#Realizing that the answer is never

[backpackingspace]

I love coming out of therapy with the realizations that things are so much worse that I ever imagined. I'm grieving things I hadn't ever once thought about before today

[bunnieswithknives]

OK JUST A LITTLE THING BECAUSE IM INSANE @cubbihue

Song: Plastic by Cheekface

[infinizero]

Demon Twin AU but Damian has been seeing ghostly visages of his twin slowly growing up with him

So, the Danny Damian Twin AUs! They're fun!

But what if, when Danny fakes his death/is killed, he actually dies and becomes a halfa as a kid? Danny because he is Danny, has the great idea to live a double life upon figuring out he can be both ghost and human!

As a human, he goes to America where he gets adopted by the Fentons and live as Danny Fenton

I headcanon that halfas are very adaptable and basically get powers according to their needs. So he figures out how to portal.

As a ghost, Danny stays around Damian and helps him out. Sometimes he slips up and Damian sees Phantom right next to him.

To Damian, this is the Pit Ghost of his brother who has come back to haunt him, made even worse when he realizes that Danny is also growing exactly at the rate he was despite being dead. He thinks that Dannys last wish was to grow up with Damian that's why he's doing that.

It gets even worse for Damian when he realizes the ghost of his dead twin brother has been helping him invisibly the entire time and it's possible that that's why Danny's staying around

Now, I need you to picture one of the Batfam seeing Danny

Imagine them asking him about it

Imagine Damian having to explain that the ghost of his dead brother sometimes accompanies him

Of course, on Danny's human side of things, the Fentons finally made that portal and he has to take up being a hero in Amity Park. Meaning he has less time to look over Damian.

What does this look like to Damian?

It looks like his brother is fading away slowly because Danny's decided Damian is now in a safe place

This all comes to a head when Danny disappears for a long time, long enough for Damian to think he's gone gone

And then Danny comes back and he's injured or maybe he has a baby Ellie and for the first time in years actually talks to Damian and asks for help

[arrgh-whatever]

[yesloulou]

when ur murderous puppy dog of an ex-boyf defends ur honor or something

[starry-bi-sky]

*stares at disciple SQQ falling into the abyss au*

oh you are so "SY-is-SJ" coded. You are so "fell into the abyss and suddenly remembered that oh i've been Shen Jiu this whole time, not just Shen Yuan. we are one and the same". you are so 'crumbling under the weight of the system and being in the abyss and the despair of never really being free and having suffered in both lives' built. you are so 'scrambling to come to terms with your existence and battling with which life is really yours, only to realize that they both are'. You are primed for going off the rails.

I'm so normal about this guys. i promise.

[forgettable-au]

Do you think, at first, people would call Papyrus's name and he wouldn't respond. After all, its his name but it isn't his name, so it would take some getting used to hearing associated with him (even if there's no other alternative he knows about)

Oh YES

That happened a lot at the beginning, JUST after the incident, during the first Papyrus days

I'm planning to expand on that a LOT more on the comic but here is something in the meantime

I forgot to write things on the list, but it's too late now

-

[satoruxx]

don’t ask me why i’m back at midnight i don’t know either. BUT EEEEEE

thinking about wolf!toji who when he finally gets comfy w touch and you are all comfy w teasing him and playing w his hair and ears and out of nowhere he nips your arm w his teeth

he’s just as surprised as you are— the action just came out of nowhere and just before he opens his mouth to apologize profusely and retreat into his old ways, terrified of becoming someone you are afraid of, you giggle.

“did you just chomp me to get me to stop? you’re the cutest thing ever!”

and he’s once again reminded of your near foolish fearlessness when it comes to him. how you trust him entirely and would never even fathom him in that angry, mean way he used to embody. no, from the looks on your face you’re just barely restraining yourself from grabbing his cheeks and cooing like a grandmother.

“yeah, and next time ‘m taking a finger with me”

okay i’m sorry im done I shall leave you be

OKAY SAGE SERIOUSLY ARE YOU IN MY HOUSE??? THE WAY I LITERALLY HAVE A SCENE WHERE TOJI TRIES TO PLAYFULLY BITE YOUR FINGER IN THE NEXT CHAPTER....

anyways yes i fully believe he would snap his chompers at you the way dogs do... obviously not to hurt but that's just their way of playing yk??? first time he does it he literally goes rigid. you’re being silly, sitting next to him on the couch and poking at his ears without a care in the world. he rolls his eyes at the antics—you seem to enjoy the way his ears flick every time you touch them. he halfheartedly tells you to quit it and yet makes no effort to get you to stop, too busy focusing on your quiet giggles.

and then without any warning, he finds his teeth nipping at your arm. you freeze. he freezes. he knows it wasn't hard enough to draw blood but it appalls him that he even bared his fangs at you in the first place. the guilt that washes over him is almost dizzying, intensified by a strange sense of fear. that's it—he's now exposed himself as the uncontrollable animal he's always been. you'll see it now, just how dangerous and scary he is.

he's waiting for your anger with bated breath, but all he hears is a chime of laughter. he glances at you, and finds the most amused grin he's ever seen. "i hope you know that lil chomp is not stopping me."

he blanches. "that... it didn't hurt?"

you raise a brow. "of course not. it basically felt like a tickle."

toji's head spins. the way you catch him off guard is scary. he always needs to backtrack and remember that you don't view him through that lense—that to you he's nothing more than an overgrown puppy. which, to him, is extremely ridiculous. but only someone as naive as you could stare at a wolf hybrid who has known nothing but violence and say that his teeth are nothing but a tickle. you are so stupidly compassionate, sweet in a way that warms his tongue—addicting and vice-like.

"you know these teeth have bitten off literal flesh, right?" he questions. you grin, eyes crinkling in a strangely familiar way.

"so? not like they'd do anything to me." your smile is blindingly smug, and toji's shoulders relax. once again, you are too trusting. it infuriates him—how correct you are. there is a pulse against his ribcage that seems to steadily speed up the longer he looks at you. so frustrating.

you reach up and jab your pointer finger into his cheek, and he doesn't think twice before trying to snap at it. your laughter echoes through his ears as you pull your hand away quickly, and the wry grin on his face seems all too natural.

"not do anything, huh? careful, next time 'm taking that finger with me."

[2aceofspades]

hiiii

I really like your comic with Leo and Donnie (whose dead)

Hi hello! 🙌✨

Ohmigosh I almost forgot about that comic!! Reeee! Thank you so much! 🤗✨ I loved drawing ghost Donnie and Karai 💜🩵 got me reminiscing about this panel fr

I'm a sucker for drawing spirits ngl hehe..

[randomrottmntscreenshots]

yo, do you have any screenshots where leo has the glow stuff on his markings? (Not sure what it’s called I’m stupid)

Can do!

[frownyalfred]

CLARK FINDING OUT BRUCE'S HAIR IS CURLEYYYYY

It’s funny for two possible reasons: 1) Bruce looks even hotter with his hair mussed, sweaty, and starting to curl (duh) or 2) Clark is like WAIT, you have curly hair too?

[ragnarokhound]

thinking fondly of you<3 want to ditch the kids and go to a winery this weekend? (drink some red wine(supernova))

also thinking fondly about jaytim. specifically, about how oftentimes we think of them as a slow burn… but you know what might make them a fast burn (an explosion?)?

one of them gets kidnapped and everyone thinks they’re dead:( but then they’re alive

Always, love, I'm sure they'll be happy to spend some time with their favorite familial babysitters, I'll give them a call tonight🍷💥

And OUGH. Yes. SUCH a classic action hero hurt/comfort trope, I'm always here for mortal peril being the trigger that forces a couple to realize what they mean to each other and that they WANT to take that chance!!

I am reminded strongly of one of feyburner's comics that I love so much... in this comic they were hooking up beforehand and this is the scenario that like. Makes it emotionally REAL for Tim and i love that sooo much... but also OwO

thinking about The Scenario:

One of them is kidnapped. Due to inspo in part from feyburner's comic, I'm thinking Jason. But it's been so long/the method in which he was taken leads everyone to believe that Jason's dead. EVERYONE. Tim included. Thinking that he's dead hits Tim harder than expected. Why? It doesn't make sense. I didn't even like him that much, what the fuck.

But he goes after the bastards who did it twice as hard, ridden by this sharp grief he didn't know he would feel. He's on a warpath. He's chasing down leads, shaking down goons, snapping at everyone that it doesn't matter that Jason's already dead this is about justice this is about vengeance this is about preventing it from happening again-- and finally finds the Organization's big base. Their big HQ.

Methodically he goes about tearing it down, one-man guerrilla style. As he moves through the complex, KO'ing goons, sabotaging weapons and computers, hell he might even rig this place to blow--

He picks up chatter about moving the 'livestock' and 'dealing with the troublemaker' and figures there must be human prisoners here. Possibly trafficking victims. He's been raising all kinds of hell, and security is just now going on alert as they find the evidence of his entry--

--when over one of the radios on the goons he just took out, Tim hears a very familiar and very alive voice taunting the Organization that he's out. They should have killed Jason when they had the chance.

Tim immediately factors Jason and the victims into his plans, gets in contact with Jason over the radio (full mission mode, no time for feelings or explanations yet) to work together on bringing this place down.

So by the time things are cleared up-- bad guys busted, victims rescued, base blown to smithereens-- Tim has been wildly coming to grips with the fact that Jason is alive after all and the confusing rush of emotions that's inspired in him, but Jason still has no idea that everyone thought he was dead.

So when Tim finally sees Jason in person, missing half his gear and still wearing the clothes he was snatched in, dirty and bloody and asking what took him so long-- he's not exactly thinking clearly, okay? Kissing him was a purely adrenaline/relief fueled action.

"Woah," Jason breathes once Tim gives him the chance. "What was that for?" "Thought you were dead," Tim muffles against the skin of Jason's throat. His pulse beats hard against Tim's cheek, his lips, sternly refuting the allegations. "Oh," Jason says, bowled over and bewildered. He's still holding Tim with an arm around his waist, his other hand cupping the back of his head, big and steady. "Well. I'm not." Tim squeezes tighter, his fists trembling in the back of Jason's shirt. Jason is solid, and warm, and alive-- and Tim might be in love with him. "Yeah," he apologizes. "Sorry. Had to check." Tim's clearly stumped him. "Huh." Tim doesn't let go. But neither does Jason. Jason clears his throat. "You know, I don't have the best track record with being alive after all," he says in a rambling tone so casual it makes Tim's chest hitch. "You maybe wanna... check again?"

[azuneekun]

Could we see more of your farmer interacting with Shane? Hugging, kissing, general touching 🙈 They're just so cute tgt i love them 🥹

theyre just kissing 😳😏

[thewritetofreespeech]

Hello, hello! Could I request Tesla, Leonidas, and Hades getting a hidden blowjob from their s/o as they're trying to speak to someone?

His private office hours still had a few moments left on them. So they thought they would be safe. But, never under estimate the impatience and impertinence of young, eager grad students.

“Professor Tesla! May I please speak to you about my thesis report?”

“Good God man!” Tesla shouted as he slid into his desk with a loud bang. Hopefully just his chair hitting the edge, and not his partners head against the oak under the desk. “What is it now??”

“M..My thesis report…” The young man repeated. “You said you would look at it this afternoon and it’s 11:58 now.” Tesla ignored the urge to remind him that 11:58 would not ‘afternoon’ but that fact would seem lost on him.

He took the lad’s paper and began reading the first few lines. When suddenly he felt something warm on his still erect cock. Being a genius, he obviously knew what it was immediately, and cleared his throat as he adjusted his legs to close them and keep [Y/N] out. Unfortunately, he was also dating a genius, and they quickly moved past the weak barricade of his knees and began sucking him again.

“Yes, yes. This looks fine.” Tesla said in a rush as handed the papers back to his student.

“But Professor, you haven’t even read half of it.”

“Yes well what I have read looks fine.” His voice jumped when the head of his cock hit the back of their throat. The swallowing motion of the muscles constricting around it in a warm, wet vice. He suddenly had the urge to study anatomy to discover how they were able to do that.

"But Professor, how can I improve my thesis is you won’t give me notes! You promised me that you would give me feedback before I submit, and I don’t want to disappoint you. Professor Tesla, are you ok?"

Clearly the young man was starting to realize the beads of sweat by his neck from Tesla having to keep his moans and impulses down. Or perhaps he could hear the wet smacking of [Y/N]’s lips as the ran up & down his erection, because it was all he could hear even as he was talking. Or perhaps he could tell that he was seconds away from cumming right in front of one of his students.

In any case, he just snapped.

“GOOD GOD MAN! Show some initiative! I never sought out the gratification from my peers, and look at me now! If you think your thesis needs work than do it! Do not flagellate yourself at the alter of your betters to improve your station, DO THE WORK!”

The young man seemed both terrified and mortified by his shouting, and quickly grabbed his papers and rushed out the door. Tesla’s head hung a little and he little out a quiet, “I’m sorry” towards the open door.

He was quickly brought back, however, when his cock was again gulped all the way back down [Y/N]’s throat, and he moaned softly as he reached under the desk to hold their head their. Moving his hips forward only twice before he came down their throat.

“That was very cruel of you.” Tesla scold once he had wheeled his chair out. Glaring sternly at their pristine picture, despite having done something so lewd & inappropriate, as they dotted the corner of their mouth with a handkerchief delicately. His cock eagerly twitched at the image.

“I’m not the one that yelled at the young man.”

Tesla turned his head away at [Y/N]’s perfect retort and sat their ashamed for a moment before he adjusted his pants. “I’ll review his paper later.” He muttered. “But I’m not the one who suggested this little dalliance.”

“You certainly didn’t stop it either.” Damn their perfect retorts. “You should also maybe think of apologizing.”

“I…will.” Tesla thought that apologies were for the common man. But since he was being very common when he lost his temper (an animal really, driven by baser instincts) he supposed he should apologize just this once.

“I’ll see you later. In my office? For my turn?” [Y/N] teased gleefully before giving Tesla a peck on the cheek.

To which he went read face and shouted, “certainly not!” after them. Despite his cock twitching even more in his pants.

[transformers-synergize]

What are the ages of the characters???? (at list for the humans)

Spike: 19

Sparkplug: 42

Raoul: 21

Carly: 20

Chip: 19

they age as the plot gose on, but this their ages at the start.

[ruegarding]

hello! I hope your having a good day! If you don't mind me asking, what is your opinion on the Cupid Scene in Hoo? And if you could how would you change it?

my opinion on the cupid scene…well, i don't think a traumatic coming out scene is automatically bad. the problem i have w it is that rick capitalized on shock value instead of good writing. rick retconned a bunch of things to make nico alone and miserable so that he could have this scene, and it was completely unnecessary. ppl can have friends without coming out. and, as i’ve repeatedly said, the way hoo is written is literally a repeat of his arc in pjo but worse, because we’re acting like important events in pjo didn’t happen in a series that’s supposed to be a sequel to pjo and rick is inconsistent so the payoff is questionable.

the solution is…good writing. creating a cohesive and intriguing plotline where this scene is either necessary or scrapped if it isn’t.

thus begins an unnecessarily deep dive into all the retcons, inconsistencies, and general what-the-fuckery of nico’s arc in hoo bc i’m the verbose king and we've accidentally stumbled into something i have a lot to say abt.

first retcon. in son, frank explicitly says that nico does not make him nervous and describes nico as mysterious. not weird, creepy, off-putting, or anything similar. and nico is! he is clearly hiding things and shows up infrequently. this is a neutral description, and frank goes on to say that pluto’s powers, and specifically the underworld, isn’t enough to make him dislike pluto or nico.

also this, showing nico is comfortable enough around frank:

but then in hoh, frank thinks going somewhere with nico, alone, is terrifying.

at worst, frank would’ve felt awkward. they’ve never had to talk alone bc nico is at camp jupiter for hazel and doesn’t have any reason to talk to frank by himself. if frank didn’t want to be alone w nico bc of that, it’d make sense. but that’s not what’s said or implied! and nothing has happened! nico got kidnapped, they saved him, and since then he’s been chilling on the boat, exactly as weird as before, if a little more understandably distressed. like, nothing happened to change frank’s opinion this drastically. even the difference between pluto and hades (wealth vs death) doesn’t matter bc nico uses his powers in son. also frank literally summons a skeleton guy in son and hazel is a zombie, like…

(the source isn’t important but i've been quoting these five seconds for years)

oh! and that’s not all, it gets worse!

these scenes from hoh are incredibly infantilizing. why are we treating nico like a feral dog that needs to be domesticated??? yikes. and once again, it’s not true! nico was fine talking w ppl in pjo (if a bit over-enthusiastic). and then in son he was perfectly civil and was fine having the conversation abt the quest. his issue w ppl was that his powers/parentage put ppl off, and, even in son, that he had to keep a secret.

nico is perfectly capable of speaking like a normal person and working as part of a team (see: final botl battle, final tlo battle, the sword of hades). like, nico’s struggle in hoh should be 1) that ppl are calling him creepy behind his back (and therefore has nothing to do w his social skills) and/or 2) that he just survived an incredibly traumatic experience and is understandably withdrawn. neither of these are properly addressed and instead the implication is that nico is hiding himself bc he’s gay and everything will be solved if he accepts himself.

edit: i never actually explicitly stated this, but nico's queer coding and disability coding overlap, which is why this infantilization/ableism is important enough to highlight despite the conversation specifically being abt the queer aspect of it.

second retcon. percy…as i’ve said many times before, percy explicitly calls nico his friend in tlo.

this immediately makes hoo trying to act like they don’t know each other and were never close a retcon. they were friends, they saw each other frequently, nico made silly jokes w percy…and we’re ignoring all of this in hoo.

i've talked abt this previously (in response to tsats), but nico is the one putting distance between him and percy. percy reached out to nico repeatedly thru pjo.

when percy notices that nico excludes himself, percy finds a private place to talk to nico and assures him that percy wants him around and offers solutions to his discomfort (this is not percy’s responsibility. percy is a child). when nico insists that he won’t stay, percy sees it from nico’s perspective and, instead of forcing nico to do something against his will that may totally backfire, says “i hope we don’t have to be enemies,” leaving room for nico to decide whether he’s willing to be friends.

bc percy understands the root of nico’s issue (that no matter the accommodations made at camp, there’s always going to be the implicit message that he doesn’t belong there), he addresses it and uses his wish to make sure that nico has a home at camp.

and when nico tries to prove he’s useful, percy proves he would’ve invited him in whether nico was or not. bc he thinks nico deserves to be a kid.

“i wonder if [nico] had ever had a birthday party,” percy thinks at his own birthday party where he didn’t invite his friends bc he felt it was too much of an inconvenience, in a story where he never had friends prior to these ppl he didn’t invite, and the only person he had for twelve years of his life was his own mother. and percy uses his own loneliness to empathize w how lonely nico is.

percy is not some distant figure nico is idolizing. he's a kid trying his best to care for another kid at a time where no one else did, while experiencing his own trauma. all of their hang-ups exist bc of that.

going back to their relationship in hoo, even trying to make percy uncomfortable w nico’s powers (and therefore not wanting to associate w nico) doesn’t work bc percy has gone on record and said he thinks some of nico’s powers are cool and has neutral responses to others, not to mention percy is also a big three kid who makes other ppl wary (i could write a whole meta on how what percy finds disturbing w nico’s powers is directly tied to what percy finds disturbing w his own powers, but i’ll restrain myself. please clap).

and if that wasn’t enough, the entire reason percy stood up to hera in botl is bc she was willing to let nico die specifically bc he doesn't fit in bc of those powers.

this plotline was tired before it even began.

you could argue that all of this changed w nico’s betrayal in tlo. but then why didn’t percy tell anybody when it happened in tlo (annabeth would’ve reacted to it if he had)? why did percy trust nico to come when he called? why didn’t any of percy’s animosity come out afterwards at camp? and in the throne room, percy didn’t have to single nico out w his wish. he didn’t have to watch nico to make sure he was settling in. but he did. and because he did, any writing that suggests percy doesn't trust or care abt nico bc of that is bad writing. maybe rick forgot this, but u can be angry w and hurt by the ppl you love and still love them.

even the justification that nico lied in son isn’t good enough to completely change their relationship, bc it’s pretty clear why nico lied and percy says he can’t stay angry at nico when they rescue him, and let me remind u, anger is a core part of percy's character. while nico lying might be enough for characters like leo and jason, who have no rapport w him, to doubt him, it’s not enough for percy. and why are we so obsessed w dismantling percy and nico’s friendship anyway? why is that necessary to the story? like i said before, ppl can have friends without coming out. isolating the only queer character (at the time) isn’t necessary.

this conflict doesn’t even work in hoo bc their distance is still one-sided…

when did percy not give nico a second chance in hoo? the only times they’ve interacted prior to this was when percy remembered nico in son and tried to talk to him and then when they saved his life. and then nico brushes off percy's gratitude and tells him to back off. this is not nico idolizing percy who doesn't care abt him. this is percy reaching out and yet again nico putting distance between them.

and, obviously, this doesn’t work at all w pjo when the entirety of botl exists, you know, where percy chose to trust and protect nico and then went out of his way to make sure nico knew percy held none of nico’s anger against him. it’d be one thing if nico was supposed to be wrong, but considering how there’s an entire arc in hoo abt jason being the first person to trust nico, and tsats seriously acts like percy only ever talked to nico when he needed something, it’s safe to say this comes from a place of stupidity.

ok. this sections getting long, so i moved the it was stupid to have percy give jason a reason to doubt nico section to a new post. but know that i'm aware and i think it's stupid.

back to the point of all these retcons w percy. there's nothing in hoo that necessitates changing percy and nico's relationship from pjo. while percy in hoo is never cruel to nico, they act like strangers for some reason. so, it's changed for no reason and it's written poorly.

sigh. and then all of chb is retconned (or recycled if you’re feeling generous).

the ppl at camp accept him while his cabin gets built. pretty nice. then in boo nico reveals they got tired of him after a week–which is still summer–despite there being an influx of kids from all descents, some of whom would be weird or uncomfortable or whatever this justification is. that’s not even mentioning how percy’s own experiences (remember how he was ostracized…multiple times…) should have made them more accepting of nico.

why…was this necessary at all…? especially when u have an entirely different camp that treats nico as weird bc they didn’t have that good experience w him? this is really what gets me. if rick wanted to be lazy and repeat nico’s arc, he could’ve done so without retconning things.

for example, with the seven, leo, piper, jason, and maybe annabeth (she doesn’t have much to say abt nico in pjo), i could understand having animosity towards nico, as well as camp jupiter, but retconning established relationships to make ur only (at the time) queer character isolated and miserable only to then have his coming out be violent and traumatic is. well. bad! especially when the person who is w him for that experience is not someone he has built any sort of camaraderie w. nico isn’t choosing to trust jason, he’s being forced to.

and the whole nico-needs-to-learn-to-trust-ppl plot doesn’t work anyway bc of rick’s inconsistencies.

jason has a moment much like frank where he doesn’t want to go anywhere w nico bc nico is so weird and scary. nico has every right to pull himself away from ppl who treat him like he’s got something contagious. and there’s more:

“since when does jason defend nico,” as in they have shit on nico before and jason has not, in the past, defended nico. as in nico had every reason to not trust jason prior to this bc everyone, including jason, were talking shit behind his back. why are we acting like nico is being unreasonable? oh no, y’all are talking behind my back…clearly it’s my fault bc i push everyone away and that has nothing to do w ur behavior or anything…yes this is good writing.

and we’re supposed to believe that jason (and reyna and hedge and will) is the first person to be kind/reach out to nico, but we have this scene from botl where percy comforted nico and gave him a piece of his childhood back:

and this is after percy cleared the air to make sure nico knew he didn’t hate him and offered to make accommodations for nico at camp and then respected and understood why nico wouldn’t want to. like,

woah, you’re telling me that a character reaches out to nico after a traumatic experience in an act of kindness and this helps nico grow as a person? and it happens multiple times?! yeah, apparently rick and fandom have completely forgotten abt this (also hazel exists???). they’re even phrased similarly! “maybe it’s time to take a risk and embrace something you’ve pushed away.” furthermore, they both support their point by helping nico, percy by inviting nico into his home to enjoy cake and ice cream, jason by drinking from the chalice. once more w feeling: nico has been loved the entire goddamn time!

i get what rick was trying to accomplish w the whole cupid scene concept. which is that it’s okay to be gay and that it can feel very “othering” to be gay. nico has to accept himself in order to make friends. that’s what this

and this

are trying to say, right, but this doesn’t work when you’ve blatantly retconned established relationships to have characters push nico away for his powers/parentage/whatever. nico’s struggle is not an internal issue that can be solved by accepting himself, it’s an external issue caused by how other ppl treat him for his powers/parentage (which he has never been shown to reject btw).

the thing is, the powers-as-queerness metaphor only works when you don’t have, you know, characters who aren’t queer going through similar ostracization. not only was percy ostracized at chb in tlt for his powers/parentage (very similar to nico!), percy has a moment in this same book where his powers terrify annabeth, and then piper in the next book, in which he, you know, lets himself almost die to poison bc he feels like he “deserved it” for using those powers. again, this is not queer-coding for percy (unless…?). moreover, like i said, nico doesn’t reject his powers, so the whole queer-coding w powers and needing to accept himself is already iffy (...rejecting powers...hold the fuck up…percy isn’t…unless…). even the out-of-time metaphor doesn’t work bc it’s something he shares w hazel, who is not canonically queer (unless…?!). so, already, we’re on shaky metaphorical ground. all of this could work, theoretically, if combined w strong writing, but combined w the retconning and inconsistencies, this plotline makes no cohesive sense.

we’re supposed to believe that nico is the one pushing everyone away while they are secretly super supportive while simultaneously being shown that everyone talks and thinks shit that affirms nico’s thoughts abt them that makes him want to pull away. and then in boo we completely ignore that these ppl have been pushing nico away and suddenly everyone (reyna, hedge, will, etc) is supportive.

pick a struggle!

also nico’s coming out scene in boo sucked (yeah this is the segue).

this is the culmination of nico’s arc in hoo. he’s finally accepted himself enough to speak the truth without pressure. we ruined percy and nico’s established relationship for this. and they don’t even have a conversation. then nico walks over to will bc percy, “regular guy” percy, is “not [his] type.” don’t look too deep into that.

so, how would i fix the cupid scene? well.

there were a million different ways to write a better arc for nico and earn that cupid scene. for example, rick could’ve stuck to a plotline.

the trust plotline could’ve been good. bc this exact thing is what causes the accidental kidnapping situation in tlo. nico doesn’t trust percy enough to tell him the truth and chooses to manipulate and lie to percy instead. this choice is what sets up their conflict bc percy views this as betrayal (something that’s important to a guy who’s fatal flaw is loyalty).

it’s also interesting bc nico does choose to trust ppl in hoo; he eats the pomegranate seeds despite not knowing that someone is coming for him, he just trusts that someone will (we’re ignoring what boo says abt nico’s tartarus experience bc fun fact! that is also retconned). and it pays off, bc not only does he get saved, we see hazel and percy even willing to challenge the other members of the seven to make sure he gets saved. so, it’s not a lesson he’s already learned, it’s a lesson he’s learning. but, going back to the main question here, would the cupid scene still be necessary? was being dragged into tartarus and almost dying not enough spectacle?

regardless, my biggest problem w the cupid scene in all of this is that it gives the impression that u have to come out in order to have ppl love u and trust u. a much better message to send is that the ppl who love u will love u before and after u come out. no isolation necessary.