#I HATE BLONDE PERCY I HATE HIM I HATE IT IM SORRY

[aphroditeinthesea]

“ but (brother) i love him ”

jason grace x daughter of poseidon ⚡️

a/n i saw someone wrote a fic with a super similar premise, i swear im not copying them, i just had bad timing of posting this

⚠️ swearing & references to sex and pregnancy

⋆｡˚ 𓇼 ⋆｡˚ 𓆝 ⋆｡˚

When Percy’s younger sister had joined the Seven on the Argo II, he hadn't expected to line up any boundaries. After all, why would any of the guys go after his baby sister. Even if she was only a year younger than him. However, that was until a day that had started like all the rest. Everyone had had breakfast that morning, gone over some plans, but when y/n subconsciously put her hair into a ponytail,

Percy looked up, “what’s that?”

Y/N froze as she locked eyes with her brother, “what’s what?”

He glanced around at everyone else. He raised an eyebrow, “on your neck?”

She nervously laughed, briefly looking towards the bewildered Jason, “oh, that?” she smiled, “I fell out of bed and hit my neck on my nightstand.”

“Really?” Percy crossed his arms, “when? That must’ve really hurt to have left two bruises.”

She nodded, puffing air out of her mouth, “yeah, it was yesterday. Let me tell you, it was a doozy.”

“I’m surprised you didn't mention before if it hurt that much.”

“Well, I, uh, forgot about it.”

“You forgot about it?” he nodded, “did you not, I don't know, look in a mirror?”

“Yeah, I was having a bad hair day, so-”

“Oh my gods,” Annabeth interjected, “you guys are actually painful to listen to.”

Piper agreed, “y/n, who was it?”

She stuttered, looking at everyone. Excuses cluttered her mind, not one seeming good enough to tell her brother. She took a deep breath before speaking again, “myself?”

“What the fuck?”

“It was me.”

Everyone’s eyes turned to Jason. Y/N eyes were torn between the two boys, she started wondering if Jason was actually going to be murdered right there and then.

“You made out with my sister?”

The blond locked eyes with the daughter of Poseidon, “no- technically, yes, but not just that, I- uhm.”

“Percy,” she added.

“What do you mean, not just that?”

Jason shook his head, “I don't mean, you know, I just mean that it wasn't like a one time thing-”

“What?”

“Percy-”

“Not like that, oh my gods,” the son of Jupiter panicked.

“What do you mean by that, weather boy?”

“I-”

“I’m having his baby!” Y/N finally said. Everyone stared at her in shock. Both Jason and Percy had gone completely silent while the former tried to speak, but was at a loss for words.

“You- what- but-”

She slowly nodded before bursting into laughter, “no, I’m totally not, but you should see your faces.”

Percy held his forehead, “Y/N.”

Jason let out a breath, “that wasn't funny.”

“Come on, Jase,” she smiled, “it was kinda funny.”

“Y/N, that was not at all funny,” her brother responded, trying to stifle a laugh, “as much as I hate to agree with the perv,” he sent a glare towards Jason.

Her smile dropped, “I was just trying to get you to listen to me,” she defended, “have you even considered how I feel about this?”

“I’m just looking out for you,” he responded, “as your older brother, I know what’s best.”

“Oh my gods,” she exclaimed in disbelief, “you're ridiculous, I’m leaving.” She shook her head before running off to her room. She frowned as she thought about how her brother could be ignorant to her feelings. She crawled into her bed, wrapping herself in the covers. She tried to hold in tears as her anger grew. She wanted to scream and yell at her brother about how much the son of Jupiter meant to her.

The door creaked open, followed by a soft, “hey.” She didn't look up as she pretended to be asleep, “I know you're awake.”

She grumbled, “go away, Perce.”

“I overreacted about you and Jason,” he admitted, “I’m sorry.”

She sat up, “you don't get it.”

“I don't,” he nodded, “but, it’s not like dad’s around a lot, I’m the one who should be protecting you.”

“You can protect me,” she added, “but not from the boy I love.”

Percy raised his eyebrows, “you love him?”

She sighed, “I really do.”

He looked away for a second, not speaking, “you should be with him, y/n.”

“You mean that?”

He nodded, “of course, but if he hurts you, I’ll make his shroud myself.”

She laughed, “okay, but I trust him not to.”

“Good,” he smiled, “I’ll leave you alone now.”

Seconds after he left, a blond boy walked in, “y/n?”

She looked up at her boyfriend, grinning, “hi, baby.”

His cheeks turned pink at the nickname, “what did Percy say?” He asked as he sat down on her bed.

“He's okay with us, as long as you don't hurt me,” she giggled.

He softly chuckled, “I won't,” he slowly moved a piece of hair behind her ear, “I love you.”

“That's what I told him.”

The door opened again, “time’s up.”

They both looked up, “what?” she spoke.

“I’m okay with you two dating,” he turned his attention to Jason, “but you still screwed my sister.”

“Percy!”

[gh0st-in-green-c0nverse]

im the person who asked about the vague thing, and i mainly asked cause im terrible at specific prompts/requests(?? is there a difference idk) LMAOAOSOS

BUT BUT HERES THE REQUEST!!!! percy jackson x gn reader hurt/comfort??

TY FOR DOING THIS IF YOU DO LOVELY 🫶🫶🫶

thank you so much!!! and of course!

here’s a little something while I work on pt 2 of golden! sorry for the wait, I’ve been super overwhelmed with school n extracurricular stuff :(( cw: violence and fear

frosted glass (percy jackson x reader)

The fluorescent lights are making your eyes water.

“Look. Look!”

An unforgiving hand grabs you by the face and turns you to him. You meet sea-green eyes, narrow and seething.

“You did this, Perseus. All for that little potion.”

You know you look bad. Your cheekbone is painted an ugly purple, eyes bruised with bags. Crusted blood tracks from your nose. It itches. Your throat burns. “No,” you force out through your teeth, breathing hard. “This wasn’t your fault—”

Knuckles knock against your teeth, sudden and biting, and an ache blooms across your top lip. That’ll swell, you think, and you can feel it start to.

“Just hand it over, and we’ll let you both go.”

Percy doesn’t have the bottle. You do — a small glass vial filled with golden, syrupy liquid. It brings someone back to life, if only for a few minutes. Chiron needs it urgently, but so does this boy.

He looks only a little older than the two of you, with wiry blonde hair and vengeful eyes that glint a brilliant blue. He wants— no, needs to speak with his mother. He’s an Ares kid, if you remember correctly, and a deserter. If you’d had two vials, you’d share it. But in his desperation, his love for his mother had turned into hatred for you, and he was, after all, his father’s son. Rage was in his blood. He punches you again.

Percy lunges forward, but there are arms threading under his and locked on either side of his head, so he’s not going anywhere. He looks so angry it would've scared you if you hadn’t known that he’d never hurt you, not even if his life depended on it.

Your head bounces off the ground as you’re thrown down. Percy lunges again, but this time he breaks free and rushes to you.

“Are you okay?” He’s saying before he even kneels. You were bracing yourself up on your forearms, having fallen face first. He turns you forward gently, helping you into a sitting position.

“Mhm,” you hum. “I’m fine.”

You’re not fully sure where you are. You’d been woken up by a punch to the jaw, and you hadn’t had much time to take stock of your surroundings since then. It looks like the back room of some sort of convenience store; the walls are lined with rusted shelves that are stocked with vibrant packaging. The only illumination comes from greenish can lights.

Percy thumbs the blood from your lip. You wince. “Sure you are, hun.”

“Real cute.” The blond drawls. He’s probably about to make some sort of stupid wisecrack, but then the door jingles. It sounds like the bells that are attached to the front door of stores, further reinforcing your theory.

The boy exchanges a look with his friends. Suddenly, you’re being pulled away from Percy. You kick and curse him in the name of everything under Olympus, but a hand is clamped over your mouth and damn, this guy can’t even be that much older than you, yet you’re completely overpowered. You hate the feeling. A muffled sob tumbles forth.

The blonde stares real hard at you for a moment. “Don’t go anywhere,” he finally says, and slips through the frosted glass door.

“How can I help you?” You can hear him say after a moment.

“Oh, I think you know how.”

The voice is strangely familiar. A dangerous tangle of hope, relief, and fear swells in your throat.

“Pardon?”

“Where are they?”

There’s a pause, and then a dull thud.

Then silence.

Its unbearable, almost. To have help so near. At least, you hope it’s help. If it’s not, you're screwed.

The hand tightens around you, a warning.

You’ll take your chances.

You bite down, hard enough to taste blood. The kid shrieks. You’d almost feel bad if he wasn’t totally beating you up earlier.

The door is kicked open, and you don’t remember much after that.

He remembers it clearly, though. It went something like this:

You stumbled forward and Percy caught you. He tried to hold you up— he really did try, but neither of you was strong enough. The two of you fell together, all buckled knees and shaking hands.

“It’s okay,” he mumbled, breathless, as he tried to get a grip on you.

You were in his arms — cold and trembling, he could feel the damp patches in the fabric of your shirt where you were bleeding; but you were clinging to him and he was clinging to you and none of it mattered because you were here. You were here and you were alive, and for a moment, everything was alright again.

[bvckbiter]

a couple of people were wondering about the pjotwt fiasco i referenced in my filipino!percy post so for those curious im gonna provide the best breakdown i can of that entire convoluted mess

ever since the live action casting, show fans have been saying repetitively that blonde haired blue eyed percy “just makes so much more sense” because blonde hair is like the sand and blue eyes is like the sea

I see a millionth iteration of that tweet and quote-retweet it making fun of how this fandom can’t come up with any actual hot takes of substance

op gets in my mentions all angry asking why the “discourse” makes me so triggered. I reply basically saying “im not triggered? and what discourse, we’re talking about the hair color of a fictional character”

op suddenly moves goalposts and talks about how leah and aryan faced racist backlash for their casting even though we were originally talking about percy's casting. I point that out and how theyre not even remotely similar cases, but she just goes “well it’s your fault you thought we were only talking about walker, and people like you who are disagreeing with my tweet are shitting on walker’s appearance which is harmful! So i will call you out! 🤓👆🏻”

I then proceed to be very baffled about how walker is getting harmed from any of this at all and try to end the convo since i realize that she’s not even arguing with anything I’m actually saying. But op continues being angry in my mentions going “how can you say that telling a 15 yo actor is a horrible casting and that he cant embody percy is not harmful!” and im like “huh???? Why did this come up i never said this you’ve lost the plot” and she says “i never said you said that YOU’VE lost the plot im sorry you’re stupid” ⁉️⁉️⁉️

the thread more or less ends there but op apparently firestormed a lot of people she caught disagreeing in her mentions so i wasnt the only battle she was fighting lol. Other people are talking about how while they enjoy walker’s performance, theyve only ever seen him as a character of color so… obviously blonde blue eyed percy really isnt the first thing they envision. Somewhere along the line, someone reposts THAT iconic fanart of latino!percy (from… well… user latinopercy) with the caption #MYpercyjackson

People jump on it in the comments and qrts saying “JUMPSCARE” who is that?!” “Idk who that man is” “this is your percy??? Be so for real…” One comment even said that he was ugly. Another comment said that he didn’t embody percy’s vibes because he was “too angry.”

I qrt talking about how scummy it is that people are attacking a fan depiction of latino!percy THAT WAS MADE WAY BEFORE THE SHOW WAS EVER ANNOUNCED just so they can make it known that theyre defending walker’s casting. I also point out that the fanart is a repost, so it’s really unfair for the artist that their art is being bandied around like that then receiving all that vitriol

Another motherfucker comes into my mentions saying “i need you to realize that a real life child is worth defending more than a headcanon.” I reply asking to clarify how walker is supposed to be getting harmed by any of this and why defending him should entail shitting on people who prefer dark-haired percy hcs. I also point out that if the actor is a real life person, so are the people who hold those hcs as well as the artist whose fanart was getting dragged into this.

Mf says that people are attacking walker over a drawing/hc, which aren’t real. I try to articulate that the imagined harm walker is facing is not in any way a tangible, material threat. He’s the most popular among the main trio and his acting has never been fully discredited just because of his hair color (unlike leah and aryan who people said only got casted for DEI and woke agendas, yk how the grifters go). “People hoping he’d dye his hair and wear contacts is not tantamount to harm and hate,” I said, and neither is having dark-haired percy and/or percy of color hcs.

I thought I explained it well but mf just repeats like a broken record that thinking like that is thinking that fake headcanons are more important than real life kids. No matter what I say in response. SEVERAL TIMES, AD NAUSEUM. “Headcanons aren’t real, the kids are.”

The final statement that really pissed me off was them saying this

That’s where the brouhaha ends lol. Since then I’ve also seen tweets making fun of people who genuinely prefer/want a percy of color over a blonde percy because they say and I quote, “percy has been white ever since the books.” Like, YES WE KNOW 😭 But there is a deeply held lore for percy’s ethnic ambiguity in the fandom that was there long before the show was ever in development.

I have no problem with people who prefer the show or blonde Percy or walker or whatever. But to for some reason crusade FOR it on the pretense of protecting the actor from some imagined harm is just fucking ridiculous to me. Just to backtrack, this all came about simply because I made fun of how repetitive the “blonde percy supremacy” take was. And that was construed as shitting on walker. That guy is not seeing any of our tweets if his parents and agents know half a thing about media training??? No one cares! It’s a fucking hair color! Besides, as much as they want to pretend otherwise, the books and the show are invariably separate canons. Not that they can handle an analysis more complex than “yay perca/beth crumbs in the show so show good” lmao

Needless to say, show stans piss me off lol and this is one of the reasons why. A lot of them are show stans primarily because theyre so (parasocially) attached to the actors. It doesnt just show in the crusading, it also shows in how they keep lock and step with every single movement of the actors’ activities on social media. But that’s another discussion entirely deserving of its own post lol.

[blehcupidd]

Jealous Girl

Chapter Twenty Two

Xavier Thorpe x fem!oc

A/n: Taken from my Wattpad made at the beginning of 2023, some written mistakes and i had a note about what happen with Percy Hanes White, that note will put put at the end of this chapter.

Also ignore mistakes please i wrote this whilst looking at the tv show so if it says that someone looks at something but it didnt state what, ignore it im sorry.

Series Masterlist

Previous Chapter

Wednesday was covered in blood and mud, Évangéline had found herself in a similar situation. Her fall had been broken by a stray shard of metal, from the sword. The wound was on her waist, every time she moved the pain increased.

She could only focus of the blood on her hands. How bad was the wound? The cock of a gun brought her out of a trance. "You brought a gun to a sword fight." It was Thornhill. "It's probably the first smart decision you've made today."

"I might not get to kill all the outcasts," Thornhill staggered closer to Wednesday. "but at least I'll get to kill you, Wednesday." Évangéline was too far away to see why her previous teacher had stopped. That was until there was a buzzing sound. Getting louder, and louder. The amount of bees increased, all swarming Thornhill.

She began shooting and covering her head, not knowing what to do. "Yeah, that's what you get for messing with Nevermore." It was Wednesdays friend, Eugene. "Hummers stick together, right?"

The bees were imbedding themselves into the woman on the floor. Then, Wednesday ended it all.

All Nevermore pupils and teachers were outside the gates, all wanting the truth for what was happening. Then, Yoko noticed someone walking. It was a small blonde girl, shivering covering in mud and blood.

"Enid?" The soft voice of Ajax worried, seeing she was only in a coat. Leading her through the heels of students, she couldn't see two people. "Where's Wednesday? Where's Évangéline?" Everyone just looked at each other, not knowing what happened with the two girls.

Her worrying was cut short as she saw four people walking towards the gates, although one was slightly limping. They had all ran up to the four, seeing it was Wednesday, Évangéline, Eugene and Bianca. The two girls overwhelmed in emotions were shortly pushed into a hug with an equally emotional Enid.

It was cut slightly short, as Wednesday had leaned backwards, but shortly gave in as she saw Enid's face. Slowly, Évangéline made her way out of the hug, leaving Enid to have the hug she had wanted for months.

Tears were in her eyes, blood had made its way onto her face from her hands and small cuts and mud caked the majority of her skin. Looking at the group of people she was well associated with, she saw Xavier. The boy had staggered towards the girl, not knowing what to do, not knowing how she felt.

She cut his worries short by grasping his face and gave him what they both had yearned for. A kiss. It was finally happening, something that had became so unimaginable by the two. Not thinking they would ever see each other again.

Leaning her face into Xavier's shoulder, he noticed the metal sticking out of the side of her back. "Angel," he whispered, almost like she was about to break into pieces.

"I know," she sighed, holding on tighter.

Students were sent home early for the rest of the semester. After everything from the past night and earlier months, the remaining teachers decided to let the kids have a break. Évangéline had gotten her wound fixed, with it needing a few stitches, and was currently packing her room.

The trio had gone to their deceased principals office, paying their respects. "I hate to admit, but I am gonna miss Principal Weems." The pink one spoke first.

"She could be a real pain." The black one complained. "But she was tough. For that, I have immense respect."

"And she died for the one thing she truly loved, this school." The brown one finished.

"She was one of us." All three girls left.

"Now that classes are cancelled for the rest of the semester, you two have to come visit me in San Francisco." Enid demanded to her two friends. "I can pretty much guarantee fog and drizzle every day for you, Wednesday. And Evan, I'll be there for you to complain to."

"Sounds tempting." Wednesday agreed.

"Only if you two come to France, we can go to all the cute little cafés." Évangéline smiled, seeing the look from her friend, "Don't worry, Nes, there's dark things in Paris. Oh! Like the bell towers of Notre Dame." This brought a composed smile on Wednesdays face, the nickname was back.

"Bianca." Wednesday stopped the girl who helped a lot yesterday, "I owe you a thank you."

"We're getting that fencing title next year. So don't let killing one supernatural pilgrim get to your head." Bianca joked, leaving with a smile towards Évangéline.

"Oh, and Nes." Évangéline turned, only to be met with no Wednesday. Not even Enid. "What the hell," she whispered.

"You look a little lost." A taunting voice came from over head. Already knowing who it was, she held a smile.

"Don't you have anything better to do than watch girls?" Évangéline joked, making her way up the small starecase.

"Only the pretty ones." He lowered his voice, only wanting Évangéline to listen.

"Who are these pretty girls you've been looking at, then?" She wrapped arms around Xavier's neck, holding him close and it felt natural.

"I don't know if you know her." Repeating her actions, but on her waist, being cautious of the stitching. "She has brown hair, with little pink streaks. The most enchanting eyes I've ever seen. She's incredibly brave and even after falling out with someone, she still helped her."

This caused an uncontrollable smile to appear of Évangéline's face, "Stop it," she spoke into his shoulder, hiding her smile. It was a nice silence for a few seconds. No worries clouded their minds, they felt content in the moment and didn't care if their fellow students were watching.

"How are your stitches?" He stroked just above the fresh wound, showing his affection.

"Could be better. How are you feeling about being a free man?" She brought her head up.

"All charges dismissed." He smiled, replicating what Évangéline was doing. "I'm sorry to cut this short, but I need to find Wednesday and thank her for the arrow and to apologise for things I said." At the sound of an arrow, she gave a confused face, "I'll explain later. Have a good break, I'll see you around?" He gave a hopeful glance.

"Of course." She waved him off. "Have a good break."

After saying goodbye to her friends she met up with her father, belongings already in the car. "You ready to go, Evie?" He asked, but before she could answer, her phone went off. Looking at the message, it was pictures of her and Xavier and her and Wednesday.

She looked up, hiding the scared look, "Yeah, I'm ready."

[baekhvuns]

Omg yes they need to play sisters again! I bet your friend was shocked hahahah. I remember spotting random celebs in London constantly it was normal, but always kinda "👁👁"

I'm glad your uni wasn't part of that terrible movie 🔫 🥑 statute?! Photos please?!

Every time someone mentions obsessed fans on Twt or even directly shade certain accounts, some people come at them with the "omg you're jealous" "leave them alone, they support Ateez" "you should be grateful for their photos/videos".... shut up, please. Guess we're not dedicated enough, bestie, cause TRUE fans wouldn't mind travelling through 5 countries and seeing them 15 times in a row

True true the Black Prince guy was an Usui wannabe... omfg I thought you meant Subaru from Diabolik Lovers - another cursed shit

Be my guest and use the line ahhahahahaah, because some foreheads are empty 💔 Wait what day passes on Webtoon? I can still binge-read most things, unless they're finished

It would be sad if this was Loona's end, but they've been mistreated for a long time and maybe they'd be able to come back somehow. If not then at least they'll be free

Also the Korean coach getting a red card? What's going ooooon. England beat Wales 3:0 another war within the United Kingdom nation lmao. Also poor Iranian players, they were forced to sing their national anthem otherwise they'd be tortured???

The funniest thing is Soohyuk isn't even old enough to be Seonghwa's father like??? 😭 But he looks very mature so I get it

You gotta watch Holiday (I would kill for Hwa as Jude Law's character AU ���🏻) and Love Rosie because what's going on Baeksy 💀 I genuinely do not remember watching The 5 Year Engagement, I know I did, but it didn't leave any impression on me </3 also I hate Chris Pratt aksgjayskayahbshahashnsna

I'M SORRY BUT ONCE I GET MY HANDS ON SEONGHWA'S PARADIGM COVER I'M GONNA KISS HIM ON HIS LIPSTICK SMEARED MOUTH. This is AK and vampire at the same time O_O I'm in danger. VAMPIRE DEVIL

They really make us pay so much for a regular plastic case... Idk why are Japanese comebacks like that. Mingi's photocards too... but I need to obtain all the Hwa's first 🙃

I also want to keep experiencing blonde Hwa, but he hasn't re-dyed his hair in a while so idk. I saw someone on my timeline tweet "I miss black haired Hwa" I'm about to block, I don't need this kind of negativity 🔫 But yeah better break all the scissors

Grandpa San is still alive?! I'm dying

Oh so it's your turn to dream, heh. Was he your driver as well?

I saw the EXO news and immediately thought of you Baek!

I'm???

This is the worst quiz description I have ever read, no joking 🔪 The only relatable things are my dyed hair and maybe daddy issues (though my mommy issues are stronger lol) and quality time 💀 Baek I'm traumatised. I retook it and it got better

HYUNA AND DAWN?! I'm so sad, but I hope they're happy. Dawn needs to enlist soon, so... 💔

Uhm, this outfit, the Christmas tree, he's my Hallmark movie ML, my Christmas gift... - DV 💖

hello!!! EURO TOUR???

Omg yes they need to play sisters again! I bet your friend was shocked hahahah. I remember spotting random celebs in London constantly it was normal, but always kinda "👁👁"

THEY REALLY NEED TOO! sometimes i think how perfect olivia would’ve been if she was casted in harry potter 😭😭 bestie eVERYONE IN LONDON ATP,, but my uni had the percy jackson cast film recently but the snow storm made it 📉📈📉

I'm glad your uni wasn't part of that terrible movie 🔫 🥑 statute?! Photos please?!

IM SO GLAD TOO DBDBD and the avocado statue 😭😭😭 it’s a vv common hook up spot 😭😭

Every time someone mentions obsessed fans on Twt or even directly shade certain accounts, some people come at them with the "omg you're jealous" "leave them alone, they support Ateez" "you should be grateful for their photos/videos".... shut up, please. Guess we're not dedicated enough, bestie, cause TRUE fans wouldn't mind travelling through 5 countries and seeing them 15 times in a row

YOO SERIOUSLY!!! ppl start pulling the “but their content” or “at least there’s dedicated fans” ????? that’s not dedications that’s obsessions??? 😭😭 the difference is minuscule

True true the Black Prince guy was an Usui wannabe... omfg I thought you meant Subaru from Diabolik Lovers - another cursed shit

one can NEVER be a usui, NEVER. no bc both of them are shit 😭😭🤚🏼 hated diabolik lovers with a passion and wILL NEVER WATCH IT omg do u rmr dancing with the devils 👀 ok what’s ur top 3 animes u absolutely hate

Be my guest and use the line ahhahahahaah, because some foreheads are empty 💔 Wait what day passes on Webtoon? I can still binge-read most things, unless they're finished

some foreheads are indeed empty, t’was me last night <3 wAIT WAIT WAIT??? THEY TOOK IT OFF??? i remember it was like i could only read one ep for 24 hours bc of the free pass they gave and they’d only give one pass 😭😭 but saw men of harem at its season 1 finale and guess that’s what im reading tn <3

It would be sad if this was Loona's end, but they've been mistreated for a long time and maybe they'd be able to come back somehow. If not then at least they'll be free

it really would be but i think the fans won’t let them die! stan loona will be everywhere, i hope bbc isn’t petty but i know they will be bc they might not get the name trademark unless sm signs them bc lsm and-

Also the Korean coach getting a red card? What's going ooooon. England beat Wales 3:0 another war within the United Kingdom nation lmao. Also poor Iranian players, they were forced to sing their national anthem otherwise they'd be tortured???

NOO WHAT IS GOING ONNNN,, IM SCREAMING I SAW IT ON TWT WHYS THERE A WAR ARENT YALL BASICALLY THE SAME 😭😭😭 istg the older man crying had me so sad bc it’s not even sad atp it’s just literal insane fear,,, ALSO??? GERMANY??? JAPAN??? germany could’ve got like 12 goals if not for the constant hit on the net,,, begging them to loose so argentina wins against them once at least 😭😭

The funniest thing is Soohyuk isn't even old enough to be Seonghwa's father like??? 😭 But he looks very mature so I get it

u know what he’s old enough to be?? our sugar daddy im gonna dm for info <3 and then hand in marriage <3 IF NOT HIS DAD THEN HIS BROTHER

You gotta watch Holiday (I would kill for Hwa as Jude Law's character AU 🤲🏻) and Love Rosie because what's going on Baeksy 💀 I genuinely do not remember watching The 5 Year Engagement, I know I did, but it didn't leave any impression on me </3 also I hate Chris Pratt aksgjayskayahbshahashnsna

ILL KEEP IT IN MY WATCHLIST MY FINALS ARE ALMOST OVER U BET IM WATCHING EVERY SINGLE ROMCOM RELEASED,, U HATE CHRIS PRATT??? WHAT’D HE DO TO U 😭😭

I'M SORRY BUT ONCE I GET MY HANDS ON SEONGHWA'S PARADIGM COVER I'M GONNA KISS HIM ON HIS LIPSTICK SMEARED MOUTH. This is AK and vampire at the same time O_O I'm in danger. VAMPIRE DEVIL /// They really make us pay so much for a regular plastic case... Idk why are Japanese comebacks like that. Mingi's photocards too... but I need to obtain all the Hwa's first 🙃

FBWNDBWK U BETTER ANON U NEED TO GET UR HANDS ON IT DO IT DO IT DO IT !!! ur so right, the perfect vampire human au <3 hwa twilight when yEAAAHH bc like the jpn albums don’t tend to have a lot of photo books pages no? like super thin, so why we pay more ayo 😭😭

I also want to keep experiencing blonde Hwa, but he hasn't re-dyed his hair in a while so idk. I saw someone on my timeline tweet "I miss black haired Hwa" I'm about to block, I don't need this kind of negativity 🔫 But yeah better break all the scissors

blond hair hwa >>> yellow blond hair hwa,,, COME ON THERES SOMEONE EVERY TWO DAYS SAYING THEY MISS BLACK HAIR HWA, OKAY! WE GET IT! BUT LET OTHER COLOURS LIVE A LITTLE 😭😭😭

Grandpa San is still alive?! I'm dying /// Oh so it's your turn to dream, heh. Was he your driver as well?

ITS SO FUNNY 😭😭😭 one of my friends goikg to the concert is doikg the attorney woo sign “woo to the young to the woo” for wooyoung fbdb,,,

he unfortunately was not my driver. apparently i didn’t know this was a thing but apparently i have a chase kink, and it was like?? he was running after me?? we were in a uni setting and i was like “no! im not gonna talk to u!” and kept running bc he was laughing, but i had this like nervous giddiness and i was running and running knowing he was behind me and he kept tryna come in front out of nowhere but i would duck and run?? and i tried hiding but like the entire school was in on it??? THIS IS MY YN STORY ANON,, and i opened a class door and was greeted with a ongoing class and my sibling sitting there going “wtf?” and i rmr yelling “shit” out loud and i thought it was so loud that i yelled it outside of my sleep,, YEAH AND LILE I KEPT WAKING UP,, BUT EVERYTIME I CLSOED NY EYES THE DREAM WOULD PICK UP FROM THERE,, this is my yn story <3

I saw the EXO news and immediately thought of you Baek!

bestie what’s happening, woke up to ateez EURO TOUR????? and i hadn’t even opened my eyes properly and they went full wide and i internally screamed dv anon, NOW superm (he’s gone???) cb??? ateez already in canada???? in this snow 🙂🙂

TAEYANG CB??? AND NOW EXO 😭😭🤚🏼 NCT SAUDI??? nct habibi era <3

I'm???

LMFAOOO???? THE LAST ONE?? this is like university au, those clique of guys who do nothing but good around and major in computer science or business

This is the worst quiz description I have ever read, no joking 🔪 The only relatable things are my dyed hair and maybe daddy issues (though my mommy issues are stronger lol) and quality time 💀 Baek I'm traumatised. I retook it and it got better

anon the way my jaw. 👁👄👁 okay say what u wanna 🤚🏼👁👄👁🤚🏼

HYUNA AND DAWN?! I'm so sad, but I hope they're happy. Dawn needs to enlist soon, so... 💔

BRO??? THE ULTIMATE SHOCK EVER??? OUT OF NOWHERE??? the “i don’t believe in love” comments coming up now 😭😭 and 🧍🏻‍♀️AND

Uhm, this outfit, the Christmas tree, he's my Hallmark movie ML, my Christmas gift... - DV 💖

oh his hair. oh. my god. HE IS THE EPITOME OF A HALLMARK MOVIE OH MY GOD

🙂 giving very the junior who tutors u

uHHH

he’s sO????

also bestie what’s up with the euro tour pricing 😭😭

ITS CHRISTMAS SEASON BESTIE!! which also means ur birthday is coming close from what i rmr 🔫 pls skip to 00:09 seconds pls

and u know this guy?

[phykios]

this one is dedicated to mi amor mari @perseannabeth, who is a beautiful bird and a wonderful friend and i am v v vvvvv grateful to have crossed the airwaves with her :”)

Today Was A Fairytale [read on ao3] T, modern royalty, fun at disneyland!

She stares at him. 

He stares back. “What?”

“Really?”

“What?”

“You really think this is going to be enough?” Annabeth points at her head, the blue Yankees cap squishing her curls. 

“Of course! It’s the Clark Kent effect.” As if to underline his point, Percy slips on his fake hipster glasses, except that stupid grin of his is too bright not to draw attention. 

“That’s not a real thing.”

“Sure it is. Studies show that glasses are actually good enough to alter your appearance if someone doesn’t know you well.”

“Then why didn’t you bring a pair of glasses for me?”

“Because your hair is definitely the prettiest thing about you,” he says, automatically tugging an unruly curl which peeks out from under the brim, a gesture so practiced she almost doesn’t register it--until he blinks, dropping his hand, blushing lightly. “I mean--the most noticeable thing. You know. A hat should be fine.”

He looks away. Heat rises to her face, too. Because it’s so hot out, obviously. 

“Anyway,” he mumbles, “um. No--no one’s going to give you a second look if your hair is hidden.”

Chewing her lip, Annabeth can’t help but worry. Percy’s face is extremely well-known, possibly more than hers, and they’ve both spent the better part of three weeks with their faces plastered all over the media on their diplomatic trip. This is probably a really, really bad idea. Then, a thought occurs to her. “How about,” she says, perking up, “you give me your glasses, and I’ll give you mine.” From her backpack, she fishes out a pair of sunglasses, big and nondescript. He’ll practically be wearing a superhero mask with these.

Percy smiles again, and Annabeth thinks she might fly. “Perfect.”

Which is how Her Royal Highness Anna Elisabeth Ingrid Irene of Sweden and His Serene Highness Perseus Alexandros Ioannis of Thera play hooky from their day of boring meetings, insufferable dignitaries, and stuffy security guards, to go see the eighth wonder of the world: Disneyland Resort in California.

And how Annabeth eats her words as they make it past the security gate unchecked. “Eh?” He beams, nudging her with his elbow. “Eh?”

Rolling her eyes, she shoves him back. “Shut up.”

***

[description: a tiktok video which depicts a line at Disneyland. the op, a black girl with braids, covers her mouth and looking into the camera, turning the camera to focus on the two people behind her. one is a tall boy with black hair and sunglasses, and the other is a blonde girl with a yankees hat and glasses. both are white. video text reads: “p sure the people behind me are prince percy and princess annabeth??? um?????”. background audio is a dubstep remix of the fight theme from undertale. end ID]

***

Maybe it’s a little weird, on account of her being actual royalty and all, but Annabeth has always been interested in princesses, both as a matter of historical record (history is awesome) and in the general sense. Like millions of other people, she, too, was raised on Disney movies and tales of princesses and true love, and she was just as captivated as the rest of them. She and Percy used to watch the Disney catalogue whenever their families held state visits for each other, staying up into the small hours of the morning, sharing some popcorn and singing along. 

Luckily for Annabeth, her favorite princess is holding a meet and greet at the Royal Hall.

“Excuse me,” Percy says, approaching Princess Ariel. Well, her cast member, anyway. “Could I get a photo for my friend?”

“Of course!” she trills, her blue eyes sparkling. “It would be my pleasure.” Holding her hand out, perfectly poised and graceful in a way that would impress even Annabeth’s stodgy etiquette instructor, she smiles, warm and welcoming, pivoting to bring Annabeth in for one of those weird, semi-awkward half-hugs. “What’s your name?”

“Anna,” says Annabeth. Hey, it’s not untrue. She’s a little leery of using any of her names, but Anna is common enough. Annabeth? Not so much. Even with her glasses and hat disguise, a little paranoia is justified, she thinks.

“It’s so wonderful to meet you, Anna,” she says, cheerful, with all the grace and charm of someone who doesn’t spend hours saying the same thing over and over again to excitable, temperamental children. What a trooper, she thinks.

“Don’t you recognize a fellow princess when you see one, your highness?” Percy says, grinning that stupid, smarmy grin of his. 

Annabeth glares. Oh, he thinks he’s so damn clever. 

“Oh, of course,” says Ariel, smoothly. “How could I have thought otherwise? Your highness.” And she curtsies to Annabeth, a short dip, her hand placed delicately against her chest. “Perhaps I can introduce you to my friend Anna, princess of Arendelle?”

Still smirking, Percy takes some more pictures, trapping Annabeth into smiling for the camera. She can’t be glaring daggers in her pictures, nor can there be video evidence of her kicking him--no matter how much she wants to.

And she definitely doesn’t miss the way Ariel not-so-subtly checks Percy out, eyeing him up and down.

“You fucking asshole,” she hisses as they leave the photo area, swatting him lightly, and he giggles. 

“Sorry, sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

“Ugh, I hate you so much.”

It’s hard to stay mad at him, though she definitely tries as they enter back out into the park proper, giving him just the barest hint of a cold shoulder. 

“Aw, come on,” Percy says. “I was just teasing.”

“You shouldn’t go around tempting fate like that,” Annabeth says. “Do you want to cause another international incident?”

Percy winces, no doubt remembering the Gateway Arch incident of 2008. 

“If someone recognizes us, we don’t have Zoe or any of her team to protect us,” Annabeth goes on. “Not that I think anyone here would try to hurt us, but…” But it’s a little nerve-wracking, being on her own like this. She hasn’t been alone like this for a really long time.

Wincing, Percy rubs the back of his head. “I guess I forgot you’re a little higher profile than me. Sorry.”

She doesn’t like to think about it, but it’s true. Percy, by his nature as the younger son of a largely defunct royal house, doesn’t have quite the same number of… issues… that someone like Annabeth might have.

Deflating, she uncrosses her arms. “It’s okay.”

“I should have asked you first.”

“It’s really okay,” she says. “No harm no foul.”

“Do you want to get out of here?” he asks, entirely serious. “I can call someone up.”

She knows just how long they’ve planned this, how many favors he’s called in and policies he’s sidestepped. Backing out now would just be a waste of a day. She shakes her head. “It’s fine,” she says. “I’m just… feeling a little exposed, I guess. But, I don’t want to ruin all our plans. Let’s keep going.” She grabs his hand, squeezing a little.

“...Okay,” Percy says. “But say the word, and we’ll call it a day. Okay?”

“Okay.”

“Good.” Like he doesn’t have any other expression today, he smiles at her again.

It hits her, suddenly. He’s so much taller than she remembers. Once upon a time she used to be taller than him; now, he’s basically a whole head above her. 

It’s annoying. But also… not.

Spying something over her shoulder, his eyes light up, and he practically gasps. “Cinderella!” he points with his free hand, like a five-year old. “Come on!” And he takes off to one of the park corners, dragging Annabeth along with him. 

He has to wait in line behind a pair of twin girls, six or seven years old by the looks of it, in identical Cinderella dresses for a photo, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet, and when it’s finally his turn, he nearly trips over himself to go up and ask for a photo. 

Cinderella agrees, and now Annabeth is relegated to the job of cameraperson. Percy slides in next to the princess, his hand on her waist, but, ever the respectful gentleman, loosely held, so the cast member can slide out of his grasp without any difficulty at all.

Taking a few shots, it does look kind of strange to have Cinderella’s beautiful, shining face, and Percy’s enormous sunglasses blocking his. “Take off your glasses?” she says, lowering her phone for a second. 

Dutifully, Percy slips them off, smiling again for the camera. 

Cinderella’s smile doesn’t falter, a credit to her professionalism, but Annabeth can see her eyes widen, just a touch.

Annabeth snaps off a few more photos, “Got ‘em!” and Percy once again gushes over the princess, thanking her for her time. Grabbing Annabeth’s hand again, he practically skips off, leading them in the direction of a nearby candy shop. 

***

me: IM SHAKING GUESS WHO I JUST TOOK A PICTURE WITH????

sis: prince percy?

me: HOW TF DID YOU KNOW

sis: its on twitter already

***

They’re walking along, Annabeth slurping up a Dole whip, when she suddenly stops in her tracks, outside of one of the many, many gift shops. “Wait up a second.”

“Hm?” Percy says, around the giant lollipop in his mouth. 

“I want to get some Mickey ears.” 

Very quickly they get lost in the sea of Disney merchandise, walking the labyrinth of Star Wars and Marvel and Pixar goods. There’s a surprising amount of black for the so-called happiest place on Earth, but things do brighten up when Annabeth finally turns a corner and finds the enormous selection of Mickey ears. It’s a wash of sparkles, flowers, bows, and occasionally characters, for children and adults alike. Annabeth eyes a pair designed like Baby Yoda, eyes wide and ears adorably huge, before she fingers a pair of white Mickey ears that have a bridal veil attached to them, contemplating its counterpart, the black ears for the groom, each ear emblazoned with a sparkling silver “Happily Ever After.”

She looks around. Where did Percy wander off to, anyway? 

Well, wherever he is, hopefully he hasn’t gotten mobbed by a horde of excitable fangirls. Given that she can’t hear any screaming--well, any unusual, non-Disneyland-relevant screaming--that’s probably a good sign. 

Running her fingers over the ear selections, she finally picks out a pair of silver sequined earrings with a shiny gold bow, a tiny, rhinestone Cinderella’s castle placed delicately in the middle. 

Yeah. This one. 

Percy finds her as she is paying for her ears, a pair of his own already on his head, red balloons inside of plastic circles. The sunglasses, she notes with a tinge of nervousness, are tucked in his shirt, and not on his face, protecting his identity. “Oh, check mine out--they light up!” he says, giddy, pressing the button on the side, not that she can tell in the brightly lit shop.

“That’s not why I was looking.”

Walking out of the store, ears firmly in her possession, she looks around again. Percy’s face is out there for the world to see, and no one is giving them a hard time. 

And her hat is really sweaty. 

Ah, fuck it.

She removes the Yankees cap, shaking out her sweaty curls, sliding the ears on in its place.

And the glasses, for good measure.

“Cinderella?” Percy asks.

“I thought you’d approve.”

Outside the shop, next to a corn dog cart, Percy pulls her aside, out of the way of a whole classroom’s worth of children, holding up a plastic plag. “So, confession.”

“Percy…” He didn’t. “We said no gifts!” They had agreed to it that morning!

“Well, see,” he says, fumbling around in the bag, pulling out a black t-shirt. “I saw this, and I thought--I thought you might like it.”

He unfolds it, and Annabeth frowns at the shirt design. 

It’s… a drawing of a man in a purple mask against a solid black background, glaring at the viewer. Circling him, in distressed, white-grey military font, are the words “BARON ZEMO,” and the logo for the show he must star in, Marvel’s The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. She doesn’t really watch superhero shows, though, and she’s pretty sure Percy doesn’t, either. Maybe he’s started this one and he really likes it? “Thanks,” she says, confusion coloring her voice despite her best efforts. 

But he doesn’t look too disappointed. “I was looking through their pride merch, and they didn’t have any stuff with the ace flag, which totally sucks, but then I thought that maybe you might like something a little more subtle? So, yeah.” He shakes it. “Ace pride!”

Oh. Oh, this boy. 

She remembers, so vividly, visiting his father’s summer home on Kalymnos, a few years ago, the summer she turned nineteen, waking up to a banging in the kitchen, noisy pots and pans making a real racket. Granted, it had been one in the afternoon, and Annabeth probably should have been awake sooner, but she had stumbled out of the guest room into the kitchen, rubbing sleep out of her eyes, to the sight of Percy wrestling with the standmixer, making bright, neon purple frosting. The night before, sometime around three or four AM, that weird, liminal hour where the shadow of night just starts to recede, the sky a sweet, soft, dusky blue, she had come out as demisexual to her best friend, saying the words aloud for the first time ever. Loopy from lack of sleep, the moment had passed without much fanfare.

But Percy, dark-circled and still yawning, had woken up early to make her a chocolate cake. By the time she had woken up, he had baked the cake, chilled it, and made two out of the three frosting colors, a beautiful, moist, dark chocolate cake which ended up being frosted with a marbled mix of purple, black, and white, all folding into each other into a kind of colorless, grey sugar. 

Here, now, in Disneyland, she throws herself at him, wrapping his arms around his neck. His arms automatically come up to circle her, hugging her tight. 

She had been worried it had been some kind of defense mechanism. A young girl with an alarmingly high profile, Annabeth had been the subject of intense scrutiny with regards to any romantic entanglements, with critics, tabloid reporters, and fans alike attempting to invent gossip-worthy relationships with every boy she ever talked to--most usually Percy. They did grow up in the public eye together, attending all kinds of events and functions together over the last fifteen or so years. And they did tweet at each other. Like, a lot. They even had their own portmanteau hashtag. But no relationship ever materialized.

She thought maybe she was just being stubborn, unwilling to play the media game. But it hadn’t been stubbornness. It wasn’t about shyness or inexperience. It was real, and it was her.

And Percy hadn’t even blinked.

“I love it,” she murmurs. “Thank you.”

“Of course,” he says, swaying her from side to side, just a little. “It was my pleasure.”

***

What’s happening: #percabeth (Entertainment • trending)

@kndrck__ STREAM CHROMATICA: um @TheraUS @SwedenRoyals i think i found your sick royals? #percabeth #disneyland

@wasabiviking: omg werent they supposed to be at some hospital opening today #percabeth

@ChampionSno brando he/him: LMAOOO NOT #PERCABETH PLAYING HOOKY LIKE IT’S ROMAN HOLIDAY

***

“Holy shit,” Percy moans, his mouth full of food. “Oh my God. Dear God in Heaven.”

Annabeth kicks his ankle under the table. “Don’t be rude.”

He swallows, eyes fluttering. “Oh my God, Annabeth. Holy shit. This is the best damn sandwich I’ve ever had in my entire life.”

“A monte cristo?”

“A deep-fried monte cristo! In sweet batter!” Taking another bite, he moans again, just this side of indecent. “Oh my God I love Americans. They are absolute culinary geniuses.”

“Better than Bistrot Chez Rémy?” They had both been to Disneyland Paris, separately, sadly, and Percy had recommended the restaurant to her with great enthusiasm for her upcoming trip. As usual, he was spot on with his food recs. 

He nods, eyes closed in rapture. “By a mile.”

“You’ll have to learn to make your own when we get back home, then.”

He jolts, straightening up, cheeks full of food. Roughly, he swallows. “You’re right! I need to take notes.” And he takes out his phone, hurriedly typing down whatever scent and flavor notes he must be able to discern. “This is definitely challah…”

Plucking another piece of chicken with her fork out of her jambalaya, Annabeth lets her attention wander a little, content to watch the passengers on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride as they float on beside them, down in the artificially constructed bayou river. 

Truth be told, she’s kind of tired. They’ve been walking around all day, and even with the brief reprieve of rides, her shoes really aren’t the kind that deal well with huge amounts of walking. She can already tell that she’s going to crash, and crash hard, whenever they get back to their hotel. You know, if their security detail doesn’t eviscerate them first. 

When Percy had first presented his idea to her, she had agreed without hesitation. They had had a long, dense schedule of public appearances planned for their excursions to the states, and the days had begun to seriously wear them out. Together, they had worked out the kinks, coming up with contingencies, negotiating things to do, all over Discord so no one else would get wind of what they were doing. Prior to this trip, she hadn’t seen him in… probably almost a year. She knows his father had been keeping him close to home for whatever reason, and Annabeth had had a handful of official functions to deal with. Their paths just never managed to cross, up until now. 

She hadn’t realized how much she had missed him. 

It’s lonely, growing up in the public eye. It’s cliche, but it’s true. And while Annabeth is afforded a metric ton of various intersecting privileges, she thinks she’d probably give it up in a heartbeat. It kind of sucks being a living, breathing tourist attraction. 

Growing up, she had her cousin Magnus, and a handful of other assorted children to play with, but she would never say that she had a best friend, or even a good friend, until she’d met Percy. Her mother and his father, famous for their mutual dislike, had put aside their differences to host some kind of charitable dinner for the disgustingly wealthy, and had trotted out their respective children in all their finery. Annabeth, being all of twelve years old, hadn’t really grasped the gravity of the event, and had gotten into an itty bitty little food fight with the then-unknown Prince Perseus, the result of an extramarital affair whom his father had so graciously decided to acknowledge and adopt. 

After that night, they became fast friends, and she decided that, if she ever left the royal life, she’d make sure to take Percy with her. He’s one of the few things that makes her life bearable. 

She thinks about it, sometimes. Renouncing her title. It wouldn’t exactly be hard. There was Magnus, just in line behind her. And it’s not like her family held any executive power anyway. They’re just fancy, historically interesting celebrities. 

Would Percy give up his, she wonders?

“Hey.”

“Hm?”

He looks at her oddly over their dessert, two vanilla-bourbon creme brulees. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” she says. “Just tired. Long day.”

“You want to call it a night?”

She frowns. “What’s left?”

“Well, we did Space Mountain, Rise of the Resistance, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, a few others,” he counts off his fingers, “saw the princesses, got Mickey ears, ate at Blue Bayou… I guess all that’s left is walking around the pier, if you want.”

“Sounds like you two had a full day.”

As one, they almost leap out of their seats, Annabeth choking on her spit. “Jesus, Zoe,” Percy pants, his hand over his chest. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

“Oh?” says Zoe Nightshade, the head of their security detail, who had just apparently materialized out of thin air. “Funny. I could say the same about you, sir.”

Coughing, Annabeth eventually manages to get her air back. “Hey, Zoe,” she wheezes. “How was your day?”

“Eventful. Let me tell you about it in the car.”

Annabeth glances at Percy, who’s looking a little bit like a deer in headlights. Honestly, she’s surprised they even made it this far without one of their own tracking them down. Still, it looks like their game is up. 

...Or is it?

Out of the corner of her eye, she sees a large tour group, approaching on the horizon.

“Sure,” Annabeth says, getting up. Luckily, they’ve already paid, so they can just head out; they don’t need to wait for another big group of people to cross their paths. “Will you let us go to the bathroom, first?”

Zoe squints. She’s always been able to see through Annabeth’s bullshit. But Annabeth has her best, Percy-patented baby seal eyes on, perfectly innocent. Surely, Zoe wouldn’t deny them a physical need such as relieving themselves?

After a moment, she nods. “Make it quick, if you please.”

“Of course,” Annabeth says, looking over at Percy, hoping he gets the message. He stands up, slow and stiff, eyes darting between the two of them. “We’ll be right back.”

They wander through tables and chairs towards the bathroom, her eyes always on the tour group as it just starts to pass by. Reaching out, Annabeth grabs Percy’s hand, and with a turn that would make her track coach proud, sprints out of the restaurant, using the throng of people as cover. 

She thinks she hears Zoe yelling behind them, but maybe it’s just her own laughter. “Come on!” she shrieks, breathless, as Percy’s long legs keep pace with her. “To California Adventure!”

***

darthbingus said: the monarchy are fucking parasites but percabeth is pretty cute i guess :/

ladyofsandwiches reblogged and said: it’s obviously a publicity thing lmao, also prince Percy is gay???

eowynning reblogged and said: he’s dating rachel dare, right? he can’t be gay 

ladyofsandwiches reblogged and said: That was a publicity thing too obvs, and Annabeth hasn’t ever been linked to a guy. The king of thera is hardline greek orthodox, there’s no way he’d let his son come out publicly. They’re both gay and pretending to date because homophobia

lardoftheprks reblogged and said: people can be bi and ace and pan and all sorts of things you know

batgirlcock reblogged and said: can you animals leave them alone fr

***

Zoe only spots them after the ferris wheel starts moving. Sprinting over to them, they’re still a full forty feet off the ground by the time she reaches the operator. “Sorry!” she yells down to her, hands cupping her mouth. “We’ll be down in ten minutes!”

“Ananbeth!” he chokes, giggles still escaping him. 

“What?” she laughs. 

“We’re in enough trouble as it is!”

“Exactly,” she says, settling back on the ride. “You’ll probably be grounded for life.”

“Me?” he squawks, playfully offended. “What about you?”

She scoffs. “Please. I’ll just pin it all on you.”

Leaning back, he pouts, arms crossed. “Wow. I plan this amazing day, violate a few embassorial rules, and probably put both of our countries on a massive red alert, and this is the thanks I get?”

“I helped plan it, too.” But he does have a point. “Thank you,” she says. “I had a lot of fun today.”

He turns his head to her, a grin stretching across his face. “Me too.” 

His voice is so soft, so fond. They share a look, a moment, no words between them, only the silence of a true, deep companionship. They don’t need to say anything else, because they already know what the other would say. 

As one, they break away, looking back out into the California evening. 

They don’t talk much as the ferris wheel climbs higher and higher. Honestly, Annabeth is kind of impressed with how well he’s handling himself--she knows heights are a bit of a weakness of his. He grabs the edges of their gondola every once in a while as it drops a few feet, knuckles white and face a little green, but he manages to keep his dinner down, even as the ferris wheel grinds to a halt, Percy and Annabeth at the top of the world. The swing back and forth a little, hot faces against the cool evening breeze. 

And they stay there. 

And stay there. 

And… stay there. 

Annabeth checks her watch. How long have they been up here?

Percy taps his feet, a little too frantic just to be ADHD. 

Finally, there’s a burst of noise from below them, garbled and static. “Uh, yes, excuse me--” the voice says, amplified through a megaphone. “Yeah, um, it appears we are having some… uh, technical difficulties with the Pixar Pal-A-Round. Please remain calm, as we have our best technicians on it, and we are working on evacuating the ride in a calm and efficient manner.” Then the voice cuts out. 

Annabeth glances towards Percy. He has his hands in his lap, fists clenching and unclenching, over and over again. “Uh… you okay?”

“Hm? Oh, sure,” Percy says, “just fine. Peachy keen.” He squeezes his eyes shut, slowly blowing out his breath through his mouth. 

“Hey.” She reaches over, and takes one of his hands in hers, lacing their fingers together. After a long day of holding hands, somehow it still manages to surprise her, how well they fit together, how her skin tingles as she rubs her thumb against his finger. “It’s gonna be fine. We’re gonna be just fine. They’re going to get us off this ride, and then we’ll fly home and be grounded for life.”

“I thought,” he wheezes, “you’d blame it all on me?”

“As if you could come up with a plan as genius as hiding from our guard in It's A Small World.”

He nods, shakily. “Right. All you. Definitely not my idea. Everyone knows I’d have looped back to Pirates of the Caribbean.”

“Definitely.” She squeezes his hand, scooting a little closer. “Just breathe with me a little, okay?”

They breathe together, slowly and evenly. At some point, Percy takes her hand in both of his, running his thumbs over her palm, tracing her lifelines like a map. His hands are big, and warm, and it seems to calm him down a little, so she doesn’t mind all that much. 

Twilight darkens, stars twinkling against the grey, dusky sky, and still they are holding hands. Eventually, Percy relaxes, slumping against his seat.

“You good?” 

He nods. He still doesn’t let go. “Yeah. Just…” he sighs, stretching his arms up, taking Annabeth’s hand with him. “Not super looking forward to the dressing down I’m going to get.”

She winces. Annabeth’s dad is a little more flexible than Percy’s when it comes to breaches of protocol. The king of Thera is somewhat famous for his paranoia. “I hope it was worth it.”

He whips his head to her, eyes wide. “Of course it was worth it!” he says, as though the opposite were even fathomable. “You kidding? This was the best day of my life.”

“Better than your sixteenth?” His father had officially acknowledged him that day. Annabeth had spotted him in a deserted hallway with his mother, the two of them fighting off a few happy tears. She knows just how special that day was for him. 

“Not even close.” Squeezing her hand, he smiles again, that smile she knows almost better than her own by now. That smile she grew up with, a quiet oasis in a whirlwind of ancient tradition and modern media coverage. That smile is safety, familiarity. That smile was there to greet her when her mother chose to leave her family, when her uncle died without heirs, thrusting the position of heiress on her, whenever she had a rotten day or a bad grade or a lonely night, just on the other end of a phone, or down the hall, or in the kitchen. 

Whatever happens, she knows, Percy will be her best friend. Her anchor. 

Her…

She swallows. “Thank you,” she says again. “I needed this.” A day without an agenda. A day just for them. 

His eyes are dark, and soft, like the water beneath them. One hundred and fifty feet in the air in a broken ferris wheel, there’s nowhere safer she can be. “Me too.”

So she’s not really surprised at herself when she says, “I’d really like to kiss you now.”

Eyes widening, just a hair, he opens his mouth, momentarily speechless. “You--are you sure?”

She nods, maybe a little too enthusiastically.

“Cool. Uh, me too.”

“Cool.”

Neither of them move. 

“So, do--do you want to--”

Annabeth leans in, her other hand cupping his cheek, and kisses him. 

His lips are soft. His mouth tastes like vanilla and bourbon. They are trapped in a metal box, one hundred and fifty feet off the ground, about to get the punishment of their lives when they get down, and it is absolutely, utterly perfect. 

And when Annabeth pulls back, there are fireworks. 

Quite literally.

Percy’s face glows with pink and green and purple, and a little fire in his eyes that’s all him. The pops of the fireworks, loud and brassy, and muted, completely overshadowed by the pounding of her heart in her chest. 

They rest their heads against each other, breathing each other’s air, quiet and intimate, the calm before the storm that is surely coming. But that’s fine. Let it come, she thinks. She’ll be safe with Percy.

When the park technicians eventually get the ferris wheel moving again, Percy and Annabeth disembark from the gondola like nothing’s even gone wrong, waving to the crowd of people, fans, and reporters alike, who have swarmed the pier, phones and cameras held aloft in a constellation of light, before being quickly hurried away by Zoe and her crew, ushered to the end of the pier where Annabeth’s embassy’s car is waiting. 

Percy doesn’t let go of her hand once. 

***

KALYMNOS, GREECE--Prince Percy has arrived on the island for his family’s annual summer retreat, bringing his girlfriend, Princess Annabeth of Sweden, with him for the fifth year in a row, and the third as his official partner. Lifelong friends, the couple were most recently seen at Disneyland Tokyo, continuing something of a tradition for the two royals where they visit Disneyland parks across the globe. Our sources inside the castle are hinting that the family is planning something big this year. Could we see a proposal by the end of summer? Be sure to subscribe for more updates!

[dreaming-of-stories-i-wont-write]

Percy Jackson x male! reader!

requested? yep, here is the request: Can you please do a Percy Jackson x son of Athena reader, where they met when they were a lot younger like 5-6 mayby and they hated each other but years later they meet at camp half blood and both have matured a lot and then they fall in love.

p.s: i don't remember if Percy actually had a bathroom in his cabin but he has one in this

thank you @thealtoduck​ for requesting!! i love requests!

Let me just say one thing, you did not like Percy Jackson. He was too flirty and confident for a six year old boy at the time. And you definitely didn't like when he flirted with you, well yes you did     I mean honestly who does he think he is, making you flustered at six years old. Of course you smacked him! He was being too much. But then again you guys were in kindergarden, you probably should have thought about that before slapping him. But it was either hitting him or kissing him and kissing him didn't feel like the right way to go. That’s probably why when you were finally sent to camp halfblood at 16 you were more okay with seeing Percy. You weren't expecting it, but you accepted it. You guys met immediately as he was a big deal around camp. You had to admit he had gotten a lot prettier. even though he was already very hot when you were six. You saw him and your heart swelled up because last time you were with this boy he hit on you and you slapped him. 

“Percy Jackson?” you questioned a teasing tone lacing your voice.

“Y/n L/n?” Percy sounded nervous to see you again, or maybe that was just you.

When he got to you you pulled him into a hug, hey old habits right? he laughed and hugged you back while the blonde girl and the centaur behind the overly hot boy coughed to get your guys attention.

“Percy? How do you know him?” The blonde asked, you couldn't tell if she was ready to fight you or fight Percy but she was ready to fight someone.

Percy chocked a bit and you started laughing. How the hell was he going to explain that he used to hit on you everyday of pre-school until you slapped him?

“Well um-hi, im Y/n as you might have guessed. And um me and Percy went to kindergarten together, he used to flirt with me a lot.” You stretched out your last few words to exaggerate them as an affect and Percy blushed beet red. The centaur let out a chuckle and the blonde started making fun of Percy as you guys started walking to the big house. 

Percy and you only got closer from there. The bonfire that night was especially nice because you got to sit with him and catch up. Well more like you begged him to tell you of his awesome adventures until Athena claimed you in the middle of you making a very dirty joke to Percy. You were happy to have been claimed after meeting the blonde girl, who you learned was Annabeth Chase, Percy’s best friend and Piper McClean, a child of Aphrodite’s, girlfriend. 

After three months of being at camp you and Percy got so close that you realized between the catching up, blatant flirting, and snappy remarks, you were most definitely falling for Percy Jackson. So being the bold and confident guy you were, you outright told him. Which was a very funny situation, as after you told him you guys tipped your canoe.

You and Percy had gone out on the water  on a canoe because he wanted to talk about something, but you beat him to talking and just casually stated your feelings.

“Percy, just so you know I have a crush on you, now what are we doing on the open sea Percy, are you also declaring your everlasting love for me?” You said and when Percy couldn’t find any hint of teasing in your voice he answered yes and leaned forward to kiss you. As he did that he of course tipped the canoe. After you flipped the canoe back over you guys went back to the shore and went to his cabin to dry off and take showers. Then you guys just kinda cuddled and kissed for the rest of the night, falling asleep around midnight. But in the morning when Annabeth didn't find you in your bed she got worried so she asked Piper and Jason to help look for you which turned into them finding percy trying desperately to make you up with nose kisses while you giggled your head off at his failed attempts to get you out of bed before pushing him onto the floor, shouting something about if he wants to get up so badly, no more cuddles for him. You were happy for the first time in a long time and it felt really nice. You and Percy felt really nice.

(sorry its so bad lmao, hope you thought it was ok though!)

[valdangelodumbasses]

Valdangelo Headcannons #1

Leo and Nico are both introverts but Nico loves affection

Leo made Nico tiramisu once and he swallowed it faster than Percy could ever

Leo couldn't look him in the eyes for a week or he got so flustered

Nico is lawyer bf 

and a demon at monopoly; him playing w/ Annie is the worst.

gamers! both like monster (specifically mango loco) but Nico also loves tropical redbull

Nico teaches Leo and hazel how to play so they can battle 2v2

Nico wipes the floor and Leo is just glad he understands half the rules

Nico and Leo wear heels. 

and they're good at it too.

Confident Nico>>>>>>  

Leo has a fucking heart attack when Nico pins him to a wall

Leo makes Nico laugh with his jokes and shitty pickup lines

but when Uses shitty pickup lines on him he steals them, after he stops looking like a tomato

Nico does Cosplay and they cosplay together and its so fucking rad

making out while baking/cooking? more likely than u think

Leo tells Nico he looks cute one day b4 they started dating and Nico is like: Is this friendly affection

Caffeine addicts rise up

but Nico hates coffee and honestly same

teas n energy drinks>>> 

Leo is a fucking swine who mixes all his foods and Nico nearly vomits bc he wont let his food even touch goddamit

Piper and Hazel being wingman while Percy and Jason are the matchmakers

p r a n k s

like so goddam many

they are unstoppable and they pin it on the Stolls

or Leo gets caught

Nico n e v e r does bc like? scary emo kid? prankster? nah, NAh,

he sticks his tongue out at leo anytime leo gets caught

bisexual leo or gay leo? leo doesn't even know!

all he knows is that nicos hot and has a cute butt & personality

nico is a theater gay

he sings every musical

his favorites are Heathers, Beetle juice, Legally blond, and the greatest showman

Leo has theater kid energy but probably works the tech stuff

he likes heathers, Chicago, legally blond, Grease, and dear evan Hansen the best

Hamilton is neither of their favorites yet they end up dueting it all the time

Art kid and Repair kid>>>>>>>>>>>>

Percy sees them kiss after dating (and kissing) for 6 months and wait yall are friends?

Hes slow but he means well, Nico sticks his tongue in leo's mouth after percy says that

he's like  “O H , sorry im dumb”

“jackpot” “Valdez shush”

they talk abt their moms

angsty emo boys listen to greenday

and every other emo band

Leo calls Nico mammacita once

never again (Nico started crying)

why? It was commonplace used by his uncles and grandpa

Nico demands leo call him that more though

Leo is Hesitant but obliges

mexican or italian food restaurant arguments

leo steals nicos breadsticks even tho he has some

nico steals leo's nachos when he has his own

they're petty? yes but petty and in love!

and gay/ did i mention g a y 

Demiboy leo rights

leos a fuckin lefty

Trans Nico rights mtf or ftm rights

nico may not be trans but he's also demiboy

demi boys calling each other they all day because nobody uses the they in he/they (speaking as a demigirl)

If nico IS trans tho hades 100% uses magic to transition Nico bc yes good dad

laughing abt trauma and they're friends are like: NO

memes

“get ur hands off my bf”

“kick their ass baby i got cho flower”

imagine, just imagine nico fussing over leos hair because curly is the cutest

leo fusses over nicos when he's in a slump and brushes his hair

skincare is vital to both

Leo does engineering n shit but does it for like 16 hours straight much to everyone's dismay, but Nico who has (arguably) fresh eyes and make sure his physics is right

Nico loves physics fight me

but nico sleeps like 4 times a week for 3 hours or 3 days a week for 12 hours

Insomnia gang don’t rise up go to fuckin sleep 

will keeps giving them melatonin and they always forget to take ti and will is going to fuckin murder them maybe then they'll sleep

u know that comic where they naruto kiss S P I D E R M A N  K I S S I E S

nico hangs like a bat and leo is a memelord

nico also loves spider man

they def try to make spider man gear but annie smashes the shit out of it

dorks! comic!

omg comic book shop au nico owns it

soulmate au where u loose shit n it goes to ur soulmate

nico has NO clue what the hell to do with all this nails n hammers n shit

Leo builds stuff out of nicos lost mytho dupes 

Leo doesnt know what to do with his underwear, or all the mcdonalds receipts and the crumpled up sketches and sketch books

anyway

aphrodite ships it as she SHOULD and hades n heppy do too

why did i cal hephaestus heppy ? idk maybe aphrodite calls him that

They both hate yoga with a passion

does nico have an obsession with spn or does he hate it sm that he watches it ?

its as ambiguous as leo's sexuality!

Leos like what if i'm straight

then nico walks in 

No he's definitely not straight

who even heard of greeks being straight smh

Nico in miniskirts, aline, or any skirt makes leo go brrrrrrr

he wears leggings or tights under them though

Nico also wears leggins to bed

or the fluffy pants he steals from leo so leo doesn't have any pants

“IM FEELINGS DEVIOUS AND LOOKING GLAMORUS-”

band band band band band band band band band  Nico can sing and leo plays drums

Nico and katie are friends and Nico has a green thumb so leo is surprised when nico has more houseplants than crowley (Good omens)

He has tons of hanging and not hanging terrariums

Leo tries not to set them on fire

After Leo and Nico start hanging out more Nico bribes Lou Ellen to make his plants fire proof

they are now

Nico knows how to fire a gun and he's good at it

Pirate Nico!! 

Leo and Hades get along well

So does Nico and heppy

the parents get along too but they diss heras bad mothering

Nico gets de aged and leo is ???? but he's so CUTE AND TINY

Leo babysits him for a week in the bunker and nobody even knows until Percy and Will goes in there looking for him

Nico and Clarisse sparing? Sweaty bf? Leo loves it and chris and leo are just staring and say “yes”

Nico has freckles and leo kisses each one

Leo has these really dark freckles spread across his body but they aren't as frequent as freckles?? y'all know what i mean? ne way nico kisses them

Leo uses Yall. 

It rubs off on nico

jason is a die hard anti y’all

they annoy the shit out of him

Cuddles

nico and leo having bakeoffs

Nico asking piper for advice but editing it so its not super obvious its leo

She figures it out and tells leo like any good bff

nico promptly leaves camp when leo busts in asking if he has a crush on him

hades laughs but understands

leo sulks back to piper and percy is there and Percy got no chill

so he goes down there

Hades ain't too happy w that but Nico just gets so embarrassed and goes back with him

Hephaestus and aphro watching this go down like a romcom

I'm getting tired so im going to stop here anyway stan valdangelo for clear skin

[angloie]

Dark Skies

"Its cold. Just take my jacket, will you?"

in which two people definitely hate each other. even though they feel something between them- something other than plain dislike- Percy refuses to admit it. Nuh uh.

Add in a rainy day, a umbrella-less Annabeth, and a grumbling Percy to the mix.

warnings: swearing, thunder/rain storm.

The weather seemed to reflect Annabeth's mood.

As she sniffed under the tree, her tears became more rapid sliding down her flushed cheeks. Cold, leaving her shivering in the slightest.

Stupid classmates, being total jerks. When she had one of the older students ask her out- and when she rejected him, lightly- he had the audacity to insult her when he didn't get what he wanted.

"I-It was just a dare, anyways!" The boy had stammered before. "Not like anyone would actually want to date you, ugly."

Wow. What a way to handle a rejection. Even if it were a dare, was the insult really necessary?

If Annabeth knew this was awaiting her at the end of the day, then maybe she wouldn't have gone to school. Even after a rough day like that.

Rain. More rain, and even more. The local forecast didn't say anything about the horrible weather, (the forecast was always messed up, somehow, that was probably her mistake,) so why was she here; finding refuge under a branchy tree? It was just so peachy that she didn't bring her umbrella.

It was cold. Too cold for Annabeth's liking.

She wrings her hair in her hands, squeezing out every droplet she can manage. They run down her arms, hands, fingers, only adding to her shivering. Yup- her hair would be one frizzy mess later. And a pain to comb.

Great.

Her bag was soaked, along with her notebook. Oh, and her sweater was damp at the edges, sleeves a dark color from the once light grey. If Annabeth wasn't sick now, she definitely would be later.

"Oh? What're you doing here?"

Annabeth sighed and leaned on the somewhat dry trunk. Her phone wasn't doing much in the situation. Well; it was dead. So that wasn't very fun.

Was she being too sensitive? The insult hurt, no matter if it a as said in spite. I mean, if Annabeth wanted to get insulted in her appearance, she would've just gone back ho-

"What do you want, Percy?" Wiping her tears on her sleeve, Annabeth turns around to face the one and only. Even through the grayish blur she could manage his figure.

As if things couldn't get any worse.

Why him?

Percy Jackson.

"I couldn't help but notice you," Her smirks tauntingly. "Looking all down in the dumps, crying like that. What, not a fan of rain?"

Her number enemy number one. Both academic and athletic rival. The bane of her very existence. Her cocky and sarcastic rival ever since-

CRACKA-BOOM!

"I seriously despise you." Annabeth grumbles. "For your information, im dealing with something right now!"

"And what's that supposed to mean?" If she knew any better, Annabeth would've thought there was a little concern in his words. But concern? And Percy? Not two words meant to be paired together.

"J-just," She wipes her eyes clear now. By the way hes looking at her, mascara must be running down her eyes by now, and her skin must be red and puffy. How humiliating.

"Go away. Please. " Her voice cracks.

And how pathetic.

"No, I don't think I will."

"Just fuck off, then!"

"Oh shit."

There was thunder now?

"Yeah?"

"Shit indeed." Percy eyes Annabeth.

"You don't have an umbrella." He says, as if noticing only recently.

"And theres one heck of a storm we're in."

"Uh huh."

"If only you had someone to walk you home," He taunts, waving his dark blue umbrella in the blondes face. "How sad."

Annabeth knows that trees are a target of lighting strikes. She also knows that standing under one during a storm is, well, dangerous. So if Percy doesn't get to the point fast, she might have to do a full on sprint to her house.

"I get it, geez. Don't rub it in."

He stays silent for a second as he watches the droplets land on his shoes. They slide off painfully slow.

"Oh, fine. C'mere." Percy ushers her over, over to under his-

Under his umbrella?

"What?" Annabeth mouth slightly parts in surprise.

"Do you have a death wish or something?" He rolls his eyes. "I might hate you, but im not an asshole. Let me walk you home."

"Why should I?" She crosses her arms, frowning and turning away because head.

Another strike of lightning.

"You know what?” She pauses, staring at the charred peice of ground a few meters away. “Fine."

Its quiet as they walk.

Well, as quiet as you can get when there's a while thunderstorm going on. Percy nearly trips over Annabeth's feet as they speed walk through it all. Annabeth almost slips when they go downhill.

And, God, as she looked at a puddle, her appearance wasn't something to be proud of. All Annabeth is willing to disclose is a few words consisting of Mascara, a mess of hair, and red eyes.

Why Percy offered her to walk home? She didn't know. Maybe to torment her further. Or maybe to tease her.

"Im sorry." He says randomly.

Annabeth side eyes him. "For what?"

"I saw that douche back there," Percy sighs and shakes his head, "He's just insecure about himself. Don't let him get to you." After a beat of silence, he speaks up again. "Im sorry for not saying something. I should have. So I'm sorry."

"A-ah. Thanks, I guess." The corner of her lips twitch upwards.

"I dont.." He takes a sharp inhale. "I-I don't think you're ugly."

Is that...

pink on his face?

Is the Percy Jackson blushing?

Holy crap- he is. He totally is.

"Where's this all coming from?" Annabeth guffaws, fully grinning now. "You? Not being a total ass? What is it, is today doomsday or someth-"

"Shut up! I just don't want to see you crying again!" Percy falters as he hold the umbrella up.

"Aww, you're worried about me!"

"...You're impossible, you know that?"

"Bleh. Whatever."

Annabeth misses way Percy looks at her as she turns away. Tender, as she snickers to herself, its something straight out of a cheesy romance rom-com.

But she'll get to see it another day, anyways. For now Percy can settle with a soft smile.

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

Day 7: “Is that vodka? At 7 in the morning?”

masterlist

Non-descript, non-canon compliant AU

This fought with me the entire time so im sorry if it seems a little all over the place 

Piper Mclean hated the club. It was loud and noisy and full of people who smelled like they bathed in tequila and coconut rum every evening. She didn’t understand why anyone enjoyed the dense atmosphere with music pulsing into the very fibres of your being and rattling your bones till they ached the next day. She much preferred close gatherings with a few friends, low music, and conversation that doesn’t involve screaming “YOU GOOD?” in someone’s ear every few minutes.

Despite all this, she found herself standing in the middle of Vibe with liquor and smoke clinging to her hair, trying very hard not to look like she was having the worst time of her life. It clearly isn’t working.

“Don’t look so glum Pipes! It’s not my fault you lost our bet.” Percy Jackson leans into her, a lopsided grin on his face.

“Oh I’m enjoying myself thoroughly,” She puts on a bright smile, fakeness leaking from between her teeth. “I hate you so much. You couldn’t have chosen any other consequence.”

“Sorry Pipes,” He looks too gleeful. She can’t wait to get him back. “It was either this or dive naked into the infected pond and Annabeth banned me from that because she didn’t have time to go to the hospital.”

Before she could even process the elements of that statement, the blonde mentioned saddles up to them, a pretty smile lighting up her face. “Hello girlfriend.” She kisses Piper’s cheek, leaning into her so their bodies pressed together.

“Hello traitor.” She grumbles, but wraps an arm around her waist.

“Traitor?” Annabeth frowns, confusion and distraction making the grey of her eyes look like rain clouds.

“Apparently you’re to blame for my being here instead of at the hospital being treated for pond infections.”

Her girlfriend pulls a face that is equal parts disgusted and adorable. Her nose scrunches up so the small smattering of freckles from various archaeological digs disappear entirely, and her eyebrows scrunch together so the crease in her forehead deepens. “I have a dig next week. I can’t afford to be watching you puke your guts out in a hospital.” And then she turns a sobering glare towards Percy, who is still standing there with an amused look on his face, “I’ll make you and her jump in that stupid pond. Then you can be bed-pals as you throw up into the same bucket.”

Piper and him let out a groan of disgust at the vivid image. She shoves her girlfriend's shoulder, scowling playfully. “Go spread your propaganda somewhere else! I want to wallow in peace.”

“Orrrrr,” A gleam enters those grey eyes and she knows instinctively that whatever would come next would be tomorrow’s regret. She is ready. “Or we can do shots until the liquor tastes like water?”

“Are you serious?” She is shocked at the suggestion. Annabeth has never really been a ‘let’s get wasted’ kind of person.

“Come on, don’t be a downer!” She waggles blonde eyebrows.

Percy chimes in with a splitting grin of his own, “First one to fall has to-”

“NO!” The blonde cuts in, “No more dares you two. I’m banning you for the rest of the month. We all need a little time to relax.”

They both give her indignant looks, “What? Who’s we?”

She glares at them, “The rest of us who have to look after you two whenever you decide to do something dumb that is going to get one or both of you inured.”

Their twin looks of dismay are almost comical and Annabeth’s lips twitch like she’s holding in a laugh. “Let’s do shots before you keel over and die.”

Piper doesn’t have time to protest before blonde curls are whipping past her vision and a hand is tugging hers towards the bar, which is crowded by people and makes her want to run in the opposite direction. But the warm hand in hers gives a squeeze as if her girlfriend had known what she was thinking, and suddenly everything doesn’t seem so overwhelming. They hit the wood of the counter with a thud and she knows she’ll have a bruise on her hip tomorrow, but Annabeth turns to her with a light like gilded rain and fine beauty and she knows she’d throw herself off a cliff to see that smile.

“What’s your poison?” Percy looks to them, mischief gleaming in his emerald eyes.

They share a look that crackles like midnight and trouble and turn to their friend. “Choose.” Piper winks.

His face lights up like fairy lights and he turns to the bartender, rattling off an order that is guaranteed to put them in the grave. Minutes later a line of shots, some of which she recognises and some completely foreign, is set up in front of them. Four different liquids swirl in the tiny glasses and she can smell the liquor like blood in a trainwreck.

“This is a terrible idea.” Her girlfriend grins.

“Yes.” She winces, “It is.”

“Well then,” Percy looks to them, already holding up the vodka, “Shall we?”

And so they do, and it is burning, and it is lightning, and it is gleaming, and it is fun. And when they’ve finished Annabeth orders more, and they go through those even faster than the first. The alcohol sweeps over them, like waves of gentle haze.

Piper smiles all lopsided as the neon colours blur together. The lights she hated so vehemently now bounce across her vision in a dance that she is all too happy to carry on. A warm hand slips into hers and then they are heading to the dance floor. Bodies writhe against each other to music that is so far away, sounds up in space.

They have more shots, dance even longer, everything is nothing but time and light and liquor and wonder. Annabeth pulls them together and she can feel every soft curve of her girlfriend, and every corded muscle alongside. Their lips meet in a chaste kiss and it makes them laugh for no reason. They try it again and it goes deeper, sweeter, more the taste of each other than the feel of lips. They are eternal.

When they go home, drunk, stumbling, laughing like they mean to remember every second, they are still in each other’s arms. They wave goodbye to Percy who is more sober than they could ever be, the little minx, and crash to the couch with no energy to spare. She finds the blonde’s mouth, presses feather kisses to the corners. Annabeth is already sleeping.

***

Piper Mclean wakes up to the sun directly on her eyes, and a pounding like anvils behind her eyes. “What the fuck did we do last night?”

There is no reply which sets in a mild panic that forces her to open her eyes. They burn like she decided to stare straight into the sun and she sucks in a breath that rattles her brain.

“Annabeth.” Her voice is so croaky. 

“In the kitchen love.”

She groans as she pictures the walk through the apartment, which suddenly seems as large as the Grand Canyon.

“Are you alive?”

She takes stock of her body which feels like it’s been through a washing machine, “No.”

“You want my hangover cure?”

“Yes, get me out of pain!”

And then the blonde is walking into the room and offering her a mug of something she doesn’t bother to analyse before taking a large gulp. Big mistake.

She splutters as the contents hit her tongue, and scorch the back of her throat. “Is that….vodka?” She gasps, “At seven in the morning?”

Annabeth smirks, and it is rude how adorable she looks while she’s ruining people’s livers. “The best way to cure a hangover is to drink more.” And with that she shakes her own mug and downs the rest.

“I hate you.” Piper grumbles, “Get over here so i can hold you and sleep off the blacksmith in my head.”

“Want tablets?”

“Want death.” She squeezes her eyes, “But i guess that’ll do too.”

“Come on Miss dramatic,” Annabeth laughs, “Let’s get you to bed.” 

So Piper is lifted up bridal style by her girlfriend and gently tucked into bed. They sleep the rest of the day off and have deliciously greasy food for dinner. If nothing else, at least she is content. At least she is happy. At least she is home.

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

Tags:

@spoopylucy​

@leydiangelo​

@nishlicious-01​

[toutorii]

Heartbreak

Connor stared at the flames. Feeling a part of himself leaving his body. He felt numb. He felt nothing but a dull ache as he saw people mourning their loved ones.

Gods dammit. So many kids lost their lives that day.

He looked at the son of Poseidon, who had given up on trying to stay strong and broke down in tears. The daughter of Athena holding him while shedding her own tears.

He turned his head to the young blonde son of Apollo. Who was hanging onto his siblings, all of them crying and muttering things like "why her" and "no no no this isnt real"

His gaze raised to the son of Hades, who was responsible to send all of the dead demigods to the afterlife. He was staring at the flames, but it didnt take a genius to know what he was staring at. After all, she was like a mother to him.

Finally, Conner's sights landed on his older brother, who was holding his significant other in his arms. Katie was a broken mess in Travis' arms.

Connor thought he would feel a surge of anger and resentment at his brother. Knowing that he would be able to go to sleep tonight knowing he would see the love of his life tomorrow. But instead, he felt relieved that his brother could be happy. That he didnt have to go through what he did.

Connor suddenly started having a shortness of breath. The crowd suffocating him. He ran in a frenzy to anyplace other than there, anyplace where he didn't have to see her face, anyplace he didnt have to remember her smile—

He stopped in front of the big house, trembling. The numbness started to fade, and pain. Oh gods the pain, just hit him like a typhoon.

Never again would she smile at him, her slightly crooked teeth and dimples showing. Never again would he be able to stare at her beautiful dark skin and her changing eyes. Never again would he be able to laugh when she cursed at her hair for being so damn stubborn. Never—

No.

He has to stop. He can't think about any of that anymore. If he does. He'll break completely.

So, Connor walked instead to the Hermes cabin, and layed in her bed, pretending she was still there.

<><><><><><><><><><><>

3 days.

It had been 3 days since she had left him.

Or more specifically, 71 hours and 44 minutes.

Connor fiddled with his ring. The same ring that she had exchanged with him. They always knew the possibility of one of them passing before they could get married, so they exchanged promise rings. The ring always made Connor feel proud. That the woman he loved so much loved him as well.

But now. Now. He just feels pain. Pain that she left him in this cruel world. That he was expected to live on and to be strong. He doesnt want to be strong. He wants to be in her arms godsdammit.

He reached into his pocked and pulled out a piece of paper that had been haunting him since he found it.

"Read it after the battle, will you? That means you have to survive to read it you hear?"

He cursed himself for not catching that she never said she would survive to see his reaction.

Taking a shaky breath, he opened the folded paper. He smiled gently at her messy all caps handwriting.

Connor,

If youre reading this—

Actually, fuck that, what is this? An angsty fanfic? Anyways, I already got off track I swear to Hades—

A h e m. So, I guess I'll start with why I'm writing you this.

So its because of my dream. I lied to you. And I'm sorry. But I knew who killed me, I knew where it was, I figured out when it was. All a few years ago actually. It was Luke, in Olympus, during the Battle of Manhattan. And Im so sorry. But I had to die, basically to guilt the fucker into fighting Kronos. But enough about that. Gods theres so many things I wanted to tell you. But I'll keep it short. I love you Connor Stoll. You are my best friend. I cant imagine a world without you. And I know you feel the same. But, you'll have to learn to live without me. And Im so sorry, I wish I could give you everything you ever wanted. But, I cant. And— gods Im crying now— I hate myself for that. I will watch over you though Connor. You wont be alone. Oh, and find happiness. You deserve it. But I want to ask one selfish request. Look after the kids. Especially Will and Nico. Percy and Annie will have eachother for emotional support, but Will and Nico dont. Gods, I hope they all make it out alive. I know its a fools wish but one can wish. And one last thing. (I feel like ive said that alot) Don't stop being you, okay?

Love and best wishes,

Phoebe

Connor smiled, knowing that her "kids" all made it out alive and safe. But also, because he feels like he has some closure. That her death wasn't in vain.

He stared at her name. Burning into his mind so he would never forget. As if he could forget, the woman he loved so dearly.

His voice cracked as he spoke for the first time since the battle.

"I love you too, Phoebe Jacobs"

[bodytoflame-ao3]

born for this // three

new friends, and old friends

read from the beginning // AO3 Link

xvi //

“Come sit, we have to talk to you.” Annabeth sits her down at the dinner table, hating the way the panic sets into her face.

“Is this about the wall because I swear I can explain.”

“No,” she laughs, thoughts drifting to the foot-shaped hole behind the dresser in her room, “that’s okay. We just have something really important to talk to you about.”

“Are you two splitting up?” It’s the first thing that pops into her mind, even though as the words leave her lips, she knows they’re ridiculous.

“No.” Annabeth takes a deep breath. “Remember how we told you about the prophecies?”

Lyra nods. She’s heard every story they offered to tell over the years.

Annabeth sighs. Percy picks up; “There’s another we’ve known about for a while.” Almost ten years, keeping the secret from her, he feels awfully guilty.

“You’re not… leaving… right?” Lyra’s voice quivers, trying not to think too hard of what she’s heard from them about prophecies and what they entail; the quests and danger they bring.

“No… it’s—” Annabeth can’t finish her thought when all her mind wants to focus on is how much she sees herself in her daughter. It hurts to see her worry, in light of the fact she devoted herself to making sure Lyra would never experience the same things she did as a kid. And now, this .

“We think it might be about you.”

Her father’s words take a minute to sink in. “Oh.”

“And—” Annabeth adds, “—another legacy.”

Percy continues, trying to disperse some of the tension. “We don’t know what’s going to happen. All we know is that bad things happen if we interfere. So this is all you — and I know how scary that is — but we’ve got your back as much as we possibly can.”

Lyra is silent for a while. “You should’ve told me.” She doesn’t seem angry. It’s a statement of fact from her perspective.

“I know,” Annabeth sighs, taking her hand. “And I’m sorry.”

Percy rests his hand on Annabeth’s back, reassuring her. “We just wanted you to be safe.”

“I know.” She knows the stories. The prophecies, the quests, the battles. She doesn’t want to live like this — but she’ll do it if it means keeping her family intact. “Do I know them? The other demigod?”

“You were four the last time you saw her.”

“It was for your own safety,” Percy adds.

Lyra looks up at her father. “They’ve been coming a lot lately.”

“That’s why we’re telling you,” he says. “We’re taking you to Camp. You’ll be safe there.”

“What about school? There’s still two weeks left and I haven’t taken my finals.”

Annabeth has to try hard not to laugh; it’s another way she sees herself in her. “I called. You know, family emergencies happen. They were more than willing to accommodate. Whatever your grades were yesterday is where they’ll stay. You don’t have to worry about that.”

It’s only a little bit of relief among something so scary. She doesn’t sleep much that night.

xvii //

She’s been to Camp with her parents before, but it’s never felt like this. This feels more than temporary. They pack their bags too, and settle into a staff cabin, promising to be there for her if she needs them. Even if they can’t intervene directly, Annabeth is prepared to exploit every possible loophole, with Percy at her side. They won’t leave her.

Lyra settles into the Hermes cabin with relative ease, though sleep doesn’t come easily. It’s not as quiet as she would prefer, but it’s better than the deafening silence of the Poseidon cabin, or living with her mother’s side of the family — from family gatherings, she knows they’re a lot sometimes. And she doesn’t quite feel like a part of either of them. So this will have to do. In a way, she thinks, it’s almost poetic, and quite fitting: not quite human, not quite demigod, left to her own devices to forge an identity as something new. Or some bullshit like that.

When she finally feels the exhaustion drift over her, it’s overwhelming; like the entire weight of the day’s been dropped on her at once. In a way, it has. She’s here now, this is real. Not just the stories her parents told to her, or vague bursts of imagination from brief visits.

As hard as she tries, she can’t shake the feeling of anger in the pit of her stomach — exactly for what, she’s not sure. And she still can’t sleep.

xviii //

“Shit, I’m sorry.”

There’s not much Lyra can make out in the pale blue glow of the moon, other than the girl’s vague shade of olive skin, and light-colored wavy hair. “It’s okay,” she shrugs, ”Plenty of room aboard the pity train. Or, tree, I guess.”

“I didn’t think anyone else was here.”

“No, I mean, I’d be surprised too if I climbed a tree at—” she glances at her watch, “—two AM and actually saw another person. Let alone… in the same tree.” The other girl doesn’t respond. “Can’t sleep?” Lyra offers.

“Jet-lag,” she answers, simple enough. “Got in from California earlier. You?”

”Thinking about how I just ditched the last month of freshman year and all my new friends, pretty much cementing my status as a loner for the next few years, all for something that might not even be true,” she sighs, finally putting it into words (She could hope that it might not be true; even if she knows the prophecies never lie). “Spilling my guts to a girl whose name I don’t even know. The usual, I guess.”

That gets a chuckle out of the girl, extending her hand. “Calliope — Callie. My name,” she clarifies. “I’m missing graduation, if it makes you feel any better.”

Lyra shakes her hand. “Lyra.”

And two AM turns into three, then four.

xix //

Lyra spots her sitting on a bench after finally dragging herself out of bed at half past noon. Callie’s watching two girls practicing sparring with swords in the clearing; with many of the same techniques Lyra recognizes from her own training. “Did they teach you how to fight?” she asks, curious, sitting down next to her.

“Yeah. I trained with my brother, Homer. You?”

She nods. “I don’t have any siblings. Just Mom and Dad.”

Callie chuckles, “Yeah, but your parents are, like, legendary! Like... superheroes !” Her eyes widen. “What can you do ?”

“Um…” She takes a second to think. “I’m really good with patterns. Like, memory and stuff. Not words though.”

“None of us are. Dyslexia, right?”

“Right,” she laughs. It’s good to be around someone else who understands. “I’m pretty good with a sword, and I inherited my Dad’s water powers too, I guess.”

“Really? You leave the coolest one as an afterthought ?”

“It’s… I’m not that good at it!” She’s nowhere near as good as her father, and it isn’t like she’s ever known any different. It’s been a part of her life as far back as she can remember, splashing water out of the bathtub as a mischievous little kid.

“Still cool!”

“Alright, what can you do?” she asks, curious to know what kinds of powers she inherited, if her own are any signal.

“I can do a little bit with the weather — my dad taught me that — and electricity, like my brother… and I’ve always had my mom’s charmspeak.”

“What else can your brother do?”

“Well, I mean… he’s really good at fixing things, but not much. He knows how to work with electronics, but his actual powers aren’t like mine.”

“Oh. That sucks.”

“Nah, I don’t think it really bothers him. He thinks turning on lightbulbs is a cool enough party trick, and honestly? I don’t blame him. It sure would be easier.” She notices something behind Lyra, and points. “That’s him over there. Curly hair.”

Lyra’s mind sticks on her earlier revelation. “Charmspeak?”

“You’re not ready for this,” she grins, “It’s like, hypnotism. I’ve always been able to do it, even before I knew about it. I used to get my dad to give me extra dessert. Until my mom found out. She was pretty mad, but she told me how to control it. And like, she told me not to use it unless it was completely necessary, but I see her tell the landlord every once in a while that they’ve already paid, so I don’t think it hurts to ‘borrow’ a candy bar or two.”

Lyra laughs, “You’re kind of a badass.”

“ Someone has to be in this family, and it sure isn’t my brother.” She folds her arms, “Look at him. He’s like a puppy.”

He’s pretty short, relatively speaking, just a little bit taller than Lyra, even though he looks older. He reminds her a little bit of herself with his curly brown hair — although his is much neater, carefully sculpted and shaved at the sides, while her curls frame the side of her face around her ears without any real shape or definition. His skin is a light brown, slightly darker than his sister’s olive complexion, but she immediately sees the resemblance, next to Callie’s dirty blonde waves, and her eyes, the same warm amber color as his, but also speckled with flecks of hazel and green. He doesn’t look intimidating, as many of the other campers have; with a tennis racket in hand, he bounces a ball up and down without much ceremony, sitting peacefully on a bench.

“He seems nice,” Lyra determines, shrugging.

“Exactly! I’ve heard so many stories about how like, cool our parents were, and I… I wanna do that. Be someone important.”

“It’s going to be dangerous.”

“That’s exciting!”

“You don’t get it!” Lyra bites back the harsher words that threaten to come tumbling from her lips. You’re immature, and arrogant, and self-centered, and— They’re fleeting thoughts, and she’s not in the business of ruining the first new friendship she’s had since age 11. But the outrage still comes. “Our parents watched their friends die and couldn’t do anything about it!” Because it’s true — and she doesn’t want it to happen to her. 

That shuts Callie up pretty quickly.

xx //

“It’s been… almost a year,” Piper says.

“I know.” It was hard for either of them to get away too often, let alone find a time where their schedules lined up. That, combined with the fact that they lived on opposite sides of the country, meant she frequently went long periods of time without seeing her best friend. They talked, often enough, via IM, but it wasn’t the same.

“I missed you, babes,” she sighs, hugging Annabeth for all the times she’s wanted to in the past year. “How’s she doing?”

She knows Lyra isn’t okay. Not in the slightest. Annabeth can read that kid like a book, no matter how much she tries to cover it up. “Angry. But hiding it well — nothing I can’t see through. Yours?”

“Homer’s fine. Actually, I think he’s glad to be skipping school. Callie is… okay, I think.”

“That’s good.” It almost feels like they’re kids again, gossiping cross-legged in their bunk beds. Even so, it’s different, and they both know it.

“They’re talking like friends already.”

The tension returns — in the form of silence — until Annabeth breaks it: “They were.” And she regrets saying it the second the words tumble out of her mouth. They were, as much as toddlers could be, but that’s a sore subject, for both of them.

Piper glares at her, whether it’s anger or sadness is anyone’s guess.

“I know. I just wonder what… if they’d grown up together?”

“Me too.” It’s far behind them now, but she does �� wonders what their lives might look like today if they grew up that close. She wonders if it would’ve made a difference; would’ve mattered.

xxi //

Lyra would recognize his shaggy hair anywhere. “Zeph?”

“Lyra. Hi.” He wraps her in a hug, so tight that she’s surprised she can still breathe.

But that doesn’t explain why he’s here, of all places, instead of on a farm in the middle of nowhere, Mississippi like he should be. “What are you—”

He smiles, shaking his head like it’s obvious, “Son of Demeter. You didn’t think I just really liked plants, did you?”

Guilty as charged. “I… I guess so,” she chuckles, head tilting as the gears turn in her mind. He immediately makes ten times more sense, not the enigma she always took him for. But also, nothing makes sense — because this is Zeph, her best friend since the sixth grade, and shouldn’t she have known? Better yet: “Wait— did you know?” It’s hard to imagine him like this, so connected to a life she thought was only hers through stories.

He raises an eyebrow, “Jackson-Chase? Yeah, I knew.” He sounds a little amused, but more than anything, relieved.

Lyra, not so much. It’s the second time today she’s been reminded of her parents’ legacies, and it’s starting to weigh on her. “Why did you never tell me?”

Zeph shrugs. “I didn’t know how much they wanted you to know. Wasn’t too keen on angering the literal heroes of Olympus.” He pauses, letting the words settle. “I’m sorry.”

She shakes her head. “I’ve been hearing that a lot lately.” And I don’t want to hear it any more.

xxii //

“There is no way I’m letting you do this alone,” Homer says, entirely firm in his decision.

“I won’t be alone. She’s coming too.” Callie points to Lyra, who looks like a giant compared to the boy she’s talking to.

“ She ’s a kid.” He’s not fooled, despite her height — There’s no way he’s letting his little sister and some lanky teenage girl off into the world, let alone in such dangerous circumstances, alone. She can’t be more than a year older than her, and certainly no more mature. And she looks so innocent, with her mousy brown curls and folded arms — not strong enough to protect the both of them. Not alone .

Callie crosses her arms. “So are you. What’s the difference?”

He has to admit, she’s kind of right. But he’s older, damnit, and he’s not being a good big brother if he isn’t protecting her. “I’m coming with you, Callie. I can’t just sit here and do nothing!”

It’s not often that he yells; Callie knows that. “Mom and Dad won’t let you,” she says, quiet.

Homer sighs. “They already did.”

xxiii //

“Not gonna lie, I’m shit at archery.” Zeph shuffles, hands in the pockets of his cargo shorts, “But Astrid’s the best.”

“You say that like it’s surprising ,” Lyra laughs, “I know you have the hand-eye coordination of a toddler.”

“Okay. Unfair,” he points at her, looking immeasurably amused. “So who’s the girl you were talking to earlier?”

“That’s Callie. Her brother’s over there in the striped shirt.”

“The Grace kids?” he asks, almost a whisper.

“Yeah.” He raises an eyebrow, and Lyra rolls her eyes. “Oh, don’t look at me like that!”

“Sorry, sorry ,” he sighs, “They’re just… they’re big too.”

It’s not that Lyra didn’t know her parents, and even Callie and Homer’s, were a big deal — but to see her best friend lose his mind over them just seemed so wrong. (And hell, even Callie had seemed shocked.) At this point, she’s surprised he didn’t short circuit the first time her Dad picked her up at his apartment. How did he survive that, anyways?

A tall blonde, hair pulled into a sleeked-back bun approaches them, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Ready to get started?”

xxiv //

“Hey.” Percy can feel Annabeth shaking. “She’s okay. She’s gonna be just fine.” He reassures her, though there’s still a thread of worry running through his mind that asks, What if I’m wrong?

“I know she’ll be okay. She’s your daughter,” Annabeth says, pulling herself close to him, and wrapping her legs around his; entwined.

“She’s yours too.”

“I know that.” She’s ours. And she’s got the same natural survival instincts. “But I’m worried about how this is going to affect her. You know how bad it got.” They still don’t talk about it all that often, and the memories rarely haunt them anymore. When they do, it’s the same as it’s always been, holding each other close until the dread and fear dissipates. But this, this is an entirely different can’t-sleep feeling.

Percy holds her hand loosely, running his thumb over her fingers, twisting the wedding band on her ring finger. “We turned out okay, didn’t we?”

She remembers the day he proposed to her in vivid color. It was the most normal of days, spent in her dorm room, sitting between his legs, furiously wrapping up her last final paper with minutes until the deadline. Percy watched silently, as he had been for hours, as she submitted it, relaxing into his arms, knowing she could finally breathe; that she’d made it through her first semester of college. 

“You didn’t have to stay, you know.”

Percy shrugged. “I like watching you work.”

For all the stress, for all the nights she wondered if she really was cut out for this, she had something to show for it. If she’s honest, those kinds of nights were the ones she lived for, because for once she wasn’t worrying about if she’d be alive tomorrow. So she sighed, relieved, the mess of emotions settling into her bones, only for him to stir them right back up.

“You know,” he echoed, laughing, hands wrapping around her body, “This might be really stupid, but I want to marry you.”

“Percy,” she sighed, turning her head to face him, and fully expecting it to be an off-handed comment, “I don’t think that’s stupid, but you better have something to show for it.” She expected him to laugh, a ‘maybe someday’ sitting on his lips.

But Percy had instead reached into the pocket of his jeans, fumbling with the silver moonstone ring he’d been carrying around with him for six weeks, and held it out to her. He’d never looked more serious. “I mean it.”

Annabeth shook her head, blinking her eyes to stop the tears from coming, and kissed him without a word. For all the “normal” things she craved, this was something better done their own way. She kissed him until she couldn’t breathe, until he was laughing, scooping her into his lap, hands tangled in her curls. “That’s a yes, by the way.”

If someone had told Annabeth a few years ago that she’d be engaged, let alone alive and happy at eighteen, she would’ve laughed in their face. Even if she managed to live that long, the possibility of someone loving her enough to want to spend the rest of their lives together seemed foreign.

The ceremony was small; they could count the number of guests on their hands. Their parents, friends, and Chiron, on the lake of Camp Half Blood, which just felt right to both of them. After she kissed Percy for the first time as a married couple, Annabeth looked towards Piper, seven months pregnant and bawling her eyes out in happiness, and started to wonder if her life might turn out as good as hers did. And she supposes, it did. They did.

[pomegranateanarchist]

things about the lightning thief musical

[itsshortfurball20]

Percy Jackson, The Avenger

Summary: Percy has an encounter with Nick Fury. A year later, he’s being called on to help protect the world… again. He’s not alone in this Avengers Initiative. A genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist; a super soldier; a green scientist; a Norse god; and two secret agents. What could go wrong? 

1 2 

This chapter has 2, 389 words

3 – American Idols and Pirates

“So not only did you think it was a good idea to idea to promise to fight for a secret organization, even though they had just threatened to keep you locked up if you didn’t agree to their terms, but you hid it from me? For a year?”

“Well when you put it like that…”

Percy had told the entire story to his mom and Annabeth, with his mom interrupting and asking questions. After finishing, Sally gave him a hug and told him that she understood that saving the world came first before leaving to intercept Paul who had walked back in, leading him into the kitchen. That left a very nervous Percy and an angered Annabeth in the living room.

It was only after Percy’s mom had left did Annabeth start chewing him out. He hated being yelled at by his girlfriend, but her anger was justified. Percy tried to hold his ground under Annabeth’s piercing glare, but eventually, he folded.

“’When I put it like that’,” she repeated, not fully believing her boyfriend. “How were you putting it then? Were you putting it as the thing you didn’t want to tell Annabeth about because it’s not like she wouldn’t help.”

“It wasn’t like that—” Percy tried to tell her, but Annabeth was nowhere near done.

“Percy, something like this isn’t something you should keep to yourself.”

“I know that, but—”

“But what?” Annabeth had her arms crossed. “What reason did you have that you couldn’t tell me about this.”

The son of Poseidon looked down at the ground, scuffing his shoe against the floor. “You were happy.”

Annabeth paused, mouth mid-open. She closed it, before asking, “What?”

Percy looked up at her. “You were happy. Simple as that. Back at college, in New Rome, you’re happy. You love it there, and it’s because you don’t worry about fighting anymore. And after everything we’ve been through—the Titan war, Gaea, Tartarus—you deserve a little peace and happiness.” Percy grabbed her hands, gently holding them. “And before you even ask, you’re not coming.”

Annabeth let out a noise of protest. “Percy, you can’t decide that for me.”

“Wise girl, please.” Percy pulled out his baby seal eyes. “This isn’t a request. I don’t know what I’m up against here, but I would feel better knowing that you’re here with my mom and Paul. Help watch over Estelle.”

“Percy, you can’t expect me to sit here while you're out there doing gods knows what.” She pulled her hands from Percy’s and crossed her arms. “I’m coming.”

“No,” Percy said with a tone of finality. He could see Annabeth wasn’t going to let this go any time soon and would eventually worm her way into coming if this continued on. “Another reason I didn’t tell you about SHIELD was because I knew you’d want to get involved in some way. I don’t know a lot about these people, but I know they’re just not the type to let anyone walk away. Just look at me, I owe them a favor and it doesn’t take a genius to realize that this isn’t going to end here.”

The dark-haired demigod watched the gears turn in his girlfriend’s brain, analyzing the situation before them. She huffed, pushing her curly blonde hair behind her ear. “You know, sometimes I’m surprised you managed to graduate from kindergarten.”

“I have an associate degree in marine biology if you want to see.”

Annabeth didn’t smile, just wrapped Percy in a big hug. “I don’t like this,” she whispered.

“I didn’t expect you too.”

“I can’t believe you’re actually going.”

Percy’s arms tightened, drawing her in closer. “I don’t have a choice.”

“This has to be one of your worst ideas. And there’s a lot to pick from,” she teased.

The son of Poseidon smiled, starting with a small grin before chuckling. “Yeah, I guess I deserve that.” He watched as Annabeth’s eyes drifted towards the packet on the table.

“I wonder what can make a government agency so scared that they feel the need to contact you.” Annabeth mused. She looked back up at Percy, like he might know the answer.

“Whatever it is, it’s nothing good.”

\~*~/

The next morning, Percy felt the dread in his stomach build. He had packed the night before, thinking he’d need to leave right away, but to his surprise found, after flicking through the packet, that the meeting time was 10 the next morning.

Percy had a duffel bag packed with all the essentials; clothes, armor, toiletries, and duct tape. He didn’t have to check to know that Riptide was in his pocket. His hand slipped into his pocket and started to fiddle with the pen, the familiar gesture calming him down some. He glanced over at Annabeth while his mom went over the list one last time.

“You have extra clothes?”

“Yes.”

“Drachmas to IM us?”

“In my wallet.”

“Deodorant?”

“Mom,” Percy stopped her from continuing. “I’m good. It’ll only be a couple days. Hopefully.” Sally didn’t look impressed. “I’ll be back as soon as I can, promise.” Percy gave his mom a hug, who embraced it.

“Please be careful,” she asked him. Sally let go of him, getting one good last look at his face before letting Paul say goodbye.

“Hey, Paul, take care,” Percy told him, giving him a hug. Paul gave him a pat on the back, before letting go.

“I should be saying that to you. Come back,” Paul said before leaving him and Annabeth to say their goodbyes.

The air was tense, the two still reeling from their little argument. “I want regular updates,” Annabeth ordered. “And don’t do anything stupid. I prefer my boyfriend to be alive.”

Percy nodded. “Got it,” He paused for a second, wondering if he could kiss her goodbye. Taking a step, he gave her a quick kiss, pulling away before Annabeth could fully realize what was happening. “Love you,” he told her. “And I’m sorry.”

“I know,” Annabeth said. “Come back soon.”

Percy looked at his family, minus Estelle who was still sleeping this early in the morning. With a final wave, he picked up his duffel bag and head for the door.

As soon as the door closed behind him, his shoulders slumped. He hadn’t gotten much sleep last night. There had been too much tossing and turning and worries plaguing his mind to get any sleep. A couple of seconds passed before Percy took a deep breath and pushed himself off the wall. He headed towards the elevator, where he would take a taxi over to Montauk.

Then he would swim to the strange coordinates that led to the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

\~*~/

Percy’s waterproof watch showed that the time was 10:06 by the time he arrived at the coordinates. His head poked above the water, having already seen the hulking ship from under the water. It was just as impressive above.

Huge propellers, four of them, sat in the water unmoving. Percy thought it was a little strange how, above water, there was almost nothing until he noticed a plane land. He realized that it was a runway as he saw other planes up there.

The demigod also noticed people running around. Figuring that this was his destination, he propelled himself forward with the water currents. The water carried him clear to the ship. At the edge, Percy willed the water to lift him up and plop him on the deck.

Not many people took notice of the twenty-year-old as he looked around. The only person who looked at him was a red-headed woman, who didn’t seem all that surprised to see the man appear from the water. Or if she did, she hid it well.

The woman strolled over to where Percy was watching the crew run around, preparing the ship for takeoff. Standing behind him, she spooked the demigod when she spoke. “You’re late.”

Percy spun around, one hand going for his pocket before realizing that there was no threat. The woman raised her eyebrow. Percy felt as he was on display as the woman briefly scanned him. Remembering what the woman had said, the demigod gave a sheepish smile. “Yeah, sorry about that. I didn’t want to come.”

The woman said nothing, instead turning around and walking away. “Follow me,” she called behind. Percy picked up his duffel bag and headed after her. “I’m going to introduce you to the rest of the team.”

They walked toward a plane that had just landed. The ramp was lowering. Two men walked out, the first one Percy recognized as the same agent who had shown up at his house, Agent Coulson. The second man looked familiar, but Percy couldn’t place it. He looked like he the perfect American Idol—neat blond hair, button-down shirt, and a leather jacket.

“Ah, Percy,” Agent Coulson greeted. “This is Agent Romanoff,” he gestured to the red-headed woman. “And this is Captain Steve Rogers.”

“Hi,” Percy gave a small wave to the newly introduced people. The Captain gave a wave back, looking from him to Coulson confusedly. Agent Romanoff ignored Percy’s wave.

“They need you on the bridge. They’re starting the face-trace.” She told Coulson.

“See you there.”

Coulson walked off, leaving the three by themselves. Agent Romanoff wandered off, leaving Captain Rogers and Percy to follow behind (again).

“It was quite the buzz around here, finding you in the ice.” The agent spoke to Steve. “I thought Coulson was gonna swoon. Did he ask you to sign his Captain America trading cards yet?”

“Trading cards?” Captain Rogers asked.

“Captain America?” Percy asked at the same time.

The two looked at one another. Captain Rogers held up his hand. “Please, just Steve.” He turned back to Agent Romanoff. “And what trading cards?”

“They’re vintage, he’s very proud.”

Percy saw a man spinning around in circles, trying not to bump into the workers crowding the area. Steve noticed him too, calling out, “Dr. Banner.” The man turned, noticing them. Looking grateful, he walked over to their small-but-growing group. Steve and Dr. Banner shook hands.

“Oh, yeah. Hi. They told me you’d be coming.” Dr. Banner glanced Steve over. His eyes then shifted over to Percy. “And you must be the demigod.”

“Uh, yeah,” Percy said. “Name’s Percy.” He held out his hand for the older man to shake. The demigod was slowly realizing that he should’ve read the packet a little more before coming because he knew little about the people who surrounded him were, but they clearly knew about him.

“Word is you can find the cube,” Steve said, helping break the awkward silence that had been beginning to fall.

Banner looked nervous. “Is that the only word on me?”

“Only word I care about.”

“Hang on, what cube?”

Three sets of eyes turned to him. “Did you read the packet?” Steve asked him.

“I skimmed it,” Percy admitted. “Reading isn’t my strong suit.”

“We can talk about it later.” Agent Romanoff stepped forward. “Gentlemen, you may wanna step inside in a minute. It’s gonna get a little hard to breathe.”

The ship started to creak and beep as various parts started moving, preparing the ship to get ready. Steve looked around, something akin to amazement on his face. “Is this a submarine?”

“Really?” Banner asked. “They want me in a submerged pressurized metal container?”

Percy, Steve, and Banner stepped closer to the edge to see the four propellers started to spin, sending the water flying. The three of them seemed to realize at the same time that this wasn’t a submarine, but a plane.

Banner smiled, although it was pained. “Oh, no. This is much worse.”

“Much worse indeed,” Percy agreed, thinking of his uncle who wouldn’t hesitate to blast them out of the sky.

The plane rose higher into the sky. People started heading indoors, leaving the top deck clear. The four of them followed suit, following Agent Romanoff as she lead them through a series of hallways that eventually led to a door that opened as soon as they got close.

Percy fought to keep his mouth from dropping to the floor in shock. They stood in a large room, filled with agents manning computers as they lifted the plane higher into the sky. Percy watched out the windows as the sea grew farther and farther and the clouds closer. His stomach twisted slightly, and he turned away.

“Let’s vanish.”

Percy turned towards the familiar voice. He found Fury standing above the rest of the agents, two consoles on either side of him, displaying a bunch of information that Percy wouldn’t understand half of. The man turned around and walked towards them. “Gentlemen,” he addressed.

“Pirate-man,” Percy said back. Fury glanced at him before being handed ten dollars by Steve. He pocketed the money then held out his hand for Dr. Banner to shake. Percy could see Banner hesitate before accepting the other man’s hand.

“Doctor, thank you for coming.”

“Thanks for asking so nicely.” Banner replied. “So, uh… how long am I staying?”

“Once we get our hands on the Tesseract, you’re in the wind.”

“Where are you with that?” The two wandered off, leaving Percy by himself.

\~*~/

Several hours had passed since they had taken off. An agent had shown him to his room, where he dropped off his duffel and made a quick IM to Annabeth, updating her on the situation. After a while, Percy ventured back to what seemed to be the main area. He had read a little more of the packet and could understand more of what was going on.

Steve and Coulson stood to the side, talking back and forth. Percy let them be. He sat at the table, just spinning the chair around in circles. Around them, people were trying to run a face-match on the evil-guy, Loki.

One of the computers started beeping, signaling a match. Everyone ran towards the computer. Percy caught a look over everyone’s shoulders. A picture of a tall man with slicked-back black hair was shown.

“We got a hit.” The agent called out. “Sixty-seven percent match. Wait, cross match, seventy-nine percent.”

“Location?” Coulson asked.

“Stuttgart, Germany. 28, Konigstrasse. He's not exactly hiding.”

Fury nodded, before turning to Steve and Percy. “Captain, Mr. Jackson, you're up.”

4

[cabinofimagines]

Our road back home (Piper Mclean x Male!reader)

A/N: Y’ALL THIS IS THE LAST REQUEST I HAD IN LINE IM SO PROUD OF MYSELF, hope u like it, I made it very sad. -Danny c:

Words: 1,755

Warnings: none, besides bad writing lol

Request: May I request a Piper x Male!reader - maybe in the last war is where the reader is holding onto dear life, and Piper now holding on to him- trying to charm speak him to keep going as they battle is waging but is forced to leave them to keep fighting, and somebody else has to take him for to get treated. And with the major head trauma his memory goes fuzzy and can’t recall Piper anymore.

“I’m sorry...”

Piper never thought this could happen, somewhere inside her, even if it was silly, she expected her mom could do an exception, after all she did for her, she wanted nothing but a happily ever after.

But it wasn’t there.

Y/N was the best. He was sweet, smart, pretty... How could this happen to him? it wasn’t his fault, everyone suffered, people lost more than what they could stand after the war, to think that she was safe from the pain was too naive.

He got hurt during the last minutes, Piper found him by her side, blood coming out in excessive amounts from his head, she got scared, fought to keep him standing and “Please,” she muttered on his ear, “please don’t close your eyes”

I worked once with Jason, it had to work with Y/N, there was no other option. Piper loved him. Love conquered all.

Or so she thought.

Will and Kayla practically had to rip him from her hands, they wanted to help but she didn’t have the mind to understand. She saw red. Jason and Nico had to grab her by the arms and pull her apart while she screamed. He wasn’t dead. Y/N couldn’t be dead.

She had lost one of her best friends, and with Leo away she couldn’t bear to lose Y/N so she prayed to all the gods known, she prayed for his life. Surprisingly the listened and obliged. Piper heard Will’s voice coming out of his cabin, his blond curls peeking through the door with a shy smile on his face, and the weight of the world lifted from her shoulders.

Y/N was unconscious at the time, but he looked okay, even cute. Most importantly, he was breathing. She stayed there for what it felt like days and nights compressed into one hour; until Y/N moved quietly in his bed, blinking slowly, showing his bright, cheery eyes.

“Hey, you” Piper whispered, wiping her tears away, “how ya feeling?”

“I’m throwing up any minute now,” He complained in a husky voice, “holy Hades, what the hell happened?”

“A monster hit you” she explained patiently, “you were bleeding. A lot. Thought I’d lost you”

She reached to touch his cheek, but Y/N pushed it away gently, looking around.

“I’m sorry, “ He said, “am I in the Apollo cabin?”

“Yes,” Piper frowned, not sure of what was going on inside his head.

“Alright, one thing at a time” He rubbed his eyes, then looked at her curiously, “you’re new. Are you the person in charge of my recovery?”

“What?”

“Hey Y/N, you’re up!” Kayla approached the boy with a glass of nectar, handing it to him, “how are you?”

“I’m fine” He retorted, sipping his drink carefully, “I mean I have no idea how I ended up in here, but yeah I guess I’m fine.”

“What?” Kayla looked at Piper, “What does he mean?”

“I-I don’t know”

Y/N snorted.

“What a good healer you are then, having no idea what is wrong with me.”

“She’s not your healer” Kayla replied in a stern voice, “Piper’s your girlfriend.”

Y/N choked on his nectar, his eyes widening at the news.

“She’s my what?!”

“You don’t remember?” His friend asked in utter surprise, “oh man, we need Will”

She ran out of the room, leaving Piper and Y/N alone, again. A heavy silence fell around them and the weight that was no longer on Piper’s shoulders fell right on her stomach, it was way worse like this.

“Y/N, what’s the last thing you remember?” She asked softly.

“I-uh... I know I’m a demigod, and I have no family. I’ve been living here all my life and fought in the war against Kronos. Then Percy disappeared and Annabeth went nuts...”

“And?”

“Another war against other demigods, we protected camp while some of us went on a quest” He frowned profusely, “I’m skipping things, aren’t I? Did the war happen? That’s the reason I’m here, right?”

“I was one of the demigods that went on the quest” she replied with a shaky voice, “and when I came back you started talking to me, and... we...”

“Kayla’s telling the truth?” Y/N stared at her, it was hard to see how distant his eyes could look, “we were a thing?”

“We are a thing, Y/N!” Piper stood up, “gods, I can’t have this, please don’t joke like this” she begged.

“I’m not joking!” the boy replied, shifting uncomfortably on his bed, “I’m sorry, but I don’t remember you.”

Will came in right on time to see Piper walking out, fighting against her tears. Y/N didn’t have to see her so affected, he didn’t know. He didn’t remember.

Leo had sent a message a week ago, he was alive. He was lost but looked completely okay. He’d be back any day, they just had to be patient. Piper trusted him enough to know Leo’d go back. She wished she could say the same about Y/N.

“There you are,” Hazel sat next to her, sinking her feet on the sand, “you didn’t have breakfast and is time for lunch, here” She handed her an apple.

“You didn’t have to” 

“Oh I did, cause see, Piper, if people don’t eat, they die” She joked, patting on her back.

“Gee, how wise” She smirked, “I’m sorry, I guess I’ve been distant with... well, everyone”

“I understand” Hazel nodded, “how is he?”

Piper shrugged, the feeling in her stomach coming back in full force, “dunno, I don’t really talk to him, it’s kind of... well, it sucks”

Her friend nodded again, grabbing her by the shoulder in a protective way.

“He’s very sorry, Piper. I mean, he’s confused as hell but you can tell he hates hurting you, maybe something inside him tells him is wrong”

“I don’t want to think about it,” she said bitterly, “it’s so stupid that I get this luck being the daughter of Aphrodite”

“It’s life” Hazel sighed, “but perhaps you can do something about it”

Piper raised her brows, “Like what?”

“Well, maybe win him back” the girl offered, “it’s cheesy, but if he doesn’t get his memory back nothing stops you from making him fall for you again.”

“It’s different now” Piper muttered, “I don’t know we could get together the same way we did before”

“Then do it differently” Hazel smiled, “people do crazy things for love, Pipes”

“Oh gods, please don’t quote Hercules like that” Piper cringed, “it’s hard to think positively about the story once, you know, meet the real Hercules”

“Oh no,” she giggled, “you’re so right”

“Huh, hi” Some boy talked behind them, “hey Piper, can I talk to you?”

Y/N stood awkwardly, looking like he had no idea of what to do with his hands. Piper remembered it being one of his quirks, ‘at least he’s still the same’ she thought. Hazel excuse herself and went up to eat lunch, while Y/N occupied her seat.

“So...” Piper started not sure of how to talk to him now.

“So” He repeated, clasping his hands together nervously, “Hello.”

“Hi?” Piper answered with a half smile.

“I have no idea how to start, I’m so sorry,” He whined, hiding his face with both hands, “I’m trying to ask you something, but I don’t know how to do it without making it awkward.”

“Just say it,” She shrugged, “can’t be too bad.”

At least she hoped it wasn’t that bad.

“See, I feel like shit all the time,” He said, “because I know I hurt you, and that... well, it sucks”

“Please don’t” Piper replied worryingly, “don’t feel bad, these things happen sometimes but is not your fault-”

“I know is not” Y/N sighed, “it isn’t fair either, you deserve to be happy”

“I don’t wanna force you into things”

“Don’t worry, you’re not doing this, I am” He smiled, and for a moment Piper felt at home, “so anyway, I’m here to offer peace”

“What does that mean?”

“I think that, whatever we had before my accident,” Y/N stopped for a moment, thinking his words, “well people had told me about it, and it sounded nice.” 

“It was nice, yeah” Piper nodded nostalgic.

“I hope you understand it would be weird for me to start up everything again since I don’t really feel like I know you” His voice was soothing, allowing her a safe place to stay at ease, “but I think we can maybe, try to be friends?”

“You are very special to me, Y/N” Piper murmured, “I’d do anything for you, at some point you knew that but now you don’t, still was important to me you knew that”

“Thanks, Piper” He blushed, nodding at her words, “that’s nice of you.”

They stayed silent. When the sun was starting to paint a faint orange, Piper spoke up.

“I would love to be your friend again.”

Y/N looked up at her, mildly surprised that she had agreed, he then nodded showing one of his best smiles.

“Great, then I could finally meet the legend behind all the stories people already say around camp”

“They have stories about me?” She grinned.

“Kayla told me you made Drew quit her title as a counselor”

“Well yeah, but I had reasons.”

“Like what?”

“She annoyed me.”

Y/N laughed, and it was like things were going back to their place. They stayed there for a long time, talking until dinner was ready and the moon stood tall up their heads.  Once more, she was totally head over heels, losing her senses to a simple boy, the best boy.

“We should go eat now before they leave us without any food.” Y/N shook the sand from his legs and held his hand out to help her stand. Like he used to do before the accident. Maybe not everything was lost.

“Sure” Piper brushed her clothes too, then she looked at him again, “this was nice, Y/N, I hope we can do it again soon”

“Me too” He tilted his head, eyeing her curiously, “I like you, Piper, I get why old me felt things about you”

“Woah, that’s so romantic” She snorted.

“Hey, I’m trying!” He laughed, “I’ll get it right at some point, don’t be bad”

“Yeah” and her heart pounded at the chances, “I believe you”

“I’ll find my way home” He beamed, puppy eyes staring at the girl. His best girl.

Yay, you really thought I would make real angst? Bitch, AS IF, everyone knows I’m completely incapable lmao 

Hope you guys like it anyway <3

-Danny :)

[rainagainstmywindow]

All Shades of You (Chapter 5)

Happy Birthday to Percy Jackson! This is super fluffy so it commemorates the Percabeth anniversary as well too I believe. Thanks as always to my lovely beta @san-penedo and enjoy the small lifeguard!Percy i managed to sprinkle in there! (please search #ramwfics or #ASoY for previous chapters)

Percy groaned as he attempted to read the same passage of his history textbook for what appeared to be the hundredth time. The exhaustion that weighed over him thanks to swim practice two hours prior didn’t help either, nor the fact that he had to wake up early tomorrow for his dog-walking gig. He would have little time the rest of the weekend to catch up on homework since he’d taken on extra shifts at the local pool where he worked as a lifeguard to make up for what he couldn’t work during the weekdays now that he was in the swim team.

He got halfway through the passage once again but it was no use, the words just taunted him from the page, dancing around in weird, curvy waves. Frustrated, he slammed the book shut, immediately flinching at the sound. He hadn’t heard anyone come in but Smelly Gabe would give him hell for making any noise during his precious “TV time.” Percy slowly poked his head out of his room and was relieved to find he was home alone. His stepfather was probably out drinking with his buddies and his mom should’ve been heading home from the candy shop. He felt his phone buzz. It was a text from Sally.

Will probably get there in a few hours. Had to close up late and I stopped to get some groceries. Don’t wait up. Love you

Percy texted back a quick reply, knowing full well she was probably closing up but at a new job. She had not wanted to admit it when he’d asked, too concentrated on congratulating him for making the team, but this definitely put a strain on money. His school tuition had already been too much even when he was working more frequently. He wondered once again if this was worth it, if he was worth it. He knew his mom wanted him to have what she didn’t, to finish high school and make it out of this neighbourhood. But he’d only managed to screw up every chance he’d gotten so far, and college just seemed too out of reach. His stepfather seemed to agree with it all being a waste. I won’t waste a dime on your little delinquent kid, Sally! Percy had heard him and his mother arguing after she’d gotten Percy the interview at Goode. As if Smelly Gabe had ever contributed anything but anxiety to Percy’s life. He’d silently prayed he wouldn’t be allowed into the school, didn’t really see how considering his record and poor grades. But, somehow, he’d made it in.

He made his way into the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge. He’d made sure to have an extra large lunch but he had not eaten since practice and he was starving. Percy looked at the clock. 10:32 pm. He figured Beckendorf would be at his apartment, getting back from work himself. Last year he would alternate his time between practice and Beckendorf’s apartment. Most days Grover would join them and they would pass the time bothering Beckendorf about Silena or playing with Mrs. O’Leary. Yet another thing Percy had screwed up when he got himself kicked out. He slammed the fridge door too, this time flinching because he knew he couldn’t afford to break the old thing. It’s not like Beckendorf had stopped inviting him over. He’d even hung out there a few days ago. Percy just couldn’t help but feel guilty whenever he saw him.

In the end, his own boredom and frustration won and he found himself in front of Beckendorf’s door. Mrs. O’Leary must’ve heard him come because Percy could hear her barking through the door. A few seconds later there was Beckendorf staring down at him, still im his mechanic overalls. “Hey! Everything okay?” Percy didn’t miss how his dark eyes scanned his face. There had been a couple of times last year when he’d knocked on his door later at night looking worse for wear.

“Yeah,” he answered casually, “I just got bored. Can I come in?”

“Yeah, of course.” Beckendorf stepped aside, making sure to hold on to Mrs. O’Leary’s colar. The large Rottweiler had started bounding happily at the sight of Percy, who scratched her ears on his way in. Beckendorf knew Percy too well. “You hungry?” He asked as they shuffled into his living room/kitchen.

Percy tried not to look too embarrassed as he admitted: “I’m starving.”

************

“What?” Percy asked Grover for the second time. He’d been too focused on a scrawny kid flopping around in the pool in front of him to hear what his friend was saying. He’d seen the kid before, not the strongest swimmer but Percy could tell it was more due to lack of confidence than anything else. He’d seen him manage quite well in the shallower parts of the pool. Today it seemed like he’d finally decided to try out the deeper end though. The kid’s parents were nowhere to be seen, and Percy could see the panic starting to creep into his face as he realized the water was too deep to stand in. “I’ll be right back.”

Percy slid into the water. He didn’t want to make a scene since the kid wasn’t actually drowning and he wanted to give him a chance to get out of there by himself. The boy spotted him right away, relief evident in his face. Percy was tall enough to stand in this part of the pool so he made his way slowly towards him. “Hey there.” The kid didn’t make a dash to hold onto him so Percy knew hadn’t gotten too desperate, but the way he was flopping around would tire him out soon enough. “What’s your name?”  

The kid, looking mildly embarrassed, told him it was Trevor. Slowly but surely, Percy got Trevor to paddle to a shallower part of the pool. His parents finally made an appearance not soon after. “Hey ma’am,” Percy called. They were clearly here just to pick him up and they didn’t look too happy about it. The father hadn’t even looked up from his phone. “Is this your kid?” The mother, a woman that appeared to be blonde with unusually dark skin (through his limited color palette Percy assumed it was due to a bad tanning job), looked him up and down but didn’t find it within herself to answer. “I had to help Travis swim away from the deeper end of the pool. He’s not a strong enough swimmer yet for you to leave him on his own like-”

“Oh, I’m sorry, are you complaining about doing your job?” The woman’s tone made Percy’s blood boil but he clenched his fists to keep his temper in check. He didn’t need any complaints going to his supervisor. He tried to apologize but the woman was too busy yanking Trevor out of the water to care. Percy tried to put on a fake smile as he waved goodbye to the kid and sulked back to his chair.

Grover looked distastefully at the spot where the woman had gone. “A plus parenting, huh?”

Percy rolled his eyes in agreement and slumped back into his chair. “What were you saying before?”

“Oh right,” Grover tried to calm his nerves, but he’d never been a good liar and Percy knew him pretty well by now. Grover was hoping to catch Percy in a good mood since he knew he wouldn’t like this next part very much. “Well, you know how you’ve been telling me you’ve been struggling with homework lately?”

That question alone was enough to hit a nerve. “I’m not struggling, Grover. I was just saying that I’m tired and I hate reading.”

“Yeah, well I was talking to Annabeth-” Grover held up a pleading hand before Percy could interrupt him- “She’s really smart, Percy! She could help you out after school!”

“Why did you have to tell her anything? I don’t even know her!”

“I didn’t tell her anything about that!” Grover argued. He knew it was hard for Percy to talk about people about his dyslexia and ADHD; he wouldn’t betray his trust like that. Little did Percy know, however, that Annabeth was in the same boat. “I just told her you needed some help with some subjects because I know she’s really good at all that stuff and she actually volunteered herself to tutor you.” It had taken Grover aback a bit actually. Annabeth was nice and always there to help, but she didn’t take on to new people right away. Grover hadn’t gotten the impression that she disliked Percy, but it usually took her a lot longer to show interest in new people. The only other person he knew she’d gotten along with right away was Thalia. Now that Grover thought about it, Percy and Thalia did have a lot in common, though.

“Tutor me?” Percy was looking thoroughly annoyed, eyes fixed on the water before him.

“She’s not going to charge you or anything,” Grover winced at his own comment. It was hard to manage Percy’s temper around this subject. He hated feeling pitied and wasn’t big on asking for help. “She’s just trying to help and she’s new here. She doesn’t know many people besides me and Thalia.” Percy sighed. “She’s the smartest person I know, Percy. I trust her. You met her. She’s cool.” Grover could tell he was going to give in. He knew Percy was worried about keeping his grades up. His swim coach had let him on the team under the condition that he would get his GPA up enough to get out of probation from the school. Grover was also secretly excited about his two best friends possibly becoming friends themselves.

“Fine,” Percy finally said, bringing his whistle up to his lips at the sight of a group of small girls chasing each other. He gave one firm blow and pointed at the sign that read No Running when they both whipped their heads towards him. “I’ve got some free time on Monday after practice.”

*************

Annabeth tapped her pen impatiently against the table she’d settled in at the library. It didn’t help her temper that today she found out that this same pen, which she’d been using since the beginning of the semester, was bright red. The color of romance, her father had once jokingly told her. And danger, Annabeth now thought. Yeah, that seemed more accurate in her case.

The guy was almost an hour late. She was about to give up when she heard what sounded like a chair being knocked over, a loud hush, and a quick apology. A few seconds later, there was Percy Jackson. His hair was still wet from what she assumed was swim practice and he was holding a battered skateboard under his arm. Annabeth was once again struck by the intense green of his eyes. She thought she’d gotten used to the color after seeing it everywhere for the past couple of weeks, but it still floored her. There was nothing else that was that exact shade of green.

“You’re late.”

He at least managed to look guilty as he pulled a chair out noisily, earning him a death glare from the librarian at the desk. “I know. I’m so sorry. We ended late and the subway broke down or something.”

Annabeth would’ve shrugged that off as a half-assed excuse but every time she’d gotten on the subway that week it had stopped for almost an hour. Percy also had a very sincere way of saying things that kind of put her on edge. She waved her hand dismissively. “It’s fine. Did you bring your book?” He pulled a history textbook from his battered backpack. She tried to ignore the fact he’d dogeared the page. “Fall of Constantinople, right?”

“Yeah.” She could tell this whole ordeal embarrassed him a little. It was becoming harder and harder to remember she was annoyed at him. “I just...can’t seem to understand why this city was so important. From what I managed to extract from the other chapter, it seems like this whole empire was already done for.”

“I mean it was certainly in decline, and the Ottoman Turks had taken the Balkans and Anatolia by this point. So that made Constantinople the last city holding up what used to be this seemingly unbreachable empire.” Annabeth saw Percy nodding along and jutting down some notes. There was no other way to call it, it was cute. “Constantinople also represented Mehmed’s rival religion.”

“Wait, so he tried to take it again? This Meh...however you say his name? He’d already tried before, right?”

“No, that was his dad.” Annabeth leaned closer to the passage Percy was looking at. He pushed the book towards her so she could get a better look. The font was so tiny that Annabeth almost got dizzy. It would’ve taken her almost an hour to decipher just one paragraph. She pushed the book back towards him, hoping he hadn’t noticed. Thankfully, she had always been good at remembering names and they’d gone over this in her school in San Francisco last year. “Murad was the one who failed to take the city and then his son Mehmed tried again and succeeded. He got this Hungarian artillery expert, Urban I think he was called, to build him a cannon powerful enough to take down the walls of the city.”

“Sorry, could you spell that last name?”

Something about the question made Annabeth falter for a second. Percy appeared to understand most of what they were talking about. It was the names that seemed to stump him. It sounded a little familiar. “Sure.” Annabeth spelled the name out for him and she watched him make some new notes. She thought about how Grover never failed to bring up Percy one way or another when she complained about homework assignments. “Once Mehmed seized the city he used the emperor’s famed cathedral as a mosque. I can’t remember the name though. Is it in your book? I don’t know if they’d want you to know it for class.”

Annabeth observed as Percy scanned the page; she could practically feel the frustration oozing off of him. She was absolutely certain her suspicions were correct when she saw him push the book a bit far away, a trick she herself had tried many times. “Hey Percy,” he grunted in response, still absorbed in the textbook, “are you maybe...dyslexic?”

She felt him tense right away. Grover hadn’t told her for a reason, it was clearly a touchy subject for him. Annabeth was grateful that Grover had also clearly failed to tell Percy about her. “I just think that’s why Grover brought all of this up.” He was now looking at her, a complicated look on his face, like he didn’t know whether or not he should be getting offended. “It’s just that,” it had always been hard for her to talk about it too. It was like a cosmic joke for someone that loved reading so much to be made in a way that made it almost impossible to do so. “I am too, dyslexic I mean. Just looking at that book just now made me want to throw up.” His expression immediately softened. Annabeth noted the way he could easily go from one emotion to another. “That font size is awful.”

“I know right. And it’s and older edition so it doesn’t have an audio version.”

“I think I still have one for my textbook last year. I don’t know if it has everything in this one but-”

“No, yeah. That’d be great! I mean if you don’t mind-”

Annabeth chuckled, definitely cute. “I don’t, Percy.”

He thanked her once again and they finally exchanged numbers. They got through the main events of Constantinople. Annabeth remembered everything pretty well and Percy took notes. She felt light as a feather the whole time. She tried to ignore it. It’d never been this way with anyone she liked in the past. Her crush on Luke had been anything but light. Being with Percy was just nice. She didn’t know about the whole ‘soulmate’ ordeal, she didn’t even know if she liked him that way really, but she definitely wanted to hang out with him again.

An hour later he casually checked his phone and almost jumped off his chair, earning him yet another glare from the librarian. Annabeth tried to mask her snort as a cough. “Sorry,” he said quickly. He turned to Annabeth. “I have to go. Are you free Thursday?” She was pretty sure she would be but she’d have to check. She could tell he was in a hurry though so she told Percy she’d text him. “Thanks again! See you then.”

Annabeth smiled silently to herself as Percy hurried out of the library, bumping into several chairs and failing beautifully at making a quiet exit. Her smiled melted when she looked down at the pen she was still holding. Bright red.