson frowned. Now he looked confused. "But then..."

A siren wailed. A police car raced past our alley.

"We don't have time for this," Y/N said. "We'll talk in the taxi."

"A taxi all the way to camp?" I said. "You know how much money—"

"Trust me."

I hesitated. "What about Tyson?"

I imagined escorting my giant friend into Camp Half-Blood. If he freaked out on a regular playground with regular bullies, how would he act at a training camp for demigods? On the other hand, the cops would be looking for us.

"We can't just leave him," I decided. "He'll be in trouble, too."

"Yeah." Annabeth looked grim. "We definitely need to take him. Now come on."

I didn't like the way she said that, as if Tyson were a big disease we needed to get to the hospital, but I followed her down the alley. Together the three of us sneaked through the side streets of downtown while a huge column of smoke billowed up behind us from my school gymnasium.

"Here." Y/N stopped us on the corner of Thomas and Trimble. She fished around in her backpack. "I hope I have one left."

"What are you looking for?" I asked.

All around us, sirens wailed. I figured it wouldn't be long before more cops cruised by, looking for juvenile delinquent gym-bombers. No doubt Matt Sloan had given them a statement by now. He'd probably twisted the story around so that Tyson and I were the bloodthirsty cannibals.

"I have one." Annabeth pulled out a gold coin that I recognized as a drachma, the currency of Mount Olympus. It had Zeus's likeness stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.

"Annabeth," I said, "New York taxi drivers won't take that."

She handed the coin to Y/N.

"Stêthi," she shouted in Ancient Greek. "Ô hárma diabolês!"

As usual, the moment she spoke in the language of Olympus, I somehow understood it.

She'd said: Stop, Chariot of Damnation!

That didn't exactly make me feel real excited about whatever her plan was.

She threw her coin into the street, but instead of clattering on the asphalt, the drachma sank right through and disappeared.

For a moment, nothing happened.

Then, just where the coin had fallen, the asphalt darkened. It melted into a rectangular pool about the size of a parking space—bubbling red liquid like blood. Then a car erupted from the ooze.

It was a taxi, all right, but unlike every other taxi in New York, it wasn't yellow. It was smoky gray. I mean it looked like it was woven out of smoke, like you could walk right through it. There were words printed on the door—something like GYAR SSIRES—but my dyslexia made it hard for me to decipher what it said.

The passenger window rolled down, and an old woman stuck her head out. She had a mop of grizzled hair covering her eyes, and she spoke in a weird mumbling way, like she'd just had a shot of Novocain. "Passage? Passage?"

"Three to Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth said. She opened the cab's back door and waved at me to get in, like this was all completely normal.

"Ach!" the old woman screeched. "We don't take his kind!"

She pointed a bony finger at Tyson.

What was it? Pick-on-Big-and-Ugly-Kids Day?

"Extra pay," Y/N promised. "Three more drachma on arrival."

"Done!" the woman screamed.

Reluctantly I got in the cab. Tyson and Y/N squeezed in the middle. Annabeth crawled in last. D/N was somehow smaller than he was when he arrived and had settled on Tyson's lap.

The interior was also smoky gray, but it felt solid enough. The seat was cracked and lumpy—no different than most taxis. There was no Plexiglas screen separating us from the old lady driving ... Wait a minute. There wasn't just one old lady. There were three, all crammed in the front seat, each with stringy hair covering her eyes, bony hands, and a charcoal-colored sackcloth dress.

The one driving said, "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"

She floored the accelerator, and my head slammed against the backrest. A prerecorded voice came on over the speaker: Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus, and when I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!

I looked down and found a large black chain instead of a seat belt. I decided I wasn't that desperate... yet.

The cab sped around the corner of West Broadway, and the gray lady sitting in the middle screeched, "Look out! Go left!"

"Well, if you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could see that!" the driver complained.

Wait a minute. Give her the eye?

I didn't have time to ask questions because the driver swerved to avoid an oncoming delivery truck, ran over the curb with a jaw-rattling thump, and flew into the next block.

"Wasp!" the third lady said to the driver. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it."

"You bit it last time, Anger!" said the driver, whose name must've been Wasp. "It's my turn!"

"Is not!" yelled the one called Anger.

The middle one, Tempest, screamed, "Red light!"

"Brake!" yelled Anger.

Instead, Wasp floored the accelerator and rode up on the curb, screeching around another corner, and knocking over a newspaper box. She left my stomach somewhere back on Broome Street.

"Excuse me," I said. "But ... can you see?"

"No!" screamed Wasp from behind the wheel.

"No!" screamed Tempest from the middle.

"Of course!" screamed Anger by the shotgun window.

I looked at the two. "They're blind?"

"Not completely," Annabeth said. "They have an eye."

"One eye?"

"Yeah."

"Each?"

"No. One eye total."

Next to me, Tyson groaned and grabbed the seat. "Not feeling so good."

"Oh, man," I said, because I'd seen Tyson get carsick on school field trips and it was not something you wanted to be within fifty feet of. "Hang in there, big guy. Anybody got a garbage bag or something?"

The three gray ladies were too busy squabbling to pay me any attention. I looked over at Y/N who was rubbing Tyson's back saying some... comforting words? I guess something that could make him better. Then to Annabeth, who was hanging on for dear life, and I gave her a why-did-you-do-this-to-me look.

"Hey," she said, "Gray Sisters Taxi is the fastest way to camp."

"Then why didn't you take it from Virginia?"

"That's outside their service area," she said, like that should be obvious. "They only serve Greater New York and surrounding communities."

"We've had famous people in this cab!" Anger exclaimed. "Jason! You remember him?"

"Don't remind me!" Wasp wailed. "And we didn't have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!"

"Give me the tooth!" Anger tried to grab at Wasp's mouth, but Wasp swatted her hand away.

"Only if Tempest gives me the eye!"

"No!" Tempest screeched. "You had it yesterday!"

"But I'm driving, you old hag!"

"Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!"

Wasp swerved hard onto Delancey Street, squishing me between Tyson and the door. She punched the gas and we shot up the Williamsburg Bridge at seventy miles an hour.

The three sisters were fighting for real now, slapping each other as Anger tried to grab at Wasp's face and Wasp tried to grab at Tempest's. With their hair flying and their mouths open, screaming at each other, I realized that none of the sisters had any teeth except for Wasp, who had one mossy yellow incisor. Instead of eyes, they just had closed, sunken eyelids, except for Anger, who had one bloodshot green eye that stared at everything hungrily, as if it couldn't get enough of anything it saw.

Finally Anger, who had the advantage of sight, managed to yank the tooth out of her sister Wasp's mouth. This made Wasp so mad she swerved toward the edge of the Williamsburg Bridge, yelling, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!"

Tyson groaned and clutched his stomach.

"Uh, if anybody's interested," I said, "we're going to die!"

"Don't worry," Annabeth told me, sounding pretty worried. "The Gray Sisters know what they're doing. They're really very wise."

This coming from the daughter of Athena, but I wasn't exactly reassured. We were skimming along the edge of a bridge a hundred and thirty feet above the East River.

"Yes, wise!" Anger grinned in the rearview mirror, showing off her newly acquired tooth. "We know things!"

"Every street in Manhattan!" Wasp bragged, still hitting her sister. "The capital of Nepal!"

"The location you seek!" Tempest added.

Immediately her sisters pummeled her from either side, screaming, "Be quiet! Be quiet! He didn't even ask yet!"

"What?" Y/N said.

"What location? I'm not seeking any—"

"Nothing!" Tempest said. "You're right, boy. It's nothing!"

"Tell me."

"No!" they all screamed.

"The last time we told, it was horrible!" Tempest said.

"Eye tossed in a lake!" Anger agreed.

"Years to find it again!" Wasp moaned. "And speaking of that—give it back!"

"No!" yelled Anger.

"Eye!" Wasp yelled. "Gimme!"

She whacked her sister Anger on the back. There was a sickening pop and something flew out of Anger's face. Anger fumbled for it, trying to catch it, but she only managed to bat it with the back of her hand. The slimy green orb sailed over her shoulder, into the backseat, and straight into my lap.

I jumped so hard, my head hit the ceiling and the eyeball rolled away.

"I can't see!" all three sisters yelled.

"Give me the eye!" Wasp wailed.

"Give her the eye!" Annabeth screamed.

"I don't have it!" I said.

"There, by your foot," Y/N said. "Don't step on it! Get it!"

"I'm not picking that up!"

The taxi slammed against the guardrail and skidded along with a horrible grinding noise. The whole car shuddered, billowing gray smoke as if it were about to dissolve from the strain.

"Going to be sick!" Tyson warned.

"Annabeth," Y/N yelled, "let Tyson use your backpack!"

"Are you crazy? Percy get the eye!"

Wasp yanked the wheel, and the taxi swerved away from the rail. We hurtled down the bridge toward Brooklyn, going faster than any human taxi. The Gray Sisters screeched and pummeled each other and cried out for their eye.

At last I steeled my nerves. I ripped off a chunk of my tie-dyed T-shirt, which was already falling apart from all the burn marks, and used it to pick the eyeball off the floor.

"Nice boy!" Anger cried, as if she somehow knew I had her missing peeper. "Give it back!"

"Not until you explain," I told her. "What were you talking about, the location I seek?"

"No time!" Tempest cried. "Accelerating!"

I looked out the window. Sure enough, trees and cars and whole neighborhoods were now zipping by in a gray blur. We were already out of Brooklyn, heading through the middle of Long Island.

"Percy," Annabeth warned, "they can't find our destination without the eye. We'll just keep accelerating until we break into a million pieces."

"First they have to tell us," Y/N said. And signaled to me.

"Or I'll open the window and throw the eye into oncoming traffic." I continued.

"No!" the Gray Sisters wailed. "Too dangerous!"

"I'm rolling down the window."

"Wait!" the Gray Sisters screamed. "30, 31, 75, 12!"

They belted it out like a quarterback calling a play.

"What do you mean?" I said. "That makes no sense!"

"30, 31, 75, 12!" Anger wailed. "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"

We were off the highway now, zipping through the countryside of northern Long Island. I could see Half-Blood Hill ahead of us, with its giant pine tree at the crest—Thalia's tree, which contained the life force or a fallen hero.

"Percy!" Annabeth said more urgently. "Give them the eye now!"

I decided not to argue. I threw the eye into Wasp's lap.

The old lady snatched it up, pushed it into her eye socket like somebody putting in a contact lens, and blinked. "Whoa!"

She slammed on the brakes. The taxi spun four or five times in a cloud of smoke and squealed to a halt in the middle of the farm road at the base of Half-Blood Hill.

Tyson let loose a huge belch. "Better now."

"All right," I told the Gray Sisters. "Now tell me what those numbers mean."

"No time!" Annabeth opened her door. "We have to get out now."

I was about to ask why, when I looked up at Half-Blood Hill and understood.

At the crest of the hill was a group of campers. And they were under attack.

Previous | Masterlist | Next

Taglist?

@gayer-than-the-gayest-gay @the-natureofme @booknerd-3000 @ynfics @katara720

[annabethy]

81 “people just don’t like me” and/or 87 “oh my god, i love you” (i’m thinking sometime with a love confession but it’s up to u! love u bestie)

In which Annabeth’s in love with her best friend, and Percy’s a pretty good date,, percabeth

Annabeth has never been one to become distracted by people around her, but Percy Jackson seems to be an exception.

There’s something sinful about the way he looks at her when they’re working at separate tables in the chem lab. He’s meant to be paying attention to the reaction before him, but instead, his eyes are on her. He’s not particularly hiding it, and she thinks that’s what makes it so much more intriguing.

Percy Jackson holds no shame for her, and it makes her want him that much more.

Annabeth isn’t one to talk; her eyes are glued to him too, far more than is acceptable when she’s also so focused on her grades. But she’s not complaining. She likes his gaze, the sea-green irises that hold pure, unadulterated want, promise, passion—

Annabeth hardly hears Piper’s scolding when she nearly drops hydrochloric acid. Instead, her ears zero in on the low laugh she swears Percy gives out as she shakes his head at her, adoring, and gets back to the task at hand. She already knows to expect his appearance later that day, once they’re both done with class and ready to continue on with their game of advances, to see who will fold first.

It’s exactly what happens, and she has to smother a smile when she catches him waiting for her after the lab, leaning against the outside wall with his leather jacket thrown over an arm, prepared for her to shuck it on like she always does on Tuesdays while they walk to find somewhere to eat lunch.

Percy holds open the jacket while Annabeth steps into the sleeves, and then he moves to pull her hair from below the collar.

“You sure look comfortable,” Percy comments lightly, his stride matching hers as they walk. His fingers pinch her elbow gently. “Enjoy stealing my jacket, don’t you?”

“It’s not stealing if you give it to me,” she reminds. “And I seem to recall you offering it to me when I forgot my own.”

Percy snorts. “Two months ago.”

“Two days, two months. What is time, anyway?”

Percy sighs, but she can hear the amusement in his voice. He’d let it slip one night that he likes seeing her in his jacket, and she’s made it a point to do it every chance she can, if only to see that subtle grin on his face that he always tries to hide.

“You’re a thief, you know?”

Annabeth smiles sweetly as she links her arm through his, pressing her cheek to his shoulder. “Is it theft if you willingly gave it to me?”

“You’ve stolen more than my jacket.”

“Wasn’t stealing.”

“My heart, for example.”

Annabeth coos and drags them to a slow stop. He ends up cornering her against the brick of an English building, and she lets herself be pressed to the wall, delighting in the way he towers over her and looks at her like she’s the only person in the world.

When Percy just looks at her accusingly, she snickers and says, “You willingly gave me that, too.”

“It wasn’t so much willing as it was unpreventable. I didn’t really get a say in the matter. And besides, it’s not officially yours.”

Annabeth’s hands rub at his arms when they press to either side of her, trapping her in the moment. She doesn’t object; she wants him in the same way he wants her.

“Why don’t you make it official, then?” she teases.

“I’ve tried,” he says, moving his face away when Annabeth tugs lightly at the ring on his lower lip. “But you like to mess with me, and then give me oogly eyes across the room.”

“Oh, but it’s so much fun. Tell me I’m wrong.”

“You know what’s more fun?”

“Hm?”

“Going on a date with me.”

“I don’t hear a question there.”

Percy rolls his eyes fondly, but he’s smiling. “Will you go on a date with me?”

Annabeth already knows her answer, but she can’t help but make this moment last longer. She wants to stay here forever.

“A date with me? Aren’t there a million other girls that want you?”

“People just don’t like me,” he says, grinning. “Not in the way that you do.”

It goes unsaid what he really means. She knows plenty of people like him, but that’s the difference. Where others like him, Annabeth loves him. She loves the gold ring on his lip, the sparkle in his eyes, the gentle caresses he gives her when it’s late and she falls asleep in his arms while they’re watching a movie. She loves what other people like, and that’s exactly why they are where they are, together.

“Where would we go on a date?” she asks, looking him in the eyes. He matches her gaze, and she could look at him all day.

“Anywhere you want.”

“I want you to choose,” she says, a finger poking lightly into his chest. She feels a shiver run down her back when he bends down to kiss her hand.

“In that case…” Percy leans in closer to whisper in his ear, and there’s no way he doesn’t know the effect he has on her. “I want to take you to a museum.”

“You hate museums,” she muses.

“But you like museums, and I like you.”

Annabeth thinks that’s a date-worthy response.

“But I would take you out to dinner first. There’s this place I want you to try—it reminds me of you—and then since the museum closes at ten, we could go to the beach. That’s where we met.”

She kind of wants to cry at his words. Percy’s always been like this, considerate, and she wishes more people knew this side of him, but at the same time, she wants to keep it all to herself.

“But really, I don’t care what we do,” Percy says. “As long as I have you, I’m happy.”

And Annabeth melts.

“Oh my god, I love you,” she breathes.

Percy smiles, his laugh bright as the sun. “Yeah?”

Annabeth can’t wait. “Kiss me.”

And he does just that.

It’s short and sweet, but it’s so reminiscent of the two of them, how they’ve always been the other’s soft spot, and it’s exactly as should be.

Annabeth never did imagine herself getting distracted in class, but she never imagined herself ending up with someone like this, either. She supposes not everything has to be expected; she’s glad that the unexpected exists, because without it, she would never be here.

“So is that a yes?” Percy asks, pressing his lips lightly to the corner of her mouth.

Annabeth rolls her eyes and kisses him once more. “It’s a yes.”

[buoyantsaturn]

I’m all eyes (1/1)

summary: So, obviously, if Nico was wearing Jason’s sweatshirt, then they must be dating, right?

word count: 1,871

read on ao3

Will didn’t think he was the jealous type. Jealousy required some amount of anger, right? But he wasn’t angry - maybe just disappointed. And really, he didn’t even have all of the facts, so he shouldn’t let himself get worked up over it anyway. 

It’s just that, well. It sucked to always look over at the Big Three table to see Nico in that giant purple SPQR sweatshirt. Or, it didn’t suck - it was a good look, and purple was definitely Nico’s color, as much as Will would prefer to see him in camp orange. The part that sucked was that Jason was always sitting beside him, and that sweatshirt definitely looked like it was Jason’s size. 

So, obviously, if Nico was wearing Jason’s sweatshirt, then they must be dating, right? And on the one hand, it was exciting, because that meant Nico was into guys, which meant that Will might have a chance with him (and bonus points because he, too, was tall, blond, and blue-eyed). On the other hand, Nico was taken, and Will wasn’t a homewrecker (or whatever the fifteen year old version of a homewrecker was).

Anyway, Will had a lot of mixed feelings about seeing Nico in that sweatshirt. And he kept having those mixed feelings when he started to see more and more of Nico around camp. He would come by the archery range while Will was practicing with his shotgun (on his own target that he’d made specifically for shooting practice). He had started going to campfires (where he would pull the sweatshirt over his knees and turn himself into an adorable purple blob). He’d even started coming by the infirmary every few days so that Will could make sure he was keeping his fading in check (so, to be fair, Will had asked him to stop by occasionally, but that was for purely medical reasons).

On one particularly hot day in September, Nico entered the infirmary sans sweatshirt, and Will’s heart jumped in his chest. Sure, he’d seen Nico without that sweatshirt on a few times before, but he’d reacted the same way then, too. He tried to act normal, checking Nico’s solidity and making sure that his arms and legs still cast shadows, but the second Piper stepped into the infirmary, Will’s mind went blank.

She was wearing a giant purple SPQR sweatshirt, the one that looked just like Jason’s that Nico always wore. And hadn’t Jason and Piper been dating before they set off on the Argo II? 

“Is that Jason’s sweatshirt?” Will’s mouth asked before his brain could stop it.

Piper paused and glanced down, like she’d forgotten what she was wearing. “Oh, uh, yeah. Nyssa’s got the AC blasting in the bunker, so I snagged this from Jason’s cabin on the way here.”

“Oh.” Did that mean they were still dating? Or maybe they just had a really amicable breakup? Or...Nico, Jason, and Piper were all in some sort of polyamorous relationship? Not that there was anything wrong with that, of course, but the three of them together certainly made for an odd bunch. “Sorry, did you need help?” 

She shook her head. “Nah, just came to see what was holding Nico up. He’s been helping us try to track down Leo.” 

“Really?” Will asked, glancing at Nico in surprise. “That’s...nice of you.” 

Nico shrugged. “I’m just gonna make sure he stays dead this time.” 

Will grinned. “Ah. That’s more like it.” 

“So, am I good to go?” Nico asked. “I’d like to track Leo down before Thanatos does.” 

Will rolled his eyes fondly. “Yeah, go ahead. But as a bit of medical advice, murder might not be best for your mental health.” 

Nico scrunched up his nose. “I don’t think you have to worry about that.” 

“Sure, Death Boy,” Will said, brushing off his reply. It was probably a joke anyway. Right? “Get out of here already. I’ll see you later.” 

As Nico started toward the door, Piper threw an arm around him, which Nico immediately tried to shove off, albeit unsuccessfully. Once he was sure they were gone, and once Kayla returned from her snack break, Will snuck out the back entrance.

He went to the cave under Half Blood Hill, announcing himself as he pushed the curtain aside and walked in. He found Rachel the way he usually did, one bare foot holding a paintbrush as she worked on her current project. “Hey,” she greeted, not lifting her eyes from the canvas.

“Hey,” Will replied moments before flopping down face-first onto a pile of overstuffed pillows. He was pretty sure it was the space that Rachel pretended was her bed whenever she stayed the night at camp so that Chiron wouldn’t realize that she snuck into the Apollo cabin every night to sleep on one of the spare bunks. He’d gotten close with Rachel since the end of the Titan war, seeing as he was usually the one to catch her when she collapsed after giving a prophecy. It had helped them bond. Now Rachel felt like something of a sister, except Will’s only experience with siblings were his godly siblings, who always just felt like close friends. So, anyway, Rachel was somewhere between Will’s newest vaguely-related sister and a close friend. Which meant that they had a good enough relationship that they could sit in silence without it being awkward, which was how the next few minutes passed.

Then, Will lifted his face off of a pillow and glanced to the side, spotting a familiar shade of purple. He picked it up - an oversized SPQR sweatshirt. “Whose is this?” 

“Huh?” Rachel barely glanced away for a second before turning back to her easel. “Oh. That’s Nico’s. He must’ve left it here last night.” 

Will’s head snapped up. “Nico was here? Wait, you hang out with Nico?” 

Rachel shrugged. She leaned forward and pulled the brush out from between her toes, apparently deciding that Will had become too much of a distraction for the time being. “Yeah, we go way back. We both helped Percy and Annabeth with the Labyrinth, remember? And then after that he would check in on me sometimes to, like, make sure nobody came after me. It was kinda creepy at first, you know, because he just sort of appears out of nowhere sometimes? But as soon as I started feeding him, he opened his mouth and never really shut up, so the creepiness kinda faded.” 

Will smoothed a hand across the fabric. It was soft, and big enough that it would fit him easily. And Rachel said it was Nico’s, not Jason’s - not that it could be, since he’d just seen Piper wearing Jason’s about ten minutes ago. And if Rachel and Nico were friends, then she would know-- “So Nico’s not dating Jason?” 

Rachel blinked, clearly taken aback by the question, and then laughed. “No, definitely not.”

Will’s brain was moving too fast for him to process anything. “He-- I--” He scrambled to his feet and gathered the sweatshirt in his hands. “I gotta go!” 

“Uh, bye?” Rachel called after him as Will took off out of the cave. Piper had said that she was with Nyssa at Bunker Nine, so Will took off toward the woods. He was grateful for his long legs that carried him across camp so quickly, leaping over fallen branches and thankfully not tripping up on any roots. He found himself outside Bunker Nine in no time, and it wasn’t long before his eyes landed on Nico. He sprinted up to the other boy, hunching over for half a second to catch his breath before he said, “Can I talk to you?” 

Nico nodded, his eyes wide in obvious surprise at having Will suddenly appear in front of him. (Served him right for doing the same to everyone else for the last few years.) Will led him out of the bunker and away from listening ears, and then handed over the sweatshirt.

“Oh,” Nico said, sounding almost disappointed. “Um. Thanks.” 

“Rachel told me it was yours, so I...brought it,” Will told him. “I always thought-- I mean, I assumed-- You and Jason are just so close, and I figured--” 

“I don’t like Jason,” Nico said quickly, defensively, and his cheeks began to color. “Not… Not like that, I mean. He just got this for me because he was sick of me stealing his all the time.” 

“No, right, of course,” Will replied as his heart sank. “I mean-- Oh gods, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to assume you liked guys-- I never should’ve--” 

“I do,” Nico cut in, and Will’s mouth snapped shut. “I, um. I’m...gay.” 

“Oh. Oh! Cool! I mean, I am too! Or, uh, I’m bi, but, uh. I like guys, too.”

If Will’s arms weren’t frozen at his side, he probably would’ve smacked himself for babbling like a total idiot. But maybe it was worth it to see the way Nico’s cheeks continued to grow red.

“Cool,” Nico said softly, dropping his gaze to his shoes before rapidly looking around at anything that wasn’t Will. “Would you, um. Would you maybe be interested in sitting with me at the campfire tonight?” 

Will was pretty sure his soul had left his body, but he still managed to ask, “Like, as a date?” 

Nico scuffed the toe of his shoe against the dirt. “If… If you want.” 

“Yeah!” Will said quickly, and then, “That would be, um. Cool.” 

“Cool,” Nico repeated. He started fidgeting with the sweatshirt in his hands before he suddenly held it out to Will. “You should take this. It’ll probably be cold tonight, so…” 

Will barely managed to stop himself from saying, it’s okay, I have my own. Instead, he forced his hands out to take the sweatshirt back. “Cool.” Did he know any other word in the English language besides cool? “I’ll, um. See you tonight then.” 

Nico smiled, and Will’s heart soared. “Yeah. See you tonight.” 

When Will arrived at the campfire later, happily yet nervously showing off the SPQR laurels on his chest, he made his way straight to Nico, relieved to see that the other boy had shown up in just a t-shirt. 

“Hey,” Will said, smiling brightly as he sat down in the open space beside Nico. “You know, it might get cold this far from the fire. Maybe you should borrow this.” Will held out his own neatly folded orange camp hoodie, one with a large 7 on the back and a red cross on one sleeve - a sweatshirt that was unmistakably Will’s. 

Nico smiled down at the sweatshirt, and then up at Will like this was exactly what he’d been hoping for. “Okay,” he said as he took the sweatshirt and pulled it on over his head. 

“It might be a little big on you,” Will warned, but Nico only smiled brighter when his head popped out of the neck hole. 

“That’s okay,” Nico replied. Just the very tips of his fingers stuck out the ends of the sleeves, and Will got the sudden urge to hold Nico’s hand. Maybe he would try later, when Nico didn’t have all of his focus directed at Will. “That’s how I like it.” 

thanks for reading!!

buy me a coffee

[perseabethj]

i don't really have an explanation (i.)

When Percy started his senior year in yet another school, he promised himself he would try his best to make sure nothing strange happened; sure, it wasn’t really up to him monster-wise, but he could at least try not to say anything strange to his new classmates or curse in ancient Greek. Besides, the last two years had been a mess and, with his kidnapping, it was not like he had much to say when he was told to introduce himself the first day of class -‘’hey, my name is Percy Jackson, my dad is a Greek god, and I was kidnapped last year and my memories were erased; oh, and I like blue food!’’. Yeah, that probably wouldn’t work.

Thus, Percy was known as the quiet and reserved kid in his school. This was a first for him; sure, he’d never had many friends, but he was always causing trouble. This time, however, he knew that Annabeth would kill him if, for any reason, he messed this school year up and he couldn’t go to New Rome University. He made friends -a first, excluding Grover and Tyson, who didn’t really count if you kept in mind that, well, they were his protector and his brother, and a satyr and a cyclops. He didn’t tell his friends much about him -his step-dad was an English teacher, he had been expelled from way too many schools, he had ADHD and dyslexia, he was very athletic, and he was going to try and join the swim team. He made sure to exclude everything that could be linked to his other life -he didn’t talk about his summer camp, his other friends, his huge dog, his father, or his girlfriend; Percy liked how both things didn’t go together, and he felt like it made everything easier. Whenever he talked, he sounded like a normal seventeen-year-old, and he was glad about that. He had had enough of monsters for a lifetime and, even if a hydra or a hellhound bothered him every other day, he could truly say that he could see a future for him and Annabeth that didn’t include them dying in the next five months. All in all, things were good.

When his school organized a homecoming football game, however, he did invite Annabeth; she was in a boarding school in the city, but it wasn’t that hard for her to sneak out with her New York Yankees cap, and he did want her there; it was a milestone for them. After all, Percy wasn’t supposed to reach senior year. They had agreed on meeting at the school; Percy had told Annabeth he’d meet her at the entrance once she texted him that she was close, since he was already at the bleachers with his friends. He wasn’t used to having a phone yet, however, which, in his opinion, gave him an excuse as to why he wasn’t checking his texts. Moreover, his ADHD tended to slow time down for him, so he was pretty sure that he still had thirty minutes before Annabeth was supposed to arrive.

‘’I swear, man, she was the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen,’’ his friend Matthew said, leaning over Kayla so he could see him.

‘’You say that about every girl you meet.’’

‘’I don’t say that about you,’’ Matthew told Kayla, who elbowed him in the ribs and, promptly, shut him up.

Percy couldn’t help but laugh at Louis’s mocking expressions behind Matthew. He’d only known these people for less than a month, but they had accepted him into their little club as soon as they’d met him and he was infinitely grateful. As Louis opened his mouth to, probably, laugh at Matthew over his ability to fall in love at first sight everyday, Matthew and Kayla stopped laughing when they looked at Percy. Percy tensed up, his hand moving to his pocket to make sure that Riptide was with him in case he needed to kill a monster, but, when a pair of arms linked themselves around his shoulders from behind, he tensed up for a whole different reason.

‘’I didn’t think I’d see you here, Jackson,’’ a female voice said playfully close to his ear.

Percy disentangled himself from her arms and turned around to stare Mary in the eye.

‘’An athlete at a football game. Who would have though, right?’’ he ironically said.

Mary rolled her eyes and rested her hand on his shoulder. Percy had to resist the urge to slap it away, but he didn’t want to cause a scene -he knew a lot about causing scenes and, with his luck, slapping her hand away would lead to a monster trying to kill him, and he didn’t want to be expelled before he could even take his first test. He didn’t know what he’d done to gain her attention -she was popular and decidedly pretty, and he was an outcast. He knew he wasn’t bad-looking -if Piper described him as a Greek god once more, he might die; Annabeth telling him that he looked exactly like his father also didn’t help, since the two times Poseidon had shown up in the past year while he was with Annabeth had always led to Percy wondering whether his girlfriend found his father attractive-, and he spent so much time swimming that one would have to be blind not to notice that he had a nice body. However, the whole school knew about his experience with being kicked out of school, since some teachers had made sure to remind him to behave during the first week of classes, and the swim team wasn’t regarded as highly as the football or the hockey team. All in all, he wasn’t a mess -unlike thirteen-year-old Percy-, but he was guarded and serious enough not to attract the attention of preppy girls. Mary, however, seemed to be obsessed with him from the day he got her phone out of the swimming pool after she dropped it while flirting with another guy in his team -‘’keep it wet, keep it wet’’, he’d had to remind himself-, and he regretted being a nice guy ever since then. Honestly, if his mom hadn’t raised him to be such a good kid, most of the problems in his life wouldn’t have happened.

‘’You could sit with us if you wanted,’’ Mary told him, signaling to her girl friends.

Percy knew the invitation only extended to him and not to his friends, who were quiet during the conversation. They had been at that school for three years, so they knew Mary and her gang, and Percy knew they sometimes wondered why he didn’t drop them for the popular kids. He also knew that he would rather face the Minotaur again than sit with the popular kids.

‘’I’m quite happy where I am, thanks,’’ he politely answered, trying to end the chat before he said anything rude.

‘’But you would have more fun with us, I’m sure,’’ Mary insisted, running her finger down his arm.

In moments like this, he almost missed being the young kid he was when he first arrived to camp, skinny and short and with a voice way too high for anyone to consider him a man.

‘’No, thanks,’’ he said again, using his other arm to take his phone out of his pocket, hoping Annabeth wouldn’t take much longer. ‘’Besides, I’m waiting-‘’

‘’Perseus Jackson!’’

‘’Man, I am going to need a massage after this’’, he though as he tensed again. He noticed his friends drive their attention away from Mary, who had also looked towards the origin of the voice with furrowed brows, her finger still on Percy’s arm. Before turning around, Percy quickly looked at the time on his phone, silently cursing in Greek as he saw the multiple texts and missed calls that he clearly hadn’t heard.

‘’Why is there a beautiful blonde goddess walking towards Percy, yelling his full name and looking like she wants to kill him?’’ Matthew quietly asked, forcing Percy to stifle a laugh.

He turned around slowly, half-expecting her to have a dagger at his neck. She was still far enough for him to be able to think of a few excuses, but he knew that wouldn’t work. Man, he had been offended the first time she’d called him Seaweed Brain, but she’d really hit the nail on the head.

‘’I can explain,’’ he said while she was still a few metres away.

‘’Explain, then,’’ she told him, now standing in full height before him. He was quite taller than her, but a standing Annabeth with folded arms and a stormy look in her eyes before a sitting Percy who knew he’d messed up was definitely scary.

‘’I…’’ he started. ‘’I didn’t think I’d get this far, honestly. I think this might be the first time you let me explain and I’m not ready for this responsibility.’’

He knew that was the right answer -her eyes were now shining with mirth and he could tell he was holding back a smile. She still had her arms crossed, but he figured she wasn’t going to kill him in front of so many people, so he tugged at them and forced her to sit next to him before he could regret it.

‘’I really thought it was earlier. You know how I am with the time, and I’m still not used to the phone.’’

She finally unfolded her arms and shook her head as she smiled softly, and Percy knew she wasn’t mad any longer.

‘’The fact that I have experience navigating labyrinths doesn’t mean that I want to navigate your high school, Seaweed Brain,’’ she told him.

‘’Completely understandable, Wise Girl.’’

He threw his arm around her shoulder, all his previous conversations forgotten, and he was about to ask her about her day when another voice interrupted him.

‘’Excuse me, Percy, but who is this?’’ Mary asked from behind him.

Annabeth turned around, a fake smile on her lips as she took in the brunette girl sitting behind her.

‘’His girlfriend,’’ Annabeth said. ‘’Nice to meet you.’’

She offered Mary her hand, though still wrapped around Percy’s arm, and Mary took it automatically, a shocked expression on her face. Her friends looked back between her and Annabeth, equally confused.

‘’His girlfriend?’’ Matthew whisper-yelled.

Both Louis and Kayla nudged him with their elbows, earning a laugh from Percy, which made Annabeth look at them with a raised eyebrow.

‘’Guys, this is Annabeth, my girlfriend,’’ Percy introduced. ‘’Beth, these are Kayla, Matthew and Louis.’’

‘’You’ve mentioned them,’’ Annabeth said, extending her hand and offering a real smile. ‘’It’s nice to meet you. Anybody who manages to put up with Percy deserves to be admired.’’

‘’Hey!’’ Percy whined.

His friends sat there, flabbergasted, but he didn’t really mind. Sure, he could have told them in advance, but he also didn’t think it was that important that he had a girlfriend; he was not the first guy in school to have one, and he definitely wouldn’t be the last.

He didn’t have time to talk any more before the game started, but he did manage to hear Matthew whispering to Kayla and Louis as the players made it to the field.

‘’So not only is Percy the hottest guy at school, but he’s also dating the hottest girl in New York? How is that fair?’’

Percy smiled softly and pressed Annabeth closer to him, enjoying her warmth and having her next to him. This was how things were supposed to be.

[demigodlunar]

Scars - Chapter 4

-- Trigger Warning: Mentions of self-harm and bad parenting. Read at your own risk.

Chapter 4 - End It Cleanly Mclean

Piper flopped onto her immaculately made bed after her morning run with her mother, rumpling up the covers a little bit and enjoying the brief moments of silence before-

“Models do not flop onto their beds, daughter, they sit on the edge daintily.” A saccharine sweet voice lilted from outside Piper’s bedroom.

Piper stifled her groan and got up quietly, remaking her bed and smoothing her hands over the glossy silk sheets. She made sure not to miss a spot, because her mother, the amazing model Aphrodite Mclean, was no doubt watching her every move from the doorway.

“I’m sorry, mother, “ Piper said quietly, looking down at her feet that her mother commented were “too big” to be from a woman, “I won’t do it again.”

She looked up and locked eyes with her mother, the most beautiful, and cruelest, person Piper had ever met. That one thought of rebelliousness died away, and Piper forcefully looked back down respectfully at her feet.

Aphrodite had silky black hair that made its way down her back in ringlets, with only the most expensive products used on her luscious locks. With chocolate brown eyes like those of a feline. She was thin as a toothpick, with a curvy, full body which attracted a lot of men, and sometimes even women. Aphrodite’s skin was fair and spotless, her nails and clothes always complimenting each other and the rest of her. Piper really wished she hadn’t inherited her mother's insane beauty.

Her mother did another once over of Piper’s bedroom, trying to find something to critique. Not finding any flaws, she pursed her lips, flipped her hair over her shoulder and promptly left the room, shutting the door behind her.

Piper let out a breath she didn’t know she was even holding, and it made her plop back down onto her bed and bury her head in her hands.

Why couldn’t I have just gone with Dad?

~~~~~~~~~~

Tristan Mclean met Aphrodite Ouranos at a theatre gathering. He was immediately struck by her beauty and charm, and she seemed to like him just as much. They started going out after a week, and dated for a couple months before getting married.

After they had Piper, Tristan and Aphrodite made it big, Tristan with a high-paying acting career which required him to move around a lot, and Aphrodite with a modeling job. Both of the jobs needed a lot of traveling, but someone needed to stay and take care of Piper, the beautiful baby who inherited her mother’s beauty and her father’s smile and hair.

So while Tristan went on world tours and visited iconic cities and landmarks, Aphrodite would stay at home and take care of Piper. Needless to say, she hated the job, and wanted to dump her daughter in an orphanage to be taken care of by someone else, but then an idea struck her.

If she could raise Piper to be exactly like her, independent and flawless, it would help Aphrodite’s modeling and parenting. She was wrong of course, but she obviously didn’t think that. The result of her carelessness was a five year old running around a large empty estate, eating whatever she wanted and doing whatever she pleased.

There were many, many times when Piper had been left alone for long periods of time, and she did learn to be independent, but vowed to never become like her mother. Once Piper hit her middle school years, Aphrodite realized just how beautiful her daughter was, even more so, than Aphrodite herself. That was a problem.

So she shipped Piper off to a ladies academy for middle schoolers, and when Piper came back the summer before her first year at high school, she was… exactly the same. No manners had been changed, no clothing choice had been improved, nothing.

That’s when Aphrodite took the manner into her own manicured fingers. She critiqued Piper on anything and everything she did, even if it was the slightest misstep or a small snort that escaped her mouth. At the start, Piper rebelled against her, but Aphrodite oppressed her so much that Piper gave in and listened to her mother's every whim, and stayed quiet through every admonishment.

That was what made Piper start cutting.

It was small at first, just a little glance at a knife or razor and wondering how it would feel against her skin. Then, light traces with the sharp blades on her wrist, seeing how light she could go to draw blood. What pushed past her tipping point was when Piper was idly drawing the knife across her arm, not enough to see blood, but enough to feel a small sting, and her mother walked into the bathroom to see what was taking her so long.

She took one cold look at the blade, and the marks on Piper’s arm and left the bathroom. Piper stared after her, but when she came back, it wasn’t with a hug, or words of help to drag Piper out of the world of a depression.

It was a razor. A pink razor with a bejeweled hilt.

Aphrodite held it out to Piper and said only two words: “Use that.”

Since that day, Piper seemed to enjoy when her mother would leave her alone to do her modeling, because Piper had the day to cut herself happy.

~~~~~~~~~~

Now don’t get her wrong. Piper wasn’t suicidal for two reasons. The first was her father and her friends. She tried to resent her father for leaving her alone with her monster of a mother, but he was too kind for her to hate him, and the couple days a year he came and stayed with them were the best. And her friends, well, they were the only people who kept her sane while she was here. Annabeth, Reyna, Thalia, Leo. They were the best friends anybody could ask for, and they supported her whenever she felt sad. They didn’t know about the cutting.

The second was that she was too cowardly to try to take her life. Afraid of hurting her friends. Afraid that it would all be for nothing.

So she didn’t do anything farther than cutting.

Piper realized that thinking about the past and sitting doing nothing but dawdling was really unproductive. She took out her phone and went to check if there were any new messages, and she saw a text from Thalia. So she replied.

(AN: Thalia, Piper)

Today - 11:34 AM

hey Pipes

hey Thals

wassup

Oh nothing, just trying to get away from my tyrannical mother. Normal day.

nothing much, you?

i’m here with my brother at one of my dad’s interview things

Brother?

Piper couldn’t remember Thalia mentioning anything about siblings before. And she did the normal thing and asked Thalia about it.

you have a brother?

It was a long time before Thalia responded, but when she did, Piper snatched up the phone to see her response.

yeah

Piper felt betrayed, she thought they told each other everything. But then again, she had no room to talk.

excuse me, but how come you’ve never told me about him?

never came up

fine, you win, for now. show me a pic?

Thalia sent a picture of a blond-haired boy with the bluest eyes Piper had ever seen. The thing was, she knew this blond-haired boy.

It was Jason Grace, the only person that even came close to Annabeth’s record setting grades. Once he had beaten her by a percent on a English test, and Annabeth was fuming for days, while Piper and the rest of their friends snickered at her back. But Piper never connected the dots, like how he and Thalia had the same last name.

He was also in her math class during Freshman year, and he sat two seats to her right. Piper could remember clearly some moments of that class.

Like when the teacher would ask the class a question, and Jason’s hand would be the only one up so she called on him. He would bite his lower lip and read out the answer in a confident but quiet voice, like he didn’t want anyone to notice him. Then, once Jason got the question right, his posture would straighten, in a proud way. His eyes would light up like a cloudless day sky and his lips would stretch into a smile, making the scar on his upper lip appear more prominently. Jason would push the glasses up the bridge of his nose, and sit back in his chair, satisfied.

One second. Two.

What. Was. That. Piper shook her head and felt her cheeks become hot. She barely knew Jason, yet she had been paying so much more attention to him than she thought she was. Idly, she wondered if his glasses and the tattoo of glasses she had on her shoulder were related in any way.

Suddenly dizzy, she remembered that Thalia was waiting for an answer. With her thoughts off somewhere else, she mindlessly typed a response to Thalia’s question. The good news, it was the truth. The bad news, Thalia would never let her live this down.

After she felt her head clear, she brought her attention back to the conversation and her eyes widened.

oh, that cute boy you sit with at lunch sometimes? He’s really good looking.

“Crap!” Piper yelled, for once not even afraid that her mother will come in and lecture her about the dangers of swearing.

She could just imagine Thalia cackling her witchy laugh wherever she was. Piper started to type in a message to tell Thalia to please, please not tell her brother about that message when a new message popped up at the top.

Piper, honey, I am leaving for my photoshoot now. Please keep the house clean... and no guests. -Mother >:(

Perfect, her mother is gone, now she can go through with that brunch that she planned with her friends. Then she remembered Thalia. Stupid ADHD, hopping from one topic to the other.

It was too late though, because Thalia has already replied.

yes, he is, and he’s also here looking at our conversation.

Piper felt herself blush scarlet red, and she bet anyone could see it, even on her darker complexion. Now she was in for it, she would never be able to face Thalia or Jason ever again. And once Thalia told the rest of their friends…

Piper stood up and started getting ready for the brunch with her friends she planned. Both mentally and physically. Gods, Leo was going to have such a field day when he found out about this.

Well, the routine was only just starting. ____________________________________________________________

This chapter was fun to write haha

-Blossom ;)

[starlightshadowsworld]

Heard someone was on a Jacabeth Binge, thought I'd contribute 👀 @perseusjackson-jasongrace

When Jason first laid his eyes on Annabeth, he knew than and there that she hated him. She didn't say it and she never did, it was all in her eyes, a cold grey that pierced his soul.

He stayed quiet of course, he had no idea where he was and was desperately just trying to remember english (no don't bite the pony man... Pony man is nice) and keep his instincts under control. Its almost as if he did it without realising it, focusing all his energy to be a human.

Perfection.

And it drove Annabeth insane. She criticised him, everything he did pissed her off. Jason was polite, he was quiet and knew how to plan attacks well (for a non Athena child it was... Impressive) and that was the issue. He wasn't Percy, he didn't have a smirk that caused trouble where ever he went (but a soft smile that gave away nothing.) Jason wasn't oblivious, well he was but not in the same way. Jason watched everything with an intelligent eye.

And he never rose to her insults, staying formal and polite even when she was pretty much screaming at him. Well that was until Annabeth yelled and insulted Rachel, that was when Jason stepped in. "Shut up, oh my gods you can't just say things like that to people!" Annabeth had paused, eyes wide in surprise. No one had ever challenged her like that, not even Percy. "Excuse me?!" She retorted, ready to put her foot down but Jason wasn't having it.

He was fierce, already standing in between her and Rachel with a look that radiated power. She'd seen that look in Percy but like everything between them it was different. It was the look of a King. "No, you apologise to Rachel. She's been doing her best to help and you throwing a fit isn't helping anyone. Apologise." Annabeth couldn't believe her ears, her whole face red in embarrassment and anger.

How dare he... But... She looked at Rachel and begrudgingly she knew she was in the wrong. But her pride was too strong "doing her best?! Well Percy isn't here yet is he?" She outright growled... Maybe it was than she realised he was doing it too... Though his sounded much more animalistic.

"Oh my Gods... Get over yourself, everyone here misses Percy. Everyone wants him home and is doing everything they can to bring him back. Though if he's coming back to someone like you, I wouldn't blame him for stating away." He spat, turning his heel and walking off. Leaving her in her own rage... But it eventually died down as all things do.

She apologised to Rachel, and in the evening set off to find Jason. Said boy was curled up by a tree away from the main camp. It really highlighted that he was an outsider, somehow that made her feel worse. "Look... I'm sorry" said Annabeth, surprising herself and him. "It's alright, I just hate seeing people fight like that... I'm sorry too."

She smirked "you should be" she said, sitting beside him. "You'll get him back... I'm starting to remember bits and pieces, I'm sure he will too. Once he remembers this place he'll come running." Said Jason, a sad smile on his face. "You think?" Annabeth didn't know why she wanted his reassurance, she knew Percy. "Of course, people here adore him. They love him, there doing so much to bring him back, if I had that I'd..." He trailed off

Annabeth frowned, she'd never really considered that Jason was a person... As in he had his own life to return to. "With the Romans?" She asked, the word came out more like an insult but if he noticed he didn't say. "Yeah, but they won't be looking for me. Maybe a few, not than I can remember exactly who."

Annabeth raised an eyebrow "That's awful! Is that what they do for their comrades... Just leave them to die???" Jason smiled, it wasn't one of humour "nah I'm just the exception" Annabeth wanted to pry, because why would anyone do that to Jason... He was the son of the King of God's himself, he was annoying but he was smart and tactful... He was a good person.

And she was ashamed she never noticed till now.

"They might put up a search, otherwise they'll anger my Father but other than that... They'll hold a funeral and business continues as normal. They wanted another figure head, not someone like me.... At least that's all I can recall." He said, getting up to leave.

"Wait..."

"Hm?"

"Do you...can you go over this plan with me? We have capture the flag tomorrow and I really want to embarrass Clarisse"

Jason blinked, and smiled. It was different to the rest he gave, it lit up his whole face and made him shine under the moon. "I'd love too" and maybe later Annabeth saw a different Jason. One who laughed, was fierce and argued over srratergies with her until they passed out at 4am.

Whatever it was, they were a team now.

[sweetcurlyhaz]

Luke Castellan: an Evil Gryffindor

Hi everyone! Here’s another post about “Where I sort pio and hoo characters”. As usual, brief introduction: English isn’t my first language, so there will be A LOT of grammar errors, I’m sorry. Second, this is MY opinion, of course you can disagree with me, but let’s talk about it! This post will be shorter than the others, due to the fact is easier to explain.

Why do I think Luke Castellan is a Gryffindor?

1) The background of Luke is really complex, so I'll focus on the main characteristics of his personality. If I have to be honest, I think he’s a Gryffindor for the fact he’s story is similar to Dumbledore’s ones (even Percy’s somehow). First of all, as Dumbledore, Luke doesn’t do what he does for personal ambitious or for being powerful. The reason is more subtle: Luke wants to oust the gods for a major good, for a true sense of justice (like Dumbledore). Luke, takes the chance Kronos’ gives him (Kronos could be Grindelwald, in HP), turns his back to his friends (he can’t be an Hufflepuff for this reason) and tries to take his revenge from the gods’ “government”. His purpose is not: “I want to be powerful, I want to be great as a god.” But: “I want to save the world from the gods.”

2) He turns out to be a hero, at the end. He understands that what he does is horrible and doesn’t worth it, so he decides to sacrifice himself for the good. This reminds me on Percy’s behavior, when he, in the battle of Hogwarts, fights on the side of his family and redeems himself. I really think Luke and Percy’s are quite similar, they both abandon their friends and family, they both want to do what is right, they both want to for once to be listened and understood. 

3) He does what he thinks he’s right to the entire world, he’s not thinking only to himself. His sense of justice and morality is strength and is really hard to change that. He never thinks, until the end, he does something wrong. He keeps saying why he does it and trying to have Annabeth and Thalia on his side, because he’s sure is not doing anything but right.

4) Of course his purposes are not only for the great good and justice, there are personal reasons. He’s angry with his father and with the gods, HE WANT JUSTICE FOR HIMSELF, but he’s not trying to proof anything similar to any Slytherin’s ideas if you think about it. He’s not trying to proof he’s the best, he’s the bravest or anything else. He just wants to do the right thing: that’s why at the very end he asks Percy to promise that the sons and daughters will be recognize. Even in the end he doesn’t give up on his dream. 

5) Also, Luke wants acclamations. He wants to be recognize like the savor of the Olympus, like the HERO. This is a Gryffindor attitude, he wants acclamation, he wants glory, he wants to be recognize for once in his life by those who never did. 

6) Luke is also brave: brave for himself, for his pride and glory. And he’s stubborn, reaaaally stubborn. Even his friends don’t manage to change his mind. Usually these are Gryffindors values.

7) What he does to Selena is horrible, really really horrible. He use his charming to “possess” her. This could be a Slytherin thing: do everything to achieve their goals. BUT remember WHY he does it. He always thinks he’s doing the right, he will do anything for save the world from the gods. Even Dumbledore does awful, machiavellian and schemer things, but he’s a Gryffindor. As I said before, we don’t have to look only the things our characters do, but WHY. 

So these are the reason why I think Luke is a Gryffindor, more exactly an evil Gryffindor. At the end we know he acts like a hero, and we all cry at his death. Also, I think the most important thing that uncle Rick does with Luke is creating a character that is really understandable. We all can understand why he’s doing it, every character in the story does. Annabeth, Percy, Thalia, and so on. We can be very angry with him, but at the same time understand him. So, thank you Rick for creating this beautiful evil character.

So, thank you for reading this and, again, sorry for my grammar errors. If you want, tell me what you think, if you agree or disagree, or reblog this or like or do everything you want lol xx

[mochideleche]

you can’t keep away from fate | CH3

Pairing : Percy jackson x demigod!reader

summary : The daughter of destiny- literally, along with inevitability, compulsion and necessity. Being the child of a primordial goddess doesn’t really assure you a quiet calm life but when you return to new york after five years of being shipped off to boarding school, your once mundane life says goodbye.

contents page

Having no cabin for ananke, chiron suggested that you were to stay in the big house since the hermes cabin was practically over flowing these days. Chiron also suggested that it would be best for you to stay in the country as of now, seeming as kronos was rising again- which you were very shocked to hear, and had allowed you to call your dad were the two of you explained the events that occurred that day.

Your father, to say, was angry at the fact that you had ventured out to the empire state building but was soon to calm down and agree that it would be best for your to stay at camp half blood for the time being and arrange for the things you had brought with you to be sent to camp whilst he would return back to europe at the end of week. 

That night after dinner, which you had eaten sat at the head table with chiron and Dionysus (who was surprisingly your camp director and who had hastily introduced himself), you made your way to the canoe lake and sat by the waters edge, your feet dangling off the deck. 

Naiads came and swam around your feet, not talking but smiling at you kindly. They were pretty and seeing friendly faces eased you as your troubles came crashing down all at once. 

This was exactly what your mother didn’t want yet you were here, embracing your demigod self again. 

You picked at your nails, taking your attention off the naiads because you didn’t want to force yourself to give them a fake smile. Your mother had been very clear when she had sent you to live with your dad and said goodbye- for the last time which you didn’t know then. 

The words still rung in your head sometimes but now more than ever it had made you sick to the stomach- “I want you to live a normal life okay? don’t worry about gods and monsters, the mortal world is much better”

Then poof- she disappeared.

“Hey are you alright?”

You turned your head to the side, your eyes landing of percy’s form, dimly lit in the moonlight, “yeah im okay” 

he stood for a second, probably contemplating whether to sit down or not, then he gingerly made his way over to you and sat himself down, his legs automatically swinging back and forth as his shoes almost skimmed the water. 

At this point the naiads giggled and drifted away, but not before winking and waving at percy. 

You looked at him, he was blushing.

“You’re awfully popular around here,” you laughed.

It made him blush even more as he rubbed the back of his neck, “uhm, yeah i guess, being the son of poseidon” 

As annabeth toured you around camp, she had mentioned various quests that different campers had gone on over the past few years, most of them evolving around percy, but she had left out many details and you saw this as your chance to find out more.

“I heard about all the quests you’ve done” you started and percy looked at you from the side,

“Oh yeah?” 

You nodded, “mind telling me all about it?” 

Percy smiled once then leant back and used his hands to hold up his weight, “if you insist”

After an hour or so, percy had filled you in on all his adventures and you were thoroughly impressed, “that’s very interesting life you’ve got there mr jackson”

He laughed, “but i didn’t grow up around olympian gods, so i guess we’re even”

You gave a small force laughed, “yeah i guess so” 

Percy furrowed his eyebrows, “are you alright, was it something i said?”

You shook your head, “no- i just” you brought your shoulders up as you tilted your head deep in thought but slouched back down as you exhaled heavily, “Maybe it’s my turn to tell you my story” 

Percy turned his body towards you and tucked one leg up off the deck and rested his arm on it, looking at you with concern in his sea green eyes. 

You must say, the way the moonlight hit him- made percy even more undeniably handsome.

“you don’t have to if you don’t want to”

“No i want to” you said quietly, then crossed your legs as you faced him. 

“When i was born, every one thought i would be immortal” 

Percy’s face scrunched up in confusion, “but your dad’s half mortal-”

“I know,” you interrupted, “but that didn’t seem to matter to anyone because my mum was an all powerful primordial goddess, they thought that her blood would somehow be dominant over the quarter of mortal blood i’d get from my dad, but” and you gestured to yourself, “i came out mortal” 

Percy nodded understandingly but he let you continue.

“But that didn’t matter to my mum, either way she kept me on mount olympus and when i was growing up she sent me to learn all these things that demigods would learn, fighting, swordplay, sorcery, forging-”  

“but most demigods don’t learn them from the actual gods themselves you know” percy reasoned and you rolled your eyes.

“As i was saying, she made me go to all sorts of places. But when i was at home, i’d be home schooled by nymphs and satyrs- normal things like science maths and english”

“She sounds like a cool mom” percy pointed out and you nodded your head agreeing.

“Yeah I guess so. but most of the time she just seemed so- otherworldly, like it was her palace and i was just living in it. sometimes when she did things that regular mums do- like hug me, stroke my hair, ask me to tell her about my day- it seemed so wrong, you know?”

Percy stayed silent for a while as he gazed into the lake, giving you a perfect opportunity to just stare at his sculpted face. 

“Yeah, i know” 

You  thought that percy was probably thinking of his dad, but you suddenly remembered how lucky you were to have actually spent time with your mum, percy probably had only met his dad once or twice- you felt guilty.

“i’m sorry, it sounds like i’m complaining but i’m really grateful for the time i got to spend with her, i understand that some demigods don’t even get to meet their parents...” and you rounded off, trying to get percy to see how you were trying to make him feel better in case you had offended him.

But he seemed fine when he turned to grin at you, “you don’t need to apologise” and this seemed genuine so you assumed he hadn’t even been upset at all. 

You noticed how percy seemed more relaxed now, as if the water comforted him and made him forget about all the stress he was carrying- which was a lot considering that he was to fight a titan army soon. 

“What about your dad?” percy questioned

“He owns an engineering company” you nodded.

“As expected as a son of Hephaestus” Percy chuckled and you laughed too.

“But then one day” you continued, watching percy closely, “zeus pointed out how it wasn’t right that i was kept on mount olympus when other gods had vowed not to see their kids too often” and you paused for a second as percy’s expression hardened.

“But my mother reasoned that i was her only child- the only child she ever had but zeus got restless and said that i didn’t belong on olympus, that i was a mortal none the less, and should be sent to live in the mortal world. He was right, but my mum was so reluctant to let me go.”

A flashback of the day you left occurred to you as you retold your story to percy, who was now looking at you with the most softest gaze.

“but in the end she decided there was no way of avoiding it and she thought that if i had to be taken away from her- then she might as well make sure that i didn’t have anything to do with her world at all. She said it wouldn’t be safe for me- so far from her, she said she should just go with me but zeus wouldn’t allow it. and then in a sort of protest, she vanished” 

You let your eyes drop from percy, and they focused on the deck on your hand.

“Y/N i’m sorry, that must’ve been tough” Percy said quietly, as he placed his hand on yours.

You bit your lip, “it’s alright” 

you looked back at percy’s sea green eyes, which were focused on. his hand was still on yours and your could feel the warmth radiating from it despite the fact that you were outside on cool autumn night. 

“Zeus is a dick” Percy stated and you looked at him shocked.

And then both of you burst out into laughter. You knew how dangerous it was to say such things but at that moment you really couldn’t agree any more.

You let your laughter run out and that left you in silence, the only sound was of the rustling of the trees and the occasional disturbance of water from the naiads who were swimming a few feet away. 

You became very aware that you and percy had been sitting here for a while now, it was probably like what- 12?1? you didn’t know but you knew that you didn’t really want to leave yet. 

“So, can you fly” Percy broke the silence and you burst out laughing. 

“Wanna see?” you questioned and percy’s eyes lit up.

But instead of lifting yourself up in the air, you made the winds scoop percy up instead and carry him up into the sky.

You couldn’t stop yourself from laughing as you watched a look of surprise dawn of percy’s face as he flailed his limbs around as he went higher into the air, a shout echoing down from above. 

Then you made the winds bring him back down, and drop him into the river. 

The sound of your laughter drifted into the air and you tried your best to calm down so you wouldn’t wake up the whole camp. 

But before you could the lake before you exploded up into a shooting stream- rising straight towards you and knocked you off the deck and into the water. 

when you finally swam up through the bubbles and your head broke the surface you gasped for air as percy floated a foot away from you laughing as uncontrollably as you had moments before. 

You considered hitting him back but you thought that if you did, the fighting wouldn’t end there, 

“Oh shut up” you grinned as you both got yourselves on the deck.

Percy kept laughing, a smirk on his face. “sorry princess” 

“Pr-princess?” you sputtered, cheeks heating up. you hoped endlessly that it was too dark for percy to see you turn red but the fact that he was standing there, his wet shirt sticking to his lean body, did not help the blush at all. 

“Yeah,” percy shrugged as he pushed his wet hair back- gosh that was hot, “you lived in a palace and you sound and act like one too” 

“I do not sound- how do i act like a princess?!” you exclaimed, as percy laughed at your outburst.

Then he held his nose up high, flicked imaginary hair over his shoulder and spoke in a very butchered english accent, “i’m Y/N, i’m as powerful as a goddess and i smell like magnolias and caramel” 

You wanted to act angry but the laugh escaped your lips before you could stop it, “gosh- your accent is terrible ”

“ gosh your accent is terrible” percy mimicked in his awful imitation of your voice and it sent you doubling over in laughter. 

[greekgeek21]

Percy Jackson & The Avengers: Convergence - filler chapters save lives

Hey...

- your (extremely sorry and depressed) author

Disclaimer: I don't own PJO or the Avengers.

Ω ♆ Ω

This was inevitable. Percy was a ball of nuclear energy just counting down to an explosion. It wasn't a matter of if that energy broke free, but a matter of when. The group had thought it had happened when he set off a tropical storm in the middle of Nevada, but they were wrong. He had truly lost control only moments before...

when he killed a man.

Ω ♆ Ω

Percy didn't even spare a glance at the crumpled body before he rushed to Annabeth's side. His eyes raked over her body, checking for injury. When he found none, he pulled her into him, hugging her like she was his lifeline (and she practically was).

"I'm sorry I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." he whispered in Ancient Greek over and over again in her ear, "I love you, I love you, I love you..."

Tears were slipping down both their cheeks, but they didn't move to wipe them away, likely neither of them had even realised they were crying. The couple was in their own world. One where only they existed and nobody could bother them.

It wasn't to last, though.

Someone on the team had to break the silence, and of course it was Tony, "As much as I hate to break this up, can we please get off this goddamned island now?"

He was speaking with false-sarcasticness, but nobody pointed it out. Everyone but Annabeth and Percy's eyes were on the body, or what was supposed to be one. Instead of a humanoid shape, it was a crumpled ball of bones, tissue, and blood. It was an awful sight, truly. Nothing was natural about it.

For everyone there, including the other demigods, it was eye-opening into the more blood-thirsty side of the divine world. Percy's powers were derived from the gods, and they allowed him to be able to do something like this. It was horrifying.

Ω ♆ Ω

Annabeth was the first of the two to come to her senses. She gently pushed back against Percy's embrace, signaling that it was time to come back to the real world; where they had to address what he had done. But that could wait. For now, Annabeth decided the best thing to do was to get everyone home safely.

"We should go, Percy," she whispered.

"I know. I'm scared, though," he spoke in Greek.

He did that sometimes, when he had a particularly bad PTSD episode. It was his mind's way of protecting itself. Even though he had spoken only English for the first twelve years of his life, his first language would always be Ancient Greek, just like all Greek demigods. It was the same for any type of demigod. They were born that way.

However, this wasn't an episode. This was his actions catching up to him. This was his world spinning on its axis once again.

Secretly, Annabeth had feared something like this would happen eventually. He was pushing down so much power, it was bound to break through at one point. That's why she had slowly been trying to coax him to use his powers fully again. Her theory was that the more he used them, the more control he would have on them, and the less they would be fighting against his willpower. He was a battery, and he needed to let some of the energy out every so often.

She would have to be more direct about her suspicions now. When they got home, that is. After he had time to adjust again.

It seemed like they were always adjusting now.

"I know, Seaweed Brain, I know. Let's just work on getting home, first, though. Ok?" she said.

She felt him nod against her neck before he pulled away from her, only to wrap an arm around shoulders a second later. He needed to feel her against him as a calming reassurance. And she needed him for the same reason.

They faced their team. Because that was what they were now, a team. They weren't the Seven and the Avengers anymore. They had been through too much in such a short span of time for them to be separate teams anymore.

"Let's go home," Annabeth announced, and started the trip back through the tunnel with Percy at her side, just like he would always be.

Ω ♆ Ω

Later, after Percy and Annabeth had disappeared into one of the cabins together, the rest of the team met up on the deck. Hazel would normally not like going behind their friend's backs to talk about them like this, but even she thought this meeting was important. This would decide Percy's fate once they reached the mainland again.

"Ok, who wants to start?" Hazel asked, after they had all just stood there in silence for a minute.

If nobody else was going to speak, then she was going to. She wanted this to be over as soon as possible. She had already made her decision regarding her cousin, and it would never change. That she was sure of.

"I can," Jason answered.

All eyes turned to him, but that did not phase him. He was trained to be a leader from a very young age. Having people look at him while he made speeches was part of the job description.

"I support my family, and Percy is family. What he did was horrible, obviously, but it wasn't anything the rest of us wouldn't have done in the same situation. He probably is going to punish himself more than anything else we could do to him. We need to show him that we are still his team, his family."

The rest of the demigods nodded firmly, agreeing with this. They knew Percy. They knew that what Jason had said was very true. Instead of punishing him, they needed to help show him that he was not a horrible person. Otherwise something like this would just happen again.

Time would just keep repeating itself.

The Avengers all glanced at one another, all unsure where to stand in this. Sure, they had learned a lot about the teen since they had first met, but none of them could be sure that this was just a fluke; that something like this wouldn't keep happening if they didn't do anything about it.

"How can we be sure that he won't do something like this again?" Natasha asked, a firm expression trained somehow on all five demigods present.

"We can't. But we CAN try our best to ensure that there is almost no chance. Percy has SO MUCH power, and he has been pushing it down in himself for months. That caused it to react harshly with his emotions. I'm sure Annabeth and Percy both know this. He needs help, not punishment," Piper answered, almost matching Nat's glare perfectly.

Steve spoke up next, "He killed someone, Piper. That can't go unpunished."

Piper kaleidoscope eyes seemed to flash brightly at the captain, "And you haven't killed someone, Captain? In the name of war? Love? How is what Percy did any different than you blowing up some hydra base?"

"That man down there is the best and most loyal man you'll ever meet. I can promise you that," Frank added in, "He would never do something to hurt a good person, not intentionally, just like the rest of us."

Bruce spoke up with fire, surprising everyone, "But that's exactly our point! He would never do something to hurt a good person INTENTIONALLY! But what about unintentionally?!"

Leo's nostrils flared, "You, out of everyone here, have no right to say that...Hulk."

Bruce looked like he had been slapped at first, but then his expression shifted into something resembling sheepishness.

Leo's flaming gaze (literally, his hair was smoking) passed over the rest of the Avengers, looking for any more objections. When he found none, he gave a curt nod of approval.

"I guess that's that, then, isn't it?" he said, and promptly went below deck.

Ω ♆ Ω

Percy and Annabeth were snuggled as close as possible on the bed in their cabin. Not a word beyond 'I love you' had been spoken between them yet. They just clutched onto each other like the other would disappear again any second.

Finally, after an hour had passed, Annabeth spoke, "We need to talk about it, Perce."

His head childishly shook. The sides of Annabeth's mouth lifted just a bit at the sign that her Percy wasn't completely hidden.

"I know it's hard, but we have to. You have to be ready to talk about it with the rest of the team later. They'll want answers, and I want you to be able to give them. It'll be easier with me first," she said, pushing a hand gently through his unruly raven-colored hair.

"You can answer in Greek if you have to. And you don't have to give long answers, you just have to say something," she reassured, "Does that sound ok?"

Percy took a deep breath before nodding his head.

"I'll start off simple. What are you feeling right now?" Annabeth asked.

He took a second to respond, but Annabeth was willing to give him all the time needed to form an answer, so long as he gave one.

"I'm tired. So tired, Wise Girl. My stomach hurts and I feel like my skin is on fire. But most of all, I feel like I don't even know myself anymore. I killed a mortal, Annabeth! How could I even look at myself again?" he answered in Greek.

Annabeth's heart broke just a little, "Oh, Percy. I know who you are. You are my adorable, powerful, and loving Seaweed Brain. You love your mother and blue food, and most of all, you love your purpose. You were put here to protect people, and that is what you did today. You protected me, okay? You didn't do anything that I wouldn't have done to save you. And I love you for it."

"But I KILLED a man, Annabeth! How can you even stand to look at me right now?!" he shouted, bursted out of her arms and off the bed.

Tears were starting to form on his lower eyelids.

"Because you are the love of my life, Perseus Jackson, and nothing you could ever do would make me love you less!" she shouted.

Good, Percy thought, Yell at me. Punish me for what I did. I deserve it.

As if she could read his thoughts, Annabeth yelled, "No! You do not get to manipulate me into punishing you for doing something that that horrible man deserved! You are not perfect, Percy, and neither am I. If you hadn't killed him, I probably would have! We are not perfect people, and we never will be. We're screwed up in the head, but we have each other! I will NOT let you go back into yourself."

"But that's the only way I can protect you! I have to hold it in!"

She sighed, "Percy, look at the facts. The only times you've put people in danger have been when you were holding your powers in. You need to let them out consistently in order to stop these large bursts from happening every time you get pissed off!"

Percy was silent, staring at the floor and mulling over her words. When he looked up, a tear had slipped down his cheek, "What if I'm too scared?"

"I'll help you. We all will, Perce. The entire team wants you to feel comfortable using your abilities. We can start off with taking you to some uninhabitable island or something. You just need to make sure you aren't pushing your powers down anymore," Annabeth answered, "Okay? Can you promise me you'll try?"

Reluctantly, Percy nodded, "I swear on the River Styx that I'll try to control and understand my powers."

Annabeth's eyes widened, but then she was crushing Percy in a hug, pulling back only to kiss him.

"I love you, Seaweed Brain."

"I love you, Wise Girl."

Ω ♆ Ω

"Well I guess that settles it then, doesn't it? We trust those ungrateful ingrates now apparently," Tony sighed, tacking a swig from a flask he had procured from somewhere and walking away from the Avengers.

You could always count on Tony Stark to simplify emotional situations. His only goal was to make them last less, though, whereas most of the Avengers wanted to talk it over some more. That wasn't on his agenda. Tony had his own agenda and discussing whether or not a teenager killing a terrorist was warrant for serious punishment was not on it.

Steve shared an annoyed look with Bruce before he nodded, "I guess it is. We'll have to discuss it with Percy when we get back to the tower, but for now, let's just get some rest."

"Yes, sir, Captain," Clint smirked, mirth flashing in his irises before he pulled Natasha over to lean against the railing around the deck.

They were no-doubt not going to let themselves get any rest, but Steve knew well enough by now to let it go. The spies ran on their own fuel and it clearly did not come from sleep, if the amount of times he'd actually seen them asleep counted for anything.

Bruce however, he could count on to actually follow orders, even if they were thinly-veiled ones. The scientist nodded his head at Steve, a small smile curving his lips, before he went below deck, likely to find a nice place to take a nap.

Steve, not wanting to seem like a hypocrite, followed after Bruce. He found an empty cabin quickly, and let himself fall into a light nap. If he had to, he could jump right into action, but he had to let his body get some rest.

He only hoped that the teens on board were doing the same.

Ω ♆ Ω

Steve was right, for the most part. Almost all of the Seven were resting. Key word: almost. Leo Valdez, ever the hyperactive inventor, was down in his makeshift shop, working on the design for his newest project.

The idea had come to him that day, when he saw how broken Percy looked. He had seen that look in his eyes before, right after the man had come out of Tartarus and he was determined to never see it cross his friend's face again. After everything Percy had done for him, Leo thought he deserved some peace of mind.

His idea was to design something to allow Percy to sleep peacefully. Something like this could help present and future generations of demigods forever. But if he was being honest, he had gotten the idea from the dreamless-sleep draught potion from Harry Potter. Before he had learned he was a demigod, he was a diehard potterhead. It was something he had managed to keep a secret from his new life for now, but it was coming in handy now.

Since he didn't have magic abilities like the wizards from the books, he had to compromise with what he DID have, which was a genius-level intellect, spare scrap metal, and some duct tape.

He had come up with more from less.

Leo figured that he could make a contraption that could connect with Percy's brain synapses and withhold some from firing, but only the ones in the hippocampus, the part of the brain that controls dreams. He also had to restrict it to nightmares only, because demigods needed dreams to make sure they didn't die. He just had to make sure he didn't accidentally cause Percy permanent brain damage. This particular part of the brain was vital in his daily function, so it would really suck if it stopped working properly.

At the moment, Leo was drawing out his designs on some paper he had pulled from his belt. His mind was working faster than his hand could, so it was taking longer than he would have preferred.

After an hour of careful and deliberate strokes of a pencil hitting paper, his head popped up from the desk, with a loud shout of "aha!", signalling his completion.

"Gods, I really am a genius, aren't I?" he muttered to himself in awe had he inspected the blueprint for mistakes.

"Talking to yourself again, Leo?" Jason commented, startling Leo as he entered the room, "That's not helping your case claiming sanity."

"Sweet Circe! Don't DO that, Sparky!" he shouted, nearly jumping out of his seat.

"If you were paying attention, you would have noticed me knocking on the door for the past two minutes, weirdo," Jason responded.

Leo rolled his eyes. His best friend knew very well that he lost himself when he was working, especially when it was something this important.

"What are you working on?" The son of Jupiter asked.

Leo grinned, eager to present his project, "I can't build it here, not without the proper equipment to test it, but I already designed it. I call it Papa Leo's Nightmare-restricting Device, or P.L.N.R.D. It's to make it so demigods can sleep without having nightmares. Like it?"

The son of Hephaestus wished he had a camera to take a picture of Jason's face at that moment. It was priceless.

Just when he was contemplating trying to pull on out of his belt, Jason pulled him into a rough hug, squeezing him until he couldn't breathe.

"Jace, I. Can't. Breathe!" he wheezed out.

He was ignored.

"Oh, you beautiful genius! I could kiss you!"

He was spun around in a circle.

"Please don't, it would suck to explain that to Piper," Leo joked once he had been allowed to stand again.

"I gotta tell the others! They're gonna be so excited!" he went to rush off, but Leo grabbed his arm before he could.

"Let's not...yet, okay? I just want to make sure that I get it finished and working before I tell the others. I don't want to let them down if I can't make it work," he said to explain his actions.

Jason looked like he didn't believe that would ever happen, but he gave Leo a brotherly pat on the shoulder, "Ok, McShizzle. I'll keep it to myself for now."

"Thanks."

"No problem, bro."

"Gods, you are such a bro-boy. It's like living around a frat house."

"You take that back!"

"Never!"

Ω ♆ Ω

Sorry for how many time skips/section separators I'm using. I guess it's part of my writing style now. This is on FF, Inkitt, Ao3, Webnovel, and Wattpad too. Like, reblog, & follow!

- your (extremely apologetic) author

other chapters :)

[gaymortagokat]

Sleepover at Camp Jupiter

Read the whole collection here

Reyna's place was quiet. Aurum and Argentum laid in front of the couch curled up together. While their owner sat on the couch reading The Great Gatsby while her girlfriend sat on her lap. A pastel blanket laid over them. It was an addition from Drew. Since her and Reyna began dating Drew would add or recommend things to make Reyna's place more homey. 

They've been together for a little over a year now. Drew graduated  from high school a week ago and will be attending UC Berkeley to study psychology and art. Reyna noticed how great Drew is at helping people believe in themselves and suggested she do something with that. And Drew ran with that idea deciding to become an art therapist, though she isn't sure if she wants to specialize in child psychology and development yet. 

Drew pointed at a line of text. "Remember this, Reyna."

"Why? It's just a billboard?"

Drew turned to look at her girlfriend. "It's important if it was written in here. And it's a symbol of something mortals can't see. The eyes are judgmental like Hera."

Reyna nodded. "Juno isn't all that bad. What do you mean it's a symbol of something mortals can't see?"

"It's kind of like love. You can't physically see it. You can see it in things but you can't see it in things."

"Unless you've met Venus."

"Hmm. I guess so. But speaking of Venus she's a god. We can't see her true form just like mortals can't see the person in the billboard."

"So the billboard is a god judging American's."

"Capital 'g', Reyna. Fitzgerald is probably talking about the Christian god."

"And this Christian god doesn't like what Americans are doing."

"Yes that's what many readers believe."

"Does everything in this book have dual meanings?"

"No. I've found that only things that show up throughout or are highly detailed compared to others are symbols. Like if a detail is emphasized."

"So is the car a symbol?"

"Not sure. I know the billboard is because a teacher told me it was. Let's continue reading." 

Reyna nodded and looked back at the book. 

They continued reading occasionally pausing for discussion. Drew was the one who began these reading sessions. Reyna loved reading. It was how she grasped a better understanding of English. She has a high reading level despite reading mostly comic books. Because of this Drew decided to introduce Reyna to some classics and had created at least a page long list of literature she added to every few weeks. 

They started with names Reyna knew like Plato and Homer. They read The Allegory of the Cave and pieces of The Odyssey where Reyna told her Circe no longer turns men into pigs but animals occasionally less smelly and easier to manage, Guinea pigs. She Also told her that Percy made a very cute Guinea pig. Drew wished Reyna had the opportunity to take a picture.

A knock on the door interrupted their quiet weekend. Reyna's dogs ears perked up and their ruby eyes turned towards the door watching to see if the person behind the door was a threat.

A key slipped into the lock and Reyna groaned. "I should have never given her a key."

"Who?"

"Your sister."

"Pretend we didn't notice?"

"Of course." 

They returned to their book as the door opened. College aged Piper, Jason, Leo, Percy, and Annabeth walked in carrying bags for an impromptu sleepover (even though Percy and Annabeth live in New Rome and see Reyna nearly every day) with Nico.

"Why does Nick always describe Gatsby that way?"

"Cuz he's gay."

"Isn't the author straight?"

"Was anyone straight in the roaring 20's? When swing music existed and women wore more revealing clothing, smoked in public, cut their hair, and everyone lived in excess?"

Piper coughed.

Reyna looked up at her friends (except Leo he was still on thin ice). Percy looked like he just rolled out of bed sporting a five o' clock shadow while his girlfriend looked like she had been up for hours. Piper was as gorgeous as always wearing skinny jeans, a loose shirt, light sweater and vans. Jason looked like Annabeth, but he had done a better job at brushing his hair (his straight hair is easier to manage than Annabeth's curls), and much to Reyna's annoyance, Jason still had the rivet in his hair from the bullet Percy's brother fired at him. Jason had kept his hair trimmed like that for two years now. Reyna, Piper, Drew, and Nico were tempted to shave his hair while he slept. Nico wore the jacket Will gave him on their first Christmas together, and his mirrored sunglasses hung from the pocket. He had gotten a haircut. The sides of his hair did not touch his ears, but the top that he left long would in a few weeks. Leo looked exactly the same as he did two years ago with scorch marks on his fingers and arms and small bandages one a few of his fingers.

"Hey, what's up?"

"I wanna say that they made me come."

Reyna smiled at her little brother. 

"Oh come on Nico. It's not like we had to force you." Jason said putting his arm around the fifteen year old who now reached his eyes. 

"Friday night sleepover." Piper said. "We always have them."

"One, no we don't. It's more like twice a month. Two shouldn't most of you be at some college party? Three it's Wednesday."

"So we're a little early." She answered sitting on the only empty spot on the couch. 

"Percy and I did all our homework that's due tomorrow early." Annabeth added taking a seat at Piper's feet with Percy close behind. She petted Aurum behind the ear muttering something about them being a good dog.

Nico sat on the other side of Reyna's dogs while Jason and Leo sat in front of him. Well, Leo sat closer to Percy than Nico. Reyna's dogs weren't his biggest fans and had no problems making it obvious to him.

"What piece of literature do you have Reyna reading this time, Drew?" Jason asked, adjusting his glasses like they would help him see the page better.

"Gatsby. We're almost done with this page. Do you mind being quiet for a few more minutes." Drew didn't wait for an answer; she turned all her attention to the small book.

Leo struggled to stay quiet. He kept opening his mouth to say something then quickly close it. He distracted himself the best he could by planning out the most fun night ever. First some of the greatest movies ever paired with the best snacks and drinks. Did Reyna even have the best snacks?

Leo didn't stay on that thought long. As soon as he heard the book close he spoke. "Okay! What movie does everyone want to watch." He dug through his bag. "I've got 50 First Dates, The Nanny Diaries, Love Actually-"

"Leo, I love you. But I don't think anyone wants to watch romcoms."

"What do you have in mind, Pipes?"

"Horror, action, thriller."

"Horror sounds fun." Nico stated.

"As long as no one throws their popcorn on me I'm good." Drew added. 

"Reyna, got any horror movies?"

"The Sixth Sense, maybe Friday the 13th."

After a bit of arguing they settled on The Sixth Sense. The boys minus Nico prepared snacks. Nico and Annabeth made the hardwood floor more comfortable by adding a quilt Reyna had buried in a closet and laying out the blankets everyone brought. 

Snacks were finished and everyone ended up with their own container. Nico with popcorn and chocolate chips, Jason with popcorn and m&m's, Annabeth with popcorn and butter fingers, Percy with blue m&m's, Piper with sour gummy bears, and Reyna and Drew sharing Jelly Beans and sour straws. Drew had made Piper make sure Aurum and Argentum had a plate with a few dog treats and marshmallows, and Nico had tossed a blanket over them.

As the movie played Leo Jason Percy and occasionally Annabeth yelled at the characters on screen. Piper occasionally stated behind the scenes facts. 

During a particularly tense moment, Piper, realizing her hands were cold, poked her sister's foot that was barely out of the blanket making her yelp and Piper roar with laughter.

"Gods-damn it Piper!"

Piper waited a few minutes then did it again. Then a third time. 

"Piper." Reyna warned.

"Alright, alright." She scooted closer to the arm of the couch and waited. 

She looked over at Reyna and Drew. Drew was watching the movie one hand on the bowl of candy and the other on Reyna's, but Reyna on the other hand was watching Piper. She shook her head slowly with a slight glare. Drew, feeling Reyna move, looked up at Reyna then at Piper mimicking the Puerto Rican's glare.

Piper glared back then looked away pretending to barf. They were almost disgustingly cute.

A few minutes later she scared Drew again this time receiving a harsh kick.

"Ow! What was that for?" Piper yelped, rubbing her arm. 

"I didn't kick you that hard." 

"You totally did, Reyna."

Not even Reyna kicking her was enough to stop her. She tried one more time to scare Drew. This time she was unsuccessful.

"Hermanito." Reyna said. 

And suddenly Piper was freezing then she found herself on the floor. She looked at the couch where she was once sitting and found Nico curled up with the darkness partially swirling around him. Actually, the dark in the entire room seemed to be moving as if Nico was making the room appear as dark as it did when she was afraid of it.

Piper settled in her new spot petting the nearest dog. 

It was towards the end of the second movie when Drew tried scaring Piper. It worked only once. Piper nearly jumped out of her seat surprising Jason and Percy who were way more afraid of the movie than they let on.

Beginning of the third movie was when Reyna began to mess with Piper. She used a bit of magic she picked up from Circe and tried to make it feel like a spider was walking on her. It worked for a few moments then Piper figured it out and began ignoring the sensation. 

Reyna switched tactics. She poked Aurum with her foot who pressed their cold nose into Piper's side hitting her ticklish spot. 

Piper pressed her palm against the dog's nose and turned it's head away. "I know that was you, Reyna."

"I don't control their every move."

"Oh please. They would do whatever you asked."

Reyna opened her mouth to respond when Drew silenced her. "Ssshhhh. We're at the good part."

Reyna kissed her head and returned to watching the comedy. The older boys insisted on one happy movie to negate the scary before bed.

By the time the movie watching session ended Reyna was sitting between her girlfriend and her best friend/little brother. And both of them were nearly asleep on her shoulders.

"Nico, it's time for bed."

Nico nodded, sitting up and gathering his blanket. A second later he disappeared into the shadows and probably into Reyna's guest room / home office. 

"Nico gone?"

"Sí, Amor. It's time for bed." Reyna told her standing up. She offered Drew her hand.

Her girlfriend shook her head. "Too tired. Carry me?"

Reyna smiled while rolling her eyes. "Alright." She picked up Drew with ease (something that made Jason and especially Percy jealous) and walked to her room. Aurum and Argentum followed, nudging the door open as they got closer. 

Reyna set Drew down carefully. It wasn't the right moment to drop her on the bed. They were both too tired for the game that would begin if she did.

Reyna moved to the door and locked it. 

"What kind of pajamas do you want today?" She asked, grabbing her own.

"I'm good."

Reyna turned around and saw her gorgeous girlfriend sitting on her bed shirtless. Today had been a stay at home no bra necessary day. Reyna looked down briefly and felt her cheeks grow warm. She put her pajamas away and joined Drew on the bed. 

Drew kissed Reyna tugging on the edges of her shirt. “You don’t need this.”

Reyna let her pull her band tee (courtesy of Thalia) over her head. “What do you want to do?”

Drew ignored her and tugged at her shorts. “You don’t need these.”

Reyna slipped them off and tossed them aside. “What do you want to do?”

Drew rested against Reyna. “I’m too tired to want to do anything, but I’m too awake to sleep.”

Reyna turned off the lamp and rested her hand on Drew’s stomach. The pair laid down, and Reyna kissed Drew’s shoulder. “Thank you, for reading with me today.”

“No problem, Amore. I love reading. Especially with you.”

“What would you like to do tomorrow?”

“Walk on the beach?”

“Alright.” Reyna kissed Drew’s shoulder once more. “Want to go swimming?”

“Sounds nice.” Drew said quietly. “Hey, why did Annabeth say she and Percy had finished their homework early? Isn’t it summer?”

“It is. Annabeth convinced Percy to take a few summer classes so their schedule can be lighter during the year and they can graduate a bit early.”

“What is Percy studying again?”

“He started with Marine biology, but he realized it was going to be a lot of science. I think he’s doing physical therapy now and keeping Marine Biology as a minor.”

“Physical therapy?”

“Yeah. Annabeth showed him a video of a pool being used as part of someone’s therapy. He’s been interested ever since. That and he can heal using water.”

“I guess pool is not a bad thing to smell like.”

"Neither is the beach."

"Think we can leave everyone else out?"

"Maybe every one but Nico and Will."

"Will isn't here."

"For now. Nico will probably go get him to avoid being a third wheel."

"Double dates are fun."

"Glad you think so."

Reyna kissed Drew's shoulder blade and pulled her closer. She breathed in her scent noticing Drew's perfume and sweat. Reyna settled down more and closed her eyes and fell asleep. 

As soon as Drew trusted Reyna wouldn't wake up at the slightest movement she changed positions to face her gorgeous girlfriend. She also moved Reyna's arm so she wouldn't be laying on it. Reyna often let her sleep on her arm only to later wake up because the limb had become painfully asleep. Then she settled down draping an arm across Reyna's ribs. Her fingers traced an old injury. She didn't know the story behind the scar but trusted one day Reyna would tell her.

She spent the next few minutes trying to relax enough to fall asleep. She loved snuggling with her girlfriend, but said girl was always a furnace. Don't get her wrong, she felt incredibly lucky to have someone as amazing as Reyna. She would have never expected to be this happy a year ago, and yet here she was laying with the hottest girl ever. 

She adjusted the blanket so her feet would stick out and settled back down.

She was nearly asleep when a whimper startled her awake. She lifted her head and spotted the source. Two sets of glowing ruby eyes were watching her. "Come on." She whispered.

Given permission the two fully grown greyhounds jumped on the queen bed. The siblings spun around a several times (accidently hitting each other a few times) and plopped down laying on the teens' feet.

The cold metal was too cold for comfort; Drew pulled her feet out from under the dog and instead lowered the blanket uncovering her shoulders. Drew relaxed once more and fell asleep.

[blackgwenstacy]

Haha I saw the post where you explained the difference between Leo and Annabeths intelligence and how they'd be in a highschool setting and as someone who's struggling a bit in school I was wondering if you could possibly maybe gimme some tips on finessing the system please 👉👈

i’m not sure how long this has been in my inbox because tumblr never sent me a notif for it, so first of all sorry about that!! secondly: i’ll try my best to give tips but 1) it’s been a while since i was in high school, 2) i’m not exactly sure if my advice will be remote-learning-proof, and 3) these will all be based on the U.S. school system

take advantage of lenient teachers. sounds horrible but it’s true. you hear that one english teacher lets people hand in essays 2 weeks late? request to be put in their class. that one math teacher always curves really big tests? request to be put in their class too. does that one science teacher always give extra credit? do the extra credit. also! if you’re struggling in a subject and your teacher is just absolute shit, hit up another teacher in their department. trust me, they know just as much as you how much your teacher sucks. they’ll help you out if you ask nicely.

take honors/ap/dual enrollment classes. so every school is different so this may not apply to some, but if your school is anything like my alma mater, these classes are weighted more than regular ones. passing these classes with high grades will help your GPA immensely. personally, i would recommend taking dual enrollment, because as long as you pass the class you’re guaranteed that college credit, which will save you a shit ton of tuition money and time in the long run. but they are structured like actual college classes, so if you feel like you can’t handle that then do not do it.

for ap classes. yeah reading the textbook and taking notes is great. but take practice tests. they’re structured just like your actual AP test will be in may, and the curriculum percentages are almost the same. if your practice test for AP Psych was like 20% cognitive psychology, and you suck at cognitive psychology. . .you should probably study cognitive psychology. it really helps you narrow down what you need to focus on and what you don’t. tests and practice questions are usually available on college boards website i think. or find an illegal pdf of a practice book. either works.

figure out how the gpa system works. what i mean by this is: my first few years of high school, i used to push for all A’s every single quarter, because our grading periods were nine weeks long. however, around junior year i realized that the only grades that affected our GPAs were the semester grades, aka the grades from the first two quarters averaged out. once i learned this, i would purposefully strive for either a high B or a high A. for example, if i knew the first nine weeks for a class was going to be super easy, i would strive for a 98-100 percent. then the second nine weeks, i would slack off and aim for at least an 85 percent. that way, my final semester grade would average out to at least a 91%. my school didn’t do A+/-, so this gave me 4.0 in the class for that semester. bonus points for finessing this in AP classes, which I did a bunch of times.

for the love of god, cheat. LISTEN. i do not mean blatantly look off someone’s test, or plagiarize an essay from the internet. that’s dumb. what i mean is this: split homework answers between your friends and then change the wording around a little. if you have a tedious worksheet, put a question word for word in google. usually, a pdf of an answer key will pop up, because teachers are stupid sometimes, OR, a quizlet with the answers will pop up, because students have each other’s backs. you really don’t need to waste your time on tedious busy work. focus on shit you really need to learn.

in regards to sat/act/and other stupid placement tests. fucking. please don’t stress yourself out over these, first of all. second of all, try and take them early so you have scores in time for college app deadlines. also, like i said before, practice tests are your best friend. don’t buy sat/act prep books. google is free. khan academy has free sat prep. if you can, take pre-calculous or trigonometry the same year you plan to take the sat/act. a lot of those math concepts appear on the tests. don’t pay for the writing portion of either test. counselors are gonna say that colleges look at the essay section. spoiler alert: they don’t, because the essay section doesn’t affect the total score. for sat, only aim to take it twice. study for the reading/writing section the first go around. study for the math section the second time. a lot of times schools will take your best scores from each section and superscore them. and lastly, never leave a question unanswered. bubble it in and mark it if you really need to go back to it.

i know these tips might not all be applicable, because every school is different. this is just from my personal experience. but i hope this was helpful overall. remember kiddos: work smart, not hard.

[zoppzoop]

3 and 27:))

Hello ma'am! Ily and imy!!!! I hope you're doing good!!

03: Do you regret anything?

Seriously speaking, not getting studying done sooner because of procrastination. And also not having talked to my parents about architecture sooner. I literally started thinking about it seriously day before yesterday after talking to mom and dad. But ehh i just gotta study hared now.

And non-seriously, not taking the chance and going to the stationery with dad to buy stuff lmao

I went with mom and got just one fineliner pen.

27: Have you ever broken someone’s heart?

Tbh yes and twice. Or maybe thrice? Four times??? idk if one of them was a hearbreak or actually just a prank.

Anyways buckle the fuck up we're in for a story time and this is gonna be a stupid ride

Okay, first the 'prank' (now that i think about it it was definitely not a prank). i was in the 7th grade and this one dude from my class came up to me while i was boarding the bus to go home and handed me a piece of paper. And im here confused as to what the f u c k? The dude was kinda like in the competition for the top rank in class (we were very competetive, there were like 5 of us) so i was just confused. I got in the bus and opened the paper. And it had a bunch of stuffs that i dint bother reading because the first thing my eyes landed on was 'will you be the annabeth to my percy?' And (yes i was a huge pjo fan that the time) i got out of the bus and literally yote the paper in the trash (cruel, yes i know. But listen. The dude used to tease me by literally shipping me with another classmate (thats also another story) and GOD that was so fucking ａｎｎｏｙｉｎｇso yes i was angry. And i legit didnt like any of the people in my class. All of them were just,,,, nah. Sobyea next day he asked me 'so?' And i said ',,,so what??' And he's like 'whats your reply?' And i straight up said 'uh i threw the paper' and he just turned around and left.

And then we became enemies-ish and literally fought hand-to-hand once (i was kicking so hand to foot i guess?) But ye that happened. And then a bunch of more stuff happened and by the time my dad was gonna get a promotional transfer to another place half the class became like one big group of friends and we became pretty good friends in the end.

Now lets talk about the dude who i got shipped with. I got teased for a whole year and like we were all pretty good friends right? So i didnt mind it in the beginning but then it got too overwhelming in the middle and it literally made me hate every single one of them. But then it got subdued and we decided we'll maybe date? And we didnt exactly say that out loud but he used to walk me to my bus (okay so the bus system at my old schoom was like a few buses were inside the campus and a few were outside. His was inside and mine out, so he used to walk me there. And then one day he said lets hold hands (and we did it was cute and we held hands and walked to my bus for like 2-3 days but then had to stop bc people started teasing us, we didnt end it on bitter terms btw. He used to have like taekwondo practice int he last period and we usually had english then so while going to the buses i used to give him my notes for the day.)

And like a few days later we realised that sure this is nice but he was gonna move schools soon and i legit wasnt that interested in relationships at the time so we 'ended' whatever that was. And on his last day when he dropped me off to my bus he asked me if i had a phone so we could keep in touch and i didnt have it so i said no and he was like 'hmm okay, bye take care' and left. And then his best friend stayed behind and jokingly said 'ah you broke his heart'

Yea okay two down two to go.

Third dude was in my bus and in my class and the friend group which was made up of half the class and wow i feel bad about everything w/ everyone now lmao

Anyways this was in 8th grade. So we were pretty good friends because we were in the same bus and class for the past 3 years now and considering my dad's profession thats a long time in the same place (its usually just one year) and ye so we were pretty close. Everyone in the bus used to olay team up games like charades and stuff

(ah shit i remember a fifth one in the colony damn i hate this)

Anyways number three, so we used to talk a lot. I'd gotten instagram by this time for art stuff so we talked there a lot. Like we sent each other memes and he got my weird and cursed meme shit and also got into anime and bts a bit to understand what the fuck i was saying. And he used to get teased because middle schoolers and junior highschoolers are stupid kids in those terms so ye there was a lot of teasibg which i tried to instantly shoot down because i didnt want a 7th grade repeat when there were chances of dad getting transfered soon coz i want good memories of the place y'know? So ye that happened. And i found out last year (in 11th grade and after dad got the transfer (i started 10th grade after the transfer) and apparently he got teased because he did actually like me and me shooting all that stuff down was literally just a rejection itself so that happened.

And number 4 was a similar thing but way more stressy because last year some random dude hit me up on Instagram and im here confused as to what the fuck? Ｗｈｏｍｓｔ？ and he says he's a friend of the first dude, second dude and the fourth dude (all of them are in the same coaching institute and 1,2 and 4 were also in my class in the past right. They were 3 of the 5 who were in the competition for top rank) and he legit says he wants to talk to the girl that two of his friends fought over and i'm like sir WHAT the Actual ＦＵＣＫ. because in the begining they were good friends in class right? And they had some unknown falling out and im like bitch literally WHAT the FUCK. So he brings up proof and shut because i didnt believe him and fuck off he also broght in another classmate who knew and im here losing my mind because the actual fuck you motherfuckers. Anyways apparently since i didnt like 4 back, he had his heart broken so eh. It was literally a 4 year old thing which those idiots were fighting over even now like dude the hell???

So ye that happened and a whole gc was made and shit was solved and cleared out blah blah freindship rebuilt yadda yadda bullcrap i got so tired by now that i literally am still kinda ignoring everyone rn. (half the reason why i deleted ig was because its distracting and half bc i wanna ignore them all lmao)

Anyways number 5 was in my colony and also in my bus when he used to go to the same school (he shifted to a boarding school later bc some stuff happened w his dad which is a whole another wild thing) and ooh he was also my neighbor! We used to go and play badminton in the clubhouse (literally all the kids of our age group and older used to go there. And after badminton when it was like 7:30 or 8 we used to just sit around in a circle and play truth or dare or red hands or kabbadi or literally anything we could think of. Fun times ngl.) So ye he was on a trip home on a long weekend i think and we ended up cycling around the colony, just us two hanging out. And we were talking and this one girl who he told me was his crush when he was still in school came up and he then told me that that was actually a codename thing he and his friend created and that was their codename for me and he also said he was over it now and i was just there completely shook because i honestly thought he hated me in the middle somewhere lmao. And he said he was just annoyed because another mutual friend of ours in the colony told him that i had a crush on this other guy like one house away from mine (my best friends house was in the middle lmao) (anyways that mutual frined the traitorous mf i truStEd her (actually i'd already confessed to the dude and got turned down i legit wasnt even that invested so it wasnt a big deal. I just wanted to kinda get done with this crush thing once and for all. He turned me down politely. He's a sweet guy he used to be there i the club after i was done with my coaching stuff around 7:30 and then us two played till like 9. It was nice) so ye he told me about his crush on me which lasted a few months??? and that he was over it and i also told him that i'd gotten the rejection from my crush a loooong time ago and he's like huh cool. and ye we kept cycling and talking ab more random stuff till it was time to head home .

ｗｈｅｗ ANYWAYS THERE WAS A LOT TO UNPACK HERE. Anyways- sjdvskdb thanks for the ask this was a wild ride down memory lane. I didnt even remember half the shit till it came down to it.

[annabethy]

hi bestie !! 11 “I never thought I’d fancy you…and yet here we are” pls 🥺🥺

In which Percy and Annabeth don’t meet in the best of circumstances, but then time goes by and he can’t imagine life without her,, percabeth

When Percy first meets her, he’s fifteen years old, and it is not at all what he would consider a pleasant experience.

He’s forced to sit next to the blonde girl with sharp grey eyes on the first day of freshman year. Her name is Annabeth, he quickly learns, and she is the complete opposite of him. Where he’s sloppy, she’s precise. She’s the first to raise her hand in class while he’s the one hiding his eyes from the teacher’s, and when she points it out to him, a mocking grin on her face, he decides right then and there that he wants nothing to do with her.

They don’t really talk for the entirety of the year, excluding the jabs she takes at him when he gets a quiz back marked in red while hers is pristine. He prefers it that way — silent — and by the time the end of the year rolls around, he’s not at all disappointed to discover that she’s not going to be in any of the same classes the following year.

He almost forgets about her, really, until he walks into English literature on the first day of senior year and spots her sitting next to the only remaining seat.

Percy almost walks right back out of the room, tormented by the idea of having to spend his last year of high school next to the girl with scary eyes, but then she locks eyes with him, and something tells him to sit.

He slides into the seat next to her and is surprised by the slight smile she shoots at him.

“Haven’t seen you since freshman year,” she comments. Her voice has changed a lot, he notices, and as he takes the rest of her in, he realizes that the rest of her has too. Her hair has grown out and seems to be tamer, and her face seems more defined than he remembers. Other parts of her are definitely fuller as well, and he has to fight back a flush as she laughs at him struggling to form an answer.

“I guess it has been,” he manages to answer.

Annabeth leans over the side of her desk, and Percy feels a little bit lightheaded at the smell of her perfume. It’s the same one as before. Maybe she hasn’t changed so much. “You look like you want to bolt.”

“Only a little bit.”

She leans back again, humor in her eyes. “I wasn’t that bad, was I?”

Percy isn’t really sure how to respond to that. As far as he had been aware from the things he’s heard, Annabeth was still a very prickly person, but sitting next to her now, she couldn’t seem further from that.

“Well,” she says when he doesn’t answer, “I guess it’s a good thing you’ll be sitting next to me then. I wouldn’t want you thinking I’m still a dick.”

“I didn’t say you were that bad,” Percy points out, finding his voice again. It’s hardly his fault. Annabeth’s really pretty. Maybe she always has been, but now that she’s not at his throat, he feels less shame in seeing it. He can’t breathe.

She shrugs, though she doesn’t seem insulted. “Yeah, but you didn’t need to.”

From there, he isn’t entirely sure how it happens. They quickly become friends, and Percy finds he enjoys her company. She’s really funny, and she’s not at all how she was a few years ago. To be fair, he’s sure he’s making it easier. He’d be the first to admit that he probably wasn’t the best person to sit next to either a few years ago when his hyperactivity was at an all-time high.

They become what some may call best friends, and it’s pretty awesome.

Still, as awesome as best friends is, it doesn’t take all that long for them to become more than friends either.

One second, they’re at his house putting together a presentation on Shakespeare’s Sonnet 19, and the next second, they’re on the couch, Percy’s hand sneaking under the back of her shirt to feel her warm skin while she kisses him senseless.

It’s hot and heavy, and it’s only been two months since they’ve reconciled after three years, but it’s also perfect, and he wonders how he’s been missing this for so long.

Annabeth pulls away after a couple minutes to rest her face in the crook of his neck. She’s breathing hard, and Percy is too, but he’s much more focused on the way his lips tingle, yearning to feel her pressed harder against him again.

She lifts her head to look at him, and Percy falls distracted by her eyes. They’re the eyes that he used to hate as they’d tease him, but now, they’re the same eyes he gets excited to see every day for fifty minutes in class. They’re the same eyes he thinks he may be just a little bit in love with at the moment.

“You’re so pretty,” Percy blurts out. He doesn’t even realize he’s said it until she’s giggling, close enough for him to feel the small breaths against his lips.

“Yeah?”

“Mh-hm.” Percy’s nose nudges hers, but he doesn’t kiss her. “Like, really pretty.”

“I think you’re pretty cute yourself.”

Percy doesn’t know that he’s ever heard someone else say that to him, and now he doesn’t need to. Hearing Annabeth Chase call him cute is about all he’s ever needed in life. He tries to bring them back to where they were a few minutes ago, but Annabeth settles a hand on his shoulder to stop his efforts. He doesn’t mind, since she doesn’t seem to be upset by him. “Thank you,” she says, “for sitting next to me. I really thought you were going to turn around and ditch just because you didn’t want to sit next to me.”

“And miss this?” Percy presses a soft kiss to the corner of her mouth. “Never.”

“I really like you,” she whispers. “And… I’m just really glad you’re my partner in class.”

Percy can’t help the grin that slides across his mouth. “I really like you too.”

“Not as much as I like you.”

“Oh yeah?” Percy tries to kiss her properly this time, and she lets him. He kisses her until he’s out of breath again, and then some more, before he pulls away. “Then date me.”

Annabeth laughs, but it’s not a condescending one he would’ve expected three years ago. It’s funny how much things have changed from when they were both fifteen. He never would’ve thought he’d be an eighteen-year-old with Annabeth tangled up in his lap, asking her to be his.

“Date you?”

Percy smiles softly, and Annabeth matches it. “Be my girlfriend.”

Annabeth’s fingers move under his chin and she lifts until his eyes lock on hers. It just feels right. Against his lips, she says, “I’d love to.”

And that’s how it starts.

It spirals out of control from that point on. He falls deeper in love with her with every day, and so much surer that this is how it was meant to be. He feels so much flooding through him every single time he looks into her eyes, and he doesn’t know how to express just how much he loves her. He doesn’t think that words could ever describe it.

Percy doesn’t try to explain his thoughts at first because he just doesn’t know how to. He doesn’t try until it’s the last week before they graduate, and they’re sitting on top of a building staring off into the New York skyline as the sun begins to set.

“This is beautiful,” Annabeth says. They sit together on a ledge, still far enough to guarantee their safety. She’s sitting between his legs with his arms wrapped around her waist and head resting on her shoulder. It’s a bit cold outside, so she wears his jacket.

Percy thinks it’s beautiful too, but for more reasons than just the skyline bursting with pinks and golds.

“It’s nothing compared to you,” he whispers into her ear.

“You big sap.”

“Only for you.” Percy kisses the edge of her ear.

Annabeth sighs, and Percy tightens his grip on her. “I still can’t believe it.”

“Believe what?”

“That we’re graduating. We’re leaving high school together when on the first day of high school, we wanted nothing to do with each other.”

Percy snickers. “Yeah, but it adds some spice to our relationship.”

“I hardly think we need any more spice,” she says, teasing.

Percy hums deep in his throat, content as she snuggles deeper into his arms to protect against the biting wind. “Probably not.”

Annabeth’s silent for a few minutes, and he wishes he could know what she’s thinking.

“Can you do me a favor?” she asks, so quiet he almost misses it amongst the New York hum.

“Anything.”

“Tell me a secret.”

“A secret?”

“Just — something you’ve never told me before.”

“I tell you everything already.”

“Just something you’ve never said.”

Percy doesn’t even have to think. He already knows exactly what he wants to say, so he leans in close to speak into her ear.

“I love you.”

Annabeth laughs and rolls her eyes fondly. “That’s not something you’ve never told me.”

“Then I’m telling you again.” Percy kisses her neck, a soft brush of his lips. “I’m just a little bit in love with you.”

“Just a little bit?”

“A lot in love with you,” he corrects.

“That’s better.”

“And…”

Annabeth tilts her head back against his chest to look up at him. It’s so cute he thinks he may explode.

“I never thought I’d fancy you,” he admits, “yet here we are.”

She grins. “I was an awful fifteen-year-old.”

“If it led us to now, then I’d do it a million times over,” he tells her. “And you weren’t that bad.”

Annabeth makes a sound of disagreement and brings a hand up to brush against his cheek. “Can I tell you something now?”

“Go for it.”

Annabeth blinks slowly, and Percy realizes that the sun is almost set as the night takes over. “I love you.”

“You just told me that wasn’t a secret,” he says, playful.

“Let me finish,” she chides. “I love you, and I’m giving you everything I have, so… don’t change your mind on me.”

Percy knows he couldn’t possibly change his mind on her. She’s it, he knows, and it’s exactly how it should be.

He sees a future with her. He sees marriage and kids and growing old together. His future is written with Annabeth Chase, and his mind is made up.

“Change my mind on you?” Percy laughs once and brings his lips to hers. “Never.”

[percabeth-sicfic-solangelo]

A Percy and Jason sicfic

Just to start getting some stuff out there here is a sickfic set on the Argo 2, Will is there because its convenient and Annabeth isn't there because I wanted this to be a more Jason and Percy friendship thing.

Jason swallowed back his annoyance as Percy zoned out again. The normally alert boy was staring blankly at the map in front of him, his eyes glazed over. Jason snapped his fingers under Percy's nose and the other boy jumped

"Sorry what were we talking about?" he whispered almost too quietly for Jason to hear,

"We were talking about whether we should take the path through the English channel" Jason repeated, pointing to a spot on the map. "If we crossed here we might be able to catch this half-blood" he looked up and to his annoyance saw Percy's eyes already losing focus

"What is it with you?" Jason snapped "Can't you just pay attention for one minute?" Percy winced like the sound hurt him

"I'm trying, okay?" he whispered and Jason lost it

"Trying?! You've been staring at the same place on the map for ten minutes and won't even say anything!, I'm trying" he mimicked in a whisper "If you were trying you'd show some effort, And why are you still wearing a sweatshirt, it's like 80 degrees out." Percy winced again and rubbed his temples

"Shut it" he muttered

"What?" Jason asked irritably

"I said shut it" Percy spoke louder, trying to ignore the rasp in his voice "I'm cold okay?" he turned away from Jason to hide his runny nose, not caring if it made him look like a sulking toddler

"Dude, calm down I'm sorry," Jason frowned, "I shouldn't have snapped at you." Percy didn't answer, there was an uncomfortable tickling in the back of his nose, He felt his lungs do the first windup without his permission and desperately tried to stop his nose twitching. Jason watched his back, confused at his friend's odd behaviour

"Percy?" he said uncertainly, almost convinced he'd made the boy cry "Percy you okay?" Once again he got no response and eased himself around the table to put a hand on his friend's shoulder, convinced something was wrong. Percy opened his mouth to say something but instead of words, a huge wet sneeze escaped his mouth.

"Woah!" Jason's eyes widened "Percy what the-" his words were cut off as Percy started sneezing again, his back arching under the force.

"You okay?" Jason asked as Percy straightened up again sniffing wetly

"Yeah" Percy nodded "Its dusty back here" Jason's eyes narrowed as he looked closer at his friend, upon closer inspection Percys nose was bright red along with his cheeks, and his eyes were slightly glazed over. Probably from a fever he thought to himself Why didn't I notice before? He tried to slid a hand onto Percy's forehead to test the theory but the black-haired boy ducked away

"I'm fine" He protested, "I just sneezed" Jason wanted to point out the other obvious signs of illness but stopped, he wasent Percy's girlfriend and he didn't have much authority to tell him to do anything.

"Sure," he said, walking back around the table "where were we?" 15 minutes later, Jason looked up from the map to see Percy stifling what seemed to be his 75th sneeze in his sweatshirt. He sighed as not 20 seconds later the boy's nose started to twitch again.

"Percy maybe you should go to sleep" he suggested as Percy failed to stop the small explosion.

"I'm fine" Percy insisted stubbornly, which didn't have the desired effect considering it came out more like I'b fi'e.

"No, you're not" Jason countered, handing him a tissue "Even without the sneezing you still look like death and sweating bullets" Percy opened his mouth to protest but his lungs as if to prove a point chose that time to erupt in a fit of hacking coughs,

"My definition of fine exactly" Jason muttered, wincing as the coughs grated painfully against his friend's throat.

"What happened to him?" Jason looked over his shoulder to see Leo Valdez standing in the doorway looking worried

"Nothing happened to me" Percy rasped, his voice even hoarser than before

"I'm just-" He broke off into another fit of coughs

"Sick" Leo finished for him "Yeah I can see that"

"Will you tell Will to come to his room?" Jason asked as he looped an arm under Percy's shoulders. Leo nodded and dashed from the room

"Come on Fish boy," Jason muttered, "Let's get you to bed"

He led Percy down the stairs into his cabin and deposited the boy on his bed,

"Thanks" Percy muttered through a fit of coughing "But I promise I'm fine" He tried to sit up but Jason pushed him back down

"Rest idiot," he insisted. Jason pressed a hand to Percy's forehead, oblivious of the boys growing embarrassment and winced as he felt the heat radiating from his skin. This wasn't good, Percy sniffed again, the wet inhale doing nothing to stop his nose from dripping. He really did look pathetic Jason thought as he internally cursed himself. The older boys cheeks were a dark red and he had even darker bags under his eyes.

"How long have you been feeling like this?" Jason asked and Percy shrugged

"Two, three days? I've been kinda out of it" He broke off to cough and Jason was reminded of a time back at camp Jupiter when he had been helping a younger camper with a cold, it had technically been below his rank but... he was snapped out of his train of thought as a tan face poked in the doorway.

"Percy okay?" Will called "Because Neeks is down too and I'm a little worried" Jason nodded shooing him away

"Take care of Nico, I've got it here"