#I poked my main laptop & it’s still in a crisis

[octoooo]

More silly sabibun doodles

I’m trying to use my older crankier laptop for art

Ibis paint was..fine? Barely. Maybe it’s my laptop or canvas size that makes it lag a little, also there’s ads

Flip a Clip is good for animating in my experience, but not being able to use the buttons on my drawing tablet really slows down the process for me.

[birlcholtz]

part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4

Over the summer, Dex gets a Snapchat from Ransom. It's a shitty, slightly-blurry picture of his computer, featuring an Excel sheet prominently titled MED SCHOOL OPTIONS. He's captioned it wish u were here X(.

Dex has absolutely no idea what to do with that.

After about two minutes of deliberating (it can't be too long, he can't overthink too much, because it's Snapchat so Ransom knows Dex has seen what he sent), he takes a similarly shitty picture of a bunch of lobsters on the deck of his uncle's boat and sends it, captioned Wish I was there too.

He's in so deep.

Fuck.

Med school options. This fall, Ransom's going to be a senior, and he's going to be co-captain, and just... time moves so fast. Soon they'll be back on campus for pre-season, and then it'll be midterms, then winter break, then spring semester and Ransom's last semester at Samwell.

Gah.

He winds up Skyping Ransom that evening, when Dex is back from work and Ransom's taking a break from future-induced crises.

"How was the ocean?" Ransom says. He's clearly sitting in bed with his laptop, a blanket draped around his shoulders and tied like a cape. The look on his face is soft, in a way, or maybe he's just tired and Dex is reading too much into it. "Still big as fuck?"

"Still big as fuck," Dex confirms. "Still salty, too. Fewer lobsters in it than there were this morning."

Ransom chuckles at that, more of a 'ha' than a real laugh, but Dex feels warm inside anyway. Hopefully he's not blushing. "How are the spreadsheets treating you?"

"Ugh. I'm narrowing down schools, and there are a bunch that are like... fine? But nothing's really grabbing me." He shrugs. "They're all just places I could go to learn medicine. It's weird. My spreadsheets for undergrad were way more opinionated than this."

"Oh, mine too." Dex's college apps spreadsheet was almost entirely subjective, with a few columns of hard data so he could back up his opinions to his family. "Are you looking for a dream school?"

"I guess?" Ransom doesn't look all that convinced, though. "I've been planning to become a doctor for a really long time, so I feel like looking for med schools should be more... exciting. But I might just not have found the right places yet."

"That's the good thing about starting in the summer. You've got time." Even if Ransom looking for med schools already is just driving home the point that he'll be gone soon.

"I do, yeah. But I don't want to spend this whole year trying to figure out where I'm going next, you know? I want to enjoy it too. Spend time with people. That kind of thing." From the way Ransom says it, it sounds like he has more specific ideas than that, but he's not sharing so Dex doesn't pry.

Talking about how it's about to be Ransom's last year at Samwell sucks, but there's one topic that sucks even more, and like he's poking at a loose tooth, Dex gravitates directly to that one next. "How's March?"

Ransom blinks. "Oh. Uh. I have no idea? We kind of fell out of touch once the semester ended."

God. Okay. This is either good, because Dex won't have to hear about March anymore, or bad, because now he doesn't have March as a convenient reason to repress the shit out of everything.

"Oh, sorry," he says. "You don't sound too upset about it?"

Ransom pauses. He always looks kind of up toward the ceiling when he's thinking, and that's what he does now, gaze drifting up for a couple of seconds before he looks back at Dex. "I'm not, really. March is cool, but I think we both knew it wasn't going to last."

Alright, there's a legion of things Ransom is leaving unsaid there, but again, he's not sharing so Dex doesn't pry.

"I'm glad you're feeling okay." It comes out a little more serious than he means it to, but he can't take it back now, so he tries to backtrack a little with something humorous. "Because I haven't accumulated any vacation days, so I can't come to Toronto to watch rom-coms and yell at the screen with you."

Ransom gives him a confused smile, like he can't decide if that's weird or endearing. Which is fair, because Dex also doesn't know if what he just said is weird or endearing. "That's... oddly specific."

"Uh, that's what happens after the breakup in Legally Blonde." Dex shrugs. "It was the first thing that came to mind."

Ransom looks up at the ceiling again, and he doesn't quite look back at Dex before saying, "I mean, I could drive to Maine. It's not that far. You have weekends off, right?"

"Yeah," Dex says, probably too quickly. "Yeah, that would be..." 'Swawesome. Bizarre. A lot of adrenaline packed into one weekend. Probably crisis-inducing. "Cool. If you have time, I mean."

He does look back at the camera then. "Dex, please give me a reason to stop thinking about med school applications for a couple of days."

Dex feels himself start to smile. "Well, if you say so."

[linoholic]

Poly!Jaepil

Requested: @skylions-den asked: I saw that you write for Day6! Hehe I didn’t know, may I have poly Jae and Wonpil?

Pairing: Day6 Jae x Wonpil x Reader

Genre: poly!au

Warnings: I mean, it has Wonpil so major fluff warnings (though not as bad as a Dopil fic would be)

So I has almost finished this when I accidentally deleted it instead of posting it last night because it was like 3am and I was dead. And so I had to rewrite it, hence why it is pretty short and not all that great. But I hope you enjoy my dear, since you have been supporting me so well ^^

I was going to make this a college

Until I realised that literally everything would be the same except for the fact that, ya know, they were in college

Anyway

So!

You have been friends with Amber for a while, being one of many in her friendship circle

You got to know her when you moved to LA

You had bumped into her in a store while she was filming a blog, not knowing who she was or anything

She was making a joke to the camera, and you, being the outgoing and self proclaimed funny person you are, decided to turn around and answer back with a joke of your own

Which was successful in making Amber burst out laughing, immediately introducing herself

You were fast friends, with you often showing up in her videos considering both her and her subscribers loved your sense of humour

You even got blessed with the nickname ‘Chickpea’ - the subject of that first joke

As a result, you quickly got blessed with the chance of getting to know her other friends, famous or not

About a week or so after you met her, she made you react to f(x) music videos

The world thanks God that she got your reaction to finding out she is a part of one of the most loved female kpop groups (this was your descent into the madness that is kpop)

But alas, this isn’t an Amber scenario despite my deep love for her

Amongst all her friends, one of the ones you immediately clicked with was a certain person who went by Jae

You met a few years after you first met Amber

You had moved to Seoul at this point

You had worked basically running a pretty big companies social media for a few years, and after being encouraged by Amber, had applied for similar positions at a few companies in Korea

And you had fallen in love with the idea of living there after hearing stories about the food and the people and the culture from Amber, and had decided that you needed a change from LA and it’s constant sun, a place with four seasons perhaps

So after a crash course in Korean and an acceptance letter from a company, you got a work visa, a plane ticket and long term hotel room booked and off you went, with promises to visit all your friends in California

Sadly, Amber couldn’t be with you, still having stuff to do in the US, and so you had to settle in alone, not that you had much to do yet since you were living out of a hotel room while you found an apartment

But she didn’t leave you completely alone

She had told Jae of your arrival and asked if he would check up on you for her, to make sure you weren’t lying about settling in well

Turns out he didn’t have to go far to find you

Just down the hallway of his workplace actually

Because yes, you had managed to snag a job at JYP entertainment

Despite picking up the language pretty quickly, you still defaulted to English at first, having to remember to switch to Korean for most conversations

So imagine your surprise when you bumped into someone and they answered back in English when you said “Oh, sorry!”

Looking up from the papers that had you distracted, you see a pretty tall, bespectacled guy standing in front of you

And of course, in a country full of people speaking one language, your going to be drawn to someone that speaks your own language, in an accent you recognise no less

So you shift the papers under one arm, holding your other hand out for a handshake

“Hi, I’m y/n, a new employee here,” you say, smiling widely

Taking your hand, Jae replies with, “Nice to meet you, I’m Jae - wait, Amber’s y/n?”

“…I guess so? You know Amber? Wait, Jae as in Day6 and JaeSix? How the fuck did I not recognise you?”

“Yep. That’s me. I guess I’m pretty famous then”

“Nah, not you, just your resemblance to a certain character”

“I’d you say the name I will tell Amber that I found you crying your eyes out in some random back alley and you’ll have to put up with her mothering you”

“…Chicken Little…” is all you say before zooming out of there with the Sonic music running through your head

That isn’t the last time you see Jae

You see him pretty often in fact, considering you work in the same building

And with your similar senses of humour, it doesn’t take long for you to consider him a friend, and him you

Phone numbers are exchanged quickly, memes are sent, you roast him and he roasts you

You even end up cameoing in a JaeSix video, which excited the viewers who knew you from What the Pineapple

And he was kind enough to help you out with your Korean, after teasing you when you said something completely wrong in a certain context

It’s a sweet(?) friendship

And with Jae comes the rest of Day6 behind him

While Jae remains your best friend out of the group, you become close with the others as well

They all come to love you and your high Jae tolerance

One person in particular takes a special liking toward you

When Jae first introduced you to the band, Wonpil thought you were cute

Scratch that, he found you straight up gorgeous

And when you talked more, it was obvious he had started crushing on you

Whenever you came round with Jae, his ears would turn red and he would turn especially shy, you all know how I mean

The rest of Day6 knew of this crush, and of course they all teased him about it

Usually they spared him and did it alone, but sometimes they teased him in front of you, not that you ever really caught on

Jae was the main perpetrator at first, doing the whole “you like my friend” sort of thing

But as time went on, and Wonpils feelings got more serious than a simple highschool crush, Jae started getting confused

All he knew was that he loved when you smiled at him, and hated when you smiled the same big smile at Wonpil, or cooed over how cute the younger boy was, or praised his singing and talent on a piano

What made him confused, was that on one hand, he wanted you to praise him instead, call him funny and handsome and all that jazz

And on the other hand, he felt a little protective of Wonpil

There was one time he thought “But that’s my Wonpil”, which ended up with him standing in the shower having an existential crisis

He ended up ranting to Brian about it all, who just said, “Bro, you like them both. Ask them out.”

And then Brian decided to be a snake, and go to you and tell you everything

Jaes feelings, Wonpils feelings, your feelings that he had been figuring out and gossiping about with Sungjin

Because he knew Jae would avoid asking anyone out, especially if it meant losing his “I hate Wonpil” image, and instead just sulk around

And there is no way Wonpil would have the balls to do so, at least according to Brian

After talking to you, you had an epiphany

You had always lowkey had feelings for Jae, but you had written them off as the fact that he was your first friend in Korea

And how could someone not love Wonpil?

You knew you should probably confess to them, and so you did

You were thinking of doing something a little extra, like singing one of their songs to them or something, but decided that you’d rather not die of embarrassment when Jae inevitably teases you over it

So you simply took them both out to a barbeque place before randomly confessing to them in the middle of eating

To put it simply, you created two wraps and fed them to the two boys while saying “for you because I fancy you, and for you because I fancy you too!”

And then you sat there as what you said sunk in, and their eyes widened as they both struggled to swallow the food in a hurry

(to this day Jae makes fun of you for almost killing your boyfriends before they even became you boyfriends)

It was completely spontaneous and really caught them off guard

Somehow both surprisingly and unsurprisingly, Wonpil was the one to speak first, confessing his own feelings with a red face and small voice

Leaving Jae sitting more flustered than you had ever seen in his life

(You lowkey wish you had a camera to capture the sight)

After a bit of poking and prodding he came out with an “You two are alright I guess”

Which is basically Jae talk for “I am hopelessly in love with the both of you”, something you and Wonpil know

And so that meal the rest of the night is officially your first date

It’s a bit awkward at first, the transitioning into a romantic relationship

But pretty soon you all settle into your new roles as significant others as things are talked through and you all get used to different boundaries and such

At first you all keep it quiet, unsure of how it would affect the band and everything

But when the Wonpil starts sneaking into Jaes bed more than others at nights in the dorm; when Jae starts teasing Wonpil and you the tiniest bit less; when you start showing up at band practice and pay more attention to the two than them, they start catching on that something may have happened

They once confronted you all about it, to which the two boys vehemently denied it while you sat in the background snorting at their antics, sipping apple juice and watching Dowoon play WoW on his laptop (cuz he already knows thanks to Wonpil gushing to him as soon as he got back from your first date, and he would prefer to stay out of that mess thank you very much)

Young K and Sungjin were proven right when you started getting hungry and called out “Babe!” and both Jae and Wonpil turn to face asking “Yes?” only to immediately face Sungjin and Young K with fear in their eyes who both have their arms crossed with a 'we knew it’s look on their faces

Though, the two of them regret exposing the relationship when the three of you start showing affection in front of them

Although, they are glad that it means they are now lower on the list of people Wonpil is affectionate with, especially Sungjin

Because you better believe that Wonpil is always clinging onto you or Jae if either of you are within 100m of him

As much as Jae pretends to hate it, you often come home to find the two snuggled on your couch after a long day spent in the recording studio or at concerts, Wonpil lying happily in Jae’s arms as the elder runs his hand through his hair

Or you see Jae leaning down to press a kiss to Wonpils forehead when the younger is stressing out about things

And it warms your heart because there is nothing you love more than seeing your boyfriends in love

You can be sure that as soon as they notice you Wonpil is dragging you over and soon it is just a mess of limbs and hair colours

Unknown to you and Wonpil, Jae secretly goes to the big man JYP himself asking for permission on the relationship and such because he does want to show the two of you off

And when he gets the go ahead to reveal the relationship

You can bet that he is vlogging dates and such for JaeSix, which is how he reveals he is dating you and Wonpil

And my god do the MyDays celebrate

The amount of tweets Jae gets sent his way saying stuff like “I knew JaePil was real’ and 'I did ship y/n and Amber but you cute I guess’ (yes that was from Amber herself)

You often end up scolding Jae because he uses the fact that he is in a relationship to tease all his single friends

And even his not so single friends

"You only have one significant other while I have two (2) whole people who love me unconditionally…not counting all my fans of course I love you MyDays”

Sometimes people do question the relationship

And not over the fact that it’s a polyamorous relationship, but because sometimes it seems like your relationship hasn’t changed from your friendship at all

Because Jae still teases and makes fun of you both, Wonpil has always been a clingy, cuddly baby and things like that

But it’s mainly because you are all super comfortable with each other and hyper aware of how each other feels about various things 

For example, you and Wonpil know Jae isn’t too big on PDA and so you and Wonpil make sure that he is comfortable with anything you do, asking before you so much as hold his hand

Though in private you and Wonpil will most definitely just glomp him at random whether he likes it or not, usually as revenge for him eating your leftovers or for calling Wonpil a snake the hundredth time that day

Now, our boys are musicians, and so you better get ready for songs dedicated to you if you ever go to their concerts, which is often because you want to support your boyfriends in their career (though you also go cuz their concerts are lit and MyDays know how to get lit)

And some songs may even get written about you

*Cue Young K in the background whining about how the songs are getting sappy and not heartbreaking like usual*

If you don’t already know how to, be prepared to learn how to play the guitar and piano

Because there is no way Jae is giving up the chance to be greasy and cliche and do the whole 'sit behind you guiding you hands’ thing

Not much gets done during these sessions as Jae ends up being easily distracted by your closeness

I’m not saying makeout sessions but that’s exactly what I’m saying

And when Wonpil tries teaching to use the keyboard, not much gets done either

Mainly because you just love watching him all concentrated, his pretty fingers dancing over the keys and so you pout to convince to play you “just one more song”

If you’re lucky he’ll sing as well, blessing you with his vocals

Though he often ends up a blushing mess because you sit beside him staring intently at him with total hearts in your eyes (as Jae gags in the background acting as if he isn’t also enamoured by Wonpils voice)

Wonpil is always raiding yours and Jaes closets for any clothes he can wear, which you can’t complain about because you do the exact same thing

Jae on the other hand likes to complain whenever he sees one of you wearing his clothes, though secretly he absolutely loves it, he just wants to keep up his cool image

And both of them are constantly bringing up the Pink Sweater™ debate, trying to bring you to their side

Jae takes it personal when he goes to your apartment one day to find you chilling in said sweater; he acts all offended and refuses any and all affection til you and Wonpil bribe him by taking him out to dinner

There is a group chat the three of you have which is a complete mess

It’s filled with Jae’s memes, Wonpil selfies and exclamations of love and you worrying over whether they are eating and sleeping enough

Especially when the two are away on tour and you can’t go with them

Though on those occasions you’ll often get voice notes from them, alone or together, of them singing for you

Because they know how much you love their voices as you often get them to sing you to sleep whenever they spend nights with you

Well, to be honest, you get them to sing as much as possible because why wouldn’t you?

Basically, your relationship is as much fun as it is soft, and you are most definitely not starved of memes of cuddles

[bubblegumwitchswriting]

The Currency We’ve Spent Chapter Seven

Main Pairing: Will/Nico

Other Pairings: Jason/Piper; Percy/Annabeth; Hazel/Frank; Leo/Calypso

Ao3 Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15934799/chapters/40763918

First Chapter (Prologue): here

Previous Chapter: here

It had been approximately five minutes since the last world-changing event hit them, so they were probably due another one. Jason's statement was probably earth-shattering but neither he nor Will appreciated that and just stared at him slightly blankly. Jason sighed in relief and sank back slightly into the cushions.

"Is that bad?" Will asked.

"No," said Jason. "That's good. That's really good."

Nico wasn't sure if it was just him or whether Jason really wasn't making much sense. He glanced at Will, but Will was just surreptitiously examining Jason, in med-student and doctor to the mob mode.

"Did -" Jason paused. He looked at Will as though trying to figure out how to phrase something.

"Luke never mentioned it," Will said, acting more composed than he must have been feeling. "Nico can you get that notebook?"

Nico got up to did that, leaving Will examining a cut on Jason's arm.

"How did you get this?" Will asked, as Nico padded away. Nico stopped listening. He didn't want to know. He couldn't know.

Everywhere around him the protective bubble he'd been forming  was fracturing and cracking. The world was pushing in, reality was coming for him. But why was this his reality? Why couldn't whatever drama his father and Jason's father were involved in just leave them all alone? Why couldn't he just have a boyfriend and worry about paying the rent and who was going to wash the dishes.

Actually, that was never really a worry. They both knew who would always end up doing the dishes.

He glanced at the date jar as he picked up Will's notebook. It had been only an hour or so since they'd been happily, soppily, writing down ideas for dates like a normal - sickeningly sweet - couple. Now it felt like a lifetime away. It felt like they had two different lives, two different personas - crisis and normality.

Normality hadn't lasted long and they had more experience with crisis. In the long hours of night that stretched out into time spent in the dark reaches of dark thoughts, deep worries that he usually shoved to the back of his head, he sometimes wondered if he and Will could cope without secrets, without drama, without crisis. If he closed his eyes and thought really hard he could maybe, just about see the two of them with a house and a car and proper jobs, maybe even kids. But the picture was hazy. The picture was hard to reach.

The picture might scare him a little.

He knew Will liked him, and liked him a lot. You didn't stay with someone who's family and family friends had tried to kill you, unless you liked them a lot. He knew that Will was loyal. He knew that despite Will's habit of picking up habits - even healthier eating, going to the gym, no tv days - and dropping them a week later, Will was loyal. He stayed, come rain or shine. Will was one of those people who didn't shy away from forever.

Nico couldn't say the same for himself.

Case in point: Austin. Nico had finally managed to convince Will he wasn't overthinking the secret brother. He'd then managed to convince himself he wasn't other-thinking the secret brother. Mostly convince himself anyway.

It wasn't the secret side of it he was over thinking this time, but the family aspect. And okay maybe the secret side. But not in the same sense as before: he had changed, no matter the looks Jason might give him. But Will's loyalty to his foster brother despite not seeing him in years, how torn up Will's life had become because of the past, because of those secrets - well that was something Nico was over thinking. Will had made it clear he didn't blame Nico for the possible actions of his father, the definite actions of Jason's father, Percy's father.

But would that hold? Would Will's loyalty hold?

And if Will was so loyal would there be a time when he went back to Luke?

No. Nico was not going down that path again. He wasn't.

He picked up the notebook just as Will called out to ask what was taking so long, and for a glass of coke and a pack of cookies. He assumed the coke and the cookies were for Jason, so he picked up the remains of packet of oreos - Jason's favourite and carried it all the into the living room.

He put everything down on the coffee table and Jason took an oreo. That was good. Jason looked too thin.

Will picked up the notebook, weighing it briefly in his hands before flipping the pages over, scanning his writing as though something might job a memory, a synapse might spark and he might suddenly unlock the secrets of the universe.

"Nothing," Will said with a shrug. The notebook seemed heavy in his palms.

"Something in here might help anyway," he said, holding it out to him. Jason reached out with a certain amount of reverence. He read, quickly and his expression changed. Sympathy? Wonder? Slight suspicion. Nico couldn't read Jason as well as he used to.

He wondered if he should have stopped Will giving Jason the book, but it was too late now anyway. And anyway Jason wasn't a threat. He had to stop letting his father get to him.

They'd already eaten, but they had a second dinner because of the unspoken agreement between him and Will that Jason needed to eat. With the lights on and Will making jokes, most of them at Nico's expense (Nico didn't mind because they were drawing smiles out of Jason, and then good-natured teasing out of Jason), Jason started looking more Jason like.

Midway through the evening, Jason and Will began ganging up on Nico's relationship with vegetables. Nico quickly diverted them with a question about Thalia.

"Won't talk about what happened," Jason said with a sigh. "But doing alright. She and Piper are getting on great. Always ganging up on me though."

"Gee," Nico said and he didn't think he'd ever felt the sarcasm dripping from his tongue so venomously, "I wonder how that feels."

Will just laughed; Jason pointed out how many nutrients aubergine had in with a beatific smile.

"That may be," Nico said, poking a piece with his fork. "But I hate the texture."

"I have to sneak vegetables in," Will said. "Like you have to do for little kids."

"I seem to recall earlier you saying how much you liked my spaghetti dear," Nico said. "And I put vegetables in that. You just have terrible taste in healthy stuff."

Jason went home with a bit of colour in his cheeks. After Nico shut the door behind him, and bolted it, he looked at Will, in the kitchen and staring into space.

"You didn't have to give Jason the notebook," Nico said softly. "That was a nice thing."

Will nodded. He pressed the thumb of one hand into the palm of the other. It was a nervous habit he'd only picked up very recently.

"It'll probably help," he said with a shrug. "And besides it will probably all come out at some point anyway."

He looked resigned. Nico wanted to get rid of that look but he didn't know how, not when he himself was resigned too.

Would they even survive without secrets?

He either needed to sleep, or a distraction. He glanced at his watch, Will noticed.

"Picnic tomorrow," he said. "First day of the rest of our lives doing the important stuff and all that."

Nico nodded.

"Are you saying early night?"

"Early night for you would be about 3am given how late you woke up," Will teased.

"It wasn't that late!" Nico protested, poking him in the ribs. Will giggled, squirming. He was extremely ticklish. It gave Nico the edge in arguments when Will had the edge with his sarcastic dears and loves and sweethearts melted Nico into butter outside in a heatwave. Will had not yet worked out that Nico was equally, and possible even more, ticklish. It was one secret he intended to keep from Will until he was cold in his grave.

Still giggling Will moved back, out of reach.

"I was just going to suggest Mario Kart," he said. "I'm not tired yet and aside from our super romantic rom-com picnic, we don't have much to do tomorrow."

"I'll take you up on that," Nico said. "Providing I get to be Luigi."

"You can be Luigi if you get there first," Will offered, sprinting away to the living room as he spoke.

"Come back cheat!" Nico called, running after him.

The next day dawned fair and warm: perfect picnic weather. Will, full of visions of checked blankets and wicker baskets searched for both despite knowing full well they'd never owned either of those items. He was debating going out to find them and whether amazon could same day delivery them and whether that was even a thing, or he'd dreamt it, when the doorbell went.

Will still deep in picnic planning land, ignored it. Nico drinking coffee and eating this morning's pancakes (Will was apparently very serious about big, important breakfasts - not that Nico was complaining) had to get up. He was expecting Jason, maybe Percy or Cecil. Lou Ellen even. He certainly wasn't expecting Thalia.

"Hey," she said, quietly hands shoved deep into the pockets of her jeans. "Jason gave me your address. I wanted to bring this back."

She took Will's notebook out of her jacket pocket.

Nico nodded. Then remembered they were both standing opposite sides of the doorway.

"Right," he said. "Come in?"

Thalia picked up on his tone.

"Won't stay long," she assured him. "I know you two are probably busy. I just wanted to ask Will something."

Nico pursed his lips, sour and irritated. He tried to shove it down but it was a pressure behind his eyes, a heat in his blood.

Thalia went through into the living room where Will was still at the laptop, staring with slight horror at the prices of picnic hampers.

"Hey," she said. "Thalia. Jason's sister."

"I remember," Will said. "From the party?"

Thalia and Will hadn't interacted much. Thalia, strangely, seemed unsure and she nodded, picking at a silver thread along the hem of the jacket. She didn't sit down, just stood uncomfortable and thoughtful in the centre of the room. Will closed the laptop.

"Brought this back," Thalia said, handing the notebook to Will. "Jason copied it all out. He said you wouldn't mind?"

Will shook his head.

"I suggested it."

Thalia nodded again. The thread was getting longer as she played with it, winding it tight around her finger.

"You knew Luke fairly well?"

Will looked down at the table, quiet now too. Nico suddenly got the impression he wasn't necessarily an important part of the conversation. He faded, as unobtrusively as he could into the kitchen. He could still hear them talking, could still jump in and rescue Will or kick Thalia out if things got too much. Could still eavesdrop.

He closed his eyes and took a breath. Sometimes he really hated his inner self.

"I guess," Will said. "I mean as much as anyone. He just kept to himself really. Didn't say much to anyone or have much to do with anyone."

"No," Thalia said softly. "I knew him. He trusted you. I can tell from the things he told you."

Will looked down at his hands.

"It was a business relationship really," he said. "But he must have cared about you. I haven't seen him or contacted him in a couple of months and he still texted me the other day to make sure you were okay."

Thalia was pale, furious, upset, hurt. It was a mix of emotions Nico was intimately acquainted with and for the first time in a very long time he felt a flash of kinship to Thalia.

"See," she managed. "He trusts you."

She shrugged, pulled her jacket more closely around herself.

"He wasn't always terrible you know," she said. "Even now I'm sometimes not sure he's wrong. I just wish he -"

She broke off, shaking her head.

"Thanks for answering. I know it's probably not something you want to dwell on."

Will didn't deny that.

"Any time," he said.

Nico showed Thalia out. At the door she paused.

"I know you didn't want this," she said. "But I thought maybe now?"

Out of her pocket she pulled a mythomagic card. It was a rare version of Hades. It was the card Thalia had brought back from their road trip, the card Bianca had gotten for him.

He swallowed the lump in his throat, ignored the heat in his eyes. He managed to reach out a hand to take it.

"Thanks," he said quietly.

Thalia, didn't acknowledge it. That was fine: he didn't want her to. Acknowledging him would also mean she acknowledge how rigidly he was holding himself, how hard it had been to get the words out at all. She just turned and left.

Back in the living room Will had opened up the laptop again and was back on the hunt for picnic hampers.

"We don't need a hamper," Nico said, forcing himself back to normality, back to that persona. "I mean how often are we going to picnic?"

"We should do it every weekend," Will said. Nico have him a look.

"Yeah, yeah," he said, forestalling Nico's comment. "I know. We'll probably do it twice and then it will rain and then we'll be busy and then -"

Nico sighed. Will was right, but suddenly he realised that he'd also been picturing their picnic with a hamper. Will's stupid romanticism was rubbing off, catching like the dreaded lurgy.

"We'll go today with a boring old carrier bag," he said. "And then we can look in some junk shops. I'm sure a thrift store somewhere will have a hamper."

Will grinned at him.

"What?" Nico said.

"You are a romantic!" he said with a grin.

"It's your fault," Nico grumbled. "I'm pandering to you and some of your stupid ideals are rubbing off."

Will just grinned, not taking Nico seriously at all. Nico wondered how seriously he'd meant it. He'd never had the opportunity to be romantic before. It had been so much easier to be a cynic.

"I'll start packing the food," Will said. "See if you can find something to sit on. It doesn't have to be checked."

They had plenty of blankets. Nico folded one up on the fourth attempt and then they were out in the warm spring air. Birds sung, road rage was at a minimum. It was a lovely day.

In the park there were plenty of other picnic-ers: other couples, families with small children running happily across the grass. Nico watched them blankly. Was that his future? Or was his future darker, did his future involve an endless array of Luke's and Ares's and echoed gunshots in his head.

He honestly didn't know which he wanted, which scared him more. And that scared him.

"I'll just do all this myself shall I?" Will asked, teasingly as he shook the blanket out. Nico looked up at Will, blonde hair a bright halo on the warm day.

What are you scared about? he asked himself.

He didn't have the answer.

"I was just waiting for you to get the blanket down," Nico said, equally teasing. "Not my fault you're slow."

They talked. They watched clouds. They did everything they were supposed to do on a romantic picnic. But Will didn't seem to be as present as he might have been. Given how excited Will had been about the whole thing, his distractedness worried Nico. He got an explanation without warning, as Will stirred a pot of honey he'd been spreading on a slice of bread.

"Thalia's right," he said, watching the spoon go round and round. "Luke did trust me."

Nico had no idea what to say. He had no idea where Will's train of thought had come from, even less where it was going.

"Did you trust him?" he asked.

Will sighed.

"You know what," he said. "I did. At least to the extent that he would continue to pay me and continue to ensure I was as out of danger as possible."

"When I met him," Nico said. "He seemed okay. I think that was one of the things that really bothered me. He does all these terrible things, but he just stood there and seemed okay."

Will was quiet.

The spoon went round and round.

"You know," Will said quietly. "I sometimes wonder if he has done terrible things."

Nico really didn't know how to answer that one. He couldn't think of a single thing to say that wasn't Luke is evil!

"I mean what do we really know? Your father and Jason's father don't like him. He attacked them. But they also attack him. We don't know who is right."

"Luke's the mob," Nico said, frustrated, but he knew he was mostly frustrated with himself. Because Will was making sense. He didn't want Will to make sense. He didn't want things to get messier. He didn't want to find out just how loyal Will was.

"Yes but," Will said gently, "-and please don't take this the wrong way but - how do we know you're dad isn't. Jason's father isn't?"

If it were a gang fight, a turf war, if it was one version of a mob against another version of the mob would that make it better or worse?

If it was would Will pick Luke? Would Nico pick his own father?

"I -" Nico said. But then he shook his head. "Maybe you're right."

"I didn't mean to rock the boat," Will said. "Or ruin the picnic. But we don't know anything. I gave Jason the notebook because maybe we need to go back a bit. Figure out what happened in the past. Figure out who's right now. Maybe that's the only way we get out."

"That doesn't sound like getting out," Nico said, through gritted teeth. "That sounds like getting into it."

"Wasn't that your idea?" Will asked. "Getting into it to get out of it?"

"My idea largely involved neither of us getting hurt!" Nico snapped.

There was a beat of silence. Will put down the spoon. Nico played with the ring on his finger.

"We won't," Will said.

"You can't promise that," Nico said.

"No," Will said. "I guess I can't. But I can't promise we won't get hurt anyway. Ignoring everything, not being angry, it was okay before. But now Austin's here, and you're here and everything that goes with your dad and Jason's dad is here. I think now not being mad is making it worse. Ignoring it all is making it worse. Kayla's strong, she's doing okay. I don't have to worry about upsetting her."

"What about upsetting yourself?" Nico asked softly.

Will looked up at him, expression suddenly so much it made Nico dizzy.

"I've got you," Will said. "I know you'll be there."

Nico swallowed. He couldn't look up. It wasn't an I love you, the words weren't even close, but they carried the same tone, the same weight.

"And I've got Jason and Percy and Annabeth and Piper, and Lou Ellen and Cecil and -" Will added with a grin, completely and totally ruining the moment. Or maybe the way his eyes gleamed made it better. Either way Nico lent forward and kissed him.

"You have us," he agreed. It wasn't an I love you, but he hoped it carried the same tone, the same weight.

[kierantwo]

The world through their eyes - Chapter 2

Chapter 2 Archer

-Space, Lexicandra galaxy

“Come on you stupid thing!” Archer exclaimed angrily as he shuffled around in the cockpit of the small ship he was trying to pilot. His hands were clenched tightly on the control stick infront of him, despite space travel being a somewhat easy exam to pass, Archer still managed to fail everytime… something Ava held over him for quite a long time.

It wasn’t the same, Archer was angry at that. They were inseparable, Ava and Archer. Two peas in a pod you could say. Though that sinking feeling was still there, even after all the time that had passed. He remembers the screams of delight and cheer around them as they were chosen to be the next King and Queen of their planet. The thought made Archer want to throw up, too much responsibility. He was only 15, next year he would be crowned King. Ava? The Queen.

He loved Ava, like a sister, but not in that way. He, didn’t ever like girls in that way… He was unsure how he really felt about anyone. Archer went looking for Ava after she went missing a week ago, it was as if no one really cared where she went, after the whole planet labeled their future Queen as ‘One of them’.

Archer stole a ship, sped off out the atmosphere, and right into the path of a fucking black hole. This hadn’t been a very successful search.

Archer began to panic, he was told to keep calm in a crisis but that was out of the window, As well as half the ship’s food supplies for that matter. He was swearing in his mind as his hands mashed on the controls. “No! No! You stupid ship!” He screamed, desperatley trying to gain control of the small space craft. The black hole had grown closer since he last looked up, the fabric of space warped around the black ball. Archers heart began to beat faster and faster. He kept asking himself if he was going to die, but that’s when it caught his eye.

A feature in many ships, an emergency function ‘Dimension Jumper’. Keyword being emergency here, “Surely being the threat destroyed by a black hole is classed as an emergency?” Archer thought to himself. He decided it was his best option and began to frantically pry the annoying little cover off his escape.

Sirens from the back of the ship were growing louder and alarms on the glass windscreen were blaring the obvious, they seemed to do that a lot. It was getting hot, stuffy and claustrophobic in the small cockpit. He quickly mashed his finger onto the glowing button and the sirens stopped. The warnings stopped. Everything stopped.

“Uh…” Archer murmured. “What th-” He was cut off by the sudden blinding overwhelming screaming and scorching light infront of him. White noise surrounded him like an old earth TV he saw in the library once. Then, silence. Nothing but silence swam through his senses… He wasn’t sure where he was. Did it work? Was he dead? Oh god am I dead? He asked himself.

As if his life was a TV show it began playing again and he regained his senses. Archer couldn’t believe his eyes… it never looked like this, a beautiful ball of cloudy blues and greens. Swirling and swarming around the planet infront of him. They had looked so flat and dull on the history books sepia pages. Small speckles of light twinkled like the stars surrounding him on the planets surface. A blurred ball of white was far into the corner of the planets left side. “It can’t be…” He gasped in awe. 'Gravity lock disengaged’ the ship’s polite voice spoke. “Well that’s not good.” Archer murmured, fiddling with some switches above his head. “Ava said to loop this one through the green, and this one into the blue?” He asked himself. He did as he thought and the ship groaned in anger. “Shit.” It violently jerked into life and fire began to splutter from the coughing engines. “Shit.” Sparks exploded from the console as the ship began to forcefully bombard itself through the earth’s smoky atmosphere. “Shit.” His ship scratched and burnt as it catapulted down towards the UK.

- United Kingdom, Earth “No. What the hell are you on about?” Connor asked, propping himself up by resting his short legs on his desk. “Come on, you have to tell me Connor, everyone bloody knows already.” The girl on the other side of his laptop screen scoffed. “No I don’t. Why should I have to tell you anything Alice” Connor snapped. “You know what, leave me alone. It’s none of your business who I’m attracted too” He suddenly snapped. Alice quickly tried to regain conversation when He took his feet off his desk and disconnected the Skype call between him and Alice.

“Why does she even have to know, it’s not like It matters to anyone.” Connor sighed to himself. He got up off his black swirly desk chair and flopped onto his bed. Connor was what you would call a boffin or a goody two shoes. His parents didn’t have to control him becuase he was in control of himself.

Connor was disiplined, smart and neat and a little bit gay. I say a little bit gay but I mean a lot. No one really knew yet, well fully anyway. They all just assumed he was bi after the incident. The incident had been one of the main things Connor Grashvile had tried to forget, no matter how many times his 'friends’ had reminded him.

Connor had a crush on a boy in his art class, His name was Harry. Harry had tanned brown skin and cute chocolate hair. A little button nose and hazel eyes. Connor was obsessed with him, completley in awe of this nerdy cute boy sat next to him.

The incident involved, Connor, Harry and a boy name Peter. The sky was cloudy and wind was soaring through the creamy fluff floating above. Connor’s art teacher was stood by the window twiddling a pencil as her students were drawing, painting etc.

Connor and Harry were both working on their sixth form final pieces. This involved a lot of reaching and grabbing, mostly for paint and water. Their table was a cluttered mess. Splats of expressionate paint decorated the light grey table. “Can you pass the yellow paint” Harry asked, childishly trying to grab it over Connor’s work. “Yeah, sure” Connor happily agreed. As Connor’s cold hands wrapped around the yellow acrylic paint bottle, the boy named Peter sat across from them suddenly yelled out “THE LID ISN’T ON”

This sudden exclamation had startled Connor and the spilled yellow paint, had not only covered Connor’s face but also drenched Harry’s face somehow. Harry looked at Connor in sheer embarresment as the class began to laugh. “Sorry” Connor mouthed. Harry smirked, Connor’s heart fluttered. He tried not to make it obvious.

“Oh dear that is a problem” The art teacher sighed, glaring at the two boys with a cocked eyebrow. “Go clean yourselves up” She chuckled pointing to the sink with her chewed pencil.

This is where things had gotten awkward, Connor was asked by Harry to clean his nose with a scratchy paper towel dripping with water. Connor being the clumsy git he was, moved forward to get closer and tripped over his own feet falling face first into Harry. Their lips meeting. The class watched in awe and some awkwardness as they shared a moment. Yellow paint squelched between their lips… They pulled away and things had become extremely awkward, almost unbearably awkward.

This memory had made Connor cringe as he laid tired in his bed. He hated that it happened… but he also didn’t. If anything, that incident made him sure of his sexuality. He didn’t want to think about that right now, he had enough problems going on. Family, friends, the horrible looming knowledge he will die one day. You know, the normal things closeted teenagers had going on.

Connor had his whole evening planned out, it basically consisted of stuffing his face full of food and crying while watching gay TV shows he held dear to his heart. He was however, unaware of what was planned for him. His clock ticked and tocked as night grew old. He binge watched episode after episode, managing to finish a season in a night.

Connor began to hear a rumbling, grumbling. He thought he was simply hallucinating. Maybe from all the stress or his lack of sleep lately? This was however no hallucination.

“What now?” He mumbled as he sat up and rolled off his bed. He began to hear roaring fire as he scrambled to his feet. “What the?” He quietly asked himself. Poking his head out of the window, he saw something that made him think it was all a dream. A turquoise, ocean blue fireball was speeding down from the inky sky. He was fixated on the deadly ball. Connor began to feel the temperature change as the cold autumn night air warped into a summers day sweat he remembered from last year. The fireball fizzled out and a shining black oval spun harshly through the air and smashed onto the ground, causing mud to splatter on the swing set near the crash site.

“Oh my god” He gasped. In a matter of seconds, Connor was downstairs with shoes on and out the door. A coat hugging Connor’s thin frame. The air was a mishmash of cold and hot, swirling and shifting as he drew closer to the smoking pod that had rudely smashed into his back garden.

Timidly he shuffled up to it, scared it would pop open and something or someone would jump out and kill him… then again, would that really be a bad thing? Connor thought hard about this as he stood infront of the pod. The windscreen on the front was as black as the sky, it still looked intact however. The whole ship looked imacualte, now that Connor had looked properly.

The door suddenly slid open and a boy laid inside, Archer. He coughed pathetically. “Ow…” “Hello?” “OW.” “You okay?” “Yes infact, Ow is a term of happiness where I come from”

Connor raised an eyebrow. Who was he talking to?

“Do you need some help” “Mentally? Physically? Specify please” Connor couldn’t help but laugh at this. “All of the above?” “Oh. Then yes” Connor gasped as he saw the injuries the boy had endured. He had a scar on his cheek. Blood seeping from his tanned skin. He reached out a hand and the boy took it. Connor began to pull hard and the boy flopped out of the pod.He spread out into the cold mud and wriggled a bit like a fish.

“Name’s Archer” He sighed, almost in relief. “Mines Connor.” “That’s a nice name.” “So is yours” “Do you want to tell me why you’ve crashed into my backgarden?” “Long story” “Oh.” “I can tell you though” “Well?” “I’m an Alien, or as earth society will see me as… Wait. I’m on earth aren’t I…?” He asked in anticipation. “Yeah?” Archer squealed. As if his wounds were healed by pure joy he got up with glee. “I’m on earth!” He exclaimed in happiness. “Why are you so happy? Earth is shit” “You’re more accepting” “Your planet isn’t?” “Don’t make me laugh Connor” Connor sighed, he supposed he had to let this weird giddy boy in. “Do you want like a drink or something to eat?” Connor awkwardly asked. “I’d like that” “Good” They made their way into Connor’s kitchen. Archer sat down on the table, fascinated at the wooden chairs and surface. “This was a tree once?” He asked, in disbelief. “Yeah. Now it’s not, same as paper actually” “We have paper where I come from” “Really?” Connor asked in utter sarcasm “Is that sarcasm?” “No” He replied, with more sarcasm. “Oh” “Of Course it is.” “Ah.” Connor sat down across from Archer and slid a glass of water towards him.

Archer had tanned skin, dirty blonde hair and green eyes. Where his cheeks should blush, a galaxy presented itself. It was transparent in nature but was beautiful to stare at. Something Connor didn’t realise he was doing until Archer awkwardly laughed.

“Have I got something on my face?” Connor stammered, “N-No” “You’re a bit bloody but that’s it” He added. Archer licked his finger and winced as he ran it across the fresh wound. “There we go, better?” “Yeah” Connor replied. “Why are you here?” He blurted out “You invited me in” “On Earth I mean.” “I came looking for someone. She’s a good friend of mine, ran away. I don’t even know if she’s on earth.” “I hardly doubt she’s on the moon” “Her ship landed in this part of the planet and it’s important I find her Connor” “Is she even alive?” “Well you’re fucking cheery aren’t you. Fucking hell” “Do you speak English all the time? Do you have your own language? Why do you look human?” “Do you ask people questions all the time? It’s annoying.” Connor slumped in his chair. “My race descended from yours actually. That’s why I look human and speak like one too.” “Oh. Are you sure that’s how it works?”“ He mumbled “Yes Connor I’m sure I understand my ancestory.” “Wait, so if you descended from my race does that mean you traveled in time to get here?” “…Yeah? Maybe? I’m not sure. Probably not” “Oh, right”

Archer had noticed some cute things about Connor, things that made Archers heart begin to swoon. This worried him. The way Connor’s mud eyes glinted in the light, and the way his hands wrapped around themselves when he became uncomfortable… “I need to go” Archer sighed. “No, you’re on an entirely different planet, it’s night time and you’ve got no fucking clue what you’re doing. My parents won’t mind… hopefully.” “You sure?” “Fuck it. Why not let an Alien sleep in my room.” Archer didn’t want to speak too much about Ava or his royalty, he dabbled slightly in the subject but not enough for Connor to guess anything. Archer felt something when he saw Connor. Surely not but he felt… love?