#also are you guys excited about his new show on nico nico????!!

[puckinghischier]

What do I have to do to get some filthy Nico thoughts this morning? Xoxo

not much, honestly

was thinking about how absolutely rabid he’d be after that canes game, all high on winning. but unfortunately for him, you’d be out of service for a few more days, mother nature having paid you a visit a couple of days ago. of course you’d help him out, giving him a nice, long, treat on your knees to reward him for the victory, but he wouldn’t be satisfied until he could have all of you.

he’d be such a little menace about it too. snaking his arms around you while you’re in front of the mirror, doing your hair, letting them rest dangerously low on your waist. little smacks to your ass anytime you pass by him. waking you up in the morning by rutting his morning semi against your ass.

and when the two of you are out in public? god, he’s almost worse than when you’re at home. drinks with the guys turned into you being trapped in the booth, nico’s hand resting high on your thigh, fingers brushing you over your underwear. you knew wearing this dress was risky, especially with how he’s been the last couple days, but you figured since you would be out with the guys he’d be on his best behavior. but of course you were wrong. his long pinky makes long, drawn out circles on your barely covered clit, working you up continuously just to casually slide his hand away. only to do it all over again every ten minutes.

then, when you came to visit him at the rink for lunch, he was dragging you into a random corner, kissing you like he was trying to take all of the oxygen from your body. his heavy frame pinning you against the smooth wall of whatever deserted hallway you were in. he knew you were close to being his again, having his own tracker app on his phone for your cycle. which also means he knew you were in the stage where you were becoming increasingly more desperate and horny as the hours ticked by.

“nico…not here. please. you know we can’t. just another day or so,” you’d pant out, so close to just letting him have his way with you anyways. his response would be a hand coming up to cup over your sex, digging the palm of his hand into your clothed clit. “just think of everything you could’ve had already. all the fun you’ve missed out on, caused me to miss out on” he whispers gruffly in your ear, biting the sensitive skin there. “don’t you think i finally deserve my reward for having such a good game the other night?”

you let out a harsh gasp, the sight of your open mouth and perfect tongue poking out combined with your wild eyes nearly enough to make him start ripping clothes off right here, not a care in the world if anyone would see the two of you or not. he brings a hand up to pinch your bottom lip between his fingers, pulling the skin out. he has the urge to do something he never has before, which is letting a dribble of spit drop directly from his mouth into the small pocket created by your outstretched bottom lip.

he watches your pupils dilate in surprise, releasing your skin so it snaps back into place. he looks down at your throat, watching you swallow the saliva he just transferred to you. he smirks, knowing by the look on your face, and clench of your thighs, he’s almost got you.

you hear footsteps approaching the two of you, straightening up and pushing nico away from you only slightly, not wanting to get caught in a compromising position in his workplace. an equipment manager rounds the corner, looking up when he notices the two of you and waves.

“hey cap! got that new stick in you were wanting! on my way to go pick it up now, actually. meet me out on the ice?” he waves in greeting, cheery attitude showing he’s excited about the delivery.

“sure thing! see you out there in a few!” nico responds just as enthusiastically, a stark contrast from his demeanor mere seconds ago. you both watch the man retreat down the hallway, having given you a small wave of goodbye, which you returned.

“okay well…i’ll…uh…see you at home, yeah?” you clear your throat, hardly able to concentrate on the words you’re speaking.

“mhmm. see you in a bit,” he places a kiss to your forehead, backing away from your still stunned figure. “oh! and stop by the kitchen on your way out. grab a water, you seem a little…thirsty,” he smirks at you as he walks backwards, teasing you for just how quick you were to accept and swallow his spittle moments ago.

that night when he returned home, he couldn’t find you anywhere. you weren’t in the living room on the couch, in the small kitchen, in the bedroom. when he called out your name you emerged from the shared walk in closet, clad in his favorite lingerie set of yours.

“good news, neeks,” is all you managed to get out before he was stomping towards you, backing you against the floor-to-ceiling shelving of the closet. a few shoes dropped off the shelf at the force of his actions, but that was the least of your worries right now. you could fix them in the morning, considering the two of you never managed to leave the space the whole night, waking up on the carpeted floor to his soft snores, one of his suit jackets draped over your naked body as a makeshift blanket.

[arkhammaid]

— ˚₊‧⁺˖ THE LIGHTNING ON TRACK | THE WAIT FOR THE FIRST RACE

fandom. formula one & mcu

about. the waiting time between pre-season testing and first race is being filled

content warnings. the girls (men) are fighting and y/n gets a reality check

notes. another chat chapter because you guys liked it lol

george russell Welcome, @/oliverbearman and @/ynstark to the main Grid Chat. I will add you to the other ones as well.

daniel ricciardo WELCOME!!! We're so happy to finally have you here

Also, @/kevinmagnussen, welcome back you ass

Don't leave any groupchats again, it's a pain to add you back

george russell Considering I have to do the work, you're not allowed to complain Daniel

lando norris booo, let him have the fun

nico hülkenberg Oh no, it starts again. I'll mute you asshats if you don't stop this

lando norris you're just boring

oliver bearman thank you guys! very happy and honored to be finally part of the big guys 🫣

y/n stark thank you, george! and i'm excited to officially meet you all, until then, hello :)

charles leclerc Hello y/n, welcome to the grid! I hope you'll enjoy your stay here 😉

y/n stark thank you charles, i'm sure i will lol

kevin magnussen I swear I will block you all

daniel ricciardo Don't be like that, you love us

y/n stark lol, he actually hates you guys, won't stop whining kevin magnussen One day, young lady, one day... y/n stark y'all hear sum? charles leclerc Gagged. lando norris charles???

carlos sainz Can you guys just shut up for once, dios mio.

charles leclerc Aww, Carlos, you love us! carlos sainz Debatable. Sometimes I wish you would all crash and not survive to be honest oscar piastri We get it, you're an asshole carlos sainz Fuck off Piastri oscar piastri Right back at you Sainz

lewishamilton welcome to our new rookies! ollie, awesome to see you again, y/n, don't be a stranger, we haven't talked in ages!

y/n stark lew!! we defo have to, gonna hit you up for fashion show for sure, pepper has been planning something pierre gasly Lew 👀 y/n stark look who's here... the tripod.... pierre gasly Yeah yeah, shutting up. Welcome to the grid y/n y/n stark thank you pierre

sergio perez Welcome, rookies.

max verstappen From me a welcome as well!

esteban ocon Welcome, welcome!! This is so exciting, I've been waiting for a long time now 😋😋

lance stroll Estie??? esteban ocon Shht, Lancey, let me cook lance stroll 💀💀💀

lance stroll Anyways, all of them are idiots, as we already know, welcome to hell, y/n

y/n stark aww, thank you lance. so sorry you have to go throught this 🫂 charles leclerc We're not so bad?? lewis hamilton Well. charles leclerc Oh come on Lewis lewis hamilton I didn't say anything

fernando alonso Stark and Bearman! Welcome to the coolest people on the paddock 😎

oliver bearman thanks fernando! y/n stark thanks nando 😎

alexander albon Hi guys, so nice to see you finally in here! @/georgerussell you took your sweet time man

george russell You be Head of the GPDA then. alexander albon No thank you, I'm fine 🙃

logan sargeant Welcome, welcome, happy to see some new faces!

oscar piastri They're finally here. Welcome back Ollie and welcome Y/n to this shit hole

lando norris you know what osc? oscar piastri No, and I don't care. Save the talking for the track lando norris you do know i'm still zak's favorite driver? i could get you fired oscar piastri Please don't. charles leclerc This is what you get for lying in an interview. No groupchat with all of us is ever formal oscar piastri This literally isn't about you Charles charles leclerc Boo, you hater

y/n stark @/kevinmagnussen i see what you've said now...

kevin magnussen Never ever doubt me again, I've been with those fuckers for years now daniel ricciardo Hey!! That's not nice yuki tsunoda you know what else is not nice ricciardo? daniel ricciardo Yuki, drop it. Team orders are team orders yuki tsunoda i don't give a fuck old man, you behave like a bitch you get bitch behavior max verstappen Drop it or else I'll involve Helmut. yuki tsunoda fuck you dan-cocksucker max verstappen Yuki. We don't carry out team issues to the grid. yuki tsunoda he started first and i have proof daniel ricciardo I don't know why you're being so dramatic, it was only testing yuki tsunoda i give you dramatic you fucking asshole. you know what you did and i stand by my statement that this was a total asshole move. just because you got a big smile doesn't mean you're fooling everyone fucking ass george russell I will both kick you out if you don't drop this immediately.

carlos sainz And it starts again...

valterri bottas You're all children. Stop it

y/n stark so pierre was right huh 😀

kevin magnussen I told you so. pierre gasly Why am I getting involved in shit again?

zhou ganyu I apologize for their behavior. Y/n, Oliver, welcome to the grid, I'll be excited to race you both!

kev

are they actually children because wtf did i just witness.

Yeah... I told you drivers are dramatic. Well, most of them and other's are just their victims. Of course we have our moments and friendships but it's a ruthless sport

man tf. literal man children. i'm so glad i have you as a teammate kev. like seriously. i don't know if i could survive with someone like daniel or carlos

the passive agressive vibes <<<<

that's just not it tbh

I have no idea what you just said but I agree. Daniel and Yuki are not good teammates, it was already bad last year and now this.

To be honest, Nico and I often missed stuff like that since we were stuck at Haas and the upper dogs never really showed interest in what we thought or did but everyone knew what happened between them

pls don't tell me they have a clique here... oh my god and i thought the rumors were false

I mean.. not really but also kinda yes? Better drivers stick together since they're always spending time together, you know. No one cares about the ones who're limping behind, well besides Pierre and Esteban, but they're only kinda involved because they're close to Charles and Lance. And Lewis and Fernando aren't really on their level, they keep to themselves

why are men problematic

not you obvs, but like... jeez really felt the love here when we got welcomed

Welcome to F1 kid, it's a shithole

thanks, it's so lovely here

dad?

i think it's worse than we thought

Honey, what are you talking about?

everything. you should see the group chat with the drivers right now. i thought people were joking about f1 drivers being bitter and bitchy towards each other, but there are literally groups and alliances or whatever the fuck is going on there

and if that's only the drivers... i don't want to know how the teams are

Oh.

but also like, what is that going to stop us? we made plans, we know what to do but dear lord are men stupid. well not all but most of them. i literally had to watch how yuki and daniel were fighting because of a team issue in the GROUPCHAT with all drivers

and when max told them to drop it, he got called a dan-cocksucker, can you imagine??

everyone seems to know why they're fighting besides me and ollie, i knew there was tension in alpha tauri but this?? it's a new level of what the fuck is going on here

Are you alright?

i am

just

yk had to tell someone who's not kev since he has been involved in this forever and is used to it. but i still thought

well idk what i thought, maybe i'm just stupid for my wishful thinking

should've known all of this was pr and that most rumors are true. it will make our lives a bit harder

Don't worry, no matter what they throw against us, it's no alien invasion. They're just whiny little men after all and I'm literally Iron Man

i know dad

love you. and thank you

Of course, anything for you

taglist. @lilypadlover , @adorablezhui , @peqch-pie , @keyz-writes , @obsidianjewel, @themercyverse , @lem-hhn , @akiraquote , @kiiyoooo , @nichmeddar , @nothingfuninthislife , @minkyungseokie , @fionaschicken , @lyrasconstellation , @spideybv28 , @keii134 , @starssfall , @tpwkstiles , @fangirl-dot-com , @lady-laura-speaks , @nikfigueiredo , @hinamesgigantica , @brakingboundaries , @almostjollypizza , @yoremins , @raizelchrysanderoctavius , @celesteblack08 , @watermelon-sugars-things , @lighttsoutlewis , @radiantdanvers , @vellicora , @sterredem , @hiireadstuff , @jolixtreesunn , @mypage-myfandoms , @nelly187 @greeneyesandsunshine , @fulla02 , @welovediaaxx , @whyamireadingthis , @67-angelofthelordme-67 , @blueberry64857959 , @winchesterwife27 , @six-call , @skywalker1dream , @mellowarcadefun , @cherry-piee , @peterholland04 , @motorsportloverf1 , @renarots , @msbyjackal , @woozart , @leclucklerc , @yl90 , @thebook-bitch

crossed off tags mean i can't tag you!

DO YOU WANT TO JOIN THE SERIES TAGLIST? please leave a comment on this post or send a non anonymous ask!

ARKHAM MAID 2024

[zyonsay]

hellooo, can i requ some headcannons of max verstappen having a bf that is rly pretty (i'm talking rbr seb vettel or nico rosberg 2000s pretty)

Pretty Boy MV1

Fem aligned people may read but not f3tishize my work!!

Summary: One scenario of Max talking about his boyfriend in an interview and then three headcanons with scenarios

Reader: Male

Warnings: Max Emilian Verstappen

Now playing: 'Me Gustas Tu' by Manu Chao

AN: Hey anon! I combined your request with another one, which asked for a scenario of Max talking about reader in an Interview. Hope that's alright! ALSO Seb/Nico in their teenage dirtbag era was SOMETHING. (something great, im foaming at the mouth)

“So, Max, you’ve been very active online recently. Especially your partner has made many appearances in your posts. What are you two up to?”, the Interviewer glanced at his silver watch before looking back up into Max’s blue eyes. He had anticipated this question for the whole weekend. The press liked to stick their noses into his private life, especially because he was not in a straight relationship. All eyes were on him, as per usual. “My gorgeous boyfriend?”, a sly grin tugged at his lips. “We’ve been spending loads of quality time together. Over the break we planned a little trip. I love him with all my heart and am excited to spend time with that amazing person”, his mouth pulled into a slight smile before the Interviewer crossed another question from his mental list.

Yes, Max likes to keep part of his private life to himself, but he can’t resist posting candid pictures of you all the time. Maybe he’ll even create a separate account besides his main one just for pictures of you and you guys’ daily life. Your phone buzzed and you quickly held it up to your face while laying on your bed. It was a notification from Instagram, Max had posted something. The phone unlocked and led you to the new post your dearest made. It was from this morning when the two of you went out on a hike and spotted a few cute deer. The picture showed your back while you were crouching and watching the animals. With a giggle you turned to Max, who was laying behind you. "That's a cute pic!"

Even though he appreciates your looks, he makes sure you know that you are the first reason why he’s in love with you. Your beautiful face and soft hair is the cherry on top! With gentle hands he held your face, while leaving kisses on your nose. His sweet upside-down smile adorned his face while he whispered, “My beautiful schatje.” Max gently pushed a strand of your hair behind you ear before leaning in for another peck.

That said, he’ll still compliment you at any given chance. Something he likes to do is leave little post it notes on the fridge when he has to leave early. ‘Good morning beautiful! I saw that you used the last bag of your favorite tea, go check in the cabinet above the dishwasher!’, Max had left a little yellow note on the door of your fridge, he even scribbled a wonky heart on it. You opened the cabinet only to find way too many packs of your favorite tea stacked up. God, how you loved that idiot.

[paladin--strait]

Could you do prompt 15 with Nico? I feel like it could be cute, almost like mom and dad hosting dinner especially for rookies

the table is set, plates and silverware lining the long wooden table that sits in nico and i's dining room. we just recently bought a nice house, hoping to grow and expand our small family. right now, we only have our dog, jersey.

as part of our housewarming party, we invited the entire devils team to come and eat dinner with us. unfortunately, some couldn't make it, but the table was still slammed full with the large, tall, and muscular hockey players.

i start to put the food on the table with nico's help and it fills up quickly. when the players arrive, we welcome them in and give them a small and quick house tour before we sit at the table to eat.

nico stands and gives a speech of some sort, thanking everyone for coming and for their housewarming gifts. he also talks about the upcoming season and welcomes in the new rookie and senior players to the devils team. he raises a glass for a toast, and everyone clinks their glasses.

the dinner seems to last an eternity, but it's filled with laughter over some events of last season and excitement for the season that's coming up quickly.

nico looks so happy and content with his team. he talks to me about how they are like a second family to him. he feels bad about being captain sometimes, since it put a toll on some of his friendships with his teammates. but, nico still loves them like brothers. always has and always will.

nico turns to look at me, smiling wide with happiness. he gives me a look to make sure i'm okay, and i give him a thumbs up. he leans in and gives me a kiss on the lips, it's short and sweet, but filled with love and thankfulness. he never fails to amaze me at how well he can show his emotions. i used to think he was so closed off, but the more you get to know him, the more comfortable he gets, just like many relationships other than ours.

after dinner is finished, nico helps me load the plates and silverware onto the rolling kitchen cart we bought for occasions like this and we bring it to the kitchen. i decide that i'll load the dishes into the dishwasher later and hope most of them fit, but they probably won't.

when i step back into the dining room, it's quiet. there is nobody in sight and their belongings are gone too. i frown, wondering where they went. i pick up my phone and set off to find them. i search everywhere, the last place being the first place i should've checked.

the home rink. i hear the sounds of men yelling and laughing when i walk in the door. they're running around on the synthetic ice in their dress shoes. they have sticks in their hands and they're chasing around a puck. i walk over to the boards and stand beside nico. "looks like they're enjoying it." i say, giggling.

nico chuckles, "as soon as you left to go to the kitchen with the cart they were begging me to bring them out here to play." i watch him while he speaks, but turn to watch the guys once he's done. i lean my head on his side, and he pulls his arm up to wrap around the back of my shoulders. "thank you, for always supporting me. i don't think i would be here without you, my love."

he kisses the top of my head and then leans his head on mine. i stifle a giggle and wrap my arms around his torso, leaning into him further. i'll always love the devils team. it doesn't matter if nico gets traded for or not, i'll still love them.

[reythenerdypisces]

things that I overlooked in PJO the first time / small, funny things I noticed during my reread

Part 3: The Titan's Curse

The truth was I was kind of disappointed to hear that she liked her new school so much. It was the first time she'd gone to school in New York. I'd been hoping to see her more often.

I tried to concentrate on little things, like the crepe-paper streamers and the punch bowl - anything but that fact that Annabeth was taller than me, and my hands were sweaty and probably gross, and I kept stepping on her toes.

"The General?" I asked. Then I realised I'd said it in a French accent. "I mean... who's the General?" I want this part to be in the show

"Sweet! Let's go! [to CHB]" said Nico. this breaks my heart. he was so excited in this book

Tyson thought Annabeth was just about the coolest thing since peanut butter (and he seriously loved peanut butter).

"How would you kidnap an immortal goddess? Is that even possible?" "Well, yeah. I mean, it happened to Persephone." "But she was like, the goddess of flowers." Grover looked offended. "Springtime." you tell him grover

"That's some serious danger you're facing." Connor Stoll said. (I liked how he said you and not we.) I'm just imagining the rest of the campers not bothering to go on quests cause it's always the same few demigods and they don't care, they're just chilling safe at CHB while Percy and Annabeth do their things

The creature looked at me sadly. "Moooo!" But I couldn't understand his thoughts. I only speak horse. Percy Jackson speaks two languages: English and Horse

With a shiver, I realised that five hundred or a thousand years from now, Bianca di Angelo would look exactly the same as she did today. She might be having a conversation like this with some other half blood long after I was dead but Bianca would still look twelve years old. ouch

"It wants to kill us!" Thalia said. "Of course." Grover said. "It's wild!" "So how is that a blessing?" Bianca asked.

"That's us," he said. "Those five nuts right there." "Which one is me?" I asked. "The little deformed one," Zoe suggested.

When she smiled at me, just for a moment she looked a little like Annabeth. I know everyone talks about this part but I can't help but bring it up again, they are so cute

"Woah, first of all, I never said anything about love. And second, what's up with tragic!" little does he know. also, Percy is so incredibly insightful in this book but he's also so jealous of Annabeth and Luke and so upset about the idea of her joining the hunters yet still can't figure out that he likes her

"Seven hundred feet tall," I said. "Built in the 1930s." "Five million cubic acres of water," Thalia said. Grover sighed. "Largest construction project in the United States." Zoe stared at us. "How do you know all that?" "Annabeth," I said. "She liked architecture." I cannot explain how much this little bit means to me.

The girl I'd just tried to slice in half yelped and dropped her Kleenex. "Oh my god." she shouted. "Do you always kill people when they blow their nose?" Rachel's here!!! I love her

Five minutes later, Zoe had me outfitted in a ragged flannel shirt and jeans three sizes too big, bright red sneakers, and a floppy rainbow hat. someone draw this and tag me. what an outfit

Suddenly it occurred to me: this had happened to her before. She had been cornered on Half-Blood Hill. She'd willingly given her life for her friends. But this time, she couldn't save us. How could I let that happen to her? he is the most empathetic, wholesome guy, I love Percy

"Can't this go any faster?" Thalia demanded. Zoe glared at her. "I cannot control traffic." You both sound like my mother." I said. "Shut up!" they said in unison. I kind of wish we got more Thalia and Zoe interactions... they would've made such a great enemies to lovers dynamic, if Zoe didn't die

"Get away from my daughter!" Dr Chase called down, and his machine gun burst to life, peppering the ground with bullet holes and startling the whole group of monsters into scattering. "Dad?" yelled Annabeth in disbelief.

Grover went off with his satyr friends to spread the word about our strange encounter with the magic of Pan. Within an hour, the satyrs were all running around agitated, asking where the nearest espresso bar was.

"No," I said. "I choose the prophecy. It will be about me." "Why are you saying that?" she cried. "You want to be responsible for the whole world?" It was the last thing I wanted, but I didn't say that. I knew I had to step up and claim it. "I can't let Nico be in any more danger." I said. might I remind you this boy is 13/14 and has the whole world on his shoulders (both literally at some point and figuratively)

I feel like these are just getting longer and longer but again, I will be back for part 4!

[blakeswritingimagines]

Dating Nico Hischier Would Include:

Are you ready for the best relationship of your life? Are you craving passion, intensity, and excitement? Then he is your man! He is the king of romance and the supreme leader of seduction. He is the definition of romance and intimacy. Let him whisk you away to a world of passion.

Dating him is like an adventure. He is always bringing you along for the ride, wherever it takes you both. He'll make sure you always feel a part of it, and that you're always feeling good. It'll be a trip through your shared experiences and feelings, as you grow and explore together. And he'll always be there for you, through all of it.

He's a very passionate person, so you'll never be lacking in that area. He'll always be ready to show you how much he cares about you, and he'll always be there for you, whether it's through words of affirmation or physical touch. He'll always have your back and want to support you in whatever you want to do. He'll always want to be your biggest cheerleader.

Jealousy can be a natural part of relationships, but it's important to handle it in a healthy way. If he ever has feelings of jealousy, he'll talk to you about them. You'll have an open and honest conversation so that you can both understand where the other is coming from. He'll always be respectful of your feelings, and try to find a compromise or resolution that makes both of you feel secure.

When he's away for games and you can't join him, he'll make sure to stay in touch, to let you know how he's doing and what's going on. He'll share pictures and stories of his experiences with you, and keep you updated on everything happening. He'll always make sure he has time for you, and make you feel like you're a part of his life, even when you're apart.

When you travel together, he'll make sure to include you in the planning process. He'll take your interests and preferences into account, and make sure you have plenty of time to explore and experience new things. You can try out local cuisine, visit famous landmarks, and have lots of fun activities planned. He'll always be there with you, sharing in the adventure and making sure you feel safe and comfortable in unfamiliar territory.

When you go on dates, he'll always make sure you feel special. He'll pick out a nice location, plan a fun activity, and put thought and effort into our evening. He'll make sure it's romantic and enjoyable, whether you're having dinner and drinks at a nice restaurant, or enjoying a walk by the river. You'll have plenty of time to enjoy each other's company and he'll make sure you leave with a smile on your face.

When it comes to affection, he'll always make sure to show his love in both words and actions. He'll be affectionate with hugs, kisses, cuddles, and tender touches. He'll be open and loving, letting you know how much he cares about you, and how much you mean to him. In return, he'll appreciate your affection, and let you know how much he enjoys it.

He's also a very loyal and faithful partner. He would never do anything to hurt you or betray your trust. He's also a good listener, so you can always count on him to be there for you when you need someone to talk to.

You can never have a boring moment with him. He has a great sense of humor and will always make you laugh. He loves to hear about your day and how you're feeling. He can be very protective and possessive, and he would do anything to make sure you're safe and happy.

He's good at handling rude fans. He just tries to ignore them or politely tell them to stop. But if they continue to be rude or mean, he'll get mad and tell them off. He's done it before, and he'll do it again. He won't let anyone disrespect his girl.

He always takes care of you when you're sick or feeling down, and on bad days he's right there to comfort you and tell you that it'll be okay. He's the kind of guy who will bring you flowers and chocolates when you're feeling down, or take you out for dinner and make sure that you have an amazing night.

One thing he definitely can't forget is that he's an amazing cook just for you. He knows all your favorite meals, and he always makes sure to make them just the way you like them or orders for you when out together.

He's really devoted to your relationship. He's always putting in effort, and he never takes you for granted. And he always tries to make you feel special, whether that's by getting you flowers or taking you on a romantic date.

He's also very patient. He never rushs you or pressure you to do anything that you're not comfortable with. He always wants you to feel comfortable and at ease around him. And he also loves to take care of you and makes sure you feel loved and protected.

He's not a perfect guy, though. He's a bit of a hopeless romantic and sometimes get carried away with his feelings which can cause him to make mistakes. But he always learns from his flaws and try to correct them for the future.

He loves going out with you. He loves showing you off, and he loves how you light up when people see how beautiful you are. He always enjoys taking you on dates and making sure that you're having a great time. There's nothing better than making memories together and seeing the joy on your face when you're out together enjoying yourselves.

He would also protect you from any unwanted attention. If someone tried to bother you or make you feel uncomfortable, he would quickly step in and make sure that they stop. You don't have to worry about anything when he's around, because he's got your back always.

If you were more shy, he'd still enjoy going out with you. Even tho you might be shy and not enjoy being the center of attention, he would still make sure that you're enjoying yourself. He would be more gentle with you and try to make you as comfortable as possible. And he would make sure to hold your hand gently, so you wouldn't feel too shy or uncomfortable.

He would also love to just spend time at home with you too, whether it's watching movies or just spending time together talking or hanging out. And he would also love to just go for walks together and just enjoy your time together in a more quiet and comfortable way.

He would also show that he's a gentleman and always open doors for you, pull the chair out when you go out to eat, and offer to carry any bags you may have. He also shows affection through physical contact, so he'll hold you close and give you hugs and kisses whenever you feel comfortable with it.

When it comes to intimacy, he prefers keeping things more vanilla in the beginning. He's a big fan of missionary position and gentle touches. He's also a big fan of cuddling, kisses and hugs.

Some of his favorites include role-playing, bondage, and exploring new things with you. He's also very open-minded and loves trying new things, so he's always open to exploring new kinks with you. He especially loves it when you explore his body and touch him in places that feel good for both of you.

He also loves to take control and take the lead in the bedroom. He loves making you his and showing you who's in charge. He loves to give you orders, tell you what to do, and take control of your body.

Edging. Hearing you beg and seeing you desperate for him as he keeps you just on the brink of ecstasy affects him more than words can describe.

Light Bondage. He enjoys tying you up and caressing your body, as well as being the one who is being tied up sometimes.

Toys. He finds it exciting to use toys in the bedroom like dildos, vibrators, and other tools that can enhance your experience.

[complementaryhalves]

here, have about 1k of unedited random paulos stuff. might continue it, might not

set on media day in Austin, warning for implied future cheating/debatably open relationships (i haven't decided)

Over nearly ten years spent in Formula One, Carlos has learned that most paddock VIP guests fall into one of two categories: either they’re people he’s never heard of and cares very little about, or they’re celebrities he knows and admires. In the first case, he usually has to rely on the info given by his media officer to hold a few minutes of awkward small talk, take a few photographs for social media, and then forget their names as soon as they're gone. In the second case,  he’s normally more excited and happier to engage. He often asks questions about their field of work, and gladly answers any they might have about his. A few times, like with Will Smith in Baku, he got properly starstruck, leading his teammate to make fun of him for being too flustered.

The experience of meeting Paul Mescal falls somewhere in between those two extremes.

He knows who the guy is—caught a few moments of a show he’s in that Rebecca occasionally rewatches, just enough to see that he was handsome and quite talented, at least in Carlos’ uneducated opinion. When he saw that he would star in the new Gladiator, he wasn’t all that against it. Sure, he was no Russel Crowe, but he had the look, and surely he could be convincing.  

When Ferrari told them they would do a collaboration with the film, Carlos was elated. He may not care about fashion as much as Charles, but he did enjoy working with Rocco on their outfits for the London premiere, and the thought of walking the red carpet among movie stars was exciting, in its own strange way. He even had Rebecca give him some posing lessons, mostly for fun. He was sure that once there he would forget all of her advice, but it would be fine—or so Silvia swore.

She was the one who told them Paul would join them for media day in Austin to be photographed with them and film some content, and Carlos was happy enough. He would have preferred to meet Pedro Pascal, but he could settle for the less famous guy. It would be easier, he thought. When he told Rebecca, he joked that he was glad she couldn’t be there to meet him, feigning a jealousy he didn’t feel, and she laughed and informed him that he’s got a girlfriend anyway.

It was only when they actually met, Thursday morning in Austin, that he realised there was little to joke about.

Paul Mescal, Carlos discovers on that warm Texan morning, is an extremely pleasant person to be around. More handsome in person than he is on-screen, at least from what Carlos remembers of that show he did. Casual in a way that looks intentional, handsomely scruffy, with a hint of edginess in the simple silver earring that keeps catching the sunlight as they talk outside the garage. He’s also funny, well-spoken, polite, easy-going. Eager to know more about what it is to be an F1 driver, happy to answer all of Carlos’ questions about what it is to star in a production like the Gladiator, excited to take part in the silly games the media team has devised for them.

Another characteristic Carlos notices about Paul quite early on is that he’s quite the flirt. Carlos knows the type—he’s had that kind of banter with Daniel or Nico before, and he knows how to take it in stride without thinking much of it and to give back the same energy just for the fun of it, with no real intentions behind it.

When Paul asks him if he’d give him a hot lap in a Ferrari, Carlos shrugs a light-hearted “sure”, dares him to name a model he’d like to try, and laughs when Paul grins and says, “I don’t care as long as it’s red and it’s got you at the wheel.”

A bit later, after Carlos has asked his many questions about making films, Paul asks him whether he’s considering a career change. When Carlos snorts his dissent, saying he definitely doesn’t have that talent, Paul gives him a once-over and tells him he’s surely got the look, to which Carlos laughs an unserious thanks.

And then again, when they somehow end up talking about Gaelic football, Paul laughs at Carlos’ obvious confusion about the rules, and proposes instead he should just take him to see a game back in Ireland. Genuinely interested in the proposal, Carlos enthusiastically says he’d gladly accept the invitation, before adding that his girlfriend would surely also enjoy a trip to Ireland. If the conversation becomes a bit stilted after that, he thinks nothing of it, and shortly after the three of them are ushered inside so they can get ready to film the challenge.

Charles stops him by the door while Paul is taken away by his media rep for a last minute briefing and make up check, and after putting a hand on his shoulder, he gives him an amused look and says, “You really broke his heart right then.”

When Carlos gives him an inquisitive look, silently asking him to elaborate, Charles widens his eyes and laughs at him, openly mocking.

“Mate, you really didn’t notice? He’s been flirting with you since he got here.”

“No, he hasn’t,” Carlos responds, making a face. Charles always thinks people they meet are after them in that sense; Carlos never agrees. “He’s just friendly.”

Predictably, Charles rolls his eyes. “He wasn’t that friendly to me.”

Grinning, Carlos wiggles an eyebrow at him. “Maybe he doesn’t like you.”

“Fuck off,” Charles scoffs, pushing his shoulder. “Everyone likes me,” he says, and while Carlos makes a sarcastic ‘yeah, sure’ face, he adds, “He was just nicer to you so he can get in your pants.”

“Don’t be crass, Charles. It doesn’t suit you,” Carlos responds with a disgusted grimace before shrugging his hand away.

Charles raises his hands, signalling that he’s giving up on that conversation, and thankfully, Carlos can’t think too hard about what he said. Ollie just entered the room, and Silvia is coming over to explain to them what games they planned for the video.

[incorrect-riordanverse]

finally reading tsats here are my live thoughts (spoilers, obviously):

i’m so excited because some pages are darkly decorated and its so cool. still don’t vibe with the title though (the sun IS a star and its peeving me)

why are we talking about dating darth vader 😟 where are we rn (anakin is a yes, but DARTH VADER???)

maybe i’m too old but the jokes are not funny 😭

“this whole place feels like my soul. empty and dark. dark as the pit of the underworld.” <- i don’t care if he’s joking nico would never say thissss 🙏😭 we’re only 10 pages in but please stop butchering my fav character he’s not himselffff i am cringing so bad

i know i’m being dramatic but if they do nico dirty in this book i’m going to end it all

oh my god i don’t think i’ve thought about the words “significant annoyance” in so long. bringing back good memories for sure.

i can tell which parts were written by riordan and which parts were written by oshiro. i don’t think their voices are blending very well together…

also, maybe it’s because it’s the start of the book and they’re trying to familiarise new readers quickly with the characters but it feels like they’re making nico the caricature of ‘emo and shadow and ebony darkness dementia raven way 🥀⛓️🖤’ and will the caricature of ‘happy and sunshine and blonde and flower gleam and glow ☀️🌈🫧’ and i usually like this dynamic when it’s not blatantly pointed out every other page. i have faith they’ll show more complexity than this later on though. future yan will let me know by the end. (future yan here, im not at the end but the characterisation def does get more complex thank gods)

oh ok so it is bob the titan

since when was nico’s actual name niccolo??? how did i forget this detail??

“you have to listen if not you’ll share my fate.” “ominous much?” <- ok he’s finally himself again guys it’s all good

the one-sided beef nico has with percy will never not be funny

“cookie monster appeared over the mouth of the jar, reached inside and gobbled up nico like the chocolate-chip cookie he was.” <- nevermind i’ve gone back to hating this book again

“what was one straight boy when you spent your whole life longing for the impossible?” <- i’m reminded of that time a few years back where everyone made ‘having an unrequited crush on percy’ nico’s whole fanon personality, so i’m glad they addressed this somewhat. this boy has been through so much and people really thought crushing on percy was the biggest thing to focus on about ‘nico angst.’

“we made a mistake. you have to fix it.” <- call me a red flag but if i was nico i would do anything and everything to not go. i would medicate myself so highly on sleeping pills that i can’t dream (doctor bf can go kick rocks). i would track percy and annabeth down and haul their asses into tartarus instead to do it. and if i had to go i would only go in to kill bob myself for sending me those traumatic ass nightmares. no thx. bro willingly jumped in himself and now wants me to save him. nuh uh.

not cupid being will 😭 its like his aphrodite 😭 i am not well.

they always have a really good and emotionally moving scene and they ruin it with a dumb joke. let it be heavy 👏👏

something’s really fishy and i have a feeling that it might not be bob calling for him

if this whole “grumpy ball of darkness” thing continues i will actually lose it

you can’t tell me the percabeth pep talk was actually needed. i will forgive it because i miss them though

im sensing tension in the gap between nico’s connection to the underworld and his relationship with will and i’m here for ittttt. give me the dramaaa

who is the gorgyra girl and why is she in their business sm?

oh shit a will solace pov??? christmas came early 🙏

nevermind that whole nightmare sequence was so fucked up 😭😭

somebody HELP HIM i never thought we would get will angst (nico angst fs, but will???)

DONT JUMP IN THE STYX PLEASE

SOMEBODY TELL HIM HE’S HELPFUL OMG

nico strangling epiales in his sleep is so fucking cool he’s literally HIM he’s literally THAT GUY

[hughesysgirl28]

Luke Hughes~Fate

Backstory: you are friends the Sturniolo triplets and you guys go to a New Jersey Devils hockey game and you run into Luke afterwards by accident

———————————————————————————

Liked by christophersturniolo, matthew.sturniolo, nicolassturniolo, and 549,500 others

yn_diangelo: off to a Devils game with my boys🫶🏼

Tagged: christophersturniolo, matthew.sturniolo, nicolassturniolo

christophersturniolo we should be going to a Bruins game not this

| yn_diangelo you have your team and I have mine Chris😐

nicolassturniolo gorgeousssss

| yn_diangelo Thank you Nick🫶🏼

| nicolassturniolo always

User1 omg are you gonna meet Luke?!

| yn_diangelo sadly no

matthew.sturniolo 👥👥❤️✔️

Liked by yn_diangelo

User2 take pictures for us!

| yn_diangelo planned on it!

———————————————————————————

As Nick, Matt, Chris, and I got to the Prudential Center Matt parked the car and we got out. As we were walking to the stadium I smiled and got all giddy. “You all excited about seeing Luke Hughessss?” Matt teased me and I glared at him playfully. “Yes but I’m also happy to see my whole team play and watch them kick the Maple Leafs asses.” I said now with a smile as we walked in through the doors. We showed the front people our tickets then walked to our seats. Right behind the Devils bench. Warm ups started and I took some pictures of the Devils coming out and them doing warm ups. I was specifically eyeing Luke which I guess the triplets noticed cause they all sent me a smirk when I looked over at them. I snapped a quick picture of Nico at the bench beforeI put my phone back in my pocket then the game started. I watched intently as it started and the Maple Leafs had the puck. Marner passed it to Matthews who tried to score but it was blocked by Jake Allen. “Yeah!!” I, the triplets, and all the other Devils fans stood up screaming cheering the Devils on. After that we sat back down when the Devils had the puck. At the final minute of first period Nico scored the first goal of the game. I cheered them on as loud as I could as the timer went out for first period. Both teams went back to the locker room and soon second period came and went. The score was currently tied at 2-2. “Don’t worry y/n. They’re going to win, I’m sure of it.” Chris said placing a hand on my shoulder as he noticed me getting worried as third period started and I looked over at him. “Even if I may not exactly like this team.” He whispered and I laughed a little. I turned my head back towards the game to pay attention to it. Jack had the puck, he passed it to Dawson, who passed it to Luke. Luke is skating towards the goal when suddenly Matthews comes out of nowhere and slams into him. Almost the whole arena stood up shocked at what happened as Luke fell onto the ice holding his arm in pain. Jack skated over almost punching Matthews but the refs stopped him before he could. “Let Jack fucking punch his ass!” I yelled angrily as all the other Devils fans yelled in agreement. The refs made Matthews go to the penalty box as Jack followed his brother to the locker room. As they went by I glanced over at Luke who just happened to look up as I did and we made eye contact. I looked away and sat back down. “He better be okay or so help me god.” I muttered angrily only so I and the triplets could and the game went on and the Devils had a power play. Holtz scored the Devils third goal during the power play and closer to the end up the period Luke came back out and was playing again. As the timer ran out ending the game the Devils won 3-2. “Go out to eat now?” Nick asked and I nodded as the four of us got out navigating through the crowd back to the car and headed to a restaurant near by.

———————————————————————————

Liked by sturniolo.triplets, njdevils, nhl, and 498,870 others

yn_diangelo: took some picture of the Devils before the game started during warm ups

njdevils it was nice seeing you and the Sturniolo triplets there all the way from Boston!

| yn_diangelo anything for my home team!

Liked by njdevils

christophersturniolo you guys should have seen her when Luke got hurt by Matthews, she was LIVID

| yn_diangelo damn right I was that’s my favorite player😭

yn_diangelo was followed by njdevils, jackhughes, _quinnhughes, nicohischier, and nhl

———————————————————————————

“Oh my god!” I screamed in the car looking at my phone at who just followed me. “What happened?” Nick asked leaning over to look at my phone. “Oh my god!” Nick also screamed. “What?” Chris asked confused looking back at us while Matt gave a confused look through the rear view mirror. “The New Jersey Devils, Jack Hughes, Quinn Hughes, Nico Hischier, and nhl just followed me on instagram.” I said still in shock from what I saw on my instagram. Luke was the only Hughes brother to not follow me but who was I to complain too much? I just had three hockey players follow me, the nhl follow me, and a hockey team follow me. “Let me see.” Chris said as we pulled into the restaurant parking lot. I gave him my phone to look. “No way.” He said looking at my phone then showing Matt who had the same reaction. He handed back my phone to me and I put it back in my pocket. “We’re eating outside. Grab a seat while I get our orders.” I told the boys as we got out the car. “Got it.” They said and walked ahead of me to get inside and find a seat while I went to order our food at the register. We come here all the time when in New Jersey so I already knew what to get. I ordered our food and thanked the cashier giving her a tip then turned around to go find the boys when I bumped into someone. A very tall someone because my face slammed right into their chest. “Luke you’ve done did it again. Walking right into people.” I hear a voice say laughing as the man whose name I’m assuming is Luke grabs my waist as I almost fell to keep me up. I look up at the man and my jaw drops. It’s Luke Hughes. “I… uh..” I stutter and curse at myself for stuttering but blushing madly as he still has his hands gripping my waist, also realizing I still had on a Luke Hughes jersey. He lets go and I almost miss the touch. “Hey, you’re the girl at the game that Luke made eye contact with when he got injured and wouldn’t shut up about right? The one I followed on instagram?” A voice asks and I look to see Jack Hughes. “Yeah I am.” I say giving an awkward smile. “I was not talking about her!” Luke whisper yelled at Jack as his face turned red. “Sure.” Jack said sarcastically and I laughed awkwardly. “Well it was nice to meet the both of you despite uh… how it happened but I have to get back to my friends.” I said scratching the back of my neck. “Yeah.. have a good rest of the night.” Luke says with a small smile and I smile back. “You too.” I say walking away to find the triplets as I’m blushing fiercely. I find them and sit down across from Nick and Chris, next to Matt. “What happened to make you blush like that?” All three asked at the same time. “I may or may not have quite literally ran into Luke Hughes.” I said trying to stop blushing but it wouldn’t work. “Tell us the rest.” Nick said and I groaned. “I almost fell and he had grabbed me by the waist and Jack recognized me and might’ve revealed that Luke wouldn’t shut up about me after we made eye contact after he got injured.” I said then put a hand over my mouth to cover my smile and blush. Chris took a photo of me like that and I glared at him. “Someone’s gonna get their selves a boyfriend.” Matt teased poking my side. “No I’m not.” I said hitting him in the arm playfully. They came out with our food soon after and we ate indulging in a conversation as two or three of the Hughes brothers came outside and sat down near us. I looked over to see Luke already staring at me. We both smile and I swear I see him also blush then we look away. All of a sudden I got a notification from instagram.

lhughes_06 has followed you

A/n: I hope you guys enjoyed that for my first imagine! There will be a part two soon to this.

[nicohischierz]

our summer: nico hischier x player! reader 

quinn didn’t say anything as he and nico drove to his parents house. he had messaged his mother on the way that he had a guest on the way. 

when he arrived ellen gave nico a small smile before directing him towards the guest room she made up for him. “you guys will figure this out,” ellen told the boy, squeezing his hands. 

that night, nico researched the best ob/gyn in new jersey and asked some of the team for their recommendations.

nico spent the whole night talking to erik about how to prepare for a babies arrival. when asked if you were pregnant nico declined.

his response was “we just want to prepare ourselves for the future”

no one really believed him but they knew you’d tell them when the time was right.

nico wasn’t mad. no he was excited to be a father but he was disappointed in himself for not noticing how you felt back in switzerland.

because if he did then maybe you’d be cuddled into him and discussing baby names instead of sleeping on two different beds in two different places.

when quinn came back home you were in the kitchen, a jar of pickles open in front of you. “where did you go?” you asked, taking a bite of the sour vegetable. 

quinn thought about possibly lying to you but he decided against it. “nico stopped by,”

you faltered, almost droppping the pickle. but instead you just smiled at quinn and nodded. “i dropped him off at my mothers, you can talk to him tomorrow,” quinn offered.

“the coffee shop, at 10:30,” you mumbled before heading off to your room.

nico was at the coffee shop before you arrived. he pulled out a chair and made sure you had everything.

“i’m sorry,” he started.

“i’m sorry that i made you feel like you had to leave and do this one your own. i should’ve payed more attention to you, my mum told me you weren’t acting like yourself but i thought it was because of the contract,”

nico leaned across and grabbed your hands, enclosing them in his.

you didn’t say much.

you just stared at him.

“i want to keep it,” you managed to get out.

“jack said i can stay with him and luke. nico, i’m not going to force you into taking care of the baby if you don’t want to but i want this,” you rambled.

nick squeezed your hands.

“i want to do this with you. if there was anyone in the world that i was going to start a family with, i’d want it to be you,” he answered.

that evening, nico moved his bags into your room and quinn and jack’s lake house. the three brothers gave nico a lecture on how to act.

when the two of you were getting ready to go to bed, you called your coach and told him you were pregnant. he congratulated you and then informed the two of you that you’d have to go speak to hr about what the plan was.

the next people to find out were alex turcotte, trevor zegras and cole caufield as they arrived at the lake house soon after you and nico. to your surprise, ty smith showed up at the door and you broke down.

the group all looked towards a frightened ty and then to a laughing jack. nico also tried smothering a laugh but it didn’t work.

“i’m sorry, it’s the hormones,” you excused yourself to grab a tissue.

alex caught onto it first. despite your attempts to hide alex managed to make out the little bump you had growing.

“no way!” he exclaimed, running over and giving you a hug.

the other three just looked at you and alex in confusion. it wasn’t until alex asked to put his hand on your stomach did they understand the situation.

“you’re pregnant?”

“you two are going to be parents!”

“congratulations!”

they all exclaimed clambering to give you a hug. you welcomed all of them, holding onto ty a bit longer than the others.

“listen right now you guys and the organisation are the only people who know. so please, i am begging you not to say anything until i announce it,” you pleaded.

they all nodded.

trevor kept staring between your stomach and your ankles. “did you know your ankles swell up,” he blurted.

[scarareg]

For OTP asks, for any of your favorite ship(s) from PJO/HOO:

4 5 16 21 22 32 34 36 39 (choose any which you find interesting (or) all!!)

Oh thank you, thank you thank you, I am so excited about this!

My OTP is percico!

4. Their favorite show to watch together?

Oh this is super fun because Percy would be eager to show Nico different shows from different decades and discover new ones together! Percy probably likes Brookly Nine-Nine and The Amazing World of Gumbal and Nico is a geek who may like darker stuff like Link Click, GOT/HOTD or Dark, maybe even Succession!

So, their fave shows to watch together may be something fun, but a little bit of mistery or drama or something along those lines. Maybe Hazbin Hotel, Barry, ATLA, Bluey and Breaking Bad. It would be adorable if both love Anne With An E too!

5. Who is the cheesier one of the two?

Percy!

16. Who hogs the covers?

Percy! Nico does not mind, but he pretends to just to tease Percy about it

21. Any routines one has that the other had to get used to (ex. morning, nighttime, sleeping habits)?

Percy is more of a morning person while Nico is the opposite, so they probably have discussed about it because Percy is trying to help Nico fix his sleeping schedule to be healthier. Nico would protest at first and feel like a zombie but he eventually get used to it. They agree for Nico stay up late on weekends!

Percy also makes sure Nico is eating properly.

After Tartarus and both having PTSD, I think both are a little messy, but would rely on each other to ground the other when they are having a hard time, a nightmare, panic attack, etc, and that will make them bond more

22. Love languages? How do they get around differences, if any?

Percy's are physical touch and words of affirmation; Nico's are quality time and acts of service.

Nico is probably learning to talk about his feelings, he may be awkward but honest about them; Percy appreciates him trying! Percy had to learn to read Nico's body language so he could be comfortable with his touch and not overdo it or overstep a boundary Nico is not ready yet

32. Who's so affectionate they can't stop touching the other?

Percy a million percent!

34. How do they cheer the other one up during sad times?

When Percy notices that Nico is sad, he sits next to him and tries to ask him what's up. Then he is his optimistic-self and starts listing all the good scenarios that can happen and how great everything will be and assures him that he will be by his side (and Hazel and Reyna too!) so he has nothing to worry about!

When Percy is sad Nico would try to talk with Percy and make him laugh , then would hug him and kiss the palm of his hand; he know Percy would appreciate the gestures, especially since it is a little weird for Nico to initiate physical contact

36. Who is more protective?

They are both equally protective but Percy is in more obvious ways, so everyone thinks it is him. For example, if someone is making mean comments about Nico behind his back, Percy would not stay still and would defend him.

Nico is subtle, like when he helped Percy to have the Curse of Achilles , or when he talked to Bob about Percy. He always has Percy's back but Percy would realized the things Nico did for him after a while

39. Do they get along with the other's family? If not, how do they deal with the other's family?

Percy gets along with Hazel and only Hazel. They probably hang out constantly and when Percy needs help with something related to Nico, she is the one he goes to for help.

Percy and Hades have beef so at the beginning Hades tried to convince Nico to change his mind, talk about guys who would be better suitors, or constantly ask if Nico is sure about his decision. Nico always shuts down his father's comments. After some time, when it was obvious that his son's relationship with Percy Jackson would last, he made peace with the idea, but privately he was still a bit grumpy about it. Low-key, he appreciates the way Percy treats his son and how happy he seems, but that is only something Persephone knows

At first, Nico is awkward around all of Percy's parents, even if they like him. Sally always welcome him and try to start conversation and Nico would answer but he was all polite, Sally thought he is adorable! After a while Nico starts to relax a bit and he and Sally have long afternoons filled with conversations and activities together; Sally made it her mission to teach everything a still-growing child needs to learn! Paul and he get along and have conversations about history and the past Nico missed and misses.

Poseidon does not mind Nico, he is just happy his fave son is happy. Nico has not interact a lot with him, but when he does he is respectful, just like he is with any other God.

Thank you so much for the ask! This was really,really fun! If you have any other specific ship you want me to answer questions about, I am all ears!

Send a ship + a number and get an answer.

[msmargaretmurry]

ohh, I am not that anon, but Nico/Nolan has been on my mind lately as well, and I am SO into that idea! Nolan in Switzerland!! Fish out of water but in a different (more comfortable? less soul-crushing?) way, with all this beautiful new nature to explore, and the idea of reconnecting with Nico through Nico's brother/the long-distance slow burn! The two of them bonding over Switzerland!! Nolan having been so young the first time he fell for Nico, and maybe he didn't totally understand him, but with years of experience and now with living here, seeing the place where Nico grew up, he gets him more, he gets his own feelings more. And Nico getting excited to show Nolan around his homeland (even at a distance!), and Nolan staying up late to talk to Nico, and Nico coming home for the summer, and Nolan staying for longer because he actually likes it here and Nico promised to show him around, and he wants him to... I am SO HERE for all of it.

(Also an acquaintance of mine plays in the Swiss league and high-key loves it and it makes me wish we saw more of the non-North American leagues in fic)

yes exactly!! you get it anon!!

nolan going abroad for his journey of healing his relationship with hockey and with his own body just feels like it could provide a framework for a really beautiful story! the literal physical distance and the metaphor of distance....... themes about home and belonging and learning to still love and accept yourself as you get older and everything gets inevitably more complicated............. i love a nature story and np is a nature guy and i just think there could be some really lovely stuff done with that! and then of course the nico of it all, who has not only very rudely gotten MORE handsome and sweet over the years, but is literally out there living nolan's dream, and nolan having to wrestle with his sensitivity about that versus the temptation of having nico in his life again. maybe struggling at first with taking nico's frustrations and fears seriously because he's a little bitter about nico's perfect life and doesn't want to hear about his so-called problems. but they'll work through it!! we love a character journey!

also, i agree with you about more non-NA leagues in fic! i would love to read more about them. i suspect that the main issue is just a lack of familiarity and fear of writing other cultures. this is certainly the deterrent for me — i'm SO familiar with the north american leagues and american/canadian hockey culture that it makes me hyper-aware of how much i DON'T know about other leagues/cultures. i get little things wrong every time i write europeans, i don't want the whole fic to be wrong 😂 but i am open to learning and i hope other people are too! and i hope people familiar with those leagues will write about them!

[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.

[ladynicte]

Little Nico being super excited to see Percy, I think at first Percy wouldn't really wanna use his powers, much less in front of new people, but he sees himself as forced to, and in that instant, Nico's hero crush starts.

Nico being the blabbermouth he was, would ask Percy a million questions about who his father is, and how many attack points does his move set got, and Percy who's both older and more confident, but also, really doesn't wanna scare other people, hesitantly tells him that it's Hades, that he's the Hades kid.

And he would expect Nico to like cower away, or stop talking, or look scared, or something like that, because that's all he's ever known (I can picture in this AU even Annabeth being very wary of him at the start)

But instead, Nico just goes oh that's so cool!!!! And he keeps asking all his questions, and looking up at Percy with stars in his eyes, asking him to please show him all the stuff he can do. And that's how Percy keeps threading the line, whenever he shows Nico something new he's sure that it will creep Nico out too bad, there's things Percy can do that not even Percy's own closests friends wanna see, but it just never comes.

And I think, it's seeing this kid who not only is super obviously impressed by him, but also sees him as a hero, and not a scary disaster waiting to happen, that would really motivate him to keep his promise with Bianca.

Percy wouldn't wanna fail in any way. Percy would want to prove that he's really cut for being a hero, and not a traitor, like everybody else seems to expect him to become.

Like he's sure everybody is already telling Nico he is.

And the guilt when Bianca dies, and try as he might, he can't even feel her soul anymore, he can't even find her body, he can't even help her pass away peacefully.

I can see him thinking a million things, like what if she doesn't find her way, or if she gets stuck in the endless line, or If she doesn't have any spare change to pay Charon's ride, what if the Judges don't attend her until a century later, what if she died because I'm the Hades kid and everything around me is doomed to die.

Yet, he can't even go to The Underworld and search for her and try to help her out a little, because the whole world, and his best friend's life is on danger right now.

Then, he comes back, and he tries softly as he possibly can to deliver the news to Nico, who by this point has been told by everybody, that yeah sure Percy is a really nice guy, really strong and everything else, but still, he's a son of Hades, you know, to be mistrusted, to kill what's around him, is just his nature.

And Nico would be so so against it, because in the short time of almost dying, abandoning the hotel he's been at for almost a century, and being left behind by his only family, Percy has been the only person who's been constantly nice, and understanding to him.

Nico would have an even harder time in this AU trying to accept that even though Percy was there, and he failed at protecting his sister, that doesn't mean he killed his sister.

And Percy himself would have a very hard time with it too.

I was totally imagining Nico stumbling to the Labyrinth by mistake.

Like Percy tells him the story of Bianca's death, and all of a sudden a storm forms, and it starts raining like it's gonna flood, even though by all means, that should be impossible inside the Camp's borders.

The ground shakes and splits open, and Percy has got to both command the skull soldiers away, that just seem to keep multiplying and coming back, no matter how many times he eliminates them, while keeping on his feet as the earthquakes hit, again and again.

He tries to protect Nico from it, until Percy realizes the storm and the earthquake are both coming from Nico. And that's when it hits him, who Nico's father actually is.

Percy chases and chases after Nico, trying to calm him down and shield him, but he can never quite catch up to him, until Nico has already dissapeared into the darkness of the night.

After that, I see son of Poseidon Nico, pushing himself constantly to his limits, he doesn't stop running until he's physically forced to, he keeps close by the sea and river side, but eventually his limit hits, and he dissolves, he breaks apart into a thousand little sea water droplets, and he falls.

Nico ends up in the labyrinth by pure chance, and nothing else, the water droplets simply happened to fall on top of a crack in the ground, and that's it.

I had pictured Percy as the Ghost King himself cuz it's cool, but I also really like the idea of Nico getting that status, regardless of who his parent could be.

It reflects a lot of his personality, after all.

Minos would find Nico lonely and scared and confused, and most importantly, vulnerable, he would teach Nico some sorcery.

Nico can't naturally do it because he's not the son of any Chtotnic deities, but he can definitely learn. I picture Nico as having a lot of potential for magic, the same way Hazel does.

Minos constantly poisons his mind, and gears him up for revenge.

The fatal flaw of children of Poseidon is their loyalty, Nico would be dreadfully loyal to Bianca and the memory of her, and he would feel very deeply betrayed by Percy.

And with so many people constantly telling him all the time that, Percy is so untrustworthy, it would be hard for him to look beyond it, until he's really forced to.

Percy would be completely determined to keep Nico safe the whole time through, but Nico would never stay put anywhere, instead, he would quietly trail after the rest of the quest members, until the final battle.

Nico finds out he's been tricked, and he fights back against Minos.

I don't think Nico, without the Hades bloodline, would be able to vanquish Minos the same way he does in canon, but Hades would totally wind up getting notified of this Poseidon kid, who's life he saved and spared almost a century ago, and who just dethroned the old King, and took for himself the crown of Ghost King.

I don't think Percy would be as into it as Canon Nico is, but I can see Percy personally tending to certain souls he chooses when he gets a chance to, so he would take Daedalus down to The Underworld himself, and Hades who totally already knows what happened, would be asking Percy the whole time, if something interesting happened to him that day.

Percy would vehemtly reject the prospect of a new Ghost King arriving, because really, he only wants to keep Nico safe, but also, he's not dumb or anything, so I think Percy would maybe try to lie and say that he is the new Ghost King, just to keep Hades off Nico's case, after all, he knows their Uncles don't really respect them.

I picture son of Poseidon Nico as still having a pretty weak constitution and getting tired and exhausted from his powers pretty easily when he starts overdoing it

But specifically, Nico with the Poseidon bloodline, I picture him just like dissolving, becoming many many droplets of sea water.

He would usually hit his limit and dissolve when he's already on water, so others would just have to wait it out a little bit, while Nico's pulling himself back together.

At first they don't even realize he's straight up dissolving, and figure out that he's just going underwater to swim around a bit, and recuperate his strength before coming back up.

But one time, Nico hits his limit while fighting on earth, and somebody like Percy just has to dive right in, and catch the droplets on a bucket or something, because nobody knows what would happen if they didn't, and they sure as hell don't wanna be finding out in the middle of a Quest.

This process Nico goes through also makes him feel more isolated, as other people, sometimes point out that it's a lot like what monsters go through once they are killed, and then reformed

Fortunately, anybody who says anything like that in the earshot of any of Nico's friends, is immediately getting sent to the Aether

[kinbaku1122]

切れ味の悪くなった包丁を研ぐ動画３０分

[ariavederci]

Nico Hischier/Jonas Siegenthaler Primer

(Gif source)

Nico Hischier

First overall pick in the 2017 NHL Draft (love you, NolPats).

"Mentored" by Taylor Hall--I'll let you decide the definition of mentored there, pals.

Current New Jersey Devils captain at 23, and THEY ALL LOVE HIM.

The future of Swiss men's hockey pretty much lays on his pretty shoulders, right along with New Jersey's cup dreams.

Nico's had a rough go with injuries. The day Jonas got traded to the Devs was his first game back after missing pretty much the entire year.

Yes, he really does go about his daily life looking like this.

Source: Nico's Insta

Jonas Siegenthaler

Drafted 57th overall in the famed 2015 NHL Draft by the Caps.

He played for the ZSC Lions in the Swiss league with Auston Matthews (can you believe AMatts was this blessed?).

Unfortunately, the Caps have a pretty deep D-core, so Jonas bounced around a bit between the AHL and the NHL.

The Swiss Embassy really loved him though, which like, FAIR.

Unlike most of the hockeys, Jonas is extremely competent in the kitchen! The Caps did a Caps Social Cookoff between him and Jakub Vrana and it's a must-watch.

The cooking thing is EXTREMELY important to the narrative, as you'll read later on.

Yes, he also goes about his life looking like this. Hot AND he won't make you eat Kraft Dinner on your date.

THEM 🥰

Their public history started when Jonas played with Nico's older brother, Luca, on the Swiss U18 team in 2012. Two years later, Nico and Jonas played together on the 2014 U18 team.

Jonas posted the CUTEST picture of them when they were babies playing on the same U20 team. Imagine crushing on your brother's older friend, and now you're his captain. ANYWAY.

In 2017, they went on a boys' trip together just shortly after Nico got drafted.

Source: Nico's Twitter

April 11, 2021, after being scratched for 15 games, the Caps traded Jonas to the Devs. Nico's team. Nico, of course, insisted Jonas stay at his place in New Jersey.

Please note the way Nico's face transforms when someone asks him about Jonas (starts at 2:10).

For even more pain, Amanda Stein, the Devs reporter, tweeted this about the video above:

When Mark Recchi also ships it, you know it's true love (starts at 5:45).

Tumblr user jakejuentzel (they're the best, for real) made the best gif set from the video above that includes this gem:

Jonas didn't a chance to play much after the trade because he got Covid, but he was able to play the last few games with the team. It was a rough season, but it's okay, because Nico helped him.

Jonas and Nico also spoke about each other in their exit interviews.

Jonas: "I was pretty excited to get here...I knew Nico already from the national team. We're not from the same hometown, but like we knew each other...we have the same interests and all that stuff, so it works out pretty good. I've never played with another Swiss guy on a team here, but it's kind of special. There's not a lot of Swiss guys and if there's two Swiss guys in one team, it's even more special. He helped me a lot, which made it a lot easier. I'm really happy about it."

Nico: "It was great. I obviously knew Jonas before he got traded here, so when he got traded here, I was super excited. I was excited to...like, I knew him well, so I was super excited to have him come here and show him around and I knew what he could bring to the team. So I was both ways excited on and off the ice."

And then Nico just had to go in for the KO:

"He usually spends his summer in Zurich and I spend my summer in Bern. But we usually see each other a couple times during the summer but not for workouts."

Nico. Nico. Buddy. Pal. I just wanna talk. What do you even mean by "but not for workouts".

The most devastating part, though, is this bit at the end:

You must see the gif set by jakejuentzel, it's required reading.

Nico, smug as hell, because Jonas cooking for him and taking care of him next season is just a foregone conclusion.

Speaking of the next season, this season, the Devs are uh, doing their best. Nico and Siegs are still in love, and while it has not been confirmed, circumstantial evidence says they still live together.

For one, they BAKED BREAD TOGETHER at the start of the season, and the best Tumblr users presented a very credible investigative report about it.

They're also seen frequently walking in together to games. Obvious proof of cohabitation.

The King and His Lionheart

Nico has been the face of Swiss men's hockey and the New Jersey Devils for the last several years. It's a lot to carry on his shoulders, even if his teammates all love him. The Devs is a young team, and I imagine it's difficult for Nico to allow his teammates to see a glimpse of his struggles and what he's feeling.

When I think of Jonas, I immediately think of words reliable and steadfast. He's not the flashiest guy in the world, but he's someone who can be depended on, in any situation.

Out of everyone in the Devs, Jonas is the one who's known Nico the longest--and arguably, the one who also knows him the best. It's easy to see Nico leaning on Jonas in the privacy of their own home, because as Nico's said repeatedly before, Nico knows Jonas well, and the reverse is likely true.

Nico is willing to sacrifice everything for his team, including his own health and well-being sometimes if it means success for his friends and his teammates.

Jonas probably also cares about team success, but he's had a markedly different experience with teams than Nico. He's bounced around between the AHL and the NHL, and with the trade, I think even more so, his loyalty isn't to a team. I'm not saying his transformation from riding the bench to one of the best defensive defensemen in the league this season is entirely due to Nico, because he's skilled and he's good. But also, the Devs have been struggling all season long, and it's not unwarranted to think Jonas' play on the ice is one of the ways he can lift some of the burdens from Nico's shoulders.

Because remember when I said Nico is willing to sacrifice everything for his team? Nico puts the team above self, but Jonas? Jonas puts Nico above everything.

TLDR: In Conclusion Thanks to my co-president, msmargaretmurry, for her help with this part.

So you have Nico, the boy king of Swiss men's hockey/New Jersey, who is universally adored but has struggled to lead his team to success, for a lot of reasons that aren't his fault, but also because of some really terrible luck with health and injuries.

And then you have Jonas, who is very big struggled for years to find his footing in the NHL, and now that he has, he gives a lot of credit to Nico, who once upon a time was Jonas's teammate's little brother, and then was Jonas's teammate and friend, and now is Jonas's captain. They've very loyal to each other, and carry a lot of feelings about their shared homeland together. Also, oh my god they were/are(??) roommates.

There’s just so much potential here. You’ve got friends-to-lovers. You’ve got childhood friends-to-lovers. You’ve got teenage-crush-on-my-big-brother’s-hot-friend-and-now-he’s- living-with-me-oh-god.

This is ripe territory for fwb-turned-feelings, or having a summer fling because you don’t think you’ll have to see each other much during the season and then whoops, you’re on the same team. You’ve got the most nauseatingly sweet domesticity you could ever ask for, AND you’ve got two guys both under very different types of massive pressure from the sport they love who find support in each other.

If nothing else, Nico is literally obsessed with Jonas' size and mentions how big he is in every interview where he's given the opportunity to talk about Siegs.

And they baked bread together. Come ON.

BUT WAIT

If you're STILL not convinced, here's what they had to say about each other earlier this year:

Nico on Jonas

I played with him growing up, also (in the) national team, so I knew exactly what he can bring to a team. And he's doing exactly that on this team. He does a lot of dirty work that let's say maybe not on the score sheet, but it's really important for a team to have success. I feel he's playing unbelievable for us.

Jonas on Nico

You know, that's probably why he's captain. Every night, he does those little details. Maybe people don't see very often but we on the bench see it. That's just what makes him so good. That's a true leader for me. You just gotta watch him on the ice. He's such a hard worker, blocks shots. For me, that's a true leader.

THEY'RE IN LOVE, YOUR HONOUR.

For more feels and visuals, please consult jakejuentzel's frünn tag. If for some reason, you want to watch me scream about them, my tag for them is the king and his lionheart.

I love yelling about them, so please don't be afraid to send me an ask or message!