#I was talking to some other kids at work and slowly noticed that 'Piper' was climbing me
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stubz · 10 months ago
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"Okay everyone floor is lava in 10..."
children scatter across the in door park.
"9..."
some leap onto nearby benches. Others climb nearby trees.
"8...7..."
the nearby safe spots become too crowded. Some force their way in while others sprint for the only place with enough room for the remaining few. The water fountain.
"6...5..."
the fountain can hold them all but is far. The slow one's won't make it.
"3...2...1..."
Some of the strong ones carry the slowest. their kindness is their downfall.
"FLOOR IS LAVA!!"
the lava takes them.
"Okay everyone on the ground is out!"
*chorus of groaning*
"So we have, 1, 2, 3...8...11...wait. Everyone hold still for a sec." the human recounts the children. And then again. And again.
"Where's Piper?"
"She was running that way!"
"Yeah towards the field!"
"The field? But there's nothing to climb there.."
"Is the floor still lava!?!"
Out in the field is Piper, sitting on top of her other teacher Kim's shoulders.
"Piper your out, you know the rules. You can't ask someone to carry you when the floor is lava."
"I didn't carry her."
"Kim no fibbing. Kids don't like it when it comes to floor is lava."
"No really I didn't. She climbed me," the woman picks the girl off her and put her down "show them Piper."
The 7 year old smiles and goes behind Kim and then starts to climb. Using the adults calves as a step she boosts her other foot to Kim's hip and then latches onto her neck with her arms. From there she shimmies herself onto her teacher's shoulders. All while Kim keeps her arms to her sides.
"...how long has she been able to do this?"
"Since yesterday."
"That's really cool."
"I know, right?"
.
..
...
"Human Kim I'd like to ask you a question about...human children."
"Yeah sure, go ahead."
"So as you know I am courting Morgan, who has 2 children, and I was wondering if it's normal for them at their age to not be able to climb me or him?"
"Climb you?"
"Yes, like that human child with blonde hair. Harrison is about her age yet he can't climb us like she can climb you."
"...Ohhh, yeah that's not a normal thing."
"Really?? But she does it with such ease and you look so, so, used to it. As if it was normal behavior."
"Piper is incredibly flexible and strong for her age, and while yes I am used to it that's because I'm used to kids climbing me while I'm sitting or helping them."
"So human children do climb their caretakers?"
"Yes."
"But Piper's climbing is not normal?"
"...yes. Wait. Hold on...So human children do climb on their family members but most of them can't climb to an adult's shoulders like that without help. Only a few like Piper are strong enough to do that."
"Ah. So I should not be concerned that Morgan's children can't do that?"
"No, you should not."
"Okay then. Humans are strange."
"That they are!"
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poppitron360 · 6 months ago
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I know that I have to, at some point, post my Leo Villain Arc AU.
Currently I am in a perpetual state of “Lemme just proofread it one more time-“ But if I don’t post it now, it will never get posted. I’ve been working on this off and on for about a month.
Summary: Takes place after the events of TLH- Leo deals with the aftermath of revealing his powers to the camp. In a confrontation with a few other campers, he finally lashes out and they get a little more than their comeuppance. Frightened by his own abilities, Leo runs away from camp, and Jason and Piper have to find him and stop him before he hurts anyone else- by any means necessary. When the time comes, Jason can’t bring himself to hurt Leo, and he pays the price. Piper has to then finish the job.
Please ignore any plotholes- I wrote it for the angst not the story.
Cw: Talk of suicide, talk of abuse, depictions of self-harm, major character death, blood, swearing, bullying, just all-round nasty stuff- I didn’t hold back on this one.
Word Count: 8,043!!! (Eight chapters in total, but not of equal length)
Who’s Afraid Of Little Old Me?
Leo has a villain arc AU (Dark! Leo)
I- Leo
Leo was avoiding people.
Okay, so he wasn’t avoiding all people. Jason ate lunch with him on the stands of the Chariot Tracks as they looked out across the springtime trees beyond. No. He was avoiding the other campers. He couldn’t deal with the weird looks they gave him when he ate at the dining pavilion. It had taken a lot of courage to reveal his powers to the others in Cabin 9, his siblings had been mostly cool with it, if a little weirded-out, but the other campers had been less accepting. Nobody had said anything to him yet, but he knew they were all thinking it. He was a freak.
“So, Piper’s been putting her hair up more as the weather’s getting hotter,” Jason said. Leo was only half-listening, but he nodded between bites of his burrito. He appreciated Jason’s company, and he understood that Piper was a big part of his life, but the constant girlfriend talk made him nauseous. Still, it was better than talking about monsters or Gaia or the impending Apocalypse.
Jason faltered, and the conversation stopped when Leo heard the familiar drooling voice and signature vocal fry of Drew Tanaka and two of her cronies. Leo hated that girl. She was less of a threat now that Piper had taken control of the Aphrodite cabin, but she was still a bitter and sneering bitch. Piper had been too nice. If Leo had his way, he would’ve taken a leaf out of the Heathers book and just put Drain Cleaner in Drew’s Hangover Cure.
Jason scowled at Drew as she walked out onto the course. Leo tried his best to shrink behind the terraced seating in front of them, hoping she hadn’t noticed him. But of course, she had. Her two minions sneered at him, baring their perfectly white teeth.
“Well, well, well,” Drew drooled, placing a manicured hand on the railing and advancing up the steps of the bleachers. Her cronies flanked her, one on each side, like an attack formation, “If it isn’t the arsonist.”
Leo’s stomach dropped. Jason snarled in his terrifying raised-by-wolves way. Drew’s friends snickered, but Drew kept her eyes locked on Leo.
“Why aren’t you eating lunch with the rest of the camp, huh? Is it because you know nobody wants you there? Even your dirty little siblings know you’re a freak. I mean, I thought I’d seen the worst of those filthy little Hephaestus kids, but this…” she looked down at him with her piercing eyes, “this is a new low.”
Leo scrambled out of his seat. Drew smirked, like his anger was amusing. Maybe it was, considering how he was at least two inches shorter than her. She backed away, slowly but confidently, as Leo advanced.
“Face it, freak,” She said, “You belong in Tartarus with all the other monsters.”
Leo’s hands balled up into fists. Jason tried to grab his wrist, but then yelped in pain and pulled back. Leo’s skin glowed white hot.
“Leo, stop it,” Jason pleaded, “Don’t listen to her, she’s trying to provoke you.”
Drew was still walking backwards down the aisle of the bleachers, smiling. Leo kept advancing, his body was smoking. His fists caught fire.
“Oooh, fire boy’s getting feisty,” She was walking quicker now, “I’ve done some research on your name, I have my ways of finding things out, y’know. And I uncovered a little secret of yours. Something you failed to mention to your siblings when you told them about your powers?”
Leo’s whole body was aflame now. Drew cackled.
“What are you gonna do, kill me?” Her back was pressed up against the wall of the stadium, an amused glint in her eye, “Just like you killed your-“
And the world erupted in flames.
II- Piper
The first thing Piper had registered was two of her siblings running scared out of the Chariot Stands, yelling something about a fire. Then she had heard the screaming.
She’d rushed in, shaking her can of hairspray that transformed into a fire extinguisher (a gift from Leo). What she saw filled her with fear and dread.
Drew was on the floor, backed up against a wall, shielding her face with her arm. Leo stood in front of her, surrounded by flames. His eyes were deep and dark and maniacal, his hands clenched tightly into fists. He was advancing slowly towards her, Jason stood helpless just out of reach of the flames, pleading with him to stop. Drew was screaming. Piper aimed her fire extinguisher at the scene and sprayed. Foam went everywhere, smothering the flames. When she was done, the bleachers of the racecourse were blackened and smoking, the chairs around her charred.
“Leo, what have you done?” Piper whispered, staring at him in horror.
“My face!” Drew cried, clutching the left side of her face, “He tried to fucking kill me!! My beautiful face!!”
Piper scowled at Drew, and then turned back to Leo. For a second, she caught a spark of pure hatred in his eyes, but then they welled with tears. At the sight of the shocked expression on her face, he seemed to realise what he’d done. His face contorted in remorse, and he tried to take a step towards her, but she felt herself flinch and back away in fear.
“Piper, I…”
Suddenly, the sound of voices made their heads turn. Chiron, and the other campers, led by Drew’s two cronies, were marching into the stands.
Piper turned to Leo.
“Go,” She commanded. There was no gentleness or sympathy in her voice, just a stern coldness, “Run. Now.”
And he did.
“Stop him!” One of the campers called, and began to chase after him, but Jason stood in their way, he kept his ice-blue eyes on Chiron, as if daring the centaur to scold him.
“He’s getting away!” The camper protested. Jason didn’t move.
“Let him go,” Chiron instructed, “Let us focus on repairing the damages.”
They took Drew to the infirmary. She was alive, you could tell by the wailing, but her face was badly scarred. Chiron held Jason, Piper, and Drew’s two friends back to ask them what happened.
“Me and Leo were eating lunch in the stands when Drew came up to us and started insulting Leo,” Jason explained. As he talked, he never broke eye contact with Chiron, giving him an aura of confidence, “The things she was saying- it was like she wanted him to flip out. She was trying to get a reaction out of him.”
“That’s not true!” One of Drew’s friends, Chloe, complained, “Drew just wanted to talk to the boy, when all of a sudden he started throwing fireballs at her face.”
Chiron turned to Piper, “And what did you see?”
“I only came in after Drew was attacked,” Piper explained, “But Leo wouldn’t just explode like that. He’s not a monster. Drew was probably using charm-speak on him to make him attack her- that way she could use it as leverage to turn the camp against us.”
“That’s an unfounded accusation,” Chiron said, “But I’ll admit, I am rather sceptical that Mr Valdez would attack her unprovoked. Jason, what was it she said to him?”
“She called him a monster, and said he belonged in Tartarus,” Jason said, “Then she… brought up the death of his mom.”
“That Valdez boy killed his own mother in a fire and then ran away!” Chloe said, “Drew was concerned at his failure to inform his siblings about that-“
“Because it’s a personal thing!” Jason yelled, “You shouldn’t expect him to give detailed outlines of all the traumatic things that ever happened to him!”
“I’m sorry for not feeling safe with a murderer around!”
“IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!!” Electricity crackled around Jason. Piper wondered if he’d gotten taller somehow, but then she looked at his feet and noticed he was levitating a few inches off the ground.
“We should track him down and make him pay for his crimes!” Drew’s other lackey suggested. Chloe nodded in agreement.
Jason glowered at them, lightning crackling some more.
“You’re right,” Chiron said.
“What?” Piper and Jason protested in unison.
“It’s not safe to have a powerful Pyrokinetic demigod out on his own, afraid and dangerous,” he explained, “For Leo’s own safety, we need to bring him back to camp.”
“We volunteer,” Chloe said.
“No,” Jason replied, ““After the way Drew treated him, I don’t blame him for running away. And frankly, I don’t think it is necessarily safer for him to be in a place that would shun him instead of teaching him how to actually control his powers,” he stared at Chiron, but he took Piper’s hand and squeezed it.
“But Chiron’s right. Leo’s afraid. If he sees you two coming, it’ll scare him away, which will only make things worse… But he trusts us. And we know him better than anyone. If anyone’s finding him, it’s me and Piper.”
III- Leo
Leo had lost control.
Dangerous. A freak. A monster that belonged in Tartarus. That was what Drew had called him. And she was right- he’d proven that much. He’d flipped out and almost killed her because he couldn’t do a little anger management. He remembered the terrified faces of Jason and Piper. His best friends had looked at him like he was unrecognisable. They had been afraid of him. Piper hadn’t told him to run out of the goodness of her heart, but as a warning. She was letting him scarper instead of face the consequences of what he’d done. Chiron and the other campers wouldn’t be so merciful.
Of course he had run. He always did. He always will. He had thought Camp Half-Blood might be different, but he’d ruined it like he had in all the foster homes, schools, even with his own family. He will never not be running.
He stared down at the valley beneath him. Camp half-blood gleamed in the spring sun. Next to him, a cliff ran along the edge of the Long Island Sound.
Gods, it would be safer for everyone if he just jumped.
He hadn’t had thoughts like that in a while, not since he was a kid. But he approached the edge of the cliff and looked down. The tide was out. He imagined his tiny body slamming against those jagged rocks, the waves coming in and carrying him away. He could be at peace. And everyone he loved would be safe from him.
No. He couldn’t think like that. He had to keep moving.
He’d kept an emergency backpack in Bunker 9 in case he needed to split. He’d been hopeful he didn’t need it, but obviously he had been wrong. He took it off his shoulder, and double-checked its contents. Inside, he had a spare change of clothes, a refillable water bottle, some cereal bars, a blanket, a map of New York, five dollars in cash, and his second-favourite screwdriver. If there was anything he didn’t have, his tool-belt would provide.
He made the trek halfway to Queens, before it started to get dark and he decided to hitch-hike. He was hesitant to at first- he wasn’t exactly in a position to interact with people- but he needed to get into the city before nightfall. He tried his best not to get carsick as the driver drove down winding outer-city roads.
Sitting alone in the back of a stranger’s car gave him time to think. His whole life, he’d been manipulated by the Gods. By Hera and by Gaia- trying to shape him into the perfect chess-piece for their stupid game, moving him around, bending him into the right piece for 20 moves in the future, toppling over all the other pawns at once. Okay, maybe Leo didn’t really know the rules of chess. But his mom had died as a result of the Gaia’s meddling, in conjunction with the narrative he was being forced into by an ancient being, planning around his future. Was he expected just to sit here and let her?
He’d always tried to do the right thing, never lose control, never get angry. When people gave Leo shit, he was supposed to just take it on the chin and bear it, because if he lashed out-
Well, he didn’t wish the fate of his mother on anyone, not even Drew Tanaka.
But Gods, it had felt so freeing to not have to keep it in anymore. To let it go.
Leo looked at his hands. He could do it again…
No. He couldn’t. But still, something had changed inside. And that terrified him. What scared him the most was how much he’d… enjoyed it. It was exhilarating. He’d fought back, defended himself, proved himself not to be messed with. He’d felt powerful. So powerful, even Jason had been afraid of him. Leo had to admit, the thought made his skin tingle with a strange feeling- not quite pride, exactly, but close.
Leo looked out at the bustling city streets of NYC. His goal had been to get away from Camp Half-Blood. But now, where would he go? This was the first time he’d ran away actually knowing who he was. He wasn’t just a scared little boy anymore, he was powerful. And he had a taste for revenge.
IV- Jason
This wasn’t a quest, Jason had decided. Quests were noble and brave. No. Finding Leo was a wild goose chase.
That kid had experience in running away.
“He’d probably go somewhere where he’d feel safe. Where is safe in New York?” Piper asked.
“Maybe a workshop? Or… scrapyard? Somewhere with machines?” Jason suggested.
“Think. This isn’t the first time he’s run away. Where has he been in the past?”
Neither of them had an answer. Leo really never talked about his time on the run. He’d mentioned a few things, sleeping in a sewer, hiding in alleyways to avoid the cops, eating out of dumpsters. Grim stuff. It had always shocked Jason how much he’d been through.
The Hermes cabin had been their best bet for advice on missing demigods. Travellers. They had told him every possible route into the city, the best places to go to hide. Scrapyards had been a good idea, they’d said. Lots of old cars to steal, things to make. And, for a massively overpowered son of Hephaestus, a lot of fun toys to play with. That was their best bet.
Jason got out a map and circled all the possible places Leo might go. They studied it for a few seconds, discussing which points to systematically hit first.
Piper looked at Jason, a sad yet serious expression in her multicoloured eyes.
“Jason… If we can’t… If we can’t stop him…”
Jason didn’t meet her gaze. He knew what she was saying. He hoped she didn’t say it.
“If we can’t convince him to come home… if he becomes dangerous… you know what we have to do, right?”
His skin tingled with electricity.
“How can you say that, Piper? How can you even think to suggest-”
“I don’t like it either. And, believe me, I am praying that it doesn’t come to that, but if it does… we need to be prepared to make that call. I am prepared. Are you?”
“No, I’m fucking not,” Jason roared, angrily, “You’re asking me if I’m prepared to kill my best friend? No. The answer is no.”
“Jason-“ Piper’s eyes scanned Jason’s face, worriedly, pleading with him to see her reasoning, “You always want to see the best in people, and I love that about you, but I don’t wanna see you get hurt because of that.”
“Leo would never hurt me,” Jason told her, but he didn’t entirely believe it. Something about the look in Leo’s eyes as he had attacked Drew made Jason’s skin crawl. Vicious, wild, and maniacal. Jason had a horrible feeling that if he had stood in Leo’s way, Leo would not have stopped.
He thought about everything that kid had been through. Orphaned at the age of eight, manipulated by the Gods, abandoned by his family, forced to grow up alone on the streets, bouncing around foster homes, treated as a freak by what was supposed to be the only place that was safe for him, and probably a lot more- Leo never really talked about his past, but Jason got the sense it had been harsh and brutal. From what Jason could remember, he’d grown up in the demigod world, fighting monsters and facing death and danger. But the mortal world could be dark and cruel in ways Jason couldn’t even imagine. Subtler, more twisted ways. In a sense, he had been sheltered from that, facing the more explicitly terrifying monsters. Leo had been exposed to those tender cruelties in full force- no wonder he was filled with so much bitterness and resentment. Jason didn’t blame him for wanting to get back at the world.
But would he really go as far as Piper feared?
Jason had to believe he was still worth fighting for. That he was still in there, buried under layers and layers of pain and resentment. That there was still hope.
The first three places were dead ends. Nothing. No Leo.
Dusk had fallen by the time they had arrived at the fourth place.
An abandoned landfill site- mostly cars and old machinery. Heaps of junk towered above them, piles of corrugated iron sheets as high as small buildings. Everything from empty tomato-soup cans to out-of-order JCB diggers. They split up- Piper taking the east side, Jason taking the west. The sunset backlit the mountains of scrap, making the shadows loom over him.
Huge peak, black and huge, Jason thought.
Huh. Since when did he know Wordsworth? He didn’t have that many memories of his past, but he didn’t figure himself a literature geek. He thought about that poem, though. A man being so shocked by the vastness and power of nature that it kept him awake at night- “A trouble to his dreams”. He kind of related that to what Leo must’ve been feeling- terrified by something that was beyond his control. Tempted by the allure of power, only to realise how frightening the reality of it actually was. The poem starts with the man thinking he’s superior to nature- that he can command and control it. Then, when he sees the mountain, he realises his mistake. He realises his insignificance against the vastness of the peak. He realises that it was not him controlling nature, but in fact nature controlling him. He turns back, but the experience scars him. It haunts him for the rest of his life.
Jason shook his head. He couldn’t let his mind wander. Leo Valdez was not an epic poem- he was a scared, lost, and extremely dangerous teenager. There was nothing poetic or mysterious about the shit he’d been through. And comparing thee to a summer’s day would not help Jason find him.
He picked his way through the undergrowth of landfill, searching for a sign of life.
And then he saw it- a shape of a person in the passenger seat of a car. He saw the bounce of the curly hair, the long, bony, twitching fingers tapping on the dashboard. Aside from that, the shape didn’t seem to be moving. Just… waiting.
Jason saw Piper emerge from behind another large pile of trash. He waved her over and pointed to the car. Piper nodded. Jason approached. Leo didn’t look up, or give any indication that he saw Jason. Jason put a hand on the driver-side door and opened it.
“Leo?”
Leo was sitting, facing forward, tapping his fingers on the dashboard of the car. He didn’t answer. Jason sat down in the driver’s seat and closed the door.
“Leo, listen to me,” Jason pleaded, “You have to come back with us. I know it wasn’t your fault what happened at camp- but they don’t know that. You have to come and prove to them that you didn’t mean to hurt her. We can fix this.”
“I’m not going back, Jason,” Leo said, quietly, still staring through the front window, “You can go home.”
“But they’ll listen to you if you come- you can convince them you didn’t mean it. We’ll help you.”
“But what if I did mean it?” Leo turned to Jason, his eyes dark and hard and serious.
“Leo…”
Leo’s eyes flashed with anger, then he turned and looked through the window again.
“I’m not going back,” He repeated, his tone final.
“Leo, I know that you’re probably feeling a lot of emotions right now. You’re hurting. You’re… wait- what’s happening?” Jason felt the car start to move underneath them- inching forward sluggishly over the broken tarmac. Jason turned to Leo, “Leo? What-“
Without a word, Leo grabbed the handle to the side door and walked out of the car. Jason tried to open his own door, but he heard a click. It was locked. How was Leo doing this? Then he remembered during their quest- how easily Leo had deactivated the traps to Midas’ mansion. How he had known how to fly that helicopter just by listening to it. If Leo had some sort of telepathic ability with machines, he would be able to control the car without even touching it. That was frightening.
Jason watched the scene through the front windscreen. Piper was pleading with Leo. He could hear her voice, but her words were muffled. She tried to grab Leo’s wrist, but he shook her off. They were directly in front of the car now- Leo tried to walk away, towards the exit, but Piper was standing in his way. The car kept inching forwards like it was rolling down a very gradual hill. He was close enough to make out what Piper was saying now. Jason could hear her yelling, “Then why did you wait for us here only to refuse to come back with us?”
Leo pushed past her. Piper followed. She reached for his wrist again, but he pulled away, pushing her backwards in the process.
The car crept forward.
“Where are you gonna go, Leo?” Piper called, “What place is gonna take you in if not Camp Half-Blood?”
Leo flicked his wrist, and there was a metal clang! Piper stumbled and fell to the ground, right in the direct path of the car. The hem of her jeans were caught in some elaborate bear trap, scattered among the scrap that littered the floor. Katoptris clattered to the ground and skidded across the tarmac, just out of reach of Piper’s grasp.
Jason realised with horror that the car was not stopping. It began to pick up speed- faster, faster, it was barreling forwards now. He tried slamming on the breaks but it was no good. The accelerator was held down without his foot even on it. Piper was in front of the car. She screamed. Jason knew that she had no time to get out of the way. Leo’s lips twisted into a smile. Jason closed his eyes. Oh gods… Piper…
And then he heard tires screeching. He felt the car skid to a halt. Piper was still screaming. When Jason opened his eyes, Piper was on the ground, the front of the car was inches away from her trapped leg. The engine still revved like an impatient lion, wanting to cut to the kill.
“Promise to let me leave, Jason,” Leo said, his voice firm, “Promise you will let me go and you will not follow me.”
“Leo… don’t do this…” Jason pleaded.
“PROMISE ME OR PIPER GETS PANCAKED!!” He bellowed.
The engine revved again.
“Okay… okay… I promise… but Leo…”
“SWEAR IT ON THE RIVER STYX. BOTH OF YOU. AND SWEAR THAT NO-ONE ELSE FROM CAMP HALF-BLOOD WILL FOLLOW ME EITHER.”
Piper pleaded, “Leo, they’re out for your blood, we can’t stop-“
“SWEAR IT.”
The car inched forward, slowly. Piper caught her breath, and squeezed her eyes shut. Jason tried to get out of the car, but the door wouldn’t open.
“Leo. Stop it,” Jason begged, “This isn’t like you.”
“Isn’t like me?” Leo scoffed, “The dangerous freak is finally showing you just how dangerous and freaky he actually is. Or did you think I was just an innocent side-character? Your sassy comedic relief? You never thought I’d actually do something, did you?”
“Leo…”
“No, go ahead and save the girl. I’ll be waiting off-stage for my cue to be the funny best friend. I’ll tell my dumb jokes. Nobody actually gives a shit about who I really am. How I really feel.”
“That’s not true, Leo,” Piper assured him. Her voice was surprisingly calm for how much danger she was in.
“You don’t really believe that, or you wouldn’t be charmspeaking me, huh, beauty queen?” Leo’s eyes danced with malice, “No. The only person who ever cared about me WENT UP IN FUCKING FLAMES!!!!!!”
The car sped backwards, away from Piper. The tires screeched on the tarmac. Then it proceeded to drive towards her, picking up speed. Jason did the only thing he could- he put a hand on the dashboard, and sent a bolt of electricity through the body of the car. Luckily, it did what he wanted, and didn’t explode. It short-circuited the vehicle, giving Jason time to get out of the car before Leo could force-lock it again.
“Leo, I know you’re angry. I know you have a lot of resentment for the world-“
“YOU DON’T FUCKING KNOW ANYTHING!!” He yelled, “You had your happy reunion. Both of you. Jason found Thalia, his long-lost sister. Piper rescued her dad. You both have people- family- who care for you. My only family… my only blood relatives kicked me out, cast me aside, and blamed me for the death of my mom.”
“That’s where you’re going?” Jason said, “Back to Texas? To get revenge on your Aunt?”
Leo said nothing. That was answer enough.
Jason took a tentative step towards Leo, but Leo’s eyes gave him one quick flash of malice and then he turned and darted past a pile of scrap, squeezed through a gap in the surrounding fence, and disappeared. Jason wanted to bolt after him, but he couldn’t leave Piper. He walked over to her and examined where the fabric of her jeans had been caught in the trap. Luckily, the metal teeth had not caught her leg. Jason picked Piper’s dagger off the ground and cut into the denim jeans, slicing off the corner that was stuck in the trap. Piper wriggled free.
“Another perfectly good pair of jeans, ruined!” Piper complained.
“Oh my gods, how will you cope?” Jason replied, helping her up, then he turned serious, “Are you okay?”
“Physically, I’m fine. But seeing Leo like that…”
Jason remembered what Piper had said about Leo, about him becoming too dangerous, and he knew she was right. Leo had just tried to kill them. He was on his way to kill someone else. They had to stop him. Even if that meant…
No. Jason couldn’t. There was some part of Leo still left there. He had to believe that.
“Come on,” Jason said, “We’ve got a rogue demigod to find.”
V- Leo
Leo had done a lot of thinking on the long bus ride to Texas
The ride was meant to take six hours. Leo hadn’t had the money to pay for it, but luckily he had quick fingers. He felt bad about pickpocketing, but strangely not as bad as he should have felt. That filled Leo with dread. It felt like his emotions were freezing over, becoming closed and calloused just like the skin on his hands. Numb. Desensitised. He was doing bad things, making dangerous choices, but he no longer cared. He was going to kill someone, and he wouldn’t even be sorry.
He studied his arms. Scabbed-over cuts, faded scars, bruises new and old.
He remembered the bullies in the foster homes, cornering him and beating him up. Kicking and pummelling him as he crumpled to the floor. He remembered thinking, as he lay there, I deserve it.
He remembered his abusive foster mom, [this is cannon, mentioned in BoO], the look in her eyes as she hit him.
Slap! I deserve it.
He remembered running away, surviving on the streets for weeks with nothing in his stomach but bile. The agony of hunger blurring his vision, making it hard to think straight. Still one thought remained clear, I deserve it.
He remembered the knife in an alleyway, dragging the cold blade across his skin, blood trickling down his arm. I deserve it. I deserve it. I deserve it. I deserve it.
He remembered the confrontations he’d had at Camp after he’d revealed his powers. They’d cornered him, too. Throttled him and punched him. He’d let them. He’d curled up on the asphalt of the basketball pitch, thinking: I deserve it.
He’d tried to hide the bruises from Jason, but Jason still noticed them. He’d been outraged, shouting at Leo, “You could’ve stopped them! Why didn’t you?!”
Because, Leo had thought, I deserve it.
All these things had left him scars. Every mark on his arm a painful memory of the things that had happened to him. Every single one of them he deserved.
And now…
Oh Gods, what had he done? He had tried to kill his two best friends. He had actually, genuinely wanted to hurt them. Wanted them dead.
What would they think of him now? Would they forgive him? No, he knew they wouldn’t. They’d try to stop him. They’d try to kill him.
I deserve it, Leo thought.
Leo knew he was unfixable. Broken beyond repair. No rescue. No salvation. So if he was throwing his hopeless little life away, he might as well take someone else down with him.
There were people out there who deserved it, too.
Leo clenched his fists in anger just remembering everything Aunt Rosa had done. She had called him terrible names, yelled at the social workers to take him away, turned his whole family against him. She had ruined Leo’s life- abandoned him and left him in the hands of the worst people. She was the reason for all those scars on his arm.
I deserve it.
Yeah, well, she deserves it too.
Six hours until Texas, and Leo had already been awake for the past thirty four. He decided to close his eyes and sleep.
The nightmares came at him, fast.
He dreamed of the night his mother was killed. The low, cold, sleepy voice of Gaia as she told him of what was to come. He remembered the flames caressing his skin as his hands caught light. “They cannot stop me from breaking your spirit,” She had said to him. For years, he had dwelled on that line. For years, he had kept up appearances- kept up the Mask of the jokes and the sarcasm.
He remembered the sleeping face of the woman. Her shifting, dirt-like clothes. He was always the life of the party, the class clown, the comedic relief. He’d made everyone believe he had kept his spirit- that he’d never lost it in that fire. That it was more than just shattered remnants of happiness.
He remembered her coming towards him, advancing slowly and drowsily. He could not let anyone see that his spirit was broken. Not his friends. Not Gaia. Not even himself. Because he believed that if he let that Mask down for even a second, then she’d won.
He remembered the fear he had felt when the door had locked itself. The utter dread that rose in his stomach. Always positive. Always happy. Happy lil’ guy Leo. But the weight of that Mask had been crushing him. Now he’d shown his true, terrifying colours. And gods, it was like a heavy load had been lifted off his shoulders. He wasn’t afraid of being judged. Of bullies. Of monsters. He wasn’t even afraid of Gaia anymore. He wasn’t gonna be weighed down by the need to pretend just because some goddess thought she could control him. She was no different than Drew Tanaka- whispering cruel insults just to provoke him- and Leo had burned her putrid little face off.
He was there again. That night. Fire rose up, threatening to rage and roar. This time, Leo didn’t stop it. He let the flames engulf him and he actually smiled. He remembered the walls of the workshop blackening and crumbling. He remembered the ceiling falling down around him. For the first time, he’d seen that night as a display of his power- he had burned an entire building down at the age of eight, without even trying. He’d spent the next seven years suppressing his abilities, squashing it down, never giving in to the temptation of lashing out. Now, knowing the extent of his powers… imagine what he could do with some practice, maybe some training. The world had wronged him, but he was powerful. And he was gonna get it back.
He remembered the police sirens singing quietly in the distance. The flashing lights revolving silently across the world, washing it in red, blue, red, blue.
He was angry. He was gonna kill her. He was gonna fucking kill her.
Leo woke with a start. He felt the heat in his body rising, and quickly tried to squash it down. Luckily, there was no-one sitting next to him, but the stench in the air and on the leather seats at the back of the bus smelled incredibly flammable. Leo’s skin was scolding hot to the touch. He looked up at the no smoking sign, and chuckled at the irony of it.
Outside the window, the bus was pulling into a depot, manoeuvring into a space. He heard, or rather, felt, the tires underneath him slow to a halt. They had arrived.
VI- Jason
Texas was six hours away. They could get there quicker by plane, but they didn’t have the money for a ticket. They couldn’t even afford a coach, but luckily Piper had a solution. With a quick help from the Human Spark Plug that was Jason, they managed to get the car that Leo had tried to pancake them with up and running. Piper had gotten private driving lessons from her dad in the run-up to her sixteenth birthday. She’d put them to good use when she’d joyridden that BMW. They just prayed that she looked old enough to not be asked for a license.
It had taken them an hour to get out of the New York traffic, costing them valuable time. If they really were on their way to save a life, Jason hoped that getting stuck still behind a taxi cab for fifteen minutes didn’t cost them that. From what he’d heard about Leo’s Aunt Rosa, Jason figured she was a nasty and unpleasant piece of shit. But that didn’t mean she deserved to die. Besides, it wasn’t her that they were trying to save- it was Leo. Taking a life changes someone. He wanted to stop Leo before he went down that path. Jason couldn’t lose Leo like that.
“How’re we gonna stop him?” Jason asked, the long, winding upstate roads twisting before them.
Piper sighed, keeping her eyes on the road, “I tried charm-speak in the scrapyard. It didn’t do anything. He’s too far gone- too stuck in his own head to listen to reason.”
“There’s gotta be some way we can get through to him. There’s gotta be hope.”
“But what if there isn’t?” Piper’s voice cracked slightly, “What if…”
“We’re not having this conversation again, Piper. We’ll find some other way.”
Piper looked like she wanted to argue, but she kept her mouth shut.
They drove for several more hours before they arrived in Huston. Daylight rose up as they entered the city. Neither of them had slept. The streets became progressively more packed and winding as they delved further into the city.
The only question was- Where was Leo? How were they gonna find one scrappy twig of a boy in a big city like Huston?
Luckily, as they drove down the busy streets, a fire engine raced past, sirens blaring. Piper and Jason exchanged looks. It very well might not’ve been Leo, but it was their best lead. Piper stepped on the gas, and they went after the engine. Several cars honked at them angrily, but Piper ignored them. She sped up, going through a red light.
The car skidded to a halt when Piper saw that the firetruck had stopped outside a building. Smoke was pouring out of one of the ground-floor windows, but it wasn’t alight yet. Jason sighed with relief when he saw that a crowd of people- he guessed most of the inhabitants judging by the size of the apartment complex- standing safely outside. No-one looked badly hurt, but there was no Leo.
They got out of the car and moved closer towards the crowd. Nobody stopped them in the chaos.
“A teenage boy,” Jason head one of the residents say to the firefighter, “Stormed into our neighbours apartment. We heard yelling, then we heard the fire alarms.”
“What did this boy look like?”
“He was skinny, looked about fifteen, maybe sixteen- he had dark hair and his clothes and face was covered in dirt.”
Yup, that was Leo alright.
“He’s still in there,” the witness said, “I-I didn’t see him or our neighbour come out.”
Jason thanked the god of eavesdropping on people giving valuable exposition, and grabbed Piper’s hand. Before the firefighters could stop them, they rushed into the building.
Jason ran down the hall. One of the doors was ajar, and thick smoke was pouring out of it. Jason pulled Piper inside.
Leo was standing there, his body aflame, looming over an old woman, cowering on the floor. Leo was approaching her, slowly.
“Say you’re sorry, Aunt Rosa!” Leo yelled, “Say you’re sorry for everything you did to me.”
“Leo, stop!” Piper cried, and for a second, Leo did. But then he shook his head, and kept advancing.
“Say you’re sorry!” He commanded.
“I-I-“ The woman stammered. Leo’s fire burned brighter. Piper rushed forward and grabbed Leo’s Aunt by the shoulders and pulled her out of the way. She pushed her towards Jason, who grabbed her and shoved her towards the door. She ran without looking back.
Leo turned to face him. He was still wearing his Camp Half-Blood t-shirt, which was now tattered and scorched and ripped. He glowered menacingly at Jason, fire danced in his eyes. Some twisted muscle in the corner of his mouth curled into a smile, as he sent two lines of flames racing towards Piper. Jason ran and pushed her out of range of the attack, just before walls of fire closed in around him. Heat hit him in the face with an unbearable force. Searing pain. Jason felt the strength seeping out of him. Leo was advancing slowly down the alleyway he’d created with his flames.
“Leo, please,” Jason begged, “You don’t want to do this. Please, I know some part of you still cares.”
At Jason’s pleading the corner of Leo’s mouth twisted into even more of a cruel smile. It wasn’t Leo’s smile- that flash of that playful grin, the mischievous twinkle in his eye, the cheeky little dimple at the corner of his mouth. No. This smile was cold and menacing, and it was disturbing how genuine it was. Leo was enjoying this.
Jason’s skin blackened and blistered. He wanted to cry out in pain, but Leo’s hand shot out and closed around his throat, cutting off what little oxygen Jason had left in the smoke-filled room.
“JASON!!” Piper yelled
It was now or never. Leo had Jason pinned against the wall, but Jason had the physical advantage over him, despite the energy seeping out of his muscles as Leo throttled him. He could muster up enough strength to overpower Leo, bring his sword down on his skull, end it all here. His vision was clouding fast, and Jason could feel his empty lungs screaming for air. If he didn’t act now, he’d quickly lose consciousness. But something made him hesitate. He let his sword clatter to the ground. Leo kicked it aside, keeping his eyes locked on Jason. Jason raised his hand, and touched Leo’s cheek. The last thing he saw was Leo’s dark eyes, cold and cruel, as the life drained out of Jason’s body and the fire swallowed him whole.
VII- Piper
Piper couldn’t see. Smoke filled the room and stung her eyes. She could just make out the vague silhouette of Leo holding Jason up by the throat- pinning him against the wall. She saw Jason struggle, gasping for air.
She called his name.
She unsheathed Katoptris and rushed forwards, but the heat from the flames was too much to bear, so she staggered back. She stood there, helpless, as Leo chocked Jason to death. She saw Jason drop his sword, and Leo kick it away. It skidded to a halt at Piper’s feet. What the fuck was Jason doing, letting go of his weapon? Leo was gonna kill him! She saw Jason reach out towards Leo, then his limbs went slack.
“NOOOOOO!!!!!!” Piper screamed.
Too late. She watched in horror as Jason’s limp body disappeared behind a column of flames. Piper picked up his sword with trembling hands, as Leo turned to face her.
She couldn’t believe it. Jason was dead. And Leo- Leo, his best friend, his closest companion, had killed him.
No. It wasn’t Leo. The man that stood in front of her was barely recognisable as that scrawny kid she’d met at the Wilderness School. His pointed facial features were darkened in the fire-lit room, the muscles around his mouth were contorted into a deranged grin. The look in his dark eyes was of pure malice. That. Was not. Leo.
Jason was dead. Whatever it was that stood before her had killed him. And it needed to pay.
It advanced towards her, but she was ready. She held Jason’s sword firmly in her grip.
As she slashed the blade across its chest, she saw that warped smile falter and for a moment, she caught a glimpse of Leo’s fearful expression. Then the light in his eyes died, and he crumpled to the ground, lying still.
He didn’t turn to dust like a monster.
He just lay there. Blood seeped out of the gash in his chest. So much blood.
Piper stood there as the world blurred around her. She felt someone grab her and rush her out of the building, but it all seemed like it was happening to someone else. The paramedics ran to her side, tending her burns. Firefighters doused the building in water. She replayed the moment she had killed Leo over and over again in her mind- that flash of remorse as the golden blade struck across his skin, blood trickling from the wound she’d made. So much blood. Oh gods, there had been so much blood. How can a body that tiny have so much blood?
She could’ve found another way. She could’ve saved him. If she had just hesitated-
No. Jason had hesitated. Leo had not. And now Jason was dead.
She knew it. In her heart, she knew it.
She knew that there was no hope of the firefighters finding Jason’s body as anything more than a blackened corpse. No rescue. No salvation.
Leo hadn’t been a monster. He was just a scared little kid.
She thought about everything he’d been through, everything he’d seen. He’d done terrible things. He’d let the power corrupt him. Let the anger and the pain take over until it consumed him. He was not controlling it. It was controlling him. He surrendered himself to it, believing he himself was not worth enough to be saved. It was better to submit. Leo could not see the good in himself, so threw himself into his power and let the cruelty take hold. Deep down, Piper knew he was just scared. He was just a kid- a barely fifteen, 5’1, runty little boy. Leo was badly damaged and broken and hurting. He didn’t ask to be born into this cruel world. To lose his mom, his hope, his home, his everything. He didn’t choose this life of torture and suffering. He didn’t want to be a half-blood.
He did not deserve it.
——————————————————————————————————————————-
A few author’s footnotes for the end:
I know Drew is a more complex character than that, but I needed a someone to bully Leo and she seemed like a better choice than to just create one.
I did start suddenly talking about Wordsworth there- I’m a huge literature geek and I really wanted to make that connection. I started writing a mountain and suddenly my brain jumped on the whole “Power of nature controlling you” metaphor.
About the car telekinesis thing- I’m pretty sure in MoA or something he actually moves some gears through a brick wall, just by putting a hand on it, which gave me the idea that he probably could drive a car with his mind if he was angry enough.
Also, I’ve just read the ending of BoO (I wrote this fic while I was still working my way through HoO), and we don’t talk enough about how in the battle against Gaia (also Ik I probably spelt her name wrong, I listened to the audiobooks, ok?) Leo was so powerful his body was actually made of fire- like Jason describes how you could see the flames inside him illuminating his skull!! Y’all say Percy is the most powerful demigod, but nobody fucking talks about Leo!! Percy didn’t even kill Kronos himself, he just handed Luke the knife. Leo DESTROYED MOTHER EARTH!!!! And, as I’m pretty sure mentioned in the story, he’d been suppressing his powers his entire life. Now he can finally let loose, he gets to be actually scary.
And not just with his fire as well- Leo is easily one of the most talented Hephaestus kids with machines, so much that he’s able to communicate with them. I wrote that scene in the junkyard to allow Leo to be fucking terrifying.
Aaaaand writing that just now, I’ve realised that might be my own automatophobia (fear of freaky animatronics and shit) being projected through my writing. Wow, the things you learn about yourself through fanfiction.
Also, everything I wrote about machines is probably SUPER inaccurate. I know nothing about them.
Similarly, I have never been to Texas or even America so I have no clue if any of my descriptions were accurate
Idk why I put “He didn’t want to be a half-blood” at the end. But I think it’s an interesting parallel to the themes explored in the first series with Percy and Luke- to be so wronged by the world that you just want to get back at it. But Luke had been wronged by the godly world, Leo had been wronged by the mortal one (but also by Hera and Gaia).
I’ve wanted to write this fic for a long time, and started getting ideas even before finishing tlh- but it was a post by @malrie that inspired me to start actually writing it, linking that here.
Also ty to @lavenderfairiez for helping me proofread some bits I wasn’t sure about and giving me some advice
This IS lowkey inspired by Shakespeare’s “Othello” (Like I said, literature geek)- a guy goes evil bc of the shitty way society treated him and everyone dies in the end. It’s a great play.
Vague undertones of Valgrace bc I couldn’t help myself, but it can be interpreted however you want. I didn’t ship Valgrace when I started this, and in fact I think I began writing it the day I began writing my first Valgrace fic, which then led me to start shipping them. Most of this was meant to be written platonically, but now I’ve made it a bit gay. Ooopsie daisy.
Also, sorry if you’re crying now. Actually, I’m kinda not sorry. I’m like Rick after writing the end of MoA.
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ilikefandoms · 4 years ago
Text
Family Dinner - Robby Keene
Request - Hi, it's me again. You could write something in which the reader and Robby are in a secret relationship and Daniel notices that boy's passionate gaze and is curious to know who the mysterious young woman is who was leaving him like this, then asks him to invite her to a family dinner . It turns out that Daniel didn't even imagine that this girl was the golden student of Cobra Kai, almost as relentless as Tory and Samantha's number one rival. Throughout dinner, the reader does her best not to provoke a scene, even with Sam's indiscreet insinuations about her being a bad person and to make matters worse, a conversation about sexual orientation arises in a very prejudiced way from Louie and she is extremely offended after a prejudiced comment about bisexuality (she is bisexual, Robby knows and accepts this), Daniel ends up being faster and goes after her, the two talk very cute (almost father and daughter) and the two end up giving each other very well . Anyway, after all that mixture of emotions that was the night, Robby takes the reader home which leads to a lot of affection and kisses on her part (deep down, under that badass exterior she is just a big monster of affection ❤). Sorry if it took too long hahaha.
Pronouns used - She/Her
A/N -  Disclaimer: I do not agree with anything that Louie says in this, it is purely for the storyline. I also kinda made Sam look like a bad guy...sorry Sam.
Warnings - Louie being a biphobic asshole, language
Word Count - 1593
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You and Robby had a somewhat 'secret relationship'. You had both decided not to tell anyone, considering the rivalry between your respective dojos. Anyway, you were enjoying spending time with Robby alone.
Daniel had begun to get suspicious though. He had noticed that Robby had been acting different than usual, smiling at his phone, and getting home later. Daniel had made the fair assumption that Robby was in fact, seeing someone.
He had not-so subtilty brought up the question in conversation, taking Robby aback. Robby had admitted it though, and Mr Larusso had asked to meet this ‘Mystery Girl’, and asked Robby to invite you to family dinner.
So, here you were standing outside the Larusso’s house, having just texted Robby that you were here. You didn’t want Sam answering the door. 
Robby opened the door, “Hey babe, why didn’t you knock?”
“I didn’t want Sam or someone opening it to see me,” you shrugged, “I’m just nervous I guess, what with mine and Sam’s rivalry, with Cobra Kai. Everything,”
Robby wrapped his arms around you, “It’s gonna be ok, alright. If it ends up being too awkward or whatever, we can leave,” he reassured.
“Thank you,” 
He kissed your cheek, “Anytime. Ready to go in?” you nodded. Robby placed his hand in yours, and you walked in.
The Larusso’s house was beautiful, it had off-white walls, a mixture of hardwood and patterned flooring, and large windows. It was probably one of the nicest houses you’d ever been in.
“Hey Robby,” Amanda Larusso approached you, “This must be your girlfriend. I’m Amanda,”
“Y/N,” you said.
“it’s so great to meet you, Robby’s told us so much about you!” She said - even if this wasn’t true.
“No he hasn’t,” you said, with a weak chuckle.
“Okay, well... that’s true, but I hope to get to know you more today. Okay, we are eating outside today as it is a lovely night. Everyone else is already out there, make yourselves at home, and dinner will be ready in a few minutes,” she said, smiling.
You both thanked her, before heading outside to where everyone was talking. “Hey everyone,” Robby made your presence known.
“Hey Robby!” Daniel greeted, before laying his eyes on you, when his smile faded. It was no secret that you were the Golden Student of Cobra Kai, you had even been known to take Miguel and Tory in fights, and of course...Sam.
“What is she doing here?” Sam exclaimed, gesturing towards you.
Your grip on Robby’s hand tightened. You had expected this, so you decided to stand your ground, “I was invited,” you asserted.
“Who would invite you here?” Sam asked with narrowed eyes.
“Sam,” Robby said, in an attempt to calm her down. 
It was at this point that her eye’s travelled down to where yours and Robby’s hands were enlaced. “Don’t tell me you’re actually dating this bitch,”
“Sam!” Daniel scolded, and just before an argument could come out, Mrs Larusso arrived, holding trays of food.
“Am I interrupting something?” She asked, her eyebrows raised.
“No, mom. We’re fine,” Sam said, partially through gritted teeth.
**********
There had been evident silence since dinner had started, it was starting to get annoying, how Sam was giving you death glares from across the table. Anthony was doing the same, although he was just probably copying what Sam was doing.
Amanda then decided to break the silence, asking you a question “So, Y/N how did you and Robby meet?”
“We met at the skate park. Robby was tried to do a new trick, but it went wrong and his board ended up flying in my direction, he apologised, we started talking, and...here we are,” you replied, giving her a smile.
“Oh that’s sweet, and from what little Robby has said, you do karate?” she questioned.
“Yeah, I do,” you said, purposefully not saying your dojo’s name - even if Sam and Mr Larusso knew, you wanted to keep the dojo rivalry to a minimum.
“She’s top of her class as well,” Robby added, “She can easily beat me in a fight,” 
“Only because you fight dirty,” Sam uttered underneath her breath.
You ignored her, “I wouldn’t say easily,” you protested, “But, yeah I can totally kick your ass,” you said, letting out a small laugh. Sam rolled her eyes
“Wow, that’s really impressive. What dojo do you go to,” Mrs Larusso asked.
“Oh, um, Cobra Kai,” you said, somewhat trailing off towards the end.
“Oh. Okay, is this why this dinner is being so awkward?” she said, and no-one answered, “Obviously it is,” she mumbled.
“Aren’t they the dojo that dislocated Robby’s shoulder?” Louie asked.
“Technically that was just Hawk,” Robby defended.
“Still doesn’t excuse their shitty teaching methods,” Sam said quietly.
Your hand balled into a fist. Her snarky comments were starting to fuel your anger. Robby placed his hand over yours, gently rubbing his thumb over your knuckles - an action that he knew calmed you, and gave you a reassuring smile.
“Y/N, are you new to town? I can’t recall seeing you anywhere,” Amanda questioned, seemingly ignoring her daughters comments.
“Yeah, I only moved here 6 months ago. My mom got a new job,” you explained.
“Oh, what does you mom do?"
“She’s a real estate agent,” you replied.
“Oh, that’s cool,”
**********
Conversation slowly picked up from there, although that didn’t stop Sam from making remarks. It was like she was trying to get people to think you were a bad person, saying stuff like ‘Dad, I’m glad that you taught me and Robby the right way of karate’.
It was honestly taking a toll on you, you had to work hard to make a good impression, and not act out and make a scene.
“Mom, did I tell you that Moon has a girlfriend now?” Sam asked her mother.
“Oh, that’s lovely,” 
“Yeah, it’s this Piper. She’s nice,” she explained.
“Moon is the girl that was dating that Hawk guy?” Louie butted in.
“Yeah,”
“Was she just gay all along then?”
“No, she’s just bisexual,” Sam said, furrowing her eyebrows at Louie’s question.
“Sam, come on. Bisexuality isn’t real,” you fists balled as Louie continued, “People are either gay or straight, you can’t like both, that’s just... unnatural,”
“Fuck this!” You yelled. You rose from your seat, and stormed out of the back yard.
“Louie, what the fuck?” Sam, and Amanda said in unison. Robby sat there glaring at Louie for a few seconds, before standing up to go after you. Daniel put a hand on his shoulder, and muttered an “I’ll go,” and went after you. Meanwhile, Amanda was kicking Louie out of the house, using language she would never use in front of her kids in any other sort of situation.
Daniel ran after you. “Y/N! Wait,” 
“What do you want?” you said, wiping tears that had escaped. 
“Look, I’m sorry for what Louie said. If it’s any consolation, Amanda is shouting at him, and kicking him out,” he stated.
“You can’t control what he said. It’s not your fault,” 
“I know, but I’m still sorry, and I’m also sorry for what Sam has been saying. I know you two have your rivalry...thing, but it shouldn’t have come up,”
“Yeah, thanks,” you nodded.
“You did well for handling it as well as you did, had that of been me, I would’ve thrown hands,” he said, impressed.
“Oh, trust me I wanted to. It just doesn’t give off a good impression if you beat the shit out of the people your boyfriend’s living with,” you chuckled.
“Yeah, well I guess not,” he smiled.
“Why are you being so nice to me?” you asked, genuinely confused.
“What do you mean?”
“Well like, I’m a part of Cobra Kai. I’ve been in fights with your daughter, I’m not what people call the best ‘influence’ on people. Need I say more?” you said
“I see your point, but Robby trusts you. I’ve seen him improve since you two have been together, he seems happier, and if he trusts you, then I do too,” he explained.
“Thank you Mr Larusso,” you said, smiling at him.
“No problem kid,” he smiled back, “Now, if you want to stay for dessert, we have ice cream,” he offered.
“I think I’d just rather go home, if that’s okay,” you said.
“That’s totally fine, alright? I’ll go get Robby to take you home?” 
“Yes please,” you said, “Thank you,”
“Your welcome. I’ll see you soon,”
“Bye”
Robby came out a minute after Daniel had left, and immediately hugged you, “Are you okay?” he mumbled.
“I will be. I just want to go home,” you replied. 
“Okay, lets go, yeah?” he asked. You replied by nodding your head, yes.
**********
You and Robby had arrived at your house, and he walked you up to the front door. “Can you stay with me?” you asked.
“Yeah of course,”
You both made your way up the stairs and into your room. You grabbed some comfy clothes, and changed in the bathroom, before coming back to Robby.
“Are you feeling any better?” he asked.
“A little. Can we cuddle?” 
He just laid down in your bed, and opened his arms for you to lay in. You positioned yourself in his arms so your head was on his chest, listening to the steady sound of his heart beating.
Robby kissed the top of your head. You shifted your head to look up at him. He kissed your lips.
You knew that this boy would be the death of you.
@blackoutgirx
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willsimpforanyone · 3 years ago
Note
Hey there! Ok, first of all, your writing is ABSOLUTELY FLAWLESS 🤩!!! Okay, on to the actual request now. Could you plz write a Heroes of Olympus fic with the seven (plus Reyna, Thalia, Nico and Will) X fem!reader who is a daughter of Khione (Greek goddess of snow)? R is struggling with controlling her powers cause they r linked to her emotions. Individually each character helps her with her powers in some way. Thanks! (Idk if that made sense btw but hopefully it makes sense!) okay, bye!!
no stop you're so sweet!! thank you so much omg
i can absolutely do that- for context, we're gonna say that the camp jupiter kids are visiting
i haven't given R a name and i refuse to use y/n
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The camp was huge and busy and full of people. She was overwhelmed, her breaths coming in sharp, shallow bursts. Steam blew around her as her freezing breath met the warm air and her hands fisted in her skirt. She wasn't gonna panic, she couldn't panic with all these people around, gods there were so many people in this stupid little tour group and oh shit she was panicking. She could see tiny flakes of snow start to flutter down around her, settling on everyone's skin. They started looking around and up at the sky and her nails dug into her cold skin as they finally turned and looked at her, the light snow turning into larger flakes and increasing in number. Within seconds there was a blizzard spanning six feet squared. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying her hardest to calm down. A hand touched her own, and a voice reached her ears, muffled by the snow. "Hey, I'm Percy, is it okay if I touch you?" She forced herself to nod, and Percy pulled her gently away from the group. As soon as there were fewer people, she could breathe a little easier. "We're away from everyone else, it's okay, can you open your eyes for me?" Her eyes opened and met green eyes and black hair and an encouraging smile. "Take some deep breaths, that's it, you're doing great." Her breathing became more regular. "It's overwhelming for a lot of people, that's okay. You're safe now that you're here, I promise." The blizzard had all but stopped, just a few flakes brushed off her hair by Percy's caring hand. "It's okay, we don't have to go back until you're ready." She would be ready in a little bit.
The forest was quiet. She liked the quiet. She knew she hadn't been avoided, exactly, but it was hard to feel that way when there wasn't anyone sitting at her table. No one talked to her, but it was just because she was new. Talking to new people was awkward, she knew that. So it was her choice, and her choice alone, to go sit in the woods. She didn't know why there were tears down her cheeks, and she hated that they froze on her skin. A snapped twig made her look up sharply. There were two people in front of her. The girl sat down next to her. "It's cold out, why are you sitting out here?" She shrugged. "Don't really feel the cold. And it's either being alone out here or alone in a cabin so it doesn't really matter." She gave a small smile. The guy sat next to the girl. "You're the daughter of Khione, right? No wonder you feel lonely," he turned to the girl. "Hazel, there's no one else in her cabin." Hazel gasped and rubbed her shoulder. "Come with us. We'll see if you can be moved to my cabin, there's only me and my brother in there." "Oh, I couldn't do that to you," she said, but the warmth of hope and companionship bloomed in her chest. "If you really don't want to, that's okay, but at least come with us to the campfire, come with me and Frank." Hazel's soft smile melted away the resistance, and Frank stood up, offering his hand. She stood, using the hand held out, and followed the pair. Frank held her back a moment while Hazel joined the group of ten, twelve-ish people around a campfire. "If you really don't want to join, it's okay, I'll take you back to your cabin, I promise." He smiled warmly and a little nervously. "But it might be fun. Coming?" She smiled back, and walked towards the promised warmth.
Hunched shoulders, her ears were being assulted with jeers and taunts. Loser, loner, ice freak, anti-freeze. That one wasn't even right. The small table felt a lot bigger when she was the only one there, but she was getting used to that. It didn't help that the Ares cabin was very loud. To be fair, it wasn't the whole cabin, just the very loud minority. She tried to remind herself of that when she got called all these names. The table was covered in a heavy frost, the cutlery in her hands was cold and clutched tightly. She took a few deep breaths. There was minimal snow, and she smiled to herself. She was gaining a little more control. A plate slamming onto the table made her jump, and she looked up to see sharp blue eyes and a shock of black hair, piercings decorating ears. The girl sat next to her, scowling at the Ares cabin. "Hey! Leave her alone, assholes!" The girl turned to you. "I'm Thalia, ignore them." She smiled at Thalia. "Thanks, but you don't have to be here." "It's no problem," Thalia shrugged. "My brother is at his girlfriend's table so I was alone anyway and you looked like you could use a little help." That normally would have made her defensive, but Thalia seemed more protective than pitying. "...thank you, I'm not good at confrontation." She frowned. "Sorry about the... ice." Thalia shrugged. "I struggled too. And being the daughter of Zeus, my power was a lot more destructive than yours, trust me," she grinned. She felt less self-conscious with this strong, angry girl next to her.
The rings of seats surrounding the dead campfire were cold. There was a light layer of frost, but she was too tired to know if it was because of her or just the chill of the night. The nightmare had been bad, and waking up in an icy cabin alone hadn't helped. The outside had seemed warmer, more welcoming, and as she looked up she could see the stars. The campfire was central to the camp, she felt like she could check every direction. For example, the second she heard footsteps coming from the left, she snapped her head to see another girl, wrapped in a blanket and walking with determination towards her. The girl sat firmly beside her. "You're the kid of Khione, the one Frank and Hazel introduced us to the other night, right?" "...yeah," and suddenly she remembered the girl's name. "You're Piper, right? Daughter of Aphrodite?" Piper nodded. "Yep. What's up, why you out here?" She shrugged. There was no stigma around nightmares in the camp, everyone got them, but she still wasn't comfortable going into detail. "Just a nightmare, didn't want to stay in the cabin." Piper made a noise of understanding. "Me too," she shivered. "The frost natural or you?" She laughed ruefully. "Not sure, to be honest." She ran a hand through her hair, and it came away covered in ice. "Although judging by that, I'd say a good portion of it is me." Piper stood up. "Stay here, I'll be back in a minute." She grabbed her blanket and ran back to her cabin, returning with a larger blanket and a wide-toothed comb. "Can I get the ice and frost out of your hair?" Surprised, she nodded hesitatingly. Piper sat cross-legged on the wooden seat by her side and wrapped the blanket around them both, gesturing for her to turn round. "I'll be gentle, I promise. It'll calm us both down, then you can get the frost under control."
The sword shattered yet again and she threw the hilt on the ground, yelling in anger. She barely noticed the two others in the arena, too focused on the fact that the blade of her sword had gotten so cold it had broken- this was the third time. Every time she got into her training and concentrated too hard, ice spread from her hands to the sword and it was only a matter of time before she shattered it. "Hey, stop throwing stuff on the ground, kids train here." A harsh female voice came from across the arena, and she flinched. Turning, she recognised the pair- Jason and Reyna, they must be training. "Sorry, I'm sorry, I'll clean it up." She frowned, kneeling and picking up the remnants of her sword. Jason jogged over, followed slowly by Reyna. He knelt down too, helping with the jagged edges. "It's okay, what's got you so worked up?" She sighed. "If the metal gets too cold, it breaks. I get freezing if I concentrate too hard on fighting, apparently, so I've broken three swords in the past two hours." Reyna grabbed the discarded sword hilt, examining it. "You know, you should find a specific sword for your abilities." "You can do that?" Jason and Reyna nodded. "Yeah, mine turns into either a sword or a spear depending on the flip of a coin," Jason explained. "I'm sure we could find something that can withstand low temperatures." Reyna frowned, considering. "I'm sure if you asked Chiron he'd figure something out. Although maybe you should work on controlling the temperature issue." Jason's eyes lit up. "Hey, you should go see Leo! Remember him from the campfire the last week? He's always too hot, but he's great at changing his body temperature. Go see him tomorrow!" Reyna nodded her approval. She smiled. Okay, let's go see Leo.
"Um, hey, Jason said you could help me?" She knocked on the open door of the Hephaestus cabin, settling her eyes on the curly-haired kid- Leo- screwing around with bits of metal on the floor. He leapt up, scattering metal everywhere. "Yes! Hello! I remember you from the campfire, Piper said you'd be knocking on my humble door." She grinned as he approached, hands still fiddling with a screwdriver. "She was right, she recommended I talk to you about helping with my heat regulation?" Leo practically vibrated with enthusiam. "Yeah! I'm always hot-" he winked, she laughed. "-but it took me a while to regulate it, so I wasn't spontaneously bursting into flames. May I?" He held out his hands for hers. They were searing hot against her freezing skin, and she yanked them away. Leo pulled away too, a dismayed look on his face. "Uh, okay, too hot, got it. I'll lower my temperature as best I can." She placed her hands back in his, the difference a little less painful this time as she breathed deeply. "Sorry, it was just a little surprising, I wasn't aware of how cold I was." Leo shook his head, and pulled her further into the room. "Don't worry chica, you'll get the hang of it. Don't concentrate on the hands, focus on the feeling inside," he nodded towards a small bench, and they sat down. "Think of your body as a... car. If the hood it hot, you open it up and cool down the engine, right?" Nodding, she relaxed her shoulders and hands. "Got it, focus on the internal cooling issue rather than the results." That earned her an encouraging squeeze of her hands. They sat together for an hour, maybe two. She could almost increase and decrease her temperature at will. Leo taught her a weird handshake, where they changed temperature every time their hands met. "Thank you so much, Leo," she grinned, getting up to leave. "No hay problema, I'm glad I could help," he lightly punched her shoulder. "And hey, any time I need to cool down, I know who to come to."
The tiny ice towers sparkled in the sun, almost looking like crystal. She was curious- she'd come so far from the girl who caused a snowstorm at the slightest anxiety, so how much control was she capable of? The ice was sharpened to a point, but there wasn't much distinction between the small structures. There was someone who could help, with a mind almost as sharp as her ice. "Hey Annabeth? Can I steal your attention for a second?" The girl looked up from her Ancient Greek book, and smiled upon seeing her friend. "Sure, come in, what's up?" She walked towards Annabeth, sitting next to her on the bed. "You're good with architecture, right?" "'Good' is an understatement," Annabeth nudged her in the ribs. "But yes, architecture is kind of my thing." "Can you help with my power? I think I can control it better now, but I need a guideline- can you draw up a blueprint or something for me to model out of ice?" Annabeth's eyes sparkled as brightly as ice in the sun, and she darted to her desk, grabbing graph paper and a pencil. "We can experiment with different temperatures and thicknesses of the ice-" starting to spout facts about architectural structures and buildings. "Annabeth, this is awesome, but just know you have to be patient with me," she said. "I need a lot of practice." Sitting back down on the bed, Annabeth wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I know, but we can do it. It'll be awesome."
"Hey! Over here!" Will beckoned her over. She smiled and jogged over and into the medical tent. "Hey Will, what's up?" She gave a small wave to the shadowy boy next to him. "Hey Nico." She recieved a vague nod in return. Will gestured to a kid, maybe eight or nine, holding his wrist sitting on a camper bed. "We've run out of ice packs, and we're waiting on an order of ambrosia and nectar so can you do me a favour?" She shrugged. "What do you need?" His next words came as a surprise. "I need snowballs." Laughing, she nodded. "Okay, sure, how many?" Nico kicked an ice box next to him. "Fill this." She nodded, and started creating lumps of snow, balling them up in her palms and chucking them into the box. The kid stared, fascinated. She grinned, pausing her snowball-making to blow a flurry of snowflakes in the kid's face, eliciting a delighted laugh. The slight smile on Nico's face didn't go unnoticed. She leaned into Will. "Hey, get Nico to summon a skeleton outside the tent." "What? Why?" She whispered a plan into his ear, and Will giggled. He grabbed his boyfriend by the arm and dragged him outside. She kept making snowballs and entertaining the kid with snowflakes until Will grabbed her arms and pulled her outside, a huge smile on his face. "Come on, come on, do it!" Will jumped up and down excitedly. Nico raised an eyebrow, but smiled fondly. "What did you want the skeleton for?" She grinned, and pushed her hands forward, snow flying from her hands and surrounding the skeleton. Bones clad in thick snow and from somewhere Will produced a carrot. Nico rolled his eyes, but took out two solid black earrings to stick into the face of the snowman for eyes. Together, she and Nico manipulated the snowman to walk into the medical tent, and from within came screams of delight- it was Christmas in August.
She felt home.
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this took me so long and my shoulder is killing me but i did it! i very much hope you enjoyed, thank you so much for requesting!
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perseabethj · 3 years ago
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i don't really have an explanation (i.)
When Percy started his senior year in yet another school, he promised himself he would try his best to make sure nothing strange happened; sure, it wasn’t really up to him monster-wise, but he could at least try not to say anything strange to his new classmates or curse in ancient Greek. Besides, the last two years had been a mess and, with his kidnapping, it was not like he had much to say when he was told to introduce himself the first day of class -‘’hey, my name is Percy Jackson, my dad is a Greek god, and I was kidnapped last year and my memories were erased; oh, and I like blue food!’’. Yeah, that probably wouldn’t work.
Thus, Percy was known as the quiet and reserved kid in his school. This was a first for him; sure, he’d never had many friends, but he was always causing trouble. This time, however, he knew that Annabeth would kill him if, for any reason, he messed this school year up and he couldn’t go to New Rome University. He made friends -a first, excluding Grover and Tyson, who didn’t really count if you kept in mind that, well, they were his protector and his brother, and a satyr and a cyclops. He didn’t tell his friends much about him -his step-dad was an English teacher, he had been expelled from way too many schools, he had ADHD and dyslexia, he was very athletic, and he was going to try and join the swim team. He made sure to exclude everything that could be linked to his other life -he didn’t talk about his summer camp, his other friends, his huge dog, his father, or his girlfriend; Percy liked how both things didn’t go together, and he felt like it made everything easier. Whenever he talked, he sounded like a normal seventeen-year-old, and he was glad about that. He had had enough of monsters for a lifetime and, even if a hydra or a hellhound bothered him every other day, he could truly say that he could see a future for him and Annabeth that didn’t include them dying in the next five months. All in all, things were good.
When his school organized a homecoming football game, however, he did invite Annabeth; she was in a boarding school in the city, but it wasn’t that hard for her to sneak out with her New York Yankees cap, and he did want her there; it was a milestone for them. After all, Percy wasn’t supposed to reach senior year. They had agreed on meeting at the school; Percy had told Annabeth he’d meet her at the entrance once she texted him that she was close, since he was already at the bleachers with his friends. He wasn’t used to having a phone yet, however, which, in his opinion, gave him an excuse as to why he wasn’t checking his texts. Moreover, his ADHD tended to slow time down for him, so he was pretty sure that he still had thirty minutes before Annabeth was supposed to arrive.
‘’I swear, man, she was the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen,’’ his friend Matthew said, leaning over Kayla so he could see him.
‘’You say that about every girl you meet.’’
‘’I don’t say that about you,’’ Matthew told Kayla, who elbowed him in the ribs and, promptly, shut him up.
Percy couldn’t help but laugh at Louis’s mocking expressions behind Matthew. He’d only known these people for less than a month, but they had accepted him into their little club as soon as they’d met him and he was infinitely grateful. As Louis opened his mouth to, probably, laugh at Matthew over his ability to fall in love at first sight everyday, Matthew and Kayla stopped laughing when they looked at Percy. Percy tensed up, his hand moving to his pocket to make sure that Riptide was with him in case he needed to kill a monster, but, when a pair of arms linked themselves around his shoulders from behind, he tensed up for a whole different reason.
‘’I didn’t think I’d see you here, Jackson,’’ a female voice said playfully close to his ear.
Percy disentangled himself from her arms and turned around to stare Mary in the eye.
‘’An athlete at a football game. Who would have though, right?’’ he ironically said.
Mary rolled her eyes and rested her hand on his shoulder. Percy had to resist the urge to slap it away, but he didn’t want to cause a scene -he knew a lot about causing scenes and, with his luck, slapping her hand away would lead to a monster trying to kill him, and he didn’t want to be expelled before he could even take his first test. He didn’t know what he’d done to gain her attention -she was popular and decidedly pretty, and he was an outcast. He knew he wasn’t bad-looking -if Piper described him as a Greek god once more, he might die; Annabeth telling him that he looked exactly like his father also didn’t help, since the two times Poseidon had shown up in the past year while he was with Annabeth had always led to Percy wondering whether his girlfriend found his father attractive-, and he spent so much time swimming that one would have to be blind not to notice that he had a nice body. However, the whole school knew about his experience with being kicked out of school, since some teachers had made sure to remind him to behave during the first week of classes, and the swim team wasn’t regarded as highly as the football or the hockey team. All in all, he wasn’t a mess -unlike thirteen-year-old Percy-, but he was guarded and serious enough not to attract the attention of preppy girls. Mary, however, seemed to be obsessed with him from the day he got her phone out of the swimming pool after she dropped it while flirting with another guy in his team -‘’keep it wet, keep it wet’’, he’d had to remind himself-, and he regretted being a nice guy ever since then. Honestly, if his mom hadn’t raised him to be such a good kid, most of the problems in his life wouldn’t have happened.
‘’You could sit with us if you wanted,’’ Mary told him, signaling to her girl friends.
Percy knew the invitation only extended to him and not to his friends, who were quiet during the conversation. They had been at that school for three years, so they knew Mary and her gang, and Percy knew they sometimes wondered why he didn’t drop them for the popular kids. He also knew that he would rather face the Minotaur again than sit with the popular kids.
‘’I’m quite happy where I am, thanks,’’ he politely answered, trying to end the chat before he said anything rude.
‘’But you would have more fun with us, I’m sure,’’ Mary insisted, running her finger down his arm.
In moments like this, he almost missed being the young kid he was when he first arrived to camp, skinny and short and with a voice way too high for anyone to consider him a man.
‘’No, thanks,’’ he said again, using his other arm to take his phone out of his pocket, hoping Annabeth wouldn’t take much longer. ‘’Besides, I’m waiting-‘’
‘’Perseus Jackson!’’
‘’Man, I am going to need a massage after this’’, he though as he tensed again. He noticed his friends drive their attention away from Mary, who had also looked towards the origin of the voice with furrowed brows, her finger still on Percy’s arm. Before turning around, Percy quickly looked at the time on his phone, silently cursing in Greek as he saw the multiple texts and missed calls that he clearly hadn’t heard.
‘’Why is there a beautiful blonde goddess walking towards Percy, yelling his full name and looking like she wants to kill him?’’ Matthew quietly asked, forcing Percy to stifle a laugh.
He turned around slowly, half-expecting her to have a dagger at his neck. She was still far enough for him to be able to think of a few excuses, but he knew that wouldn’t work. Man, he had been offended the first time she’d called him Seaweed Brain, but she’d really hit the nail on the head.
‘’I can explain,’’ he said while she was still a few metres away.
‘’Explain, then,’’ she told him, now standing in full height before him. He was quite taller than her, but a standing Annabeth with folded arms and a stormy look in her eyes before a sitting Percy who knew he’d messed up was definitely scary.
‘’I…’’ he started. ‘’I didn’t think I’d get this far, honestly. I think this might be the first time you let me explain and I’m not ready for this responsibility.’’
He knew that was the right answer -her eyes were now shining with mirth and he could tell he was holding back a smile. She still had her arms crossed, but he figured she wasn’t going to kill him in front of so many people, so he tugged at them and forced her to sit next to him before he could regret it.
‘’I really thought it was earlier. You know how I am with the time, and I’m still not used to the phone.’’
She finally unfolded her arms and shook her head as she smiled softly, and Percy knew she wasn’t mad any longer.
‘’The fact that I have experience navigating labyrinths doesn’t mean that I want to navigate your high school, Seaweed Brain,’’ she told him.
‘’Completely understandable, Wise Girl.’’
He threw his arm around her shoulder, all his previous conversations forgotten, and he was about to ask her about her day when another voice interrupted him.
‘’Excuse me, Percy, but who is this?’’ Mary asked from behind him.
Annabeth turned around, a fake smile on her lips as she took in the brunette girl sitting behind her.
‘’His girlfriend,’’ Annabeth said. ‘’Nice to meet you.’’
She offered Mary her hand, though still wrapped around Percy’s arm, and Mary took it automatically, a shocked expression on her face. Her friends looked back between her and Annabeth, equally confused.
‘’His girlfriend?’’ Matthew whisper-yelled.
Both Louis and Kayla nudged him with their elbows, earning a laugh from Percy, which made Annabeth look at them with a raised eyebrow.
‘’Guys, this is Annabeth, my girlfriend,’’ Percy introduced. ‘’Beth, these are Kayla, Matthew and Louis.’’
‘’You’ve mentioned them,’’ Annabeth said, extending her hand and offering a real smile. ���’It’s nice to meet you. Anybody who manages to put up with Percy deserves to be admired.’’
‘’Hey!’’ Percy whined.
His friends sat there, flabbergasted, but he didn’t really mind. Sure, he could have told them in advance, but he also didn’t think it was that important that he had a girlfriend; he was not the first guy in school to have one, and he definitely wouldn’t be the last.
He didn’t have time to talk any more before the game started, but he did manage to hear Matthew whispering to Kayla and Louis as the players made it to the field.
‘’So not only is Percy the hottest guy at school, but he’s also dating the hottest girl in New York? How is that fair?’’
Percy smiled softly and pressed Annabeth closer to him, enjoying her warmth and having her next to him. This was how things were supposed to be.
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seattlesea · 4 years ago
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Percy Jackson Characters + Voices
Percy: -Has a heavy New Yorker accent -Uses a lot of New York/Manhattan slang and skater slang as well (if that’s even a thing) -Has quite a deep voice but gets voice cracks pretty often -Has a rough, gravelly, smoky, and vigorous voice -Talks pretty slow, like water calmly splashing on rocks  -But talks really slow when he’s bored or tired, people will stop listening before he even finishes one sentence cause he takes forever to speak  -Sometimes has a really deep, bored, and calm voice that’s actually quite pleasant to listen to when you’re tired, exhausted, or trying to relax -His voice gets deeper when he’s upset and shaky when he’s really scared -Half the time he’s talking slowly and taking his sweet time and the other half the time he’s talking at a mile a minute -Sometimes he sounds like the deepest parts of the ocean and melted chocolate and other times sounds like the surface of a calm ocean on a peaceful summer day -At night he sounds so sleepy and dreamy but in the mornings and throughout the rest of the day he sounds so bright and merry and chirpy it’s hard to believe those two voices are coming from the same person -But when he’s yelling he’s pretty intimidating, he sounds wild and fierce
Annabeth: -Has a slight Virginian accent she tries hard to get rid of -Her voice is kind of high and she hates it  -Has a light, clear, silvery, and firm voice -Sometimes sounds completely toneless and blunt when talking to people she doesn’t know and can sound cold as ice when talking to an enemy -She has a really nice and pleasant reading voice (and a nice, pleasant voice in general) -People love listening to her when she’s talking about something she’s interested in (especially architecture) cause she sounds so eager and happy and excited and it’s so nice to hear from her -Sounds loud and scary when she’s yelling -Can sound really tight at times -She giggles more than laughs, and her laugh is so quiet, barely noticeable -Pronounces every word perfectly and carefully, she pronounces every syllable at a time -Sounds like what writing in cursive looks like -She uses really long and sophisticated words a lot of people don’t know the meaning of. She’s pretty much a walking dictionary -Her voice gets lower when she’s sad and it’s heartbreaking -Overall she has a really soothing, simple, and steady voice  -She uses perfect grammar at all times and rarely stutters -Sometimes will sound like cotton and a soft breeze and other times will sound like ice and blizzards depending on her mood and who she’s talking to
Jason: -Pure American boy accent -Has a very steady and level voice and when he’s talking to people he doesn’t really know he sounds serious and monotonous  -But his voice is so soft and gentle when talking to his family and friends it’s like getting a verbal bear hug  -Has a slight lisp from his lip scar -Just like Annabeth, likes to pronounce things perfectly and on point -Sounds like what still water and glass look like -Is naturally really loud. He has to be reminded to lower his voice on a daily basis -Often unintentionally sounds toneless like someone reading an audiobook -He has the deepest voice out of all the males and sounds deeper when he’s upset or exhausted -Uses really obscure and complicated words and barely anyone but Reyna and Annabeth can understand him -Sounds really commanding and assertive when he’s yelling and giving orders
Piper: -Sounds like a typical California girl -Talks kind of slow and ties her words together when she’s tired -Has voice that’s not too deep or too high, kind of in the middle -Has a really pleasant, attractive, smooth, sultry, emotional, and soft voice  -But because of that she also sounds really honeyed and new people often don’t trust her when speaking to her for the first time -Uses casual, short, and simple words. No slang, nicknames, etc. Just the basic everyday words -Her charmspeak takes on the best qualities of the listener. Percy hears hints of Annabeth, Jason hears hints of Thalia and Reyna, Hazel hears a bit of her mother, etc.  -When she’s yelling she sounds frantic, almost hysterical  -And she gets a slight rasp when she’s been yelling too much  -Sounds like what honey looks like and what a birdsong sounds like -Has a soft and quiet laugh
Frank: -He used to have a Chinese accent, then a Canadian one -Uses a lot of Canadian slang most people don’t understand -Mutters in Mandarin a lot -Has a soft, soothing, silky, mellow, kind of deep, and overall really cute voice -He mirrors people often. If he’s been listening to Percy a lot, he’ll sound deeper and rougher. If he’s been listening to Annabeth a lot, he’ll sound higher and clearer, etc.  -Same thing goes for his laugh. It changes every few days or so -Has a loud and adorable contagious laugh. It sounds like happiness -Sounds like sunshine and sugar -Uses simple words everyone can understand -Also uses really good grammar -Talks at a pretty steady pace most of the time, even when he’s tired or mad -When he’s yelling he sounds really forceful  -Gets voice cracks when he’s angry or scared but doesn’t really mind
Hazel: -Beautiful voice, it sounds like heaven -Has a slight New Orleans and old-fashioned accent that makes it clear she isn’t from this century -Uses a lot of older slang and words that aren’t relevant today but no one bothers to correct her cause it’s so cute -Has a soft, soothing, flowing, kind of high, spirited, lively, pleasant, smooth, and passionate voice -Is the easiest person to listen to, her voice is so warm and calming -Sounds like writing in cursive and italics at the same time -Talks nice and kind of slow -Sounds like what the cool side of a pillow feels like, honey, and the reflection of jewels from the sun (pun intended) -Has a scary and assertive voice when she’s yelling -Everyone loves making her laugh cause it’s so sweet and delightful -Has a higher than average voice, mostly cause of her young age and cause she hasn’t really hit puberty yet -Overall has a really lovely voice -Uses a bunch of really cute pet names like ‘Sugar’, ‘Doll’, ‘Cutie’, ‘Love’, ‘Honey’, etc.
Leo: -Used to have a really heavy Hispanic accent that faded as he grew, but it gets clearer the more he raises his voice -His voice is higher than average  -Has a light, smooth, passionate, kind of husky, and gravelly voice that’s pretty attractive if you’re not into deep voices -Gets voice cracks and a deeper voice when he’s angry. When his voice is almost or just as deep as Jason’s, you know you f’d up -Sounds really low when he’s tired -Uses a bunch of mechanic and engineer terms that no one knows the meaning of -Mutters and hums to himself while he’s working -Uses really long and complicated words -Talks kind of choppily and will often pause mid-sentence -Sounds completely unhinged when he’s yelling, wild and terrifying -Mutters in Spanish a lot and often switches from English to Spanish then back again and Reyna is the only one who can understand him -Talks really, really fast, quite loudly, and talks a lot
Reyna: -If ‘butch’ was a word used to describe someone’s voice it’d be hers -Has a slight Puerto Rican accent that gets clearer when she yells -Also has hints of an unidentifiable islander accent that only Jason, Percy, and Annabeth know are from Circe’s Island -But also lived in California for 4+ years so has hints of a Californian accent as well so her accent is all over the place but it fits weirdly perfectly -Has a super deep voice, deeper than Percy’s and on par or deeper than Jason’s. Sometimes she sounds genderless  -Has a strong, fruity, smooth, steady, level, attractive, firm, commanding, and pleasant voice  -Can sound so soft and sweet that her voice sounds like fragile glass when she’s comforting someone and it’s so calming and warm -She’s learned to sound the same when she’s upset or angry after bottling her emotions for so long but whenever she lets go her voice gets low and shaky and sad and it’s heartbreaking -Whenever she yells it’s absolutely terrifying cause it’s loud and booming and strong and fierce and assertive and forceful and commanding and dominant and everyone listens to her right away without thinking -She uses perfect grammar and always has planned-out wording, but even when she’s using impromptu speech she never stutters or uses ‘uh’ or ‘um’ cause she’s so used to doing or coming up with things on the spot, especially in the heat of battle -She has a loud and slightly choppy but really cute laugh -Uses really weird and confusing curses no one knows she got from the pirates -In general curses a lot when she’s not on duty, especially during battle, more than Leo and Annabeth but not as much as Percy and Thalia -Also since she lived in California for 4+ years she definitely says ‘hella’ a lot and it’s her favorite word -Sounds like what melted marshmallows and coffee look like -Talks and mutters in Spanish and Latin a lot, sometimes mixes the two 
Nico: -Has a ranging accent from a bunch of different places after being surrounded by people of multiple cultures at the Lotus Casino for so long -But his most distinct accent is his Italian one and he can’t pronounce some of his ‘i’s, pronouncing them like ‘e’ instead, and he pronounces Will’s name like ‘Wheel’ cause of it and he hates it but Will loves it -He sounds scratchy, shaky, and sad when he’s upset and it’s so agonizing to hear him like that -Overall he usually has a dark, grim, melancholy, thick, small, soft, and slightly raspy voice -He talks really fast when he’s excited and he sounds so eager and enthusiastic it’s adorable, everyone loves it, especially Percy cause Nico sounds so much like the upbeat, energetic, cheerful kid who played Mythomagic years ago -Has a light, soft, and giggly laugh that everyone loves to hear from him -But his yelling voice is frightening cause he sounds like the depths of Tartarus are screaming through his body and since he rarely raises his voice, all his pain and anger are shown through his voice at the same time -Gets voice cracks when he’s really angry or sad -Sounds like steel and what mint tastes like -Uses phrases from the 19th century and still uses terms and codes from World War II
Thalia: -Used to have a regular American accent but after travelling the world with the Hunters for over two years started picking up a ranging accent from various places, similar to Nico -Is naturally super loud just like Jason (like brother-like sister) and isn’t allowed to talk while the Hunters are stalking prey cause she alerts the monsters within a second if she speaks -Has a very brash, raucous, thunderous (pun intended), booming, smoky, sultry, silvery, stentorian, ringing, and slightly husky voice -Naturally sounds really sarcastic even if she’s not being so, and everyone she speaks to for the first time thinks she’s being rude when that’s just how she talks -Has a loud and booming laugh similar to Jason’s -Uses a lot of modern slang -Curses the most out of everyone and way too much, there’s at least two curse words in every sentence -And after hanging around Reyna so much she’s started saying ‘hella’ a lot, too -Gets a rasp when she’s been talking for a lot cause her voice is so loud it’s honestly a wonder why her vocal chords haven’t been destroyed yet -People often think she’s partially deaf -Sounds like thunder and lightning (literally and figuratively) -Roars more than yells, and it’s really scary and intimidating
Calypso: -Has a thick islander accent and kept trying to mimic different people’s accents until finding out that’s considered offensive  -Often sounds sad, harsh, lost, and/or lonely cause all the time she spent alone on Ogygia -Has a voice that isn’t too high or too deep, but perfectly in the middle -Has a clear, honeyed, mystical, smoky, sultry, soft, and slightly fruity voice and can sometimes sound plummy -Uses slang and phrases from a hundred different centuries and no one can understand what she’s saying -Sounds grating and ringing when she’s yelling -Gets voice cracks when she’s upset -But overall has an almost otherworldly voice that makes her sound celestial and almost alien -Has a soft, clear, and giggly laugh that’s sometimes super quiet and other times louder than a speaker at full volume -Uses lengthy and sophisticated words and loves using British slang -Has hints of a British accent as well -Uses really good grammar  -Sounds like fluffy clouds and warm sand
Rachel: -Typical American accent  -Has a super relaxing and soothing voice that can calm down anyone without her even trying and she’s a great comforter because of it -Has a clear, silvery, thick, fruity, smoky, and steady voice that isn’t too high or too deep, also in the middle -Curses and mutters quite often -Uses a lot of modern and artist slang most demigods don’t understand -Learned curse words from a bunch of different languages  -Has a nice, pleasant, easy-to-listen-to voice everyone loves to hear -She and Annabeth reading books together sounds like heaven -Is actually a really great singer and she, Thalia, and Reyna can harmonize weirdly well -Gets a slight rasp when she’s tired -Never raises her voice, ever, even when she’s angry or annoyed -Her pace is all over the place. Sometimes she talks super slowly, other times steadily, and other times faster than a car on the highway, but generally she drags some of her words and sounds so peaceful people love talking to her -Tries her hardest not to show any emotion when she’s upset, scared, or angry but usually fails and sounds shaky and brittle, almost like she’s going to cry, even if she’s not even close to crying -Sounds as beautiful as her paintings -And sounds like the scent of citrus and vanilla
(inspiration from lililibird-deactivated20162017)
sorry I’m spamming lmao
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hoe4almondmilk · 4 years ago
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Safety Net: Chapter 3
Present! Carol Denning/Reader
Trigger Warning: There is mentions of Attempted sexual assault, nothing in detail though. 
“Oh, don’t be like that! Just give me a piece and I won’t make an arrest for reckless driving and possession.” The cop chuckled as he attempted to grab your shoulder.
“I said get the fuck away from me!” you yelled. You could smell the alcohol on his breath as his face approached yours. 
He grabbed you by the shoulders, everything was happening so fast and yet it felt like it was all in slow motion. That's when you grabbed his gun from his waist and shot him.
You gasped, sitting up quickly. Your heart was pounding and your skin was slick with sweat from the nightmare. It took a few moments to finally catch your breath.
“Oh my god.” You groaned quietly, as you rubbed your eyes from exhaustion.
This was your first nightmare in a very long time. The last time you had a nightmare was back when you first arrived at camp but that was years ago and you were on antidepressants. You had almost forgotten how real they felt. How they brought you back to that horrific moment. The moment your life was turned upside down and changed for the worst. 
“The fuck is wrong with you?” Carol groaned in a grumpy tone from underneath her bunk in a groggy voice interrupting your thoughts.
“Nothing. Just a nightmare.” You replied blankly as you laid back down.
After a few minutes of silence you heard Carol ask “You okay, kid?” Maybe you were delusional from being tired but you could’ve sworn you heard the slightest bit of concern in Carol’s voice.
“Not even a little bit.” You whispered as you attempted to hold back the tears.
It felt almost like hours before you could fall back asleep, scared your nightmare would continue if you closed your eyes.
“Wake the fuck up, Inmate.” C.O. Hellman yelled as he smacked the door of your cell, making a large clap noise that made you jump up from your sleep.
“Okay, I’m awake.” You groaned, as you rubbed your eyes and slid down from your bunk. You must’ve slept in pretty late, considering Carol was absent from her bunk. 
After getting changed into your navy scrubs and brushing your teeth, you made your way out of your cell into the common area. 
You scanned the room to see Carol at her usual spot playing bridge with the other women. 
You and Carol were on good terms now after your agreement the other night. An hour before lights out she’d even spend some time with you, giving you a bridge lesson. Still you still really weren’t sure if you were on that level of familiarity with her yet to just go sit at her table. You looked over to see your two favorite people Piper and Alex and made your way towards them.
“Well, someone slept in pretty late.” Alex said as she looked up from her book.
“Yeah, I had some trouble sleeping last night and I guess my body made up for it.” You groaned and you got comfortable in your seat.
“(L/N), what happened to you the other night? I can still see the bruises on your neck.” Piper inquired.
“Oh, shit.” Alex hissed as she leaned in to take a closer look at the now yellow bruising on your neck.
“I’d rather not talk about it.” Your hand rubbed your neck as a pathetic attempt to shield the bruises. 
“Was it Badison?” Piper’s eyes widened. “You see Alex, I told you Badison is fucking crazy.” 
“Chapman, shush!” You hushed Piper. “Seriously, watch what you say around here.” 
“So it was Badison?” Piper whispered.
“Jesus, yes, Chapman. Listen, I have it taken care of, okay?.” You groaned, you did not want what happened to you the other night in the showers happening to her.
“If you say so.” Piper sighed as she looked over to Alex in hopes for a response. Alex just shrugged her shoulders. 
“Well, speak of the devil.” Alex warned as Badison made her way over to your table.”
“Hey lezzies, sorry to interrupt but Carol wants to see Mouse.” Badison chuckled. “Now.” She demanded.
“Well, off I go.” You sighed as you got up from your spot following the rambunctious blonde.
It’s safe to say you probably should’ve sat with Carol when you entered the common room. Hopefully, she’s not too upset. How could you have known? You gulped out of nervousness. What if you did piss her off? If Badison could get two girls to jump you in the shower imagine the damage Carol could do if she really wanted to. 
You quickly snapped out of your thoughts when you made it over to Carol’s table. Akers, Creech, Teng, Brock, Chambal and of course Carol were all sitting at the table. Badison sat down in front of Carol. You could feel not only her eyes on you but the eyes of the other women who sat around Carol. 
“Brock, move.” Carol said not looking up from her cards.
Brock rolled her eyes as she got up and away from her spot next Carol.
Carol looked up from her the cards in her hands and met your eyes with hers. “Sit.” 
You nodded and sat next to her, filling in Brock’s spot.
“It’s your turn to switch in.” Carol slid the deck of cards to you.
“What is she doing here?” Teng grunted obviously annoyed by your presence at the table. 
You couldn’t really blame her, Badison did order her to go jump you and made you out to be an enemy, yet here you were sitting next to Carol playing bridge.
Carol looked up from her cards and glared at Teng. “She works with us now.”
“So, Mouse. What the fuck are you in here for?” Badison smirked. You could feel the eyes of everyone at the table on you, except Carol who was too focused on the cards in her hands. 
“I’d really rather not talk about it.” You replied as you drew a couple of cards trying to focus on the game. 
You actually hadn’t told really anyone about why you were in prison in the first place but camp was small so word got around and so did rumors about what you had done, most of which weren’t true. You didn’t care, let them think what they want. You wanted to do your time and leave this place behind. But of course, your luck, the riot happened as you only had three years left of your seven year sentence. 
You were at maximum now, things were different here. You were surrounded by some of the most violent types of offenders. Maybe you should’ve been here in the first place. No, you shouldn’t. You did what you had to do.
 “Probably something petty, you did come here from minimum.” She chuckled. “Ain’t nothin tough about you.” It took everything in you not to roll your eyes at her. 
“Madison.” Carol cautioned with a glare. After a few moments of silence, Carol asked “Are you gonna tell us?”, as she glanced over at you waiting for an answer.
Should you lie? No, no definitely not. Carol was the boss, she could probably have a CO find out for her if she really wanted to and she'd have your head if she found out you lied to her.
 “I shot a cop.” You muttered as you pulled another card from the deck. You looked up when you noticed the wave of silence that washed over the entire table. Everyone was shocked to say the least. Even Carol whose face normally wore a blank expression looked slightly surprised with one of her eyebrows raised. 
“Damn, Mouse is a cop killer!” Creech laughed. 
“Yo, that’s badass!” Akers joined in with Creech. Both women were laughing in unison.
“Bullshit.” Badison laughed. “You just want to look tough.”
“It’s true.” You replied, as you sank further into your seat. Just wanting the attention to shift away from you. 
And unfortunately you were telling the truth but you couldn’t blame her for not believing you or anyone for that matter. You hated people finding out what you did. You didn’t necessarily regret what happened but you hated the way people saw you after you told them. Especially in prison, it gave a false image of you. You weren’t a violent person nor did you ever try to appear as one.
“Then why were you in minimum “cop killer”?'' Badison leaned forward, asking almost as if she was challenging you. Everything was a competition to her. 
You slammed the cards down on the table. “Not that it’s any of your business, Badison, but I didn’t kill him and it was self defense.” 
“I’m not buying it.” Badison continued.
“I don’t have to prove anything to you, Badison.” You scoffed, as you once again tried to center your focus back to the game. 
“Well that’s a shame cause you really sho-“
“Madison.” Carol interrupted her mid sentence “Stop.” Her eyes burning onto the loud blonde, obviously having enough of Badison starting petty pointless fights. 
You tried your best to stop the corners of your mouth from curving into a small smile. It was nice knowing Carol was keeping her end of the deal. 
Badison gulped and did as Carol said. 
“You know what,” Carol put her deck of cards down. “Madison, Scat.”
“What?” Badison asked almost dumbfounded.
“Unless you can play bridge well, all of a sudden, go. You’re annoying me.” Carol continued her glare at Badison.
“Fine.” Badison stood up from her spot and slowly trudged off, anger obvious in every step. 
Normally you would’ve been scared but you weren’t. Badison knew she was already crossing the line with Carol’s patience. She knew not to fuck with you like she did last time. 
“Let’s start over.” Carol sighed as she began to reshuffle the thick deck of playing cards.
After an hour of non stop rounds of bridge, Carol decided to take a break. She needed to talk to Badison about their new haul of pills. You weren’t complaining, your ass was starting to hurt from sitting on the hard plastic seat for so long. You headed up the stairs to your cell to lay down for a bit. You let out a quiet groan, as you rubbed your lower back. Your lower back definitely needed a break too.
“Psst.” You heard a voice whisper to you right before you walked into your cell, stopping you in your tracks. God it better not be fuckin Badison. You looked over and almost screamed. It was Nicky. 
“Long time no see, Doll.” Nicky chuckled as she leaned against the custodial cart.
“Nicky,” It took everything in you not to run into her arms and hug the absolute shit out of her. “I- How-... What are you doing here?” 
You couldn’t believe your eyes, you hadn’t seen Nicky since you guys were in Ad Seg but you two couldn’t really even have a real conversation because of the asshole guards. 
Nicky was one of the few real friends you had at camp. You remember the day she first arrived to camp. You two had been inseparable since and not that you would ever admit it but at one point you had a slight crush on her. You never mentioned it nor would you ever mention it to her because you value your friendship with Nicky more.
“What, not happy to see me?” She chuckled as she faked a pout.
You looked around to make sure no one was looking, seriously not needing another jumping. You smiled looking back at her, “I’m so happy, if I could hug you and not get jumped I would.” 
Nicky’s smile quickly faded when her eyes landed on your neck, “A second time? What the fuck happened?” 
You groaned, damn how long were these bruises gonna stay. “I don’t want to talk about it, it won’t happen again.”
 Nicky rolled her eyes and she gripped the mop in her hands tighter, her anger was obvious.“Who did that to you? I swear I’ll-“
“You’ll what? You’ll get jumped too, Nicky. It’s not like camp. Red can’t protect us here. Where is she anyway? Is she in D-Block with you?” The last time you saw Red was in Ad Seg.
“No, She must still be in Ad Seg.” Nicky looked hurt answering that. You wanted to hug her. It was painful knowing you couldn’t. 
“How are you, Nicky? Seriously, I fuckin miss you.” You could feel your eyes watering up. 
Nicky sniffled, “I miss you too,” She wiped her eyes, “You know, I’ve been better, Lorna and her bunkie adopted a pack of rats so I’ve had to hear about that for the past four days.” Nicky chuckled.
“Ew, that’s gross.” You chuckled softly.
“Nichols!” CO Blake yelled. “There’s a spill down here!” 
“Heigh-ho, off to work I go.” Nicky groaned, as she started to wheel her cart away, She turned around to say “I miss you, kid.” sadly.
“I miss you too, Nicky. More than you could know.” You replied, you slowly turned around trying to soak up as much of her image as you could before you made your way back into your cell. 
You quickly wiped the tears from your eyes before anyone saw. You hated it here. None of you deserved to be in here. You wanted your prison family back even if it was a dysfunctional mess.
You crawled up your bunk and into your bed, plopping face down into your very thin pillow. Praying that you’d just wake up from all of this and be back home with your family before all of this mess happened. Prison was a tortuous hell. 
Snapping you out of the hypnotizing darkness that was your pillow, you heard, “It’s barely noon and you’re asleep again?”
You lifted your head up to see Carol leaning against the entrance of the cell.
You let out a groan as you flipped onto your back, as you faced the ceiling. “I wasn’t sleeping.” 
“That’s surprising.” Carol chuckled as she strolled into the cell and sat herself down on her bed. “You’re so young, what do you have to be tired about?” 
You rolled your eyes, you absolutely hated it when people told you that, it was so annoying. “You know, that’s really invalidating.” You sat up on your bed, leaning your body towards the edge of the bed so you could look at her.
Carol was hardly listening, too focused on her magazine and lollipop. “Invalidating, how so?” She gave you a glance, taking a minuscule break from her scantily clad men.
“You’re just assuming, I have nothing to worry about solely because of the fact that I'm young. I don’t even feel young because of the place. Prison has robbed me of my youth. I should be in college.” You looked up at the ceiling and sighed. “I should be anywhere but here.” 
Carol was silent for a moment, looking at you. “How long have you been in here?”
“I was eighteen, when it happened. I just graduated high school.” 
“Eighteen.” Carol repeated, She chuckled. “You were about my age when I first got here.” 
“You’ve been in here since you were eighteen?” You asked, you were shocked. Carol’s spent her whole life in this place and by the looks of how she runs things here, she wouldn’t be getting out anytime soon. 
“Crazy, isn’t it? It’s gone by so excruciatingly slow yet time flew by so fast.” She sighed as she removed her glasses from her face to rub her eyes. There was a hint of sadness and yet some passive aggressiveness in her voice. “It was originally just twenty-five years but I was betrayed by someone I cared about and so I got an extra thirty stacked on top.” She leaned her head against the wall of her bunk.
An “I’m sorry, Carol.” was all you could say, was there anything else you could say? This woman has spent her whole life in this place and was most likely going to die here, yet for some reason you thought you had the right to complain about a measly seven years.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m different now. I’ve learned not to trust anyone here so easily.” She put her glasses back on her face. There was a moment of silence. “So, exactly why did you shoot that cop, tough girl?” 
“It’s hard to talk about.” You muttered. “I have so many mixed feelings about what happened.”
“Sit down here with me.” Carol invited, scooting over to where her pillow laid.
You nodded as you climbed down from your bed to hers, not wasting this act of kindness from Carol. You knew she was cold blooded and was rarely kind to anyone. So far though, she made an exception for you. You just took it as her being nice because you were new and could offer something for her business.
You sat down on her bed, pulling your knees to your chest. “I didn’t intend to shoot him. That was the last thing I wanted to do but I didn’t have any other choice.” Your voice became hoarse as you tried to hold back the tears. 
Carol watched and listened to you in silence. 
“I had to, I wasn’t going to let him rape me. That’s what he wanted. I saw how he looked at me and how he grabbed me. I can still feel his grasp on my arms.” Tears fell from your eyes. Three years later and it was still so hard to talk about. You should be getting proper counseling, not the bullshit you were getting from Healy back at camp.
“Is that why you woke up last night?” Carol asked. You looked over at her and her expression was soft. Before it was a word that couldn’t be put with Carol. She was hard, tough and cold. Yet somehow she was showing you sympathy.
You nodded. “This was my first nightmare in years. My last one was when I first arrived at camp.” You wiped your tears away and chuckled. “What’s so fucked up is I’m the victim and yet I'm the one in prison. They decided his gunshot wound was his punishment.” 
You flinched when you felt Carol’s hand touch your back. Your muscles slowly relaxed when she began to rub your back. She didn’t say anything for a moment there. She didn’t need to. Her hand on your back was all she needed to say. This was the first time in a while you had felt someone show you slightest bit of affection. It was nice. You were touch starved.
“Thank you.” You gave Carol a small smile.
And she smiled back at you.
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annabethy · 4 years ago
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under the mistletoe, watching the fire glow day 20: childhood
Character A and Character B are estranged childhood best friends,, percabeth,, this is definitely my favorite day
Percy Jackson is seven years old when he falls in love.
He doesn’t know it at the time, or for a long time after that.
When he first meets her on the swings, when she’s sitting by herself, he thinks she looks like a princess. Her curls are pretty and blonde, not a hair out of place. The first thing he really notices, though, is that she looks sad.
Looking back on it, he thinks that maybe that’s why he approached her. Percy was never the kid to step out and make friends first. But she looked like she could use it.
So as he sits next to her on the swings, he asks her, “What’s your name?”
She looks up from where her feet were kicking at the dirt, covering her pretty princess shoes in specks of black and brown. Her eyes are a striking grey – the kind that he could not possibly forget, even at the ripe age of seven. She tells him, “Annabeth,” and doesn’t say another word.
He responds with, “I’m Percy,” and follows her lead, silence settling all around them. He tries again the next day when he finds her sitting by herself on the same swings during recess. Today, she’s in a blue dress, and he tells her that it’s her favorite color.
“Really?” she asks, kicking the dirt again. “My daddy wanted me to wear the pink one.”
“I think the blue one looks better than pink,” he says.
At twelve years old, he thinks that’s when she became his best friend. That wonderfully dull day when the grey clouds rolled overhead on a chilly October day. It was the day the clouds matched her eyes too, he remembers.
It was the day he fell in love.
Percy Jackson is twelve years old when his heart first breaks.
He’s sitting in the grass outside her house, watching her cry. The tears roll down her face, and matching tears roll down his. It’s funny because they do everything together. They experience love and heartbreak and friendship and tears at once, and always together.
Percy and Annabeth, together forever and always.
Or so he thought.
But it’s only a week later that she moves out officially, and he never sees her again. They’d promised to keep in touch, but like all friendships, it always fades. She’s in California, and he’s in New York, and they’re both twelve. So young and wrongfully full of hope. But that was them too. Hopeful and bright, wishing of a future together.
At eighteen years old, he remembers their promise to find each other again. It had been an offhand comment, one that they’d seen in TV shows and movies. If they both turned twenty and weren’t married, then they’d marry each other. Percy can look back on it with a smile, because twenty was so young. So much life yet to come. But they had been ready to marry each other.
Maybe it was them being naïve, or maybe it was them being in love and looking for an excuse to stay by each other’s side.
Percy Jackson is eighteen years old when he gets his first girlfriend. Her name is Rachel, and he thinks that she’s really pretty.
(Not as pretty as Annabeth was, but he doesn’t tell her that.)
(He doesn’t need to. She already knows.)
At twenty-two years old, he now understands that he was always in love with Annabeth. It was rooted so deep inside of him that it made him who he was. There was never any getting over her because she’s what made him him. He was so young when he met her that he was still creating himself and his personality, and when she became a part of his life, she became a part of him.
There’s no one to blame for his failed relationship except himself. Somehow, Percy isn’t too upset anyways because he loved Rachel, but he never loved her the way he loved Annabeth, and he never would.
Percy Jackson is twenty-two years old when his heart aches for her.
There is a girl that looks just like him standing across the street. Or at least he thinks so. He hasn’t actually seen what she looks like because she hadn’t had a phone when she moved, and any forms of social media he’s sure she has now, she didn’t then. He’d lost contact with her entire family too.
But there’s something about her calling to him. She has those beautiful blonde ringlets down her back, not a hair out of place, and she is wearing a blue felt coat that falls to below her knees. Her shoes are white, with specks of black and brown as though she’s been kicking at the dirt, and it brings a smile to his face. Annabeth never did grow out of that habit for as long as he knew her.
Percy crosses the street, but he has no intentions of actually speaking to the stranger. He just needs to get back to his apartment, and she happens to be standing in the way of that. She turns just as he passes by, so he doesn’t get a glimpse of her face, but that’s okay. Millions of people live in New York City, and it is not possible that the one standing before him is her.
But then he is unsure if it’s his imagination when there is a faint, “Annabeth!” called from somewhere along the sidewalk, and she turns to the voice, and he turns to her.
His heart stops. She’s looking at someone else, but he can see the striking grey eyes that match the clouds overhead on this wintery December day, two days before Christmas. It has to be his imagination because she doesn’t move, but then she starts towards the voice, and he hears her name again, and it’s her.
Percy chases after her, weaving through the crowds along the street, and she is so close –
So close –
Percy’s fingers curl around her shoulder without thinking, and she jumps, whirling around, and he catches fear in her eyes that causes him to shrink back.
His voice is stuck in his throat because he is face to face with the girl he fell in love with fifteen years ago, and there is recognition in her eyes.
“Percy?”
“Yeah,” he chokes out.
Then she smiles and laughs, pulling him in for an immediate hug. “Oh my god, Percy.”
His arms wrap snugly around her, and she smells so good, and is as perfect as he remembers. He’s afraid if he opens his eyes, she’s going to disappear. “Open your eyes, silly,” she says.
He tells her truthfully, “I’m scared you’ll disappear if I do.”
She laughs again, a beautiful sound to his ears. Her hand slides into his, thumb rubbing soothingly. “I’m right here.”
So he opens his eyes, and she’s looking earnestly at him. He’s towering over her now, different from when she was taller than him at twelve years old.
“You’re somehow even prettier than I remembered,” he says before he can stop himself. His face blushes suddenly as he realizes what he just said, and he’s about to apologize before she stops him.
“I’d hope so,” she teases. “I was twelve! Braces were not a good look.” “You made them work,” he says, stepping to the side when someone tries to slide by. Everything is suddenly overwhelming, the sounds of cars rushing by and chatter all around, the honking of horns. He spots someone standing over Annabeth’s shoulder patiently. “I’m sorry, am I interrupting something?”
Annabeth shakes her head and motions the girl closer. She’s pretty too, but she doesn’t even begin to hold a flame to Annabeth. “This is my friend Piper. We were just walking around the city for a bit before heading home. Piper, this is my best friend from when I was younger. I told you about Percy?”
Piper makes a sly face at Annabeth, to which Annabeth pointedly ignores. Piper reaches a hand forwards to shake his hand. “How could I not have heard of the famous Percy? She talks about you all the time.”
“I talk about you a healthy amount,” Annabeth corrects. “He was my best friend.”
“The way you speak of him, I would’ve thought you still were.”
Annabeth and Percy lock eyes. “Yeah, well, I guess we just fell out of touch.”
“It’s a shame,” Piper says. “You two would have been cute as husband and wife.”
The statement makes Percy’s heart flutter. “Husband and wife?”
Annabeth rolls her eyes playfully. “I told Piper about our agreement to get married at twenty. I think we may have missed the deadline, though.”
Percy laughs. “I guess we did.”
They fall into a silence, and then Piper says, “I should get going. I’ll leave the two of you to get reacquainted, maybe even married.”
“Yes, thank you, Piper,” Annabeth says.
“I’ll see you at home, love,” she says. “Be safe.”
“I will,” Annabeth answers. They both watch as Piper leaves, and then Percy’s addressing her.
“Home?” he asks. “Where exactly is that now?”
“New York, actually. I moved here for university. I wasn’t sure if you still lived here though.”
“I couldn’t move away from here,” he jokes. “I had to stay put in case you ever decided to come back so you’d know where to find me.”
“I’m not going to lie, Percy. You’re a part of the reason I decided to come back,” she says. She shifts her feet like she wants to say something but doesn’t know if she should. “There’s so much to say I don’t even know where to start.”
And Percy knows exactly what she means. “Why don’t we go back to my place? I can make us some hot chocolate and we can catch up.”
“I’d like that.”
It’s a quick five minutes spent walking before they’re back to his apartment. He opens the door and is immediately overcome with warmth, a drastic change from outside. Annabeth steps inside, kicking off her shoes slowly as she looks around.
“This is a nice place,” she says. “You live alone?”
“Yeah. I tried the roommate thing, but it just didn’t work out. My job pays well enough for it, though.”
“And what is your job?”
“Oh, uh – I work at an aquarium. Nothing too fancy yet, but I do get to play with animals a lot. I’m a marine biologist.”
“I always knew you’d be,” she teases.
“And I always knew you’d be an architect,” he says. “Did that come true?”
“It did, actually. I’ve made it pretty far pretty fast too, and whenever people ask how I did it, I tell them you. You were always the person to cheer me on when we were younger. It helped a lot more than I think you realized.”
“I’m glad.”
They both sit on the couch, close but still far enough to keep a couple of inches between them. He faces her, one leg up on the couch, and she leans into him. It feels comforting, like they’d never been split apart.
Percy suddenly remembers when they were twelve and agreed to marry each other when they reached twenty. It causes him to start laughing, and he’s sure he looks insane.
“You okay?” she asks, amused.
“I’m just remembering – we could be married by now. I mean, obviously we wouldn’t be, but we really said we’d be twenty and marry each other.”
“We really did that,” she agrees.
“I don’t know why we chose twenty,” he admits. “Why not thirty?” He snickers. “We were so young we didn’t even understand that most people aren’t married by twenty, or even done with school.”
She smiles softly. “I knew, Percy.”
“What?”
“I knew twenty was too young to be married.”
“Then why did you agree to it?”
“Because I loved you,” she says. “I thought it was obvious.”
“I loved you too.”
She gives him a look. “It was more than just loving you. I was in love with you, and I wanted a reason to marry you. Even if I was twelve.”
“I’m hurt,” he says, a hand over his heart. But his heart is beating so fast he wouldn’t be surprised if it plops right out of her chest. “You were in love with me?”
“Would you be alright if I said I still was?”
“I’d be more than alright with that,” he says, “considering I’m quite certain I’m still in love with you too.”
She smirks but doesn’t move. “Something’s changed, Percy.”
“What?”
“I can’t read you anymore. I used to be able to tell what you were feeling, but now… I can’t tell if you’re joking.”
“I’m really not,” he assures her. “It’s insane, and probably way too soon to say this after seeing you again, but I would actually drop everything and marry you if you just said yes.”
“I’m tempted to,” she says.
“My mom would be over the moon.”
Annabeth coos. “How is your mom?” “She’s doing well. She had another baby, actually. I have a little sister, Estelle. She’s four now.”
“I’m happy for her.”
“Me too.”
And they’re silent again, but her face is right in front of his, and she may not be able to read him anymore, but he can surely read her.
He wants to kiss her badly because even after ten years, his love has never disappeared. He could live another lifetime and still be head over heels for her. So he whispers, “Can I kiss you?”
And she answers, “Yes.”
It’s everything he could’ve imagined. His breath is taken away, and her lips fit his perfectly. She’s soft and warm, and she’s beautiful and perfect, and now she’s here in his arms.
He pulls away, and when he looks her in the eyes, he sees a burning passion. And he feels it in his stomach too. Because a simple kiss will not make up for lost time. And it’s been ten years, but when a love is as strong as theirs, there is no point in waiting.
It happens fast. Percy’s shirt is pulled over his head, and hers follows soon after. They quickly make their way to his bedroom, and everything happens so fast after that that he is unable to keep up. His heart pounds, brain goes numb, lips swollen with every agonizing kiss she places on him.
It’s heaven and hell, fire and rain, and Percy and Annabeth.
Percy Jackson fell in love at seven years old.
He is twenty-two years old, and that love is finally his.
185 notes · View notes
five-rivers · 4 years ago
Text
Snow and Song Chapter 5
About five seconds after Danny registered the huge crowd of people gathered in the park (and why were they there?  Had there been some kind of event he forgot about?), it began to snow.   Danny looked around himself in alarm.  He was often insensitive to temperature changes (and a few other things, according to his sister), but it wasn’t nearly cold enough snow.  It was September.
He looked up.  There weren’t even any clouds.  
A snowflake, perfect and crystalline, stuck to his eyelash.  
Alright.  When something weird and unnatural started to happen in Amity Park, usually there was a ghost involved.  All Danny had to do was find the ghost causing it to… snow…
Oh.  Right. He was a ghost that could make snow.  
He was an idiot.  He hadn’t even noticed his core activating.  His cheeks flushed with cold.  This was so embarrassing.
Wincing, he looked back down at the crowd.  Only about a tenth of the people had phones in their hands, winking camera lenses pointed up at him, but that was more than enough.  He felt entirely too visible.  
… Which he could fix because he was a ghost, darn it, something that he kept forgetting about tonight.  Berating himself, he adjusted his visibility down to zero and flew away.  
Almost at once, all the birds took off, the sound of wings obscuring whatever the humans down below were saying.  
Danny didn’t stop until he got home, trailing snow all the while.  He was not looking forward to tomorrow, but for tonight, maybe, he could forget what had happened.  
He went human, phased off his clothes, laid down on his bed, closed his eyes, and started to-
“Maddie!” shouted Jack.  “The ghost-kid is on TV again!  He’s in the park!”
“Oh, good!  Go start up the GAV!  This time, we’ll catch him!  I’ll be with you in a minute!”
Danny let out the breath he had been holding since his dad startled him from his doze in a long sigh.  He resigned himself to being woken up at least once more that night.
.
.
.
The first rays of sunlight filtering through Danny’s window brought with them something that would have chilled Danny to the core if his core weren’t naturally frosty.  
Music.  
He peeled his eyes open slowly, grudgingly, because it was still September, and sunrise was still quite a bit before the time he had to get up in the morning.  Hoping he was hallucinating, he trudged over to the window and pulled back the curtains.
Ah, yes.  He hadn’t quite expected to find a bunch of cultists standing outside his house with a boombox, playing back a rather scratchy version of Tale as Old as Time, but, somehow, he was unsurprised to do so.  What exactly were they attempting to accomplish here?
One of the younger (about six years old) cultists waved up at him.  Resigned, Danny waved back, then let the curtain fall back down.  
He rubbed his eyes.  Normal teenagers didn’t have to deal with cults that worshiped them as a god.  Even that dude from Nazareth was a full adult before he got hit with the heavy stuff.  
(Yeah, because it wasn’t at all a sign of megalomania, mental instability, or good old-fashioned insanity to compare himself to that guy.)
(He didn’t want a cult, darn it.)
What did they want, anyway?
He got dressed and started downstairs.  To his horror (but again, not surprise) he heard more music emanating from the kitchen.  
“What are you guys doing?” Danny asked.  
“Oh, morning, Danno!” boomed Jack.
“Shh, shh,” said Maddie.  “We need to go over that last part again.  There are pancakes on the stove, sweetie.”
“Oh,” said Danny.  “Thanks. But, really, what are you doing?”
“Analyzing the sound patterns of Phantom’s voice!” said Jack.  “We missed it before, but he must have a low-level mind control power!  Just like that Rockstar ghost!”
“Sneaky post-human ectoplasm glob,” muttered Maddie. “That’s how he’s got so many people on his side.  He’s brainwashing them.  But don’t worry, sweetie.  As soon as we figure out how he’s doing it, we’ll be working on a cure!”
“Well,” said Danny, trying not to sound bitter. They had made him pancakes. “That’s news to me.”
.
.
.
Danny stepped out of the house and sighed in the general direction of the cult.  
As always, acknowledging them in any way shape or form proved to be a mistake.  They rushed at him.  
“Daniel Fenton,” intoned today’s leader, a man wearing robes colored in an approximation of Phantom’s suit.  His beard was… interesting.
“What?” asked Danny.  If only there was a way to skip through awkward conversations like this, like there was in video games.  But, no, life was like one, huge, un-skippable cutscene.  Tragic.
“Last night, our Lord Phantom gave us a message. A message, and a divine task.”
Danny was pretty sure he’d remember that.  “What task?” he asked, resigned.
“To spread his word through song!  And you, his prophet, his chosen, his blessed consort, shall reveal his intent upon the stage of the Casper High School Musical!”
“I’m begging you, call it anything but that.”
“We will do anything to make the Casper High School Musical go well!  We are at your command!”
“Please stop picketing my house and harassing me on the way to school.”
“We have fine members of our choir here to audition for you!  Please take word of their worthiness to our Lord Phantom.”
Several of the cultists began to sing.
“Danny!” called Jazz from the driveway.  “Stop feeding the cultists, or we’re going to be late for school!”
.
.
.
“So,” said Sam.  “The Ghost Watch feed blew up last night.”
“I know,” said Danny.  “I feel so stupid.”
“Hey, it’s fine,” said Tucker.  “But we really do have to put some time aside to test whether or not you really do have a pied piper ability.”
“I made it snow while I was singing,” said Danny.
“Ah.  We’ll have to look into that, too,” said Tucker, making a note on his PDA.  “Who wants to bet that the ‘Phan Club’ will try to incorporate last nights performance into the play somehow?”
“That’s not funny,” said Danny, closing his locker. “Guys, what if I accidently mind control the audience?  Or start a snowstorm inside?  The cultists are already on top of this.  They were outside my house this morning.”
“Again?” said Sam, raising an eyebrow.
“Yes, again.”
“What did they want?”
“They seem to think that there’s going to be some kind of revelation in the play,” said Danny.  He caught the look in Sam’s eye.  “Sam.  No.”
“Sam, yes.”
“Cults are not a toy,” cautioned Danny.  
“Not the way you’re using them, they aren’t.”
“Seriously, Sam.  No matter how much you want to change the world, do not use a cult to do it. It never goes well.”
“Christianity started off as a cult.”
“And would you say that went well?  I’m asking you this as a Christian.”
“Are you a Christian?” asked Tucker. “I’ve never seen you in a church. Can you go in a church? Have we tested that?”
“I—What?  I’m not a demon, Tucker.  I went to church, uh…  Last Easter. I can totally go in a church.”
“You had to think of that for an awfully long time.”
“What about a synagogue?” asked Sam.  “Or a mosque?”
“I don’t know.  But you’d think that if I could go into a church, that’d mean I could go into the other ones.”
“But what if you couldn’t?” asked Sam.  “Would that mean that religion is more right than the others?”
“Or more wrong,” said Tucker, “since Danny is a good guy.”                                                                  
“I—” started Danny.
“PHANTOM!” screamed Wes from down the hall, interrupting whatever revelation Danny could potentially have had.
“Oh, great,” said Danny.  “I’m not Phantom, Weston!”
“Kids,” said Miss Lyn, poking her head into the hallway.  “Please don’t shout in the halls.  Class is about to start.”
“I have proof, this time!” crowed Wes.  “I have video.”
“Oh, no,” said Danny, with perfectly flat affect. “Are you here to harass me with yet another badly photoshopped, grainy, vertically filmed, twenty-second clip of me ‘transforming’ into Phantom like some kind of anime heroine?”
Wes reared back, face coloring and nostrils flaring.  
Danny would feel worse about what he had said, if half the videos in Wes’s last ‘Fenton is Phantom’ presentation hadn’t been exactly that.  Tucker had made several of them and stealthily dropped them in various chat rooms for Wes to find, as something halfway between a joke and an exercise in misdirection.  
As soon as Wes had included one of those in his presentation, it was doomed to be a laughingstock.  Again, Danny almost felt bad.  
“No!” said Wes.  He puffed his chest out.  “From Ghost Watch!”
“Uh huh.”
“I kind of feel like we’d be hearing about it from more than just you,” said Sam.  
“Yeah,” agreed Tucker.  “If the news decided Danny was Phantom’s dead twin or whatever, you’d think some of his groupies would be swarming.”  He pointed at a pair of Phan Club members who were having a sedate conversation near the water fountain.  “Where are the groupies, Wes?”
“Did you not learn your lesson from the beauty pageant?” asked Sam.  “Or Egypt?”
“I don’t know, didn’t you learn yours from Desiree?”
“Who’s learning what from Desiree?  Because you should ask her for a better naming sense.  I mean, you just copied.  Lame.”
“You’re talking to me about copying?  You vegans are the copiers!  Vegetable burgers, tofurkey, where does it end?”
“With the abolition of the cruelty of MEAT!”
At this point, most people would have started edging away from Sam and Tucker’s patented and infamous meat vs. veggies argument.  However, Wes had long since proven himself to be of sterner stuff, and Danny wanted to hear what he was on about.
“Guys,” he said, “guys, it’s not working.  He’s still here.”
Sam and Tucker turned back towards Wes.  “Bummer,” said Sam.  
“Yeah, Wes, why do you have to be such a bummer?” asked Tucker.  
“Let him speak,” said Danny, magnanimously, twirling his hand.  
Wes glowered.  “Well, now I don’t want to,” he said, mulishly.  
“Come on, Wes, what’s the video, don’t leave us in suspense!”
Wes attempted to glower harder but failed.  Grudgingly, he held up his phone, which did, indeed, play a video from Ghost Watch.  Danny watched himself singing for several long seconds before returning his gaze to Wes.
“I’m not sure what this is supposed to prove.”
“The song, you idiot!  It’s from Beauty and the Beast!  And I know the drama club gave you that music.”
“A movie that thousands of thousands of people have watched and know the music for?”
“That doesn’t matter!  You’re the only one who has any reason to sing it.”
“You mean, other than everyone else in the drama club?” asked Sam, bored.  
“Or anyone who likes Disney?” said Tucker.  
Wes opened his mouth to make some kind of riposte.
The warning bell rang.  
He closed his mouth.  “I’m watching you, Fenton!”
“You and everyone else,” muttered Danny as Wes retreated down the hallway, pointing at him.  
Why was everyone around him so ridiculous?
.
.
.
“We’re doing Snow White, not Beauty and the Beast!” howled Razor, baring his teeth at the hapless Phan Club member that had suggested adding ‘Tale as Old as Time’ to the song list.
“If you guys had taken that bet, I’d have so much money right now,” said Tucker.  
“Students, please,” said Mr. Lancer.  “We can’t have any actual copyrighted music in our play. Not without paying for it.  And I’m not negotiating with Disney.”  He looked into the distance.  “Not again.  Never again.”
Danny did not want to know the story behind that, but nevertheless, he had to ask… “Are you okay, Mr. Lancer?”
“I’m fine, Mr. Fenton,” said Mr. Lancer.  “Thank you for asking.  In any case, my lovely drama students!  Today, we are going to do our first round of auditions!”
“But, sir, we haven’t finished the script, yet!” protested Mikey.
“Right you are!” said Mr. Lancer.  “But I have found that things go more smoothly when we have people already in the main roles.  There’s less… outright sabotage and script jockeying.”
“What does that even mean?” whispered Samhain (aka Kevin) loudly.  
“People trying to change the script to fit a certain person so that person gets the role,” said Paulina.  “Or exclude a certain person.  Which I would never do, Mr. Lancer.”
The covetous glare shot in Danny’s direction indicated that Paulina’s words might have been less than truthful.  
Mr. Lancer chuckled.  “I didn’t think you would, Miss Sanchez!”  He began writing on his whiteboard.  “Now, we already have our Prince Snow White, our Princess Charming, and our Evil Queen.”  He nodded at Paulina as he wrote the roles on the board.  “Now, we need our seven dwarves—”
“Ghosts!”
“Excuse me, yes, ghosts.  Thank you, Mr. Baxter.  Our Huntsman—”
“Or woman!”
“Yes, thank you, Miss Thunder,” said Mr. Lancer. “Huntsman, or Huntswoman.  And… Let’s see…  Snow White’s parents, for the prologue, Princess Charming’s retinue, and… I think that’s it.  Alright, let’s start with the ghosts.”
“Shouldn’t they have names?” asked Mia.  
“Well, sure,” said Mr. Lancer.  “But we can’t use the Disney names.  You’ll have to come up with your own.”
“Phantom!” screamed Paulina.
“Here we go,” said Danny, burying his head in his hands.  
“You want to bet that we’re going to wind up with your whole rogue’s gallery?” asked Tucker.  
“If you need money, Tucker,” said Sam, “you just have to ask.  Rates on my loans are very reasonable.”
“Isn’t usury against your religion?” asked Tucker.
“Nope,” said Sam.  “Not at all.”
“I am incredibly against this development,” said Danny.  “The cults are going to have a field day.”
“Ember!  Ember! Ember!”  Chanted the punk goth crowd, which had split off from the larger goth subgroup.
“I am somehow even more against this development,” muttered Danny.  “Mr. Lancer! I don’t think it’s a good idea to include a ghost who gets power from people saying her name!”
“Shut up, Fentonnage, what do you know about ghosts?”
“My parents study them.  I know a lot.  More than I ever even—”
Danny narrowly dodged the workbook Dash flung at him.
“Mr. Baxter!” scolded Mr. Lancer.  
Sadly, when everything shook out, Danny did not get his way.  One of the seven ghosts was named Ember and was going to be played by Star.  Because why not?
“At least the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady aren’t on the list,” said Sam.  
“But ‘Hamlet, father of Hamlet,’ is,” said Danny.  “Why does that bother me more than Ember?”
“Because you hate Shakespeare?”
“No, I don’t,” protested Danny.  “Shakespeare is a perfectly nice person.  I just don’t like how his writing is taught in schools.”
“You’re going to break Mr. Lancer’s heart saying stuff like that,” said Tucker.  
“He wrote love poems to boys.  Why do they skim over that?”
“Excellent point, Mr. Fenton!” exclaimed Mr. Lancer, who had somehow materialized behind them.  “Shakespeare was definitely bisexual.  I wi—”  The teacher stopped.  “Nope, can’t use that word.  It would be nice if the state let me teach it like that.  Along with the crossdressing.  School board won’t let me.”  He shook his head.  “Dale Baxter. Someday, someday he’ll lose an election. Eventually.”  He took a deep breath.  “Next time we meet, we’ll be doing auditions, okay?  I want you all to think about what parts you would like! And, Miss Gray, I’d like to have a word with you about your role in our production, alright?”
68 notes · View notes
barcaavengers · 4 years ago
Text
Complete Safe Haven||Newt Imagine
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Note: I'm not that proud of this since I edited it about 6 times. I feel like it lacks something I can't really tell what it is, but here it is! Will definitely write a part two so we will see how everyone responds to it. I was listening to "That Would Be Enough" from Hamilton cause I think it tells a bit how Newt could be somewhat hesitant of the idea of having a baby after everything he has gone through and how unsure he can be of himself, you know? I don't know, that song inspired me a bit. Also, struggled a lot to think how the Safe Haven would be like after two years of them moving there so yep. Feedback and ideas are encouraged! <3
Tag: Tagging those who liked my posts that I was writing it since I said a few weeks ago it was going to be up and totally didn’t. @late-to-the-fandom-party @loverofmazeandthrones @gaymistakeboi @enixgucci @the-panwitch @expectroyalpurple @thepotatoes-havefallen @queenkitten695 @lovefelps @kurtzyoufunkylittledruggyprimary​ @smallsleepywriter​ @haiykuuia​ @sskeletonsoffun @thiccheerioss​ @demiwitchavenger7​ @infinite-piper​ @sungjungelf​ @hanniejji​ @solovehasblindedyou​ @sleepysnapesnake​ @little-odd-dude​ @washing-machine-headcannons​
The soft waves going against your body so early in the morning was your favorite feeling ever since you have gotten to the Safe Haven. The waves would just make you forget what had happened, cleared your head from any memory that was too painful, and those were mostly of that night. You still had nightmares, watching him turn into a Crank, his attacks, him hurting you unconsciously...You were lucky that things ended the way they did, but even then, you knew that those memories would always get to you. Arms rest on your shoulders making you jump, but relax under the knowing touch, rubbing your shoulder blades soothingly and you smile. "Hey."
"Morning, love" Newt's voice was still groggy, you guessed it hasn't been long since he woke up. "Why aren't you in bed?" He presses a kiss on your shoulder before his hands land on your waist, the soft waves rocking you both slightly.
"You kicked me out" you say playfully as you turn to him. 
"What a terrible boyfriend I am," he says with a chuckle. "When was the last time you slept properly?" 
It has been about two years since you have moved to the Safe Haven. The island was now covered in construction, buildings, and houses. Yesterday it was your four year anniversary, and Newt had planned a beautiful evening in what you were proud to call your new house, "First night home" he called it. After living in a small hut that reminded you of the Glade, now you had a bigger house, all for the two of you. You have been looking into The Last City, or what used to be, after Jorge took you and others back a few months ago, and you had the chance to gather a few technology items in a somewhat black market set in the city. The immunes that survived had built a city within the city, but no sign of what Wicked once was. You had seen people losing themselves to the Flare, so you started to play around with the idea of a cure again, using Thomas' blood and trying to figure out what made his blood different, without human trials and finding a way to help without draining him from his blood. You managed to do it with Newt. Vitals were missed when he attacked Thomas' back at the Last City and the serum was administered when he woke up on your way to this place. You took the serum and mixed it with some of Thomas' blood and applied a second dose, that one seemed to have done it. Unfortunately there wasn't enough serum for everyone back there and you had to find a way. 
"I can't say" you admit with a smirk. "I need to keep working…" you say as he removes a strand of hair from your face. 
"You look pale every morning, love" he points out.
"Maybe the late nights I'm working" but you knew better than that. Newt hasn't noticed, but you have been having morning sickness more often and feeling dizzy. 
"Take a break" he kisses your forehead. "We have our new home, we have to enjoy it" he says and you smile. You had a slight idea of what could be going, but instead of raising hopes, you rather wait to get things confirmed. 
Vince had brought a doctor who was the one to help you around the idea of a cure, as well as helped you learn a few things about medicine. She agreed to run a few tests while Newt was out with Thomas, Gally and Minho as they went to check an area for tonight to set a bonfire like back at the Glade, just a close group of friends, you have refused when they asked you to go and went to get the results at the medical hut instead. 
"Hey" you greet the doctor after walking into the tent. 
"Y/N," she greets as she turns around. "Couldn't wait I see?" She teases. 
"I have barely slept" you admit with a nervous smirk. "Between this and thinking of ways to make the cure…"
"You shouldn't lose sleep over this" Elena, the doctor, says as she lifts a piece of paper causing your heartbeat to increase. 
"Oh God…" you mutter. 
"You ready?" She asks as she walks towards you and you nod. "You might not know much about medicine and all this, but you were right" she hands you the piece of paper, your eyes widening. "Congratulations."
For a moment every sound goes silent, it felt like everything around you stopped and so many feelings rushed in. How were you supposed to feel? How would Newt react? "I-"
Elena reaches you and places a hand on your shoulder, "Everything alright?"
"I don't know…" you say. "I never really thought about it...I mean, I did but now that it happened…"
"You are scared" she says and you nod your head slowly. "Don't be" she assures you. "If what you are scared of is Newt's reaction, I think he will be shocked at first, but he will grow to the idea of it. He loves you."
"I can't even think of a way to tell him…" you admit. "What about this place? I don't think it's completely baby proof."
"No place is baby proof. Certainly not during these times" she points out. "Doesn't mean everyone will stop having babies. You will have everyone's support I'm that sure. We will look into ways to get what you need as everything goes" somehow her words made your whole body relax. 
You were away from Wicked, away from the Flare it seemed, but you never trusted that. The Flare could travel through air according to Ava, and Wicked could easily find you if they get as determined as they were, if there was anyone left that would go with such crazy trials. It didn't appear so, the times you have been into the Standing City you have not heard a word from Wicked or possible takers in the tasks. Everyone who survived the attack was just trying to get their lives before the Flare decided their faith, and any immune would just mind their business. Would there be anyone crazy enough to bring back what Wicked once was? Or something worse? Your mind was spinning around the idea. You didn't want your kid to be taken away and used for crazy experiments and trials, you knew that much. Not that you wouldn't do anything in your power to keep them safe from anything that happened. 
You have gone back to your new house and went to lay back on the hammock to try to keep all your feelings in check and find a way to tell Newt the news. Will he be happy? Will he have the same thoughts of bringing a baby to the Safe Haven was a bad timing right now? It wasn't planned, but it wasn't not planned either. It was going to happen eventually. You two were careful, but after some time you two stopped, knowing the consequences but did it anyway. Was it maybe that you both have wanted this but never talked about it with the other? You knew you wanted a life with Newt, wanted everything with him, but what about him? Kids were not something you two have talked about before, because you two were now growing into the relationship and taking bigger steps, like the new house he had built up along with the guys for the two of you. 
"Hey, love" Newt calls as he walks in and you turn around from your hammock.
"Hey" he leans in and you peck his lips once you sit up. "How was it?"
"Well, it's not the Glade," Newt says as he stares off blankly. "but it's big enough for a group of us. I don't think many people would get going in the middle of nowhere and set a bonfire and get drunk...or fight Gally" he chuckles and you join him. 
"The latter is the one people won't get" you say and lean against him, your heart beating wildly as you thought of telling him. 
"Probably" he says and wraps an arm around your waist and pulls you close. "I mean, getting wasted is kind of a thing to go for that one. I don't think that anyone right upstairs would fight Gally, except you when you kicked his ass" he adds. "I'm betting on you to do it again in front of everyone," he smirks. 
"That was a good day" you agree and smirk. "Don't think I'll have the same luck now" he takes your hand and kisses your knuckles. 
"Let's go get ready for tonight" he says and kisses your forehead before pulling you by your hand. 
When you arrive at the bonfire, you see that even if not many have come, it was enough to make you remember your times at the Glade and you feel a knot growing on your throat, eyes watering. You remembered Chuck, Winston and Alby. Newt side eyes you and pulls you close, "I'm okay" you assure him.
"You don't have to be" he throws an arm around your shoulder and kisses the side of your temple. "I know what it feels like," he knew that this was giving you major flashbacks. "They wouldn't want us moping around though, so let's go have some fun" he takes your hand and makes you spin after he pulls away and you giggle, he pulls you close to him again and join the others.
Newt was with the boys while you sat with Harriet, Sonya and Brenda. They knew about your tests, so that was the topic. 
"So? What did they say?" Sonya asks as she leans in. 
"I bet it is what I said. Come on, I can't be the only one who thought about it as soon as she said how she was feeling" Brenda says with her hand extended to you. 
"I don't know if I should tell you" you tease as you grin. "Or just say it at the bonfire...at some point" you say and look back at Newt who gives you a wink, making your cheeks flush. 
"Oh come on, you are gonna make us wait?" Harriet says with a pout. "Please?" Her hand extends and you sigh, pulling out the piece of paper that read the results. You were carrying them around hoping to know when the time would be right. 
The girls gather around Harriet, all of them smiling which only makes you grin wider when their eyes widen and the three look at you in cue. "Oh my God!" Sonya squeals before moving to you and hugging you. 
"Just keep it a secret for a few, I haven't told him yet," you say and she pulls away. 
"Right. Of course. Newt should be the first to know anyway" Sonya says as she pushes her hair back and tries to act normal. "I'm so happy for you guys! It's like everything starts getting normal around here."
"Life wise anyway" Brenda says as she looks at you. "How do you plan on telling him?"
"I'm not sure…" you admit. "but I have to do it soon. Gally is going to bring his moonshine any minute now and I can't find an excuse to neglect it" you point out and just in cue Gally walks to the clearing. 
"Leave that up to me" Brenda says as she stands up and pats your shoulder before walking towards the boy. You eye her curiously and you smile at how nice Gally was around Brenda, not like he wasn't nice with the others, but he smiled and laughed quite often. Brenda puts her hand on his shoulder and you look at Sonya and Harriet. 
"We are as clueless as you are" Harriet says and you laugh. 
Time goes by and you are all eating and laughing. The groups have gotten together and now you were all closer to the bonfire. Gally was around handing over his moonshine and Brenda helped. After everyone had their drink, Brenda spoke, "I know we have done our own bonfires before," she begins, "but this one is different for some of us. To some this is a reminder of how we bonded" she looks at you and you look at Newt who smiles. "For others, it's a reminder that no matter what, we have fun with the people closest to us, our new family" she raises her glass. "For our family" she says and her eyes widen at you and you shake your head before you feel Sonya's hand shoving you slightly, so you stand, holding your own moonshine.
"For our family," your knees feel like giving up on you from how nervous you felt. "For the one that we found..." you trail off. Your heart was beating wildly against your chest, hearing the thuds in your ear. "And for the ones on the way" you say and place a hand on your stomach, your eyes glued to Newt whose eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Then, there was silence for a few seconds.  
"No way!" Frypan is the first to get it, a huge smile on his lips, Minho eyes him like if he was crazy. 
"Am I missing something here? Secret conversation?" You eye the girls and they are laughing at how clueless the boys were after Minho's words.
"Dude, come on! Y/N is going to have a baby!" Frypan pushes Minho before his smile fades for a moment and looks at you. "At least that's what I took as a hint…?" 
You laugh nervously and you eye Newt whose mind seems to be lost in the maze, everyone is looking at you waiting for the confirmation. "Newt, we…" your words feel jumbled up, "You are going to be a dad" you say and everyone starts cheering around. Newt's eyes go wide open as he processes the information, everyone is patting his back and congratulating him but he was motionless. They come to you as well, and even if you are smiling and saying thanks, your eyes were glued to your boyfriend. 
Everyone started to drink and cheer, except Newt who was looking down at his drink, your mood was slowly dropping, but you found some courage to walk to him after a few minutes. "You alright?" You ask as you sit next to him against a log. 
Your voice breaks him out of his trance and he looks at you before nodding his head, "Yeah, just... wrapping my head around what you just said…"
"I know it's a lot to get around with...I still don't believe it…" you say. 
"I should be more excited...and I am, trust me...but I can't help but think…"
"Newt, I know we never-"
"It's not that" he shakes his head and looks at you. "Not the slightest. I might not have said it, but after everything started to settle down, I started to think about us...our future" he says and takes your hand in his. "I thought so many things and you were always there, but…"
"But?" You were expecting the worst. 
"Y/N, I don't have anything to offer to you, or the baby," you frown as you watch him play with your fingers. "Not now, anyway. This place is being built from scraps.."
"Newt, I don't know what you mean by that…" your free hand goes up to his hair, running your fingers through it. 
 "We have a home now, but... We are still getting used to this place, we don't have all the supplies, the equipment…"
"We do this as it goes, like Thomas does" you say to make him smile, which he chuckles at.
"I know" he continues to play with your fingers avoiding your gaze. You could tell he wasn’t at all convinced, so you tighten your fingers around his. 
"Hey," you call. "Talk to me…" You try to meet his gaze, but it was dropped to your fingers. 
"I-" he pauses. "I am happy, I don't want you to think I am not" he finally meets your eyes. "Having everything with you...Just makes this place way better" he smiles. "And having a little girl just like you" he cups your face with one hand and kisses your lips. "Who else can say they survived what we have and have a family" he says playfully and you grin. "But bringing our baby to this...place, this world…" he confesses, his fingers running nervously on his lips. 
"Newt, I know…" you assure him. 
"I don't want them to go through what we did, Y/N…" he admits. "I don't want them to live in a world where they could be chased for being healthy, or feel cursed because they are not immune to the Flare like I was."
"I'm just as scared and I will work on a cure now more than ever...but we can't start worrying like this…" you take his hand and place it on your stomach. "We will figure it out like we always do, together" he is looking at your stomach, his concerned features softening. 
You can see his body relaxing, his thumb moving soothingly on its place on your stomach. "There is a little boy or girl growing right there and it's ours…" 
"I know you'll do anything for them…" you assure him. You felt like Newt had to be reassured, and you could understand where he came from. He has overcome so much to get where he is now, from the dark places of his mind to what was now his new life. He was doubting himself, to not being able to provide your baby with the best, but what was that here in the Safe Haven? The simplest thing you had them already. You were all healthy, you had a home, food, friends...You still had time to get used to the idea and get adjusted at the thought that soon it was going to be more than just the two of you. 
The Safe Haven has provided you with everything you needed for a basic life, and every now and then as you went to the remains of the city you tried to bring something that would help. Jorge and Brenda were working with technology along with some of the other Gladers from other groups. It was true, this place was being brought up by remains of what once was the Last City, but it was getting close to what you once imagined it would turn to. 
"I love you, princess…" he pulls you in and gives you a kiss, the type he holds his breath and let's go of it softly through his nostrils, making it last. "I'm sorry for not acting like you probably wanted me to…"
"I get it. It's a lot to take in. I feel the same way" you admit. "I was so scared of what you would say" you pause. "But we have gone through so many things together that I don't think a baby will be the exception" you voice. 
"It scares me to death to be quite honest" he says with a smirk. "I'm trying my best to be optimistic here, I am" he paused. "I'm happy to start a family with you, but just the thought of what could happen… This place is not ready for a baby…"
"I know...but we have time. We will know…" he is staring at you lovingly, smiling. 
"Congratulations!" Thomas joins you with Frypan, sitting right besides you. 
"Took you long enough" Minho says as he steps in. 
In the deepest part of your head, you were somewhat disappointed that the boys seemed to be more excited about it then Newt. Yes, the blonde was scared of the what ifs and the possibilities and so were you, yet something told you that he wasn't very wrapped around the idea of it and his mind was only repeating the bad scenarios. 
"Shut up, Minho" Newt says, but the boy only grins. 
"I am going to have a little helping hand in the kitchen in a few months" Fry says. 
"I could use the help patrolling" Thomas and Vince have established a guard in the island. Not like much happened, you knew everyone and they all went by the rules set, but it gave you the sense of feeling that if anything were to happen, you'd be ready. 
"You are all doing bloody plans without the baby even being born" Newt says. 
"Don't look at me I haven't said anything," Minho says. "It'd be nice if it has Y/N's genes though. No offense."
"Well that baby wasn't done just by me, Minho, so be ready" you say playfully. 
"I don't need to know the whole thing so if you can skip the lesson" Minho says. 
"Newt, you alright?" Thomas calls out and you look behind you at your boyfriend. 
"Yeah, just, thinking…" you frown. "Just give me some time, that's all" he admits and smiles, placing his hand on your belly and looms up at you, something told you he will grow to the idea of it soon. 
"So Y/N, can't drink with us now, so let's drink for her" Minho raises his cup and Fry cheers, shoving Newt playfully. 
"To our baby, I guess" he says with a shrug. 
"Our?" Minho questions. 
"Not ours you slinthead" Newt reaches to try to smack the back of Minho's head playfully. "Ours" he looks down at you and you smile softly. 
"It's the baby from our Glade anyway" Thomas says. "I'm happy for the two of you" he gives your arm a soft squeeze and you nod your head. 
"So, when is it too soon to start thinking of names?" Fry asks and the boys look at you. 
"How the hell should I bloody know?" Newt asks after sipping on his cup making the boys chuckle. 
Thomas eyes you as the guys talk to each other, and his eyebrows furrow in question. You shake your head and do a small wave with your hand to tell him that you will talk to him later. If someone could help you understand what was going through Newt's mind was Thomas, or Minho, but mostly Thomas. Newt seems to trust him more for a few things. 
Now it was a matter to wait and see how things went. At least it was out there that you were expecting, and Newt knew. Thing now was, how everything was going to start working after these news… 
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pjo-aurora · 4 years ago
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The Seven but it’s the mortal AU
Basically how they would be like if they were mortals.
Starting of with Percy. He would probably be that basketball kid/troublemaker even though he doesn’t do it on purpose™. You can and will find him in the most nearby parks, practicing. He does not talk much or have many friends, neither does he try to interrupt anyone. Percy’s that one mysterious kid that no one knows anything about. Oh yeah, and he’s also in the swimming club, which he rarely attends due to having no free time. Even though Percy loves swimming more than basketball, he’ll never admit it. His only friend is Grover, the gardener at his school.
Has a part-time job to help his mother, Sally, at a local book store (the only job who accepted him). That’s where he met Annabeth, his co-worker.
Next in line is Annabeth. This isn’t something new, but she’s really smart. In fact, she even got a scholarship. Her mother died when she was a kid, and her step-mom treats her like a freak. Doesn’t live with her parents since she has problems with her dad/step-mom, instead she lives somewhere with rent, but she can manage to pay with some of her saving funds/part-time job. That’s where she met Percy.
She never talked to him, admiring him from afar. Wants to ask him out, but can’t find the courage to do so.
Jason is the straight A student. Never once skipped classes, taking his studies very seriously. In his free time, he can be found hanging with his friends in the forest (he really likes that place, no one knows why). But because his mother is famous, people tried to use him multiple times, and some kids even compared him to a rich kid that has no responsibility whatsoever.
Once, it was a raining day. He was walking down the streets, soaking wet. Once he passed a corner, he bumped into a girl. While lending her a hand, he noticed her face. She was that famous model. That’s how he met Piper.
Piper is a model, even though she’s in high school and she absolutely despises her job. But what can you do? Her mother is a model and her father is an actor. Basically a household full of pretty people, except Piper. She never felt like she was pretty enough to have this career. She lacked a lot of things, along with confidence and charm most models have. She was just a shy teenager, competing with people way prettier than her, or so she though.
At her last modeling job, Piper got so tired and stormed out of the place, running in her heels. It was raining outside and she couldn’t last any longer with her shoes, so she took them off and picked them up. She was trying to walk to her house not looking like a clown with the mascara running down her face and her makeup ruined, but it wasn’t working. When she passed a corner, she bumped into a strange blonde guy, who helped her up. Later, she found out that they were going to the same high school, and became his friend. Piper felt like he was the only one who understood her, slowly falling in love with him. That’s how she met Jason.
Surprisingly (or not), Frank is the head of the student council. Despite looking intimidating, he is actually a very kind/shy individual. Has a few friends, even tough he doesn’t hang with them a lot, since he’s busy most of the time. When he is free though, he goes either to the gym or to the park, to pet all the dogs. He is a huge dog lover, having 2 dogs at home. Frank doesn’t have any social media accounts, but he has one for his dogs.
When he met Hazel, she was a new student and he was giving her a tour around the school. Right after, they immediately became friends, since they both are animal lovers/own an animal. Frank began crushing on Hazel, neglecting his work more and more, just so that he can hang out with her.
Hazel is a really quiet kid. During recess, she usually goes outside and reads a book, not wanting to interact with anybody. She sometimes hangs out with her brother, Nico and her friend Reyna. They aren’t very popular, except Reyna is a member of the student council. Hazel is the type of girl to always stop on her way to school to pet some of the stray cats. She actually has a cat at home, which she often plays with. Don’t tell anyone I said that, but once, Hazel tried to teach her cat how to read.
Hazel met Frank while he was giving her a tour of the school. She didn’t pay much attention, but the second Frank mentioned something about animals, her eyes lit up.
Leo is a really extroverted guy. He knows Piper and Jason since they were young, but he never introduced them to each other. He always goes out to party and flirts with people 24/7, but he still manages to get good grades. He is a very positive guy, and tried to stay like that even when his mother died. He sometimes pulls prank on people, just that he could get a laugh. The pranks aren’t mean though.
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notfeelingthyaster · 4 years ago
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Imagine (Son of Hades! Percy; Godswapped! Big Three's kids) Mark of Athena AU Pt. 1 (3/7) or (8/12)
Hello!! MoA is freaking extensive, so you're getting it in two parts. What are y'all thinking about this AU? Do you like it? Do you have suggestions? Anyway before reading this, check on the masterpost - all parts are essencial for the understanding of this - PJO or HoO - and check on the warnings before proceeding :))
Before everything, everyone's ages. Malcolm is 20, Reyna and Octavian are 19; Percy and Annabeth are 18; Frank and Jason are 17; Piper, Leo and Nico are newly 16; Will and Hazel are 15 - everyone is older, because I can.
Perseus is on a very uncomfortable toga praetexta, and he is late to the committee he has been organizing for at least two weeks now.
Planning for the greek commission - that he really hopes has planned a decent diplomatic mission, come on, Annie - is a very difficult job.
Mainly because Octavian is being a pain - and his direct superior, the Pontifex Maximus, is his grand-uncle, so nepotism is, of course, making Perseus life very hard.
They don't have any real say about the subject - the Vestal Virgins outrank them, and they're all for it because their Lady said so - but they still can protest every single one of the Alliance Committee decisions. Every single one.
They don't know how the greeks are getting here - it seems to be by ship, so they are keeping people at the closest bay, but no one is sure, so they are preparing for everything.
Hera gave him a date - July 8th, a Sunday - and they're working with that. Saturday is a day of rest, to the Roman people, so they organize everything on Friday - food, beverage, accommodations. Will they need garments? Perseus is not letting them walk around in those orange monstrosities.
Well. Hazel and Frank organize those - mainly helped by Questors and Magistrates - while Reyna and Perseus lock themselves up and review all the paperwork.
Because if they're not coming with their own mountain of paperwork, Perseus is kicking their asses, from Jason Grace - the previous Praetor - to Annabeth - she is supposed to be smart.
He also works on the mess that is the patrol rotation, the defense plans for the city, in the reconstruction efforts and in rising the wall at least 10 feet - getting it thirty feet tall, an impenetrable fortress for the upcoming war against the Giants.
Perseus has also made time for Iris Messaging his mother, - who is always overjoyed to hear from him - Persephone, - who he was only able to talk to once - Rachel, - who was not surprised to hear from him, and keep suggesting that he goes to the college closest to Parsons instead of staying in Nova Roma - and Calypso - who no Iris Messaging has been able to connect, nor can he find her location, so he guesses she is also in Olympus.
So back to the present - Perseus is late. It's 9h22 - he doesn't think that the greeks are getting here in the afternoon. He passes by Reyna's villa - with a cup of coffee and half their paperwork - and she is also late - a first when it comes to Praetor Arellano. Because they aren't Perseus and Reyna from now - they're Praetor Jackson of Styx and Praetor Arellano.
So they go to the courtyard - where the whole army is waiting, swords and shields gleaming with Frank in the head, plus the Consul, his two assistants, the Pontifex Maximus, Augur Primus Octavian, the six Questors and Perseus, and Reyna's assistants.
Perseus was never so grateful for someone as he was for Commander Sabina Artorius - the legacy of Pomona had been injured in the battle against Polybotes and lost her right leg and an eye - didn't make her any less valuable for him - but in the eyes of the prejudiced Roman people, she was a burden - so Reyna appointed her for the job.
She did everything Perseus wasn't able to - including proof-reading everything he wrote, teaching him the intricacies of Roman Politics, and giving him paperwork to sign.
Everyone who called her a useless servant was lying - Sabina was an amazingly competent P.A. and diplomat, and Perseus was very grateful for her, and her salary reflected that. Even if the Romans found weird a Praetor was paying for work - weird slaver fascist culture.
Reyna also has an assistant - a boy called Aeneas Nerius - a son of Virtus - who was born blind, so was relegated to poor-paying (or not paid at all, because housing and food aren't payment) jobs. Because Nova Roma is not only queerphobic and racist, no. It's also ableist.
The Pontifex - his name is Septimus Gavius, and he's a direct son of Phebus Apollo - looks at them angrily when they arrive late - but the Consul doesn't even notice the time - the man is too afraid of their conjoined power over the masses.
The Consul plays for the people as if Perseus would be a good successor - calls him Augustus and Imperator - even when everyone knows Reyna is the obvious choice - the man is as misogynist as all the older Senators are.
While Reyna tries her best to make her purple stola less constricting and Aeneas corrects Perseus toga with the practiced movements of someone who has been trained to do it - and that's when Perseus remembers that Aeneas was a servant to Octavian's family.
He pointedly avoids looking at the boy's hands - the demigod is no older than Percy, and his hands are burned and scarred. Perseus doesn't pity him - he rages internally against Octavian and his bigoted, slaver, prejudiced family.
They are talking - he is still seething from his realization - when the Greeks appear. And Perseus wants so much to kick their butts.
He has no words. He wants to scream. Reyna massages her temples with the face of a resigned person, and Sabina - the bloodthirsty woman that she is - snorts in amusement.
"Praetor Jackson. I fought beside you! I didn't expect your people to be... well... barbarians!" Whispers Reyna in his ear, in utter exasperation.
"I wasn't expecting this either! They have Grace, who is a roman! Why are they doing this?" He whispers back, as lost as she appears.
It doesn't matter - he tells Frank - Legatus Legionis Zhang - to make the troops stand down. This is not a fight - not yet, Lady Lupa whispers in his mind.
Hazel - Centurion Levesque - looks at him worried. She has been frenzied since her brother's disappearance the day after her birthday, but this is just the cherry on top. Are they fools?
The ship crosses their wall - and hovers in the air as, one by one, six people climb down. Perseus recognize almost all of them - there's Annabeth, Malcolm, Will, Jason Grace, and two other demigods, who he doesn't know.
At least Grace is wearing a toga. A makeshift, purple toga picta - as if he was a Triumvir or an Imperator - but a toga nonetheless, even if pretentious.
The Consul is the first to talk - the Greeks approach slowly, wary of the army behind them. The man welcomes them to Nova Roma - looking at Grace's toga with something akin to disdain - and then promptly passes the torch to the Praetors - the organization of this whole thing has been in their hands from the start.
"I am Praetor Urbanus Arellano" Reyna starts, in an official tone that no one questions "And this is Praetor Peregrinus Jackson of Styx. These are Pontifex Maximus Septimus and Augur Primus Octavian, Legatus Legionis Zhang, and the Twelfth Legion of Nova Roma. Please, follow me - let's continue our talking in a more private setting, I'm sure you're must be exhausted."
It's just an excuse to avoid the mocking looks the bigots are throwing them - Perseus can hear their voices in his head, calling him an ape, a savage bringing barbarians into their home.
The greeks - with their orange T-shirts and faded jeans and mocking purple toga - look as out of place in Nova Roma as Perseus feared they would. Reyna and he take them to the Praetor Villa - is as much as they can restrain themselves.
Annabeth - who knows him longer than anyone here - doesn't jump him - she just looks a little overwhelmed - Nova Roma is probably a bit much for her Athenian brain, which is now possibly being overridden with possibilities. It's Jason who makes the first move - and what a weird move at that.
"Reyna" He greets, and they hug briefly - and as manly as possible, for some weird roman reason about feminization - before the blonde turns to him "Perseus Jackson"
"Jason Grace" He answers back, and they exchange a handshake, but there's something weird in the inflection of his voice that Perseus doesn't necessarily care for "Annabeth"
Her greeting - when she gets off the subspace she dropped to - is much nicer - and warmer - he even gets a hug out of it.
They introduce him to Leo Valdez - who Perseus looks at once, remembers Charles Beckendorf, and swears to never let any harm come upon his baby brother - and Piper McLean.
"I know you!" They say at the same time - because that's where English gets you.
They explain that they went to Yancy together - two years, doing the same English tutoring. They give each other a high five for surviving the highs and lows of high school as monster bait. Malcolm and Will both hug Percy and greet Reyna with the same respect they give Annabeth - Praetor Arellano is terrifying.
The conversation eventually goes to how - how did they find Nova Roma, why they aren't surprised to see him here - and the answers are kind of obvious.
"I dreamed of you," Says Grace, still with a strange tilt to his voice. Perseus guesses he probably isn't okay with losing his place as Praetor - but he was kind of lost for eight/seven months. It's the gods' fault, really.
"Me too. Kind of - Lady Juno... I mean, Hera, she sent me dreams for about a month or so? It was all very weird - like basically the training I was doing at the day, you were doing at night. I think she was trying to tell me to follow in your footsteps. Helped me a lot - thank you, man."
Jason - and all of the greek entourage - seems a bit downtrodden - like he just gave a big miss. But Perseus has more important things to care about.
"Who had the brilliant idea to come for an alliance in a military flying ship?!"
Jason Grace wants to punch Hera, or Juno, or whatever is her name in the face. He wants to punch himself either - the gods never did anything good for him, why would they now?
He talked - like a creep - about the dreams. And turns out? He is the only one having deep, emotional dreams about Perseus' past for months. He got a crush on someone he knows, like the palm of his hand - but that doesn't know him back, because really, why make this easy? Why give him those dreams at all - if they were doing this one-sided?
So he stays quiet, as Leo apologizes for the worst idea ever - coming with a warship to a military city - and, while Perseus and Piper trade stories, Reyna beacons him for a quick walk - to show him the development of plans they did together - their own way of catching up.
"You're infatuated with him," Jason says but is not an accusation, is just the truth, in the worst time possible.
"Can you blame me? You were gone." She retorts "Wait... It's not me you're jealous of. But how do you? You never met before."
He explains the dreams - the seven months of dreams, the only link to his past, the way Camp Half-Blood worships Percy - the way that they don't have rules about who you lay with. Jason feels Nova Roma around him - the decadence of water everywhere that CHB simply lacked.
"Well, we should open a club. Me, you, that blonde girl, Di Angelo, half of Nova Roma..." And they laugh, for it seems impossible to not fall for Percy's charm, just as impossible as making him notice any of them. "Now can you explain to me why are you wearing purple of all things?"
He is apologetic - it was the only toga they could find in short notice without leaving Camp. Then, she shows him the plans - Reyna can do multiple things at once, and her best friend's love life is merely a blip in her radar.
Reyna loves differently - she has known that, all her life. It doesn't make a difference where it comes to Perseus - she loves him, even if she can't imagine ever laying with him. Maybe that's why she hasn't made any moves under the course of three months. She should let him go - he has so many options, anyway.
When they go back, is to see Perseus and Annabeth in a heated debate about she wearing a chiton or a stola - anyway, no greek can go to Senatus in jeans and a T-shirt.
Eventually, they manage to get them all in togas - the girls refuse the stolas, but they are convinced to put on the chitons for diplomacy.
They didn't come with mountains of paperwork. But between Malcolm, Will, and Annabeth, by lunch they have outlined most of their possible contributions and what do they need - and what they're unable to give up.
Perseus and Jason - and possibly Nico di Angelo, who's missing - are the only ones who know the full information - how many battle-ready people both sides have, how many disabled people, how many children, healers, resources.
Nova Roma is winning - in everything. Except for power - because Camp Half-Blood only has, maybe, five legacies out of more than 150 campers, while Nova Roma is mainly composed of legacies, second-generation demigods, or minor gods' demigods.
The Greeks are composed of 63% Olympian's children, 36% minor gods' children, and 2% legacies - all children of two demigods, so second-generation demigods. They don't have Nova Roma's training - but they have powers the Romans could only dream of.
The Romans are composed of 12% Olympian's children, 39,5% minor gods' children, and 48,5% legacies - most who are at least a few generations diluted. They don't have Camp's power - but they have techniques and numbers the Greeks couldn't even hope to have - if you counted the able non-fighters - the ones who would fight either way for the sake of Rome - it was a number bordering on 700 hundred strong.
It is a gamble that could only bring destruction - for both sides. So Perseus and Jason exchange looks - and decide not to divulge all information. Egos are so fragile - especially between the older generations - so it's best they don't have material to plan in accord.
The Greeks and Roman heed together to the Forum Romanum. Is still weird to see the Romans - especially for Leo.
You see, Leo has been surrounded by a cult of Perseus Jackson over the last few months. Half the people he knows are infatuated with the guy - including the meticulous Annabeth Chase, his best friend, and even scary as hell, Nico "I'm bringing the thunder" di Angelo.
He is expecting a Batman-esque character. He is expecting the heroes from legends - the ones destined to fall. Leo is half-waiting from an automaton - or perhaps Lucifer himself. He isn't sure.
But the guy is... easy-going. He bears a striking similarity to Charles Beckendorf - with surprisingly green eyes. Perseus is wearing sheets - why, Leo can't phantom - and making jokes with Malcolm Cage like the guy wasn't perpetually boomed by something.
It isn't the only thing that surprises him: All his ships (the romantic ones, not the literal one) crashed and burned worse than Helen of Troy and Paris. Perseus is seemingly oblivious to romance - he is all about the job, making friends, rebelling against the traditions and their superpowerful angsty parents.
Well, Leo can get behind this. He can't stop looking at Nova Roma - a whole city, directly taken off a good Gladiator reboot. Leo is not an architecture crazy like Annabeth - but oh, the aqueducts!
Leo wants to take a peak at the place the chimneys are poking of - maybe a two or three hour walk from where he is - but Piper keeps a hand in his wrist, leashing him like a unruly puppy.
Annabeth is in a similar state of amazement - she came here for her best friend and crush - and is surprised.
Not by Perseus becoming some kind of military political person - he always had the potential - and the way he grew, somewhat, harder and prettier at the same time. Annabeth is only eighteen and still on sophomore year - blame the hormones.
But she is amazed by Nova Roma. They have such an intricate society, with traditions the greeks have long forgotten - who still uses clothes like that - and a military formation worthy of Julius Caesar.
Her best friend turned out to kind of be the Julius Caesar to Reyna's - Praetor Arellano - Augustus. Perseus - Praetor Jackson of Styx - is militar and rigid, a political conqueror - while Reyna is infinitely more dangerous - she is a king, a leader to be worshipped as a goddess for centuries to come.
Annabeth came in this mission for three reasons: Her best friend, the war, and the mission her mother gave her. But now, she looks at the politics, at the city - and wants to stay.
They enter the Senatus - Perseus and Reyna upfront, followed by Jason and the greeks - and take their places. Jason - for the anger of most romans - stay with the greeks.
The session starts as normal - titles, names, rankings, people bringing their issues, strifes, budgets, ideas of infrastructure that were authorized by the Censors, marriage licenses and research projects.
Jason thinks they are scarily good together. Reyna works most of the civil front - she is a master at law - but it's Perseus who separates most strifes and solves the money problems - he is the son of a fair judge himself.
He can see the looks - he is Propraetor now. Why doesn't he sit in his side of the Senatus, between his pairs? Does he think himself above them now - even between barbarians?
But Jason can't let his friends to the mercy of the romans - not alone. After all people come - some redirected to the Consul, some with their issues solved for better or for worse - it's their time, to state the case.
The Alliance of Ephesus - for a city that was both greek and roman in nature - is still in it's initial states. But they make their cases - the way Camp Half-Blood could help in the upcoming war against the giants, their own roles in the previous war against the titans.
It is a convincing argument - both Perseus and him are unmovable objects, and Reyna is an unstoppable force - but they do hit a rock in the way.
"If the best your camp has to offer is a healer of Phebus Apollo, a bulla-wearer of Flamen Vulcan, a daughter of Venus Verticordia and two children of Minerva - a virgin goddess - this Alliance is highly unfair for the people of Rome!"
It had to be Octavian, Jason thinks. It is good, then, that Perseus has the tongue made of steel and looks like a Basileus - sat on a throne, overlooking them, with a bored look upon his face, he could demand a crown and they would give him.
"You overestimate yourself, Augur Primus Octavian. You see yourself so mighty that you have no need for allies?"
It is mocking and there's a message behind it - "This is where I come from and I am your Praetor - do you challenge my power?" - it makes Jason shiver.
Perseus - Praetor Jackson of Styx - is his father through and through. Jason only met the god once - in the post-war council in Olympus - but he had the same imposing voice, the same luxury that seduced Proserpina to the Underworld.
Just like he looked leading the greek forces against Kronos, wielding his weapons of choice with a roar that made Manhattan tremble.
It seemed to work - for Octavian shut up pretty quickly. Jason is no longer in a position to do it - he is respected, technically, as a Propraetor, but he barely reached half of his term - after spending a year as Legatus Legionis - a position which Frank Zhang more than deserved.
Everything is going well - too well, for Piper's liking. Perseus is cool, Reyna is cooler, they have a whole government (!), Jason is making heart-eyes at dream dude and even prejudiced guy recognized her as a girl.
They have a feast - where they are introduced to Frank Zhang and Hazel Levesque - and Piper sure isn't keeping all those titles straight in her head, this is Annabeth's job.
Centurion Levesque - Hazel, a girl a little younger than them, but apparently already a general - keeps looking at Leo as if he is about to implode - a normal reaction to him. She stops once they are introduced - there's a forlorn air about her.
She catches up a little with Perseus - who is the most oblivious person to ever grace this earth, for so many look at him and he barely looks at anything but his paperwork - who finds it mightly funny to slowly eat a pomegranate while everyone freaks out at the implications.
Well - he thinks they are scared. But Piper knows they're just horny and waiting to pass winter cozying up in hell.
Perseus explains to her (finally) why they give the gods different names - Venus Verticordia, Genetrix, and Victrix; Juno Moneta, Regina, Lucina, and Populona; Mars Ultor, Pater, Quirinus, and Gradivus, etc. He explains they are epithets - different forms of each god.
Different from the greek to roman transition, these are the same gods - in very different facades. Like, for example, her mother could either be Venus Genetrix - the maternal one - Victrix - the war one - or Verticordia - the romantic love one.
Greeks used to have this - but some of their aspects got too jumbled, so they started rebirthing - evolution. Zagreus became Dionysus. Hermes split from Pan. Helius merged with Apollo, Selene merged with Artemis. As their cult changed - so did they.
Children of Venus Genetrix and Verticordia are different from Children of Venus Victrix - still brothers and sisters, but their powers are different - where the first lean towards priesthood and the second towards charm speak and magic - almost all the third's are warriors of the same caliber of Mars Ultor's children.
Everyone here is so different though- Perseus' P.A., Sabina, is a total badass and Piper would be all for her... but wouldn't that invalidate her? She spent her whole life trying to prove she is a girl - to now go pursue sex with other girls? Piper is confused - she should IM Ariel before sleeping
It is all going very well - minor accident when someone mentioned Perseus' decision to send the harpy Ella away days ago - probably to Rachel - until Octavian decides to see the ship. And, of course, Leo just has to go.
Jason is proving to be very smart - for while Leo is occupied above with Octavian, he insists to also be on the ship, with Will and Malcolm as his backup - no one here trusts the drowned rat.
They take with them Frank and Hazel Levesque - two possible candidates for the mission on the Roman side - evening the sides - three Romans, three greeks, and Jason - a medium.
Perseus stays on ground - he is the host and can't leave the party - with Reyna - who is talking to Annabeth in hushed whispers - and her - who is starting to get a little tipsy.
Well. She should've known better.
Leo attacks the camp - it's not him, but it's enough. Perseus - at the first cannon bomb - whispers something in Reyna's ear, and escort her and Annabeth to the ship before Roma can react.
He jumps on board, pops an unconscious Octavian out of the ship, and tells Annabeth to get out of there in the next ten minutes or he won't have an alibi. They do - but look at him like he is either crazy or drunk, still in laurels and a toga, a goblet of wine precariously between his fingers.
"I'm Praetor Peregrinus Jackson of Styx - and this is an espionage mission with the objective of rescuing Legatus Legionis Zhang and Centurion Levesque while finding who is the greek traitor. At least, officially - I'm here because I am not a big fan of the woman encroaching in my territory, trying to kill my friends."
Leo - who is still disoriented of what Frank explain is an eidolon, they had a run with those when the attacks on Nova Roma started - starts laughing and takes Annabeth's place steering the Argo II. After a minute of silence, everyone starts laughing - the man is a genius.
So they go after decent clothing - because just Hazel and Frank are in battle appropriate clothing, and Perseus just noticed that they're floating and he can almost see the equations around his head - he wants so bad to talk to him because he has the same numbers around him all the time.
After everyone is in pants and shirts - Perseus, Frank, and Hazel take the loose shirts - Annabeth brought a stash of clothes in more or less their size, in Jason's word - but, while Frank tugs on a pair of sweatpants, the other two look at each other.
Leo is not really surprised when Hazel is in a skirt - but he gasps when Perseus walks in Frank's roman military skirt. He looks uncomfortable at the mere idea of pants.
No one says anything - not only they lived in CHB, but he has the Minotaur dagger that pair perfectly with Rachel's strapped to his tight, while his ax and Warhammer are crossed in his back.
Leo can see Jason drooling - he isn't the only one. Leo is newly sixteen - the youngest bar Will, and, perhaps, Hazel - and generally more interested in machines but he is not blind - the guy is hot.
Perseus gets hotter when he comes to Leo - still with a resting bitch face that would give Chiron a run for his money - and starts asking questions with the excitement of a puppy - about the ship, about the plans, how the aerodynamics work.
Hazel is roped into the conversation when they try and test if she has any control over the wind - almost nothing, but Perseus thinks he can hone her eventually - while Will and Malcolm start grilling Frank and Jason over Nova Roma.
Perseus mentions Nico - which Hazel supports. He hasn't be seen in either Camp since Perseus recovered his memories - said he was going to make up for it, but Percy knows the guy is a little self-destructive - he is too prideful to know when to just stop.
Piper and Annabeth are on patrol - no one is really sure the Romans aren't going after them. It doesn't serve for much: they are attacked.
Not by Romans, but by griffins. Between Jason, Piper, and Annabeth, Perseus and Leo don't even move. The ship does suffer some damage - which prompts Leo to give the Romans a tour of the Argo II.
Perseus is fascinated by Festus - while Hazel is fascinated by Leo - And Frank is seriously just marveling at the greeks by now - Nova Roma is pleasing to the eye, but they don't have automaton dragon ships.
They go to Salt Lake. Jason, Frank, and Piper go get tar, while Leo, Hazel, and Perseus go to the Celestial Bronze. Annabeth, Malcolm, and Will stay, to protect the ship.
It's the first time Perseus has touched land outside of Roma with his memories back - and he can feel a pressure in his chest: His link of empathy to Grover, never completely off.
They encounter Nemesis - who talks to Perseus about Ethan and Domitia, for which he retorts she has no rights. She took Ethan's eye, and his choice was not worth it - she asked for too high a payment.
Nemesis, or Invidia, laughs. Says the world isn't fair - look at Perseus and Jason, Leo and Sammy, Hazel and Nico, the marks in Roman's backs. She doesn't explain anything - but they understand.
Perseus understands Hazel and Nico - it's not fair, that her brother is missing, probably captured if his dreams have an ounce of truth. Leo understands Perseus and Jason - for Jason confided in him for months. It's unfair that Perseus doesn't know as much about Jason - and that Jason knows way too much about him.
Both Hazel and Perseus muse about Sammy - the one from Hazel's flashbacks. They hold hands and keep silent - this is not the moment. Leo doesn't ask about the marks - he saw Jason bare-chested once. He doesn't need to know more.
Invidia gives the fortune cookie to Leo, and promptly disappears - Percy wants to punch her. For Alabaster, for Ethan, for Domitia and the punishments that she has to dole out.
They meet Echo - who Perseus pity and rages, for it's the gods's fault. She couldn't refuse to help Zeus - neither could she flee from Hera's punishment, or Eros' arrows. It's their fault, that she stands now, alive again, but incapable of happiness.
Narcissus is a dick. And Hazel thinks that both Sammy - Leo - and Percy - who looks just like Pluto, and not in a bad way - could surpass him in both looks and personality.
Percy and Leo distract the nymphs - in different ways. Perseus plays his father well, and the dryads flee to Leo, in search of protection from a hero. A black makeshift toga Echo gives them, and that's it: The god of the Underworld coming to kidnap someone else.
Hazel retrieves the Celestial Bronze - the energy in it is strong enough, with Perseus opening the earth sideways for it to pass. They don't need to run back to the ship: Percy keeps evoking skeletons, which scares the nymphs, and in a fit of fury for Echo, Leo breaks Narcissus' nose - which sends him into a panic.
While getting tar, Piper feels her dagger heating up - Katoptris shows her a man Jason recognizes as Dionysus, in Topeka.
When everyone is back to the ship, they relay their stories. Perseus briefly asks Annabeth about Grover - who she tells him is occupied in Maine this year, but never gave up on looking for Perseus. Then, they leave for Topeka - they have a god to meet.
"I know a friend who could help us get down" Starts Perseus, looking at the emptiness under them with worry. The daughter of Aphrodite sympathizes.
"I thought you couldn't shadow travel more than one person at a time" States Jason, with all the creepiness of the dream stalker that he is. Piper is laughing - while Jason flushes and tries to explain.
Perseus ignores it, for the sake of his sanity, and asks if Jason has a Pegasus: Thalia has Porkpie, and he is right, Perseus couldn't possibly get three of them down and up without draining himself.
Jason doesn't have a pegasus - he does have Arion, the son of his matron, Ceres, and Neptune, his father. It doesn't fly - but Hazel has a venti that does.
So it goes Hazel and Jason on Tempest, Piper, and Perseus on Blackjack. Bacchus is waiting for them, a two-liter bottle of Pepsi in one hand.
While many of the roman aspects of greek gods are mainly more rigid, Bacchus is the complete opposite. Dionysus is a god of madness and, in his older iterations, Zagreus, a god of the Underworld.
Bacchus is a god of drunkness, sex, excess, and parties. He has none of the darker sides of his counterpart - nor the austerity of his aspect as Bacchus Liber, a god of freedom, fertility, and protector of people.
No, this was Bacchus in his most simple form: a deadbeat drunk. Piper is so tired - why couldn't she be born in a serious pantheon? Egyptians seem pretty focused.
Bacchus wishes for Ceres' presence - says it's not his responsibility to deal with plants - this is the dominion of Liber, and he can't be Liber without Ceres here. He asks Jason or Perseus to call for the matron - she should listen to them - but Ceres doesn't answer their prayers.
Perseus is as done as Piper and just rolls his eyes. At the presence of a fertility god, even if he only has a bare connection to it, vines start growing around the son of Hades' ankles, like if they're coming to play. Perseus is not only a son of Hades', Piper remembers, but he is also a champion of Persephone.
And while Jason's only blessing is his magical horse, Perseus was trained and has some mild control over plants - Piper thinks he got the better goddess in the deal.
Bacchus - drunk in Pepsi, if that's even possible - don't answer much. He tells them about Phorcys, and paying tribute - Liber would probably answer to it. He then flees.
Jason and Perseus hold a brief conversation about holding evening prayers - Piper doesn't understand much, but Hazel is nodding along, so it can't be bad: The girl is pretty level-headed.
Perseus is a son of the Underworld, he cannot be possessed by spirits, and fight them off easily, and Jason does too - mainly because he knows Perseus way too much to attack him.
But then the spirits turn to the girls. Jason has to throw a wave over Perseus to wake him from Piper's charmspeak so that he can exorcise them. It works, but Perseus has a small panic attack over drowning, is immediately drained and faints on his arms.
So Jason hauls Piper and Hazel over Tempest, so the venti takes them up first, before he bride-carries Perseus into a hurricane and over to Argo II, and promptly passing out from exhaustion and scaring the hell out of everyone on board.
Jason thinks it's worth it - Perseus asks him to start calling him Percy, and, in the Mess Hall, each takes one head of the table. He feels like he should be bothered - he isn't one to share leadership, but they all know the true head of operations here is Annabeth, so.
Percy tells them what he told Reyna - to stop any from following them, for this was a special ops mission. It's his role, and, later, Jason and he can strategize what Perseus will say in the Iris Messages to the Senatus.
And how they're going to spin crossing the Mediterranean Sea without using Julius Caesar's journey as a comparative too much, least they think Jason and Perseus are planning a coup.
They totally are. The two of them and Reyna would be the first triumvirate to work.
That evening, they sit together on the deck and talk. Not about Jason's dreams, not about Perseus's fear of drowning. But the joke about the Forum, and trade anecdotes of campers both know - and it feels like something.
Perseus dreams of drowning on earth and trashes around in his sleep - just until he starts dreaming of Nico again.
Nico is locked up in a cage - like a bird trying to reach flight. Ephialtes and Otis taunt him - two eagles come and try to attack him. He fends them off - feeding off electricity in the sky - but Perseus knows he won't be able to keep this for a long time.
Perseus goes to the deeps of the ship, just close to the motors, and cuddles up to Blackjack - the Nico situation will have to wait until morning.
In the same night, Leo catches Frank sleeping as a dog - and his crush on the guy threatens to swallow him whole.
It's Will who finds him, twelve hours later. Everyone is pissed that Perseus disappeared - so they don't let him go search for Phorcys with Jason, sending the blonde boy with Frank and Will, claiming the son of Hades is still exhausted from the past day.
Perseus stays on board. He tries to decypher his vision with Piper and Hazel, while Malcolm and Annabeth trace the route to their own mission. Leo is steering the ship and finishing the repairs.
Hazel is worried about what Percy saw. The two eagles match a dream she had, a little over a week ago: Prometheus. If those eagles reach Nico, when Nico gets too weak, he will have his liver ripped off, and no magical powers to regrow it.
Jason's mission is also giving bad results. They meet Keto - who Jason is pretty sure he already killed once - and is uncooperative as she takes Will in a tour. Phorcys is much more open - after a little flattery, he tells them all about the twin Giants, the prisoner in a cage - bait for Perseus Jackson and Hazel Levesque - and a map that would possibly lead to the Athenas Parthenos.
They escape when Will kills Keto with a well-positioned arrow, before breaking the tank together and fleeing to Argus II.
In the way to Charleston, they discuss where could the map be. Perseus trade his first Iris Message with the Senatus - in his room, faking that both Frank and Hazel are helping him, and that the greeks have no idea what happened - that there is a traitor in their midst, but the Alliance continues.
Perseus hopes they can win this war with minimum bloodshed, and then he can claim the traitor was controlled by Gaia or something because that's not his main preoccupation. He trades information with Reyna - she tells him to go to Battery.
Annabeth remembers her meeting with her mother - for this time, she was accompanied by Malcolm. Athena told them they were failures - wasting their time searching for a son of Hades. But that they should have a chance at proving themselves - and gave them the small silver coin. To "avenge" her.
Athena raged and bristled about Annabeth and Malcolm helping the Romans, but that's where Annabeth would not relent. Would her mother prefer destruction over her pride? Oh, how wise.
Annabeth feels ashamed she still craves her mother's approval, while the goddess simply saw them as pawns, even after the war raged by the rejected children - she was one of the Olympians with most children on the opposite side.
This time, they play with the finger trap all together - in the mess hall - and Annabeth looks at them and decides this is her family, not a bitter goddess that never bothered with her. She wasn't doing this for Athena - she was doing this for Camp, and her friends.
Annabeth, Hazel, and Perseus go to the Battery, while Leo, Frank, and Malcolm go to the museum after the map. Jason goes to the bay with Will, to try and free the animals at Phorcys aquarium, and Piper stays on board to patrol the ship.
Aphrodite is flickering between her greek form and her Venus Genetrix aspect, but ends up settling as Venus Verticordia - the closest she can get to greek between a roman, a greek, and Perseus, who, according to her, is both.
"You shall tread carefully with love, Annabeth Chase, for your heart lays elsewhere; You are locked up between two ways of the heart, Hazel Levesque, and shall thread both; And you, Perseus Jackson of Styx, when it comes to the heart, you are my crown jewel."
Perseus would punch her, but he knows better: Verticordia means "the changer of hearts", she is a manipulator, a player. It's this aspect who caused the Trojan War, who tossed Aeneas right and left for Lavinia.
He much prefers Venus Victrix, who appears when they're about to leave, to warn then about the importance of the statue and the location of the map, in Fort Sumter.
Octavian - who was conspicuously missing from the Senatus meeting - is here - against the orders of both Praetors. He tries to attack them - but Perseus makes the earth tremble and they run away. Jason and Will join the fray, and they send a message to Leo's group for them to regroup.
Annabeth gets the map - again fighting against spiders and the voice of Lady Earth - but this time there's no Reyna to confront her - this time, Roma is on their side.
Perseus asks if killing Octavian would be so bad, after all, but Hazel stops him from making the earth swallow the Augur - he is still a person, after all.
They change their minds pretty quickly once Reyna IM's Perseus, saying that Octavian poisoned the minds of the Senatus against the greeks and that she was unable to do much. She says the Augur is claiming that Perseus, Jason, Frank, and Hazel are mind-controlled by Piper - and that he tried valiantly to rescue them, but failed.
Perseus is pretty sure that he should've made the earth swallow him, send him directly to the Punishment Fields so he wouldn't be able to leave the Underworld never again, the lying rat.
It takes three days for them to reach the Mediterranean Sea. These three days are spent most with training and planning - while the children of Athena plan for their mission, Hazel and Frank train their powers, Perseus and Piper spar, Annabeth and Leo steer the ship, Perseus and Jason spar and patrol, Jason and Annabeth trade ideas about the two sides, Will mends a lot of people up.
Leo, especially, admires both Hazel and Frank from afar - since the Narcissus situation, he can't keep his eyes off the girl, and Frank is just adorable - he feels like he just watched Pirates of the Caribbean all over again.
The group becomes pretty tight - especially after Will walks in Percy without a shirt on, and immediately manhandles him into the infirmary. He does the same with all Romans - trying to figure an answer to those scars.
Will has a boyfriend - Jake Mason, seventeen - who has the same bad habit of hiding scars from him. But since he lost his foot - Will has discovered a thousand ways to find someone's health problems.
Piper and Leo are not surprised - they are the closest to Jason after all. Malcolm and Annabeth are up in arms - and they call the greeks barbarians?
Jason blames himself - for he has a guilty streak a mile wide, and apologizes to them - as if is his fault Juno had this godawful idea. Perseus punches him in the shoulder and tells him to stop with the bullshit - they have bigger problems than that.
They meet Heracles - and their best speakers are Piper, Perseus, and Will - the charmspeaker, the Praetor who actually finished high school, and the son of the god of poetry - maybe some flattery would help.
Heracles is a complete ass - no, he is a creep. He leers on Will - who is fifteen and he calls eromenos, yes, like a pedophile - then on Piper - who is utterly unimpressed - but don't try on Perseus - his eyes are as dark as the Pit, and he looks ready to punch Heracles.
They don't mention Hera - because the three are smarter than to mention the woman who turned the god's life miserable - but, after Piper refuses to kiss him, he gives him the mission to get the horn of Achelous anyway.
The Achelous is suitably afraid of Perseus - and it's easier to break his horn. They fight against the god - Will punches the guy in the face, while Perseus has no qualms about swarming him with skeletons and melting his armor.
Jason - who is keeping a keen eye on them from the deck - raises a wave for them to go onboard. Will - dripping and utterly mad - starts throwing curses at Heracles - he shines with the power of his father.
Percy is trembling - he hates water, he hates the feeling of drowning, he hates water in his face. He feels weak.
Hercules throws stones at the ship - but fail to hit anything, even if he almost gets Jason - who is pushed to the ground by Perseus, who grounded himself on the blonde.
For now, they have a cornucopia and managed to pass Heracles - so they just hug and laugh breathlessly at Will's increasingly ridiculous curses.
In the midnight patrol, while keeping watch for Stymphalian birds (Perseus hates those), they talk. Perseus tells him about drowning in his own element, about his distaste for both air and water - explains why he never gets close to the margins of the ship.
"Y'know, I dreamed of you" Percy nods, but Jason shakes his head "Not for a week or two, but for seven months. I thought it was Juno..."
Percy seems tense as if he is about to flee at any moment. High-strung. He looks anywhere but at Jason, and finally, he murmurs, almost too low for the silence that expands between them.
"How much?" "Everything."
He tells Percy about his dreams: Luke, Ethan, Alabaster, Persephone, Hades, Sally, Annabeth, Clarisse&Connor, the Labyrinth, the Sea of Monsters, Bianca, Nico, Zoe, Thalia, the weight of the sky, the Styx, the last defense of Olympus.
There are a lot of pieces missing - Percy Jackson is not a puzzle, but a giant Rubik Cube with ten sides - but Jason saw the worst parts of Perseus, his friends, the betrayals, the deaths, the bitterness that threatened to swallow him whole.
Percy doesn't answer - he flees. Back to his room, to conciliate that someone has dreamed about him, for months. That someone he is barely friends with knows so many deep details about him, things he never told anyone, and didn't plan to, ever.
It's not the only difficult conversation that night by far - Hazel and Leo are having a similar one.
You see, Leo is, by all means, closer to Jason out of all romans, and the least close to Frank - who is Hazel's best friend. Leo is pretty friendly flirty with Hazel since the Narcissus situation - because she is cute and just a year below him - but he also has been nursing this massive crush on Frank - who is a hunk of a man with the attitude of a puppy.
But seeing that Frank is straight as a board and Hazel only sees him as his grandfather, apparently, he is out of luck in this department - nothing new. At least he has a bunch of friends.
"Are you my friend only because of my grandfather?" "Of course not." Leo doesn't believe her, but he lets it go - it's the fatal flaw of Hephaestus' children: Lack of self-worth.
Perseus sleeps fitfully - and wakes Hazel to tell her about his vision of Otis and Ephialtes, for she is Nico's sister. They go to the deck, and he plays with her hair as they watch the sunrise.
Jason - looking at them from the other side of the ship - suddenly has a bad feeling - there's something coming in their direction. He makes Leo - who is steering this night - stop, but they are rammed and overrun by dolphin warriors.
Chrysaor disarms Jason - and his crew manages to tie everybody up - except for Perseus, who managed to flee into the shadows, and Frank, who hid away.
It's pretty simple from there - Hazel and Piper trash around when Chrysaor says he is taking them to Circe, Jason says their Captain is Dionysus, and Chrysaor says he is a roman, and Bacchus is weak in comparison to his greek form.
To prove Jason's point, Frank turns into a dolphin while Perseus makes vines appear and hold Chrysaor into place. Their enemies throw themselves overboard, including Chrysaor himself - and Jason sinks their ship by filling it with Diet Coke and Pepsi and burning it to Dionysus and Bacchus Liber - both of the serious sides of the god.
Perseus sleeps on the deck under the fickle rays of the midday sun and dreams of Gaea. Jason wakes him. They spend an awkward moment looking at each other before Jason hugs him.
"I'm sorry" "It's not your fault, stop blaming yourself for everything, Water Boy" "Sure, Death Boy"
They laugh - and for a second, they feel their own ages - eighteen and seventeen - without a care in the world. They mock-wrestle before giving up and just laying in the sun.
Perseus looks at Jason and thinks his beauty under the light of the day might be a good reason to tolerate the brightness.
It's Leo - with a knowing smirk - that tells them to come to mess hall - they need to plan.
Annabeth and Malcolm are going together to the Tiber River - but the children of Athena aren't leaving without a proper send-off - so they're having lunch together first, all together.
They pile around two tables in a little restaurant. This time is not Percy that asks for pizza - it's Leo and Will.
They eat and joke - and forget they are demigods in a mission that might bring the end of the world. No, for a second they're just teenagers - Malcolm is the oldest at twenty, and Hazel and Will are the youngest, both fifteen.
The group jokes and fools around, spending more or less an hour at the little restaurant. The old man who manages the place has a warm smile upon his face.
They go to the park close to the river to walk around - they are stalling the time they'll have to go back to their hardships. Annabeth and Perseus walk together, apart from the others - she says she wants to catch up.
Annabeth has a crush on Perseus since they were both fourteen. She studied with him for a year - he as a senior, she as a freshman - and this crush only grew. She looked for him for months, he is her best friend and she loves him.
Annabeth still remembers after the war - when she thought they would get together. They were both too caught up in mourning - Perseus even more than her - even if she always knew he corresponded. But this... this might be her last chance to tell him.
So, she kisses him.
Perseus is shocked. He is shocked, and speechless.
"Annabeth..." He says, but she takes this as iniciative and goes back to kissing him "Annabeth!"
Kisses have to mean something to him. And Percy only feels friendship with Annabeth.
She stops, and there are tears in the corners of her eyes. But Perseus just hugs her and says, slowly and as kindly as possible.
"Annabeth... We can't do this. It's been... it's been months. I-... I love you. But we-... I-... Not that way, Annie, not anymore. We spent months apart, and before that, I was too busy with school, and before that..." He takes a deep breath, and clear her tears with his thumbs "I'm sorry. I don't think I can do this."
Annabeth doesn't cry. She doesn't scream and rage with jealously and ask "Who else? Who else if not me?". She wants to because she knows, she knows he loves her, and Annabeth has never been wrong before.
Because she remembers Aphrodite. Her heart doesn't lay with Percy - her heart lays elsewhere. It still hurts - but she just nods and asks him if they can still be friends, for which he answers an enthusiastic yes.
There's a little voice in her head, that keeps comparing her to Reyna Arellano, Jason Grace, and Nico di Angelo, their powerful heritages and legacies. A sliver of poison in her heart, that shows her Rachel, Calypso, and Piper - their beauties far beyond hers.
Then she takes a deep breath, finds her brother, says goodbye to everyone, and leaves with Rhea Silvia and Tiberinus. Annabeth has a mission.
Annabeth and Malcolm pass by the same challenges - she with a broken ankle and him with a twisted wrist - and both fall again in the hands of Arachne.
While the children of Athena fight their way through the underground, Perseus, Hazel, Frank, and Leo embark on a mission after Nico di Angelo, and the rest of the demigods go back to the ship.
Hazel - who is almost sentient to Perseus moods at this point - takes one look at Annabeth's rushed departure and Percy's wistful face, and, when their group takes off, takes the demigod aside, leaving Leo and Frank to walk side by side.
"I'm telling you, Hazel, because you won't tell anyone else - and I don't have anyone else as close as you on board. I would've said yes, perhaps, had she asked this question before... before everything. Had she told me this when I was fourteen or fifteen, I would be overjoyed. But it has been two and a half harrowing years since... since Luke. And I cannot love her - there's too much history."
He tells Hazel what she cannot remember from what Perseus told her in the Fields of Asphodel, and she nods and calms him - she became a kind of his little sister in the short four months that they have known each other alive - and the year and a half they knew each other dead. Closer than most, aside, perhaps, from Rachel (who he still managed to talk to once after this mission started), his mom, Calypso (who he still hasn't be able to contact) and Persephone.
Leo and Frank are behind them - far behind them, so to not accidentally eavesdrop in their conversation. They talk - a little stilted - but it quickly picks rhythm, as Leo is such a charming person - and Frank is a weak, weak man.
You see, while Leo pines from afar for both Hazel and Frank, Frank himself is dealing with the fact that, since leaving Nova Roma, those improper feelings towards inappropriate people resurfaced - now, together with something even worse.
Frank doesn't want just men anymore, like the clear aberration that he is. He wants a boy and a girl - and at the same time, at that! Not only improper - for he is two years older than Hazel and Leo is a boy - but they are clearly infatuated with each other.
And Frank doesn't really think he could be happy with one of them - he wants both, together. Selfish, something in the back of his mind says, so selfish. Let them be happy, they don't need you.
So he hoards this little conversation with Leo in his chest, like a precious treasure he won't ever get the chance to hold again.
Perseus and Hazel eventually go to the underground - while Frank and Leo still talk - about life, about their mothers, even about Frank's stick. Leo wants to hold the boy and never let go.
The Eidolons appear, forcing Leo and Frank down the hole, where they meet back up with Hazel and Perseus. They find a workshop - full of stuff that makes Leo salivate.
While exploring the workshop, the Eidolons take control of the automatons, quickly knocking out Hazel and Frank. Perseus is able to banish them - but by now, the automatons are out of control - it's the Bianca situation all over again.
He and Leo escape into a control room and lock it. Leo finds a control sphere for everything in the shop but they're unable to find the right password. Leo uses the fortune cookie Nemesis gave him to ask for the password, allowing him to take control of the machines and deactivate them forever. Perseus seethes inside - the little manipulative bitch.
When Perseus questions why his efforts with Hazel lead them to this workshop, they find Nico's Celestial Bronze and realize it was a trap. 
Gaea appears in a mirror and taunts them, but Leo burns the mirror - "I thought Mother Nature was supposed to be cool but this is what we got? Sheesh, this is almost Aztec-levels of crazy man" - and they leave to go search for Nico.
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probably-writing-x · 5 years ago
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Vacation.
Arón Piper x Reader
Request by @nxtrogers : heyy i love your writings, and i wanted to request an Aron Piper imagine, where the elite cast and (including the reader being a member of the cast) going to a vacation and Aron and the reader have feelings for each other and they start dating after the vacation. i thought it would be cute :) hope you have a nice day!!
Gif is not my own
Requests are open 🤍
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“Oh honey no chance, I called this room first!” Danna defends as she pushes Omar out of the way of one of the rooms.
“Called it? Are we kids?” Omar laughs, wheeling his suitcase to the next spare room.
“Can we please just dump our bags and head down to the beach? The surfings meant to be great today,” Miguel calls from downstairs.
You’d been here for all of an hour and things were already hectic. As celebration for ending season three, and as goodbye to Danna and Ester, you and all of the rest of the cast had decided to come on holiday together for the week. You’d hired out a house just about big enough for all of you, with a huge pool and a view of the beach.
“Is this room still free?” You stick your head round the doorframe and see the empty room with a perfect view of the beach through the balcony.
“Yeah, I think so, I’ve taken this one,” Arón comments as he leans at the doorframe beside your room.
“Then please try not to snore every night, I need at least some sleep,” You smirk, heading inside and dumping your bag on the bed, “What’s the plan, are we heading to the beach?”
“I don’t think Miguel will have it any other way,” Arón jokes, “Meet you in five?”
You agree and split off into your rooms to change, finding your first swimsuit of the week. You grabbed a pair of shorts to go with it and some flip flops, pulling your sunglasses into your hair to keep the hair away from your face. It was a relief to have some time off from work, especially with the whole cast, and it felt like a good way of you all being together again before people started to leave. However, there was one person in particular who’d been your strongest reason for wanting to come on this holiday this week.
Rightly so, in five minutes, you are all leaving the house and heading down to the beach. Miguel’s already got a surfboard hired as him and Itzan head out into the sea. The rest of you find spots on the sand and make the most of the last few hours of sun.
“Can you put some on my back please?” You ask Arón as he sits down beside you, reaching out the sunscreen bottle in his direction.
“Yeah... sure... I can,” He fumbles a little, taking the bottle from you and squeezing some into his hand.
“You can use some if you need to,” You comment, pulling your hair out of the way as he applies the cream, “Wouldn’t want you to burn.”
He laughs, “I’ll take my chances.”
You try not to grow goosebumps under his touch as his hands are running over your exposed skin and try not to let your breath hitch in your throat.
“Ugh, stop with the flirting you two,” Omar waves a hand at the pair of you.
Arón snaps away instantly, handing back the bottle and pulling his sunglasses back over his eyes like he was trying to hide his face a little more.
“Come on (Y/n), you said you wanted to try and surf,” Miguel comes jogging back over, “You can use Itzan’s board.”
You let him pull you up as you both head down to the sea and he starts attempting to teach you the basics. You’re oblivious to how Arón watches you, smiling when you first fall off. How he watches you throw your head back and laugh when Miguel starts to lose patience. How you end up just splashing him with the water and trying again. He watches every move you make, so carefree and dismissive of everyone else around you.
“God, could you stare anymore?” Omar nudges him, “You like (Y/n)?”
Arón looks at him and shakes his head, “It’s never going to happen.”
“You’d be surprised,” Omar smirks, “Trust me.”
Arón looks back up over to you and sees you looking back. You offer him a bright smile and wave wildly. He finds himself chuckling as he offers you a small wave back, smiling at how much your extroverted nature constrasted him.
- - - - - -
The following evening, you’ve somehow managed to set up the fire outside the house and you’re all huddled around the pit as the sun has set and the cool sea breeze becomes more prominent.
“I’m gonna miss this guys,” Danna sighs as she sits back down on her spot on the couch.
“Me too,” Ester smiles, wrapping an arm around her, “It feels so weird to be leaving already.”
“To Élite!” Álvaro raises his beer bottle to the centre of the circle.
You all cheer and raise your glasses, leaning forward to connect them all in the middle. When you lean back into your chair, you shift your head to rest it on Arón’s shoulder. It doesn’t seem like a big gesture, maybe influenced slightly by your sleepy head. He looks down at you and smiles, somewhere along the way wrapping an arm around you to hold him close to you. 
The night draws on until you’re all parting to go to your separate rooms, all having a few more drinks than you’d intended to have after only having a chilled night at the house. As Danna leaves with Omar, it’s just you and Arón left outside. The wind has got colder, though still relatively mild, and you’re now huddled under a blanket, still wrapped in Arón‘s arms. 
“Do you want to head inside?” You ask him tiredly, stifling a yawn as you shift under the blanket. 
“Let’s stay here,” He mumbles, shifting a couple of the pillows so they can make a makeshift bed, “The stars are too good to miss.”
You hum in agreement and let him guide you to lay on the couch with him, his body keeping you warm against the night. 
“Do you know all the constellations too?” You question, shuffling so you could follow his eyeline up to the sky.
“I have no idea but those ones look like a fork,” He points upwards with his one free arm.
“A fork? Is that the scientific name?” You laugh, letting him find your hand to guide it up to the sky to show you some more stars.
“Those ones look a bit like a dick,” He chuckles, maybe a little bolder than normal thanks to the beer in his system.
“For fucks sake Arón,” You giggle, letting his hand hold yours there even now the stars seemed absent.
His fingertips slowly move, breaking away from yours before trickling down your arm slowly, creating unmissable goosebumps in their shadow. You hum contentedly and find yourself struggling to keep your eyes open any longer, falling asleep easily against his chest. 
- - - - - -
It’s a couple of days later when you all decide to head out to a club for the night - making the most of not having to worry about the hangover the following morning. You get dressed up and all head out just before midnight, heading down to where you’d rented out the top floor of a local bar.
You’re only one drink in when you find yourself already on the dance floor. Mina pulls you over instantly and you’re dancing with her to whatever song comes on, swaying your hips to the music.
“Honey he’s been looking at you all night,” Mina comments, leaning in close to speak to you, “He’s head over heels.”
“Oh come on, no he hasn’t,” You roll your eyes, glancing over your shoulder at Arón.
In fact, she was right, he hadn’t taken his eyes off of you. He smirks when he sees you looking in his direction and he raises his glass to you. You laugh and dance over to him, reaching out your hands.
“Come on Piper, on the dance floor,” You encourage, pulling his hands.
“If you insist,” He laughs, catching up with you and placing his hands on your hips as you turn around.
Sure, you’re dancing a little more intentionally than friends should do. It’s obvious you’re flirting. But when he returns the same energy, it’s impossible to stop.
The guys all nudge each other and look in your direction, noticing how caught up in each other you were. They’d known it for a long time, maybe even before you did. You two just worked together. If it was you being the only one to remember his coffee order, or him bringing you breakfast to set in the morning. The two of you falling asleep on the couch in your trailer, and looking far too peaceful for anyone to want to wake you. Maybe it was the way he spoke about you in interviews - telling people he’d found someone incredible, like you were already his.
All you knew was, with his hands on your waist, you couldn’t care less about anyone around you. Arón has the strange ability to get you completely wrapped up in him. And you weren’t complaining.
- - - - - -
As the day arrives for you to leave, it’s you and Arón that are the last ones to get out of your rooms. You haul your suitcase out and fix your sunglasses onto your head.
“Thanks for not snoring too much,” You smile at him as he steps out of his room too.
“Can’t say the same for you,” He jokes, setting his smaller suitcase down, “Need some help with your bag?”
“No, I’ve got it,” You shake your head, “I’ve had fun this week.”
He smirks, “Yeah, me too.”
Both of you were well aware that you were only talking about each other.
“You know, I’m glad we got to spend some time together. Without being at work, that is,” He continues, scratching the back of his neck.
“Me too,” You return, “Maybe we should do this again some time.”
He chuckles, “Are you asking me out (Y/n)?”
“I wouldn’t object,” You raise your hands in defence, “Come on, they’re probably waiting for us.”
You go to try and lift your suitcase but Arón is quick to place a hand over yours.
“Maybe next time I can actually learn what the stars are called,” He smirks, his words close to your lips.
You laugh a little but it’s cut off by him dipping his head in to meet yours and press a kiss to your lips.
“Guys I swear to god I’ll drag you downstairs myself if I have to!” Miguel yells from downstairs and both of you are quick to pull away from each other.
Arón grins and takes your suitcase for you, “We better not leave them waiting any longer.”
“They’ll definitely kill us,” You joke, leaning up to kiss his cheek once again, close to the corner of his lips, before pulling away and leading the way downstairs.
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liveshaunted-moved · 4 years ago
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headcanon dump; leo valdez
leo ran away a few halloween’s because it was easy to escape with kids all around.
leo has a fear of his power, of his fire
after his mother died, he never truly felt like he ever had a family as his aunts and cousins rejected him - going so far as to call him the devil. and then leo was put into the foster system, and going from home to home, never feeling himself at home or feeling like he fitted in any of the places.
then, wilderness happened, and he actually started to feel at place somewhere. and that was only because of piper. piper was the first true person to him that made him feel like he belonged somewhere, and slowly he remembers this. it wasn’t camp that made him feel at home first - but piper. anywhere with her - and he knows he has a family.
though, camp half blood and his siblings, they did make him feel like he had a family too. and it is a family he doesn’t want to push away.
leo already has a fear of fire right, of his own powers due to what they did to his mother, what gaia had goad him into doing, so he would fear it and not use it. and then slowly, with his friends, he starts to accept the powers and slowly not fear them as much but always having that under lying fear.
but, as i’ve heard, bc your girl is slow and has not read that part yet, leo dies in an explosion, one made up of a lot of fire, enough fire to actually kill him, the one person immune to fire. and when he comes back, this fear is back and in full swing, but now
since he has more control over the powers, he doesn’t use it anymore. he stays away from the campfire because he can’t stand to be around fire anymore then he needs too. it’s not easy for people to notice, but, those close to leo, they do notice this that he isn’t using his fire powers anymore, that he’s taking as much time away from the campfire as possible. that he flinches every time you tell him he has set a bit of himself on fire.
facts are, leo would hide or deny a crush. you could be like ‘do you have a crush on *insert name*?’ and he be like, cheeks heating up and like ‘what? no! why would i not like he’s cute or anything!’
leo is the best at sudoku’s. numbers really are is thing
leo was learning to control his fire, his powers - but gaia, knowing that he was a part of her downfall, made sure he would be afraid of his powers and that they can do. and she did that the best way you can, she got him to use them which then played a part in his own mother’s death. because if he is afraid of them, he will be less likely to use them against her
i feel like the gods let leo rescue calypso. they had been lacking on that promise they made to percy. it saved them from actually going and doing it themselves, if they let a demigod do it, even though, they had much more easy access to it. and also because leo swore he would save her from the island.
MY LEO for any kind of romantic relationship with calypso would STILL HAVE TO BE BUILT. i know, both characters tend to fall in love easy, but leo would have a hard time truly accepting it. it would take a while. and it’s best to start of as friends anyway.
building the agro 2 acutally brought a lot of stress within leo, he would stay up late into the night making it. forget to eat, would forget about meetings he had to attend as the head of cabin 9. because he HAD to build the argo, otherwise, the world will fall, and he, would be the reason, because the ship wasn’t ready. there are so many bits and pieces in the argo because, ideas kept going into his head, to make the demigods feel safer, or more at home - that, he added them, delaying the finished project.
the amount of time he spent on the ship, is why he is over protective of the ship, he had spent all these months working on this ship. it took up all of his focus. and when he would be away from the ship, his mind would always be on the ship and how it needs to be done.
leo knows the ship inside and out. the only times in which he will forget to do something concerning the ship, is when something dangerous has happened, and his body is trying to shake off the adrenaline.
leo, physically can not stay still. sitting still doesn’t work for him, his hand would be moving, drawing or making something. leg might bounce.
in school, leo was in some of the higher maths classes, and that was the only class besides work shop, that was keeping him within schools, or why schools would still accept him. hes been through so many high schools, not just due to being kicked out, but also due to running away.
he jokes around a lot, because it will always be better then feeling sad. but, there are times, where his guilt is too much for him, and he will through himself into a project. forgetting about the outside world.
leo absolutely refuses to let go of his spanish and morse code. they’re two things that connect him to his mother, besides their love for making things. spanish because it came naturally to them both, he was raised in a spanish / english speaking household until the day she died. and because morse code was like their own special secret language. he would always do what he could to learn more spanish so he wouldn’t loose it because he lost most contact with others speaking spanish in his life when he was eight years old. he would often talk to himself in all the spanish he knew. he would take spanish classes when he could in schools that and maths were the only classes he actively paid attention in
leo can’t read for shit. but numbers he excels at. words get very jumbled in his mind, but numbers are like a god send. they flow so easily through his mind.
leo had one good foster family, that were extremely nice. it was the one he lasted the longest in, but. he ran away a few times from them because it was just… too much for him. they were so kind and were actually talking about adopting him, but when leo ran away again, they gave up, and let him go. he was 12/13 when he was in this home.
honestly leo wouldn’t admit it, but he’d tear up whenever anyone would drap a blanket over him, or made things so he was comfortable if he had fallen asleep while being too busy working. why? because it means that someone does care about him. that he isn’t the outcast, the lose piece, the unneeded part. because it reminds him of when he would fall asleep and his mother would put him to bed, or make him comfortable if he fell asleep while watching her work.
leo is both a heavy sleeper, and a light sleeper. it’s all a matter of; what is going on, how much sleep he has had, the time of the day. an example is the longer he goes without sleep, the more likely he is harder to wake up, but if he’s been hyper aware of something ( maybe a deadline approaching ), he might wake up to the sound of a cough.
not feeling safe or comfortable in a place, makes leo’s need to make something / fidget grow. and this is ultimately played a part in his running away. not just the staying in place, not just the feeling of not truly being wanted, the feeling like a spare part. all of these, came together and he just couldn’t stand the home anymore.
the worst one was, the one with Teressa.
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Text
Family Pride or Clan Trevor
Quick Tag List: @kuruumiya @spacelizardtrashboys @stupidbluegirl @enigmaticandunstable @nattinngrst
This Passage Contains Potentially: swearing, violence, blood, angst, whump, fluff and very smutty content.
Summary: Rod and Kirby talk more about what a potential future together might look like and Rod meets the rest of the Trevor Clan.
Kirby's POV:
The rest of the day was quiet, too quiet, almost as if Roddy was planning something for the get-together tomorrow. The morning of the Twenty-Ninth was quiet still, then we had to leave to go to the get together, we got in my dad's Vauxhall Firenza and I zoned out until we reached the community centre and parked in the overflow parking lot.
I spotted two of my cousins walking over, the identical twins, Mona and Meredith, with their husbands and kids not to far behind them.
"Su’mae"
"Su’mae" They repeated, in unison.
My skin crawled as I recalled all the times over the years that the twins had spooked me.
"Beth ydy eich enw chi?" Mona attempted to ask Roddy.
"Mon, he doesn't speak Welsh, this is Roddy. Rod, this is Mona and Meredith."
"Hi Ladies, I'm Rod, Kirby's boyfriend."
"Cariad?" Meredith looked up at me, my face unmasked showing flushed cheeks, "Cawsoch chi'ch hun yn gariad?"
"Aye."
"Llongyfarchiadau!"
"Thank you, Meredith, How're the kids?"
"Oh, They're fine."
"You speak English?" Rod asked, incredulous.
"Of course we do." The twins answered in unison.
Rod shot me a concerned look, I gave him a knowing but still somewhat scared look in return.
We walked into the centre and I immediately saw the 'welcome home' banner and I couldn't stop the rush of emotions and Rod noticed the change in me, seeing the softer and much more hidden side of me, the part of me that never wanted to leave my homeland for the USA. I rushed outside, sitting on the bench next to the door, Roddy following quickly behind me.
"Woah, woah. Are ya alright, baby?"
"I'm fine, just a little light-headed is all."
"Don't you go lying ta me."
"I'm just a little emotional, Rod, it's been a while since I was here and I haven't seen half of my family for much longer than that."
My cousins Pat and Rod came up to the bench.
"Hey Kirby, new fella."
"Hey Patrick, Roderick. Uhh, boys, this is my boyfriend, Roddy. Roddy, my cousins, Patrick and Roderick."
"So," Pat started, "When's the wedding?"
"What are ya talkin' about," Rod (My cousin, Roderick) added, "There's got to be an engagement party before a weddin, Paddy."
"I know Roddy, but then there's also the Hen and Stag Do's, too."
"So, How long you two been dating?"
"Not long enough for you two to be making those jokes." I chided
"Okay, we'll leave you two to your business."
They scarpered off quite quickly after that, leaving me and Roddy (Piper) alone for a while.
"Those two are weird."
"Rod, they're family, of course they're weird."
"They raise a fair point though."
"What do you mean?!" I shot him a confused look
"Well, when would our wedding be?"
"That depends."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Well, knowing your 'appetite' it depends on if you y'know put me 'up the duff' so to speak, before or after the end of the year."
"Well, if I get you 'knocked up' before the end of the year, you'd marry me at the start f next year?"
"Exactly."
"What if I get you 'knocked up' before the end of next month?" he teased
"Roddy, don't tease me, boyo."
"Oh come on, we'll sneak back to ya Da's Firenza, get in the back, shack up and-"
I covered Rod's mouth with my hand, "Don't be a fuckwit, Roderick," I let him speak again.
"I'm not being a 'fuckwit', I'm suggesting," he placed his hand on my thigh, close to my knee, slowly moving his hand closer to my groin, "We go, shack up, fly back before the second of Feb, if I get you pregnant, then we'll get married sooner rather than later, if I don't then we'll try again."
"Rod, I'm twenty-nine."
"So am I, until April seventeenth. Why? When are you suggesting I get ya 'Knocked up'?"
"I dunno, when I'm thirty, or in my thirties. Not now."
"So, next year. I think I can wait until then," He then whispered something to himself that I could barely hear, "If I don't get blue balls and die."
"Roddy!"
"Ya heard that, didn't ya."
"Rod, I, you, ugh."
"C'mere baby." He pulled me closer, one hand on my thigh and the other cupping my cheek, giving me a quick kiss on the lips, "I love ya baby, I would wait an eternity to have a family with you," He pulled me back into a longer and more passionate kiss, pulling away when we both needed to breathe.
"I love you, Piper."
"Do you want me to marry ya, before we have kids?"
"Preferably, I don't want you to leave me."
"I'd never leave ya, never, not me."
"Yeah, like you're Prince fucking Arthur."
"That would make you my Guinevere."
"I'm nothing like Guinevere."
The rest of the evening was quite quiet, a family meal at a local restaurant, resulting in a drunken Roddy and me getting somewhat tipsy. Safe to say, my Da did not enjoy driving us back to the house. But I had sobered up somewhat by the time we were in bed for the night, Rod not so much.
"Oh, baby, let me make love to ya."
"Rod, shush."
"But we could be havin' so much fun."
"Roddy, get some rest or you'll hate yourself in the morning."
"But I just wanna kiss ya, and hug ya, and stuff ya pretty little maw wit ma co-"
"Roderick. Shut up."
"Fine, fine. I'll get some sleep, ya bi-"
I pulled him into a rough and passionate kiss, slipping my tongue into his mouth before pulling away and shifting positions to straddle his lap.
"ya big sexy beast, c'mere."
He pulled me down into another rough but passionate kiss, using his free hand to grind my grin against his, making sure that I can feel the heat rising from his crotch, barely covered by his briefs, grinding against my own barely clothed frame. The bulge in his pants pressing into the curve of my groin, Rod letting out small grunts and groans, feeling his hand move from my ass to the front of my crotch before feeling him rub at my clit before he slipped his hand into my boxer shorts, rubbing at my clit before checking to see if I'm wet, letting out a satisfied grunt before pulling away from the kiss.
"Would you like me to get you off, Roddy?"
"How about, you give me my release and I give you yours."
"Sure, but we gotta keep this quiet."
Rod pulled me into another heated make out session.
When we woke up the following morning, limbs intertwined, Rod's body on top of mine.
"Morning, beautiful."
"Good Morning, my love."
"What day is it?"
"Monday. Thirtieth, January. Nineteen Eighty-Four."
"I gotta make some calls."
Rod tried to get up, not realising how intertwined our legs were, climbing out of the bed, pulling us both off the bed and landing on his back on the floor with a thud.
"Oh my God, Roddy, are you okay?"
"I'm alright baby, I'm ok, you?"
"I'm alright. I was scared that I hurt ya."
"Nah, you could never hurt me."
I got off of him, pulling him up afterwards and kissing him before he went off to make the calls he needed to. I did my morning routine, my Mam gave me a coffee and I set myself up in the gym half of the garage.
At least an hour passed before I saw Roddy again, I was drinking the final drops of my coffee when he rushed into the gym his concerned expression instantly turning into relief.
"Ya alright, handsome."
"I'm okay honey, I'm okay. Turns out we need to leave earlier than planned, as in before the fourth."
"Then we'll leave tomorrow, my parents will understand. My Da won't like us leaving so soon, so if I were you, I'd go build the familial bridge now so that he doesn't kill ya."
"Alright, I'll go do that. I love ya. Oh, you have a match on the Sixth against S.D Jones."
"Okay, I love you."
I spent another hour in the gym before Piper returned.
"Ya Da has said that he'll kill me if I hurt ya or break ya heart, however he knows that we need to go back to work eventually and trusts that you'll put me in my place."
"Sounds like my Da, hey Hot Rod."
"Hey baby," He got closer, wrapping his arms around my waist, "gimme some sugar."
"No, I'm covered in sweat," I tried to avoid him kissing my neck but failed, "alright, fine, fine. I give in."
He cupped my jaw with his left hand, pulling me down into the kiss, his eyebrows knitted together and my eyelids fluttered closed for a moment, letting Rod control the moment. The moment Rod pulled away I pressed my forehead to his.
"Do you wanna watch me work out?"
"You box, Rod?"
"Golden Gloves Champion. Black belt in Judo, too."
"Handsome and athletic, you are the whole package."
"Thanks for the compliment, but y'know, a strong man is only as strong as his partner."
"Do you mean me or Orndorff and Schultz?"
"You, ya dafty."
"Rod."
"Yes, Kirby?"
"Do you wanna leave tonight, red eye flight, get back before tomorrow morning?"
"Sure, if that's what ya wanna do, we'll go tonight."
"Rod."
"Yeah."
"I want … I would like," I took a second to compose myself," I would like to have a family with you."
He pulled away, locking eyes with me, his tone optimistic, "Really?"
"Absolutely," I wiped a tear away from my eye, "I want to marry you, I want to be a wife and a mother and I want to be with you."
"Do you want to live here, or in the States?"
"Well, America would mean we can work easier."
He let out a small chuckle, smirking up at me, "I love ya, I want to marry ya and be with ya through thick and thin, anything happens, I'll be by your side."
"Promise me, you won't fight with Damien any more."
"I promise you I won't. Promise me, you'll let me tell people about us."
"I promise you, you can tell whoever you want."
"Let's go make ourselves a new home, alright baby?"
"Yeah."
We packed our things and my Da drove us to the airport. I gave my parents a tearful goodbye and we got the next flight back to New Jersey, checking into a hotel in Edison and I left Piper for half an hour to pick up the D200, collecting my paperwork from a nearby DMV centre and going back to the hotel. Rod opened the door, letting me in and slumping on the double bed next to me.
"Hey beautiful."
"Hi Rod, help me with this, please." I gestured to the paperwork
"What is it?"
"Insurance stuff, getting you insured on the D200."
"Give it here, I'll deal with it."
"No Rod, I'm capable of filling it out, just help me with the details."
"Just, gimme the papers," He leaned over and kissed my neck, "let me handle it, baby."
"Not with the mood you're in."
"I can't help that you're sexy."
"Rod, stop thinking with ya dick for five minutes and help me."
"Alright, fine."
We were almost finished with the paperwork when there was a knocking at the door.
"Who is it?"
"Piper, let me in or I'm kicking this door down." The muffled voice threatened.
"Shit, that's Schultz."
"Holy shit, Piper. Are you fucking the female giant?"
That was not Schultz's voice. It sounded like Orndorff.
Piper groaned as he opened the door.
"I'm not fucking her right now, Paul."
"Hi Schultz, Orndorff. Rod get your ass back over here and help me with this."
"Pay me." Rod teased
"With what?" I jokingly responded
"With sex" Schultz and Orndorff said almost simultaneously, giving each other a knowing look.
"All three of you share a brain." I mumbled
Piper groaned, gesturing for me to give him the papers, I complied and he read through it, mumbling the words of the document to himself.
Schultz looked from me to Piper before nudging Orndorff's arm, "They look like they're already married, Paul. Piper's got himself a wife."
"I'm not his wife-"
"She's my girlfriend." Roddy interrupted
"I was gonna say that Roddy."
"I know baby, I know."
"Jeez Rod, get her pregnant or somethin' boy."
"David!" I chided
"I would, but she's got a fight on the sixth."
"Roddy!" Orndorff chastised
We spent the rest of the evening with the boys and eventually I fell asleep next to Roddy. I woke up the next morning with Roddy next to me.
"Morning Kirby."
"Good morning, Roderick, ya handsome fool."
"I love you too honey," Rod kissed my forehead, "I filed the paperwork for ya."
"Thank you. What's the time?"
"About, half ten in the morning. Do ya wanna go grab breakfast?"
"I'd thought you'd never ask."
END OF FAMILY PRIDE or CLAN TREVOR
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bangchanzz · 4 years ago
Text
Lover’s Paradise
Chapter 5
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JEON JUNGKOOK X READER
Summary: Idol!Jungkook and Celebrity!Y/N have been friends for years. For both of them, their friendship has always bordered on more than friends, but neither of them are brave enough to take the leap of faith and confess. But when Y/N hosts the boys of BTS at her suave LA mansion and somehow finds herself sharing a bed with Jungkook, who harbors a few dark secrets of his own, things spin out of control. Tensions rise as she shows them a glimpse of her suave superstar lifestyle, and secrets come out that could change people’s lives forever.
Warnings: Severe depression and anxiety. Mentions of suicide. Eventual smut. Mentions of sex acts. Virgin!JK. Mentions of drug and alcohol use. ANGST
Word Count: 4.4K
Author’s Note: OH she’s angsty. We love good old miscommunication as a plot device :) Enjoy! Let me know what you think!
Lover’s Paradise Masterlist
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Chapter 5
YOUR POV
You were roused from the peaceful clutches of sleep by the unmistakable noise of someone throwing up.
With a sigh you flung the covers back and slid out of bed, wincing slightly as your feet hit the cold hardwood floor. You walked to the bathroom to find Jungkook’s retching form slumped over the toilet, one cheek pressed to the cool rim. The acrid stench of vomit had you gagging in the doorway.
As an avid drinker you yourself had been in the very same position many a time and had sympathy for the poor kid. Alcohol was one tricky drug that unfortunately took a while to master.
You sat down beside him and brushed his hair back from his face, your other hand rubbing soothing circles on his back.
He looked at you, his soft brown eyes brimming with misery, tears streaming down his face. Your heart clenched. You wanted nothing more than to take him in your arms and ease his pain like you did last night, but that wasn’t an option right now.
“I don’t feel good,” he sobbed.
“I know,” you replied. “I’m going to get you some water, okay? Stay here.”
He could only nod before another wave of nausea hit and he started throwing up.
You felt bad, but as a sympathetic vomiter you couldn’t get out of there quick enough.
In the kitchen you found Namjoon and Jin enjoying a breakfast of fresh fruit.
“Hey Y/N,” Jin said cheerfully. “How was your night?”
“My night was fine,” you said, reaching for a glass from the cabinet. “Jungkook on the other hand… well, let’s just say he is currently paying the piper.”
The two older boys shared a concerned look.
“How bad?” Namjoon asked.
“He’s throwing up,” you responded, filling up the glass, “and I don’t do very well with vomit so do you guys think you could…?”
“Yeah, of course,” Jin said, grabbing the glass of water from your hands and heading upstairs, Namjoon in tow.
You sighed and leaned against the counter. Now what? Going upstairs wasn’t an option, but you were still exhausted, so you wandered into the living room to find Brandon watching Netflix on the couch.
“Hey,” you said, slumping down next to him and immediately leaning into his side.
“Good morning, Princess,” Brandon said with a grin, slinging his arm around your shoulders and planting a kiss on your temple.
“Jungkook is throwing up in my bathroom so this is my bed now.”
“Ah,” he responded absently, moving to lie down on the couch and pulling you with him. You settled in easily to the shape of his body—something you’d done a thousand times before. His cinnamon and clove scent draped over your senses, the sensation familiar and inviting as he traced little circles on your bare thigh.
But as your eyes drooped and you slowly faded into sleep you found yourself reliving the ways your body had fit into another boy’s; what it had felt like under his touch, and you found yourself wishing the body pressed against yours belonged to someone else.
***************************************************************************************
JUNGKOOK’S POV
After what felt like an eternity of throwing up all the food he’d eaten in the past 72 hours, Jungkook made his way downstairs to rejoin society. But as he descended the stairs he froze at the sight before him on the couch.
It was you and Brandon, both sound asleep with some sitcom playing softly on the TV.
He realized with no small amount of envy that the two of you fit together perfectly, like matching puzzle pieces. The two of you even looked good together, like you were destined to be a matching set.
A queen to his king. That’s what this was, and Jungkook was a fool for denying it. Brandon was a king in his own right; a king ruling over a broken kingdom of fame, sex, and designer drugs forged in ecstasy under a dusky palm-studded boulevard. He was a king of rowdy nights and drunken whispers displayed across billboards in neon lights, and as much as Jungkook wished he could deny it, that was your scene. You ruled beside him, untouched and unbothered by the inherent filth and dishonesty of it all, rising to your crown on waves of pleasure, both synthetic and carnal. You were a sex goddess, a party queen, an icon of higher living and its immortalizing qualities.
And Jungkook could never keep up. That was a scene so displaced from his normal life that he couldn’t even imagine it. He didn’t belong in your world., and he never would.
So Jungkook sealed away his heart and walked back upstairs where he surrounded himself with the better memories of you and let his soul bleed out in the soft morning light.
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YOUR POV
You woke up a few hours later to Brandon tossing you on floor like a sack of grain.
“I gotta piss,” was all he said as he stood up from the couch and walked to the restroom.
“Ass,” you called after him.
“Oh good, you’re awake,” Yoongi said, descending the staircase. “Ready to work on the album?”
“Yeah, let me just go get dressed.”
***************************************************************************************
The first writing session went fairly smooth. You talked about concepts and possible tracks, always making sure that the boys were as involved in the prosses as possible.
But throughout the course of the day, you couldn’t help but notice that Jungkook seemed to be avoiding you.
He made a point not to be close to you and would only answer you in one-word responses. You shoved the resulting gnawing feeling away because you were working, but once the session was finished and they boys left you alone, your mind couldn’t help but drift back to Jungkook.
Is he still embarrassed about the other morning?
No, we settled that.
Is it about the cuddling last night?
No, he seems more mad than embarrassed...
Is it something I did?
Should I talk to him?
Thoughts tornadoed around your head, so loud and forceful you felt like your skull might burst.
Just then, your stomach growled, so you got up, deciding it was late enough in the day for dinner.
You left your writing studio and headed towards the kitchen, but before you got there you were met by dozens of people carrying what looked to be party supplies through your house.
“What the…” you started, but then saved your breath. You already knew who to yell at.
“BRANDON!” you yell, stomping past a procession of men carrying kegs and straight to the backyard, where you found the Party General himself signing for a giant chocolate fountain on the patio.
“Yes darling?” He asked innocently, not even deigning to look up from his paperwork.
“What the hell is this?” you hissed, gesturing to a giant ice sculpture of a fish being placed in the yard.
He handed the clipboard back to a young man in a uniform who took it and left, leaving the two of you alone.
“Well,” he says, looking over his sunglasses at the ice sculpture and then back at you, “I believe it’s a koi.”
You resist the urge to slap him. “Every day I grow closer and closer to killing you in your sleep.”
“Oh, goodie.” He says. “I do love surprises.”
“Clearly,” you seethe, gesturing to the party decorations throughout the yard.
For a moment, neither one of you speaks. Brandon merely stares at you with mirthful innocence as you glare at him and fantasize about playing air hockey with his kneecaps.
“Since when are we throwing a party?” you demand finally.
“Since a few hours ago,” he shrugs, as if it’s no big deal.
“And when were you going to tell me?” you demand.
He shrugs again. “You were working, I didn’t want to bother you.”
You roll your eyes. “Oh, how very noble of you.”
“Why thank you,” he replied, his eyes twinkling with delight at your obvious rage. “I’m inclined to agree.”
“Did Caleb agree to this?” you demand, trying to figure out if you had an ally or not.
Brandon snorts. “He’s the one who came up with the idea. I just made it better.”
You stare at him, trying to sort your jumbled emotions into a coherent thought.
He reaches over and pats you on the cheek. “You should go get dressed. People will be here around nine.” And with that, he walks away to intercept a courier carrying a large floral wreath.
What even was the theme Brandon was going for anyway?
You decided that you had no choice but to go along with it, however pissed you were for being left in the dark. So, you trudged upstairs, nervous that Jungkook might be in your room, and wondering what you’ll say to him if he is.
You weren’t sure if you were elated or disappointed to find him missing. You tried not to think about it at all.
Instead, you threw yourself into getting ready, finding peace in your makeup routine. You decided on a natural eye and a red lip that perfectly matched your favorite red party dress.
It was made of a satin material that reminded you more of a nightgown than a dress, but you liked the way it shimmers under party lighting. But what you really loved about this dress was the cut outs right below your breasts that showed just enough underboob to be alluring, but still tasteful. You threw on some gold gladiator stilettos and the layered gold pendant Brandon had gotten for you for your birthday last year. Lastly, you braided your hair and coiled it around your head, making it appear like a crown. By the time you descended the staircase a little after nine, the party was already in full swing.
You immediately spot Kenzie in the hallway and ignore the gaping stares of unfamiliar party goers whose eyes you feel on your body from a room away.
“Y/N!” Kenzie squeals, spotting you. “We were just about to come find you!” she says, pulling Arthur towards you.
“You found me,” you say weakly. “Now let’s get me a shot. Or six.”
Kenzie furrows her brow. “Oh god, what happened today? Did the writing session go poorly or something?”
“No,” you reply with a shake of your head. “It went great actually. I’m just in a weird mood.”
You can tell by the hesitation in her face that she doesn’t quite believe you, but she sees something in you that doesn’t make her push further, and instead, dutifully pours you six very full shots of vodka, which you don’t hesitate to drink.
You had spotted Jungkook a few times, but he was always too far away to ever go to him, so you had stayed mostly with Kenzie and Arthur until they disappeared to go make out somewhere.
You found yourself alone in the kitchen, staring at your phone, until someone was suddenly standing right in front of you. You look up and meet Brandon’s drunken smile as he wiggles a small bag of white powder in your face.
“Wanna do some coke with me?” he asks, his grin all teeth.
You stare at the coke for a second, weighing your options. But ultimately, what have you got to lose? Not much these days.
“Sure,” you shrug. “You cut the lines.”
Brandon makes a very drunken high-pitched noise you think is supposed to be a squeal as he clears a space on the island and pulls out his wallet.
He goes first, using a crisp one-hundred-dollar bill to inhale the fine white powder from the marble.
You go next, wordlessly taking the rolled-up dollar as Brandon sniffs next to you. You do one line, and then another, wincing slightly as the drug bit the back of your throat.
The high is almost instantaneous, energy suddenly gracing your jittery nerves.
You turn to Brandon, his eyes twinkling and his smile giddy as you reach up and wipe a bit of cocaine from right below his nose. You pop your finger in your mouth, rubbing all over your gums until that familiar numb feelings takes a hold of your mouth.
“Hey, I got you this,” Brandon slurs, obviously very, very fucked up. He outstretches a shaky finger to trace the necklace you wear, taking the jeweled pendant at the end between his thumb and his index finger.
You chuckle. “I thought Caleb picked it out.”
“But I paid for it!” he protested, swaying slightly. “And just because he saw it first doesn’t mean he picked it out. I have good taste.”
You laugh. “Yeah, okay, your one virtue is good taste in jewelry, I’ll give you that.”
He leaned in close, his mouth almost touching the shell of your ear. From here, you could smell the tequila on his breath. “Don’t look now, but Jungkook is staring at us,” he whispered too loudly to really be considered a whisper.
You whirl around to follow where Brandon is looking, but you only catch Jungkook’s broad back as he walked away from you.
Brandon smacked your thigh. “I told you not to look!”
By now you’re frowning after Jungkook and Brandon really is in no mood to deal with your stubborn crush, so when you turn around, Brandon is gone.
You wonder how much Jungkook saw.
It wasn’t that you didn’t want him knowing about your partying habits, you just didn’t want him to find out like this. You were afraid that he might see you as irresponsible or immature, as many people did when you merely mentioned the word ‘cocaine’. You realized with no small amount of discomfort that you actually cared what he thought about you. You didn’t like this new feeling.
You head back out into the party, hoping to find Jungkook and maybe talk to him, but before you can accomplish that, a group of friends call you over, and you abandon yourself to the revelry, letting the drugs in your system wash through you with a euphoric high.
***************************************************************************************
The good thing about coke is that it hits fast.
The bad thing about coke is that it’s over fast.
Soon, your limbs felt heavy, the day’s work and evening full of wrecking your body finally taking its toll. You slip away from your friends, desperate to go upstairs and get away for a moment.
The piano music greeted you before you even set foot in your bedroom.
It was a sad melody, a tune that sang of loss and heartache and a sorrow so soul-deep it left scars.
You softly cracked the door to your room open to see Jungkook seated at the piano, his long fingers dancing gracefully over the keys. He had his back to you, his shoulders curved inward as if burdened by an invisible weight.
You realized that you should probably say something to alert him of your presence. The moment was too personal, too intimate, to be unknowingly shared, but the soft music was hypnotic in the way that it pulled you in. And then he started singing, and your soul shattered.
It was just a hum, a simple melody over the agonizing notes of the piano, but the emotion it carried was undeniable, like the suggestion of words without actually speaking.
And to you, that said more than any word in any language could. There were moments sometimes where the saddest of music was too happy for what you felt inside, where silence was the only tune your heart could bare as it struggled to find the will to beat.
The song wrapped itself around your very bones, the sorrow in the notes squeezing until you thought your skeleton would turn to dust. You didn’t know you were crying until a tear dripped down your neck and chest. And then one tear turned into many as the rising tide of sorrow that lived deep in your stomach threatened to drown you, and you choked on a sob loud enough that Jungkook stopped playing and whirled around.
You took the split second of his surprise to contain yourself, to push those horrible demons back into their little box inside your soul and lock them away for as long as you could manage.
Your eyes met Jungkook’s from across the room, where you watched surprise and sorrow mingle in his brown irises.
“Sorry,” you choked out, clearing the tears from your throat. “I didn’t mean to interrupt; I just needed some air.” You swallowed thickly, hoping he didn’t notice.
He dropped your gaze like it had wounded him, and instead looked out the windows on your balcony towards the sea. “It’s okay. You didn’t interrupt anything important.” He eyed you carefully and you had to resist the urge to squirm under his knowing gaze. “Are you okay?” he asked gently.
“Oh, yeah, I’m fine,” you murmur, fidgeting in the doorway. “That melody was beautiful. What was it?”
There was a pause before he responded. “Nothing. I was just messing around on the piano.”
“Well, you should mess around more,” you said, your voice soft. “That was seriously good. It was like, hauntingly beautiful.”
Another pause. “You think?”
“I know so. I am a producer after all,” you murmured. “You should work on it tomorrow at the writing session.”
“Maybe,” was his reluctant response. He said nothing else.
In the silence that followed you moved to stand in the middle of the floor.
Jungkook remained seated at the piano, lost in thought. “You love him, don’t you?” he asked, doing nothing to hide the note of angry reluctance in his tone, like a cornered animal knowing it lost.
“What?” you asked, staring at his profile.
“Brandon. You love him and he loves you. It’s obvious.”
Annoyance flared through you. “God, why do people keep asking me that?”
“Because, Y/N!” Jungkook exploded. “Everyone sees the way you two look at each other, how close you are, the way you act around each other, and it’s obvious to everyone except you two at this point that you’re in love and don’t care about the rest of us commoners.” He spat the last couple words like they were poison on his tongue.
“What are you talking about? Of course I love Brandon, he’s my best friend. I love Caleb too! We all live together! We’re friends. But just because I care about someone does not mean I’m in love with them.” The annoyance inside you was slowly building to anger as you sank deeper and deeper into yourself.
“Could’ve fooled me,” Jungkook spat, taking a step closer to you. “I see the way you touch him, the way he touches you. There’s nothing platonic about that, Y/N.”
“That’s just the way we are with each other, we’re touchy people, not that my friendship with Brandon is any of your business,” you reply, ice coating your words.
“It is my business when you keep shoving it in my face!” he hissed. “And you never touch anyone else that way,” he added, almost as though it were an afterthought. He took another step towards you and you could now smell the beer on his breath.
“Oh, is that what this is about? You’re jealous?” you demand, the alcohol and drugs in your system loosening your tongue. There was something hopeful in your words, just as much as there was malice. You wanted to hurt him, but you also hoped that maybe you were right and maybe he was jealous. Maybe this wasn’t just a friendship.
You so desperately hoped it wasn’t. You found yourself willing to give anything to have him, and the thought scared you.
Somewhere in your head you knew that you had been in love with him for a while now, but it had never really clicked until tonight.
You found yourself staring at the defined lines of his jaw when he wasn’t looking, or the cute way he crinkled his nose when he thought something was really funny. You were fascinated with the way his shirt would brush up against the powerful lines of his muscled abdomen, something you found yourself yearning to see in full. You loved the smooth way he moved, like water, with his fluid dancer’s grace, even when he was doing the most basic of actions.
You loved the way your soul felt lighter around him, the way you felt better, more whole in his presence. He was like a balm for your wounded, broken soul.
You watched his adam’s apple bob as he swallowed at your words.
“Is that what you want, Jungkook?” you demand, your voice low. “Do you want me to cuddle with you on the couch, and sit on your lap in the hot tub, and put my arms around you like this when I’m drunk?” you ask, closing the remaining space between you two and twinning your arms around his neck. Up close, you could see the flush of his tan skin, and the way his pupils were blown out to hide the brown of his irises. His breath fanned across your face; his mouth frozen in the shape of an O. His body trembled beneath your touch.
Logically, you knew this was a very bad idea. He’s your friend, and nothing more. You’re producing his album, its wildly unprofessional. You should stop.
But you threw caution to the wind and you slid your hands down his muscled arms and gripped his wrists, trying not to meet the intensity of his gaze, as you moved his hands to the small of your back, slightly lower than what would be considered proper. The back of your party dress was cut low, and his hands grazed painfully slow across your bare skin, leaving tingling trails of electricity in their wake.
“Is this what you want Jungkook? Do you want to touch me?” you whispered into his ear, your mouth millimeters away from the skin right below his ear. “Because you can. I want you to.”
“You… want me to?” he choked out, his body becoming very still.
“Yes,” you murmured, pulling back to look at the starved look in his eye.
His grip tightened around your middle, pulling you flush against his muscled chest, like he had finally realized that this—that you—were real. “Y/N, I- “
The sudden knock on the door had him releasing you and stepping away, your body suddenly robbed of the warmth he radiated.
Both of you stared at the floor as the door slowly opened and the sounds of the party permeated the dulled silence. Taehyung stuck his head through the door, the rest of his figure following soon after.
“Hey,” he asked, closing the door softly behind him. “I just came up here to check on Jungkook. Is everything okay?”
“I don’t need a babysitter, Taehyung,” Jungkook snaps. He’s standing so still, his eyes so full of fire, that it honestly scares you a little bit.
“Hey,” you snap at Jungkook, letting your own anger slip its leash. “Just because you’re mad at me doesn’t mean you get to take it out on him.”
Jungkook’s eyes flare as his focus goes back to you. “What? Are you going to sleep with Taehyung, too?”
Before you really know what you’re doing, you slap Jungkook right across the face.
Taehyung sucks in a breath from behind you, but he doesn’t move from his spot.
Jungkook slowly turns to look at you, disbelief plainly etched across his face. “Did you just slap me?”
“And? Did you not deserve to be slapped?” you demand, not yielding a single inch.
You and Jungkook stare wordlessly at each other; Taehyung using this moment to quietly excuse himself.
Even after the door clicks quietly shut behind you, neither of you speak, choosing instead to stare into each other’s faces, daring the other to talk.
You observe the scowling lines of his face, the tears pricking the corner of his eyes, and you realize he looks more betrayed than mad.
And it breaks your heart to see him look like that.
“What the hell was that?” you finally demand, breaking the silence.
“I should be the one asking you that,” He huffs, eyes flashing with hesitation.
“What is up with you? Why are behaving like this?” you ask, your eyes narrowing up at him.
He takes a step closer, placing the sharp curves of his collarbone mere inches from your face. A wicked part of you wonders how soft his skin would feel under your lips, what kind of moans would slip past his lips if you kissed just the right spot.
“You were the one who made me touch you,” he says, his voice breathy but still angry.
You were the one who made me touch you.
His words are like ice water on your skin. A sinkhole opens up inside your chest, but this time you do not fight it, you simply let it suck you in.
“Did you not want me to?” you ask quietly, but not softly.
His eyes become unreadable. “Why would I want to touch you like that?”
Everything stops. You feel the repulsion in his voice in your very bones. Suddenly your head becomes incredibly loud.
You’re tired. You are so fucking tired of this hurt, this rejection, from everyone in your life—especially yourself.
You fucked up and it’s probably cost you one of the most important relationships in your life. And now you had to live with that.
“Don’t worry, I won’t be doing it again,” you say flatly, your voice devoid of any emotion. You felt yourself shutting down.
You realize you’ve let your mask fall—the façade you cloak yourself in to mask the pain that’s always lurking just below the surface. You typically don’t let people see you like this—the real you. The dark truth of your heart.
He’s looking at you with a mixture of hurt and anger and you can’t stand the way his eyes search your face with feverish unfamiliarity.
You can’t bear to stand here with him anymore, not when you feel your heart shattering into little pieces.
It’s over.
You fucked up.
Live with it.
You don’t say a single word as you lock yourself in the bathroom; he lets you walk away.
You turn on the shower so no one can hear you cry, and you scream into a towel until your heart feels empty and your limbs are heavy.
You don’t see Jungkook for the rest of the night.
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