#annabeth said she had a crush on percy since they were twelve and we can clearly see these feelings being developed because leah KNOWS this

[thegreatkarma]

i truly believe characters from book adaptations (specially the main ones) should be played only by actors who are already fans of the source material

cause they truly know the character and their journey

walker and leah know where their characters are supposed to end. so they can give us the 12 year old percabeth crumbles on the way they look at each other to set the path for the future seasons

[pjo-tvs-version]

Unpopular opinion time.....

So remember that time in Mark of Athena where Annabeth said that she had a crush on him since they were twelve? I have some doubts on that. I truly whole heartedly believed that till the end of The Lightning Thief, Annabeth liked Percy as a friend 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺. We can see from the very first book that Annabeth is a very calculative individual and that is shown very clearly in throughout the entire series. You should also remember that there was an one sided rivalry atleast till the train scene where Annabeth actually opens up. The reason she agreed to put up with Percy atleast till a certain point is because she wanted a quest and literally no other reason. She wanted to hate him obviously because he was the Son of Poseidon but she did admire his good qualities and I believe in a platonic way only. I think that Annabeth started developing a crush on Percy during the Sea of Monsters. Maybe because they were alone for most of the journey and hence kind of relied on each other extensively. Maybe she got to know Percy a little better now and NOW developed a crush. In my opinion Annabeth and Percy's relationship was platonic very clearly till Sea of Monsters. I guess the quest to get Grover really did bring those two close together and made them see each other in a way beyond friends. I feel like Rick just put that line of the crush in Mark of Athena for just a "Invisible String" or soulmate angle which personally I don't like because Percabeth in my opinions are the epitome of Enemies to Friends to Lovers (Just like Anna and Gilbert from the book series Anne of Green Gables). They were friends before they developed a crush and they we're enemies before becoming friends. You can't draw a line for each phase but we all know that its there. So yeah that's about it. Thank you for hearing out my rant!

[fandomwriterstuff]

“We’re a well-oiled team of military-grade kindergarteners,” his best friend, and the only other human on the ship who would understand what kindergarten was, continued chastising him and his companions. “The level of education and training among the three of you eclipses that of the entire rest of the members of this operation,” Annabeth continued, pointing her finger individually at himself, his pilot Jason, and his Chief Science Officer Nico. “You know, I’m not that surprised with you, Percy, but you are our XO so you should really be more responsible,” he winced at that, still feeling a bit of imposter syndrome at being the Commander of the USS Olympus. “Jason, shouldn’t you be piloting a ship or something?” At that, he saluted her and did an about face before scampering off to get into more trouble. “And you, you’re definitely way too responsible to have gotten mixed up with this Seaweed Brain and Sparky, so what’s in this tomfoolery for you?”

Nico, the only Neptunian on the ship, shifted his large black wings self consciously under the scrutiny of their Chief of Operations. Percy, as the Commander of the vessel, felt obligated to protect his usually stoic and well-behaved… acquaintance? Di Angelo was reserved, almost standoffish, and resented anyone who tried to stick up for him for some reason, but that didn’t stop Percy’s stupid seaweed brain from doing so. Hence the acquaintance. Percy was 99% sure Di Angelo didn’t consider him a friend. But he was nice to Percy and a great officer, so Percy considered him his friend.

“It was my fault, Annie,” he used her childhood nickname carefully, not knowing whether it would soften her up or piss her off more. He was hoping for softening. “It was just another one of Jason and my dumb ideas that we thought we would need a scientist to help with, and we didn’t want to piss off Leo by involving him in it. You know how he is about his engineer and warp cores and whatnot,” Percy held his hands up placatingly. “Leave Di Angelo out of this, he has sciencey things to do, isn’t that right?” Percy side-eyed his companion who (not surprisingly) rolled his eyes.

“I try not to get involved with human pranks or even Jovian mischief, but Officer Grace and First Officer Jackson were about to be meddling with my linguistics team. It isn’t my duty to tell my superiors what to do, so I sought out the next best option, supervising and ensuring no lasting damage was done to the physical or emotional state of the linguistics team. Now,” Here Percy held in a smirk as Di Angelo shrugged. “If they caused interference with the machinery of the ship, that wouldn’t be my expertise, so I allowed it to happen and-” Percy held back a laugh as the other male started speaking even faster to get everything out as Annabeth turned redder and redder. “I’m very sorry about that, truly, but I had no control over the situation.”

“No control over the situation? You three broke our LIT machine and now we have to go back to Earth as soon as we pass close enough to fix it. Soon enough nobody on this ship will understand each other,” the woman across from them crossed her arms and Percy shrunk back a bit.

“I want to make a joke about a machine being called “LIT,” but I feel like it isn’t the right time,” he muttered. “I know the Linguistic Inhibition Technology is important, but most of us have a working understanding of at least one other language, so it shouldn’t be a huge issue, right?”

“You know it works by connecting to the implant technology in our brains, so as it shuts down one by one, members of this ship from spaces stations and planets far and wide will have no clue why they suddenly can’t understand their XO, or their Chief Officer, or their best friend. So you better explain this. And you have to tell them that we’re going straight back to Earth to fix it because no nearby planets have the same brain implant tech as us. Damn Terrans and their brand name technology copyrights,” Annabeth grumbled and finally turned around to walk off.

“Hey, you’re Terran, too!” Percy shouted after her, but she just flipped him the bird.

“She can do that?” Di Angelo asked, side-eyeing Percy.

“Yeah, she’s been my best friend since we were twelve. As long as she doesn’t undermine my authority in front of everyone else, I don’t really care. I’ve done way worse to her,” Percy laughed at the other man’s frown. “Nothing bad, just pranks and things of that sort. Maybe when we get back to Earth we can show you where we’re from. You never set foot off of the training grounds while you were in school.”

“I would… like that,” Di Angelo paused and gave Percy a soft smile.

“Great,” Percy patted the younger male on the shoulder and made his way to the Command Center.

Percy sat himself down in the rotating chair and pressed on the comms device.

“Gooooood evening crew of the USS Olympus, this is your Commanding Officer, Percy Jackson, speaking,” he smiled at the engineering crew that was scuttling by, only for one of them to pause and look at him like he was speaking a different language… Whoops.

“There was a malfunction with the Linguistic Inhibition Technology and we will be returning to Earth henceforth to repair it before the damage becomes problematic. You may experience glitches with your implant technology and may revert to only understanding your first language and those you have studied extensively. If somebody looks like they’re not understanding what I’m saying right now, please escort them to the linguistics team in Science Bay 3. Carry on. Jackson, out.” He clicked again and the mic turned off.

He sighed, this would be one of his bigger mistakes. They were supposed to be exploring, but they couldn’t do that if nobody could speak to one another. One trip home couldn’t hurt him, and he was sure Annabeth would be happy to see her father.

It wasn’t until later after the Chief Officer meeting when someone finally asked Percy about Earth. For many of the non-humans on the ship, Earth was a place to get education and training to go out in the star fleet, and they never set foot outside the campus grounds, just like Di Angelo. But people had stopped asking him questions because Earth was basically “Space Australia,” as Annabeth had explained to him. The adaptability of humans and their need to pack bond astounded many and horrified many others. So, he stopped talking about home.

It was a new member of their ship, Novax (a Vulcan who was a part of Leo’s engineering team), who asked him about it first.

“I hear Earth is 75% made of pure salt water, and is filled with animals of all kinds. Do you have a favorite water animal?” he asked Percy excitedly.

“Definitely dolphins, though they aren’t underwater creatures. Like humans they need oxygen to breathe, and come up for air very often. My favorite actual underwater species would have to be a hippocampus from Neptune. I’ve always wanted to go and see one, but my human anatomy prevents me from going on-planet,” Percy explained and sipped on his hot tea.

“There are a million creatures in the ocean and you pick one that doesn’t breathe underwater?” Clarisse grunted. His Chief Tactical Officer was a brutish Martian, but very specialized in weapons. “And your second favorite isn’t even Terran.”

“What else do you know about the ‘ocean’?” Novax breathed, leaning forward.

“Eh, not much,” Percy shrugged.

“I’m not sure I heard that correctly, maybe my LIT unit isn’t functioning well,” another member of engineering asked, Nyssa. “Your planet is 75% water and you don’t even know what is inside it?”

“I could tell you about the people who spend their life learning about what survives in the deep depths,” Percy looked up, knowing he had all of the non-Terrans hooked on every word. Even Di Angelo had paused in his note taking and was staring wide-eyed at Percy. “But I don’t know if you’d want to know.”

“No we do!” Nyssa exclaimed. “There are people who dedicate their lives to a place that’s literally not navigable by humans, the main inhabitants of the planet?”

“Well as you said, most of the planet is water. Which means that coastal communities are filled with fisherman, whalers, swimmers, and more. I could tell you about some of those. I could also tell you about the scientists that spend years of their lives building bots that can’t even come close to withstanding the pressure at the deepest depths without imploding, or I could tell you about those that do come close,” he shrugged.

“What happened to those?”

“The video feed cut out after only seeing multiple rows of sharp, jagged teeth,” Annabeth answered, her sharp grin frightening those who hadn’t noticed her. Some forgot that she was Terran, because she was also half Minervan.

“I could tell you about whales. Beautiful, they come in black and white or grey or blue. But they can be as big as almost 100 feet long. That’s as long as most pirate ships. And they could fit about 400 average sized humans in their mouths. You don’t want to cross one of them. And they only live on the surface. The things that live in the deep,” Percy shuddered for effect. There were no Neptunians on the ship, so there were no natural water dwellers there, so all of his rapt listeners were shocked by this information. “There’s the anglerfish. They light up the dark with an antenna on top of their heads, and the light lures in prey. But it’s so dim elsewhere that you don’t see their big sharp teeth until you’re right up against them,” he murmured. “Giant squids are almost as big as whales but not nearly as peaceful and beautiful. They have eight arms and two tentacles that could wrap around any boat and crush it.”

“Ten limbs?” Nyssa whispered, clearly disturbed.

“Plus, the Portuguese Man o’ War,” Percy shrugged nonchalantly. “Also known as the floating terror. It’s like a big blue jellyfish that sits innocently on top of the water with huge blue tentacles that sit just underneath with a sting strong enough to kill a full grown human.”

“Don’t worry,” Annabeth grinned that shark grin again. “Percy won’t tell you about the stories of the old days. He doesn’t want to scare you.”

“That was the not scary part?” Novax gulped.

“Anyway, I just got notified that we’ll be back on Earth in a few days, so brace yourselves,” and with that, she stood and left them all staring after her. When the door clicked shut, Percy had all eyes back on him. He shrugged.

“Don’t look at me. I wasn’t going to tell you about the kr- nevermind,” he stood. “Di Angelo, with me,” the younger officer stood, back to business and was at Percy’s side again in a moment. “Clear your schedule, you’re spending shore leave with me, pal.”

“Great,” came the deadpan reply.

“Don’t sound so somber,” Percy rolled his eyes. “I’m just going to show you the beach and maybe a good gay bar. You need to let off some steam my dude.”

The other male reddened.

“That is so… That is…” he huffed. “Highly inappropriate.” he glared down at the ground and Percy felt a little bad, maybe the guy wasn’t out? But it was clear he had a preference for males. Oh well, that foot was already in Percy’s mouth.

“Fine. But I will be attending and I am a great dancer so you’re missing out,” he winked at the flustered officer and made his way back to his cabin. It would be an interesting few days.

He made a plan with Annabeth. Day one before shore leave, Percy would spread a rumor to Novax about the kraken. Bigger than a giant squid and meaner. Known to crush entire pirate ships in the olden days.

Day two, Annabeth would mention sirens to Nyssa. Hideous creatures that could lure you in with their voices and lead you to believe you were bringing your ship in to everything you ever wanted, when in reality you would crash your ships and then drown.

Day three, Percy would tell Leo about the Megalodon. A definitely very real shark so big you couldn’t even imagine it. Percy shuddered at that one.

“But, there are some good things,” Percy was speaking to Nico Di Angelo from his Commander chair, in ear shot of some of the participants of the conversation a few nights prior. “Mermaids, the siren’s nicer cousin species. And the lost city of Atlantis. Known to be a great and bountiful city, lost to the sea and cursed by the gods to be stuck down there forever. Some believe it still exists, but it’s within the Bermuda Triangle.”

“What, pray tell, is the Bermuda Triangle,” Clarisse sighed.

“Hard to explain. Ships just… go in… and they never come out,” Annabeth shrugged. “Planes go down. Ships wreck. People who go in don’t come back out, so we don’t know if Atlantis is really there or not.”

“That’s… terrifying,” Novax whispered as he walked by.

Percy was sure he had created a healthy fear of Earth’s oceans in his crew. And he meant to, because while he loved the beach and swimming, he did want to make them shy away from the depths. They wouldn’t do well to explore it.

[bipercabeth]

percabeth | hurt/comfort | 3k | commissioned by @mericatblackwood 

a post-TLO fic in which we finally Let Percy Cry

Annabeth doesn’t know what to do with anger—her own or others’. She can take her problems to the sword fighting arena or bury her nose in blueprints for weeks, but she’ll still come away with a tight jaw. She doesn’t know what to do with her hands when they aren’t clenched into fists. 

So when the tendons in Percy’s hands strain around his silverware at dinner, when his eyes are downcast and he’s closed off in that I’m-angry-but-trying-desperately-not-to-look-it way, Annabeth can only fumble over a painfully casual attempt at conversation and watch as he retreats to his cabin. He doesn’t even make an appearance at the campfire. The flames have been low in the weeks following the Battle of Manhattan, but they’re rising tonight. 

The problem isn’t reading Percy; it never has been. Annabeth knows what’s hurting him and why. It’s the fixing part she struggles with.

continue on AO3 

or 

He’s been angry for the better part of a year, often because of the ambiguous impending doom of his sixteenth birthday, but not exclusively so. Annabeth caused more than her fair share of his anger, she knows. Rachel had been there to provide an escape in her place, but Annabeth supposes part of being Percy’s girlfriend means that it’s her who gets to provide solace now. Not that she didn’t before, but. There’s a deeper commitment now. He was always her person—as she was his—but it’s out in the open. She’s the first line of defense—she wants to be the first line of defense from danger, be it physical or emotional. 

So Annabeth dons her Yankees cap and sneaks to Cabin 3, replaying the conversation where Percy shrugged and said he’s fine when she tried to call him out. He isn’t fine. She knows that much. 

That doesn’t mean she expects to find him curled in on himself, bedsheets tangled around his middle. It shouldn’t be possible to look small in a twin bed, but he looks so small—not at all like the hero the other campers celebrate over the campfire. It’s a stark reminder that he’s only sixteen. 

He lifts his head when the door opens, his eyes wide. Annabeth remembers that she’s invisible and knocks her cap off her head. She’ll pick it up later. Right now Percy’s breath stutters at the sight of her, his eyes shining like open wounds. 

Annabeth can do dry anger: the cold, unfeeling rage that motivates, propels, inspires. But wet anger—the paralyzing, painful kind you cannot power through—leaves her scrambling for purchase. Annabeth is a runner. She doesn’t sit in anything. 

The sheets rustle as Percy closes his eyes and takes refuge in his bed like a dog hiding his wounded paw. Despite his efforts, he cannot disguise his limp.

“Please don’t hide from us,” Annabeth pleads. 

“I’m not hiding from you,” he says mildly, not lifting his head from the pillow. “I can’t hide from you.” 

“But you came here.” 

“I knew you would come.” Percy shrugs, casually stating as fact something Annabeth didn’t know herself until a few minutes ago. 

In this moment, Annabeth envies Percy’s connection with Grover. She would kill to have a way to funnel her emotions into Percy’s brain in a way he could understand. All the love and concern she can’t articulate could exist in the world without the struggle of finding the right words. 

Still, Percy specified her. Grover is out there at the campfire, probably sensing Percy’s pain like a twinge at the base of his neck, but Annabeth is the one Percy can’t hide from. 

The thought propels her to the edge of his bed, sitting in the curve of mattress his torso folds around. His knees press into her right thigh as he shifts to close the space between them. Annabeth realizes with a jolt that he left this space for her to occupy. 

On her other side is his face, youthful and soft in the moonlight streaming through the window. Blue light for a blue boy, swimming in blue sheets that should shelter him instead of giving him something to fist his hands in. His arms cage his chest as if his heart is trying to escape it. 

Annabeth reaches for his hand, drawing it to rest between hers. If his heart is a burden, it’s not one he has to bear alone. They held the weight of the sky once. They can handle this. 

For all their shared burdens, the one that weighs on Percy now is uniquely his. Annabeth is a hero, but not the hero. Shouldering “child of Athena’s final stand” for a few weeks is not the same as “hero’s soul, cursed blade shall reap” looming overhead for four years. Percy’s very existence has been dissected and politicized since the moment he was claimed, whereas Annabeth could’ve chosen a quieter, quest-free life if that’s what she wanted. She chose to pick it up. Percy’s choice was to stand under a weight that would otherwise crush him. 

It occurs to Annabeth that everyone who has shouldered this burden before him is dead. The heroes whose birth was prophesied, whose death was prophesied, died fighting their battles centuries ago. There are no words for that. 

Words are Percy’s strong suit, anyway. He has always known what to say to calm his friends down. Annabeth can’t recall the last time she saw someone do the same for him. 

She squeezes his hand and focuses on being here, where it matters. 

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asks, knowing he doesn’t. Or rather, knowing he doesn’t want her to have to talk about it. 

As expected, Percy burrows deeper into the bed. Half his face is squished in his pillow; the sole eye Annabeth can see fixes on the empty space in front of him. He gives her a noncommittal shrug she doesn’t buy. But at least he won’t lie outright. 

Silence follows. It nips at Annabeth’s ankles, nagging her to move, to do something, but she decides to sit with the discomfort. The confession he’s suppressing is a palpable thing: Annabeth watches it stutter in his lungs and claw its way up his windpipe. Percy will tell her when he’s ready, and she’ll be here when he is.

“I’ve been having dreams,” he says, still not meeting Annabeth’s eye. That’s okay, though. He’s getting the words out. That’s what matters, right?

“What kind of dreams?” 

Percy grimaces. “Not the useful kind. Nightmares, mostly. About the war.” He doesn’t breathe between the sentences, just grits his teeth. 

“It’s over, Percy. The war is over. We can rest now,” she tries. 

“They can’t.”

Dread settles over Annabeth, but she asks anyway. “Who can’t?” 

“Beckendorf,” he chokes, his hand tightening in hers. “Silena, Castor, Lee, Michael—I killed him, Annabeth. I told the others where to go, and they died because of me, but I killed Michael.” 

Annabeth opens her mouth to interrupt, but the names keep coming. Percy steamrolls through the tears, leaving her to watch his anger limp along until it collapses into the worn bed of sadness.

“Ethan shouldn’t have been on Olympus. I should’ve hit him harder, then he might have stayed down. And Zoe—I knew she was going to die. We found out who her dad was, and I knew and I couldn’t do anything. And Bianca wasn’t supposed to stop the automation. It was supposed to be me. She could’ve come home to Nico, and maybe then—” 

“Percy…” 

He shrinks with each word, looking every inch the child Annabeth found on Half-Blood Hill: bruised, tired, and crying for his mother. “My mom died because of me. I didn’t even save her—I saved the world, because that’s what I had to do. Hades let her go, but she still died.” 

Annabeth gapes at him uselessly. To love Percy is to know intimately the amount of guilt and unearned blame he assigns himself, but that doesn’t make it any easier to stomach. 

“You saved your mom,” she reminds him. “You saved her and the world. You shouldn’t have had to do either, but you did.” 

“But I didn’t save the others.” 

“No one could’ve.” 

“I should’ve. When you fight the way I can, the people who die around you die because you can’t get to them fast enough. If I had just been faster, I...” He takes a shuddering breath. “Why do I get to survive when they don’t?” 

A lifetime of war games and war alike, and that question is the worst thing Annabeth has ever heard. Percy is just laying there, still not meeting her eye, and she doesn’t know how to help him. 

Terrified of how he’ll answer that question, Annabeth leans down to kiss him before he can. She tries to pour everything into it despite not having too much experience. Kissing Percy so far has been fun, sweet, and definitely trial and error. Nothing this desperate, this needy. She inhales him like she can steal the painful words from his lungs before he says them. 

Annabeth tastes tears and pulls back, terrified that she’s done something wrong. Instead, Percy’s hand catches the back of her neck, keeping her close enough for their foreheads to touch. It’s there, inches away from his trembling lips, that Annabeth finds the words.

“You saved me,” she pants. “From the Furies on the bus, at the Lotus hotel, when Polyphemus knocked me out—” her fingers travel to his grey streak— “when we held up the sky, at Mount St. Helens, on Olympus… Too many times to count. From the first day we met, you gave me hope.” She strokes his cheek and wipes away the tears, feeling her own eyes well up. “Every day. You save me every day.” 

Percy clings to her hand on his cheek and releases a deep breath, fully exhaling for the first time all night. “You save me just as often.”

“So let me do it now, yeah?” 

Percy looks at her, green eyes wet and wide, and nods carefully. Annabeth sighs her relief against his forehead before pressing her lips there with an aching softness. There is more to say, but she takes a moment to just hold him. The Fates deemed her his anchor to mortality, so anchor him she will. 

“You survived because you were saddled with the weight of the world at twelve years old and the gods owe you a fucking break.” She looks at the ceiling, almost daring thunder to rumble. The sky stays silent. “More campers are alive than dead after a war with impossible odds, Percy. You saved so many, but you can’t save everyone. None of them would want you to blame yourself for this. We have to honor their sacrifice—and, in some cases, their choice.” 

That breaks him. The last of his anger gives way to painful sobs, the ugly kind that squeeze your lungs like a spasming fist. In this moment, he is not the wounded dog, but rather the limp itself: the awkward cadence of his breath reminiscent of limbs struggling to hold new weight. 

“What do you need?” she asks. “What can I do?” 

The mattress jostles as Percy scoots closer, freeing up part of the bed. “Could you stay here with me? Wake me up if it gets bad? If you have to go back to your cabin, that’s fine—” 

He’s cut off by Annabeth kicking off her shoes and crawling into bed behind him. There isn’t much room on the twin mattress, but she tucks her knees into the backs of his and wraps around him, and they fit well enough. She settles quickly to avoid overthinking, glad for the excuse to be close to him. 

This is entirely unfamiliar territory, as Annabeth discovers when she tries to figure out what to do with her hands. She’s never spooned someone before. 

Percy senses her hesitation and laces their fingers, pulling her arm around his torso. Annabeth squeezes him tight, like maybe lining up their hearts will calm the frantic beat of his. Between that and her body protecting his Achilles spot, she’s got him. 

It’s a little awkward, the silence that follows. They haven’t exactly had pillowtalk before, let alone while calming Percy during a breakdown. Annabeth doesn’t know how to hold him to make all that go away, so she clings to him as tight as she can. 

“You’re like a boa constrictor,” he chuckles. It’s a wet, half-hearted laugh that tells Annabeth he still has more to say. He’s at his worst when he’s deflecting. 

Still, she moves to loosen up. “Sorry.” 

 He tugs at her hand. “No! I mean, it’s nice. I feel… safe.” He pauses, his breath deep. “I always feel safe with you.” 

Annabeth hasn’t kissed much of him apart from his lips, but she liked the comfort of kissing his forehead. She tightens her grip again and presses her lips to his shoulder, just because she can. 

“Sometimes they’re about you,” Percy whispers. 

Annabeth lays her cheek on his shoulder, trying to see his face. “What?”

“The nightmares. Sometimes they’re about losing you.” 

“Percy, look at me.”

The tension falls from his spine as he flips around, tangling further in the mess of sheets. Annabeth smooths everything out for him before laying on her back and tugging him close. He ends up halfway on top of her: his arm around her waist, her hands in his hair, their legs a tangled mess. 

She holds his face, thumbs swiping at his cheeks gently. He may be invulnerable, but he’s a fragile thing. Maybe even more so with the invulnerability. 

“Tell me about them.” 

“What? No. Annabeth, I’m not— I can’t talk about you d— about losing you. I can’t say those words.” 

Annabeth just holds his face and his gaze. “You should. Talk about it here, safe, with me, and maybe it won’t be so bad when you fall asleep. I’ll be here the whole time.” 

The tension in Percy’s body is palpable as he resists Annabeth’s coaxing. But slowly, she slips her hands to his scalp and massages him there, leeching the stress from his body as he sinks forward into her. His weight presses Annabeth into the mattress. It’s comforting, having him above her. She can feel every breath he takes, every time his heart beats in his chest. 

“We’ve almost died a ton of times, but that was always together.” He swallows, and his Adam’s apple bobs against her collarbone. “But then on the bridge with Ethan, when you took the knife…” 

Percy takes a shuddering breath. 

“Sometimes we get you to the hotel and Will can’t help. Or I can’t find Will. Or Blackjack can’t grab you. Or—” his grip tightens around her, and his tears fall on her skin. “Sometimes you, you die right there at my feet. You jump a second earlier, and Ethan hits you in the chest, and I kill him for it. I kill everyone on the bridge. Most times it’s an accident, just the river listening to me, but sometimes… sometimes I don’t know. Both scare me.” 

One of Annabeth’s hands moves to his Achilles spot of its own accord. Percy gasps into her neck, where some tears fall as well. He’d fought his way through his confession, coming from somewhere so deep inside him that the deluge of tears was unavoidable. She hopes to distract him from them now.

“You saved me on that bridge,” she reminds him, her free hand scratching lightly at the base of his neck. 

“But what if I didn’t?” he breathes. He sounds so small. 

“Doesn’t matter. You did. Anything else is a hypothetical.” 

“But in the future—”

“Uh uh.” Annabeth’s chin taps Percy’s temple as she shakes her head. “It’s like strategy. You can think and think and think and plan your whole life out, but it’s not real. You never know what’s going to happen until your feet hit the floor. Are your feet on the floor?” 

“No,” he grumbles.

“No,” she echoes. “You’re in bed. You get to rest now.” 

Percy is still for countless heartbeats. Right when Annabeth thinks he might’ve fallen asleep, he props himself up on one elbow to look at her. Even in the lowlight, Annabeth can make out his puffy eyes and wet cheeks. 

“You know you’re my best friend, right?” He sniffles, his nose wrinkling adorably as he does, and his eyes bore into Annabeth’s. “You’re my girlfriend too, but you’re my best friend first. Always.” 

Annabeth hears that statement for what it is and grins despite the tears prickling in her own eyes. “And you’re mine. Always.” 

A smile breaks out on his face like dawn at this late hour, brightening up the small space between them. Exhaustion sets in to close it, drawing Percy to settle back into Annabeth’s neck with the slow pull of gravity. 

They drift off in a bed made to be slept in alone as they share a burden made for one person. Newness tinges the corners of this memory, this moment Annabeth finds herself missing before it’s gone: Percy asleep above her, finally getting the peaceful rest he deserves. Part of Annabeth wants to stay up all night to make sure he gets the most of it, to watch his back as she promised to do, but her eyelids are heavy with sleep in no time. 

What sticks with Annabeth is this: Percy’s breath slow and steady against her neck, his heartbeat reliable as ever as it syncs with her own. The world is warm and safe despite all the evidence to the contrary, and that’s what makes this moment untouchable. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, here they are. Together in every way that matters. 

[perseusjackson-jasongrace]

Snowy Favours

i wrote this for one of my favourite humans in the entire world! @queen-of-demons-and-hell i just kind of forgot to post it on here oops

masterlist; my links

[image has alt text]

She smells coffee. And then pancakes, and then freshly squeezed orange juice. And suddenly she's three days into a Indonesian island holiday and there's sun streaming through her windows and the sheets draped over her bared skin are cool and if she opens her eyes she'll be met with ruffling lace curtains and the sight of the ocean just over the deck.

Annabeth Chase wakes up to silence. To darkness. To New York plunged into winter as if Khione had taken her rage out on the city over night. Snow covers the concrete buildings, already turning sloppy and muddied with the trek of never ending people. She is nowhere near Indonesia, nor in a villa overlooking blue waters. She is in her grungy apartment in her more-mattress-than-bed bed and the single window in her bedroom looks out onto the brick of the building next to her. In short its just another Monday morning.

The disappointment that floods through her is breathtaking. She feels her life swallow her up, wrapping around her lungs and squeezing as if it had taken lessons from a python. Her fingers curl around the duvet pulled over her as she stares at the wall, at the pictures littering it. She takes a deep breath, another, another. Slowly the python loosens, her heart returns to it's normal rhythm.

Glancing at the small pink clock on her bedside table she almost groans as she sees the time. Three minutes till her alarm rings. Not enough to dive back into bed but enough to consider it anyway. She forces herself to get up, feeling the cool of the wood under her feet and traipses to the bathroom where she is met with tile, the sudden cold pulls a hiss from her.

With a zombied look in her eyes she goes about her morning routine: pee, teeth, shower, change, scrounge around in empty cupboards for something at least half edible, scarf another energy bar when nothing better makes itself known, and then finally pack her bag and make her way out. She can do it with her eyes closed by now, sometimes she even does.

Still as she steps into the biting air that comes with snow her body wakes up considerably. With a curse that middles Greek and English, she twists her scarf tighter around her neck and pulls her beanie over her ears. She decides she can spare a moment to go to her favourite coffee shop this morning just to throw down a hot drink that hopefully scorches her insides.

With a determined step she sets off to the subway, earbuds shoved into her ears blaring "do re mi" by blackbear. A violent song for this early in the morning but one she mumbles along to all the same.

The coffee shop, as she so lovingly calls it, is more like a caravan sized hole wedged between two skyscrapers. It fits maybe five people comfortably, ten if you're looking to be smothered. But the coffee is beyond magical and they have the most decadent blueberry muffins she's ever had the pleasure to eat. Besides her best friend works here and really if anyone can turn her from bruised-eyed zombie to semi-human it's Percy Jackson.

The door creaks as she steps through, announcing her presence. She's too busy basking in the warmth of the little hovel to worry about the greeting thrown her way.

"Gods it's cold out there." She sucks in a breath, feeling her lungs defrost.

"Yes," Percy grins, "I suppose someone pissed off Khione again."

She rolls her eyes, as her body collapses against the black marble counter. "Khione gets pissed off about everything that's hardly an excuse to give us all frostbite."

"I suggest you take that up with her, because I cannot see any of us coming out alive after that conversation."

"Just give me a coffee you menace," She scrunches her nose in distaste, but cannot keep the playfulness out of her voice.

"Want a blueb?" He shakes a paper bag, something thumping inside. "On the house." The accompanying wink sets her cold skin on fire.

Her eyes narrow as she surveys him. His unruly black curls are kept back by three butterfly shaped clips, bright pink and probably Estelle's, and his skin browner— like dark roast coffee— from the weekend his family had taken in Spain three weeks before glows softly under the warm yellow light hanging above then. The black polo neck he wears under his "Holed Up" company t-shirt, makes his eyes look darker than normal. His jeans, faded blue, stand stark against the rest of his outfit. Even like this, in work appropriate clothes, he looks beautiful. Looks like the beginning of spring, and the happily ever after of stories, and the change of tides.

"What are you planning?" His look of incredulity almost makes her laugh.

"Why would you think I'm up to anything?"

"I've known you since we were twelve Jackson," She scoffs, as if his question is ridiculous in itself. "I know every face, every expression, every movement of your body. I know when you're up to something." She finishes off with a glare for good measure.

His green eyes are bright as he studies her, emotions warring across his face. To spill or not to spill. He pushes her coffee across the counter and she looks at him expectantly as she grabs the cup with both hands. Her numb fingers instantly start to sting with the sudden change in temperature.

"Fine." He sighs, looking at her through his lashes as if maybe be could get away with not telling her. She raises a brow. He curses under his breath and flops down on a chair hidden behind the counter.

"I need your help with something—"

Yes, of course, is on the tip of her tongue. She would do it. No hesitation. There's not much, not anything, she wouldn't do for him.

"But before you say no or worse get mad you have to hear me out." He finishes quickly. And then his eyes are big and pleading and she doesn't know if she wants to turn away or lean in closer, study that captivating green like it's the newest find in her paleontology class.

Instead she clears her throat, "What is it Percy?"

"I need you to be my fake girlfriend." He says it in one breath.

She almost asks him to repeat in case she hadn't heard right. But she knows she did. She knows she couldn't have heard anything else

He swallows. She blinks. He drops his head to his hands, a sigh already on his lips. She opens her mouth, snaps it shut.

"Okay I know it's...odd," He starts, "But I kind of got roped into going to a mixer with some people from my class and this one guy asked if we could go together but I don't really like him so I said no." Percy was rambling but she was too speechless to stop him. "But then he looked really hurt and I felt really bad so I kind of said I already had a partner which made him look less hurt but then Piper, the girl hosting the mixer, over heard me and said I should bring my partner along, since a few of them were bringing their partners, and you know I couldn't exactly back out of the lie after that so I said I would and well..." He gestures between them. "Then this happened."

Annabeth takes a sip of her coffee. And another, she downs almost half the cup before she has the ability to talk. "Why don't you just say your partner is sick on the day?"

It's her first question and instantly she wants to take it back. Because the flinch Percy tries to hide is enough to have her scrambling for a way to take back the words. Because it's not that she won't be Percy's (fake) partner, or even that she doesn't want to.

It's more that she doesnt know if she'll be able to draw the line between fake gestures and her very real feelings. Having a crush on someone for the better part of eight years tends to tug at her emotional side in a way that overules her logical one. Yes she can be Percy's fake girlfriend. No her heart won't believe the lopsided grin he gives her when he makes a bad joke will be 'just for show'. Yes she can hold hands with him and meet his friends. No she can't help the jump in her stomach as she sees the interlaced fingers.

"You don't have to." He says quietly. "I'll think of something." He waves it off, a small smile already finding its way onto his face. She knows, even without careful study, that it doesn't quite reach his eyes. She has to fix this.

"No." It comes out in a snap of rushed regret. "I will, I want to."

He looks at her, gaze wide, hesitant. "You do?"

She nods and then, as if the gesture isn't good enough stumbles through her words. "Yes, I want to." Her smile is shy, but the beam she's rewarded with nearly knocks her off her feet. "I think it'll be fun."

He scoffs at her, waving a hand. "Everything we do is fun. We're Percy and Annabeth."

And he says it's like there's no other way their names could be said. Like if someone says his hers must follow. Like if someone says hers his cannot possibly be far behind. He says it like they belong.

Her heart does a giddy sort of flip that spreads warmth through her chest and in her stomach, better than the coffee ever could.

"Okay Percy Jackson." She holds out her hand, to shake on. "Let's pretend to be madly in love."

With a wink, that causes her brain to explode, he takes her hand in his and turns it over before placing a delicate kiss on her knuckles.

She becomes the air itself. And as she floats to lectures she decides maybe it's not just another Monday. Maybe she did wake up in a paradise of sorts. Maybe life isn't so dull. She laughs to herself.

It can never be dull if Percy is there. It never has.

[phykios]

honesty and promise me, part 2 [read on ao3] [co-written with @darkmagyk]

Goth isn’t really Annabeth’s scene—hasn’t been since she was twelve, hiding in her room and blasting Evanescence or Avril Lavigne so she didn’t have to spend quality time with her brothers, or even talk to her stepmother at all—but Percy had insisted. She could almost picture his pathetic, baby seal-eyed face as he wheedled and whined at her over text, until she eventually (not at all reluctantly) gave in.

She’s only known him for a few weeks. It’s a little embarrassing how quickly her willpower had crumbled.

Thalia, for whatever reason, had decidedly not been game, even when presented with a large, post-bartending hangover coffee as an opening salvo. “This is a bad idea,” she had said, glaring at the sun so intensely that, were it not for her thick, black sunglasses, she probably would have vaporized it.

“We don’t have to go.”

“No, the show will be great. Pluto’s Daughter is great,” she said between sips of her too-bitter-to-be-real black coffee. “You and Percy, is a bad idea.”

“Protective of your baby cousin?” Annabeth asked, raising an eyebrow, her eyebrow ring awkwardly bumping up against her hair, sorely in need of a shave. She was thinking of getting a second ring. Her mother had once told her that they were the epitome of trash—but Thalia had two, and they looked so badass.

She scoffed. “He’s not the baby.”

“Then there’s no problem.”

Thalia narrowed her eyes, really considering Annabeth. Annabeth’s own eyes had been described more often than not as storm clouds, dark and heavy. If hers were storm clouds, then Thalia’s were lightning, electric blue, piercing, beautiful, and dangerous, with a temper to match. “Before you started seeing him,” she said, “I’d have said that you’d eat him alive.”

Annabeth smirked. “I have done no eating yet.”

“Ugh,” she rolled her eyes. “Yeah, well, now I’m going to be honest with you. He’s going to eat you alive—and your self-esteem is never going to be able to recover. Honestly, I shouldn’t even let you two within ten feet of each other.”

She scoffed, taking a long drink of her own coffee, black but with just enough sugar to make it bearable.

As if a ballerina would ever intimidate her. A fucking ballerina.

The conversation hadn’t exactly ended the way either of them wanted, but Annabeth was still going to keep fucking Percy for the time being, and Thalia was going to let herself be dragged to the damn concert.

The night of, the bar has a line, but Thalia alternately sweet-talks and intimidates the bouncer, and he lets them in. Having tended bar for any place that would take her and not put her on the payroll, Annabeth assumes that she just has dirt on everyone in the service industry in New York City, so they skip a lot of cover charges, and get a lot of free drinks.

It's fucking crowded inside, too, packed to the brim with sweaty bodies and heavy boots. Just another day in paradise.

Thalia glances at her phone. “They’re at the bar, up front?”

“They?”

Thalia doesn’t hear her, apparently, just wraps her mesh covered hand over Annabeth’s wrist and pulls her through the crush of people. Annabeth has her eyes peeled for Percy’s typical blue hoodie or orange muscle tees, thinking that they would stand out like a sore thumb in this place, but she can’t see a goddamned thing.

Now, punks aren’t exactly known for their radical use of color, but this was another thing entirely, a sea of black and lace and leather. Looking for his black hair is a waste of her time. “So many bad bottle jobs,” she murmurs.

Thalia pauses for a second, frowning at her. “What?”

“Everyone here has decided that they just had to dye their hair black. How original.”

She is silent for a moment, squinting, then looks away. “I see them, come on.”

Her blunt nails dig into Annabeth’s arm as she yanks her even harder.

There, at the end of the bar, a tall guy stands, dressed to the nines—the nines of this particular scene, anyway.

He looks kind of familiar: curly black hair in a sharp undercut that Annabeth definitely admires, extremely tight, black skinny jeans that leave nothing to the imagination and really went out of style with My Chemical Romance, a t-shirt with a skull on it (because goths, obviously), and a leather jacket, covered in patches. She spots the Italian flag, several for Pluto’s Daughter and a handful of other bands, a pride flag, a couple of music notes, and one that says, “Not gay as in happy, queer as in fuck you.”

“Annabeth,” says Thalia, “you remember Nico.”

Annabeth blinks. The last time she’d met Nico, he’d been wearing a three-piece suit that had cost as much as her rent. Now the hand she shakes has black fingernails and a skull ring, leading up to a face with eyes lined heavier than either Thalia’s or Annabeth’s, with a septum ring and a line of studs up one ear. “Hey.”

“Where’s our prima ballerina?” Thalia asks as Nico offers her a glass of something brown.

Thalia likes—and cannot often afford—expensive booze, which means that Nico must be paying. Unwilling to be caught in another embarrassing little social snafu, Annabeth tries really hard to remember what it is that he does. Hadn’t he sold his soul to some law firm or other?

“He went to consign himself to a slow and agonizing death,” says Nico.

“What?” Annabeth asks, glancing between the cousins.

Thalia rolls her eyes. “He means Percy went out for a smoke. Nico doesn’t approve.”

“It’s bad for you! This is not a controversial topic,” he says. “I don’t like that he does it, I don’t like that he got you to start, and I’m not going to like it when I go to both of your funerals. But I am going to tell you I told you so.” Then, seemingly as if to undermine his point, he throws back the rest of his own drink, holding up the empty glass to the bartender. “Another,” he calls, “Godfather, if you please.”

If drinks were on Nico tonight, maybe Annabeth could use the cover of the goth crowd to order a glass of red wine instead. It would certainly be a nice change of pace from the shit-ass beer she sucks down on the regular.

“There he is!” Thalia calls, bursting into applause. “The hell took you so long? Wardrobe malfunction?”

“Yeah,” she hears Percy’s voice. “Someone stole my best pair of tights.”

Turning, Annabeth is suddenly very glad she hadn’t yet ordered a drink, because then she would have dropped it, spilling it all over not only the dirty bar floor, but also her second favorite pair of boots.

It’s definitely Percy, but she never would have spotted him. Having gone to a dozen or so shows with her and Thalia so far, he had always dressed pretty consistently in baggy jeans and whatever stupid dance pun t-shirt Annabeth hadn’t pilfered already to wear to breakfast: very normal, and just a little bit out of place for the goth/punk scene.

Tonight, he is not dressed like that.

She can’t focus on everything all at once, so she starts with his too tight t-shirt, with the logo for Pluto’s Daughter splashed across it, like the artist had taken paint and hurled it at the fabric from a mile away. Ripped and sleeveless, she can see every single ridge and line of his biceps, his forearms, his shoulders, even a bit of his decolletage. His pants are black, per the unspoken dress code, and baggy, but he has belts wrapped up and down his legs, emphasizing the size of his muscular thighs and calves. And that isn’t even the worst part. Neither are the studs in his ears, or the black liner around his eyes.

The worst part is the blue lipstick painting his mouth, making his eyes pop, making his troublemaker smile look that much more depraved.

The worst part is how that blue lipstick will almost certainly be all over her thighs by the end of the night.

Thalia’s advice was never going to win out, but now it has no chance.

Despite being dressed up like the goth ballet prince of her dreams, the hero of an angsty, middle school novel Annabeth might have dreamed up instead of paying attention in class but had been too embarrassed to ever write it down, he smiles at her, cheery and bright as ever, kissing her so deeply her mouth must turn blue. In the corner of her eye, she sees Thalia and Nico exchange a capital-L look, one that Percy can’t see, because all of his attention is focused on her. She doesn’t know what that means, but she’s too far gone to ask.

Percy moves away, still close, still oriented around her, but she has to clasp her own hands together to keep herself from reaching out and pulling him back to her, biting her tongue, rubbing the ring along the inside of her teeth to keep from letting the word “please” escape her lips.

She doesn’t think she’s ever been so instantly taken with any guy—ever. Not even the almost one night stand her sophomore year was college, nineteen and fresh-faced and totally unprepared for the heartbreak that would follow. Last time, Luke had suggested wine to help her get over her mystery man, so that’s what she orders now, taking too big sips and ignoring the slight concern in Percy’s too pretty eyes.

It’s all packaging, she thinks, packaging designed to make the product more desirable. Basic marketing and design. She knows him, and she knows what he can do with his teeth and his tongue and his hand and his dick. She recognizes it, sees it coming, so she won’t be affected by it.

“I didn’t know you were coming, Nico,” she says, wrangling her thoughts together. “It’s nice to see you again.”

“Never miss a show,” he says.

“Flew back from London just for it,” Thalia says, bumping him with her shoulder.

“I flew back because my business trip was over,” he corrects. “…But I did take the redeye so I’d be here on time.”

Percy beams at that, so hard she can actually feel it. “Anyone else joining us I should know about?” Annabeth asks.

It’s so weird to look at them all together—all dark hair, strong jaws, cheekbones carved from stone, sexy and just a little bit intimidating. “Any other cousins, maybe?”

Nico glances at Percy, suddenly apprehensive. “Actually, Percy,” he says, “I’m pretty sure I saw—”

“Perseus Jackson!” A whirlwind of blue-green silk assaults her senses as a woman sweeps over to them, headed straight for Percy, almost knocking Annabeth out of the way, wrapping him up in a hug and ignoring everyone else. “How’s my darling little brother?”

Percy awkwardly pats her on the back, shooting a grimace at the rest of them. “Uh, hey, Kym. I… didn’t know you’d be here.”

“It was a last minute thing, I had a free night for once in my life and was casting about for something to do, you know how much I hate not working, and I thought I’d come by and support our dear Hazel.”

Nico raises an eyebrow. “Since when have you been into goth rock?”

It’s not an unwarranted question. She looks wildly out of place here, in her sleek, silk dress and the scent of Dolce and Gabbana’s Light Blue coming off her like waves, in sharp contrast to the sea of ripped jeans and sewed up shirts that surround them.

Kym, again, ignores him. “Mojito, Perseus? I know it’s your favorite.”

Annabeth’s eyebrows shoot up past her hairline. Percy? Percy half-a-cider-no-thank-you-I-don’t-care-for-any-more Jackson likes to drink mojitos? “Ah—” He grimaces, trying to extract himself from her grip, “no, thank you—"

“Oh, you’re no fun anymore.”

“I just don’t like to—”

“Well it’s not like this place will have any rum worth drinking anyway,” she sniffs.

Thalia rolls her eyes.

“Here, take a selfie with me.” Her phone is already raised, thumb poised for action.

“Kym, come on—”

But she pulls Percy close, shoving his head against hers, mouth already pouting. Thalia sighs, turning back to the bar.

After a moment of refusal, Percy sighs too, giving into his fate, and mustering his best vogue for the camera. They make an odd pair, her with her perfect Instaglam and him with his blue lipstick and smudged liner, but with the two of them pressed together like this, it’s easy to tell that this Kym is another cousin. Same eyes, same brow, same inky black hair, she looks exactly like Percy, only whiter.

Satisfied with her selfie, it’s only then that she notices Annabeth staring at her. “And you are?”

Percy sighs, rubbing his eye. “Kym, this is Annabeth. Annabeth, this is my sister Kymopoleia.”

Kym does not reach out her hand. “And what do you do?”

Thalia, from nowhere, slings an arm over Annabeth’s shoulder, whisky in hand. “Nothing that would interest you, leech.”

“I’m an architect,” Annabeth offers.

“My friend studies at Bartlett, in London. Did you go there?” Kym asks.

“No,” Annabeth says, biting back an automatic retort about Bartlett’s global ranking in Forbes. Ninth in the world, not even top five.

Kym curls her lip a little, like she knew what Annabeth would have said anyway. “What have you designed? Anything I would know?”

“She designs community gardens and stages for festivals.” Thalia says.

“Oh, so not a real architect, then.”

“The Man doesn’t have to approve of something to make it real. No, her name isn’t on file in some state office. She’s an anarchist architect.” Thalia says. Annabeth bits back a line of her own retorts.

Kym sniffs again. “Thrilling.” Then she turns back to Percy, writing her off entirely. “Perseus, it was lovely to see you again—will you be coming to Santorini this year?”

“Depends on my rehearsal schedule.” The words sound very rehearsed. He’s said this exact phrase a lot.

“Well get that sorted out! You know how mother likes her itineraries.”

He nods, beleaguered. “As soon as I can, promise.”

“See that you do.” Then with a final kiss on Percy’s cheek, off she flounces, disappearing into the dirty, grungy crowd, leaving silence in her wake like the wreckage after a storm.

“Okay,” says Annabeth.

Percy sighs, turning to the bar to order his own drink.

“Sorry about that,” says Nico. “If I had known she was coming, I swear I would have told you.”

“You can’t just go around saying the word ‘cousin,’ Annabeth,” says Thalia, returning to her own space. “It’s like Beetlejuice. Say it three times and you summon one of Percy’s douchey relatives.”

“They’re your relatives, too.”

Thalia scoffs. “Barely.”

“Oh yeah?” asks Percy. “How’s Hercules?”

“Hopefully dead.”

“At least he doesn’t show up out of the blue in wildly incongruous places,” Nico points out.

Percy takes a pull of his drink, and Annabeth does not watch his neck as he swallows. “Yeah, what was up with that? Since when has Kym been into goth rock?”

“That’s what I said!”

“She’s planning something,” Thalia mutters, glaring angrily into her drink. “I don’t know what it is, but she’s planning something.”

“So, I’m guessing this isn’t usually her scene?” Annabeth asks.

“Art is her scene,” Thalia replies, gesturing widely, nearly smacking someone in the shoulder. “The whole of the New York art world.”

Looking back around to the half-lit bar full of badly dressed goths, she thinks maybe calling this the “art world” might be a little bit generous.

“She’s kind of like an art world barometer,” says Percy. “Wherever she goes, the critics follow—like little baby ducklings.”

“Too bad she’s a fucking snob about it.” Thalia tosses back the rest of her drink, slamming the glass down on the wood, signaling for another with a toss of her head.

“Shame she has such good taste,” Nico muses.

“She has such good taste!” Despite her bravado, Thalia is absolutely a tiny bit of a lightweight, the whisky already going to her head, slurring her speech just a little. “Whole fucking family’s so goddammed good at art.”

“Not the whole family,” says Percy, shaking his head. “Kym can’t make art, she just appreciates it, like Jason. And Triton can’t do either.”

Annabeth has never seen Thalia so much as draw a picture or pick a song at karaoke, but she had been left out of Percy’s little list. In all Annabeth’s years of knowing Thalia, she never even thought that it had bothered her. “I mean,” she says, “if you like art, you could—”

As one, Nico and Percy both shake their heads. Insistently. Violently.

Staring at her empty glass, Thalia doesn’t notice. Nico replaces hers with his half-finished one, and Thalia drinks without missing a beat. “What about you?” she turns to Annabeth, blue eyes wide. That’s another thing that the cousins all have in common; their eyes are a variety of colors, but they’re all the same wide, almond shape, made more pronounced with heavy, grungy liner. “Got any artistic cousins?”

“No,” she says, wondering how little she can get away with saying. “I only have one, and he’s not.”

Everyone stares at her.

She capitulates, just a little. “His partner is an artist,” she offers. “Alex is a sculptor.”

Percy looks at her, half-smile on his face. “What does your cousin do if he isn’t an artist?”

His question makes it sound like there are only two types of people in the world to him: artists and non-artists. Given that Annabeth had been sketching buildings since the time she had the dexterity to hold a crayon, it might be true. “He’s in med school,” she says, “fourth year, at Harvard.”

“Ew.” He wrinkles his nose.

“Okay, smartass,” she says, “you talk to your podiatrist like that?”

“You still fucking that med student?” Thalia asks Nico.

“Dating him, actually.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Dinner,” Nico says. “Sometimes lunch. This is going to shock you, but you can actually spend time with the people you sleep with, and even develop feelings for them.”

They glare at each other for a long moment, then, as one, turn and glare at Percy.

“No,” he says, “I am not getting in between this.”

Nico, somehow, glares even harder. “Come on, you’re—”

“I’m not talking about this,” Percy says, his face a hard mask, lips set firmly in a frown.

For the first time ever, it occurs to Annabeth that this ballet dancer could be scary if he wanted to be.

That is… so not a problem.

The cousins continue glaring at each other, the family telepathy practically brimming with unspoken pasts. A part of her really, really wants to hear where it’s going. She wants to know what Percy’s feelings are on romance, just to make sure that they are on the same page. Casual sex, fun nights, the occasional concert—that’s where they are now. If the arrangement is going to change, she’s going to need to know about it.

Then, the lights flicker, dimming. A roar takes over the crowd, and when Annabeth can see again, Pluto’s Daughter is onstage.

There’s no introduction, no greeting, the band diving right into their first number, an intense, high-octane whirlwind of drums and bass and screaming. Percy screams right alongside them, hands raised and jumping, Nico and Thalia close behind, every unintelligible lyric learned by heart. Even Annabeth can’t help but get swept up in it, her typical aloofness melting away into the crowd.

It really is a great show.

“That was amazing!” Annabeth is almost breathless at the end of it. Her throat feels raw, like sandpaper, her cheeks aching from smiling.

Percy hands her one of those little plastic cups of water, knocking his own back like a shot, wiping his mouth with his knuckles. “Aren’t they awesome?”

“I had no idea you were such a fan,” she says. “Your Spotify Wrapped must be a mess.”

“I like all music,” he replies, glib. “Even rap and country.”

“Oh, how well-rounded of you.”

“But Pluto’s Daughter is special,” he says. “You know the drummer is my cousin?”

“Very funny.”

“No, really,” says Percy. “Hazel is Nico’s half-sister.”

She blinks at him. “You have too many cousins.”

He just laughs, throwing his head back. “Tell that to our parents.”

Whatever else he might have said gets lost as a small bundle of leather and fishnet emerges from the crowd, launching herself at Percy. “You came!” cries the drummer for Pluto’s Daughter--Hazel. “Oh, I’m so happy you came!”

In stark, stark opposition to how he had been Kym, Percy swings his little cousin around in a big hug. He probably has close to a foot on her, even in her black platform boots, their broad smiles so uncharacteristic in such a dour crowd. Annabeth hadn’t been able to get a good look at her up on stage, but now she’s flush with adrenaline, her dark skin glistening with equal parts sweat and glitter, baby hairs escape from the artful crown of bantu knots, septum ring shining in the dim light of the bar.

“Of course I came,” says Percy, somehow still hugging her. “Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Ms. Hazel Levesque!” Thalia crows, well and truly wasted. “There’s my gal!” And she rushes over to join them, almost bowling them both over.

A truly affectionate Thalia is rare, like a four-leaf clover or snow on Christmas. It does happen on occasion, if she’s gotten enough sleep or enough to drink, but the moment is usually fleeting, meant to be treasured, kept close to the heart. Annabeth can count the number of times Thalia has been sweet to her on one hand--never cruel, or mean, but just… brusque. Sarcastic. And yeah, sometimes mean, but never in a demeaning way. Just in a Thalia way. It’s one of the many, many things she loves about her.

The only downside to affectionate Thalia right now is that it leaves her alone with Nico.

She doesn’t not like Nico, she just doesn’t really know him. He’s swaying a little, not dangerously so, just vibing to the noise and the booze he’s already had.

“Hey,” he says, lurching over to her. “Got a question for you.”

“Okay?”

“I was. Working on those permits. For your show.” He waves a hand. “Whatever. You know that stage set up for that show in the West Village last winter?"

The first time she had met Nico, Annabeth and Thalia had been helping out one of her friends with their outdoor theater, and had needed a little legal assistance with getting the venue all squared away, as they were technically trespassing on some private property. It was nice to flex her creative muscles, though. She didn’t always get the chance these days.

She nods. “Yeah?”

"Your New York State architect license was on the paperwork."

Annabeth's blood runs cold.

Swallowing away her anxiety, she takes another sip of her water, hoping he’s too buzzed to notice. "What, was I supposed to try and impress Kym with my license?"

Nico snorts. "God, no.” Taking another sip of his drink, he goes to hug his sister, and Annabeth quietly berates herself for not taking care of that sooner.

Yes, her license is still on file with the state, because it’s so much more convenient to leave it like that, rather than let it lapse and reapply every time she has to do something bigger than a birdbath in a tiny community garden, and being registered still means she has access to the network and can apply for certain grants and it always looks good on her portfolio and she didn’t think the two worlds would ever collide, especially not in a place where Thalia, of all people, would ever find out--

“So,” says Percy, sidling back over to her. “Working on anything good?”

She blinks, the spiral of her thoughts coming to a screeching halt. “Huh?”

“Any cool projects on the docket?”

Projects. Right. “Sorta in between projects right now,” she says, tapping her fingers against the bar. “I finished up that community garden a couple months ago, now I’m just… waiting for the next thing coming along.”

He nods. “I feel that. The precarity’s a bitch, isn’t it.”

“Totally. Almost makes you want to work a 9 to 5 just for job security, right?”

“Absolutely not,” he says. “Wouldn’t give up ballet for the world. I could never work in an office; sitting for so long might actually kill me.”

It might--even now he can’t help but move, shifting around on heel to toe and back again. Everything about him is about movement. Even an office where everyone was on their feet, like hers had been, wouldn’t have been enough for Percy Jackson, she thinks.

“What about you?” he asks. “How would you fair in an office?”  

“Been there, done that,” she says, before she can even think it through.

“Really?” She sees him scan her. Normally when he does that, he’s thinking of her without her clothes on, but now, she’s pretty sure he’s thinking of the ink that runs up and down her legs, and how that might all look forced into some sort of pencil skirt.

 "Once upon a time,” she says.

 “Was that before or after you decided to become an anarchist architect?”

Long after she decided to become an architect, but before anything about an anarchist crossed her mind, though her freshman Poli Sci professor, or maybe that sophomore philosophy TA, would probably argue that she isn’t actually an anarchist now. “Before,” she says. “I once tried to be very very different.” Tried and failed, oh so very spectacularly.

 “How so?”

She looks at him for a moment. There are layers of mystery that need to be upheld. But she can’t spill her life’s story to Percy after only a few weeks of knowing him, no matter how easy and disarming he may be. She isn’t that girl anymore, and she doesn’t want people to know she ever was. Especially not these people: Thalia, Percy, Nico, even Hazel, who she hasn’t properly met. She can see, standing here, how very genuine and clear they are about themselves. They probably have actual skeletons in their closets, real, agonizing pasts, so much worse than her own.

She doesn’t want them to know she had an honest to god debutante ball. Murder would be vastly preferable. But still, Percy’s eyes are so bright, even in the dark light. His smile is so non-judgmental.

“I used to dream about adding to the skyline,” she says, eventually, “designing something so cool and so fresh that even after I died, everyone would look up and they would know my name.” For a second she thinks he might actually understand. And then she remembers Kym, and his utter distaste for his own sister, whose friend had only managed to get into Bartlett. “But I realized that kind of ego wasn't going to do me any good. And office work wasn’t going to take me anywhere I wanted to go.”

That bruise to her ego still stings, on occasion. That, and the loss of the only thing she’d ever wanted as much as something permanent. They were separate dreams, really, but two years ago, in that little Upper East Side café, they had seemed like one and the same. Failing so spectacularly in one had felt like she might as well throw in the towel about the other.

Percy in blue lipstick, eye liner, and a very tight shirt makes her think it might have been the right choice.

Maybe.

Possibly.

Assuming she never got another call. Though after that award she and Leo got earlier this year…

No, she reminds herself. She shouldn’t dream big anymore. She wasn’t going to get there, and she had to be ok with that.

He smiles, lopsided, sympathetic. “I know what you mean. Like, after so many amazing dancers, you have to be crazy to think that you can add something to the canon, something that’s never been done before. But here we are.”

“Here we are indeed.” She clinks her glass against his, and they drink.

He finishes with a long gasp, licking his lips.

“Wanna go be somewhere else?” she asks.

“Damn right I do,” he says, grabbing her hand, lacing her fingers together with his.

An hour or so and a few orgasms each later, they lie side by side on Percy’s bed, soft and sweaty.

“So your sister is kind of… intense,” Annabeth says.

Percy snorts so hard, Annabeth can feel it vibrating into her. “Yeah. That’s a word for it.”

“What was it like, growing up with her?”

“Oh, I didn’t grow up with her. I grew up here with my mom; she grew up in Athens with our father.”

“In Athens? Cool.” She’d done a study abroad in Rome, but she’d never made it out to Athens like she had wanted. Too much Pantheon, not enough Parthenon. “Have you ever been?”

He screws up his face, thinking cutely. “A few times. They’re not… great memories, exactly. In retrospect, it’s nice that my dad wanted me to feel included, but bringing his mistress’ kid on the annual family vacation to Santorini probably wasn’t his brightest idea.”

Annabeth’s eyes shoot up to her hairline. “Wow.”

“Kym was actually always pretty cool about it,” he continues, thoughtfully. “She likes to pretend she’s this ice queen alpha bitch type, but she’s got a secret soft spot. And my dad’s wife eventually came around--she even sends me a birthday card each year. My half-brother, though.” Percy blows out a breath. “He’s always been a douchebag.”

Dropping a kiss to his bare shoulder, she squeezes him. There’s a story there, but she knows better than anyone about not wanting to talk about bad family relationships. Percy likes Kym, though, and that makes her safe territory. “Tell me more about Kym. You said she was some kind of art collector or something?”

“No, she’s not a collector.” Percy bites his lip, considering. “It’s kind of hard to explain. I guess you could say that she’s, like… a professional socialite?”

Annabeth sits up, squinting down at Percy. “Are you trying to tell me that your sister is a courtesan?”

He sputters, completely taken by surprise, choking on his inhale. After thirty seconds, Annabeth is afraid she’s going to have to try CPR, before Percy starts to calm down. “No,” he wheezes, coughing. “No, she’s not a courtesan.”

“So, what does a ‘professional socialite’ even do?”

“You know, she… socializes.” Percy waves a hand in front of him. “She goes to parties, meets people, facilitates meetings--she socializes.”

Annabeth frowns. “What does that even mean?”

“I literally don’t know how else to explain it to you.”

“What, is she a spy?”

He opens his mouth to argue, then pauses. “Not… technically.”

“Not technically?”

“Think more corporate, less political.”

Okay, now she’s even more confused. “Huh?”

Percy sighs. “My dad runs this big shipping company that does business all over the Mediterranean. Pretty much the whole family works for him in some way: Triton is some kind of assistant executive, and Kym and my step-mom do, you know, outreach or fundraising or whatever.”

She’s silent for a moment, collecting the information presented to her. “Is this some kind of mob thing?”

He grimaces. “Maybe we should change the subject.”

“Is your dad a mob boss, Percy?” Objectively, she knows that the mob is a terrible organization responsible for many different types of atrocities, but honestly, the idea is kind of exciting, Annabeth hooking up with the secret lovechild of a mob boss. It’s romantic and sexy in a film noir kind of way.

“No, he just--does some light smuggling. I think.”

“How does one engage in ‘light’ smuggling?”

“Okay, so his business is totally legitimate, but he may also smuggle art on the side. Or oil. Or both. I don’t know and I’ve been told never to ask.”

And she thought her family was weird. She tells him as much. “That’s wild.”

“Honestly? That’s not even the wildest thing about my family.”

She flops back down on the bed, already exhausted. “Percy, I don’t know how many more revelations about your mob family I can take.”

“They’re not part of the mob!” He laughs. “But,” he smirks, looming over her with a familiar desire, “I can neither confirm nor deny that I had to swear a blood oath to the family when I turned eighteen.”

Rolling her eyes, she still easily submits to the heady feeling of his lips on hers, tilting her head back as he travels down her neck. “Okay, I did not sign up for any Don Corleone bullshit.”

“But you’d make such a great mob wife. Though we would have to kill the rest of my immediate family.”

Annabeth giggles, only partly at the ticklish feeling of his lips between her breasts. “I’d help you kill your douchey half-brother any day.”

He glances up at her from her belly button, long lashes fluttering. “That is legitimately one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. Full disclosure, Thalia has already called dibs.”

“That’s fair.” Then she pushes his head down further. “Now get to work, Godfather.”

[demigodsanswer]

Can you do “I can’t believe I did this again.” / “I can’t believe we did this again.” for Percabeth?

“We have to stop meeting like this,” Percy said, walking up to her at the party. She recognized the look he was wearing. It looked innocent to anyone else around them, but Annabeth knew he was undressing her with his eyes. He’d looked at her like that enough for her to become familiar with it. 

Rachel’s Christmas party had barely started, but Annabeth put down her drink and smirked at him. “Do you want to get out of here?” She asked him. He took her hand and leader her out the door. 

She knew she had to stop doing this. Annabeth had had a crush on him since she was twelve, with it growing and shrinking intensity over the years. But when they hooked up on his twenty-fifth birthday, stumbling into bed together in his Montauk vacation cabin, she woke up absolutely sure she was in love with him. 

“Shit,” he had said when he saw her, “we probably shouldn’t have done that,” 

Annabeth heart sank, but she forced a smile and said, “Yeah. But it was nice,”

“It was,” he agreed, staring up at the celling. “I just don’t want to mess anything up between us,” 

She rolled over to be closer to him. “I don’t think we need to worry about that,” 

It had only taken a few strategic kisses to get him to stop worrying and to sleep with her again instead. They were going to keep it casual, that’s what they agreed. They didn’t date, they didn’t sext, they didn’t hold hands, they didn’t do anything that Annabeth wanted them to do. They just slept together once every few weeks. 

During, Annabeth was over the moon, enjoying every moment of pleasure between her and Percy. When he left afterwards she was left with an awful empty feeling. 

The Christmas party was no different. They escaped the get-together quickly, making it back to Percy’s apartment and wasting no time getting to the bedroom. Annabeth desperately chased off that empty feeling, pulling him back over and over again, until he finally refused around four a.m. 

“Give me a few hours to recover,” he asked, pulling her in close to him as he drifted off to sleep. Annabeth did her best not to start crying once she heard him asleep, but she couldn’t help it. She managed to steady her breathing to avoid sobbing and waking him up, leaving her weeping silently and trying to escape his strong cuddle. 

But she didn’t want to leave. She wanted him to wake up and proclaim his love for her, admit that he’d had feelings for her this whole time, and that the casual hook-ups were killing him slowly, so that she could look at him, kiss him, and tell him that she felt the same way. 

That wouldn’t happen, she knew. And she knew that, if she were smart, she’d stop going over to his apartment, find a boyfriend or a girlfriend, and do her best to move on to someone who was interested in dating her. But something more than Percy’s tight spooning kept her stuck there. 

she managed to fall asleep for a few hours, before she woke up to Percy running his hand up her thigh and whispering, “I promised you another round,” 

When they finished, he laid back, breathing heavily. “I can’t believe we did this again,” he said. 

She looked at him, already feeling the familiar emptiness that came with the end of a hook up. “Percy I -” She started. - want to go out with you. - can’t do this anymore. -love you. “should go,” 

He nodded. “Do you want a ride?” He asked. She shook her head. She didn’t think she could stand another minute around him. 

Prompt List

Send me a “Morning After” starter

[dyde21]

Olympus University 3: Shopping!

This is also posted on Ao3 Under the same name!

The third chapter is finally up! Sorry for the delay, my time is split so it’s hard for me to just sit down and write. It’s a long chapter though so I hope you enjoy it! :D

XxXxXxXxX

Annabeth walked out of her room with a yawn, her messenger bag over her shoulder. Leaving the room corridor. Checking her phone again, she glared at the time. Classes started up the next day, though just introductory classes, but still her new friends had convinced her to get up early. 

Reyna and Jason were both chilling on the third floor, going over some notes and just chatting happily, if not kind of tired. 

They both perked up as she turned the corner, Jason waved and Reyna gave her a nod. “You’re up early.” She offered.

Moving over, Annabeth plopped down on the couch next to Reyna. “Yeah. I’m grabbing my books with Ashe and some residents.” 

She nodded. “I grabbed mine yesterday.”

Jason nodded as well. “I snagged mine right before they closed.”

Annabeth just stretched out,yawning as she once again was regretting her life choices that lead to being an RA that is getting up early on Sunday on her last day before college begins for her junior year.

Reyna could apparently read her mind because she just sighed and patted Annabeth’s leg. “On the bright side, in ten weeks we get a break for a week.” 

Glaring at her friend, she just sighed. “That doesn't make me feel better.”

“I know.” Reyna teased, and Annabeth just swung the pillow over at her side and hit Reyna. Pausing, Reyna glared at her friend. “Really?”

Annabeth just stuck her tongue out. You should know not to mess with me when I’m tired.”

Reyna reached for the pillow at her side, but Jason was sitting on it. With a glare at him, his eyes widened as he quickly scrambled off the couch to the love seat next to it, not wanting to get in the middle of what was about to happen. 

With no hesitation, Reyna swung back with the pillow, hitting Annabeth. Annabeth recoiled, before staring at her. “What are you twelve?” She scoffed for a moment, her own hand tightening its grip slowly. A second later and they were off, hitting each other with pillows perhaps a little too aggressively. 

Jason just looked on from the side, terrified of cross fire. 

“Ooooh! Pillow fight? I wanna join!” Ashe’s voice called out from the fourth floor as she started to sprint down lobby staircase.

Annabeth and Reyna continued to fight for a moment before they both broke apart, staring at each other with an intense gaze. Annabeth cracked first as a smirk slowly crept up on her face and she burst out laughing, Reyna joining in a moment later. Soon they were both laughing against each other and Annabeth wiped a tear from her eye.

“I missed you this summer.”

Reyna just nodded. “I missed you too.”

Ashe finally made it down the steps. “Aww…” She complained, causing Annabeth to roll her eyes. “You’re an RA. You’re supposed to break up fights.” She said, raising an eyebrow while she still caught her breath. 

“Not if I could win them…” Ashe countered.

Annabeth just laughed as Reyna rolled her eyes. “I’d crush you.” Reyna said, raising an eyebrow at the pixie haired girl. 

Ashe straightened up a bit, crossing her arms. “Is that a challenge?”

Annabeth raised her hands between the two. Sure Annabeth was competitive, but those two were something else. Reyna was usually the most mature of them, but when she got competitive she wouldn’t back down. Annabeth had learned that first hand, and Ashe was just as bad.

Looking around, she found a convenient excuse. “Is Tyler actually awake?” 

The boy was slinking down the stairs, and Annabeth wasn’t actually sure his eyes were open. He had a backpack over one shoulder, and seemed to be functioning on autopilot. 

Ashe continued to return Reyna’s challenging look for a few more seconds before she finally pried her gaze away to switch to her resident. “Technically? I think? It took a long time to actually get him out of his room so I’m calling this a win.”

“I can hear you yo-” Tyler started to complain but was cut off as a massive yawn just overtook whatever retort he had. 

Jason, who looked a little calmer now that the danger had passed just looked at him sympathetically. “It’ll get easier to wake up earlier soon.”

“I left home so I could stop early morning workouts and I’m still getting up early.” He complained, managing to get the words out without a yawn.

Ashe just tousled his hair. “I’ll buy you a coffee on the way.” She offered. 

“I don’t drink coffee.” He responded automatically, before his eyes widened. “But thank you!” He quickly scrambled to cover, realizing his rejection could have sounded a little rude.

Ashe nodded. “One of those freaks.” She teased. “Their hot chocolate is just as good.”

“They don’t let me have coffee anymore.” She complained, giving a pointed glare to Annabeth and Reyna.

Shrugging, Annabeth brushed some hair behind her ear. “Cause you and caffeine are a bad mix. You get way too energetic. You’re like one red bull from actually combusting into flames.”

Before Ashe could retort, or Tyler could pass out standing, the sound of the doors opening on their floor rang out again and soon Piper and Percy came wandering around the corner. They both looked a little tired, but better off than Tyler.

Percy yawned as he adjusted his beanie, futily tucking some hair up under it, though it didn’t make much of an impact on the mess peaking through. Annabeth smiled softly, he looked cute like that.

Piper tightened the flannel around her waist as she walked over to Annabeth. “Mornin;”

Annabeth gave her a small wave. “You seem to function well in the morning.” 

Piper just shrugged. “Better than some others.” She said with a laugh glancing at Percy then Tyler.

“Ready?” Annabeth asked, earning nods from the group. “Ashe said we’re stopping for coffee on the way at the snack shop.”

Piper’s eyes lit up. “Please tell me they have fraps” 

Annabeth nodded. “With all the sugar you could need. It’s how I get through finals.” 

Piper dramatically placed her hand to her chest and let out a deep sigh of relief. “I think I might actually be able to survive college now.” Annabeth rested a hand on her shoulder. “A sister in arms, I see.”

“Nerds, let’s go.” Ashe teased jealously, ushering her sleeping resident off towards the elevator.

“Is he gonna be okay?”

Percy asked, seeing the boy just lean against the corner of the elevator and seemingly fall asleep.

“Probably.” Ashe said dismissively, though her eyes flickered over to him out of concern for the briefest moment. 

“Do you know what books you need yet?”

Annabeth pulled out her list as Piper and Percy shared an equally helpless look. 

“Don’t worry, they have the books sorted by classes. As long as you know your classes you can find your books. It’s also good sometimes to wait until the first week for more expensive books to see if you actually need them. Sometimes teachers have other options available or you can share depending on the class.” Annabeth reassured, and they both paid careful attention to her advice. Meanwhile Tyler’s head slumped farther into the corner and the bell dinged. 

“Come on.” Ashe said, rolling her eyes as she grabbed his sleeve and tugged him along. As soon as they left the lobby and into the chilly winter air, they all felt a little more alert. Even Tyler had woken up by that point and was stretching slightly. 

“Well you woke up fast.” Annabeth said, raising an eyebrow as the boy who just seemingly woken up from hibernation started to be fully functional. 

Tyler yawned once more but shrugged. “Usually when it’s cold in the morning and I’m outside I’m about to workout so my body wakes me up. Years of practice. Till then I rest.”

Ashe just stared at him. “I can’t tell if that’s impressive or kinda sad…”

“Both?” Annabeth and Percy chimed in at the same time, before looking at each other and snickering while Piper looked between them with a growing grin. 

Ashe just laughed while Tyler pouted slightly and walked a little faster ahead. 

Annabeth bit her lip, feeling a pang of guilt. She didn’t mean to tease the poor boy. This was still that awkward first week of school where everyone was bumping up against each other, finding friends and trying to figure out how to interact with each other.

Ashe wasted no time though, speeding up a bit herself and nudging him in the side before starting to talk about how she gets up early but can’t stay up late without passing out.

Soon they were chatting happily again and Annabeth just looked on impressed.

“She’s really good with people.” Piper commented, falling in step next to Annabeth. 

Nodding, the blonde smiled slightly. “She’s been like that since I met her. I can read people pretty well, but making them feel welcome is something else. I’m kinda jealous…” Annabeth offered, mostly thinking out loud. 

Piper was looking at her with a soft expression, and nodded.

“I think you do a pretty good job of making people feel welcome.” Percy chimed in, making her turn to look at him with surprise. He was still walking, not making direct eye contact as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I just mean… I was really nervous when I got here. It’s my first time living away from my Mom, and sure I dragged Piper out here with me but I’ve never been the best in school and I have a habit of getting into trouble but you… and the other RA’s too, have helped me feel… welcome. Like maybe things won’t be so bad after all.” He confessed, glancing over at Piper who was giving him a “proud mom” grin before he looked even farther away. Annabeth couldn’t help but notice a very distinct red blush to his cheeks. 

“I’m… uh… we’re glad. That you feel like that! Yeah… uh… I’ll be sure to pass that along.” She mumbled, her emotions overwhelming her mind for the first time in a while. 

Piper just glanced between the two, rolling her eyes and smiling. This time it was just too easy. 

Soon they made they’re way across campus and suddenly there were veered off course as Ashe lead them to the local cafe run by students. 

As they entered the smaller shop, “Demeter’s garden” an overpowering smell of coffee beans assaulted their senses. “Welcome! Morning, Annabeth.” A chorus of voices called out, causing the new students to glance at her before she shrugged. “Like I said… I kinda need coffee to function.”

“What, no greeting for me?” Ashe challenged, raising an eyebrow. 

“You’re still on our no-serve list.” One replied, with a shrug glancing at Annabeth.

Ashe pouted. “This is discrimination.”

Patting her friend on her back, she shrugged. “You know it’s because we care about you. You really don’t need to get hooked on caffeine.” 

Shooting a glare at her friend, Ashe just looked away from her pointedly before turning back to Tyler, shoving him towards the register. “He’ll have a medium hot chocolate. With whipped cre- You like whipped cream, right? Right. Of course you do. With whipped cream.” She ordered for him, having barely waited for a confirming nod in the middle of it. “I’ll have a strawberry Italian Soda.” She ordered. 

Annabeth noticed Tyler start to reach for a wallet but Ashe was already handing over a card, ignoring Tyler’s somewhat shy attempts at getting her attention to offer to pay. Watching with a small smirk, Annabeth had a feeling those two would be a pretty steady source of amusement for her this year. 

When Ashe had turned back around, she saw Tyler holding out a five for her. She looked at it, looked at him, snickered and just moved towards one of the tables to wait, with him trailing behind her still trying to give her the money. 

Annabeth glanced over at Percy and Piper as they conferred on the menu, debating what to get.

Piper walked up first. “I’ll have a medium caramel mocha frappuccino, please.”

The boy nodded, writing it on the cup as Percy stepped up. “I’ll have an espresso.” Percy said, starting to reach for his wallet as Piper literally started pushing him aggressively to side as she fished out her own card. The pair of friends were shoving each other aside in a way that reminded Annabeth of herself and Reyna while she just walked up and whistled slightly. The barista caught her eye and moved over and Annabeth handed her card over. “The usual, please. Thanks Malcolm.” He just nodded, swiping it and registering all three drinks on it. 

By the time Piper and won out, she was confused to see a receipt being printed, before she turned accusingly to Annabeth. 

“Let’s go sit.” Was all she said as she walked past them to where Ashe seemed to be dealing with the same conversation. 

“... it doesn’t seem fair for you to have to pay for me. I already appreciate you help me getting my books.”

“Tyler, it’s fine. I’m your RA, just let me treat you. You can cover me next time.” She said with a wink, leaving Tyler stunned as if he was suddenly trying to realize if he was being flirted with or not.

Annabeth was wondering if Ashe was seriously flirting with him or not when Piper looked mad as she sat down. “Don’t tell me I have to start distrusting you in shops too.” She threatened. 

Annabeth shrugged. “It’s like Ashe said, we’re RA’s. We like treating our students when we can.” 

Piper glared at her, clearly not going to let this drop but stayed quiet while Percy smiled at her. “Well uh… thanks. I’ll make it up to you later.” 

“Sure.” Annabeth said dismissively, not really caring much about settling any debts. 

Before long their drinks were called up and they grabbed them, everyone satisfied as they made their way towards the store. 

“This is… like really good.” Piper said, taking another big sip.

“I wouldn’t know.” Ashe mumbled, earning a snicker from Tyler who looked away innocently when she glared at him.

Annabeth ignored her friend. “It’s because they’re very very picky about their beans. Everything is pretty local and the baristas are carefully trained. They have high standards and it shows.”

“You should apply there.” Piper said, nudging Percy. 

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t take you for a coffee lover.”

“I’m not really, but my mom works in a candy shop and for a few summers I worked as a barista at the cafe across the street since my mom befriended the owner and got me the job.”

“What do you think got me addicted to fraps? I felt bad bugging him at work if I didn’t order anything so I kinda picked up the habit.” Piper continued.

Annabeth glanced a Percy, suddenly picturing him with rolled up sleeves and an old apron as he worked at a coffee machine, swaying his hips slightly to whatever popular song was on the radio and Annabeth wondered if she could put in a good word with Malcolm…

As they walked, Ashe and Annabeth took turns pointing out other smaller locations that were good to know about the campus that wasn’t covered in the tour. 

Approaching the store, they saw a line that formed outside the doors. “At least it’s not that bad.” Annabeth offered.

The new students shared a look, disbelieving her. 

Smirking, Annabeth shrugged. “The first few days are pretty crazy.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“It’s awful.”

Tyler and Ashe said at the same time respectively, before looking at each other with surprise. 

“Did you two practice that or…” Piper offered.

“It won't be that long of a wait.” Tyler replied.

“But standing around doing nothing in the cold is the worst.”

Ashe turned to Percy and Piper. “And now you get to see Ashe’s kryptonite. She’s impatient and hates the cold. The time to strike is now.” She explained as if tutoring them. 

Ashe just kicked the back of Annabeth’s shoe gently. “What happened to being a team?”

“We have a wait so I figured messing with you was the best way to pass the time.” The line inched forward as a few more students were allowed in the store to start shopping so they stepped forward. “See? Time flies.” She teased, earning a laugh from Percy. 

Ashe was pouting slightly, rubbing her arms. Before she could say something most likely rude, she was cut off be a cup being offered to her. Tyler was smiling softly, if not looking a little sheepish. 

“You look a little cold… and it’s still warm and you did pay for it. So I thought you might want some.” He clearly started to lose his confidence and he started to take his hand back. “Er… so-”

Ashe reached out, grabbing the cup gently. Taking a brief sip, she smiled before handing him the cup back. “Thank you, that actually did help warm me up.”

Judging by the blush on Tyler’s face, Annabeth had a feeling he was feeling pretty warm too. 

“N-No problem.” He offered.

Ashe tucked some of her hair behind her ear, looking off towards the crowd, giving Annabeth a chance to see the back of her neck was flushed. 

Glancing over at Piper, Piper was giving her the same look as if saying “Are you seeing this?”

Annabeth smirked and held up 2 fingers. Percy seemed clueless but Piper seemed to get the hint before shaking her head and holding up three.

Annabeth mouthed “weeks” and Piper shook her head, mouthing “months.” 

This brought a frown to her face, wondering why she thought it would take so long for these two dorks to get together when they’re so obviously crushing on each other already, but she couldn’t really have the conversation sneakily, at least without the pixie girl probably actually hitting her and based off what she knew about one of her sisters, Ashe probably knew how to hurt someone if she wanted to. “Resident Angel” or not, Annabeth did learn to avoid getting on her bad side if she could help it. 

They made their way to the door to enter the little hallway of the student union leading to the store and without any hesitation, Percy had moved over and was leaning against the door to prop it open since they couldn’t quite make their way in fully yet.

Smirking slightly, Annabeth had to admit that was nice to see guys that seemed so thoughtlessly considerate. 

“So, I’m not sure if you were fully awake before Tyler. Do you know what books you need?”

Tyler looked at her, pausing mid sip from his drink.

Reaching into his back pocket he pulled out a paper, unfolded it to show a clean list of his classes, and each book with a few marked with a (?) causing Annabeth to raise an eyebrow approvingly while the rest of them looked shocked. 

He just glanced at them, mildly confused. “If you check online for each class it often says what books to buy or wait on, or at least a list. I didn’t want to spend time fumbling around a store so I wrote it up last night. I wasn’t fully sure how ordering them ahead of time would work either, so I went with this.”

Annabeth felt proud someone else out of their group seemed to be responsible and she gave a pointed look to Ashe. 

“I learned eventually!” She mumbled, refusing to make eye contact. 

“After borrowing my book for 4 weeks cause they ran out by the time you went to buy them…”

“They should have ordered more!”

She gave a mildly betrayed look to Tyler who was still surprised by the reaction to him being responsible. 

“Stop making me look bad and just go back to sleep!”

She complained half heartedly, taking another sip of her drink. 

They started to approach the entrance finally and Annabeth down the rest of her drink. “Finish up your drinks, they’re really picky about not letting drinks in the shop. Too many people spill stuff.” They all nodded and quickly started finishing their drinks, tossing them in a nearby trash as they finally had the chance to filter in. 

Annabeth lead the way to the back of the store, starting to point out where the various sections were and how to read the shelf tags. Some time passed, and after helping Piper find her last class, and reassuring Percy that used books were perfectly fine, and the smarter choice for the price, Annabeth quickly scooped up her books.

They made their way to Ashe who was finishing up picking up a heavy book on cooking theory, who seemed utterly disheartened at the prospect of having to lug it around for at least a term, they saw Tyler standing off to the side looking sheepish. Her RA instincts took over, and before she could try to aid him Ashe was already approaching him with a warm smile. 

“Trouble finding something, Mr. Prepared?” She teased, a genuine care obvious.

“No… I uh… didn’t want to ditch you guys. And… I didn’t… really know where the line started…” He mumbled, his shyness clearly creeping back up. 

Ashe just nudged his basket with hers. “They really do need better markings. Especially on opening days like this, plus its not like students ever follow them anyway so they have to keep fixing it like every two minutes. C’mon it’s over here.” She said, leading the way while comparing the rest of the shop to an escape room while trying to find anything. 

Annabeth just appreciated how smooth her friend was, yet again.

“Ready?” She said, double checking to see that her own residents had all the books they needed. She saw Percy’s eyes trail over to the clothing shelves. “Wanna look?”

He shook his head after a moment. “Nah… I should see how much these books end up being first anyway. I can grab one later.”

Annabeth nodded, before making sure they got in line behind Ashe and Tyler. 

A few more minutes later and they were out of the shop, bags in hand as they started the rather long trek back to their dorm. 

As they walked they compared book weights, and it seemed like Percy drew the short straw this time, his bag was pretty heavy. Meanwhile Tyler was pretty well off relatively, earning yet another glare from Ashe as she hoisted her bag a little higher, that one rock of a book reminding her of her burdens. 

As they passed by the cafeteria near the dorms, they noticed Tyler slowing down slightly, starting to drift towards it. 

“Let’s put our stuff away then we can grab some food.” Annabeth offered, noting how hungry Percy was looking too.

As they made their way back up to the rooms, they promised to meet for food in a bit and Annabeth went back to her room. Setting her books off to the side near her bag, she smiled.

She was glad she had already made some new friends. The last year she mostly hang around the other RA’s and focused on getting through her work. Sure she got on well with most of the students, but finding her own friend group was never a high priority. She wasn’t in college for fun after all. But… thinking back at Percy’s laugh Annabeth figured it might not be bad to adapt her plans a bit.

After they got breakfast together, the day passed pretty quickly. Another meeting to go over some more RA responsibilities and the floor meeting they had tomorrow morning. Some students had some more questions, like always, and she took the opportunity to hang out in the lobby and read the first part of the first chapter for one of her classes to get a headstart on the work. 

Towards the end of the night it seemed most people were feeling the effects of a crazy day. Percy and Annabeth were lounging on the couch again, watching a basketball game with a few others. Jason and Reyna were out on another walk through the dorms to make sure everything was okay, Ashe was letting another student who had been locked out. Tyler was in the corner of the room pouring over some kind of folder and intently staring at some pages. Her curiosity was piqued, but she figured Ashe would figure it out eventually and ramble about it to her.

Ashe returned not long after, plopping down at the table she was sitting at with a dramatic sigh. “People should be able to remember their keys this early on…” She complained. 

Annabeth just patted her arm. “They really should… chocolate?” She said, sliding her a piece of her hershey’s bar. 

The girl’s eyes lit up like it was christmas and she ate it happily, seemingly back to normal. A small smile graced Annabeth’s lips, amused with how easy it was to pep up her friend’s spirits. They chatted a bit about the floor meeting coming up, and how they planned to cover all the subjects. Eventually though Ashe’s attention shifted to Tyler and his mysterious focus and she wandered over before long. Resting her chin on her palm, Annabeth watched Ashe talk to the boy, point at the paper, and leaned over his shoulder to get a better look. Which amusingly had the boy get flustered and start stammering as he tried to explain whatever it was. A moment later the paper was on the ground and Tyler was starting to explain whatever it was to her with a lot of pointing and hand gestures, which Ashe seemed to be eagerly responding with. 

Glancing down at her own page of notes, she suddenly felt like she was falling into her old habits again. Closing the book and setting it in her bag, she made her way around to plop onto the couch next to Piper. 

The girl turned her head to her. “Done with your homework for the semester?”

Scoffing, Annebeth just adjusted her ponytail. “I was just getting some work done. Being an RA means you never know when your free time will be taken away from you.”

Piper nodded. “That’s fair I guess. I’ll make sure I’m super inconvenient for you.” 

“Already doing a good job of that.” Percy chimed in, earning a laugh from the blonde and a glare from his best friend.

“For real though, I’ve said this before and I’ll say this again. Feel free to come to me with any worries you two have. We’re RA’s for a reason and it is our job to help anyway we can.”

They both nodded and were seemingly satisfied. As the night wrapped up Annabeth could tell they were starting to get a little antsy. “Nervous about classes?” 

“Yeah… we did two years at community college but I’ve heard horror stories of actual universities…” Percy muttered. 

Piper just nodded, playing with the feather in her hair. 

“It’s really no different. Every teacher is different. Some are stricter and some are more goofy. As long as you are honest with them, go to them if you need a little more help, you should be fine. I can’t promise you won’t get any annoying teachers, but this really isn’t much different from community colleges. Just a little… nicer. And more expensive.”

Annabeth paused, noticing how earnestly they were listening to her. A few other students nearby seemed to be listening to her so she sat up a bit, shifting into RA mode a little. 

“The most important thing to remember if that you guys aren’t alone here. I don’t just mean the RA’s or the counselors either. All of the students here are just like you, just trying to graduate and get through this year.” She offered. 

“She’s right, as usual.” Ashe’s voice chimed in from behind her. Tilting her head back, she saw Ashe standing behind the couch, her hands resting on Annabeth’s shoulders gingerly. 

“Even the people who you think are the most put together are also just trying to keep things together. No one has all the answers, and everyone has the same doubts.” She continued, her voice carrying a bit. “Annabeth isn’t the perfect student, and I worry about making friends just like you all. Don’t think that we’re any different from you. So don’t lock yourself away. The worst thing you can do in college is make it make a lonely experience yourself.”

Annabeth smiled up at her friend, appreciating the honesty. The students were all murmuring agreement, seemingly taking their words seriously. 

“They’re right. Besides, we have a lot of different kinds of students here too.” Jason’s voice cut in with a confident tone as he returned with Reyna from their patrol. 

“Any interest you have I can assure you there’s a few others here with it as well. Whether its sports, academics, gaming, music, food, musicals, or even just relaxing your days away. You can find people with similar interests.” He continued.

“But also remember that college is the best place to learn about new things too.” Reyna chimed in, crossing her arms and offering a confident smile. “While there are plenty of people here that you can connect to, there are plenty of people you might not have many more opportunities to talk with in the future. Try new interests, listen to other people’s perspectives. You don’t have to agree with everyone, but be respectful and listen and you might just learn more around others than you will in your classes.” She continued. 

“Just look at your RA’s. Jason’s the captain of the cricket team, I’m the captain of the volleyball team, Annabeth is one of our best students and Ashe just likes food.” She said, earning a glare from the pixie girl. Reyna just flipped her off, though she was grinning at her friend. “And she’s one of the sweetest friends you could have, I guess.” She relented, a hint of fondness slipping through. “But Jason is a dork who also likes staplers…” Which earned a swift kick to her leg from the boy. She continued on with a slight grunt of pain in her first few words. “Annabeth works so hard she forgets she’s human during finals week and starts to fall apart.” Annabeth shot a glare at her friend, hoping she had a point with all of this. “Ashe is the antithesis to Annabeth and once forgot she had a midterm…” “THAT WAS ONE TIME.” The girl cut in, earning a laugh from Annabeth. “And I almost got kicked out freshman year for fighting.”

That earned some murmurs from students who were now looking at Reyna with a healthy respect. 

“We’re all a mess, and all very different from each other, even if we’re good at different things. But they’ve been my closest friends since I first started going here and I never would have expected it before.” Reyna confessed, her voice uncharacteristically soft. “So college can be a bit unexpected, but as long as you come into it with an open mind and an open heart, I have confidence that you all will be fine. Now get some sleep because missing your first class of the year isn’t the way to start it off.” She finished. 

The students all looked at each other for a moment, before nodding. A few of them said thanks, and one asked about the cricket team, another about volleyball, and they started to trickle to their rooms. 

“Like staplers? REALLY?” Jason asked, glaring at his friend. 

Piper turned towards him. “I was wondering about that…”

Jason dropped his head in his hands. “I hate her. If I didn’t think she could kick my ass I’d have kicked hers by now.”

Reyna just laughed, resting an arm on his shoulder as she leaned against him. “That scar on his lip is from when he chewed on a stapler as a kid.”

Piper just burst out laughing. “That’s really cute.” Jason looked mortified and Percy laughed.

“I just like food?” Ashe said with a dangerous lilt in her voice as she started walking towards Reyna, squaring her up. “That’s all you could say about me?” 

“I had to make you sound kinda good for the point I was trying to make. You didn’t give me much to work with.” She countered.

Ashe glared at her before her gaze drooped slightly. “Sor-” 

Reyna pulled her friend into a tight hug. “You know I’m just teasing. You’re the best chef I know and the only thing sweeter than your pastries are you.” 

Ashe returned the hug before looking at her with a warm smile.  

Reyna shrugged. “Besides, I can’t tell everyone you’re the best chef otherwise they’ll have you cook for them and I’ll get less food.” 

“You just like me for my food.” 

“Yes.”

Ashe laughed and punched Reyna in the shoulder, before yawning. “It’s so late.” She mumbled, eyes drooping now that the responsibility of being a good RA had passed her body wasn’t liking the hour. It was starting to near midnight after all. 

“Really? It doesn’t feel that late to me.” Tyler chimed in, having listened to the little speech patiently behind one of the chairs.

Glancing over at the two, Annabeth noticed the stark contrast to the morning. Ashe looked like she was about to pass out and Tyler seemed like it was dinner time for him. 

“Stupid night owls.” Ashe muttered, before yawning again. 

“Alright, that little speech applies to us too. You should all go to bed since you’re not on call tonight. Reyna and I have it from here.”

Jason ordered, looking at them. 

They all finally agreed and gathered their stuff heading off to their rooms for the night.

As annabeth put her bag off to the side so it would be ready for her classes in the morning, she began changing into her pajamas. Smiling, she looked at herself in the mirror. She was really looking forward to this school year.

XxXxXxXxX

Oooo that was a long chapter. Still, I liked it! Lots of dorkiness and flirting. Please let me know how you like the AU and if I should continue it!

[mvndrvke-archive]

ON NICO’S CANON DIVERGENCE....

so while writing up nico’s bio and about page, i realized how much i changed around in his life and personality from the books, etc. when it comes to little things that at least in my interpretation significantly shape nico as a person. SO this is basically a list of things that i’ve changed or brought more attention to. feel free to read it if you’d like, i’m going to link this on his about page for reference, but it’s also terrifyingly long so by no means feel obligated to read it. it’s split into five sections-- nico’s timeline, nico’s motivations, nico’s fears, nico’s powers, and the rules of mythomagic.  see tags for triggers. 

i’ve also put it under a read more because it’s so freakin long. oops. 

NICO’S NEGLECTED TIMELINE.

i. CHILDHOOD IN ITALY and AMERICA : nico is italian. he grew up in italy. his first language is italian. until he was about nine years old, he lived in italy with his mother and bianca, and hades was actually a semi-present person in his life in his very young years at least. he gets his memories wiped in the river lethe, though some things seem to have remained. the fact that hades has nico and bianca’s memories wiped really, REALLY upsets nico when he finds out what’s happened, and threatens his relationship to hades severely. especially when he finds out what happened to maria ( aka zeus killed her when he was trying to kill bianca and nico, and hades was unable to save both maria and his children ), it becomes incredibly important to him to find a way to remember as much as he can about his history, or at least learn about it. hades fills in some of the gaps, and a fair chunk of his memories are restored, and the rest is partially filled in by doing old fashioned research. discovering more about his family and reconnecting himself to his italian roots is incredibly important to nico-- he’s lost his mother and bianca already at this point, so this is the closest he can get to feeling close to them again. 

ii. TIME IN THE LABYRINTH : nico learns a lot in the labyrinth from king minos, and that’s kind of the problem. nico is a really, really young kid at this point ( bianca died at i think 12 years old, so nico is probably in the 10-11 years old range at the time. rick’s given some conflicting reports about nico’s specific age, which makes it really hard to figure out exactly how old he is. we just know he’s the same age as will solace in modern time-- in my canon, nico is 12ish. see my post about his timeline here. ) and all of a sudden he finds himself lost in the labyrinth where his only guide is minos. that’s it. no one else. minos teaches him how to shadow travel, and nico’s pretty much locked in the labyrinth with nothing else to do but work on understanding and strengthening his powers. by the time he’s reunited with percy in daedalus’ workshop, his powers are pretty strong. he’s able to create enough of a distraction that they can escape kronos briefly, so he’s pretty powerful even for a kid his age. 

the time in the labyrinth is critical to his growth, but also really disturbing. minos encourages nico’s obsession with strengthening his powers, and that mentality really sticks with nico for an uncomfortably long time after he’s left the labyrinth. he then makes the choice to go back into the labyrinth multiple times. the fact that he’s more comfortable wandering around the labyrinth than staying at camp speaks volumes about who nico is as a person, and can’t be emphasized enough in its importance when it comes to the growth of nico’s powers and the increase in his desire for isolation. 

iii. TIME IN TARTARUS : long story short, nico’s time in tartarus fucks him up. a constant barrage of psychological, mental, and emotional torment knocks him back to a point where he’s just about lost his mind completely by the time he’s captured and removed from tartarus. in my version of nico, at least, he’s barely got a grasp on who he is by the time gaea’s forces catch him. his time in tartarus drags all of his bad memories and losses right up to the front of his mind, and he really goes above and beyond the extreme to stay alive. the greatly debated timeline of events for the pjo/hoo series says that nico is in tartarus for about twelve days before being put in the jar for three. however, i disagree with this estimate strongly. percy and annabeth are trapped in tartarus for eighteen days according to the timeline, and while yes, them being in tartarus together rather than alone allows them to keep their sanity longer than it would if they were just on their own, it’s stated that as a child of hades, nico is probably more resilient when it comes to the effects of tartarus. we also know from his interaction with akhlys that some of tartarus’ “foes” don’t have as much of an effect on nico as they do on others. akhlys says there’s not much she can do to him when she meets him, because he’s already so miserable, her powers are limited in their usefulness. so my guess is that nico was in there for about a month or so before being removed by gaea’s sons and placed in the bronze jar. but point is that nico’s time in tartarus is wildly disturbing and contributes to a lot of his fears, which are touched on below. nico’s time in tartarus is central to who he is as a character the way i write him, and while he hates talking about it, it’s something he thinks about a lot everyday. 

NICO’S MOTIVATIONS.

i. TRAUMA OVER LOSING BIANCA : i haven’t changed much from canon for this but i will say this one thing-- bianca was the last person for years to say that she loved nico. no one told him, no one said anything, no one expressed that they really truly cared about him for a disturbingly long time. i touch on how this impacts nico’s feelings towards percy below but in my interpretation, nico kind of just.... forgets that people can/do love him. at least in my verse of things, probably the first person that’s told him that they love him since before bianca died was will solace, and the realization that since bianca, there hasn’t been a single person alive that loved him really seriously rattles and damages him. it’s bittersweet being told that people love him, because while it’s important to him, it’s also jarring to look back and think that for a long time, no one did at all. 

ii. FEELINGS FOR PERCY : yes, a lot of nico’s actions are driven by his complicated feelings for percy. rick definitely touched on that a lot more in the later books after we find out that nico is gay, and we saw a lot of reasoning for nico’s actions come into focus in this new lens when it came to looking at who nico is as a person. there’s the really great ( for showing nico’s feelings, the scene itself is horrific and terrible ) scene in house of hades that i’m gonna quote even though it’s long, but--

     Images flashed through [ Jason’s ] mind. He saw Nico and his sister on a snowy cliff in Maine, Percy Jackson protecting them from a manticore. Percy’s sword gleamed in the dark. He’d been the first demigod Nico had ever seen in action.       Later, at Camp Half-Blood, Percy took Nico by the arm, promising to keep his sister Bianca safe. Nico believed him. Nico looked into his sea-green eyes and thought, How can he possibly fail? This is a real hero. He was Nico’s favorite game, Mythomagic, brought to life.       Jason saw the moment when Percy returned and told Nico that Bianca was dead. Nico had screamed and called him a liar. He’d felt betrayed, but still... when the skeleton warriors attacked, he couldn’t let them harm Percy. Nico had called on the earth to swallow them up, and then he’d run away-- terrified of his own powers, and his own emotions.

- The House of Hades

we can see really clearly nico’s crush on percy forming during even his earliest interactions with percy, and while i strongly disagree that nico understood his feelings when he first ran from camp ( see below section about nico’s sexuality ), he does come to understand them later on, and responds to those feelings by avoiding getting emotionally attached or reliant on anyone, including the rest of campers at chb, the main gang, etc. it’s true that his feelings for percy dictate a lot of his actions, both in service of percy’s causes and in relation to how he acts around percy and those close to him ( like annabeth ). however, i cannot stress enough that NONE OF NICO’S ACTIONS IN MY VERSION OF HIM ARE DRIVEN BY HIS DESIRE TO GET PERCY TO LOVE HIM BACK. canon says these are his motivations outright with the quote : 

“An idea came to him-- possibly the stupidest, craziest idea he’d had since he thought, hey, I’ll get Percy to swim in the River Styx! He’ll love me for that!” 

- The Blood of Olympus

i think this does nico a huge disservice. while yes, i maintain that nico’s feelings for percy influenced a lot of his behavior and played a major role in his actions, none of the things he did were done with the hopes of getting percy to love him back. nico is mad at percy and blames him for bianca’s death-- he’s not going to be trying to show percy that he’s worth loving. he’s got nothing to make up for or prove. him trying to show off repeatedly by nearly killing himself on multiple occasions overexerting himself while using his powers to help or protect percy-- getting percy to bathe in the river styx, coming to his aid at multiple battles, trying to save him from falling into tartarus-- don’t scream “please love me back” to me. 

in fact, i think it’s really fucked up to put that on nico and his relationship to percy. i’ll probably do a whole meta on this at some point too because i’m really mad about this in the books but the way that rick set up nico’s relation to percy with him trying to get percy to love him back is so wildly unhealthy that it’s disturbing. no. it weakens nico as a person and as a character and makes him seem pathetic, just sadly trailing along after percy and doing whatever percy wants / needs because he just wants him to like him back. nope. i ain’t playin this shit, and let me tell you what the better narrative is-- 

people do crazy things to protect the people that they love, and nico’s reasoning for all of the crazy stuff he did to protect percy was based on his feelings for him and wanting to keep him safe, even if he is with someone else. that doesn’t stop him from being jealous and even a little resentful of percy’s relationship with annabeth, but he’s not running around trying to get rid of annabeth so he can win percy. that’s not who he is, and that’s never been who he is. so again, i’m gonna stress that nico is NOT motivated by his desire to get percy to love him back, but rather by the fact that he loves percy enough to put his life and safety on the line for him. 

iii. ANXIETY : my version of nico focuses A LOT on anxiety. nico’s life has, to put it simply, been a nightmare and a half, which ultimately leads to him having a lot of issues with things like self image, his ability to connect with other people, etc. so my version of nico really runs with that, especially in just his day-to-day life. 

now, he’s clearly fucking around in this scene, but--

     “Nico,” I said at last, “shouldn’t you be sitting at the Hades table?”      He shrugged. “Technically, yes. But if I sit alone at my table, strange things happen. Cracks open in the floor. Zombies crawl out and start roaming around. It’s a mood disorder. I can’t control it. That’s what I told Chiron.”      “And is it true?” I asked.       Nico smiled thinly. “I have a note from my doctor.”       Will raised his hand. “I’m his doctor.”

- The Hidden Oracle

now this is a cute giggle scene that i’ll call back to in the next section for other reasons, but nico has up to this point been a hardcore loner. being at camp and around other campers has consistently made him uncomfortable up until blood of olympus, so him making not just a little effort but a whole thing out of it so he doesn’t have to sit alone is what i’m focused on, and why the thought of people disliking him, etc. fuels a lot of his behavior. he’s working on getting over it in the hidden oracle, but he’s still got a long way to go. 

in my version of nico, his anxiety is more heavily connected to his phobikinesis, aka his ability to radiate the feelings of fear and death, which is something he inherited from hades. nico frequently uses this in battle as we see, but in just normal life, it shows up a lot more. one of nico’s powers basically lets him kill plant life around him, but when he is especially anxious, angry, or upset, the same happens. a large chunk of people being freaked out by him in the earlier days is because he’s, well, the son of hades, but it’s also his own anxieties getting literally projected onto other people, who then show the same discomfort he’s afraid of them showing. while he’s clearly using this as an excuse to get what he wants in the hidden oracle segment, it is a genuine problem for him, and i don’t think chiron would’ve allowed it if he thought nico was just fucking around. there’s something real behind it that i don’t think we should ignore, so for my version of nico, at least, it’s very real and has seriously changed his life because of how people see him and behave around him. 

nico’s anxiety plays into some of his other powers as well. i touch on this later with nico’s “mood disorder”, as he calls it, which he uses to get it so chiron will let him sit at the apollo table during meals, but nico is able to kill things around him with pure anxiety. in house of hades--

     Nico braced himself against a column, his legs trembling visibly.      “Hey, man...” Jason stepped toward him, but Nico waved him off.      At Nico’s feet, the grass turned brown and wilted. The dead patch spread outward, as if poison were seeping from the soles of his shoes.

- The House of Hades

i talk more about this scene later on when it comes to nico’s fears, but nico’s nervousness, shame, sadness, anger, and fear are all connected to how this power manifests itself, and it’s a serious problem for him that he’s never really had to get under control until he starts spending time with more people, i.e. after blood of olympus.

iv. JEALOUSY : i’m not going to expand on this much but nico is a wildly jealous person, which we see multiple times throughout the series. he’s petty and jealous, that’s about it. i don’t think it gets emphasized enough that he feels these emotions, especially as strongly as he does.

NICO’S WORST FEARS.

i. THE DARK : nico spent a disturbingly long amount of time in tartarus. as a child of hades, he claims that darkness never bothered him before-- 

“I am the son of Hades. I go where I wish. The darkness is my birthright.”

- The Blood of Olympus

--but i disagree when he says this doesn’t bother him at all. not only is nico an incredibly proud individual, he’s kind of an Extra kid that puts on a tough face whenever he feels even vaguely doubted or threatened. he could easily just be bullshitting here so he can do what he wants rather than admitting he’s afraid. my interpretation of nico’s fear of the dark comes initially from the lines--

This did not seem to reassure Nico.  “I don’t like being in the dark,” he muttered.  An odd complaint for a child of Hades, but I understood...

- The Hidden Oracle

while he’s admittedly not talking specifically about nico’s fear of the dark, the fact that apollo finds it weird for a child of hades to complain about the dark when nico said literally one book ago that the darkness is his “birthright” sparked the idea. especially when it comes to not just nico’s time in tartarus, but the time he was trapped in the jar by gaea’s sons, it’s not an illogical conclusion to say that he has at least an acute phobia of the dark. 

ii. CONFINED SPACES : like his fear of the dark, nico’s fear of confined spaces comes from his time in the bronze jar. once he’s captured by gaea’s forces, they drop him in the jar and take him out of tartarus. he’s got limited oxygen in there and needs to go into a death trance just to keep himself alive. at this point, he’s been in the dark for so long, being trapped in pretty much complete darkness in a closed space where he’s slowly running out of oxygen isn’t exactly relaxing, especially after he’s been stumbling around in tartarus and then captured. this basically just means that he gets antsy in closed spaces and big crowds where he doesn’t have his own personal space. he likes hades cabin because he’s usually the only one there, and he can keep it however he wants. i fully believe that after returning to and deciding to officially stay at camp, he gets a little more light in there, changes up his little coffin bed, and keeps lights on at pretty much all times, even if it’s just greek fire or something. complete darkness is something nico only does when it comes to shadow travel. 

iii. HIS SEXUALITY / BEING OUTED : cupid pretty much making nico admit that he’s gay in front of jason nearly breaks nico. we see him when he’s trying to still keep his feelings for percy private, he goes so far to try and keep that to himself. we also need to consider how angry/upset nico gets when cupid tries to out him. i mentioned him killing the grass in my section about nico’s anxiety, but nico shows off the full force of his power. i’m gonna quote a few chunks of this part from house of hades, but--

     “Nico,” [ Jason ] called, “what does this guy want from you?”      ‘Tell him, Nico di Angelo,’ Cupid said. ‘Tell him the real reason you ran from Camp Half-Blood, and why you are always alone.’      Nico let loose a guttural scream. The ground at his feet split open and skeletons crawled forth-- dead Romans with missing hands and caved-in skulls, cracked ribs, and jaws unhinged [ ... ]      ‘Will you hide among the dead, as you always do?’ Cupid taunted.       Waves of darkness rolled off the son of Hades. When they hit Jason, he almost lost consciousness-- overwhelmed by hatred and fear and shame...

- House of Hades

nico legit summons a mini army of the dead to attack cupid so he can try to avoid admitting he’s in love with percy ( or was, he claims that he’s over it later in the chapter, but personally i don’t think it is ), and if that ain’t an overreaction to someone trying to get you to admit you’ve got a crush, i don’t know what is. then, when we get to the part where nico ACTUALLY admits it, he’s overwhelmed with a wide variety of negative emotions. one more time--

     'Stop hiding,’ Cupid said [ ... ] ‘You do not have the strength.’      “Nico,” Jason managed to say, “it’s okay. I get it.”      Nico glanced over, pain and misery washing across his face.      “No, you don’t,” he said. “There’s no way you can understand.”      ‘And so you run away again,’ Cupid chihded. ‘From your friends, from yourself.’      “I don’t have friends!” Nico yelled. “I left Camp Half-Blood because I didn’t belong! I’ll never belong!”

[ ... ] Nico’s voice was like broken glass. “I--I wasn’t in love with Annabeth.”      “You were jealous of her,” Jason said. “That’s why you didn’t want to be around her. Especially why you didn’t want to be around... him. It makes total sense.”      All the fight and denial seemed to go out of Nico at once. The darkness subsided. The Roman dead collapsed into bones and crumbled to dust.      “I hated myself,” Nico said. “I hated Percy Jackson.”

[ ... ]

“I had a crush on Percy,” Nico spat. “That’s the truth. That’s the big secret.”  He glared at Cupid. “Happy now?”

- The House of Hades

he’s embarrassed, and ashamed, and when jason tells him it’s fine, he snaps at him-- 

"Just who I am... Easy for you to say. [ ... ] The only person who ever accepted me was Bianca, and she died! I didn't choose any of this. My father, my feelings..."

i fully believe that part of nico’s fear of coming out is based on the era he was raised in as a child. it’s not clear ( though it’s at least somewhat implied in the above lines ) that he ever got a chance to come out to bianca, but i don’t think he did. while nico’s friends are all cool with it when he does come out to them, the 1930s-1940s were a tense time with the rise of italian fascism and the lead up to world war ii, but all in all, it didn’t create a super safe environment for nico to even consider his sexuality in. especially once italy allied itself with nazi germany, nico’s sexuality would’ve been not only something he considered shameful, but something that he could’ve gotten killed for under the mussolini regime in italy. though he and his family left italy in the 1940s and came to america, at that point, the mentality had sunk in. not everyone struggling with understanding their sexuality knows from a very young age that they’re not straight, and i think that nico would be discouraged from even beginning to understand that side of himself until after bianca died. having missed that opportunity to come out to his family ( with the exception of hades, who’s just kinda “i’m fine with it as long as you stop talking to me about percy jackson and how cool he is” about it ) made him reluctant to share his secret with anyone else, especially when he’s been raised in an environment where that was shameful. one more quote from house of hades, but-- 

     Nico [ ... ] regarded Jason, as if waiting for an attack. “If the others found out--”      “If the others found out,” Jason said, “you’d have that many more people to back you up [ ... ].”      Nico scowled. Jason still felt the resentment and anger rippling off of him.  [ ... ]      “I don’t feel that way anymore,” Nico muttered. “I mean, I gave up on Percy. I was young and impressionable, and I-- I don’t...”      His voice cracked, and Jason could tell the guy was about to get teary-eyed. Whether Nico had really given up on Percy or not, Jason couldn’t imagine what it had been like for Nico all those years, keeping a secret that would’ve been unthinkable to share in the 1940s, denying who he was, feeling completely alone-- even more isolated than other demigods.

- The House of Hades

nico panics and almost bursts into tears at the thought of jason telling anyone. jason ultimately keeps his secret until nico’s ready to come out ( though it’s my firm belief that nico doesn’t come out to more than a few people; see below ), but nico lives in constant fear of being outed until, at least, he admits to percy that he had a crush on him, which he eventually does in blood of olympus. ( you can read my full analysis of this scene here )

but that’s a huge detour from why i’m talking about this. my main point is that nico’s fear of coming out is centered widely around his own self-consciousness when it comes to the subject and the mindset in which he was raised. it’s not until jason supporting him ( and keeping his secret until he was ready to talk about it to others ) and meeting will solace that he actually becomes more secure with this part of his identity, though he’s still not entirely comfortable with it. i’ve harped on this a lot, and i’ll move on soon, but nico’s discomfort-- 

     Will turned to me. “I apologize for my boyfriend.”      Nico rolled his eyes. “Could you not--”      “Would you prefer special guy?” Will asked. “Or significant other?”      “Significant annoyance, in your case,” Nico grumbled.      “Oh, I’ll get you for that.”      Meg wiped her dripping nose. “You guys fight a lot.”

- The Hidden Oracle

yes, this is kinda just passed off as a funny little exchange between the two of them, and part of their relationship. nico and will exchange witty banter through a lot of the book, and i’ll point to another little exchange not long after--

     “In the meantime, no one else should roam the camp alone. Use the buddy system.”      “Understood.” Will looked at Nico. “Will you be my buddy?”      “You are a dork,” Nico announced.      The two of them strolled off bickering.

- The Hidden Oracle

will and nico are clearly affectionate towards each other throughout the book, and nico is a lot more relaxed around will later on,  like when they’re all eating dinner together at apollo’s table ( see the “I have a note from my doctor.” exchange ), but immediately gets cranky when will starts calling him by romantic partner nicknames. it’s not just friendly bickering, it’s discomfort, especially in front of will’s father ( shoutout to apollo ) who could EASILY disapprove of him as will’s partner.

NICO’S POWERS. 

there’s a full list of all of nico’s powers and abilities on his about page (here), i’m just going to toss in here that a lot of the specifics fo his abilities i’ve taken some creative liberties with. since he’s got so many and they’re not all touched on that much except for once or twice, i’ve made the executive decision to make my own rules a bit. 

feel free to ask questions about this if you’ve got any, he’s got a lot of powers and it gets confusing easily. 

MYTHOMAGIC. 

this section isn’t anything important it’s more just a disclaimer that i’ve made up all the rules for mythomagic because there are no rules in canon. i’m bullshitting my way through that game and everyone should know it. i’ve based my concept on it on the game stratego, and morphed it into kind of a weird combo of that and d&d. personally i’ve never been part of a d&d campaign, but i’m a champion at stratego, so that’s why i picked that game as the basis for my mythomagic rules. 

if you’ve read through to the end honestly congrats i’m impressed. please accept this gif of nico giggling like a moron as your prize

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[fangirl-overload13]

Changing Colors

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Well Will had been right about people being worried, when they had found their friends they had been a mix of relieved and furious, Nico didn’t need a spell to see that clearly. When they had first seen that Nico had been found Percy and Jason rushed over and crushed him in a tight hug and then proceeded to yell at him though they let up a bit when they noticed that his clothes had started to change to brown and black and grey.

They had agreed to go to the infirmary for the sake of privacy and to make sure that Nico was pushing himself. Once there Will had Nico go lay down on one of the beds and explained to the others how he had found Nico upstairs. “When he jumped into the shadows I hurried here to get the cure that Coach Hedge had told me about but when I realized that I was missing part of it I went up to the store room to find it and that’s where I found him.”

Nico lay curled up on the bed and breathed steadily after dozing off, lingering effects of his short jump it seemed were still there Will could tell, he had seen Nico’s clothes flash light blue before he laid down and not long after that he had been asleep. “I’m not sure if it was supposed to be a prank or what but I have a feeling I know who the culprits are, and I already assured Nico that it wasn’t a curse.” At that Percy and Jason both seemed like a weight had been lifted from them and Piper and Annabeth watched Nico as he slept, every now and then his clothes would change briefly.

…

Annabeth turned back to Will. “Well I’m sure that he’s going to be okay here so I guess we’ll just leave you to watch over him for us.” She smiled at Will, she had noted how the colors seemed to shift more when Will was talking or closer to Nico so she had a feeling she knew what was happening. “Come on Seaweed Brian, we should let him be for now. Until he’s better why don’t you guys come help Piper and I with sword training?” she grasped Percy’s hand and pulled him towards the door and Piper did the same with Jason, before leaving the room though Piper looked back at Nico and Will in turn and smiled before leaving.

…

A couple of hours later Nico woke up looking more refreshed, Will caught the glimpse of violet before Nico managed to gain control over his emotions and his clothes returned to normal again. Will bit back a smile of amusement before he spoke. “So I take it that you’re feeling better now?” Nico nodded as he stretched after sitting up on the edge of the bed. “I know it was stupid so you don’t have to remind me again, but since it was just a small jump it didn’t take as much out of me.” Will was glad that Nico understood why Will had been upset before, at least the son of Hades knew he had messed up, but all in all Will was just so thankful that he was safe.

“Well that’s good, no need for a continuation of the usual lecture then.” He smiled at Nico to let him know that he wasn’t upset anymore just relieved. Nico returned the smile, a mix of colors showing faintly as he seemed to fight down the effects of the spell, but Will had seen small amounts of light pink, violet, gold and true blue. He still didn’t know what all of them meant but he could just tell that they were positive emotions and for that he was glad because it meant that Nico was happy despite how little he let others see he wasn’t devoid of those emotions. “Now if only we had an idea as to why this whole mess was happening.” Nico said.

“Oh I think we can help you with that.” Both Nico and Will turned towards the door to see Lou Ellen and Butch standing in the doorway of the infirmary room, and standing just behind them were some campers from the Iris and Hecate cabins. Will already having had his suspicions about who was behind this just leaned back against his desk and waited for the explanation.

The younger campers standing back took a few steps forward into the room. “We’re sorry we upset you Nico, we didn’t know that would happen or that you might get hurt because of it.” The Hecate camper started, she looked to be about twelve or thirteen and the regret was evident on her face as she apologized. “We just thought that we could add some color to your wardrobe because you always wear such dark or dreary colors.” Will covered his moth to hide a smile because he agreed with them on that. “We weren’t sure how it would work, we just knew that the colors would change, we’re really, really sorry Nico.” The Iris camper was a boy about ten or so, he also seemed as earnest in his apology as his, accomplish? Will knew that they hadn’t meant any harm by it and he could tell by glancing at Nico that he understood this too.

…

“It’s okay, really. I’m still not used to being around a lot of people and don’t know any other way to react to things then to fight or run, I over reacted to the situation.” He glanced over at Will briefly before returning his attention back to the others. “I guess I could add more color to my wardrobe, but nothing hideous.” He shuddered thinking back to the tropical shirt he had to wear on his trip back from the ancient lands. The younger campers seemed to perk up at this. “We can help!”

Will, Lou Ellen and Butch laughed and Nico grinned at their enthusiasm. “On one condition, you get rid of whatever it is that you did to my stuff.” The kids agreed happily, it seemed that after the incident at breakfast those involved in this little plan went to the older campers in their cabins to explain what they had done and together they had found a way to revers it, though all involved would have to face the consequences of their actions still. These two having been the ones to carry the plan through were the ones chosen to come and apologize for all involved.

“And the next time you guys have a problem with my clothes, just come and tell me okay?” Nico said getting up from the bed. He also glanced sidelong at Will for a second including him in this as well. “Deal.” Came three voices in response causing Nico to smirk.

…

It was dinner time now and everything had returned to normal, Nico had his plain old clothes back. The kids had lifted the charm from all of his belongings that had been affected and as a gift of apology they had also given him a couple of woven bracelets with plenty of color for him to wear which he accepted gladly. Nico now sat at his usual table with his friends who were all happy to see that he was okay and that everything was back to normal.

“So Will said that you guys went to practice sword fighting while I was out, how’d that go?” Nico asked the girls who had joined them at their table. “It’d different than using a knife but I think we’re really getting the hang of this.” Piper said. “That’s great; I’ll have to try sparring with you at some point then.”

While they spoke Will came over and placed something in front of Nico before he headed back to his table. Nico paused and looked down to see a small box on the table in front of him. After a couple of heartbeats Jason poked Nico in the side to get his attention causing him to jump slightly. “Open it.” Everyone was curious what it could be so they all leaned in for a better look. Just as curious as the others Nico needed no more prodding so he undid the little ribbon and opened the box to reveal a silver bracelet with a sun shaped charm on it and a strange little gem in it.

“Oh look it has a mood stone in it.” Piper said as Nico lifted the bracelet out of the box, he looked over at her with a puzzled look on his face. “I thought those were for rings.” Piper shook her head. “They can be on pretty much any piece of jewelry as long as it has contact with your skin so that it can change color.” Nico looked closer at it as he held it in his hand and watched as it slowly started to change color; he glanced back at the box and saw a small piece of paper that indicated what each color meant. Violet = Happy he grinned as he unclasped it and then fastened it around his wrist with his other new accessories.

Nico looked over towards the Apollo table and saw Will looking his way. Nico smiled and raised his wrist high enough to show Will that he was wearing it and that he loved it. Will smiled brightly in return and lifted his own writs to reveal a glint of silver there.

Black = Intense, Stressed

Brown = Troubled, Restless

Red = Rage, Anger

Orange = Aggressive, Irritated, Edgy, Sarcastic

Golden Yellow = Hope

Yellow = Confused, Puzzled, Incredulous, Curious

Yellow-Green = Worried

Lime Green = Shocked, Surprised

Emerald Green = Triumph, Hyper, Energetic, Mischievous

Dark Green = Disgusted, Ill, Nauseous

Teal = Alert, Nervous

Ice Blue = Fear, Scared, Panic

Light Blue = Sleepy, Tired

True Blue = Relaxed, Calm

Dark Blue = Bored

Blue-Violet = Serious, Confident, Concentrating

Violet = Happy, Pleased

Light Purple = Excited

Magenta = Embarrassed

Dark Pink = Silly

Light Pink = Flirty, Amused, Playful

White = Hollow, Blank, Void

Grey = Sad, Hopeless, Dejected, Discouraged, Gloomy

Blue-Grey = Sad for someone