#But I think that the fact that Annabeth's name was also something that kept people going before this happened

[dv-kelp-face]

People really don't give credit to Butch when he practically kept people reading Lost Hero with like one line -

[cerseimikaelson]

HIII CERSEI GUESS WHOS BACK (YOUR FELLOW WOTG FAN) WITH MY THOUGHTS ON COTG:

It is such a funny book, my fav jokes being the 'shrek, fiona, donkey' joke and an underrated classic in my mind, the scene where percy is like "There was screaming, crying and running in circles, and that was ✨just me✨" when talking about blanche's story (its so brutally honest and funny in a vulnerable way, which I will expand later on with the vulnerable part of it). It had so many iconic moments

It was a very low stakes, slow plot. You can tell Rick wrote it for the experience of reading our fav characters again (adding on to the fact that rick was made to write it by disney as additional marketing for the show, you can tell the plot wasnt thought of much), and ive seen people get mad over it, id love to know what you think!

This is a bit of a touchy topic. I've seen the people on the internet calling percabeth abusive with the constant name calling and the physical ??violence?? ( i obviously dont agree, but thats another topic), but something I've observed that everything that anti percabeths pointed out was toned down in the book?? Another post confirms that the majority of seaweed brains in the book was from percys pov and not annabeth actually saying it (like when hes looking at her expression and saying things like 'she looked like she was trying to say,....') and also when it comes to physical 'violence' (it feels so wrong to say bc i cant find another word lolol), the only things i found while rereading were 'lightly pinched my arm' and 'nudged me with her toe' which is wayyyy more toned down than ricks usual 'swatting my arm' or 'punching me' or 'judoflipped me'

One thing I admire so much about this book is the way he's written the characters vulnerability. percys way more open when he talks about crying whereas in the books its brushed over a lot, which is something the lovely @demigods-posts pointed out. annabeth tearing up when sally compliments her on something small like a cupcake, grover scared of percy and annabeth leaving him, and ofc percy. i saw someone interpret the river god scene as a ptsd induced panic attack, and i admire how rick has written it with so much angst, but still kept it light for the tone of the books.

another thing i love is how the characters dont revolve around percy as a main character (which is probably something rick learned while writing the tv show). annabeth has hobbies of her own, she's in her dream school, she is a busy woman and good for her. grover regularly goes to camp, and has his own conflicts with his gf and stuff. sally and paul are on their own arc with the baby on the way.

the fluff needs a special mention. every moment is so cute and sweet, there are way too many instances, especially with grover and percy which there was a severe lack of in hoo. them turning to seven year olds, percy and annabeths daily night iris message routine, the domesticity of the jacksons family

As usual, I'd love to hear your thoughts and opinions too, im so happy i get to talk about it with you :))

Heyyy friend, how are you? Thanks for the ask!

Since you mentioned her, I LOVED Blanche. Iris is one of my favourite goddesses, so it was great seeing her. And I loved watching a god actually be ignored by their teenage child for once instead of the other way around. Blanche being a propel rebel with the monochrome was golden. (also, pink hummingbirds? lol)

It is obvious there wasn't much in terms of an actual plot with real structure, but it was fun and light-hearted and it does set the foundation for something in the future. Not all quests need to be high stakes, all-hands-on-deck, the world is coming undone. I liked watching the trio have semi normal lives (meeting up for smoothies after school) instead of constantly being on hero mode.

I genuinely had no clue people were upset about Percabeth's interaction in this. But seriously, violence? Did those people forget Annabeth judo-flipped Percy in New Rome, or was it okay then because it was a grand romantic gesture? How is punching someone in the arm to tell them they are being an idiot (provided you don't turn them black and blue of course) abuse? Percy and Annabeth are in a relationship, obviously they are going to be tactile with each other. Not to mention, people often nudge each other in real life and nobody shouts abuse then. I am rambling now but honestly this is the first I've heard of this and I have opinions.

I know Rick wrote the PG version, but can we talk about Zeus literally objectifying Ganymede at brunch and nobody but Hera (and Percy silently) batting an eye? Honestly, I am not a hardcore Zeus hater (although he is an a**hole) but the way Rick writes him he has no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I officially volunteer to be Hera's divorce attorney.

I really liked the idea of Annabeth having a secret fan club and having dinner with Sally, Percy and Paul every night. That was excellent.

I am already brainstorming theories about what the third book is going to be. Does it matter that WOTG isn't even out yet? Absolutely not. I kind of want it to be about Athena because her interactions with Percy are always 10/10, but that probably won't happen.

Feel free to send me asks about your favourite gods and goddesses, any headcanons you may have or anything you wish to discuss about PJO. You can also find me on ao3!

[bluecrocss]

Yap-Sesh number... Whatever: "Race-swapping", White supremacy, Misogyny, and Casting in Hollywood

Okay... so Tiktok kept trying to push clips of Walker Scobell and Mason Thames at Comic-con to me (I guess cuz I'm pretty active in pjo series fan spaces), and each time I would find myself quickly scrolling away or having no interest in seeing the clip.

And at first I thought, maybe it's because as much as i love Walker as Percy and as much as I think the cast are so adorable, I'm an adult and I'm not really one of his fan girls (for obvious reasons), so I'm not super interested in edits that are basically simping for him.

But the intensity with which I avoided these clips, I realized there was something else that was driving that feeling... it was resentment.

As you can see from my blog, I've invested a lot of time/energy pointing out the hypocrisy of the anti-blackness and backlash that has been thrown at Leah Jeffries for her casting as annabeth, as well as consistently coming to her defense against the bigots I've encountered on literally every social media site I've used. And I'm already pre-exhasuted knowing that I'm going to have to do the same thing for Nico Parker when the httyd movie comes out, despite the fact that she is just as white as Pete Wentz and more white than KJ Apa (who y'all had no problem with him dying his hair and playing canonically white Archie Andrews), the backlash she's going to get is insane and it's going to be a Leah Sava Jeffries situation all over again.

But when Zendaya or Jaz Sinclair or Amanadla Stenberg play fully black characters, with two black parents, you don't see the black community up in arms and losing our shit. But God forbid somebody who is 3/4s white play a white character and suddenly y'all wanna bring up the one-drop rule and start preaching about racial purity. You people are genuinely closet white supremacists.

Like...

The httyd movies might be based on aspects Scandinavian culture, but they aren't actually historically accurate to Norse (or "viking" as some of y'all like to call it) culture. It's like with Game of Thrones or D&D, the setting is inspired by real cultures but the contents are fantastical and don't require any "Ethnic accuracy" (what's that thing about white people can hold their disbelief for dragons but not POC in fantasy? 💀).

Which is crazy because NONE OF THE CAST (including the fully white actors) ARE ETHNICALLY SCANDINAVIAN. Furthermore, Mason Thames looks NOTHING like Hiccup. Hiccup is supposed to be an awkward, gangly nerd in the first movie and Mason Thames looks like a highschool Jock (which I don't mind. Cuz unlike y'all, I'm more interested in his acting and portrayal of the character).

Y'all did the same thing with Rachel Ziegler and snow white, who is in every way racially white and fair skinned, but y'all lost your shit because her mom is Colombian (news flash, Latinos can be white also. Ask Anya Taylor Joy). I think it goes beyond white supremacy though, y'all are also just misogynistic because when Keanu Reeves (half white) plays Jonathan Harker in Dracula, or Pedro Pascal (Latino) plays Joel and is in gladiator or Oscar Isaac (Latino) plays a welsh folk singer or a british noble or Mark-Paul Gosselar (Half-white) plays the iconically white all-american teen, Zack Morris for 5 years, it's suddenly not a problem.

Everytime y'all dogpile on a WOC actress like this, it's with this idea that they're getting an "unfair advantage". Hollywood is pushing it's "Woke agenda" and a hardworking white actress lost a role because a less-talented woc is "stealing" the spot. So you drag them in the name of "accuracy to the source material". But again, in 2024 71% of lead theatrical roles were played by white people and every other racial group made up 29%. Where is this hollywood woke agenda?

It's so funny, because it works the exact opposite because a WOC getting this kind of role is a once-in-a-blue-moon occurrence, and then she's tokenized by hollywood for a few years and then left to dry.

I always think about how Jennifer Lawrence and Lupita Nyongo both had similar buzz when they first broke into Hollywood, and alot of people would put them at similar talent levels in terms of acting (I personally thing Lupita washes Jlaw, tbh). Yet over the course of their career, look at the quality of roles hollywood has offered each. Look at who hollywood pushed in the limelight over and over again.

When Percy Jackson and HTTYD are over, both Walker and Mason are going to get the hollywood white boy of the month treatment. Hollywood is going to try to make them leading men and put them in EVERYTHING. Like they did with Timothee Chalamet, Tom Holland, Chris pratt, Leo DiCaprio, even going back to James Dean in the 50s. And it's not to say that these men aren't talented, but it is the reality of where the bias lies in hollywood. Nico Parker, despite being a literal Nepo Baby, will never get the pure number of opportunities Mason gets, simply because MOST lead roles are written with white people as the default (keeping in mind that she is LITERALLY more white than she is black) and most lead roles still go to men.

It's just so unfair that these are young hard-working actors who have done nothing to y'all but because of pure racism and misogyny (that's what it is, even if you personally feel like it's not), look at the difference in the experience Leah and Nico have versus Walker and Mason. The difference in peace of mind. Feeling loved and supported vs being told you don't belong and you're not good enough. It's so reflective of real life for WOC and white men in general.

Everyone says they believe in "equality" and "hiring based on merit" and "representation is important", but most of y'all are lying. How are we ever going to get to point of actual equal representation in hollywood, when this is how white people act while they are STILL the majority? And don't say it's because of "race-swapping" because Amandla Stenberg has gotten racial backlash TWICE. Once when she played a character that was written to be black, but got backlash from white audiences because they had imagined the character white (and once again, the character was supposed to be fully black AND darker-skinned, but you didn't see black people losing our mind that she was being played by a light-skinned, biracial actor); and second in the acolyte, where she played a COMPLETELY ORIGINAL CHARACTER and still got racial abuse (yes, I have heard the show isn't very good, but the backlash started before it came out so save the gaslighting).

And for the Walker and Mason fans who are going to ignore the entire thesis of this post and interpret it as a hate-post towards your faves... this is literally a blog dedicated to the pjo live-action. I love Walker as Percy. He's seems like a really sweet kid and I'm glad he's getting all the recognition he's getting. And I love how supportive he's been of Leah. Same with Mason, he was great in Black Phone and I have no doubt he'll kill it in HTTYD. But would y'all ever give that level support or benefit of the doubt to their costars?

Also, also... for all the weirdos who are going to catch on the Rachel Ziegler example and say "oh it wasn't her race, she shit-talked the character" blah blah blah. No she didn't. Y'all took a few interview clips out of context and joined in on a misogynistic hate campaign from the anti-woke brigade like y'all did with Brie Larson. There was already backlash to her casting before she had even done a single interview. Why don't y'all save the hate for the literal Zionist that is playing the evil queen (apt title tho 🤔) instead?

[starlightshadowsworld]

I like to think Grover was the one who kept a close eye on Jason during his time at Camp Half-blood.

Annabeth would soon join him but for a long while she was more concerned about bringing Percy home than the new arrivals.

Grover also wanted Percy home, but knew from their link that wherever he was he was happy and presumably safe. And it was Percy, he had to be.

He also sympathised with Jason who seemed to have no idea what was going on or why Annabeth was glaring at him.

And being the Lord of the Wild, he noticed something different about Jason. Everyone had remarked that he was odd but Grover could tell that Jason wasn't completly human.

From his understanding humans don't growl, they don't drop on all fours and hiss. They didn't tend to bite people that angered them nor chew bones.

There was also the fact Jason was strong, as strong as the most battle hardened Ares kid and had quite pointy teeth and fangs.

The boy carried a blessing of someone ancient, someone who Grover couldn't pin point but was very much of the wild.

Jason was out in the forest, he tended not to stay around the camp grounds and went just as far as the barrier would allow him to. He perked up, turning his head when he saw Grover approaching.

"Thought I'd find you out here" He said, approaching carefully and when he sat there was a gap between them. Giving Jason the opportunity to run or leave if he wished, the God's knew he'd been interrogated enough these past few days.

Jason looked at him curiously, cautiously before shrugging. He pointed to the camp, made a blah blah hand gesture at his face while he looked confused.

Grover chuckled "lemme guess she was tall and blonde?" Jason nodded with a shudder. "Believe me she's nicer than she seems now, she's just worried. And when she gets worried she gets a bit intense." He explained, Jason gave him a look of disbelief but shrugged.

"Can't I say I blame you though, figured I'd come here for some peace." Jason nodded, looking about at the various naids and plants "it's nice" He said, making Grover pause in suprise.

"Huh, didn't think you could talk" He said offhandedly, not wanting to push him away. Jason shook his head "I can, not well in English. Words get stuck, my mama didn't teach me." He explained, his voice hoarse from just how little he used it.

Grover nodded slowly "do you know who taught you?" Jason deflated, shaking his head sadly. He didn't, he just knew someone had but couldn't put a name or face to who it was. "I'm sorry Jason, we're gonna help you find your way back home" promised Grover, heart melting at Jason's big sad eyes.

He got up on all fours from where he was sat, throwing his head back and howled.

And Grover understood it instantly, better than he'd ever understood Jason. It was a cry that pups gave when they were seperated from their pack. Jason howled, 'help, I'm lost. Mama! Mama I'm here!' and Grover watched as he stopped and sniffled.

He pulled out his reed pipes and began playing a song, 'your son is here, your pup is here' Jason paused, recognising what Grover was saying and whimpered. He curled up beside the Satyr, tears in his eyes that fell to the ground.

Jason looked so much like Percy when he first came to camp, scared, angry and confused and just wanting his mum back.

And Grover promised, promised he'd bring Jason home. He played some different songs, calming the son of Zeus that curled up by his side.

[chironshorseass]

Am I the only one confused on why people hate Percy for not checking up on Bob after the Sword of Hades happened? A) Percy can’t actually stroll into the Underworld any time he wants; his uncle genuinely wanted him dead, and any monsters roaming around would be ecstatic to be the one to take Perseus Jackson down. B) why the hell would he ever think about a Titan again? The only reason Percy was able to erase Iapetus’s memories was because Iapetus was trying to kill Percy and his friends; odds are the only thing Percy thought about Iapetus after the fight was that there would be one less Titan on the battlefield, and nothing else. Iapetus was very much an enemy to Percy, and the only reason he stopped being one was because Percy dragged him into the Lethe; Iapetus didn’t have second thoughts or a change of heart or anything like that; Percy knew that if Iapetus regained his memories (and maybe Percy, the man responsible for wiping them, continuously coming around would’ve caused them to return), Iapetus wouldn’t hesitate to kill him or drag him to Kronos to be publicly executed. C) when did Percy have the freaking time? The boy was dealing with a war and the fact that he was almost certainly going to die when he turned 16, so he was trying to make the most of his time with his mom and friends, and he had a war to lead in and fight. Plus, he had like 4 months before Hera kidnapped him, and he had to use that to start recovering from the war, because I can guarantee those demigods are walking balls of trauma. A Titan he fought over a year ago likely never even registered on his radar, because why would he ever think about a neutralized enemy again? The boy got kidnapped, was kept in a magical coma for months, had to go on a quest and fight in another battle, went on yet another quest, and fell into Tartarus, all in less than a month; he had no time to deal with jack.

all of this is spot on and im sorry im about to ramble. I mean, the only reason why rick pushed this bob plot in our faces was to create Conflict and dig a little into the whole "titans and monsters aren't bad" that he did with Tyson. but like......it made no sense??? it was also about cleaning "plot holes" I guess? if rick wanted to make percy tie lose ends from pjo (which the whole bob thing wasn't even from pjo & when I first read it I was so confusion), if he wanted that same taste of conflict but better—because it wasn't explored much before —was if he added in more of Luke. just.

maybe some metaphors. maybe so parallels. maybe something something the curse of the arai. maybe an appearance like what miss melissa @estrangedlestrange did in her fic. but idk that would've probably been asking for much. give us the Themes of regret, of annabeth spiraling because Luke's knife, his promise, is now lost in the river of misery!!! tbh now that I think about it annabeth barely had anything going for her character during hoh except the Write Your Own Destiny thing w Iapetus and the other giant whose name I dont remember lol. dont get me wrong, that whole Thing w the "giants aren't inherently evil" and the "even if you're cursed you can still choose your fate" thing could've still happened!!! but. the opportunity was there for some nice good ol Luke resurgence (ummm he was an extremely prominent character. a very well written villain. and nothing came after that. nada. cmon folks, the story isn't over!) annabeth should've been in the pits of hell thinking constantly of the guilt, feeling the lost weight of the knife that literally killed luke from a broken promise just sjhghsjkdghakjg. his death hadn't been so long ago, and her being in hell, where he may or may not be for what he did, must've sparked some of the undigested emotions cmon. we only got a little bit of that but the tiniest bit, which is laughable. where was the creativity. annabeth's journey. huh???

ohhh and what we could've had with percy, because in the worst suffering for the both of them, he got into luke's perspective. give us percy relating more to luke!!! like rick just wrote a bit of percy's thought process being like, "u know what Luke has some points" and never dwelled on it again. it could have outright been one of percy's character arcs!!!! his motivation to kill the goddess of misery!!! both of them are bitter as fuck!!!! they're in fucking hell!!!! THE BOB GUILT WAS USELESS like u said!!! percy being hinted as a bad person for what he did to bob was soooo... dumb?? why not get him to sympathize with Luke but at the same time feeding into hatred and resentment bc he doesn't understand why LUKE is probably in Elysium for dying a hero when THEY are dying in hell? him and annabeth did everything right??? they are the heroes of olympus and this is how they are treated?? anyway sorry. completely skirted off topic ig adhd does that to a person. thank u for ur service anon<3

[seattlesea]

Why Percabeth Isn’t a Good Ship (Sorry 2x)

I’m definitely getting cancelled- 

1. Annabeth is physically abusive. The fandom makes this point seem controversial and debatable, but it’s really not. The definition of abuse is hitting someone. Annabeth hit Percy. Therefore, Annabeth abused Percy. Is that really that hard to understand? Annabeth hit Percy for the first time in The Titan’s Curse when she, Percy, and Thalia were looking for the di Angelo siblings. She punched him in the gut when he asked her who he should ask to dance with him. Annabeth knows that Percy can be oblivious at times...but punishes him when it benefits her? The second time was in The Mark of Athena, when she judo-flipped him because she missed him. That’s...what?? Usually when people are worried about someone else, they hug or kiss them, not flip them over their shoulder. And yes Annabeth kissed him first, but the judo-flip was completely unnecessary. Annabeth punished Percy for ‘leaving’ her despite him being kidnapped and his memory wiped. And everyone’s like ‘But Percy didn’t feel any pain!!11!!1!’ The chapter wasn’t in his point of view, so that claim is a guess. Just cause he didn’t say ‘Ow’ doesn’t mean he wasn’t in pain. Also- Annabeth slammed him on a stone pavement on his back. That definitely hurts, even if Percy is a demigod, physically strong, and has gotten hurt a lot. There’s a difference between ‘playful hitting’ and actually hurting someone. Yes they trained a lot, but this isn’t training. This is Annabeth punishing Percy for being traumatized with yet another life-threatening quest and being kidnapped. I don’t remember Percy judo-flipping Annabeth after he saw her again when she got kidnapped in TTC. Besides, the Romans were about to take out their weapons when they saw Annabeth attack Percy, so if all of them thought it was an attack...it was most likely an attack. Even Annabeth said herself “I only attack my boyfriend like that”. The thing is, if it was Percy who flipped Annabeth over his shoulder and slammed her on her back or punched her in the gut, all the fans immediately would’ve freaked out and cancelled him, calling him a horrible and abusive boyfriend, but because it’s the girl hitting the guy, it’s fine apparently. Nothing wrong with it, right? And then Riordan (and the fandom) had the audacity to romanticize that abuse. Abuse isn’t a sweet, romantic gesture. Stop making it seem like it is. That’s disgusting. 

2. Annabeth is also verbally abusive and toxic. Annabeth canonically lowered Percy’s self-esteem, constantly insulted him and his intelligence despite knowing he was insecure about it and always getting kicked out of schools and getting bad grades (even with her so-called ‘endearing’ name for him ‘Seaweed Brain’), and the overall idea of Percabeth is a super smart, pretty girl making a guy with below average intelligence feel insecure about himself. Percy’s self-esteem has plummeted since he met Annabeth and her behavior is never called out or even noticed, which implies some manipulation going on. Annabeth is shown to be extremely capable of manipulating her enemies and anyone else she pleases, and there are quite a few signs she’s using it against Percy (his feelings of obligation, fear, and guilt of and over her, questioning himself, having strings attached, always only thinking of her and no one else in his life, etc.), especially since Percy begins to gradually stop noticing Annabeth’s wrong and toxic behavior as the story progresses. 

3. Annabeth only likes Percy cause he’s the chosen one. Annabeth only hung around Percy since The Lightning Thief cause she thought he was ‘the one’ and so she could finally go on a quest. She literally used Percy to go out to the mortal world and ‘prove herself’ cause really, all she cares about is glory, which is shown multiple times throughout the series with all her pride and ambitions. Plus the fact that Chiron made Annabeth swear on the River Styx that she would keep Percy from danger is a pretty clear sign she didn’t stick around him just cause she wanted to, but because she felt obligated to and cause it would benefit her. Take all of this and it’s kind of obvious Annabeth only hung around Percy cause he was the chosen one of the prophecy, a son of one of the Big Three, and was destined to go on multiple quests and play a big part in the mythological world, which is what she always wanted since book one.

4. It was forced. Since the beginning of book one, it was so obvious that Percy and Annabeth were going to get together that their relationship ended up being boring, dull, and flat. Riordan made it so obvious they were going to be a couple that nothing that happened to their relationship really mattered, cause everyone knew it would work out in the end (which is probably why everyone *wrongly* hated on Rachel) so what happened in between didn’t matter. Their relationship was the typical ‘male lead and female lead’, ‘bad boy trouble-maker skater and nerdy good girl’ power couple that was way too clear. And Riordan made it worse by pushing their relationship and shoving it into the readers’ faces way too much. In MoA Annabeth states that she’s always had a crush on Percy (since they were twelve) which immediately rips all the development their relationship (which was supposedly ‘friends to lovers’, but not anymore) had away. Riordan made up a bunch of honestly dumb scenarios that were legit cringe to make Percabeth seem like ‘OTP’ that really didn’t make sense.

5. It ruined their characters. Percy and Annabeth would’ve been way better off as just friends. After they got together in HoO, all their personality and everything else that made them independent was destroyed to make room for more ‘Percabeth’. All of Annabeth’s skills, bravery, intelligence, pride, ferocity, judgmentalism, and all the other traits and flaws that made her a well-written character were never utilized or even mentioned. All she thought about was Percy, and the same goes for him. His loyalty, sarcasm, humor, obliviousness, etc. disappeared to make room for arrogant Annabeth fanboy. In PJO, they were amazingly well-written and great role models for younger readers (especially Annabeth), but in HoO their characters were exclusively ‘Annabeth’s boyfriend’ and ‘Percy’s girlfriend’. Their characters were completely dependent on each other, and they were way better off as just friends. 

6. Annabeth is way too possessive. And creepy. It’s fine and honestly normal for people to get jealous when another person likes someone they do, but Annabeth’s jealousy was downright creepy. Not only did she not know if her feelings for Percy were reciprocated or not, but she also didn’t know if Percy and Rachel liked each other, either. The very first time she met Rachel she immediately hated her. That’s not ‘I’m jealous cause this girl likes the guy I do’, that’s ‘I’m jealous cause the guy I like has another female friend’. She had no reason to believe that Rachel and Percy liked each other and has no say in who they can like, either. She thought that she and Percy absolutely had to be in a relationship and that he couldn’t even have friends with different genitals than him. And remember when Annabeth literally stalked Percy in The Sea of Monsters? Like when she creeped by his window, constantly watched him, and kept tabs on him just cause she ‘couldn’t find the right time’ to tell him something cause he was ‘never alone’ despite him being alone multiple times and despite the fact that she literally could’ve just knocked on his door like a normal person instead of creeping around his cabin and staring at him through the windows? Again- switch the roles. If it was Percy who was stalking Annabeth, everyone would’ve immediately called him a creep. If- according to Tumblr and almost everyone who read Twilight- Edward is a creep for stalking Bella, then Annabeth is a creep for stalking Percy. 

7. It’s mostly fan love. Honestly, the fandom is the only thing that fuels Percabeth. Riordan just destroys it. He shoved it down the readers’ throats, forced it way too much with really dumb and honestly unrealistic scenarios, and made it abusive and toxic. On its own, Percabeth freaking sucks. The fandom’s version of Percabeth is 1000x better than whatever the hell Riordan was doing, but even that version is toxic. Like, I’ve seen way too many jokes about Annabeth hitting Percy (as if abuse is hilarious and amazing meme fuel and not an extremely sensitive topic that triggers multiple people who actually went through it). Half the time, the fandom fixes Percabeth and the other half of the time they over-glorify and ruin it. The fandom over exaggerates and over glorifies it way too much. It’s not that great of a relationship, to be honest. Most of y’all only like it in the first place cause Riordan made it canon.

8. It was cringey. Like I said above, Riordan wrote some really dumb scenes for Percabeth. I mean- the matching gray streaks in their hair despite Atlas and Artemis not getting any? Percy’s tie to the mortal world while bathing in the River Styx being Annabeth and not his mom, Grover, etc.? Percy only remembering Annabeth, the girl he’s only known for four years and not his mom, the only woman who actually cared for and took care of him or Grover, his best friend who protected and continuously cared about him? Percy turning down immortality only for Annabeth and not even bothering to mention the pain of leaving behind his life, friends, family, memories, etc. behind if he accepted it? The romanticized judo-flip? The whole ‘dark-haired rebellious bad boy/nerdy blonde good girl who can be bad’ trope? Even the boring predictability of Percabeth is cringe. 

9. It’s a bad influence on younger readers. Basically the lesson of Percabeth is ‘Once you get a love interest nothing else in your life matters’. Besides that one single scene that took like three lines in The Son of Neptune, Percy never even thought of his own mom, nor did he think about any of his friends or passed allies like his dad, Rachel, Grover, Paul, Silena, Luke, Ethan, Bob/Iapetus, Tyson, Calypso, Charles, Michael (whose death he accidentally caused), Bianca, Zoë, etc. Even when in Tartarus with the curse of the Arai being forced to remember all the people he forgot and feeling guilty about abandoning Bob and Calypso, all he thought about was Annabeth. Even when faced with the man who broke the heart of the girl who sacrificed herself for him, Percy didn’t even think of her, only his jealousy of Jason. Same thing with Annabeth. She never thought about her mom, Luke, Thalia, her step-mom or step-brothers, etc. It was all about Percy. Cause yes, Riordan, that’s exactly the lesson you should teach your younger readers- forget everyone you ever knew the moment you get a partner. Besides that, it also teaches readers that being rude to people who like the same person as you is completely okay cause no one will care and once you start being rude, bitter, and possessive you’ll get exactly what you want (that’s literally what happened, with Annabeth and with Calypso, too). He also teaches that after you get a partner, everything that makes you you will disappear and you’ll be completely dependent on them and nothing in your life will matter, even your own independent life and personality. 

10. The fandom tries to excuse and explain Annabeth’s behavior??? What??? Since when does explaining and excusing hitting people put you in the right again? And the excuses aren’t even good, too! Percabeth fans use-  Annabeth was full of emotions/mad and doesn’t know how to deal with emotions. Annabeth really loved Percy. It was only one time. Annabeth was worried about Percy and mad that she left him. Annabeth didn’t mean to hurt him. Annabeth didn’t know what she was doing cause she was full of emotions. ??? Annabeth was full of emotions/mad and doesn’t know how to deal with emotions- Annabeth was seventeen years old, the daughter of the wisdom goddess, and is supposedly the smartest character in the series who is shown to be extremely good at reading people and their emotions. And y’all are really trying to say she doesn’t know how to deal with her emotions?  Annabeth really loved Percy- SO? A mother might really love her child, does that excuse her for hitting them for dumb reasons? It was only one time- actually, it was twice, and so what? If someone was slapped across the face ‘only one time’, does that mean they weren’t abused? ‘Abuse’ doesn’t mean ‘hit constantly’, it means ‘hit’. If someone was hit, they were abused. Is that really not a known fact in this fandom? Annabeth was worried about Percy and mad that she left him- last time I checked, people didn’t hit others when they were worried about them. If I was worried that my friend was going to get hurt, I wouldn’t hurt them myself. That literally makes no sense. And again- Percy didn’t leave Annabeth. He was kidnapped. Do y’all not know the definition of that, either? Annabeth didn’t mean to hurt him- yes, cause that’s why she decided to flip him over her shoulder, slam him on a stone pavement on his back, and punish him for ‘leaving her’.  Annabeth didn’t know what she was doing cause she was full of emotions- Annabeth??? the daughter of the wisdom goddess??? not knowing what she’s doing??? huh??? I mean, would any of you really, legitimately try to use any of these dumb excuses to excuse a man from hitting his wife? Hopefully not. And if you did, you would immediately get hated on and legit cancelled. So what makes this any different? Also- I see the excuse ‘Annabeth didn’t know Percy lost his Achilles Heel and thought he was still invincible’. Under different circumstances I’d accept that, but Annabeth knew that Percy’s Achilles Heel was on the small of his back...BUT SHE SLAMMED HIM ON HIS BACK. If Percy hadn’t lost the Achilles Heel, Annabeth literally would’ve killed him. Abusive enough for y’all? Or is attempted murder excusable and still ‘OTP’? 

11. They had no chemistry whatsoever. Was I the only one who felt...absolutely no chemistry between Percy and Annabeth? Like some of their moments were cute, their friendship was really good, and they had a lot of potential, but they didn’t feel right for each other. Remember- opposites don’t attract (they just argue, and no one has ‘another half’ that needs to ‘complete them’, everyone is their own person), they cancel each other out. I mean, Reyna and Annabeth had more chemistry in that one chapter of the New Rome tour in MoA than Percy and Annabeth had in 12+ books. They’re just...not right for each other, I guess. 

I’m definitely getting cancelled-

Edit 2: Sorry if I offended anyone with that last note. Just wanted to let y’all know that I am not here to start any drama, hurt anyone, or disrespect any Percabeth shippers. I respect your opinions 100% and only ask you do the same for me. Like I literally only wrote this at 12 am when I was bored and had nothing else to do and couldn’t sleep (same goes for pretty much everything else I write about PJ). Besides, why argue and start drama over dumb stuff like that when we can just find something we agree on? Don’t like Piper McLean? Let’s talk about that. Think Reyna Avila Ramirez-Arellano is a queen? Let’s talk about that. Think Nico di Angelo is freaking amazing? Let’s talk about that. Think Theyna would be adorable? Let’s talk about that. Want someone to vent to about writer’s block? Why the hell not? Want random writing advice and tips for writer’s block? Sure, I got plenty. Instead of arguing and starting beef over trivial fictional ships. 

[demi-chaos]

since the author of this fic has comments turned off, im turning to tumblr to sing my praises.

(if they somehow see this and want me to take it down i gladly will)

Falling For You by 1967HogwartsGoddess on AO3 is a fic that humbled me.

i should start by saying that i was ignorant. I saw the name of the fic and it's summary along with a couple of tags and i jumped right it. "it shouldn't take me too long to read" i assumed.

i was wrong

this beast of a fanfic was 69 chapter, clocking in at ~270k words total. i didn't check the word count, and while i wish i did, i dont regret not having done so. It took me 6 hours to read, i stayed up until 9am to read it all, and i clung to every word.

i loved so much about it right from the start. for one, it felt like the author had taken the original books' style and mastered it. i loved the fact that they bothered to switch povs in the same way the hoO books do, it felt very natural and ended up making the world feel more real than if they had just stuck to percy's perspective only. i also love the little quips here or there, the references, the scene building, the attitude reminded me so much of why i loved pjo in the first place. im impressed, shocked, amazed and in awe of them.

this fic is heavy. really heavy. like smash your character into a cliffside and watch them struggle to survive type of heavy and i absolutely love it. i couldn't get enough. like percy, everytime i thought something was over, that it was getting better, i was smacked in the face with yet another event. i loved every second of it. everything. every little torture scene, every battle, every step back and step forward he took, i treasured. i especially loved how hopeless it got. there were many moments when i thought "yea this is how the story ends. bye percy" but i was a fool. he kept on trucking, struggling, and surviving. and ahhh! i loved it.

also? can i just say? part that i thought would have been the ending that just turned out to be mid-fic when percy came back from tartarus and found out that annabeth was dead? every scene from threatening the hell hound to keep the button pressed to him punching his dad to cursing out hades was amazing. my heart didn't beat once as i just thought "oh shit oh fuck oh shit oh fuck" and???

HAVING HIM GO BACK THERE??? AGAIN??? RIGHT AFTER HE'D BARELY LEFT? A GENIUS! i almost screamed when hades told him to go down again. that entire moment felt heart stopping honestly! and then the torture, the struggle, the constant failure time after time. the hallucinations. it was just so !!!!!!!!!!! and when he thought he got out but it was just another fucked up layer of torture? oh goodness

the emotional fuckery in this fic is delicious. i felt bad for everyone in the most delectable way. obviously for percy and annabeth, but also for every single party involved. i felt bad for the campers who couldn't save annabeth from dying, for those who love percy who had to witness him go mad and almost turn on them in the final battle. i felt soooo baaaad i loved it so much.

oh shit i didn't even mention the curse! one of the best long term callbacks ive read in a long time!! having it be in part nico's fault was the cherry on top.

i can't even begin to think about how long this took to plan, write, edit and edit again. for such a long fic, i didn't come across a single grammatical error, continuity error or spelling mistake. while yes, coming across these kinds of things isnt world ending, but the fact that this fic had none? blew my mind away. ive written 2k word chapters that are so riddled with mistakes i had to delete the whole thing and try again, so having it be so clean was fantastic. i was impressed! my socks were blown off and my head exploded.

real quick, the reason im posting it here not on the fic where i wish it were, its because of shitty people doing shitty things. i hope the person who fucked with the author's works and privacy goes to hell. that shit sucks and no one deserves it

overall, this is one amazing fic that i am really happy to have read. i love reading these types of fanfics where it feels like another chapter or alternate version to the original, and im always blown away by it.

author, thank you so much for your probably hundreds or thousands of hours of work on this. im really happy to have witnessed such a thing <3

[thebluesideofmyworld]

What Nico Remembered

Summary:

The five things that Nico remembered about Will. And one thing that he would never forget.

Word count: 3400 words || Rating: Teenage and Up Audiences || Read on AO3

Notes:

1. My small contribution for the Nico di Angelo Birthday Event 21, held by @solangeloweek ​ on Tumblr. I hope you enjoy this one :)

2. One of the scenes in this one-shot, the (#5) is inspired by a fanart created by @anxiousstar that you can see here.

(1) This was what Nico remembered:  the feeling of skeletal butterflies doing some stupid dancing in his stomach. It felt so foreign, but if Nico had to be honest, it wasn't unpleasant.

As he sat on the cot in the infirmary, he tried telling those butterflies to calm down. Will was sitting on the chair next to the cot, jotting things down on the writing board that he had.

“So what is it that I have to do during this three-day stay, then?” Nico asked, trying to keep his scowl while at the same time, trying not to get distracted by the way Will’s golden curls fell over his head.

“Rest, of course,” Will answered, and lifted his eyes up from the board. "Sleep is, of course, our first priority. A well-balanced diet is next on the list."

Nico raised his eyebrows. “You have a list?” He asked in disbelief, this time managed to hold his eyes at Will’s blue eyes.

(That was another thing that Nico remembered: Will’s blue eyes)

Will’s lips curled up a little into a small smirk. “Of course I do, Death Boy.”

“What’s next on the list, then?”

“Well,” Will tapped his chin with the pen that he was holding, pretending like he was thinking hard about something. “Considering that based on your answers, you were practically an old man-“

“And thus you have to show me more respect that you’re doing now”

Will ignored Nico’s remark and continued. “And those years that lost on you while you were in The Lotus Casino means you have a lot to catch up with some cultural stuff.”

Nico snorted. “What, you mean like fine art and paintings and stuff?”

Will laughed. He leaned forward just a little. “Well, I’m not talking about that kind of art.”

There it was again. Those stupid skeletal butterflies were doing that stupid dance again in his stomach, as Nico stared at the ink of freckles on Will’s face.

“What are you talking about, then?”

“I’m talking about Star Wars.”

Nico scowled. “Isn’t it the movie with the… the light swords and that dude in a black robe?”

Will’s eyebrows shot up. “Oh? So you have watched it?”

Nico shrugged his shoulders. “No,” he said. “But I think I’ve heard about it.”

“Well, then,” Will leaned back on his chair. His grin was wide and there was this excitement in his eyes. “It is decided then. The next thing on your to-do list while you’re here is having a Star Wars marathon.”

So the fact that Will loved Star Wars was one thing that Nico remembered. But the thing that he also remembered, was the way some stupid skeletal butterflies danced in his stomach, when Will fell asleep with his head on Nico’s shoulder, in the middle of Attack of The Clones.

***

(2) This was what Nico remembered: Nico didn’t ask Will to stay.

It was December. Nico had always dreaded the cold that December brought. And ever since Bianca passed away, December felt like the epitome of misery for Nico.

It was December. Nico lied down on his bed. It’s way past breakfast time, but Nico just didn’t have the energy to get up, let alone go out of his cabin.

When he heard the knocking, he wasn't exactly surprised. He had a pretty good guess on who's knocking and why. Also, he knew that the person knocking on the door would stubbornly refuse to leave anyway. So Nico sighed, and forced himself to sit down on his bed, leaning his back on the headboard.

“Come in,” he said and closed his eyes. He heard the door opened, and a second later it closed again with a soft thudding sound. He could hear Will’s footsteps but he kept his eyes closed. The footsteps stopped right next to his bed.

“Hey,” Will said, voice much gentler than usual.

Nico opened his eyes but stared at the dark wooden wall in front of him. He took a deep breath and sighed.

“What do you want?”

Will didn’t say anything for a while. The silence hung heavy between them. Nico turned his head to Will.

“What do you want?” He asked again.

Will slipped his hands into the pocket of his jeans. He bit his lower lip and looked hesitant for two seconds.

“Listen. Annabeth told me that this… this particular day might be hard for you.”

Icy cold feelings stabbed Nico’s chest. He could feel tears formed in his eyes. He turned his head away from Will, trying to blink away the tears.

“And?” He asked sharply, as he turned his head back at Will. “What you are going to do about it?”

“I want to make sure that you know that it’s okay-“

“No, it’s not, Solace! I lost my sister, do you think it’s okay? Do you think I’m okay with it?”

Will didn’t say anything. He didn’t look like he wanted to say anything. He just kept his eyes at Nico’s, with a look that Nico couldn’t understand.

Nico looked away again, hating himself for starting to cry again. Hating himself for shouting at Will. Hating himself for…everything.

“It’s not okay…” he whispered to the silence of the room, this time letting a tear fell down from his eyes.

“It’s not.”

Nico turned his head again, staring at Will.

Will slid down to sit on the floor, right next to the bed. He folded his arms on the bed.

"It's not okay. It hurts. To lose the people that we love. And it feels so unfair, isn't it?"

Will paused for a moment. “But, I mean… It’s okay to feel that way. To think that it’s not okay. To think that the world sucks.”

It's unexpected, to say the least. To hear those words coming from the Apollo's son who always seemed to see a silver line in everything. But at the same time, it made a thought cross his mind.

Maybe Will would understand.

Nico chewed his lower lip, still staring at the dark blue sheet covering his bed. He took a deep breath and let it out in a shaky breath.

“I miss her,” he whispered. From the corner of his eyes, he could see Will nodded.

“I’m sure you do.”

Silence again. But this time, it felt just a little bit lighter.

“Can you tell me about her?”

Nico turned his head slowly to Will. “What?”

There was this soft, gentle smile on Will’s lips. “Tell me about her. About your sister.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s an important person to you. Because you love her. Because I want to know about her, more than just a name.”

It didn’t make sense to Nico. It didn’t make sense and Nico didn’t know how to.

Then again, when Nico closed his eyes, he could see her smile. He could almost hear her voice, laughing as they ran through the alleys back in Venice.

Nico slowly opened his eyes back. “Bianca’s favorite color was green,” he started.

He didn’t know why and how but he kept on talking. He kept on talking about Bianca and pieces and fragments of memories that he remembered. He kept on talking to Will, who was sitting on the floor, arms folded on the bed, listening to every single word tumbling down from Nico.

At one point, Will’s hand crept down to hold Nico’s hand.

Nico didn’t hold his hand back. He just kept on talking about Bianca and the song that she used to sing and her favorite gelato in Venice.

But Will kept on holding his hand and he kept on listening to Nico’s words.

And that was what Nico remembered. Nico didn’t ask Will to stay, but Will stayed anyway.

Nico also remembered another thing: he didn’t hold Will’s hand back. But Will didn’t let go, and kept on holding his hand.

***

(3) This was what Nico remembered: Will Solace cried in silence.

Nico stood at the doorway to the emergency room in the infirmary. Will was there, totally focusing on the girl lying on the cot.

But now, Nico had his eyes on Thanatos, who was standing in the other corner of the room.

He stared at Thanatos, with pleading eyes.

But he knew it was useless.

Thanatos shook his head, a grim expression on his face.

Nico took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a second. When he opened his eyes again, Thanatos already stood just two steps away from him.

“I’m sorry, My Prince,” Thanatos said, bowing his head a little.

“Well...,” Nico said. “You’re just doing your job.”

“Some death-“

"Cannot be avoided. Yes, I know that, Thanatos," Nico cut him sharply. His eyes quickly darted to where Will was. The healer didn’t seem to hear their conversation though (nor did he seem to care about anything else other than the girl on the cot, for that matter).

Thanatos’s lips thinned into a line, but he gave Nico a single nod.

Nico let out a small shaky breath. He knew that. He already knew that death was a certainty, anyway. But knowing how much it hurt Will to lose another patient? That’s another thing.

Nico made a small dismissive gesture with his hand. “Just… do what you have to do. Please make sure that it’s…in the least painful way for her.”

“She will no longer be in pain, My Prince,” Thanatos assured him. And with that last remark, he disappeared, leaving only a small trace of black smoke.

Nico took another deep breath and slowly let it out. Carefully, he made his way to the cot. When he was only a step away from Will, he stopped.

He watched the way Will’s chest moved heavily for a few silent moments. Then Will leaned forward, to gently closed the girl's head with the pale blue blanket.

Nico carefully placed his hand over Will's shoulder, squeezing it just a bit.

“We lost her,” Will said in a shaky whisper. “I lost her,” he added, voice even lower.

A steel fist clenched Nico’s heart. He squeezed Will’s shoulder again. The blond still had his eyes fixed on the body on the cot, now covered with a blue pale blanket.

“It’s not your fault, Will,” Nico said. There was a growing lump in his throat, but he forced himself to say it again. “It’s not your fault.”

Nico felt Will’s shoulder trembled as he took a deep, shaky breath. He kissed the top of Will’s head, mumbling against the curls again, “It’s not your fault, Tesoro. It’s not.”

Oh, how Nico would keep on saying it again and again, until Will really, truly believed in those words.

They burned the body the next morning, so early, the sun was nothing but pale purple light in the sky. Nico watched the fire burned the black and green shroud, Will stood silently next to him

And that was what Nico remembered: Will cried in silence. He didn’t weep, not even a sob. He cried by schooling his face into a blank canvas. Will shed no tears, but the color of his eyes turned into a dull shade of blue.

***

(4) This was what Nico remembered: Will tasted like strawberries with a touch of mint.

“Here, eat some,” Will shoved the bar of Kit Kat into Nico’s hand.

Nico raised his eyebrows but quickly unwrapped the chocolate bar. Will took a seat next to the cot, where Nico was sitting with crossed legs.

“Wow,” he said. “So McDonald’s chicken nugget is bad so you’re telling me to eat chocolate bar instead? Are you trying to give me a sugar rush or something?”

Will huffed. "McDonalds' gives you high blood pressure and a bigger risk of stroke and heart diseases. Kit-Kat, and chocolate bars, for that matter, are quick sources of energy. Exactly what you need after shadow-traveling."

Nico nodded, mouth still full with chocolate.

“You know what? I am not complaining. And maybe we should do more research on that.”

“On what?”

“Which kind of chocolate bars is the best one to give me after shadow-traveling,” Nico proposed, and took another bite of the Kit Kat.

Will chuckled, but his eyes softened. “Yeah, that sounds like a very intriguing research indeed.”

Nico continued eating the chocolate, but the way Will was staring at him almost made him squirmed.

“What?” Nico asked.

Will blinked. “Huh? What?”

Nico huffed. “You’re staring at me. Do I have chocolate on my face?” Nico’s index finger flew to his cheek and rubbed it.

Will smiled. And somehow, it’s not that brilliant smile that he usually had. This was different. This was a soft, gentle smile. A smile that made Nico forgot how to breathe for a second.

“You’re cute, do you know that?”

Nico’s heart skipped a beat. He could feel heat rushing into his face, burning the back of his neck.

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are,” Will insisted. He leaned forward a little, bringing his face closer to Nico’s. This time, there was a glint in his eyes, the smile turned into a playful smirk.

Nico huffed, trying his best to look annoyed. But inside, his heart was beating so fast, so fast with something he faintly recognized as a mix of nervousness and excitement.

“Oh yeah? So what?”

“So maybe it makes me want to kiss you.”

It wasn’t like Nico has never imagined this before. It wasn’t like Nico has never spent too much time wondering whether he read it all wrong. Then again, really hearing the words coming from Will instead of just some imaginary dialogues that he had in his mind still caught Nico off-guard. Nico inhaled sharply but he couldn’t seem to look away from Will.

“So maybe you should,” he said, half-whispering. He was almost proud that his voice was just a bit shaky, even though his heart was jumping like crazy in his chest.

For just a second, Will seemed surprised, like he didn’t expect Nico’s reply. But then the soft smile returned to his face, his blue eyes like a clear morning sky. He leaned forward even closer.

“Well, then maybe I will,” he whispered.

Nico closed his eyes as Will leaned even closer, his breath warm and light, a faint tickle over Nico’s skin.

The next second, he felt Will’s lips over his, a warm, sweet pressure that lingered for a short, fragile moment.

Will pulled away, and Nico opened his eyes. They stared at each other in silence, both breathing heavily. And it was Nico who spoke first.

“Hey, Will?”

“Hm?”

“Can you kiss me again?”

Will smiled and leaned forward again. He cupped Nico’s cheek in his hand that felt warm on Nico’s skin.

“Do you want me to?” He asked, his blue eyes gentle, sparkled with glee.

Nico hummed, and gave him a single nod. He didn’t even realize that the tips of his lips curled up into a small smile.

“Okay, then.”

Will kissed him again, and this time, Nico kissed him back. He let his fingers buried between the soft curls of Will’s golden hair and he let himself lost in the kiss.

Will slowly pulled away, only to gently pressed his forehead against Nico’s.

“You taste like Kit-Kat,” he said.

Nico chuckled. He pulled himself a bit from Will, and carefully traced Will’s lips with his finger.

“And you, Solace. You taste like strawberry and mint. Must have been your toothpaste.”

And that was what Nico remembered. Will tasted like strawberry, with a touch of mint.

***

(5) This was what Nico remembered: Will felt like home.

Nico walked out of the shadow to the coolness of his own cabin. He put his sword under his bed, and with wide steps, he made his way to the door. The afternoon sunlight was warm on his skin as he walked to the tree near the strawberry field.

Will was sitting under the tree, sitting cross-legged with a book on his lap. It was probably one of those medical textbooks that Will strangely enjoyed so much, as he didn’t seem to hear Nico’s footsteps. Nico stopped, and took a moment to stare at Will. It was almost ridiculous, that even with that hideous orange t-shirt that he was wearing, the sight of Will still made Nico strangely breathless.

“Hey,” Nico called.

Will looked up. When his eyes met Nico’s, the blue eyes sparkle as a smile light up his face.

“Neeks! You’re back!”

“Hmph.”

Will closed his book and put it aside.

“I’m tired,” Nico said, half-whining as he plopped himself down to sit right next to Will.

Will opened his arms invitingly, his eyes as warm as his smile. “Rest, then. Just lay down here on me.”

“Say no more, Solace,” Nico said. He scooted even closer to Will, and rest his head against Will’s chest. He closed his eyes as Will wrapped an arm around him. Nico let himself melt into the familiar warmth of Will’s embrace. As he started drifting off to sleep, he felt Will’s fingers gently going through his hair.

“Welcome home, darling,” Will whispered softly, and Nico felt Will’s lips gently pressed on the side of his head. “Now rest. You’re here now. You’re home. With me.”

And that was the last thing that Nico remembered before he fell asleep: He’s home now, in Will’s embrace. Will felt like home.

***

(+1) This was what Nico would never forget: he loved Will.

It was dark inside Cabin 13. A sliver of moonlight sneaked in from the window and fell on Will's hair. With the soft moonlight illuminating it, the golden curls looked more like silvery strands between Nico's fingers.

Playing with some strands of Will's hair, Nico let himself enjoyed the sight of his boyfriend, lying peacefully next to him. Will's eyes were closed, but there was a small, barely-there smile on his lips. And Nico knew that behind those eyelids, Will's blue eyes were smiling too.

Will opened his eyes, and shifted so now he’s lying on his side, facing Nico.

“It’s past midnight now,” he said softly.

Nico hummed. “And?” he asked, pulling his finger away and started tracing Will’s jawline.

“And it means that you’re officially 18 now.”

“Technically-“

Before he finished his sentence, Will already pressed a finger on his lips, shutting him down.

“Nope. None of that born-in-the-30’s shit now. Let me just enjoy the fact that it’s my boyfriend’s birthday now.”

Nico rolled his eyes. Will pulled his finger away, then leaned forward to place a soft, gentle kiss on Nico’s lips. He pulled away just a little, and placed another gentle kiss on the soft skin near Nico’s ear.

“Happy birthday, love,” he whispered. Nico shivered. The genuine sincerity in Will’s voice made him felt warm and giddy and just so inexplicably happy.

He cupped Will's cheek. Will was staring at him like Nico was the only thing in the world that he cared about. But he knew that he's also staring at Will in the same way.

“Kiss me again? As a birthday gift?”

Will smiled and even in the dim, soft light of the moon, that smile made Nico’s heart skipped a beat.

Will leaned forward again, kissing him again. Nico kissed him back, fingers buried between Will’s soft curls. And for a while, the whole world was reduced into just the two of them and the kiss that they were sharing.

For a while, there were only the two of them and nothing else mattered. Nothing could hurt them as long as they’re together like this, lost in the kiss.

Nico pulled away. Slightly panting, he stared at Will. Will smiled, and placed a quick, chaste kiss on Nico’s nose.

“What else that you want for your birthday?”

“More birthday with you. More days and years to spend with you. More memories to be made with you.”

Will laughed. He wrapped an arm around Nico, and pulled him so Nico was half-lying on his chest. He kissed the crown of Nico’s head.

“I love you so much, you know that, right?”

Nico looked up. “And I love you too. You know that, right?”

Will hummed, and wrapped his arms around Nico, enveloping him in his warm embrace.

There were a lot of things that Nico remembered about Will. And there was this one thing that he would never, ever forget: he loved Will. And Will loved him back.

***

Author’s Notes:

1. Thank you for reading :D

2. Any notes (likes, reblog, replies or a message to me) are cherished so much

[depressedacadamia]

Sore Losers

A/N: This was meant to be a simple one shot but I couldn’t help myself and now it’s a twoshot because I’m extra af. I hope you enjoy it and please comment!

Summary: Percy and Annabeth are both the most competitve people to ever exist by far. So when they both lead teams in a match of Capture the Flag Paintball edition, a very fun game ends up becoming a battle. Annabeth and Percy also happen to be the biggest pair of sore losers out there. 

Word count: 3.8K

Tagging: @showtunesandsolangelo

Chapter I

Let it be known that Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase were both the biggest pair of sore losers on this side of the Atlantic. You’d think that a large group of teenagers at a paintballing park would cause a lot of trouble. Yes, yes they would indeed. But not nearly as much trouble a group of traumatised teenage demigods could cause.

They had 1 rule- don't use any powers.

However, the demigods were never really much good at following rules.

Percy promised Annabeth that his team would win and Annabeth, unable to help herself, boasted back how amazing her team were going to be. It was quite obvious how their fatal flaws- hubris and loyalty- were going to be their downfall in a game of paintball.

“Oi! You two stop flirting and get on the damned bus, would you!” Piper shouted from the window seat with Hazel to her. The yellow bus was warm due to the sunny weather outside and it smelt like teenagers.

“We aren’t flirting!” Annbeth protested violently as she threw her sports bag over her shoulder while climbing the steps. Percy, being the gentleman he was, took the bag off her shoulder and carried it for her- not that it was truly hard.

“Even I can tell that you’re flirting,” Leo called out from the back where his fingers idly fiddled with some copper wire, a battery and a nail- it seemed like he was making an electromagnet.

“Can you blame me if Percy thinks his team is going to win Pipes?” Annabeth turned around in her seat.

“That’s because we are going to win,” Will commented with a hint of sarcasm from the side of the bus where Percy’s team sat. Nico, who sat next to Reyna and was on Annabeth’s team, was more invested in fidgeting with his rings until Will spoke up.

“Says you, traitor,” He snorted.

“Death boy, it’s a game. You chose Annabeth's team- it would be unfair if we were on the same team. Besides, If anything, I should be upset. You chose Annabeth's team after I chose Percy’s!”

Nico refused to answer, his arm clinging to Reyna who barely took notice and smirked at the boy’s ego’s.

“How sad must it be that you genuinely believe that you will win?” Reyna was about to sheath her spear when Hazel put her hand on hers.

“Reyna! We aren’t allowed to bring weapons. We need to prove we can beat them without weapons!” Hazel argued.

“Having second thoughts over there?” Frank called out from beside Jason. Hazel stuck her tongue out at him- he pulled a funny face in return. While these two were considered the most mature, when they were talking to each other, they were no better than 5 year olds.

The venue was huge. It was like an abandoned forest with upside down vehicles, camo everywhere and at least 3 places to get perfectly shot in the head- not that it was allowed. There was a specific reason behind the demigods choosing to go paintballing- they were never trained to use guns. It was something that none of them were familiar in, thus they were all at a completely fair level. Had they been sword fighting, they would have all destroyed each other. They had to pull on protection suits- which were also camouflage.

“Okay, this is to capture the flag but in paintball. You’re all familiar with capturing the flag- the only difference here is instead of our regular weapons, today we have these peculiar things…” Calypso trailed off slightly.

“Guns,” Hazel and Nico finished off together. The entire squad gave an alarmed look at them saying Why in the name of Hades do you know that? In sync, they both replied.

“World War 1,” Hazel sighed.

“Hitler,” Nico grunted, kicking at the floor. A couple of scattered snorts came from the group who could not picture them in the 1900s.

“Enough enemy mingling! Comrades, let us unite to beat the Owls!” Percy commanded his group comedically. Nico raised his eyebrow at the communist joke while everyone laughed slightly.

“I see you’ve learnt something in History- let’s find out if your seaweed brain can figure out how to surrender shall we?” Annabeth challenged as she took steps towards Percy, her hands resting on her hips confidently- Her hubris was showing. She half expected Percy to slip his hand around her waist or try and show off like she did but instead, he turned to his team and began frantically whispering.

The game was so on.

“Okay, this is it. We go in, storm the boys and capture their flag,” Annabeth decided.

“And don't forget to shoot as many of them as you can!” Piper added and the group happily agreed.

“Okay Comrades, Mission ‘infiltrate’ the owls is about to end- when we meet at what I like to call No man's land, we shall take their flag while they attempt to take ours. Will, guard our flag- the rest of you, position ourselves in the formation we discussed earlier. Jason and Leo, you’re my backup soldiers if I’m down,” Percy announced. The boys nodded and prepared for the plan.

Annabeth was crouching, gun in hand with Hazel behind her. Annabeth's blonde hair made her stand out a bit whereas Hazel had a greater advantage- from a vantage point, one wouldn’t even be able to see her. As Annabeth approached through the clearing she froze. Up ahead was a dangerous place. No bushes, no trees, no cars- she’d be totally exposed to whatever Percy was plotting. She did not doubt that he had some person watching this area, ready to release fire on any enemies. Annabeth was going to wait, she crouched by the bush before the clearing and kept her gun pointed and her eyes on the lookout.

She was about to move when paint balls began exploding all around her. The sound ricocheted in her ears and the droplets of paint remained floating about in the air. The boys had planned an ambush! Annabeth knew she had 2 options- retreat and play defensive or attack and play offensive.

“Hazel, you’re in charge. Nico, you’re coming with me. Make sure Reyna is still guarding the flag!” She whisper- shouted as she began running across No Mans Land with Nico trailing close behind her. He may or may not have been using his powers to bring shards of earth encased in shadows to protect himself and Annabeth from the shower of paintballs heading towards them. Nobody really needed to know- besides, he was forbidden from using death powers, not earthly ones.

“Nico, I hear something,” Annabeth warned. The sound of crackling and rushing water surrounded them.

“It’s coming from the creak…,” Nico mumbled.

They both made eye contact, agreeing on a time to run. 3 ,2 ,1- Now! They began sprinting, dodging the rocks and the flames which were scattered across the field. The other team were really going all out and being ruthless. Leo had set half of their frontier on fire that was only being controlled by the fact that Percy had a lot of water coming in from the creak preventing the fire from spreading too far. Flashes of light came striking down on the trees, causing crackles in the trees. There were echoes of thunder rumbling throughout their section and the smell of carbon monoxide slowly rising into the air.

The tree that had been struck by lightning was causing an awful mount of crackling, a bit too much for comfort. It wasn’t until the distinct sound of a tree snapping did Annabeth and Nico realise that the tree in front of them was falling.

Directly. Onto. them.

Back at Annabeth's side of the frontier, Hazel had decided to play dirty and get powers involved. It was only fair, was it not? Piper, Reyna and Calypso were all very happy to oblige to this. They had restructured their battle plan with Piper guarding the flag and using her charmspeak if necessary. Hazel, Calypso and Reyna were at the front, using their powers to their advantage. Reyna had not decided to use her empowerment- it wasn’t necessary and it was never comforting knowing she had made her friends feel brave; she felt like she was manipulating them whenever she did use it.

“So Hazel, what were you saying about not using weapons?” Reyna raised an eyebrow as she impressively pulled out her spear of imperial gold, glimmering in the sunlight. Hazel who sheathed her Spatha simply shrugged.

“Calypso are you ready?” Hazel asked, slightly concerned- she didn't want to overwork her so quickly after she had only just started to get her magic back.

“You think I’m going to let Leo win?” She scoffed slightly as she raised her hands slightly, the magical aura around them visible.

“We have a battle to win,” Reyna announced.

Nico grabbed onto Annabeth and closed his eyes. She felt herself slip into the darkness with Nico- the moment was awful. Dark, cold and creepy whisperings surrounded her. She did not want to know how Nico was able to do that. As he pulled them out the shadows, Nico dropped to his knees, trying to catch his breath. His eyes looked significantly tired post- shadow travelling.

“Don’t tell Will, he’ll go crazy if he found out that I shadow travelled,” he said weakly, his hand clutching his ribs. Annabeth slowly helped him up to his feet, only one gun still with the both of them- Nico had dropped his when he had to shadow travel them.

“Nico, I’ve got another plan if you’re up for it,” Annabeth offered. She leaned over and whispered her strategy. The corners of Nico’s lips twisted upwards into a cruel smile- cold and menacing. Was this plan extremely dangerous if one part went wrong? Probably. But Nico decided he liked the idea of winning too much to really care.

He dug his feet into the ground again, pushing every ounce of energy into controlling the shadows. He needed to keep this accurate- too much and Hazel’s side of the field goes dark, too little and Percy’s team will be able to see what's coming.

Slowly, shadows covered every inch of Percy’s field. Nico and Annabeth were grasping onto each other, Nico was holding onto her for strength while Annabeth was staying with the only person who could control what was happening. The only light that was visible were the fires ignited by Leo but by now, they were weak. All they had to do was wait for a figure to light up their hands- all the members would flock to the light, except whoever was protecting the flag.

“What just happened?” Percy yelled as he followed the stream of water that led to the fires.

“Someone’s using their powers… probably Nico, I can hear whisperings and these shadows are really cold!” Leo responded, lifting his hands up to signal his location to his teammates- though that may have not been a good idea. A giant flash of light came striking down to the ground again and the loud rumble of thunder came soon after, only adding to the creepiness of the game.

“It’s definitely Nico using powers which means he’s somehow gotten through our borders,” Jason gritted out. They all looked at each other agreeing to search for the son of Hades.

“Nico, you can summon the skeletons now, right?” Annabeth asked as she supported Nico on her shoulder. Feebly, Nico nodded while trying to summon some of his own strength. His skin which had almost returned to it’s olive hue was now close to a deathly pale. Annabeth could feel his cold fingers and slightly shivered- it was like holding a corpse. The ground started cracking, the earth splitting open as a skeletal arm reached out, climbing into the real world. Within a minute, Nico had summoned enough skeletons for the plan to work.

Annabeth knew what had to happen next- she would either run after the flag or go drive the remainder of Percy’s team far back enough so that her team could attack them from behind. She cherished the idea of getting the flag, a truly victorious moment, but she knew that if she went after the flag, she’d be sending Nico who seemed as fragile as glass right now to go fight 4 of the most powerful demigods. She decided to take her chances- hopefully whoever was guarding the flag wasn’t too hard for Nico.

“Nico, here take the gun and go after the flag. I will push back the other team.”

“I don’t need that- you’re going to be 4 against one, take it.” He batted his hand, refusing to allow Annabeth to hand over her gun to him.

“Nic-”

“-If you want to actually win this, you need your gun. You don’t stand a chance fighting 4 of them alone. Take the gun,” He managed to snap. Annabeth actually smiled at this. If Nico could give her snappy comebacks, then he still had a bit of strength in him. She kept her gun as she ran into the shadows, the skeleton army close behind.

“Does the other side look kinda funny?” Hazel asked, tilting her head to the side with her spatha in hand.

“It’s...it’s dark. I can't see anything there,” Calypso responded, slightly shocked.

What in the name of the gods was going on over there?

It seemed that the answer hit Reyna and Hazel at the same time- Nico! Not that they were about to admit it, but they were a tad concerned- you know, if you saw pure shadows just floating about, you would also be slightly concerned.

“We should move ourselves further up the frontier into No Mans Land. Annabeth must have planned something with Nico.” Calypso announced. They all agreed and moved further downwards, cautious for any ambushes.

“Oh Annabeth, aren’t you meant to be the smart one? You know, daughter of Athena?” Percy mockingly asked as she approached them, the shadows encasing most of her but not enough to go unnoticed. The skeletons however, were hiding perfectly in the dark.

“And where is the little shit?” Jason looked around Annabeth, trying to see if Nico had hid himself among the shadows- something that wouldn’t be too hard for him.

“Technically this is cheating,” Leo pointed out. Annabeth snapped her head towards him, still wondering where the skeletons were.

“We weren’t the ones who started it- if I remember correctly, you literally almost crushed us under a tree.”

“That was an accident,” Jason sheepishly rubbed his head.

“Don't think you can walk in here without being defeated, Wise girl.”

“If all 4 of you are going to fight me, I think all guns should be prohibited- does that sound fair Jackson?”

“3. All 3 of us. Frank has been… patrolling.” Leo rubbed his hands mysteriously. Annabeth wanted to gasp, they had been cheating from the beginning, using Frank as surveillance on them.

“Well since you were cheating from the very beginning, you definitely cannot use your guns,” Annabeth protested, enforcing her plan. The boy shrugged and threw their guns to the floor- Annabeth did the same but the gun was still close enough for… a change of heart. Fire raged from Leo’s hands, Percy had Riptide in hand and Jason had his Gladius, the charge of lighting running through it. Annabeth had to try to not visibly gulp- Where on earth were the skeletons? Here getting toasted was not part of the plan. She could only start to take them one when the distraction was set.

Nico forcibly pushed his foot one in front of another, searching for the flag. The entire half of the arena was covered like a blanket. The only light source being Leo’s fire and the occasional fires that Nico let loose through the ground to help him see. Up head, Nico could see another light source- did he just walk himself into a circle? He couldn’t see Leo or any fires. In fact all he really saw was light.

Light?

He trudged forwards, keeping to the shadows. As he got closer, he realised the light source was Will- his skin was the lightsource, literally. It was like he was watching a firefly for the first time- Will was glowing! No, focus Nico. The game, the flag. Capture it and reign victorious with Annabeth.

“Frank, dude, get off my shoulder,” Jason said. As the hand remained on his shoulder, Jason grew slightly agitated and turned around before jumping back and letting out a scream of surprise. Catching the attention of Percy and Leo, the skeletons began to close in on them. Now was Annabeth's chance. While the skeletons pushed them back, hopefully Hazel would have the team ready for an ambush on all sides.

“You’re very shiny today,” Nico commented.

“Well if you didn’t plunge us into semi- eternal darkness, I wouldn’t be a night light,” Will retorted crossing his arms.

“I’ve always wanted my own personal nightlight. Also now, I have an actual justification to call you sunshine- you’re literally glowing.”

“Quit laughing at me.”

“I’m not laughing at you… I’m just stealing,” Nico shrugged as he made a dash for the flag. Will scrambled for his gun but it was too late, Nico had pulled the flag into the shadows- the paintballs from Will’s gun had only hit the tree that Nico had once stood in front of. As Nico emerged from his travelling, the shadows that once covered the entire field started fading.

With their guns strapped to their backs, Hazel and the team made their way across No Mans Land- trying to avoid the shower of paintballs from the other side.

“You made a machine gun out of this?” Hazel asked in dismay as she dodged the fireball coming from Leo.

“I am Admiral Leo, of course I made a machine gun, Hazel.”

“Hazel, on your left!”

Hazel swiftly ducked a paintball coming her left which proceeded to hit Leo square in the chest. He groaned as he felt the bruise start to form across his chest. Saddened by getting hit, he fell to the ground dramatically.

“Oh I’m wounded! Tell Calypso I might not make it!”

“Tell her yourself,” a voice snorted. Jason and Reyna were both fighting- Jason’s gladius would come down harshly onto Reyna’s spear, who continuously tried to disarm him. When Jason came down again with his sword, Reyna twisted her spear towards the hilt and pushed the butt of her spear upwards successfully disarming the sword with a clatter from his hands. She placed her foot on the sword and kicked it backwards, away from Jason before she dropped her spear.

“Hand to hand?” Jason asked. Reyna did not reply and instead charged towards him.

Calypso was trying to not get set on fire- while Leo had been shot, he was not about to let her win so easily. Her magic could only do so much and it annoyed her that Leo was setting everything on fire.

“Calypso, don’t you have telekinesis?” Annabeth shouted nodding towards Leo as she dodged another slash from Percy. Calypso got the memo and closed her eyes, harvesting as much power as she could. Being an ex-titaness came with it’s privileges from time to time. She opened her eyes and flung her hands towards Leo. Easily, she threw him into the creek where he landed with an ‘oomph’ and a very loud curse word that will not be repeated.

Piper hated being the guard. Everyone was probably having a blast and here she was, away from the action. There was a buzzing noise that was annoying her and she really did not want to deal with it. She had one of her daggers clutched in her hand while the gun was slung over her shoulder. She had gotten so bored that she had resorted to talking to the crow opposite her who had just sat there. It would tilt its head every once in a while when she said anything that could be deemed controversial.

Suddenly, the crow flew towards her, as to rest on her shoulder but instead, went towards the flag. Nothing wrong there, just a crow going towards a flag. Afterall it wasn’t as if it was trying to pull it out of the ground. Just as Piper turned around to see what the crow was really doing, she caught Frank with his hand wrapped around the flag, smiling and saluting towards her as he turned around and ran, flag in hand. Piper swore she had run as fast she ever had in her entire life, trying to get her charmspeak to work. The panting did not help her.

Annabeth slashed her knife in Percy’s direction, missing him by a millimeter as he stepped back to avoid it. Riptide came back at her, instead of it going for a blow to the chest as she expected, Percy aimed for her feet. As he wanted, she tripped and fell but her knife was still in hand. Just as she was about to use it, Riptide was held under her chin- she could feel the cool metal of it as Percy smirked and lightly teased her neck with it.

“You know Miss Brainiac, you really have yourself in a bad position, giving up would be easy, wouldn't it?”

“Jackson, you are enjoying this too much. I think you’ve forgotten the point.” Annabeth grabbed Riptide and twisted it before roling backwards slightly and throwing herself forwards. The sword clattered to the ground making Percy pout slightly but he wasn’t disheartened. Annabeth backslashed towards Percy who grabbed her arm, rendering the weapon in hand useless.

Annabeth had one last plan.

She leaned forwards and pressed her lips against Percy. It was quick and daring and Percy certainly did not expect it. Their lips met gently- it was comforting, warm and soft. Their lips brushed and when she pulled away lightly, he could taste her chapstick.

“Ouch!” Percy yelped as he jumped away from Annabeth and let go of her wrist. She held the knife under his chin and winked at Nico who held the gun with the flag under his arm. There was a giant yellow splatter on his back.

“That's not fair!” Percy sputtered. “ You seduced me!”

“All's fair in love and war.” Annabeth winked.

“I’ve got it! I’ve got the flag!” Frank gasped slightly- mainly due to being out of breath. He looked at Jason who was on the ground, Leo who was soaking, Percy who had a massive paintball splatter on his back and then at Nico who was holding the flag.

“We planned this. To make you win. We were taking it easy on you guys,” Frank decided. All the boys nodded in agreement only making Annabeth's teams chuckle.

[greekgrad07]

favorite things about your mutuals? its positivity hour, go!

it would be a fucking honor 😭 i tried to get all my mutuals this time but i’m sure i forgot people. i’m sorry if i did pls don’t hate me 🥺

this is in no particular order btw

marisa (@skaterbeth): my fellow short asthmatic <3 i love you bruh 😭 i remember being nervous to message you at first bc i thought you would find me annoying. now look at us 😌 i can message you without fear bc i know you find me annoying 🤍you’re so talented and beautiful and incredible. i love your enthusiasm and you’re so funny. every time i get a notification that you’ve sent me a meme on instagram i get excited (and idk how but there’s one almost every morning when i wake up. i’m not complaining though)

erica (@skateryue): MY TWIN ILY 🤍🤍🤍 i forgot to tell you this but i took a which female atla character are you quiz and i got yue and thought of you <3 you’re so sweet and supportive and deserve all the love! i’m glad our mutual love of the parent trap, our mbti types, and how we’re both jeff goldblum brought us together lol. the vibes are immaculate 😌

adi (@bitcheusjackson): adi you are so smart. THE TAGS I LEAVE FOR YOU ARE WELL DESERVED! you’re such a good writer and your love of musicals is so cute! i also love getting to be an annabeth simp with you (as we all should). you’re also a talented artist! i know you don’t post a lot of your art but when you do i’m always blown away <3<3<3

fátima (@deepestempathllamalawyer): my adopted child 😌 i love you sm 🥺 you’re so sweet- like seriously, i appreciate every self help posted you tag me in and every cute animals post as well. i absolutely love seeing you in my notifications! you’re also the reason i became a malconnor shipper to thank you 😭🤍 (also i still have no idea wtf your url means but at this point i’m too afraid to ask)

ashna (@silenabeth): fun fact, you were the first “big” pjo blog that followed me and i absolutely lost my shit so there’s that <3 you’re such a talented writer and editor bruh i don’t tell you that enough. also, the queen who brought us connabeth i will forever stan 🤩 you’re so funny and one of the most supportive people ever <3<3<3 (also love all of your call out posts about marisa 😌)

sarah (@perseusjackkson): i told you that you were too cool to be following me and i stand by that. you’re so chill and funny, i vibe with you sm. really, your blog is full of so many different fandom and i vibe with almost all of it. you really made your blog for the people <3 i love reading your tags on the things you repost bc they are usually hilarious. also, i couldn’t be more supportive of your engagement to my twin 🤍

regina (@bisexualzia): regina you’re so sweet and genuine and funny and the fact that you associate me with cookies still makes me 🥰 and idk why. your tag has 🔥 by it and i told you it’s bc of ouat. idk if you get that but it’s my favorite show and one of my favorite characters is named regina so <3 also i’m glad there is someone else that can agree suki is superior 😌

zitz (@four-names): another reason why i ship malconnor <3 lol you send the most random asks and they always make my day! and your tags are everything btw stop hiding them 😂 you’re not afraid to speak your mind and you’re a very genuine person :)

drew (@cubanpercyj): you are so caring and passionate! i love your replies and tags to my posts and i’m glad we agree that percy can’t swim lol. you’re super chill and i vibe with you very much. and i’m sure you’ve heard this a lot but i love your aesthetic. the water header is so pretty <3

kayra (@awkwardteenwriter): you are so sweet! and YES ofc you have a tag bruh. i remember when i first tagged you in a post and you said that it made you happy aljdkhagf i tag you in like everything now i’m sure it gets annoying. you’re one of the most caring people ever though! one of our first interactions was you sending me a virtual hug during a hard time for me and i’ll always be thankful for that 🥺🤍

jaina (@jainadurron): you are so nice. every interaction we’ve had has been nothing but absolutely lovely and i’m glad that you joined the pjo fandom! you like almost all of my posts and i love seeing you in my notifications. also! i forgot to tell you your new avatar is so cute 🥺

haania (@padfootno): i love you and i’m sorry the fic isn’t out yet pls don’t hate me 😭 you’re literally the sweetest and most helpful person ever! i’m so thankful for your help on writing hijabi silena and ever since you’ve been so nice! i also love when you tag me in posts :)

@perca-beths: you give me such good vibes idek how to describe it. also, you’re insanely talented! i found your fic on a03 and when i realized it was you who wrote it i was blown away. anyways you’re awesome and i can’t wait for your next update :)

@percabethica: again, YES you have a tag 😂 you’re so nice! i remember i asked to be on your taglist for your fic and you were so kind. speaking of your fic, i loved it i loved it i loved it! you’re incredibly talented. i always end up seeing your reblogs from me on my dash before seeing it in my notifications and there’s always a second after i notice it where i’m like “omg that’s me. i posted/reblogged something she liked.” also your aesthetic is so pretty, i love it

gray (@bbyannabeth): idk why you’re following me. what do i have to offer? when i tell you i binged your masterlist after you posted it i’m not kidding. you’re so talented and seem so chill. also i just saw that you posted a new fic and bruh, i’m about to create a reblog that has so many tags

@ohmydamgods: i’m not above admitting that i’ve stalked your instagram. your posts are so fucking funny and so are you! i also see people posting your textposts on instagram and i’m always like “*gasp* does she know?” and then i see you’ve commented and it’s all good 😂 also you’re so nice :)

@mydramaticflare: YOU ARE SO TALENTED! when you comment on my fic there’s no time to unpack all of that i lost my shit bc your fic Quiet Moments inspired me to write a percabeth sleepover fic in the first place. also you seem so sweet and you show up in my notifications a lot :)

brin (@skatersuki): first of all, suki supremacy <3, secondly, you’re so smart like wtf. every time you go off about photokinesis and all that i’m like 😐😣😐 also every time i see the book circe by madeline miller i think of you bc you’re the first person who i have seen recommend it

teriza (@wasithard): we haven’t really interacted but we have a lot of the same mutuals so i know you’re cool. lol fr though you do seem very nice and fun and chaotic in the very best way, plus you’re blog is awesome

kayla (@eggplant-avenger): hi kayla :) we met through the connabeth agenda and you are super chill. also i hope that you know whenever i read your tag i hear chris mccarrell’s voice singing ‘being a half-blood, it’s scary, it mostly gets you killed in very nasty ways’

charlotte (@sonofsallyjackson): you are the most supportive person ever. every time i read one of your comments on my fics, my heart swells. you’re too kind for this world <3

taylor (@saltyypercy): another one of my connabeth friends 🤩 speaking of connabeth, your memes are everything! you’re hilarious and your content is awesome

@getwokescullyy: you are such a talented writer!! and you’re so nice and supportive! :) we also have a lot of the same hc’s for post canon percabeth 😌 super excited for your next update btw!

olivia (@thegraystreaks): you are so talented idk why you’re following me. it had to of been a mistake. if, so pls don’t leave 🥺 you’re such a supportive person and seeing you and liz interact is so funny. fr i love your writing sm and i’m obsessed with your url 🤩

aya (@percasbeths): again, WHY ARE YOU FOLLOWING ME? seriously i have some of the most talented writers following me and idk why but i’m not complaining. all of your au’s are beautiful and i’m always blown away <3

@judoflipped: you introduced me to Apartment 305 so i’m pretty sure i owe you a kidney or something now lol. fr though you were so nice to me during our first interaction <3 you’re so sweet and you seem super chill

emma (@jasongrape): first a foremost, a superior url. you’re posts are hilarious, especially the ones of you and ash going back and forth lol.

@clr-stan: we haven’t interacted much but your posts are so good!! and you seem super sweet :) also, you’re right. if the pjo movies weren’t based on the books i would have been invested

@writinglettersaddressedtothefire: i’m pretty sure you’re also a mutual of fátima’s which makes you awesome. plus your writing is so good! also i see that you’re having a great time with taylor’s new album coming out so i’m glad you seem to be doing good 😂

lexi (@multifandom-420): one of the other three malconnor shippers on this cite 😭 you seem so sweet and your posts are top tier

@esistkeinponyhof: you are literally always in my notifications and it’s so fun lol. we’ve never really interacted but i’m glad that you like my blog :) also you’re a fellow directioner which is amazing 😌

@himbolin420: how does it feel to have a canon url? apart of the bolin defense squad and connabeth nation? we have no choice but to stan <3 i remember you kept a count for all of your mutuals when i first followed you and i thought that was absolutely precious lol

@twilight-hours: you’re in my notifications a lot and i'm not complaining. lol you always reblog the funniest stuff and i love seeing it on my dash. i know we haven't really interacted but i know we would vibe 

[doc-pickles]

what are you doing new year’s eve?

So this final fic of 2020 is dedicated to @odd-birds-and-booksellers for multiple reasons. Firstly she’s been my first friend in the Jolex fandom and one of the reasons the group chat exists. Despite how much we make fun of each other she’s truly become one of my favorite people (she knew I was pregnant approximately 15 seconds after I peed on a stick and hours before anyone else) and I wouldn’t have stuck around here without her.

Secondly it’s dedicated to her because my final fic for the year is an ode to the reason I’m in this fandom in the first place and the series she keeps begging me to write for. That’s right y’all, I’m posting a piece for my “It’s Nothing Funny Just to Talk/Little Pieces of You” universe! (she thought I was gonna kill someone... hehehe)

I hope y’all enjoy this cute and fluffy one shot! Thank you all for reading, commenting, and encouraging me to write this year!

also one million anons asked me for a birth fic... well here it kinda is

xoxo Nina

Maybe it's much too early in the game

Oh, but I thought I'd ask you just the same

What are you doing New Year's, New Year's Eve?

Jo was fine, really she was. She blamed being two weeks from her due date for the state of discomfort she found herself in. She’d been experiencing Braxton Hicks for almost a month already (something Alex loved to point out that he could always see as it happened, much to Jo’s annoyance) so the tightening of her abdomen wasn’t a new feeling. What was new was the aching in her back and hips that had prompted her to take a long steamy shower in an attempt to ease a bit of the pain and discomfort she felt.

The water had helped a bit, but all Jo really wanted was for Alex to rub her back and hold her while she napped. He had asked before he left for work if she was alright, but Jo had assured him she was fine. New Year’s Eve was always a long night for him at work with an influx of teenagers hurt by firework accidents or drunken mishaps. She has reminded him that she wasn’t due for two weeks and she would make it through one night without him there. Now though, Jo was regretting her decision as she struggled to get comfortable on their couch, her back aching as she shifted back and forth. 

“Hoooooly shit,” Jo gripped the armrest of the couch tightly as she attempted to sit up, a roaring pain ripping through her stomach as she desperately tried to get air into her lungs. The feeling passed after a moment, letting her take a deep breath as she settled one hand onto her stomach. “I need you to calm down in there, please and thank you.” Her phone chose that moment to ding loudly, a text from Alex popping up as she reached for her phone.

Thursday 4:39 PM

How are my girls doing?

Thursday 4:41 PM

all good over here :)

Deciding not to mention her pain, Jo set her phone aside and went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. Whenever her Braxton Hicks got bad Alex would always tell her it was because she was dehydrated. He was usually right, though she’d never admit it, but the water usually calmed down the sensations flowing through her body. 

Slowly making her way to the kitchen, Jo grabbed a glass and sipped on the water as she tried to even her breathing. Her mind was already racing, heart pounding as she tried to keep her composure. She’d only had one bad spout of pain, it could be a fluke or a pulled muscle for all she knew. 

The searing pain she’d felt only minutes before returned again, the glass in her hands slipping from her fingers as a pained groan left her. Watching the water and glass splatter across the counter top, Jo realized how serious her pain was. Her eyes flitted to the clock, noting it was just hitting 5 PM. Alex would be home at 11, she would hold out as long as she could until then. 

-

Thursday 6:32 PM

Want me to grab a late dinner for us? Figure you’ll still be up anyways. 

Alex stared down at the text he’d sent almost 20 minutes earlier as if his staring would prompt a response from his wife. Logically he knew she was probably sleeping, but he’d been worried about her all day. She’d barely slept the night before and her back had been hurting for almost two days now. He wasn’t stupid he’d done enough rounds on OB to know that Jo was probably getting close to going into labor, a thought that both excited and terrified him. Erring on the side of caution, he dialed Jo’s number and waited for her to answer. 

“Hi you’ve reached Josephine Karev! I’m probably teaching right now so leave a message after the beep!”

“Hey babe, call me back whenever you can. Love you.”

Hanging up the phone and grumbling to himself, Alex begrudgingly turned back to his patient files. He had a lot of work to do, but his mind was currently occupied worrying about his wife and their unborn daughter. 

-

“Oh shit… oh shit no no no,” Jo’s panicked cries echoed across the empty loft as another contraction made its way through her stomach, her body curling in on itself as she struggled to lean against the couch. A glance at the clock in the kitchen told her it was only 7:19 meaning Alex wouldn’t be home for a few more hours. 

She knew she couldn’t last that long, her contractions were steadily growing closer together and more painful. Reaching for her phone, Jo sent off a quick text before focusing her attention on breathing through the steady flow of contractions now racking her body. 

Thursday 7:21 PM

in labor, moving fast. need drugs and husband. 

-

It was nearing 8 PM and Alex still hadn’t heard from Jo for the last three hours. He’d called twice to no answer and his texts were sent but not read. He was ready to jump in the car and rush home to check on her when someone called out his name. 

“Alex!”

Jackson Avery was jogging towards him, dressed in a button up and slacks with a six month old Harriet on his hip. He’d been talking about his mom’s New Year’s Eve party all week, so Alex was shocked to see him there. 

“Hey man, you skipping out on the party,” Alex searched Jackson’s serious expression for a moment, reading his best friend's face easily and letting a sigh out. “Where is she?” 

“April took her up to L&D while I came to find you. She was screaming at me the whole drive here,” Jackson smirked at Alex as they walked down the halls. “I’m sure you’re in for a fun night.”

Thanking Jackson, Alex headed towards the maternity ward with a sense of urgency. He knew if Jo had been worried enough to call April that she was probably pretty far along in her labor. Spotting the red head down the hall, he picked up his pace and stopped in front of her. 

“They’re just checking her out now, her contractions have been coming every three and half minutes but I think they’re speeding up,” April gave Alex a small smile as she made to leave. “She’s been asking for you the whole time.”

“Thanks April.”

“It’s the least I could do. When I was in labor she sat with me while Jackson was in surgery despite the fact that she was throwing up every twenty minutes from her morning sickness,” April shrugged. “Besides if I didn’t go she probably would’ve given birth on your couch.”

Alex chuckled, his hand rubbing his neck nervously, “I’ll text you guys when she’s here, thanks again.”

April left then, Alex taking a breath before entering the room that April had just left. Jo was laid in bed, eyes closed and curled in on herself as she struggled through a contraction. Surging forward Alex placed one hand on Jo’s back as the other moved to run through her hair. She instantly relaxed at his touch, eyes popping open to meet his. 

“I was wondering why you weren’t answering my texts,” Alex leaned down to press a kiss against her forehead. “You need anything? Water, ice chips, hard drugs?” 

Jo shook her head, breathing through the end of her contraction before speaking again, “No they said I’m too far along for an epidural. I just have to suffer until she gets here. My water broke as soon as I walked into the hospital, I think she knew you were waiting.”

Eyeing the monitor tracking her contractions, Alex realized that she was nearing the end of her labor, “You should’ve called me, I could’ve come to get you.”

“Doesn’t matter, I’m here now,” Jo leaned against Alex’s hand as she struggled to pull a breath in. “Ow ow ow ow, holy shit mother-”

Jo’s next words were silenced as she pressed her face against Alex’s chest, fists clenched against the bed rail as her body tensed once more. Keeping his eyes on her monitor, Alex kept his fingers running through Jo’s hair in an attempt to comfort her, “Breathe baby, it’s okay just breathe.”

Once she finally took a deep breath Jo relaxed in Alex’s hold, her voice alarmingly calm as she spoke, “I really need to push. Like right now.”

“Let me get the doctor, just hold on a minute babe,” Alex couldn’t help the wide grin he sported as he left Jo’s side to call down the hallway for her doctor. In just a little while they were going to be parents… 

-

“5, 4, 3, 2, 1… Happy New Year!”

The TV played softly in the background as fireworks lit up the dim hospital room but Alex and Jo weren’t paying attention to the celebration of the new year. Both had their eyes firmly locked on the sleeping bundle in Jo’s arms, light curls peeking out of the pink hat on her head as her lips pursed in her sleep. 

“You do that when you’re sleeping,” Alex pointed out as he ran his finger down his daughter’s cheek. “You look like a fish, it’s kinda funny that she’s already doing it.” “She’s not even three hours old and you’re comparing her to a fish,” Jo chuckled as she looked from her daughter to her husband. “She needs a name still.”

“How about Goldie,” Alex’s suggestion earned him a slap on the arm from Jo, a laugh escaping him as she did so. “I was kidding! What about the one you really liked?” Eyeing her daughter as if testing out the name she’d brought up so many months ago, a grin settled on Jo’s face, “I like it. Annabeth Brooke Karev.”

“Glad we finally decided on that, I thought you were never going to choose,” Alex pressed a kiss to Jo’s lips, then another to the top of Annie’s head. “Happy New Year Annie.”

Wonder whose arms will hold you good and tight

When it's exactly 12 o'clock, midnight

Welcoming in the New Year, New Year's Eve

[indigo-brainspark]

The Fourteen Olympian Gods as Parents ranked

(Hestia and Hades are also valid, pass it on)

1. Hestia:

First, is Hestia, obviously, because she is the only one in Olympus shown to be capable of caring for other people, no matter who they're related to or what they're doing. It's sad cause she isn't really interested in having children, adopted or otherwise, because she doesn't want to become like her parents, and treat children like that. But, she regularly checks up on the people at Camp Half Blood, and provides them as much support as she can without breaking the law.

2. Artemis

Also, kinda ironic, considering she's also a virgin goddess, but if it works, it works.

She's nice and kind, fierce protector of young girls, a staunch feminist. I really think she's the 'mom' friend. To an extent.

Also, she goes around practically adopting every lost girl she finds, so...

3. Dionysus

Whoo boy, so, Mr. D really isn't the nicest person. To be fair, he doesn't want to be at Camp, so who can blame him?

But what you've got to admit, he's a great dad. He mourned the death of both his sons, obviously adored them, asked people to look out for them, etc.

He doesn't really like the campers, but it has been hinted that he does actually know everyone's names, but messes them up just because. And he offered mental support to Nico when he was suffering from PTSD, which seems to be something he does quite a bit.

4. Ares

Yeah, him. He's a jerk, let's be real, but to his children? He's a softy. Think about it: he gave Clarisse an electric spear, a ship, a squad of skeleton soldiers, and she's not considered to be the 'special one' in the Ares cabin, it's just casually mentioned that she got that spear as a birthday present. So she's not the only one to get presents like this.

5. Hades

Hades... Is an interesting parent.

On one hand, he viewed his children as pieces of power at one point in time.

On the other, once he developed a connection, he's willing to do a lot for his children. He has given Nico a home, while he was running from the rest of the world. He came to support him with an army though he had no obligation to do so. He's giving Nico a room in his palace for when he ever needs it (though it's hinted that it's for when he dies) he let Nico procure a sword, he let Nico sneak his Roman sister out, he probably had some hand in getting him the pomogranate seeds that kept him alive.

So, yeah, I think Hades does have the best relationship with his demigod kids, probably because he only has so few demigod kids. But if he didn't like Nico... Things would've gone very differently.

6. Poseidon

Yeah, Poseidon isn't the best dad, but he isn't the worst. Once he gets to know his son a little, then he starts to protect him. That's when he started to look out for him. He doesn't do anything more than that, but sometimes that's enough. Honestly, I think he's doing pretty good for a godly parent.

But he doesn't exactly have the same relationship with his only son as Hades... Since he only shows up for when it's most necessary. So, Hades got the top spot between these two.

7. Hephaestus

So, Hephaestus is an interesting parent. First, comes the fact that even he's admitted he's not comfortable around people, and doesn't understand children. Despite that, he watches every single child of his, and probably claims them soon. He gives his children ideas, and appreciates them, even though he doesn't know how to communicate it.

He could use a little work, especially in letting his children know that he cares, but other than that, he's an alright father.

8. Apollo

So, Apollo could use a lot of work. And he's definitely improving now that ToA has ended. But even before that, he seemed like an... Alright parent. Not the best. Not the responsible one. More like the fun one. He remembers his children, and those children's mother and basic things like that. After ToA, he's definitely gonna be a lot more present in his kids' lives, and could have definitely ranked higher, but we haven't really seen any of that potential and hypothetical growth yet, so here he stands.

9. Aphrodite

So, Aphrodite doesn't really seem to be a great mom, considering everything. She's not exactly in touch with how her kids might want something different at times, and that tends to put a bit of pressure on them.

It's more like she doesn't care, until she decides it'll be fun to talk to them.

Honestly I have nothing that bad to say about her, but nothing good either

10. Demeter

Same thing. I genuinely don't get to see Demeter interacting with her kids to see how they get along, so I can't say anything in her defense, except there are definitely worse people.

11. Hermes

Okay... So Hermes doesn't exactly care. Sure he keeps half an eye on his kids, but he doesn't have any interest in keeping an eye on them until it's too late. He even admits it himself!

12. Athena

Oh boy, yeah, I know. So, Athena is extremely calculating. It's been shown that there is nothing she won't sacrifice in exchange for victory. It's openly admitted that several children of Athena have died going on the quest to find the Athena Parthenos, which is kinda messed up. And it's openly admitted she ignored her children for a long time. Annabeth was actually willing to die on a quest when she was twelve to gain her recognition and that's not okay.

13. Hera

You all know she sucks. Her entire marriage was doomed for disaster. Her actions might be justified, but lashing out and ruining the lives of people who have done nothing to you is just a new low.

14. Zeus

So many problems with this guy. We know he can't keep it in his pants. And yet he continues doing it. And those kids repeatedly get in major trouble because their father is ruining their lives and putting a target on their backs. And what does he do? Nothing. He does nothing!

No remorse, no help, never changes his ways. I hate him.

[thejudgingtrash]

Well. I’ve gotten quite the reactions to my hot takes//unpopular opinions. So here’s part two! For everyone new, here’s part one!

Percy radiates the blandest straight energy. I don’t see why you people think he’s bi

Hazel > Frank > (Leo > Piper) > Jason and that’s that story (Leo and Piper can switch positions)

Everyone giving Percy some heat for not realizing that Annabeth had a crush on him is fucking stupid. Shit is going down, he’s an insecure boy who got a lot of flag in a very short time by everyone in his environment and you think he’s supposed to dive nose deep into some coochie? Damn y’all are some horny bastards

People that still bash on Perachel (and I’m saying that as a hardcore Percabeth shipper) and harass those shippers should just walk out of the fandom

Hazel‘s background story is a gigantic fucking mess and should have been kept in the drafts

All the godships (Caleo, that whole Walt/Sadie/Anubis thing) across all series are trash

Jason’s death in TOA was cheap as fuck. He should’ve died in HOO and not as a side character in another bland sequel

People that don’t realize that Paul magically doesn’t erase/fix the abuse that Percy and Sally have suffered from are... fun. More on my stance on Paul here

Leo was always fucking annoying but pre-MOA Leo is someone we can deal with

Percy is the only dude with a beard and chest hair. Everyone else looks like they’ve glued three pubic hairs into their faces

Making Piper rely on the white man is a huge fucking no

The fact that every important kid/protagonist is a descendant from one of the 12 Olympians and not a kid from a minor god in the follow up series proves that neither the gods nor Rick Riordan have changed. Luke’s funky ass proves that even Riordan’s a douche in that regard

If you think that Percy is going to disrespect Sally in her own house by doing some intricate cooch research with Annabeth you are fucking mistaken

The musical as wonderful as it may be, isn’t canon. It’s another artist‘s interpretation of a work. Riordan giving it a thumbs up doesn’t mean jack. Using the musical as an argument is meh at best

People that ask in 2020 why Riordan‘s works are problematic are the same people that type ’Google‘ into Google

I can’t stress this enough but Annabeth’s favorite song is Red Solo Cup by Toby Keith

Pretty sure Annabeth’s hair equals a rats nest 90% of the time. Princess curls where? Is she hindering missions because she isn’t done with deep conditioning? Bitch is a walking mess!

The fact that both Underworld kids are time travelers that just seem to manage modern times all too fine is fucking stupid

Also people that are forgetting that Nico is Italian, not Italian-American are tiring. The likelihood of him understanding racial issues of Italians in the US are next to none

Also a bunch of people have accents and slang which would’ve made everything funnier

Riordan really loves to make his latinx characters bland and awful, huh?

Too many people lack basic reading skills part II

The fact that people are seriously fighting over the pronunciation of a shipping name/neologism is pathetic to the max. Pronounce it however you want. Who gives a shit? People disagreeing on something doesn’t hinder you in any way

On that note, Percabeth is an awful ship name. Why not choose Seaweed Brain? It was already there. It was a given. It was sweet and easy to digest

The only iconic female performer that Percy willingly listens to is Her Majesty Beyoncé Knowles-Carter

Meg is fucking annoying, more so than Leo

Same goes for Lavinia

Same goes for Alex Fierro from the bits I’ve read

The scavengerhunt plot that Riordan set up to mark Hera as the evil queen is the messiest and dumbest plot device of HOO. Periodt

Cecil Markowitz‘ portrayal is fucking racist

Same goes for Julia Feingold

Same goes for Samirah Al-Abbas

Hades would’ve never had kids outside of his marriage. Sorry team Nico & Bianca

The Trials of Apollo are so forgettable and bland I can’t recollect anything that happened apart from Jason being turned into kebab and missing lesbian rights for Reyna

Classisists coming for Riordan are morons at best. This series is meant for kids. As shitty as the gods are portrayed (and we all agree that the portrayal could’ve been waaaay better) there’s only so much one can do for a middle school audience. Also the gods aren’t the focus of the series. Shouldn’t you be happier about the fact that Riordan gets more kids interested in Greek Mythology?

On that note, Poseidon is a piece of shit and not the cool dad

Hellenistic polytheists have more reasons to be offended as Riordan bashed their views on their religion (sorry guys)

Everyone who is trying to erase Grover as Percy’s best friend deserves to get hit with a deadly chancla

That also goes for everyone that has no issues with applying racist canon to fanart (Piper with feathers, light eyes for poc, giving Annabeth Trump‘s tanning treatment)

Annabeth Chase is white

Percy and Jason aren’t friends. Idgaf.

Realistically speaking Thalia would’ve immediately dipped the hunters after Kronos funky ass got defeated

Pretty sure you would be able to smell a demigod from a mile away. When do these stinky bastards have the time to take a shower?

Annabeth needs some therapy with a focus on managing her aggressive outbursts. That judo flip wasn’t cute. The fuck.

Apart from that I still stan bold, unapologetical asshole Annabeth

Why are all the kids either dead poor or fucking millionaires? Does the middle class not exist? Will the next series in the Riordanverse be about the struggles of capitalism?

The tattoos from Camp Jupiter make absolutely no sense as Romans thought that tattoos are barbaric. And no, saying it’s a modern spin is fucking stupid especially when New Rome is build with the old rules, principles and ways in mind. Slave branding your child soldiers is a fucking no from me

New Rome having fucking child soldiers

The fact that all protagonists basically jump onto the praetor‘s position in little to no time is stupid. Why place the rule that you have to work your way up in the first place when you basically can just toss nickels at passerby’s and get the spot?

The Tower of Nero will be worse than Blood Of Olympus

[greekgeek21]

Percy Jackson & The Avengers: Convergence - some badass demigod training!!

Hello, and welcome back to...my horrible explanation for being absent! Coming up on this episode, you'll see me explain that I had my first 2 lacrosse games of the season and was left with bruised ribs. If anyone ever says that women's lax isn't a real sport cuz there isn't contact, you can tell them that someone from a fanfic website said they had bruised ribs from playing.

Anyway, I hope you like this chapter. We're starting to get some actual plot movement I think so have fun with that. Honestly, I kinda forgot what happened in here so...yeah. Please comment, like, follow, and reblog! Stay safe & happy reading!

- your author

Ω ♆ Ω

Percy and Annabeth woke up to the sound of a startled shout. Frank's startled shout, to be specific. They both shot up right away, their battle instincts kicking in, but Frank had seen enough.

"Seriously guys!? Again?" he exclaimed.

"Nothing happened!" Annabeth reassured, "We just fell asleep!"

"We did kiss a little," Percy muttered, and Annabeth shot him a death glare.

"Not. Helping," she whispered scathingly.

A sense of complete déjà vu washed over Percy. Except this time, the rest of the Seven were standing in the doorway, watching on with various amused expressions on their faces.

"Oh, this is perfect. Coach Hedge is gonna love this," Leo smiled in maniacal glee.

"No, Leo," Piper ordered, "You're not going to do that. Instead, we are going to get this meeting over with so I can get some sleep."

"Aw...you ruin all my fun!" he exclaimed.

"Someone's gotta do it when Calypso isn't here," Piper said.

It was true. Calypso and Piper are probably the only ones who could actually control Leo. Calypso because of Leo's fear of losing her or just general fear of her, and Piper because of her charmspeak.

"Ok! That's enough. We're getting sidetracked. We need to start this meeting." Jason clapped his hands to get everyone's attention.

He gave Percy a meaningful look; one which said to 'take it from here.' So Percy did.

"Um, well, Annabeth and I wanted to talk to you guys about what's been going on. We need to come to an agreement on what we are allowed to say and do with the Avengers. I don't think we should show them the full extent of our powers because it seemed like those spies were looking for a reason to lock us up," he started, "And I'm not particularly fond of being put in a cell. How about you?"

"Yeah. And we need to figure out a way to deal with the bombings without them figuring us out. The mortals seemed pretty Hades-bent on releasing the big secret, and that never bodes well for people like us. I know that we need their help, but I don't trust them." Annabeth said.

"We can just say we were born with the powers, and have no idea why. I mean, it's technically true," Jason offered.

The others all nodded in agreement.

"Ok, now what about the pattern? What is it?" Piper asked.

"All of the places are big parts of the Greek and Roman world. Brooklyn Bridge is near Manhattan, the home of the Gods, Portland: Mt. St. Helens, where Typon used to be held, LA: entrance to Hades, Long Island: Camp Half-blood, and San Francisco: Camp Jupiter," Annabeth answered.

"Woah," Jason whispered, shocked.

"Yeah, but that's not our biggest concern. We also need to figure out how to hide our identities from the world while we're fighting with the Avengers," Annabeth said.

Everyone else there hadn't even thought of that. It comes in real handy to have a daughter of Athena around sometimes. Ok, not sometimes, all the time. All of them would be really dead without her quick thinking and planning.

"Um, I could try to see if the Aphrodite cabin could cook something up?" Piper suggested, "But most of them are still getting used to fighting, so they won't really know what to make. They need help with the designs."

Leo shot up from where he had slumped down into the desk chair, "I can help! Well, the Hephaestus cabin can. We can help design it so it's battle-ready."

"Good. We'll need those soon, I think. I have a feeling that we're going to have a lead soon, so we need to be ready when it comes. This is just one quest, so there is no need for people to think we're some kind of superheroes," Annabeth said.

"Aw! But I already had a name picked out!" Leo exclaimed.

He looked like he was about to let them in on his superhero name, but Annabeth held up a hand with a glare that clearly said to not speak unless he wanted to lose some very important parts of him. That kept him quiet, for sure.

"Is that all?" Frank asked, towering over them all.

"For now, yes. Remember, say the absolute minimum and stick to twisting the truth. If you reveal any new information without the others knowing, call a meeting to let us know," Annabeth confirmed, nodding her head.

"Great, now I can go back to sleep," Percy said, pulling Annabeth back down with him.

The others filed out soon after that, already hearing Percy's soft snores as they left and returned to their respective rooms. Ok, so Jason and Piper stayed in the same room like Percy and Annabeth did, but nothing happened. It was just nice to be in the arms of someone who cares about you, you know?

Ω ♆ Ω

"Up and at 'em, kiddos! It's training day!" Tony gleefully exclaimed over the speakers that Percy was absolutely sure he did not see in his room.

Percy groaned when he saw what time it was: 6:00 AM. He knew he wasn't allowed to (and that it was wrong, of course), but he wanted to kill Tony so badly in that moment. It would be quick! Nobody would suffer!

But, alas, he had to actually work with the man-child. It might not come off like it, but Percy takes war very seriously, and this was starting to feel like a war. Or at least, it would become one if they didn't stop it soon. And to do that, they needed the Avengers, apparently.

That was the only reason that he followed Annabeth in getting up and ready for the day. He took a little longer than Annabeth, but at 6:30 AM, they were stepping out of his room. They saw that the others were slowly doing the same. They were all tired. There weren't any big dream incidents, but that doesn't mean that staying up until midnight and then waking up at six in the morning won't do something to you. Even Leo looked exhausted, with big puffy eyes from rubbing them in an attempt to wake himself up quicker. If Leo Valdez was tired, then you knew that it was too early for this.

Also, you have to remember that they'reteenagers. Teenagers aren't meant to be up super early- it's a scientific fact, Percy thinks. Annabeth once told him something about their melatonin not releasing until later at night, so they could stay up and sleep in later.

What? Percy pays attention to what she's saying sometimes.

"I hate Tony," Piper grumbled, practically falling asleep on Jason.

"You and us all, chica," Leo mumbled before letting out a huge yawn.

"What did he say was going on? Training?" Jason asked, looking over at Annabeth for answers because she seemed the most awake of the group.

"Yep. Training, whatever that entails. I don't know, so be prepared for anything. I really hope it has nothing to do with electronics, but knowing our luck, and how Tony has been so far, it will, so just try not to get too close," she answered.

Leo tiredly saluted her, "Yes, ma'm."

Hazel rolled her eyes, "Come on, Repair Boy."

She grabbed his arm and started leading the way towards the living room, which was their best guess at where the Avengers were.

As they were walking, they were interrupted by the disembodied voice of JARVIS, "Excuse me, but I was told to direct you to the training room, where the Avengers are currently assembled and waiting for you. Shall I proceed?"

All of the demigods were still really weirded-out by the AI, and there was no way it was ending soon. It's just a reminder that they were currently in a building basically composed entirely of technology, one of their greatest liabilities. Liabilities were a dangerous thing in their lives.

"Yes..." Percy answered hesitantly, unsure where to look.

"Then please follow the arrows projected on the ground, sir," JARVIS said.

Sure enough, there were large white arrows pointing them away from the living room, so they followed them. It was about a two minute walk to the elevators, where they were told to go to the 60th floor, which was apparently one whole training room by itself.

Ω ♆ Ω

"So let me get this straight, you guys want us to...play a video game?" Frank asked, gesturing to the giant room around them.

The Seven were quickly ushered by the Avengers into a big room with a bunch of white, padded tiles all around them as soon as they had reached the training floor. There was only a viewing window and an exit that disappeared when the door was closed. Then, Tony explained what they were going to be doing. None of them really understood it yet.

"No! I want you to fight the LMDs! The robots! They will simulate different levels of skill to evaluate your skills. Understand?" Tony punctuated each word, quickly losing any sense of patience he had started with.

"Yeah. We got it," Annabeth sighed.

Ok, she was sure she was the only one of them who realized that they were about to break one of the rules they established last night on the first day. They were about to fight robots. TECHNOLOGY.

This should go well, Annabeth thought.

Steve interrupted before Tony could make a snarky comment, "Good. We'll start with fighting separately and then together as a group. Afterwards, we'll see how you work with different weapons."

"Aye aye, Cap," Leo joked.

"Leo, focus. We're about to fight ROBOTS." Annabeth tried to get the son of Hephaestus to understand the severity of the situation. "You have a back-up plan, right?"

He could talk to machines. Robots were machines. Therefore, he should be able to get them out of this mess if anything went wrong.

He gave her a nod of understanding, and Annabeth settled back into her natural stance rather than her tense one. Well, she's always tensed for battle. At least in her natural one it's less obvious.

"Alright, who wants to go first?" Tony asked over the intercom.

"Uncle Leo will go first, right?" Percy joked, referencing to one of Leo's favorite nicknames for himself.

"Sure! I just need to know how much damage I'm allowed to do," Leo said, looking up at the Avengers.

Annabeth was shocked that he had even thought to ask that, and apparently the Avengers were, too.

"Um, just let go. There's nothing you can do to break this room. I designed it myself," Tony answered, still arrogant even through his confusion.

"Come on out, the rest of you," Natasha instructed.

Once the rest of the demigods had exited the room and stood next to the Avengers at the viewing window, Tony pressed a button on a screen that made a compartment in the walls of the room open up, revealing a row of floating LMDs.

"Now, I'm going to start you at Level 2, okay? It gets harder as you move up. The LMDs should stay the same form throughout every level, though. Ready?" Tony said.

Leo pulled his war hammer from his magical toolbelt and lit it and his arms on fire, "Ready."

Tony had to shake himself out of his shock before he pressed the start button, but when he did, every one of the mortal heroes had sat on the edge of their metaphorical seats, eager to see just how powerful these kids could be.

Plus, the kid had just pulled a giant war hammer from his normally-sized toolbelt, and then proceeded to light himself and the hammer on fire. They were bound to be curious after that display.

They knew the very basics of the young heroes' abilities, but most of that stuff was based on just what they had been told. Actual, visible proof is what they wanted.

All at once, the LMDs transformed into the Avengers minus the Hulk. Repeat, they changed into the Avengers. Leo had to fight a copy of the Avengers, alone.

Percy was freaking out inside. Sure, he trusted his friend, but Leo was a joker, and he tended to not understand how serious things were. In this case, he hoped that didn't happen.

"This should be interesting," Natasha remarked.

"No, this should be terrible. Tony, you never told me you were using this setting," Bruce said, rushing up to the other scientist, "He's just a kid."

"I think they've made it clear they aren't just kids, Jolly Green. It's fine. If they wanted to be treated like the rest of us, then they need to pass this test," Tony said.

Bruce looked like he wanted to say a lot more, but Jason stepped up to stop him, "He'll be fine, Dr. Banner. Leo may not look it, but he's powerful and he's smart. He can handle this."

Jason looked so sure of himself that it was enough to convince the doctor that it would be okay.

In truth, Jason had no idea how this program worked. There was a good chance that Leo did not, in fact, have this handled.

While this was being discussed, Leo had already started to fight the Iron Man LMD. He was currently alternating between swinging his hammer at it and firing balls of fire. The LMD had only been hit a couple of times because it kept maneuvering around the attacks by flying away.

It was getting tiresome, and Leo wanted it to be over with. So, he dropped his hammer and set a determined look on his face, glaring up at the robot.

The Seven were grinning, already figuring out what was happening, while the Avengers were just plain confused. What was the kid gonna do? Glare them to death?

Then, Leo started grinning and they knew it was all over.

He crouched down onto the ground and placed a hand on the floor, closing his eyes in concentration. The LMDs seemed to be as confused as their originals.

Three seconds passed before Leo's grin grew even more, and then he spoke a single word, "Stop."

And they did. Every single LMD lost their form and fell to the ground, limp and unmoving. Leo stood up, dusted his pants off, and turned to the viewing window to see his teammate's reactions.

They were priceless.

"That's how you do it," he said, "Am I done?"

Tony literally shook himself out of his stupor, "Yeah, sure. I need to reboot the LMDs."

When Leo came through the door, the rest of the demigods crowded him, patting him on the back and laughing at his dramatics.

"What was that?" Natasha demanded, breaking through the teens to tower over Leo's elf-like form.

Okay, maybe tower isn't the right word. She was taller than him, but not by much. Natasha was just very intimidating.

"Uh...fighting?" Leo tried.

Natasha's glare hardened, "You know that's not what I mean. What did you do to make the LMDs stop attacking?"

Leo glanced at Annabeth, who nodded in consent, "I talked to them."

"You did what?!" Tony exclaimed.

"I talked to them. They were pretty boring, to be honest, but I was able to shut them down," he answered.

Tony let out an incredulous laugh, "That's not possible! You can't just TALK to machines!"

"He can, and he did," Piper said, smiling proudly at her best friend.

"But–" Tony's voice died out.

"How come you never told us of this ability?" Natasha asked.

"You never asked," Percy answered simply, not liking her interrogatory tone at all.

The spy looked like she wanted to continue the conversation, but Clint whispered something in her ear and she stepped back with one last glare.

"Welp! That was fun! Who's next?" Tony clapped his hands.

Everyone turned to see that he had gotten the LMDs back online and back in the Avengers' form.

Piper sighed and started to walk to the door, "I guess I'll go next."

Before she could enter, Steve asked, "What weapon are you going to use? Your powers won't work on the robots."

Piper smirked at him over her shoulder before pulling Katoptris from its sheath on her thigh. Apparently, the Avengers had yet to fully break through the Mist, and they could not see her having that strapped there this entire time. But when she pulled it out, they seemed to finally be able to see it for what it truly was. It makes you wonder what they thought was there before. A ruler, maybe?

"I've got this," she stated before slipping into the training room.

Ω ♆ Ω

It was obvious Piper had been taking more lessons on dagger-fighting with Annabeth. As soon as the first person attacked, she was slashing and stabbing like crazy. Her lithe form was swisting out of the way of punches from Steve's copy, while Clint's arrows were shooting at her from behind.

Tony had clearly upped the level of difficulty after seeing what Leo could do.

Piper ducked under one of the arrows, and then shot back up to land a finishing blow to the center of LMD-Steve's chest. Then, she ripped Katoptris out of the robot and turned to throw it at Clint's copy, which just barely managed to avoid getting stabbed.

She was running on pure adrenaline now. It was best to imagine these opponents as monsters. Sure, when they actually fought humans, they would need to not kill, but these were just robots.

Cilnt's robot shot it's last arrow, and it exploded right before her face, stunning her into stillness. In that couple of seconds it took for her to recenter herself, Natasha's copy jumped onto her back for a chokehold. Piper struggled, but the LMD had been designed to know all of Natasha's known skills, and it was working. The Iron Man LMD landed and shot a stunning shot at her chest: the final straw for Piper to finally surrender.

She knew they wouldn't kill her, but she was not in the mood to be knocked-out. It left you with a massive headache.

So she tapped out.

"Ok ok, I'm done. I'm done," She panted as she was released, rubbing her neck.

Piper was not happy about having to surrender, but it seemed like the Avengers had been thoroughly impressed with her skill with such a small weapon.

"I'll do next," Annabeth declared, high-fiving Piper on her way out.

"Good luck," Piper said.

"Don't need it," Annabeth responded, pulling out her drakon-bone sword.

Out in the control room, Tony said, "Is that a bone?!"

"It's whatever you want it to be," Hazel grinned, manipulating the Mist just a bit.

"You scare me sometimes, Miss Metal Detector," Leo muttered, glancing at Annabeth's sword, which had shifted into a machete.

He wasn't sure whether to be impressed by Hazel's skill, or weirded-out by Tony's brain.

"Make sure to move to difficulty up a bit," Percy told Tony, "She'll be insulted otherwise."

The billionaire seemed to be getting used to the teens' weird ways because he didn't even flinch when he heard that, and instead moved to comply.

"And...here we go," Tony said over the intercom, "Good luck, Annie."

"My name is Annabeth!" she shouted before going into the fight.

In this level, every single one of them attacked at once. Annabeth back-bended under Steve's copy's punch, and then kicked up into LMD-Natasha's face. After, she turned and sliced the Iron Man armor on the side, just under the armpit. She had picked that as a point of weakness before she had even stepped into the building.

"She's good," Natasha relented, watching as the daughter of Athena thrusted her sword into Steve's robot foot.

Seeing that Clint's LMD copy was not going to get any closer to her, Annabeth pulled out a hidden dagger and threw it in a perfect line to hit it in the center of its forehead. Then, she turned and blocked a punch from Natasha's robot, who had recovered from the face-hit. The spy copy used the Iron Man LMD to jump up and wrap her legs around Annabeth's neck, trying to do a scissor hold, which failed because Annabeth rolled forward, slamming Natasha's head into the ground. The left a big enough dent that the LMD wasn't getting back up.

That only left Iron Man to deal with.

She settled into a fighting stance, but didn't attack, choosing to wait for her opponent to make the first blow.

Percy was grinning. This was what they needed: a good way to blow off steam without it possibly ending with one of them dead.

"What is she waiting for?" Steve asked.

"She's playing with it. It's fun for her," Jason answered, "It's Annabeth."

Finally, the robot got impatient and attacked. It sent a stun blast at her, which Annabeth quickly avoided. After, she ran up to the wall, kicked off of it, and jumped up to drag the Iron Man LMD down to the ground, where she sat down on it and landed a few punches. But she quickly realized punching wasn't doing much good.

"Judo flip! Do the judo flip!" Leo exclaimed, jumping up and down in excitement.

When it wasn't him being the one attacked by Annabeth, it was super entertaining.

Annabeth sighed, but a smile was pulling at the edges of her lips. She hauled Iron Man up, who was still recovering from being slammed down to the ground, and got a good hold on it's arm. Then, she flipped it over her shoulder with an ease that only came from years of experience.

With a huge smile on her lips, and a last glance at her carnage, Annabeth walked back out to the control room.

"How was that for a kid?" She asked Natasha.

"Not bad," she got for an answer.

Ω ♆ Ω

Jason, Hazel, and Frank's individual tests went-by pretty quickly. Jason electrocuted all of the robots, rendering them immobile.

After that, and with another new batch of LMDs, Hazel used her Spatha to slice and cut through the robots. In the end, it proved too hard for her to do it with just a sword, so she pulled a chunk of the wall out and smashed it against the LMDs until they were in many different pieces.

Frank ended up having to forfeit, but not before getting every single Avengers copy but Steve down. Steve ended up having him in a chokehold that was just too difficult to get out of. And Frank had already transformed into many animals, so he wasn't sure if he could've changed back if he had transformed again.

If it wasn't obvious, Percy was avoiding doing his turn. He was trying to stay in the corner, and out of the notice of any of the adults. However, that wasn't possible with two spies in the room. They notice everything.

"Percy? Your turn," Natasha said.

So much for that plan.

Percy hesitated, "Um...about that, I don't think I should go."

Natasha raised her eyebrows in mock-surprise, but it was actually Steve who spoke, "You have to go, son. In order to work well together, we need to know each other's strengths and weaknesses. This will never work without you doing this."

"Plus, we promise it's completely safe," Bruce added in.

Percy sighed, admitting that he wasn't going to be able to worm his way out of this one. Instead of fighting, he turned to whisper to Annabeth, "Don't let me get out of control."

Annabeth gave him a sad look, "Percy, I know you have control. I trust you. You just need to trust yourself. You would never hurt us. I know that for certain."

The Avengers were watching this interaction like hawks, but the other demigods were averting their attention. This happened sometimes, Percy and Annabeth going into their own world that only they could understand, and it was best to just let them be. Plus, privacy is a real thing people. The moment seemed almost too intimate for them to interrupt.

Percy still seemed to be having trouble believing Annabeth's statements, but he went into the training room without another protest. His shoulders were sagging in defeat, and he seemed to be folding in on himself. He was never one for attention, but that was a bit much in Leo's mind.

However, Leo and the rest of the Seven didn't have a full grasp on just how uncomfortable Percy as with using his powers now. They didn't know what happened in "that place."

"Are you ready, Percy?" Tony asked, readying the LMDs again.

"Yeah, I guess," Percy answered.

Annabeth was rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet, "Just breathe, Perce," she whispered under her breath, "You can do this."

She had to put on a brave face for her boyfriend, but she truly was terrified of Percy's potential. She had seen it first-hand in their trip underground, and it was nothing to be underestimated. The Avengers didn't know what powers they were playing with here. She only hoped that her insistent trust she was putting in Percy was going to amount to truth.

"We'll start you on Level 5? Based on what your friends can do, I think this will be a good start," Steve asked.

"Sure," Percy responded, bringing Riptide from his pocket.

"What's he going to do with a pen?" Bruce whispered to Clint.

The Seven all smiled at each other. Little did the mortals know, that pen was definitely not just a pen. It was always amusing when people saw what Riptide truly was for the first time.

"Alright. Here we go," Tony said, starting the simulation.

Percy closed his eyes, inhaled, exhaled, and popped the cap off of his pen. Opening his eyes, you could tell something had shifted in him. He was in his natural element now, and nobody could stop him from achieving his goal.

That goal just so happened to be mutilating some billionaire's robots.

"Let's have some fun," Percy said, charging the first LMD.

He was a flurry of motion. His fighting style was a mix from Greek, Roman, and modern martial arts that he had learned from Annabeth. He'd kick one adversary just to turn and thrust his sword into another one trying to attack him from behind.

"He's amazing," Bruce said in wonder, mesmerized by Percy's skill.

The son of Poseidon was relying only on his hand-to-hand and swordsmanship skills, rather than his powers, but that barely slowed him down. If the mortals wanted a display of his competence, then he would give them one.

Annabeth had a proud smile on her face as she watched Percy judo flip Natasha's robot over his shoulder and slammed it hard enough to the ground that it "died," ending his fight.

That had gone well, considering Percy's worries.

However, he knew better than to let his guard down just yet. As all demigods know, life never gives any breaks. That, and the Fates are cruel.

Ω ♆ Ω

"Ok, guys. Let's take a lunch break, and then we'll do some more training, but this time, with only abilities," Steve said.

Percy had put his sword away, and was not standing in the viewing room with the rest of the heroes, mortal and demigod alike. All of the teens looked and felt exhausted, so it was a given to take a break.

"Got it, boss," Leo saluted, turning and exiting the room, heading no doubt in the direction of the kitchen.

"I guess that means we're leaving," Percy laughed. A real, genuine laugh.

It made Annabeth smile larger than she had in a long time. Improvement is always good.

Soon, everyone was gathered around the kitchen and living room area. Percy and Leo were scavenging for food while the Avengers and the rest of the Seven talked. So far, the hunt was not going as planned.

"Tony! Are you seriously telling me you're a billionaire, and you can't afford some decent Cheerios?!" Percy yelled.

"Yeah! Who goes grocery shopping around here?" Leo exclaimed, holding up the near-empty jug of milk.

The Avengers all looked at each other in confusion, "Who DOES go grocery shopping?" Bruce asked.

"Pepper, sometimes, I think. She must've been busy this week," Tony answered, "We can just order some Chinese or something for now."

"That should work, but if you're going to house these boys," Annabeth pointed to Percy, Leo, Jason, and Frank, "You're going to need a lot more food around at all times. Their appetites could rival that of an elephant."

Hazel let out a tiny laugh, realizing Annabeth's little pun about Frank. She received a small smirk in response.

"Teenagers," Tony muttered, rolling his eyes, "Always hungry."

"Now wait a second, Tony, I remember seeing you eat an entire large pizza by yourself just a couple weeks ago," Natasha remarked, smirking at her teammate.

Tony only glared in response, and then he told JARVIS to order lunch.

"Well, while we're waiting, I'll explain what our next exercise is," Steve said, "Basically, we're going to see and document your powers, but in a more controlled environment. You won't be fighting anything, but this will be more focused on precision than quantity. We need to know your full capabilities so that we know where to put you in a fight. Is that okay?"

He was asking their permission as more of a courtesy than an actual question, obviously, but the demigods still nodded their heads in confirmation. It wasn't like they couldn't leave at any time if things ever got too out-of-control.

Or at least, that's what they told themselves. In all honesty, nobody trusted each other yet. They could be shot down by the Avengers if they tried to run away, for all they knew, and that's what the scariest thing was. Neither group really KNEW the other group's intentions, only what they had told each other.

Everyone was walking on thin ice, whether it was known to them or not.

Ω ♆ Ω

I hope you liked it! Remember, this is also on FF, Ao3, Inkitt, Webnovel, and Wattpad.

other chapters :)

[pls-let-me-out]

Invisible String

21st of December

“Do you not like my friends?” 

Will almost jumped out of his skin. Niccolò was standing just a couple of feet from him, with his hands in his pockets, and a scowl on his face. He was wearing Will’s–it was actually Niccolò’s, but Will had always worn it–scarf, and a black beanie.

Will’s lips tightened. What could he say? He did like them. They were fun to be around, and had a great sense of humor. Plus, seeing them tease Niccolò was entertaining.

“It’s not that,” Will settled for. “It’s–I don’t know.”

“You do know,” Niccolò said. “Just–nothing. We should go. Seen anything you like?”

Will shook his head. They were looking for a Christmas tree, apparently they would be shooting a little video for a Royal Family thing. When Niccolò was explaining it, Will was too busy being scared to death to listen thoroughly.

“Wait!” Will called, when Niccolò was already at the end of that tree aisles. Niccolò looked back at him with a frown, which had Will’s fingertips tickle with the need to smooth it out. “Can we get hot chocolate before we head out?”

Niccolò rolled his eyes. He didn’t say no.

 “What do you mean presents?” Niccolò asked, his face turning into an even more prominent scowl. “We don’t need to get each other gifts.”

“I’m not spending money for this dumbass,” Will said, taking the cup from Niccolò’s hands to take a sip. He was immediately kicked in the shin by Niccolò, but the biggest punishment was the taste of that thing inside. “Is this death? Am I tasting death?”

“It’s coffee, you genius,” Niccolò said, taking the mug back. “Sorry I’m an adult and don’t put milk in it.”

Will just grimaced. “I see why you’re so bitter. You’re poisoning yourself.”

Niccolò opened his mouth, but Piper interrupted them before he could talk, hitting the wooden table. She sighed, exasperation clear on her face. As clear as the fact that the gifts exchanging wasn’t her and Annabeth’s idea, probably Persephone’s. Maybe even Hazel’s.

“What Annabeth and I are trying to say, is that it’s only normal you two exchange gifts. You will spend Christmas together, won’t you?”

Will turned to Niccolò. “My time and company are going to be your present.”

“Hope you kept the receipt.”

Annabeth rubbed her temples. “Guys.”

“Honestly, if you want us to have gifts so much, you should just buy them for us,” Niccolò said, looking smug in his chair. “Then we’ll give them to each other. We’d be even more surprised!”

Will sighed. “Don’t be rude, you ass. I honestly haven’t even changed my money to euros.” He grimaced. “I guess I’ve been kind of leeching off of you.”

Niccolò shrugged. “It’s my fault you’re here in the first place.”

Annabeth clasped her hands together. “Then what’s better than using the Royal Family’s money to buy each other gifts?”

“Not buying each other gifts,” Niccolò said.

“Donating the money to charity.”

Niccolò nodded, very vaguely waving his hand toward Will. “Yeah, that, too.”

“I honestly don’t even know what I could buy you,” Will said, putting his elbow on the table and his chin on his fist. “What could you possibly want? You’re already rich.”

“I’d like McDonald’s. I haven’t had it in so long.”

“We can arrange that.”

“I’m not sure there are any McDonald’s around.”

Will grimaced. “Isn’t this city a nightmare?”

“I’m not even replying to that,” Annabeth said. “C’mon guys. You’ll have to put something on social network sooner or later, it could be the two of you opening gifts. People want to see you.”

“People can see me on Google Image,” Niccolò replied. “Seriously. It’s none of their business what we’re doing.”

“You are a public figure, Nico.”

“Also,” Piper continued. “As you know there’s always been speculation about your sexuality. People are wondering whether you and this soulmate of yours will be lovers or platonic.”

“And I’m sure they’d love it,” Niccolò said.

Will couldn’t help a grimace. Up until a few decades back, courtship between two soulmates of the same sex wasn’t accepted. Will hadn’t even thought it would be an option for them. Niccolò was a prince, didn’t he need to have heirs or something?

Fuck. It only made things more complicated. Will knew himself, he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop wondering, if there was even a sliver of hope for the two of them. He buried that hope thinking about his parents.

“I’m sure they’d love to see me with a boy, wouldn’t they.”

Will’s eyes snapped back up at Niccolò, and it hit him like a bucket of cold water. He had forgotten how cold the other’s face could turn. How his voice could become blank. How distant he became.

“They’d love to see me bonding with a man, wouldn’t they?” Niccolò asked, as if he the words were clawing out of his throat.

I’m bisexual! Will wanted to scream. I’m bisexual so stop saying shit like that, like it’s disgusting. He wanted to say it, instead he just pushed the chair back, and stood. What was he expecting from someone who had lived his whole life in a palace? It was only a given that Niccolò would be homophobic. In times like this, Will’s life reminded him of a staged joke.

“It’s just gifts,” he said. His voice was steadier than he thought it would be. “Let’s just take a scarf each and be done with it.”

“It would be different. You’d be soulmates,” he heard Piper say, but he was already leaving the room. He could feel eyes boring holes in his back.

 Before letting them use the sleigh, Piper took at least a hundred photo. Most of them had either Nico or Will with an indignant expression on their face, as the other talked passionately. Ten minutes later, and Nico couldn’t remember what they had been bickering about.

He was half hunched over his sleigh, the cold wind in his face, on the path ahead he could see both Will and the instructor. He could see them, when his eyes weren’t forced closed by the pain in his knee.

“This is the best thing I’ve ever done,” Will said later, when they were sitting on the panoramic spot, feet dangling over the edge. A smile was spitting his face open, darkness had already began falling. He was dressed in a bright orange suit, so that the instructor wouldn’t lose him on the track. Nico had little to laugh about, since he himself was in green. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

Nico managed a grimace. The huskies were panting, just a few meters away. The instructor had disappeared back into the hotel, soon Will and Nico would have to get going.

“Kayla would have loved this,” Will said, his voice softer.

Nico knew those eyes. They were the same he had in every photo with Bianca and Hazel, that love struck gaze brothers wore only when they were talking of a sister. So Nico asked about it, heart hammering in his chest. “Your sister?”

Will nodded. He never talked about his family, or at least not with Nico. He should have been a fool not to notice the strange atmosphere and gazes exchanged between Will and Piper. A part of him wondered if Will was falling for Piper. He wouldn’t be the first to do so.

“Yeah, the oldest. Kayla Knowles.” He shrugged, and took a deep breath. “Don’t you think it’s crazy, how we’ve lived alone for days, yet not talked about anything of our lives? Do we–do we actually know each other?”

Nico tightened his lips. It was not the time to talk about the mess they’d made, pain shot through his knee. “I don’t think we do.”

Will nodded. “Yeah. I thought so.”

For a moment, less than a second, Nico wished Will had fought him. He put his hands under his thighs, to avoid doing stupid things, like poking the mole under Will’s left eye, and bicker like only they did.

“This is the part where you start telling me things about yourself,” Will said. He put his chin on his bent knee, giving Nico a sidelong glance.

“Oh. Uh. Elysium. That’s my kingdom’s name. Ancient Greeks believed it was part of the Underworld, for a time. Black flowers grew on the shorelines, and it was so hard to reach them. Too many storms. I thought it was Elysium too, when I was little.”

“Isn’t your father also called Hades?”

Nico grinned. “Grandfather thought he was so funny, when he chose his sons’ names.” He cleared his throat, embarrassment darkening his cheeks even more when silence stretched. “Isn’t it your turn now?”

Nico thought Will mock him, at least a little. ‘Maybe I should tell you the story behind Texas’. Will didn’t, as if he understood how personal Elysium was to Nico, what a great thing it was to admit that, for a time, he’d been foolish enough to want the throne.

Will took a deep breath, his knuckles turned white where he was holding the railing. “I have eight siblings. Lee, Michael, Austin, Kayla, Jerry, Gracie, Yan and Victoria. Lee and Michael were older than me. Now I’m the oldest.” He sniffled, bringing his gloved hand to his nose. “When they–we didn’t live together. We saw each other during holidays, birthdays sometimes. The first year after Michael and Lee died, I didn’t know how to be the oldest. It’s different, you know? I always had them, and they were before me. If the youngers needed something, something clever, they went to them. I couldn’t bring myself to see the others, after the two of them died. I didn’t–I didn’t have anyone to go to.”

The breath was knocked out of Nico’s lungs.

Will chuckled. “I guess I overshared a bit. Sorry.”

“You didn’t,” Nico blurted, so fast Will whipped his head around. He cleared his throat, spoke with far more calm. “You didn’t overshare.”

“You sound pretty put out.”

“I was just thinking about what I wanted people to tell me, after I lost Bianca.” He tasted bitterness on his tongue, so heavy it laced through his words. “I can’t remember.”

“I don’t want you to tell me anything.”

“Yeah. Neither did I.”

Will put his head on Nico’s shoulder. His hat was cold, a bit wet with snow, his breath warm, even through all the layers. Nico leaned against him.

 The others were waiting for them inside the hotel. Piper and Leo had managed to convince Jason to stay one more night, to sleep in an igloo room together. Nico had half a mind they would try seducing him. Percy and Annabeth would go to Paris, Annabeth wanted to see Notre Dame. She had never seen it in person. Nico recommended her to see the Dome of Sacré Coeur Basilica first.

“You were talking about Paris?” Will asked, sliding down next to Nico with a cup of hot chocolate in his hands.

Nico ignored that it’d been a gift from the instructor. Only for Will. With Nico standing right next to them. It seemed impossible for Will to go anywhere without having someone fall for him. It had to be the curls. Or the freckles. Maybe the eyes, always so bright and beautiful.

Nico shook his head, to get himself out of the trance.

“-there a couple of times, with my family,” Will admitted, nodding his head. He took the cup to his mouth, and grimaced at the first sip.

“Did the Hot Instructor poison you?” Nico asked. He knew it wasn’t possible, but at least then they’d have a good reason to send him to jail. Or at least never seen him again. He wasn’t so petty after all.

Will huffed. “It’s too hot.” A glint lit his eyes, as he looked at Nico through a thick layer of eyelashes. “Just like the instructor.”

Nico scoffed, crossing his arms. “Yeah, if you’re into bulky men that spend their days riding towards the sunset with huskies.”

Percy snorted. “Who isn’t into that?”

Nico bit his cheek. Annabeth caught his eyes, cocking an eyebrow. Nico sunk lower into his chair, tightening his grasp on the cup holder. Nico didn’t need to look at Will to recognize the mirth in his eyes.

“Anyway,” Leo said. “Before omo celoso here interrupted us, we were listening to a story.”

“You should really stop treating people’s lives like they exist for your entertainment,” Jason told him. Piper giggled, and Leo sent him a wink. Jason’s whole face turned as red as a tomato. Nico imprinted the memory into his head, just in case he ever needed to have something to tease Jason about.

“I was telling them about the time I went to Paris,” Will said. He grimaced. “We were on the Eiffel Tower when my Father’s girlfriend discovered he was cheating on her.”

“With whom?” Leo asked, eagerly leaning on the table.

Will and Piper both burst out laughing. “Well,” Will said, clicking his tongue. “I was eleven at the time. My parents, uh, they divorced when I was eight.”

“Just a quick note,” Piper said. “His oldest half-brother is two years younger than him.”

“Thanks,” Will said. He fixed his eyes on Nico, before dropping to the table. “Very helpful. Uh. So, we were on the Eiffel Tower, and my father’s girlfriend sees him passing the waitress his number. She goes absolutely mad, and she was right, really. My father’s a really lewd man. So she gets his phone, calls a cab for herself and orders a flight back to California. She finds the messages he had exchanged with his lovers.”

“God, that’s so disgusting,” Annabeth said.

“That’s not the worst he’s done,” Piper replied.

“Wait, how do you even know?” Percy asked her.

Piper sent Will a panicked glance, and he cleared his throat. “We were neighbors. Kind of.”

“Oh my God, isn’t that so cute?” Jason exclaimed, his eyes on Nico. As if he knew Nico was storing teasing material. As if this was his revenge. They knew each other well enough for it to be possible. “You two would have met through Piper!”

“So no one’s going to talk about the fact that we discovered it now?” Percy asked. He was ignored.

“I can’t believe we’ve been robbed of the chance of introducing them to each other!” Leo wailed loudly, gathering the attention of the other costumers. “We’d’ve held it over Nico’s head for the rest of our lives.”

“Holding something over my head?” Nico scoffed. “With your height?”

Leo hit him in the shins from under the table, making him hiss. He sent the hit right back, but hit the table.

“Jealousy’s taking your aim away, hombre,” Leo commented.

He was lucky Will’s attention was on Annabeth, or Nico would have used him to replace the table leg.

“I’m absolutely not jealous,” Nico hissed, trying to hit Leo again. He hit the table instead, a jolt of pain shot through his leg.

“You know, just because you’re prince doesn’t mean you can destroy the furniture,” Will chirped with a sickeningly sweet smile, using napkins to rub the spilled chocolate. “By the way, you now owe me a free chocolate.”

“You lost two sips at most.” Nico took a long sip of his coffee, the bitterness heaving on his words, not only his tongue. “If you want another, go back to flirting with the instructor.”

Will leaned closer, batting his eyelashes with a coy smile. “Maybe I’d rather flirt with you for another.”

Nico shoved him by the shoulder, a grin stretching on his lips. “Fuck off.”

They both laughed.

 Will fell on the sofa next to Niccolò with a loud sigh. Before turning the TV on, he complained about his tiredness, his old age, the weather.. Niccolò didn’t say a single word, but his eyes were

“The house is silent again,” he said.

“Yeah.” Niccolò cleared his throat, looking away. He crossed his legs, looking like he didn’t know how to act now that they were alone. They would be for a few more days, so he’d better get used back to it. It was unnerving Will.

“I’d gotten used to having them around. Have you always been so close to your cousins?”

Niccolò grunted. “I wouldn’t say we’re close, even now.”

“You look like it.”

“Maybe we are.” He stayed silent long enough for Will to think he wouldn’t add anything. “With–with Jason. It’s more complicated with Percy. I’ve seen him much more than Jason, and we–I had–” He cleared his throat, but his hands were shaking, and Will wanted to wrap his own fingers around Niccolò’s. He knew the other wouldn’t like it, though. “He was already around when Bianca died. So. I took him out on him.” He passed a hand through his hair. It wasn’t very long, less than an inch, what with being cut short in the military.

“He looks at you like you are his little brother, though.”

“I hated it back then.” He nodded toward the television, before Will could do as much as thinking about asking more. “So, why are you on YouTube again?”

“I just realized I never got around to watching your eleven awkward moments.”

Niccolò groaned.

 Niccolò was around fifteen years old. He held a scepter, or what looked like it. People all around were looking at him, cameras going off. He kept looking around, never keeping his eyes on something a second too long. Then, he mouthed at the King, and his words had been written as subtitles:

What was I supposed to do now?

 The MC smiled at Niccolò. Niccolò nodded and smiled. Hazel talked, the MC responded. Niccolò looked at the crowd. Cheers and screams grew louder. Some people shouted his name. Others that they wanted to marry him. Niccolò grimaced.

Prince Niccolò: Great King of Shut the Hell Up

 Niccolò got out of the car, walking toward the entrance of the hotel without paying much attention to the people screaming his name. That is, until someone shouted “Prince Neeks!”

It was a reporter. And Niccolò, disdain clear on his face, closed the button of his jacket. His lips were tilted downwards, his chin and nose all scrunched up.

“It’s Niccolò.”

 Will was doubled over in laughter, half down the couch. Niccolò sat still, only a slight twitch on his mouth, not quite a smile. Not quite a frown either.

 “So, how does it feel like to be the Prince?”

“Well. I’ve always been a prince, so. It feels like every other day feels.”

The reporter laughed. “Can’t say I know what that is.”

Niccolò nodded. The reporter nodded. They nodded at each other.

 “God, this is such a torture.”

“You really do make everything awkward. I wish I’d filmed our first few hours together.”

Niccolò groaned from behind his hands.

“I would be a billionaire by now.”

 “Nico say hi!” Came Piper’s voice from behind the camera. She was filming an Instagram story.

Nico looked up. He was sitting in front of a piano, a grimace on his face as soon as he took in the scene. He didn’t move.

Eventually, he waved. He sent a panicked glance to something behind Piper’s phone.

“Say hi!” Piper insisted.

“Hello.”

“Hi.”

“But I did!”

“You should’ve said hi.”

He hesitated. Sighed. Waved again. “Hi.”

 “You have a beautiful soul,” a girl told Niccolò, holding her phone in his face.

His gaze was focused on something out of the frame, a grimace on his face. “Yours, too.”

The girl’s phone fell, her gasp alerting Niccolò that something was happening in front of him. From the ground, the camera still recorded.

“Sorry. You were saying about your sauce?”

 Niccolò fell asleep a little after their third video. It wasn’t even half past ten, but he snored lightly. Will lowered the TV volume, put the red blanket with reindeers on him, and leaned back into the couch.

Niccolò was beautiful. He was beautiful under the sun, when the snow glowed all around them. He was beautiful in the morning, when he always stopped mid-stairs to rub his eyes. He was beautiful as Will watched him, with the blue light of the TV, the golden one of the fireplace, shining on the little pout he always wore as he slept.

The knot enveloping Will’s stomach tightened. He took the remote again, and searched for another video. He was met with his parents’ faces in the home. They were young back then. He clicked before he even realized it.

“Before Apollo’s new auto-biographic film comes out next March, we decided to take a walk down memory-line, with the evergreen love between Apollo and Naomi. Both young when they met, they had just become part of the music world. Their first single together sold millions of copies, enough to–”

So enthralled on the old family photos, Will didn’t realize Niccolò had awoken, and his hand had sneaked around Will’s wrist.

“So you are a fan?”

Will looked away from the TV. It was so strange, hearing the woman talk (gossip) about his family, and having Niccolò in the same room. Guilt fell heavy on his chest, constricting his lungs.

I’m their son.

“I–” His breath broke.

They are my parents.

“They –”

They are the reason I can’t look at you and think we could ever work, even if we fell in love and were crazy for each other.

“A fan, yeah.”

Niccolò smiled, stretching his arms. When he stretched his legs, he grimaced. “Yeah, I thought so. You looked pretty taken with Apollo the other day.”

Will nodded. “Yeah.”

“He has a sister, you know?” He yawned, his mouth opened so much his jaw could have dislocated.

Will nodded again. He knew. He had only met her on two occasions, his brothers’ funerals. If his siblings’ funerals were the only times they would ever meet, Will hoped to never see her again.

“I don’t like her,” Niccolò mumbled. His eyes drifted closed, and a second later he was snoring again.

Less than a minute, and his cheek was on Will’s shoulder. Dark hair brushed again his nose, and he took a long breath. Pomegranate. Niccolò tasted of them.

Will turned off the TV, and closed his eyes. He wasn’t tired, but he matched Niccolò’s breath. He slept.

 Spotted!

Prince Nico of Elysium and his soulmate have been spotted being cozy in Livigno. Although their stay in the Italian city was made public days ago, clear photos of them hadn’t been released yet (go to gallery). The Prince’s sexuality has been subject of speculation for many years, with Cupid’s–stage name of famous pap–confirmation that he is, indeed, homosexual. However, it isn’t known whether the Prince’s soulmate might be homosexual as well.

The Royal Family hasn’t released any statement regarding the nature of their relationship, although close sources state have stated, that ‘The Prince is quite taken with a close friend of his,’ but the name hasn’t been revealed. Who between Nameless Soulmate and Nameless Friend will win the Prince’s heart?

Stay tuned to discover!

 Latest updates:

Naomi to be featured in Apollo: between glory and reality

Is Tristan McLean’s daughter Piper’s new suspected sweetheart an ex Hollywood kid?

Apollo: between glory and reality, ten reasons to watch it

[ghostsareok]

Someone on insta asked me why does this fandom hate Jason (at least until he died). My theory? We don't appreciate what we have until it's gone.

Jason was a son of Jupiter/Zeus. Yes, not just Jupiter, because if you remember correctly he chose both of his identidies, greek and roman. He didn't pick one over the other, he accepted them as part of who he was and moved on with his life. This while coming to terms with his relationship with his mother (or the lack of it) which is not easy to begin with. He was the FIRST to do this, to say: screw all of this labels I'm just gonna be who I am: not roman neither greek but a bit of both and completely myself... and that folks it's bravery at it's finest.

Jason was not Percy, they were opposites. From how I see it they were supposted to be opposites. They are the proff that even if you have nothing in common with someone it doesn't mean you can't work together or even be friends, you just have to work a litte harder.

Jason was born in a neglectful family: his father left before he was born; his 7 year old sister had to pretty much raise him and his mother gave him away to the wolves. Literaly. Then he went on training with Lupa. Can you imagine what it'll be like for a two year old to grow up and traind with wolves? I can't so I'm gonna leave to you. But I'm betting something in the lines of Mogli from the Jungle Book. Let's just go with he was a free spirit and probably one not very civisized.

Now imagine this savage little boy arriving at super structure and strick Camp Jupiter. And if that's not enough he's claimed by none other than Jupiter (the freaking Camp has his name on it!!) the King of the gods, Ruler of the Universe, can't keep it in his pants, blah, blah ,blah. Try to imagine what was going on in his little head: one moment he was running free with wolves only worrying about surviving and the other he was suppost to be a leader. He was what? 3 at this time? 8? 10? No clue but still a child.

So Jason, who was naturally a free and wild spirit was forced to fit into the image New Rome and Camp Jupiter wanted him to have. He says he didn't like the rules but he had to obey to them and that he hasn't lost hope when it comes to change them. Sometimes I think how would Jason have turned out if he had never gone to Camp Jupiter (probably dead but that's not what I mean).

He ended up adapting and fitting in that category they put him and made his way climbing all through the legion's steps until he was made preator in the middle of a battle (or maybe at the end I don't remember). And then Hera decided to delete his memories and put him in a completely diferent world leaving him no choice but to go rescue her. Oh and Hera, the Bovine Godess, also messed with this very prettt girl's head making her belive that she and Jason were dating. Worst of all? Jason actually had a crush on her. No problem though they figured it out (for a while at least). During that quest some interesting stuff happened like a giant and more wolves and turns out Thalia has a brother! Didn't see that coming. He didn't either. By the way how does he remember so many thinhs from when he was 2?! I can barely remeber what I had for lunch!

Moving fast forward to the Argo II, Jason was used to be a leader and when faced with other really powerful demigods with leader vibes it looks like he's kinda lost (don't forget he was trained to lead) but he figures it out eventualy.

When Percy and Annabeth go diving he, like evryone else blaims himself: he's suppost to be a leader and in Jasons POV being a leader is caring about the people in your team, trusting them and making sure they are safe and that they can count on you. Still on this line he was the first person to get Nico's trust and to treat him like an equal (Percy feared Nico and kept his distance from him) which did wonders for Nico's self steem and confidence.

A little bit foward everything is fine except he's stabed...by someone he admired and considered a role model (looks familiar?). And this while dealing with the emotional bagage his mom brought back with her (yeah she's alive...not really). At this point Annabeth compares Jason to Luke which is interesting because they have really similiar characteristics - the scar on their face, blue eyes, blond hair, tall, mom and daddy issues, etc - so maybe Jason could be an alternite version of Luke? Maybe something like what Luke would have becomed if he hadn't been neglected for so long? Or made really dumb decions? I don't know and I hope not, I like to see Jason as his own personna and if we go through this path then things will get darker.

Now let's talk about Leo and prophecies and love. Even though Leo's death was terrible I think it kind of freed Jason. Jason was a free spirit by nature like the winds but he was stuck with the romans and with being a leader and for so many years he had given his besr to fit in the role he was suppost to play thaf when Leo dies it just freed something in Jason and suddenely he's like: who cares? Let's just do it. Let's go to the rooftop of my cabin on a romantic date to talk about our dead best friend. Oh! Turns out he's not dead! He's just on vacation with his new girlfriend! Still, let's spent months looking for him cuz why not?

Remember how I said Jason and Piper figure it out? Just kidding, Piper changed her mind. After all they went through (and probably because of all they went through) she broke up with him but Jason being a sweetheart that still loved her (Piper loved him back she just needed him to die to realise that) makes is mind about dying for her. And he does.

Now to kill the whole Romeu and Juliet thing I'm gonna say that Jason wasn't dying instead of Piper. It wasn't a choice. Jason was gonna be the one to die. The Second Great Prophecy said it: Trough the storm or the fire the world must fall (or something like that). Leo or Jason would have to die. And by coming back to life Leo immediatly convicted Jason. Aslo what more did we need? There were two prophecies saying bye-bye Jason. His dead was sad (courtesy of Piper mostly) but very important, not just to finish past plots but also because it's the turning point for Apollo. And the fact that Leo and Jason never met again? Yeah, I think that was on purpose. The moment Leo 'died' the prophecy was complet, Jason was already dead so it makes sense that they don't met again.

Overall Jason was a great character with very interesting development and that's largely underrated.

What do you think? What are your thoughs on Jason?