#and whats wrong with annabeth looking like hazel anyway?

[daisy-mooon]

"Show Annabeth looks like Hazel :/" Not to be a hater but are you fucking blind.

[somewhereincairparavel]

Alright. I came across someone saying that Rick "put Jason in a pedestal" and "overhyped" him by emphasizing how good looking he is and that Jason shouldn't have been so attractive looking. (Tbf tho that person made it sound like they seemed more mad bc their least favourite character was considered good looking lol) but I'll yap about the significance here anyways. Beware of a very long yapping session below.

I do understand their frustration though, because jason getting told that he looks good all the time makes it seem very shallow and unfair to the others.

And let me tell you, Jason is SUPPOSED to be gorgeous looking in everyone's eyes. He is supposed to be conventionally handsome, Rick didn't intend for his looks to be "beauty is in the eyes of the beholder " or something like Percy's (like how Piper didn't find him as impressive) Percy's is supposed to be more authentic. Percy's character isnt centred in people idolizing him, everyone can acknowledge that he's handsome looking, but it isn't in a "perfect" type of way, he's a carefree spirit and that reflects on his looks. While Jason is hardwired as this ethereal looking hero in people's eyes that not even ONE can deny that he looks good, bc ppl in Rome had set him as the "standard". Jason said this before in the lost hero, that him being a son of Jupiter, makes him feel like the support he gets is only because his dad is a very regal and intimidating figure.

That's kind of the whole point, he's supposed to look like this perfect man who can do no wrong. His "Golden noble boy" arc is literally the whole concept of his character. Why else do you think rick wrote Aphrodite approving of Jason's looks saying that he needed no improvement (which she rarely does) ?

Because Jason is supposed to be put like a statue to admire and idolize, that's ALSO why rick made sure to add that Jason looks like a Roman sculpture, bc that's like a metaphor for his inner conflicts. The guy was put like an artifact for people to ogle at in camp Jupiter ever since he was a kid of 4. That's part of the tragedy.

Annabeth said it perfectly “Annabeth tried to hide it, but she still didn’t completely trust the guy. He acted too perfect - always following the rules, always doing the honorable thing. He even looked too perfect. In the back of her mind, she had a nagging thought. What if this is a trick and he betrayed us?” Mark of Athena, page 6.

His mother, whom he's supposed to look like, is also a literal world wide tv actress. So you can't expect anything less either.

Also, Jason is supposed to mirror Percy. And let's be real. Rick put Percy in a VERY high pedestal looks wise, aswell, Not just Jason. And that's okay.

Rick made Hazel mistake Percy for a literal god because he was just that good looking (tbf, in a way, when I was younger, I found this to be a little bit of an exaggeration, bro was covered in mud and seaweed and was compared to a god, it was rlly funny to a 10 year old me 😭 yeah but don't mind this though, this was just a younger me jealous that I couldn't be as pretty as Percy was in mud lol) If Percy can be "hyped" up so "unrealistically" in that particular situation then so can Jason. They are both literal half gods, so unrealistic praise is very normal) and rick also made sure to emphasize that almost all the teen characters had a crush on Percy. So apparently that isn't called putting a character in a pedestal but Jason's is? They are BOTH put in pedestals, because they're both heroes.

Jason and Percy are supposed to be equals, so both of them being in the top two when it comes to looks makes SENSE. Because people are supposed to argue about who is better looking, since they're written as foils.

You cannot expect rick to make Percy look like a god and Jason look like a rat 😭 then there's no point of having them as parallels if one has the upper hand in something. Rick did a good job by conveying that they are BOTH attractive, but in different ways. That's why the Percy/Jason looks debate always have mixed answers.

Jason getting complimented by Aphrodite, the GODDESS of beauty, for his looks and her saying that he didn't have anything to "fix" in his face BC it already looks gorgeous = Percy getting compared to a gorgeous Roman god by hazel. They are both equal comparisons in slightly different tones.

[brodieland]

Hi I just wanna say that I’m a really big fan of your writing style :) especially the way you write Leo

I was wondering if you could do a Leo x Child of Hecate!Reader, where basically, at first glance everyone thinks she’s like really dark and moody and stuff (like classic edgy teen witch) but once you get to know her, she’s a lot more, like…… pleasant, I guess? Like she laughs and smiles all the time when she’s around someone she likes (cough cough Leo) but then as soon as someone else tries to talk to her she gives them a death glare

Obviously, you don’t have to do it if you don’t want to, but I just thought I’d ask! It’s my first time requesting something, and your writing is just so good :D

.˚ 𓈒 ࣪.𝝑𝝔 Why can't everyone just go away, except you, you can stay.. ´ˎ˗

Leo Valdez x Fem!Hecate!Reader Synopsis: This hecate girl is mean and moody to everyone around her, but not to Leo!! Tag(s): cursing, erm.. that's it! Word Count: 1943 A/N: THANK YOU THANK YOU, and omg I feel so honored being ur first ask. anyways chick fil a sauce is soooo good, go to sauce for my chicken nuggets 1000%

"Leo Valdez, is this your doing," Chiron interrogated whilst looking at the over flowing bathrooms.

"Hey, Percys the one who breaks the plumbing around here, ask him."

"He's out on a quest with Annabeth and Grover, so I'm asking you one more time, was this your doing?"

Leo stayed silent for a moment, it was just a harmless prank, but he knew he would get in worse trouble for lying. "Yeah.."

"Well, not too much damage was done, so for your punishment you'll be conducting cabin inspections in an hour," he sighed.

An hour quickly passed, and Leo groaned as he walked toward the big house to grab himself a clipboard and started with the inspections. The first three cabins were easy, since nobody lived in them for the moment, even as full as the Demeter cabin was it was pretty clean too. Ares kids were pretty messy though, but not as messy as the Hermes kids! Leo thought he might've lost a lung from how much perfume was sprayed in the Aphrodite cabin, but he just kept it moving. And after successfully resisting the urge to sleep in the Hypnos cabin, he was nearing the end.

Cabin 20, Hecate's cabin. Leo didn't know much about Hecate, other than the fact she had taken a liking to Hazel and taught her to control the mist, really cool trick by the way. Moving on, as far as he knew, there was only one kid, whom was also out on a quest, so this cabin should be fairly clean, right? Wrong. Probably the messiest cabin today.

"Jeez, did Lou throw a bunch of pig bombs before she left," Leo noted to himself.

"Um, excuse me?"

Leo jumped from where he was standing, not expecting someone to just speak out at him from the seemingly empty cabin. "Hello..?"

Suddenly the door shuts from behind Leo and candles light the room. 'Is this... romance?' Leo thought to himself.

"What are you doing in here," you popped out from behind a bunk bed, "and to come in here invited, to insult my cabin, is really disrespectful."

Leo started stammering over his words, the way you looked into his eyes, he thought he was going to melt. Which, by the way, really hard for the fire proof guy to do. "Um, I'm here for cabin inspections.."

"Ah, your the one who flooded the bathrooms huh?"

"Yeah, funny prank right," he asked, a little sarcastically.

"No, since I'm the one who had to clean it out."

"Oh," Leo's face burned from embarrassment, maybe even with nervousness. "Wait what, why you?"

You pointed over to a glass of water on the nightstand to Leo's right. You started controlling the water out of the cup, swirling it around Leo, and dropping a little on his pants (it looked like he pissed himself a little), and dropped it back in the glass. Though he was a little too impressed to even notice, or care.

"Woah, you can control water, too?"

"I guess. I mostly just mirror other people's powers that I've seen," you shrugged. "See?"

You sparked flames from your finger tips. "Holy shit, your copying me now."

"Thank you captain obvious," you smiled sarcastically.

"Your a ray of sunshine aren't you?"

"And you're just some boy who does whatever to make others laugh with no regard on who has to clean up your messes, aren't you?"

Leo was silent for a second as he just stared at you. Leo knew something was wrong with him when the more you jabbed at him, the hotter he thought you were. "You just gonna stand there staring at me?"

Leo shook his head as he fumbled back to his clipboard. "Sorry - anyways um, gonna have to rate your cabin a one-"

"A one?"

"Well yeah, its messier than the Hermes cabin, and that cabin was gross."

You just groaned, "one second." And in one second indeed, things were flying across the room. Clothes back in dressers, and beds being made, and now the room was in tip top shape.

"Did you do that with your mind...?"

"Yup," you said as you walked up to Leo. You swiped the clipboard and pen from his hand, quickly writing a 5 out of 5 next to Hecate. "Bye then!"

And again with your mind, you opened the doors and pushed Leo out, shutting the doors behind him. Is it weird that Leo is getting heart eyes from a girl who just did nothing but insult him and throw him out her cabin? Maybe, possible, yes. Did he care? Nope! After handing back his reports to Chiron, Leo went to go find his friends by the archery range.

"Look who's done slaving away," Jason greeted.

"Oh my god you'll never believe what happened," Leo bursted out.

"What? Has another girl, who's completely mean to you by the way, caught your eye or something," Piper guessed.

"You know me so well Pipes."

Jason and Piper shared a looked before looking back at a grinning Leo. "Oh Leo.."

"Don't even start Mr. Perfect Jason, trust me she could literally be the one."

"Who even is it," Piper asked.

"She's, um, shit I didn't catch her name," the two started chuckling as the fire boy started freaking out. "All I know is that she's a child of Hecate, and has really cool powers. Like really cool."

"Oh! That's Y/N, I know her. She was big talk around my cabin for a little, apparently back around Valentines day she rejected I think two guys, but like really harshly. Definitely mean, definitely your type."

"Yoo, I got that."

"Yoo, no you don't," Leo just glared at Jason. "Didn't you just meet her today anyways?"

"When you know, you know."

"Can you stop quoting Lana Del Rey," they all laughed as the two backed off, going back to shooting their targets. Leo ended up walking off, not interesting in embarrassing himself with his lack of bow and arrow skills.

The next day when he was making his way down to the forge, he saw saw two people arguing by the sword practice arena.

"What did you just call me," he recognized the voice, it was yours.

"A cheater, that's what." Yikes..

"How was I cheating, you're just mad you lost," ooh burn.

"Well how am I supposed to sword fight you when you use your stupid mind powers to yank the sword away from me?"

"Fighting is more than just weapons, you could always use your wits, but we all know there's not much between your ears," you said, making yourself, and Leo from afar, laugh.

"You're such a bitch, and everyone thinks so too you know," he spat back, clearly getting more and more upset. You dryly chuckled as you began to levitate the swords, swiftly having them slice the air and pin that annoying boy by his clothes on the nearest poll about two feet in the air.

"Have fun," you gave him the finger as you went to walk off. Before you did at least, you noticed Leo and went in his direction. "Enjoy the show?"

"He had it coming, personally I would never call a woman a bitch," Leo held a hand on his chest as he said so, making you laugh softly.

"Wow, you must be such a gentleman aren't you?"

"Oh I try."

"So what does a gentleman like yourself do in his free time?"

"Why I spend my time in the forges and forget to eat of course," Leo smiled.

"That sounds... not good," you nodded. "But since you're on your way there anyways, think you could fix this up for me?" You grabbed your dagger from your belt and handed it to the boy in front of you. "Its chipped and dull."

"Easy peezy, I could finish this quickly, but like I said, I'll loose track of time and be in the forge for hours so I get it to you tomorrow, alright?"

"Uh, yeah, perfect," you smiled and walked off, Leos eyes following as you did so. Once you were gone Leo went off and did his favorite Hephaestus duty, crafting! When he got there, the first thing he worked on was your dagger, and he was correct when he said he'd be done as quick as he was. While Leo continued working on his other projects, he continued to glance over at your dagger and think of you. He chuckled to himself thinking about how mean you were to that other guy, then quickly nice to him.

Hours passed, the sun went down, the forge emptied out, and Leo missed dinner. He was always, if not on purpose, then accidentally true to his word. He was so entranced with his work he didn't even notice someone walking in.

"Didn't see you at dinner fire boy." Leo quickly looked u, seeing you holding a plate of food. Chicken nuggets to be exact.

"Whats with the plate?"

"Thought I could bring dinner to you, as a thank you of course," you put the plate down on the workbench and dragged over an empty stool. "Chick fil a sauce."

"Exquisite taste by the way," he smiled as he ate one of the nuggets. "You brought me a lot, tryna tell me something?"

"We're sharing, didn't eat much at dinner."

"Aw were you waiting to eat with me?"

"Don't push it," you smiled. "Is that my dagger?"

"Oh yeah, it was the first thing I worked on," Leo said as he handed you the dagger. "Ya like?"

You swung it around a few times before answering. "So much better, but can I ask why you tied a bow on it?"

"Is that not what you do with presents," and again you laughed, making Leo smile.

"I guess so." The two of you spent the night talking as Leo pushed his work to the side. Despite meeting just the day before, Leo found himself wanting to spend more and more time with you, thankfully the feeling seemed to be mutual.

"Can I ask you something?" you nodded. "Everyone thinks your like really mean."

"Bitchy, but go on."

"Your not mean to me though."

"Those were all statements, not questions."

"Well, how come your not mean to me?"

"Hmm," you sat there in thought, popping another nugget in your mouth. "You amuse me."

"I amuse you?"

"Yeah, you're pretty cute too," you licked the crumbs off your fingers. "Answer your questions?"

"Uh.. yeah," he smiled. A moment passes, and you find yourself leaning over the table and ruffling through the boys curly hair.

You giggled, "sorry, your hair was steaming."

"Yeah, does that sometimes," he shrugged.

"Really, your hair just catches on fire?"

"Yeah, mostly just when I'm really excited, mad, or like, nervous."

"Ah, good to know," you smiled, listening to the door open from behind you.

"Knew I'd find you here," Jason said.

"Hey Jason," Leo gestured to you, "Y/N."

"I've heard," he smiled and Leo just gave him a look.

"What've you heard, hm?" Your gaze bore into Jason, and he felt a shiver go up his spine. It was a complete 180 from the way you were just looking at Leo.

"Oh you know... your name."

"Hmmm. Alright."

Leo wanted to laugh at the scene in front of him, but instead he decided to quietly shoo his friend out the room. Jason got the memo and had no problem with leaving, "Well, just wanted to say goodnight. So goodnight," and he walked right back out.

You watched him walk out s you quickly turned back to Leo, with a smile back on your face. "Anyways!"

[xixovart]

my annabeth chase headcanons because i ♡ my blonde gf

i call her annie as if i know her?? anyway

(doing this while listening to my annabeth playlist i love life)

picture me this. you sit behind annabeth during college lectures. she has her laptop open and airpods in at ALL times. you’d assume she’s taking digital notes and listening to music? WRONG. you look at her screen, it’s sims 4 (occasionally bloxburg). every build is absolutely stunning. what’s she listening to? true crime podcasts (there’s one or two about percy). you see her open her grades one day? straight A’s.

 annie braiding EVERYONE’S hair when she needs a distraction. im talking leo walking around the argo with two tiny cute braids sticking out of the side of his head like antlers. im talking hazel showing up to capture the flag with the most beautiful goddess braids youve ever seen. im talking percy having an adorable little hairdo (long haired percy pls consider) and outright refusing to take it off 

when dealing with monsters or bad guys, she’s really good at hiding her thoughts and emotions, but in everyday life? oh my goodness. you say one incorrect fact about the library of alexandria and this girl stares at you like she’s going to rip your eyeballs out.

she plays jenga with leo. it's a madhouse whenever they do. architect vs engineer stop.

really likes painting her nails but the nail polish lasts approximately twenty minutes. she never lets it dry properly because shes ALWAYS doing something and it gets smudged, or she bites her nails absentmindedly. silena would always have to resist the urge to give annabeth a manicure whenever she saw her nails.

you’re lying if you think annie wouldn’t meet up with alex and magnus for falafel at LEAST once a month

when she was younger (7 or 8 years old), she very easily blended into the background. which was a result  from her stepmom’s and father’s neglect. she usually went unnoticed and you probably wouldn't notice she was in the room until she talked.

 girl’s day once a month with reyna, piper, rachel, and hazel. nico occasionally gets invited.

annabeth in first grade hitting a kid upside the head with a textbook for calling her a dumb blonde.

ANNABTEH IN FURST GRADE GETTING UP EARKY IN THE MORNING TO WATCH NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IM DONE (im projecting)

i mean thalia and luke probably pretended annabeth was their daughter at least ONCE in a desperate attempt to not get in trouble with the cops

really really flexible?? for some reason? idk

some might have you believe that annabeth is the mom friend of the argo. youre wrong. jason’s the mom, annabeth is the cool older sister who teaches you how to pick a lock or sneak out. i mean c'mon she had thalia as a role model. annabeth is the aunt that you gossip with. annabeth is the sister that helps you with your homework, but also lets you cheat if it’s unnecessary/difficult.

this is prolly canon cause she’s an architect BUT in my architecture class today i learned that you have to use inclined (like this) handwriting in all caps and it’s kinda messy so NO annabeth does NOT have fancy loopy handwriting (also she’s dyslexic?? loopy handwriting and dyslexia do not go very well together guys)

left handed annabeth <33

[mediumgayitalian]

fic rec friday 10

hi!! welcome to fic rec friday. every week, i pick five fics i have bookmarked and rec them with a little review. check them out!

something borrowed by @rosyredlipstick

In the Solace Wedding Planning agenda, on the fifth page into their summer schedule, there are carefully scrawled out notes reading this: Bride and Groom - Hazel Levesque & Frank Zhang Best Man & Maid of Honor - Percy Jackson & Piper McLean Wedding Court - Annabeth Chase & Jason Grace Mellie & Gleeson Hedge Reyna Ramírez-Arellano & Leo Valdez Ring-bearer - Chuck Hedge Flower-boy - Nico di Angelo - Will plans wedding and now, apparently, Nico stars in one. Except...sometimes there's a bit more confusion on that last part. AKA the AU where Will plans weddings and thinks Hazel and Frank are going to have to cutest, gap-toothed ten year throwing flowers down the aisle, all while wondering why this 'Neeks' guy is always hanging around, and what business he has looking that good.

yes i am back on my rosyredlipstick (dude she's GOOD okay). however this one is my favourite i think. this is the kinda story you could use to explain to people what dramatic irony is bc LORD i wanted to SHAKE THEM 😭😭 will falling like deeply in love with nico and being intensely stressed about everything the whole time is so real and on brand. i love him and i love the fond exasperation that just bleeds from this fic its GREAT

2. Rental Love by @rosyredlipstick

*Read Terms & Conditions - Male/22/Long Island N.Y.C. Tired of showing up stag at holiday events? Want your family to stop thinking there’s something wrong with you? Just want some arm candy for a work event? Look no further. Your solution is here! I will attend holiday events with you as your paid date. Accepting all genders as applicants. Email solace.w@fastmail.com if interested. Interview & application will be set up there. - Nico di Angelo has been telling Hazel Levesque about his boyfriend for weeks. The bad part? Nico doesn’t have a boyfriend, the holidays are coming up, and not all of Jason’s ideas are horrible. They’re all a bit surprised about the last one.

THE LEVEL OF STUPID THAT THEY ARE...😭😭 kills me fr. like this whole fic is just a manifestation of truly one of the best tropes of all time…..like what if we took a hallmark movie and made it gay as all hell. iconique indeed

3. A Match in the Making by @coconutcranberries-blog

“You’re a morning person,” Nico muttered, rubbing his eyes with the heel of his palms. He ran a hand through his black hair, which stuck up in disarray, the same way it did every morning. He was a mess, and Will Solace looked annoyingly put together, and Nico didn’t even care, really, he didn’t.

friendship is the core of romance!! it is!! every time!!! and it's such a core in this fic....which is fucking??? ten years old??? im just realising?? jesus christ??? anyways. "Nico had the sudden, warm feeling that Will Solace had never bought his act." i YELLED

4. Perception by scorchedtrees

In which everyone thinks Nico and Will are together.

i love this trope i love it SO BAD. both ways. when your love is so obvious that no one misses it.....love to see it truly. and will can have one second of beingn smooth and not a dweeby loser. as a treat

5. the world is brighter than the sun now that you're here by @finalizer

It was hard, Nico eventually concluded, to maintain one’s air of spooky otherworldly detachment with a blinding ray of sunshine trailing one step behind him every minute of every day.

grouchy nico my beloved truly. honestly hes such a bitch i love him like "Seriously, give the guy a perm and a few cats and he’d be that weird aunt that everybody avoided around the holiday season." why does he ALWAYS have something vile to say 😭😭 hes a mood fr

thank you for joining me this saturday friday!! happy reading!!

[kozumesphone]

› 𝐊𝐀𝐋𝐎𝐍 𖤓

╰ 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐲 ✩ . . .

⊹ ࣪ ˖ a/n ☆ hi ceri!! thank you sm 💓 this is officially the first ask of this event, congrats heh <3 anyway, I hope these hcs don’t disappoint!!

▸ leo, annabeth and you are the power trio on the argo II—the three brains behind the entire quest

▸ leo thinks with his heart, and annie with her mind; you manage to strike a balance between the two and make empathetic, and logical decisions in crucial moments

▸ you also spend quite a bit of time with percy and grover, since I hc you guys to be childhood bestfriends, for some reason

▸ you also love love love spending time with nico and hazel! hazel treats you like her elder sister, while nico looks after you like his younger sister

▸ no matter how bad the situation is—on a scale of apollo to lester—you always manage to walk out of it unscathed (which is pretty surprising, owing to the number of sarcastic comments you’ve made at the wrong people)

▸ you’ve occasionally had library dates with all the girls! <3

▸ you’ve never regretted a single moment with your found family, especially since they’re always there for you, no matter what! if they ever find you going through something alone, you bet at least two of them are coming over to your room to eat your favourite ice cream with you binge watch your favourite show’s newest seasons

kozumesphone © 2024 | don’t repost my works onto other platforms, or edit and post them even on tumblr, without asking me first • don’t steal my works, steal my heart instead • reblogs and comments are more than appreciated !

[via-rant]

"Hey, Leo? Can we talk?" Percy asked walking into the engine room. Leo turned to look at him with a big smile.

"Percy. Uh... yeah we can talk." He said looking awkward.

"Are you okay?" Leo gulped, his smile strained.

"I'm fine. Why?"

"You've been avoiding everyone and Annabeths been worried she just doesn't know how to ask it."

"Yeah, I don't want to get in the middle of any of you. Piper and Jason need to figure things out, Frank hates me might as well stay out of his and Hazels way, and you and Annabeth obviously need some time." He wanted to argue about Frank hating him but realized he wasn't wrong.

"What about you?"

"What about me?" Percy stared in horror for a second. He said it as if he... he thought he didn't matter. The realization of this was heartbreaking. But he needed to keep himself together for him.

"I mean, you need someone to talk to."

"That's what Festus is for. And Buford. People don't understand me that well." It's not like this'll last long anyway.

"I bet I could." I have to try.

"Yeah right." I can't get close, I can't get close, I can't get close.

"Come on, hit me. It doesn't have to be big just one thing. Anything." Anything? Anything.

It was quiet for a few seconds. Something blew up in the distance.

-----

Idk

[apollosgiftofprophecy]

Favorite Riordanverse Ships

Here's my previous ship tier ranking, but I have come to the conclusion that I need to REORGANIZE

and this time, we'll be working backwards😉

(if i've incorrectly credited the wrong person for the fanart, kindly let me know! I think I got most of them (four for sure I know I do!) but for the others, please let me know!)

Let's begin!

5 - Piper X Shel (Shelper)

art by @piqersgf

SAPPHIC GIRLS

I'm happy Piper's happy <3 also i need to know more about Shel. I NEED MORE!

4 - Hazel X Frank (Frazel)

art by @nisaeiam

theeeemss <3 hail the praetors

3 - Percy X Annabeth (Percabeth)

art by @arishatistic

hot take🔥😎🔥i just angered half the PJO fandom

I love them. I really do. I shipped them like crazy ever since I read the lighting thief in sixth grade. They've been through so much <3

But that's the thing. The fandom has kinda wrung them out for me. They've had their run. They've had their time.

It's time for these two to just get what they want - an opportunity to relax, and live normal lives <3

FOR GODS' SAKE LEAVE THEM BE LET THEM RETIRE ALREADY THEY'VE DONE ENOUGH FOR THIS WORLD

also, BI PERCABETH

2 - Magnus X Alex (FierroChase)

art by @annydraws

Magnus is pan I take no criticism. When I first read MCatGoA, I was like "why do I keep getting pan vibes from Magnus?" so yeah. PAN MAGNUS

AND ALEX!!!! BELOVED!!!! MY THIRD FAVORITE CHARACTER!!!! KEEP SLAYING KEEP SLAYING

1 - Apollo x Commodus (Copollo)

art by @newobsessioneveryweek

art by @literallyjusttoa

(I previously had art by @/callmesamuelxxx but I saw on their blog they wanted permission for repost so I went "Oops!" and switched real quick :3 Mistakes happen!)

anyway.

if you even LOOK at my tumblr presence, you should have seen this coming hehehe

it's a tragedy. it's toxic. it's about the narratives. they can make each other SO MUCH WORSE. commodus can't let the betrayal go. apollo couldn't bare to let anybody else kill him. commodus is fueled by his bitter vengeance. apollo knows where to strike to make it hurt. commodus still loves apollo (even if it's twisted by hate). apollo still loves commodus (even if it's twisted by guilt).

the last thing commodus hears is apollo's scream - a scream that stems from heartbreak, shoving proof of apollo's love for him in his face.

they are so fascinating I need more

so yeah. my ship list has RADICALLY changed I know haha but I have no regrets 😎

Copollo is the best, most well-written relationship in the entire Riordanverse. I take zero (0) criticism. an entire love story in just two flashbacks, and three interactions. the EMOTION. the FEELINGS. it's ALL THERE AND IT'S SO WELL-CRAFTED.

PEOPLE SLEEP ON TOA, AND THEY SLEEP ON THIS SHIP

Your Friendly Local Copollo Shipper, signing off :)

[cabinofimagines]

Totally NOT improvised birthday

A/N: Happy birthday Ash hope this saves you from the saddies -Danny

Words: 1,319

Usually, the Argo II monthly meetings are a casual thing, no one ever has plans in advance as to what they'll do once they're there. So it's pretty damn weird when you show up with a whole cake, a massive bag of snacks, and decorations.

"Cake!" Percy approaches to help you with the stuff. "Nice."

"What's all that for?" Frank asks with curiosity.

"My birthday," you replie casually.

Leo chokes on his drink while Annabeth stiffens in place, everyone else lets out different types of replies in various levels of panic and feigned exclamations of "Right, Frank! It's their birthday, don't tell us you forgot!" Everyone except Jason, Nico, and Will, of course, they all had marked the day in advance.

"Happy birthday!" Jason approaches with a sweet smile and gives you a crushing bear hug and a birthday bag.

"Thank you, man!" You smile happily, dropping the snack bag and the decorations on the table.

"We need tape!" Percy quickly gets up and walks to the door. "I'll get it!"

Annabeth grabs her cap and puts it on, instantly disappearing. Piper pretends to take a phone call and leaves while Leo rummages inside his tool belt. Hazel stretches a hand behind her chair and pulls literal treasure from the ground while Frank fidgets beside her trying to come up with something.

Nico and Will approach you, giving everyone else time to recover. Nico goes first, handing out his carefully wrapped present. He encourages you to open it—mostly to give everyone else a chance to find something—and inside you find a bag of rock-shaped chocolates of different colors and sizes and a whole new limited-edition deck of Mythomagic.

"Rocks!" You smile. "Thanks!"

Will goes next and hands you an envelope. "I thought it'd be nice to stretch out the celebration for another day."

"What?" You tilt your head in confusion and take a peak inside the envelope. "Ohhh!" You pull out three tickets to the newest Broadway show you once mentioned you were interested in watching. "Will!"

"Don't even," he brushes it aside. "Sponsored by dad, he says hi and happy birthday, by the way."

"Tell him I say hi back and thanks a lot!" You look at the tickets again. "There are three tickets here..."

Will blushes and clears his throat. "Yeah, I uhm—I don't know if it's okay with you, like, you can say no if you want to, but I thought we could go together?" He signals at you and Nico. "Like... us."

Nico gives Will a look but his boyfriend pretends not to see it, smiling at you bashfully.

"Oh," you feel fuzzy inside but quickly brush it off before getting the wrong idea. "That's really sweet that you want to escort me, thank you."

"Don't say it like that," Will laughs, though it comes out a bit too loud. "It's more like... a hangout. Right, Nico?"

"What he said," the boy says plainly, a light pinkish blush on his face.

You open your mouth to reply but someone storms into the rec room, screaming and stomping his hooves down the stairs. "I HEARD SOMEONE'S A YEAR OLDER TODAY!"

Hedge shows up at the foot of the stairs and happily makes his way to you, roughly patting your back and rambling about how small you were before and how proud he is that he's seen you grow (he literally never saw you as a child).

His present is a pocket knife and a survival guide that looks suspiciously hand-made by the satyr, but you can appreciate the effort, and it's a really cool gift anyway, so you smile and thank him for his presents.

Jason is next, and his gift makes your jaw drop to the floor as you open it, it's the official plushie of that one blorbo you've been yapping about for the past six months. "Where did you even get that? It's not supposed to be out for another two months!"

"I know a guy," he winks at you grinning. Then he pulls out a birthday card. "This is from Bobby, he couldn't make it but sends you his best wishes."

"This is awesome, Jason," you squeeze the plushie in your arms and hold the card carefully. Nico and Will look a bit pouty for a moment, but you overlook that.

"Sorry for that! It was my girlfriend, I had to pick up," Piper reenters the room, holding a large stick in her hand. "Here's your present, Y/N."

"A stick!" You beam, taking it from her very carefully. "My favorite!"

"It's not just any stick," Piper smiles, adopting a dramatic tone. "That is a friendship stick, Granpa says we give those to our closest friends to represent we are branches from the same tree."

"Why didn't I get a stick last year?" Leo frowns.

"Not now, dude," Piper mutters.

"That's so sweet and original," Will says with a knowing smirk. "I really like how that stick looks made exactly from the same wood the tree outside the Big House."

"All wood looks the same, Will," Piper states curtly.

"I disagree."

"Tape!" Percy returns holding the small roll. He also has a plushie shark under his arm with a blue ribbon around the chubby head. "Happy birthday, Y/N!"

When he hands the plushie, you can feel the slightly damp texture and you pause. "Is this wet?"

"It's part of the charm, don't question it," Percy replies without facing you, picking up the decorations and hanging them around the room.

"My plushie was better," Jason mutters, also picking up a few decorations.

"HA-HA, this is not a competition, superman!" Percy says tensely, then mutters. "If it were Nico would find the way to cheat..."

"For the last time, it was a fair tactic—"

"Happy birthday, Y/N, here's a crystal to make sure the stick and the damp plushie aren't haunted," Hazel gives you a nice lavender rock that you happily put next to your chocolate rocks.

"My present didn't arrive on time," Frank blurts out anxiously. "Amazon misplaced it. You know they hate me there."

"No worries, Frank, I get it," you smile innocently.

"Well, anyway, you got the lame presents out of the way, here's mine," Leo hands you something that looks very much like an explosive. "Why don't you open it like, over there, away from us?"

You stare at him a moment, but Leo would never actually murder you, no matter how much he threatens to do it, so you shrug and walk over to the table where you previously left the cake. "Sure."

Everyone gives Leo nervous glances while he keeps a smile on his face, which isn't really calming since he has a very unnerving grin. You press on the switch, and from the bomb erupts a massive amount of colorful confetti that spreads all over the table and the floor.

"Ohhh fun!" You exclaim.

"Oh, thank gods," Leo mumbles, his shoulders falling with relief. Then he raises his voice. "See? Now it's a real party!"

Piper puts some music on and everyone gathers to get cake, and play board games, Annabeth comes back after two full hours claiming she was upstairs in the bathroom.

"It's lady stuff, Valdez, stay out of my business," Annabeth snaps after the boy tries to question her. "Anyway, happy birthday, Y/N."

She gives you a properly wrapped present—in the newspaper, because eco-friendly—and inside you find one of the books you've been dying to buy for the past year, hardcover and collector's edition.

"Wow, guys, I wasn't expecting all of you to have presents for me," you smile big, looking at all the cool stuff your friends gave you. "This is the best birthday ever!"

Everyone shares slightly guilty looks but say nothing, giving you a second round of hugs. Jason makes sure everyone writes down the date before leaving so this doesn't happen again.

[the-ghost-king]

Okay so, a few years ago now me and @thebigqueer got into a back and forth and were somehow talking about a solangelo beauty and the beast au and I drafted it up but I never actually truly wrote it (not shocking if you know me, the wip folder is very full and very incomplete). Anyhow, I seen @solangeloweek was running a fairytale retelling day for the 28th so I figured I could upload this as a sort of bullet point/list/draft format the way so many people used to in fandom 10 or so years ago and we'll call it an intentional throwback.

Anyway, if this is your sort of thing then enjoy :)

Il bello e la bestia

Chapter 1:

Opens to Will being put to bed during the ball at the palace… Probably 5 or so

“We’ll see you in the morning my love”

When Will wakes up in the morning his nurse comes to get him, upon touching her she dies; Will begins screaming and crying, he doesn’t know what’s wrong

The doctor looks her over and concludes it's a new plague

Will holds onto his mother

Scene break

Hades meets Hestia in the early light of morning

“It is done?”

“Yes of course, I’ve never let you down have I?”

“No of course not, don’t tell Maria she would be most distraught.”

Scene break

‘News of the Queens death arrives within two days’ and fear begins to spread

The servants are all sent home but a few to try to keep them safe

All of the royal children but one are dead, there’s no news of the king but there’s rumors he’s on his deathbed

Plague gets into city, Hades does his best to secure his family's safety

Chapter 2:

Beginning of chapter is similar to The Secret Garden’s opening when Mary is the last survivor

Similar situation yet nobody rescues him

Apollo had realized Will was the source since he had immunity to whatever was going on

His last words to Will were “It’s not your fault do not blame yourself I should have done better, I love you my son and nobody would hold anything which has occurred against you”

Which confuses Will at first until he realizes

His father takes a rasping breath and Will is crying

He’s not all alone in the palace, but I need to figure out a curse of some sort for the surviving children (Austin and Kayla are babies so they live possibly without effects; Cecil, Lou Ellen, and Clarisse are children of the staff at the palace they need some sort of curse on them.. Perhaps Silena and Beckendorf reside at the palace still too? I think we can do better than making the houses other occupants cleaning supplies and pianos... also maybe Hazel is at the palace for some nice found family moments with her and Nico later on?)

Scene break

We’re in a moderate sized home and Hades is packing things into suitcases

Maria is gasping for air on her deathbed, the sun is rising (symbolism for her being a star)

Bianca too is coughing and choking and gasping on the bed they’ve added to the room

Nico is asleep on Hades shoulder

Hades wants to stop and take a moment and kiss Maria goodbye

She tells him no and to leave because he can’t get sick too

“For Nico,” she says, “Go, I love you both.”

And Hades leaves to her whispering soft words to Bianca

Hestia leaves somewhere else, she's going to find a way to erase the kingdom’s memory of the royals in an attempt to provide Will a more normal future since she thinks the punishment was too harsh.. Everyone was supposed to get sick but they weren’t all supposed to die

Chapter 3:

Possibly focus on Will and Nico growing up in a quick monologue type way?

Opening scene from Movie, Belle song kind of sequence

Octivian as Gaston ( so Nico has a chance at the end to still say ‘some deaths shouldn't be prevented)

Nico is known for being odd but so many people try to earn his hand in marriage for his looks

Hades was changed by Maria, he thinks marriage should be for love

He likes Percy but is shrugged off in favor of Annabeth

Reyna lives with him? They were friends as kids and Hades took her in after some time for currently undecided plot reasons

As they got older she basically became Nico’s personal Bodyguard after a childhood incident Nico liked making sure she had stable income and a good safe place to work (I kind of want it dark so maybe Minos got caught up in crime or something?)

Octivian trying to flirt or sabotage Nico somehow?

Nico doing some cool smart thing for plot

Chapter ends with Nico either realizing his fathers been gone to long or a hurried message saying he needs help

Chapter 4:

Nico takes Reyna and they go get Jason and take him with them

The woods scene ™ (Can't have wolves without Jason am I right? Lol)

Reyna, Jason and Nico accidentally get seperated

Reyna and Jason end up basically together somewhere

But Nico gets separated

They don’t know how far Nico got, so when they don’t find his body Reyna goes ahead to the city where Hades is supposed to be to try to see if Nico will be there and such

Jason stays behind to search the woods for remains or evidence

Chapter ends with Nico showing up in the castle, “Hello?”

Chapter 5:

Nico gets trapped in the castle

He trespassed and Clarisse and Cecil locked him up and someone in the palace of some importance tells them to let Nico go

He has to be kept in that situation because they don’t want people to know about Will/the palace and they don’t know what Nico’s seen

Hades had gotten trapped in the castle for some reason, maybe they figured out that he placed the curse or something, maybe just trespassing- Nico agrees to trade his life in jail for his father’s and events resume as typical

Scene ends with Nico being given a bedroom and taken out of a cell to be placed on “house arrest” and he tries to settle in to his new life

Chapter 6:

Scene opens with Jason walking back into town to try and convince people to form a search party for Nico

Technically this would be the “Gaston scene” but instead this is Jason trying to convince everyone why they should care about Nico… Kind of like the whole jar situation

Eventually a small party agrees to go help look (Jason, Reyna, Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Leo, Frank, and Octavian - so the 7 minus Hazel, plus Reyna and Octavian)

Scene break

Nico is trying to settle into his new palace life, and he’s befriending the people who live there

Will is some sort of secret, sort of like Elsa (another Disney movie throw in, why not) but slightly sus things have been noticed by Nico during conversations

Nico doesn’t care he’s going to try and run away and go back home (He’s got a plan in his head and materials hidden somewhere)

Nico does manage to get out of the palace, and he makes his way even out of the gates to start heading home on his horse

The Wolves ™

Nico is seriously injured during the event

Chapter 7:

Scene opens to the events at the village, as they lay out a map trying to determine where Nico might have ended up (They don’t even know the royal family or palace exist)

Either Reyna stumbles in claiming she couldn’t find Hades, or they might stumble in together with one of them very ill/weak

Scene break

Friends from the palace try to convince Will to help save Nico’s life

Will is scared about possibly making it worse and killing Nico because of his plague powers and how he hasn’t used his healing powers in years

“But you always cure Kayla’s colds!” “Yes but those are small!”

There’s a little bit of a spat, but Will agrees reluctantly

He goes into the room alone and tells them to seal the doors in case he messes up they only lose one life

The palace friends sit and wait

Chapter 8:

The scene opens to the search party beginning to look for Nico (they’re all headed in the wrong direction)

It will take them a month or more to even get close to Nico’s location

Queue making the pacing work in such a way you feel like it's a mundane day in the life sort of deal but just fast enough you're reminded Nico's life was hanging in the balance at the end of last chapter

Also some silly nonsense infighting because Octavian is there and boo Octavian

Scene Break with a slight timeskip

Will had healed Nico successfully, and instead of leaving to trust his care to his siblings and friends he takes Nico’s care onto himself

Three days in the infirmary style fic lets go! (except it’s like a week)

Flirting, pining, jokes, r u gay without actually asking that type questions

Will realizes Nico’s intelligence (or whatever the correct word for the term is) at some point and shows him the library with all the books

Nico gasps in wonder and awe

Scene break

Palace friends are all discussing the relationship and how close the two have grown

Throughout this Will has some weird behaviors but Nico ignores them as oddities and nothing else (psssst, Nico, it's trauma!)

It takes about a month for Nico to fully heal, but it's not specified or anything anywhere

Chapter 9:

Octavian is in a search group with Jason, Reyna, and Hades

Eventually they realize this is a ploy either for him to impress or hurt Nico (idk his and Nico’s relationship dynamic yet)

So Octavian attacks them and leaves them for the wolves

Scene ends with Hestia appearing (although it's not obviously her)

Scene break

Will and Nico falling in love in the palace

Nico has finally earned lots of Will’s trust and Will shows him the smaller magical library they have

He shows him the book that Will show the reader whatever they want to see… It's from Hestia when she worked at the palace (and now it's like Lou Ellen's room or something)

Nico does the little like apartment scene from the movie, but instead it's a small house in the middle of a large nature field along a river and he goes inside his childhood home with drawings and stuff all over the walls but like no people

They find the mask and Nico realizes they left because of a plague, Will feels guilty and hesitates as to whether or not he should tell Nico it was his fault.

He decided not to at the time, the scene ends with Will’s guilt as they return to the palace

Chapter 10:

Reyna, and Jason awake in Hestia's traveling home thingy idk

They realize Hades is in kahoots with a witch

They hesitate but decide not to disclose the information to the people of the city because they're good of heart

The scene ends with Reyna and Jason trying to return to the town to tell of Octavian crimes

But they have no evidence (not having any injuries was suspicious and they agreed not to talk about the witch)

Eventually they disclose the truth about the witch and Hades, and they are found and all 4 locked up to be executed for trying to falsely accuse him of a crime and socializing with a witch

Scene break with the death penalty way if heavy on the readers mind

In the magic room when looking over the books, Will shows Nico the magic looking mirror

They think it doesn't work, Will argues it just needs to be wanted up it hasn't been so many years since it's been used

He convinces Nico to come to dinner with him

Will plans to tell Nico about the plague issue, and encourages him to bring the mirror

Chapter 11:

Percy and Annabeth’s search group returns to town to hear of Reyna and Jason's issue

They begin to formulate a plan to try and rescue them to avoid the death penalty but they have to be fast and work before the soldiers know they're back

Scene break

During the dinner Nico checks the mirror again, and he’s made aware of his father and friends situation just before Will was going to tell him about plague incident

Will decides he can't keep Nico here his whole life and that he deserves more and happiness, he tells Nico to go after his family and that his sentence is served

He wraps Nico in his cloak and hands him the mirror and his own personal horse to go to his town

Scene break

Soldier walks in to Jason, Hades and Reyna’s cell “Time to go”

Chapter 12:

Scene opens to blood, Octavian kills Selena and Beckendorf for information and traps Clarisse somehow

He was interrogating them on their return from a different nearby village for food

He knows of the relationship between Nico and Will and he wants to use it against

Octavian has returned to the village, and knowing that Nico is in love with the “beast” he rallys a crowd painting Will to be vicious with witchcraft

Clarisse manages to escape somehow and goes to warn the palace about the incoming threat; they prep for battle

Scene break

Nico is sneaking around the town as he sees the preparations for the witch hunt being prepared

He knows they're going to try and kill his family first so he decides to go get Percy to ask him to help save them

Percy let's him in on the plan and there's like a who Notre Dame musical kind of thing where they save their lives

Once the villagers realize that witch and the rest of them aren't going to die tonight the leave anyhow to go and kill Will

Nico had left already before them by just a few seconds to rush to the palace and warn Will

Chapter 13:

scene opens to Percy, Annabeth, Piper, and Leo helping to calm and heal Reyna Jason and Hades and try to wake Hestia

Percy looks into the distant forest where everyone has left to “now we pray” or something similar.

Scene break

Villagers arrive to storm the palace, with no mention of if Nico had got there in time or not

Octavian abandons X and X turns on Octavian to help the palace instead (I can't think of who would make a good le fou out of the characters so…. Character X for now... Unamed Roman IVXII or something lol)

Things are burning

Kayla and Clarisse are in charge of strategy

Austin is trying to be as loud and annoying as possible (music; villagers hold ears in pain etc)

Palace friends are using various tactics, Lou Ellen discovers her magic, Hazel too

Octavian is looking for Will and his siblings

Some home alone type shots of situations and planning that results in cool fight scenes courtesy of Cecil (Connor and Travis also? Hmm)

Scene break

Nico rushing up a staircase on the far side of the house which is without traps

He rushes to find Will

Chapter 14:

Opens to Hestia, Reyna, Jason, and Hades riding down the dirt forest road

Hestia is in the lead rushing

Percy and Annabeth and friends are behind on horseback too

Scene break

Nico opens Will’s room in a rush, trying to warn Will Octavian was missing from the fight

Octavian is standing in the open room in a position to kill Will in one blow

Nico freezes and meets Will's eyes

Scene break

A whole tower of the palace has gone up in flame, palace friends are struggling to hold ground in the fight

Chapter 15:

Octavian talking to Nico and Will disclosing his evil plan

Nico is watching Will’s eyes and had seen a shift in his face when he walled in

Now Will’s eyes are directing him towards an area with a weapon

Nico in one movement picks it up and fights Octavian giving Will freedom

Scene break

Percy and friends rush into battle below

Hestia doesn't stay to fight and rushes up the stairs

No killing or maiming villagers (capture the flag reference yadda yadda)

Scene break

Nico decides to spare Octavian life

Ocitivian uses this to shoot Will in the back

Ocitivian dies of Will’s plague

Hestia bursts through the door and saves Will’s life as Nico is crying over him

Chapter 16:

Will wakes up and he’s worried Nico will hate him because of the plague

Nico is sitting curled up in a chair next to Will’s bedside asleep, he wakes up when Will moves “shhh”

“No, no I need to explain, I’m so sorry” “Will, Will, I- Will, listen. I already thought about it and was briefed on the situation I don’t care.”

Will cries, they’re laughing and happy, snow is falling outside the window

Scene break

There’s a feast and all of the people in Nico’s friends are there and all Will’s friends and they eat

And there’s no talk of funeral preparations because it’s agreed they can be put on hold another day so the living can be celebrated a day longer

Scene break

After the funerals, Nico and Will walking down a hallway late (like 4am idk) after everyone else has retired the day of the services, they’re talking about how lovely they were

Nico begins to talk about how he’s sad he’ll have to leave soon

Will proposes, “Nico just stay, stay and marry me.” “Wait what?” “Please?” “Okay” “Wait really?” “Yes of course” “Oh I surely thought you’d tell me no and I’d have to impress you to earn your hand!” “Will~” “hmm?” “You already did” Nico kisses his cheek, queue fireworks or whatever

Chapter 17 (Epilogue):

Nico and Will ballroom dancing after their wedding, they’re surrounded by friends and basked in white light of the mid afternoon

They’re happy and joking with one another

Scene pans over to Hades and Hestia

Hestia: “Will you ever tell him?”

Hades, looking at her in a sad and fond manner: “I don’t know, but let them have at least this”

Hestia, knowingly: “You mean let yourself have this, because you know how upset Nico will be when he finds out the real reason for everything?”

Hades: “Shut up”

(Persephone asks him to dance? Palace staff???)

Talk about the festivities and try to make it an all is well type ending while still leaving the Hades situation open ended and on the darker side

Happy couple solangelo kisses for real and then actual fireworks yay

Fin!

[dontspillthefrijoles43]

Drabble: New year’s superstitious traditions— Breisa and Leo

“Have any of you guys seen Leo?” Breisa asked, looking around the living room.

The New Year's Eve countdown was about to happen.

“He rambled on about being successful for the new year, so he was gonna try a few things to ensure a good new year.” Piper shrugged.

“Things?” Breisa raised an eyebrow.

“Something superstitions— his mom used to do.” Frank answered, then saw Breisa look confused. “Kind of like making loud noises to ward off spirits.”

“Wearing fancy clothes, so you don’t bring bad luck.” Annabeth replied.

“Kissing countdown counts.” Percy came up behind Annabeth.

“Or opening all the windows to let go of the New year.” Hazel piped up.

“Writing a letter to yourself.” Jason also added.

“And throwing out fine China.” Nico continued.

Everyone looked at Nico weirdly.

“Smashing dishes—what it's an Italian thing.” Nico said defensively, holding onto Will.

Then they shrugged and waved it off.

“Anyways, things like that.” Frank looked back at Breisa.

“He said he wanted to try his own superstitions. Something about a table and grapes— finding water or a broom. And all that. He disappeared somewhere.”

Breisa looked at them, “And y’all didn’t think to ask where he went?”

“He usually comes back after doing some crazy stuff. Like every other Holiday.” Piper shrugged. “It’s best to let him do his own thing…unless he's gonna hurt himself by accident or burn something down. Or he wants you there.”

“These traditions or superstitions— they mean a lot to him.” Jason remarked. “So you just gotta leave him be.”

Breisa made a face, and said “I’m gonna go look for him.”

And walked out the living room as Piper called out “The count is about to start, five minutes— alright suit yourself!”

She looked for him around the patio, porch, rooms, fire escape, hallway, bathroom, and finally she came into the kitchen; Where she saw familiar flame styled vans peaking out from under the table.

Breisa snickered to herself. “Any reason why you’re hiding under the table?”

Instead of a normal Leo smart ass remark she heard a weird cough and strain in his voice— like it was hard for him to breathe.

So something was wrong.

She dove under the table as quickly as she could without banging her head. And saw—

Leo was trying to stuff a grape in his mouth that was filled up with them.

Breisa realized what she was seeing and scolded him. “PENDEJO! SPIT IT OUT YOU'RE GONNA CHOKE!!!”

“HAFT TO DOTH FHIS!!” Leo burbled, then gagged and choked a bit. The grapes tumbled out of his mouth.

Breisa clapped a hand across his back, trying to get his stupid ass to breath. “What were you thinking?!! Why were you trying to suffocate yourself with grapes?!

Leo wheezed, “Trying to get…good…luck.”

She grumbled and crawled out from under the table. Then came back and had a bottle of water. She held it out for him to drink.

Leo grabbed the bottle and chugged it down. Paused and sighed in relief as it eased his throat.

“Are you ok?” Breisa asked.

Leo nodded. “Not choking anymore so I’m good.”

She was relieved he was ok, but then she inhaled deeply and glared at him. “¡¿Qué carajo estás pensando?!

He shrugged and stretched the back of his head nervously. “Just trying to be ready for the new year— you kind of stop me.”

“You were choking?” She looked at him in disbelief.

“I mean I was just trying to get good luck.” Leo wipes the drool of the corner of his mouth.

“What are you talking about?”

He sighs, “My mom, she um, used to do this thing. Like every new year when I was a kid, we’d go under the table. Eat grapes. She also have like a broom next to us and a suitcase ... .we'd even wear colored clothes for it. All of it was to grab some kind of good luck. So you could bring in the new year with a fresh start.”

Breisa started piecing it together, “You mean nochevieja?”

“Yeah something like that.” Leo snapped his fingers and then smiled softly. “It was these weird superstitions. And it was goofy from what I can remember. But it worked for us. It was how we knew this new year was gonna be good for us…I just wanted to try to continue those traditions for her.”

He realized how much he was over sharing and looked at her. She stared back at him with glossy eyes and hand over her heart.

He coughed awkwardly, trying to hide his embarrassment. “So anyways, I tried fitting like twenty grapes in my mouth. Guess you have to have a wider jaw for that? And none of these things gave me good luck.”

Leo emphasizes on the items under the table— an empty suitcase, plastic bowl filled with water, and a broom.

Breisa looked at the objects then back at him. Back at the stuff and then back at him, making sure he was serious. He was.

She couldn’t help the snort that came out of her mouth. And the giggles that followed. She put a hand over her mouth to spare him.

Leo flushed and his ears turned downward. “Alright I get it. It was stupid to try.”

Breisa shook her head and apologized, “Wait I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh. You—“

She chuckled again.

“You’re still laughing.” Leo deadpanned.

Breisa breathed to try to calm herself. “M’Sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh. You’re just so cute.”

Leo faced burned even more. “I’m what now?”

“What you did was cute.” She smiled. “You tried to do the traditions…but you did it wrong.”

He looked at her confused. “But this is what my mom did… she with the— and the grapes. But the suitcase? What?”

Breisa hummed and explained, “You’re supposed to only eat 12 grapes. At a time. They mean 12 wishes. Or the 12 months of the year. Not stuff your face with them.”

She pointed out the suitcase, “You dragged that around the block. It’s supposed to ensure that you get to travel more in the new year. See new places and get experience.”

She tapped at the water, “You throw this out the window to wash out the old. And welcome the new things that are coming.”

Then Breisa held up the broom, “You used this to sweep out the bad luck and bring in wealth.”

Leo looked at her as his brain started ticking. Like he did when he was trying to fix something mechanical or make something work with math.

“Yeah that makes sense.” He finally said. “I feel so stupid. I can’t believe I did this wrong. Now I won’t get any good luck.”

Breisa patted his shoulder, “Leo. You don’t have to do all of them. You just pick one that means a lot to you or that your family follows. And it will come true. Some superstitions, you just have to do it when the countdown starts or you have to prepare for it.”

“Oooh.” He says. “Well that makes me feel better…and dumber.”

Breisa huffed, ���Ay ya! you can’t blame yourself. Those memories you have, they’re all fuzzy. You were only a kid when she did all those traditions, it’s not like you could remember how to do it.”

Leo nodded. But he gave her a look, “You laughed at me though.”

“Because it was funny.” Breisa simply put. “But the sentiment was sweet.”

“A MINUTE AND A HALF!” Piper shouted from the living room.

“You know if you want we can still do the grape thing. If you really wanna?” Breisa nudged them

Leo grinned at her, “I’d liked that.”

She hummed and got out from under the table. She scooped up the grapes with the broom and dust pan. Threw them away. Then grabbed a fresh handful of grapes from the fridge.

“Twenty seconds!” It was Jason.

Breisa quickly dived under the table again and handed him his grapes. “Remember one at a time. Think of a wish or like good luck for the months of your choice.”

“12!”

Breisa popped each one in her mouth.

“11!”

Leo copied her, chewing slowly.

“10!”

Breisa could only think of a few things.

“9!”

Leo wanted luck but not for himself.

“8!”

She wanted her friends to be happy.

“7!”

He wanted things to turn up for everyone.

“6!”

A bigger paycheck would make things easier for her.

“5!”

More inventions would be great.

“4!”

Better opportunities.

“3!”

New adventures.

“2!”

Fresh start to grow. Be better for someone.

It was like time slowed down as the last number came down. At that very second, Breisa and Leo both thought

Having them to love me back.

“1! HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

There were fireworks going off outside and their friends cheered with loud noises. It was the new year.

Breisa gulped the last grape and turned to him, “Happy New year, Chispo .”

Leo gave her a soft smile, “Happy New year, Brujita.”

Then stared at each other way too long. Eyes wandering over each other's lips longingly. Before looking away awkwardly.

Leo cleared his throat, “You know you never said why we have to be under the table to eat grapes. How does that bring good luck?”

“Oh, that.” Breisa bit her lip nervously. “It’s a way to get better luck in relationships. Some people use it for friendships, but most use it for…um well...”

“Well?” Leo urged her to continue.

“Romantic relationships.” She shrugged. “So if you want to find someone to be with you. Or you’ve been striking out, this is supposed to give you better luck.”

He hummed and said, “Well I guess it worked.”

“What do you mean it worked?” Breisa felt her heart sped up

Leo gave her that grin. Not his usual troublemaker with his gums showing. But that soft smile where his dimples pop out, his cute little gap in his teeth is on display, and his eyes crinkle with happiness. The one that made butterflies go off in her stomach.

“It worked because I have you here… with me.” His fingers brushed around hers.

When he said that, Breisa’s heart fluttered. And she could not lean over and kiss him with all her heart's content.

Nobody question when they walked hand in hand into the living room, Breisa’s lips all smudged and Leo covered in purple lipstick stains— both wearing dopey love stick smiles on their faces.

(A/N: Happy new year 🥳 hope you had a good Christmas and you celebrate new years the way wanted to! This is quick and unedited so sorry if it’s bad, I’ll fix it tomorrow.)

[oh-hush-its-perfect]

how the hoo characters would react upon being asked about taylor swift

PERCY: She's pretty good. Yeah, I listened to the new version of Speak Now and it kinda went harder than I thought it would. I'm not, like, a "worship the ground she walks on" kinda guy, but I guess I like enough of her songs to consider myself a Swiftie. Guilty pleasure, I guess.

ANNABETH: Oh, gosh. People always ask me this. Uh, long story short— oh, right, that's one of her songs. That's kinda funny— I liked her music a lot when I was younger. Like, "Better than Revenge" was my thing when I was fifteen. And, yeah, I've listened to most of her albums. I liked Midnights and folklore and evermore. But I was never in love with her as a person. I just relate to some of her songs. Oh, gods, I couldn't count how many times I've cried to "Would've, Could've, Should've." But I heard someone call her the "greatest songwriter of our generation," and that's just... That's a bit bizarre for me. I think she's good as an artist, though. So... I guess I like her music, but I'm definitely not a Swiftie.

PIPER: Uhhh, I don't know. Like, her music is terrible or anything, but it's not really my taste. But as a person? I don't know, the whole Matty Healy thing just rubbed me the wrong way, and... I mean, she's a rich white lady doing rich white lady things. My dad asked me if I wanted her at my birthday party once. I said no, but I also said no to the Regrettes, and I'm literally in love with Lydia Knight. I'm happy for her with the tour and all, but not really my scene, no. But Jason likes her so I try to be supportive.

JASON: Oh, my gods. She's like... I don't know if she's my favorite artist, but she's up there. I mean, like, she's just so classy and her music is just so good. The way she uses synths is like... it's like magic. And her lyrics— I mean, you can't get much more relatable than that. My favorite album is probably... Lover? Or maybe Red. Then again, maybe it's 1989. It's so hard to pick. I guess I'm kind of a hopeless romantic at the end of the day.

LEO: Taylor Swift? Well, like, she's hot.

THALIA: Not really my style. But if she did a punk-pop or metal album, I'd be down for that. Like, I heard a metal cover of "Look What You Made Me Do" once, and it went so hard. She's really got a good voice for punk, too. Saw a video of her doing a vocal growl on that one song— uh, what's it called? "We are Never Getting Back Together" or something like that? Anyway, that sounded really good. But I don't really like her environmental impact. You could ask Rachel about that. I bet she'd have a lot to say.

RACHEL: Taylor— Listen. Don't get me started on Taylor Swift. Her music is mediocre at best, and her carbon footprint? Holy Hades! I saw somewhere that that one study that said 8,000 tonnes was wrong and it's actually more like 1,000 tonnes, but that was taken from half of a year during a global pandemic. She wasn't even touring or anything. The woman's a multimillionaire. With that kind of money, you would think that she'd be more environmentally conscious, but no. Not at all. And I guess it's cool or whatever that she pays her people well, but, like, that's the bare minimum. Taylor Swift. I didn't like her before all that about her environmental impact and stuff came out, and I definitely don't like how she dates racist guys, and I hate the way people worship her and follow her like lemmings, y'know?

HAZEL: Who?

FRANK: Oh, she's good, I suppose. Never got super invested in her or her music or anything. I don't really know anything about her except that people love her, and her singles are fine, I guess. I liked that one song "cardigan."

NICO: Uh, I feel like people shouldn't really ask me about music. My music taste kinda sucks. But sure, Taylor Swift makes some good music. Annabeth played me a few songs once. I really liked "Haunted," I think it's called.

REYNA: I don't follow her life and I haven't listened to any of her albums or anything. I mostly listen to Latin music, to be honest. But she's a woman and she's extremely successful, so I suppose I'm happy for her.

[Coach Hedge immediately starts singing "Shake It Off" when asked and did not provide any further comment.]

OCTAVIAN: I can't believe some people call that trash "music." It's so low-brow and vapid. Only eleven year old girls actually like that kind of thing. Me, I listen to real music— the classics, like Mozart. My favorite song by him is definitely "Canon in D."

[nerdthatsiriuslylovesteaxx]

Helpless parts 1-10, it's it strange how nothing's changed

Nico was finally allowed to leave the infirmary, he'd been stuck there for three days because of Solace since apparently he 'was about to turn into a puddle of darkness'. He was mainly alone for the most part which was fine with him, but the Apollo kid wouldn't leave him alone half the time, Nico knew it was his job and everything but with the amount of people in the infirmary after the war you would think he has something more important to do. Nico was on his way to cabin 13 when he was intercepted by Annabeth and Percy,

"Hey Nico, it's camp fire time. You can't avoid social situations forever, you might actually enjoy it. Come with us." Percy said brightly almost like there wasn't a war three days ago, Nico was about to decline but for whatever reason decided to go. A decision he was sure he would regret in a hours time but still he replied,

"Sure why not."

***

Nico sat down next to Annabeth, gods what is wrong with me? Nico thought to himself as more people arrived; he was very quickly starting to regret his decision but he thought he'd try to stay. Annabeth gave him a smile and leaned over.

"Nico I promise you'll love it," she said quietly hugging him. Nico normally hated being touched but now it was strangely fine; the only reason Nico stayed was for Annabeth and he did end up kind of enjoying it. Everyone was singing loudly and they all seemed happy, forgetting momentarily about all that happened just a few days ago. Then he heard Will Solace sing, his voice sounded angelic which was surprising for someone so stubborn and annoying but hey people surprise you sometimes he thought to himself. The night passed and Nico was actually happy he had come; as he returned to his cabin with Hazel, but as hard as he tried he couldn't get his mind off of Will Solace.

---

"Morning Haze," Nico said the just as he woke up.

"Here we have a true miracle occurrence the Nico di Angelo is awake before 11am is this the real di Angelo or is it really a fake." Hazel said in a teasing voice, it was nice to be back with her.

"Very funny Hazel," Nico said petting her on the head. "Anyway how much longer do I have with you until you go to back to New Rome?"

"I'm leaving today at 10pm, after campfire." She responded hugging Nico. "I'm gonna go get breakfast, cya later bro." Walking out the door, right after that there's a knock on the door. Nico opens it reluctantly and saw Solace outside the door,

"Great you haven't left yet. Can you come back to the infirmary tonight at 5 and do that every Friday for the rest of the month? I was asking Reyna and Annabeth and they said you'd shadow traveled a lot recently which isn't good for you, also-"

"-No underworldly stuff, just because I'm out of the infirmary doesn't mean I'm okay and I have a bunch of deficiencies. Solace I know, you don't have to worry, I'm not too big a fan of passing out myself. Yeah I'll come down at five, I don't see any use coming till the end of the month but you're too stubborn and I do not have the energy to argue with you today." Nico finishes his sentence,

"Okay great, that was surprisingly easy. Bye Nico I'll see you this afternoon." He says smiling as he closes the door behind him, Nico realised that he was smiling and cursed under his breathe in Italian. There is no way he liked that annoying doctor but the only thing he could think about were his bright blue eyes and how they look like the ocean. How his hair was perfectly golden and he was almost glowing in the sunlight, fuck, no, he couldn't do this again. He couldn't like anyone again, that would mean he has to tell people, what if they abandoned him? These are the times he sadly requires advice from Jason Grace.

***

Nico knocked on the door of his cabin hoping he hadn't left yet, he get lucky.

"Hey Grace, can I talk to you?" Nico asked stepping inside, Jason was (aside from Percy and Annabeth) the only one who knew.

"Yeah sure," Jason said calmly, Nico was thankful he still wanted to talk to him considering last time they tried to have this conversation Nico swore he would never talk to him again.

"Well, um.. I feel like I should tell the rest of the seven and Reyna. Percy and Annabeth already know-" Nico starts but is interrupted by Jason pulling him into a hug.

"Oh sorry, I forgot you don't like being touched I'm just proud of you." Jason say's quickly.

"It's fine, I'm trying to get used to human contact. Just I also wanted to tell you, I like this guy...and he's so stubborn and annoying but at the same time I want him to be mine. It's....Will Solace and I just...yeah." Nico finishes, slightly blushing after and rushing the part about Will Solace.

"Nico I'm so proud of you for wanting to tell them, and if any of them react badly I will personally strike them with lightning while simultaneously getting Percy to drown them. But they won't , these people love and care about you Nico they won't hurt you. As for Will Solace, well I know he's friends with Leo but not much else, I don't really see him much but he's a cool guy. Good luck mate." Jason says keeping his voice stable and calm as always,

"Thank you Jason, I guess I should go and talk to the other five now." Nico says hugging Jason, it was kind of shocking but Jason didn't show his surprise.

“Good luck Nico, I promise it’ll go well.”

“Wait, um, could you please come with me? I was going to ask Annabeth but-“

“Yeah of course I’ll come with you.”And with that the ghost king and Superman were off.

***

“Guys umm… can I talk to you?” Nico said walking up to Reyna, Leo, Hazel, Frank and Piper, finding them sitting under a tree.

“Sure di Angelo, what’s up?” Leo said hiding his shock that Nico di Angelo was willingly talking to someone who wasn’t Hazel, much more with Jason standing beside him. He looked like he was barely breathing so Jason placed a hand on his shoulder, whispering something in his ear. Nico (much to Leo’s surprise) smiled and continued, “Well….shit.., Jason I can't.” Nico says shaking.

"Breathe di Angelo."

"I fucking can't, what if they-"

"-I promise they won't react badly."

"That's what I thought about- doesn't matter."

"I know it's hard, especially after living in the 1930s for most of your childhood. Nico, are you sure you want to tell everyone, you're shaking."

"I SAW PEOPLE GET KILLED FOR IT, what....what if they hate me?"

"You don't have to tell them if you don't want to."

"I want to I'm just, scared."

"They care about you di Angelo, I swear on the River of Styx they won't hate you." Nico took a deap breath and continued.

"I'm..I'm gay.." he tenses up, waiting for someone to call him a fag and yell that he was going to burn and potentially try to kill him. After no such reaction he continued,"Also I may or may not have fallen for that insufferable doctor, Solace. Percy and Annabeth already know,” Nico turns around and hugs Jason,

“Good job Nico; damn three hugs in one day. You’re progressing,” Nico was tempted to yell ‘shut up Grace’ but decided against it. He broke the hug with Jason after he was able to keep his breathing under control, suddenly he was suffocated by a hug from Piper and Hazel

“Can’t. Breathe.” Nico muttered quietly and the girls let go,

“Thank you for telling us,” Piper said “I’ll look into Will for you.” She grinned walking off giving the siblings some privacy,

“I proud of you for telling us.” Hazel said hiding a grin,

“You don't hate me? You already knew didn’t you?” Nico asks,

“Well I had some suspicions.” Hazel said smiling,

“How? I didn’t talk to anyone?” Nico says failing to suppress his laughter,

“Younger sister magic. Also Nico why would I hate you?"

"Bianca..."

"Nico, you're my brother, I couldn't hate you. I can't imagine what you've gone through but I'll always be here for you."

"Thank you Hazel, I love you."

"Love you to bro." Hazel smiled and kissed Nico on the cheek, by then Jason was talking to Leo.

“Nico, I’m proud of you. Hope Solace likes you back, maybe impress him with Jules-Albert. If anyone hurts you because of it then I will send the Roman Legions on them. ” Reyna said, messing up his long black hair that went a couple of inches past his shoulders before leaving not giving Nico time to reply. Nico smiled, pathetic, I haven't smiled this much since I was ten year old he thought to himself.

"Di Angelo! I'm warning you about Will, his sense of humor is worse than mine and Percy's combined and do not and I mean do not ask him to sing unless you are prepared to listen to him for three hours. Also um.. good job on telling us," Leo said patting Nico on the back.

"Thanks for the advice Valdez, but I'm not sure it is possible for someone to have a worse sense of humor than you." Nico said bluntly yet still smirking,

"Good luck on Solace, Nico. Proud of you for telling us, if anyone ever gives you shit I'll turn into a poisonous snake and kill them. Everyone will think it was an accident." Frank says so seriously that Nico almost shakes, Nico has to look up to meet his eye. Frank was a foot taller than him,

"Thanks Frank, but let's try to avoid murder for now." Nico smiled, this was going much better than he expected.

"Thanks for coming with me Grace." Nico said,

"No problem Nico, I'll catch you later yeah?

***

It was almost five and Nico had embarrassingly spent the whole day thinking about Will Solace, he was stubborn and got on his nerve but he was cute in a way. Nico headed to the infirmary where Will Solace stood there waiting for him,

"Hey Nico." Wil called out brightly,

"Hello Solace." Nico said coldly, this Apollo kid could not know anything. Will did the routine of lecturing him about how he needs to eat more, his severe vitiam D deficiencies, iron deficiencies and about twenty more that could never remember.

"Okay so, I'm giving you some vitamins. Take this one with breakfast and the blue one before you sleep, also I looked through the tests you did. You have PTSD and depression, I would recommend therapy but then you would send an army of skeletons after me, pass out and potentially die and I really don't want you to die. I think we have reached a level of kind of friendship and would not like you to die right now, take one of these a day first thing in the morning with water before you eat anything." Will said walking around the room picking up three different containers and placing them on a table in front of Nico.

"Solace I'm fine. I'm not taking them." Nico spoke bluntly,

"Yes you are, doctors orders. I will be telling your sister to make sure you take them and after she leaves I'll make sure you do." Will respond firmly,

"Solace you aren't my father, I don't need you checking in on me. I won’t take them, I am fine." Nico said avoiding eye contact as the blonde boy towered over him.

"Nico di Angelo, it is my job to make sure you are healthy. I do not care whether you like it or not, you need to take the medication. I don't care if I have to shove it down your throat, I can't have you dying on me di Angelo so take the fucking pills. Please for the love of Apollo or I guess Hades just take it, I don't care how much you say you're okay, you are not. Do you know how many times I have considered putting you in the infirmary on an IV because you looked like you wouldn't last another day? Have you even eaten today Nico? It may seem shocking to you but I actually care about you, I don't want you to drop dead." Will finishes, his usual gentle voice lost replaced with a shaking yet harsh one."Shit, Nico I'm really sorry I just, I'm really concerned about you. Please just take the pills, doctors orders." Will replies in his usual gentleness.

"Okay I'll take them, I swear I'm trying to eat more it's just I forget I need to. Spending years with ghosts and then trapped in that jar I always forget I'm meant to eat." Nico whispered, he was actually trying to eat, but it just makes him feel sick.

"It's at dinner I'll sit with you and Hazel at the Hades table." said Will.

"I thought you weren't allowed to do that?" Nico wondered.

"For medical purposes, I am." Will added simply, Nico didn't argue after that. Seeing Will speaking in that harsh voice, it made him seem more real. He didn't want to admit it but after that he wanted him even more.

***

They walked to the Hades table,

"Oh hey, Will Solace right? I thought you were an Apollo kids, why are you sitting at Hades?" Hazel asked,

"Medical reasons; you're Hazel I presuming?" Will responded, after that they started talking. They got on quite well. With Will there Nico felt more pressured to eat, even then he barley finished half a plate. "It's getting better, just try to eat a bit more each day. I'll see you at campfire, yeah Nico?" Will said before walking away.

"So that's loverboy?" Hazel grinned as Nico tried to hide his blushing,

"Shut up Hazel, there's no chance he likes me." Nico responded softly, looking down. "Especially after today, I'll see you at campfire Haze." He finished before leaving.

***

"Gods Will, just tell him." Annabeth sighed,

"There's no chance he likes me back. I quite literally yelled at him today because he wasn't taking his medication."

"Will, please if Nico di Angelo was going to get scared by yelling he would not have survived Tartarus."

"I know but what if he's straight?" What if he was homophobic.....he was from the 30s...Nico probably didn't know he was bi since he was never at camp constantly. Will didn't say anything to Annabeth but the thought was in the back of his mind. Annabeth thought quickly, she didn't want to out Nico but also he didn't want Will to think he had no chance, he'd been pining over Nico for so long it was kind of hopeless.

"You won't know until you talk to him Will."

"I swear he hates me, he won't even say we're friends."

"Will, Nico does not hate you. If he did he would have made that very clear."

"But-"

"I promise he doesn't hate you Will, trust me."

"Okay Annabeth I trust you, but I still think there is no chance Nico di Angelo, the living embodiment of darkness will ever fall for the son of Appollo." With that Will walked off to the infirmary, just as Percy and Jason came running in.

"Hey Wise Girl." Percy said while kissing her,

"Hi Seaweed brain." Annabeth replied as she messed up his hair,

"I'm sorry to interrupt but I did want to tell you two something." Jason said, "Nico came out to the rest of the group today as well as Reyna. "

"Wait really? Gods I'm so proud of him." Annabeth said, she felt a strange amount of protectiveness over the son of Hades. He'd gone through so much and she was so proud of him for telling everyone.

"I'm guessing I'm still not his type? Wait there's no one I need to drown right? Because I gladly will drown anyone if required,"

"Thankfully no, but I did also offere to strike anyone with lighting if required." Jason responded as he and Percy high fived. Piper walked towards them after leaving a group of Aphrodite kids, she had a look in her eyes which Annabeth could only assume meant she was planning something.

"Guys so you know how Nico likes Will-"

"Wait what?" Annabeth said shocked.

"Nico said you and Percy already knew?" Piper said extremely confused,

"So his type is blondes? " Percy asked,

"Well um..anyways what's the chance that they get together? I need to hear your predictions, Aphrodite kid tradition except they don't know this time so I thought I would ask you guys."

"80%" Percy and Jason said in unison before Annabeth just smiled and said,

"100" and walking off.

"Anyways bye you two, I should probably go and help plan that date for Clarisse and Chris. I told Clarisse we would have it planned by campfire." She said kissing Jason and walking back to where her siblings were.

"Bro I bet I can beat you in a sword fight right now." Jason said,

"Not a chance, your on. No prep time allowed."

"Let's go then."

Percy and Jason both ran off to the forest likely going to do something extremely stupid and probably electrocute a few people but honestly no one cares as their fights were some of the most exciting things to watch.

***

Will was headed back to the infirmary until he saw a very stuck Leo laying under what looked like 3 tonnes of metal, Will could barely lift it but managed to life it up enough for Leo to get out. Thankfully he was extremely scrawny so that didn't require much lifting,

"Leo I just have one question, why were you laying under sheets of metal? Also infirmary, now. I very much doubt that you don't have a single broken bone after having something tripple your weight laying on top of you." Will asked mildly concerned yet laughing.

"Well I was carrying metal sheets to the forest on Festus so I could make a guard around everyone else when Jason and Percy fight because while it is fun to watch people also do not like getting drenched apparently. Who would have thought? But turns out duct tape was not the answer this time and a few of them fell on me." Leo explained as they walked to the infirmary.

"Duct tape has let you down, I hope you can recover from this sense of betrayal Leo."

"I don't know man I just didn't think I would ever be betrayed so deeply." They both burst out into laughter as they reach the infirmary. They walk into a room

"I'm going to take a guess and say your leg isn't broken considering you walked here but still is there any pain?" Will asked him,

"Just a bit in my arms but like that's it mate, I think I'm fine."

Will feels the bones on Leo's arm's checking for any broken bones.

"Well your definition of fine is quite different to mine considering you've broken your left wrist, and your right arm is fractured in two places." Leo cracked a smile, like he didn't feel any pain.

Will hands him some ambrosia,

"Leo, you know how you managed to make an immortal girl to like you? Specifically one that hated you?"

"If you want romantic advice you have come to the wrong person, I'll try to help but like I have no clue how I got Calypso. I think she liked me more when I stopped talking to her and I don't think that normally has the same effect on most people. "

"You're the only person I know who has managed to make someone go from hating you to loving you so I'm gonna take my chances."

"Sure mate I'll try," Leo laughed as he pulled something out of his pocket and started mindlessly fiddling.

"Well, I need to make Nico di Angelo stop hating me."

"You're gay? Was I meant to know this information pre-hand because you are acting like you have told me this before." Leo asked, looking slightly confused.

"I'm bi, it was probably before you came to camp when I came out, but basically the whole camp knows." Will said, for better or worse he thought but didn't tell Leo that.

"Yeah probably, now I'm giving you a heads up before you continue. If Nico hated you, you would be dead by now so you already have that section cleared." Leo said grinning.

"Well how exactly do I change from kind of not hating to hopelessly in love with me?"

"Mate I'm barley passed the I will kill you on the spot stage, but I guess show him you care. Jason said that's what he did and I think it worked out pretty well for him."

“Thanks mate, if you want you can leave the infirmary but no life risking events or anything that requires your hands for 24 hours.”

“I’ll try but no promises mate," Leo said laughing as he walked out."I'll catch you at campfire, yeah?"

"I'll see you there Valdez." Will nodded as Leo walked out the door likely getting himself severely injured, Will knew that he would probably get himself hurt again, Leo was like a magnetic for injuries.

***

The Ghost King finally stands up and splashes his face with some cold water as he started to clean up, no one needed to know. He would be fine, it'll go away soon enough. Every single time he had eaten since being in that jar he had thrown up, his eating had never been very stable but ever since the jar it had gotten a lot worse. When he was on the Argo II he had mostly gotten away with not eating but now with Will Solace watching over him like a hawk he would actually have to eat, Nico hoped he wouldn't realise but he probably would soon enough. Still there was no reason for him to find out any earlier than that, maybe if he got lucky it would fix itself and no one would know but Nico had learnt to not test his luck as it could always get worse. He had left the table as soon as he could and hoped that Hazel wouldn't come back to the cabin too soon.

***

"Good match Jace," Percy sighed, struggling to catch his breath after their fight. They did this a lot to fill in boring parts of the day, or to put on a show. It was also a great way to get your mind off of the last few years when you are nearly killing your friends for fun, the healers had given them many lectures about electrocuting and drowning each other many times but hey they weren't dead yet so they must be doing something right.

"Back at you bro." Jason said putting his shirt back on, "Percy I just realised. We don't have a ship name for Will and Nico, wait Will is bi right? I think I overheard someone talking about it before we went to New Rome."

"Yeah, Annabeth told me that he came out to the whole camp a few days before you, Leo and Pipes came. Now ship names....Wilco?

"Bro that's a terrible ship name, come on we can do better mate."

They both thought for a solid 10 minutes until Jason faceplamed and said,

"Bro, Solangelo, it's so simple yet so perfect."

"Did it really just take us that long to think of that?"

"We've lost our touch bro."

The two boys were laughing as they walked back out of the forest to join the rest of the camp for campfire.

***

Nico had regrettably made the decision to show up at campfire, later making the even worse one to sit with Percy Jackson. He didn't realise how bad of an idea this was until he heard Percy sing, it sounded kind of like a dying bird. Sadly Nico had a lot of experience with dying animals and thought that it almost sounded worse. The hour was going by, then Will started to sing again. Nico didn't know the song, he just watched Will. The light from the hearth made his blonde hair almost glow, his blue eyes were so bright they reminded him of the ocean. His voice was spinning though the cold wind, Nico couldn't control himself, he stared at the Apollo boy until he finished singing. He was there laughing with the rest of his cabin, Nico looked away before Will found out he was looking.

***

"Bye sis, I'll miss you." Nico said pulling Hazel into a hug,

"I'll miss you to, you'll visit New Rome yeah? Frank, Reyna and I'll miss you."

"Course Haze," Nico said kissing his sister on the forehead and pulling her into a hug. A single tear fell from her eyes as she got on the bus, heading back to New Rome.

"Bye di Angelo, it was nice getting to know you. I hope you visit soon, and good luck with the healer." Reyna said pulling him into a hug, Nico had blushed at the last part.

"Send an Iris message when you get there yeah? I'll miss you Reyna." The Ghost king said holding back tears, over their journey he and Reyna had become close. Nico walked over to where Frank was standing, "Good luck on your new role as Preator Frank. Take care of Hazel while you're at New Rome, if I hear one word that you're hurting her in any way I will make you wish you were dead." He said looking up at the boy,

"Don't worry Nico, I'll take care of her. I'll see you next time yeah." He said before getting on the bus, the sky was dark, covered in stars.

***

Nico woke up shaking, his screams muffled in his pillow. Nightmares, Nico stuck in the Jar, Tartrus, Bianca dying, Hazel hurt, the battle of Manhattan, the last time he talked to Bianca. Everything was so realistic, he couldn't control the tears. Nico checked the clock, 12:07 shit he thought to himself as he took the small pill the blonde boy had given him. He could barely swallow it, he hadn't stopped shaking. The nightmares hadn't been as bad with Hazel there but alone they were so vivid and realistic, he couldn't get the images out of his head. He opened up his bedside table and pulled out a pocket knife, another thing on the list that no one could know. He wanted to die, he was cursed, everything good in his life was overrun by fear and sadness. By the end of the night his is arms were covered in shallow cuts, they would heal soon enough and he knew they wouldn't scar, no one has to know. Nico barely slept the rest of the night, the less sleep he got the less time for nightmares.

---

Nico woke up to a loud knock on the door, he had slept in his jeans and camp shirt so he just put on his jacket and ran his fingers through his hair before opening the door. Standing there, with far to much energy for someone to have in the morning: Will Solace.

"What in the Hades are you doing here Solace?" Nico asked rubbing his eyes before spotting the sun towards the east, well it wasn't past 12, truly a miracle. "And what time is it?"

"It's 9:30 and I am here to make sure you take your meds, it's protocol to make sure it's been taken."

Nico rolled his eyes as he grabbed the container that was next to his bed as well as a glass of water that he had left there, as he swallowed he said.

"Happy now Solace?"

"I told you it's protocol, normally we get someone else from the cabin to check but Hazel went to New Rome."

"Aren't you head? Doesn't that mean you made the protocol?" Will put his finger to his lip before responding with,

"Bye Nico, I'll wait for you at the Hades table for breakfast. Oh and watch out for Piper, she is insistent on taking you shopping and Chiron already agreed to letting her take you." He said as he walked out the door. Nico sighed, well there was no chance he was getting out of something if Piper wanted him to do it. He needed a new jacket anyways.

***

Will had annoyingly made sure Nico got food, he picked up a single slice of toast and was forcing himself to eat.

"Neeks don't forget to take the other one as well."

"Don't call me Neeks." He said grumbling as he put the pill in his mouth and swallowed.

"It's a cute nickname."

"Would you like an army of skeletons chasing you? Is that cute enough?"

"No underworldly stuff Neeks, or else-"

"You're kidnapping me and locking me in the infirmary again."

"Exactly." Will smiled resisting the urge to ruffle the Ghost Kings long hair. Then Piper ran up to them,

"Nico I'm taking you shopping today. You can't stop me, I've already asked Chiron and he agrees you need more social interaction." Nico gave her dagger eyes, the Apollo kid had already left to go to the infirmary seemly please with Nico's eating. "Also you need a haircut-"

"Not a chance McLean, I do not trust those people."

"Nico it'll be fine, unless you would rather me cut it."

"No chance."

"One or the other, come on di Angelo. Son of Hades scared of a haircut?"

"Oh fuck you McLean."

"You aren't denying it...."Piper grinned as Nico thought about his options, he knew he wasn't getting away, Piper would probably charmspeak him into getting it cut anyways so there's no point resisting.

"I hate you so much McLean, either way I trust you more." Nico sighed, Piper's face lit up.

"You're the best Nico, trust me I know what I'm doing. Oh you're still not getting out of shopping by the way, you need to own something that isn't black."

"I don't think I do,"

"You act like you're allergic to colour I swear, hey you might even enjoy it."

"Impossible."

"We can go to McDonalds? I remember Percy saying something about you loving that place."

Nico considered the offer, it had been two year's since he had gone to McDonalds. He was almost certain Piper had charmspoke him considering after that offer he agreed.

"Great, I'll meet you at thirteen in an hour." Piper said before walking off to celebrate her success with Jason. Then he reaslied what he agreed to, Piper would probably find out about his eating thing. Fuck. At that point though there was no going back, 'well let's hope that Piper McLean can keep a secret.' he thought before walking to the Hades cabin and throwing up everything he had eaten. He still thought it was a miracle no one had found out, he always made sure to be in his cabin before it happened. People worry about him enough already, he didn't need them worrying even more, he would be fine, it would fix itself.

***

Nico heard a knock and went to open the door, Piper looked back at him with a smile.

"Hey McLean, please do not make me regret this."

"Trust me you won't Nico, and you do realise that people have first names right?" Piper smiled as she walked inside; Nico rolled his eyes at the comment and closed the door. As they walked inside the bathroom the Aphrodite girl pulled out some scissors, a comb and a spray bottle filled with water. "Okay so since your hair is straight so it'll be easier to cut while it's wet, I'll cut it to around your shoulders and add some layers, any objections?"

"You forced me into this, I'm hoping you know what you're doing."

"You have so much confidence in me, why are you so against getting your hair cut anyway? I'm genuinely curious."

"Reason."

"Great explanation." Piper muttered as she started brushing Nico's hair, it was soft and wasn't that thick but not thin either.

"Last time I got it cut was like two years ago, I asked for it to but cut around my shoulders and this bitch cut it shorter than Jason's saying it 'Wasn't right' so now I refuse to have it shorter than my collar to spite her."

"I'm surprised you didn't kill her, I probably would have." Piper laughed as she continued brushing,

"Well social anxiety is a real bitch." Nico smiled as he said it. The daughter of Aphrodite started to spray his hair with water and cutting carefully half an inch above his shoulder and adding layers into it. Nico stood perfectly still the whole time, neither talked until Piper had finished.

"So di Angelo, thoughts?" Piper asked,

"You're surprising good at this McLean." Nico smiled, a often a rare occurrence for the child of. Hades yet it had become more common in the last few days.

"Don't be so shocked Nico, my mother is Aphrodite, Goddess of beauty." Piper said as she handed him some hair ties, "You'll need these, I have no clue how you've survived so long with your hair out but you don't have to suffer any longer. Also Will would love it." Piper winked, Nico rolled his eyes.

"Oh leave me be McLean, but thanks for the hair ties." he said as he put them around his wrist. The two cleaned up, Piper started collecting her things and glaced at her watch.

"I'll go get ready, meet you back here in twenty minutes." She said running out of the door, giving Nico just enough time to overthink. Piper had actually done a good job at cutting it, he ran his fingers through it, pulling some part from the sides in front of his face. It was shorter than he was used to but it probably looked more decent, the longer hair had started getting on his nerve either way and he mentally noted to thank Piper for cutting it. He wondered what the Apollo boy would think; he took one of the hair ties off his wrist and tied his hair back, trying to stop thinking about it, before getting ready to be dragged out by Piper. He wore the first pair of black jeans he saw with a black T-shirt and his aviator jacket, he suspected the colour may be making less of an appearance in his closest after Piper was done.

***

The two stepped into a mall in New York that Nico could not bother to remember the name of, Piper grabbed his hand dragging him through the mall. Nico constantly reminded himself that human contact would not kill him and that it was probably a good thing Piper was dragging him along considering he had no idea where he was going.

"I still don't understand why I couldn't just shadow travel us here."

"Will threatend to kill me and Chiron if we let you shadow travel."

"Of course it was Solace, I would expect nothing less from him." The son of Hades said, rolling his eyes. The two demigods walked through the stores both trying on different clothes and Piper this time failing to convince Nico to get anything that wasn't black. All while Piper teased him about a certain son of Apollo,

"Be realistic Piper, he's probably straight anyways."

"No he's not actually, he's bi. Leo was going to tell you but he couldn't find you, apparently the rest of Camp knows." Nico's face lit up for a second before looking back down.

"There's still no chance. He is literally the embodiment of sunshine, I am the child of Hades, God of the fucking Underworld. There is no sunlight there."

"Nico he clearly cares about you."

"It's his job."

"But he checks in on you so much more than anyone else."

"Because he doesn't trust me to stay alive."

"If he didn't trust you to be alive he would have kept you in the infirmary."

"There's still no chance he likes me."

"You're the only one who thinks that Nico, he gave you a nickname for Aphrodite's sake. He doesn't do that with anyone else who is 'just a patient'"

"He did that to get on my nerve."

"Gods you're so dense, wanna go to McDonald's now?"

"Oh, sure." Nico said trying to hide the shake in his voice.

"Oh and di Angelo, Will threatened to kill me if I didn't make you eat a full meal so yeah."

"Of course he did."

***

They finished ordering, Piper had only gotten some fries and a drink because apparently the vegetarian options 'were so bad they tasted like grass'. Nico just nodded, not pointing out the fact that not ten minutes ago she was threatening him to eat a full meal today because Will would kill her if he didn't and here she was barely eating herself.

"Number 57!" Nico walked up and grabbed the tray, he breathed in deeply. He'll be okay, if he acted calm then he could play it off. He would just walk off for a bit, Piper didn't have to know. The two started to eat, it still tasted as good as Nico remember but he could barely get anything down his throat. He already felt sick but he knew he could withstand at least another five minutes without throwing up, he tried to keep conversation to a minimum putting all his energy into seeming fine. After another few minutes passed, then Nico muttered,

"Bathroom." Before walking away, he tried to keep his pace normal but already knew he was walking away too fast and Piper would know something was up. He quickly walked inside and was extremely thankful the bathroom was empty, he went into the stall furthest away from the door. He threw up everything he had eaten like countless other times, at that point he was just hoping no one would walk in. He cleaned himself up a bit and headed back towards Piper,

"Okay tell me. What happened?"

"What?"

"I know something happened, you're biting your nails and you looked sick before. Also you practically ran and you look nervous."

"Nothing happened."

"Nico don't lie, I know something happened. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Piper desperately wanted to know what had happened to the Hades boy but she knew when to stop pushing, she didn't want to charmspeak it out of him, that's purely invasive. He'll tell when he's ready.

"Come on, I want to do something I'll regret in a week."

"Which is...?"

"I'm getting my ears pierced."

"Oh my Gods, yes. That is an amazing idea; if they say you look too young to do it without parents concent, I'll charmspeak them."

"Thanks McLean, didn't particularly like the plan of asking the God of the Underworld to come to a mall in New York." Nico was relieved Piper had either forgotten to continue interrogating him or was leaving the topic for now, he had been meaning to do this at some point either way and this seemed like a good occasion.

***

Piper had to do some charmspeaking, but finally Nico had gotten them done. He decided to get doubles since he was going to regret it anyway might as well go all out, he hadn't even flinched when it happened. After that they went to a few more stores and Piper finally convinced him to get something that wasn't black, instead a very dark blue.

"I would ask if you are actually allergic to bright colours except I've seen you in a bright red shirt so that clearly isn't the case."

"I just like black, is there a problem?"

"It makes you look like the Grim Reaper."

"I was hoping for that."

"You're hopeless di Angelo."

"Finally you're giving up, took you long enough."

"Nope, simply stating facts. If I can bring a metal dragon to life I can make you look less like a ghost without the use of charmspeaking." Turns out however that she could not, maybe some tasks really were impossible.

"I'll shadow travel us back, it's not that far."

"Nico, I would get killed by your loverboy if you did that. We'll just take the-"

"That is probably more dangerous if we're being perfectly honest, also shut up."

"Never. By the way not that many people died, it was-" but the daughter of Aphrodite didn't have time to finish. A wooden club hit her over the head, Nico cursed under his breath and pulled out the only weapon he had, a small pocket knife, he knew he couldn't do much against a fully grown cyclopes. He didn't know where it had come from but that wasn't important, the monster had probably found them because of his blood, children of the big three were the easiest to be tracked by monsters. He had skeletons but there is no way he could stab it with the celestial bronze blade, Piper had passed out and was bleeding on the floor. Meanwhile Nico was struggling to not get hit by the 15 foot cyclopes, he didn't know what everyone else had seen but they didn't pay much attention. He raised a few skeletons to try and keep it in place, he felt himself getting weaker. He knew he shouldn't be doing these things but he was fine for those years he was alone, he would survive now. Piper had lost a lot of blood, he didn't know how well this would go, he had some squares of ambrosia but couldn't get it to her without dying. There was nothing else he could do, he grabbed her wrist and shadow traveled back to camp, but still got hit with the club before he was gone. His head hurt and he tasted blood in his mouth, he collapsed as he showed up somewhere in front of cabin 13.

---

"Nico, God's you scared us."

"What? Am I in the infirimry? Is Piper okay?" He said barely able to speak, coughing after each word.

"Piper woke up in an hour, you've been out for three days Death boy."

"Don't call me that, wait WHAT? I've been out for three days?"

"Try to breathe, I'll get you some water and then I'll explain." The blonde boy walked of and Nico tried to comprehend what had just happened, he'd passed out for three days. Shit, what had happened with the cyclops. Solace had returned with a glass of water and handed it to Nico after he had sat up, "Jason's been worried sick about you, I finally forced him outside today to get some food. You had a concussion and you were practically dead, I forced as much necter down your throat as I could without killing you."

"I didn't kill the cyclops, what happened after?" Nico coughed as he spoke, Will ruffled his hair.

"Neeks it was handled, but right now that isn't important. Three days rest in the infirmary, no underworldy things for 11 weeks 6 for this time, 5 for last time. I'll go and get you some food it'll probably help. Also I'll get Jason, he's hasn't slept for the past three days and would kill me if I didn't tell him instantly." Nico wanted to protest but he physically couldn't, he just nodded as the golden boy walked off. He wondered how longs Jason had been waiting and instantly felt guilty, he also desperately wanted to see Piper to make sure she was okay but right now he could barely breath. Jason ran into the room wrapping his arms around Nico,

"I was so fucking scared di Angelo, I thought you were dead."

"S-sorry.." Nico muttered,

"What are you apologising for?"

"Will told me you haven't slept for three days."

"Well yeah, I was worried about you, not exactly your fault you got attacked. Nico you don't know how bad it looked, you we're laying on the floor covered in blood with Piper on top of you. When we first took you to the infirmary sometimes you would go through solid objects like you were turning into a shadow, you had a broken arm and were barely breathing. Fucking hell Nico I'm so happy you're alive."

"Is Piper okay?"

"Yeah she's fine, just gave her a bit of ambrosia and she woke up. She's been beating herself up over not noticing the cylopese before though."

"That's what she's worried-" Nico started coughing violently before he managed to drink some water, before wincing at the pain in his ribs.

"Nico! Are you okay?" A mixture of fear and panic washed over Jason's face,

"Fine. Go back to dinner, you look like you haven't eaten in far to long."

"Irony," Jason smirked before walking out the door.

***

The Apollo boy walked in carrying two plates of food, placing one on an empty table and handing the other one to Nico.

"Neeks you okay?"

"Hurts...to...breathe." The blonde boy quickly walked up to Nico lifting his shirt and touching his torso feeling his ribs, the son of Hades flinched at the contact.

"Sorry," Will said, yet still keeping his hands on the small boy.

"Still getting used to human contact." Nico mumbled, the Apollo boys hand was warm on his skin.

"Shit, Neeks. It's broken, I should have checked but I completely forgot with the whole passing through solid objects and hoping you would wake up. I'm really sorry." He pushed on the bones a bit, it hurt but Nico showed no reaction. Then he started softly singing a hymn, Nico felt warmth rushing over his body. He exhaled softly as the blonde boy that he just realised had been faintly glowing faded, he lifted his hands off leaving Nico's skin warm. "That should have fixed it," Will said as his bright blue eyes locked with Nico's. "You okay Neeks?"

"Yeah, fine." Nico muttered realising he had just frozen, he quickly grabbed his shirt and pulling it down before starting to process the fact that Will Solace can heal when he sings and glows.

"You seem surprised," Will noted, he was as well, his healing had been less reliable after the Gods disappeared for months.

"YOU HEAL PEOPLE SINGING? FUCKING SINGING OF ALL THINGS?!?" Nico said in pure shock,

"Apollo's the God of music, healing and the Sun..?"

"But just imagine if you get stabbed and someone just starts singing."

"It makes more sense on paper okay!" Will says raising his hands in surrender, "Nico you should probably eat something, you've been on an IV for three days." Nico glanced over realising the needle was in his arm.

"I'm not hungry." Nico muttered under his breath, just loud enough for Wil to hear.

"Neeks you haven't eaten in three days, just try to eat something. It'll make you feel better, you'll need it." Nico knew that he wouldn't be able to keep anything down, but maybe if he acted right he could play it off as a one time thing, he just felt bad this time thing. Will started eating an apple,

"What happened to an apple a day keeps the doctor away?" Nico smirked, before forcing himself to take a bite of a sandwich and instantly regretted it. Will just smiled and rolled his eyes at the comment; Nico kept forcing himself to eat, no matter how sick he felt. He was hoping that Will would leave soon but doubted he would be that lucky, the Apollo kid seemed insistent on keeping him company. Will looked over to the small boy realising how sick he looked,

"Neeks you alright?" Nico just shook his head, Will quickly handed him the closest bin and held back Nico's hair as he threw up the sandwhich he had just forced himself to eat.

"Cazzo." He muttered under his breath, normally he could force himself to last a bit longer but after the last three days he couldn't handle it. Will gave him a glass of water before sitting down on the bed next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. After a few minutes he ran his fingers through Nico's hair, taking out every tangel.

"Di Angelo, you should probably get some rest, it should help you feel better. Tomorrow morning see if you can eat anything, we'll keep you on the IV for now." Nico just nodded already half asleep leaning against the blonde boy. Will lifted up the sleeping boy with ease, laying him on the bed. He was too light, he weighed 90 pounds at the very most which was dangerously underweight. Will made a mental note to talk to him more about that; he looked at the small boy laying there. He seemed so peaceful, he had gone through so much, this was the first time Will had seen him relaxed, even in his sleep. Last time he'd been in the infirmary he had slept for most of it but he always seemed ready to attack or run, Will couldn't help but smile at him. He flicked off the lights and checked his watch, 8:42, that meant he would have some time to talk to Annabeth before campfire.

***

"How's he doing?"

"He woke up today, turns out he had a broken rib and I didn't fucking realise."

"Will, he almost died. You were panicking, you helped him in the end, don't beat yourself up."

"It's a fucking broken rib not a paper cut."

"I know and normally I would be scolding you over it but this is a different situation, anyway any progress?"

"Well I mean he didn't threaten to kill me when I touched him and he talked to me so that's something I think...?"

"See he doesn't hate you!" She says punching him in the shoulder lightly,

"He's so fucking hot, how the Hades is someone allowed to be that hot?"

"Damn Solace, you're more obsessed than I thought."

"No shit. Also how do I get past the 'I won't kill you but I don't like you very much' stage?

"Try to talk to him, make him play 20 questions with you? Then he can interrogate you while you interrogate him, but also have few skips. He's gone through a lot, you don't want to force him to answer if he doesn't feel comfortable."

"Thanks for the advice Anni-Annabeth." He catches himself before using the nickname, he knows it's the one Luke always used.

"No problem Will, I wish you the best of luck in not getting killed."

"Hopefully I won't need it." he sighed with a smile before walking off to join his siblings. Annabeth smiled to herself, this would be entertaining. It was honestly painful to watch them pining over each other like this much while being so clueless about the other, it took all of her willpower to not lock them in a room together until they kissed.

---

"Morning Death boy." Will smiled as Nico got up,

"So creative, how long did it take for you to think of that?"

"Would you prefer Neeks? Or Doom and Gloom?"

"You are a child, Sunshine."

"Wow Nico di Angelo has discovered nicknames; anyways how do you feel?" It still surprised Nico how quickly Will could go from joking around to very much serious,

"I'm fine."

"Do you think you can eat anything?" Nico shook his head, as Will checked his pulse and breathing before taking out the IV needle. "Neeks I'm gonna take a blood sample, we need to see if the underworldly things have any other effects." Nico nodded but Will noticed the uncomfort on his face, he decided not to point it out but made a mental note. Nico didn't flinch at the needle but he looked like he was re-living something, Will didn't ask but wished he knew. "You feel alright to get up?"

"Yeah,"

"Great we're going outside, you need sunlight."Nico muttered something under his breath not loud enough for Will to hear.

"Aren't I on infirmary arrest?"

"Technically no, but it's either stay in the infirmary or have a healer with you at all times right now."

"Amazing," Nico grumbled following Will outside towards the edge of the forest.

***

"So Solace what exactly are we doing?"

"Down to play twenty questions?" Nico considered the offer and smirked,

"Sure." The two sat down next to each other on a log.

"Two skips each, but they get replaced with other questions."

"What's something that isn't a secret but most people don't know about you?" He was ridiculously bored and thought he could use this game to his advantage.

"I'm not actually blonde."

"Explain. Now."

"I was brunette but when I got claimed any part of my hair that was in the sun turned blonde." He pulled out a piece of his hair that wasn't normally visible, it was a light chesnut brown colour.

"Well that's shocking, you know when I asked that question that was not an answer I was expecting."

"I'm a mysterious person di Angelo, now, do you have any exes?"

"Solace I spend most of my time avoiding people."

"In hindsight that was a pretty dumb question."

"Too late, if you had to kill all the people in one cabin which one would it be?"

"Demeter. That was a bit of a violent question." He tried to play it off but his answer had been so quick and confident Nico started to wonder what had happened. "Have you ever drunk?"

"More than you would expect."

"Neeks! You're fourteen, have you ever wondered why there are age restrictions?" Nico just smirked,

"You asked Sun boy, anyways technically I'm older than that. What's the worst crime you have ever committed?"

"Love how you just assume I've committed crimes, but assult. The only reason it wasn't murder is Annabeth pulling me off."

"The fuck Solace, are you going to explain that?"

"I'd rather not, let's just say I was pretty...pissed that day."

"Well that's terrifying."

"I told you I have secrets di Angelo, who's someone you used to care about but now hate?"

"Skip."

"Is it true you liked Annabeth?"

"Really Solace? No it is not, otherwise Percy would have already murdered me."

"Had to ask, the Aphrodite cabin was trying to figure that out for two years."

"Truly incredible, can you fight with a sword?"

"Not in the slightest."

"I'm teaching you, archery will be useless in close combat. You will die in a matter of seconds ."

"You have so much confidence in me Neeks, but thanks for the offer."

"Wasn't an offer, more so a kidnapping where I teach you by force how to fight."

"Okay then...do you prefer the 1930s or now?"

"Now, better arcades."

"Great reasoning."

"What's your worst fear?"

"Pass, I would never hear the end of it."

"Can't be that bad."

"You would never shut up about it Neeks, I can guess that much." Nico locked eyes with the blonde boy, he considered the question he was about to ask.

"Do you regret coming out to all of camp?" So he did know, Will thought to himself. He didn't answer instantly but he didn't want to pass it either.

"Well, um.."

"You have skips, you don't have to answer Will." That was the first time Nico had used his actual name, Will desperately wanted to kiss him.

"I want to answer it just, thinking. I'm happy they know and I don't have to hide it but...some people aren't the nicest. Cabin four has the most for whatever reason, they seem to get joy out of making me feel like shit. Most people are nice enough, with the rest, well you get used to it." Nico grabbed his hand,

"Who. Has. Been. Giving. You. Shit? Give me a list, I will make sure they'll never do anything again."

"Neeks it's fine, I don't need you threatening them."

"I'll be doing a lot more than threats Solace, give me a list of every single person who has hurt you."

"Nico it's okay."

"Did I ask? You're a ball of sunshine, no one and I mean no one has any reason to hurt you."

"They do, there's so many people I couldn't save, I killed them. I deserve to suffer because of that, they deserve revenge on me for killing their friends." Will had tears forming in his eyes.

"Will it's not your fault they died, and either way you shouldn't have to go through this."

"Nico, are you straight?" He froze for a second, he had still been holding Will's hand but he didn't want to let go. He was warm, his thumb was stroking his hand warming up the usually freezing Ghost king. After Will had told him so much he couldn't lie, he always had a skip but part of him wanted Will to know.

"..n..no...I'm gay. Not that many people know, the seven and Reyna that's it. Please don't tell anyone." Nico shakes a bit and a few tears fell, he didn’t want to cry in front of him but he couldn’t help it. Will wrapped his free arm around Nico and pulled him closer to himself,

"Thank you for telling me, I know it's hard Neeks."

"How did you tell so many people?"

"Didn't like people assuming things, also I just...didn't want to hide I guess. Still though, I've been too scared to tell my mum, barely seen her since I'm here all year but even if I had the chance to I probably wouldn't tell her. As for the actual time well it was a while after Percy was missing, before Jason, Piper and Leo showed up, campfire, just kinda said if at the end."

"Did anyone know before that?"

"I told Annabeth first but Kayla and Austin found out by themselves pretty quickly. Who was your first crush?"

"Do not hold this against me, it was Percy." Will started grinning,

"Same, half the camp has liked him at this point I swear."

"Half of camp is pathetic."

"You're including yourself in that statement you know."

"I am fully aware, honestly I should have given up on him when I saw him talking to Annabeth the first time."

"Didn't they hate each other for a few years?"

"Hate is a strong word, I prefer to use hopelessly in love and oblivious."

"Lovely wording; I gave up when my brain started working and I realised he is straight."

"You think Percy is straight? Have you talked to him before?"

"Percy isn't straight?!"

"With the way he talked about Luke? Not a chance, and that was after he betrayed him. I can only imagine him pining over him at the age of twelve, completely oblivious, then also being hopelessly in love with Annabeth and being a helpless simp once more."

"So you are telling me Percy Jackson liked Luke Castellan, aka. the person who tried to kill him multiple times?"

"When he was twelve definitely, at least in the way he talked about what he was like before when I met him. Don't know if he realised it then, but he is not straight. You haven't seen him and Jason talk, if I didn't know how much he loved Annabeth, going to Taturus with her I would have been sure they're secretly dating."

"The more you know I guess. What's something you can do that no one knows about?"

"I can braid hair, I mean Hazel knows that but still."

"Emo Death boy can braid hair."

"Firstly, I'm not emo."

"Keep thinking that Neeks."

"Secondly, this is why I don't tell people this."

"Honestly the fact you can braid hair is adorable, also it proves that you are no where near as scary as you think."

"I could kill you right now."

"You sure about that di Angelo? Right now you can't do much without melting into a puddle of darkness, you're just a nerd that's pretending to be dark and mysterious."

"Oh shut up Solace."

"Never."

"Have you been on a quest?"

"Nope, I just try to prevent deaths after them."

"How many languages can you speak?"

"Wait give me a second, Itallian, Greek moderen and ancient, Latin, English, French, Spanish, Swedish, Portuguese, Polish, Finnish, German and Dutch. So that's twelve and a half I'm fluet in and I'm trying to teach myself Russian and Japanese." He said counting them off on his fingers

"Gods Nico, what exactly do you do with your free time?"

"Well first four are pretty obvious but Bianca taught me French and Swedish and the rest I've taught myself, writing's hell with dyslexia but I've survived. It's a pretty useful skill when you randomly show up in different countries."

"I can barely speak English properly half the time!"

"That sounds like a problem on your side Sunshine." He said messing up the blonde boys hair, Will desperately tried to hide his blushing. "Have you ever passed out because you healed too many people?"

"Yeah, happens quite a bit." Nico slapped him, not that hard but hard enough for it to hurt. "Hey what was that for?"

"You can't be overworking yourself like that Solace, you're a doctor for Zeus's sake. What help is it going to be if you pass out while healing someone?"

"It's the most effective way, plus I get more people healed."

"So let me get this straight, you risk your own health while telling people not to?"

"Okay when you put it that way-"

"Yeah it sounds bad! Please do not do that, can't have you dying on me Solace"

"I thought you were plotting to kill me anyways?"

"Exactly, can't have you dying before I kill you myself."

"Sure di Angelo, have you ever killed anyone?"

"Pass." He had become friendly with Will, he didn't need anyone else leaving him.

"Cats or dogs?"

"Do hellhounds count? I have a pet hellhound called Mrs O'Leary."

"Was that a gift from Hades?"

"Nope, from Percy."

"Wait what? I'm just going to accept that at this point."

"Good idea, I wasn't planning to explain."

"Course you weren't," Will checked his watch. "Come on Neeks, it's time for lunch, we got through ten questions each, same time tomorrow?"

"I don't have a choice do I?"

"Nope; head to the infirmary I'll get you some food."

"I'm not hungry."

"You haven't eaten for a few days, just try to eat a few bites."

"Fine.." Nico muttered before walking off to the infirmary.

***

----------

I really hope this helps peeps :)

[mixedkid-matchup]

you do not have to answer this!! I'm using you to confess my dubious feelings for the Percy Jackson series bc you also expressed like some weird feelings about it, and I kind of thought the series was untouchable bc of how much everyone I see fawns over it, and I have GOT to get this off my chest to someone who might get what I'm saying. But I have major issues with the writing/premise/series bc it's just feels so deeply colonized and it's bothered me since it FIRST came out and everyone in middle school and high school was reading it and teachers were assigning it. Like the whole premise for the Greek gods being in the US is that they follow Western "progress" and it completely disregards all the amazing things Indigenous did and our way of life, and also removes the importance of place-based culture for both Greek stories and Native peoples (like okay all the Greek stuff moved to the U.S. but wth happened to all our spiritual figures?? The story completelya cts like Native people weren't here and didn't have complex beliefs and ways of life connected to the land, and the gods were just free to take over here with no issues). As a mixed Indigenous kid it just rubs me wrong in all the worst ways and the academic systems love affair with Greek and Roman stuff and Rick Riordan's sheer popularity has been forcing this stuff in my face foreveeeerrrr 😭😭 I was surprised to see your tags about the fandom being weird before too tho since I don't interact with it, so I hope you don't mind this ask and just know I kinda feel the same way!! Ok thanks bye sorry for the rant.

BRO I HAVE HAD THIS RANT ON HAND FOR A LONG TIME ITS OKAY!!!!!!!!!

I THINK IF HEARD ABOUT THIS ACTUALLY. but you explained it way better. like when i first read percy jackson ok fine i was 11, i obviously caught onto the ableism and such but i did not catch onto this until i thought about it when i got older. you're super right. the whole thing about ww2 being caused by demigods was the weirdest shit ever i literally did not remember reading it until i read lightning thief again last year. why did hitler need to be child of hades. THAT IS QUITE LITERALLY HOW PERCY DESCRIBES HADES WHEN HE SEES HIM. LOOKING LIKE HITLER. then what you're saying how they move with the places that are the most progressive and basically take over..... like it's just ..... incredibly misplaced and insensitive.

but about the fandom being weird (its literally encouraged by riordan's book tbh), in heroes of olympus, hazel is a black girl from lousiana in the 1930s?? or 40s idk anyways i think she dies and then nico brings her back. whatever, everyone draws her lightskin and with orange hair, and super skinny, (which she's from louisana. shes darkskin and does not have "caramel" hair i hate white men sometimes.) and shes like 13 btw and in a relationship with frank whos like 16. weird as hell and everyone thinks theyre so sweet. and also rick cannot write meaningful young women. and especially not girls of color. like its WEIRD how piper is portrayed as some pick me girl she constantly feels the need to express shes not like the Aphrodite girls. and rick had to make it weird with aphrodite anyway by making them a whole stereotype of snobby boys and girls who love putting on makeup. they had drew, an asian girl & counselor of aphrodite, straight up mean to piper bc she likes jason. like for no other reason. drew only wants to participate and go on the quest because of jason. and other stereotypes like making leo, latine, be super flirty.

and lets really talk about how annoying annabeth was about the blondes are dumb stereotype because, girl we can talk about misogyny and people not letting you do things because of it, but lets also talk about how you are TWELVE, and the blonde stereotype is tired. i never liked annabeth, she was really tone deaf as someone whos half black. OH AND FRANK. they had this weird ass arc where they implied he was fat because of lack of confidence? like when he got confident he, lost weight... because of a blessing of mars? i dont even know.

like as i get older its more and more annoying to see it. i literally rolled my eyes when i saw rick talking about colorblind casting when people got mad about annabeth. he could of said anything else. how this could reconceptualize annabeth's arc around misogyny and now racism. and purposely alter her character to fit this new black annabeth. but no. people treat colorblind casting as a pinnacle of progressiveness.

[freddie-77-ao3]

Golden Eyed Girl (good is... hard to come by)

Summary:

Annabeth Chase takes one look at Hazel Levesque and wants to throw up. Here's this skinny little daughter of Pluto is, looking like a ten year old rather than the thirteen year old she had heard about, and-- She looks nothing like Luke Castellan, nothing, but-- She looks almost like Kronos. And maybe, just maybe, while the Crooked One was swept into the pit by her blade... maybe it found somewhere to HIDE. She is suspicious. And Percy knows what she's thinking, but he's the only one.

After Annabeth flips Percy, and flings herself into his arms, after she walks the city with Reyna, after Leo fires on New Rome (on all the dreams every demigod at Camp had– a safe place, another home, a they-maybe-won’t-die-as-children-anymore ) the seven gather in the Argo’s dining room.

Jason and Piper sit half entwined, and Leo’s next to them, rummaging in his toolbelt with shifty eyes, and Percy’s still resting his chin on her shoulder. She missed him. Ripped herself half in two to get to him. She’d thought that after Luke– Kronos– they would be safe , or, well, as safe as demigods could be. She’d thought that Percy wasn’t going to die at 16 anymore, that she had someone who wouldn’t leave her like everyone always did. 

But Hera– she’d stolen Percy. Just like Hades had stolen Thalia, and rage had stolen Luke, and Helen had stolen her father even though they’d made up, she had been alone once more.

Percy was a part of her, and without him– without him, Annabeth had felt like the scared yet fearless, overly proud twelve year old she had been before him. Except without Luke this time.

Luke . Luke and his blue eyes until they were gold, gold and burning into her and Kronos was dead now but his eyes weren’t because they still haunted her sometimes when she closed her eyes.

She hadn’t told Percy that, but he’d known anyway. Probably because he felt the same. 

Finally, Frank and Hazel, the two Romans who Percy had already clearly bonded with (he always made friends so easily compared to Annabeth) entered the room. Hazel was looking down as Frank pulled her into the seat. 

They started talking, Annabeth leading as usual– already, Jason and Percy had started that stupid Big Three pissing match– (thank the gods Hazel hadn’t involved herself, still looking down– but then, Nico had never been as into the rivalry as Thalia and Percy had. Although, part of that might have been the grief masking every emotion he’d ever goddamn shown).

By the time they finish talking, Annabeth had all but forgotten about Hazel and her lack of eye contact. That is, until, as they leave, Hazel looks up, and her eyes are gold–

All Annabeth can think about is Luke and Kronos, and Beckendorf, Silena, Mark– every single goddamn dead person she watched go up in flames. So as she draws her knife ( Luke’s knife ) and starts to lunge ( hand it to him ) is that Kronos was dead so why does Hazel have His eyes– unless. Unless on the way to The Pit, on the way to Tartarus, what if– She’d already been informed Hazel had previously been dead. So what if– what if–

While Kronos was swept down through the Celestial magic of the Bronze– what if he had found somewhere to hide ? Somewhere to strike and–

What if Hazel was that spirit. 

And she has only just gotten Percy back so she lunges , striking to maim or kill because she doesn’t care anymore this nightmare just has to be OVER –

And Frank intercepts her, grabs her arms–

She flips him, shakes him off, and sprints . Percy follows.

They end up in the stables. She starts to cry. 

“-Beth. Hey, Beth. What’s wrong?”

“Her eyes ” she manages to croak out, “her eyes , Percy, why are her eyes like–”

Percy nods, and sits down, gesturing for her to follow. “I– I know. I didn’t at first, when my memories were still gone, but… Luke. I know, Wise Girl, I know.”

“But– are you sure? I just– I just got you back, Seaweed Brain– how do– how do you know she’s safe ? How do you know that He’s dead ?”

“We both watched him… him die, Wise Girl. That has to be enough.”

It should have been. Hazel seemed sweet. Looked more like a ten year old than the twelve year old Percy had told her about, but—

One look at those eyes, and Annabeth had wanted to puke. Here was this skinny little daughter of Pluto is, looking like a ten year old rather than the thirteen year old she had heard about, and– 

She looks nothing like Luke Castellan, nothing, but--

She looks almost like Kronos. And maybe, just maybe, while the Crooked One was swept into the pit by her blade... maybe it found somewhere to HIDE.

She tells Percy that. He nods, looking sad.

“You know that’s impossible. You said it yourself. He’s in so many pieces, He’s– He’s never coming back. Never going to hurt us again.”

They both know it’s a lie. They both know that every birthday a person isn’t around for, every reunion, every anniversary of a battle or a skrimish, their eyes will skip over the spots that their dead should be. Where children should be. Luke, Silena, Beckendorf, Mark, Abigail, Michael, Lee, Castor–

Where who Pollux should have been was. Who they all should have been. But she picks her head up, leaves the stables holding Percy’s hand, and apologizes to Hazel and Frank. 

If she later cries herself to sleep in the stables with Percy, well, that’s no ones business but her own. 

She will never stop fearing those golden eyes. Might never be able to look Hazel in the eye.

But she and Percy are alive, and somewhat safe, and for tonight, in the dark, she can pretend. 

[moonlightswritingandstuff]

it's gonna hurt like hell, but we're gonna be well (i'll give you my best shot)

It's been five years since Bianca has seen Rachel is person. She just got on a plane all the way to California to see Rachel on some mysterious impulse. But Bianca's never been able to forget Rachel's smile, so maybe she can get something out of this.

read on ao3!

"Bianca?" is the first thing Rachel says when she opens the door to her wife.

"Rachel. It's been a while."

"It's been years. Why are you here?"

"I... just had to leave."

"You came across the country. And why me?"

"I don't know, okay?"

"Did you do any planning?"

"Uh, sort of. But-"

"Just stay with me," Rachel says, and rolls her eyes. "I have a spare room."

"Thanks."

"Besides, it's two am in the morning. What's that for you, five am? Just go to sleep."

"See you tomorrow."

"See you tomorrow, I guess."

«»

“So. Why are you here?”

Bianca takes a sip of her coffee. It’s perfect, despite the incredible specificities that she likes. “You made my coffee perfect.”

“I’m not in the habit of disappointing guests. But onto the point. Why are you here?”

“I got tired.”

“Of what?”

“I don’t know. Everything. Being Nico and Hazel’s perfect sister. Doing everything for them.”

Choosing them over you, she doesn’t say.

“You’ve been doing it for years. What changed?”

“I don’t know," Bianca says. "Maybe it's Nico wanting children and wanting me to be the perfect aunt for them. Maybe it's that... I don't know."

Rachel nods, and there’s something different in her eyes. Softer, maybe. With an ache, Bianca realizes that’s a pale imitation of how Rachel used to look at her.

Maybe this won’t be so bad.

“You can stay here,” Rachel says. “We’re still legally married, after all.”

“Thanks.”

Rachel nods, her close-clipped and brightly painted nails drumming on the table in a manner that would’ve been so familiar to Bianca years ago but is now as distant as what five years and a million little mistakes could’ve created.

“What’re you doing now?” Bianca asks suddenly. It’s odd, but Bianca finds that she really does want to know what’s going on.

“Not much,” Rachel says. “My art’s gotten big, I guess. I get a decent amount of museums wanting to display my work in modern art galleries. I have a few pieces loaned out to the Tate Modern. My father’s company is now mine and I’ve been trying to get it to turn around and be… better. It’s not actually that hard to be eco-friendly. I’ve been using my influence to try to make it better.”

Bianca smiles.

“And you?” Rachel finishes, almost lamely, like she doesn’t know what else to say.

“Music’s still making me some money, but lawyering is still my main profession. I’ve been helping abuse victims — working with Percy.”

“How’s he doing?”

“Good. Got married, well, eloped. Didn’t want a huge wedding. Or one at all. His social work is doing well, too.”

“Oh, I never took Annabeth as someone who didn’t want a wedding.”

“He didn’t marry Annabeth.”

“Oh, really? I always thought it would be her.”

“Me, too. Up until the moment they broke up, four years ago.”

“So, who’s he married to?”

“One of Drew’s coworkers when she was doing the solo at the Phillharmonic Orchestra a few years back. Plays the cello. She’s a lot like Annabeth in some ways and a lot unlike her in others.”

“I’m glad he’s happy. What about Drew?”

“She’s the only person who knew I was leaving. She’s doing great.”

“Being called one of the best violinists in the world, hey?”

“Yeah. I’m proud. And what’s going on with you?”

Rachel sips at her tea. “Mostly what I said. Katie and Travis are living their happily-ever-after. Two kids, now.”

“That’s nice for them.”

“What’s going on with you, anyway?”

“Not much. I haven’t cheated or anything.”

Rachel snorts. “I’d hardly count dating someone now as cheating, but I suppose I haven’t ‘cheated’.”

“I suppose it isn’t. We’re separated in all but name, anyway.”

“Yeah.”

The apartment smells of lavender, and Bianca doesn’t say that she still wonders what went wrong with them. Maybe it was the distance. Maybe they weren’t, aren’t, the type of couple to make it out.

Maybe, just like her, Rachel still can’t bear the idea of divorcing each other. Even after all this time. Even after all this distance.

Bianca’s never been able to forget the way Rachel smiles, after all.

«»

Bianca’s got work — she’s never been one to not plan, and there’s, unfortunately, always someone who needs to escape a terrible situation. She starts on her new case and the paperwork piles up once more. It’s not altogether terrible, and in fact, Bianca enjoys it. She’s helping people.

Rachel’s penthouse has an excellent view of the sea, and in summer, it’s as close to idyllic as it could get.

Plenty of inspiration for Rachel’s painting.

It’s just, Bianca used to be the one Rachel would sketch and paint. She remembers coming across a sketchbook of Rachel’s full of just Bianca herself, pages made entirely of pencil and nothing else of Bianca’s profile and front in loving detail.

But Bianca remembers that she used to write music about Rachel, music in which she described Rachel’s eyes and their multitudes and everything, music in which she told Rachel she’d love her no matter what — even if they had no words, Bianca likes to think they conveyed the sense of it all.

And they both know how that ended.

But what’s done is done. No use in changing what’s already happened.

“Let’s go out,” Rachel says. “You’re in California. I thought the purpose was to leave it all behind.”

“Yes, but…”

Rachel rolls her eyes. “Still haven’t left the workaholic tendencies?”

“No. Work’s important.”

Rachel smiles. “It won’t kill you to get out once in a while. C’mon, let’s go.”

Bianca lets Rachel drag her outside, to some botanical, well-kept garden. It's an aching reminder of the dates they used to have, but slightly skewed. Rachel brings her sketchbook, just like always, and makes thumbnails of various flowers and displays – the lavender, the gladiolus, a butterfly Rachel stops to draw because she thinks its blue colour is lovely, and it is, especially detailed through Rachel’s coloured pencils.

"Do you still obsess over plants as much as you used to?" Rachel asks, a reminder of how well Rachel used to know Bianca. Plants weren't something Bianca talked to just anyone about.

"Yes."

"Tell me about them."

"Those are tiger lilies," Bianca says, pointing. "USDA hardiness zones three to nine, perennial. They symbolize, depending on who you ask, mercy, compassion, wealth, prosperity, courage, or pride. Originating in Asia, they bloom in late summer to early fall."

"And those ones?" Rachel asks, pointing to roses of all things.

"Those are roses. I'd suppose you know about them already."

"Tell me about them anyway."

"Usually perennial, can live in most conditions. Usually mean love, especially red roses, and yellow roses represent friendship. Briar roses and some hybrids can have aromatic scents."

And so they go through the botanical garden, Rachel sketches more, and Bianca tells her about the plants. It's so achingly familiar that Bianca gets déjà vu.

"Do you want to get food at some point?"

"It's nearing five," Bianca says. "Sure, why not."

They get takeout. It's good, and it reminds Bianca of what she used to have, back when she and Rachel were first married and lived in California. Lived where Bianca's now staying.

Bianca never should've left. But she'll admit it. She was never not going to leave.

It's been years since Bianca was a child, a decade and a half. She can admit things she couldn't earlier. And one of those is that Bianca regrets leaving Rachel for Nico and Hazel. Bianca has always prioritized her younger siblings over anything else, and it's not recent, the bitter taste that leaves in her mouth.

But Bianca's here now. With Rachel.

Maybe she should stop hiding. But it's Rachel. But there's Nico. And Hazel. And everything else she can’t say and can’t name.

«»

That night, Bianca gets a call from Nico.

"Drew told me that you up and left for California."

"I did. Did you just notice? It's been a few days since I left."

"We don't talk that often, Bianca."

He's lying. Bianca and Nico talk every other day. He's just not used to Bianca doing something this impulsive. He's just not used to Bianca doing something for herself. And he doesn't even realize it.

He never has, she notes, with no shortage of bitterness.

"I suppose not."

"Why did you leave?" Nico's voice is angry, but it's a little grainy through the phone, and if Bianca tries hard enough, she can pretend that it isn’t Nico saying this. That it isn’t her little brother.

"I don't know."

"And Rachel? You haven't talked in years!"

"We talked five minutes ago."

"Bianca-"

"Hold it, Nico."

She hangs up. Puts her phone aside. She can't deal with this right now.

Nico calls again. The apartment's quiet, Rachel's out for a late-night painting class she teaches. The phone rings, a fake sounding noise that reverberates across the empty apartment. Nico's contact reads 'baby brother' because it pisses Nico off and Bianca is so, so tired.

Hazel will call soon, as soon as Nico gives up getting her to listen to him. Hazel will call because Nico will tell her to. Hazel will call because she's concerned about Bianca.

Drew is too, Bianca knows. But Drew knows Bianca, better than Bianca knows herself. Drew only smiled and told Bianca to go for it when Bianca told her she was leaving.

Drew knows exactly how Bianca feels about Rachel.

Bianca could really go for a chat with her.

But on cue, the minute Nico's calls stop coming, Hazel's start.

Bianca puts her phone on silent, puts it in her bag, and continues working on her case. She's getting the case declared self-defence if she dies trying.

Bianca's good at this. She always has been. She's suffered through too much research and too much deliberation to not be.

But just as Bianca starts the get back into her work, the door opens, and Rachel comes in, singing.

It's an old song, certainly. One Bianca remembers Rachel loving.

Rachel's always had a pretty voice. Bianca's always been an alto, dipping into contralto, but Rachel has a high soprano. Bianca would be lying to say she didn't miss it all the time.

Bianca would be lying to say she didn't miss Rachel all the time.

Suddenly, Rachel's singing is brought to an abrupt stop.

"Oh, I forgot you're here," Rachel says sheepishly.

"It's fine," Bianca says. “You’re not used to me here.”

“I suppose not.”

Rachel hums, taking her hair out of the band that barely kept it together anyways.

Bianca goes back to her work, and a few minutes later, Rachel places the most perfect cup of tea on Bianca’s desk, just the way she likes it. Mint tea with a generous amount of lavender honey.

Well, Bianca hasn’t drunk her tea with lavender honey since… since she felt actually married to Rachel.

“Thanks for the tea,” Bianca says. “It’s perfect.”

Bianca can hear the smile in Rachel’s voice. “I know.”

«»

The next day, Bianca goes shopping. She figures she should get something for Rachel. After all, she has to put up with Bianca.

She first stops at a candle store. Rachel loves candles, Bianca remembers distantly — she used to get Rachel candleholders. Floral scented, lavender. Her favourites. Well, the years must have changed things, but Bianca still loves her lavender honey, and her coffee that precise way.

And then she goes to a florist.

Rachel’s favourite flowers are carnations, heliotrope, and forget-me-nots. Bianca decides to go with pink carnations, purple heliotrope, and blue forget-me-nots, along with white yarrow. She hopes it’ll make Rachel happy. She always likes flowers. As a last minute decision, Bianca adds lavender to the bunch.

"Got someone you're thinking of?" the florist asks, her almost luminous green eyes (that distantly remind Bianca of Rachel) lighting up and a smirk decorating her face.

"Sort of," Bianca replies, looking down at her name plate. Lou Ellen, it reads.

So she walks back to the apartment, putting in the code, up to the top floor. With her family's money, Rachel easily affords the penthouse.

It's odd. This is so familiar. Bianca used to do this same thing every day.

And now she lives in New York, across the country.

Bianca loves New York more than she ever loved California. But she can't say that she misses New York.

Rachel fits better in California then when they were in university in New York, she thinks, with a sudden pang. They left for California for a reason.

But the elevator dings and Bianca arrives at the top floor, walking to their door and opening it. Rachel's cooking something, the smell weighing down the air. The scene is so unbearably domestic, just like how they used to be.

Rachel turns when Bianca arrives, cooking momentarily forgotten. "Oh! Flowers? And candles?"

"Kind of like a thanks-for-putting-up-with-me gift," Bianca explains.

Rachel smiles. "I love them. But you didn't have to get it for me. I wouldn't... not put up with you."

Bianca smiles back, and she goes to the cabinet to get a vase worthy of them. The kitchen is still organized the way that it used to be, five years ago. The déjà vu grows more poignant.

"I'm almost done dinner," Rachel says. "It's chicken. Mostly easy."

"Thanks," Bianca says, because she feels like she has to. "It's fine. Chicken’s great."

And it stirs up a memory. Second date, Bianca got sick, so Rachel came over to her terrible student living and made chicken, of all things. Maria, Bianca’s mother, hated chicken, for whatever reason, so it was the first time Bianca really had chicken.

Until that day with Rachel.

Bianca will admit, she doesn’t like chicken all that much.

But Rachel’s already hosting, and Bianca doesn’t really want to protest.

“Dinner is ready,” Rachel says, softly, as if she’s afraid of disturbing Bianca.

“Thanks," Bianca replies, putting her things away, all the paper back in its folders and into her four-inch binder.

When Rachel serves the food, dinner turns into a quiet affair. It's not awkward — thank the sea and stars — but it is silent. The sunset streams through the windows, and Rachel is still so beautiful in the golden light.

Gold suits her.

Gold suits Rachel, unlike Bianca, whose complexion has always left more for silver than for gold. Gold suits Rachel the way that green does.

Bianca's reminded of their wedding dresses. Bianca wore all black and silver, Rachel in white and gold. It was a little pointless, a little fanciful, but it made great pictures and greater happiness.

But that is far behind her now. That's far behind both of them.

The fresh flowers Bianca got Rachel are on the table, as beautiful as they will ever be. The almond-like scent of heliotrope is faint, the clove-like carnations likewise, but the lavender is pungent compared to them, and not only for the flowers, but also from the fact that Rachel burns the candle Bianca got her that afternoon.

It's in an old candleholder, and it is almost familiar. Well, it is, it's just that Bianca hasn't seen it since... five years ago. But Bianca, in the deep recesses of her memory, remembers it. It was a one-year anniversary gift, painted cream and accented with lavender flowers. Bianca supposes Rachel decided to match them.

But it's so eerily similar to how things used to be. Bianca is sitting and eating in a meal strangely reminiscent of the ones that they used to have before she left.

Bianca could write a piece about this. She can already picture a string quartet — soft violin and soothing cello and viola to balance it all out. Or a piano trio, with a piano and a violin and a cello.

She looks up at Rachel, only to see Rachel looking at her.

"Do I have something on my face?" Bianca asks, because, in all honesty, Bianca cannot think of another reason.

"Oh, no," Rachel says, and looks away. "It's nothing."

«»

The next day, Bianca calls Drew. Drew's voice is grainy through the phone, but by every god to have ever existed, Bianca misses her.

"So. How's Rachel?"

"She's good."

"There's more to the story, I'm sure."

"You know me so well."

"Of course I do, hon. We've been friends for how many years?"

"Too many."

"You sell me short. Anyway, what is going on? Nico and Hazel are in panic mode because you're responding to precisely none of their calls."

"I don't want to."

"Good for you — honestly. Put yourself first for once. Not your career, and definitely not your siblings."

“I can’t just… not take care of them.”

“Sure you can. They’re adults. You can rekindle your relationship with your wife.”

“She’s not really my…”

“Anyone can see you wish she really was,” Drew replies. “Besides, everyone’s fine. Go get your marital bliss or whatever.”

Bianca blushes. “Drew. Tanaka.”

“Bianca. Di. Angelo.”

“I don't... She doesn't..."

"Sure she doesn't. If you can't do everything again, just be friends. Trust me. It'll be better."

"Thanks, Drew."

"And call Hazel. She's better about this than Nico is, you know."

"Fine."

"I have to go — practice is in thirty minutes, and I still need to get there."

"See you."

"Cya. Hope you get it sorted out."

"Thanks."

The phone clicks off. Drew's busy, she always has been. She travels for her soloing work – everyone wants the best violinist in the world – and Bianca and her catch up when they can. Drew’s home base is New York, but Bianca hopes that, if she is to stay in California, that Drew can get a position here for a while.

Bianca pauses. Thinks about Drew's advice. She's usually right about these things – relationships come so easy to her. But Drew hasn't seen Rachel in years, either. But she has seen Hazel recently.

Bianca knows Hazel should be free around now. She picks up the phone, and dials Hazel's number.

Hazel picks up on the second rung. "Bianca? Oh my, we were so worried. Nico and I, that is. This is so unlike you."

"Hi, Hazel. Everything's fine. I'm just..."

"You miss Rachel."

"Yeah." Bianca doesn't have the energy — or the will — to tell Hazel the truth.

"Nico says hi, so does Lavinia. We miss you, but if it makes you happier, stay in California. I'm just... surprised that you would do this."

"I didn't expect it of myself either."

Bianca can hear Hazel's smile on her voice. "The most unexpected is sometimes the best. That being said, nothing much has changed, if anything truly ever changes."

"When have you gotten philosophical on me?"

"Since getting the philosophy degree, obviously."

"Going for the doctorate?"

"Obviously. Lavinia makes enough money that I don't have to worry about it — and from what we have from Father, it's fine. Plus, I could be a professor!”

"That's good. I'll... probably be back soon."

"We miss you."

"I miss all of you, too."

"Have fun down in California, Bianca. I'll see you whenever you come back."

"I'll see you then, too."

The phone clicks off, and Bianca sighs. She hates that she doesn't know what to say to Hazel. She hates that she doesn't know what to say to Rachel. She hates that Drew was right.

Drew's voice rings in her head as it says, "I'm always right."

Bianca snorts to herself. She'd counter with that one time in university when Drew bombed a test, but Drew's not here, and Bianca just has the silent apartment to herself.

One of Rachel's sketchbooks lies on the kitchen table. Bianca recognizes it — it's the one that Rachel brought when they went to the botanical garden.

Bianca, on some odd whim, opens it. She knows she shouldn’t – artists’ work should be their own. But she can’t help herself.

The first page is lovingly detailed drawings of lavender, beautiful and as realistic, and different flowers decorate the pages after it, until one page gives Bianca a pause.

It's herself. It's Bianca, in rendered radiance. The drawing of herself has a small smile on her face as she looks down. Her bangs hang over her face and her hair is in a ponytail. It's achingly real, and Bianca sees herself in it.

Is this how Rachel sees her? She doesn't know, but Bianca feels like she's intruding on a private moment.

She closes the sketchbook, but its drawing bothers her for the rest of the day, for some inexplicable reason that Bianca cannot name.

«»

Bianca makes breakfast the next day. She's not the best cook in the world, but at least she's better than Nico. And her father was never one to cook (and neither was her stepmother, come to think of it), so Bianca would cook, and then Hazel, who was always better than her.

Pancakes were always a family favourite, especially when their parents would go away, and it would just be Bianca, Nico, and Hazel.

Bianca remembers that Rachel also loves pancakes.

Or, she did. But Bianca's pretty sure everyone loves pancakes. So.

As Bianca makes the pancakes, she admires the apartment around her. Rachel's made a dedication to paint all of the walls, as it seems — she started when Bianca still lived with her. Back, a million years ago, when they still lived together. There's flowers along one wall, abstract shapes along another, some fabric pinned to create a beautiful mural of some kind of abstractness with some things that look oddly familiar to Bianca.

Everything here feels so Rachel that Bianca being there feels a violation of the space in itself.

But there are things that remind Bianca of herself, too. Things that Rachel hasn't bothered to get rid of in the years since Bianca's been gone.

The kitchen's still organized the exact same way. There's still a stupid smiley face made with Posca paint pens on one of the backing tiles, a heart with Bianca's signature curved tails, next to one of Rachel's little anatomically realistic hearts (because Rachel couldn't do anything halfway, and Bianca dared her as a joke).

The kitchen tiles were the first that they decided to do that on, and some of the paint has chipped. But Bianca's stupid little doodles that don't even look good sit right next to Rachel's masterpieces. They'd laugh and paint and cry all the same.

It used to be so easy. Bianca didn't care because it was Rachel and that meant everything and nothing all the same.

"Bianca?" Rachel asks groggily, from the door to her bedroom.

"I'm making pancakes."

"Thanks."

"Of course."

The pancakes are done soon enough. Time is no longer an issue to Bianca, for whatever reason. But with her case soon drawing to a close, Bianca's slightly afraid of having to go back to New York.

The realization that she doesn't want to go back to New York is an epiphany Bianca never thought would happen. The realization that she wants to stay with Rachel is even more of one.

But Bianca has a week. A week before she leaves and everything goes back to how it impossibly was before.

That weighs bitterly on her tongue, like the coating of forgotten pomegranate seeds, fermented as to invoke disgust.

"Bianca?" Rachel asks. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, just thinking."

"About what?"

Now Bianca just needs to come up with a convincing lie. "A hot dog is a sandwich."

"Oh, really? I think that categorizing things in categories like that is inherently ambiguous."

"It may be, but categorizing things helps bring peace of mind."

"Stuffing things into categories just makes the boxes too big."

Bianca admits that it's kind of nice to argue with Rachel again, about silly and meaningless things.

«»

The court case will take longer than Bianca expects, as is obvious from the get-go. Bianca has the evidence, though, but the prosecution is much more adamant than Bianca thought it'd be.

Never mind that. Bianca is not altogether terrible at this. She's definitely not the best, but she's good, and she's determined. Every case takes a lot out of her — her faith in humanity, for one — but in the end, it's always worth it.

Is anything ever not?

(Bianca knows seeing Rachel again is worth it. Bianca also, impossibly, knows leaving her was worth it, too.)

But she's at court for most of the day, going home (she shudders at how easily Rachel's apartment has become her home once more), cooking dinner (it's the least she can do), and talking to Rachel, sometimes long into the night.

And so her week goes.

The flowers Bianca bought wilt a little, their smell waning as Bianca's time in California draws to a close. Conversation comes easily now, and Bianca would be lying if she said it wasn't comfortable, if she said that leaving wouldn't hurt.

(Bianca won't admit it, but she's been falling love with Rachel all over again.)

But the week passes too fast, too quickly, and suddenly the case is done (and won) and Bianca is set to leave in a few days' time.

"You're leaving," Rachel states, as only she can, a day before Bianca leaves. The lavender candle is burning, and it smells like lavender throughout the apartment.

"I've got to go back to New York," Bianca says, willing herself not to cry. This isn't sad. Rachel will move on, just like she did before. Rachel hasn't been falling in love with Bianca all over again.

"What if," Rachel hesitates, and Bianca doesn't dare hope, "I don't want you to leave?"

"What?"

"Sorry, just ignore it," Rachel says, all in a hurry, like the words are a fire that catches too quickly.

"I'm not going to," Bianca replies, as if that could change anything. "I'll tell you a secret. I don't want to leave, either."

"Then don't."

"I won't."

That afternoon, Bianca cancels her flight and stays with Rachel.

«»

They don't talk about it. They don't talk about how Bianca decided to start another case, to stay. They don't talk about how Rachel didn't want her to leave. They talk around it, anything else, because Bianca isn't quite sure she's ready for that conversation and she doubts Rachel is either.

But Bianca knows they have to talk about it eventually.

She doesn't want to. Instead, she calls Drew.

"I'm not going back," Bianca says. "Rachel and I agree — I'm staying in California."

"No duh," Drew says. "That's great, though. Glad you're staying with Rachel — chase your own happiness."

"How do I tell Hazel and Nico?"

"Text message, or whatever. You've got to tell them, but it'll be fine. Let's focus on you and Rachel, though. Back together?"

"No."

Bianca can hear Drew's sigh through the phone, through the static. "Just admit it. You're in love with her, she's probably in love with you. She wanted you to stay."

"We haven't talked about it."

"Hon. You're never going to if you don't do it as soon as possible. You're going to be in the 'pining roommates' stage forever. And you’re married! I don't want to be hard on you, but please."

"I know," Bianca says, hoping Drew can hear her rolling her eyes all the way in New York. "What do you know of romance anyway?"

"My mother writes romance novels for a living. They're incredibly lucrative."

"That means nothing. You would rather drink glass than read one of her novels."

"Would you rather I get your auntie Hera on call?"

"No! That would be even worse!"

Drew laughs. "What I'm saying is, just give it a chance. If it doesn't work out, you come back to New York. Why keep waiting? You've been waiting for this for five years. You can't keep waiting because eventually Nico might have another accident, or Hazel might, or they both want you back, and you don't know how to not help you siblings constantly. Just do it for yourself."

"I didn't ask to be psychoanalyzed."

"I'm your best friend. It's my job."

Bianca sighs. "I'll talk to her."

"Good."

"How's your newest piece?"

"I hate Paganini," Drew announces. "I always have, I always will. They want me to do a show, with like one piano accompaniment, at Carnegie Hall. I would rather kill myself."

"You're not called the best violinist in the world for nothing, you know."

"Yeah, but I've been doing his Variations on God Save the Queen for three days now and I want to resurrect and kill him."

"And just how good are you so far?"

"I've started memorizing it," Drew mutters, as if ashamed.

"Exactly. You're insane."

"So was Paganini."

Bianca pauses, hoping Drew can hear her raised eyebrow in the pause.

"Shut up," Drew says. "Anyway, go call Nico or Hazel or text them or whatever."

"Drew."

"Bianca."

"Fine."

"Goodbye!" Drew calls, before hanging up, "Remember to tell your siblings!"

The phone clicks off, and Bianca is left in the apartment, the smell of lavender seeping into the air.

She sighs. Drew's right, as seems to be all too often recently, and she calls Hazel.

It takes three rings of hollow sound for Hazel to pick up.

"Hey, Bianca," Hazel says. "You're at the airport?"

"Actually," Bianca wills herself not to cry, "I'm staying in California."

"With Rachel?"

"With Rachel."

"That's good. See you at Christmastime, or sometime soon?"

"When I can."

"I'll tell Nico," Hazel says suddenly. "Don't worry about it."

"Thanks."

"Of course. Have fun with Rachel."

"I will."

Hazel hangs up. It's odd — it was a short call, but there was so much there. Hazel doesn't sound mad, but then again, she has always been good at concealing her emotions.

Bianca knows Nico's going to be upset. But she'll stay anyways. Suddenly, a country away, Bianca doesn’t care about Nico’s emotions as much as she cares about Rachel’s presence. Which is odd because she wants to start over with Rachel.

But Bianca also knows, in the back of her mind, that that may never happen. But Bianca has always been one to want to be given life in all its pain and beauty.

«»

Bianca buys flowers for Rachel again, as the other ones go to waste. Blue cumins, blue hyacinths, white baby's breath, white daisies, and purple lavender. She can't help but hope that Rachel will like it.

Rachel wants you to stay, the annoying voice in Bianca's head that sounds suspiciously like Drew whispers. She'll be delighted in anything you get her.

Bianca ignores that voice, and stresses anyway.

Because she's bringing these flowers as a reminder of what they need to talk about. She's bringing these flowers to hopefully soften the blow that Bianca still loves Rachel.

So she goes back to the apartment with flowers, in a bouquet. Jane Austen put it best when she said I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone for ever, and so on. Especially, I have loved none but you.

But Bianca is no writer, no artist. Unlike Rachel, Bianca has never been able to draw inspiration from the world, and turn it to silvery honey on paper. Music has always been easier. Bianca doesn't even write lyrics. It's all violet and flute and piano and whatever else catches her fancy — things Drew and her siblings Valentina and Mitchell can play, but that no one can sing.

Maybe when this is all over, Bianca can write a piece for it. Maybe a piano trio. Or a string quartet. Something about Rachel and her. That sounds about right — it can end in heartbreak or romance, depending on how Rachel response, Bianca supposes.

But never mind that.

She arrives at the apartment a little after when she means to. Bianca got the flowers just before dinner, and Rachel and her decided to go out that day, anyway.

Her palms are sweaty, it's like a first date, but slightly to the left. Rachel's as beautiful as ever, a little nervous, though, her hand fiddling with her dress. Bianca's still able to read Rachel well after all these years, but she still wonders why Rachel's nervous at all.

They get Chinese food, the kind that's really, really good, but only because Rachel knows where to go. She takes Bianca to a place that is almost achingly familiar, and the old Chinese lady behind the counter smiles at Rachel and Bianca. Her name's... Eleanor, some recess of Bianca's mind reminds her.

"You're back," she says, nodding at Bianca.

"I am," Bianca says, smiling back.

The food's great, and conversation ends up filling the air between Rachel and Bianca. They're still putting off the big conversation to come.

Never mind that. The food's great.

"I was thinking that maybe you'd like to help paint the new walls?" Rachel asks. "I'd like you to."

"I am altogether terrible at art, but I'd love to help."

Rachel smiles. "Also. Do you want to have dinner with Katie and Travis at some point? Their two kids will be there, but I think that you need to be re-introduced."

"Of course."

They're putting it off. Rachel knows. Bianca knows. Maybe it's because they don't want to have that conversation and all it entails. Maybe it's because Rachel doesn't want to break Bianca's heart again. But whatever it is, Bianca feels even worse by the time that they leave the restaurant and head back.

Or, well, they don't. Instead, Rachel takes Bianca to an oceanside boardwalk. It's late, and there are no stars, but the city lights are a good enough substitute. It smells like lavender.

"We, uh, need to talk about something," Rachel says.

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

The stagnancy hangs in the air. Unlike before, Bianca decides to do something about it.

"I'm still in love with you," she says, all out in a rush, like the words are spilling from the sky in fat rain droplets that come one after the other.

"Thank any and every god," Rachel breathes.

"Sorry?"

"I was about to say the same thing."

Bianca grins, and suddenly she can't stop laughing.

"Why did this take so long?"

"I don't know."

"I never should have left."

"Well, you can remedy that now."

"Really?"

"Just kiss me."

And so Bianca does. It's not perfect, but it's been years, and so it's as perfect as it could be.

«»

Bianca doesn’t stop smiling, even as she wakes up.

She slept late, and Rachel's already gone, an early commitment for her art. Just so she doesn't worry, there's a little note in Rachel's curvy handwriting on the bedside table. Hope it wasn't too jarring waking up. I'll be back around eleven for lunch! — Rachel (P.S. we probably still need to have a conversation, but I don't think the direction it goes will be a surprise.), it reads.

Bianca smiles at it, and the clock reads 9:36. She has an hour and a half before Rachel comes back, and she can't stop smiling.

Bianca doesn't usually eat breakfast, just a cup of coffee, and she decides to call Drew.

"Bianca?" Drew says, over the phone. "What's up?"

"Rachel and I talked," Bianca replies, trying to keep the childish giddiness out of her voice.

"Oh, great. How was it?"

"Great! We still need to have a bigger conversation about what we're doing now, but..."

Bianca can hear Drew smiling. "Great. I told you it'd happen."

"You were right."

"I'm always right, hon."

"Remember that time you lost two truths and a lie, badly?"

"Shut up. Congrats, though. Want me to tell your siblings?"

"No, that would be terrible. I'll tell them, I promise."

"Good. I'm having lunch with Valentina very soon, though, so I have to go, but you're telling me all the details later."

"Talk to you later."

"Absolutely."

The phone clicks off, and Bianca smiles. Maybe that's what Drew and her relationship will be reduced to now — short calls made to update each other on small things. Bianca can live with that. Bianca can live with a lot of things.

But it's around twelve thirty in New York right now — Drew has always liked late lunches — and Hazel and Nico are both bound to be busy, so Bianca holds off calling them.

It's odd. It's almost like a cycle. Bianca was born in Italy, but she soon came to New York, and then California for her law degree. Then she married Rachel and stayed here, until Nico's accident, in which she went back to New York.

And now she's in California. The two cities that could tell Bianca's life story are Los Angeles and New York City, in equal and opposite measures.

But Bianca wouldn't trade her life for anything, now.

And she needs to call Nico. Because he's her little brother, and no matter how upset she gets with him, and no matter how upset he gets with her, Nico is Bianca's only full sibling. That's not to say she isn't close with Hazel, but there are some things that Nico understands that Hazel cannot — like emigrating from Italy. Like the memories of their mother that Bianca finds comforting.

Bianca thinks Maria would've liked Rachel. She always has.

«»

Rachel comes home with flowers. Bianca’s favourite, lavender, and flowerless southernwood and blue salvia and baby’s breath to tie it all together.

“Figured I should get you flowers, too,” she says, smiling almost sheepishly, if Bianca tilts her head slightly and lets herself believe it.

Bianca takes the flowers and puts them into a vase. “I thought I was supposed to be the one to bring flowers.”

“Hey now, I can’t offer you that advantage. I also need to flaunt my wonderful taste in flowers.”

“Naturally,” Bianca replies. “Alternate weeks?”

“Alternate weeks,” Rachel agrees, then pauses. Bianca lets her take her time. “Speaking of, we’re… doing this?”

“Trying again?”

“Yeah.”

“We are,” Bianca says. “Or, I hope we are.”

“We are.”

“Promise I won’t leave again.”

“You better not.”

Bianca laughs, Rachel joining her, and she can smell the lavender.