#alex + pink hoodies = always meant to be

[thesunwillart]

Alex in A2 from the second outfit meme (in his dirty candy era)!

one dirty candi alex for u anon!!

also MY TABLET PEN HAS RETURNED FROM WAR (aka i got a new one for my bday :D so this was great practice getting used to digital again lol)

outfit meme 2 from here

[everythingne]

cloud circuit - ls2

Y/n Tiffany has always been a woman just outside of Logan's grasp. But a chance encounter at a bus stop and a new neighbor prove maybe somethings are meant to be. As long as he doesn't figure out her real name.

logan sargeant x business owner!student!reader

warnings/notes: I don't think I have any genuine warnings for this chapter specifically? me once again doing a slightly messy trope bc i live for drama

Logan had never assumed he’d be the guy to fall for someone the way he fell for you. It was happenstance, a complete coincidence, but you both kept running into each other. For two years. At least once a week.

He went on a morning jog? You were at a crosswalk he had to stop at.

He was running out to get groceries last minute? You were buying baking supplies.

He had to go visit Oscar? You were also on the bus he had to take.

He went to the gym? You worked at the joint coffee shop, book store, bakery, florist shop, place next door, Cloud Circuit.

One thing he always found though, was there was always a book nestled in your arm. From Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, to The Silent Patient, to For The Wolf, you always had a book, a black pen, and a highlighter and tabs you color coded to the books cover. It was something so minuscule for him to notice, but when a girl in a busy city like London was constantly curled up in a book—even on the clock, it seemed big.

The first time you spoke to him, outside of ordering him his usual orders—either a matcha latte and breakfast sandwich for the mornings, or a normal latte (sometimes with some extra sweetener) and a pastry for nights, was outside of some department store. He’d dipped in to find a coat his soon to be sister in law was begging anyone to find, and was happy to gloat about having the red jacket tucked securely into his bag, when he spotted you at the bus stop. It was drizzling, and you were tucked neatly under your umbrella, book held open with one hand as you scanned along the words. He noted, however, you were re-reading a fully tabbed book. His gaze must’ve lingered too long because you glanced up and caught his eye, making a flurry of an apology tumble out of his lips while you laughed softly and tucked a bookmark in and shut the book. He watches you tug it against your chest, chafing it to the fabric of your rain coat as you spoke,

“I’m beginning to wonder if you’re following me, Logan.”

Your voice was like honey, smooth and sweet. Your eyes sparkling in the yellow light from the street lamp and a playful smile tugging at the corners of your strawberry chapstick covered lips. He felt an odd pull to you and even with knowing he really needed to get him and get on the sim with the guys…he moved closer to you and lifted his hood against the drizzle. Your eyes flickered down to the Miami Dolphins logo, the hoodie itself an old favorite of his, you assumed from how many times you'd seen it.

“I could say the same to you, miss…” he hums, and before you can go to say your name he grins, “bibliophile.”

“Miss bibliophile?” You echo, eyebrows lifting as a small grin peeks at your mouth, “you make me sound like a criminal.”

“Well, tell me your name and maybe you won’t sound so villainous.” He shrugs as the bus rolls up to a stop. He steps back partly, trying to signal he won’t be following you onto the bus, and you smile as you toss your name over you shoulder with a quick ‘see you soon!’ and tuck into the red bus that’s pulled up. And when he sees you settle in your seat by the window, and reopen the same book you’d had tucked to your chest he takes a moment to read the name on the hot pink cover--Happy Place.

He doesn't see you for a month after that, you're not in any of your usual spots, he can't spot you in any crowds, and he feels a bit dejected. It takes both Alex and Oscar getting on his ass for him to finally admit, yes, okay maybe he has a crush on this girl he's only seen from afar. He knows nothing about her, nothing other than where she works and that she seems to like romance books, he can name every book you've read, every book he's seen you groan and slam shut (and the one time he watched you throw out a Colleen Hoover novel at work) and he can name every time he's seen you and okay, maybe he's a little obsessed but he's in love, damnit.

He's coming back to his apartment when he notices a new mat outside his previously empty neighbors apartment. It's a cute one, a pretty blue color, and as he opens his door and rolls his suitcase in he swears he hears movement in the hall. But he closes his door before he can see anything.

There's mail piled on the floor and he bends to pick it up, some bills he was expecting, spam mail, and then a little handwritten note. He hums, taking the letter in his hand as he drags himself and his bags to his bedroom and drops everything without much care before falling back on his bed. He thumbs the letter open, looking at the pretty handwriting and then read whatever the words say as he tries to not fall asleep.

'Dear neighbor in 221,

Hello! My name is Y/n Tiffany, but you can just call me Tiff! I'm a current uni student and small business co-owner (Circuit Coffee!) who just moved in next door! I'm a double major, Sports Business and Marketing and Advertising and Branding. I have classes at all odd hours of the day, and two cats who like to scream randomly so I'm sorry if me leaving early and coming home late, or Forza or Turi are a bother! If anything ever annoys you, I can make a pretty good matcha latte as an apology.

I would love to get to know my neighbors, so feel free to knock if you hear me inside!

thanks xx

y/n’

It takes Logan two weeks to hear you inside. He's coming back from a race late, letting Oscar crash at his for the night when he hears music from inside your room. As he fumbles for his keys Oscar gawks.

"Someone lives there now?" He asks and Logan nods, opening the door.

"Moved in two weeks ago, names Y/n, I havent had a chance to stop in and talk to her." Oscar nods as he lets his suitcase fall from his hand and slump against the wall with a soft bump. When he sets down his duffle bag, the music next door paused.

“Do you want anything to drink or something?” Logan asks, moving to grab a water as Oscar throws himself down on the couch and calls,

“Please! I think I’m actually dying.” Oscar groans and Logan laughs, tossing a water bottle over purposefully when Oscar not looking—causing a loud groan from the other side of the room. Through the wall, Logan can hear conversations as he kicks Oscar’s legs off the couch and sits down next to him.

“What time do you have to be back tomorrow? I can drive.” Logan leans back on the couch and rolls out his neck, the hours of sitting still on the flight making him sore all over.

“Not until like five, and I can always have Lily get me on her way back from university.” Oscar mumbles into his water bottle before taking a sip, “you don’t need to drive so out of the way.”

Logan goes to say it’s fine before he hears a few knocks at the door, he pauses, praying it’s not the annoying lady across the hall who always is asking him to quiet. Even if he’s silent. He gets up, Oscar leaning back to peek over the back of the couch to see, and neither of them expect to see you.

"Oh! It's you--uhm, shit," You whisper to yourself before snapping and pointing at him, "Logan!"

"Yes! Yeah, hi, hello," He stammers, cheeks bright red, "it's wonderful to finally meet you in a casual way."

"I heard you in here for the first time since moving in so I figured I'd swing by to say hello!" You grin, rocking from foot to foot. Logan looks at you and his throat goes dry, he doesn't know what to say and his face is red. You want to say something to break the silence but he leans forward to pull something off the side of your hoodie. A tab.

"Reading something new?" He hums, sticking the tab to your palm when you hold it up, "Haven't seen you use blue tabs before."

"Blue's the color the company I'm interning for uses," You giggle, but then pause and flicker your eyes up to him, "Wait, how do you know the color of my tabs?"

"You're reading For The Wolf, if I remember right thats a red book." He says softly, then his cheeks flush red when he realizes it is kinda a weird thing to notice, "I-I... you just always have a book on you, I caught on to paying attention to it. Figured I'd read some to give you some sort of real conversation next time I saw you."

"Well, I recommend For The Wolf. The relationship between Red and Eammon is really... sweet but also kinda dark? It's a good read, I can give you my copy with my little annotations..?" You suggest and Logan nods and he rubs his wrist idly.

"I'm not a big reader but I'll read it for you." He grins and you hold up a finger as you disappear into your room, to grab the book and to hide the fact every word he said made your skin bright red and made your heart feel like it was running a marathon. When he turns back to Oscar he gets a confused look, but before he can say anything you've returned to set the book in his hands.

"Enjoy." You whisper, and as he thanks you, your hands snag his arm and use it to elevate up to press a soft kiss on your cheek before you step back. Smiling at him, bright red cheeks in the low light making his stomach swirl, you disappear back into your apartment. Logan shuts the door, presses his back to it and looks at Oscar.

"I think...I think I've just fallen twice as hard." He whispers and Oscar claps, pointing at Logan and calling him down bad from across the room.

Oscar goes to sleep in Logan's bed, being a guest and all, and Logan sprawls out on the couch. He can't help but crack open the book, finding your little key for your tabs in the front, he trails his fingers along your loopy handwriting and grins to himself. The book starts off normal, pretty innocent, but he starts to realize just whats beneath the surface. With a fucked up sleep schedule to help, he ends up making it about halfway through the book before sleep finally takes him.

And when he wakes up, Oscar's making breakfast and teasing him about staying up too late to finish the book. And truth be told, Logan hated reading, but when it came to you he found he was willing to try. And he found even when Oscar poked fun at him, it didn't feel malicious, it made a warmth in his chest spread. Not that he knew why just yet, other than his silly little crush he'd never felt that jittery feeling.

Maybe it was really love?

Two days later he sees you when you're at work. It's right before the store closes and you're softly playing music as you scrub down the counters. Sunday shifts mean deep cleaning, and so you're stuck a bit later than usual.

"Hope it's not too late, Tiff." Logan says as the bell above him dings to signal he's shut the door. You turn down the music to a low hum as you turn to Logan with a bright grin.

"No, not at all. Still an hour on the clock." You move to make him his drinks as he pulls up a bar chair and sits down, digging in his bag to set down the book on the counter. You peek over and hum,

"How far in are you?" You ask and he can tell you expect him to only be a few chapters in when he says,

"Oh, I'm done."

You whip around, nearly spilling his latte on the counter and gawking at him, "after two days? I thought you said you weren't a reader!"

"I'm not, but your little annotations were so interesting I just kept going." He slides the book to you and notices you have a very similar one perched behind the counter, "Made it a bit easier to read, honestly--is that the same one?"

"The sequel, I actually just finished it." You take For The Wolf and replace it on the counter with For The Throne, "If you want another book to read. I need to know what you thought of Nevarah."

"She was kinda annoying."

"Right!" You groan and he laughs as you stir up his latte and hand it over before pulling out one of the last pastries in the container. It's some cinnamon thing, not that he really cares. It's probably not in his food plan either, but he doesn't care about that. He'd abandon all his rules if it meant he could be spending time with you. As you rant about how you didn't like her in the first book, but kinda did in the second, he leans forward to take in ever word that drips from your lips and you find that he's welcome company for your closing shift.

You're finished early, too, so you sit next to him on the only two stools you haven't lifted up. You'll mop tomorrow, you tell yourself as Logan recounts his reactions to Eammon and Red's connection and you blush when you tell him about one of their scenes you particularly enjoyed.

Which he matches your energy with by saying, "It didn't even say anything explicit and I was like--damn!"

Logan helps you lock up, since the coffee shop is open the latest all you have to do is lock the front door with the alarm system and your keys. He walks you home and bids goodbye in the doorway with For The Throne tucked in his arm and your instagram handle and phone number written on the back of his hand.

urusername made a new post!

liked by urbff, heidiberger, logansargeant, and 250 others...

urusername: i need to stop reading romance bc it makes me feel more single than i already am.

urbff: OMG MR WRONG NUMBER SHUT UPPP MY FAVORITE

heidiberger: give me those flowers.

⤷ urusername: bring ur boy to london and then we'll speak.

mickeyrickey: ti amo <3

taglist (thank u for the support!)

@struggling-with-delia

[moonshinemusings]

Random TF 141 + friends headcanons (Pt.1)

Warnings: none

• Alejandro is really clumsy. Out in the field he seems like this badass leader, meanwhile he bumps his knees and elbows into things constantly, bites his tongue on a daily basis and trips over thin air

• Farah is an avid Hozier listener

• Soap was that one kid who was somehow always dirty from head to toe, and more often than not injured in some way

• König takes scorching hot showers that always leave his skin flushed

• Meanwhile Alejandro likes cold showers, especially in the morning

• Then there's Gaz, who likes taking baths and just relaxing in the warm water

• Rodolfo has freezing cold hands and he often scares Alejandro by just grabbing him by the neck

• Soap is the type who when gets told "no" just does it out of spite/just because he can

• Alejandro is horrible at board games. What's worse is that he just can't lose and has his anger issues acting up all the time

• Valeria cheats in every possible game ever and 9/10 times gets away with it too

• Farah is a really great teacher. People say she demands attention, but also rewards you accordingly when you do something the correct way. She's also very understanding and patient about these kind of things

• Kids love Alex, especially when they see his tattoos. They love asking questions and tracing the shapes if he lets them

• Soap burned off his eyebrow once when he was like 16 while playing with a lighter. It took months to grow back properly

• Ghost has hands calloused to the touch, which are also comfortingly warm at the same time

• Gaz has a big appetite and he can out-eat everyone on the team

• Alex is good at writing new lyrics for songs. He has a notebook that rests in his pocket all the time, which contains his ideas

• Sometimes Price uses "The dad tone" and he doesn't even realize it

• Laswell mixes the best drinks known to man

• Ghost was seen in a pink sunglass once because he couldn't find a different pair. Nobody knew where it came from, but they were too afraid to ask (well Soap tried, then got smacked on the head)

• Laswell isn't a big fan of scent candles, but she tolerates them for her wife (and the lavender ones aren't too bad)

• Valeria gets into these moods where she cleans her whole apartment like it's a spring cleaning

• Rodolfo has a favourite hoodie that's dark purple and used to have a marijuana leaf on the front. He stole it from Alejandro once back in high school, and he's been wearing it randomly ever since (the leaf got scratched off not long after they started working against cartel cases, but it meant too much to him to throw away)

• Valeria used to call Alejandro chicken little, because according to her, his hair looked the same

[legolasghosty]

I blame @latinposeidon for this. This post he made inspired it. I failed in the 'Don't write a ficlet' department. Enjoy!

Hmmmm, which color, Willie wondered, his fingers dancing over the sea of black lids in Julie's drawer. Okay, this probably wasn't what she'd meant when she said he could borrow some of her stuff for the band's gig tonight, but well, Willie had been eyeballing her nail polish collection for like a month now.

What, it was pretty. The little flashes of color always caught their eye in the best way when other people wore it. And without Caleb around to police their wardrobe choices, he could finally give it a try.

Though maybe there was a reason Willie hadn't just asked Julie outright if he could borrow hers. Maybe he was a bit nervous about how it would look. Maybe they couldn't quite shake Caleb's disapproving glares, couldn't always ignore the nightmares of that same expression coming from the faces of Julie or Luke or Reggie...

Willie tried not to think about the dreams where Alex gave him that look.

But those were just dreams and this was real. Willie wanted to do this and they were going to. He just had to pick a color already.

"Everybody decent in-" Julie started, entering the room and cutting herself off at the sight of Willie hunched over her desk. "What's going on in here?" she asked slowly.

Oh geez, this wasn't good. She was going to get mad. Boys weren't supposed to wear nail polish. And they definitely weren't supposed to just take stuff without asking. There went Willie's friendship with the one lifer who could see him-

"Ooo, are we doing nails?" Julie questioned, peering over their shoulder into the drawer. "Perfect, I needed to do something with mine anyways."

Willie just stared at her for a long moment. What? She wasn't upset? Why wasn't she upset? Was she pretending? Why would she-

"Willie, you're spiraling," Julie said softly, touching his arm. "You're doing that same glazed-over thing Reggie does. What's going on?"

Willie shook his head. Right. This was Julie, not Caleb. She'd already let them borrow and tie up her hoodies and oversized band shirts more than once. She hadn't batted an eye when he walked in on Alex braiding their hair. It was fine.

"I just haven't painted my nails before," Willie confessed, voice much softer than he'd intended. "Caleb didn't let us."

Julie bit her lower lip and nodded. Willie didn't talk about Caleb much, so he wasn't surprised that she didn't really know what to do with this information.

"It's fine," he added. "Just got in my head for a second." More than a second, but who was counting? "Well there's no Caleb here now," Julie said after another silent moment. She reached for the drawer, fingers wrapping around one of the bottles. "What color do you want?" Willie was a little startled by their own laughter. "Well that's what I was trying to figure out," they explained, twisting the black ring around their middle finger.

Julie gave him a long, appraising look. "How do you feel about pink?" she asked, after taking in his black shorts and purple and white crop top.

"Isn't pink more Alex's color?" Willie asked slowly. He couldn't stop himself from checking out the options though. That one was almost the same color Alex's cheeks got when Willie kissed them.

"Well yeah, so it'll make him lose his mind," Julie retorted. "Pick a color."

Willie grinned and grabbed a cotton candy bottle of polish.

"Perfect," Julie agreed, choosing a dark purple color of her own. "I'll do you, you do me."

Willie nodded, grinning. They perched on her desk, letting her take the chair. Julie laid out some paper towels in case of any drips and they got to work.

And Alex did lose his mind a bit over the pink on Willie's fingertips. Though he confessed later, when it was just the two of them curled up in the loft of the garage, that it was Willie's grin that got him first. And really, what was Willie supposed to say to that? Alex was just being too cute. All Willie could really do was kiss him at that point, his pink nails tangled in the pink string of Alex's hoodie.

[innytoes]

I got a little carried away for the charity toy drive and you’re the very overwhelmed but happy volunteer for Sunset Skater, please?

The day had been bad so far. Hell, the week had been bad so far. It was getting harder and harder to keep a cheerful smile on his face. They'd pulled out all the stops earlier in the day (and by that he meant some sick-ass yoyo tricks and juggling), but a lot of people had walked away once they got a better look at his table. One lady had told them he should be ashamed of himself.

He was thinking maybe he should just give up. He could get the money some other way. Maybe even crawl back to Caleb and admit they did need their trust fund after all. Not for him, but he couldn't bare the thought of any of the kids not getting presents this year.

Then, he heard it.

"Hang on guys, Alex is being drawn to a rainbow flag like a gay moth to a fabulous flame!" a guy in a leather jacket called over his shoulder, following a cute boy in a hoodie and a fanny pack.

"I'm going to pretend I didn't hear you say that," the guy complained, even though he was heading right Willie's way.

"Hi!" he said in their most perky volunteer voice. "I'm here on behalf of the Ortega Home for LGBTQ Youths, for our charity toy drive!"

"Oh my god it's one of those wish trees!" the guy in the leather jacket said, bouncing up to the tree next to the table. "I've always wanted to do one of these! And now we have like, money!" He looked so excited, it was adorable. At the last second though, he pulled his hand back. Oh no. Not again.

But the guy just turned to them and said, shyly: "Can I?"

"Yeah, totally!" Willie said. "We have wishes from kids of various ages in the tree."

"There's so many of them," Fanny Pack said. "Are the ones that have already been filled still up there?"

The perky volunteer voice slipped. "I'm afraid not. A lot of people see the flag, or read the cards, and suddenly the giving spirit leaves them." Perhaps this was the wrong mall to set up in, or something. But it was the only one he'd been able to get a permit for. The blonde guy looked sad, then squared his shoulders.

"We'll take five," he said, before turning and whistling. Out of nowhere, three other people popped up. "Each."

"To start," Leather Jacket said happily, already plucking cards out of the tree. "Oooh, this one is mine." He held up a card decorated in little trans and heart stickers. "B, age seven, wants a puppy and sparkly nail polish. Same!"

"What are we doing?" A guy with very impressive biceps said. "I thought we were going to the music store?"

"Wish tree," Fanny Pack said. "Queer wish tree."

With a tiny pout, Biceps muttered how he guessed the music store could wait.

"This one is for Alex," Leather Jacket declared. "Because it's written in sparkly pink gel pen." He passed it over. Fanny Pack, or Alex, read the card.

"No, this one is for Luke," he said. "K, 17, wants a guitar, a record player, and Julie and the Phantom's new LP." Biceps pretty much vibrated out of his skin, snatching up the card and practically running over to where the music store was. Willie didn't even have a chance to explain they didn't need to purchase everything on the card.

"Aaaand we've lost Luke to the music store," the exceptionally pretty person in red suspenders said. They were wearing a pleated leather skirt and torn leggings and amazing eyeliner and Willie kind of wanted to steal their entire look.

"If we find any more music related cards, I'll take them over to him later," the girl said, joining Leather Jacket at the tree. "This one's for you, Bobby. E, 15, nonbinary, wants a pretty, flowy skirt size 8, some dark lipstick, and a cool necklace."

"Bobby knows what's cool," Leather Jacket agreed.

They picked over the tree, more and more cards being handed out among the friend group. They all introduced themselves, asking Willie about the charity. He told them about Ortega House, about the support groups they had, the art therapy program he volunteered at, and the kids who lived there permanently after being kicked out for being, well, not-cis, not-straight.

Julie grabbed her phone and started texting someone named Flynn for a 'consult on the best make-up for dark skin tones' for J, 16. She had two neat stacks of cards on the table, a few with make-up and clothing requests, and a few music related ones for Luke.

Bobby ('he, they, she, please' she said when she noticed Willie’s he/they name sticker) got all the 'cool and edgy teen' cards, according to the others, and Alex grabbed a few that requested books and art supplies. Reggie ended up picking every single card for kids under ten, before running off to the toy store and shouting at them he'd 'be right back!'

"It's because he's never grown up," Alex said fondly.

"It's because he finally has an excuse to sneak in that new Star Wars Lego Set while we're not watching," Bobby grumbled.

One by one, the people left, and he ended up sitting next to the nearly empty tree, texting Kenny, Dante, and Fuego about what had just happened.There were a lot of emojis and exclamation points.

Alex was the first to arrive back. He had several bags filled with books, along with two rolls of... sparkly unicorn wrapping paper. He looked embarrassed. "You don't have to use it," he said. "I just saw it and thought it would be nice. I still need to hit up the art store for the rest, but..."

"This is amazing," Willie said. "You guys are... I mean... I thought we wouldn't be able to do it, that I'd failed, and you and your friends totally saved the day. Thank you."

Alex flushed rather prettily, and gave a sweet smile. "I wish I'd had a place like Ortega House when I came out," he told Willie. "I think we all do, probably." He made an exasperated face. "And Luke will take any excuse to spend more time in the music store."

"Your boyfriend?" Willie asked, because he was stupid, because they couldn't not, because he'd rather know now than before he made a fool out of themselves in front of this cute guy by slipping him their number and never getting called.

"One of them," Alex said, before looking flustered and hurrying off to the art store.

Oh. Well, maybe that meant he still had a shot.

Julie was back next, along with another girl, the infamous Flynn. She started grilling him about the Ortega House social media presence almost immediately, satisfied when he gave her a little pamphlet with all their information on the back. She disappeared off to the food court, declaring she would be back later with donuts.

"I'm going to go bring Luke his other cards now, before he buys out the entire store to give to K, 17," Julie said, amused, and left.

Reggie was the next person to arrive back, carrying so many bags he was waddling slightly.

"I may have gone a little overboard," he admitted. "But there was so much cool stuff, and really, who doesn't want a colour-changing dinosaur, huh?" He showed Willie the box. "Also, can I hide this Lego set under your table so the others don’t see it?"

Willie grinned, lifting up the table cloth and miming zipping his lips when Reggie slid the Star Wars Lego set under it. Reggie happily flopped down in the chair next to him and started helping him sort out the gifts, arranging them on the table behind him by the little cards. They chatted, and Reggie told him all about the others, about how they lived together, how they were in a band.

Willie subtly tried to figure out who was dating who, and if he maybe had a shot with Alex (or honestly, any of them). Reggie just happily rattled off a bunch of names. “Sometimes Alex says we need some kind of flow chart,” he said, gently placing the floppy stuffed dog on top of a pile. “But I don’t think it’s too hard to remember.”

“That’s because you’re literally dating everyone, Reginald,” Bobby said as they came back to the table, dropping her bags on the table. Reggie beamed, leaning over to bat his eyes at her. “These are all sorted by card, the card’s in the bag with the items. Now where’s the box?”

“I have no idea what you mean,” Reggie said, trying and failing to look not look guilty.

“The Lego Star Wars Set,” Bobby said, leaning over and giving Reggie a Look. He didn’t even flinch when Reggie leaned over to kiss his forehead. “I know you have it.”

“I can neither confirm nor deny,” Reggie said. “Oh look there’s Luke and Julie!” He pointed excitedly, and when Bobby looked away, nudged the box a little further under the table.

Luke, and Julie, who were not just carrying bags, but had stolen two shopping carts from a nearby store. There was a hot pink electric guitar (he was guessing for Katie), an amp, thee acoustic guitars, a keyboard with stand, a flute, a whole stack of ‘for beginners’ books, two record players, a radio slash CD player, and more CDs and records than Willie knew what to do with.

“Oh my god,” Bobby whispered. “I knew we should have sent Alex with him to keep him in check.”

“I dunno, I think this is exactly what these kids deserve,” Alex said happily, grinning when Bobby jumped and then punched him in the shoulder. He deposited the three large bags of art supplies on the table (sketchbooks and paints and brushes and the Good coloured pencils and oh god those were so expensive, these people were insane or angels or both.)

“I got some extra stuff,” Luke said. “You know, just some music I thought the kids would like, based on what they were asking for.” Next to him, Julie rolled her eyes.

“This is amazing,” Willie whispered. He wasn’t sure if anyone heard him, though, because Luke started to accost Alex, who pushed him away and fished a bunch of markers out of his fanny back with a ‘you could just ask!’

Then, he spread out a bunch of records on the table and started... defacing each one? No, not defacing. Signing them with a blue marker. Alex handed out the other markers (red for Reggie, white for Bobby, purple for Julie, and he kept a pink one for himself) and followed suit. Willie squinted at the records.

“Oh,” he managed. “You’re Julie and the Phantoms.”

“Tell your friends!” Reggie chirped, throwing him a wink.

“If Luke got too many and not all the kids are interested, a fully signed record can net your charity about 500 bucks on eBay, last I checked,” Bobby said. “Just space them out a little.”

“Also,” Julie said, checking her phone. “Flynn posted the links to your online donation drive on our socials, and she’ll be back with donuts and to take some pictures of us all, it’ll be good publicity for you.”

Oh my god Katie was going to flip. Kenny was going to flip.

“Oooh, I want sprinkles,” Reggie said. “Tell her I want sprinkles!”

“She knows, baby.”

“I just...” Willie said. How was any of this happening? He knows he should be like, channeling his inner Caleb, glad-handing and maybe securing a yearly donation, or a charity concert, or a freaking meet-and-greet with the kids. But they were just a lowly art therapist and honestly they were about to start crying and...

“Hey, we’re sorry,” Alex said. “We should have asked first.”

“No it’s... this is perfect.” They wiped at their eyes with a sleeve furiously. “This is all so perfect, the kids are going to be so happy.”

“You know,” Reggie said. “If you give Alex your number, we could maybe keep in touch. Hear what the kids thought.”

“Maybe set up a charity concert or something!” Luke piped up.

“And a date,” Bobby said, smirking when Alex went as pink as his hoodie.

“Really?” Willie whispered, awed.

At the end of the day, he sent out several texts. One in the Volunteer group chat, of him and the piles and piles of donations, and a request to please come help him get this all back to Ortega House. One to Kenny about the whole ‘so I met a famous band and they posted the charity to their socials, you’re welcome and also call this nice lady called Flynn to discuss a charity concert’ and one to Dante and Fuego in all caps that just said I’M GOING ON A DATE WITH THREE OR MAYBE FOUR PEOPLE and seventeen different emojis.

[halothenthehorns]

Chapter 19: GROVER CAUSES A STAMPEDE

Today Alex wore a baggy pink hoodie with the ASL hand signs spelling the letters in pink and green stitching, and loose black sweats. She was barefoot. Every other toenail was painted silver. It was Sunday morning somewhere as she came in making the most casual clothing in the world still somehow look like it was hand-selected with care with her green hair in a loose tail at the base of her neck sipping and blowing on a cup of coffee.

As she flopped in to her seat beside Magnus, he saw she'd done the same to her fingernails, every other one was glittering silver.

He tried to turn back and keep talking to Jason like he knew he'd been doing a whole five seconds ago...and couldn't remember what on earth they'd been talking about.

His hearing tuned in and out badly as Alex proceeded to inform everyone who entered her pronouns for the day, trying to swallow around the fact she hadn't felt the need to inform him and what that could mean.

Thalia had to manhandle Percy into the room, hands on his shoulders. He was still rubbing the heel of his hand into his eye like he couldn't believe somebody had the audacity to get him moving. They weren't sure how she managed it, and the look on her face screamed she really didn't think any of them were worth it. Yet she still picked up the book without protest, so that had to count for something.

Nico and Will came in last, Nico holding onto Will's wrist and muttering a string of curses about, "staying up to late," and, "all your fault," which did not erase either of them infusing the room with a sense of serenity for how much they were snickering as they carried platters of breakfast food for everybody which they passed out, Will even having a cup of coffee in one hand the whole time doing it. When they sat back on the couch, they were closer together than ever, just one shadow on the wall. It was a minor miracle Will's syrup covered pancakes didn't splash over Nico's crepe.

This was not going to be a pleasant day though. Nobody believed for a second Kronos was going to manage a full frontal assault on the camp without a single casualty. The best they could hope for was that someone, somehow found a way to close the entrance to the Labyrinth in camp before it got that far, but it was a long shot.

Thalia started reading with a regalness to her voice. The weight of what she was telling not lost on her for the lives gone, but also the spark of excitement in a battle pulling her in.

"I always knew Grover would find a way to put those pipes of his to good use," Percy snickered in surprise, only sorry Grover wasn't here to demand if he meant his singing voice or his reed pipes and the answer was definitely both.

"Does Grover outrank Percy on the battlefield and cause a stampede of campers?" Alex asked in excitement.

"Or he finds a way to collect The Wild together and sends barn animals at the enemy, maybe all the monsters of the forest," Magnus said in trepidation.

"As long as it's not a stampede to the enchilada diner, then you'd lose valuable warriors right before the battle," Jason chuckled.

Distance was shorter in the Labyrinth. Still, by the time Rachel got us back to Times Square, I felt like we'd pretty much run all the way from New Mexico.

"Sorry for the delayed question," Magnus interrupted, leaving Percy already wound up in exasperation how much he'd have to deal with before they even got to the fight. "But um, did it ever say why Pan was down there? Like, a satyr tried to give the message he'd passed on, and then, what? He went down into the labyrinth to fade, and couldn't because nobody believed that first guy? Or was he so weak he really did fall in? Not sure I follow that part."

"You are way over thinking that one Magnus," Percy shrugged. "Why do the gods do anything, show up anywhere they want? We have no more clue why Pan was down there than why Aphrodite decided to show up in the desert to make me hold a mirror."

"Uhhu," Magnus sighed in defeat, figuring as much before he even asked.

We climbed out of the Marriott basement

"That's where you popped out?" Jason asked in surprise. "I would have thought it would change, or she'd at least point out the path of how to get to camp so you guys could try to somehow close it from the inside."

"After everything Clarisse tried to get that thing to close, we weren't going to waste time playing whack-a-mole on maybes," Percy shook his head.

and stood on the sidewalk in the bright summer daylight, squinting at the traffic and crowds.

I couldn't decide which seemed less real—New York or the crystal cave where I'd watched a god die.

There really was something so magical about the mundane, Magnus nodded along. What was once the peak of human engineering was now walked past without a second thought. A god fading from existence because his domain had long vanished was generally accepted two thousand years ago and not even going to be a blip on most of those campers' radar. Every few pages of this still got to him sometimes like he was waiting for the camera crew to pop out, but he now had seven backpacks of nonperishable food to take back with him and counting while Percy started flicking french fries at Jason without a care where they landed as they were magically swept away.

I led the way into an alley, where I could get a nice echo. Then I whistled as loud as I could, five times.

A minute later, Rachel gasped. "They're beautiful!"

Alex sighed with envy. First the hippocampi, now this, everybody got to ride the awesome creatures before her!

"Continuing the tradition every girl I've met has been a horse girl," Percy chuckled, as even Thalia couldn't keep the glee out of her voice and she wouldn't ride them unless it was a life or death situation.

"That's because you haven't been around the stables when it's cleaning times for other cabins," Will snorted, plenty of his sisters weren't fond of the smell no matter which animal it came from.

Alex suppressed her own amusement Percy would think twice about mocking her love of these majestic animals if he ever found out she was related to horses too. Her mom had given birth to an eight-legged one.

A flock of pegasi descended from the sky, swooping between the skyscrapers. Blackjack was in the lead, followed by four of his white friends.

"Is white the standard color, or is that coincidence?" Jason asked, his hazy mind trying to supply one of them being brown for some reason.

"The majority of the ones we find are white, though they can come in all colors," Will shrugged. "They're also usually male for some reason. We're not really sure why at all."

Jason looked extremely concerned why nobody had ever done any sort of study to find out details about this, but it also really wasn't the point right now. Besides, even he wasn't so sure he could keep Percy's attention long enough to ask the pegasi any questions, let alone if they'd know the answers to their own biology.

Yo, boss! He spoke in my mind. You lived!

"Yeah," I told him. "I'm lucky that way.

Thalia set the book down in her lap to do air quotes and everything. "Lucky," she was watching him with concern if his head was about to explode, again. "Do you have a good explanation for that choice of words?"

"I'm still alive?" He shrugged. He didn't have a better answer, nor care to play games right now. There was a nasty feeling deep in the pit of his stomach that he knew wasn't going to go away with silly comments. It was a miracle he'd gotten any sleep at all with how long it had been there.

Listen, we need a ride to camp quick."

That's my specialty! Oh man, you got that Cyclops with you? Yo, Guido! How's your back holding up?

"And here I thought he'd bonded with Annabeth," Alex chuckled. "I bet she'd be devastated right now to know it was just Blackjack giving orders of who goes with whom."

"Why do you remember which pegasus carried who?" Percy looked at her like she was nuts. He'd been there and he couldn't have recalled if Thalia had been on which horse.

"Pays to pay attention Perce, maybe someday you'll remember that," she smirked. "You never know what could be important."

Percy still clearly thought she was just nuts, but he didn't retort, which was the only sign they were going to get to keep going.

The Pegasus Guido groaned and complained, but eventually he agreed to carry Tyson.

"Tyson must be in heaven right now," Will grinned. "Finally getting to ride the flying ponies, and one who already likes Annabeth no less."

"He was clapping his hands and bouncing in excitement so much he was going to give Guido a nervous tick," Percy nodded.

Everybody started saddling up—except Rachel.

Percy's hands fluttered across his lap nervously. He wished he could have offered to ride with her, maybe he could hide her under his jacket to get her into camp. It didn't seem right, leaving her behind after she'd done so much for them and he'd nearly gotten her killed multiple times now.

"Well," she told me, "I guess this is it."

I nodded uncomfortably. We both knew she couldn't go to camp. I glanced at Annabeth, who was pretending to be very busy with her Pegasus.

"Yeah, the girl that's been around them longer than anybody is trying to remember which side she's supposed to hop on," Jason almost managed to say with a straight face.

"Thanks, Rachel," I said. "We couldn't have done it without you."

"I wouldn't have missed it. I mean, except for almost dying, and Pan..."

"Surely the real highlight was pretending to be asleep so you and Annabeth could talk," Magnus offered.

"Yes, Rachel will never shut up about that one time we almost died in an earthquake after a dirt nap," Percy sighed. Why did all of his friends keep almost dying? Maybe Rachel was right and he did need a normal day, just to live for one moment in his whole life to not be afraid when it would end.

Her voice faltered.

"He said something about your father," I remembered. "What did he mean?"

Rachel twisted the strap on her backpack. "My dad...My dad's job. He's kind of a famous businessman."

"Rachel's the best person right now," Jason snorted. "If you'd asked anybody else that, they still would have evaded you and you wouldn't have found out until you dreamed about it next summer or something!"

"I couldn't have blamed her if she didn't, we're all entitled to a private life," but Percy looked rather pleased all the same she'd had enough certainty in their friendship to answer that. He'd gained her trust enough to know she wouldn't be treated differently.

"You mean...you're rich?"

"Well, yeah."

"Like, rich enough to name drop daddy bucks and get a chauffeur his worship," Will's mind boggled at a mortal having that kind of power usually only a god possessed. He certainly wouldn't drop everything and go running errands just because somebody could sing a song really well.

"So that's how you got the chauffeur to help us? You just said your dad's name and—"

"Yes," Rachel cut me off. "Percy...my dad's a land developer. He flies all over the world, looking for tracts of undeveloped land." She took a shaky breath. "The wild. He—he buys it up. I hate it, but he plows it down and builds ugly subdivisions and shopping centers. And now that I've seen Pan...Pan's death—"

Thalia made a little humming noise of agreement. Her dad was the worst example of a god in her eyes, she loathed being judged by what he did. Rachel shouldn't blame herself for what her parents did, she wasn't complicit in the slightest for his crimes, something she still had to remind herself of all the time.

"Hey, you can't blame yourself for that."

"Then who can we blame for that?" Percy muttered. He really didn't blame Rachel. Maybe it was Grover's empathy link driving the emotion harder than usual, but he felt resentiment to his own mortal parts right now for getting just a glimpse of something he'd never get any closer to than that cavern.

"Change itself, time marches on," Thalia said in agreement. Artemis would have wept had she been there.

"You don't know the worst of it. I—I don't like to talk about my family. I didn't want you to know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"No," I said. "It's cool. Look, Rachel, you did awesome. You led us through the maze. You were so brave. That's the only thing I'm going to judge you on. I don't care what your dad does."

Nico considered that's how one could solve world piece right there. If no one in camp ever judged him for what his dad did, he'd have a happy normal life like any of them. There would be no sorting of cabins, no isolation . . .

Rachel looked at me gratefully. "Well...if you ever feel like hanging out with a mortal again...you could call me or something."

"Uh, yeah. Sure."

She knit her eyebrows. I guess I sounded unenthusiastic or something, but that's not how I meant it. I just wasn't sure what to say with all my friends standing around. And I guess my feelings had gotten pretty mixed up the last couple of days.

There was a very small part of Percy that was trying to pipe up and tell him what Annabeth and Rachel wanted from him. It sounded suspiciously like Grover's voice calling him an idiot while his thoughts drifted to Juniper.

But to say the words out loud felt like slamming a door shut, which his mom had always discouraged him from doing. Honestly, he just wanted both Rachel and Annabeth in his life without having to choose some stupid meaning behind it.

"I mean...I'd like that," I said.

"My number's not in the book," she said.

"I've got it."

"Still on your hand? No way."

"No. I kinda...memorized it."

Her smile came back slowly, but a lot happier. "See you later, Percy Jackson. Go save the world for me, okay?"

"And you now have the financial backing to do it," Jason snorted. "Now you'll be unstoppable!"

"Yeah, let's see how that goes," Percy's smile was almost maudlin. He couldn't remember the battle to come, but he knew he hadn't saved everyone in camp just by a go get'um attitude.

She walked off down Seventh Avenue and disappeared into the crowds.

"Where she probably went to the airport and commandeered a private jet next to take her wherever she wanted," Magnus muttered.

Alex shook her head slowly, her smile fond but distant. Magnus clearly had no idea how easy it was to let go of wealth when you hated every penny.

When I got back to the horses. Nico was having trouble. His Pegasus kept shying away from him, reluctant to let him mount.

He smells like dead people! The Pegasus complained.

Nico sighed, though he'd never needed confirmation. He'd guessed that's what the problem was.

"You and Tyson are way to much alike," Alex told him cheerfully.

That would have been an insult anywhere else, but Nico knew how much Alex liked Tyson, the cyclops that could build anything and was the champion of at least half of Percy's successes and loved horses that didn't like him back, not Tyson the monster.

"Yeah, maybe we'll start an anti-horse club or something," Nico's smile was more half-hearted indulgence.

"Robot pegasi," Magnus nodded along with consideration. "Tyson would love to build them for all the kids that are allergic or have some other issue with being around them. Sounds like a great plan."

Except for kids who hated automatons just as much, Will frowned but kept that to himself as Nico gave a half-hearted laugh at the thought.

"If Blackjack starts a revolt, I claim Sweden in the war," Percy snorted.

Hey now, Blackjack said. Come on, Porkpie. Lotsa demigods smell weird. It ain't their fault. Oh—uh, I didn't mean you, boss.

Percy looked around in bemusement at the ensuing laughter, giving his arm a theatrical sniff. "I swear I bathe! I don't know what he's on about!"

"We probably do smell pretty strange and foul to them," Thalia nodded though. "Between our clothes and our skin being covered in all sorts of things and maybe even vaguely predator like to them but they aren't quite sure what to call all of that so we're just weird."

"It's a good thing you didn't smell like a fresh summer field, or those flesh eating horses would have eaten you, calcified seashell or not," Jason smirked.

"So that means they would have let Nico clean out their stall without batting an eye," Percy rolled his own.

"Pass, I wouldn't have made a deal to save your butts," Nico scoffed. He probably could have just made the shadows dissipate all that dung and only would have passed out, like, once from the effort of it all, but like Hades would he go around admitting that.

Percy gave him an exaggerated, tragic face and even clutched at his camp shirt while Thalia loudly read on around them or they'd be here for years.

"Go without me!" Nico said. "I don't want to go back to that camp anyway."

"Nico," I said, "we need your help."

He folded his arms and scowled.

It had seemed to be the obvious response to give when Percy Jackson had said that to him, rather than running into his arms and hugging him. Nico fiddled with his ring in surprise he didn't feel any sort of resurgence of that feeling now.

Then Annabeth put her hand on his shoulder.

"Nico," she said. "Please."

Slowly, his expression softened. "All right," he said reluctantly. "For you. but I'm not staying."

Percy's face twisted like a wet rag as a million wrung-out emotions came pouring out for that. He thought Nico had a crush on him...did he have one on Annabeth too?! Or, wait, was Nico faking his reluctance and he did want to come back, or was Annabeth just that amazing she could get through to someone who didn't even like her, or-

Thalia was snapping her fingers under his nose to get his attention as he shook his head and realized he had been stirring up the ocean already. To much pent up frustration from incoherent dreams that tried to be memories last night, to much frustration at constantly wondering things he'd already lived through once, and way to much concern over a kid who was sitting right there watching him with those dark brown eyes that grew calmer by the day. Percy still half expected Nico to smack him with the broad side of that sword if he asked out loud.

Nico muttered something to Will, who made a gesture like, 'that's all you.'

"I saw why you liked Annabeth right then," Nico grudgingly answered. It wasn't against his will or anything, he just didn't like explaining his old thought process to himself, let alone out loud. Percy was about to experience a really harsh blow in memory of his camp though, and he felt the need to offer him something before all that. "Her tone was, very persuasive. Kind, but no room for argument, like, kind of reminded me a little of, well, Bianca, I guess."

Percy had never got the same feeling thinking of Annabeth, but he nodded his head in thanks Nico answered that bizarre moment.

I raised an eyebrow at Annabeth, like, How come all of a sudden Nico listens to you?

"She's clearly a Nico whisperer," Jason chuckled.

"Patent pending," Thalia snorted.

She stuck her tongue out at me.

At last we got everybody on a Pegasus. We shot into the air, and soon we were over the East river with Long Island spread out before us.

We landed in the middle of the cabin area and were immediately met by Chiron, the potbellied satyr Silenus, and a couple of Apollo cabin archers.

Jason couldn't help a sigh of relief they didn't just waltz into camp with everybody's eyes only on the Labyrinth entrance. Then he felt guilty for that relief, of course they knew to watch their backs in case of some other possible entry. He really had to stop underestimating them.

"Not exactly the welcome party I still feel like I deserve," Percy sighed.

"We had a cake ready," Will said innocently, "but we forgot about it in the oven and nearly set the kitchen on fire during the battle."

"The worst crime those monsters could do to camp," Percy nodded tragically, his stomach in actual painful knots like he'd just downed fifty floats in a row with his lack of knowledge of what actually happened.

Chiron raised an eyebrow when he saw Nico, but if I expected him to be surprised by our latest news about Quintus being Daedalus, or Kronos rising, I was mistaken.

"Was he more surprised that I'm still alive or just trying to even remember who I was?" Nico rolled his eyes.

"Well, since he didn't throw Annabeth a party when she came back alive, Chiron probably figured it would be rude to even acknowledge you," Alex snorted.

"I feared as much," Chiron said. "We must hurry. Hopefully you have slowed down the Titan lord, but his vanguard will still be coming through. They will be anxious for blood. Most of our defenders are already in place. Come!"

"Wait a moment," Silenus demanded.

"I thought you said Selina for a moment and I was very confused why she cared so much," Jason said crosseyed.

"I'm sure she's always been very invested in everything that goes around camp, gets the best gossip that way," Magnus snorted, while Will and Thalia tried their hardest not to look guiltily at each other their jokes hit a little to close to home on that one.

"What of the search for Pan? You are almost three weeks overdue, Grover Underwood! Your searcher's license is revoked!"

"Is that really relevant right this second," Thalia didn't try hard to suppress a scowl. "His home is under attack too."

"Chiron made a big stink about giving Grover more time," Percy pushed invisible glasses up the bridge of his nose mockingly and put on a poor impression of the old goats voice, "he probably wanted to be there to rub it into Chiron."

"And it won't go very well for Mr. Oats for Brains," Thalia agreed viciously.

Grover took a deep breath. He stood up straight and looked Silenus in the eye.

A description never yet given to him, that went over none of their heads. Thalia sounded so proud, like she was going to hoist Grover up onto a podium any moment and know he could deliver such depressing news with the grace it was needed.

"Searcher's licenses don't matter any more. The great god Pan is dead. He has passed on and left us his spirit."

"What?" Silenus's face turned bright red. "Sacrilege and lies! Grover Underwood, I will have you exiled for speaking thus!"

Several people sighed. Nobody was truly surprised this would be a common reaction and would likely cause a bit of panic in these circles, but it was never fun to hear of something they knew to be the truth and called nuts for it. They'd all lived their whole lives with that feeling.

"It's true," I said. "We were there when he died. All of us."

"Impossible! You are all liars! Nature-destroyers!"

"That's a bit of a harsh insult to throw around willy-nilly," Alex smirked. "Percy, yes, no contest, to many burning buildings. Annabeth reads so much you could make a case for her and those books, but Tyson's the child of a nature spirit so he's exempt, but Nico hasn't actively done any harm to the circle of life yet."

"Yet," Nico echoed miserably. He often sucked the life out of every plant and bug and occasionally even animals if he used his powers to much and instinctively preserved his own over natures. He'd found himself in many a circle of death via his own doing.

"You're still exempt, there's no nature without death," Alex shrugged.

"My dad creates ocean life, don't I get exempt?" Percy looked a little pouty. He was pretty sure you could get oxygen from seaweed and everything.

"Start putting out your own fires pyro," Alex waved him off, obviously not cutting him any slack, which made Percy clutch his heart in betrayal. Percy decided maybe he should pretend to be less well ajusted or something...on the other hand, that sounded like way to much effort.

Chiron studied Grover's face. "We will speak of this later."

"We will speak of it now!" Silenus said. "We must deal with this—"

"Silenus," Chiron cut in. "My camp is under attack. The matter of Pan has waited two thousand years. I fear it will have to wait a bit longer. Assuming we are still here this evening."

Alex pretended to do a very dramatic mike drop for that awesome shutdown and Percy was very sorry Grover wasn't here to see it after the cutting look he'd been giving Silenus.

And on that happy note, he readied his bow and galloped toward the woods, leaving us to follow as best we could.

"That about sums Chiron up pretty well," Magnus muttered.

It was the biggest military operation I'd ever seen at camp. Everyone was at the clearing, dressed in full battle armor, but this time it wasn't for capture the flag. The Hephaestus cabin had set up traps around the entrance to the Labyrinth—razor wire, pits filled with pots of Greek fire, rows of sharpened sticks to deflect a charge. Beckendorf was manning two catapults the size of pickup trucks, already primed and aimed at Zeus's Fist. The Ares cabin was on the front line, drilling in phalanx formation with Clarisse calling orders. Apollo's and Hermes's cabins were scattered in the woods with bows ready.

Many had taken up positions in the trees. Even the dryads were armed with bows, and the satyrs trotted around with wooden cudgels and shields made of rough tree bark.

"Imagine if you always did put that much effort into capture the flag though," Jason was getting second hand adrenaline just from hearing of all these war efforts as he watched Percy start twitching in his seat. "I bet you would have found even greater ways to capitalize on all this, drills are run so the expected is mundane and to find ways to make it all run smoother."

"I've finally figured it out," Percy told him with a straight face. "You grew up inside of a book, and this is your first interaction with actual people."

Jason sighed and flipped him off while Thalia's laugh sounded oddly mechanical next to Percy.

Annabeth went to join her brethren from the Athena cabin, who had set up a command tent and were directing operations. A gray banner with an owl fluttered outside the tent. Our security chief, Argus, stood guard at the door.

Aphrodite's children were running around straightening everybody's armor and offering to comb the tangles out of our horsehair plumes. Even Dionysus's kids had found something to do. The god himself was still nowhere to be seen, but his two blond twin sons were running around providing all the sweaty warriors with water bottles and juice boxes.

Percy tried to smile through the growing tension in the room. It was a sight to see for sure, his entire camp pulling together in one unified front...but his mind flashed back to school field trips where all his classmates cheered about going to the Metropolitan Museum of Art just for a day out of desks. Mr. Brunner had sat at the front with such a bright, friendly smile like he was looking forward to it just as much, and yet Percy now wondered if it was just for seeing kids blissfully yelling about a trip where they all had a sure chance of coming back alive.

It looked like a pretty good setup, but Chiron muttered next to me. "It isn't enough."

Thalia let out a regretful sigh of agreement. They'd been to far away to make it back in time to help, but slightly less important, her heart went out to Chiron needing to admit that to someone. Percy was seen as a leader around there just as much as their trainer. It didn't make it fair to Percy to have his momentary bubble of hope popped, but it was a reality they both needed to understand going in to make the best plans.

I thought about what I'd seen in the Labyrinth, all the monsters in Antaeus's stadium, and the power of Kronos I'd felt of Mt. Tam. My heart sank. Chiron was right, but it was all we could muster. For once I wished Dionysus was here, but even if he had been, I didn't know if he could do anything. When it came to war, gods were forbidden to interfere directly.

"Given that it's a stupid ass decision, they seem to elect to ignore it all the time," Alex rolled her eyes painfully hard.

"Man, you try taking it up with Zeus," Percy sighed.

"Woman, I gladly would if you'd pass me that keycard up the elevator," Alex grinned a mischievous smile that already seemed to be planning a heist.

Percy laughed and the others felt a swooping sensation of dread at what chaos those two would get up to when let out of here.

Apparently, the Titans didn't believe in restrictions like that.

"I do wish they all had to follow some universal guidebook," Jason agreed with a sigh.

"They all break the rules anyways, or the cosmos would lose free will or some shit," Nico shrugged.

"Are those our only options?" Will frowned, but he was always looking for some kind of middle answer.

"The only ones I've heard," Nico felt a little bad for phrasing it that way and clearly crushing just a smidge of Will's never ending positivity, but he wasn't changing his thoughts just for that.

Over at the edge of the clearing, Grover was talking to Juniper. She held his hands while he told her our story. Green tears formed in her eyes as he delivered the news about Pan.

Percy had watched Grover brush away her tears gently, kissing her cheek and then running his fingers through her amber hair and holding her as she tried to weep softly. His mind had flashed back to Annabeth sobbing in that Laybrnth while he'd stood by and did nothing. He knew he didn't have the nerve to do anything like that to comfort her, but he also kind of hated himself in that moment if that's what she'd needed and he couldn't give her.

He wasn't even sure if Annabeth moved on from this by the time the battle had started, if she'd gone into that tent to go over plans with her siblings still fighting off grief or anger or any number of things he couldn't guess at. If she'd gotten hurt in this fight because he was a useless friend he didn't know what he'd do- "sorry!" He'd caught himself doing it this time as the water began churning violently around them.

"No harm no foul," Thalia sighed as she adjusted her jacket, "just let me know if you want me to stop or you need a breather."

Percy nodded his agreement while staring holes into his shoes. 'He didn't need to draw his pen, Annabeth was alive,' the old mantra began chanting through his head again already.

Tyson helped the Hephaestus kids prepare the defenses. He picked up boulders and piled them next to the catapults for firing.

"Stay with me, Percy," Chiron said. "When the fighting begins, I want you to wait until we know what we're dealing with. You must go where we most need reinforcements."

"One man army huh?" Jason said fondly, a little nostalgically, like he might have some experience with that. It sounded that way to Percy's ears, though Jason didn't seem aware of it.

"Historically not," Percy shook his head. He had won plenty of fights on his own, but not to that extent...and yet his brain kept fizzling right on the edge of pain. This was not the only fight he'd been in, and something of this was making his skin tingle like he'd taken another dip in lava. It was so hard to concentrate on the here and now so he didn't agitate his memories and still make himself be disconnected enough he didn't lung into battle against the seaweed beanbags; he had no clue how he'd made it this far!

"I saw Kronos," I said, still stunned by the fact.

"That's not something you're expected to get over in twenty-four hours Percy," Magnus nodded. "That's not something I expect you to get over in twenty-four years."

"I'd like it if the guy could do his one job and put a time stamp on that then," Percy huffed.

"I looked straight into his eyes. It was Luke...but it wasn't."

Chiron ran his fingers along his bowstring. "He had golden eyes, I would guess. And in his presence, time seemed to turn to liquid."

I nodded. "How could he take over a mortal body?"

Percy's breath came out painfully sharp, gusting around the room to share the chilly blast. He knew the answer to that now... somewhere in his head.

"I do not know, Percy. Gods have assumed the shapes of mortals for ages, but to actually become one...to merge the divine form with the mortal. I don't know how this could be done without Luke's form turning into ashes."

"Kronos said his body had been prepared."

Percy felt like there were ants crawling over his skin, biting and swarming as he shivered hard enough to cause physical rivulets like zip ribbons all around him. Like his body was trying to scream the answer at him, but he'd never been very good at listening.

"I shudder to think what that means. But perhaps it will limit Kronos's power. For a time, at least, he is confined to a human form. It binds him together. Hopefully it also restricts him."

'He didn't seem very restricted puppeting Luke around,' Thalia shivered in disgust, even though she knew this to be the key to their victory. He was still in there somewhere, and that just made this all the worse to hear of every word. Was he sleeping? Screaming in agony every second Kronos invaded him?

"Chiron, if he leads the attack—"

"I do not think so, my boy. I would sense if he were drawing near.

"Well that's, useful," Magnus blinked spastically at this random bit of information.

"Thankfully it's not a trait we all share with our godly parent," Percy said in relief. For all he knew, he might have a sense of his dad every time someone turned on a faucet.

No doubt he planned to, but I believe you inconvenienced him when you pulled down his throne room on top of him." He looked at me reproachfully. "You and your friend Nico, son of Hades."

"Oh, shit," Thalia busted out laughing in surprise like she was the one who'd been called out.

"When did he..." Nico looked a tad more confused, though mostly bemused too at this turn of events. Chiron had known when he'd come in on pegasus with the others and hadn't turned him away?

"I have no idea," Percy said with a crazy grin. It didn't bother him in the slightest he didn't seem able to get anything past Chiron, it was just kind of cool.

A lump formed in my throat. "I'm sorry, Chiron. I know I should've told you. It's just—"

Chiron raised his hand. "I understand why you did it, Percy. You felt responsible. You sought to protect him. But, my boy, if we are to survive this war, we must trust each other. We must..."

His voice wavered. The ground underneath us was trembling.

"Saved by the bell," Alex muttered. Trust was not easily given, and while Chiron seemed like a nice idiot, he wasn't someone she'd go out of her way to share her history with right now. If he'd known about Nico all along he should have said something, made some effort like the very old adult he was that someone was out looking for Nico or any of the countless kids missing. He and Daeadlus seemed such polar opposites and yet equally idiotic on this stance of just watching and waiting to long until it would do no good.

And yet Chiron was also responsible for hundreds of kids, and she couldn't even fully blame him for keeping his distance from them all in a purely scholarly manner. How many kids had to die before you grew desensitized to it? A number that Percy very likely was going to get a glimpse of after this battle.

Everyone in the clearing stopped what they were doing. Clarisse barked a single order: "Lock shields!"

Then the Titan lord's army exploded from the Labyrinth.

Thalia had been in plenty of battles, the worst of which had been where a freaking statue fell on her and she was forced to sit there and wait. Not knowing what was happening, who had lived. She couldn't do anything but lay there and glare at that marble of her most hated goddess. She never expected that feeling to come back quite like this as she glowered at the book forcing her to sit on the sidelines and just describe this coming mayhem.

I mean I'd been in fights before,

"You don't say," Nico said with a massive eye roll. "Here I thought this whole time we were listening to your vivid imagination."

"And then I woke up and it was all a dream," Thalia loudly played along without looking up from the book. "I was back in my little rundown apartment and my mom had never heard of Grover-"

"Don't you be reusing my jokes," Alex scoffed while Percy laughed half-heartedly. "Get your own!"

"Like you're the first one to claim that in the history of ever," Nico challenged.

Percy cleared his throat awkwardly to cut off whatever loquacious response Alex would have given. He really wasn't in the mood in the middle of a fight for bickering.

but this was a full-scale battle. The first thing I saw were a dozen Laistrygonian giants erupting from the ground, yelling so loudly my ears felt like bursting. They carried shields made from flattened cars, and clubs that were tree trunks with rusty spikes bristling at the end. One of the giants bellowed at the Ares phalanx, smashed it sideways with his club, and the entire cabin was thrown aside, a dozen warriors tossed to the wind like rag dolls.

"Well, nobody can say they didn't do anything useful," Percy frowned. "They were target practice."

Jason hissed at him to shut it next. A shield formation was always a great start because it tested what the pawns would do. The fact that this was starting with brute strength was a bad thing, it meant they planned more tricks up their sleeve later in the fight.

"Fire!" Beckendorf yelled. The catapults swung into action. Two boulders hurtled toward the giants. One deflected off a car shield with hardly a dent, but the other caught a Laistrygonian in the chest, and the giant went down.

Apollo's archers fired a volley, dozens of arrows sticking in the thick armor of the giants like porcupine quills. Several found chinks in armor, and some of the giants vaporized at the touch of celestial bronze.

But just when it looked like the Laistrygonians were about to get overwhelmed,

Magnus's lips motorboated in frustration. He would hope this camp could take down the first wave before the second even hit, it's what they apparently trained for, team work and mayhem to confuse their opponents. They had only started and things weren't going according to plan. He knew Annabeth and her siblings would account for this, they had plans all the way down to zz to get through this...he hoped.

the next wave surged out of the maze: thirty, maybe forty dracaenae in full battle armor, wielding spears and nets. They dispersed in all directions. Some hit the traps the Hephaestus cabin had laid. One got struck on the spikes and became an easy target for archers. Another triggered a trip wire, and pots of Greek fire exploded into green flames, engulfing several of the snake women. But many more kept coming. Argus and Athena's warriors rushed forward to meet them. I saw Annabeth draw a sword and engage one of them.

Percy's hands twitched like he was possessed. He knew she could handle herself, she wasn't the one who needed his help, but he could sure use hers right now. Her voice muttering what she had planned for them, her sharp gray eyes studying everyone here and their reactions, her warmth next to his the reminder he so needed this was all in his head no matter what his aching feet longed to throw him into.

Nearby, Tyson was riding a giant. Somehow he'd managed to climb onto the giant's back and was hitting him on the head with a bronze shield—BONG! BONG! BONG!

The collective laughter around the room really didn't match the tone right, especially because Will's was the loudest of all. He looked on the verge of tears any moment seconds ago, because he hadn't seen nearly everything. He hadn't wanted to hear in vivid detail the monsters that killed so many, let alone what Percy had witnessed.

He hadn't seen this either, and the brief levity gave him a chance to breathe in and out again normally.

Chiron calmly aimed arrow after arrow, taking down a monster with every shot. But more enemies just kept climbing out of the maze. Finally a hellhound—not Mrs. O'Leary—

"Please tell me you put a bow on her head to help her stand out," Alex grinned an even wilder smile than usual, the eye of the storm among a chaos only described.

"When would we have done that Alex?" Percy asked in exasperation. Nobody had given him another whistle to summon her.

Alex's face clouded with momentary disappointment, she'd been automatically imagining the awesome dog in the trenches to help.

"We wouldn't have needed to anyways. If it was smaller than her it was an enemy," Will said with a sad smile. "If it was bigger than her, we were all screwed by the pooch. Beckendorf made her one anyways though, just in case. Bright pink ass collar with spikes on it."

"Lovely," Alex brightened considerably at once.

leaped out of the tunnel and barreled straight toward the satyrs.

"Is that some kind of nature versus nature thing?" Magnus asked. Not that animals had shown any particular favor towards satyrs, but he couldn't help but still think of them as one group in his mind with the fur and all.

Nobody really answered. Maybe they'd just smelled like the best food. Maybe they'd just sensed them as the easiest target.

Percy shifted his weight, a stance that would have him leaping into battle the only response.

"GO!" Chiron yelled at me.

Percy might have understood Chiron's tactics, he was glad he'd waited for just this reason to do the most good. It still didn't stop the guilt that had pounded in his every step as he'd waged through battle, wondering with every swing of his blade and every splatter of blood he ran through if he could have helped more.

I drew Riptide and charged.

As I raced across the battlefield, I saw horrible things. An enemy halfblood was fighting with a son of Dionysus, but it wasn't much of a contest.

The enemy stabbed him in the arm then clubbed him over the head with the butt of his sword, and Dionysus's son went down.

Will shivered at the horrible detail he hadn't really wanted. He didn't know where Pollux was, if he'd witnessed his own brother's death. He couldn't ask...but a part of him wanted to know if it was better than having witnessed the act. There probably was no good answer, seeing it and knowing you couldn't have done anything, or always left wondering if you could.

The twins had spent the whole week prior being just as skittish and worried as some of the younger kids, Connor had told him once they'd kept hoping their dad would show up to fix all this and so they'd been trying to slack off on the war prepping until Chiron convinced them to help.

Will was ashamed to admit he didn't know what had changed their mind about helping in the battle. Had they been talked into doing it by someone they admired, did Percy's return instill in them the same sense it had in everyone that they'd have to fight for their home no matter their own reason?

Maybe it was as simple as the fact that Dinoysus' had once been a conquering God of more gumption than playing card games on diet coke, and they'd been trying to make him proud.

Another enemy warrior shot flaming arrows into the trees, sending our archers and dryads into a panic.

A dozen dracaenae suddenly broke away from the main fight and slithered down the path that led toward camp, like they knew where they were going. If they got out, they could burn down the entire place, completely unopposed.

Magnus went a little crosseyed in confusion. Weren't there monsters in there all the time? What was stopping them from over running the camp? The immediate threat was the onsurge of monsters, but the camp had always been vulnerable to that kind of attack.

Perhaps it was just because these snake women were intelligent? As far as he'd heard none of the other monsters had that kind of reasoning. It was all he could come up with, and he wasn't going to interrupt his friends looking so miserable and upset with pointless questions of what spots in particular of their home they were defending.

If he had an actual home to defend, he'd probably start with the bathroom, but that was just him.

The only person anywhere near was Nico di Angelo. He stabbed a telekhine, and his black Stygian blade absorbed the monster's essence, drinking its energy until there was nothing left but dust.

"How close have you come to testing the limits of that thing?" Alex asked, her mind boggling at implications of stabbing gods and maybe putting that thing on a motor and just plowing through this whole army weed-whacker style.

"Not very," he admitted, thumbing the black leather grip. "I can't exactly go to the nearest smithy if it starts chipping or gets over loaded, I haven't wanted to push it to far yet."

Alex's eyes burned with hunger for the story of how Nico got that sword in the first place again, but now certainly wasn't the time.

"Nico!" I yelled.

He looked where I was pointing, saw the serpent women, and immediately understood.

Nico smiled for himself that he didn't straighten up in his seat like an idiotic child that he and Percy were on the same page. His already tested and proven battle reflexes were finally being put to use other than saving his own skin, that's what he was happy to be remembering for once.

He took a deep breath and held out his black sword. "Serve me," he called.

The earth trembled. A fissure opened in front of the dracaenae, and a dozen undead warriors crawled from the earth—horrible corpses in military uniforms from all different time periods—U.S. Revolutionaries, Roman centurions, Napoleonic cavalry on skeletal horses. As one, they drew their swords and engaged the dracaenae.

Alex's mouth was open in a silent scream, but her eyes were to alight with joy like she was at her favorite concert for Nico to be to concerned. "I have, so many questions," she finally managed to gasp.

"I'd only managed to summon one at a time before and have them do menial tasks," Nico offered, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly all the same even if he had no problems answering. "This was a step up, I um, hope it did some good." He'd passed out without seeing the epic end to the battle to know.

Nico crumpled to his knees, but I didn't have time to make sure he was okay.

Nico tried hard not to flinch at that. He knew Percy's true fight was for the entire camp.

Yet in his memory, he'd done what he'd been convinced he couldn't. Used his powers for good for Percy's home, and then woken up to him being there, holding him, helping him. His crush had been undeniable from the moment that nectar had tasted like salty-sweet taffy.

It was different, it was better to hear the whole picture like this. It made the rejection of Percy's non-feelings more grounded every time it happened.

Slowly, carefully, Will let his long fingers brush at Nico's shoulder, completely non-obvious considering where his hand had been hovering most of the time. Nico exhaled and looked at him with amusement, so Will let his arm fall to rest across the plain of his shoulders, which felt more natural every time he did it. Nico didn't know where he'd been in this fight, probably right on the front lines running around pulling people out of the fire while more fighters had just taken their place. Nico wasn't sure where he might fall into the dynamic at camp in the future, but it was a reassurance he wasn't used to feeling that whichever it might be he'd have someone there with him.

I closed on the hellhound, which was now pushing the satyrs back toward the woods. The beast snapped at one satyr, who danced out of its way, but then it pounced on another who was too slow. The satyr's tree-bark shield cracked as he fell.

"Hey!" I yelled.

The hellhound turned. It snarled at me and leaped. It would've clawed me to pieces, but as I fell backward, my fingers closed around a clay jar—one of Beckendorf's containers of Greek fire. I tossed it into the hellhound's maw, and the creature went up in flames. I scrambled away, breathing heavily.

The brutality of that shocked Percy as his hand spasmed with delay from the act. The cry of that monster as it went up in flames, the smell of burnt fur lingering in the air as it had crumbled to ash before his eyes. He'd always loathed animal abusers, they were as low as Gabe, throwing trash and beating whatever stray they saw in alleyways Percy would always get in trouble for trying to step in and stop.

It wasn't the same, he tried to assure himself, this was a demon that would have eaten everyone in his camp.

The thought didn't comfort him to much as he tried to let his attention go to the next problem without lingering on some little black haired punk of a kid with angry green eyes running into an alleyway, screaming at him for trying to light that cat's tail on fire...

The satyr who'd gotten trampled wasn't moving. I rushed over to check on him, but then I heard Grover's voice: "Percy!"

A forest fire had started. Flames roared within ten feet of Juniper's tree, and Juniper and Grover were going nuts trying to save it. Grover played a rain song on his pipes. Juniper desperately tried to beat out the flames with her green shawl, but it was only making things worse.

Percy's frantic mind was screaming at him to do something with such pressure, he didn't realize he was getting to his feet until Thalia yanked him back into his seat without looking up. The water was still pulling dangerously about the room, everyone else looked seconds away from grabbing their shoes and socks for safety so they wouldn't get caught in the draft he was causing.

I ran toward them, jumping past duels, weaving between the legs of giants.

The nearest water was the creek, half a mile away...but I had to do something. I concentrated. There was a pull in my gut, a roar in my ears.

Percy would have jumped onto that fire and rolled on it if he thought that would have helped the situation, Magnus shook his head in admiration at the look of frantic energy that just overcame him. The water tugged more powerfully around their clothes, their chairs were starting to quiver in place ready for launch, but Percy was breathing deep and long, chewing on his pen cap so hard odds were in their favor they weren't going to be flung into a wall to soon.

Then a wall of water came rushing through the trees. It doused the fire, Juniper, Grover, and pretty much everything else.

"Did giving the monsters a bath scare some of them away?" Nico asked.

"I wish there were some fire giants around, two for one," Alex nodded.

"Only you would be wishing for more monsters right now," Thalia grumbled.

Grover blew a spout of water. "Thanks, Percy!"

"No problem!" I ran back toward the fight,

"Literally," Jason shook his head. Percy was turning the tide of battle wherever he went and then just jumping right into the next fray. It was inspiring, and it really made him wonder what he wasn't capable of.

and Grover and Juniper followed. Grover had a cudgel in his hand and Juniper held a stick—like an old-fashioned whipping switch. She looked really angry, like she was going to tan somebody's backside.

"I will never look at that tree the same way again," Will assured with a tiny eep noise at the end.

"As you shouldn't," Magnus nodded seriously. Vengeful spirit trees, he probably liked the sound of that to much.

Just when it seemed like the battle had balanced out again—like we might stand a chance—an unearthly shriek echoed out of the Labyrinth, a sound I had heard before.

"Clarisse trying to sing?" Nico asked without hope.

"Man are you lucky you slept through this next part," Percy shivered, his head pounding with stress about what that she-demone was going to do to his camp.

"Passed out," Will corrected with a sigh, wondering if he should start carrying a bottle of nectar on him already that had Nico's initials inscribed or something.

Kampê shot into the sky, her bat wings fully extended. She landed on the top of Zeus's Fist and surveyed the carnage. Her face was filled with evil glee. The mutant animal heads growled at her waist. Snakes hissed and swirled around her legs. In her right hand she held a glittering ball of thread—Ariadne's string—but she popped it into a lion's mouth at her waist and drew her curved swords. The blades glowed green with poison. Kampê screeched in triumph, and some of the campers screamed. Others tried to run and got trampled by hellhounds or giants.

"What on earth do you think the trophy she'd leave behind would be?" Alex asked intensely.

"I don't think any hero's ever managed it to ask," Jason said with a look of concentration in place of what Percy was going to do to achieve this.

"Di Immortales!" Chiron yelled. He quickly aimed an arrow, but Kampê seemed to sense his presence. She took flight with amazing speed, and Chrion's arrow whizzed harmlessly past her head.

Tyson untangled himself from the giant whom he'd pummeled into unconsciousness. He ran at our lines, shouting, "Stand! Do not run from her! Fight!"

Percy began puffing up his chest with pride, the beginnings of bragging on the tip of his tongue that in a few year's time Tyson would be running those underwater forges-

But then a hellhound leaped on him, and Tyson and the hound went rolling away.

But Thalia had only paused for a moment with a proud smile before she'd continued and knocked the wind out of all their sails. Tyson was owed his revenge on this creature, but if that wasn't in the cards, what chance did Percy have if luck still wasn't as easy to bottle as those Greek flames?

Kampê landed on the Athena command tent, smashing it flat. I ran after her and found Annabeth at my side, keeping pace, her sword in her hand.

Had there been any kids in there? Magnus was to horrified to ask, to scared to wonder at Annabeth's nonreaction to some silver tarps, to terrified what his own reaction would be. Relief it wasn't her? A little less sorrow and a little less surprised because it was just another in a long list of kids already?

"This might be it," she said.

"Could be."

"Nice fighting with you, Seaweed Brain."

"Ditto."

"Those would have been cool famous last words," Jason smiled.

"And yours is probably going to be, wow," Percy rolled his eyes. He did not like thinking about Annabeth's last words in the slightest.

Together we leaped into the monster's path. Kampê hissed and sliced at us. I dodged, trying to distract her, while Annabeth went in for a strike, but the monster seemed able to fight with both hands independently.

"I was joking about playing with ambidextrous people earlier," Magnus groaned.

"This has nothing to do with jacks," Percy responded, "and you shouldn't exclude people Magnus."

"I'm going to throw something at you with both hands," he huffed.

She blocked Annabeth's sword, and Annabeth had to jump back to avoid the cloud of poison. Just being near the thing was like standing in an acid fog. My eyes burned. My lungs couldn't get enough air. I knew we couldn't stand our ground for more than a few seconds.

"Where's Clarisse with a cannon when you need her?" Thalia groaned.

"Probably boxing with a Dracena somewhere nearby," Percy groaned along, causing Will to flinch he had no clue how close to true that was.

"Come on!" I shouted. "We need help!"

But no help came. Everyone was either down, or fighting for their lives, or too scared to move forward. Three of Chiron's arrows sprouted from Kampê's chest, but she just roared louder.

Percy was smiling of all things as his life was in peril while looking around this room. He was still working his jaw in an agitated pattern not to scream and cause a massive wave of destruction not knowing how Annabeth made it through this, but there was a comfort of knowing backup would have come if it could. Those kids at Camp were barely trained more than him, yet even Magnus looked ready to throw his beanbag in this primordial monster's face instead of at Percy like he'd just threatened in a bid to help. Even if nobody managed to lend a hand, it was the assurance of knowing they would that was helping to ease the tension slightly.

"Now!" Annabeth said.

Together we charged, dodged the monster's slashes, got inside her guard, and almost...almost managed to stab Kampê in the chest, but a huge bear's head lashed out from the monster's waist, and we had to stumble backward to avoid getting bitten.

Slam!

My eyesight went black. The next thing I knew, Annnabeth and I were on the ground. The monster had its forelegs on our chests, holding us down.

Will clenched so tight in his skin it hurt, and yet he couldn't exhale. Gods had he had nightmares about this. He'd seen this snake woman from a distance and pissed himself, screaming and scaring Connor while he was trying to tend his concussion.

Nico was rubbing his lip thoughtfully as he shifted his weight closer to Will without thinking. She was one of those rare, only-ever-heard-of cards they'd supposedly only printed one of and was lost to time. He'd only read depictions of her online, now he'd missed his chance to see her in person and how Percy had taken her down.

Yet all that was on his mind right now was patting Will's knee and muttering distractedly about a good shedding spell he'd make sure was in Will's deck that would erase poison damage. He didn't know how else to help, but it seemed to do the trick. He didn't run out of the room screaming at any rate.

Hundreds of snakes slithered right above me, hissing like laughter. Kampê raised her green-tinged swords, and I knew Annabeth and I were out of options.

Percy didn't mean to hold his breath. He didn't mean to have the water receding towards him like the eye of the most massive storm to torment the earth. 'Annabeth's alive, she's alive!' The old chant began screaming in his head again, but how in the gods name she'd gotten out of this one he was terrified to guess. Unless he'd chopped Annabeth in half and Deadelus made her a robot body, he couldn't see a way out of this-

Then, behind me, something howled. A wall of darkness slammed into Kampê, sending the monster sideways. And Mrs. O'Leary was standing over us, snarling and snapping at Kampê.

"How much would it offend that old pig friend of yours if I tracked him down and made all the bacon from him for this good girl," Alex asked.

"I mean, Grover doesn't really need any more blessings from the wild, so maybe only normal vegetarian levels rather than godly offended," Percy shrugged like he'd know the difference anyways.

"Good girl!" said a familiar voice.

"Yes, yes she is," Percy agreed fondly. He didn't even care if Kronos himself had somehow joined the fight and was saying that for an entirely different reason. He owed her all the belly scratches and ear scratches and butt scratches she wanted for saving Annabeth's hide. Oh, and his.

Daedalus was fighting his way out of the Labyrinth, slashing down enemies left and right as he made his way toward us. Next to him was someone else—a familiar giant, much taller than the Laistrygonians, with a hundred rippling arms, each holding a huge chunk of rock.

"Briares!" Tyson cried in wonder.

"Finally!" Percy whooped, nearly bouncing out of his seat in excitement. "We get the cool reinforcements!"

"A hellhound, a robot, and a hundred hands walk onto a battlefield," Alex chuckled. "You've got to give me a minute to come up with a punchline to that one."

"I'm not waiting around for that, but do let us know," Thalia chuckled.

"Hail, little brother!" Briares bellowed. "Stand firm!"

And as Mrs. O'Leary leaped out of the way, the Hundred-Handed One launched a volley of boulders at Kampê. The rocks seemed to enlarge as they left Briares's hands. There were so many, it looked like half the earth had learned to fly.

BOOOOOM!

"The best boom in the history of that camp," Will savord every echoing crash in the trees, the smell of acid that had vanished on the breeze, the new pile of boulders no kid would have to fall into.

Where Kampê had stood a moment before was a mountain of boulders, almost as tall as Zeus's Fist. The only sign that the monster had ever existed were two green sword points sticking through the cracks.

"Coolest, trophy, ever!" Jason was practically salivating at the chance to make a plaque and shrine this thing. He'd probably trade his sight for x-ray vision in a few moments.

"Not exactly the highlight of my day, but it was up there," Percy nodded. There was still a tinge of sadness coupled with adrenaline in him that made him sound more lackluster.

A cheer went up from the campers, but our enemies weren't done yet.

One of the dracaenae yelled, "Ssssslay them! Kill them all or Kronossss will flay you alive!"

Apparently, that threat was more terrifying than we were. The giants surged forward in a last desperate attempt. One surprised Chiron with a glancing blow to the back legs, and he stumbled and fell. Six giants cried in glee and rushed forward.

Thalia read that through gritted teeth. Her frustration she wasn't there was evident in her every word, her every gesture of twisting the book this way and that in front of her face as if trying to shift her position into a fight.

"No!" I screamed, but I was too far away to help.

Then it happened. Grover opened his mouth, and the most horrible sound I'd ever heard came out. It was like a brass trumpet magnified a thousand times—the sound of pure fear.

Percy reached up and touched his ears to make sure they weren't bleeding. That little guinea pig in him had awoken with a vengeance, had heard that noise as its own.

And yet pride in what his best friend had done was all he overwhelmingly felt, then and now as the chaos of their side had trumped the monster's own.

As one, the forces of Kronos dropped their weapons and ran for their lives.

The giants trampled the dracaenae trying to get into the Labyrinth first. Telekhines and hellhounds and enemy half-bloods scrambled after them.

The tunnel rumbled shut, and the battle was over. The clearing was quiet except for the fires burning in the woods, and the cries of the wounded.

There was a poignant moment of silence where everybody kept expecting everybody else to break in and say something. Percy to be whooping with joy? Grover certainly had caused a stampede with another unknown satyr power apparently.

It was those last five words though that took away any jubilation or laughter that might have been had for another day won.

I helped Annabeth to her feet. We ran to Chiron.

"Are you all right?" I asked.

He was lying on his side, trying in vain to get up.

"Did we finally find it? The thing to win every battle?" Percy asked with honest interest. "It's got nothing to do with me, it's anybody threatening to put that centaur back in his wheelchair. Grover went nuts, Annabeth was willing to go on a mission with Tyson to save his job. I think we've cracked the code guys!"

"You will not be breaking Chiron's legs next time you want out of chores Percy," Thalia rolled her eyes.

"Dang it Thalia, let me have a win!" He huffed.

"How embarrassing," he muttered. "I think I will be fine. Fortunately, we do not shoot centaurs with broken... Ow! ...broken legs."

Alex couldn't help a very muffled snort of laughter she almost covered with a sneeze though. It really wasn't funny...it had just made her laugh.

"You need help," Annabeth said. "I'll get a medic from Apollo's cabin."

"No," Chiron insisted. "There are more serious injuries to attend to. Go! I am fine.

"You could at least offer him a hug," Magnus tried to say without a smirk.

"I'm surprised Annabeth hadn't tackled him the rest of the way to the ground to do so," Percy agreed.

"Would your magic god food work on him since he is the son of a Titan?" Magnus asked.

"Ah, but you answered your own question," Will shook his head. "Children of the Titans are different than children of the gods. I'm not sure it would have worked on Zoe or Calypso because it was made after their existence. I'm not positive of that, but I know Chiron refused to eat any. Said the other campers needed it more, but I suspect he thought it would be a waste on him."

"Psst," Alex said without the least hint of subtlety in a clear attempt to change that dower subject. "How do you x-ray a horse?"

"A very large, mobile machine, sends the images to a computer from what I understand," Will said, fascination bright in his eyes. Argus had taken him by bus, and they had no clue what the vet had seen through the Mist. Will hadn't even known about any of it until long after it was done while he helped prepare the shroud for Lee.

But, Grover...later we must talk about how you did that."

"That was amazing," I agreed.

Grover blushed. "I don't know where it came from."

Juniper hugged him fiercely. "I do!"

"Can she explain it to me?" Jason asked, raising his hand hopefully.

Thalia tugged his arm back down with an eye roll. He knew full well Percy would never get such an explanation right after it happened, it would probably break the cosmos.

Before she could say more, Tyson called, "Percy, come quick! It is Nico!"

Percy startled, and then looked over at him with a guilty apology on his tongue like he was sorry Nico wasn't his first thought every second of every page.

Nico gave him a casual shrug. He expected nothing else from Percy at this point. He was only ever on his mind when he was in danger, and he wasn't going to start throwing himself in the way of oncoming traffic just to keep his attention, so it didn't seem like much of an issue to him anymore.

There was smoke curling off his black clothes. His fingers were clenched, and the grass all around his body had turned yellow and died.

"Can you..." Thalia paused, not sure how to ask.

"Literally suck the life out of living things? Yeah," Nico nodded, swallowing his nerves.

"Yeah, no, that doesn't surprise me," Thalia shrugged. It seemed perfectly in line with his dad's domain. "Why do you use a sword if you can just do that though?"

"It's not a skill I go around showing off," Nic's voice was getting a little stiff with this continuing, he couldn't help but feel uncomfortable explaining himself. "It takes concentration to pull off that kind of energy and a lot of focus, that was the first time I did it, and it came from panic. My sword is just an easy extension of it."

Thalia nodded in understanding. She could always summon lightning without a weapon in hand, but it was easier with a conduit to focus on. Percy seemed unique in not needing one then.

Magnus was leaning very far back into his seat and Percy was giving him one of those strange, patented, is this guy serious looks. He'd definitely spooked some of them, but Nico didn't see it as any more dangerous or unnatural than what Percy could do. Thalia hadn't even begun to test the limit of her powers of what she might be able to pull off.

There wasn't judgment in the slightly awkward silence though, and that felt like the important thing to him.

I rolled him over as gently as I could and put my hand against his chest.

Nico couldn't help but blush in surprise though, his eyes betraying his gratitude Percy immediately smiled at. Percy hadn't flinched, freaked out about touching the dead kid, hadn't even hesitated to see if he was okay even if he was freaked out by his powers. Percy was still a hero in all the ways that mattered.

His heart was beating faintly. "Get some nectar!" I yelled.

One of the Ares campers hobbled over and handed me a canteen. I trickled some of the magic drink into Nico's mouth. He coughed and spluttered, but his eyelids fluttered open.

Will's wrist went limp, whatever tension had been left keeping his arm there falling off to instead rest fully on Nico's shoulder and curling there. A soft, protective gesture he didn't even seem aware of as he shifted his weight around and continued frowning at the book and holding Nico just that little closer.

Nico hadn't known his brother, he hadn't known any of the kids who died that day really. If this was the only comfort he could give Will for this memory than he was happy to be here for it no matter how embarrassing it now was looking back.

"Nico, what happened?" I asked. "Can you talk?"

He nodded weakly. "Never tried to summon so many before. I—I'll be fine."

We helped him sit up and gave him some more nectar. He blinked at all of us, like he was trying to remember who we were, and then he focused on someone behind me.

That had been a scary feeling, Nico's heart rattled in his chest now at the memory. The vague feeling of knowing them and unsure why, the way his mind had been clouded with exhaustion and their clothes had been so strange. He'd forgotten them, for a split second of consciousness. The thought had made him angry without being able to put a pin in why for months after this.

"Daedalus," he croaked.

"Yes, my boy," the inventor said. "I made a very bad mistake. I came to correct it."

Daedalus had a few scratches that were bleeding golden oil, but he looked better than most of us. Apparently his automaton body healed itself quickly.

Mrs. O'Leary loomed behind him, licking the wounds on her master's head so Daedalus's hair stood up funny.

"Is that old myth true too?" Magnus asked with exhaustion. "That dog's mouths are cleaner than toilets thing?"

"Definitely not," Will crinkled his nose up at the idea of offering a dogs bacteria infested tongue to an open wound. "Their saliva creates a kind of film on their wounds to help them, but it does us no good. She's just a sweet baby girl who wants to help." He finished in the same cooing tone as if hearing of a toddler trying to hold a stethoscope.

Briares stood next to him, surrounded by a group of awed campers and satyrs. He looked kind of bashful, but he was signing autographs on armor, shields, and T-shirts.

"So we did have a hundred pens available," Percy sighed in relief.

"And where's my signed t-shirt Percy?" Thalia sniffed. "I haven't gotten a single souvenir from any of your adventures!"

"Do you want to go to Waterland together Thalia?" Percy grinned. "I'm not sure you'd like the outcome any more than Annabeth."

"I like my chances," her grin was full of zeal. She'd still love to go there and not be gawked by anyone in what she wore, just hang out with friends for a day like only the privileged could manage.

"I found the Hundred-Handed One as I came through the maze," Daedalus explained. "It seems he had the same idea, to come help, but he was lost. And so we fell in together. We both came to make amends."

"Yay!" Tyson jumped up and down. "Briares! I knew you would come!"

"I did not know," the Hundred-Handed One said. "But you reminded me who I am, Cyclops. You are the hero."

Tyson blushed, but I patted him on the back. "I knew that a long time ago," I said.

"I think you should win a Best Big Brother award just for that," Jason grinned.

Percy blushed just a bit and shrugged, "for stating the obvious? Gods, I'd get all kinds of awards for once if that's the case."

"But, Daedalus...the Titan army is still down there. Even without the string, they'll be back. They'll find a way sooner or later, with Kronos leading them."

Magnus looked a little confused why Percy was demanding this of Daedalus, he'd had more than one horrific thought about that place being under no one's control, but Thalia got it. Percy always had a tendency to blurt out what was on his mind, he probably thought of Deadauls as an expert who would have some solution he'd just been withholding until now.

Daedalus sheathed his sword. "You are right. As long as the Labyrinth is here, your enemies can use it.

"I'm imagining Kronos being at least a bit weary if Grover can just yell at them to get out though," Alex offered, regardless of the results, it was just funny to say.

"You're right," Percy nodded seriously, "but then we'd have to put up a guard around Grover twenty-four-seven and it might cause some strain with Juniper. I think whatever this guy has planned might be better in the long run."

"A sacrifice Daedalus more than owes," Jason murmured with a hollow voice. What he'd done was wrong, no one should cheat death. The consequences were beyond mortal comprehension. His skin tingled unpleasantly at the thought, and he swallowed whatever feeling that was trying to bubble up.

Which is why the Labyrinth cannot continue."

Annabeth stared at him. "But you said the Labyrinth is tied to your life force! As long as you're alive—"

"Yes, my young architect," Daedalus agreed. "When I die, the Labyrinth will die as well. And so I have a present for you."

"Who needs homeless Santa when you've got the people in Percy's life whipping out gifts once a year," Alex said. She had long wanted to meet Annabeth, Magnus's cousin, the genius girl whose plans everyone had such instant faith in. Now here was yet another reason, just to get her own peek at whatever this was going to be!

He slung a leather satchel off his back, unzipped it, and produced a sleek silver laptop computer—one of the ones I'd seen in the workshop. On the lid was the blue symbol.

"My work is here," he said. "It's all I managed to save from the fire. Notes on projects I never started. Some of my favorite designs. I couldn't develop these over the last few millennia. I did not dare reveal my work to the mortal world. But perhaps you will find it interesting."

He handed the computer to Annabeth, who stared at it like it was solid gold. "You're giving me this? But this is priceless! This is worth...I don't even know how much!"

Magnus couldn't begin to comprehend how much that must be worth to her. It often made him uncomfortable, how much 'stuff' she had. Her cap, her knife, two or three homes, now a laptop with more knowledge packed into it than possibly the internet itself. Her life was so different from his in every possible way he felt like an alien in comparison right now. Maybe he was crazy for sticking around in here with the vague hope she'd want something to do with him when she had all she'd ever wanted.

"Small compensation for the way I have acted," Daedalus said. "You were right, Annabeth, about children of Athena. We should be wise, and I was not.

"Hard to be too brilliant when you're afraid," Will sounded plenty sympathetic to his cause. Daedalus had done some horrible things, yes, but nobody could claim to have lived a perfect life. His had just been longer than most, his mistakes had amounted to more years, but whatever his punishment; Will hoped he didn't suffer some eternal pain for the good he'd done too. It had to be some kind of balance.

He glanced at Nico, unsure if he knew the answer, but secure that he could ask and Nico might even be happy to find out for him.

Someday you will be a greater architect than I ever was. Take my ideas and improve them. It is the least I can do before I pass on."

"Whoa," I said. "Pass on? But you can't just kill yourself. That's wrong."

"You would not be the first person I think to give PSA advice, and yet here we are," Thalia struggled to give him a good smile for that one. He knew as well as she did self-sacrifice, but that didn't make it easy to see others using it.

"One of those awareness weeks in school I always somehow managed to miss and yet never needed," Percy agreed, his stomach squeezing painfully at what he might be about to remember.

He shook his head. "Not as wrong as hiding from my crimes for two thousand years. Genius does not excuse evil, Percy. My time has come. I must face my punishment."

"You won't get a fair trial," Annabeth said. "The spirit of Minos sits in judgment—"

"I will take what comes," he said. "And trust in the justice of the Underworld, such as it is. That is all we can do, isn't it?"

He looked straight at Nico, and Nico's face darkened.

"Yes," he said.

Nico didn't appreciate being tested, having his morals questioned, having everyone look to him first when death was the subject. Yet, this was entirely his fault. He had, even for the briefest time, the intention to murder someone. Just because he hadn't gone through with it didn't entirely absolve him...but who was he to go to for absolution? His dad? Ha!

Deadelus seemed to have forgiven him, in the way he spoke to Nico. He'd done a lot of unquestionable good with his powers this day. Enough he hoped his mother and sister would still be able to be happy with him to balance out what had started this path.

"Will you take my soul for ransom, then?" Daedalus asked. "You could use it to reclaim your sister."

"No," Nico said. "I will help you release your spirit. But Bianca has passed. She must stay where she is."

Those words had pierced something in Percy at the time he'd been to involved with everything else to deal with, but he felt them full force now as he saw Nico still studying his boots and taking deep breaths, probably still trying to not cry over there. Percy's mom had died and he'd gone to hell and back to rescue her. If he could have done the same for Bianca without having to sacrifice somebody else he would.

There were Greek stories about such a thing, he knew that somewhere in his mind. Lovers were usually the point of those, but who says one couldn't do that for family?

Nico must have looked into those though. If there were any way to bring her back without hurting someone, he was sure Nico had looked into those first, and Percy wasn't going to presume to suggest otherwise.

Daedalus nodded. "Well done, son of Hades. You are becoming wise."

Nico grumbled and scoffed and didn't really appreciate the compliment right now. It was wise to be forced into making the decision to be alone rather than murdering someone? That was a more obvious choice, not wise.

Will whistled gently beside him, saying, "wow, I can't imagine the smartest guy who possibly ever lived calling me wise. For doing something even he avoided."

"Mmm, I guess," Nico sighed. It sounded slightly better when put like that, and he found himself smiling Will had such a unique talent of putting a good spin on anything.

Then he turned toward me. "One last favor, Percy Jackson. I cannot leave Mrs. O'Leary alone. And she has no desire to return to the Underworld. Will you care for her?"

Percy's mind made some pretty large glitches trying to process walking her down the street and how many garbage bags Deadulus went through picking up after her...which was cut off very loudly by Alex exclaiming, "You got to keep her!"

"I, guess so," Percy found himself smiling despite what a horrible idea it sounded like the moment he thought it. He had always wanted a dog.

...who whimpered pitifully, still licking Daedalus's hair.

"She needs hugs!" Magnus couldn't bring himself to have a trace of mocking in that. He probably would have done it himself as much as the idea of her had grown on him, him!

"Do you need a hug Magnus?" Alex asked him, without enough sarcasm in her voice to make his blood pressure skyrocket as he just looked at her blankly.

Mercifully, Thalia wasn't sitting around waiting for all of them to get their tongues untied.

...my mom's apartment wouldn't allow dogs, especially dogs bigger than the apartment, but I said, "Yeah. Of course I will."

"You have a dragon at your camp, and your first thought is to take her home?" Alex derailed at once like nothing had happened. "I bet they're going to love playing together across the strawberry fields!"

"Good point," Percy said fairly. He'd been way to worried about her knocking down a city bus chasing a stray cat to think past that.

"Then I am ready to see my son...and Perdix," he said. "I must tell them how sorry I am."

Annabeth had tears in her eyes.

Daedalus turned toward Nico, who drew his sword. At first I was afraid Nico would kill the old inventor, but he simply said, "Your time is long since come. Be released and rest."

The words had just come naturally to mind, though it was a ritual he'd never performed before this. Nico had felt the power of it flow through him, a tug in his gut, a source he'd always felt connected to. He'd never questioned Percy's descriptions of using his own abilities, the innateness of learning to walk and talk came just as naturally as discovering what you were capable of given the right circumstances.

A smile of relief spread across Daedalus's face. He froze like a statue. His skin turned transparent, revealing the bronze gears and machinery whirring inside his body. Then the statue turned to gray ash and disintegrated.

He hadn't left a 'trophy' behind, Jason realized. He might have vanished like a monster, but his soul was destined for more than Tartarus. He would not try to sneak past for rebirth. He was merely a very, very intelligent mortal man who had finally learned his lesson.

Mrs. O'Leary howled. I patted her head, trying to comfort her as best I could. The earth rumbled—an earthquake that could probably be felt in every major city across the country—as the ancient Labyrinth collapsed.

Nico winced at the lack of a sharp noise in his ears from that. In some dull area of his mind he'd been surprised. There had been no other lost souls in the Labyrinth, Kronos must have allocated all of his forces into doing this or had them elsewhere. No other lost kids had stumbled in there and died because of his act, and now, none ever would again. He really wanted to believe something he'd done with his powers had done more good than harm, for once.

Somewhere, I hoped, the remains of the Titan's strike force had been buried.

I looked around at the carnage in the clearing, and the weary faces of my friends.

"Come on," I told them. "We have work to do."

Thalia closed the book with a sense of finality, even though there was obviously a few more pages left. She looked from it to Nico with a guilty sense of finally knowing just a bit more about him. He had only ever been another half-blood kid to her, nobody on her radar really before they were trapped in the underworld, and then it was just a quest to survive. She'd never taken the time to get to know him, a decision that had mostly been out of her hands up until now between everything else going on in her own life.

She'd never had the same sense of loneliness he'd felt, she'd always had Jason, then Luke, and now Annabeth in her life when she needed them most. Yet Nico had been the one to find her brother after all this time, and she'd known virtually nothing about Nico except his sister's name. Maybe if she had taken the time to get to know him like she had Percy she could have even been kept in the loop.

It was something she could at least make an attempt to correct as she smiled at him and offered the book like she had plenty of times before, but asked first, "you okay to keep going?"

"Mmm, I suppose," Nico sounded far from enthusiastic. It definitely felt like a curse that the next chapter would be filled to the brim with lists of names of all the kids Will used to know that he'd be the one reading about, of course.

To skip or ask to be passed over felt like going backwards though. Everybody read over uncomfortable stuff and he didn't want to be the exception.

Still, he thanked Thalia as he took the book from her and flipped to the next chapter, and only then felt Will squeeze his arm where his hand had still been resting, never pulled away. He probably wasn't the best judge to know otherwise, but it felt supportive, and kind, as he read of the next miserable experience.

[xiaoluclair]

20 chalex. 😁😙

20. laughing into the kiss // [ rating: G ]

There is a strip of Hubba Bubba between Charles’s fingers that Alex knows isn’t his because Charles would take one look at Sweet & Sassy Cherry and say, how can a cherry be sassy?

Alex is about to nudge him under the table, make an unambiguous wiggle of his eyebrows that might perceive as a mating dance to ask where he got it. Only: “Wrap,” announces Jin right into his ears, pats Alex once on the shoulder. Cue the scrape of metal chairs on hard floor, Nirei’s nose wrinkling, a shout as Fred remembers the headphones on his head when the wire recoils him back to the monitor.

When Alex looks back, the Hubba Bubba is gone; Charles is chewing. Stops when Nyck bumps into his shoulder, starts talking to him and Alex can lip read: sector three, turning apex, almond chainsaw.

They’re all in the same car back to the hotel, two rooms stacked one atop the other. Alex does what he did yesterday and the day before: talks, laughs. Gives Nyck a noogie on the hard tusk of his skull. Steals Nirei’s phone to watch PIXAR Shorts with Charles’s chin hovering over his shoulder, cherry happiness in his ear.

They split in the elevator, Nyck and Nirei leaving Alex and Charles. In the few seconds it takes for the LEDs to change from six to seven, Alex has aquired a small, thumb–sized bruise on his elbow. Charles, ever oblivious, continues to pop a pale pink bubble around the bright of his tongue.

“I am thinking,” he says ponderingly as Alex unlocks their door with a tap of the keycard, slips it into his back pocket, “we should go to Old Zealand after I win.”

“All bark no bite,” replies Alex with a grin. “Also, Old Zealand? Mate, are you tripping?”

Charles, paused in front of him suitcase, glances over his shoulder for a moment. Meets Alex’s eyes with his mouth slightly shiny between his teeth before turning back around. “People always talk about New Zealand,” he says flippantly, pulling off his hoodie, polo in the odd way he does: head halfway out first, then pulling it the rest of the way from the bottom, horrendously endearing. “But no one ever says Old Zealand, and I think we should go.”

Alex, shrugging on his own sweats as the moles on Charles’s back are swallowed by a Tee, laughs. “Just to check, you want to go to Old Zealand because you’ve never heard a peep about it in your life?”

“Yes. I think it would be fun. There could be these, um.” His brow furrows, hand twists after dropping his clothes into a pile just to the side of his suitcase — where they are meant to be. Filip will have a fun time glaring them down tomorrow. “How do you say, old, like, rocks.”

Familiar with the situation, Alex giggles as he flops to his bed. “Fossils?”

Charles snaps his fingers. Brightens with it, eyes on Alex as he sits on the edge of the mattress by his knee, completely disregards the other bed in the room. To be fair, Alex isn’t exactly giving it much attention either. “Yes, fossils! We could find a dinosaur. You know people get famous because of dinosaur bones.”

Alex, grinning, offers, “What about ghosts? Haunted houses? Malicious spirits? There must be a reason folks don’t chat the place up, right?”

“There will not be ghosts,” waves off Charles, then hesitates, “will there?” and his bubble deflates timidly with it.

“There could be,” continues Alex, leg moving until his bone could dig into the flesh of Charles’s thigh where his black shorts have ridden up. “Big scary ghosts that really want to try French for dinner. Zoo animal ghosts.”

Charles sours, “I am not French,” but Alex is already grinning, shaking his head: predictable, easy. “I am Monegasque,” presses on Charles, but he is starting to smile now too, mouth slipping into it like the syrup sliding down Alex’s throat, “and there are not zoo animal ghosts in Old York, Alex.”

“There are!” says Alex. He is not sure when it begins, but suddenly his hands are half out and Charles is between them, pinching his giggles like thumbs round a candle wick. He tastes like: pink sugar, coarse sand, cotton candy.

Charles pulls away first, eyes wide. Mouth opens and out falls his wad of gum, right onto Alex’s chin, sticky with saliva, cold and wet down his neck. “Ew, ew,” says Alex, batting it off, half a shriek in his throat that comes out like a cackle. Charles scrambles for it, shoving it back into his mouth like a reflex. His fingers glisten with spit after, loud in the silence.

Alex starts to laugh. His eyes close with it, fizzy cola under his ribs. Charles is the black in the red of his blood, heat under his hands, and soon, he starts to shake too until they’re both silly with it. His arms must hurt, couldn’t not. But when Alex blinks open again he’s still there, head hung against Alex’s neck, limbs out and bent, slightly awkward around his body.

Alex taps him on the hip. “Come on,” he says, goads, “When I win the championship—” Charles snorts against his nose, “you can come to Old Zealand with me. Just in case they like super sexy British–Thai food and I need a guardian.”

“Keep dreaming, Albon,” says Charles, and he laughs again, hardly stopped. Alex leans up into him, is tugged maybe. He tastes like: pink sugar, coarse sand, cotton candy. He tastes like: joy.

[chickwiththepurpleguitar]

ok bobby & anyone clothes sharing. please. I will cry.

I had FUN WITH THIS, my friend!!! Enjoy :) featuring Evan the acquaintance from molars lol. Also Alex’s grocery store joke is a reference to @julies-butterflies tags on this post. Also, don’t ask me when or in what universe this takes place, or where Luke and Bobby are in their relationship cause I couldn’t tell you lol. 

--

It’s actually really annoying, because Bobby has objectively terrible taste in clothes.

And, okay, okay, Luke knows he’s one to talk, with his rotating slew of cutoffs and the same chains he wears on his pants every day and the sleeveless hoodie that literally made Alex cry the first time he saw Luke wearing it.

But Bobby—Bobby wears stripes. And suspenders. And leather, but like, not in any of the cool places. Bobby’s clothes are dumb. Luke hates Bobby’s clothes.

Or, at least, that’s what Luke has to tell himself to explain the sour burning that erupts in his chest when Reggie comes into the studio wearing a pair of Bobby’s suspenders.

“What are you wearing?” Luke demands, angrily putting his guitar aside. His voice comes out a little too loud, and angrier than he meant it to. Alex gives him a little side-eyed glance from behind his drums.

If Reggie notices, he doesn’t show it, just looks down at himself. “Uh… my black ripped jeans and my gray shirt and my—” 

“The suspenders, Reginald,” Luke growls through gritted teeth. “What’s with the suspenders?”

“Oh!” Reggie stretches them with his thumbs, grinning. “They’re Bobby’s!”

“His pants were falling down,” Bobby says, coming through the door behind him. “Dumbass refuses to wear a belt, but I refuse to be mooned in the middle of a bass solo. Now, are we rehearsing or what?”

Luke spends the whole rehearsal glaring at the floor so that he won’t glare at either Bobby or Reggie, cause it’s not their faults, it’s just those dumb suspenders!

Though he’s not really sure what about them exactly makes him so mad. 

A week and a half later, Luke’s almost managed to forget about the suspenders incident entirely (and Reggie’s started wearing a belt to rehearsal). They’re gathered in the studio, watching Alex try on every piece of clothing he owns because some kid at school asked him to study with him and Alex doesn’t know what to wear.

“I don’t even know if it’s a date,” Alex shouts from the bathroom. “What do you wear on a maybe but probably not a date?”

Luke rolls his eyes. They’ve been at this for an hour. Luke didn’t even know Alex owned this many clothes. Next to him on the couch, Bobby has Luke’s bike wheels-up on his lap, and he’s fiddling with the chain with some kind of pliers. On the other side of him, Reggie’s got his headphones in, bopping along to some terrible country tape on Bobby’s Walkman. So they’re no help.

Luke sighs, rolls his eyes again, and calls out, “Come on, Alex, just pick something! He’s not gonna care!”

“And what if it is a date?” Alex continues, ignoring Luke completely. “I don’t know what to wear on a date. I’ve never even been on a date!”

“Hey!” Luke squawks, offended.

Alex, shirtless, sticks his head out the bathroom door to give him a Look. “Luke, your idea of a date was taking me to the snack aisle of Ralph’s.”

“They’ve got the best fruit snacks, what do you want me to tell you?”

“You wouldn’t let me buy any.”

“Those things are expensive! I don’t have that kinda money!”

“Oh my god, you guys, shut up.” Bobby places Luke’s bike on the floor and gets to his feet, pointing his pliers at Alex. “I’ve got just the thing.”

Twenty minutes later, Alex emerges from the bathroom in his nicest pants, a pale yellow t-shirt, and Bobby’s black leather vest.

Luke’s jaw drops. His stomach coils. Reggie takes his headphones out to compliment Alex’s new look, and Alex is grinning shyly, and Bobby’s smirking proudly, but Luke just slumps back into the couch cushions and crosses his arms and pouts and mutters, “Well, now he’s just gonna think you look stupid.”

But no one listens to him.

“Why do you get so upset when other people wear Bobby’s clothes?” Alex asks him the next night after he returns from his successful study (but definitely not a) date.

Luke stammers unintelligibly for a few moments, eventually spits out, “I get upset when Bobby wears Bobby’s clothes. They’re dumb clothes!”

He doesn’t think Alex believes him, but he also doesn’t push it.

But then, three days after that, this kid Evan in Bobby’s English class stops by the garage after school and says, “Hey, man, you said I could—” and Bobby immediately goes, “Oh, yeah, here,” and hands the guy a bracelet right off his own wrist!

Behind them, guitar in hand, ready to rehearse, Luke fumes so much he can’t help but shout, “Oh, come on!”

That night, he climbs through Bobby’s window without waiting to be invited and says, “How come you give everyone your clothes but me?”

Bobby stares at him a moment, blinks, says, “You’re such a dumbass,” and goes over to his dresser. He pulls it open to reveal an entire drawer filled with t-shirts, beanies, and other items of clothing—Luke’s clothing. “I don’t bother giving you my clothes cause you’re always giving me yours! I thought that’s what you wanted, dude!”

“Oh.” Luke frowns. He doesn’t even remember giving Bobby half this stuff. “Well. The least you could do is wear them sometime.”

The next day, Bobby enters the studio in a sleeveless Weezer shirt and tosses a Soundgarden hoodie into Luke’s lap. Luke burrows into it like an eager puppy, not caring that it has sleeves because it’s warm and soft and smells faintly of Bobby’s cologne.

He spends the whole rehearsal grinning and staring at Bobby’s muscular arms, and Alex and Reggie roll their eyes and exchange amused looks over Luke’s head, but Luke’s much too happy to care.

And maybe Bobby’s clothes aren’t so bad. 

--

Taglist: @whenweremarried @sunsethimb0s @pink-flame @penguin0613 @fighttoshine @sunsetcurvecuddles @nickalicious @reggiescrookedteeth @brightattheorpheum @queenmolina @spidergirl0325 @jandthephantoms @lexilucacia @sapphossidechick @acnhaddict @cest-la-vie-de-la-lee @sunset-bobby @lenacarstairspotterstewart @moreflowersthanweeds @conversationaltreestump @burntchromas @shellydominique 

[defultuser]

britverse masterpost aka julie and the mandem

luke 

yorkshire

lowkey talented but some undiagnosed adhd plus lack of care for anything thats not music means no one notices.

canon style but the cut off hoodie make many frequent appearances. aways trying to take his blaser off even though teachers don’t let him 

spent some time working at maccies and subway but keeps applying to new places try new things 

came out when reg hit him with a saucepan and he called it “pan on pan crime”

reggie 

a roadman

could be smart but not really trying, just at school to see friends

enemies to lovers with bobby. 

works at pets at home

accidentally came out by posting a bbc news article about something lgbt on his public insta rather than his anonymous one

bobby 

irish and/or chav

 gifted burnout kid already even though its only year ten. 

starts kinda chav style slowly evolves into whatever the hell he wants - slightly dark academia/ canon style.

works at toys r us / an off brand toys r us. he’s the giraffe 

came out by correcting a museum’s lgbt exhibit forgetting he was on a school trip and not out

alex

RP

parents are rich tory aholes but hes mid rebellion at the moment so hanging out with all the kinds of people they hate, not so subtle crush on willie.

 style is a mishmash of those around him, it takes him a while to get comfortable to wear pink but when he does he loves it. 

was made to apply for leadership by his parents, does not do his job (i don’t know what i’m doing how am i meant to help the year 7′s)

works at waitrose 

came out during his gcse drama cause he forgot his lines and made a joke about liking Willie (person and Brit meaning)

they all have a complicated relationship with the school uniform. [x] [x] 

flynn 

manchester

enemies to lovers with carrie, plays sport to compete (read flirt) with carrie 

applyed for leadership to compete with carrie is now responsible for charity events of something like that.

willie 

(did we agree birmingham) 

art kid

runs a tuck shop from his bag to compete with caleb

is aware of alex’s crush (and if he starts helping in the drama department no says anything about it)  

always covered in paint, volunteers at primary school to teach crafts after school

trying his best to set up a GSA at the school (mixed results so far)

julie 

american (it does not matter that this takes place in the uk we don’t replace madison) 

luke pisses her off in every class thats not music - she actually likes him in those classes

in on all the drama, gossips with willie during their shared art class about it, 

teachers favorite, although they wish she’d find better friends than the phantoms. 

prefect, head of house.

volunteers at charity shops 

carrie 

lowkey essex girl  

netball girl, centre and head of the team

always competing with flynn

is going to make the most out of high school. 

skirt rolled as high as she can get it, always in her netball hoodie.

 student leadership sports role (like sports captain or whatever you’d called it)

helps at her dad cricket club and is passive agressive to the rude customers 

nick

west country

kinda popular but nice

plays a sport and is good (either cricket, badminton or football) 

super smart so all the teachers love him. 

was a prefect maybe even head boy.

kayla

art student buddy with willie but she doesn’t care for the rest of the gossip, but she finds flynn and carries flirting rather entertaining. 

southern coastal town/city cornwall/dorset way (personal headcanon but no one has said otherwise yet)

works at a care home/ teaching workouts to old people 

trevor 

popular singer

always away for work so never sees his kids (bobby and carrie)

has a hot tub and lets the kids host parties at theirs. 

caleb

(did we agree scottish)

runs the corner store from which hes banned the whole group

also works at the hgc (now a spoons), and plays accordion

 (hes somehow everywhere always annoyed at the phantoms)

shops at waitrose and bullies the staff while he does 

britverse 

the phantoms busk on the local high street, definitely get in trouble more than once.  

julie flynns and alex’s drama teacher is definitely queer and everyones favorite teacher, 

the bright lighting guy is a tech drama student, while the kid from the orpheum is an alevel drama student that helps in their class,

they all did dofe.  

all help at open evening to various degrees of success. 

these are the classes they took.  

non-uniform  day is about as successful as you’d expect and is always for the same few charities. 

They meet as following : 

As kids - Julie meets carrie and bobby  primary school - bobby meets Luke, Julie and carrie at a different school meet Flynn  Year 6 (camping trip) - Julie/flynn fall out with carrie, all meet Luke  Year 7 - carrie meets Kayla, Luke meets reggie  Year 8- reggie falls in with the wrong crowd but Luke saves him - he still acts like a roadman though from his time with them  Year 9 - bobby joins (after going to a different school for two years) Alex joins and instantly gets accepted by the guys  Year 10 - willie joins the school, carrie and Julie share a music class and reform friendship, willex pining for the whole year after meeting in town.  Year 11 - one big friend group

Edits

roadman reggie artwork

boggie bi flag

stupid deaths

playlist

britverse boggie pride icons

SMAU’s

@queenmolina ‘s smau + sequel

@latinposeidon ‘s character profiles 

the performance part 1 and 2

accidental coming outs

the aftermath part 1 and 2

netball captains are assholes 

julie vs british slang

@defultuser’s open day part 1 2 3 

the investigation of caleb part 1 2 3 

@defultuser and @thegirlfulloffandoms ‘s charity event 

Fics 

coursework

britgate boggie init? 

bobby’s a vampire

britgate fic init

I've Got Friends on the Other Side (The Other Side Being The UK)

St Cuthbert's charity chaos

britgate boggie fic

britgate team: @queenmolina @apples-bees @sapphicflynn @lesducks @latinposeidon @faetalflaw @thegirlfulloffandoms @defultuser @spaceacekid

[awanderingdeal]

Rain on me

A very quick O’Darwin piece. 

CW: references to getting sick (like a cold, nothing major), couple of food and drink references.

Rating: T (there’s a couple of very minor sexual references)

Thanks to @Lumosinlove for these characters and the sweater weather universe.

“Look what I found out in the rain!” Kasey called out, making Natalie jump. She hadn’t been expecting him back so soon. It seemed like it had only been minutes since he’d left to go to the supermarket. A quick glance at her phone told her that her intuition was correct. 

“Kase? What are you doing back already?” Natalie shouted back, dropping a bookmark into the page she was on, before dragging herself from under the cocoon of blankets that she had created on the sofa. She had barely made it a few steps when Kasey appeared in the doorway and he wasn’t alone.

“Alex!” Natalie cried, unable to contain her excitement. Distracted by her surprise, it took her a second to register his dishevelled appearance. 

Alex was soaked from head to toe, red hair plastered against his face and skin pink with the cold. His clothes clung to him, highlighting his figure in a way that usually would have pleased Natalie, but right now all she could think about was how cold he must be. It was freezing outside. 

“Get those clothes off, I’m going to go grab you some towels,” Kasey said, pressing a kiss to Alex’s cheek. 

“Alright, Winter. Can I get into the apartment before you start taking my clothes off?” Alex laughed, sweeping his hair off his face and sending droplets everywhere. 

“Is somebody going to tell me what is going on?” Natalie asked, her eyes darting between her partners. “As glad as I am to see you, you’re not meant to be here until next week.” Her eyes raked over Alex once more, “and why do you look like somebody attempted to drown you?”

“I was trying to surprise you,” Alex said, blushing a little. “But I forgot my fecking charger so my phone died. Long story short, your concierge is an ass and I got kicked out. Luckily, Kase came down and rescued me so I was only out there for about half an hour.”

“Half an hour!” Natalie shrieked. “Urgh, that man is always so butthurt. He better hope he’s not working the next time I have to go down there,” she said with a scoff. “Baby, you’re going to get sick.”

“I’ll be fine,” Alex rebutted, starting to peel off his wet clothes with a grimace. 

Kasey came back, his arms loaded with towels and dry clothes, and they set to work on making Alex dry. The red head whined and groaned as his hair was ruffled and a fresh hoodie pulled over his head, but Natalie was pretty sure that really he was loving the attention. 

“Right,” Natalie declared once they were finished, “you sit on the sofa. I’m going to make hot chocolate. We need to get you warm.” She shoved Alex in the right direction before gathering his wet things and heading off towards the kitchen. “Hey, wait up,” she said, turning on her heel and darting back over to him. “I love you and I’m so happy you’re here.” she grinned, pecking Alex’s cheek with her lips before walking off again. 

Her boyfriend’s were loud and the apartment was open plan, so despite its vast size, Natalie could still hear Kasey and Alex from where she was making their drinks. Just hearing their easy banter made her smile. 

“Hey, this isn’t mine,” Natalie heard Alex say suddenly. She looked up to see him tugging at the Rangers hoodie that they had dressed him in earlier. “It took you this long to notice” Kasey retorted and although Natalie had re-focused her attention on stirring the melting chunks of chocolate she could picture his raised eyebrow.

“Smells like you,” Alex said happily and Natalie looked up in time to see him nuzzling it against his face. She loved hearing about Alex’s antics down in Florida and she would never ask him to leave the life he had strived so hard to build there, but sometimes she wished  she got to come home to this every day. She shoved the thought to the back of her mind, and poured the creamy, chocolatey mixture into three mugs. They had painted them on their first official date a few years back, not long after that night when they had talked for hours and hours about their feelings. Teasing apart years of wanting and coming up with a plan that worked for the three of them. 

“I like seeing you in my clothes, sue me,” Kasey said, shoving Alex lightly in the shoulder before curling back into his side. 

“You’d be a lot less scary on the ice if everybody knew you were a giant softie behind that glare,” Alex teased. 

“If I’m not scary, then what’s your excuse for not being able to score past me,” Kasey said, reaching out to take one of the mugs from Natalie.

“Well, that’s obvious. You’re just too hot for me to handle,” Alex laughed, lifting his head and puckering his lips. Natalie obliged and met them with her own before pressing a mug into his hands.

“You can’t even see my face on the ice!” Kasey said, flicking Alex lightly on the forehead. The movement made Alex’s drink spill over the sides of his mug. 

“Boys,” Natalie said. “Ruin my favourite blanket and I’m going to send both of you to go and tell Lily that I need a new one crocheting.” 

“He started it,” Alex grumbled.

“You’re both children,” Natalie replied, settling down on the other side of Alex. “Drink,” she instructed, pressing in close to him. “I’ll get on to the building manager about that third key for you, tomorrow. If I’d have known you were going to be around sooner then I’d have made sure it was ready. I swear if you get sick, I’m going to kick that guy’s ass.”

“Aww,” Alex grinned, taking a long sip and sighing as the warm liquid slipped down his throat. “You do love me.”

“It’s not entirely selfless,” Natalie smirked, as Alex rested his head on her shoulder. Kasey had put his mug down and shifted so that he was lying in Alex’s lap, his eyes slowly closing. Just as Natalie was expecting to hear his soft snores, his eyes shot open. 

“I didn’t get the salmon,” he whined. 

Natalie and Alex looked at each before bursting into laughter. Natalie patted Kasey on the head. “Ssh, lie back down. I’m sure we can find something else to eat for dinner,” she soothed, and Kasey curled back into his sleeping position as if nothing had happened. 

Alex might not have stayed over at this new apartment yet, but his presence could already be felt throughout it. His clothes hung in the wardrobe; he was in the furniture that he had helped build; his favourite brand of coffee was in the cupboard, and his toiletries littered the bathroom counter. Still, Natalie’s favourite sign of Alex was his weight in her arms. Eventually they’d have to get up, but for now she basked in the warmth of her two men, content in the knowledge that for the next few days they were all hers.

[phantom-curve]

happy second birthday!! for the prompt list, how about number 8 and willex? au can be totally up to you!

Thank you! This one got away from me a bit, but I thoroughly enjoyed writing it and I hope you enjoy reading it!! Set in the gimme a chance AU, from before that fic starts, I give you flustered, protective Alex, hot for his boyfriend Willie, and some extra brown-haired himbos thrown in for fun.

#8: shielding the other one with their body (Rated T for language)

When Willie received the text from Alex inviting him to come watch his band practice, he thought it would be a nice, lowkey way of meeting the other boys that made up Alex’s family. They’d been dating for a few months now, ever since he had accidentally run Alex over while skateboarding down Hollywood Boulevard (not his finest moment, but hey, he got the guy in the end, right?), and he had heard plenty of stories about Luke and Reggie and the various shenanigans that they got up to on a near constant basis. Alex always tried to sound annoyed when he talked about his best friends and their ridiculous antics, but there was an undercurrent of true affection that underscored all his stories and told Willie how much he truly cared for them. He had been itching to meet them for a while now, but if there was one thing he had learned early on about Alex, it was that the drummer needed things to happen on his own timeline and not a moment sooner. Willie didn’t fully understand the need for a strict schedule and complete understanding of every situation, but if it made Alex happy, it made him happy. He was more than willing to go with whatever flow Alex directed.

What he was not expecting was to walk into a veritable war zone upon entering the studio the band rented out for practice.

Instruments were scattered about the space as if they had been dropped exactly where each boy had originally been standing, no regard for the guitar stands spaced out along the wall. One of the hi-hats on Alex’s drum set was overturned, the small stool he sat on to play shoved far away from the set, like Alex had stood in a hurry and not bothered to roll it back into place. There was a suspicious puddle near an open doorway at the back of the space. Not a single one of the Sunset Curve boys was inside. Willie entered cautiously, resetting Alex’s stool and righting the hi-hat. Loud yells sounded from outside, and slowly Willie made his way to the open door.

There was a small fenced in yard behind the studio, a few bicycles stacked and locked together along the outside wall. And, spread out across the yard, three 18-year-old boys with water guns pointed at each other, their hair and clothes absolutely soaked. The two brunettes were laughing, happy smiles stretched across their faces as they sprayed Willie’s boyfriend in a joint attack.

“You guys are such fucking children!” Alex was screeching, hands over his head in a pitiful attempt at shielding himself. “I told you Willie was coming by today; can’t you be normal for once?!”

“Awh, c’mon Lex!” The guy in a cut-off muscle tee lowered his water gun, grinning as he moved forward to shake his head like a dog, flinging water droplets in a wide arc. “It’s way too fuckin hot to play today. Live a little!”

Alex looked up as the other boy in a black tank top also lowered his weapon. Glaring, he whipped off his soggy light pink hoodie and threw it in the direction of the other two, smacking the first one right across the face with a loud, wet slap.

Willie’s mouth went dry. Alex was wearing a pale blue t-shirt, and the water from their fight had clearly soaked all the way through his hoodie. The light material clung to his chest and arms like it was painted on, the sight more beautiful than anything Willie had ever seen before. With his blonde hair flopping over his face, muscles glistening in the afternoon sun, Alex looked like an angel that had just emerged from the sea. Willie let himself appreciate the sight for a long moment before clearing his throat.

“Don’t stop on my account, Hotdog. Looks like you needed to cool off a bit.”

He grinned, loving the flustered way Alex suddenly stood fully at attention, running his hands through his wet hair and blessing Willie with a small peek at his toned stomach as his shirt rode up just a bit.

“Willie! Hi!”

The other two boys let out a chorus of oooooh Willie! in the background, but Willie couldn’t find it in him to focus on anything other than the sight of his boyfriend approaching, lips stretched into a cute little nervous smile. If he had known Alex would look this good all wet and ruffled, he would have dragged his butt to the beach long before now.

“I swear, I told them to be on their best behavior today, but it’s like talking to a brick wall sometimes.”

“Trust me, I do not mind.”

Willie let his gaze move slowly from the top of Alex’s head down and back up again, laughing softly as he watched Alex’s cheeks turn pink. Alex opened his mouth to say something, but then, almost as if he had a second sense for mischief, he was flinging himself in front of Willie, nearly slamming them both to the ground as he whipped his head around.

“No! Willie is off limits!!”

The warning was useless, cold water splashing along Alex’s back and splattering across Willie’s face and arms. The other two boys let out a howl of laughter, approaching fast and furious and unleashing a deluge of water that Alex’s body did absolutely nothing to shield Willie from. Alex sputtered and coughed against the water hitting his face until Willie finally reached up to tuck his boyfriend’s head into his neck, hiding his own face in the top of Alex’s wet hair. He shook with laughter, unable to be mad even as Alex growled into his neck, muttering curses against the other boys all the while. After another minute or two of unrelenting downpour, the water slowed to a trickle. Alex seemed to know what that meant before Willie did, unwrapping himself and turning around to face his bandmates.

“You are so dead.”

The brown-haired boys exchanged a look of panic, their water guns run dry while Alex still gripped one that Willie just now realized had a full tank. With a scream they dashed away, Alex sprinting after them and cornering them against the fence so he could hose them down without mercy. Willie hooted and hollered, egging him on, because it he thought soaking wet Alex was hot, soaking wet Alex as an avenging angel was even hotter. Willie bit his lip, enjoying the view for the short time that it took for Alex to empty out the tank on his water gun. When his ammo supply finally ran dry, he returned to Willie’s side, the other boys following close behind, all three of them laughing and shoving each other playfully. Alex slipped his hand into Willie’s, blushing again when Willie reached up to place a kiss on his cheek.

“My hero.”

Alex rolled his eyes, but the smile playing at the edge of his lips told Willie he liked the title. Willie reached a hand out to the other boys.

“Nice to meet you guys, I’m Willie.”

“Hey man, good to meet you,” the one in the cut off spoke first, bounding forward to grasp Willie’s hand. “Alex talks about you literally all the time. I’m Luke.”

Luke ducked away from Alex’s hand as he reached over to slap him, laughing manically. The other boy stepped forward, shaking Willie’s hand with unrestrained enthusiasm.

“I’m Reggie! Luke’s right, Alex does talk about you a lot. All good things though! It’s awesome to finally meet you!”

“Likewise.” Willie grinned, knocking his shoulder against Alex’s as the blonde slapped a hand over his face.

“Okay, okay, yes I talk about you a lot. Freakin sue me.”

“I think it’s cute. I talk about you a lot too, ya know,” Willie murmured, delighting in the pink that stained Alex’s cheeks yet again. Man, he would never get tired of that reaction.

“Oh yeah? Who are you gossiping about me to, pretty boy?”

Willie felt his own cheeks burn at the nickname, leaning in closer so his nose was nearly touching Alex’s.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?”

“Okay, as cute as all this lovestruck shit is, these jeans are not the most comfortable when they’re wet,” Luke’s voice broke the moment, and Willie coughed slightly to cover up his laugh as Alex let out an embarrassed squeak. “Let’s pack it up and go back to the apartment for dry clothes and then we can go get tacos!”

“Oooo tacos! Yes!! Luke, is that one guy selling over by the bar today do you think? His eloté is the best!”

Reggie was practically bouncing, bopping behind Luke as the other boy made his way into the studio and began to clean up the mess left from what Willie guessed was the beginning of their impromptu water fight. Willie slipped his hand into Alex’s letting himself be tugged along as his boyfriend unlocked the stack of bikes.

“I like your friends.”

Alex glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, smiling softly through the hair that flopped in front of his face. Willie moved it away, letting his hand linger behind the other boy’s ear for just a moment.

“They’re alright I guess.”

But the fondness in his tone told Willie they were more than alright. They were Alex’s family, and the love between them was genuine and ran deep. Willie grabbed his skateboard from the spot he had left it next to the bikes, tucking it under his arm as Reggie and Luke reappeared from the studio, guitars safely stowed in cases strapped to their backs. Reggie was still talking a mile a minute as Luke turned to lock the back door.

“-and then we should have a Star Wars marathon. Wait!”

Reggie turned to Willie with a serious expression that looked frighteningly out of place on his freckled face. Willie gulped slightly, sure this would be the point where Alex’s brothers would start their interrogation to make sure he was actually deserving of their best friend.

“Did you call Alex ‘Hotdog’ earlier?”

Willie relaxed, laughing loudly as Alex threw his hands up.

“God, you tell a guy about the worst food poisoning of your life one time and you’re stuck with a horrible nickname for the rest of forever,” Alex grumbled.

Luke and Reggie began laughing alongside Willie, who took advantage of Alex’s grumpiness to sneak another kiss on his cheek, lacing their hands together as the group began walking down the street back towards the Sunset Curve apartment, rolling their bikes alongside them.

Willie didn’t say it out loud, but he was pretty sure that was the moment he realized he was gonna love Alex for the rest of his life.

Send me prompts for my second birthday!

[legolasghosty]

Flower prompt! How about blue salvia for willex? 💙

...ignore the fact that this was sent in like 4 months ago...

"I figured out what it is!" Alex exclaimed, dropping down onto the park bench beside Willie, a shy smile pulling at his lips. "You're pebbling!"

Willie stared at him for a second. What? Also, who gave this guy the right to look that cute in a hoodie and basketball shorts? Seriously. His hair is all damp and messy from band practice and the tan lines on his ankles look ridiculous. And somehow, he's still the prettiest person Willie has ever seen.

And he also definitely said something... whoops.

"Sorry, what did you just say?" Willie asked sheepishly.

Thankfully, Alex's smile didn't dim. "All the little gifts and stuff," he said. "It's called pebbling, it's a kinda love language thing."

Willie tilted their head. "Um, what? Gifts?" Willie wasn't much of a gift person in general. Christmas was a pain in the neck, trying to figure out what everyone wanted.

"Like the other day, with the snare keychain you found after work?" Alex responded, mimicking Willie's confused motion. "Or the pink sea glass last week? All the little stuff you give me. It's called pebbling."

"I do that with everyone though," Willie said slowly, trying to think. "It reminds me of you guys. It's not really... on purpose."

Oh gosh, now that Alex pointed it out, Willie kind of did give all their friends a lot of random stuff. Some of it was cool, but most of it was probably junk. He just liked sharing it with them. But... they didn't want to be annoying to their friends...

"Gosh, sorry, I didn't mean to overstep," Alex burst out, startling Willie. "I just saw something online about it so I was doing some research and I guess I just wanted to tell you. But I'm so sorry, we can drop it-"

Willie covered Alex's mouth with his hand before he could say anything else. "No it's okay," they promised, pushing away their own thoughts. "I just didn't really, um, realize I was doing it. I don't want to bug anyone."

Alex wrapped his fingers loosely around Willie's wrist and moved their hand from his mouth to his cheek. "It doesn't bug me," he promised. "It's actually really sweet. I was looking into it cause I wanted to learn how to... I don't know, do it back I guess? Cause I love it when you share stuff with me and I wanted to give that back to you."

"You wanted to-" Willie began, but then gave up. Words were way too complicated.

They slid their hand around to the back of Alex's neck and kissed him. Because, really, what else could he do? What words could show Alex just how much he meant to them? How he was always on their mind, drumming and dancing and laughing and holding them? How little things like this just pulled Willie deeper into the ocean of love he felt for his partner, and how Willie never wanted to resurface. The English language didn't really have the right words for that. So instead, Willie kissed him.

When they separated, one of Alex's arms was around Willie's waist. His other hand was tangled in their hair. His cheeks were flushed and his eyes sparkled. In books, there tended to be lines about how one character could see a million things in another's eyes. That wasn't really the case here though. All Willie could see in Alex's eyes is "I love you" repeated over and over and over again. He hoped Alex could see that message shining right back at him as they breathed in tandem.

"You're amazing," Willie murmured, resting his forehead against Alex's.

"Learned it from you," Alex answered, his faint chuckle tickling Willie's skin.

"So it's called pebbling?" Willie clarified.

"Yup," Alex confirmed. "Apparently penguins do it too."

"Well at least I got somewhere to go with my fancy tuxes," Willie joked. "I beat penguins."

Alex laughed and pulled them back in for another kiss. And a couple of days later, when Willie showed him a little collection of pebbles, worn smooth by the Pacific Ocean, he kissed him again before he could get out the words, "These made me think of you."

[innytoes]

❛ i just wanted to say thank you for protecting me. ❜ + Julie & Alex?

(I had to find a way to make this part of the JATP/Stranger Things Crossover, obvs.)

When Julie and Alex came into the studio, they didn't seem very happy. Willie sat up from where he'd been playing with Ferbinand, keeping the Furby in his lap as he watched Alex storm to the bathroom. Julie was trailing him, looking anxious and upset.

He got up, placing Ferbinand on the coffee table as he poked his head into the bathroom. Alex was taking off his pink hoodie, which was stained all over by something else pink, and threw it in the sink with a wet plop.

Willie leaned in the door frame, content to ogle his boyfriend's back and arms as he rinsed out the fabric. Hmmm. Pretty.

"I'm so sorry, Alex," Julie called from where she was out of sight. Julie didn't seem to want to ogle Alex. Or maybe that was one of those dumb boundaries things she was always going on about.

"It's not your fault Carrie is a bitch, Julie," Alex said. He was looking around, realising he hadn't brought anything into the bathroom to put on. Willie grinned. Alex' chest was pretty too. "Babe, can you get me a shirt?"

Willie wandered off to the bag Alex had stashed in the studio, to find the tightest shirt of Alex' that he could find. Julie had plopped down on the couch, looking miserable.

"That milkshake was meant for me," she said, as Willie wandered back with a shirt. Maybe it was the one that had shrunk slightly in the wash. He held it behind his back, offering his cheek. Alex smiled and pressed a kiss to it, sighing when he saw what shirt Willie gave him in return.

"Julie, you have literally shot a hell hound in the face for me, I think I can handle a milkshake" Alex said as he pulled the shirt over his head. His hair was all rumpled and floofy, it was adorable. He wandered out and plopped down on the couch next to Julie, laughing when Willie flopped down next to him and tipped over until he was curled under Alex' arm, head pillowed on his now-clean chest. Julie curled up into his other side.

"I just wanted to say thank you for protecting me," she muttered, wrapping her arms around Alex' waist and giving him a little squeeze.

"No problem," Alex said. "Hey, maybe we can sneak Willie into the next spirit rally and have him trip up Carrie during her performance."

Willie perked up. He loved spirit rallies. They were loud and colourful and made no sense. There were no ghosts or strong alcohol at spirit rallies.

"My aunt would kill me," Julie said. Which was dumb. Tía wouldn't kill Julie, she only killed monsters like the Vox. Besides, Willie would protect her. "And dad would make his disappointed face." Oh, now there was a real concern. He hated Ray's disappointed face. It made him sad. "So no."

"Awww," Ferbinand said, voicing Willie's disappointment for him. Its ears wriggled down sadly. Julie pet Willie’s head, running her hands through Willie’s ever-growing locks, and he sighed happily.

"You can sneak out tonight with us to go egg Carrie's house," she said. "Which is one hundred per cent happening as soon as Flynn finds out what Carrie did."

"Yay," Willie said, beaming, and Alex sighed one of his 'I can't believe I put up with you people (even though I'm totally going along with your plans)' sighs.

[jamesmarriottistrilingual]

FIRST CHAPTER OF MY FANFIC

rest is https://www.wattpad.com/story/305719747-wanna-make-out

“Alex.”

Alex wasn’t listening. His ears were busy listening to some random song playing on his spotify.

“Alex.”,his mate George shouted. “Please come tonight. It will be fun”

“Do I have to?”,he asked.

“Yes.”,George replied.

“Ugh. Fine I guess I go.”,Alex replied.

“Cool. See ya there.”,he shouted,running down the hallway.

Then,in came tutor time.

The whole class seemed to arrive at once,with the tutor coming in 5 minutes later. Alex looked around to see who was there. A nerd wearing a green hoodie speaking to a blue zip coat boy wearing sunglasses and another boy looking at himself in the mirror. A young boy wearing a red hoodie,playing with what seemed to be a lone bullet. Square head boy looking at the ceiling. Ginger kid writing in a journal sitting next to a bearded man speaking in spanish. Near the bearded boy,there was another ginger reading a book in japanese. Next to him,there was a kid on his phone,looking at some music. There was a thud. Two kids were fighting. A pink haired boy and a purple haired girl screaming at each other and punching each other over some random comment.

“You fucking insult Nikki again and I’ll slaughter you.”,the purpled haired girl screamed at the top of her voice.

“She’s just some stupid whore.Get over yourself.”,the pink hair yelled.

“Guys. Stop. Why can’t you two just get along?”,the pink-haired girl shouted.

“LEWIS! MINX!”,the tutor shouted. “QUIT IT NOW!”. The two stopped and sat down in their respective seats.

“Thank you.”,he continued. “Right. My name is Eduardo and I hate my job. Tell me your name. Your course and one fact about yourself.”

“You. Boy with green coat.”

“Hey I’m Edd. I’m doing a Media and Art A-Level and I do comics.”,the nerd replied.

“Sad. Next to Edd then.”

“Hey.I’m Tom and I do an animation course and I like a girl I just met.”,the discord mod replied,looking at some random girl with short hair and brown eyes.

Alex learned a lot about these new people:

-Matt. Does an drama course and is vain

-Tord. Does an animation course and loves guns

-Will. Repeating the year. Does an sport media course and is never sober

-Stephen. Also repeating the year. Does a media course and always swears.

-James. Trilingual. Won’t bloody shut up about it. Does 3x A-Levels

-Fraser. Weeb. Does an art course.Probably fatherless is what Alex thought.

-Lewis. Angry twat. Does a sport media course.

Then there was Minx and Nikki,childhood best friends doing a music course. Wilbur,an indie kid doing a music course. Sapnap,who is doing a bricklaying course with Dream because they like bricks. Karl,the lonely boy doing a hair and beauty course.

The bell rings and everyone pisses off to wherever they need to be. This meant that Alex and George had to be in the library doing nothing.

Edd walked in with Matt and Tom.

“Hey. Alex and George right.”Edd asked.

“Sup.”Matt shouted. The librarian shouted ssshhhh.

“Yup. We’re Alex and George.”George replied.

“An Art and Computer Science group lmao”,Matt replied.

The bell rang again and they all walked out of the library.

[adhd-disaster-willie]

Seventeen and strung out on confusion; chapter 1/4

Summary: Just some snippets of backstory for the one and only Alex Mercer; aka my comfort character. Each moment will have a date attached so you can understand the timeline. Angst with fluffy found family moments :)

Warnings: Homophobia, swearing

---

As I’m sure you could guess, there are numerous problems that come with being the only out gay kid at your school in 1994. It’s not so bad if you keep your head down and persuade your friends not to get into a fight with everyone who throws a slur your way, but regardless. That pink hoodie that you’ve been wearing since you were 14 and is honestly too small at this point but your parents refuse to buy you another one? Well it’s a target on your back and apparently everyone at the school is now a professional archer. Or at least, they’re all very proficient in the art of unoriginal insults that cut deeper than they should. All of this is to say, don’t come out to your religious parents in 1994. Ever.

---

Alex Mercer was born into a perfect nuclear family, in a two story house with a white picket fence, brick columns, and a clean cut yard that was unsettlingly green. His parents were as religious as anyone could get; straight-laced, good Catholic parents who kept their hands tight around Alex’s shoulders. He went to church every Sunday and tried to ignore the way his neck itched from the too-tight collar and his mother swatting at his hands until he had to sit on them to refrain from drumming on the nearest surface. He was good at hiding the way he payed undivided attention to his little sister’s ballet classes, good at pretending to stare at the girls in the hallways that all his friends drooled after, and especially good at convincing everyone that he drummed and sang to… impress said girls. Right. But unfortunately, Alex was even better at accidentally outing himself a day into the New Year, consequentially losing all of his parents’ affection.

He didn’t even exist to them anymore. Maybe it would’ve been better if they’d given him a million restrictions and curfews and basically chained his hands together, because this was unsettling. And lonely. Family dinners were a thing of the past, and he’d really begun to sympathize with Reggie and his microwaved, half-cold meals every morning and night. But it could always be worse. They hadn’t kicked him out… yet.

---

January 25, 1994

“Alex, dude!”

Alex flinched upon realizing Reggie’s hand waving in front of his face. He looked up and smiled guiltily, realizing the way he’d frozen, spaced out staring at the wall and absentmindedly hitting his sticks against his legs with a beat that didn’t at all match the song they were supposed to be rehearsing.

Luke sighed, wiping the pout off his face. “Alex, come on man! We aren’t gonna get any gigs if you keep…” He waved his hands vaguely and slapped Alex’s shoulder. “Just, pay attention dude.”

“Right,” Alex replied, his voice strained. He was staring down at his shoes and he could feel his bandmates having a silent conversation above his head which he could only deduce Luke was not happy with, probably meaning they were stopping rehearsal. He didn’t want them to stop for him; it made him feel like a burden, and Luke was right, if they were gonna make it anywhere, they had to be all in.

“Alex, you okay?” Reggie asked, his eyebrows knit together in concern.

Alex nodded briefly and kept his gaze trained on his feet. His sneakers were too small and he had to curl his toes in for them to fit but he was afraid of the reaction he’d get from telling his parents he needed something.

“It’s not one of those homophobic jackasses again, right?” Bobby asked, moving closer, his eyes narrowing. “I swear, this time I will cave Josh’s fucking face in-”

“It’s not!” Alex clarified, finally lifting his head. “It isn’t…” he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Look it’s just my parents alright? They…”

Reggie’s eyes widened and he began fiddling with his flannel sleeves. “They didn’t… they didn’t hurt you did they?” He asked, his voice small.

“No, no they didn’t hurt me… not physically at least.” He laughed ruefully. “They’re just being stupid, alright? Ignoring me like they have for the past 3 weeks.” Alex stood up, well aware that at this point band practice was a thing of the past. He walked to the couch, the other three boys in tow.

“Hey!” Luke elbowed Alex’s side before throwing an arm over his shoulders. “That new Green Day album is coming out in like, a week.” He grinned, eyes lighting up. “I’ve been saving up to buy it, and we can use that new cassette player I got for Christmas to listen to it.”

Alex nodded, smiling softly and letting his head relax on the back of the couch. “Yea that sounds great. Promise you won’t listen to it without us?”

“Of course ‘Lex; we all gotta be there to find which songs we’re gonna cover.”

Reggie wrinkled his nose in confusion. “I thought you said we’d moved past being a cover band?”

“It’s Luke, he’ll make an exception for anything if it involves Green Day,” Bobby chuckled.

Several beats of silence passed in which the sun seemed to get increasingly lower in the sky, before Bobby sighed in resignation. “You’re all staying here tonight, aren’t you?”

Luke beamed, clapping Bobby’s shoulders. “You know us so well.”

“Sleepover!” Reggie laughed, pumping a fist in the air. “Does it count as a sleepover if we all basically live here at this point?”

“Shhh ‘Lex, don’t ruin our fun,” Luke responded.

Alex smiled hesitantly. Yea, he was okay.

---

May, 1994

Michael Williams had dark hair brushing the tips of his shoulders, eyes that were almost golden in certain lights and a smile that gave Alex butterflies. Not to mention he was in theater and had a reputation for flipping off the homophobic jocks that were constantly on Alex’s tail. Not that he did it specifically for Alex, but still. The only problem was that talking to cute boys that he hadn’t known since 3rd grade was far from Alex’s strong point.

“Come on Alex!” Luke groaned, sliding into the last open seat at their lunch table. “Just talk to him before I literally combust.” He punctuated his sentence by waving at Alex with a cold french fry.

Alex grumbled something, his face in his arms in a futile attempt to hide the red dusting his cheeks.

“Hey Luke, if you explode because Alex refuses to talk to his crush, can I have your CD’s?” Reggie quipped, a lopsided grin on his face.

Luke gasped in mock offense. “Reginald-!”

“Still not my name.”

“I will be buried with my music,” Luke said. “Both of my guitars too-”

“Even your amp?” Bobby questioned.

“Yes.”

“Seems like a waste of space. Can you even fit all that in a coffin?”

Luke shrugged. “You guys can figure it out. Don’t betray my dying wish.”

Something that would’ve been silence had Luke ever been taught how to chew like a normal person passed over the table, in which Alex’s attention drifted lazily back to Michael Williams, who was chatting enthusiastically with one of the girls in his theater class. Alex didn’t know her name but they had biology together and she never gave him dirty looks, so he liked her.

“10 bucks if you go talk to him,” Bobby said, nudging Alex and waggling his eyebrows.

“No. No,” Alex said. “Not happening.”

“15.”

“Where is this money coming from?” Alex squeaked, although the prospect of $15 was all too tempting. He could get some decent shoes for that.

“20,” Bobby continued, grinning maniacally.

“Dude!” Luke laughed. “How are your parents gonna like you asking for money to fulfill a bet?”

Bobby slapped a hand over Luke’s mouth.

“I’m gonna regret this,” Alex sighed, already moving to stand up.

Reggie giggled like a child and offered a shit-eating grin to Alex, who promptly flipped him off before heading across the cafeteria.

---

December 17, 1994

Alex was screwed. No. Alex was completely fucked. Alex Mercer was likely seconds away from living in a ditch. Because of course it had to be his sister who caught him making out with a guy after school. And of course she was too young to understand why she couldn’t tell Mom and Dad. Because she would’ve done the same if he’d been kissing a girl because kissing is gross and it’s funny to tell your parents that your big brother was kissing someone.

“Hey Mom, guess what Alex did today?” Angie asked, giggling. She was perched on the counter, licking frosting from her fingers while their mother brushed cookie crumbs from her dress. And Alex was frozen at the top of the stairs, crouched down, his heart pounding so loud he was sure it could be heard downstairs. He dug his nails into his palms and prayed that his mother would pretend he didn’t exist when he wanted her to. It was one thing, them knowing. But this? This was something else. Alex’s parents lived on the philosophy that homosexual thoughts got you an eternity in hell, but homosexual actions got you shunned and thrown out. So yea, he was screwed.

“What did Alex do today?” His mother asked, plastering a false smile onto her face, her voice sounding like she was already packing his bags. Alex wanted to get up and run. He wanted to go to his room and jump out the window and fly away. But it was like the sweat on his palms was superglue keeping him stuck to the carpet, and his brain had short-circuited.

Angie laughed again, trying to get it out through her snickering. “Alex was kissing someone today.” She sang, her small feet swinging back and forth, the noise of her heels against the counter like knives in Alex’s ears. “That boy Michael that used to go to our church.” The innocence in her voice made Alex ache.

“Angie.” His mother’s voice was cold now. “Leave please.”

Angie’s brow furrowed in confusion, but she scurried up the stairs anyway, giving Alex a tearful hug on the way because even at ten, she knew that that voice meant trouble. “Sorry ‘Lex. I shouldn’t ‘a told your secret,” She whispered, before sprinting to her room and leaving Alex wondering if he’d get to see her after tonight.

“Alex Mercer, please come downstairs.” Her voice chilled him to the bone, like shards of ice penetrating his skin and seeping into his blood. But he walked down anyway.

Alex tightened the muscles in his hands and feet, willing himself to stay still and planted to the wooden floor, facing his mother head-on, as if the look in her eyes wasn’t terrifying him to the point of tears. But he wouldn’t let her see that she was getting to him, he wouldn’t. So he bit his tongue and counted down from ten inwardly.

“What is this nonsense?” She hissed, reaching out and gripping his forearm, her nails a millimeter away from digging into his skin.

Alex swallowed roughly. “I- I don’t know. Angie’s just… she’s-”

“Don’t lie to me!” His mother snapped. She brought her hand back, curling her fingers in with a look of disgust, as if she’d been touching fire. And then she was speaking again, but Alex couldn’t hear her over the pounding in his ears. He tightened his jaw and shut his eyes momentarily. Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry.

“Get out.”

His eyes snapped open. Alex stood still in front of her, searching her eyes for the slightest bit of remorse. But there was nothing but ice. So he left. He left with tears running down his face and he couldn’t even bring himself to say goodbye to Angie. It wasn’t until he was halfway down the block when he realized that he had nothing but the clothes on his back and a backpack full of everything he could fit, and no where to go. He collapsed on the ground, the cold night air finally hitting him, seeping into his bones. He looked up and wiped his eyes, sniffling. It was odd, the way that the Christmas lights were able to look so beautiful when he felt so broken inside. It felt almost unfair that everything outside of him was moving at a normal pace like nothing had changed. But Alex knew better than that. Everything had changed.

---

These are the people who expressed interest in reading this when I posted about it a few days ago :)

@edgeofgillespie @herequeerandcantdrinkbeer @lookingthroughmirrors

chapter 2

chapter 3

chapter 4

[peterpatter-fest]

Day One Fic Masterlist

Thanks to everyone who participated in Day One of Peterpatter Fest! We loved all of your different takes on the prompts. These are all of the fics that were posted for Favorite Scene/Fluff/We Always Have Each Other (linked in titles).

Vendetta by goodluckgettingtosleep

aka @sunsetcurveofficial

Rated T

Luke has a vendetta against pants. At least Reggie thinks he does, because that would explain why he’s stopped wearing them. Now, he still wears them outside and on stage; he’s not some kind of pervert. He has, however, stopped wearing them around the garage, and ever since Luke’s run away from home, that’s pretty much where he spends most of his time. It’s not that Reggie has a problem with Luke hanging out and practicing in his underwear, per se. It’s more the fact that he seems to like it a little too much that worries him.

He’s A Dork and He Likes Boys by  Whattfisausername

aka @whattfisausername

Rated G

Reggie wished he hadn’t walked into that coffee shop. Not because the coffee was terrible; he hadn’t even tried it yet. Not because the place was too crowded; there was only one other patron. No, he wished he hadn’t walked into that coffee shop because the barista was too hot.

Ride Or Die Till The End by InvisibleRaven

aka @invisibleraven

Rated T

Ficlets for PeterPatter Fest! Fic title and all chapter titles will be from HwaYoun's amazing Crooked Teeth song.

Heartstrings by DaintyDuck_99 

aka @daintyduck99

Rated T

“Even if it’s not him right now,” Alex starts, “you could have like—the opposite of what Jamie and I had had. The whole soulmate thing is so fluid, you know? It could become him, if you both worked at it.”

Or: In a world where anyone 18 and older receives access to whatever songs their most compatible romantic partner, or current "soulmate," are humming or singing, Luke starts getting snippets of an original song, and he hopes they're from Reggie.

I feel pretty by nuandia 

aka @nuandia

Rated E

"He poofs downstairs, right on the couch to find Luke standing with his face buried into Alex’s chest, groaning into the pink hoodie. Alex ist rolling his eyes as Luke keeps whining words into his chest and pats his back somewhat insincerely."

Or, because Reggie wants to feel pretty he puts on some of Julie's lipstick. Luke can't deal and Alex deals valiantly with these dumbasses.

a hundred feet above the ground (don’t look down, look at me) by tiriansjewel 

aka @tiriansjewel

Rated G

luke and reggie go to the fair on their first date, featuring cute animals and ferris wheel rides.

Some Things Are Meant to Be by missvega

aka @favoriteliar

Rated G

Luke wants to surprise Reggie. It doesn't go quite as planned.

aka peterpatter fluff because i want them to be happy

Is it weird? by Geci 

aka @reginaldpatterson

Rated G

PeterPatter Fest - Day 1

Prompts: Favorite Scene - “We always have each other.” - Fluff

I Had The Best Time Falling Into Love by justyrae

aka @astorytotellyourfriends

Rated G

When Luke runs away from home, his only option is to hide out in Bobby's garage. It turns out that he's not the only one with that idea.

Tastes Like Honey When You’re In Love by justyrae 

aka @astorytotellyourfriends

Rated G

Reggie's a little sweet on a certain customer that comes in every week, and his friends have some half-baked plans to get them together.

Set Phasers to Stunning by psyduckappears 

aka @psyduckappears

Rated G

To celebrate their high school graduation, Sunset Curve goes out to play laser tag. Luke is a cheat, and Reggie gets revenge. 

fluff!clockwise by charjace 

AKA @wiildhcartsrun​

Rated G

“Go, I’ll be here waiting Mr Hero Boy,” Luke says, waving him off and going back to his guitar in his lap. Sighing, Reggie gets up from the sand - thankful that it wasn’t crowded at this time of the night, most people having retiring into their homes for dinner.