#Yancy's back from space camp

[yesitssam]

Yancy & The Captain (That one scene but extended)

In which it's that one scene in In Space With Markiplier Part 2, but I made it sad. I imagine after he gets out and finds The Home, he keeps it quiet that he knows Y/N/Captain/Partner/Date, until they turn up again and it's an enormous shock to everyone.

The wormhole slammed The Captain into a wall as they stumbled out,  bracing themselves with their armoured hands. They gasped, looking around with a sharp snap of their neck. Beige walls, armoured glass, a seat. They sat, and looking back at them was the familiar prisoner who looked oh so much like Markiplier.

Yancy’s face dropped, then lit up with excitement as he started chattering away. The Captain waved their hands, pointing to the phone on the wall. He took a moment to realise, before picking it up and smiling. 

“Sorry, I always forget that part,” He laughed, raising his hand for emphasis. “Anyways, I was saying, I knew youse would come back! I -” He glanced behind himself at the guard, laughing nervously, “Oh, uh, this is my cousin from….cousin school?” 

The guard waved, and The Captain had to wonder if he’d really fallen for it or if he was just caught in Yancy’s charisma. He seemed happy enough however, so they smiled it off. 

Yancy turned back, smile dropping into a wink and a smile as he murmured, “Don’t worry about them, they’s not to bright, but I’m glad you showed up! I figured if you didn’t youse was just trying to lay low after -” He cleared his throat, eyeing the guard nervously, “Y’know. Anyways, I’m glad youse is here, I’ve actually been taking youse advice. I’ve been doing good, I;ve been doing real good. I mean I volunteer for cleaning duty all the time cause I want the joints to stay clean, but the stabbin’, oh the stabbin’s been the hardest to kick. Everyone just wants to turn around in a place where there’s no guards and no cameras and I’m like ‘Hello! Everyone knows I love to stab!”

He caught himself as the Guard behind him startled, and raised his free hand in peace. The guard smiled nervously and waved it off.

“But, I ain’t stabbed nobody since you went away to Space Camp.” He laughed, leaning back as his voice turned gentle, deep, and calm. “And, uh, one more thing,” He paused, crossing his one free arm under his phone arm as he looked about nervously.

“I applied for parole,” He muttered out the words, almost embarrassed. The Captain smiled, tears welling in their eyes as Yancy spoke.

A sob tore through their throat, as they laughed. They were so, so proud of him. He laughed, tears misting his eyes, too.

“I mean, I thought about what youse said in your letter,” He glanced at the guard, “And…I think I was scared.” He laughed, tears falling. “After what happened, I didn’t wanna go back out there. I didn’t wanna accept what - that I killed my parents. But, I talked a lot - did you know they’ve got an on-site therapist? I didn’t - and I was scared to leave. Scared to go outside.

I - I want to live, y’know. I want to be outside. I don’t have a full plan exactly - I’ve got a couple more months for me to think about that, but…” He trailed off, running a hand down his face. His hair had grown since last The Captain’d seen, and where he’d last been bandaged there was now a long thin scar running from his jaw to cheek. He smiled when he saw them watching.

“I’ll be okay. I just wanted to thank youse for everything. I’m just tired of this place. I want something more. I want -” A blue glow lit up behind The Captain. They looked behind him, then back at Yancy. He waved them off.

“It’s okay toots’,” He smiled. A genuine thing, filled with a deep caring that even The Captain wasn't entirely sure how had come to be. “Just know when I see youse again I’ll have an entirely new song for youse, eh?”

The Captain smiles, stands, and then signed ‘I’m proud of you, Yancy’. He nodded, signing a thankyou before putting the phone back on the wall.

The Captain fell back into the blue of the wormhole, onwards to their pursuit of saving the entire Multiverse.

[selfshippinglover]

I wanna check out your FO list but your link is not working. Will it get fix soon?

Really sorry about that friend! I have tried multiple times and it won’t saty fixed for some reason TwT sooo imma just copy and paste it/ Hhaha warning it’s long

Romantic F/O’s <3 (Current F/O’s I’m focusing on will be Bolded)

Main F/O’s:

Flug (Villainous) ~ A Chemical Reaction of the Heart

Dave (Dayshift at Freddy’s) ~ Put You Back Together

Actor Mark ~ (Who Killed Markiplier) ~ Part in Your Play

Clay Puppington ~ Love you like an Alcoholic

All Might/ Toshinori Yagi ~ ( My Hero Academia) ~ All Mighty Crush

Discord Whooves ~ (My Little Pony Fandom) ~ Discorded Hearts

Papyrus ~ (Undertale) ~ Butterflies in my Lungs

Underfell Papyrus ~ (Underfell AU) ~ Sunshine and Edgelord

Xtale Papyrus ~ (Xtale AU) ~ X Marks the Spot

InvertedFate Papyrus ~ (InvertedFate AU) ~ A Twist in our Tale

Outertale Papyrus ~ ( Outertale AU) ~ Stars and Hearts Shine

Horrortale Papyrus ~ ( Horrortale AU) ~ Horror of our Love

Overlay Papyrus ~ (IanTheGreat AU) ~ When the Dust Settles

Swapsomnia Papyrus ~ (Swapsomnia) ~ Hypnotized by You

Lust Papyrus ~ (Lusttale) ~ Bonely Hearts 

Lesser known Papyri AUs ~ Paps Quest

(Gonna Add more as I find em)

More F/O’s UwU

Dr.Cube ~ (KBB/Kaiju Big Battel) ~ Cube Supremacy

Macaque ~ (Lego Monkie Kid) ~ Evil Arm Candy 

Dr. Coomer ~ (HLVRAI) ~ My Good Bitch

Pearl (Steven Universe) ~ Do it for Us

Wilt (Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends) ~ I am in Love with You, sorry

Fenneko ~  (Aggretsuko) ~ Text Tone Spark

Regan Ridley ~ (Inside Job) ~Scientifically Best Match

Harry Hart ~ (Kingsman Movies) ~ Secret Smooching Service

Blitzo (Helluva Boss) ~ Through the BS and Flame

David (Camp Camp) ~ Helplessly Rooted in Romance

Tim/Masky (Marble Hornets) ~I Love You, Mask and All

Tyzias (Hiveswap) ~ Tired Heartbeat

Jyushimatsu (Osamatsu-san) ~ Sunshine in my Life

Glados (Portal) ~ Neurotoxin in my Veins

Chase Devineaux (Carmen Sandiego) ~ Chasing after your Heart

Tabi ~ (Friday Night Funkin Mod) ~ Skulls and Songs

Whitty ~ (Friday Night Funkin Mod) ~ Set my Heart Alight

Garcello ~ (FNF Mods) ~ You are the Music in Me

Tadano (Aggretsuko) ~ Cool Eyes, Soft Heart

Bender (Futurama) ~ Living on Love and Alcohol 

Rockstar Foxy ~ (Five Nights at Freddy’s) ~ Gray Stained Heart Attack

Ronbo ~ (Smile for me game) ~ Serious Clowning Around

Dr. Habit ~ (Smile for me game) ~ A Toothy Grin 

The Narrator ~ (The Stanley Parable) ~ Narrating Hearts Desire

Entrapta ~ (She-ra and the Princesses of Power) ~ Hack Away at my Heart

Habit ~ (EveryManHybrid) ~ Rabbit full of Bad Habits

Gregory ~ (Gregory Horror Show) ~ Soul Stealer 

Anti ~ (Jacksepticeye Egos) ~ Glitch Bitch

Doug ~ (Graveyard Groove) ~ Digging Our Grave

Aftertale Sans ~(Aftertale AU) ~ Life in Death

Charlie ~ (Hazbin Hotel) ~ Demon Donning a Halo

Newton ~ (Little Big Planet 3) ~ Two Faces One Heart

Yandere Underswap Sans ~ (Underswap AU) ~ Blood Ties

Withered Bonnie ~ ( Five Nights at Freddy’s) ~ True Love Doesn’t Wither

Engineer Mark ~ (ISWM/In Space with Markiplier) ~ Puppy Love

Mack ~(ISWM/In Space with Markiplier) ~ Captain oh Captain

Yancy ~ (A Heist With Markiplier) ~ Prisoner of Love

Damien ~ (Who Killed Markiplier) ~ A Mayors Home

Murderiplier/Murdoc ~ (ISWM/In Space with Markiplier) ~ Feeling Stabby

The Necromancer ~ ( NSP/Ninja Sex Party: The Mystic Crystal) ~ Love Lust and other Dead Things

The Host ~ ( MCU/ Markiplier Cinematic Universe ) ~ Love in theThird Person

 Pokeball Robot ~ (Pokemon Sword and Shield) ~ Caught by your Words

Sadie ~ (Steven Universe) ~ Sadie and the Love Killers

Terezi Pyrope ~ (Homestuck) ~  Love and Justice Prevail 

Tobe ~ (Pucca) ~ Love Ninjas and Noodles

Putata ~ (Sgt. frog) ~ Painting our Lovely World

Urere ~ (Sgt. Frog ) ~ Planning a Heart Attack

Sumomo ~ (Sgt. Frog) ~ Song From the Heart

Kagege ~ (Sgt. frog) ~ Shadow Over Me

Sable ~ (Animal Crossing) ~ Dressing up our Love 

Pinkamena Diane Pie ~ (My Little Pony Friendship is Magic) ~ Sweet Treats

Fizzy ~ (My Little Pony Generation 1) ~ Twinkle of my Eye

Sans Smirk ~ (My Little Pony Friendship is Magic) ~ Serious Smiles

Cheerilee ~ (My Little Pony Friendship is Magic) ~ Love in Bloom

Applejack ~~ (My Little Pony Friendship is Magic) ~ Apple of my Eye

Rod ~ (Animal Crossing) ~ Childhood Love

Snake ~ (Animal Crossing) ~ Ninjas of Love

Hector ~ (Coco) ~ Old Bones Know

Jack Skellington ~ (The Nightmare Before Christmas) ~ Pair O Skellingtons

Emily ~ (Corpse Bride) ~ A Tale of Brides and Bones

William Weatherall Wilkins ~ (Mary Poppins Returns) ~ Dirty Money

Tsunoda ~ (Aggretsuko) ~ Strawberries and Cream

Skintaker ~ (Creepypasta candle Cove) ~ Blood and Bones

Nylocke ~ (Terrain of Magical Expertise/TOME) ~ Dragon and Rabbit

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit ~ (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit) ~ Love and Luck

T-Bones ~ (Cuphead) ~ Bones Express

Silverworth Forkington ~ (Cuphead) ~ A+ Flush

Fhil Flasker ~ (Cuphead OC) ~ Fulfill Me

Pickle Inspector ~ (Problem Sleuth) ~ Love Inspection

Rick Sanchez ~ (Rick and Morty) ~ 

Multidimensional Lovesickness 

Zero Rick ~ (Rick and Morty) ~ Love is just a Chemical

Cop Rick ~ (Rick and Morty) ~ Love Justice the space between

Other Ricks/OC Ricks ~ (Rick and Morty OCs/Others) ~ Rick Quest

Hexxus ~ (Ferngully) ~ Toxic Love

Professor Sunshine ~ (OK KO) ~ Weather or Not

Scorpia ~ (She-ra and the Princesses of Power) ~ The Princess and the Scorpion 

Daroach ~ (Kirby Squeak Squad) ~ Silent Protector 

Spinni ~ ( Kirby Squeak Squad) ~ Thick as Thieves 

Doc ~ (Kirby Squeak Squad) ~ Brains and Cutie

Pashmina ~  (Hamtaro) ~ Scarf Tied

Maxwell ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Readers of Romance

Sandy ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Twirling Cheeks

Okini ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Money Lover

Sora ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Sky High Heart Stop

Broski ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Sun and Surf

Jingles ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Traveling Souls

Flora ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Healing Touch

Oshare ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Oh Amour

Aggie Cromwell ~ ( Halloweentown Movies) ~ Old Magical Kind of Love

Nikita, Trixie, and Tabitha ~ (Two Lesbians in a Barrel Game Series) ~ Gay Musketeers 

Benard ~ (The Rescuers) ~ Squeaky Smooch

Dirty Bubble ~ (Spongebob Squarepants) ~ Petty Crimes and Smooches

Rosita ~ (SING Movie) ~ We’re a Love Song

Rolfe Dewolfe ~ (Rockafire Explosion) ~ Young Lovers Duet

Julius Monrey ~ (Alice in the Country of Hearts) ~ Heartmaker

Inui ~ (Aggretsuko) ~ One in a Million

Enderman (Minecraft) ~ Steal ya Girl

Count Bleck ~ (Super Paper Mario) ~ True Pure Hearts

Dr. Stein and Marie ~ Hold me through the Madness

Lewis Pepper ~ (Mystery Skulls) ~ Skull Candy

Giovanni Potage ~ (Epithet Erased) ~ Great at Love

Jokermort ~ (Rainbow Dash Presents: My Little Dashie) ~ Partners in Crime

Vilcus ~ (Vast Error) ~ Your Fool

Dracula Tepes ~ (Castlevania Netflix) ~ Love Bites

Uncle Death ~ (Let it Die game) ~ Deadly Cool Couple

Richard ~ (Unikitty) ~ Brick by Brick

Cotton Candy Cookie ~ (Cookie Run) ~ Love Letter to You

Cocoa Cookie ~ (Cookie Run) ~ Chocolate Coated Love

Dr. Wasabi ~ (Cookie Run) ~ Sugar and Spice

Poison Mushroom Cookie ~ (Cookie Run) ~ Poised and Deadly Treat

Dr. Bones Cookie ~ (Cookie Run) ~ Humerus Healing

Hobo Heart/Gemberling ~ (Creepypasta) ~ Heart in my Hands

Penumbra ~ (Villainous) ~ Holding Shadows Close

Jancy Truce ~ (Drawtectives) ~ Laws on Love

Kedamono ~ (Popee the Performer) ~ No Need for Masks

PAL ~  (Mitchell vs the Machines) ~ Forever PALS

Skeletiano ~ (Shall we Date? Niflheim) ~ Skeleton Romeo

Toymaker ~ (Battington Tapes) ~ Perfect Toys

Felix Kranken ~ (TWF/The Walten Files) ~ Littered in Lillies

Mr. Plant ~ (Mr Plant Tik Tok Series) ~Growing on You

Argos ~ (Mr Plant Tik Tok Series) ~ Eye Love You

Flappy Bob ~ (The Fairly OddParents ) ~ Lovely Clown Business

Familial F/O’s :,)) 

Classic Sans ~(Undertale) ~ No Bones About It

Kululu ~ (Sgt Frog) ~Froggy Bro

SING ~ (SING Cast) ~ Sing Song Fam

Rockafire Explosion ~ (Rockafire Explosion) ~ One Rockin Family

Scary Godmother Cast~ (Scary Godmother) ~ Scary God family

Platonic F/O’s :33

Burt, Celci, Gunther, Carlos, Wug, Lady, and Bandit ~ (ISWM) ~ The Crewtm

The Puppet/Dee ~ ( Dayshift at Freddy’s) ~ Deelightful

Lefty ~ (Five Nights at Freddy) ~ Still Beating Hearts

Jay Merrick ~ (Marble Hornets) ~ Dumbass Bestie 

Amisia Erdehn ~ (Friendsim) ~ Color the world

Nepta Leijon ~ (Homestuck) ~ Meowrails

Honda-San ~ (Skull Face Bookseller Honda-San) ~ Anxious Bookie

Grillby ~ (Undertale) ~ Bar Flames

Howdy ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Gay Bestie

Dexter ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Glasses Gay

Gori ~ (Aggretsuko) ~ Gal Pal

Tails Doll ~ (Creepypasta) ~ Creepy Doll

Fatz Geronimo ~ (Rockafire Explosion) ~ G Man

Eraser Head/Aizawa Shota ~ (My Hero Academia) ~ Sleepy Heads

Benjamin (The butler) ~ Who Killed Markiplier ~ At Your service

Every Character ~ All Saints Street ~ Wacky Housemates

[inkribbon796]

Space is So Cool Ch. 2: To the Moon and Home Again

Summary: Inspired by “In Space with Markiplier” Part 2. Yancy gets to meet a couple of the new Egos.

A/N: Visitation Day and celebrating part 2 of “In Space with Markiplier”.

Seen the name Murdock floating around for Murderipler so I’m going with that.

Chapters: 1, 2

It was strange, not being one of the newest Egos. Things were settling, the viewers were picking favorites, but new things were in motion.

The biggest problem was that Actor and Dark had both been given false scripts and Mark was still cackling about it. Actor had thrown a huge fit, and Dark had run off to break things and grumble in the Void.

A problem for literally everyone except for Wilford, because Wilford found everything hilarious. Yancy had been only around for two years, but he’d been able to get used to Dark’s mood swings.

But the project had passed, Yancy had played his part and the dust was settling.

It had been fun, at least until Actor strolled in with three of the new Egos, the Manor had yet to sort through and spit out any of the others but there was still time.

One was the Engineer. The other was the Egos’ newest resident murderer: Murdock. The third was Noir, he and the air around him was in shades of grey. Not too different from Dark.

Yancy had been in the living room, reading a book. Illinois was in the room as well on his computer researching something for his newest trip.

“And this is my Manor,” Actor gestured to himself. “Isn’t it amazing?”

“Y—” Engineer said before Dark suddenly appeared through some portal and attacked the Actor.

Engineer scrambled away to get away from the fight. It took Host, Google, Wilford, and Magnum to separate the two of them. Magnus had to hold Dark in a bear hug to keep him from attacking. Actor was glaring at Wilford who didn’t seem to be regarding him with any form of recognition.

Noir and Murdock both pulled out weapons but didn’t attack yet.

“Now Dark, you can’t just attack guests, we’ve talked about the art of hospitality,” Wilford said before flipping his butterfly knife out. “You say hello first.”

Then he went to stab Actor, who pulled back, erupting into a puff of black smoke.

“I’ll stay hello when I strangle him,” Dark promised.

“I don’t even know why you’re so upset,” Actor said. “You and I were there for the same amount of time.”

Dark glared at him, one of his echoes snapping at the Actor while the original stayed locked in Magnum’s arms. It made Actor shoot back to avoid getting his head cut off.

“So angry,” Actor smiled, walking away. Then he slapped Engineer on the shoulder as he disappeared in a puff of black smoke. “Well, that’s your problem now, kid.”

Dark glared at Engineer.

“Yancy should take the Engineer away from the Entity,” the Host warned. “Before the Entity attacks him.”

“Good idea,” Wilford smiled. “Old Darkling and I will talk for a bit and he’ll be right as rain in a moment.”

“Fuck you!” Dark shouted at Wilford.

“Later, sweetheart,” Wilford winked, and Dark only seemed to get angrier.

Wilford was cackling in laughter as Yancy pushed Engineer out of the room. Bim was watching them from the top of the stairs but he didn’t say anything as they walked out to the balcony patio.

“He gonna[1] be okay?” Engineer asked, gesturing with his thumb back inside the house.

“Yeah, he’s a little,” Yancy said, gesturing with his hand. “Give ‘im[2] a bit. He’ll come around. Maybe.”

“Helpful,” Engineer said. “Were you on the ship? I think I saw you on the ship.”

“Maybe,” Yancy shrugged. “I’s didn’t see youse, just Y/N. We’s had one hell’uva blast, though.”[3]

“Well, I remember the other guy telling me I’ll probably randomly go back to my ship, and then just appear here. As long as the ship’s okay then I’m sure it’s fine.”

“Yeah, it’s a bit weird but youse[4] are gonna[1] fit right in, don’t worry ‘bout[5] it,” Yancy told him.

Engineer looked over the place, “Nice place.”

“Youse[4] wanna tour?” Yancy offered. “King gave me a tour ‘a[6] the place when I’s[7] showed up.”

“Which one’s that?” Engineer asked as he followed Yancy back to the door.

“The one with all the squirrels. If you hear screamin’[8] in the middle ‘a[6] the night, it’s prolly[9] him,” Yancy said as he walked back in. There was another fight going on, but it wasn’t Dark this time.

The Entity was gone, probably back to his office was Yancy’s only guess. Noir was over with Illinois, looking at something on his computer, only occasionally glancing around the room. But Bim was yelling at Murdock.

“Keep him away from my knives and I won’t take his teeth,” Bim threatened as Wilford separated them.

“Just try it, pretty boy,” Murdock smiled. “Obviously you’re all looks anyways.”

“Now boys,” Wilford held a hand up, trying to keep one hand close to Bim and his martini pointed at Murdock. “You’re not sharing the same room. Everyone just get a nice drink and calm down.”

“I don’t want to calm down, I want this fucker in the ground,” Bim said.

“Change!” Wilford yelled and suddenly Engineer felt dizzy. He’d switched places with Murdock and was standing next to Wilford and a still angry Bim.

“Well, I wouldn’t want to keep you,” Wilford smiled at Yancy, waving his hands and suddenly Yancy and Murdock were elsewhere in the house.

“Fancy,” Murdock looked around. They were on the second floor. “He the only one who can do that?”

“Happens ta e’eryone,”[10] Yancy said.

“Interesting,” Murdock said.

“Youse[4] wanna tour?” Yancy offered. “I’ll go an’ see ‘bout the other guys. If youse wanna sit tight?”[11]

“Sure,” Murdock shrugged.

Yancy was able to get away and slip back downstairs to get Engineer and Noir. Illinois even accompanied them on the tour. It felt nice after the fights, trying to help the new Egos settle in.

Just like had been done for Yancy not too long ago.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Accessibility Translations:

1. going to

2. him

3. I didn’t see you, just Y/N. We had one hell of a blast, though.

4. you

5. about

6. of

7. I

8. screaming

9. probably

10. Happens to everyone

11. I’ll go and see about the other guys. If you want to sit tight?

[clanwarrior-tumbly]

if the requests are still up, can I have more big dog/werewolf! captain headcannons? :0

Yeah! I had zero inspiration for this till ISWM 2 dropped so big spoilers ahead!!!

............

After the truth about you being a werewolf comes out, you become less shy shifting between forms.

Ofc some of the doors don't accommodate your height, so you gotta crouch a lot but it’s no problem, especially since you can run on all fours if need be.

Mark made tons of modifications to your suit so it can adapt to both forms without tearing or breaking.

He always wants to sit in your lap and just pet your fluffy tail when things on the ship get stressful...or just bc he wants to.

CC, Gunther, and literally every other crewmember scold him for “distracting” you but they’re all just really jealous.

Though because you stayed a werewolf when the universe collapsed (as the stress of the whole situation with the warp core, Lady, and Old Mark overwhelmed you), you were unable to change back to human when it rebooted.

Not matter how much you focused or tried calming down...nothing worked.

You were stuck.

Even when travelling through wormholes and space-time continuums, this was the only constant.

The many Marks you encountered had a variety of..interesting reactions to seeing a werewolf in place of a human, but they all recognized you nonetheless.

Murdock/Murderiplier? Offers to let you feast on the victim's flesh if you so desired.

Romanceiplier? Is down bad for you regardless, saying "this changes nothing <3"

Camp Counselor Mark? Is frozen in place when you growl and scare everyone else away (hell, you even intimidate Heehoo when you meet him).

Camo Mark? Thinks you're a badass by tearing into the intruders with your claws and teeth.

Crying Mark? He doesn't care he just bawls into your fur before the scene glitches.

The only one who was genuinely surprised was Yancy (even though he's not a variant of Mark) but he recognizes your smile and now understands how you beat him in that fight.

In the end where Mark attacks you, you nearly attack him back--at this point being near-feral considering how long you stayed a werewolf. 

He thinks it’s all the more reason to go back and prevent your humanity from slipping, managing to rip the crystal out of your paw, wherein you howl in pain.

That awakens your humanity briefly, and you desperately try to reason with him, saying going back won’t fix anything.

After saving him from the wormhole, he screams that you’re a “stupid mutt” for stopping him, but after a moment..he realizes that he not only broke the universe, but he also broke you.

It hurts especially as you revert back to a feral mindset, and he slumps to the floor, thinking the [y/n] he knew was gone forever.

“I-I’m so sorry, Captain..you’re stuck like this all because...o-of me. I did this to you."

He’s ready to accept death but...instead you sit down, pulling him into your lap and cuddling with him--just like old times.

And he sobs, apologizing for everything and begging you to come back to him.

As the paradox resolves and you both wake up on the ship, your paw is healed and you could think clearly again.

Mark was worried when he saw you walk out of the cryopod...until you turn human again and smile, embracing him and drinking some coffee as you overlook the planet together.

“Honestly..it feels great being human again.” You sigh. “I think I’ll stay this way for a while.”

[secretlyamess]

Stay.

I wrote this fic after being inspired by this piece by @braisedhoney (I hope you don’t mind!)

It’s gender neutral reader/Captain and I do apologize if I messed anything up there cause I don’t normally write reader inserts 😅

No trigger warnings apply but it does have spoilers for part 2 of space.

The Captain was a little disoriented from their most recent change in scenery. You’d think after doing this enough times, they’d be used to going through the wormhole and ending up in unfamiliar places sometimes with familiar faces or at least vaguely familiar places.

They throw their hands out to steady themselves as they find themselves nearly slamming face first into a graffitied wall. There’s a window or something right below the phrase “In case of emergency break glass!” in Sharpie or some other permanent marker. On the wall closest to where they had stopped themselves from face-planting into the wall was a familiar name, also in the same marker as the message above the window. Quickly, they turn towards the glass.

Relief rushes through them as they see the man on the other side of the glass. It was definitely reassuring to see a familiar face after the hell they had been through.

They point their gloved hand at the man as the man processes who was on the other side of the glass. It was visitation day, and they had shown up.

Various emotions flash briefly through Yancy’s face. The first one being a hint of confusion followed by pure shock and joy that his friend had returned. His voice is muffled by the glass while he rambles on and on about how he knew they’d be back.

The Captain looks to their left and sees a phone on their end. They pick it up and show it to the prisoner on the other side of the glass. When he doesn’t seem to get the hint, they tap it on the glass before he gets it.

The excited rambling continues about how he knew they’d be back before realizing he’s got to come up with a lie about how he knows them. Admitting that he’d help them break out probably wasn’t a good call so he tells the guard the best lie he could come up with in that moment: “This is, uh, my cousin from uh… cousin school!”

The Captain waves politely at the guard leaning to see who Yancy was talking about. A slightly amused and mayhaps nervous lock flashes across the Captain's features. There was no way the guard would buy that lie. Cousin School? Really, Yancy?

Yancy quickly reassures the Captain that the guards will buy it cause they’re not the brightest.

The Captain shakes their head in amusement before listening to their friend- or maybe something more, who knows; the multiverse was full of infinite possibilities at this point- catching them up on prison life.

After implying that there was pretty much no pressure for them to show up to visitation, since they had broken out of prison and Yancy figured they would’ve been laying low just in case, the first of the main points that Yancy was excited to update them on was that he had been cleaning up his act, like they had suggested the last time they talked. Like, he’s talking seriously cleaned up his act. Apparently the prisoner was fond of keeping things clean. Which was an oddly endearing thing to hear come from him. The next main update was that he had stopped stabbing people, and that was the hardest part. But he was all too happy and proud to report that he hadn’t stabbed anyone since the Captain got out-er, went away to “Space Camp.”

And now it was time to share one of the biggest things Yancy wanted to tell them, seeing as they were the reason he wanted to go through with it anyways.

“And, uh, one more thing… I uh, I applied for parole…” He shrugs, clearly trying to play it cool but he can’t fight the smile that tugs at his lips.

A proud grin forms on the Captain’s lips as they raise their hand to the glass for a high five. The gesture, much like the phone one, confuses Yancy briefly before he catches on and gently touches his hand to his side of the glass.

Of course, no visit would be complete without a song from Yancy. Just like when they had first met him, he had a musical number prepared. But this one was different. It was prepared just in case they had shown up. Not for just in case someone had mentioned wanting to break out or leave this place. But in case they had shown up to visit.

Before the Captain can say anything about the logistics of needing the phone to hear it, Yancy’s already rallying his prison friends for this show.

The Captain has a front row seat to the beautiful choreography put on by the prisoners and the occasional flip from the same guard Yancy had just lied to about who they were. They settle in to watch the show, faintly able to hear the song above all of the prison ambience and through the glass muffling everything.

That’s when the warp crystal started to glow, signaling it was time to go. The Captain looks at it with disappointment. They wanted to stay to see all of Yancy’s performance; they knew he’d want them to see it all too. In that moment, they make the split second decision to yank the crystal free from the fancy bracelet keeping it on them at this point in time.

“Don’t.” They sternly tell the crystal as if it could listen to them. Slowly the blue glow fades away.

They sigh and settle back in to watch the rest of Yancy’s performance. Sure, they couldn’t hear it very well, but that wasn’t going to stop them from appreciating the hard work Yancy and friends had put into making the song and choreography. They could let him know that they couldn’t hear it later. Maybe he could share it with them somehow once he got out. The warp crystal had brought them here afterall, so surely they’d be able to get back to him somehow, right? There’s bound to be a reason to cross paths with someone twice, right?

Only time would tell but for right now all that mattered was this moment in the present where they got to be there for a friend.

[lostcybertronian]

Egotober 2022- Day 3 (Ink)

Prompts by @tracobuttons

—-

Somehow, someway, time and space led you back to Happy Trails Penitentiary. Faux-happy yellow walls crowded in around you as you appeared in a cubicle solely meant to make your visit here as miserable as possible, and to your left there was a big red button labeled with a post-it note: “press to call Wug”.

You ignored it. You weren’t going to call Wug. Instead, you reached to your right, for the phone.

“I knew youse’d come!” Yancy plopped himself down in the chair opposite the thick, bullet-proof glass just as you nestled the receiver to your shoulder, the plastic tapping to your polycarbonate visor. “Don’t worry,” he reassured the suspicious-looking guard, “theyses my cousin from space camp, remember?

“Don’t youses worry about him. He’s not the sharpest bulb in the shed.” Yancy turned back to you, grinning, voice barely audible through the glass.

You squinted at him and knocked at the phone. He made an “oh” sound and grabbed for it, sticking it to his ear. “Did youse hear that?”

Too loud. You nodded anyway, content that you could hear him, at least.

“I knew youse would come,” Yancy said again, pleased as punch to see you sitting across from him. He leaned back in his chair, crossed one leg over the other, and began to twirl the curled phone line around one finger like a true theater kid. He had some new tattoos, you noticed; a swath of stars and a rocket ship that looked an awful lot like the Invincible II wrapped around his right bicep, disappearing beneath the short sleeve of his white prison t-shirt. “We’ve been working on this new song . . . youse’ll see it when I go on parole-

“Oh!” He stopped suddenly, and you stopped too. “I got approved for parole!”

You froze. “Really?”

His eyebrows rose. The grin disappeared from his face. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing.” You touched a hand to the glass, like you could push it right through. “I’m so proud of you, Yancy.”

The grin came back. Yancy’s eyes danced. He high-fived the glass over your hand. “Thanks, pal.”

[obsidiancreates]

What is the Descendents AU?

Descendants of the Trio AU is an AU in which Date Mark, Heist Mark, Engineer/Space Mark, Illinois, and Yancy are the children of Actor, Dark, or Wilford!

Date, Heist, and Illinois are all Actor's sons, Space is Dark's, and Yancy is Wilford's!

They all had their own Y/Ns and Actor kidnapped each Y/N, and the boys all went through the portals after them! They all ended up trapped together in a room! The scenario we explore in most asks about the AU is Dark and Wilford save them all from Actor, but Y/N got left behind.

Each one of them has some sort of ability/affliction thanks to their parentage.

Heist got some of Actor's tendency for ego and insult, Heist is basically a tsundere most times. He's also hard to injure/kill, very durable man, and of course being Just Fine with reality going kinda wonky.

Illinois has a form of NPD (Narcissistic Personality Disorder) from Actor, as well as the power to just... avoid being hurt by most things. His casual stroll through those traps in his route? Yeah, he can just. Do that. As long as he treats it like no big deal, it can't affect him. He can still be murdered though (the ending where we smash his head in with the monkey idol).

Date is the most like Actor pre-Entity-corruption. He's a romantic, just absolutely sappy and swooning. His powers are he can pull anything romance-related out of thin air, so like, roses and tablecloths and romantic picnics and stuff. He's got a tough streak (the route where he call us an idiot and helps us blow up the chef) but mostly he's the emotionally intelligent softie.

Space has it the worst. He gets Multiverse Attacks, where basically he himself is a thin area/tear in the fabric of reality and the other universes rip through him. It's sort of like a seizure, but it's literally that the other universes and his other selves (Murder Mark, Camp Counselor, Bomb Defusel, HeeHoo...) tear through him and it's very painful and leaves him foggy-headed and confused. Depending on how bad they are recovery can last from a few hours to weeks. Other than that he and Dark has a nice, if somewhat awkward father-son relationship.

Yancy and Wilford are just vibin'. Yancy's powers are, of course, being able to pull a full-on musical number out of his ass and then shove it back in within the blink of an eye, so reality warping just like his dad. Also the shivs. He can't make guns out of nowhere but he can always pull a shiv out of nowhere. And, as is canon now, the ever-changing Multiverse Tattoos. He and Wilford get along great, super good times.

The Actor Sons have no contact with Actor and totally hate him because he kidnapped their friends/lovers and then kidnapped them and tried to make all of them lose their minds to The Entity so he could use them in his stories. So. Yeah Dark basically adopted those three.

All of them live in Ego Manor/Mansion now with the other egos!

If you go through the "Descendants of the Trio AU" tag on my blog you can find all the fics and related asks that make up the AU beyond this basic description!

[theauthorlives]

It’s a quiet afternoon in the prison. Most prisoners are in the yard for rec time, but Yancy and some of the gang are in the canteen. While Bam-Bam and Sparkles McGee squabble over their card game, Yancy’s focused on his ukulele and a notebook. He’s been writing music again. Lately, he’s had dreams of space, and some sort of danger in all that. Of course, everything is absolutely fine, but it got him thinking - if it was the end, would he be okay with it?

The music itself currently consists of simple chords as he hums the melody quietly to himself. The last thing he wants is to accidentally distract the others from their game, but it isn’t long before they’re peering over his shoulder at what he’s working on.

“ ‘The Last Goodbye’?” Bam-Bam frowned, “Not exactly an uplifting title, is it?”

“Nah, it ain’t something depressing. It’s gonna be something upbeat! It’s like... How do I explain this... I’s been getting these dreams lately of me in all these different places, but a lot of them are in a space ship thing. I’ve died in a few of them and, well... There’s not many people I’d be okay kicking the bucket beside, y’know? And all this talk some of the others has had ‘bout them crossover things and just... Remember how Rugged Joe said that some scientist guy thinks this is part of a multiverse? What if it is, y’know? What if there’s a me who never went to prison, or who went on parole?” He paused, huffing as he flipped the page back to reveal scribbles of dreams from previous weeks. “What if them dreams is something real, and I saw another me die?”

“I think you’re missing your friend too much, kid.” Finally deciding the topic was bordering on something miserable, Shithole Hank reached over and slowly closed the notebook. “Didn’t you say they were at space camp?”

“Y-yeah, I did...” For now, the ukulele was brought close to Yancy’s chest. “Heh, maybe some part of me is wishing I could’ve went with them. Would’ve been fun to do something cool like that, be something useful for once. B-but hey! ‘Least I got that letter done to ask the Warden how to apply for parole, yeah?”

It was a good start, in his eyes, as he began telling them how the song would start with a melancholic vibe, but quickly change to something upbeat and almost positive in a ‘going down in a blaze of glory’ way - something that was quickly scribbled down as lyrical inspiration.

[the-loneliness-perch]

alright below is all the combos I was able to find, with special appearances from egos and people who I recognized who weren't part of the main crew. I didn't realize that the left/right options were different sometimes so some might be missing, but if you're making flow charts or anything you can use this to find combos you might have missed.

I forgot to label the one with Rosanna in it and now I don't remember which one it was. She's in there somewhere but I don't have the energy to go through all the endings again. Sorry about that!

Horror > left > you’re not Mark > it’s ok Mark > blue wire > I love scary stories > hide > the captain finds Mark > intervene > left > left > left > hold on > stop mark ending (feat. Darkiplier)

Horror > left > you’re not Mark > it’s ok Mark > blue wire > I love scary stories > hide > the captain finds Mark > intervene > left > > left > left > let go > loops back to the beginning of part 1

Horror > left > you’re not Mark > it’s ok Mark > blue wire > I love scary stories > hide > the captain finds Mark > intervene > left > left > right (ft. Jim) > right > right (Space is so Cool part 2 feat. Schmoyoho! > loops back to let go/hold on options

Horror > left > you’re not Mark > it’s ok Mark > blue wire > I love scary stories > hide > the captain finds Mark > intervene > left > right (space theory)

Horror > left > you’re not Mark > it’s ok Mark > blue wire > I love scary stories > hide > the captain finds Mark > intervene > right (space theory)

Horror > left > you’re not Mark > it’s ok Mark > blue wire > I love scary stories > hide > the captain finds Mark > sneak away > Lady fucking kills you in cold blood (feat. Ninja Sex Party)

Horror > left > you’re not Mark > it’s ok Mark > blue wire > I love scary stories > hide > the narrator suffers a terrible fate (feat. THE PUPPOS! (Chica and Henry)) > loops back to sneak away/intervene

Horror > left > you’re not Mark > it’s ok Mark > blue wire > I love scary stories > run > loops back to sneak away/intervene

Horror > left > you’re not Mark > it’s ok Mark > blue wire > cut the yellow wire (feat. Warfstache piling lore on us) > loops back to sneak away/intervene

Horror > left > you’re not Mark > it’s ok Mark > blue wire > Mark don’t use the warp core > loops back to sneak away/intervene

Horror > left > you’re not Mark > it’s ok Mark > red wire > loops back to camp Markiplier

Horror > left > you’re not Mark > it’s ok Mark > Mark you can’t go back > loops back to sneak away/intervene

Horror > left > you’re not Mark > bully Mark for crying > loops back to run/hide

Horror > left > great job Mack > Mack is evil (leads back to left/right loop)

Horror > right (feat. Tyler and Ethan) > you look a lot like Markiplier (feat. Wade) > left > loops back to crying Mark

Horror > right (feat. Tyler and Ethan) > you look a lot like Markiplier (feat. Wade) > right > open the door > loops back to crying Mark

Horror > right (feat. Tyler and Ethan) > you look a lot like Markiplier (feat. Wade) > right > don’t open the door (feat. Yancy)

Horror > right (feat. Tyler and Ethan) > Maybe Markiplier is in this Very Room > (loops back to left/right)

Romance > loops back to the diner scene

[notfeelingthyaster]

Imagine (based on the incomplete fanfic Son of the Underworld) (4/5) (Son of Hades! Percy AU)

Before you read it, check the masterpost - I continue into HOO. Check the warnings before proceeding :)) Good reading!

Percy stalls to see his father while he can. He doesn't want to see other demigods nor his mother until he is better. Until he can protect them. He won't see any of them die because of the gods again. But his father hurt him. So he stalls.

Eventually, he wanders to Persephone's garden. Ripe pomegranates tempt him, and he just wants to lay his head upon the soft grass and stay.

There's where the goddess of Spring finds him: basking in the beauty of her garden.

She smiles. That's not only her husband's bastard: that's Sally's son. And while Hades loved the woman, like he loved many, Kore adored her.

She wasn't Persephone or Proserpina with Sally. There was no destruction in their love. Kore smiles, and she remembers the fields of flowers they walked together.

Then, Perseus wakes up, and she is Persephone again. Kore is her past, her innocence that she gave up willingly when she followed her husband to the darkness.

"Lady Persephone" It's the first time he treats a god with true respect.

Persephone hesitates. He has green eyes - he is Hades' son but he is her champion, the closest she can have to a son after her mother cursed her with barrenness.

Perseus smiles.

"Call me Kore"

"My name is Kore, and I bring the spring"

They walk together. Plants turn to look at them, but Perseus doesn't leave a trail of death in his wake. He isn't his father. He is not a destroyer - he is a protector.

She talks to him. About the blessing she put on him, about the flowers she plants in her garden, about her childhood.

He talks back. He tells her about Sally, about the hobbit hole. Perseus tells her how he doesn't belong anywhere.

Kore shows him Gabe's statue. She kisses his forehead, and tells him he doesn't need to fear her touch - he can't hurt her.

They stick together for two weeks before crossing paths with Hades. The Underworld is vast, and Kore had many gardens to show him.

Stepmother and stepson walk barefoot and bare-chested throughout the trails of stone and grass and sleep under the shade of trees, the part of the land of the dead that was now full of life.

Kore shows him how to weave crowns of flowers and how to grow vines under his feet. She teaches him patience, and the flowers glow in his presence.

Persephone teaches him how to make the soil sing. She teaches him control, and the earth purrs under their fingertips.

Proserpina trains him to make the shadows obey. She teaches him resilience, and the darkness is his to command.

They go to the palace together, hand in hand. Percy doesn't question her many facades - he adapts to it. To her skin being green or brown or black, to her ever-changing eye color, to her hair made of vines.

He doesn't dare voice it - but he thinks her more beautiful than Aphrodite.

Perseus is happy here. He leaves his human clothes behind - there's no need for them - and put on togas and chitons.

He stands tall before his father, and the god apologizes with an ax made of stygian iron. Hades says it's a prize for his last three successful quests.

He doesn't let the grudge go, but accepts the bribe anyways.

They dine together. Perseus loves it here - but eventually, he has to go back to his mother and his human life.

His school has one more week of break, and he is spending it with his father. Persephone, Kore, and Proserpina taught him much - but only his father can hone him.

It's against the old laws for godly parents to spend time with their children - Hades is in his own dominion and he doesn't give a damn.

Hades teach him how to call for the Underworld. Teaches him how to curve metal around his arms like water, and teaches him politics the best he can in a week.

Perseus goes back home. He soothes his mother - who, swarmed by calls of Annabeth and Thalia and Chiron, is too worried - and tells her to not visit this year - he'll come home by himself at least once a month and will be spending the rest of his time in the Underworld.

He pleads for her to not tell anyone. Percy needs space.

Sally understands, kisses the crown of his head, and tells him to be safe. He bundles himself up in sweaters instead of togas, and go back to Yancy.

His grades continue to be awesome in Math and awful in English. He keeps getting tutored - and when he gets a B- in Language Arts, it's enough to boost his GPA for the scholarship in Phillip's Academy.

He goes back to the Underworld every weekend. Ghosts teach him how to kill best with his hammer and ax, and some say he would do better with a shield instead of with double weapons, but he doesn't care.

Percy gets muscle - he is a soon to be fourteen years old, and his godly blood helps. He fills his sweaters now, and his new roommate tells him that he looks like a bodyguard. A wall of intimidation - Perseus likes it.

He perfects shadow travel. He gets tired if he goes further than his mother's house and back, and more than one person is still a little off, but he is getting there. Blackjack helps a lot - he is like a shadow charger.

He bends metal and he tries to summon green fire - he only gets sparks, but it's okay - he'll get there.

He uses more white and stronger shades of green and blue - they remind him of Persephone.

Once, he takes his mom to see his stepmom - it's teary, and they spend the whole evening in each other's arms, talking. Mom tells him this goodbye is for real - she tells him she met someone new, and he rejoices.

He starts to differentiate Persephone from Kore and Proserpina - and they are all amazing in their own right.

He takes his finals earlier because of the scholarship. Percy finally says goodbye to Yancy Academy.

This summer, he doesn't go back to Camp - he has no reason to. Everyone is fine, he is not having nightmares, there have been no monster sightings nearby.

He spends half his time in the Underworld. The other half, he spends with Luke.

After two years of taking care of half his friends, it's time to care for the other side.

He doesn't meet Kronos - he doesn't want a master - but he sits down in San Francisco with Luke and Ethan and Alabaster, and they ignore the war that rages around them.

Ethan and Alabaster are dating - Percy is happy for them. They look at him and Luke, and they know Percy loves him.

But Luke is twenty to Percy's fourteen, and he tells himself it's just infatuation, a teacher's crush.

Percy bakes with his Mom and walks Blackjack, and spends most of his weeks with Persephone in new gardens everywhere - it's summer, her time with her mother - but his Tuesdays and Thursdays are reserved for his friends.

Luke asks him only once if he'll join them. Percy says someone has to protect Annabeth, and Luke is clearly incapable of doing it. They don't talk about it again.

Soon, it's September. He takes a road trip with his newly graduated Mom to see the school - and learns that his mother's new beau is a teacher named Paola Blofis.

In the freshman introduction he meets her - Rachel Elizabeth Dare. She sticks to him like glue.

She is a fiery little girl, and Perseus had crushes before - Annabeth, Luke - but he has never been flustered. It's funny for Rachel, seeing the solid wall of sophomore muscles in her front stutter like a middle schooler.

They become friends. He explains the vision to her - she barely believes him, until one day they're out on town and Percy has to kill three empousai. Blackjack shows - and Rachel makes fast friends with the hellhound.

He moves in with a boy named Matt Sloan, and they don't talk at all - they have their own space, and don't ask questions.

Percy keeps visiting the Underworld. He tries to keep contact with Luke - but the boy gets erratic and his humor floats between exhilaration and blind rage.

When Luke punches him in the face two months into the school year after he denies knowing where Annabeth lives, he says his goodbyes to Ethan and Alabaster and leaves.

Perseus worries for Rachel. She is fiery and strong - but she is not a fighter. He teaches her how to stab with a dagger - he has no idea if Celestial Bronze works for her, but the Minotaur horn should.

He is the only black freshman in the whole Academy.

But people don't mess with him nor with Rachel. Percy looks like he could break someone in half like a twig, he disappears for a number of hours for who knows where he is a math genius even though he barely studies. He was involved with shady things three years ago. He barely talks with anyone but the strange girl - and never smiles in public.

Racist people call him a thug and drug trafficker. Persephone gives him a very realistic cherry earring - and rumors grow.

Perseus has to deal with much worse. So he keeps his facade, and sits with the other people of color of this place: It's segregation all over again, and Rachel is the only one who ever approaches them.

And the fact there's only fifteen people of color in the whole Academy? It says a lot about this country.

There are three black boys (including him), four black girls, two desi girls, three boys of oriental descent (mixed Japanese, Korean and Chinese), one Native-American boy and two Latinos, one with a black mom and a Cuban dad and another with all grandparents from French Guyana.

Most of them have scholarships, and just some of the girls interact with the white people - and he with his constant redhead attachment - racism is in an all-time high for such a northern state.

Percy starts paying attention in other minorities - and is not surprised when he finds almost nothing in this nazi paradise. If there's anyone anything other than cis straight, they're in the closet.

He rarely sees any of the girls in the pants version of the uniform if it's not for sports. There are one or two rebels - but it's mostly emo rich kids with no significant problems.

Rachel tells him she's not sure if she likes boys or girls. Six months into their friendship, they kiss - It's weird and wet. They try again - it gets better.

Rachel is still not sure if she likes anything at all. Everyone thinks they're dating - they don't deny it.

Most of them are catholic or protestant, Jewish people live in silence, and there's not one Muslim person in this whole school.

It's 2007, but it feels like 1940. Percy is fourteen - fifteen next August - but he feels like a hundred.

He meets Demeter in the Underworld twice. He is not impressed, and really happy they didn't cross during summertime.

Demeter is like most gods, a super-powered being throwing a tantrum. She is not happy that Hades married her daughter - even though it has been a thousand years and she cursed their marriage with barrenness. She looks at Perseus once - and force-feeds cereal to him.

He hates cereal.

But she doesn't tell any of the other gods Perseus and his father are meeting - so props for her.

He ignores any Iris Messaging that doesn't come from Persephone or Hades. He has no idea what's happening with the war - and right now, he doesn't care.

Perseus receives two calls from Yancy saying that weird people were there, after him - he doesn't care.

He isn't having visions - so everyone is just fine. They'll deal.

His powers grow. Hellish fire, earth, stone, skeletons, metal, gems, shadows - he does it all. Some better than others, and he is always tired, but he is managing.

Rachel and he grow closer and closer. She meets Persephone once. He hasn't heard from Camp in a year and a half now. It's been six months since he talked to Luke.

Persephone and Rachel start weaning him off the gloves. He still uses his sweaters, but his hands are freer now. He has control, and his touch isn't poisonous - he isn't a bringer of death.

Percy has a vision of Luke talking to Kronos about preparing his body and the Labyrinth. He can't lose Luke for an all-powerful being.

A month before his finals, he finds the entrance to the Labyrinth. Persephone tells him about Ariadne - but he can't risk Rachel with Luke. Luke is unstable, he might kill her.

He passes all his classes. Some with A+, some with C-, but it's okay. He'll be on AP Maths next year. It's going to be just fine.

Perseus goes home - he hugs his mother, eats some cookies, packs a bag and goes to the Labyrinth - if anyone can navigate it, it's him - Percy Jackson, son of Hades.

He wanders. Perseus passes by Alcatraz - and there's nothing he hates more than people who can do something and do nothing, and he isn't powerful enough to free Briares alone. So he goes back to the Labyrinth.

Perseus meets Hermes. He has no idea what the god is trying to do. He pleads for Percy to save Luke, he tells him he'll find help in the way, and points him the direction to a place connected to the Titan's war effort.

He pays Geryon a lot of money. Perseus knows he is being double-crossed, but whatever - he has a Stygian Iron ax, a Warhammer, could win in a wrestling match against Eurytion - probably - and has a giant hellhound at his beck and call.

Perseus asks about Luke. They tell him what they can - or else, the basic of the basic. He learns Luke has an army, that he is marching to CHB and that he is recruiting.

Percy lies - he says he is after Luke to join him. No one doubts him - not Geryon, not Eurytion, not some of Luke's minions who are loitering there - after all, he is lying low since December of 2006 - and it's summer of 2008. He is fifteen in August - he was thirteen and a half when he left.

No one knows that he hasn't talked with Luke since November of 2007, except Ethan and Alabaster. And they're not here, so it doesn't matter.

Perseus is not vain - but he is a child of the Big Three, the oldest mortal one. He is realistic: They know who he is. They keep tabs on him.

He is in Triple G Ranch for two weeks - still trying to pry where the hell is Luke - when Annabeth, Nico, Grover, and a freaking cyclops appear from the same entrance he did.

Percy is not there when they come out - he is talking to a son of Morpheus about Alabaster.

He is having lunch - Sun Cows hamburgers, because he really couldn't care less - when Eurytion brings them in.

They don't recognize him at first - he has his back turned to them, he is taller and larger, his gloves are gone, and his hair is fuller. Persephone says he looks a lot like his father now.

"Long time, no see," He thinks Annabeth is going to punch him. She comes to hug him - but it's been a long time, and he is not ready for it yet, so she just sits near him.

She tells him that they looked everywhere for him, that their hope lied on Grover's empathy bond, that Percy didn't even know existed. Nico doesn't look at him - Perseus thinks he still blames him for Bianca's death.

Percy doesn't trust the cyclops. They tell him Tyson - because the monster has a name - is Thalia's brother. He can't judge much, because he has a hellhound, but he does it anyway.

And the fact that most cyclops answer to Poseidon? Explains a lot.

Grover is the one to kill Geryon this time - they don't clean any stables. Annabeth pleads Percy to come with them since they have the same mission.

Oh, how he missed the way she assumes.

"I'm not after Daedalus Workshop"

And she just keeps on assuming. She can't blame her - it's her mother's curse.

"Luke is alive" She tells him.

"I know, I'm here for him" It feels like a betrayal, but he lets them think what they will think.

Nico tries. It's cute - Percy thinks - how he starts by saying he doesn't blame Percy, and that the Camp misses him, but a second later is using his sister to try and guilt him into complying.

Grover asks him how could he, after everything Luke has done.

"He is my friend"

"So was I"

They think he is going to join Luke - he doesn't disagree. They barely know him anymore.

And he loves them, but Luke needs him.

They go back to the Labyrinth. Percy does too - alone. He follows a group of demigods to Antaeus' arena.

Luke isn't Luke anymore, not where it matters. He welcomes Percy with open arms - but he isn't the Luke that Percy loves.

He says that he has to prove himself. The son of Hermes caresses his cheek and calls him Perseus - Percy hates him.

Ethan and Alabaster are there too. They are never together - Ethan tells him he is afraid the monsters will discover they matter to each other.

Luke Castellan - Lucas Castellan, one of his oldest friends, his first mentor, his first love - makes him fight for his life. Against monsters, like the gods that he fights against do.

And Percy does. Percy kills cyclops, dracaenas, empousai, hellhounds - anything Luke throws at him. He is tired when he meets Annabeth again - her little quest has fallen into their hands.

Luke pits them against each other - and Percy hates him. Something festers inside him - this time, it's not guilt.

Annabeth cuts him - but he doesn't care. He wins quickly enough - and instead of killing her, helps the four of them escape.

"Why did you do it?!"

"I thought I could save him" He confides in her.

They sit somewhere in the mess that is the Labyrinth, and they talk. He tells her about the Underworld and Rachel - somehow avoiding any details about the nature of their relationship - and she tells him about Chris Rodriguez and Tyson, and he still doesn't like the cyclops - but what can he do.

Nico apologizes, but Percy's heart was made for holding grudges, and Nico's throat was full of pride. It doesn't seem like conciliation - but it feels like a start.

Nico tells him about Lotus Hotel. Tells him that he discovered that Hera killed his mother in 1942 - and Zeus hid him and Bianca from her ever since. He talks about meeting her in the Labyrinth - and the way he hates Hera but doesn't blame Percy anymore for Bianca - his sister made her own choices.

Annabeth says they have an automaton that can take them to Hephaestus Forge, but they were unable to follow it. She tells him that they need his help to navigate the Labyrinth.

He can only do so much. They go in circles for a while before they reach the Forge, and then they separate - Grover and Tyson go one way; Nico, Annabeth, and Percy go to Mt. Etna.

Everything goes the same - Percy is mildly resistant to flames - he has his own. The telekhines try to kill them.

Percy feels it in his gut - the strength of this mountain, the earth beneath him. He sends Annabeth and Nico away.

Annabeth kisses him. It's weird - he doesn't have anything with Rachel, not for real, and he has been tong-tied around Annabeth for a long time now - but it's still weird. He has just lost any hope on Luke, they're about to die, it's a very adrenaline-fueled situation.

Nico looks strangely forlorn, he notices, as the two of them leave. It's weird because they barely know each other and every single one of their interactions is filled with resentment.

He doesn't have time to think about it. Percy gives them fifteen minutes - and then the world explodes around him.

Being dead never hurt so much. He wakes up for a second - and there's a beautiful girl there. Oh, Persephone must be visiting him in Elysium.

He wakes up again - that girl is not Persephone. She tells him to rest - and rest he does.

Perseus wakes up in Ogygia. The first thing he notices is that his chest is almost bare - the only thing covering him at all is a loose chiton.

He panics until the girl touches him softly and tells him she is immortal - he can't hurt her. She tells him her name, and she tells him she can feel death in him - but also life.

He knows the story - he knows Calypso.

Calypso is a Titaness. She touches and touches and touches him - they roll in the soft grass and they play on the mud like kids.

Their connection is above Annabeth, Rachel, Grover, Charles, Clarisse, Connor - these are his friends, no matter how much time has passed, but he didn't trust him with touch - he thinks he should start to.

It's above Ethan, Alabaster, and Luke - these are also his friends, even if they betrayed him. It pains him to think of them, even if he understands somehow their motives.

Calypso teaches him to trust. It's a very difficult thing to teach to a son of Hades, but he is more open now - there are still grudges pressing at his heart, but he trusts now.

Hephaestus come, and he can't stay. He loves Calypso (although not in a romantic way), and he has stayed for a month.

She gives him moonshade and kisses his forehead. He can't take her now - but he'll be back for her, gods be damned.

He doesn't bother to cover up when he takes the raft - Perseus still hates the ocean, by the way.

Percy shows up at Camp Half-Blood with no sweaters, no gloves, no barriers. He knows which side of the war he is on, and it's time for him to trust.

Camp is empty. He sees smoke curling out of the amphitheater - and Perseus walks to it. It's a bit earlier for a bonfire, did someone die?

He fears it was Annabeth or Nico. Or both. Percy runs to the amphitheater.

There's a black burial shroud. Something is warm at the bottom of his stomach.

Nico is crying on Will Solace's shoulder. Clarisse and Connor are holding hands. Annabeth is sobbing. Charles is hugging her - and finishing a eulogy for him. Percy is in the door, semi-naked, and really confused.

"He was my mentee and an amazing friend to all of those who knew him. He was-" Charles doesn't finish it.

"Don't bother with my presence, continue please" And Percy chooses this moment to be cheeky.

Everyone gapes at him for a second. He is almost Charles height, he is as muscular as Clarisse, he is wearing only a chiton and his weapons. There's a flower crown in his head.

Then, he is tackled by a very furious Charles Beckendorf.

"TWO YEARS"

"NO PHONECALLS, NO LETTERS, NOT A GODDAMNED SMOKE SIGNAL"

"AND THEN YOU DIE"

"AND COME HERE WITH THAT CHEEK"

Percy has no sense of self-preservation.

"It was only a year and a half"

Clarisse punches his arm, and Connor slaps him upside the head. Nico looks like he is about to murder him.

"Where were you?" Asks Annabeth, but he just shakes his head. He is not ready to talk about Calypso.

Will Solace manhandles him to the infirmary - his touch still startles Percy. The boy didn't really talk with him since he was claimed, after the whole Golden Fleece situation.

The son of Apollo apologizes. Perseus is surprised it still hurts - but keeping grudges is his specialty.

People keep looking at his bare chest and the flower crown he doesn't get off the whole week he is in Camp. They tell him they didn't tell his mother - and for that, he is grateful.

They go back to the Labyrinth with Rachel, who looks really cool in gold. It's weird. It was pretty easy to convince her, but there's this tension between Annabeth, Rachel, and Nico that he doesn't care about right now, and doesn't want for it to inflict on his mission.

They're all teenagers - Nico is thirteen (or eighty, buy who is counting) and the rest of them are fourteen - Drama is expected, but not welcome.

He has no idea the reason for it either.

Perseus has his own drama going on - or at least, there's a lot of drama being directed at him - and he is still confused why.

Annabeth stole a kiss from him - big deal, if she didn't mention until now, he was not going to - and is now acting like a headless deer every time they talk.

He and Rachel kiss sometimes - but she said she was still confused about her sexuality. Percy researched a bit - he thinks she might be ace, but that's a realization she has to make herself.

Nico and he have a lot of bad blood between them and very few interactions to drawn upon. The boy is an oyster - but Percy thinks he might like Annabeth. He seems a little envious of Percy's arms - it's really strange the way he looks at them sometimes.

They get caught in Antaeus' arena again. This time, there's no chance they can escape - there's a dagger pressed very close to Rachel's throat.

Luke says his champion is back, full of mockery. Something rages inside of Percy - he hates the blonde, even if he also loves him more than he can explain.

Luke pits him against Ethan. Percy can't kill one of his best friends.

He does kill Antaeus though. The giant has a lot of power over the earth, but Percy sends him straight to the Underworld.

Perseus calls for Blackjack, Nico calls for his own hellhound (Perseus had no idea he had one), and then he shadow travels them as far as he can. They find Grover and Tyson - and Pan. Percy loves the feeling of life all around him this time because it reminds him of Persephone.

They eventually find Daedalus Workshop. Annabeth recognizes the man: she says he is Quintus, that his body is metal, that she has been dreaming about him.

Daedalus betrays them, the Workshop explodes, Rachel, Grover, Tyson, and Annabeth fly in mechanic wings. Nico flies without any help, and takes Percy with him - Percy thinks Zeus will be less prone to kill him if he is with his son.

He feels a little like a damsel in distress - and they have to land quickly, because Percy is twice Nico's weight, even if the boy says the wind drafts help.

Turns out Rachel is richer than Perseus' first thought. She basically clicks her fingers and they have a limo. It's weird, but he is grateful.

Percy kisses Rachel cheek and promises her that he'll call her if he survives - he knows her number by heart after a year of knowing her.

Annabeth and Nico keep being weird - he doesn't even try and understand anymore.

In the middle of battle preparations, he sends two Iris Messages - one for his mom, one for Persephone. They cry, but - for very different reasons - can't interfere.

Perseus thinks it's wrong the gods can't help with their battle. It's their war the demigods are fighting - this battle is in their name.

He uses his drachma in the bare privacy of the empty Cabin 11, the drachma, their drachma. He still has faith - the last summer, when they all held hands and walked in the suburbs of San Francisco, it's burning in his mind - in Luke, in his protection of other demigods. He wants to convince him that his enemies are the gods - CHB has only half-bloods, pawns, children.

The rainbow shows what it seems like a horror movie. Ethan pledges his loyalty to a golden sarcophagus. Luke isn't anywhere to be seen - and when he is, it's not Luke anymore. It's Kronos.

Kronos desecrated the body of his friend. Kronos took pieces of Ethan's and Alabaster's souls. Kronos is making children fight his battles, just like the gods. Kronos is going to kill his friends.

Percy knows, right there, that he has chosen the right side.

They draw their battle lines. Percy raises skeleton armies from all centuries and all sides - Clarisse helps. He gets extra happy when he raises his half-brother soldiers - and they have to answer to a black person.

The fist of Zeus opens - and hundreds of monsters come through. Percy is mounting Blackjack - the ground shakes and stone spikes kill the first round of empousai. People rally behind him.

Nico flies around, thunder brimming in his hands. Sometimes, a monster dies and there's no one there - it's either Annabeth or one of Hermes children able to run faster than the wind.

Tyson saves him from another cyclops - Percy thinks there's an exception for every rule.

Everyone on their side has earplugs made by Cabin 9 - they filter the dangerous sound waves the Apollo children are making. Dryads and naiads defend the forest together - The river nymphs protecting the trees from damage.

Both the Demeter's and the Dionysus' kids use vines to keep the monsters at bay - only a few can come at a time. The Aphrodite Cabin rallies together with the best strategy ever: The stronger lure the monsters with their mother's charm, and then make them turn around and impale themselves in the spears and daggers of those whose charms are weaker.

Not all undetermined children deserted - He sees Lou Ellen kill a monster with a burst of fire magic, most of her siblings right beside her. Clovis is half asleep - no monster can get within five meters of him without falling asleep.

Briares comes and fights alongside Tyson - and they kill Kampe. Grover screams - it's the worst thing Percy has ever felt, and he has seen his father's Helm.

The monsters flee. This time around they had more time to prepare - and more time to rally. Fewer people die. Some are inevitable: Castor is gone, killed by Ethan's hand - something in Percy is filled with guilt - If he had killed Ethan, Castor might be alive.

He would never be able to kill Ethan.

Lee Fletcher is not dead - but he is missing an arm now. He is in shock - but the Hephaestus Cabin is rallying around to build him one.

Quintus - Daedalus - is there. He should be dead - it's disgusting to be near him. Percy isn't good with the spirit/ghostly part of it - but he picks up the last of his energy and sends - banishes - Quintus to the Underworld.

Nico and Percy can now bond over having hellhounds - well, they could. But Percy is not staying. He just listened to the Prophecy. He still has one more year before he is sixteen, and he wants to live.

"You have a place in camp, you know" Nico says, but Perseus shakes his head.

"I have school"

Annabeth, Nico, Clarisse, everyone thinks he is joking. He is very much not. He stays for the burning of the shrouds, and leaves.

This summer, he was a leader. Perseus Jackson, son of Hades, it's the leader of Camp Half-Blood - and he'll lead them to victory when the time comes.

Until then, he has sophomore year, a summer road trip with Rachel, garden visits with Persephone, training with his father, and movie nights with his mom and Paola.

And, of course, now he has to come to Camp once a month so everyone knows he is alive. One would think you can't disappear for a year and a half without everyone on his ass about it.

His birthday is a blast. Charles, Connor, Nico, Annabeth, Grover, Tyson, Rachel, and even Travis, Will, Lou, and Silena are there.

Percy sees a hole that no one else does, one filled by Alabaster, Ethan and Calypso, and Luke - but he doesn't complain. Moonshade grows at his windowsill, and the others made their own choices.

Percy eats blue cake and wonders - Four years ago, he had no friends. Now, he has a dozen - a dozen people who care about him, who care about his well-being. A dozen people who touch him, because he doesn't have the plague.

He is a leader, and a friend, and a hero. And it's totally awesome.

[nevernotwriting]

You, Me, and Yancy | Chapter 8: Rooftop Relations

Read me on AO3!

Previous chapter

Several weeks earlier…

“All right, here we are.”

Mark stopped the car and the two of you got out, grabbing your duffel bags from the backseat. The slam of the car doors echoed in the empty parking garage as the two of you made your way to a door reading “EMPLOYEES ONLY”.

This was your third rooftop night shift, but your stomach was filled with more butterflies than ever before, because this was your first one with Mark. You’d been eager to spend more time with him after how warmly he welcomed you to the group, and now your wish had finally come true.

“After you,” Mark said, opening the door for you. He tipped his beanie towards you as if it were a fedora.

“Cheesy,” you snorted, walking through the door. Mark followed you.

“Cheesy is my middle name!”

You ascended an endless staircase, eventually reaching one final door. Opening it, you stepped out onto the rooftop of the Glendale Galleria.

The glass sections of the roof revealed that the inside was lit up in a brilliant white. This was your first indicator that this place definitely had a night shift. You sighed internally, your last flicker of hope for an early night dying.

Mark finally appeared in the doorway, laying down his bag and walking to the edge of the rooftop. You joined his side as he stared out at the grid of lights that stretched in every direction as far as you could see.

“Nice view,” he commented.

“I prefer the one back home.”

“Oh yeah?” Mark turned to you with a curious expression.

“Yeah. You can actually see the stars at my parents’ house. And the Milky Way, if you turn the porch lights off.”

“That’s pretty awesome,” Mark smiled. “But who needs the Milky Way when you’ve got LA’s light pollution, right?”

You rolled your eyes with a loving smile. “Funny.”

“Funny is my middle name.”

“I thought cheesy was your middle name.”

“I have two.”

The two of you descended into laughter before picking up your bags once more and surveying your surroundings.

“All right, so what’s the plan here?”

Mark produced a rolled-up piece of paper from his bag; it was the map that Shrike and Gareth had compiled between them a few days prior. Mark scanned it and flitted his eyes up to the roof every few seconds. “Shark wants us to keep an eye on the guard rotation around the Swarovski store, which, according to this map, should be right… there.” He pointed to the largest glass dome in the middle of the roof.

“How about we get a quick scope of the whole place first, then settle in on the Swarovski store?” You suggested. “Might come in handy to know how many guards there’re gonna be overall.”

Mark nodded. “Good call.”

The two of you began to walk together from one edge of the roof to the next, sharing the map and marking out each guard you saw in light pencil. You caught Mark watching you out of the corner of your eye and you glanced at him, surprised to see an impressed smile on his face.

“You’re really good at this. And this is only, what, your third night shift?” His eyebrows raised along with his question.

You smiled, looking back down at the map. “Not like it’s hard.”

“Awh come on Zero, just take the compliment.”

“And if I don’t?” You teased.

“Well then this is gonna be a long night.”

You snorted, throwing your head back in laughter and continuing to walk. “That’s what I said to myself five minutes into what was possibly the worst date I’ve ever been on.”

Mark laughed, following you. “Oh no. What happened?”

You groaned. “I had to do like, ninety-nine percent of the talking. No joke. Me. Doing all the talking. You’ve seen how quiet I can be at work. God it was a nightmare, like why would you agree to a date with me if you don’t even really wanna be there?”

Mark shot you a sympathetic look as he scribbled on the map. “Maybe they were just super shy? But either way, that’s pretty rough. I’m sorry.”

You shrugged your shoulders. “No harm done. What about you, what’s the worst date you’ve ever been on?”

Mark paused, pursing his lips and looking up at the sky. “There was this one time I was asked to fill out my birth chart and do some online personality test before the date even started. That was… weird.”

You laughed, gasping in disbelief. “And how did that go?”

“Oh, the date?” Mark looked back down at you. “Technically, it didn’t even happen. My date decided we weren’t compatible cause I’m a Cancer and an extrovert, or some shit.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah.�� Mark grinned at you.

 After about ninety minutes of slowly working your way up and down the roof and sharing stories, you and Mark finished up at the largest glass dome overlooking the Swarovski store. You were about to settle onto the cold concrete of the roof when Mark pulled out two foldable camping chairs from his duffel bag.

“Did you really think I was gonna let you sit on a roof all night without a bit of comfort?”

“Shrike did,” you replied, standing back up.

“That’s cause she’s an alien. I’m a human being.”

“That’s exactly what an alien would say if they were trying to pass as a human.”

“You got me,” Mark laughed, holding his hands up. “Got binoculars?”

You fished them out of your bag, throwing a pair to him. “Catch!”

Panic crossed his face, but he caught them just in time. “See that? Cat-like reflexes.”

“Sure thing, Catwoman.” You rolled your eyes, looking through your own pair of binoculars.

“Ten-fifteen, no guards,” you mumbled under your breath. Mark jotted down your observations on the sides of the map.

“What time d’you think they turn the lights off here?” You asked.

Mark shrugged. “Hopefully soon. It’s a little blinding.”

“Yeah,” you agreed. “Must be weird walking through a dark empty mall at night though. I dunno why, but it makes me think of this video game my friend made me play in college. You played as a security guard in a haunted pizzeria.”

“Not that animatronics one.” Mark’s voice was flat with dread.

You removed the binoculars from your eyes, shooting him a surprised look. “Yeah! You know it?”

“Man, don’t even talk to me about that game.”

You laughed. “It had me sleepless for days as well.”

There was silence between you two for several minutes as you went back to the task at hand, until Mark broke the silence once more.

“How’d you get into video games?”

You leaned back in your chair, surprised again at the inquisitive look Mark was giving you. You played with the binoculars in your hands.

“My dad got me into them, actually. He was always really into them as a kid, all the retro stuff. We used to spend a few nights each week completing a video game together whenever I was home.”

“That’s cute,” Mark smiled. “Do you miss Pennsylvania?”

Your stomach flipped. You normally hated that question, but something about the sincere, gentle look Mark was giving you made you want to open up to him even more.

“A little,” you replied, sitting forward and glancing down. “But LA is starting to feel like home. It took a while, but I’m getting there.”

You looked at Mark again. Your stomach continued flipping as a sweet smile spread across his face.

“Good.” His answer was so quiet you almost missed it.

“Y’know, I don’t think I’ve ever actually asked where you’re from, Mark.”

Amidst the darkness, you could’ve sworn a hint of pink spread across his cheeks. “Oh, it’s fine. I’m from Ohio originally.”

“Shut up! We were state neighbours this whole time and you never told me?”

Mark’s eyebrows raised as he let out a hearty laugh. “Yeah, I guess we were! But hey, look at us both now, living it up in the big city.”

“Damn right we are!” You held out your hand for a high five. Mark accepted it, the singular clap reverberating into the night.

 You settled into another comfortable silence, only breaking it to make the occasional remark about the guard patterns. When the lights finally dimmed inside the mall, you and Mark let out a quiet cheer of relief. You dug your phone out of your bag to check the time, surprised to see that it was 12:30 am.

“Wow. Time flies, huh?” You flashed your phone screen at Mark.

“Sure does when you’re having fun,” he smiled back, jotting down another note on the side of the map. “Lights out, twelve-thirty.”

You stuffed your phone back into your bag, turning away to hide the huge grin that appeared on your face.

“By the way, what was that on your lock screen?”

Heat flushed to your face as you retrieved your phone once more. Damn this guy, he doesn’t miss a beat.

You passed your phone to him. “It’s the view of the city from the Griffith Observatory. I’ve not actually been up there yet, but I found that picture online and I liked it, so…”

Mark raised his eyebrows at you in disbelief as he gave you back your phone. “You’ve never been there? You should totally go!”

“I know, I know. I just didn’t have time what with school. It just fell to the back of my to do list.”

Mark hummed in response, but he was staring at the sky as if he were lost in space. He bit his lip.

“I could take you there some time. If you wanted,” he offered. His voice was uncharacteristically quiet once again.

“That’d be fun.” You smiled, trying to keep your cool despite the butterflies filling your stomach.

Out of nowhere, a chilling breeze picked up. You shivered violently with a groan of protest, rubbing up and down your arms.

“Son of a bitch, where did that come from?”

Mark reached for something in his bag. “LA weather can still surprise you sometimes. Here, put this on.”

He threw something black onto your lap. You picked it up, realising it was one of his sweatshirts. You cast him a bashful smile. The hit of warmth was immediate when you snuggled into the garment, and a faint smell of cologne enveloped you. You sighed happily to yourself.

“You’re not getting this back.”

“I figured you’d say that.”

 After another hour and yet more watching and waiting, you heard Mark’s stomach rumble faintly. An idea popped into your head. You reached into your bag, pulling out a large flask and holding it out to him.

“Here.”

Mark took the flask, unscrewing the lid and sniffing with a curious frown. “What is this?”

“Chicken soup.”

“You brought soup?”

“Well we’re gonna be out here for a while, what did you bring?”

“… Cookies.”

You shook your head. “Good thing you have me to keep you in check. Go on, it’s homemade.”

Mark took a sip. His eyes lit up in delight.

“Damn Zero, that’s good. You made that?”

“Mhmm,” you nodded. “Family recipe. Warms you right through to your bones.”

“In which case,” Mark began, a hint of mischief in his voice as he handed the flask back to you. “If you have this, can I have my sweatshirt back?”

“Nope!”

Mark leant back in laughter, picking up his binoculars again. “So, you’re stubborn and a good chef. I’m learning a lot tonight.”

You scoffed back at him, retreating further into his sweatshirt.

“Chicken soup’s my favourite kind actually.”

“Yeah?”

Mark hummed, binoculars still glued to his eyes. “My mom used to make it for me when I was sick. You’d think I’d hate it cause of that reminder of feeling crappy, but the opposite happened.” He lowered the binoculars, gazing at you for a few seconds in silence. “I guess it just reminds me of… I dunno, that I have people lookin’ out for me.”

Your heart felt like it had been lit on fire. You swallowed, trying to summon the right words, but your mind was blank. You managed a shy, wordless nod, pulling down the sleeves of Mark’s sweatshirt to cover your hands.

 The next few hours seemed to fly by in a matter of minutes. By the time you were satisfied with the guard rotations you’d mapped out, it was nearly six in the morning. Your eyes felt like they had papercuts, and your brain ached for a dark room and warm blankets. You and Mark packed away your equipment into your bags. Just as you were about to make your way to the door, Mark unexpectedly grabbed your hand.

“Wait, this is the best part.”

“Whaaaat?” You groaned, desperate for sleep.

Mark led you to the edge of the rooftop once more. “Trust me, it’ll only take a couple of minutes, and it’s more than worth it.”

You looked across the landscape ahead of you. You were about to ask what the fuss was about when bright orange hues bled into the sky from the horizon, and everything stopped.

The sun was slowly rising over the city, bathing all of the buildings in a brilliant orange light. Wispy clouds drifted along, interfering with the sunbeams and creating dancing patterns in the sky. Your eyes widened, a small gasp escaping your mouth.

“You know, I’ve never really stopped to notice this before,” you admitted.

Mark turned to you. “Are you glad you did?”

You nodded at him. “Yeah.”

It dawned on you in that moment, after having looked at him through hours of darkness, just how incredible his eyes were. The early morning light blazed in them, highlighting all the brilliant brown tones that intertwined and danced with one another.

You cleared your throat, taking in a deep breath of the crisp air. Mark looked away, adjusting his bag on his shoulder.

“We, uh…” he shifted on the spot, smiling at the rising sun and scratching the back of his head. “We make a pretty good team, don’t we?”

You grinned back at him harder than ever before. “We sure do.”

Next chapter

[fatehbaz]

How does such purposeful forgetting shape black geographies? [...]

Today, Sugar Land’s landscape is identifiable through its master-planned communities comprised of modest to opulent single-family homes and   several corporate headquarters. [...] Fort Bend County has a population of 787,858 [as of 2018]. That population is almost equally distributed among all racial and ethnic groups [...]. The difficult heritage wasn’t apparent [...]. Instead, marketing materials promote the county as a successful, growing melting pot. The City of Sugar Land [in Fort Bend County], Texas,is a Houston-bedroom community with a population of 80,000 people in 2011, was up to 118,600 by 2018. [...] In Sugar Land’s landscape of plantations, prison farms, refinery complex, worker “Quarters” original purposes -- racial violence and bondage -- [...] have been purposefully forgotten. [...]

[Active erasure and censoring]

The county’s social and political institutions instead engage in racialized purposeful forgetting of this heritage (Rose 2016). For mainstream historical organizations, forgetting often takes the form of purposeful destruction (Connerton 2008 ...). Marie Hernandez (2008) writes about an instance of historical repression in Cemeteries of Ambivalent Desire. She describes how the George Ranch Historical Park in Fort Bend County hired Carrier Grundy as a consultant to initiate research and interpretation of the African American presence at the site. Funded through the U.S. National Endowment for the Humanities, Grundy wrote plays based on her four years of research in the former plantation’s archives. After one performance, the play was canceled, and George Ranch said her services were no longer needed. Why? The play included mention of the [K.K/K] and presented the family of a local County leader in a negative light. [...] Local leaders pressured the organization to scrub the play of [...] evidence of racial terror [...].

[Marketing; neighborhood and street names; symbols/signs]

Some measured amount of the historical evidence of Black lives and struggles [...] is instead evoked in glorified narratives of a white past and prominently displayed in Sugar Land. Subdivision and street names in Sugar Land are nostalgic holdovers from the area’s Antebellum Past. Names like “Imperial” Sugar connote not only the popular sugar company but also the dominion such welfare capitalists wielded over land and bodies who worked that land. Sienna Plantation, New Territory, Settlers Way, Colony Bend, Sugar Creek, Oyster Creek Plantation, and Lexington Settlement are names of subdivisions constructed on former plantation land and prison camps. With these names, developers and City governments create an identity or Sugar Land that simultaneously hides and conspicuously displays its exploitative pre- and post-antebellum foundations through advertising, marketing, and signage. These names are part of Sugar Land’s perverse ability to emphasize its sweetness, to keep the scaffolding of silence erected, and embrace a guiltless mythic past. [...]

[Silence and absence]

[T]he popular Blues songwriter and singer Huddie Ledbetter -- better known as Leadbelly -- was incarcerated at the Imperial Prison Farm until his pardon in 1925, where he wrote the well-known song: “The Midnight Special” (Ledbetter 1935). [...] Leadbelly, like many African American inmates at Imperial State Prison Farm, looked for the “midnight light” of the train, believing that if the light were to shine into an inmate’s cell, that inmate would receive a pardon within a year. [...] Leadbelly’s stories of life in Imperial Prison Farm are conspicuously absent from public spaces in Sugar Land and throughout the Fort Bend County and Texas as well (Yancy 2008).

[Paternalism; master-and-contented-slave narrative]

Sugar Land’s public history is one laden with the valiant paternalistic efforts of welfare captialists. Isaac Kempner and William Eldridge [the early-20th-century owners of the sugar refinery using convict labor] had a hand in providing everything from housing to recreational space to employees at the refinery from 1905 until the merger with other sugar business in 1989. On Sugar Land’s City website, an interview with a former Mayor of Sugar Land exemplifies this paternalistic, mythic distortion of the relationship between labor, the town, and industry embedded in land-use decisions. Former Mayor Bill Little (1961-1964) recalls that:

When Mary and I came to Sugar Land in 1957, it was a segregated community. Today it is known as one of the most diverse communities in the United States. I think we helped in breaking that segregation. In Mayfield Park [...] the homes were owned by the sugar company. Black American and Latin American employees lived there. The City realized that the people couldn’t live in those houses, which had outdoor privies and a cold water faucet on the back side of the house. One of the things the City did was put a bridge across from Mayfield Park to Main Street so that all kids could get in and out of Mayfield more easily. (”Rebuilding Mayfield Park” 2013)

According to Little, who supported the latest development of the Imperial Sugar site, such conditions allowed for a smooth transition into integration [...].

[Recuperation and image-reform]

The myth of the contented slave and good master is alive and retold by government engines to reproduce their power. These habitual tropes are indicative of the fact that racialized and racist memory is socially constructed and persistent.

Plantation owners morph over time into welfare capitalists.

Today, developers represent the benevolent leaders of the county. [Local planned community developers] and other local master plan community developers are gentlemen covering the puddles of slave and convict blood beneath Sugar Land’s dermis with iconography that commemorates the antebellum past. For example, faux Roman columns and elaborate fountains frame the entrance of most subdivisions. Convict cemeteries sit in the middle of new developments [...].

-----------

Andrea R. Robert. “Haunting as Agency: A Critical Cultural Landscape Approach to Making Black Labor Visible in Sugar Land, Texas.” ACME. 15 April 2020. [Bold subheadings added by me.]

[selfshippinglover]

hii!!! do u have a link to your fo list? theone in your bio isn't working for me :00 hope ur day is good btw!

Hello there anon! I'm sorry the link is broken again =-=' I'll try and fix it but for your convenience I'll just copy and paste it XD Sorry about that anon and I hope you're having a good day/evening/night too!

Romantic F/O’s <3 (Current F/O’s I’m focusing on will be Bolded)

Main F/O’s:

Flug (Villainous) ~ A Chemical Reaction of the Heart

Dave (Dayshift at Freddy’s) ~ Put You Back Together

Actor Mark ~ (Who Killed Markiplier) ~ Part in Your Play

All Might/ Toshinori Yagi ~ ( My Hero Academia) ~ All Mighty Crush

Discord Whooves ~ (My Little Pony Fandom) ~ Discorded Hearts

Papyrus ~ (Undertale) ~ Butterflies in my Lungs

Underfell Papyrus ~ (Underfell AU) ~ Sunshine and Edgelord

Xtale Papyrus ~ (Xtale AU) ~ X Marks the Spot

InvertedFate Papyrus ~ (InvertedFate AU) ~ A Twist in our Tale

Outertale Papyrus ~ ( Outertale AU) ~ Stars and Hearts Shine

Horrortale Papyrus ~ ( Horrortale AU) ~ Horror of our Love

Overlay Papyrus ~ (IanTheGreat AU) ~ When the Dust Settles

Swapsomnia Papyrus ~ (Swapsomnia) ~ Hypnotized by You

Lust Papyrus ~ (Lusttale) ~ Bonely Hearts 

Lesser known Papyri AUs ~ Paps Quest

(Gonna Add more as I find em)

More F/O’s UwU

Dr.Cube ~ (KBB/Kaiju Big Battel) ~ Cube Supremacy

Macaque ~ (Lego Monkie Kid) ~ Evil Arm Candy 

Dr. Coomer ~ (HLVRAI) ~ My Good Bitch

Pearl (Steven Universe) ~ Do it for Us

Wilt (Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends) ~ I am in Love with You, sorry

Fenneko ~  (Aggretsuko) ~ Text Tone Spark

Regan Ridley ~ (Inside Job) ~Scientifically Best Match

Harry Hart ~ (Kingsman Movies) ~ Secret Smooching Service

Blitzo (Helluva Boss) ~ Through the BS and Flame

David (Camp Camp) ~ Helplessly Rooted in Romance

Tim/Masky (Marble Hornets) ~I Love You, Mask and All

Tyzias (Hiveswap) ~ Tired Heartbeat

Jyushimatsu (Osamatsu-san) ~ Sunshine in my Life

Glados (Portal) ~ Neurotoxin in my Veins

Chase Devineaux (Carmen Sandiego) ~ Chasing after your Heart

Tabi ~ (Friday Night Funkin Mod) ~ Skulls and Songs

Garcello ~ (FNF Mods) ~ You are the Music in Me

Tadano (Aggretsuko) ~ Cool Eyes, Soft Heart

Bender (Futurama) ~ Living on Love and Alcohol 

Rockstar Foxy ~ (Five Nights at Freddy’s) ~ Gray Stained Heart Attack

Ronbo ~ (Smile for me game) ~ Serious Clowning Around

Dr. Habit ~ (Smile for me game) ~ A Toothy Grin 

The Narrator ~ (The Stanley Parable) ~ Narrating Hearts Desire

Entrapta ~ (She-ra and the Princesses of Power) ~ Hack Away at my Heart

Habit ~ (EveryManHybrid) ~ Rabbit full of Bad Habits

Gregory ~ (Gregory Horror Show) ~ Soul Stealer 

Anti ~ (Jacksepticeye Egos) ~ Glitch Bitch

Doug ~ (Graveyard Groove) ~ Digging Our Grave

Aftertale Sans ~(Aftertale AU) ~ Life in Death

Charlie ~ (Hazbin Hotel) ~ Demon Donning a Halo

Newton ~ (Little Big Planet 3) ~ Two Faces One Heart

Yandere Underswap Sans ~ (Underswap AU) ~ Blood Ties

Withered Bonnie ~ ( Five Nights at Freddy’s) ~ True Love Doesn’t Wither

Engineer Mark ~ (ISWM/In Space with Markiplier) ~ Puppy Love

Mack ~(ISWM/In Space with Markiplier) ~ Captain oh Captain

Yancy ~ (A Heist With Markiplier) ~ Prisoner of Love

Damien ~ (Who Killed Markiplier) ~ A Mayors Home

Murderiplier/Murdoc ~ (ISWM/In Space with Markiplier) ~ Feeling Stabby

The Necromancer ~ ( NSP/Ninja Sex Party: The Mystic Crystal) ~ Love Lust and other Dead Things

The Host ~ ( MCU/ Markiplier Cinematic Universe ) ~ Love in theThird Person

 Pokeball Robot ~ (Pokemon Sword and Shield) ~ Caught by your Words

Sadie ~ (Steven Universe) ~ Sadie and the Love Killers

Terezi Pyrope ~ (Homestuck) ~  Love and Justice Prevail 

Tobe ~ (Pucca) ~ Love Ninjas and Noodles

Putata ~ (Sgt. frog) ~ Painting our Lovely World

Urere ~ (Sgt. Frog ) ~ Planning a Heart Attack

Sumomo ~ (Sgt. Frog) ~ Song From the Heart

Kagege ~ (Sgt. frog) ~ Shadow Over Me

Sable ~ (Animal Crossing) ~ Dressing up our Love 

Pinkamena Diane Pie ~ (My Little Pony Friendship is Magic) ~ Sweet Treats

Fizzy ~ (My Little Pony Generation 1) ~ Twinkle of my Eye

Sans Smirk ~ (My Little Pony Friendship is Magic) ~ Serious Smiles

Cheerilee ~ (My Little Pony Friendship is Magic) ~ Love in Bloom

Applejack ~~ (My Little Pony Friendship is Magic) ~ Apple of my Eye

Rod ~ (Animal Crossing) ~ Childhood Love

Snake ~ (Animal Crossing) ~ Ninjas of Love

Hector ~ (Coco) ~ Old Bones Know

Jack Skellington ~ (The Nightmare Before Christmas) ~ Pair O Skellingtons

Emily ~ (Corpse Bride) ~ A Tale of Brides and Bones

William Weatherall Wilkins ~ (Mary Poppins Returns) ~ Dirty Money

Tsunoda ~ (Aggretsuko) ~ Strawberries and Cream

Skintaker ~ (Creepypasta candle Cove) ~ Blood and Bones

Nylocke ~ (Terrain of Magical Expertise/TOME) ~ Dragon and Rabbit

Oswald the Lucky Rabbit ~ (Oswald the Lucky Rabbit) ~ Love and Luck

T-Bones ~ (Cuphead) ~ Bones Express

Silverworth Forkington ~ (Cuphead) ~ A+ Flush

Fhil Flasker ~ (Cuphead OC) ~ Fulfill Me

Pickle Inspector ~ (Problem Sleuth) ~ Love Inspection

Rick Sanchez ~ (but like, an ace one that’s working on himself) ~ (Rick and Morty) ~ 

Multidimensional Lovesickness 

Zero Rick ~ (Rick and Morty) ~ Love is just a Chemical

Cop Rick ~ (Rick and Morty) ~ Love Justice the space between

Hexxus ~ (Ferngully) ~ Toxic Love

Professor Sunshine ~ (OK KO) ~ Weather or Not

Scorpia ~ (She-ra and the Princesses of Power) ~ The Princess and the Scorpion 

Daroach ~ (Kirby Squeak Squad) ~ Silent Protector 

Spinni ~ ( Kirby Squeak Squad) ~ Thick as Thieves 

Doc ~ (Kirby Squeak Squad) ~ Brains and Cutie

Pashmina ~  (Hamtaro) ~ Scarf Tied

Maxwell ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Readers of Romance

Sandy ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Twirling Cheeks

Okini ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Money Lover

Sora ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Sky High Heart Stop

Broski ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Sun and Surf

Jingles ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Traveling Souls

Flora ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Healing Touch

Oshare ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Oh Amour

Aggie Cromwell ~ ( Halloweentown Movies) ~ Old Magical Kind of Love

Nikita, Trixie, and Tabitha ~ (Two Lesbians in a Barrel Game Series) ~ Gay Musketeers 

Benard ~ (The Rescuers) ~ Squeaky Smooch

Dirty Bubble ~ (Spongebob Squarepants) ~ Petty Crimes and Smooches

Rosita ~ (SING Movie) ~ We’re a Love Song

Rolfe Dewolfe ~ (Rockafire Explosion) ~ Young Lovers Duet

Julius Monrey ~ (Alice in the Country of Hearts) ~ Heartmaker

Inui ~ (Aggretsuko) ~ One in a Million

Enderman (Minecraft) ~ Steal ya Girl

Count Bleck ~ (Super Paper Mario) ~ True Pure Hearts

Dr. Stein and Marie ~ Hold me through the Madness

Lewis Pepper ~ (Mystery Skulls) ~ Skull Candy

Giovanni Potage ~ (Epithet Erased) ~ Great at Love

Jokermort ~ (Rainbow Dash Presents: My Little Dashie) ~ Partners in Crime

Vilcus ~ (Vast Error) ~ Your Fool

Dracula Tepes ~ (Castlevania Netflix) ~ Love Bites

Uncle Death ~ (Let it Die game) ~ Deadly Cool Couple

Richard ~ (Unikitty) ~ Brick by Brick

Cotton Candy Cookie ~ (Cookie Run) ~ Love Letter to You

Cocoa Cookie ~ (Cookie Run) ~ Chocolate Coated Love

Dr. Wasabi ~ (Cookie Run) ~ Sugar and Spice

Poison Mushroom Cookie ~ (Cookie Run) ~ Poised and Deadly Treat

Dr. Bones Cookie ~ (Cookie Run) ~ Humerus Healing

Hobo Heart/Gemberling ~ (Creepypasta) ~ Heart in my Hands

Penumbra ~ (Villainous) ~ Holding Shadows Close

Jancy Truce ~ (Drawtectives) ~ Laws on Love

Kedamono ~ (Popee the Performer) ~ No Need for Masks

PAL ~  (Mitchell vs the Machines) ~ Forever PALS

Skeletiano ~ (Shall we Date? Niflheim) ~ Skeleton Romeo

Toymaker ~ (Battington Tapes) ~ Perfect Toys

Felix Kranken ~ (TWF/The Walten Files) ~ Littered in Lillies

Mr. Plant ~ (Mr Plant Tik Tok Series) ~Growing on You

Argos ~ (Mr Plant Tik Tok Series) ~ Eye Love You

Familial F/O’s :,)) 

Classic Sans ~(Undertale) ~ No Bones About It

Kululu ~ (Sgt Frog) ~Froggy Bro

SING ~ (SING Cast) ~ Sing Song Fam

Rockafire Explosion ~ (Rockafire Explosion) ~ One Rockin Family

Scary Godmother Cast~ (Scary Godmother) ~ Scary God family

Platonic F/O’s :33

Burt, Celci, Gunther, Carlos, Wug, Lady, and Bandit ~ (ISWM) ~ The Crewtm

The Puppet/Dee ~ ( Dayshift at Freddy’s) ~ Deelightful

Lefty ~ (Five Nights at Freddy) ~ Still Beating Hearts

Jay Merrick ~ (Marble Hornets) ~ Dumbass Bestie 

Amisia Erdehn ~ (Friendsim) ~ Color the world

Nepta Leijon ~ (Homestuck) ~ Meowrails

Honda-San ~ (Skull Face Bookseller Honda-San) ~ Anxious Bookie

Grillby ~ (Undertale) ~ Bar Flames

Howdy ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Gay Bestie

Dexter ~ (Hamtaro) ~ Glasses Gay

Gori ~ (Aggretsuko) ~ Gal Pal

Tails Doll ~ (Creepypasta) ~ Creepy Doll

Fatz Geronimo ~ (Rockafire Explosion) ~ G Man

Eraser Head/Aizawa Shota ~ (My Hero Academia) ~ Sleepy Heads

Benjamin (The butler) ~ Who Killed Markiplier ~ At Your service

Every Character ~ All Saints Street ~ Wacky Housemates

[orange-waterfalls]

All Your Fault

Yancy x gender neutral!reader, Illinois x gender neutral!reader

@glitchbitch69 ty for the prompt!

A/N: aight look, im not good with angst. I did my best??? Rated T for cursing and like 1 single mention of blood. It's sad boy hours out here. Mostly Yancy x reader, a bit Illinois x reader if you squint. I bet you could probably say Yancy x Illinois, too. Fluffy at the end.

Word Count: 2.2k

--

Yancy sits near the lantern, glaring at the adventurer sitting across from him. The adventurer in question was looking at the side of the tent, watching for any shadows.

Zombies are attracted to light after all.

Or is it sound… and moths are attracted to light…

I'm getting off topic. Let's continue.

Yancy clenches his fists when he thinks back to you…

You…

He loved you…

Your skin, your smile, your handsome and/or beautiful face…

And now you were gone. You disappeared.

No… you were taken from him.

And it was all this bastards fault.

Illinois. Yancy hated Illinois. But you made him promise to stay with him. Safety in numbers. It took everything he had not to deck the guy every time he opened his mouth. He was so cocky and arrogant for absolutely no reason! He was so annoying! He hated him… he missed you… he missed you a lot…

Illinois, on the other hand, was fond of Yancy. He found him endearing. And if you liked him, he couldn't be that bad. The kid did kill his parents, but he didn't know the whole story. He couldn't judge. He was happy when Yancy decided to stay with him. He had something to remember you by… he liked Yancy and he loved you. And he missed you.

But he'd never let that show. He'd keep his feelings to himself. He'd act just like he always did. Cocky, flirty, and adventurous. He had to. For Yancy. For you.

He missed you a lot.

Illinois turns back to Yancy, who's glaring daggers into his soul. He smirks at the man.

"C'mon, bud, I know I'm handsome, but there's no need to stare," he teases. Yancy narrows his eyes even more.

"Fuck youse," Yancy growls.

"Language, pal, language," Illinois chuckles. If Yancy glared any harder his eyes would pop out of his sockets. Illinois crossed his legs. "There ain't any out there now. I think it's safe to go to sleep." Yancy, still a bit pissy, nodded and layed down on a jacket. Your jacket. The jacket you lost when you died. He loved the jacket… it smelled like you…

Illinois was a bit jealous that you had given Yancy your jacket, but he understood. Yancy was nicer. You were closer to him. You both let yourselves be vulnerable around each other.

Unlike Illinois, who was too proud and masculine for his own good.

He waited until Yancy was sleeping before lying down himself. You made him promise to keep Yancy safe. He intended on keeping it. Only when he was absolutely sure Yancy was asleep, he laid down. He covered his face with his hat and closed his eyes.

--

Illinois wakes up and puts his hat back on his head. He yawns and rubs the sleep out of his eyes. He could feel how empty his stomach was.

"Alright, bud, I'm gonna go out and-" Illinois looked over, only to find there was no one there. His eyes widened. He left the tent and looked around frantically.

"Yancy? Yancy?!" He called. Oh no. No, no, no, no, no! He had promised. He was supposed to keep Yancy safe! What's he gonna do? He looked over and saw a dense forest with sneaker tracks in the dirt. He took a deep breath and headed in.

He ran through the woods, gun in hand, hoping and wishing and praying to find the prisoner. Why the hell did he run here? Did he see a zombie and panic? Did he see a zombie and not warn Illinois? That's rude…

He searches for 15 minutes without finding anything. He tries his best to go in a straight line, but he falls down a hill, not exactly knowing where he came from when he gets to the bottom. He groans and staggers to his feet. He holds his head, but pulls his hand away as he feels blood.

"Ain't that just peachy," he grumbles. He takes bandages he found at a hospital and wraps them around his head. He walks forward, hoping to find a trace of Yancy. He finds something even better. He finds Yancy, sitting on the grass, barely moving. Illinois sighs in relief. "Jesus, man, y'almost gave me a heart attack…" Yancy doesn't move. Illinois frowns and slowly walks towards him. "Kid…?" He reaches out.

"I saw them," Yancy says, barely above a whisper.

"Saw… who?" Illinois asks, hoping he isn't going crazy.

"Y/N… I saw them… they was right there… I went after them but they was gone…"

"Yancy…"

"Don't you fuckin' "Yancy" me, asshole!" Yancy suddenly screams. Illinois steps back, surprised.

"Y/N's gone Yancy," Illinois calmly explains. Yancy clenches his fists so hard he draws blood. His face is fixed in a hateful glare, and tears begin streaming down his face.

"I know they're fuckin gone! I've known that for the past 3 months! I know that they're gone, and I know that it's all because of you!" He screams, sobbing between sentences. "Y/N's gone and it's all your fault!" Illinois frowns, not knowing how to respond to that accusation. It wasn't his fault… was it? You decided to distract them… that was your decision… it wasn't his fault… it wasn't. Illinois inhales deeply.

"I'm going to go look for some food. I expect you to be back at camp by the time I get back." Yancy scoffs and turns away from him. "I'll give you some time to cool down." Illinois turns back towards where he came. He paused for a moment, wondering if he should comfort Yancy. He decided against it.

He'd only make it worse.

--

Illinois is out for a bit longer than he expected. He had a run in with a really weird military guy… what was his name? Ted? Not like it matters. He's dead. Illinois did manage to find a couple cans of soup, beans, and vegetables in an abandoned camp. He wondered what happened to them…

He decides not to think about it too much.

He makes his way back to camp, hoping Yancy listened to him this one time. He was happily surprised to find Yancy sitting next to a fire, holding two birds. He looks up at Illinois for a moment before looking away. Illinois raises a brow.

"I, uh… I thought I'd surprise you with lunch… but… I don't know how to cook a bird…" he explains awkwardly. Illinois smiles.

"That's alright. It's difficult. Here, we'll cook these and save them for dinner. We should pack up and keep moving." Yancy nods as Illinois begins to show what he's supposed to do.

After they finish cooking the birds and eating two cans of beans, they pack up. They decided it'd be better to keep moving and look for better shelter than to sit around doing nothing. By the time dinner rolled around, they'd found a nice, small, abandoned house. They both agreed it was best to stay there instead of in the tent for another night. There were two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen. It was cozy. They liked it. They manage to get the stove to work using a lighter, and they make soup to eat with their bird meat. They sit in silence eating their dinner, both feeling very awkward. Yancy sets his bowl down after he finishes and sighs.

"Uh… hey, Illinois?" He asks. Illinois looks up. "I'm, uh… I'm… sorry about earlier…" Illinois smiles sadly.

"It's fine, kid."

"No, it's not… I had no right to say that to youse, I was feeling sad and I needed someone to blame, so I took it out on youse… I'm sorry," Yancy explains. Illinois blinks at his sudden maturity and smiles.

"Alright, I forgive you," they both sit, smiling at each other, sharing a moment of mutual understanding. Until…

"I would hate to see your cute little face upset," Illinois winks. Yancy squints at him.

"Youse is a douchebag," he grabs his bowl and takes it back to the kitchen.

Both men sleep in the bedrooms, feeling a bit more closure. They knew that it wasn't either of their faults. They could get along better now. They'd be alright.

--

Yancy wakes up to something small hitting his arm. He brushes it off as a bug, even when he feels it three different times in the exact same place. Then, he feels something much larger hit him in the face.

"OW, what the fuck?!" He yells. He looks down to see a fairly thick book on the floor. He looks out the window, wondering who just threw it. Instead of seeing a human, he sees zombies at the front, trying to break through the door and windows. Yancy yelps and runs across the hall to where Illinois is sleeping. He shakes the adventurer harshly, calling his name to get him up. Illinois groans.

"What? What is it?" He whines. Yancy grabs him up and pulls him to the window, where even more zombies are trying to break in through the back door. Illinois yells out and scrambles to grab his stuff. They gather all their clothes, equipment and food, and run out a window on the side of the house. Illinois vaults out effortlessly. Yancy, on the other hand, does not know how to vault. He knocks a lot of things over and makes a lot of noise as he leaves. The zombies notice this and start to chase after them. Illinois grabs Yancy and starts running. Where to, he had no idea. Just away from there. They run and run and run until the end up in a forest. They run until they get to an open space, catching their breath.

"God…" Yancy pants, "I didn't know zombies were so fast…"

"Me either…" Illinois pants, "but we need to keep going." They try going forward, but are blocked by a wall of zombies. The same thing happens with the other three directions. They stand in the circle of zombies, looking back and forth, trying to find a way out. There was none.

"What do we do? What do we do?!" Yancy panics. Illinois stands, shaking, not knowing. He can't save him. He can't protect Yancy. He failed.

"I'm sorry, Y/N… I'm so sorry…" he whispers. Yancy hears it and covers his face with his hands. They both sit, holding and hugging each other, waiting for what's to come.

Suddenly, they hear quick footsteps and the zombies all stop. Keeping their eyes closed, they hear a series of grunts and moans and groans. Then they hear the zombies leave.

Wait… the zombies are leaving?

They open their eyes to see all the zombies just… gone. Except for one. Right in front of them. Illinois stands up, pulling Yancy with him. He hides the man behind his back and brandishes his gun, ready to shoot. But the zombie steps back, holding its hands up. Since when do zombies surrender? He sees something shine in his eye and looks to see what it is. He sees a necklace.

A golden necklace.

A necklace he gave to you on your second adventure together…

Wait…

He looks up at the zombie's face. Your face was a bit gray, but it was you.

It was you!

"Y/N?" He asks in disbelief. You look up at him and smile, nodding happily. Illinois drops his gun and runs over, hugging you. Yancy stands for a moment not knowing what to do.

"No… no way…" he starts. Illinois turns, expecting him to be angry or confused. He's just the opposite. He's smiling from ear to ear. "NO FUCKING WAY!" He yells and runs into your arms. He starts to sob.

"But… but you…" Illinois starts. You shrug and show him your bite. Yancy pulls away.

"But how are youse… y'know… thinkin'?" He asks. You think for a moment, knitting your eyebrows together, before shrugging. Yancy laughs. "Of course ya don't know, ya dumbass," you gently punch his shoulder.

"How'd you find us?" Illinois asks. You scratch the back of your neck. You try to talk, but no words form.

Is that just… a thing? With zombies?

Hm. Guess so. Anyways.

You get on your knees, grab a stick, and write something in the mud. "I've followed you for the past two months. I know what you smell like."

"You know what we smell like? Aw…" Illinois teases. You glare at him playfully. It was nice to know he hadn't changed. Yancy, on the other hand, looked 3 minutes away from a full-on emotional breakdown.

"2 months? 2 months youse was right there? 2 months we coulda been together?" He asks, tears visible in his eyes. You frown, feeling guilty. You take Yancy into your arms and just hold him. He starts to cry. Which turns into sobbing. Illinois stands, looking at you two. He smiles. You were back! Thank God. He didn't think he could handle Yancy. After a minute he sighs.

"Alright, you two. Let's head out," he says. You nod and lift Yancy off of his knees. He wipes at his eyes and sniffles for a moment before walking, refusing to let go of your hand. Illinois follows close behind. You were back… you were still here, but now, you're with them. He almost couldn't believe it. He laughs to himself.

Yep. They'd be alright.

I'm supposed to be studying lol

[hooliganpearl]

Trans! Lesbian! Percy! And! Lesbian! Annabeth!

I know no one asked for this but here you go:

Percy knowing from really young that she was different but not knowing why

Gabe relentlessly insulted her and bullied her because she was too feminine and not "manly" enough even though she was just a kid

And she just has such a hard time coming to terms with herself because of Gabe and because of, you know, society

And Sally, the most amazing and wonderful mother in the world always telling her "it's okay to be whoever you are" and always accepting her

Percy continually dealing with the bullies at her school and just trying to keep her head down and out of trouble

And then she meets Grover and finally makes a real friend and he's the first person she comes out to and she's not even sure she just knows she feels like not a boy and Grover just goes "okay" and that's that he's always open to what she asks of him

She's not even thinking about sexuality because she's finally like "oh this is why I'm different I'm. Not a boy"

Right before she gets expelled from school she breaks down to Sally one night when Gabe is gone and just tearfully comes out and tells her "mom, I'm. I'm a girl"

And Sally just holds her and strokes her head as she cries and she tells her once again that "it's okay to be who you are and I'll always love you"

Which makes Percy cry even more but in a good way

Then she gets expelled and the whole Minotaur thing happens and she's absolutely wrecked. Her mom is gone and she doesn't know what to do she's just. So heartbroken and distraught

She gets into camp and meets Annabeth and Chiron introduces her to everyone

And right before she got expelled from Yancy she started presenting more feminine and being herself

So she's kind of uncomfortable because she doesn't know how the campers are going to react if they'll accept her and she's so scared and sad without her mom

She's just she's twelve for God's sake

And she's just beginning her transition and coming out

And then she's told she's the daughter of a Greek god and she's thrown into this quest with a stranger and his best friend that's half goat

And they're all children

And her mom just died but didn't at the same time

She's trying so hard to stay strong and stay brave but she's never been put in a leadership role

On the other hand Annabeth has been working her whole life towards this moment, at a chance to be in charge, at a chance to be noticed

She's doing everything she can to make sure everything is going right and they're making progress

She doesn't have time to be questioning herself or think about anything other than finishing the quest and succeeding

When Percy got to camp she decided to just... Not come out yet and to continue to wear the clothes she wants and just mind her own business as she's got.. bigger things to deal with at the moment

On the quest Annabeth and Percy get much closer and Percy begins to trust her and vice versa and she decides to come out to her in the back of the truck when they're sharing the Oreos

Annabeth is just quiet for a minute and Percy gets all nervous and panics and thinks it's a mistake but then Annabeth just says "okay" and they're just. Cool.

Annabeth starts doing everything she can to make Percy feel better, she teaches her how to braid her hair, they paint their nails together and Percy decides she doesn't really like painting her nails but she's so glad that Annabeth is trying and making her feel so much better

Percy finds herself as less traditionally feminine and more "tomboyish" and it takes her a while to feel okay with that because she just felt like she needed to be super feminine to be "acceptable" as a girl

Anyway Percy comes out to basically everyone right before they bring the fleece back and Thalia comes back

And when they run into the Hunters Artemis offers her and Annabeth a place with the Hunters which obviously interests Annabeth but Percy is so surprised and overwhelmed

Percy doesn't want to be a Hunter but she thanks Artemis anyway

Anyway, obviously Percy and Annabeth's relationship has been changing and Percy is trying to keep how she feels at bay and ignore it because internalised homophobia and transphobia

Annabeth is aware of how her feelings are changing and just.. also pushes them aside because of internalised homophobia and she doesn't want to make her best friend uncomfortable

After they save Annabeth from Atlas' punishment Percy and her are even closer than before and Annabeth will sleep in Percy's cabin with her like before and they're just.. inseparable

But it feels different for both of them they both feel. Different.

They don't want to acknowledge their feelings for each other so they both keep pretending that it's normal for their touches to linger on their hands, shoulders, cheeks, knees...

They pretend it's normal that they only feel comfortable sleeping with one another and that it's normal to fall asleep holding your friend's hand... They're just friends, it's just things that friends do...

Until they're in the labyrinth and they're saying goodbye and Annabeth kisses Percy and Percy had just never realised how much she had wanted this, how much she had wanted to kiss her

And then Annabeth is gone and Percy "dies" and wakes up

Calypso calms her and let's her stay for a while and Percy feels good and at peace but. She longs to go back to her friends. She knows she can't stay because she has so much to go back to, so much to live for.

So she crashes her funeral in her very Percy style and Annabeth angrily scolds her for leaving her alone

And Annabeth just knows she was on Ogygia and just. Doesn't want to hear about it because she knows it will only hurt because she finally accepted how she felt about Percy and she finally let herself feel and then Percy.. Becomes estranged on an island with a beautiful immortal goddess/nymph

Which she knows want Percy's fault but she's just hurt

Percy just wants her friend at least back but she doesn't know what she did wrong and she doesn't want to force anything or make Annabeth uncomfortable so she gives her space even though they don't quite have time for space because of the oncoming war

And Percy becomes closer to Rachel because Rachel is mortal and also LGBT and Percy hasn't had a friend she can talk to about, well literally everything because Annabeth and Percy were both figuring themselves out and scared and Grover was always busy

Rachel comforts her and helps her through her internalised homophobia

When Annabeth meets Rachel she misinterprets their friendship and feels like Percy just. Moved on. Which is why she becomes somewhat hostile towards her and resents Percy to a degree. She's just hurt because she thinks Percy is abandoning her after she finally showed how she felt

But Percy is just giving her space because that's what she thought she needed and it's just. A lot of miscommunication.

Then the war starts and Percy knows she has to bathe in the River Styx and Nico takes her and she sees Annabeth pulling her back up and she knows she needs to find her and make things right

But they have to fight so much and they don't have time and they're on the bridge and Percy hears a cry behind her as Annabeth goes down and she turns and catches her

And she's so distraught and angry and unleashes her rage to protect her and take her back to get help

And she gives her ambrosia and nectar and sits with her until she wakes up and they have this tender moment with Percy's hand in Annabeth's hair and she kisses her forehead and tells her that she's what kept her tethered to the real world when she bathed in the river

And after everything is done, after they've defeated Kronos and spoken to the gods and are back at camp they just. Hold each other. For so long.

They know that they're okay and that this is what they want

And of course they talk for a long time at the picnic table until they kiss again and finally everyone (because they were all watching like real friends do) crowds them and throws them in the lake for their classic kiss :)