#and more than that it's his brother and mother dying literally eleven months apart

[fideidefenswhore]

teenage dream (2023), olivia rodrigo / the spanish princess (2020) / the private lives of the tudors, tracy borman (2016) / the six queens of henry viii (2016) / the vaux passional / the six wives of henry viii (2001) / the lovers who changed history (2014) / blood, sex & royalty (2022) / blood, sex & royalty (2022), gif @fabledenigma / the cross (2014) 

[percyscourt]

percy jackson godly parent swap

(those who aren't mentioned in a different cabin stay the same)

PERCY:

son of aphrodite

sally jackson falling for aphrodite in a male form, skin tan and hair jet black, with eyes everchanging between gold, blue and green. sally confused when aphrodite visited her in her usual female form, but realized she loved her just the same

percy asking his mom about his dad, who his mom calls "the most beautiful person she'd ever met"

percy growing up and using charmspeak without even realizing it; "Nancy, just shut up." and Nancy immediately shutting her mouth close, as if she was a robot of some kind. percy brushing this off as the fact that nancy just didn't want to get in trouble

grover and his mom telling percy that they didn't really know who his dad was, but grover had suspicions based on the aura he radiates

his fight with the minotaur still staying the same, except at one point he had to will himself to get up using charmspeak

aphrodite's symbol popped above his head as soon as he was conscious after his fight with the minotaur and percy was sure it was a mistake; how could the goddess of beauty be his father? it wasn't even the fact that she was a god!dess!, it was the fact that percy didn't really see him good enough to be an aphrodite kid, not handsome or stylish enough

percy's siblings annoyed by how little he cares about his looks at first, then helping him find his right style- which they describe as new york skater junkie

aphrodite constantly sending him gifts; letters with love advice, new clothes, all that. and percy secretly reading the love letters but throwing away everything else. (hey he's a confused teenage boy, can you blame him?)

aphrodite constantly voicing her approval of annabeth, and begging percy to just ask her out

percy being absolutely crushed about silena, whom he was closest with, and him and clarisse shutting down anybody who called her a traitor or the enemy

percy being the cabin counselor due to a note silena left behind, just in case, and him stopping all of drew's dumb ideas (the ugly shoes, which were actually percy's shoes he showed up to camp with)

percy arriving at camp jupiter after training at the wolf house and fighting off the gorgons with hazel and frank, only to have people look down at him for being a son of aphrodite

percy trying to impress everybody so much, always trying to show he's so much more than such a pretty face

percy always trying to show everybody he is strong, smart, and a valid addition to the prophecy

percy and his mom fighting against gaea, and them kicking ass at it too

percy learning that being an aphrodite demigod is about loving yourself and caring for yourself, and how that doesn't make you weak, but rather stronger.

ANNABETH:

daughter of ares

annabeth meeting thalia and luke, being quick in words and with her knife, nearly cutting luke's throat

them traveling to camp and annabeth having the natural battle instinct, dodging and slicing at monsters with uncertainty, yes, but also with a little ease and reflex

annabeth being claimed her first night at the dining pavilion, going to sit down with only about six campers, all glaring daggers at her. annabeth not feeling intimidated, but weirdly at home. more peaceful here than at her dad's, anyway.

annabeth and luke swordfighting, and annbeth slowly yet surely becoming one of the camp's best, though she prefers daggers any day.

annabeth getting named camp counselor despite being eleven, because of her seniority in years of being there

her first act as counselor is to redo the exterior of the cabin, because honestly, it's horrendous. she still keeps the theme of war and everything, just minus the bloody boar, because annabeth gets creeped out by it's following eyes

her second action is stopping the "camp initiation" of dunking kids' heads in toilet bowls

annabeth's battle strategies being the best of camp, and her cabin and the athena one always going head to head in capture the flag.

her being one of her dad's favorites and always trying to please him, always pushing herself to be the best

her fatal flaw still being hubris, and she wants to tear down this world for a new one

her having the strongest Odikinesis at camp. her walking into a room and suddenly people remember that thing their friend did to them months ago, then everybody's fighting

annabeth getting the blessing of ares, and oh my her muscles. she's so fit and muscular and built even before the blessing, but after it's like just. wow. percy gets a lot of shit from it "wow you're girlfriend is more jacked than you" but percy thinks she looks great.

annabeth becoming so lost and distraught after percy goes missing that any time somebody mentions him, her grey eyes go black, and an aura of fear falls over that person. of course, annabeth hates that.

annabeth proving to people that ares demigods aren't just dumb, hot-headed jocks, but also smart, strategic heroes.

JASON:

son of invidia/nemesis

jason arriving at camp jupiter as the first and only invidia demigod, determined to join the fifth cohort and turn it around, to avenge those in the cohort who were mistreated and to bring honor back to their name

reyna choosing him as a leader because 1) his strong sense of justice 2) his refusal to let anyone bully other people of a lower ranking 3) while also giving out fair punishments

reyna, along with having her two dogs in her meetings, but also jason as he can sense when people are lookin for revenge/trouble

him getting his memory wiped, waking up in the bus, feeling a strong sense of missing, something he needed to do

seeing that guy hit on and flirt with piper, and jason hating it. he didn't know much- but he knew that he hated people that thought they were everything, people with big egos

jason and his friends getting picked up by this butch guy and annabeth girl, and jason noticing that annabeth was radiating this very vengeful aura. he was so intimidated he almost didn't get on the pegasus, but he didn't think he'd be better off here

jason arriving at camp and getting claimed almost immediately, a glowing scale hovering over his head.

jason walking into the cabin, on one wall seeing a picture of who must be his sister thalia with annabeth and another dude, and on another seeing a bunkbed pushed against the wall. with somebody on the bottom bunk.

jason meeting damien white, his half-brother, and learning about ethan nakamura. at first, jason was completely appalled by how traitorous his brother had been. then, hearing more about ethan and becoming sad, wishing to have met him.

jason even more sad learning that his brother didn't get a cabin while he was alive, and jason vowing to make it up to him by making sure all the gods' kids got their own cabins

jason and the seven fighting against gaea, and jason almost passing out by all the energy people were putting out. wirh every swipe of somebody's sword, it was as if they were basically yelling, "you! this is what you deserve!" and while jason did not see his mother at the fight, he felt her presence near him, giving him extra power

jason dying, begging piper to fulfill his promise of building the minor cabins, because all jason wanted was to keep his promise.

PIPER:

daughter of hermes

tristan mclean falling for hermes in female form, running into her on the beach. like, actually running. tristan running away from the waves after an early morning surf, and hermes literally going for a run on the beach

hermes and tristan going on dates, spending time with each other 24/7, hermes getting pregnant. then hermes leaving, days after piper had been born, unable to tell tristan the truth about gods.

piper growing up wondering how her mom could flake, and how her dad could still be so in love?? with somebody seemingly so normal?? he was tristan mclean after all.

piper growing up, being able to influence people very easily with her persuasive words alone. and when that didn't work, her talent of stealing and lock-picking came in handy

piper finding out about how all her memories with jason were a trick of the mist and her immediate reaction being to hate the gods, and to hate her mother, whoever she was, because why would she let them do that?

piper arriving at camp, nobody sure where to place her. piper walking into the hermes' cabin, instantly feeling at home. but hermes couldn't be her mother. piper was sure.

piper being claimed in front of the whole camp at the campfire, hermes himself showing up to deliever her a special package equipped with top of the line tennis shoes, a winter jacket, and a demand request for her to be apart of the new quest

piper being insanely annoyed with hermes and how he just waltzed back into her life. and how it seemed like he could read right through her

piper hearing about luke and understanding how he could feel hatred towards their dad (or in piper's case, mother), then immediately feeling horrible for feeling this after meeting the stoll brothers

who by the way, became super protective over piper as soon as they met, and who also told her of their prank rivalry with katie gardner in hopes of her joining them. and she did. of course.

piper growing to sort of like hermes, whoch made her feel horrible about betraying the gods in order to get her dad back. piper telling hermes before her friends, to let him know she wasn't a traitor. piper afraid of hermes grouping her with luke. hermes forgiving her, and recognizing her as the hero she is

hermes and piper fighting side by side against the giants, working together as if it was routine

piper beginning to understand how her dad fell for hermes

LEO:

son of athena

athena falling for all of esperanza: her brains as much as her beauty, her strength as much as her character

leo being born with all of esperanza's exterior; curly hair, dark freckles, long legs, and naturally tan/ethnic skin. this making athena love him one hundred times more, seeing him embody the woman she fell in love with, knowing he was going to be unique. knowing he was going to be that much special when he grew up

leo never forgetting anything, especially not years of torment from tia callida. and especially not his mother's death, how everybody blamed him, the words of gaea, everything. wishing he could forget everything, but having a perfect memory. of everything.

this keeping him up all night through every foster home, forcing him to run from each one, guilt dragging him down every step

leo being top of the class at every school he goes to, without even trying. even with his reading dyslexia. leo carrying these grades to the wilderness school, with all the troubled kids who don't care about their grades, just for everyone to bully ask him to tutor them

leo finding out about his friendship with jason being a trick of the mist, and beating himself up about it. constantly. how could he not see it? how could he, the top of every class, the school's pride and jewel, be that dumb?

leo getting claimed as soon as they landed, and being assigned will to give him a tour. leo arriving at the cabin, immediately feeling out of place in the sea of blonde hair and gray eyes

his half-siblings more or less annoyed with his jokes, but nontheless giving him a chance, and them forgetting how they even got along in life without him

him becoming the backbone of the cabin and, soon enough, getting named camp counselor by malcolm pace, who, quickly became one of leo's bestfriends

leo and malcolm making fun of all the couples, and malcolm spilling about the time he accidentally walked in on percy and annabeth hugging, and it quickly becoming one of leo's favorite stories- which he uses to make fun of both parties

leo arriving on ogyia, calculating ways and distances he'd have to travel to get off the island as soon as he landed. thinking the island was something he could solve, and getting extremely annoyed when calypso pointed out it was just magic

leo flying above his mother during the giant war on his invention, festus, which he built with the help of the hephaestus cabin, throwing off his calculated and mathematically composed weapons.

leo waking up after taking the Physician's Cure, finally able to sort of appreciate magic over logic. sort of.

HAZEL:

daughter of hekate/hecate

marie falling in love with the mystery and magic of hekate, and hekate falling in love with marie for the magic she saw in her

hekate granting marie's wish but warning her of its trouble and refusing to stick around long enough to see her and hazel hurt

marie's wish turning into hazel's curse, hazel touching jewels and treasures and them instantly becoming tainted with unfortunes of marie's selfishness

hazel growing up with things happening to her: her wishing something and it coming true, but marie telling her it was just marie's power of fortune telling and whatnot

hazel's eyes and lips trained to read and speak roman, as most of hekate's enchanments are spoken in roman

hazel's little white lies turning into a mist trick, if she lied and said she had an apple, right after marie saw that apple. it was little things, but not too little to go unnoticeable by marie

marie moving hazel to alaska despite hekate's pleads, and hazel feeling as if some part of her was dialed down, as if moving to alaska had diminished this "light" of hers that her mother loved

gaea choosing hazel to manipulate because of her powerful aura

hazel using her Umbrakinesis to shroud gaea in darkness, then caving the world in around her, taking hazel down with her

hazel and marie getting to the underworld and hazel trying to hold on to her life as much as possible, who knows how much time passing, then being tapped on the shoulder by this scrawny boy

this boy, nico, claiming to be hazel's half-sibling, here to bring her back from the open doors of death, with a tip from their mother

hazel arriving at camp jupiter, the first daughter of hekate, hazel being able to manipulate mist and the shadows, even learning how to shadow travel through nico

basically hazel being a badass all throughout the war alongside nico and their mom

hazel's friends helping her realize that her powers are not a curse, but a blessing that she can use to help others.

FRANK:

son of apollo

apollo meeting emily zhang during war, where lots of his kids were

emily thinking he was an egotistical airhead, yet falling for him all the same. emily falling for his never wavering bravery and risk-taking, and apollo falling for emily's safeness yet strength.

frank growing up wondering how anybody could leave his mom, his great mom. frank growing up not missing his dad. frank growing up hoping his dad was at least a good person, and if he wasn't that he didn't pass that on to frank.

frank being a horrible singer, stumbling over his words, yet still being able to heal with his voice, strength pouring from his words to people's ears, telling them to keep going, you got this. like this warm ball of light and comfort was radiating off of him

apollo visiting frank after his mother's death, in the form of a demigod, giving frank his second bow and arrow

frank getting claimed two days after arriving at camp. frank at first sort of hating his dad, this self-absorbed, annoying dude.

people giving him one glance, unable to believe he was a son of apollo. despite his archery skills, he was shy, in the worst cohort, and had none of that "pizzazz." people usually laughed in his face.

frank being ashamed to be in the fifth cobort, when his father was so used to being in the spotlight, so used to being loved and adored, frank being so scared that his father might think he was less

frank getting a blessing from apollo, making him tall with movie star good looks and seemingly glowing skin. frank begging him to dial it down a bit. apollo demanding his son go on the quest, or else

frank's dad constantly popping in during the quest in forms of some homeless man or another, which frank strangely appreciated

frank growing to like him, as he went through the quest, seeing why his mother liked him. seeing a little of himself in apollo, even

frank having the perfect shot, with anything. frank being able to sense the perfect places to put arrows into monsters' chests, being able to sense which place would kill them the fastest

frank meeting will and the apollo cabin, who, unlike camp jupiter, immediately accepted frank and made him feel at home. who never doubted for a second frank's worth, shy, chubby kid or not

apollo constantly voicing how special frank is, how proud he is that frank can be such a geniune hero without all the bravado that apollo himself used.

REYNA:

daughter of pluto

reyna's dad, Julian Ramírez-Arellano, falling for pluto as a pale woman, jet black hair with purple-ish eyes. reyna's dad coming back from war, scarred, becoming more scarred by learning who pluto really was after reyna had been born, and being disgusted by himself and pluto.

julian shoving this disgust on his daughters, screaming, yelling. julian never being the same afterwards. julian always thinking people are out to get him, ideas of war and pluto always haunting him.

julian reduced to a ghost, but appearing to reyna and hylla as a still alive, solid person. reyna driving an imperial good dagger through him, evaporating him forever.

reyna and hylla meeting Circe, and her telling them who their mother was. her promising them a grand future, one where they could get away and above abusive, crazy men, like their father.

then percy jackson and annabeth chase coming, turning reyna's world upside down. reyna going to camp jupiter, hylla to the amazons

reyna's first time shadow travelling being an accident. reyna and hylla being cornered by the pirates at night, reyna just wanting to hide in the shadows of the forest. and then they did. reyna and hylla appearing just five minutes away from circe's spa, both drained from their joint effort but most of all reyna

reyna arriving at camp and almost instantly earning her title of praetor

reyna being able to cast this feeling of fear over people with a single gaze, leaving people frightened days later still

reyna leading her legions into battle practice, hearing the voices of the dead who once held the same weapons in their hand

nico bringing hazel to reyna, asking for her to let the other girl into camp. reyna sensing almost at once that hazel had just came back to life.

percy coming to camp, reminding reyna of the life she could have had. reyna reading his feelings, reyna knowing his past too inckuded death of close ones, maybe even recently. reyna deciding to give him a chance

reyna meeting annabeth and seeing what she saw in percy in her eyes alone, times ten

reyna touching statues of war gods, and being overwhelmed by waves of dead soldiers pleading, begging for help. reyna being able to communicate with some of them, but most of them just mumbled incoherently

reyna going to find the Argo II only for scipio to later get injured, reyna having to put him out of his misery, but reyna still being able to feel his presence as a ghost

reyna shadow traveling the Athena Parthenos alongside nico and coach hedge all the way to camp, nico helping with his powers as a son of hecate

them stopping for breaks at all these historic places, the dead screaming at reyna, begging to be raised

reyna finally raising them at the battle at camp half blood, hundreds of dead demigods rising, tightly gripping their weapons, ready to win back their honor

NICO:

son of hecate

maria falling for hecate's mysterious yet caring, nature and hecate falling in love with maria's soft spoken and kind words paired with her dark hair spilling over her shoulders

zeus trying to strike down the di Angelo kids but hecate tricking him with the mist, though later it backfires as zeus strikes down maria

hecate, furious and devastated, begging hades to help erase their memories, and later place the kids in the Lotus Casino

Nico and Bianca almost breaking out of the daze of the Casino, and having to be served several flowers just to get them to play games; their mom's magic trying to break through and protect them

the di Angelo kids getting out, going to Westover Hall, and hecate paying all the fees

nico falling in love with this game all about magic, studying the plays and spells, learning them. realizing that if he worded them right, he could do some of the minor stuff; levitating, starting little fires, even being able to hide in the shadows sometimes. bianca convincing him that it was all his imagination

percy, annabeth, and thalia showing up and helping the di angelos escape, bianca becoming so scarce and quiet that she turned invisible. everybody thinking it to be a trick of the light

nico being the opposite, drawing attention to himself, all his questions loud, the sound of the forest and nature suddenly shushed, cut off

nico getting to camp and feeling out of place, as no hecate cabin was built, not being claimed. bianca leaving, percy promising, then bianca dying. percy bringing back a hecate figurine, but it being too late; nico slipping into the shadows

nico slowly teaching himself shadow travel and mist control but having to stop days after a simple trick

nico arriving in the maze, using what he could of the mist to distract and confuse monsters

percy and them finding nico, who casts a black stone wall (a trick of the mist) to stop kronos from coming after them, revealing his godly parent

nico having a little bit of necromancy powers, but only for fellow hecate demigods. nico using this in his advantage in the titan war

nico leaving camp after the titan war, only showing up when percy went missing to help look for him. nico finally having his own cabin

nico's mom tipping him off about hazel, and hades and hecate's agreement to let nico pass through the doors of death safely

nico traveling with reyna and coach hedge, helping reyna shadow travel and healing with spells

nico teaching will stronger and faster healing spells to use on the campers

nico learning slowly how to embrace his powers, despite remarks he got over the years of people calling him a freak. nico not feeling so left out and alone

WILL:

son of iris

naomi solace falling for iris' kind eyes and smile that stretches to her eyes, iris falling for naomi's shining eyes, as if the sun lived there

will getting to camp and staying in the hermes cabin until after the titan war, where he was claimed the minute the iris cabin was finished being built

will being able to pull light out of nowhere, in the darkness of nights, like a beacon

will seeing being a healer as art, fixing what's broken and putting it right again

will using his mom's communication skills to calm people down in time for him to heal them, occasionally with the help of nico

will helping the aphrodite cabin with educating people about acceptance and accepting their selves and others

will being chosen to help apollo after he was turned human because of his kind nature and patience

will overall being a ray of sunshine whenever people need him, whatever the circumstances

BONUSES:

clarisse as a nike demigod, and being almost intolerable with her competitve behavior

meg mccaffrey as a dionysus demigod

alex fierro as a hermes demigod

magnus chase as an apollo demigod

mallory keen as a dionysus demigod

halfborn gunderson as an ares demigod

tj as a nike demigod

blitzen as an aphrodite demigod

hearthstone as a hecate demigod

you're welcome

[xxtorpedo]

black velvet

Her Momma used to say she was born on the hottest day in 1848, which was pretty far-fetched to say for the month of March. Would swear up and down that a freak heat wave moved through Louisiana and nearly evaporated the swamps. Sable always assumed she only said this because of the bright red color of her hair, and would also assume that was the reason she was given a name that meant ‘sand’ in French, since it burned the bottoms of your feet like hot coals in the summer.

Momma was a swamp witch, whatever that meant. She’d simplify her abilities just so. Daddy was a Montgomery, an old bloodline that specialized in something they called ‘the motion’, what Momma called ‘déplacer’– move, travel, displace.

What they did was move things with their minds.

Sable couldn’t do it for the longest time. Maybe it was partly because Daddy used to toss her in the air with his own power, thinking she’d like it. Thinking the thrill of a high place was something exhilarating to a child.

It wasn’t.

She was eleven when she did it for the first time.

You know how boys tended to get real annoying when they turned a certain age around girls? One that always came to the park liked to throw whatever his nasty hands could find at Sable. Pine cones, slugs, clods of dirt. Take a pine cone to the side of the head once and no one could blame her for what happened next.

A freak gust of wind! That’s what her Momma had told his Momma. Wasn’t real normal for anyone to be blown into a tree trunk, but she had to cover for her daughter somehow. Had to assure the other woman it was something natural that happened to her son, resulted in his fractured shoulder.

Daddy had been so proud.

When she was thirteen, Daddy had to go off to war. Fought under a general named Stonewall Jackson. She wondered why on earth he had a name like ‘Stonewall’, no matter how many times her Momma told her it wasn’t his real name.

“Well then what is it?”

“Somethin’a starts with a T.”

“I like Stonewall better.”

No one thought a son of the Montgomery line would fall to something as simple as a bullet.

She was fifteen when she heard about it. Had hardly seen him in two years. Got letters all the time, addressed to Red, Pumpkin, whatever nickname he felt like using. She’d felt like dying for the longest time, Momma too. They mourned for so long that four and a half seasons passed before either of them felt like smiling again.

He’d been the rock of their family.

At a young age, she got married. Too young, in her opinion. Had a girl child and a boy child, both with the motion. Her daughter made the house shake from the age of five, and her son liked bending spoons from the age of seven. Beautiful, gifted, perfect.

Then the wars came again.

War was a foul thing. A thing that became commonplace in their lives. After the airplane was invented (which her Momma referred to as ‘unnecessary tin can birds’ – why fly through the air in a death trap when you could just as easily ride a horse or take a carriage or walk with the legs mother nature blessed you with?), it got aggressive.

The Great War happened, followed by the second one. They’d said the first had been ‘the war to end all wars’ – shit, had they been wrong. Years passed and the rumbling of a bomber overhead became normal. Sable wondered what it was like over there, where the bombs actually dropped. Momma had cried about Germany. Cried about Japan. Innocents, she insisted.

Sable wondered what the point of it all was.

A spat over land? Control? What did they want, in the long run? Surely not peace. Peace couldn’t be had with battle, could it? Though everyone else seemed to think so, Sable always thought it would have been a lot smarter to talk it over instead of committing acts of mass genocide

But who was she to talk? Just a simple girl from Louisiana didn’t have a clue.

Distant contempt turned into a morbid fascination. Pitting brother against brother, that’s what the Civil War had been about. Now it was nation against nation. Death wasn’t ever something to feel charmed about, but the mindset of a leader when he decided to give the ‘okay’ to drop a weapon of mass destruction…

What was going through his mind?

She’d listened to J. Robert Oppenheimer on the television. What was it like to become Death, destroyer of worlds? A concept chilling but fascinating. Made her heart race at the thought of it. Made her wonder how easy it would be without the bullets and the dynamite.

What if mere words could do the same thing?

She ended up moving a lot. Took her Momma and her kids with her. The swamp witch of Louisiana found new homes in Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio, Massachusetts, and Maine. They settled in a place called Fortune, found Tzarah, joined a coven since it seemed the right thing to do. That was in the Thirties, during the depression.

Khonsu.

She never really paid much mind to the meaning behind the name. Found it ounce in an old textbook about ancient Egyptian gods, Khonsu, god of the moon, but no one ever bothered to tell her if it was right or wrong. Sooner or later she forgot about it. Accepted it as having its own special sort of meaning. There were several other covens, somehow they put a bad taste in Momma’s mouth and whatever Momma didn’t like, Sable tended not to like either.

Somehow Momma had the talent of whispering little things into people’s ears. Blow their minds just enough to make them wanna tell someone else. She started a whole Cold War on the block between all the stay-at-home wives. It was a talent Sable couldn’t help but admire.

“Is that true?” she’d ask.

“Nah, I made it up,” Momma would say.

Another husband and another two kids later, Sable could feel the temptation to stir shit up herself. With the littlest screaming his head off for this or that constantly, she began to feel an itch for mayhem. Chaos. Anything to save her from the boredom of being one of those stay-at-home wives.

So she leaned over the picket fence between herself and Mrs. So-n-So next door and grinned a real evil grin and said, “Did you hear about Mrs. Whatsherface?”

She’d made the whole thing up. Told her not to repeat it. Told her she hadn’t heard it from her. Told her to take it to the grave.

Naturally, she’d told Mrs. Downthestreet, and she told Mrs. Acrosstheway. It escalated, and soon Mrs. Whatsherface was the hottest topic of the street. Put a little spell on Mrs. So-n-So so she’d forget who told her in the first place.

War.

So fascinating. Humans were fascinating.

At some point she became a grandmother. At another point it seemed that there were too many mouths around her. Momma, Nanna, I want, I need. Sable had to find her center again. And what was that center?

Havoc. God, it felt so good to just throw shit right at a fan.

Was around this time she started talking more to another Khonsu member, Dom, people called him. Sidled up alongside him one night over a beer and tried to tell him about Mr. and Mrs. Yellowhouseonthecorner and something about cheating with a babysitter. He’d grinned right back at her and said, “Woman, you made that up.”

And then he told her something better. Something wilder.

“You made that up,” she said.

“I did,” he said.

And for the next decade, they stuck together. Their affair was easy. Like two puzzle pieces fitting together. Raising hell together. Subtly, of course. Dom knew how to sow the seeds of chaos like he was born doing it. And maybe he was. She admired it about him.

They lived through the eighties together, then decided they were better off apart. Like when you find out the puzzle piece sort of fit weird the whole time. Two shades of havoc tended to clash in the bedroom more often than not, so, they went their separate ways.

The Gulf War happened, the internet was invented, Clinton let a woman fellate him in the Oval Office. A plane crashed into the Twin Towers.

War started again.

He got high patron.

A few years later, so did she.

Partners in crime, they are.

Quite literally.