#Ethan: honestly it's like he thinks this is all some fun little field trip

[m4gp13]

K so remember when i said I was gonna make a post about Ethan and the seven if he had been on the quest? Yeah well here goes

He would be wary of Frank at first because a son of Mars and a legacy of Neptune just has to be a stuck up jerk right? He is pleasantly surprised to see that Frank is actually a sweet heart who just really cares about doing everyone proud and not catching fire. And Frank would probably admire him because he was a survivor of the biggest demigod war in a while (not counting the current one) and he was there when Kronos was defeated. Also since Frank still didn’t know about demigod stuff during the titan war he probably isn’t that bothered by Ethan’s former occupation as some others especially since this fact is slightly overshadowed for him by the betraying Kronos thing.

The same weariness would happen with Jason because “son of Jupiter AND praetor?? better steer clear” and the weariness goes both ways because Jason is super paranoid about having an ex titan army member on the ship, especially one that he didn’t know before the war. I think they could have had a way more interesting rivalry than Jason and Percy’s posturing alpha male bullshit. Ethan would have genuinely criticized Jason in a way that would be completely foreign to him and Jason does not like it because “wtf who does this traitor think he is talking to a praetor like that???”. Ethan eventually gains Jason’s trust through heroic stuff or confiding in him about how guilty he feels about what he did during the war and how he feels betrayed and mislead by Kronos; being convinced to join by half truths at best and straight up lies at worst. Jason warms up to Ethan by being a competent semi-leader, nicer than he expected and not the narcissistic ass he’d been bracing himself for and he almost melts when Jason asks for advice on the minor deity’s shrines on the hill because “well you helped build the minor deity’s cabins so you have experience right?”

Reyna (because in this version Reyna is also there) would be even more weary than Jason and it takes pretty much the whole quest for Ethan to convince Reyna he’s not going to kill them all; not that he tries, he doesn’t really see the point in trying to change her opinion of him when there’s much more important things to do so he mainly tries to ignore her side glares. She also doesn’t like how critical he is of everyone even more so than Jason and at one point tries to “remind him of his place” as a former traitor talking to a praetor and he just says “no❤️. I don’t think you realize how little of a fuck I give”. Eventually Reyna figures that he had many many may chances to kill/betray them all and since he didn’t he’s probably not going to. After this she starts to respect him a bit as a good fighter but she’s still pretty salty about the war.

He’d absolutely adore Hazel because A how could you not? B because I hc Ethan and Nico to be friends in this Ethan would probs have a soft spot for his pals new sister (especially considering what happened to his old one) and C when she starts learning how to use the mist she reminds him of is old Hecate friends from the titan army and because he thinks he failed them it’s his responsibility to look after her. Hazel would be a little cautious around Ethan at first because of the titan army thing but she warms up to him the quickest out of everyone who didn’t trust him because of how nice he is to her and surely such a nice young man can’t be bad. she does find it a little funny that her old friend used to talk about joining to army to fight the Japanese in the war and now she’s fighting with the Japanese (technically just one but still). They also joke about how Ethan broke into her dads house, stole her step mums sword and then got his ass kicked by her brother and whenever he leaves the Argo to go do something she goes “bye try not to break into anyone's houses :D” and he makes a show of saying he’ll try but sometimes it’s very hard to resist.

At fist he would HATE Leo. He’d hate how this kid could never take anything seriously and it’s like he doesn’t even CARE that there’s a WAR going on, one that could get LOADS of people killed just like last time (Ethan’s still a little (a lot) scarred about the titan war) not to mention he was team “let’s leave a malnourished depressed child to starve or suffocate in a jar because I don’t trust him”. He’s a little more sympathetic towards Leo after hearing about his rough childhood and learning that his jokes are mostly a coping/defense mechanism and they get talking and find out that they shockingly enjoy each others company. Since I hc that Ethan lived on the streets for a while between leaving camp and joining the army they talk about that sometimes (and Ethan also encourages him to get better coping mechanisms because ironic jokes aren’t gonna work forever).

Because Jason told her about the Titan war (I know this isn’t canon but if Jason trusted Piper as much as Rick said he did then he would have have talked to her about the war) she’s a little guarded around Ethan at first but when she sees him and the others being friendly she starts being friendlier as well because she trusts her friends to know the difference between a friend and a possible impostor (queue among us impostor sound) who’s going to murder them all in their sleep when he gets the chance. Ethan was lowkey terrified of Piper at first because in the titan army Aphrodite children weren’t the pink girly girls who can’t do anything but hair, they were the children of their bosses sister and therefore Zeus’ cousins. Also the fear of god (or goddess) was put in him about charmspeak so he tried to steer clear until the others convinced him that Piper wasn’t anywhere near as dangerous as her uncle K.

[wall-krawler]

Chapter 3- Cliché High

Midtown High School. The only interesting fact about the school is that over the last two years they’ve remodeled the lockers to make it impossible for a kid to get locked in. Kudos to the school board for trying to cut down on bullying. However, bullying came in all shapes and sizes. Midtown High was unfortunately a victim to these creative bullying techniques.

Terrik Cortez made it clear a long time ago that he was a smart bully. He avoided doing anything physical in front of witnesses, created untraceable dummy accounts to pick on those he deemed were “punks”, and somehow he came off as a class clown instead of a total ass.

Spoiler alert. He’s always an ass.

So when everyone was sitting through their mind numbing calculus class and there was an opened mouth sleeper, the set up was too perfect for Terrik not to take advantage of it.

“Watch this.” Terrik whispered to some of his friends, drawing in their attention as he began to crush a piece of paper down to a tiny ball. They all begin to smile as he turned around to check out his target. With their mouth open and head resting against the chair it made things too easy.

“Ay Beans!” He called out, stopping the teacher from talking and gaining everyone else’s attention. The kid only stirred until the wad of ball was thrown right into his mouth.

“Ah??” He jumps lightly in his seat, startled as his eyes opened suddenly and his mouth clamped down onto the wad of paper. Because they were in calculus this was treated like the funniest comedy skit ever seen. When in reality it was just embarrassing. It only got worse...

“Mr Dean,” The teacher sighed, he looked so tired and at this point there was no point in yelling. “Please just...spit it out.”

Marcus Dean, a seventeen year old doofus, got up and did the walk of shame towards the trash can. It wouldn’t be so bad if this wasn’t the eleventh time he’s had to do this. Marcus was one of Terrik’s favorite victims.

“Sorry Mr Cripe, it-“

“-Won’t happen again, yeah I know.” The teacher cut him off before going back to scribbling sloppy notes. He was quick to get back to doing his real job. Remember how the school board was trying to cut down on bullying? Yeah...that was a failed attempt.

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Marcus has always known that he blended in too well with the background. He wasn’t popular due to avoiding sports and he never rocked the hottest outfits. He’d rather wear a pair of jeans with a jacket instead of a jumpsuit. But that set aside he just couldn’t figure out why he felt so basic.

And yet somehow, as basic as Marcus claimed to be, his best friends were the exact opposite. They were the only reason why he kept showing up to school.

“Marcus, why?” Ethan held up his phone to show a repeating gif of Marcus waking up and “swallowing” the piece of paper. It wasn’t well made but apparently it got a lot of views.

“Do I really look like that?” Marcus questioned, not realizing how messy his hair was until he watched the video. He subconsciously reached up to touch the wavey mess, trying to flatten it a little while sliding his backpack on.

Ethan Just rolled his eyes but smiled, appreciating his friends lack of worry. “Yes, you’ve looked like this since freshman year dude.” He aggressively ran his hand through Marcus hair which resulted the two getting into a playful fight.

Marcus honestly wouldn’t be able to explain how he became friends with one of the coolest Jocks at their school. Ethan was taller, more muscular, and he had that charm to him. Maybe it was the intimidating muscles that flexed through his tight shirts but the girls just swooned over him. In a way he was also cliché but in the way Marcus wanted to be.

As the two were making their way down the hallway a third squeezed in between the two with their overly large curly ponytail. This was Toni.

Again something was being forced into Marcus full view as they walked. “I saw the gif, it was poorly made but funny enough to redraw.” Toni chuckles as she held up her sketchbook. In the middle of unreadable notes was a little doodle of Marcus sleeping with drool hanging from his lip as a ball was being tossed into his mouth.

“This is so mean. I’m not a recycle bin.” Marcus faked being hurt as he read the sloppy words written on the doodle’s shirt. In reality he was wearing an Atari shirt, one that she despised. She liked to call him a fake 80’s fan.

Toni huffed before shuttering her book closed, letting Ethan chuckle first. “Yeah but your shirt deserves to be in one.” She threw shade, not caring how it came out. Which really spoke a lot about who she was. Toni’s was more color expressive. Her giant Afro was platinum blonde and she went out of her way to wear her own tagged work. Pants and jean jackets all had running spray paint stains. She was a cool hipster cliché. The kind Marcus wanted to be.

“Hey don’t bash too hard, gotta save your best material for tomorrow when he’s being a super nerd.” Ethan told Toni, smirking as he reminded them about the trip that was scheduled for the next day.

Marcus eyes light up as he rememberers. “That’s right! The Oscorp trip is going to be so cool.” He said excitedly, recalling all the new information he read on their websites. “Four levels of the building is being showed off to the public for the first time in like ages. We’ll be the first to see what they’ve been working on.”

“See? Super nerd.” Ethan teases as Marcus lightly shoves him. But even though Ethan picked on the shorter friend he truly did see the excitement in the field trip. He just didn’t understand the level of excitement Marcus was on.

Toni seemed to just shrug, not necessarily caring about Oscorp or what they were doing. “Those places are all talk until they accidentally create something decent. That’s how most of those places operate.” She did a little shuffle walk to avoid tripping over her loose shoe laces.

“I don’t know, I’ve just always thought they’ve seemed...secretive.” Marcus imagined a person for a moment before shaking the thought away. He knew who it was but he didn’t want to deal with that right now. “Plus, it’ll be fun.”

The other two mumbled in response to it being fun but they didn’t diss their friend for trying to make the trip seem less lame. It clearly meant something to him so they respected that. “We’ll see Dean.” Toni patted the boys on the back before making her escape through one of the schools many exits. Continuing her daily skip.

“Welp, there she goes again.” Ethan commented. They were used to seeing her skip their last hour but it never stopped being funny when she would get caught. “Think they’ll assign her a truancy officer?”

“Maybe.” Marcus smiled as he watched Toni’s blond poof bob up and down as she tried to stealthy run off school grounds. “But they’ll have to catch her first.”

The late bell rings and the two quickly rush to their last period, not being as stealthy as Toni. But at least now Marcus didn’t feel as lonely as he did earlier. All because of his best friends. They made him feel like a good Cliché.

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