#But I’ve talked about Percy Jackson so much that I’m pretty sure he’ll be fine

[ineedmorevat7kinmylife]

I love toa so much, I personally think it’s Rick’s best series. Like, I love pjo and hoo obviously, and magnus chase is amazing, but there’s just something about toa that just makes it better. I don’t know, maybe it’s cause I love a redemption arc or that Meg exists. I just love it so much.

[love-that-we-were-in]

Call An Ambulance... But Not For Me

Luke teaches Percy to drive. Well, kind of.

A/N: this is just some silly goofy while i work through writers block. i MIGHT come back to it. also it's a mortal au so there's that :)

Luke doesn’t know how he got dragged into this. Well, he does. It was very simple actually - he needed money, Annabeth’s friend had a reputation no one wanted to deal with when it came to putting him behind the wheel and a third secret motive he refuses to acknowledge that happened to be back in town for the first time all year. 

He’s not nervous. 

There’s nothing to worry about with Percy Jackson. He’s known the kid since he was twelve, sitting on the floor outside the classroom when there was a perfectly good chair next to him. He’s a good kid – maybe not the brightest or most polite – but good. A great friend, for sure, or Annabeth wouldn’t still be attached. Luke knows what Percy can be like and he knows his car will be perfectly safe, even if he’s in the passenger seat for once. 

“We’re just going to take it slow,” is the first thing he tells Percy, even before the kid has his seatbelt on. “I want you to talk me through everything on the console.”

“Luke, I’ve been behind the wheel before,” Percy laughs, but he does as asked. Indicator, wipers, handbrake. Two and ten. Accelerate, brake, clutch. He knows it all. “Am I allowed to drive now?”

“I had to be sure, okay.”

Percy looks at him like he knows exactly why he’s here. He forgets, sometimes, that they’ve grown up while he’s become an adult. Annabeth and Percy. They’ve learnt more while he’s been gone, become more if he listens to the rumor mill (he’s waiting for Annabeth to tell him herself) and Percy’s always been people-focused. Luke wouldn’t be shocked if the kid knew more about him than anyone.

“I’m not going to crash your car.” Percy turns the ignition on, finally. “Have you got any CDs?” 

“Drive in silence. No distractions.” 

It goes well. He was expecting worse, the way everyone was talking about Percy’s history in his drivers ed class. But it’s fine. They stop at red lights and go at green. He checks his mirrors. He goes the speed limit – there’s moments where Luke can see him itching to press the pedal down further, to go faster, but he doesn’t so it’s a win – and they can make conversation while he does it all. 

Why this was such a big deal to Sally and Annabeth, he doesn’t know. The kid is a fine driver. Luke has no doubt he’ll pass his test (or the actual driving part at least) and he’s only slightly put out that he won’t have to do it a few more times to get Percy up to scratch. 

“Can you parallel park yet?” 

“Do I look like I can parallel park?” Percy answers and it’s the same tone Luke’s heard him use a million times before, the one that says ‘I absolutely did that thing I’m in trouble for but you can’t prove it', so he waits. “I’ve managed it a couple times, yeah.” 

“Wanna give it a go now?” 

They’re almost at Percy’s, the other end of town from where they started, and they’re both safe and calm. Some would call that a huge success. He’s pretty sure Annabeth will call it the bare minimum. They’re pretty much the same thing. 

Luke relaxes into the passenger seat as Percy pulls in front of an empty space. The road is practically empty, he can see maybe three people on the street total. It’s a perfect time to parallel park. He can happily tell Sally that her son will pass his test in a few weeks and pretend it doesn’t suck that he won’t have an excuse to swing by the Jacksons house every week.

It takes him a second to notice Percy mumbling to himself. 

“You okay, buddy?” 

Percy nods and it’s the first time Luke has really seen him concentrate on what he’s doing. There’s an intensity he doesn’t normally carry, a set to his shoulders and fingers tight on the wheel, and Luke sits up a little more. He’s not worried, not after how smooth the drive so far has been, but he’ll match Percy’s energy a little bit more. 

He thinks, somewhere in the back of his mind, that if he’d let the boy play music, he would’ve turnt it down right now. 

“You’ve got time, Percy,” is what he says instead of giving advice. Honestly, he’s not sure what advice he could give until the kid told him what he was nervous about exactly. He’s not actually a driving instructor after all. “Take a breath.” 

He does. 

And another. 

“I’m going to start now.” Percy says and Luke nods. Then he says “okay” because he realizes Percy is looking determinedly at the windshield. 

Forward. Turn the wheel. Reverse. Turn the wheel. 

Luke watches as he makes every move, breathing deeply with each one. He sits in silence, at ease. Finally, finally, Percy starts to relax as he slowly, so slowly, inches his way into the space. A couple more minutes and he’ll be home free. 

Maybe Luke can offer to help him master his parking instead of calling it quits completely. 

Then, just as Percy lets out all of his breath, calmer all of a sudden, he presses down on the accelerator. Just slightly too much. 

A jolt (the hood bashes against the door of another car), the sound of a horn (it takes Luke a moment to realise it’s Percy who’s pressing it, holding it down with his elbow and glaring, and another moment to slap his arm and make it stop) and he squints.

“Did you just crash into your sister?” 

Percy gulps. “Do you think she’ll know it was me if we just leave?” 

Luke sighs. 

“Lesson number two. What to do when you get into an accident.”

[fbfh]

here’s to always finding each other

pairing: percy x gn child of calliope reader

wc: 1.6k

warnings: percy kisses reader following a prior agreement that they don’t remember but it’s 100% consentual, you work retail, a hell yeah, memory loss, I think that’s it

summary: You didn’t really expect to have to spend your entire eight hour shift organizing shoe wax any more than you expected your fictional crush from middle school to be real and your boyfriend. Only one of those happened (and the shoe wax was still very disorganized when you left).

song rec: this lofi mix, boba manifesto - chris flemming (mostly as a joke but it slaps)

a/n: i am wOrKiNg oN tHiNgS!!!!!! It’s going well!!! expect some fun surprises soon!!!!!!!!!

Crouched down on the ground, rearranging an end cap of shoe wax in the men’s department wasn’t really what you thought being a grownup would be like as a kid. You can’t complain too much, the pay is pretty good and working conditions are decent - as much as they can be in retail. You stand up to check your progress (and stretch your legs) and notice that guy is still there. He’s been hovering around the athletic shirts and pants for a while, and he keeps checking his phone and looking around. You’re sure he’s probably just waiting for someone, but you’re considering asking if you can help him find anything. 

He has a vaguely familiar energy, and your stomach drops for a moment, hoping you don’t know him from school or something. God, that would be a nightmare. That’s happened to you once or twice, bumping into someone you went to school with, and it’s always as bad as you expect. 

‘You know what,’ you think, trying to see if you can fit the last few containers of wax on the shelf without making them topple over, ‘he’s probably fine. If he needs help he’ll ask for it.’ 

You go back to scanning and adjusting the prices of the clearance shoe polish - the company had changed their packaging recently, so it’s out with the old and in with the identical - but you still can’t shake the feeling of familiarity. 

He turns around, holding up an orange shirt that says ‘go for it’ in a ridiculous font, and you get a glimpse of his face. 

You crouch back down so he won’t catch you staring, and the realization dawns on you. He looks a lot like Percy Jackson from the books you read in middle school. Or was it high school? Everything between 6th grade and high school graduation is kind of blurry and confusing in your memory. Man, you should really re-read those, you heard there was a TV series in the works and you want to remember all the details for when it comes out. You’re a little surprised at how nervous that revelation makes you, like the feeling when you’re a kid going to a theme park and you can see the roller coasters as you pull into the parking lot. Weird. Anyway, it’s not the first time you’ve seen a customer who looks like a character from something. One time you saw someone who you swore looked just like Pidge from the Voltron reboot that came out a few years ago, and a coworker saw a girl who looked like an anime character she loves… Raka something? Her name sounded like gravity, but that wasn’t it. You shrug, making a mental note to ask her about it later. 

You stand up once again to take one final look before you move onto the next end cap, and see that the guy is standing next to you. You look up at him, and all those weird feelings of excitement and something close to anticipation amplify, as you get a closer look at him. He really, really looks like Percy Jackson. Like if the Viria art was a real person. 

“Uh… hi, can I help you find anything today?” You ask, snapping out of your daze and into your customer service voice. He takes a second before answering, and you’re a little unnerved by the way he’s looking at you; warm and intimately, like he’s known you for years. 

“No,” he replies, a dreamy tone to his voice, “I’ve got everything I need.” You’re pleasantly surprised and a little freaked out that he even has the accent. Seriously, if he’s not already, this guy should really get into cosplay. Also, is he flirting with you? He seems to realize what he just said, and backtracks slightly. 

“Actually, um, I was wondering if you could help me out with something over here,” he says, and you agree, in your signature chipper tone. He guides you to a table covered in various sweatpants behind a mirror. 

He glances around again, and you have to ask. 

“You know, if you’re having trouble finding someone we can-”

“Walkie customer service to have my group meet me at the front desk.” He finishes seamlessly. 

“It’s not my first time at the rodeo,” he chuckles, and you get the feeling there’s more meaning behind what he’s saying, like an inside joke you’re not a part of. 

“Oh… yeah.” you say, and he can sense your surprise, “How did you…” you trail off, and he can sense the silent question in your voice. He lets out a breathy chuckle, cheeks flushed pink.

“Like this.” 

He catches your face in his hands, and presses his lips to yours. Your eyes widen in shock, mostly at the fact that you don’t feel threatened by his presence at all. You’re shocked at how comfortable you feel around him, how you feel in your bones that you’ve known him for years when the logical side of your brain is telling you that you first saw him ten minutes ago. He pulls away, searching your eyes for… something. 

“Uh…” you glance away, brow slightly furrowed, then back up at him, “what the fuck?” 

His expression softens, and he says gently, “Give it a minute.” 

You’re about to ask him to give what a minute, when a barrage of memories, feelings, people you don’t think you’ve ever met but seemed to be best friends with knocks you off your feet. You try to take in a breath, but the air in the room seems to have taken a temporary vacation from your lungs. 

You look up at him, eyes flared in understanding and shock. He mutters something in confirmation. Someone yells nearby, and you both look over to an adolescent boy asking his mom why he can’t wear neon basketball shorts to school. Percy looks back over at you.

“Is there somewhere a little more-” the mom starts arguing back and forth with her son at a louder volume, and he continues, “private… where we could talk?”

“Uh, yeah, I’ll… I’ll get somewhere.”

A few minutes later, you’re sitting across from each other on two step stools in one of the stock rooms. You’re still surprised at how easily you had lied to your boss that your long distance boyfriend showed up a few weeks early after over a year of not being able to see each other, and you needed a moment to catch up. She had agreed readily, asking that you tell her when you’re ready to get back to your tasks. 

“I’m sorry about that,” he starts, snapping you out of your train of thought, and you look up at him, “I never would have kissed you without asking, but you made me promise last time that the next time you lose your memories I would get them back to you as fast as I can.” 

“Uh, it’s okay, I feel like I remember talking about that.” Your memories are still fuzzy, but coming back sporadically.

“It can take a few days for them to come back fully.” He adds. 

The most surreal part of this is you remember vividly what happened in the books - because you lived through it. You hold back a giddy laugh bubbling up.

“So…” you begin, and he looks at you, his gaze warm, “it’s all real?” you breathe the words, almost afraid of an answer. 

“Yeah,” he chuckles, looking away briefly, overwhelmed that you’re with him once again.

“The short version is, since your godly parent is Calliope, you sometimes get sent to other worlds. You kind of have to hop scotch from one place to another, like getting a goldfish used to a new bowl of water. The mist - or sometimes,” he glances up, pointedly and irritable, “other factors - usually take away a lot of your memories. They say it’s to make the transition easier, but who knows. Anyway, there are these waypoints, kind of like a time loop that you hang out in until you’re either ready to leave or one of us finds you first.”

“So this…” you motion around to the rows of cardboard boxes filled with plastic cups and paper towels. He nods and you let out a laugh of relief that you really won’t have to work here long term. 

“As soon as you’re ready we should probably head out to camp. It’s gonna be a bit of a drive.” 

“Wait, it’s all like… here? Like in this world?”

“Yeah,” he smiles again, once more sending butterflies through your chest. 

You let out a disbelieving, excited laugh.

“Alright. Yeah, okay. Let’s do it.” 

Before you can get up, he takes your hand in his. He watches his fingers skim back and forth for a minute before looking up at you. 

“You know that I’ll always find you, right?” there’s an overwhelming torrent of emotions he’s somehow managing to convey through his eyes. 

“It doesn’t matter where you go, or how long you’re gone, or if we even remember each other. I will always find you.” His hand comes up to your cheek for the second time today, and your head tilts into his embrace automatically. You somehow trust him more than anyone or anything else right now. You nod gently.

“I do.”

He glances away again, cheeks flushing red, and he sighs, kissing your forehead. 

You get up and head towards the exit together, and he wraps his arm around your shoulder.

“How about we get some bubble tea once we’re in the city?”

“Oh hell yeah!” 

You don’t remember the last time you had bubble tea, but it sounds really, really good right now. 

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

Day 1: “You took all the pillows so i’m using you as one.”

It is herrrreee!!! I hope you enjoy and let me know all your thoughts.

Non-descript, non-canon-compliant AU

Jason Grace smiles as he ends the call with his sister, promising her he’ll call before she gets on her flight to another obscure place. One would think after an entire year of living, mostly, alone she wouldn’t be so worried, yet each time she goes off she has to send him a hundred messages and call him a hundred more times to make sure he’s okay. The day is dawning bright and chilly and he has every intention of snuggling up in his bed with a good book and copious amounts of hot cocoa. University has finally shut down for winter which means he has absolutely nothing to do. It is pure bliss.

He hops onto the counter, scrolling through his phone while the kettle boils. His instagram is filled with people in various tropical places, or places much colder than his little London apartment. Snow and skis, and beaches and cocktails scatter across his feed and he is equal parts jealous and excited. The kettle clicks and he sets to making his chocolatey drink, adding an obscene amount of marshmallows and some extra chocolate chips just for fun. Might as well indulge. Tomorrow he would have to make an effort to dress in something more than a ratty t-shirt and fading boxers, and interact with other people. The few of them that are still here are planning a holiday movie night complete with blanket forts and popcorn and terrible romance plots. But today, with the sky grey and weeping gently, and the world as quiet as he’s ever heard it he can just be unexciting, unworried Jason.

He launches himself onto the bed, after carefully placing his mug on the side table and snuggles deep into his duvets, sighing contentedly. There is almost nothing that could make this better. Except one person. But he has no energy to dwell on that. Because that person is gone to Montauk with their family and even if they weren’t they wouldn’t be here with him.  He shakes the thoughts from his head and opens his book, ready to get lost in a world far away from this one. But just as he starts reading, a knock sounds at his door. Every bone in his body groans, like the worst thing that could have happened to them has just occurred. He agrees wholly and debates ignoring the unexpected visitor. But then he thinks about his elderly neighbour who’s always losing her keys or needing help with something on the top shelf and he sighs as he resigns himself to getting up. His book, and heart, cry when he tumbles out of bed and slips his feet into fluffy pink slippers. The knocking sounds again and he all but rolls his eyes, before flinging open the door.

As he expects Mrs Tremblay is on the other side, a kind smile on her face. “Hello Jason dear,”

“Hello Mrs Tremblay, how are you?”

“Oh just peachy dear. My wife isn’t home yet and I can't seem to locate the butter. Would you mind coming to have a look. I am sorry to be a bother on such a day that requires everything but bothering.”

He holds in a snort and closes his door behind him, “No worries ma’am. I’m happy to help.”

“Yes, well you’re very kind dear. The last tenant who lived there was a rowdy unfriendly man who smelled disgustingly of bleach and cigarette smoke.” Her nose scunches so that the wrinkles in her face deepen considerably.

He doesn’t give a response, mostly because he doesn’t really know how to reply, so instead he ushers her into her apartment and makes his way to the kitchen. After a quick squiz in the fridge he sees the butter all the way at the back of the top shelf. Getting it out, he places it on the counter with a smile.

“Here you are Mrs Tremblay.”

“Oh you are a darling! I’ll be sure to save some snickerdoodles for you.” She claps her hands, already pulling her apron over her head.

“Is there anything else you need me to help with?”

“That’s alright dear.” Distracted with her scale she waves his question away, “You’ll see yourself out, won't you?”

“Sure ma’am, have a good day.” He waves. She doesn't catch it. “Say hi to Precious for me.”

“Bye now.” Is her distant reply before she’s scaling chunks of butter and losing herself to her baking.

With a huffed laugh he escapes back to his own apartment and settles into his bed once more. This time he does get swooped into his book, travelling over mountains and sleeping in rocky valleys. Every word produces a new kind of feeling, like he is a well of all the most wonderful emotions. Sometime later, and a good portion of the book gone, he drains the last of his now-cold cocoa and decides it’s time for a bathroom break. As he finishes up another knock sounds at his door. Must be Mrs Tremblay with the cookies she’d promised.

He jogs to the door, pulling a hoodie over his head, as the wind seeps in through the cracked windows. He opens the door and the hood flops over his face.

“Mrs Tremblay, the snickers finished already?” He fiddles with the fabric and pushes his now messy hair out of his eyes.

“Uh- I did not bring cookies?” A voice that Jason hears in his dreams washes over him.

He freezes, blue eyes as wide as planets, as he takes in who stands at his front door. “You’re not Mrs Tremblay.” He blurts out.

A twinkle enters those emerald eyes, a smirk slowly takes over that beautiful, angular face. “I am not. As far as I know i’m still Percy Jackson.”

��Yes you are.” He replies breathlessly, and then cringes so hard he sees black dancing in his vision. That smirk only grows wider. “Please come in.”

“Thanks. It’s freezing out there. I’m sure all the nerves in my fingers have burned to nothing.”

“What are you doing here? I thought you were in Montauk? Is everything okay with your family? With you? Here let me take your jacket.” He eases the dark denim from his friend’s hands and slings it over the chair in their little dining room.

Percy laughs at all his questions, "Everything is fine with everyone. Paul has family in Brighton, and I asked mom if I could visit you while we’re here.”

“Oh.”

That twinkle only brightens as they make their way to his room. “Yes oh.” He winks, and then sobers as he takes in the rumpled sheets on Jason’s bed. “Am I interrupting something? I can totally come back another day. We’re here for two weeks so…”

The blonde’s cheeks go crimson as he realises what his friend thought was going on. “No, no, no. I was just reading. I’ve been in bed, uh, all day.”

Percy’s eyebrows touch his hairline in surprise. “You? You’ve been in bed all day?”

He blushes harder but nods all the same. “It’s cold and I have a book. I finally have the time to read.”

A brown hand reaches up to touch his forehead, “Are you sure you’re feeling okay? The Jason Grace I know would have had his morning run, started on assignments due in two months time and volunteered to go grocery shopping for all his neighbours.”

He makes a face, shoving the black-haired boy, “I’m not such a goody-two-shoes.”

A laugh as pretty and devastating as the ocean echoes through his body. “Alright Jase,” He collapses onto the bed, waggling his dark eyebrows. “If you say so.”

“I do say so.”

That laugh catches between his butterflies and the whole world slows down. He stares at his friend, who looks so completely at home that his heart clenches a little. Black hair a stark contrast against his white covers, and earth brown skin glowing under the yellow light above their heads. He takes a deep breath in.

“Do you want to finish your book and then we can talk?” Percy asks, eyes still stuck on the ceiling, tracing the constellation of stars stuck up there.

And with that question Jason melts into the floor and thanks the powers that be that he has found home.

“If you don’t mind?” He moves to lie on the bed, already snatching up the book and paging through it to find his way.

Percy scoffs, “Of course i don’t mind.” He shuffles, eyes darting around before a gleam enters them. He promptly moves further up, and places his head on Jason’s stomach.

“What- what are you doing?”

“You took all the pillows so i’m using you as one.”

And indeed the two pillows that are usually on the bed are shoved behind his back, for the extra comfort. “Oh, uh, okay.”

“Are you uncomfortable? Should I move somewhere else?”

“No, no!” He cries, ‘I’m fine.” Even though his heart is beating a hundred miles a minute and the butterflies in his stomach had been released into a zoo.

A beautiful smile takes over Percy’s face as he settles into his pillow and closes his eyes. Jason reminds himself to breathe, as he stares at the serene face right under his nose.

“Are you going to keep staring at me or actually read Grace?” His friend’s lips twitch but those ocean eyes stay closed.

“Shut up.” He grumbles, wondering how he knew.

“Make me.”

His golden cheeks go bright red, again, and he is grateful the black-haired boy is still closed to the world. Finally his heart calms enough, and his mind goes quiet and he can get lost in his book. Percy’s soft, unhurried breathing deepens as he drifts to sleep, and Jason follows not long after. They are content. They are peaceful. They are happy.

They wake up as they had gone to sleep: Percy’s head resting against his stomach, and him propped up on pillows. Jason’s eyes open first and after he glances out the window to see the grey sky darkening he takes the quiet moment to stare, unobstructed at the boy before him. Long eyelashes brush sharp cheekbones, and a strong nose, slightly skewed from being broken one too many times, twitches. He really is one of the most beautiful people.

“Are you still staring at me?” A raspy, playful voice rings out.

The blonde about has a heart attack right there. “You’re awake?”

“Just barely.” He groans, pulling himself up, and rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

Jason almost groans at the loss of contact but stifles it under a laugh. “You wanna make some cocoa and we can tell each other secrets?”

“I only have one secret,” Percy winks, hauling himself off the bed and holding out a hand for him.

He takes it, but is unprepared to be launched halfway to the sun, or to topple into a hard chest. The black-haired boy catches him before they fall to the floor, and every nerve in his body narrows to the warm hands on his hips.

“What’s your secret?” He whispers.

“Take a wild guess.”

He narrows his eyes, racking his brain for any ideas, but every thought is discarded because all of them involve something he knows is impossible.

“Got nothing?” He grins.

“Not a clue.” Disappointment floods through him fast and sharp.

“My mother secretly calls me pineapples.” His friend mutters and in the second it takes him to process the words the black-haired boy is already shaking. His forehead presses into the blonde’s shoulder as he laughs and he can’t help but join in; the absurdity of the statement breaks his confusion, and disappointment.

Finally they sober up and Percy, whose hands are still on him, stares directly into his eyes. “I lied. I have one more secret.”

“Oh?”

And then Percy Jackson smiles as bright as the stars and kisses Jason Grace. What a lovely secret indeed.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Tags:

@nishlicious-01​

[kookie-doughs]

Y/N L/N AND THE HALFBLOODS

Percy Jackson X Reader -Y/N L/N met Percy Jackson and everything was now ruined.

CHAPTER 7: FIRST DAY OF CAMP

Word of the bathroom incident spread immediately. Wherever we went, campers pointed at us and murmured something about toilet water. Or maybe they were just staring at Annabeth, who was still pretty much dripping wet. She showed me a few more places: the metal shop (where kids were forging their own swords), the arts-and-crafts room (where satyrs were sandblasting a giant marble statue of a goat-man), and the climbing wall, which actually consisted of two facing walls that shook violently, dropped boulders, sprayed lava, and clashed together if you didn't get to the top fast enough. Finally we returned to the canoeing lake, where the trail led back to the cabins. "I've got training to do," Annabeth said flatly. "Dinner's at seven-thirty. Just follow your cabin to the mess hall." "Annabeth, I'm sorry about the toilets." "Whatever." "It wasn't my fault." She looked at us skeptically, and I realized it might've been my fault. I may have made water shoot out of the bathroom fixtures and made the ground shake. I didn't understand how. "You need to talk to the Oracle, both of you." Annabeth said. "Who?" "Not who. What. The Oracle. I'll ask Chiron." Percy stared into the lake, I rested my head on his shoulder wishing somebody would give me a straight answer for once. I wasn't expecting anybody to be looking back at me from the bottom, so my heart skipped a beat when I noticed two teenage girls sitting cross-legged at the base of the pier, about twenty feet below. They wore blue jeans and shimmering green T-shirts, and their brown hair floated loose around their shoulders as minnows darted in and out. They smiled and waved as if I were a long-lost friend. I didn't know what else to do. I waved back. "Don't encourage them," Annabeth warned. "Naiads are terrible flirts." "Naiads," Percy repeated, feeling completely overwhelmed. "That's it. I want to go home now." Annabeth frowned. "Don't you get it, Percy? You are home. This is the only safe place on earth for kids like us." "You mean, mentally disturbed kids?" "I mean not human. Not totally human, anyway. Half-human." "Half-human and half-what?" "I think you know." "God," I said. "Half-god." Annabeth nodded. "Your father isn't dead, Percy. And one of your parent isn't your parent, Y/N. You are both a child of one of the Olympians. " "That's... crazy." "Is it? What's the most common thing gods did in the old stories? They ran around falling in love with humans and having kids with them. Do you think they've changed their habits in the last few millennia?" "But those are just— But if all the kids here are half-gods—" "Demigods," Annabeth said. "That's the official term. Or half-bloods." "Then who's your dad?" Her hands tightened around the pier railing. I got the feeling we'd just trespassed on a sensitive subject. "My dad is a professor at West Point," she said. "I haven't seen him since I was very small. He teaches American history." "He's human." "What? You assume it has to be a male god who finds a human female attractive? How sexist is that?" "Who's your mom, then?" "Cabin six." "Meaning?" Annabeth straightened. "Athena. Goddess of wisdom and battle." Okay, I thought. Why not? "And who's mine?" "You grew up with both a mother and a father. So only your Olympian parent knows." "And my dad?" "Undetermined," Annabeth said, "like I told you before. Nobody knows." "Except my mother. She knew." "Maybe not, Percy. Gods don't always reveal their identities." "My dad would have. He loved her." Annabeth gave me a cautious look. She didn't want to burst my bubble. "Maybe you're right. Maybe he'll send a sign. That's the only way to know for sure: your father has to send you a sign claiming you as his son. Sometimes it happens." "You mean sometimes it doesn't?" Annabeth ran her palm along the rail. "The gods are busy. They have a lot of kids and they don't always... Well, sometimes they don't care about us, Percy. They ignore us." I thought about some of the kids I'd seen in the Hermes cabin, teenagers who looked sullen and depressed, as if they were waiting for a call that would never come. But gods should behave better. Whoever my Olympian parent better suck up and claim me or I will show him. "So I'm stuck here," Percy said. "That's it? For the rest of my life?" "It depends," Annabeth said. "Some campers only stay the summer. If you're a child of Aphrodite or Demeter, you're probably not a real powerful force. The monsters might ignore you, so you can get by with a few months of summer training and live in the mortal world the rest of the year. But for some of us, it's too dangerous to leave. We're year-rounders. In the mortal world, we attract monsters. They sense us. They come to challenge us. Most of the time, they'll ignore us until we're old enough to cause trouble—about ten or eleven years old, but after that, most demigods either make their way here, or they get killed off. A few manage to survive in the outside world and become famous. Believe me, if I told you the names, you'd know them. Some don't even realize they're demigods. But very, very few are like that." "So monsters can't get in here?" Annabeth shook her head. "Not unless they're intentionally stocked in the woods or specially summoned by somebody on the inside." "Why would anybody want to summon a monster?" "Practice fights. Practical jokes." "Practical jokes?" "The point is, the borders are sealed to keep mortals and monsters out. From the outside, mortals look into the valley and see nothing unusual, just a strawberry farm." "So... you're a year-rounder?" Annabeth nodded. From under the collar of her T-shirt she pulled a leather necklace with five clay beads of different colors. It was just like Luke's, except Annabeth's also had a big gold ring strung on it, like a college ring. "I've been here since I was seven," she said. "Every August, on the last day of summer session, you get a bead for surviving another year. I've been here longer than most of the counselors, and they're all in college." "Why did you come so young?" She twisted the ring on her necklace. "None of your business." "Oh." I stood there for a minute in uncomfortable silence. "So... I could just walk out of here right now if I wanted to?" "It would be suicide, but you could, with Mr. D's or Chiron's permission." "I've never had anything weird going on. I had a perfectly normal life." "It's because you don't give much of a half-blood scent. Even Grover didn't knew you were one of us until you came here. Even now they still don't smell you." "I just... want to go somewhere... else." I could see that Percy was guilty. "They wouldn't give permission until the end of the summer session unless..." "Unless?" "You were granted a quest. But that hardly ever happens. The last time..."

Her voice trailed off. I could tell from her tone that the last time hadn't gone well. "Back in the sick room," Percy said, "when you were feeding me that stuff—" "Ambrosia." "Yeah. You asked me something about the summer solstice." Annabeth's shoulders tensed. "So you do know something?" "Well... no. Back at my old school, I overheard Grover and Chiron talking about it. Grover mentioned the summer solstice. He said something like we didn't have much time, because of the deadline. What did that mean?" She clenched her fists. "I wish I knew. Chiron and the satyrs, they know, but they won't tell me. Something is wrong in Olympus, something pretty major. Last time I was there, everything seemed so normal." "You've been to Olympus?" "Some of us year-rounders—Luke and Clarisse and I and a few others—we took a field trip during winter solstice. That's when the gods have their big annual council." "But... how did you get there?" "The Long Island Railroad, of course. You get off at Penn Station. Empire State Building, special elevator to the six hundredth floor." She looked at us like she was sure I must know this already. "You are a New Yorker, right?" "Oh, sure." As far as I knew, there were only a hundred and two floors in the Empire State Building, but I decided not to point that out. "Right after we visited," Annabeth continued, "the weather got weird, as if the gods had started fighting. A couple of times since, I've overheard satyrs talking. The best I can figure out is that something important was stolen. And if it isn't returned by summer solstice, there's going to be trouble. When you came, I was hoping... I mean— Athena can get along with just about anybody, except for Ares. And of course she's got the rivalry with Poseidon. But, I mean, aside from that, I thought we could work together. I thought you might know something." I shook my head. I wished I could help her, but I felt too hungry and tired and mentally overloaded to ask any more questions. "I've got to get a quest," Annabeth muttered to herself. "I'm not too young. If they would just tell me the problem..." I could smell barbecue smoke coming from somewhere nearby. Annabeth must've heard my stomach growl. She told me to go on, she'd catch me later. I left her on the pier, tracing her finger across the rail as if drawing a battle plan. Back at cabin eleven, everybody was talking and horsing around, waiting for dinner. For the first time, I noticed that a lot of the campers had similar features: sharp noses, upturned eyebrows, mischievous smiles. They were the kind of kids that teachers would peg as troublemakers. Thankfully, nobody paid much attention to us as we walked in. Percy left me to settle at his spot while I sat at mine. Luke, came over. He had the Hermes family resemblance, too. It was marred by that scar on his right cheek, but his smile was intact. "I hope you settle in just fine," he said. "And here, I stole you some toiletries from the camp store." He had a very friendly and welcoming aura around him, I couldn't help but giggle, "Thanks." "No prob." Luke sat next to me. "Tough first day?" "I don't belong here," I said. "From what I've heard about other campers. I had a perfectly normal life. Nothing weird... I-I don't even believe in Gods..." "Yeah," he said. "That's how we all started. Once you start believing in them? It doesn't get any easier." The bitterness in his voice surprised me, because Luke seemed like a pretty easygoing guy. He looked like he could handle just about anything. "So your dad is Hermes?" I asked. He pulled a switchblade out of his back pocket, but he just scraped the mud off the sole of his sandal. "Yeah. Hermes." "The wing-footed messenger guy." "That's him. Messengers. Medicine. Travelers, merchants, thieves. Anybody who uses the roads. That's why you're here, enjoying cabin eleven's hospitality. Hermes isn't picky about who he sponsors." I figured Luke didn't mean to call me a nobody. He just had a lot on his mind. "You ever meet your dad?" I asked. "Once." I waited, thinking that if he wanted to tell me, he'd tell me. Apparently, he didn't. I wondered if the story had anything to do with how he got his scar. Luke looked up and managed a smile. "Don't worry about it, Y/N. The campers here, they're mostly good people. After all, we're extended family, right? We take care of each other." He seemed to understand how lost I felt, and I was grateful for that, because an older guy like him—even if he was a counselor—should've steered clear of an uncool middle-schooler like me. But Luke had welcomed me into the cabin. He'd even stolen me some toiletries, which was the nicest thing anybody had done for me all day keeping Percy's works. I decided to ask him my last big question, the one that had been bothering me all afternoon. "Clarisse, from Ares, was joking about me and Percy being 'Big Three' material. Then Annabeth... twice, she said I might be 'the one.' She said I should talk to the Oracle. What was that all about?" Luke folded his knife. "I hate prophecies." "What do you mean?" His face twitched around the scar. "Let's just say I messed things up for everybody else. The last two years, ever since my trip to the Garden of the Hesperides went sour, Chiron hasn't allowed any more quests. Annabeth's been dying to get out into the world. She pestered Chiron so much he finally told her he already knew her fate. He'd had a prophecy from the Oracle. He wouldn't tell her the whole thing, but he said Annabeth wasn't destined to go on a quest yet. She had to wait until... somebody special came to the camp." "Somebody special?" "Don't worry about it, kid," Luke said. "Annabeth wants to think every new camper who comes through here is the omen she's been waiting for." I didn't know why... but I grabbed his hand, he turned to me surprised. "I-I... Uhm, I want to get to know you better... I... I'm here if you want to talk. A-As a thank you for helping me since I got here! I-I..." He gave a warm smile and ruffled my hair. "Thank you. Now, come on, it's dinnertime." The moment he said it, a horn blew in the distance. Luke yelled, "Eleven, fall in!" The whole cabin, about twenty of us, filed into the commons yard. We lined up in order of seniority, so of course I was dead last with Percy. Campers came from the other cabins, too, except for the three empty cabins at the end, and cabin eight, which had looked normal in the daytime, but was now starting to glow silver as the sun went down. "Percy," "Hmm?" "Are you okay?" I was about to grip his sleeve when he moved away. "I'm sorry... I'll tell you after dinner." I looked at him sadly while he thought to himself. We marched up the hill to the mess hall pavilion. Satyrs joined us from the meadow. Naiads emerged from the canoeing lake. A few other girls came out of the woods— and when I say out of the woods, I mean straight out of the woods. I saw one girl, about nine or ten years old, melt from the side of a maple tree and come skipping up the hill. In all, there were maybe a hundred campers, a few dozen satyrs, and a dozen assorted wood nymphs and naiads. At the pavilion, torches blazed around the marble columns. A central fire burned in a bronze brazier the size of a bathtub. Each cabin had its own table, covered in white cloth trimmed in purple. Four of the tables were empty, but cabin eleven's was way overcrowded. I had to squeeze on to the edge of a bench with half my butt hanging off. I saw Grover sitting at table twelve with Mr. D, a few satyrs, and a couple of plump blond boys who looked just like Mr. D. Chiron stood to one side, the picnic table being way too small for a centaur. Annabeth sat at table six with a bunch of serious-looking athletic kids, all with her gray eyes and honey-blond hair. Clarisse sat behind me at Ares's table. She'd apparently gotten over being hosed down, because she was laughing and belching right alongside her friends. Finally, Chiron pounded his hoof against the marble floor of the pavilion, and everybody fell silent. He raised a glass. "To the gods!" Everybody else raised their glasses. "To the gods!" Wood nymphs came forward with platters of food: grapes, apples, strawberries, cheese, fresh bread, and yes, barbecue! Percy sat beside other kids of the Hermes cabin. My glass was empty, but Luke said, "Speak to it. Whatever you want—nonalcoholic, of course." I said, "(Favorite Drink; F/D)." The glass filled with sparkling caramel liquid. Then I had an idea. "F/C F/D." The drink turned a violent shade of F/C. I took a cautious sip. Perfect.. . . . . I drank a toast to my loved ones. They're not gone, I told myself. I felt like I was forgetting something. Like I know I will get too them all soon. "Here you go," Luke said, handing me a platter of smoked brisket. I loaded my plate and was about to take a big bite when I noticed everybody getting up, carrying their plates toward the fire in the center of the pavilion. I wondered if they were going for dessert or something. "Come on," Luke told me. As I got closer, I saw that everyone was taking a portion of their meal and dropping it into the fire, the ripest strawberry, the juiciest slice of beef, the warmest, most buttery roll. Luke murmured in my ear, "Burnt offerings for the gods. They like the smell." "You're kidding." His look warned me not to take this lightly, but I couldn't help wondering why an immortal, all-powerful being would like the smell of burning food. Luke approached the fire, bowed his head, and tossed in a cluster of fat red grapes. "Hermes." I was next. I wished I knew what god's name to say. Finally, I made a silent plea. Whoever you better claim me, or I will come for you and you won't like what I'll do. I scraped a big slice of brisket into the flames. When I caught a whiff of the smoke, I didn't gag. It smelled nothing like burning food. It smelled of hot chocolate and fresh-baked brownies, hamburgers on the grill and wildflowers, and a hundred other good things that shouldn't have gone well together, but did. I could almost believe the gods could live off that smoke. When everybody had returned to their seats and finished eating their meals, Chiron pounded his hoof again for our attention. Mr. D got up with a huge sigh. "Yes, I suppose I'd better say hello to all you brats. Well, hello. Our activities director, Chiron, says the next capture the flag is Friday. Cabin five presently holds the laurels." A bunch of ugly cheering rose from the Ares table. "Personally," Mr. D continued, "I couldn't care less, but congratulations. Also, I should tell you that we have a new campers today. Peter Johnson and (Wrong Name)." Chiron murmured something. "Er, Percy Jackson and Y/N L/N," Mr. D corrected. "That's right. Hurrah, and all that. Now run along to your silly campfire. Go on." Everybody cheered. We all headed down toward the amphitheater, where Apollo's cabin led a sing-along. We sang camp songs about the gods and ate s'mores and joked around, and the funny thing was, I didn't feel that anyone was staring at me anymore. I went up to Percy. "What's wrong?" He sighed. "I... I feel like everything... All of this," He signaled at everything, "happened because you met me. When you told Annabeth about your life and how nothing had been going wrong, while I had trouble following me every step... I couldn't help but feel guilty." I knew it... He felt at fault. Taking his hand I looked at him, "I chose to be with you at the beach. I wanted to follow you. I wanted to stay with you. Yeah, troubles came and I lost everything... I would rather have you with me through that. Please?" He rested his head on my shoulder, "Yeah..." Later in the evening, when the sparks from the campfire were curling into a starry sky, the conch horn blew again, and we all filed back to our cabins. It was late at night some were asleep, while some were screaming around. I stayed up looking out the window since Luke had warned me about going out. "Long day, how was it?" Luke greeted taking the spot beside me. "Almost had my face flushed down on smelly toilets, so real fun I guess." Luke rested his back against the window and looked at the two boys wrestling each other few feet away. "You know how you told me you wanted to get to know me more?" "Yeah... I mean it. You're the first person I met here. From what I heard you helped me after getting here." "So you feel obligated to get closer to me?" He raised a brow at me with a smirk. "No, I think you're interesting. I want us to be friends. I want to be a person you can trust." "Why?" "I... don't know. I guess I just want to. I mean yeah I also low-key kinda have a crush on you but oh well." I joked. Hearing his laugh I was relieved he was a cool guy. "I'll keep you in mind." "Really now? Okay dream of me I guess." "For a 12 year old you're a flirt." He shook his head with a smile. "It's my mom, she told me the best way to make friends is by flirting. If they're cool with you flirting they're perfect candidate for a friend, if they aren't, you'll have an awkward friendship." "I don't know about that." "I know right? Imagine teaching a 5 year old how to flirt." We laughed. We continued to chat about little things until it got quiet in the cabin. Most of them were now asleep. Percy slept as soon as he lied down, after all. "Good night." Luke smiled. "Yeah, good night." I didn't realize how exhausted I was until I collapsed on the bed. When I closed my eyes, I fell asleep instantly. That was my first day at Camp Half-Blood. I already felt like I belong. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad after all...

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I am in love with Luke I'm sorry Here's another chapter Another horirble caphetr UwU -kookie-doughs

Taglist?

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

[kaweeella]

DAngAnronpA

Chapter 3- I Gave Up On Traditional Danganronpa Chaptering

Warnings for death and depictions of a dead body.

~~~

Izumi sits at the table. She isn’t keeping an exact count of how long it’s been, but she knows it’s been too long.

“So,” Banri says entering the room. “We got anyone missin’ us yet?”

“Save it.”

“Come on, Banny,” Kazunari enters as well, “It’ll be alright.”

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter to me.”

“What does that mean?”

“It means I’ve got no horse in this race. Even if that bitch was telling the truth I’m fine. I don’t got a lot of reasons to get out.”

“I’m sure there’s someone who cares about you, Banri.”

“Doesn’t matter. Life was boring. Every day was on repeat. Shit gets boring.”

“... Banri I don’t think this is the answer to your problem.”

“Yeah, there’s a lot you can do to make things fun!”

“Why are you even telling me this? Do you two want me to kill someone?”

“No, Banri, but you’re clearly depressed so we’re trying to help you.”

“Damn, that’s a first.”

“Banny…”

Before he can continue Banri gets up and leaves.

“You think he’ll be alright?” Izumi asks him.

“Hopefully.”

“Okay.” She’ll talk to him later.

One by one everyone gets up. Omi makes breakfast, Hisoka sleeps at the table, Azuma and Homare drink tea and talk. Tenma huffs.

“What’s wrong, Tenma?”

“Didja lose something in the halls?” Kazunari asks.

“No. How much longer do we have to wait? I’m trapped in this place full of strangers, and those stupid winding hallways. Why wouldn’t I be upset?”

“We can’t think like that. If we do we might make irrational decisions.”

“What, so I shouldn’t be upset?”

“No, you have every right to be upset but-”

“Yeah. Okay.” He gets up and leaves.

After breakfast, Izumi finds Banri in the library. Her little book stack is still there, though one of the books is missing, she presumes Banri’s reading it. She can’t quite see the book in his hands.

“Hey, Banri, wanna talk or-”

“No.”

“It’s just that you were-”

“I don’t want to hang out with you, leave me alone you old hag.” He says that as if it’s a line he’s tired of repeating.

Izumi tries to hide her anger. She fails, but she tries. “Alright. See you then.”

“Whatever.”

Izumi walks down the halls. She finds Kazunari and Yuki, but she doesn’t find Tenma. She’s concerned about him too so she wants to try and cheer him up.

“Well, I guess some things are better off left alone.” She mutters.

“Hey, Izumi.” She turns to see Itaru.

“Hello.” She smiles. “Would you like to hang out?”

“Sure.”

They talk in the room she met Sakyo Banri and Tasuku in. She can get a better look now, it has a round couch and a pinball machine.

“Oh hell yeah.” Itaru says under his breath before going to the machine.

“So you like pinball?”

“Yeah. It’s fun.”

Izumi hums. “I was never really good at it. I just liked pushing the buttons.”

Izumi watches him play, the dinging of the machine and the clicking of the buttons the only sounds filling the room for a while.

“Good job.”

“Thanks.” He rubs the back of his neck.

“So what other games do you play?”

“Not that many. Just some card games and other older games.”

“What else do you enjoy doing?”

He laughs nervously. “Well, I like friendly competition with others and group bonding activities. What do you like?”

“I like cooking.”

“That’s a pretty useful hobby. What do you cook?”

“Curry. You wanna try some?”

“Sure.”

Izumi excitedly grabs his arm and the head to the kitchen. Though they’re stopped in their tracks when they see Tenma on the floor.

“Oh, Tenma. I don’t think that’s…” Itaru puts his hand on her shoulder. He cautiously steps towards Tenma. “You don’t think…”

Itaru leans in to listen for breathing. He sits up and looks back to her, shaking his head. Before she’s aware she’s doing it she’s screaming, tears rolling down her face.

“Wh-what’s wrong?” Muku and Yuki run from where they were in the hall before pausing.

“Oh my god…”

Suddenly the speaker turns on, Izumi can hear Banri cussing them out from another room.

“A body has been discovered. Please meet in the hallway and I will continue the explanation.”

Izumi covers Muku’s and Yuki’s eyes. They hear the library door open and Banri comes down the hall. He pauses when he sees them.

“Oh fuck…”

Slowly everyone arrives, all staring down at the former child star.

“Tenten…”

“Now that you’ve all gathered, let me explain the rules. You will be given time to investigate and look for clues. When time is up, you will be taken to the trial.”

“Trial?” She hears someone whisper.

“Then you will discuss the evidence and find the blackened. If you can’t, then the blackened goes free and everyone will be punished. If you do, only the blackened will be punished.”

“Hey asshole, what do you mean by that?!”

They don’t elaborate. They’re just left to figure things out themselves.

“So we have to… look over his body?” Sakuya says in tears.

“No, the adults will investigate, you kids can go wait in the lounge.”

“Oh yeah that’s a great idea.” Banri says. “Keep people out of the loop.”

“What are you implying?”

“Information is our greatest weapon right now, so we should all be a part of the investigation. Unless there’s something you don’t want everyone knowing.”

“Izumi couldn’t have done it. She was with me.”

“Christ, again?” Yuki asks.

“We were playing pinball.”

“Fine then, you’re right. But this is a lot to subject kids to.”

“Yeah, and I’m sure it’s gonna get a hell of a lot worse.”

“So how do we go about this?” Omi asks.

“We should have at least two people watching the body to keep people from tampering.”

“I can do it.” Juza says.

“Yeah, I will too.” Omi says.

Izumi nods and moves towards the body before they all hear something. A little robot rolls down the hallway and stops by them. It has little tablets.

“These are the files. They have the autopsy on them. You might wanna look at them.”

They each grab a tablet and read through it.

The victim is Tenma Sumeragi. He’s 16 years old and 178 centimeters. Cause of death was blunt force trauma. He was killed in the hallway.

Izumi lowers the tablet and looks at him. Only 16… she looks around him. She finds a large book, looking at it, it’s 1001 nights. She looks around at everyone. She sees Azuma and she can’t quite read the look on his face.

“Azuma,” She walks over to him. “Is there something on your mind?”

“Yeah… I asked Tenma to grab something for me earlier. I think it might be my fault he…”

“Did you kill him?”

“What?”

“Were you the one who bashed him over the head until he wasn’t breathing?”

“No…”

“Then it’s not your fault. No one could have seen it coming.”

“But I-”

“Izoom’s right, Azu. It’s not your fault. All we can do now is figure out who’s fault it really is.”

He nods. “Okay then.”

“So now we know why he was over here.” She walks over to Banri. “Banri what book were you reading?”

“Hmm?”

“In the library. You were reading a book, what was it?”

“I don’t know, I was hardly paying attention. It was some collection of weird stories.”

Izumi nods and looks back at the book on the floor. It’s red and blue with a golden lining around the cover with a pretty design.

“Is that it?”

“Were you in the library from when I first saw you there to when the announcement was made?”

“Yeah.”

She thinks. “Okay. That’s all.” She walks over to the library. In it, she finds her book stack, only missing 1001 nights. She looks around. There are books piled on the floor. Percy Jackson, Pillage, Classic Fantasy Stories, and some others. The cover on Pillage is a blue gradient with a moon in the background and a dragon in the foreground. The cover on the classic fantasy stories is black and blue with gold, and has a moon, city, and what looks like a dragon flying over them. The fantasy book has silver on the pages, sticking them together a little. Opening it up she can guess that he didn’t read that far, as after some point she has to get them unstuck herself.

“What’re you looking at?” Itaru asks in the doorway.

“Banri was reading in here so I wanted to look at what he was reading.”

“Right. We should get other alibis.”

The two of them look around. “Yuki, Muku, what were you two doing?”

“I found this supply room and I was looking at what was in there.” Yuki says.

“I came over about 30 minutes ago and started looking with Rurikawa.”

“Okay. Anything else?”

“I saw you going by and I saw Kazunari looking around. Kazunari left before Muku showed up. Don’t know where he went.”

“Okay, thank you.”

“So you have any ideas?”

“No, we just need to collect more information.” She walks over to Juza and Omi. “What were you two doing?”

“Omi was baking…”

“And what were you doing?”

“...”

“He was helping.” Omi smiles.

“Alright, good to know. Thank you.”

They ask around a little longer. The kid and Hisoka were sleeping, Homare was writing, Kazunari was hanging out in Tsuzuru’s room, Azuma was in the dining room, it was mostly like that. A lot of people were just hanging out in their rooms.

“Hey Azuma,” She walks back over to him.  “What did you ask Tenma to get?”

“There’s a storage room and the other day I found some tea there, and I thought it’d help ease his nerves.”

She nods and looks in the storage room. There are some different types of tea. Green, oolong, matcha, black, hibiscus, white, herbal. She also sees fabrics, parchment, weights, other stuff she can’t quite get a look at.

“What tea do you think he liked?”

“I don’t know.” She wishes she could have gotten to know him better.

Walking back, she notices something blocking the door to the women's restroom. A cardboard roll. She can see the crime scene from inside.

“Do you think this is where the culprit was hiding?” Itaru asks.

“Well I didn’t put it there, so probably.”

“Right.”

“Time is up, everyone. Please head to the end of the hall.”

Everyone cautiously walks to the designated area. Muku and Sakuya hold Izumi’s hands. They stand there for a second, not sure what’s supposed to happen, when the wall seems to open. Inside is what appears to be an elevator. They hesitate for a moment.

“Go on, get in.”

After a second, Banri steps on, and everyone follows suit. She waits in the back, the boy joining them.

“Izumi?” He says.

“Yes?”

“My name is Masumi Usui. I trust you.”

The four of them sit in the back, the elevator as it descends.

[zartemisforever]

Finally the sky began to lighten. Artemis muttered, "About time. He's so-o-o lazy during the winter." "You're, um, waiting for sunrise?" I asked. "For my brother. Yes." I didn't want to be rude. I mean, I knew the legends about Apollo—or sometimes Helios—driving a big sun chariot across the sky. But I also knew that the sun was really a star about a zillion miles away. I'd gotten used to some of the Greek myths being true, but still… I didn't see how Apollo could drive the sun. "It's not exactly as you think," Artemis said, like she was reading my mind.

"Oh, okay." I started to relax. "So, it's not like he'll be pulling up in a—" There was a sudden burst of light on the horizon. A blast of warmth. "Don't look," Artemis advised. "Not until he parks." Parks? I averted my eyes, and saw that the other kids were doing the same. The light and warmth intensified until my winter coat felt like it was melting off of me. Then suddenly the light died. I looked. And I couldn't believe it. It was my car. Well, the car I wanted, anyway. A red convertible Maserati Spyder. It was so awesome it glowed. Then I realized it was glowing because the metal was hot. The snow had melted around the Maserati in a perfect circle, which explained why I was now standing on green grass and my shoes were wet. The driver got out, smiling. He looked about seventeen or eighteen, and for a second, I had the uneasy feeling it was Luke, my old enemy. This guy had the same sandy hair and outdoorsy good looks. But it wasn't Luke. This guy was taller, with no scar on his face like Luke's. His smile was brighter and more playful. (Luke didn't do much more than scowl and sneer these days.) The Maserati driver wore jeans and loafers and a sleeveless T-shirt. "Wow," Thalia muttered. "Apollo is hot." "He's the sun god," I said. "That's not what I meant." "Little sister!" Apollo called. If his teeth were any whiter he could've blinded us without the sun car. "What's up? You never call. You never write. I was getting worried!" Artemis sighed. "I'm fine, Apollo. And I am not your little sister." "Hey, I was born first." "We're twins! How many millennia do we have to argue—" "So what's up?" he interrupted. "Got the girls with you, I see. You all need some tips on archery?"

Artemis grit her teeth. "I need a favor. I have some hunting to do, alone. I need you to take my companions to Camp Half-Blood." "Sure, sis!" Then he raised his hands in a stop everything gesture. "I feel a haiku coming on." The Hunters all groaned. Apparently they'd met Apollo before. He cleared his throat and held up one hand dramatically. "Green grass breaks through snow. Artemis pleads for my help. I am so cool." He grinned at us, waiting for applause. "That last line was only four syllables," Artemis said. Apollo frowned. "Was it?" "Yes. What about I am so big-headed?" "No, no, that's six syllables. Hmm." He started muttering to himself. Zoe Nightshade turned to us. "Lord Apollo has been going through this haiku phase ever since he visited Japan. 'Tis not as bad as the time he visited Limerick. If I'd had to hear one more poem that started with, There once was a goddess from Sparta—" "I've got it!" Apollo announced. "I am so awesome. That's five syllables!" He bowed, looking very pleased with himself. "And now, sis. Transportation for the Hunters, you say? Good timing. I was just about ready to roll." "These demigods will also need a ride," Artemis said, pointing to us. "Some of Chiron's campers."

"No problem!" Apollo checked us out. "Let's see… Thalia, right? I've heard all about you." Thalia blushed. "Hi, Lord Apollo." "Zeus's girl, yes? Makes you my half sister. Used to be a tree, didn't you? Glad you're back. I hate it when pretty girls turn into trees. Man, I remember one time—" "Brother," Artemis said. "You should get going." "Oh, right." Then he looked at me, and his eyes narrowed. "Percy Jackson?" "Yeah. I mean… yes, sir." It seemed weird calling a teenager "sir," but I'd learned to be careful with immortals. They tended to get offended easily. Then they blew stuff up. Apollo studied me, but he didn't say anything, which I found a little creepy. "Well!" he said at last. "We'd better load up, huh? Ride only goes one way—west. And if you miss it, you miss it." I looked at the Maserati, which would seat two people max. There were about twenty of us. "Cool car," Nico said. "Thanks, kid," Apollo said. "But how will we all fit?" "Oh." Apollo seemed to notice the problem for the first time. "Well, yeah. I hate to change out of sports-car mode, but I suppose…" He took out his car keys and beeped the security alarm button. Chirp, chirp. For a moment, the car glowed brightly again. When the glare died, the Maserati had been replaced by one of those Turtle Top shuttle buses like we used for school basketball games. "Right," he said. "Everybody in." Zoe ordered the Hunters to start loading. She picked up her camping pack, and Apollo said, "Here, sweetheart. Let me get that." Zoe recoiled. Her eyes flashed murderously. "Brother," Artemis chided. "You do not help my Hunters. You do not look at, talk to, or flirt with my Hunters. And you do not call them sweetheart."

[lunaraen]

I figure a number of the people following me probably do because of a shared interest in Minecraft: Story Mode, and I’m absolutely going to take the time to gush and recommend a different series with a similar sense of humor and ability to balance the jokes with emotion. I know some of the people who follow me are also interested in series like Percy Jackson and Trollhunters, and I think The Last Kids on Earth series is on a similar level to them too, in the sense that it deals with stories about awesome and terrifying adventures featuring teenagers who are just doing their best and who haven’t lost their senses of humor. The Last Kids on Earth also has the benefit of, while being presented mainly through text, having many fun illustrations.

TL;DR: The Last Kids on Earth, written by Max Brallier and illustrated by Douglas Holgate, is a delightfully fun book series that twists what you might expect from a post-apocalyptic story with a just as fun Netflix mini-series adaptation, and while only Book One is up on Netflix now, it’s an hour and seven minute long episode. The series seems to be decently stocked in most libraries, including electronically, so if you’re looking for something fun, silly, and with heart to read, I definitely suggest at least checking out book one. If you want something fun, silly, and with heart to watch, and you also happen to have Netflix, I also definitely recommend watching Book One.

(Oh, and are you a total sucker for found families like I am? This series has you covered.)

More details about the first book and examples of the art and writing under the cut!

For starters, the series has a wonderfully fun art style, and the cover for the first book lets that shine. The other books’ covers are all fun too, but I think tumblr would kill this post many times over if I tried to include them all.

[ID: Illustrated cover, four defiant teenagers stand in a mostly circular formation while grey zombie-like figures with glowing yellow eyes surround them from behind. Each teenager is wielding a weapon, some of which are partly concealed and harder to identify. The character centered at the front holds a splintered and sharp baseball bat and is wearing nondescript pouches. The teenager behind him wields a crossbow with a modified soda-bottle-arrow loaded in it. The title reads “The Last Kids on Earth” in stylized green text with a dark blue border, while in smaller less stylized white text it reads “Max Brallier Author of Galactic Hot Dogs” at the top and “Illustrated by Douglas Holgate” at the bottom.]

The main character of the series, who we meet forty two days after the start of the apocalypse in his town and the Possible End of the World as We Know It™, is Jack Sullivan, a 13 year old whose foster family kinda-sorta-entirely ditched him at the first signs of trouble.

[ID: A white, black haired teenager frowning and holding a splintered baseball bat and a hockey stick while one foot rests on top of an unusual spiny reptilian-like monster head. The text above him reads in black “JACK SULLIVAN -The Hero-” while a number of flavor-text text boxes point out and describe different aspects of his apparel. One pointing to his hand reads “Annoying hand-nail I can’t stop picking at”. Another pointing at his bat says “Louisville Slicer™”. Another for his shoe, reading “Worst. Shoes. Ever.”. The hockey stick is labelled “Hockey Stick, for conking zombie heads.” The pouch at his side are described as “Emergency Peanut M&M Pouch”, while the filled water balloons also hanging at his side are labeled as “Grapefruit juice hand grenades- a blast to the eyes blinds almost anything.”]

He’s our narrator, and he copes largely through humor- a skill he needs even before the start of the apocalypse, because he’ll put himself in danger and say things he shouldn’t if it means sticking up for his best friend.

[ID: Text that reads “I felt Quint’s hand on my shirt, trying to stop me, saying ‘Jack, it’s fine...’ But it wasn’t fine. I hate jerks- whether they’re monster jerks or zombie jerks or just regular human jerks.”

Followed by illustration of characters on bus, Jack turned around in his seat and supporting himself with the back of his chair as he asks “Hey, Dirk, why don’t you pick on someone your own size, huh?” Quint, a black teenager, is sitting behind him and is partly obscured, staring at Jack and Dirk. Dirk, a large, tall white teenager with a mullet/mohawk, is a distance away from the characters and in the foreground of the image, and replies, “Find someone my size and I will.”

Text resumes, reading “I shrugged. ‘I’m sure we can find someone your size. Right, Quint?’ Quint looked out the window and closed his eye and started humming to himself, like he wasn’t involved in this. Sonofa... I turned back to Dirk. ‘Maybe a very rotund panda bear? That might be closer to your impressive figure.’ Dirk reached out and grabbed me by the collar. ‘Hey, Watch the jacket,’ I said. ‘It’s a five-time-hand-me-down. Might even be an antique.’ Dirk growled, ‘You think you’re funny?’ ‘I do. But to be fair, I also think people slipping on ice are funny. And guys getting hit in the groin. My sense of humor isn’t exactly sophisticated.’”]

From the start of the book, Jack handles the apocalypse pretty well, spending his time cataloging the monsters he comes across, keeping track of self made video-game like achievements like knocking off zombie hats, and we first find him focused on trying to get in touch with his previously mentioned best friend, Quint Baker.

[ID: Similar to previous flavor-text text box picture of Jack, with a black teenager smiling, wearing a lab coat and cap, holding a pocket watch, and wearing a large backpack with odd looking technology sticking out of it. In black, the text above him reads “QUINT BAKER -The Best Friend-”. A box pointing to his hat reads “Old-man cap.” Another points to his hair, reading “Hair smells like movie theater popcorn butter.” The pocket watch is described as “Pocket watch for looking dorky.” The text pointing at the technology sticking out of the backpack says “Always working on a new gadget or experiment.” The text for the lab coat reads “Wears a lab coat as a jacket for no good reason.” His sneaker is labelled with “Non-athlete’s foot.”]

Actually- to give you an even better idea of the series’ humor, this is pretty much where we start with Jack, followed by him explaining what he’s been doing and how he got here.

[ID: Jack in mid-air, the bat raised above his head and his legs bent to suggest he has leaped forward, above a large multi-eyed spiny monster that has many sharp teeth, two large tusks, and a long drooling tongue. In black, text above the creature reads “Deadly Duel!” In the lower right-hand corner, all-caps white text in a small black box asks “Who will triumph?!”]

(By the by, the “duel” kind of goes the way you think it would.)

[ID: Text reading “Well, basically, he triumphs. The monster’s massive hand snatches me out of midair. I’m a thimble in his gargantuan grasp. I try to grab hold of my baseball bat blade (aka the Louisville Slicer) but the monster’s crushing grip pins my arms to my sides. He pulls me in close to his face. Thick saliva, like slime, oozes down his lips. His eyes scan me over and his gaping nostrils flair as he inhales my scent. I feel like that blonde babe in King Kong. Only I don’t think this beast wants to hug me and love me... He sniffs some more, blowing my hair back as he exhales. I turn my face. His breath, it’s just- wow- my man here needs to floss. I’ve encountered other freaky beasts over the last forty-two days, but none like this. None that examined me: looking me over, smelling me, studying me.”]

Then we get all the fun backstory end of the world stuff.

[ID: White all-caps text at the top reads “Total monster zombie chaos” while below a large multi-armed, spiny, sharp-toothed, furry monster towers over a sea of zombies, flinging one car in the air as another car sits in the background.]

The end of the world monsters include everything from weird unfamiliar creatures like the one above to more familiar weird creatures like the typical zombie below.

[ID: A zombie in ripped clothing, with black text at the top labeling it a “Classic Zombie”. A speech bubble from it in shaky text reads “Mmuhhh...” and various flavor-text text boxes surround it. The speech-bubble is labeled as “Constant, creepy moaning.” The head’s text box reads “Those empty eyes- they’re spooksville.” The mouth is pointed at and its box says “Bite you and you’re one of them. Undead!” One pointing at its back warns “Stink like hot garbage.” The feet are described as “Slow, until they get close- then fast!”]

And for all the wisecracks and jokes about how well he can handle the new apocalyptic world, early on Jack is shown to be more than just a 2-D smart-mouthing teenage protagonist. He’s pretty good at coping, but he’s still 13.

[ID: Illustration above text, showing a walkietalkie shattering as it hits a rock. Black all-caps text reads “Smash!”

Normal text reads “I stared at the walkie on the ground below. I needed to talk to Quint, but -I’m embarrassed to admit- I was too scared to go down there. Too freaked out. Too scared. Too everything. So I curled up on the floor. I pulled a jacket down over me. I put my earphones in to drown out the sounds of chaos outside. And I slept. I slept for days. It got worse. Zombies everywhere. Giant monsters on the horizon. I blacked out the tree house windows and stayed put.”]

Jack doesn’t stay alone for long, though, and the first book follows him and his friends as they help each other not only survive their crazy new world but also live in it, and maybe actually have some fun along the way. While the first book largely focuses on the group coming together, later stories ramp up the scope of adventures and the threats they face while letting the characters’ interactions and care for each other shine. There’s fun development to be had and cool monster-butt to kick.

(This was my first time writing image descriptions- if you think they can be improved, let me know!)

[willandlyra]

when i rise i see you falling

a couple of anons have requested something with will being the insecure one, or a bit of a mess, in the relationship. so: 

in which will is sad, and neither of them really know what to do but they’ll try.

::

Will’s main problem is – well, actually, that’s a part of it. Will doesn’t know what his problem is.

He knows Nico likes him. He knows it because he knows how Nico is when he doesn’t like someone. And this isn’t that. He knows Nico likes him because he doesn’t shadow travel midway through a conversation just to piss Will off, because he knows that the whole ‘fading out of existence thing’ still gives him the shakes.

He knows that Nico likes him because they sit together at the campfire and Will teases Nico, and his face glows hot and pale scarlet underneath the light of the burning. He knows it because their fingers brush together and Nico’s eyes widen like little moons, and he knows it because Nico fakes inexplicable, uncontrollable zombie epidemics so as to sit with the Apollo table at meal times.

And, you know, there was the whole thing where Will asked Nico out in the most awkward way possible, and the two of them tend to hole up in Nico’s cabin or behind a tree or lie down in the tall grass (Will’s pick, not Nico’s. Nico claims to have had enough experience with Demeter’s overgrowth, whatever that means) and make out until their lips are sore and their eyes are bright.

Yeah, that too.

But there’s this other thing.

There’s this horrible thing inside of him that crawls out at inconvenient moments. When he can’t sleep or when Nico’s stuck in the underworld with his father, and he hasn’t had a chance to talk for a while. When Percy Jackson makes a joke and Nico laughs and like, not a big deal, but also.

Percy Jackson saved the world a couple of times and jumped into Tartarus after his girlfriend, and how do you compete with that?

So it sneaks up in the night, this little black feeling, like bed bugs or stupid monsters. Not big enough to do anything huge, like cut open the skin and scar, but enough to leave a sore spot.

::

Starts sort of like this:

So Nico and Jason will spend hours duelling, just for the fun of it, with swords and their weird ass powers, and campers will literally fill out to watch, placing bets on which Son of the Big Three is gonna win this one.

Piper joins in, putting her bets on Jason – sometimes, like a supportive girlfriend – or Nico if she’s feeling like that’s her lucky call. Hey, she goes where the money is, much to Jason’s indignation.

But then Piper also had a part in the whole saving the world thing. Piper hasn’t sat on the side lines helplessly, unable to save a single soul when your friends are saving everything around you.

These thoughts aren’t fun, and they make Will feel a little queasy, guilty for even letting himself think of them. He shuts his eyes tight for a moment and when he opens them he catches Nico looking at him from where he’s in the midst of dodging Jason’s attacks.

Will plasters on a big smile, cheers him on. Places a bet.

After the duel, Nico ignores everything else and makes headway straight for Will, who may or may not be hastily trying to make an exit. Because he’s got that feeling again.

Nico is sweaty and his hair is tangled, and he’s breathing a little more heavily than usual, shoulders shuddering with the weight of extra breath.

“Grace, you lost me the last of my drachmas!” Leo screams from afar. “How could you do this to me!”

Nico raises an eyebrow and smiles a little.

“Giving into the temptation of gambling, and at such a young age too,” he says. “So sad.”

It’s a Will-type comment, one meant to make him laugh, and it makes him realise that Nico doesn’t really know what to say because he knows something’s up.

A few years ago people were weary of the death kid who glowered from the other end of the room, and now he’s reading feelings from across ocean spaces.

“Yeah,” Will attempts. “I’m getting a little worried – I’m pretty sure Drew Tanaka is going to end up with his cabin at some point, with the way this is getting. Time to tell Chiron?”

“Oh, Mr D already knows,” Nico says. “Totally approves, of course. Says it reminds him of his ventures to Vegas. I don’t even wanna know.”

“Not sure I do either.”

Nico laughs, and then pauses, and then reaches out and grasps Will’s hands squeezing his fingers lightly now that all but the last few dregs of campers are left in the area.

“Is everything okay?” he asks.

Will smiles and says, “you worry too much.”

::

Nico isn’t perfect, and Will knows this better than anyone.

With glory comes a whole bunch of other things. Dark matter and memories that don’t belong in any living person’s skull. Dreams of dying and thinning away on only pomegranate seeds, feeling yourself slide away into shadows.

There’s a haunted look in Nico’s eyes, sometimes, and the same ghost mask is thinly veiled over the faces of the Seven, and Will wouldn’t trade that for anything.

But people died trying to do the things they did, to save the world and fight off the monsters, to stop the bed bugs biting, gnawing at the ankles of the youngest campers there. So when Will bandages up the broken wrist of an Ares camper, or dries the hot wet tears of a little girl in his own cabin, when they thank him in small, tinny voices, Will can’t help but shudder.

Because they shouldn’t be thanking him.

They aren’t thanking the right person.

::

It comes out of nowhere sometimes, a little like things that go bump in the night.

Each and every demigod at this camp has some sort of scars attached to their skin. And some of these are more obvious than others. Will spends so much time patching people up in the infirmary, not only physically, after duelling incidents or general illnesses that come and go, but soothing his patients when they wake with night terrors.

Like clinging to tidbits of light to stop someone from fading out of existence.

Will’s the head medic. The rest of his cabin look up to him like some kind of icon, in awe of his healing powers, his focus on a patient and the way he keeps it together. But that’s a whole other problem. They don’t realise that just like the rest of them, he’s damaged goods.

Nico looks at him the same way.

Says in awe, reaches up with soft bony fingers to drag a light touch across Will’s cheeks. He breathes things like, ‘you’re amazing’ when he’s healed someone, and the colour has gone from his skin. In awe, like he doesn’t understand how Will has these fingers that are perfect for fixing things up.

If Nico called himself damaged goods, then Will would hit the roof and he’d come down with a smart ass answer and a scowl, listing reasons why that’s not true, why Nico kicks ass, why that’s the dumbest thing he could ever ever say. Wait til his eyes are closed in thought, because Nico can’t always pull all the self hatred out of him, no matter what Will says.

Gently kisses the thin skin of his lids.

Says, “you’re fine, Death Boy.”

And yet – when it’s his own face he’s looking at and his own heart he’s stabbing at with rusted arrow ends, none of that comes to mind.

And there’s just this Nothing in front of him – this big white blank space. And so in spite of all the love he feels off the backs of his family and his friends, and the boy that kisses him before he goes to bed, it reads with just a few little words that hurt like bee stings: you’re not worth it.

Not worth it, not worth them, not worth him.

::

It’s not always this bad.

It comes and goes like coughs and headaches. Sometimes he falls asleep and it’s gone by morning. But sometimes it sticks in the back of his brain, thick and black and ugly. Sometimes he can’t stop thinking about it and he can’t sleep at night and he thinks dark thoughts like:

Not worth it. Not worth him.

After all, he lives in a camp full of heroes and if he isn’t one of them, what does that make him?

Nico picks up on his silence, a few days after a particularly bad spell has been leaving him in all these different kinds of blue. They’re at the campfire, and people are singing some dumb songs, taking the piss out of quests and destiny and the joke life of each and every demigod. About dead beat parents.

Merriment and red cheeks, but there’s something really heavy holding down Will’s heart.

“Are you okay?” he whispers. His hand reaches out and takes Will’s, threading their fingers together. Nico’s hands are always cold but it feels kind of good against the heat of the flames.

“Yeah,” Will tells him.

Flashes a bright light smile, but of course, Nico doesn’t buy it.

“I’ve been worried about you. These past few days, something has been off. I can tell.”

“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Nico sighs.

“Whatever, Will. If you don’t want to tell me, you don’t have to. But you don’t always need to be the Camp Medic, you know? Or the big brother, or the head of the Apollo cabin. It’s okay if you’re not sometimes. That’s – it’s fine.”

Nico’s cheeks are a little aglow, and Will is touched. He knows that Nico doesn’t find these kind of things easy. That words plucked from the bottom of the heart are as easily accessible as flowers blooming in Tartarus.

But he’s trying and Will’s tired because he’s just not really sure if he’s worth those words, or that smile, or the hands soft and warm and holding his own.

::

His little siblings love him because he can patch up wounds in a flash and he’ll make them laugh, poke their noses and muss up their hair. His older siblings laugh with him, and he teases them about other campers who their cheeks go red around, and makes sure they get enough sleep.

But they’d love Michael more, if he was here. If they could hear the jokes that Lee used to make.

And this is a primary difference between the heroes of Camp Half-Blood and Will: they don’t always save the people that they love. In fact, very often, they lose them. But they at least get a chance.

Will’s brothers died and he never even knew they needed him.

::

Will has had bad days before.

When he’s not wanted to get out of bed but he does anyway because he has to. And he snaps and snipes until Kayla demands he take a break from working the infirmary.

He’s curled up with Nico and fallen asleep on thick duvet covers. Especially warm because Nico is almost perpetually cold except to Will, who often thinks he feels like he’s the warmest person in the world.

But he doesn’t often have bad days like this. And it’s obvious, because neither of them know how to deal. Nico wants to help, yet doesn’t know how – doesn’t know whether to reach out and touch or keep his distance, and Will can’t tell him either way because his head is swimming and he doesn’t know what he wants.

He just wants this sadness to stop – the third bad day this week. Or, bad night, because it’s in the midst of the night when his voice cracks and the words spill out, the things inside of his head trailing like weird slime and leaving stains. And Will hates this, the kind of vulnerability that shows.

He's usually so okay – made of stone and built not to break. Each and every demigod has this sometimes, when something inside snaps and subsequently, everything crumbles. Will is particularly good at ignoring these waves. At least, usually, not now.

Mouth down-turned into a small frown, and Nico scratches at his head.

“But I don’t understand,” he’s saying. “You shouldn’t – you shouldn’t feel that way. You’re not – you’re worth more than that, Will.”

Will makes a small sound.

“You’re worth everything, and you don’t need to go on – on stupid, dangerous quests to do that. Not going on a quest doesn’t mean you’re not a hero.”

“Pretty sure it does, di Angelo,” Will says, with a little bit of humour in his voice, but it sounds kind of empty. Like fish in the underworld.

Nico shakes his head. “Look, no, listen to me. It sounds – gods, it sounds so lame – but like. If anyone is gonna be a hero here, it’s you. You patch up the Stolls like, every day. And put up with the Hermes cabin and work overtime after Capture the Flag. I don’t even want to know how many times you’ve healed Leo and Jason and Percy after duelling. Especially Leo – him and his stupid fire tricks – but like. See what I mean. Or where I’m going, at least?”

“Yeah,” Will does. He gives Nico a slight smile. “It’s sweet.”

“No, it’s not. It’s true.”

“I don’t know…”

“Well I do,” Nico huffs a little impatiently this time. “You don’t know your own worth. Well, I do, and so does Kayla, and so does Austin. And it’s a lot, so this sadness you’re subjecting yourself to – it’s bullshit. I get it. Really, I do, but…”

“Nico,” Will says gently. “I appreciate what you’re saying. But I don’t think you can make this go away.”

Nico looks at him.

Nods, slowly.

“Okay,” he says. “I guess I can’t. But I can stick out with you, right?”

“What do you mean?” Will asks, and despite himself he’s got a little smile forming on his lips at the determined look in Nico’s eyes. Light, fiery – like very much living things.

“I’m just gonna stay here – as long as you’re cool with that – until this shit gets out of your head. And if you want me to say stuff and like, tell you over and over that you’re the coolest person I’ve ever met, I will. So… yeah.”

“We’re in your cabin,” Will reminds him.

Nico blushes. “And you’re lucky I like you. No one else is allowed to spend so much time in here.”

Will lets out a little laugh, a bit wet, like there are tears caught in the back of his throat.

“I’m lucky you like me,” Will says. “I’m lucky I have you.”

He lets himself fall against Nico, lets his head fall against his lap as Nico’s hands reach out, his fingers running through the crown of blonde curls. And it feels good, nice, soft. Safe. Nico bends down a little, presses a cautious kiss on his temple.

This is unfamiliar territory. But they’re learning.

And the black stuff around Will’s heart is starting to thin out like ice on a warm morning, on a sunny day, though it might take a while longer to thaw entirely.

They fall asleep near like that, half snoozing and falling onto each other, wrapped up in one another and exchanging sleepy kisses, and Nico whispers, when he’s not so sure Will is still listening, is still even awake, “you’re really, really, really worth it.”

::

In the morning they wake before the sun has fully risen, dregs of pale light streaming into the cabin.

Nico’s already holding Will’s hand.

“You were as cheesy as me last night,” Will tells Nico, and there’s a little smile on his face when his cheeks pinken.

“Yeah, well,” Nico mutters. “You bring out the worst in me.”

“I kinda like it.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. And Nico?”

Nico looks at him, raises his eyebrows expectantly. “Mm?”

“Thank you.”

::

Will still doesn’t know what his problem is, or why he gets so sad sometimes, or why the shadows seem to whisper around him that he’s not good enough, and he’ll never be a hero, and he’s not worth it.

But the good thing about having a boyfriend with weird, cool, underworldy powers?

He’s very good at chasing those shadows away.

//

note: lame and random, but i’m really unsure about this one, just bc i wrote it whilst a bit of a Mess and the structure is a little weird. im not sure whether i like it enough to put it into my canonverse series on ao3 so please let me know if you think i should or shouldnt do that.

[cloudshika]

For the OC question thing: 1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 10, 18, 27, 32, D, E, H, and I

Yessssss questions about my ocs!! I’m going with the Percy Jackson fanfic ocs because you mentioned them and you know those guys. So I’ll pick from that lot. We’ll do Ivan, Drew, Marcy, Jamie, Todd, and then the Lake twins. Just a random five with Ari and Kit at your request. (listen I’m taking advantage of this situation and doing multiple characters)

1. What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?

They’re all a bit fidgety, but I’d say that Ivan and Drew could probably last about ten-fifteen minutes, Todd might last ten minutes. Jamie would get bored after five, and Marcy wouldn’t last two minutes. Ari and Kit are probably never able to sit still without starting to scheme something.

3. How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)

All of them think too much for their own good. Ivan would probably enjoy reading more once he finds books he can read easier. Drew would be the type to wear earbuds to bed and fall asleep to his music, though more often than not he’s thinking way too much and just not sleeping. Todd is probably reading or thinking about a project in his head, while Marcy probably falls asleep building things. Jamie thinks too much and probably falls asleep doing that. Ari and Kit I figure would fall asleep either talking to one another or Ari would be scheming while Kit would fall asleep drawing.

6. Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

Ivan considers laws immovable and will feel horrible breaking any law. Todd and Drew sort of lie in between the two they don’t always break rules, but they will if it’s needed. Jamie considers things pretty flexible, and Marcy will happily break into locks if it means showing off her skills to break into places. She at least has a reason. Normally. Ari and Kit have little to no morals and therefore laws do not exist in their mind. They can’t break any rules if they didn’t exist in the first place. Or in their case they rewrite the rules to suit their needs.

8. What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child

Ivan was told to stop “playing in the dirt” and to “be more normal” as a child. Drew was told to “start shaping up” by his Grandfather a lot since his Grandfather thought he was a delinquent. Jamie was told to stop doing a lot of things, but mostly it boils down to his parents asking him to “stop dressing like a boy and listen to your parents because they know best”. Todd was told to “start being a real man”. Those four don’t have the greatest guardians. Then Marcy was told to “hurry up” a lot when she was talking since she has a very bad stutter. Ari and Kit were almost always in trouble. So they were usually told to stop doing numerous pranks on their classmates. This is only by their teachers though, their Mom thought them perfect children (most the time).

9. Do they swear? Do they remember their first swear word?

Most of these characters are pretty young sooo…Ivan doesn’t swear much, if he does it’s usually if he’s scared he’ll say shit or something. Drew will say hell and shit, and his first swear was probably hell. Todd doesn’t swear. He’d have to be very upset to swear and even then it’d only be hell or shit out of his mouth. Jamie only swears when talking about his parents. His first swear was shit because he said his parents had “shit for brains”. Marcy doesn’t swear. Maybe when she’s a little older, but if she’s angry she’ll usually be too angry to get out any words. Ari and Kit don’t swear too much. However, when they get to be older teenagers I have no doubt that they will cuss a lot. I believe the first swear word they probably say though is fuck. Just because if they were going to do anything it’s go big or go home.

10. What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?

Ivan I don’t think has any lie that haunts him. He’s a pretty honest and straight-forward person. Though his truths are sometimes taken as lies. Drew doesn’t lie, but he usually omits the truth, and that can haunt him. The lie he gives his friends about him not being sure what killed his dog or his Mom usually haunts him. He does come clean about that eventually. Later on there’s a couple bigger lies he tells and those haunt him too. Jamie lies about information regarding a dead camper and it weighs pretty heavy on him until he’s forced to tell the truth. I can’t think of lies that would haunt Marcy or Todd. They’re in a situation similar to Ivan, but they’re not at all as honest as him. Ari and Kit basically exist through lies. Their most frequent lie is probably that Chiron approved their book of “rules” that they made up. No lie will ever haunt them. They have no conscious when it comes to those things.

18. What embarrasses them?

Ivan is embarrassed by a lot. He was put down a lot as a kid so he feels bad about most of his hobbies including gardening and gets pretty embarrassed about how desperate he is for friends at times. Drew is embarrassed by his powers, his bad social skills, and his bad mental health. He get down on himself a lot. Todd is embarrassed by any sort of admissions of what he’s actually feeling since he tends to put forth a very confident persona. Marcy is embarrassed by her stutter at first. Later on she’s more embarrassed for things such as setting people on fire on accident or the incredible amount of felonies that her and Glen seem to wrack up on their adventures. Jamie doesn’t get embarrassed easily. Only if he messes up and upsets a friend with something that he has done. Ari and Kit don’t get embarrassed. That requires them to actually feel bad about something. Though they do have a softer side that if people mention it they’ll probably respond in embarrassed anger. Also they’re embarrassed by their full names and will get very angry at anyone who mentions those.

27. What causes them to feel dread?

All of them are scared to lose their friends and lose the people that like and understand them for who they are. Though Drew, Jamie, and Todd also dread ever facing family members since they didn’t live in the safest environment when they were with their families.Ari and Kit also dread ever having to tell people their actual full names, like middle names included. This is both a fearful and very embarrassing experience for them, to the point where both of them would rather face a life and death situation than deal with people knowing this information.

32. Do they have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke?

Ivan likes to tell stories that involve friendly teasing of his friends in some manner. Especially Drew. The same goes for Todd, but he usually teases Marcy or Glen. Todd will also go into elaborate stories about whatever his latest design is when given the chance. Drew usually doesn’t talk a lot in group conversations, but when he’s in a good mood, he’ll tell stories about how Ivan sucks at video games. Jamie likes to tell stories about the things he and Finn used to do when they were younger. Marcy likes to talk about working with her Mom at her Mom’s workshop when she was younger. Ari and Kit will probably share their “triumphs” which would involve pranks they played on other campers or old schoolmates. Either that or they’ll talk about the trouble they got into with their younger sister while they weren’t in camp. All of them are usually around one another so they’ve heard one anothers stories over and over and over again.

D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look?

No, I’ve been adding more to their appearance for a while. Ari and Kit haven’t changed obviously since I didn’t create them, but the others have changed quite a bit since I pulled them over from a very old PJ fanfic and switched their names and appearances. I mostly mess with their hair and clothing styles. Todd is constantly changing because I have no clue about anything with fashion so as I learn things I usually add to him. Jamie also used to be cis, but that changed rather early on.

E) Are they someone you would get along with? Would they get along with you?

I’m not sure. I mean I feel like I would probably get along with most of them, but Ari and Kit as fun as they would be to hang around I feel like I would feel too guilty hanging around them and their antics. I feel like I’d get along with Ivan pretty well. He would probably be fine hanging around me too since he’s overall just a nice guy who sees the best in everybody.

H) What trait do you admire most?

I would say for Ivan, Drew, Todd, Marcy, and Jamie I admire that they’re just very resilient. They can have some awful shit thrown their way and even if they’re terrified they will force themselves to keep getting back up. For Ari and Kit, I admire all the boundaries they lack and their incredible ability to not give a fuck.

I) Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe?

Yeah, I usually don’t move these guys around since their canon universe is an important part of who they are. Wow this was long, but thanks!!

[pelagaios-a]

do not reblog;;

mkay one more song headcanon type post before I get cracking on replies since I wanted to talk about [ Prologue / the Day I Got Expelled ] a bit since it is the opening song to the musical and we get a really nice synopsis --- so I guess people who don’t know pjo but are following me anywho, here’s a nice start !!! kinda. the song is pretty good about following the start of book 1 so why not ( x ) --- this is really long don’t mind me I’m including all the lyrics whoops :0 [ I’m even including a link to book 1 if you want ]

the beginning of the song is a little interesting since, unlike the book, it has a more general introduction. in this case the introduction focuses on demigods in general !!! as you can see in the lyrics below the show throws you right into “hello there’s Greek gods, they have children, we kinda have a lot of problems because of it” which, in all honesty, is not wrong for the series ( for those of you who don’t know the pjo background stuff ).

the gods are real like the Greek gods like the ones you learn about but weren't paying attention to well, they don't pay attention to you, either especially if you're their kid

the gods have godly things to do godly places they need to see godly plans they need to make that don't include, me

ya the gods are real and they have kids and those kids have issues, issues

daddy doesn't love me mommy is a god mommy can't protect me daddy is a god mommy is to busy, daddy is to busy busy, busy, busy, busy being a god, ya

you never listen to me, you never listen you never listen to me, you never listen, no you never listen but now you're gonna listen cause it's time you heard our side of the story it's time you heard our story

so I don’t know who reading this knows the whole Percy Jackson and the Olympians background sorta thing, but the premise is Percy is the narrator writing the books later in life as a guide of sorts for later demigods. he straight up says at the beginning of the Lightning Thief that most people reading it will think it a work of fiction --- he calls those people lucky. Percy then proceeds to warn about any demigod who might be reading it as the books will put them in danger. interesting way to start the series... ANYWAY as you can seen above the musical ( while still focusing in on Percy and his story ) includes a broader greeting. Percy at this point in the musical has no clue he’s a demigod or anything that’s going to happen, this sets the scene for the other demigods we meet later and how their stories factor in and how Percy’s is going to grow. “it’s time you heard our side of the story” not mine not yours, ours. the musical is a collective voice that Percy is not narrating, he’s not even our guide this time, he’s watching and learning like the rest of us. 

I see this first set as really showing that the musical is going to be a more outside view then inside view which, in turn, lets us see and understand more about how Percy is viewed from another person. this isn’t his self evaluation...

then Percy himself takes over to start us off ( I would assume to match the well known beginning of the books because this does not happen at any other point in the musical ). he sets the scene and the show takes off from there.

look! I didn't want to be a halfblood I didn't ask to be a hero seeking grace being a halfblood, it's scary it mostly gets you killed in very nasty ways

as is seen in the books, Percy states this is not what he wants. Percy wants to be normal ( as shown in other songs ). pulled this image from [ Pinterest ] but it shows the first line of every booK --- we’re gonna crop it here for length purposes:

we start off this series with Percy straight up saying none of this was under his control. the musical reiterates that fact in a way the movie just.... brushes over. Percy isn’t in it for the glory or fame or anything, he is just a kid making the best of a situation he does not choose.

then as I said on [ last night’s post ] the following line really smacks on the head Percy’s whole idea of being a hero. he does not want to be a hero. he does not enjoy the spotlight, does not like people telling stories of “what he has done” ( which I will not get into right now ) and most especially does not like people putting him on any kind of pedestal. he’s a kid who is doing the best he can and just wants a normal life where he doesn’t spend every day wondering if he’ll live through it. these are all things put on him by others.

I didn't want to cause trouble, trouble I'm less a player and more the played and honestly I'd totally be fine if I could make it to the next grade next grade

as I said right above this --- Percy just wants to keep living his life to the best he can and not die some horrible gruesome monster related death just because he “smells” so strongly to the monsters nearby. for the non pjo people out there, demigods can’t use any from of electronic device without broadcasting their location. for a demigod like Percy this means no phone, nothing that runs on the internet ( being as that’s a broadcasting wavelength ) and the like. he just wants to spend more then a few months at each school and prove he’s worth something. 

and don’t even get me started ont he “I’m less a player and more the played” line because I could talk for hours on the fact he’s basically the gods little puppet they expect to do as they want when they want --- just let him have his own life ??? I fell like that’s not to much to ask ESPECIALLY considering current canon points. I just remember hearing this line for the first time and wanting to just strangle them all since my boy deserves more.

it wasn't dirty socks or my step dad it was danger that I smelled the day it all went down the day I got expelled

maybe you don't know what a halfblood is because your life is normal and happy and not constantly in danger, but my life mmm... let me set the scene.

right off the bat we see emphasized what I said. though we all see him showing his life as unhappy which is a point I’ll either get to later or you’ve heard me discuss before rip.

we were on this freaky field trip ( freaky trip ) that's when this story should probably start ( ooo ) we were geeking out on ancient Greek at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art

we stopped by all the statues ( statues ) learned about the gods ( gods ) Mr. Brunner and my subsitute, Mrs. Dodds having done nothing wrong, wasn't rude hadn't rebelled

on the day it all went down the day I got expelled

I don’t know if maybe I’m reading to much into it ( lmao ) but this is one of those times something Percy says strikes me as “I did nothing wrong but fully expected to be blamed” which brb need to cry my eyes out. it’s stated that he has had issues in school and with authority figures, it’s stated that on his record / etc he’s marked down as a problem kid. I know not all teachers are like this but for Percy everything he did was scrutinized and, should he even toe the line a little, he’d get in trouble for it. these lyrics show a bit into how he doesn’t expect much ??? and has given up trying almost. it’s like “they’re gonna blame me anyway, what does it matter?” kinda thing. which is a disastrous thing to tell a kid since this is the mentality he’ll have for the rest of his life --- if no one shows any form of believing in you then why should you believe in yourself ??? 

[ cut out some non singing dialogue here - just the bit where Chiron asks about the story of Kronos and his children + Zeus tricking him yada yada ]

I didn't really get the story at least it wasn't boring, as I'd feared but is it me, or is Greek mythology not deeply weird

I didn't want to pay attention ( pay attention x2 ) now I wish I had taken notes but my focus is in question, and got some indigestion cause they're goin' for our throats ( ew ) --- not sure if this line is correct rip

[ Grover makes a sheep noise dialogue ]

my best friend was acting strange at which he so excelled the day it all went down the day I got expelled

okie dokie so I know I cropped a good portion of this out ( mainly be the dialogue between the singing --- I linked the song above from my dropbox and included my lyrics writing so you’re welcome to listen to / look at it ) but this is really our --- both us and Percy’s --- introduction and foreshadowing to what’s coming up. as anyone who has read the books / reads my headcanons knows the first big war in canon is the Titan War against Kronos and his rising army. this piece is a literal foreshadowing. Percy is in this situation due to a prophecy he is entirely unaware of that is causing gods / monsters / etc to react. Chiron is basically trying to make sure he knows what’s going on for when Percy, inevitably, ends up at camp. specially considering all the summer solstice bullcrap. me, incoherently yelling from every rooftop.

[ pb&j dialogue --- that bit where it’s in Grovers hair ] Percy: Grover, you are a good friend. Grover: aawww! dude, I'm your only friend. Mrs. Dodds: Percy Jackson!

I knew something was up when I heard my name get yelled the day it all went down

I saw something out of Mrs. Dodds' frown the day it all got weird the day I got expelled

[ that dialogue bit where Mrs. Dodds calls Percy away and turns into one of the furies and then Mr. Brunner ( Chiron ) gives Percy the sword pen to fight her off ]

honestly this is the bit with the fighting but I wanna draw attention to that line from Grover. it’s a lighthearted comment following a series of dialogue where the both of them reference being bullied by a girl named Nancy Bobofit --- Grover took a pb&j to the head so it didn’t meet Percy’s face --- but it highlights some stuff I’ve already stated ( here and other headcanon posts ). Percy, throughout all the school’s he’s been to, has never fit in and has stopped trying to. he is the target of bullies. remember that Percy at this age is small and scrawny !!! he is not the grown demigod we know currently !!! no one wants to befriend the new guy and school reject --- he spends most of his life alone. now I could bring up all kinds of statistics on kids who grow up with anxiety and other things based on how they were treated as kids but I think you get the idea. this whole interaction eludes to a much broader and long lasting issue...

ummm... I didn't know what just had happened was that all a creepy, crazy dream my teacher was a creature then she vanished in the ether with a demon scream

the next thing that I knew I was where detention was held the day it all got real the day I got-

Percy: expelled!? Chiron: I tried Percy, but the headmaster stands firm in his decision. you were supposed to stay with the group and this was your final warning Percy: but it wasn't my fault it was Mrs. Dodds! she lured me away, she attacked me and... you saw it Chiron: did I? Percy: and you gave me that pen only it wasn't a pen it was a sword and... what? Grover: Percy, we've never had a teacher named Mrs. Dodds Chiron: perhaps its for the best, this wasn't the place for you. it was only a matter of time before- Percy: I got kicked out? Chiron: that was not what I was going to say- Percy: you think I'm trouble just like everyone else Chiron: no! but, that is to say, I can only accept the best from you Percy. someday you'll understand why. I'm truly sorry Percy: ya, well, I'm sorry I let you down Grover: maybe he's right, you never fit in at this school anyway. you're not exactly- Percy: normal? Grover: exactly! ( laughs ) I mean, umm... I'll see ya on the bus

now I could just reiterate everything I have said elsewhere on this post but instead I’ll focus on the highlighted bits ( and ignore the whole normal / accepted thing ). I know what they’re trying to do here is the best for him --- since in pjo canon if a demigod is aware of who / what they are they become bigger targets --- but the way its handled rubs me so the wrong way. they basically are telling Percy he can’t trust his own eyes / mind / whatever. like ??? as if he didn’t have enough problems ( as if weird things haven’t happened before ) they’re trying to play it off as his imagination. boy, I don’t know about you but it makes me think about the fact Percy probably spent a while full on not trusting himself or anything around him because people told him something that happened --- that did actually happen --- wasn’t real. which, then knowing how not even five years later the Tartarus thing happens, makes me feel horrible. Percy isn’t given the option to trust anything because it might not be real. people keep telling him he’s making stuff up --- there’s no one who trusts him that he feels comfortable talking to.

so if you think you are a halfblood better get headed to the exits now cause folks will think you're lyin better run and don't start cryin cause you're monster chow

stick around and maybe you'll learn from me this ain't Odysseus' odyssey so hear me out, if you're so compelled

but, nobody listens to me, nobody listens nobody listens to me, they never listen, oooo ( dude you got expelled ) I didn't wanna be a halfblood I didn't ask to be a halfblood

expelled

to close out this ridiculously long post ( thank you to anyone who read it all the way through, like mad props ) cause I just want to touch on how conflicting this last bit is. Percy is asking for you to listen to him / his story and learn from it BUT he’s also stating no one listens --- people always think he’s lying. so which is it ??? clearly he’s trying to maybe reach out again ( trying to help others in his same situation ) but he doesn’t really think anyone is going to listen to what he has to say on anything. makes me wonder how much “writing the books” is actually for him instead of other people. like, maybe a way to let him know this was all real. it did happen and he did survive it. like, Percy has some of ( if not the ) worst dyslexia in canon. now, I don’t know about you but writing a book for others when you can barely make out letters ??? sounds a little suspect. I don’t know, this last bit just makes me wonder his real methods behind sharing his story in the first place...

[reefasrobot]

My @pjosecretsanta2016 gift for @an-yagami! I do realized this is insanely late. Like. Complete, absolutely late. I feel awful. I honestly thought I put this post on my queue, but I was looking through my drafts and it was just sitting there and I really am very sorry. Hope you enjoy this anyway. I’ve never written percico since I’m pretty neutral about it, but I hope you like this anyway!

a long time coming

The first time it happened, Percy Jackson was twelve and on the front steps of his school, waiting for his mom to pick him up. He was probably going to end up getting kicked out (again, his mind supplied helpfully), but right now he just wanted to be home and the school wanted him gone, so it worked out for both sides. He hoped his mom wouldn’t be mad. She probably wouldn’t be, but she might be sad, which was even worse.

“I didn’t start it,” Percy said to himself, repeating the words he told the teacher. “I wasn’t trying to hurt anyone.” He never was, and his mom knew this. Just an unfortunate gift for being at the wrong place, at the wrong time. There wasn’t much anyone could do about it.

Suddenly, he felt an odd, tugging sensation. Percy blinked, the pull distracting him from his thoughts. He looked around, but nothing seemed weird. He stood up and faced the playground on the other side of the street, where the pull was strongest. He took one step—

And his mom’s car pulled over, blocking his view. His mother was smiling sadly from inside, and whatever Percy felt was pushed away. He entered the car and launched into an explanation, an apologies and complaints and stories wrapped into one. His mother didn’t ask for one, never did, but Percy always told her, if just because she’s the only one who understood.

He failed to notice the woman in the playground, the young girl at her side, and the small boy in her arms, watching the car drive away with curiousity and wonder in his eyes

 (Sally Jackson was a kind and strong woman. More than anyone, she loved her son, loved him even when it meant rushing out of work to pick him up from school for something that wasn’t his fault. It never was, and it saddened her to see him struggle to explain to her something she already knew. Still, she could never forget that day when her son entered the car with bright eyes and a faint black halo around him, as it dawned on her that maybe her son wasn’t going to share her fate after all)

Nico di Angelo never put much faith in soulmates. Having a soulmate didn’t guarantee having someone to stay by your side forever, and neither did not having a soulmate mean you would never experience love. His mother had a soulmate, but his father left when he was a baby. He had met people who weren’t soulmates, yet loved each other anyway.

This is why he thought they were stupid. The signs were too vague, and there was no clear way to find your soulmate even if you had one. He wouldn’t even believe the fact that he had one, if Bianca hadn’t told him he already met his soulmate once when he was young, on their last day with their mother before the accident, when he glowed blue in front of her eyes.

Nico still thought it was stupid. The day after he met his soulmate, his mother died. Only another sign that soulmates were a bad thing. Bianca has shook her head sadly when he told him this.

Only a couple of years later, when Nico and his sister and several other kids from the orphanage were visiting a museum, they passed by a group of students. Nico was overwhelmed by a strong voice telling him to go, go, go, but his sister would kill him if he wandered off on his own. So he grabbed her hand and held it tightly, using her to anchor him to his spot, keep him from drifting away.

Bianca was staring at him with wide eyes, mouth open in a small ‘o’ and Nico finally realized what happened. Still, he stayed in his spot, his sister’s hand gripped tightly in his and he willed himself to stay and not run after that group of students. Bianca was all he had left, and he wouldn’t give her up for anything. Not even when Bianca’s eyes softened and told him to just go, or when he wondered if his soulmate wanted to go to him too, but was held back by something.

 (Bianca’s heart filled with joy when she saw her brother glow again. His glow was breathtaking, a beautiful mix if blue and green that rippled and moved around Nico like waves. She knew then, that his soulmate was good. She knew that they would watch and take care of her brother if she couldn’t. Bianca hoped she’d be able to see Nico meet his soulmate. Only family can see one’s glow, and Bianca had a feeling that should she have to leave him, Nico wouldn’t open up to anyone)

The trip to Montauk was entirely unplanned. Percy just woke up one day and decided he had to just go. His mom understood without him saying a word, already off to the kitchen as he contacted Annabeth and Grover. He wanted to hang out with them originally, but something in his mind told him to just go.

Annabeth understood. She had something similar happen to her once, when she had dragged Percy off to a concert without warning. Percy was glad to be there, to see Annabeth's hand clasped in another and a brilliant golden glow wash over her. (It was only later did he realize that oh, that meant Annabeth saw him as her family, and he saw her as his)

He set off, lunch and dinner packed in his bag, and he went without knowing where to go, climbing on the train before even checking where it was going.

The first thing Percy thought when he saw the other boy was, ‘Who the hell wore a jacket to the beach?’. He stood in the water, his black hair and absolute mess, pants rolled up to his knees and his too big jacket flying around in the wind. As Percy got closer, he noticed other details; the deathly pale skin, eyebags too dark for anyone that age, eyes bloodshot, and something very, very, sad about that boy.

Naturally, Percy sat down near him and offered a sandwich. The boy glanced warily at him, but eventually accepted the sandwich. He ate like someone who hadn’t eaten in days. Seeing how thin and sickly the boy looked, it might actually have been the case. Either way, it made Percy sad.

They didn’t talk. They simply sat, the boy devouring the rest of Percy’s food as Percy himself only ate a piece of the sandwich. Percy offered him a drink. He took it with less restraint. After that they sat in silence, enjoying each other's presence even though both of them were fully aware that the other was a stranger to them. Percy didn’t always like the silence, but if felt right.

Eventually, the boy stood. Percy considered asking what happened to him that hurt him so badly. He decided against it. The boy said a soft “Thank you,”  before disappearing from sight. Percy returned home feeling good in a way he never felt before. His mother would later tell him that he was glowing, faintly.

 (Annabeth didn’t know what happened the day Percy cancelled their plans and disappeared to who knows where. The next day though, when Percy sat down at their usual table looking completely the same but entirely different, Annabeth realized what happened. Sometimes your soulmate calls to you, intentionally or unintentionally. Either way, you answer)

Nico scared his roommate, when he returned home late, climbing in through the window with a smile on his face. He didn’t smile much. Not since Bianca, and definitely not around anyone but Hazel. For the first time in a long time, Nico felt good, in the way he struggled to be for a long time before he net Hazel, and even then it was hard.

He fell into a peaceful, dreamless sleep, and woke up feeling alive for the first time in a really long time. His roommate was quiet when he rushed out to find Hazel, excited to tell her about what happened. She was still half awake, hair a mess as she leaned on Frank's side in the common room. Frank eyes him curiously as he moved around the kitchen and returned with three plates of eggs and toast for the three of them.

The smell of food woke up Hazel fast. Nico and Frank both laughed. Nico quickly launched into a rapid explanation for yesterday’s events. His decision to go out on his own, how he snuck out to go to the beach. His sister’s words about Nico’s soulmate. The pull he felt, and the boy.

The boy. The boy with the dark windswept hair. Green eyes he could drown in. The sandwich in his hands. The rightness Nico felt. But he couldn’t tell, couldn’t tell for sure if that boy was the one. No way to tell if he was the one other than gut feeling, but that wasn’t the point. What if he wasn’t, and Nico was going to end up losing someone he cared for again?

Hazel laughed and placed her hand on this, reminding him to calm down. She didn’t know for sure either, not until months after she and Frank started dating and they went on a trip to visit his grandmother. “It’s going to be fine,” she said. “Give it a chance.”

 (and unspoken, though Nico heard it anyway, “I could help, please, I want to, but you have to let me in.”)

Percy talked to his mother. His mother, who never found out if she had a soulmate or not. His mother, who didn’t know but fell in love with his father anyway (the one who left, the one Percy never met). She told him it just felt right. If he met them, he would know. She did, and she didn’t regret a thing. “Because you’re here now, and I’m glad for that,” she added.

Annabeth was his second option, because he was there when it happened for her. She smiled and told him that it might have already happened for him, and if he just bothered to ask his mom, he would know and they wouldn’t need to meet up at all. She was smiling throughout the entire explanation, and Percy knew she was glad he called her anyway.

Grover on the other side, just laughed. “If you want to go for it, go for it,” he told Percy. “You’re the one who’s going to know in the end. Call for the boy. He’ll show up.”

Percy didn’t, not that day.

The week after, he came into the café, sat down at the table by the window. The only thing in his mind was, ‘I want to see you again.’

 (Grover thought Percy was great, really. He helped him get through so many things before, and Grover would probably be dead in a ditch somewhere if it weren’t for Percy — and Annabeth. So it was only right that he told Percy to go for it. He didn’t know about having soulmates, but he did know about feeling right. The way he felt when outdoors, surrounded by nature. If this boy made Percy feel that way, then of course Grover wanted that for him)

The week after, Nico felt a strong urge to go. After last week, he decided that following his gut feelings might be a good idea, so he went. Although he did tell Hazel this time, instead of disappearing without notice. Hazel smiled softly and told him to be careful. Things had been a bit odd between after last weekend, but that day Nico was done with that. He wanted her to know.

As he left, he noticed a bright golden glow around both Hazel and Frank. He smiled.

The pull brought him to a small café, tucked in between two buildings. Through the window, he saw the boy, eyes bright as they met Nico’s. The boy grinned and waved at him. Nico felt another rush of rightness, the feeling that drove him to let the boy stay that day at the beach.

They talked, on and on and on until the day grew dark and they ran out of important things to talk about. He learned that the boy’s name was Percy, he was 19 and lived with his mom. He loved the sea, loved swimming in it and all the animals in it and he was studying about the sea. He told him that his favorite color was blue, and that his mom always tried to make him blue food since a fight with his ex-stepdad. Percy told Nico about his friends, Annabeth and Grover, and how he wouldn’t be studying in college, but probably dying as a homeless man in an alley somewhere.

Nico told Percy about Will, his too cheerful but usually well meaning roommate, who grew from an unavoidable annoyance to someone he might consider a friend. He told him about Hazel and Frank, who helped him get back in his feet when he really needed it. He told him how other people usually saw him as weird and creepy, and how a majority of them had this strange believe that he could talk to ghosts. Even better, he mentioned that some of them genuinely believed that he could raise the dead and control them into a zombie army to take over the world. (“Well,” Percy supplied with a laugh, “For a really long time I convinced Grover that I could breathe under water.”)

He told Percy how he used to live in Italy, before he moved here with his mother and sister. His mother, who died when he nine. His sister, who died a couple of years later and left him alone and slowly fading away, the only thing keeping him around was a feeling that there was still something waiting for him.

“We’ve met before,” Percy said.

“Yeah. We have,” Nico replied.

Percy laughed and Nico joined in, feeling the happiest he’s been in a really long time. ‘This is nice,’ he thought to himself. ‘Really nice.’

At the end of the day, they both agreed on two things; Pizza was food of the gods, and the definitely should have done this soulmate thing a lot sooner.

(their glow was deep, rich, midnight blue, a mix between Percy’s vibrant blue and Nico’s dark colors. Nico decided it was his new favorite color.)

So yeah! that was a really odd soulmate AU, but I tried? I really just wanted to write a soulmate AU? I hope it made sense. Yeah.

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

Hey...I am AN ABSOLUTE jercy TRASH like A HUGE JERCY FAN and I was wondering if you could like a one shot of jealous percy...I have seen a lot of jealous jason fanfics but never really saw a jealous percy!!! Thank you and I LOVE YOUR BLOG SO MUCH...

Hello darling Anon!! Adore that you're #jercytrash (is there really any other way to be????) and I'm so happy you enjoy the mess of content i have🥺💙all the heart eyes

Anyway I loooovvveeeeeddddd this prompt and this is evident by the very many words I couldn't help but write! I do hope you love it as much as I loved writing it☀️please excuse any mistakes it's like 3am here and Ciara be tired as hell

Masterlist

"Are you coming to the party tonight?"

"Gods no," Percy shivers, face pulling into a look of distaste.

"Why not I heard Annabeth is gonna be there," Leo's eyebrows waggle, earth eyes sparkling.

He wants to laugh, to cry a little too. If only that is the blonde he is so infatuated with.

"Nah bro those parties always end up much wilder than they need to be and nine times out of ten they're shut down by the cops."

"That's half the fun Jackson!" Leo's smile widens.

"I'm good thanks, my idea of fun is sitting here playing Playstation and gorging myself on M&Ms."

"Will you at least promise to come on the trip this weekend?"

"I don't know man," He shakes his head, "I've got a psych test to study for and there's like three assignments due by the end—"

"Oh excuses, excuses Jackson you haven't gone out once since we started. It's gonna be winter break soon and we won't see each other for at least a month." Those brown eyes are puppy wide.

He sighs, half-ready to give in, "Who's gonna be there?"

"The usual gang. And Jason finally gets to come this year! His dad is on a business trip so he isn't spending the weekend for once."

Percy's ears get hot and he hopes they don't look flushed, "Oh that's nice I guess. If you leave me alone tonight I'll come on the trip."

Leo's answering whoop is enough to make him laugh. When he collapses on the couch, after waving goodbye to his friend, there is a warmth blooming in his chest.

Three hours, five packets of M&Ms and a stream of curse words at the TV later, he finally decides to head to bed. But as he's shoving on a pair of sleep shorts there's a knock at his door. He frowns, considers ignoring it but his mind whirls with all the possibilities.

What if someone got hurt? What if someone needs his help? What if someone is....oh gods he doesn't want to think about it. He brushes his fingers against the wooden headboard, rubs at his head, grabs his elbow and then he takes a deep breath and opens the door.

"Peerrccccyyy," A slurring, smiling Jason Grace stumbles into him.

"Jason?" He grabs hold of the blonde's arms and pulls them both into his apartment, "What are you doing here?"

"I came over because–" Pearl white teeth flash, "Wow you're so pretty." Those golden hands grab Percy's chin, pulling their faces together until there is nothing but tension and breath between them.

"What are you doing?" He swallows.

"Has anyone ever told you your eyes look like emeralds glistening at the bottom of a river?"

"Uh no can't say they have," He wants to laugh but Jason's lips are so close and his hand is still on Percy's face and oh gods he needs to move before he does something he shouldn't.

"Have we kissed before? No I'd remember that." Eyebrows scrunch, "I think you have a beautiful mouth."

"I think—" He inhales sharply as Jason's fingers dance along his collar bone, "I think we should get you to bed."

"Aw," Full pink lips pout, "But we are having so much fun."

"I think we'll have more fun when you're sober."

The blonde giggles, "I'm not drunk silly. I only had like... fifteen shots of vodka."

"Jesus Grace how are you even standing?"

"When you're this tall it takes forever for the liquor to do its thing and you need a lot of it otherwise it all goes to your toes and you never get drunk."

Jason is frowning again and all Percy wants to do is kiss the crease in his forehead and pull him closer. Instead he tugs him by the hand and guides him to the bed.

"Where will you sleep?"

"I'll take the couch." He pushes the blanket aside and let's the blonde fall into the sheets.

"Are you sure? You can always stay with me?" Those blue eyes are bright and big and so full of, of, of... "I promise I won't kick you. I stopped doing that in first grade."

He can't hold in his laugh this time but when he recovers enough to reassure his friend he'll be fine he is greeted by the peaceful sight of a sleeping blonde. He shakes his head softly, allowing himself a moment to take in the scene. Tangled white sheets, golden hair, soft deep breathing, a tiny splattering of freckles, and the wonder of tomorrow carried on the wind that stirs the chiffon curtains. This moment will live within his soul for the rest of his life. Of this, he is certain.

***

The treadmill beeps incessantly indicating the end of the session and the end of Percy's day. He's about ready to pass out from exhaustion and he couldn't be happier. The days are long and blurry and he would do anything to escape the weight on his chest. A blue-eyed, golden-haired weight. He snorts at the innuendo. If only the actual person was sitting on his chest, entertaining each other. But no it's just the feeling, the emptiness, the lack of anything weighted. His eyes shudder closed as he steps into a red-hot shower and let's the memories of his last meeting with the blonde wash over him. There is a time, mere months ago, where Percy would have scoffed at these feelings. Would have told himself it was ridiculous and stupid and there were much more important things to be focusing on than some boy. But every interaction with Jason Grace feels like the middle of a fireworks display, feels like crawling into the sun, or falling off a cliff only for the water to catch you. Every interaction feels electric. And he cannot help but overanalyse each touch, smile, lingering look. Are they for him, or for the world? Jason had always been easy. He could make you feel like the most important person in the world just by glancing at you. It was beautiful, magnetic, but it also meant Percy never really knew if anything they did was genuine. If the extra squeeze when they hugged was as a friend or something more. If those blazing eyes over the campfire was a trick of the light or... But tomorrow it's their annual WastedWinter trip and at the very least he can look forward to a few nights of bad decisions and sinful delights.

The day dawns bright, cloudless, and icy cold. He breathes in the fresh winter air and lets the sting travel through his lungs. There are few things as lively as the winter morning air. With a look through his apartment window to see the birds flying and the wind shaking the trees awake he ducks into the shower and gets ready for the trip.

At exactly eleven a knock echoes through his apartment. He clicks submit on his assignment and races over to throw the door open.

"Good morning Jackson! You're looking especially radiant this find day."

"Must be the seaweed face mask I put on last night."

"Oh," Annabeth Chase frowns, "And here I thought you got down and dirty with someone."

He snorts, stepping aside to let her in. "No such luck Princess, I'm down and out on laundry."

She smacks his arm, grey eyes sparkling, "I hope you know you're driving for most of this."

"Is this because I'm the only one who can be trusted to get us there in one piece,"

She gives him an incredulous look and then turns her nose up, "No Jackson it's because the rest of us want to get wasted and you don't drink."

"Ah, glad to know I'm of some use to the group."

"Oh you're plenty useful," She winks.

He laughs at that, mind flashing to the fling they had at the start of their undergraduate years. Both had realized pretty early that life was leading them in different directions and it would be better to stay friends. But tumbling in the sheets with her had been fun while it lasted.

"Alright who's in our car?"

"We got me, you," She starts tapping her fingers, "Leo, Jase and Rey,"

"Great so I'll be talking to myself for most of this trip." He rolls his eyes.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well Leo and Reyna will fall asleep about five seconds after we start driving and you and Jason will talk incessantly about gods knows what, which leaves poor old me."

"We will not!" Annabeth's ears go pink as she glares at him.

"Mhmm okay Princess."

"Shut it." She grumbles, shoving him.

Some minutes later they're all piling into the car: Percy driving, Reyna in the front, Leo at the back on the left, Annabeth in the middle and Jason on the right.

"Hello everyone ready to roll?"

"I didn't get nearly enough sleep last night," Leo mumbles and then he's fluffing his pillow against the door and closing his eyes.

"What was he doing?"

"Engineering project," Jason grins, "He forgot and had to sit up all night to submit before we left."

"I'm also out," Reyna throws up an uncharacteristic peace sign and settles into her seat, eyes already shut.

"And her?" He asks, a little sore his right-hand passenger is ditching him for dreamland.

"No idea," The two blondes shrug.

Percy refrains from rolling his eyes and puts the car in gear. With a final check to make sure everything is in its place he pulls onto the road and starts the long journey to Lakeside Lodges.

The music is soft, some pop song that everyone is raving about, and the city is alive with the lunch hour rush.

"Jason," Annabeth starts, "What are you doing for the structural—"

Percy tunes them out, content to let their university talk become background noise. He glances at the rear-view mirror and sees shining blue eyes staring intently into serious gray ones. He looks away, focuses his attention on the road.

Sometime later they leave the city behind, the sound of cars and sirens and endless people fading into calmer, more lilting noises. The quiet of the empty road, and the crackle of the radio, and the soft chatter from the backseat. He cannot help but feel at peace, feel as if the world is balanced just right.

Annabeth giggles, catching his attention and he watches in the mirror as Jason lays a hand on her thigh and laughs into her shoulder. Quickly he adverts his eyes, swallowing the sinking feeling and turns the music up to distract his thoughts.

"Percy," At tap on his shoulder. "Pers?"

"Yea what's up?" He smiles and it feels like surgery with no anaesthetic.

"Did you hear what Jase said? It was such a stupid joke I said you'd appreciate it."

He shakes his head, "Wanna tell it again?"

"Nah," Jason mumbles, "Won't be as funny the second time."

"Aw come on Jase," Annabeth pouts, "For me?"

He watches from the mirror as those blue eyes light up, "What do you mean for you? I thought I was telling the joke for Mr Driver?"

She giggles, shoving at his arm, "That's what I mean."

Percy isn't sure he can't take anymore of their whatever it is so he clears his throat and asks them for a pack of Sour Patch Kids.

"Oo I love those!" Jason gasps, rummaging around in their snack bag. A packet drops into the cup holder and he thanks the blonde.

"Jase throw them at me, let's see if I can catch!"

The six gummies shoved in his mouth turn bitter as he watches the two giggle and joke and share space. By the time Jason throws the last gummy Annabeth is practically in his lap to catch it. Percy wants nothing more than to get out of this damn car. His skin is hot and he's sure his blood is about two degrees away from boiling. The stones in his stomach are stacking up like rock scultputres. Pretty but destructive. Nothing can get passed but nothing can leave either. And the heavy, sinking feeling certainly doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Finally though they arrive at the lodges and after check in he practically vaults himself out of the car and disappears into a bathroom.

There staring in the mirror he can see his misery reflected back at him. His green eyes are stormy, and there seems to be a permanent crease in his forehead. His mouth is down turned and his hair is in a state of complete disarray. Tugging at it when he's frustrated is an unbreakable habit.

He stays in the little bathroom for longer than he thought because he is sharply pulled to the present by a rap on the door.

"Percy?"

"Coming," He sighs. He straightens his back, attempts to tame his hair, and plasters a smile on his face.

"You good?" Frank frowns when he walks out.

"Yea sorry, drank one too many slushies."

His friend laughs, "Tell me about it. I think my tongue is going to be stained red for a month."

"I mean that's your fault. Blue is clearly the superior slush."

"Blue is the worst flavor," He scrunched his nose, "It isn't even a flavor. They somehow managed to give colour a taste."

"Well red is nothing but iced medicine."

"Hey guys," Frank waves their friends over, "Percy thinks blue slushies are the best flavour, care to tell him he's wrong?"

There is a pause amongst them and then everyone is talking at once.

"No,"

"I mean I kind of agree."

"Green is obviously the best."

"There is no way, it's red all the way."

"What about-"

"Okay!" Annabeth shouts, "Let's settle this WinterWasted style,"

Leo rubs his palms together, a gleam in his eyes.

"Everyone who says red stand on one leg, everyone who says blue stand on anything but the floor."

They all shuffle around, pushing each other over and generally causing chaos but soon they're in their spaces. Everyone observes the room.

"That's four to red and three to blue." Leo announces.

Jason, Percy and Hazel are standing on the couches and counters. Piper, Annabeth, Leo and Frank are on one leg in the middle of the lounge.

"Yes! We won." Frank smirks, "Alright losers you know the drill."

"No!" Percy yells, "We're missing a person. If Reyna joins us then we're even and we go into death round."

"Okay Jackson, I see you can't take the loser title sitting down so we'll get Reyna's opinion. But if she chooses us you guys have to drink and jump." Frank's black eyes sparkle with mischief.

Percy narrows his own, pinning his gaze on his friend, "Deal Zhang."

Just then Reyna walks in and seeing the odd scene sighs heavily. "What are we trying to settle? We haven't even had lunch yet."

"First of all it's six o clock so it's a little late for lunch and secondly are you Team Red Slush or Team Blue Slush?"

She scoffs, looks over them and grins, "I'm Team Purple because grape is obviously the only valid flavour."

Everybody groans, cursing her.

"Grape is the absolute worst Arellano." Leo gives her a look of disgust.

"Mhmm," She simply smiles.

"Well if you had to choose between blue and red which one?" Percy asks.

She taps her head for a moment and then looks to the ceiling in exasperation, "Guess I'll choose Red."

"Hell yes!" Frank whoops, laughing as the blue team groans. "Guess who's doing the BigFalls jump tonight!"

Percy grumbles but there is a light in his eyes and as he swats away a hand ruffling his curls he decides it was worth it, even if his friends are wrong.

That night they all stumble to the GreatCliff, an area that had witnessed many a fall, kiss, and confession. Most importantly a place that held some of their favourite memories.

Percy, being the only fully sober one, constantly counts his friends, making sure none of them have gone over-cliff or landed in a ditch somewhere. Soon enough they make it to the clearing and lay down the picnic basket and their towels.

"Alright losers," Piper smirks, "You ready for this?"

Hazel pouts, "Do we have to?"

"Yes!" Annabeth exclaims, blonde curls bouncing as she jumps up and down in excitement.

Jason whispers something in her ear and she dissolves into giggles. Percy looks away, refuses to let their closeness ruin his night, weekend, forever.

"On the count of three," Frank starts.

Reyna takes off her sarong and settles down on the blanket with a smirk.

"One..."

Hazel bounces nervously.

"Two..."

"Don't get hypothermia," Piper laughs.

"Three!"

Jason, Hazel and Percy are sprinting, racing for open air. With a yell they jump and then they're free falling, flying, screaming.

Percy hits the water in a neat dive, barely flinching at the icy temperatures. When he comes up for air the world is noisy with laughter and cheering. He waves to his friends at the top of the cliff and checks to make sure his fellow jumpers are okay.

Hazel is grumbling about being fully sober again and Jason's teeth are chattering but there are smiles on their faces and stars in their eyes and Percy knows the weekend has just begun.

They all swim up the stream and climb all the way back to the cliff where a small fire is crackling and their friends are dancing sporadically to a bawdy ukelele tune being played by Leo.

"Oh gods," Jason groans, "How are we already at this stage of the night."

"Whatever Pipes put in the punch is going straight to our lungs," Annabeth giggles.

Reyna shakes her empty glass in confirmation and request. Soon everyone is hopping and bouncing and singing badly around the fire. Percy settles into the blanket and watches his friends. They are full of life and magic and he can't help but tear up at the love he has for them. Even Reyna is joining the revelry, laughing bright and beautiful at something Hazel says.

His attention catches on the twirling figure of Annabeth. And then Jason grabs her mid spin and pulls her to him.

"Dance with me,"

"Of course Mr Grace," She bows.

They draw together, his hands on her hips, her head on his chest, swaying slowly. Annabeth mumbles something and Jason's shoulders shake with laughter. She looks up, their eyes meeting. Percy can't stand to watch anymore. Abruptly he gets up, throws the blanket aside and stalks into the trees.

"Pers?" Someone calls. He doesn't bother to respond.

He hears scattered conversation and then footsteps are running towards his retreating figure.

"Percy wait!"

He manages to hold in a groan as he realizes who followed him.

"Pers slow down, what's going on?"

"Nothing," He grits, "I just needed some air."

Jason laughs, "We are literally in the middle of a forest how much more air do you need?"

They're still stalking through the woods, dead leaves cruching under their feet.

"Come on, what the hell happened? You just up and left?"

Percy stops in his tracks, whips around to face the blonde, "I'm surprised you noticed."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You've been so wrapped up in Annabeth all day I wouldn't be surprised if you forgot to breathe unless she told you to." He spits.

Jason's face crumples, "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Percy instantly regrets his words but he can't take them back, "Just nevermind. I'm going to the cabin. Be careful walking back." He turns to walk away but a golden hand on his arm yanks him back

"Um no, you're going to explain right the fuck now because this isn't like you at all."

"Isnt like me?" He laughs sharply, "What isn't like me?"

"This," Jason motions up and down, "You walking away, being angry with us? What is going on?"

"I'm just tired," He sighs, "Can we drop this?"

"No Percy. I've seen you tired. I've seen you so exhausted you couldn't even see straight. I've seen you sad and angry and frustrated and happy and excited and calm but I have never seen you so... volatile. So just tell me—"

"I'M JEALOUS OKAY!" He yells, "I. Am. Jealous."

Jason reels back, lightning eyes blinking, once, twice, widening, "You're jealous?"

"Yes," He breathes, "And I'd appreciate it if we stopped talking about this."

"Oh," Is the blonde's intelligent reply.

"Yea oh," He scrubs at his face, running a hand through his hair.

"You're jealous of me? If you liked Annabeth why didn't you just say so? I wasn't flirting with her, we were just being dumb. I've had a few too many tequilas and she's hilarious and gods I'll back off I swear I didn't mean to hurt you. I'll even hype you up to her if you—"

"You are such an idiot," Percy growls and then he grabs the blonde by the t-shirt, pulls him in and sears their lips.

Jason tastes like the sky, like winter breezes and lightning storms and home. He tastes like home.

When they break apart Jason is gasping, mouth opening and closing.

"Do you get it now?"

"You- and I- and we- and Anna- and just- and-"

"Are you speechless because you don't know how to let me down easy or because I took your breath away?" Percy winces.

He needs to know. Needs to understand if this is a one-sided thing, if he's been dreaming up their dynamic all these months.

"Do that again," The blonde breathes.

A slow smile spreads across his face and then Percy Jackson cups Jason Grace's cheek and comes home at last.